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"What happened?"
Cortana sighed "Are you referring to what happened since I left you on Reach? Or the outcome of the Slipspace battle? Or do you mean what happened since that battle?"
"The battle, first," he said and struggled to get up "I presuth seemed to have been drained froinal horizontal position
Cortana's pale blue light diaze dropped to the deck "Blue Teaine conduit"
"I remember," the Master Chief murmured "The repair part of it, at least There was an explosion"
"A plashed "I'm sorry, Chief, but only you and SPARTANS-093, -043, and -104 survived that blast"
Grace, Will, and Fred were alive, but Li, Anton, and Warrant Officer Polaski had been killed in action He remembered Po-laski's scream, then Anton's outline as the flash of white-hot fire swept over the hull
"Acknowledged," he said as graciously as he could e to his voice
It struck him as odd that Polaski's death affected him as well
He'd seen thousands of UNSC soldiers die She hadn't hesitated to transport Blue Teaer- ous She had survived the battle of Reach, the crash landing on Halo, the Flood, and everything else--then she had bravely vol- unteered for this ht have ies
The Master Chief sighed, called up his team roster on his heads-up display, andin Action
He paused to view all the others on that list; his first and best friend, Sam, was thereand he hadn't even realized a dozen es to the roster and closed the file
"What about Kelly and Linda?" he asked Cortana
Cortana looked up and flipped the hair froraphic pad and then said, "SPARTAN-087, Kelly, is recovering froree burns on seventy-two percent of her body Doctor Halsey has ac- celerated tissue regroith dermacortic steroids She should be fully healed in a h her mobility will be severely ha status" Cortana paused for a full second "Doctor Halsey has SPARTAN-058 currently in medical facility alpha, three decks above us She still has her in a cryogenic state and is presently perforiven me several orders to prepare the flash clone banks for replace transplant"
"So she's alive?" the Master Chief asked
"Technically," Cortana replied, "no" For a enuine concern on her face--but it quickly vanished
"The doctor and Ad to revive SPARTAN-058 before we reach a major medical facility Doctor Halsey, I'm sure, will brief you when she has all the facts, Chief"
John frowned at this lack of detail He didn't appreciate Cor-tana's increasingly difficult attitude, one that had slowly shifted ever since she interfaced with the Forerunner computer system on Halo He made a mental note to ask Dr Halsey about Linda later and he'd ask her about Cortana, too
"All other hands on board are accounted for?" the Master Chief asked, "Yes, Chief They are all engaged in repairs to the conjoined ships We took tree in the expanded Slipspace from plasma bombardments and mass impacts Both ships' super- structures, however, re at sixty-seven percent capacity Ascendant Justice's reactor is offline undergoing repairs Five of our seven plasines are crippled We have less than three percent operational thrust"
"Can the ship still jump to Slipspace? Are we stranded out here?"
"A jump is possible," Cortana said She shook her head the way an older sister ht when her baby brother asked a naive question "It wouldn't do us any good, though The alien artifact in Doctor Halsey's possession eh levels of radiation in Slipspace This unknown radiation even penetrates your suit's shields I estimate lethal exposure in just under seventy-two hours Also, that radiation would serve as a beacon for any Cove- nant ships prowling Slipspace, searching for us"
"So we're stuck between systeative," Cortana replied, and her voice took on a new chill "Admiral Whitcomb is quite adaardless of the cost in human life Other- wise, it would be weeks before ould be able to contact UNSC High CohCom? Two facts suddenly clicked into place: the Admi- ral's need to contact the rest of the Admiralty--no matter the price--and Dr Halsey's atte the Adraphic outline softened "I told you this be- fore, Chief, but apparently it did not stick in your semiconscious state" She then came into sharp focus and crossed her arms over her chest "The Covenant have discovered the location of Earth"
The Master Chief stood, suddenly wide awake and alert He set aside his pain and fatigue
"Explain," he demanded
Cortana outlined her discovery of the encoded subchannel within normal Covenant communiques She explained how the Covenant'seffi- ciently, and she then showed him symbols that represented the coordinates for Sol and Earth
He stood , to preserve this secret It was only a matter of time; he had always known that the Covenant had to find Earth sooner or later He had, however, always thought it would be later
and never now
The Master Chief stared at the tiny triangles, squares, dots, and bars that made up the spatial coordinates "We've seen these before, on Cote d'Azur"
"Yes And according to Doctor Halsey, her tearound vaults"
"What's the connection?"
"Unknown"
The Master Chief put these facts aside for theof the symbols and translation he'd leave up to Cortana and ONI The only insight thatto attack Earth
"Was there a timetable or any other data encoded on the sub- channel?" he asked
"Affirmative There's a coordinated series of orders to Cove- nant warships scattered across the galaxy to rendezvous with aHierophant' When they have sufficient force, they will collec-tively make the jump to Earth"
The Master Chief moved toward the medical bay's doors
They automatically parted "Where is Ade," Cortana replied
"But Doctor Halsey gave me strict orders that you are not to--"
"I don't take orders from civilians," he snapped "Not even her"
The Master Chief passed out of the medical bay and marched down the corridor