Her assumption was incorrect.
While Cortana was intrigued1 with the unique design and workings of the ship—its preparation barelyoccupied a fraction of her processing power.
She watched with thePillar of Autumn ’s camera as Captain Keyes approached the ship in a shuttle pod.
Lieutenant2 Hikowa left to greet him in the docking bay.
From C deck, Captain Keyes spoke3 over the intercom: “Cortana? Can we have power to move the ship?
I’d like to get under way.”
She calculated the remaining reactor4 burn-in time and made an adjustment to run it hotter. “The engines’
final shakedown is in theta cycle,” Cortana replied. “Operating well within normal parameters5. Divertingthirty percent power to engines; aye, sir.”
“And the other systems’ status?” Captain Keyes asked.
“Weapons-system check initiated6. Navigational nodes functioning. Continuing systemwide shakedownand triple checks, Captain.”
“Very good,” he said. “Apprise me if there are any anomalies.”
“Aye, Captain,” she replied.
The COM channel snapped off.
She continued her checks on thePillar of Autumn as ordered. There were, however, more importantthings to consider; namely, a little reconnaissance into ONI databases . . . and a little revenge.
She dedicated7 the balance of her run time toward probing the SATCOM system around REACH forentry points. There. A ping in the satellite network coordination8 signal. She broadcast a resonant9 carrierwave at that signal and piggybacked into the system.
First things first. She had two loose ends to take care of.
While she and the Master Chief had been on the obstacle course, she had commandeered SATCOMobservation beacon10 419 and rotated it to view them from orbit.
She reentered the back door she had left open in the system, and rewrote the satellite’s guidance thrustersubroutine. If the system was analyzed11 later, it would be determined12 that this error had altered it to arandom orientation13 rather than a planned position.
She withdrew, but left her back door intact. This trick might come in handy again.
The other loose end that required her attentions was Colonel Ackerson—the man who had tried to eraseher and the Master Chief.
Cortana reread Dr. Halsey’s recommended test specifications15 for the MJOLNIR system on the obstaclecourse. She had suggested live rounds, yes. But never a squad16 of Orbital drop Shock Troopers, chainguns,Lotus mines . . . and certainly not an air strike.
That was the Colonel’s doing. He was an equation that needed to be balanced. What Dr. Halsey mighthave called “payback.”
She linked to the UNSC personnel and planning database on Reach. The ONI AI there, Beowulf, knewher . . . and knew not to let her in. Beowulf was thorough, methodical, and paranoid; in her own way,Cortana couldn’t help but like him. But compared with her code-cracking skills, he might as well havebeen an accounting17 program.
Cortana sent a rapid series of queries18 into the network node that processed housing transfer requests. Anormally quiet node—she overloaded19 it with a billion different pings per minute.
The network attempted to recover and reconfigure, causing all nodes to lag, including node seventeen—personnel records. She stepped in and inserted a spike20 wedge, a subroutine that looked like a normalincoming signal, but bounced any handshake protocol21.
She slipped in.
The Colonel’s CSV was impressive. He had survived three battles with the Covenant22. Early in the war,he received a promotion23 and volunteered for a dozen black ops. For the last few years, however, hisefforts had focused on political maneuvers24 rather than battlefield tactics. He had filed several requestsfor increased funding for his Special Warfare25 projects.
No wonder he wanted the Master Chief gone. The Spartan26 IIs and MJOLNIR were his directcompetition. Worse, they were succeeding where he failed.
At best, Ackerson’s actions were treason. But Cortana wasn’t about to reveal all this to the ONIoversight committee. Despite the Colonel’s methods, the UNSC still needed him—and his SpecWarspecialists—in the war.
Justice, however, would still be meted27 out.
From the ONI database, she masqueraded as a routine credit check and entered the Colonel’s bankaccount—to which she wired a substantial amount to a brothel on Gilgamesh. She made sure the bankqueries sent to confirm the transaction were copied to his home immediately. Colonel Ackerson was amarried man . . . and his wife should be there to receive them.
