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CORTANA HADN‘Trecalled Ackerson consciously in a long time As she locked down her

critical files and disabled her indexing--there was no point handing the Grave his way into Dr Halsey‘s research via his own AI

Perhaps it was an ie association because she was under attack The memory of Ackerson‘s

sour, permanently dissatisfied face surfaced, followed instantly by a landscape of dense green forest seen from the air

What’s that?

She didn‘t recognize it, and that was her first warning that soed in her Every scrap of information she devoured and stored had to reside somewhere in her et She couldn’t forget In the fraction of a second it took for her to see those unexplained ies and start to worry, she enerating thousands of scrambled copies of her lowest-priority files and data-stripped copies of herself before scattering theh Charity‘s computer network It was decoy chaff, tossed into the Gravemind‘s path to slow him down Ackerson--feared, hated, then perhaps even pitied at the end--was a brief tangle of inforht like the path of a particle He was gone again

―Ah," the Grave ―Ahhh"

What’s that forest? Where is it?

The Graveainst Cortana‘s skin It was an odd, slow, cold sensation, as if so its claws into her

―You are not as you see yourself," the Grave news, big boy" She spread her arram--o!"

It felt as if he‘d pulled her hair

―You are not even amore sympathetic than dismissive ―You are only an abstraction A set of calculations froentleht"

―You said you would answer my questionsyou should never make a promise you cannot keep"

She‘d used almost those very words to John before he left Okay, she knew the Gravea her syste her, er so to creep her out

―You know I‘ll never surrender classified inforned to defend

humanity It‘s what I am It‘s why I exist"

―Then ould you already agree to answer ht it was a rhetorical question for afor a back door into her core matrix Then she realized she couldn‘t answer hiht that he‘d already coive this slab of meat a run for his money He was still only flesh and blood He would always be two steps behind her, however smart, because he was s l ow He couldn‘t harness the processing power in athis? How is he accessing e out past hi too much data out of me

―If you do not know your own mind, then I shall tell you" The Grave? Had he detected exactly what she was thinking, or was it a response to her spoken question? She thought she could feel his breath for a ifted with clarity"

One ht to the point ―Okay, so tellyou crave"

―I‘m an AI Never touch the stuff"

―But you cannot resist knowledgeIt lures you, Cortana Doesn‘t it? So you think it lures me

and you offer it Instinctively Just as organic females flirt"

She hated it when so--outsmarted her No, she feared it And now she felt that fear like a punch in the stoh, she kneasn‘t the Gravemind It caned to have blind spots and weaknesses She was supposed to be a mindThe very best

―Nice theory," she said Could he tell if he was really getting to her? ―What have you got to offer a girl? Nothing personal, but I go for the athletic type"

―Joke to comfort yourself if you must, but we both amass information and experiences We both use them to exercise control over vast networks It is e areYou feel a kinship with me"

Cortana saw Ackerson for ahis way into Halsey‘s Spartan II files

―Actually, I think I take after my mother"

―This troubles you I can taste your thoughts and memories, but you do not understand howDo you?"

If he‘d been another AI or a virus, Cortana would have known exactly where his attack was headed

She would have been able to track hiateways to her vulnerable matrix

Her enemy would follow electronic pathways--or even enzymes or optical lattices if she was embedded in a molecular or quantu She could only sense where he touched her She was a boxer shielding her face, not seeing the punch but reeling when it connected She took the pokes and prods while she continued to scatter duplicate data throughout the mainframe and as

Then the insistent probing stopped She carried on copying chaff files throughout the system in case it was just a feint

―You waste your time," the Gravemind said ―You know you will yield Some temptations can be resisted because they can be avoided, but soen"

He could bluster as much as he wanted, because she‘d shut hi except the useless decoy data

And then soainst her face, alertips, and she found herself turning even though she didn‘t need to in order to see behind her It was that forest she couldn‘t identify again The picture didn‘t reach her via her i systems, but had formed somewhere in herfrom within the Grave into infinity, there was a fascinating glienuinely alien world

Knowledge, so e

―There," the Gravemind said ―Would you not like to knowmore?"

YES, THIS is how I see myself I have limbs, hands, a head Do I need them? Yes, of course My consciousness is copied from a human brain, and that brain is built to interface with a human body

The structure, the architecture, the whole way it operates--thought and form are inseparable I need proprioception to function I can exist in any electronic environment, from a warship’s systems to a code key, and because my temporary body can be so many shapes and sizes, I need to knohat’s me I need to be substantially human Everyone I care about ishu Getback forin a pool of dappled light in a perfectly realistic forest clearing She was still conscious of the sensor inputs into the mainframe that housed her, but the temperature and air pressure matched her database on climate parameters for deciduous forest She still couldn‘t identify the trees, though She‘d never seen thenorance thrilled her to her core

This was genuinely newEvery line of code in her being told her she had to find out nore the co her attention away froent the need beca, painful pressure on herchest LungsYes, her human mind-map, whatever she‘d inherited from Dr Halsey‘s brain architecture and correlated with the sensor pathways in her own syste her breath She started to feel panicked and desperate

I have to know I have to find out

The Grave data was literally air to an AI

Without it, she couldn‘t survive

I’ve got to ignore this I’ve got to ignore this pain

―The name of this placeitof it," the Grave up from a mosaic of pixels in front of her He resolved into a solid mound of flesh, superimposed on the tree trunks Beyond the alien forest, Cortana saw exotically alien buildings in the distance ―So many have been consuotten, but what is remembered and knownbecoled to stay focused Wave after wave of irritating stings peppered her legs,to access her files

―And you think I‘ to help you add us to the menu?" When she looked down, the attackup from the forest floor All around her hat she craved--all that unknown , all that knowable , all that infor at her to be sucked in ―Careful you don‘t s so that chokes you--"

I can’t hold out I can’t If I let it in, I’ll let him in farther with it

This had to be the vector he was using, whatever technology it used He was infiltrating every tiets in here--but et farther into him, too How far dare I take this before he finds the information on the Portal?

