Dr. Halsey buzzed the door open, and the Master Chief en.tered the clean room.
"You wanted to see me, Doctor?" He quickly looked the room over—taking in theadjoining surgical2 suites3, and the strange or.ange sterile-field lamps set every meter into reflective recessions in the tiled walls.
Dr. Halsey had clamped five displays onto the arm of one of the contoured examination chairs in this room. She sat cross-legged in the chair and balanced a large alphanumeric-symbolic keyboard on her lap. Perched precariously4 on the side tray were Styrofoam cups of half-drunk coffee.
She waved the Chief forward. "I see you are ignoring sound medical advice by movingbefore you have fully5 healed.""I'm fine, ma'am," he replied.
She snorted in disbelief. "John—I've never known you to tell an outright7 lie. I'm pickingup telemetry from your armor, right now." She swiveled one of the monitors on her chairso he could see erratic8 biosigns pulsing on the screen. "What with the burns, contusions,fractures, and internal bleeding, you should be in shock. The only sleep you've gotten in a week was unconscious.ness brought on by your wounds. And you say you're 'fine'?"He stood and said nothing.
"Very well. I suppose you know your limitations better than anyone else." She turned thedisplay back around. "I wanted toERIC NYLUND243speak about your report on the alien construct—Halo. I've pieced together a bit of thestory based on Admiral Whitcomb's recounting of your adventures, Cortana's debriefing,and the mis.sion logs of Locklear, Johnson... and the curious partial mission log of one PFC Wallace Jenkins."The Master Chief shifted uneasily.
"There are inconsistencies that I must resolve before we get back to Earth." She pushedher glasses higher onto the bridge of her nose. "One of them is Sergeant9 Johnson." Shetapped in commands on her keyboard. "Please step closer, John. I want you to see thiswith me."The Master Chief moved alongside her chair. His massive weight thudded through thethick deck plating. Two meters tall and half a ton of metal and somehow Dr. Halsey couldn't help thinking of him occasionally as the same little boy she had stolen from hisparents in Elysium City.
No. John had changed. She hadn't. She was the one who still carried the three-decade-oldfestering guilt10.
She took a deep breath and refocused her attention on the video records before her. On screen played mission logs that showed Covenant and Marines in firefights, the oddForerunner architec.ture in the interior of the Halo construct, and the terrifying omniparasiticlife-form known as the Flood.
She replayed the mission record of Private Jenkins and the first Flood attack.
John stiffened11 as Captain Keyes appeared on screen and as the Flood consumed theCaptain and his squad12. Sergeant Johnson was there, too, fighting and cursing ... until thehordes of tiny, podlike Infection Forms swarmed13 over him.
"The Sergeant survived," she said. "The only human to have direct exposure to the Floodmeta-organism and walk away.""I know," the Master Chief whispered. "I'm not sure how he survived. How could anyone live through that?""That's the simple part," Dr. Halsey told him without looking up from her displays. Shetapped a key, and the Sergeant's medi.cal records flashed on screen. "See, here?" Shetouched a file dated three years before. "He was diagnosed with Boren's Syndrome14.""I haven't heard of it," the Chief said.
"I'm not surprised. It's caused by exposure to high-yield244HALO: FIRST STRIKEplasma. Like the burst released by a Covenant plasma15 grenade. We don't see many cases —people usually die from the direct ef.fects of those weapons long before these secondary symptoms manifest.
"Apparently16, the Sergeant captured a crate17 of plasma grenades from the Covenant duringthe Siege of Paris IV He used them all—received a commendation for bravery ... and atwelve-hundred-rad cumulative18 dose of radiation as an unanticipated bonus."John was silent for several minutes. Dr. Halsey wasn't sure if he was reading thecomputer files, contemplating19 her words, or trying to confirm all this on a private COM channel with Cor-tana. His impenetrable armor made discussions with normal so.cialconventions nearly impossible. It irritated her, yet without that armor with its constant hydrostatic pressure and automated20 biofoam injectors, John would have literally21 fallen apart by now.
For a fleeting22 moment she remembered when she had first read Alexander Dumas's Man in the Iron Mask. She had felt terror when the noble prisoner had been encased withinthat metal shell. How did John cope with the constant suffocating23 enclosure?
