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"I’d cal that a tiether again with satisfaction "And an apt one"

"What?" Raia stood in his way, de an answer "What is it?"

Forze removed his communicator and held it out to her "Listen to the sound of salvation," he said

Thecreere al standing in the open now, either listening to their co in approval as they looked up into the sky She put Forze’s device to her ear So to ‘Telca, froht not be the one too far this ti theh to unite the keeps against him"

‘Telcah to bring Jul hoin her hand than unfa home to Mdama just yet

Gusay would have a wasted journey Forze could cal him now and tel him to stay at home

TEMPLE OF ABIDING TRUTH, ONTOM Fifty an to break up By one hundred meters, Vaz had lost the link completely

"Can you stil hear us, Dev?" Sooner or later, they’d lose Tart-Cart, too BB hadn’t been able to scan inside the te about the Forerunner structure was interfering with signals "Everything okay out there?"

"No," Devereaux said "Do you want to see? I’ve moved so I can monitor the lynch mob outside"

Tart-Cart’s forward exterior caround level, just a few hundred Elites gathering andopen space it stil looked like a lot of hinge-heads They hadn’t plucked up the courage to stor by the body language of the ones closest to the ca it soe relayed to everyone’s HUD Mal whistled to hi on an exaggerated accent that Vaz didn’t recognize "Thousands of ’eet the joke "Yeah, funny, Staff, but I’ve got toover their heads, because that real y won’t helpto set down at the back of the teh space?"

"I’l , Dev"

"You just make sure you exit via the back door, okay?"

"Got it You’re breaking up now, so we’re going to lose coe as he walked He wondered how long piety would stop the Elites stor like hu would boil over in a second and they’d be in here, bent on revenge Narrow passages, nowhere to run--would they open fire, or would they be too worried about da sacred structures? Did it matter? They could rip Vaz apart with their bare hands and just ht not have been the only person down here Maybe they were al walking straight into an ambush

"Phil ips?" Vaz yel ed at the top of his voice but there wasn’t even the hint of an echo "Come on, Phil ips, where the hel are you?"

"He’s coerprints are on some of the surfaces"

"What do you mean, smell him?"

"Human sebum Very persistent, ful of heavy alcohols and hydrocarbons No witty rejoinders, please, Mal"

Mal had his finger inside the trigger guard, so he was as worried as Vaz about what ht be around the next corner--or behind them "Is Phil ips all you can smel ? No Elites?"

"Just Phil ips At least in recent weeks"

"Are you using my nose?" Naomi asked She sounded absolutely serious to Vaz "How did you pick that up?"

"Your NBCD filters"

"Oh Okay"

Mal stopped a few meters ahead of them "So you’re sure we haven’t been down this one before, BB?"

"Positive But Phil ips has Keep going"

"How far have we coot to end somewhere"

"No," Vaz said "This place could be in some part of slipspace for al we know"

He looked back to check on Naoy after what had happened on Onyx, so he walked back around the curve of the tunnel to look for her He found her standing in front of a carved panel, tilting her head one way then the other as if she was trying out different filters There was no tel ing ent on with her arraded it when it was idling, so her hardas as e of discovery as the Forerunner ruins It stil looked like Mark V Mjolnir from the outside, but it definitely wasn’t

Maybe she liked the retro style and wanted to keep it, like a shabby but ht now

"No wonder Phil ips has gone on safari," BB said He stil sounded as if he was doing a ventriloquist’s act with Nao she’d put up with that "Have you seen these engravings? I’ them, just in case"

"I hate it when you say that"

"These are control panels, like the ones Halsey found in the Dyson sphere, except this isn’t an earrison building"

Naomi stepped back from the panel and walked away "Hey, I haven’t finished," BB said "I need to use your visual feed"

"You can process inforh anyone’s helmet"

"Oh, sorry I spoke--"

Vaz interrupted in to break it up "So why aren’t you fluent in Forerunner by now, BB? Halsey can’t be smarter than you are"

"If you think that cereal-packet psychology is going to distract ered, Vaz, it won’t"

Yes, BB was definitely strung out "Okay, so tel lish? Anything from a comms channel to a shuttle service Be a dear, Naomi, and touch the surface, wil you? I need to analyze that shield that’s covering it"

Naoloved palm cautiously on the surface "What is it?"

"A job for a Huragok," BB ad blew up, lit up, or made a noise After a couple of seconds, Naoone, and walked off Vaz prodded the surface of the panel to check and decided it felt more like the bristles of an invisible silicone brush

Mal was opening up a gap ahead of the for a ard cat "Phil ips … Phil-lips … coe-heads outside"