TEANA'S TRAVELS BOOK 1 CHAPTER 18 - THE LIBRARY
Halo Installation 04
Library Installation
September 21st 2552
0150 hours
In the corner of a hallway of the first floor in the ancient facility, three pillars of golden light faded into vision. From them sprang two armored figures – one in green armor and the other in red – and a small spherical silver-plated hovering droid.
“We must collect the Index” the droid said, “before we can activate the installation.”
The two Spartans looked about, gathering their bearings on their current surroundings. They began to move forward cautiously, following the Monitor. 10 Infection Forms up ahead noticed them, and the Chief took them out with his assault rifle before they could get close. They moved up, and a new foe emerged from the shadows to the left. It was large and bulbous, waddling forward on two stubby legs. The two remembered Chen’s description of a Carrier Form, and gunned it down before it could get close. It exploded, scraps of flesh flying everywhere as six Infection Forms were released and were quickly popped. Ahead, a trio of Combat Forms leapt down from a vent and ran at them; Teana stepped forward, shotgun drawn, and blew them away. Another Carrier Form followed them, dispensing five Infection Forms when it fell, which John gunned down. They moved forward, catching up to the Monitor.
“We are near the Index chamber” he said. “Follow me.” He flew over a wall, and in the wall was a currently-opening revolving door. From the left, another group of Flood forms – 3 Combat and 2 Carrier – leapt out, and the Chief tossed a frag grenade that took out all five, the shrapnel ripping through the Carrier Forms and killing about half of the Infection Forms carried within, and leaving the rest easy prey to assault rifle fire. They turned left, passing through a short door into a massive, circular chamber. In the center, floating above a deep pit far out of their reach, was a glowing green object.
Suddenly, Guilty Spark turned and flew down to them, stopping in front of Teana. “Interesting” he said. “The intelligent weapon you carry is infused with a class of magic that bears great similarity to my makers’. Perhaps a descendant style. In that case, our upgrade facility should work on your weapon. Please, follow me for a moment.”
He led her to a small chamber off to the side. In the middle was a round platform. “Unfortunate” Spark said. “This machine is only partially working; the data modules containing schematics for my makers’ weapons have been irreparably damaged. However, the upgrade device itself is still functional. It can likely draw data from your suit, and from that close-range projectile weapon you’re carrying.”
Teana stepped into the circle, setting Cross Mirage down in dormant form. After a few seconds, the card began to rise in a pillar of blue light. Blue particles of some sort began to swirl about, only to converge on the card, which glowed bright blue for a few seconds before fading. Teana reached out and caught the card.
“New modes successfully installed” Cross Mirage announced. “Particle-beam sniper mode online. Shotgun mode online.”
Teana activated Mirage, switching to Rifle Mode. She concentrated, and it changed. When the orange light faded, Mirage was 1.6 meters long, with a longer, thinner barrel. There was no ejection port, because this was not based on a human weapon. Teana, ever the sniper, relished in the idea that she now essentially held a limitless-charge Covenant Type-50 Particle Beam Rifle; where the open circle holding ammo crystals would be, there was instead the circular gold gem with a red outline and ‘X’ that was Cross Mirage’s core. Atop the rifle sat a scope, with 5x and 10x magnification, and standard and infrared modes.
She concentrated again, and again Cross Mirage shifted form. Now, even though it carried Mirage’s characteristic look and colors, and did not have a slot to place shells, she recognized the profile of a UNSC M90 Shotgun, Mirage’s core having shrunken down (externally, at least; magic-based space-time manipulation is a tricky thing) to fit just above the trigger.
Teana exited the chamber, to find that John had been watching; he nodded approvingly. Teana handed John her shotgun ammo and dumped the empty weapon, since she now had a personal unlimited-ammo version. Just then, two Combat Forms came charging from behind. John gunned one down with his assault rifle, and the other had its head blown off by Mirage Shotgun; the now-headless reanimated corpse didn’t even flinch, continuing its charge until another blast tore through its chest, killing the Infection Form.
