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Two sets of boots thudded behind her She hadn’t realized how far into the opening she’d gone Her helmet’s head-up display showed that Chief Mendez and Toe Tom’s bio readout showed his pulse was raised She decided to risk taking her eyes off the passage and turned around

"What have we got, Lucy?" Toht up with her and put his hand on her shoulder "You okay?"

Why did he think she wouldn’t be? She waved hie and she couldn’t turn back until she’d found and identified it, and--if necessary--neutralized it She checked her display for EM or therround was definitely flat and smooth like terrazzo Now she’d started to trust her proprioception rather than her eyes, she picked up speed and started walking at a pace she thought of as cautious-nor to fetch Halsey in here to evaluate this," Mendez said Lucy kept"Hold it here, Lucy We’l secure a perimeter in case whatever it is decides to come back You hear me, Petty Officer? Hold it here "

Lucy halted She couldn’t shake the feeling that if she didn’t hunt dohatever had fled, it would coets us She stood staring into the black void, wondering what kind of ht so co at a featureless surface was that it soon stopped being featureless She could now see pinprick flashes of light and brightly coloredcurrents of dye It was just her optic nerve trying to ht, but she couldn’t stop her brain fro the hint of lights ahead, and hts becae of a white-hot explosion

Lucy had been here before Part of her kneasn’t happening, but it couldn’t stop the ani to it She was in a maze of pipes, in a Covenant refinery, and she could even see the coolant leaking and bubbling on the floor ahead of her Toht They were the last two Spartans left alive fro to die as welShe elve years old; scared, running on autopilot, trying to gulp in a breath that never reached her lungs because the pounding pulse in her throat was choking her

Then hands grabbed her shoulders and spun her around

She raised her fist with no idea why, no thought involved Only the crack of a visor against her own faceplate stopped her She could stil see the coolant pipes in her peripheral vision, fading and drifting, and then they were gone

"Corip" Toainst hers a coupleminutes and Lucy was certain she’d moved a few meters But it was seconds and she was stil rooted to the sa in the opposite direction Her bio readouts must have spiked and scared the hel out of everyone

"It’s okay I get it too," To to lose it "Just take it easy Breathe It’s not real Any of it"

There were times when Lucy wished she could answer him, but there were no words left inside her now After seven silent years, she didn’t talk and she didn’t scribble notes Her head was ful of things that nobody else would understand or want to hear At first she’d had nothing to say in the hours after she’d escaped fros she’d wanted to say that were too painful The heavy silence settled like silt in her chest, a littleit was harder to find words that conveyed the ies in her head, and then even her inner voice faded away

She couldn’t i now She didn’t knohere to start It was just as wel that To on in her head

"Hey, Lucy" She was suddenly aware of Olivia striding toward her with Mark and Ash at her heels They’d have seen her bio signs spiking, too

"Couldn’t you find the light switch?"

Ash tapped his knuckles against her ar When Lucy looked past her, Halsey was frae For ain front of a decorated Christmas tree It was a sharp little echo of buried one

"Environmental controls," Halsey cal ed Her voice didn’t echo Lucy could hear her even with her hel back as the others headed for the entrance and stood a e, just in case whatever it was she’d heard decided to return

It’s got to get pastone hand over the il uminated Forerunner syhts as if they were being wil ful y stubborn, she held out the cylinder to Kel y

"Here, hang on to this for me" She took out her datapad and unfolded it like a piece of origami into a laptop forain into a datapad Then she carried on running her hand along the symbols "Okay, perhaps it’s not environht be control ing storage conditions, so one of these could activate lights or orientate us"

"How do you know that?" Mendez asked, al suspicion

Halsey flipped the screen and held it toward the wal"I just do Let’s see what my databaseanything else from us"

"Chief, I won’t lecture you on the wisdolass houses, so just accept that I don’t kno I know yet I’"

Lucy expected a scientist like Halsey to be more disturbed about randoe and set her hel

"Luce…"

Toave hiesture, diver-style, and carried on He could stil see her bio readout so that would keep him happy until she came back Normal pulse and respiration See? I’ar Fatigue I ought to eat so Damn it, you know better than that"

She moved across to the wal and held her rifle one-handed, ski her left hand across the surface to orient herself, and suddenly she felt round beneath her boots was smooth and level Even if she couldn’t see it she had a better idea of where she was

I have to find where this leads So for us If we found our way in--so ht the Elites

And Lucy had a lifeti wrong with her judgment at al

When she stopped and looked over her shoulder, the faint light froiddy because there was nothing to orient her But the squad’s bio signs were al visible on her HUD, so she hadn’t lost conals, and she wasn’t alone

"One-Zero-Four to Bravo-Zero-Nine-One" It was Fred on the radio now "Lucy, where the hel are you?"

He should have known he wouldn’t get an answer, but if she could see his bio readout, he could see hers He’d know she was fine If the others wanted to faff around and look for the light switch, fine, but soe She was about to flash back a status signal when she col ided with so that bounced her back a couple of steps

Damn, she’d walked into a walThat hat ca on the task in hand