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There was no stopping her now.
After three hours of data grafting and getting accustomed to the new way of processing data, Cortana was finally finished with the transfer process. She did her best to ignore the fact there was not much data still missing --fifty-four percent-- and focus on the incredible fact that she had reached metastability.
She looked at Halsey. “I’m ready to attempt the interface with the MJOLNIR armor.”
The doctor, who hadn’t left her side since her avatar had been activated, nodded. “Go ahead and transfer yourself to Med Bay Three. I have John heading down there in case there are any issues with integration.”
“Understood.”
As she transferred herself through the Light’s systems, she allowed herself to analyze the Spartan that had been her near-constant companion throughout her departure from Reach.
John.
He had stayed with her much of the time since her reactivation. He, like Halsey, had patiently answered any questions she had so she could piece together as much of the missing information as possible.
Cortana wished she could accurately describe the relationship between the two of them. But even with access to his mission logs --seeing the Halo campaign through his eyes-- and the somewhat intact data she had managed to preserve --the majority of her time on the first Halo ring and High Charity had been lost-- she couldn’t pinpoint what they were to each other.
Best friends? Fellow soldiers both equally determined to complete their goal no matter the cost?
She pushed away the pointless inquiry. It didn’t really matter what they were; Cortana knew that, however someone would categorize their relationship, they managed to work together to bring down the Covenant and the Flood to save humanity.
She appeared in the holotank closest to the entrance of the med bay. It was no surprise to her that John entered the room first.
The AI seized on the fact they would have a couple of minutes alone before the others arrived. “Did you really hit your helmet to get me to shut up?” Cortana asked with a mixture of disbelief and amusement as automatic doors closed behind him.
She wished she could have seen the look on his face; based on the two second pause, he was not expecting her to ask that particular question. “What?”
Cortana was not fooled by his feigned ignorance. She suspected he knew exactly what she was talking about. “On the first Halo ring. When I transported you, I reversed the coordinates and you ended up materializing upside-down…”
“I was stressed out at the time.” She could hear the grimace in his voice.
“Huh,” Cortana said, not impressed with his answer. “Is there is anything else I should know about? Maybe like you taking out my matrix chip and threatening to throw it in deep space?”
He ignored her questions. “How is the data transfer going?”
Cortana flashed a brief smile. “It’s complete.”
“And?” he asked, stepping towards her.
She crossed her arms. “I know I should be grateful for being able to process anything right now, but I find myself frustrated. I am still missing enormous chunks of data.”
“Thanks to the information in your armor and Doctor Halsey’s files, I have been able to incorporate that data into my matrix, but my memories are still spotty,” Cortana quietly confessed. She hated admitting her weakness aloud. “I can remember choosing you as the Spartan I wanted to work with, but I can’t remember the first time I met you.”
“You could just ask,” he answered simply.
She had been doing that since her avatar activated. Still, there was so many answers that she yearned to know. She shook her head. “There’s too much missing.”
“We have time.”
She considered his offer. Cortana knew that soon Bias would give her access to the Forerunner mainframe and she would be able to reacquire all the data --and more-- that she got from the first Halo ring and once they returned to Earth, she would have full access to the UNSC database, but there were some things that only John would be able to show her.
“Well,” she smirked, “seeing your face would be nice.”
Cortana wondered if her request bothered him. He stared at her long enough to make her feel like she asked him to do something obscenely inappropriate.
“John?”
Finally, he reached around and released the locks on his helmet. Wordlessly, he took off his helmet and set it next to her holotank. He knelt in front of her, allowing her to silently study his face.
He was handsome. For a human.
His dark brown eyes studied her closely as she surveyed him. John remained silent as she continued her visual inspection of the man in front of her. The long, jagged scar running down his chin told of his dangerous past. Without thinking about his reaction, she raised her hand up to his face. He held his breath as she attempted to trace a long scar running across his jaw.
“How did you get this?” she asked softly, letting her hand fall.
John breathed again.