She cut into his personal E-mail and sent a carefully crafted message—requesting reassignment to aforward area—to personnel. Finally, she inserted a “ghost” record, an electronic footprint that identifiedthe source of the alterations28: Ackerson’s personal-computer pad.
By the time Ackerson was done untangling all of that, he’d be reassigned to field duty . . . and get backto fighting the Covenant where he belonged.
With all loose ends neatly29 tied up, Cortana rechecked thePillar of Autumn ’s reactor; the shakedown wasproceeding nicely. She tweaked the magnetic-field strength, and part of her watched the output from theengines for fluctuations30. She inspected all weapons systems three times, and then went back to her ownpersonal research.
She considered how well the Master Chief had performed this morning on the obstacle course. He wasmore than Cortana could have hoped for. The Master Chief was much more than Dr. Halsey or the pressreleases had indicated.
He was intelligent . . . not fearless, but as close to it as any human she had encountered. His reactiontime under stress was one-sixth the standard human norm. More than that, however, Cortana had sensedthat he had a certain—she searched her lexicon31 for the proper word—nobility. He placed his mission andhis duty and honor above his personal safety.
She reexamined his Career Service Vitae. He had fought in 207 ground engagements against theCovenant, and been awarded every major service medal except the Prisoner of War Medallion.
There were holes in his CSV, though. The standard black-out sections courtesy of ONI, of course . . . butmost curious, all data before he entered active duty had been expunged32.
Cortana wasn’t about to let a mere33 erasure34 stop her. She traced where the order to erase14 that data hadoriginated. Section Three. Dr. Halsey’s group. Curious.
She followed the order pathway—crashed into layers of counter code. The code started a trace on hersignal.
She blocked it—and it restarted a trace of the origin of her block.
This was a very well-crafted piece of counterintrusion software, far superior to the normal ONIslugcode. If nothing else, Cortana liked a challenge. She withdrew from the database and looked for anunguarded way into ONI Section Three files.
Cortana listened to the hum of coded traffic along the surface of ONI’s secure network. There was anunusual amount of packets today: queries and encrypted messages from ONI operatives. She peered intothem and unraveled their secrets as they passed her. There were orders for ship movements andoperatives outbound from Reach. This must be the new directive to send scouts35 into the peripherysystems and find the Covenant. She saw several ships docked in Reach’s space docks—ONI stealth jobsmade to look like private yachts. They had cute, innocuous names: theApplebee ,Circumference36 , andtheLark .
She spotted37 something she could use: Dr. Halsey had just entered her laboratory. She was at checkpointthree. The doctor waited as her voice and retina patterns were being scanned.
Cortana intercepted38 and killed the signal. The verification system reset39.
“Please rescan retina, Dr. Halsey,” the system requested, “and repeat today’s code phrase in a normalvoice.”
Before Dr. Halsey could do this, Cortana sent her own files of Dr. Halsey’s retina and voice scans. Shehad long ago copied them and occasionally they came in handy.
Section Three verification opened for Cortana. She had only a second before the doctor spoke andoverrode the previous entry access.
Cortana, however, was a lightning strike in the system. She entered, searched, and found what shewanted. Every piece of data on SPARTAN 117 was copied to her personal directory within seventymilliseconds.
She withdrew from the ONI database, routing all traces of her queries back to her Ackerson “ghost.”
She closed all connections and returned to thePillar of Autumn . One quick check of the reactor—yes,operating within normal parameters—and she sent a complete report to Lieutenant Hall on the bridge.
Cortana examined the Master Chief’scomplete CSV. She scanned backward through time: hisperformance data on the obstacle course, and the debriefing40 he had given at ONI headquarters.
She paused and pondered the signal the Covenant had sent from Sigma Octanus IV. Intrigued, she triedto translate the sequence. The symbols looked tantalizingly41 familiar. Every algorithm and variation ofthe standard translation software she attempted, however, failed. Puzzled, she set it aside to examinelater.