“The primary elevator directly above us on the fourth floor will allow us to access the Index” Spark said. “We should hurry.”
The duo moved through another small hallway on the other side of the chamber; as they exited it, three Combat Forms leapt over the 10-foot-high pillar directly ahead in quick succession; the two shotguns tore them apart before they landed. They moved on, cutting through several more Carrier and Combat Forms, switching back and forth between weapons rather frequently, and continued on until they reached a huge door. Spark hovered in front of it.
“The security doors have sealed automatically” he said. “I will go access the override to open them.” He flew off, humming to himself, and flew into a vent. Several seconds later, he re-emerged, and the door began to open, Spark flying through the gap as soon as it was wide enough to fit him. “Please follow closely” he said. “This portal is the first of 10.”
“Joy” Teana deadpanned.
They entered the next hallway, and Spark continued to speak. “Puzzling. Your weapons seem to be of rather admirable effectiveness against the Flood, despite their primitive level. I suppose the most advanced technology isn’t always necessarily the best.”
A Combat Form with a shotgun leapt from a vent on the left as they passed it, though fortunately its shot missed. John didn’t give it a second chance, pressing the assault rifle’s barrel against its chest and pulling the trigger, shredding the Infection Form and the host’s mutated spinal cord, rendering the body useless to the Flood. “The Flood must not escape the Installation” Spark said. “They would consume all.”
They moved on, passing a short period of peace before hanging a left, heading down a corridor that held a half-dozen Combat Forms and a Carrier Form that leapt down to ambush them. The Spartans, warned by their motion trackers, used their shotguns to blow two Combat Forms out of the air, and then turned their guns on the others. The Carrier Form was hit by a pistol shot (John still has his M6D and two extra clips in addition to his AR and shotgun) and exploded, the blast killing the last Combat Form; two more pistol shots killed the resulting Infection Forms.
“You can see how the body has been transformed by the genetic restructuring of the Flood infection” Spark rambled. “The small creatures carry spores that cause a host to mutate. The mutated host then produces spores that can pass the Flood to others. It is insidious and elegant. As long as any potential hosts remain, the Flood is virulent.”
“How long have you been here?” the Chief asked him. “How old are you?”
“I have been overseeing this facility since its construction, approximately 100,214 local years, many of which have been quite boring… until now. Hee-hee-hee!”
John arched an eyebrow behind his helmet. “Even dumb AIs can start to develop ‘quirks’ after about 15 or 20 years,” he said to Teana over a private channel, “and extended time without contact with other people – AI or not – can have just as bad an effect on an AI as it has on a human. It’s quite possible that this little guy is literally insane.”
“That’s the impression I was getting” she replied.
They moved down the hallway, a well-placed plasma grenade taking care of a quartet of infected Elites that ran from around the next corner. They moved to the next short hallway, tossing a grenade where a trio of Combat Forms was about to land after jumping from a vent. This was fortunate, as among the flying bits of Flood and weaponry was an M19 rocket launcher that a Human Combat Form had been carrying. A Carrier form hopped down from a vent on the right, and Teana used Mirage Rifle to gun it down and kill the Infection Forms. The two Spartans went right, and from a trench directly ahead sprang four Combat Forms, leaping out in ambush. Cross Mirage Rifle’s bayonet ripped through one’s chest, and the Master Chief’s shotgun took out two more. A precision single-shot to the chest from Mirage Rifle took the last one down.
“This installation’s research facilities are most impressive” Spark said randomly. “Perhaps we’ll have time to see them later.” The Chief just shook his head and pressed on, Teana following. She switched Mirage Rifle’s under-slung attachment to 40mm grenade launcher, and fired one at a tightly-packed group of Flood up ahead. The blast combined with the lone Carrier Form’s burst to send the Combat Forms flying in all directions in several pieces, and assault rifle fire from the Chief killed the few Infection Forms that survived the dual blast. At the right turn to the next hallway, more Flood leapt out to attack, and were cut down, though in this engagement the Spartans discovered just how strong Combat Forms were, when a single full-strength tentacle-claw swipe drained the Chief’s shields from 85% to 30%. They paused after the immediate area was clear until the Chief’s shields recharged, and then pressed on, foiling a five-strong Carrier Form ambush with lots and lots of full-auto fire.
