Page 19 (1/2)

The swar and she could hear the out of the stairwell too

She closed the distance between her and Three in two long strides She didn‘t slon She scooped up Three, threw hie of the roof

And jumped

She landed with both feet on the roof of the building opposite and didn‘t waste any ti down--the door had been blown open by a Covenant raiding force o

She took the stairs down by leaping fro only once to adjust Three to a more comfortable position across both her shoulders

As she did so Three said, ―For ato save er boyfriend"

―That would be because you are afor the like Sioux warriors on a final charge across the plains, the Spartans unloaded their assault rifles, Three while still draped across Two‘s back, and cleared a narrow path through the Drones to the exit

But now came the impossible part--the scenario One had wanted to avoid in the first place: a hundred round between the Spartans and the Beacon with clouds of infuriated Drones swar overhead, everywhere they looked Each of their ARs was on its last clip and they wouldn‘tall their ah

So she just had to run

The Drones flen and tried to grab the and Three beat the off a burst or then absolutely necessary

Then Two felt her feet kicking eainst her will But no Drones were near them

―Oh crap," Three said

She looked up--and saw several Drones floating above therapplers they used to excavate mantle for the Beacon now trained on the two Spartans

She saw a fa by their side--she had blown off his front arms but he was still alive, limbless but still able to hover-hop on what res

So Unmutuals weren‘t completely incapable of cooperation

They just needed the right leadership

Her helmet headset crackled, ―Black-Two, this is Black-One Come in Black-Four has powered up the train and we are ready for evac Return to Rally Point Beta immediately Over"

―Copy that, Black-One," Two said, ―but I‘d get that thingnow"

―Why?"

―Because I a extremely heavy on top of it"

And she detonated the blow pack she had attached to the antigrav pylon of the Beacon

The huge C-12 explosion was so violent that it startled rapplers, which in turn dropped Two back onto her feet She didn‘t waste any tirav pylons struggled for a few seconds to keep the

unforgiving ed victorious and yanked the machine doard on one side The plas froh the Yan and the dozens of Uns Two and Three had just escaped froround just as the first pylon hit The tunnels i around her and it was a s She barely made it to the subway tunnel and handed Black-Three into Black-One‘s outstretched ar onboard herself

The subway disappeared into its tunnel just as the reh the platform roof

For a moment, everyone inside the train car paused to catch their breath The train whined quietly through the absolute darkness of the metro tube Spartan: Black was too exhausted to celebrate

―ETA at Pelican in twenty," Four said after ahad just happened

Three punched Two playfully in the shoulder ―So what did we learn today, huh? If you see

so that looks different from us in any way, kill it immediately and without question"

Two just cocked her head ―We are a hell of a lot more ‗Mutual‘ that‘s for sure"

―Huh?" Three said

She watched the tunnel darkness recede back into itself behind them as the train hu," Two said with a smile only she kneas there

THE MONA LISA

JEFF VANDERMEERAND TESSA KUM

OCTOBER 2552 [EXACT DATE CLASSIFIED], SOELL SYSTEM,

INSTALLATION 04 DEBRIS FIELD, ―HALO"

>Lopez 0610 hours

Sergeant Zhao Heng Lopez stood in the cargo bay of the UNSC Red Horse , looking at an escape pod A huge, pitted bullet About two and a halfand thick, pocked and soc Benti, Technical Officer Raj Singh, his helpers, the ever-silent, inscrutable Clarence, and a crack pilot naundy who‘d just co at the latest catch It was so dented the container itself al Al out of the sides Was that all it took? Lopez wondered, to h? Maybe

Ja-boned, lanky, and freckled Unimpressive Maybe if she kicked hie," he said, but not like he

―Yeah, you think you‘re here, MacCraw," Benti said in a half mutter Next to Benti--who looked so small in combat armor that seemed to eat her up--MacCraas like another species

Singh had conscripted Burgundy into helping pry the pod open alongside his assistants The thing obviously wasn‘t going to open easily for the the crude little hatch, locked at the side, almost couldn‘t be seen with the number of impacts it had suffered

―Not undy said Lopez knew that the Marines sometimes called her

―Stickybeak" because she was too curious, but she didn‘t seem to care

Benti: ―Is it, like, old, or a recon pod? Aet it"

―Is it even ours?" MacCraw asked, ignoring Benti while asking the same question

―Sure as hell ain‘t Covenant," Lopez said ―It‘s human" Just not necessarily s

No idea what it was doing out here in uncharted space, floating in the ruins of Halo, a gargantuan alien artifact Lopez hadn‘t even tried to explain to herself Hell, Lopez had no real idea what she was doing here, for thatjust three days ago, with no more specific task than ―recon and recovery and watch out for Covenant patrols"

Lopez wasn‘t in the mood for more mysteries

―But--that doesn‘tthem too relaxed Except for

Clarence, as at his best when he was so relaxed he didn‘t even seehost But it was hard for the rest of the in the bay of their own ship Lopez knew from experience sometimes you took the worst hits where you lived for that very reason

They‘d seen pods before on this tour--toothem from the void with such tenacity itin particular But almost all of what they‘d recovered had been sleeper pods from amid the exploded chunks of continental plate, the almost delicate slices of superstructure: cryotubes ejected froht down by Covenant fire All DOA, cracked and ruptured by the wealth of debris out there

Go to sleep expecting to wake, and wind up in a floating coffin instead There orse ways to die There were ht have been slow, but he wasn‘t that slow As he helped Benti unsnap a stretcher, he said, ―So hly classified top-secret hush-hush location That‘s a civilian pod"

Lopez didn‘t answer because she had no answer Their ly quiet All she kneas that even though the Red Horse operated under warti away her soul when they‘d given her additional security documents Not to revealUnder penalty of

The oddest thing? Their old smart AI, Chauncey, had been replaced with an AI named Rebecca

Chauncey had been only three years old when they‘d yanked hi cracked up Besides, Chauncey would‘ve dropped her a hint or two He had taken a real shine to Lopez Rebecca hadn‘t

―Maybe we should tell the commander it‘s civilian," MacCraw said

Poor MacCraw Still so wet behind the ears She didn‘t look at hiave Lopez a cheeky grin as she said: ―There are cameras in here, MacCraw"

He frowned, reddened

Burgundy and Singh‘s assistants had h waved Lopez over ―Life support is still online We‘ve got a live one in here" An instant quickening of her pulse This could be so a funeral director ―Just give the word and we‘ll have it open"

Lopez et your teaer" Unholstered her pistol, checked the chaet your weapon out and your head out of your ass Treat as hostile until proven otherwise" Benti had a talent forfriends that served the squad well on leave, especially regarding bartenders, but it wasn‘t a useful trait here

The sound of boots behind her as additional Marines filed into the hangar, ranging around the pod at Clarence‘s command Assault rifles raised and ready She didn‘t have to check--they knehat they were doing Lopez had trained most of them herself

Ever-silent, Clarence drew up beside her, finger on the trigger A good man to have at her back when faced with the unknown

Lopez nodded at Singh, who tapped his control pad The seal on the pod sighed, and the technician stood back

Three, two, one

She wrenched at the hatch A hiss of escaping pressure as the hatch rose