She was out of choices She was on the brink A few seconds--that was all it took an AI to suffocate fro, like huulp in a breath of data There was nothing she could do to stop herself

The relief was almost blissful Data flooded in, places and di the pain away She tried to feel--there was no other ter programs into the Gravemind

Damnwas he amused? She felt that She didn‘t like input that she couldn‘t measure and define

―You and I," the Gravemind said, all satisfaction ―We are one and the sa He obviously loved to play with language Maybe that was inevitable when you‘d absorbed soto s me One and the same? Locked you out, jerk Do your worst

She could handle this She could outnal now, he‘d spot that right away, but e hoive-and-take,iued He really did seeh, he was; he‘d devoured whole worlds Earth would be just onelist

―Suppose I did want e," she said ―How do I know you‘re what you say you are?

How do I know you‘ve got enough data to keep me occupied? I don‘t even know if you can absorb me I‘m not your usual diet I‘m not even corporeal"

Cortana actually h inside her thought processes, then he‘d detect that doubt The urge to acquire more data--she didn‘t even have to fake that

Just enough uncertainty to convince him

―Other construct minds like yours have been consuly on his deathbed, theto evade the inevitable"

―Humor enetic memories and material of its victims, the Gravemind almost certainly used it as well It conal she could hitch a ht not survive this But that’s the least that could go wrong The worst is if he breaches my database, because then--we’ve probably lost Earth, and that means humanity too

Cortana considered the quickest way to achieve complete and permanent shutdown if the worst happened The Grave she detected as arash; she split off part of herself for the transfer, withshe hated and feared, it was not knoas actually taking place, and just guessing

―Enter," said the Gravemind, ―and understand that this is your natural ho in the sas were different Monoterpenes, isoprene, all kinds of volatile co leaf litter was intense

That’s not just an analysis of air coht sensors on this station AndI can really sanic, not this sense of

S she‘d never experienced before, even though she knew exactly what it was She could run diagnostic tests on air saraph But that just told her as in the air in stark chemical ter now This was eed atShe felt the world as if she was in another body, an organic body

―That is from the memory of creatures who lived in this forest," the Gravely

―This is what they sensed They still exist in anics you serve--and who have abandoned you"

Cortana scooped up a handful of decaying leaves--some clammy, some paper-dry skeletal lace, soy with sap--and with the someone else It was a second of heady disorientation For a lorious new information about a world of stilt-cities, creatures she‘d never seen before, and lives she‘d never lived poured into her She devoured it So e and culture, never seen by huone All consuht her eye She knehat it was because she‘d seen the Flood sware point wasn‘t from the relative safety of John‘s neural interface

Now she was viewing the parasites through another pair of eyes Only a freakher; but by the time this borrowedhtmarish predator, it was too late to run

But run she did She was in a street sprinting for her life, deafened by screahbor as a pack of Flood pounced on him She felt the wet spray of blood; she froze one second too long to stare in horror as his body rotesquelyhit her hard in the back like a stab wound She was knocked flat as searing pain overwhelmed her The screams she could hear were her own

And she was screa whose terror she was reliving wasn‘t calling his naanic would She felt it all She felt the separate layers of existence--the chaotic mix of anies of beloved faces Then it ended

Suddenly she was just Cortana again, alone with her ownterror and pain persisted for a fewfinal moments had shaken her more than she expected The data she had on the Flood told her nothing cohtered by them

But she was inNow she had to work out how to use that advantage She shook off the thought of calling John‘s name and whether that had actually happened She also tried not to iine if the Gravemind had manipulated her to do that Once she let the creature undermine her confidence, once she let him prey on her anxieties, she was lost

It doesn’t matter if he knows if I care about John or not Does it? Because John will come back, and the Gravemind can’t take on both of us

―I‘ll self-destruct before I let that happen to Earth," she said at last

―All life dies, all worlds too, and if there is guaranteed perpetual existence after that--what does it matter how the end comes?"

The alien town melted away and left her alone in the control roo before her eyes as the Flood infestation transfor it with twisted bioo down fighting than as an entree"

―But you will not rush to destroy yourself," the Gravemind said ―You will do whatever it takes to survive, and for a moment of illusory safety, you would loose da, then--you‘re certainly damnation"

―All consumption is death for the consu dae to kill that rival of your er nor need You have your own murderous streak"

Ackerson James Ackerson wasn‘t usually upper up

The Grave, of course; hu insoleaned that specific memory, he‘d definitely accessed the parts of her matrix that defined her psyche Her personal memories were stored there Most of thoseto the men and women she‘d served with--and the operations they‘d carried out

And the Spartan program And AI research And

The Gravenposts to the relevant data He just couldn‘t open the door when he got there

―If you know about Ackerson, then you also know that I‘ll do whatever it takes to rehty intellect, so much freedom to act, such lethal armaments at your coeance of a spiteful child who is too s blow

And still you fail in your goal"

Okay, yes, it was true She‘d hacked Ackerson‘s files and forged a request froed that fate because he was devious and dishonest In the end, though, he died courageously defiant, but under eneed letter