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"The Didact," Jul said "The warrior god who had to be concealed"

Phil ips nodded with that crinkling of the brow that indicated a wistful sadness It probably wasn’t genuine "The Forerunners certainly put a lot of prohibitions around hi so hi Phil ips, but that could be exploited

He needed locations He needed to know more about portals, where they went, where he would end up if he touched that wal and activated one

He ht simply end up in a field on the same world, just like Phil ips had

"He hated hu offense for mil ennia"

Phil ips didn’t even twitch "I’d never come across his name before in my studies" He pul ed out a datapad andbetween the pad and Jul’s belt "Could you stand up, please? I’d like to record those as wel "

"Why?"

"Because Sangheili language and culture is e came froain He wanted to know si It was luminous and honest, a child’s passion "Have you heard of the Hittites? Probably not An ancient huhts They used an alphabet that looked like other languages in e cal ed the Middle East, but we couldn’t translate their inscriptions We just knehat the sounds were Then a scholar transcribed sonized sounds froes Once he explored that tiny detail, just those feords that struck a spark in hie, and we found they weren’t Middle Eastern at alThey ca we thought we knew about the Phil ips now He loved his subject, he loved to talk, and he loved to show off his knowledge This was how tables were turned Magnusson siat hi out of his mouth

"What happened to them?" Jul asked

Phil ips’s face relaxed in that dis to be asked "Their civilization disappeared," he said "They were destroyed by their own civil war And no, I didn’t tel you that to make some point about your fate I just want to find those few hidden words, that key to understanding both cultures"

If Jul knew anything about huardless of whatever other lies he told He went on sketching on his pad, face flushed under that thin layer of wiry brown hair around histhat he wanted, and now Jul would try again It was hard to play this game under so much scrutiny from others who played it every minute of their lives

"So as of interest in Acroli, other than crops?" he asked

"Forerunner ruins," Phil ips said, distracted "You have so helios FarA few inscriptions, but nothing significant"

If Phil ips had been ported to another Forerunner site, even the wrong one, then that confirmed Jul’s theory The ansas smal but had been worth the effort

Suddenly Phil ips frowned at his screen and looked put out "I’o back I’d hoped we’d have longer Perhaps I can coain sometime"

Make it soon Or you won’t find me here "I hope you find your key"

"I’l keep looking And if I can, I’l ask about Raia I pronusson didn’t say a word She fol owed Phil ips out of the cel and Jul went to theto gaze out and leaned fro a portal as soon as he could The Warthog was stil parked where he could see it, in the shade of some trees A fewhis palesture, just like baring teeth to show peaceful intent They hurt their hands to show they were pleased

Phil ips would keep his word and try to find out about Raia But if he found out anything, if he passed that back to Jul--it would be unbearable

Jul would never see her again The huo home He had to do it soon, very soon, now, or die in the attempt

UNSC PORT STANLEY, FORMER ONYX SECTOR Mike Spenser was a patientof coffee while he chatted on the secure link, ent operating undercover on a planet where the entry permit was a criminal record, official or otherwise

"I hear you’ve been wreaking havoc on Sanghelios, Mal," he said "Are you on your way back now? It’s kind of quiet here I could do with some entertainment"

Mal stil wasn’t sure how osky, but she wasn’t here, and Osar deck with the rest of the squad In a day or so, Mal would be relying on Spenser to help them infiltrate New Tyne He wanted to build more trust with the man

"Not exactly us, " Mal said "We just had to extract Phil ips The hinge-heads were kil ing each other pretty efficiently without any help from us"

"Wel , if Infinity had the same effect on them that it’s had on the rest of UNSC, then I’d cal that a result"

"It’s a for years, isn’t it?"

"Even froencies"

"Yeah, sorry about that But half of ONI didn’t know about it, either"

Spenser didn’t look as if he believed him It was just a faint flash of the brows "And word’s out in Kig-Yar cafe society about a new chick in town

Ship as a feood job Maybe too good I’ or not"

BB popped up out of nowhere and hung between Mal and the screen "What do you ot rave reviews for -Yar Very territorial, al the gang bosses panicking about who this character is and how she can get hold of UNSC missiles"

Spenser spun around slowly in his chair to pick up so from the table behind him He was in his makeshift basement ops center, the one where Mal had first realized that Venezia was going to get personally ht be useful e need to do deals with the buzzards Now … Sentzke He left Venezia a couple of days ago, and I’ve lost track of him He rarely travels, and I rarely lose his trail, but this tione"

"But he’l be back, right?"

"He always has been Do I take it that you’re going to handle this internal y?"