And now that the Halo countdown has been halted, all threats of hostility and drums of war were silenced. Both the humans and the Arbiter’s Sangheili waited with bated breath, discussing what might be the best course of action to retrieve Mayhem and their people.
While the portal remained open and the UNSC’s naval forces amassed around it, meetings were being held for after-action analyses, but they were mostly exercises in self-congratulations. Everyone was complimenting everyone else for this close call, curious how the operation had been a success only days later, when a trip to the Ark should have taken weeks, if not months. No word had been heard back from the team that had actually gone to the Ark.
It was at that point that they become aware that something was coming through the portal.
The first of thousands of Retrievers come pouring out. The portal flickers wildly at the amount of Forerunner machines passing through it, but it manages to continue functioning.
The Retrievers are everywhere. So many now that the sun is blotted out. Some are angling downward toward the Earth’s surface while others are quickly peeling away, moving toward the surrounding UNSC warships at impossible speeds. No one yet understands why the Retrievers are here.
It is only then that the Retrievers commence their primary function. Hundreds of them, flowing down toward the Kenyan surface with incredible speed.
The UNSC quickly engaged their fleet to address the encroaching threat. Dozens of ships launched their salvos at the alien machines above the Excession, hammering at the Retrievers with every weapon at their disposal. On the ground, those below look up in disbelief. But that lasts only a moment. As the enormous UNSC ships launch their attack against the ancient Forerunner machines, the booming of explosions is heard and the descending debris, some of it the size of buildings, begins to slam into the ground. With the first thundering sound of a Retriever’s hull plummeting like a meteor into the savannah, everyone in the vicinity begins to run screaming for shelter. But there is none that can protect them. And on the ground, many of the machines have already gone to work, prying up the Earth’s surface with the force of a tornado. These Retrievers, despite the violence of their actions, are slowly but methodically stripping away chunks of earth and depositing it into their bins for transport back to the Ark.
The commanders of the UNSC vessels weren’t initially aware of what exactly the Retrievers are doing here, but it was quickly confirmed in the hostile machines’ first efforts. They remain unaware, however, that once the Retrievers have finished here, they will spread out all over the planet, and then beyond, to Luna, Mars, and humanity’s other interplanetary colonies. The truth is that the Retrievers are going to dismantle every world within the Sol system that can yield what they need. All they know is what is before them: an enemy that must be stopped. And that’s all they need to know.
As the mining Retrievers are fired upon, other heavily weaponized Retrievers unleash their own hailstorm, and their sole task is to battle the humans. Bolts of energy and high-density slugs are flying everywhere, turning the sky to fire as UNSC ships and Retrievers both shudder from the impact. The Forerunner creations, though many in number, have little to no shielding and thus are far less capable of enduring direct hits. It seemed, however, that no matter how much damage was done to the Retrievers’ forces, more still came through. There is simply no end to them, and now the UNSC vessels are quite outnumbered and outgunned.
The realization now hits the humans here. There simply won’t be enough ships to counter them all. This invasion has caught everyone by surprise, and there is no way that the local vessels can sufficiently recover. It is now the UNSC craft that are struck down. First one, then two, and within seconds ten—these once-majestic human ships are either sundered apart by a critical explosion, blooming into a thousand pieces in the sky, or are sent reeling toward the ground, only to detonate on impact. The humans are losing.
The Retrievers operate surgically, conducting their actions without any hesitation: uncaring, unfeeling, relentless. There is only their primary function, currently being carried out with simple determination. They fill the sky like locusts, uncountable and without mercy.
The fall of Earth is under way, its fate decided by an ancient construct hidden in the vast blackness that lies between galaxies.
CHAPTER 17
* * *
Let me show you what is currently occurring on your homeworld,” said the monitor, Solitude.
The energy that was suspending Vale in midair began to spin even more intensely. She felt it probing her brain, and images began to spill through. She gasped as she saw an image, presumably captured by one of the Retrievers. The portal was still open over Voi, and she witnessed thousands of Retrievers spilling out. Humanity’s homeworld was under attack.
“No,” she whispered. “Oh God, no.”
“The humans are fighting back, as you can see,” said Solitude. It actually almost sounded sympathetic. “It will not avail them, of course. But their determination is, I suppose, commendable on some level.”
“Stop it,” she said, emotion now gripping her throat. “Pull them back. Call the Retrievers off. There must be something other than this that you can do to make your repairs.”
“Not entirely. However, I find your persistent support for your fellow humans to be remarkable. If you would like . . . I am prepared to offer you a compromise.”
She had no idea what that meant but was eager even to grasp at straws right now. “Yes. Yes, absolutely. What compromise?”
“Tell the Huragok to return to me full control of the Ark, then order your people to deliver the Huragok to me.”
For a long moment, Vale was silent. She stared at the holographic representation of herself, which was clearly expecting a response. This was certainly a trick, but time was running out. She didn’t have any options, and the longer she waited the more people died back on Earth.