As they neared the first elevator, a horde of Combat and Infection Forms came out of its doorway. To the Spartans’ left and above, seven of the silver angular droids hovered out, and opened fire with their lasers on the Flood, culling their numbers.
“These Sentinels will supplement your combat systems, Reclaimers” Spark said. “Though I suggest you upgrade to a higher-class Combat Skin. Your current models only scan as Class 2, which is ill-suited for this level of outbreak. This level of outbreak would better suit at least a Class 12 for a lone soldier or Class 8 for a pair such as yourselves.”
If there’s a battle-suit four times as advanced as Mjolnir Mark 5, Chief thought, I’ll be first in line to try it out.
They passed through to the massive elevator. “Pardon me” Spark interrupted. “A plasma conduit breach in Sector 5-5-2-4 has disrupted power flow to a gravity maintenance facility. Repairs require my attention. I will return soon.”
John & Teana hopped onto the elevator, which slowly rose up toward the second floor.
Wait, It Gets Worse!
They stepped off the elevator and through the doorway, Guilty Spark reappearing and flying over and past them, murmuring and humming to himself. To the right, five Carrier Forms hopped down from a vent. A pistol shot from John detonated one, the blast hurling the other four every which way. 20 more seconds of full-auto work followed. They pressed on, six Sentinels coming out to assist them, and hung a left to another hallway, which was – for the moment – empty of Flood.
“Flood activity has caused a failure in a drone control subsystem” Spark said. “I must reset the backup unit. Please, continue on; I will rejoin you once I have completed my task.” Again, he disappeared, leaving the two Spartans and six Sentinels to hunker down at the next large door, the combat droids killing two Carrier Forms and their infectious payloads. Several seconds later, a huge swarm of Flood forms began to pour in toward their position. Teana & John readied shotguns, and Mirage sent a command signal to the Sentinels, instructing them to focus on the Infection & Carrier Forms in this fight while the Spartans dealt with the Combat Forms. The next few minutes were somewhat hectic, as lasers and tungsten pellets flew through the air and ripped & burned through Flood. Finally, the last Flood form fell, and seconds later the Monitor reemerged, the door opening at his command.
The next room was much larger than previous ones. Up ahead, two Carrier Forms waddled forward. John pitched a plasma grenade, and it stuck to one of them; the blast vaporized that Form’s Infection Forms and ripped the other Carrier Form apart, killing half of its living cargo and leaving the others easy prey for the Sentinels. They moved down the high, long, curving hallway, the Sentinels killing two more Combat Forms and a Carrier Form. Toward the end, Teana switched Mirage to Sniper Mode and looked through the scope, spotting that one of the three Combat Forms ahead was carrying a rocket launcher. She shot the launcher’s magazine, detonating both rockets; the explosion blew the trio of CFs to bits. They moved on to the next door, and Spark sent a command code to it. It began to open, but then something grinded and whirred, and the door stopped.
“Please wait here” Spark said, floating off, the Sentinels following him. Aside from a pack of Infection Forms – easily dealt with by a Cross Mirage Rifle 40mm grenade – the wait was peaceful, and soon Spark returned, the door opening fully. As they stepped through, the Chief noticed a horribly mangled human carcass in the corner nearby, clad in the remnants of a UNSC marine armor suit. “Who is that?” he asked Guilty Spark.
“Ah, yes, the other Reclaimer. He was far less properly equipped than you two were. That being said, he possessed quite the raw determination; he made it much farther than predicted.”
