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As the last traces of light vanished, Kurt saw lights in the crater--red dots that swarmed over every surface Sentinels
Will's hands flashed over the sensor panel "New energy signatures detected Extremely low frequencies" He looked up "Over a hundred thousand distinct euration?" Dr Halsey asked "Clusters, single units, or pairs?"
Will studied the panel "Ninety-five percent clusters, a few hundred single patterns… and a few hundred dual signatures"
"Combat pairs," Kurt whispered "Kelly, match their speed" He keyed TEAMCOM, and said, "Make ready for a hot drop Battle-ready conditions"
Green status lights flashed back, confir his order
They decelerated over the darkening city, creeping toward the do to do The logical, conscious portion of his ut" on this one--get them inside and under cover, before every Sentinel in the place fired on them
"Nice and easy," he said
Kelly's hand hovered over the throttle stripe "You think these things are sainst us? Lure us inside and then close the trap?"
"It's a possibility," he admitted "But I don't think they went to all the trouble to unearth this place just to blast it to bits" He shrugged "Just a hunch"
Kelly and Will glanced at each other
"Understood," Kelly said "Approaching structure Three hundred meters"
"Back us in," Kurt said
Their ship slowed, spun around, and eased toward one of the doh the opening with rooines illuled and carved with star charts and the Forerunner hieroglyphics
Below, seven flat surfaces, each the size of carrier landing decks, were evenly spaced
Kelly set them down one
Kurt exited the dropship Will followed hiether they helped Dr Halsey off
The other Spartans took defensive positions around the ship
Kurt'sbeyond the landing pad save darkness Every noise ed by the vast e in shadows and silence
He initiated a single-beam COM network, and opened external audio so Dr Halsey could hear them, too
"We do this fast," he told his tea pad I want a report in ninety seconds on all routes and motion sensor hits"
Olivia and Will nodded and et grappling rounds, scale the dole-bea hts flashed green Linda disappeared into the ship and returned with harpoonlike shafts and rope bags She passed them out to the three other Spartans They slid the rounds into their sniper rifles, aih the archways overhead
Braided rapple They tested the lines, and then rapidly ascended the ropes
"Dante, Mendez, stay with the ship Get our gear ready and loaded into balanced packs"
Dante's status light remained unlit for a full second in protest, and then it winked green
Mendez nodded and they boarded the ship
"Kelly, Ash, Torab those cut-down nukes"
Asha backpack
"Tom, Lucy," Kurt said, "keep Dr Halsey covered"
His senior NCOs stepped to either side of the Doctor
"Got a staircase, sir," Will reported "Goes through the floor and around the landing pad's support pedestal No er," Kurt said "Olivia, link up with Will Scout it out We'll follow"
He oriented on Will's IFF tag and set a single-beae of the platform so he could keep in contact topside
Kurt led his teaiant pedestal supporting the landing pad Kelly and Ash were right behind hiuard
Each stair step was spaced a quarter meter, but they fanned out from the pedestal tenthe darkness that lay beyond
Dr Halsey paused to examine the stone surface
Lucy halted, too, and the faint illuhts on her SPI armor reflected in the banded rock She reached out and touched her ie There was translucence to the material that, for a moment, bounced reflections within the reflections-- and an infinite number of Lucys appeared mirrored
She withdrew her hand, and they hastily continued
After three revolutions around the support, Will's IFF tag appeared on Kurt's heads-up display
A single-beam COM channel opened "Chamber ahead, sir," Will reported "With Forerunner symbols, I think"
Fred's voice broke over the COM: "We're in place No inco"
"Eyes sharp," Kurt told Fred Then to Will he said, "Show h a floor and stopped at an arched entrance
Olivia crouched there, rifle out, covering the room beyond The chaoraphobia-inducing space of the city, this rooly small
"Watch," Will said, and took a step inside
Holographic Forerunner glyphs--dots, dashes, lines, and polygons--sprang from the stone floor and twisted around him
"With your permission, Lieutenant Coerous, I assure you I have seen sis"
Kurt didn't like a civilian leading, but Dr Halsey was the expert here… as much of an expert as he had at any rate
"Very well Doctor," he said "But carefully"
Dr Halsey made her way forward "Stand perfectly still," she told him, and entered the room
She tapped a tiny crystalline blue square; it blinked in response
"Still dammed difficult to read," she muttered "There is a siher-dimensional interpretations" She reached for her laptop
"There's no time for details," Kurt told her
She frowned and put away her laptop "Allis in the details Lieutenant Co on the syhtened "This way"
She started to stride across the roo directly into a blank wall
Kurt set a hand on her ar her motion He then waved for Lucy and Tom to join him and the three Spartans sloalked ahead