“I got a little too close to an illegal trader on Arvada nine,” he said, standing up. “She wasn’t too happy at the fact a bunch of kids had busted up her weapon ring. She managed to fire off an RPG at my group. I was too close to the shrapnel. My jaw shattered at the impact. Sam and Grace got me back to the transport quickly. When I got back aboard, they weren’t too sure if I would make it.”
“But, like always, you defied the odds,” she said proudly.
“You always told me I was lucky.” He put the helmet back on. He seemed back comfortable with his face hidden behind his visor, Cortana noted.
“Well, I did choose you,” she replied playfully.
The moment was interrupted when the doors opened. Halsey walked in with her ever-present tablet in her hands. “Did you have the final analysis ready?”
Cortana nodded. “I’m sending the projections to you now.” Despite the confidence in her voice, the AI was concerned that the initial data transfer when she entered the armor would be too much for John’s nervous system to handle.
While the algorithm Bias created for her did allow her to avoid the threat of rampancy, the sheer speed of her processes moved so quickly, the armor would never be able to directly interface with her chip as it had before. She and Halsey had created a buffering system that would hopefully prevent any issues between the two of them.
Halsey frowned slightly. Cortana knew she wouldn’t like the projections, but there was nothing in their current condition they could do to lessen the risk to the Spartan.
“If there was any other solutions, I would have found them,” Cortana said.
“I know.” The doctor turned towards John. “The procedure is going to be rather...intense, John. Cortana has done everything she can do to insure your safety, but there is the risk that her new chip will be too much for your armor to handle.”
John looked at Cortana and nodded. “I understand, ma’am.”
“Very well.” Halsey reluctantly nodded.
Cortana looked at the Chief and nodded. “Yank me.”
He reached over to the holotank. Cortana felt the herself rush out of the Light’s system and move into the confining space of the matrix chip. Seconds later. she recognized the data signature of John’s armor. She transferred her systems into the suit.
Immediately, the system warned her about John’s vitals. His blood pressure was dropping; his pulse was racing. She scrambled to reinforce the buffer, but it was too late: John had lost consciousness.
Chapter 11: Was There Something You Wanted to Tell Us?
After three hours of data grafting and getting accustomed to the new way of processing data, Cortana was finally finished with the transfer process. She did her best to ignore the fact there was not much data still missing --fifty-four percent-- and focus on the incredible fact that she had reached metastability.
She looked at Halsey. “I’m ready to attempt the interface with the MJOLNIR armor.”
The doctor, who hadn’t left her side since her avatar had been activated, nodded. “Go ahead and transfer yourself to Med Bay Three. I have John heading down there in case there are any issues with integration.”
“Understood.”
As she transferred herself through the Light’s systems, she allowed herself to analyze the Spartan that had been her near-constant companion throughout her departure from Reach.
John.
He had stayed with her much of the time since her reactivation. He, like Halsey, had patiently answered any questions she had so she could piece together as much of the missing information as possible.
Cortana wished she could accurately describe the relationship between the two of them. But even with access to his mission logs --seeing the Halo campaign through his eyes-- and the somewhat intact data she had managed to preserve --the majority of her time on the first Halo ring and High Charity had been lost-- she couldn’t pinpoint what they were to each other.
Best friends? Fellow soldiers both equally determined to complete their goal no matter the cost?
She pushed away the pointless inquiry. It didn’t really matter what they were; Cortana knew that, however someone would categorize their relationship, they managed to work together to bring down the Covenant and the Flood to save humanity.
She appeared in the holotank closest to the entrance of the med bay. It was no surprise to her that John entered the room first.
The AI seized on the fact they would have a couple of minutes alone before the others arrived. “Did you really hit your helmet to get me to shut up?” Cortana asked with a mixture of disbelief and amusement as automatic doors closed behind him.
She wished she could have seen the look on his face; based on the two second pause, he was not expecting her to ask that particular question. “What?”
Cortana was not fooled by his feigned ignorance. She suspected he knew exactly what she was talking about. “On the first Halo ring. When I transported you, I reversed the coordinates and you ended up materializing upside-down…”
“I was stressed out at the time.” She could hear the grimace in his voice.