The bloodied dog-tag read MOBUTO, MARVIN – SSGT. The Chief gave an impromptu, informal eulogy, and the duo moved on, following the rambling light-bulb. A quintet of Combat Forms leapt up from a trench; a frag grenade killed three, and two shotgun blasts took down the other two. Ahead, the duo found a trench in the ground that led into a tunnel. A little ways in, a Carrier Form spotted them. A three-round burst from Mirage Rifle popped it, and a few more killed the Infection Forms. They moved in, turning right and killing another Carrier and its infectious passengers, and headed through the tunnel, turning right and seeing the end. As they approached, a Combat Form dropped from above, and the Chief blew it away. Three more charged in, backed by a small cluster of Infection Forms. Teana launched a 40mm grenade, and the confined space that the Flood were in meant that the explosion killed all of them. The two Spartans ventured out back into another hallway, killing a pair of Carrier Forms and heading left.
“Your environment suits should serve you well when the Flood begins to alter the atmosphere” Guilty Spark said from above them. “You are good planners.”
As they followed the Monitor and made a left into another shorter hallway, they came under ambush from a half-dozen Combat Forms, along with a Carrier Form from behind. Teana switched Mirage to Shotgun Mode and engaged the Combat Forms, while John spun around and gunned down the Carrier Form and its cargo. They moved ahead and shifted left to another hallway, and at the other end a quartet of Carrier Forms waddled toward them. Teana switched to Rifle Mode and fired a grenade, and soon 20 Infection Forms were heading toward them, only to pop en masse under Cross Mirage’s full-auto fire. At the other end ahead, two Combat Forms hopped down from a vent; from one of them came a rocket, which John ducked under. Teana switched to single-shot and looked through her scope, aiming for the chest; three shots were fired, and one of them popped the Infection Form inside. The other one went down with four shots, and the Spartans moved on, turning right.
“The installation was well-conceived” Spark said from up ahead, as four infected humans came out to fight. “It is surely the only way to end the Flood threat.”
The four Flood were gunned down, and the dynamic duo pressed on. Ahead, a Carrier Form served as a small bomb to injure several Combat Forms; the fact that two of the Combat Forms had a few grenades meant that the resulting combination blast obliterated the Flood forms. They continued on, fighting through more Flood, until they finally reached another elevator. They went in and got aboard, and it began to ascend.
But I Don’t Want To Ride The Elevator!
As they exited the elevator and entered another hallway, a squad of seven Sentinels came out to join them.
“I would conjecture that the other group of species on the installation is responsible for releasing the Flood” Spark said. “They seem most persistent in their attempts to access restricted areas.”
The next hallway held a small force of Combat Forms, easily dealt with, and another below-floor tunnel awaited. The two went in, and when they entered the main stretch of tunnel they could see a few Combat Forms at the other end, which had yet to notice the pair. Teana switched Mirage to Sniper Mode and peered through her scope at 10x. When the reticle brightened and gained a dot, she fired, and the particle beam ripped through a Combat Form’s chest, killing the Infection Form. She fired again, taking a second one down, and the third began charging toward her. The straight and narrow tunnel restricted it to running straight at her, leaving it easy prey for a third kill-shot. She switched back to Shotgun Mode, and she & John hurried down the cramped passage. When they neared the next turn, a swarm of Infection Forms came out, and the Chief popped them with his assault rifle. Three Combat Forms came around the corner, going down rather quickly. A Carrier Form waddled into view, and a pistol shot set it off; its explosion triggered a frag grenade on the floor, which killed the Infection Forms that sprang from the Carrier.
They exited the tunnel, rejoining the team of Sentinels from earlier. One Combat Form with a needler managed to stick seven needles in a Sentinel, and the droid was destroyed, exploding into a hail of shrapnel. The other six instantly focused on that particular Combat Form, burning it into non-recognition, and then turned their attention back to the other Flood. The Spartans moved forward, leaving the Sentinels to their work, and made two right turns, soon approaching another sealed door. The Monitor disappeared into an access port, and the two Spartans took defensive position at the door. Sure enough, like clockwork, the Flood began another attack. Five minutes of running & gunning and strafing & shooting later, and the last Form fell just as the door opened. Through the door and into the massive, cavernous room/chamber, they hung a left, and the rocket missed the Chief by about six centimeters. Teana blasted the Combat Form with Mirage Shotgun, blowing off the arm that was holding the launcher. Another shot to the chest put it down.