The Master Chief finally said, "I don't see the connection be.tween the Sergeant'ssickness and his surviving the Flood.""Boren's Syndrome," Dr. Halsey explained, "is characterized by migraines, amnesia24, and brain tumors . .. and without the proper treatment, death. It disrupts the electrical signalsin a per.son's nervous system.""Is it treatable?""Yes, but it requires thirty weeks of intensive chemotherapy. Which brings me to this." She hit the NEXT PAGE key and an offi.cial "Refusal of Treatment" document appearedon screen. "The Sergeant did not wait thirty weeks to get back and fight."The Master Chief nodded, understanding the heroic, futile25 gesture. "How did thisdisruption of his nervous system save him?""I've deconvoluted the biosigns of the soldiers overtaken by the Flood. The parasiteinterfaces with a host by forcing a reso.nant frequency match to each host's neural26 system."ERIC NYLUND245"And the Sergeant's nervous system is so jumbled27 that the Flood couldn't force a match?""Correct," she said. "Further blood tests show his system bearing traces of Flood DNA— very much dead and noninfec-tious, but some gene28 fragments are intact. I believe this isproof of a failed attempt to possess him. It also appears to have im.parted him with somecurious regenerative abilities, although I cannot yet fully confirm this side effect."The Master Chief seemed to relax a notch29 from his usual ram30.rod stiff at-attentionstature. This new information seemed to put him at ease. "I think I see.""No," Dr. Halsey told him, and she removed her glasses. "You don't.""Doctor?""Discovering how he survived is not what I wanted to discuss. It's what happens next toSergeant Avery Johnson."She shut off her monitors and eased back into the chair. "I've prepared two separatereports on this for ONI Section Three. The first has all relevant data on my analysis andthe possible technology to counter an initial Flood infestation31. The second includes thesource material: Private Jenkins's and Sergeant Johnson's mission logs and the Sergeant'smedical files."She downloaded the reports onto two data cr stals and ejected them from the port on thechair's arm. She set the clear cubes on the trayyy and gestured for John to take them. "Ileave it up to you which to deliver to Lieutenant32 Haverson.""Why would I withhold33 any data, Doctor?" the Master Chief asked and glanced at thecrystals.
Her eyes focused past him as she struggled to find the words to match her conflictingemotions. "For a long time I had thought that we had to sacrifice a few for the good of theentire human race." She took a deep breath and let it go with a heavy sigh. "I have killedand maimed and caused a great deal of suffering to many people—all in the name of self-preservation." Her steely blue gaze found him. "But now I'm not sure that philosophy hasworked out too well. I should have been trying to save every single human life—nomatter what it cost."Dr. Halsey pushed the tray bearing the data crystals toward the Master Chief. "If you give ONI the first report, they may be246HALO: FIRST STRIKEable to find a countermeasure for the Flood. Maybe. They would have a slightly better chance, however, if you give them the sec.ond report.""Then I'll give them the second report." He picked up the crystal.
"Which will murder Sergeant Johnson," she said with a chill in her voice. "ONI will not besatisfied to take a sample of blood. They will dissect34 him to find out how he resisted theFlood. It will be a billion-to-one shot that they'll ever replicate35 his unique medicalconditions—but they'll do it anyway. They will kill him because the trade-off is worth it tothem."The Master Chief picked up the other crystal and then stared at them both lying in hisgauntleted hand.
"Is it worth it to you, John?" she asked.
He curled his hand in a fist and held it close to his chest. "Why do you want me to makethis choice?""One last lesson. I'm trying to teach you something it's taken me all my life to realize." Shecleared her throat of the lump thickening there. "I'm giving you the chance to make thedeci.sion that I thought I couldn't make."She glanced at the clock on her display. "I'm sorry. Linda is almost prepped for surgery,and I have several things I must ac.complish before then. You should go."The Master Chief obediently turned and strode toward the exit, but halted in thedoorway. "Doctor, don't let her die again." He then left the room.
Dr. Halsey watched until he rounded the corridor and was gone. She hoped she saw Johnagain before she did what she had to do, but she might not. Would the thought she hadplanted within him take hold? The gesture might be the only thing she could do to atone36 for what she'd done to him and the other Spartans37.
Such thoughts were luxuries when there were only three hours before Ascendant Justice exited Slipspace. There was too much to do before then.
She turned all the monitors to face her and typed in the com.mand to unsquelch Cortana.