“Huh,” Cortana said, not impressed with his answer. “Is there is anything else I should know about? Maybe like you taking out my matrix chip and threatening to throw it in deep space?”
He ignored her questions. “How is the data transfer going?”
Cortana flashed a brief smile. “It’s complete.”
“And?” he asked, stepping towards her.
She crossed her arms. “I know I should be grateful for being able to process anything right now, but I find myself frustrated. I am still missing enormous chunks of data.”
“Thanks to the information in your armor and Doctor Halsey’s files, I have been able to incorporate that data into my matrix, but my memories are still spotty,” Cortana quietly confessed. She hated admitting her weakness aloud. “I can remember choosing you as the Spartan I wanted to work with, but I can’t remember the first time I met you.”
“You could just ask,” he answered simply.
She had been doing that since her avatar activated. Still, there was so many answers that she yearned to know. She shook her head. “There’s too much missing.”
“We have time.”
She considered his offer. Cortana knew that soon Bias would give her access to the Forerunner mainframe and she would be able to reacquire all the data --and more-- that she got from the first Halo ring and once they returned to Earth, she would have full access to the UNSC database, but there were some things that only John would be able to show her.
“Well,” she smirked, “seeing your face would be nice.”
Cortana wondered if her request bothered him. He stared at her long enough to make her feel like she asked him to do something obscenely inappropriate.
“John?”
Finally, he reached around and released the locks on his helmet. Wordlessly, he took off his helmet and set it next to her holotank. He knelt in front of her, allowing her to silently study his face.
He was handsome. For a human.
His dark brown eyes studied her closely as she surveyed him. John remained silent as she continued her visual inspection of the man in front of her. The long, jagged scar running down his chin told of his dangerous past. Without thinking about his reaction, she raised her hand up to his face. He held his breath as she attempted to trace a long scar running across his jaw.
“How did you get this?” she asked softly, letting her hand fall.
John breathed again.
“I got a little too close to an illegal trader on Arvada nine,” he said, standing up. “She wasn’t too happy at the fact a bunch of kids had busted up her weapon ring. She managed to fire off an RPG at my group. I was too close to the shrapnel. My jaw shattered at the impact. Sam and Grace got me back to the transport quickly. When I got back aboard, they weren’t too sure if I would make it.”
“But, like always, you defied the odds,” she said proudly.
“You always told me I was lucky.” He put the helmet back on. He seemed back comfortable with his face hidden behind his visor, Cortana noted.
“Well, I did choose you,” she replied playfully.
The moment was interrupted when the doors opened. Halsey walked in with her ever-present tablet in her hands. “Did you have the final analysis ready?”
Cortana nodded. “I’m sending the projections to you now.” Despite the confidence in her voice, the AI was concerned that the initial data transfer when she entered the armor would be too much for John’s nervous system to handle.
While the algorithm Bias created for her did allow her to avoid the threat of rampancy, the sheer speed of her processes moved so quickly, the armor would never be able to directly interface with her chip as it had before. She and Halsey had created a buffering system that would hopefully prevent any issues between the two of them.
Halsey frowned slightly. Cortana knew she wouldn’t like the projections, but there was nothing in their current condition they could do to lessen the risk to the Spartan.
“If there was any other solutions, I would have found them,” Cortana said.
“I know.” The doctor turned towards John. “The procedure is going to be rather...intense, John. Cortana has done everything she can do to insure your safety, but there is the risk that her new chip will be too much for your armor to handle.”
John looked at Cortana and nodded. “I understand, ma’am.”
“Very well.” Halsey reluctantly nodded.
Cortana looked at the Chief and nodded. “Yank me.”
He reached over to the holotank. Cortana felt the herself rush out of the Light’s system and move into the confining space of the matrix chip. Seconds later. she recognized the data signature of John’s armor. She transferred her systems into the suit.
Immediately, the system warned her about John’s vitals. His blood pressure was dropping; his pulse was racing. She scrambled to reinforce the buffer, but it was too late: John had lost consciousness.
Chapter 11: Was There Something You Wanted to Tell Us?
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