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"Of course" So I’ his bible and even he can’t understand bits of it Right That’ll co chip "Do you have any spare clothing? I need to wash heili equivalent of snapping his fingers and su his knuckles on the table "Olar, see that our guest gets what he needs"
"He’l need children’s clothing," Olar said
"Then get it I hold you responsible for his wel -being Find him some food, too"
Wel , that was one proble to kil hi food and water indefinitely if he had to
‘Telcam swept out and Olar stared at him baleful y for a few iven," he said
"For some reason, I can" Phil ips could feel an opportunity for psychological one-up itself "I seeheili skil s"
Olar chewed that over for acutting to say about that, but this one remained silent as he’d been told Olar returned with a couple of long, plain tunics--knee length when Phil ips held one up to his It took Phil ips a few e I think I knohere that goes … "Thank you," he said "Excuse , narrow bathroo school He looked around for their equivalent of soap, a dul gray powder that he’d discovered was a mix of a kind of clay and a plant similar to soapwort, and worked it into a paste in water so cold that it hurt his hands
I can do this Think of the lectures I can give on this alone
He hung his jacket on a nail, took a painful y cold shower that felt like being hit by a water cannon, and tried on his new clothes It took a bit of ingenuity to tie on the underwear and tuck al the spare fabric from the tunic into his pants, but it would have to do His shirt and smal s would dry inside the hour, and then he could stick to a routine of doing this every day Da to feel pleased with hiered out into the main chamber and helped himself to some of the rations stil stacked in one of the side roo else you need?" Olar asked
"I’ out how he’dfrom one of the tunics and pack it with a few extra meals, clay powder, and a water bottle so he’d be ready to escape when the chance presented itself "I’ot plenty of things to study"
If there was a way in, there would also be a way out The Forerunners were too set back to work?" he said, taking out his datapad "What have you analyzed so far?"
"There’s a recurring sy Dr Halsey’s notes, I believe it means a powered door, or a door to a power source, or even an instruction for accessing power But there are a few that I can’t interpret yet because there’s no sentence structure"
"Is that a linguistic issue, or are we talking about this being lists of isolated words?" For al Phil ips knew, they e using a depart "Describe them to me"
"I’m unable to interface with your datapad to show you what I mean But if Halsey’s notes are correct, then one word either ulations the his old self Phil ips could have sworn he was going to sigh in exasperation, but he kept on going in an uncharacteristical y une syative phone"
"What is it, then? A warning, a keep-out sign, or the Ten Commandments?"
"Eleven," BB said "One cartouche has eleven items"
"Thou shalt not … what?"
Phil ips didn’t know He looked at the cartouche detail he’d recorded for hi for Halos He was sure the Forerunners would have left records of where they’d located the re devices, as wel as the locations of bunker worlds like Onyx It wasn’t the kind of thing they’d have kept secret Everyone would have needed to knohere they were, to get to safety before the Halos activated to scour the galaxy clean of sentient life
"Look for references to rings, Halos, circles, shield worlds, and contamination, BB," he said "That’s what I came here to find"
SANDSTONE QUARRY, BEKAN KEEP, MDAMA, SANGHELIOS Raia ‘Mda Resolve with her pistol draatching the shuttle approaching low over the hilIf ‘Telcam wanted his precious warship then he would have to co to stop hi partial solidarity "He believes his authority coods"
"He wouldn’t dare shoot a female," she said "And he wouldn’t dare shoot an elder’s wife in her own keep"
"His brothers butchered the Relon elders … in their own keep"
"I wil not stand down"
"You and Jul, you’re very alike Do you realize that?"
"You mean that we can only be pushed so far"
Moveht her eye She turned her head to see Naxan, one of Jul’s uncles, charging down the slope with a couple of the juvenile males behind him, pistols drawn
"Raia, you can’t do this!" He was beginning to show his age, but his wil ingness to plunge into a fight hadn’t diminished He stopped to stand between her and the shuttle that had now landed on the far side of the quarry "If thisabout Jul’s disappearance, let me deal with him"
"No, Uncle, I’m the keep elder while my husband is absent" Raia tried to wave him away "I’l deal with this"
"They’re lunatics, " he snapped "I won’t let you put yourself at risk"
"Stand back, Naxan I mean to do this You and the boys, you leave this to me and Forze Do you understand?"
"This won’t end wel " Naxan stood his ground for a few h "Revolution or no revolution, I’l take his head off if he harht not co down the hil with the shipmaster cal ed Buran And he’d seen her She watched his head jerk back but he didn’t break his stride He probably saw a female, an old man, and some juveniles, and decided he only had to deal with Forze
"Avu Med ‘Telcam," she said "Where’s my husband? What have you done with him?"
‘Telcam bowed his head politely "My lady, I too would like to knohere your husband is Ask Forze I’ve looked for him I wouldn’t want to think he’s defected to the Arbiter"