"Lock the door," Dr. Halsey ordered Cortana. "Boost counter-intrusion measures to levelseven."ERIC NYLUND247"Done," Cortana said. The irritation39 at having been silenced for the last five minutes waslike barbed wire in her voice. "What precisely40 was all that about? Teach the Master Chiefa lesson? Giving him a choice? Save one man instead of billions?"Dr. Halsey ignored her and rapidly typed in commands on her keyboard. "Give me accessto your core coordinates41 four-four-seven.""Block removed," Cortana said with an exasperated42 sigh. "Are you going to answer myquestion?""I'm tired of sacrificing others for the 'greater good,' " Dr. Halsey replied. "It never stops,Cortana ... and we're running out of people to sacrifice." She tapped in a final commandfor the memory-wiping worm function and punched the ENTER key.
"What—""I'm erasing43 your files on this matter. I'm sorry, Cortana, but with this, I cannot trust evenyou."Cortana was silenced as the worm burned through her memory and obliterated44 allinquiries and recordings45 pertaining46 to Ser.geant Avery Johnson.
"Cortana, give me an update on your core memory.""Recom iling of routines has resulted in a memory-processing footprint reduction ofsixteen pppercent, Doctor. Thank you. That gives me a little more room to think.""I'm afraid that's all we dare risk," Dr. Halsey said. "The Halo and Covenant AI data couldbecome corrupted47 if I do more. And there is no place safe enough to store thatinformation."Dr. Halsey loaded mission reports from Admiral Whitcomb's, John's, and Fred's teams.She frowned at the official UNSC inci.dent48 forms as their highlighted time, date, andlocation stamps scrolled49 across her screens.
"Are you done with the temporal analysis of these logs?""Yes, Doctor. You were correct: There is a discrepancy50 be.tween the Halo team and theteam on Reach. The time stamps are off by an average of three weeks. I hypothesize thatthis was caused by my gravity-influenced Slipspace transition."The corners of Dr. Halsey's mouth flickered51 into a smile. "I'm disappointed, Cortana.That's a guess ... and an incorrect one at that.""Really?" Cortana replied with a hint of challenge in her tone.
248HALO: FIRST STRIKE"Do you have any data from your subsequent gravity-influenced translation to correlate?"There was a two-second pause, and then Cortana finally an.swered, "Yes, Doctor. There are no temporal displacements52 on those later jumps.""As I suspected." Dr. Halsey tapped her finger on her lower lip as she thought. "Plot thetemporal irregularities on a space-time surface. Then call up my file on the spatialdistortion generated by the alien artifact."On the displays appeared two sets of nearly identical curved membranes53 that stretchedabout a central location and time: Reach and the recovery of the strange artifact.
"That thing not only bends space," Dr. Halsey whispered to herself, "but bends time as well.""That's not possible," Cortana said. "How could the artifact on Reach affect us on Halo— light-years away?""Don't think of it as physical distance," Dr. Halsey replied ab-sentmindedly, staring at themonitors. "You and John were on an event path intersecting the crystal." She moved thecurves over one another; the time and space surfaces were a perfect match. "You had tobe there at that place and time to recover us and remove the crystal—time and space warped54 to make that event occur."Cortana gave a derisive55 laugh. "That's circular logic56, Doctor. It directly contravenes57 several well-established theories—""And it fits the known data." Dr. Halsey shut down the files containing her analysis. "I see now why the Covenant are so in.terested in this object. They mustn't be allowed to gettheir hands on it. Not them, and certainly not Section Three, either.""Doctor?"Dr. Halsey turned to the screen with her memory-devouring worm and moved it to a new pointer in Cortana's core. She exe.cuted the program—destroying the AI's memory of this conver.sation, too.
"Give me an update on SPARTANARTAN'-058s condition, Cortana.""Core temperature increasing at a steady point-two degrees Celsius58 per minute, attaining59 thirty-seven degrees in ten minutes.""Very good. Prep and move the flash-cloned liver and kidneys from storage and readysurgical bay three."ERIC NYLUND249"Aye, Doctor."Linda's medical data winked60 on a display along with the en.tire Spartan38 roster61: a long listof every Spartan's current opera.tional status. Only a handful was left, almost every one of them listed as WOUNDED IN ACTION or MISSING IN ACTION.