“Why, naturally the Flood is simply too dangerous to release,” Spark said, “and mass sterilization protocols may again need to be enacted. Of course, samples were kept here after the last catastrophic outbreak... for study. It seems... that decision may have been an error.”
No shit, Teana thought as she used Mirage Shotgun to kill two more Combat Forms. Two more Combat Forms and a Carrier Form fell to the Chief. They moved on, and up ahead two large square things coming up from the floor had a pair of Combat Forms standing atop each; the four opened fire, though distance made it so the automatic weapon fire was somewhat easy to dodge. Teana switched Mirage to Rifle Mode and killed the two on the left block, while the Chief used his pistol to kill the ones on the right. From the shadows to the left came a Carrier Form, which fell under a barrage of full-auto fire, as did the IFs that came from it. The Spartans moved to yet another door, which was thankfully already open. They moved through, entering another corridor.
“The installation was specifically built to study and contain the Flood” Guilty Spark said. “Their survival as a race was dependent upon it. I am grateful to see that some of them survived to reproduce.”
“Okay, it’s official” Teana said over the private TEAMCOM. “This guy is completely fucking nuts.”
“Agreed.”
Another five Combat Forms were up ahead; they were killed with little trouble. The duo went left, fighting through yet another ambush of Combats & Carriers, shifting to a parallel hallway, where they encounter another ambush, until they finally went right and caught up to the Monitor again. They entered a room, passing through a partially-open door and coming to a closed one.
“I will deactivate the security lock” the Monitor said. “Wait here.” And away he goes again. The door they came in through sealed shut, and wave upon wave of Flood spilled forth from the two vent openings in the room. After almost five straight minutes of combat and close calls, Spark finally reappeared, and the door finally opened. The Sentinels accompanying the Monitor came into the room and picked off the stragglers, and the Spartan pair headed on, following the metallic chatterbox. “Please stay close” he said. “Time is short.”
They headed right, and a frag grenade took out six of an eight-strong Combat Form group, the last two being burnt down by the Sentinels. A little ways down, and the last elevator was reached. The Spartans climbed aboard, and ascended yet again.
Fourth Floor: Tools, Guns, Keys To Super-Weapons
Immediately upon entering the next hallway, a Carrier Form nearby exploded under a Sentinel’s fire, and the laser quickly swept across the cluster of Infection Forms, killing them. The two Spartans headed right, passing down another two-length hallway, gunning down Carrier Forms and another Combat Form ambush. They turned left and entered another below-floor tunnel. In the center of the main stretch of tunnel, a Carrier Form was positioned perfectly; the resulting blast released its cargo of five Infection Forms, but killed the 15 IFs that the CF had been walking past. They exited the tunnel into another two-door room, heading left to camp beneath the sealed door that Guilty Spark was currently trying to open. Seven Combat Forms fell before the door opened, and the pair continued on through a few more hallways, encountering another Carrier Form ambush that required a lot of bullets to deal with.
“The Flood are already hard at work repairing your vessel” the Monitor said. “Its parasitic nature belies the Flood’s intelligence.”
At last, they came to the final door. It opened, and several Combat Forms leapt through the widening hole, to be cut down by twin shotguns. The door opened fully, and a pack of Infection Forms scrambled through, only to be killed by a plasma grenade. After 10 solid minutes of slowly working their way through literally dozens of Flood, the exhausted pair of Spartans finally reached the massive elevator. It slowly began to descend, bringing them down to the Index. Finally, it reached the bottom, and floating green object hanging in the air directly before them.
“You may now retrieve the Index.”
John reached out, and the four spinning things holding the Index locked into place with four clicks. The T-shaped device rose up, and he grabbed hold of it and pulled it out, inspecting it. Suddenly, it was yanked from his hand, disappearing into Guilty Spark.
“Protocol requires that I take position of the Index for transport” Spark said. “Your organic bodies render you vulnerable to infection. The Index must not fall into the hands of the Flood before we can reach the control room and activate the installation.”
The golden rings of teleportation surrounded the Monitor and the two Spartans.
“The Flood is spreading! We must hurry!”