Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn: Postscript

I felt a sharp pain in my abdomen as I woke up, though it vanished almost immediately. I tried to look around, but the world seemed blurry. Not regular blurry either. More like I was staring at it through a low-resolution camera lens.

"Can you hear me? Do you know who you are?"

The voice was familiar. I thought for a moment, but nothing came to mind.

"I am Chyler Silva, Cadet at the Corbulo Academy of Military Science. Wait… not anymore."

"Do you remember why?" asked the voice.

"It was attacked by… by an alien strike force?" I answered uncertainly. Upon hearing myself say these words, things somehow came into clearer focus. Of course I knew who was talking to me. As if on cue, that was the next thing he asked.

"Can… Can you remember who I am?"

"Of course I remember you," I answered amusedly. "You're Thomas! And you're alright! You made it offworld. I'm so relieved." I looked up at him, offering him as reassuring a smile as my tired mind allowed. "You got us out. I'm sorry, my memory's… hazy. I just need a moment…"

Tom seemed… unhappy. Was I wrong? I was still here. I could see Sully and Orenski standing with him. The four of us were the only survivors on the entire planet, so I suppose it must be normal for him to be upset, but something told me that wasn't what was bothering him.

"I'm sorry Chyler. I-I wasn't able to…" he trailed off.

"What?" I asked. I spoke carefully. All of a sudden, he looked almost like he was about to break.

"I wasn't able to—" he choked before finishing.

"You weren't able to what?" I asked again, more firmly this time. Something was wrong. I could see that much. What had happened? What didn't I remember?

"I didn't save you," he whispered.

"Well, that's impossible. I'm right here."

"Focus, Silva," Orenski ordered, "What do you remember?"

"We were following the man in the armor. The Chief. Sully was wounded, and then I was…

Oh no…

Oh, god no…

April help up a pink, dart-shaped crystal, holding an end in each hand.

"It's the dart that hit you. It's a spear of crystallized plasma," she explained, "It would have detonated if the grunt had finished unloading its clip. It's actually lucky it didn't. If it had, there probably wouldn't have been enough left to salvage."

"S-Salvage? I-I…" I didn't understand, but couldn't find it in me to voice my thoughts. I had a very eerie suspicion about my condition, but the thought was too frightening to say. As though saying it out loud would somehow make it more real than it already was.

"Look around," April told me, in response to my unasked question.

I tried, but it was as though the world was… lagging. That was the only way I could describe the sensation.

"Don't push her too much, Orenski," Sully chastised, looking extremely uncomfortable, "She can still… well, crash, until she finishes booting up."

The thoughts swirled in my mind like a storm, and forced their way to the surface. The world wasn't lagging. Of course it wasn't… I was.

My heart pounded in my chest, which is something I didn't understand. Did I even have a heart anymore? Or a chest, for that matter? A body at all? I could see myself, but was I really there? Was my body just a complex hallucination my brain was projecting to keep me from going completely mad?

"I'm dead. I died on Circinius IV and now I'm…" somehow, saying it had the opposite effect that I thought it would. I still didn't feel calm, but I was…numb to the shock. "I'm in a computer," I stated matter-of-factly, willing myself to stay calm.

"Well, not quite," Sullivan said pointedly. "A little better. You're not in a computer, rather, you are a computer. What was left of your brain was copied and transplanted into… I'll try and say this in a way that doesn't make me sound like some sort of… intellectual with a superiority complex. A socially awkward one. You're an A.I. based off of… well, you. It was an experimental procedure suggested and tested once by a Doctor Catherine Halsey. Like I said earlier, you're still booting up. The lagging should stop sooner than later.

My mind should have been reeling, but somehow, it just… made sense. I was dead. I was dead, and yet I was also…still here. I probably should have felt sick, but the thought at the forefront of my mind was that still being conscious was rather nice. Of course, what Sullivan told me brought another question to light:

Was I even me, or was I just a counterfeit? A copy of Chyler Silva created for the benefit of those she was close to? The thought was—

"I'm so sorry," Tom repeated.

The thought was nonsense. Even if I was a copy, I was all that was left. Everything that Ensign Chyler Silva was in life, I am now.