"No KIAs?" Dr. Halsey murmured. She touched SPARTAN-034's entry. "Sam is listed as missing in action. Why would that be? He died in 2525.""ONI Section Two Directive Nine-Three-Zero," Cortana re.plied6. "When ONI went publicwith the SPARTAN-II program, it was decided62 that the reports of Spartan losses couldcause a crip.pling loss of morale63. Consequently, any Spartan casualties are listed as MIAor WIA, in order to maintain the illusion that Spar.tans do not die.""Spartans never die?" she whispered. Dr. Halsey swiveled out of the contoured chair andpushed the monitors out of her way with a sudden violence. "If only that were true."There was so much to do and so little time left for her, the Spar.tans, and the human race.She could do something, though. She'd save them one person at a time, starting withLinda, then Kelly, and then a handful of very important others.
Of course, it meant betraying everyone who trusted her—but if that was the only way Dr.Halsey could save herself, and her soul, then she'd do it.
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1
covenant
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| n.盟约，契约；v.订盟约 | |
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surgical
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| adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的 | |
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suites
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| n.套( suite的名词复数 )；一套房间；一套家具；一套公寓 | |
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precariously
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| adv.不安全地；危险地；碰机会地；不稳定地 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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plied
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| v.使用（工具）( ply的过去式和过去分词 )；经常供应（食物、饮料）；固定往来；经营生意 | |
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outright
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| adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的 | |
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erratic
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| adj.古怪的，反复无常的，不稳定的 | |
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sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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stiffened
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| 加强的 | |
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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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swarmed
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| 密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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syndrome
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| n.综合病症；并存特性 | |
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plasma
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| n.血浆，细胞质，乳清 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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crate
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| vt.(up)把…装入箱中；n.板条箱，装货箱 | |
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cumulative
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| adj.累积的，渐增的 | |
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contemplating
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| 深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想 | |
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automated
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| a.自动化的 | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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fleeting
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| adj.短暂的，飞逝的 | |
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suffocating
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| a.使人窒息的 | |
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amnesia
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| n.健忘症，健忘 | |
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futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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neural
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| adj.神经的，神经系统的 | |
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jumbled
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| adj.混乱的；杂乱的 | |
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gene
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| n.遗传因子，基因 | |
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notch
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| n.(V字形)槽口，缺口，等级 | |
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ram
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| (random access memory)随机存取存储器 | |
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infestation
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| n.侵扰，蔓延 | |
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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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withhold
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| v.拒绝，不给；使停止，阻挡 | |
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dissect
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| v.分割；解剖 | |
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replicate
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| v.折叠，复制，模写；n.同样的样品；adj.转折的 | |
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atone
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| v.赎罪，补偿 | |
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spartans
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| n.斯巴达（spartan的复数形式） | |
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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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irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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coordinates
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| n.相配之衣物；坐标( coordinate的名词复数 )；（颜色协调的）配套服装；[复数]女套服；同等重要的人（或物）v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的第三人称单数 )；协调；协同；成为同等 | |
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exasperated
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| adj.恼怒的 | |
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erasing
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| v.擦掉( erase的现在分词 )；抹去；清除 | |
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obliterated
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| v.除去( obliterate的过去式和过去分词 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
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recordings
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| n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片 | |
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pertaining
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| 与…有关系的，附属…的，为…固有的(to) | |
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corrupted
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| （使）败坏( corrupt的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）腐化； 引起（计算机文件等的）错误； 破坏 | |
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dent
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| n.凹痕，凹坑；初步进展 | |
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scrolled
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| adj.具有涡卷装饰的v.（电脑屏幕上）从上到下移动（资料等），卷页( scroll的过去式和过去分词 )；（似卷轴般）卷起；（像展开卷轴般地）将文字显示于屏幕 | |
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discrepancy
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| n.不同；不符；差异；矛盾 | |
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51
flickered
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| （通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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displacements
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| n.取代( displacement的名词复数 )；替代；移位；免职 | |
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53
membranes
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| n.（动物或植物体内的）薄膜( membrane的名词复数 )；隔膜；（可起防水、防风等作用的）膜状物 | |
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warped
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| adj.反常的；乖戾的；（变）弯曲的；变形的v.弄弯，变歪( warp的过去式和过去分词 )；使（行为等）不合情理，使乖戾， | |
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derisive
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| adj.嘲弄的 | |
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logic
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| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
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contravenes
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| v.取消，违反( contravene的第三人称单数 ) | |
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Celsius
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| adj.摄氏温度计的，摄氏的 | |
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attaining
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的现在分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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winked
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| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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roster
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| n.值勤表，花名册 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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morale
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| n.道德准则，士气，斗志 | |
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