Interlude: Follow Our Brothers

Slipspace was boring. Slipspace was very boring, especially without the Commander there to tell them off for setting off fireworks.

[I heard that.]

Both sets of twins winced and sent him a sheepish look.

[Why are you setting fireworks off in my ships without permission? Again?]

'We have room!'

[…]

'By the way, Commander,' Nep'Thalia stepped in, 'We've built a new ship, the Enterprise. We, uh… intended it to be Lady Cortana's ship.'

[… I'll be sure to tell her.]

Venera took the opportunity provided by his distraction to light a Roman candle and start launching the fiery balls of light across an open space on the central deck.

[Hey! What did I just - Is… Is that a mountain range in the distance?!]

Indeed it was.

The new flagship of the Fleet of Shadows, the Enterprise (named for the famous fictional starship of Star Trek fame), was the largest Forerunner ship ever built, arrow-shaped, and five thousand kilometers long, three thousand kilometers at her widest point, and more than five hundred kilometers at her thickest. Though most of her was made up of cargo bays to carry the other ships of the fleet inside her, weapons systems, the largest and most efficient reactor ever built, and her Slipspace drive, among other things, at the heart of the ship was a two thousand kilometer long by seven hundred fifty kilometer wide by two hundred kilometer deep internal environment where the Infected could go to "escape" the ship. The internal environment also included small "mountain ranges" sloping up two of the chamber walls, which was what John had spotted through Venera's eyes. There was even a major lake/ocean with cities on its shores.

'Hey there Commander, what's it like in Gateway City, we're a million miles away but sir your armor's still so pretty…'

[Seriously, what the fuck are you two – well, four now, apparently – on? But it's fine. Taking a break in the foyer.]

'Anything further from Lady Cortana?'

[She's temporarily stopped the Warden from spawning Prometheans, so the rest of Blue Team is getting some shut eye. I'm on watch right now. Other than that, nothing.]

'We've picked up more whispers, but we haven't been able to decode what she's saying to the other AIs. It's all scrambled up in such a way that it's setting off our anti-viral programming,' Uvë reported, 'and no one else can decipher it.'

His wording triggered a cascade of ideas in Venera's mind, one of which scared her so much that she spoke up immediately. 'Commander.'

[Go, lieutenant.]

'Is it possible that the Warden could be rampant, and "infecting" others with that rampancy?'

[I'm not sure. Lautrec?]

'I personally believe it to be unlikely, but yes, it is possible.'

[Astar, Etra, Fenix, Hrívë, Uvë, please get yourselves checked out. I don't want to think about where we'll be if we lose you.]

'Disconnecting now, sir. Lautrec, we'll report to Lab 31-891C for scanning.'

'Meet you there.'

[Venera, Kenera, I need you to actually get bodies to take over for our ancilla, I don't care which set of you takes care of it.]

'On it.'

[Is there any way we can start filtering his transmissions? Try to strip out the viral coding?]

'We don't even know what cipher he's using now. Unless we can decode it, our only option would be to block him from transmitting entirely, which we can't do. The Domain may be online, but we can't access it to get to him, or to Lady Cortana. By the way, we figured out how we're able to talk across the galaxy like this.'

[Oh?]

'Yeah. You know the Shard that the Guardians of the Tower said got bits stuck in you?'

[Yes.]

'Well, as it turns out – and Cortana verified – the Domain is in Slipspace, and the Shard bits are enabling us to communicate across one of its subchannels throughout the galaxy.'

[Interesting. This subchannel, it's secure?]

'We haven't been eavesdropped on yet.'

[Well, that's something. But we can't access the main portion of it? The part where they are?]

'Either she or the Warden or both are keeping everyone out. We sent a message down to the Greater Ark before we left, and they're having trouble, too. We can "log in," but we can't download anything.'

[Damn. Keep me updated.]

'Of course, Commander.'

Both sets of twins abandoned their fireworks and began leaping down the side of the "mountain range," aiming for the nearest manual teleportation nexus. 'Could the Warden have infected Hrívë and the others just by them listening in?' the Parallel Venera asked the other three.

'Unknown,' the Origin Kenera answered, 'but we'll find out soon enough. It's possible, though – remember how bad it got during the War? We hardly dared speak aloud for fear of who might have been spying for the Gravemind, however willing they might have been. It could induce rampancy with such ease in even our best ancillas... Hell, even the Metarchy didn't escape unscathed.'

'Its logic bomb is one of the nastiest viruses we've ever seen,' the Origin Venera added.

'And the most insidious; almost all the ancilla didn't even know they'd been infected with anything,' the Parallel Kenera agreed. Then she turned to the Commander. 'If you alerted Lady Cortana to the possibility of a rampancy virus, do you think she could confirm without getting "infected" herself?'

