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"No Phil ips here, Staff"

"We’re going to have to search the grounds" Vaz didn’t feel very coe-heads inside the wal s yet?"

They stood outside for a few , just in case Phil ips decided to pop up fro place and they could run for it

But it was a few seconds too long Vaz edged beyond the building and held his breath He was looking at maybe a hundred Elites as they clustered around the front door, right inside the co with thee-head they’d heili turned to face Vaz

"Nishum! " he roared

Vaz didn’t need a translation The hinge-heads surged forward and he ducked back Mal and Nao down the side of the te that sounded like the surge of a tidal wave

"Dev, here we come," Mal said "Plan B Up and out, fast as you can"

The noise of the drives suddenly rose into a high-pitched whine It was going to be a rough takeoff Vaz skidded around the end of the wal just behind Nao back over her head without even looking Vaz caught a glimpse as it arced over him

"Just smoke," she said "Every second counts"

The s and Vaz spotted Tart-Cart’s velvet gray nose up ahead The next thing he saas half a dozen Elites between him and the ship The dropship’s side hatch was open If this wasn’t ‘Telcaly pretty fast Then one of the hinge-heads answered the question by aiy sizzled off Vaz’s shoulder plate, alht hiht in a second--maybe Naomi, maybe Mal--and his body did what it had learned to do without thinking: he returned fire, and kept firing as he ran, crashing into one Sangheili so hard that the ih he could jump until he landed in the open hatch and srabbed the first arh the hatch and Nao on to the hul

"Go, Dev," Mal yel ed "Lift Go go go "

The dropship shot up vertical y like a h the open hatch at a fireworks show of green and white streaks zipping past Naomi, framed in silhouette for a second The hatch shut and sealed with a fwoomp of air

"So," Devereaux said "No Phil ips If he’d been outside, I’d have found him"

"If he’d been inside, we’d have found him" Mal leaned over Vaz and checked hied to start a riot and kil a few hinge-heads on holy ground, I think we ought to start an aerial search"

Vaz’s ribs were starting to throb where he’d fal en against the hatch "He can’t have gone that far No "

Naoed froo

"That," BB said, "depends on how he left the temple"

SANGHELIOS: EXACT LOCATION UNKNOWN "That didn’t happen," Phil ips said "Did it?"

For a rounds, but his sto as if he’d done a soone He had no idea where he was

He stood in a ruined building--no roof, no s, just three cruh, dark green grass rol ed and swayed like an ocean for a couple of kilo in a smal town in the distance, and decided that his only chance of getting out was to walk to the nearest keep and beg for help Maybe a little sleight of hand with an arum would be his passport

If only BB would suddenly snap back to normal

"That was a portal," BB said

"I sort of worked that out" Portals were routed al over the place, usual y not on the same planet The sky looked the sahelios, aren’t we?"

"I believe so I stil havesystem"

"How far frohty kilometers"

It seey needed to power it But perhaps it made sense when the Forerunners were last here, and at least the thing stil worked even though the exit end was in ruins Phil ips took a look around the structure and wondered whether it orth risking an unencrypted broadcast He didn’t have any protection from the rebels now, no top cover as Mal cal ed it, and announcing that he was a good pal of the Arbiter et him kil ed with equal speed

The ODSTs would definitely co for him sooner or later He had to make it easier for them to find him

"I can’t hide, BB" There was a panel of carved symbols on a slab of masonry but half of it had cruht as wel make myself conspicuous Nice brisk walk into town"

"I think that’s a col ective of keeps cal ed Acroli But I can’t tel what its loyalties are"

"I have a feeling it’s not going towor to revise my translation"

Phil ips was sure he could see smoke in the far distance He checked his datapad map, which wasn’t exactly reliable He should have asked the Arbiter for an accurate chart "Is that a probleht"

"Coordinates," BB said "I ly Or Halsey did This location doesn’t correspond to the position I would have expected"

"Back to the drawing board"

"It’s iated, or else you won’t know the locations of the Halos"

"How coie hasn’t wiped your awareness of Halos?"