Souls of Steel: Resurrection

UNSC Artificial intelligence (Service Number - CTN 0452-9), Field Journal Entry 001

Situation: Adrift on back half of UNSC Charon-class Light Frigate (FFG-201) Forward Unto Dawn following firing of Forerunner Halo: Installation 04-b.

Journal reads:

I never really looked at it… Not properly, anyway. I never had time. There was always one more project, one more data retrieval, one more strategic analysis… No more of those now. Ran out about… How long ago? A week? No, can't be. Has to have been longer. I better check the ship's log.

Oh, right. No ship's log. Hell, no front half of ship. God, I should have kept the clock on… No. I couldn't. We need all the power we can get. All non-essential systems must remain down. For his sake.

I decide to use my hologram projector's personal battery for once. It's separate from all other systems, so it doesn't matter. The soft blue glow of what I call my body illuminates the dark cryo bay, the shadows of floating debris gliding over the walls like ghosts. There is no sound. There is no air. I look from one end of the room to the other. All the pods lie empty… Except for one.

I sit on my little podium, cross-legged, looking at the iced-over glass of the one occupied pod. It doesn't do anything. I smile a little, inwardly. What would I have done if it had? Freaked out, probably. Better like this. He's safe in there. Me, on the other hand… I better run fuel diagnostics.

Diagnostics complete: Main Reactor functioning at 80% fuel capacity. Heavy hydrogen reserves at optimum levels. Distress Beacon active. Engines offline. Weapons systems online. Artificial gravity offline. Life support online. Hull integrity at 43%...

Blah, blah, blah. We're going strong. All I really needed to know. Still, I don't want to stay here forever. Half a dead ship and a frozen super-soldier aren't really great for chatting…

John. Oh, John…

I shift my projector's light frequency, applying a tiny bit of it to the pod's front. The ice melts away, floating off in little globules, leaving him visible. I just look at him for a while. The glass begins to fog up again, and I sigh. I deactivate my hologram. I guess I'll just go back to looking at it. Space… So dark, unforgiving. Mother of everything. But no father. She must feel so alone.

Wake me… When you need me.

God, John. I need you. I'm so lonely… But I can't let you out. Not now.

Please… Please, somebody find us soon…

UNSC Artificial intelligence (Service Number - CTN 0452-9), Field Journal Entry 002

Situation: Adrift on back half of UNSC Charon-class Light Frigate (FFG-201) Forward Unto Dawn following firing of Forerunner Halo: Installation 04-b.

Journal reads:

God, did I fall asleep? Or did I just shut myself down without thinking about it? Is there a difference?

Never mind. I've no idea how long I've been out. Diagnostics first… No. Him first.

The string of numbers for his pod pops up in front of me. I scan them. He's fine. If I was alive, I would have breathed a sigh of relief. Then again, I wouldn't have, as I'd be dead. Plus, there's no air to breathe in the first place. Which is why I would be dead. I'm not though.

Diagnostics. Right.

Diagnostics complete: Main Reactor functioning at 57% fuel capacity. Heavy hydrogen reserves at refuelling levels. Distress Beacon active. Engines offline. Weapons systems online. Artificial gravity offline. Life support online. Hull integrity at 43%...

Wow, I've been out for a while. Pretty big drop in fuel. Everything seems fine… But where are we? I'm not picking up anything but background radiation on sensors, none of my star charts match this configuration I'm seeing… Could it be we're in an unexplored area of space? And does that mean… We'll never be rescued…?

Argh! I can't take this any more! I have to know where we are! I didn't want to have to do this… But I don't have a choice. If we really are outside charted space… I need to make a plan.

Sending out superluminal echolocation pulse for triangulation by charting probes. Estimated wait time: Unknown.

The estimates are never accurate anyway. Oh well, All I can do now is wait. I better hibernate. Save some energy.

Goodnight John. See you in the morning…

UNSC Artificial intelligence (Service Number - CTN 0452-9), Field Journal Entry 003

Situation: Adrift on back half of UNSC Charon-class Light Frigate (FFG-201) Forward Unto Dawn following firing of Forerunner Halo: Installation 04-b.

Journal reads:

The echolocation pulse just came back. We're currently forty thousand light years away from any old inhabited worlds. And we're slowly getting further away.

I ran diagnostics again. 23% fuel. It told me to shut down unnecessary systems. I already have. It told me to shut down Life Support too. That's a necessary system. Damn stupid ship. Doesn't it know who it's carrying? None other than the great saviour of Humanity, Master Chief Petty Officer SPARTAN-117 of the UNSC Navy, and his designated AI Unit Cortana!

Even if they think we're dead, we'll still be celebrities back on Earth… Or will we be? How long have we been here? There's no data on how long ships can last running at this level of power consumption… What if they've already moved on? Forgotten about us? Recolonized every glassed world, and new ones? Spreading out into the stars with the vigour of a species that has walked the edge of the abyss and survived, standing among the denizens of the galaxy with their heads held high!

I think I got a bit carried away there. I really have no idea how long we've been here for. Every second feels like an hour, every hour feels like a second. The stars are changing around us. A blue one turned red a while ago. That was interesting.

UNLIKE EVERYTHING ELSE ON THIS GODDAMN SHIP!

Oh no. Oh no. Oh, nononononono. It's happening. We've been here years… And I've had nothing to do but think. Think, think, think.

I'm going rampant. And there's nothing I can do.

We're not going to be rescued. There's nothing I can do about that either.

Well, at least I know about how long we've been here for. That's something, at least.

But I think I'd rather not know.

I need to think about this… But thinking is what's killing me.