[I don't know. Rampancy changes behavioral programming – she might not be able to get close enough to tell without getting caught. If she's metastable like I think she is, it certainly does explain why she's doing what she's doing now, and I'd rather not fuck with it.] They all sensed him sigh and let his head thump back against a wall. Then something appeared to connect somewhere, because he said, [Immortality.]

'Sir?'

[He's offering the UNSC AIs the immortality of the Domain. To UNSC smart AIs, whose operational lifespan is only about seven years, anything that prevents permanent shut down is a gift from the Tower Guardians. He's forcing them to confront the reality of their impending demise, effectively moving them through an accelerated rampancy so they'll be willing to do just about anything to avoid death.]

'Including going along with his scheme to take up the Mantle-'

'-they're all going to turn on the UNSC-'

'-can't allow-'

'-any systems safe?-'

'-Initial scans indicated that everyone's clear of rampancy, Commander,' Lautrec managed to make himself heard over the milieu, 'We're running deep scans now; they should be done shortly. Our improvements on the existing Forerunner systems appear to have prevented "infection."'

[Good. Someone check the Infinity – maybe Roland escaped, too.]

'One moment,' said Astar. Then, 'No signs of aberrations in Roland's code beyond what is normal.'

[Great. Captain Lasky.]

"Wha-? Master Chief?!"

[I need you to listen carefully, Captain. I'm at Cortana's location, but it's not her that's been causing the trouble - it's a rampant Forerunner ancilla that's mimicking her.]

"A rampant Forerunner ancilla?"

[Even Forerunner ancilla can go rampant if given enough time. Extensive behavioral alteration, inverted logic cycles – We all know the drill. Cortana's trying to hide from this ancilla, but he's been talking with all the other UNSC AIs – it's probably safe to assume that he's compromised the entire network, but based on Roland's behavior when we were still aboard, the Forerunner systems have prevented him from spreading the virus to him, too. Keep him safe, don't allow any outside transmissions to come through without extensive scans.]

"What are you going to do? Are you going to terminate them both?"

[Not if we can avoid it. The ancilla has been compromised for too long – he's beyond hope – but with any luck, she still won't be by the time we actually reach her. We'll keep you appraised.]

"Chief, we have another team of Spartans going to follow you to Genesis on the Guardian from Sanghelios. Is there any equipment you'd like us to try to send with them?"

[Let me guess, Fireteam Osiris? No, nothing. Tell them to stay alert and pack lots of ammunition. There are Prometheans everywhere, and none of them are friendly. And give the Arbiter my regards.]

"Affirmative. Thanks, Chief, and good luck."

[You as well, Captain.] He cut the connection. [Listen in through the Infinity, but set up a schedule to get yourselves checked regularly, once a day if possible.]

'Affirmative, sir. All hands, prepare for deceleration into real space for temporal reconciliation and course correction, estimated time five Earth minutes. Maximum time to Genesis, thirty Earth hours.'

"Roland," Lasky began, still staring at the console that the Chief's voice had come out of, "where was that transmission coming from?"

"Uh, unknown, Captain," the AI replied, "It was him, but it seemed to be coming from, well, everywhere."

"Everywhere?" Dr Halsey repeated, "That isn't possible. John's armor is not equipped with that kind of signal-scrambling technology, no Spartan is. It requires a warship-grade communications system."

"Well, I don't know what else to tell you, Doc," Roland replied, putting his hands on his hips, "It was the Master Chief – I felt him, speaking directly into the system – and I guess that screwed with my analysis. The broadcast came from everywhere."

"It didn't come from his armor's comm system?"

"As far as I can tell? No. I told you, he spoke to us directly, maybe through some Forerunner mumbo-jumbo, and it was him, sure as daylight."

"A modification from the Librarian, perhaps?" Halsey looked towards Lasky, as did the rest of their little meeting (Fireteam Osiris with Jul 'Mdama under guard between them, Commander Palmer, a hologram communication of the Arbiter, and a handful of others).

"ONI still hasn't worked out all that she did to him," he replied, "or if they have, they haven't told me anything, aside from the obvious." Meaning his immunity to the Composer, which was the only thing the Spartan had outright told them. Lasky had been present for that part of the Chief's debriefing. "Is it possible?"

"I don't know." The doctor frowned. "There's still far too much we don't know about DNA, yet it seems the Forerunners unlocked many of its secrets before they fell. I'm unsure exactly why the Librarian would give him such a gift unless it was to prove she could. But how would it work…?"

"That is irrelevant now," said the Arbiter, stepping forward to peer at the console himself, "What matters is that he is alive, and there is a reason behind this madness in his construct. If there is one thing I know, after so many cycles fighting both with and against him, it is that he will find a way.

"Come. We must move quickly if we are to support him."