“How can this be done?”
“Some of your fellow humans are in one of the foundry’s control stations, along with the Huragok. They can hear you now. Tell them to withdraw their efforts, and I will, in turn, extract my forces.”
“Drifts, Luther . . .” she said, and her voice was rising in urgency. “Can you hear me?”
“Olympia?” It was Luther! The sound of his voice made her happy to know that he had survived. “Is that you?”
“Yes!”
“How are you talking to us? Where are you?!”
“I’m locked in a facility with the monitor of the Ark. It’s released an army of Retrievers to Earth. It’s going to use them to mine and destroy Earth, then the other worlds in our system . . .”
“We figured as much. Vale, how can we get to you?!”
“You can’t! Just listen to me, Luther,” she said, recognizing that she didn’t have much time left. “The monitor says that he won’t stop the attack unless Drifts Randomly hands over control back to him, and then we’re to surrender Drifts as well.”
“Did I hear you right, Olympia?” Luther was surprised by the request.
“Yes, but listen to me,” she said, her attention now directly on Solitude’s face—her own face—and spoke in a cold, detached voice: “Do not give any control to this sadistic, pathetic little machine! I don’t care what happens to me, but promise me that once Drifts is able, he’ll purge this Forerunner garbage out of the Ark’s systems once and for all!”
For the first time, Solitude staggered back and began to flicker. The monitor tried to get composure, but must have been genuinely shocked by Vale’s command. The communication link to Luther broke off, and Solitude now stared directly at Vale, its eyes filled with rage.
“I have no desire to terminate your life. You are reacting in a purely emotional manner and have not given due consideration to—”
“I have given plenty of consideration,” she said, her voice rising. “And I am done with you. If you really believe that destroying my people is the right course of action, then do it! End it—s
tarting with me! I have no desire to wind up being a prisoner here on the Ark—because that’s what I’ll be. And you will be my jailer. I am a human being, not one of the animals currently running around on your installation’s surface. If you don’t release me and recall the Retrievers, then we have nothing else to talk about. You should know that no matter what happens to me, you will be hunted down and expunged from the Ark’s system permanently. The Huragok managed to force you out, and it is only a short matter of time before it terminates your operability and your control of the Retrievers. And I’ll be damned if I am going to listen to any more nonsense from your mouth. So, if you are inclined, kill me. Now!”
The monitor stared at her for what seemed like an eternity, and then very softly, it said, “As you wish.”
Vale drifted back down toward the floor. As her feet touched it, the energy that had been surrounding her dissipated and she was able to move her arms.
The monitor drifted over her and said, “I very much regret that you wish to end your own life. But if that is your wish, then at the very least, I can give you the privilege of one final request on my part.”
“What are you talking about?”
The holograph of Vale began to shrink and disappear, and moments later a spherical machine composed of metallic armatures and bearing a single eye was hovering over her. She had become so accustomed to seeing it in its pseudo-human visage that it took her a moment to put together that this is what Solitude truly was.
And then a section of the floor in front of her began to rumble. A circle about two meters in diameter slid aside and something began to rise up from beneath it. She squinted, trying to make out what it was.
She gasped as it came into view. It had been a human male at one time, that much was certain. He was about six feet tall, and when he spotted her, his mouth twisted into a snarl. His face was horrific, an array of scars, burns, and grown-over skin, as if it had been stitched together into something that barely resembled a human being.
As for his body—there was hardly anything remotely resembling a human. Instead it was constructed mostly of metallic alloy parts that were clicking and whirring together as if he were a walking clock mechanism, with only bits and pieces of his former frame shown between. There was a human eye in his face on the right side, but his left side featured only a dark hollow, scarred and empty.
What the hell? she thought.
“Tell me,” the monitor said in a conversational manner. “Have you ever heard of a human vessel called Rubicon?”
“No,” she said carefully. She had no idea where this was going.
“It came here more than a year ago with the purpose of investigating the Ark,” it said. “Its crew dispatched teams to this installation. Despite their remarkable efforts, they fared much worse than you and yours. All of the teams, save for one, were exterminated and brought to an end. This man was part of one of those teams, and he was nearly killed. He would have perished there, on the surface of this world. But I found in him an opportunity and chose to spare his life. Well, what little of his life I could salvage. The truth is that, despite the power of this installation to activate the Halo Array, I am not able to do so. I need a human being, a Reclaimer. The activation you came here to stop was initiated by him, and whichever of you survives will be the next to initiate its reactivation.”
The transformed man turned toward Vale and took a step forward. His metal foot clanged loudly on the floor and echoed through the chamber.
I really wish I were a Spartan right now, she thought.
“Oh no,” whispered Kodiak.