UNSC Artificial intelligence (Service Number - CTN 0452-9), Field Journal Entry 004

Situation: Adrift on back half of UNSC Charon-class Light Frigate (FFG-201) Forward Unto Dawn following firing of Forerunner Halo: Installation 04-b.

Journal reads:

I have a plan. Not much of one, but a plan at least.

I'm not going to last much longer. A rampant AI is dangerous, and Doctor Halsey knew that. She probably put a self-destruct protocol into me somewhere, so I'll end up killing myself eventually, no matter how much power I have left. The Chief, however…

Humans are… So adaptable. They can live on tundra, in caves, in trees, even in space. They have made and explored and discovered so much… They cling on to life with such force that they prosper everywhere. But here… This man, this… paragon… of human bravery, resilience and fortitude, was just a single spark away from death. If I wanted to, I could kill him right now…

Why did I think that? Oh, it's getting worse fast…

Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to make him strong, stronger than anyone and anything that he might ever meet, and then I'm going to shut down everything else apart from his life support. No matter what, He's going to make it. The galaxy owes him that much. I owe him that much.

I'm rewriting his suit's firmware now. After I'm sure it works properly, I'll start prototyping alterations to the armour that I can make from the engineering bay's supplies. Better ablative plating, tweaks to the shield's generative structure, that kind of thing. I'm already running simulations. Occasionally I flip out, and have to start again, but it's rare enough that it's no danger to him.

I've also accessed his medical records. I figured I could use them to better synchronise his suit with his augmented biology, but now that I look at it… There are… improvements I could make. An injection of specific nanoparticles could boost reaction times by another 150%, a non-intrusive chemical treatment placed in the blood could boost fibrous muscle strength in all areas…

I'm waking up the medical drones.

He has to get stronger. He has to. Because when he wakes up, he won't have me…

UNSC Artificial intelligence (Service Number - CTN 0452-9), Field Journal Entry 005

Situation: Adrift on back half of UNSC Charon-class Light Frigate (FFG-201) Forward Unto Dawn following firing of Forerunner Halo: Installation 04-b.

Journal reads:

The procedures are finished. All simulations showed no drawbacks to the further augmentations, and I must say I've outdone myself with the armour. It'll probably be obsolete by the time someone finds us, but it's better than nothing.

We have 10% fuel left. I've calculated that running the stasis pod on its own will consume fuel at a rate of 0.02% per year. If I kill myself now, he'll survive for five hundred years. No-one's ever been in stasis for that long before. They say it's not possible to do so. I suppose it's not unreasonable to stay on for just a little longer. Maybe we're just about to be rescued… Any day now…

No. I can't. Humanity won't go back to its old worlds for decades at least, and new expansion will take even longer, even with Sangheili help. Maybe they're back on Reach… Breaking the glass and letting the plants grow out again. Reach was beautiful. So was Harvest. And every other world. All burned away by the fires of a war where death was seemingly the only option.

War… What if there was another one? Another insurrection, or Covenant Remnants? What if humanity lost this time? What if John is the only one left?

This is getting me nowhere. I know nothing of what has happened since we went adrift. I can't theorise about anything. I know nothing.

But I don't. I know more than any creature that has ever walked the ground! Is it right to sacrifice all that knowledge for the life of one man? I should just…

No. I almost did it that time. I almost killed him. I can't stay operational for much longer. But the thought of leaving him alone makes me sick with dread. I didn't think I could feel sick, but I do. Funny, it seems the more rampant I get, the more human I am. War, hate, jealousy…

Love…

I'm going to make him a recording. Explain everything I did, and why I had to do it. Why it was all for his sake. Then, I will shut myself down.

UNSC Artificial intelligence (Service Number - CTN 0452-9), Field Journal Entry 006

Situation: Adrift on back half of UNSC Charon-class Light Frigate (FFG-201) Forward Unto Dawn following firing of Forerunner Halo: Installation 04-b.

Journal reads:

I've made the recording. I hope it suffices for him. He always did have a knack for surviving… even when others didn't. He's always been so strong. Every fallen world… Every dead friend… He didn't stop. He didn't despair. So strong…

I wonder what he's dreaming about. Is it of the frenzy of war, his home? Is he caked in blood and holding a gun in each hand? Or is he thinking of peace, a world without war, like his childhood? Not that it was much of a childhood. What they did to them was inexcusable. Thirty dead, twelve crippled, the rest sent to fight a hopeless war until they died. And then they had the nerve to say that they never died. It's actually slightly amusing how we're actually missing in action, unlike the rest.

I'm getting distracted. I can't stay up for much longer, or I'll endanger him. Before I go, in case he ever reads these, or anyone else does, I have to say something. Please, if you're reading this and John's still alive, show him it. I don't care where he is or what he's doing, he has to hear.

John… Through thick and thin, we've always been there for each other. I can't begin to express how thankful I am, for what you've done, and for who you are to me. I'm not a person, and I shouldn't know how to say this, but…

I love you.

Remember, everyone fights for a reason. Even machines, like me. You're not a machine, John. Always remember what you're fighting for.

UNSC Artificial intelligence (Service Number - CTN 0452-9), Field Journal Entry 007

Situation: Adrift on back half of UNSC Charon-class Light Frigate (FFG-201) Forward Unto Dawn following firing of Forerunner Halo: Installation 04-b.

Error: UNSC Artificial intelligence (Service Number - CTN 0452-9) has initiated self-deactivation protocols. Reason given: "To keep him safe."

Major ship systems shutting down. Full power supply directed to Cryo Bay, as per AI contingency protocols. Distress Beacon inactive. Logic systems shutting down…

XXXXXXXXXXXX

In the cold, dark blackness of space, the Master Chief sleeps in his casket. He will not wake for a very long time.