chapter 10

1852 hours, September 22,2552 (Military Calendar) \ Captured Covenant¹ flagship, inSlipspace, location unknown.

After the Chief had left to investigate the cryopod, Haverson made certain that the bridge doors locked. He turned and walked over to the Covenant Engineer who'd repaired theMaster Chief's armor.

"Fascinating creatures," he murmured. He drew his sidearm and pointed² it at the back ofits head.

Two of the Engineer's six eyes locked onto the muzzle³ of the weapon. A tentacle⁴ reachedfor it, split into fine probing threads, and touched the blue-gray metal.

Cortana asked, "What are you—"Haverson shot the Engineer. The round tore through its head and spattered gore⁵ across the display the alien had been repairing.

"Haverson!" Cortana cried.

The other Engineer turned and squealed—then a blinking light on the broken display captured its attention and it returned to its work, oblivious⁶.

Haverson knelt by the dead Engineer and holstered his gun. "I had no other choice," hewhispered. He touched the creature's odd, slick skin. Its color faded from a faint pink to a cold gray.

He dragged it to the escape hatch, opened it, and placed the body in the corridor. He paused, and went back to fold its tenta.cles over its body. "I'm sorry. You didn't deserve it.""Why was that necessary?" Cortana demanded.

Haverson stood, wiped his hands on his slacks, and sealed the escape hatch access. "I'msurprised you even have to ask, Cor.tana." He heard the anger in his voice. He checkedhis rising ire.

ERIC NYLUND 97He wasn't mad at Cortana; he was mad at himself—furious be.cause of the ugly necessityof his act.

"The Covenant are imitative—not innovative," he said. "The Engineer you ordered torepair the Chief's armor just got a first.hand look at our shield technology, a technology we stole from the Covenant and improved  upon. If it somehow managed to re.join theCovenant, that improved technology would be theirs. How would you like to see thattechnology manifest as better personal shields for their Elite⁷ warriors⁸? Or on theirwarships?"Cortana was silent.

"Corporal Locklear was right," Haverson muttered. "I really hate this shit, too.""I understand," Cortana finally replied, but her voice was so cold it could have frozen helium.

Haverson sighed and looked at his hands. The Engineer's blood tattooed⁹ his skin with tinypinpoints of blue-black. "Do you think that the Master Chief will find what he's reallylooking for on Reach?""What do you mean 'really looking for'?" Cortana said. Her voice was still frosty, butcuriosity thawed¹⁰ her tone.

"I mean the other Spartans¹¹." Haverson gave a short laugh. "True, his argument to go toReach was valid—we wouldn't be going otherwise. But that's not what he's after. He sent his team down to the surface of Reach...  sent them to their deaths. What commander wouldn't go back? And what commander wouldn't hope that they were alive? No matter what the odds¹²?"

1 covenant   

n.盟约，契约；v.订盟约

参考例句：

• They refused to covenant with my father for the property.他们不愿与我父亲订立财产契约。
• The money was given to us by deed of covenant.这笔钱是根据契约书付给我们的。

2 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

3 muzzle   

n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默

参考例句：

• He placed the muzzle of the pistol between his teeth.他把手枪的枪口放在牙齿中间。
• The President wanted to muzzle the press.总统企图遏制新闻自由。

4 tentacle   

n.触角，触须，触手

参考例句：

• Each tentacle is about two millimeters long.每一个触手大约两毫米长。
• It looked like a big eyeball with a long tentacle thing.它看上去像一个有着长触角的巨大眼球。

5 gore   

n.凝血，血污；v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破；缝以补裆；顶

参考例句：

• The fox lay dying in a pool of gore.狐狸倒在血泊中奄奄一息。
• Carruthers had been gored by a rhinoceros.卡拉瑟斯被犀牛顶伤了。

6 oblivious   

adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的

参考例句：

• Mother has become quite oblivious after the illness.这次病后，妈妈变得特别健忘。
• He was quite oblivious of the danger.他完全没有察觉到危险。

7 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

8 warriors   

武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I like reading the stories ofancient warriors. 我喜欢读有关古代武士的故事。
• The warriors speared the man to death. 武士们把那个男子戳死了。

9 tattooed   

v.刺青，文身( tattoo的过去式和过去分词 )；连续有节奏地敲击；作连续有节奏的敲击

参考例句：

• He had tattooed his wife's name on his upper arm. 他把妻子的名字刺在上臂上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sailor had a heart tattooed on his arm. 那水兵在手臂上刺上一颗心。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 thawed   

解冻

参考例句：

• The little girl's smile thawed the angry old man. 小姑娘的微笑使发怒的老头缓和下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He thawed after sitting at a fire for a while. 在火堆旁坐了一会儿，他觉得暖和起来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 spartans   

n.斯巴达（spartan的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The ancient Spartans used to expose babies that they did not want. 古斯巴达人常遗弃他们不要的婴儿。
• But one by one the Spartans fell. 可是斯巴达人一个一个地倒下了。

12 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？