The Spartans and Sangheili were still trapped on the other side of the energy field, and as it lessened they began to see once more inside. They watched helplessly as the human aberration rose from the hole in the floor. They were unable to hear the details of what the monitor was saying; speech from the other side remained muffled. But one thing was very evident: this cyborg monstrosity had not been introduced into the situation for the purpose of accomplishing anything beneficial.
“We’ve got to get through,” Kodiak told the others. “We have to get to her and stop this, fast.”
N’tho swung his plasma sword with all his strength, but it did no good. His weapon glanced harmlessly off the energy field.
“We need to find a way,” Kodiak was hitting the field with his fists. “We need to stop him!”
“I’m not even certain how we would do that,” said N’tho. “I have no idea what that is.”
Kodiak turned and said, in a voice that sounded as if it were coming from the other side of the grave, “That’s my brother.”
“What?”
“That’s my brother, Bobby. The one I told you of before. I’m sure of it. I don’t know what was done to him, and there may not be much of him left, but I swear that’s him.”
Holt walked up to the energy field and peered in close. Inside, the monitor’s true form could now be seen, a spherical, hovering machine similar to the monitors covered in their briefing days ago.
“I have an idea,” he said, turning to the others. “How much firepower do we have?”
Vale stared at the abominable construct in front of her, uncertain of her options. He was studying her as well, looking her up and down as if she were some sort of newly discovered alien life-form. She couldn’t even be certain that the cyborg was viewing her as a kindred human being, or for that matter, that he knew that he himself was no longer human.
“That single team that survived,” the monitor informed her, “returned to the Rubicon with an artifact—another powerful intelligence—and something that proved unforgiving to its entire crew. It took that ship far away from here, abandoning this human to me. That is what your people do. They pledge loyalty and then they break it. And that is what they have done to you.” Behind Solitude, she could now see that Kodiak and the others had left the place where they were behind the energy barrier.
Was this what he was referring to? Had they abandoned her?
The mutilated construct advanced upon her, while Vale carefully backed up. “Is that what the Forerunners did with you?” she said to the monitor. “Is that why you’re doing this now, Solitude? Because the Forerunners abandoned you and you’ve been here a hundred thousand years without anyone or anything?”
“I did not need the Forerunners then, and I do not need you now,” said the monitor resolutely.
The cyborg was suddenly running at her, moving with remarkable speed, considering his general bulk. Vale leaped to the side as he ran past her. He has trouble shifting speed and direction. That’s one good thing, I guess.
He spun and came at her again. She waited until he was almost upon her and then vaulted out of his path once again. This time she was concerned to see that he changed direction faster than he had before. He was adapting to her strategy.
“Listen to me,” she called out him, hoping that he might understand. “You don’t have to do what the machine wants you to do.”
“Do you truly think you can appeal to the man he once was?”
This time when the construct charged her, she was ready to jump out of the way. But he picked up speed at the last moment and, just as she sidestepped him, he grabbed her ankle and whipped her around. He flung Vale across the room with apparent ease, and she crashed into the far wall. The jolt rattled her teeth and scrambled her vision as she sank to the floor. Shake it off, shake it off, she thought to herself.
She got to her feet, and the construct came at her once more. Vale waited until the last possible moment, then she dodged to the right and drove a punch into his gut.
That was a mistake, because all she did was hit something that felt a hell of a lot like metal. Pain exploded in her fist, and she instantly realized that she may have broken something in her hand. She backpedalled quickly as he spun to face her.
He extended both of his arms, only one of which remained human, and half-meter-long, gleaming, razor-sharp blades snapped out of his forearms.
&n
bsp; “Excellent,” she said.
The construct advanced on her as she backed up. As she did so, she was sure that she heard something shouting from behind her. It was Kodiak without his helmet. He was back. She could see him behind the energy field on the perimeter of the room, slamming his fist into the semitranslucent barrier. He was repeatedly shouting something over and over. It was a name of some sort. It wasn’t hers, but she could tell it was a name. She strained to make it out through the energy field still blocking the way, but was unable to determine what it was.
The construct came in fast and swiped his blades at her. She dodged left and right, managing to stay out of his way as he kept on coming. Then he suddenly spun and brought his right-arm weapon sweeping in from the side.
Rather than try to avoid it, she caught it in a deft block. For a moment the two of them were shoving against each other, the monitor’s Frankensteinian construct far stronger than she was.
But it’s not just about strength. There’s more to survival than sheer brute force.
She twisted, spun around, and extended her left foot under the construct’s right foot, using his momentum against him. The move caught him off guard, crashing him heavily to the ground.
Quickly Vale bounded back as he swept out with his blades, trying to cut her legs out from under her. She vaulted over the razor-sharp weapons and drove a hard kick into the construct’s face. His head snapped back, and she tried repeating the blow. Instead he struck quickly and a blade sliced across her right calf. She let out an agonized howl and stumbled back. She’d been lucky; centimeters closer and he would have severed her Achilles tendon, hamstringing her and bringing an end to any defense she might have.