She continued, absorbing the data from the Master Chief’s files. She learned of the augmentations heand the other Spartans42 were made to endure; the brutal43 indoctrination and training they had received;and how he had been abducted44 at the age of six, and a flash clone used to replace him in an ONI blackop.
All of it had been authorized45 by Dr. Halsey.
Cortana paused for a full three processor cycles churning this new data through her ethicssubroutines . . . not comprehending. How could Dr. Halsey, who was so concerned for her Spartans,have done this to them?
Of course—because it was necessary. There was no other way to preserve the UNSC against rebellionand Covenant forces.
Was Dr. Halsey a monster? Or just doing what had to be done to protect humanity? Perhaps a little ofboth.
Cortana erased46 her stolen files. No matter. Whatever the Master Chief had been through in the past . . . itwas done. He was in Cortana’s care now. She would do everything in her power—short ofcompromising their mission—to make sure nothing ever happened to him again.
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1
intrigued
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| adj.好奇的，被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式)；激起…的兴趣或好奇心；“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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reactor
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| n.反应器；反应堆 | |
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parameters
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| 因素，特征； 界限； （限定性的）因素( parameter的名词复数 )； 参量； 参项； 决定因素 | |
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6
initiated
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| n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入 | |
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dedicated
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| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
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coordination
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| n.协调，协作 | |
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resonant
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| adj.(声音)洪亮的，共鸣的 | |
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beacon
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| n.烽火，（警告用的）闪火灯，灯塔 | |
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analyzed
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| v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析 | |
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12
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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orientation
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| n.方向，目标；熟悉，适应，情况介绍 | |
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erase
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| v.擦掉；消除某事物的痕迹 | |
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15
specifications
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| n.规格；载明；详述；（产品等的）说明书；说明书( specification的名词复数 )；详细的计划书；载明；详述 | |
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squad
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| n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组 | |
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accounting
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| n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表 | |
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queries
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| n.问题( query的名词复数 )；疑问；询问；问号v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的第三人称单数 )；询问 | |
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overloaded
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| a.超载的，超负荷的 | |
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spike
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| n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效 | |
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protocol
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| n.议定书，草约，会谈记录，外交礼节 | |
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covenant
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| n.盟约，契约；v.订盟约 | |
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promotion
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| n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传 | |
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maneuvers
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| n.策略，谋略，花招( maneuver的名词复数 ) | |
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25
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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spartan
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| adj.简朴的，刻苦的；n.斯巴达；斯巴达式的人 | |
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27
meted
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| v.（对某人）施以，给予（处罚等）( mete的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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28
alterations
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| n.改动( alteration的名词复数 )；更改；变化；改变 | |
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neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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30
fluctuations
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| 波动，涨落，起伏( fluctuation的名词复数 ) | |
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31
lexicon
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| n.字典，专门词汇 | |
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32
expunged
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| v.擦掉( expunge的过去式和过去分词 )；除去；删去；消除 | |
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33
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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erasure
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| n.擦掉，删去；删掉的词；消音；抹音 | |
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35
scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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36
circumference
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| n.圆周，周长，圆周线 | |
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37
spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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38
intercepted
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| 拦截( intercept的过去式和过去分词 )； 截住； 截击； 拦阻 | |
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39
reset
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| v.重新安排，复位；n.重新放置；重放之物 | |
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40
debriefing
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| n.任务报告，任务报告中提出的情报v.向（外交人员等）询问执行任务的情况( debrief的现在分词 ) | |
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41
tantalizingly
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| adv.…得令人着急，…到令人着急的程度 | |
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42
spartans
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| n.斯巴达（spartan的复数形式） | |
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43
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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44
abducted
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| 劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展 | |
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45
authorized
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| a.委任的，许可的 | |
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46
erased
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| v.擦掉( erase的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；清除 | |
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