Something on a terminal chimed and my vision was clouded with what would have been a mess of 1s and 0s to a human, but to me was as comprehensible as a picture book. I focused, and my vision cleared. Oresnki said something about my mind having finished booting, but I was focused on Lasky. He was just looking at me, almost the same way he looked at me that last night on Circinius IV. Almost. His eyes were clouded, harboring some deep-seated self-loathing.

"You did the best you could, Thomas," I said, reaching out to him. Of course, my hand passed right through his shoulder. My body was a hologram. It should have been obvious. I looked down at myself, and perceived myself as I always had, but to them, I was almost certainly bluescale and translucent. "Regardless of what I am now, you took charge of the situation down there. And…I suppose…you brought me back from the dead, in a manner of speaking."

"You shouldn't have died in the first place," he said, frowning.

This conversation was going back in the wrong direction again and I changed the subject to the first thing that came to mind.

"Does my family know about my…condition?"

"They were already sent the report stating you were KIA," Orenski stated.

I nodded.

"On the other hand, it's always possible for you to pay them a visit of sorts. As an A.I., you're going to be partnered up with a soldier. Of your choice," said Sully. I'd imagine you'll be picking one of the three of us?"

"You'd imagine correctly," I replied with a faint grin. "If I'm being forced to choose immediately, I'll stay with Lasky for the time being."

April raised an eyebrow. "You aren't being forced to make a decision right now, but should I file the report with your assignment anyway?"

"Yes. Do that."

"You should try accessing your functions," suggested Sully. "You know; accessing files, interfacing with the surrounding systems. That stuff."

I was fully attentive while he was speaking to me, and did as required, and discovered I could focus on two entirely different tasks with equal efficiency; something that I could never have done as a human. The other task in this case was a fairly simple one; merely noticing a minor detail that probably had a tad more significance than was immediately apparent.

• Thomas still wasn't speaking unless spoken to.

I went to work as Sullivan had asked, instinctively connecting to the nearest terminal as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

• The thought didn't help alleviate the anxiety that my situation was causing me.

It seemed we were on a Charon-class light frigate. I connected to the shipboard computer, perusing through various different files, mainly military reports that I figured would best be left alone for the time being

• Though I kept it on record.

I started looking at the various programs and applications as well as those of some of the other devices connected to the ship. Navigation and weapon systems, maps, emergency procedures

• An old gaming emulator, Photoshop 17… Oh my. Someone's being particularly naughty. I don't think this ODST's commanding officer would approve of using the ship's internet bandwidth for that.

Shipboard cameras and CCTV—

• Oh. Never mind; she's in the room with him.

It suddenly occurred to me that I had fulfilled both the tragic and comical prerequisites of dying a virgin. Thomas was still staring off into space; looking right through me, actually. If this didn't break him out of his reverie nothing could.

"Michael, April," I said, "If you wouldn't mind, I'd like a moment to talk to Thomas alone.

Orenski didn't question my request, nor did she respond. She simply put a hand on Sullivan's shoulder and led him out of the room.

So now Tom and I had a modicum of privacy. I may as well ask now.

"Tom, do you ever wish that we'd had more time to get to know each other…?"

"Er, sorry?" he asked, "I, us, suppose so. What do you mean by that?"

He was appropriately confused, I suppose.

"Umm… physically, I mean," I said, my voice playing at innocent.

I was suddenly enjoying this tremendously, though I also found I had some sort of stomachache, which didn't make any sense, as I would imagine that I no longer need to eat.

"Wait, hold on… are you…?" he stammered. His face was a tomato now.

"Yes, your computer is in fact coming on to you," I added. At the rate things were going, perhaps I could get steam to come out of his ears.

"Before you say anything else, can I ask what brought this on?" he said hurriedly.

"Oh, just seeing two ODSTs engaging in indecent activities over the ship's cameras. Care to have a look?"

"No thank you."

"Just as well," I said, raising my eyebrows, "What they're doing, while…intriguing, is actually rather bizarre."

"Should I ask?"

"No. Please don't.

"I don't want to."

"Alright then."

The pain I my stomach was getting worse, bringing my thoughts back to not needing to eat anymore. But it was more than, obviously; I couldn't eat anymore. I couldn't do a lot of things anymore. I felt like I was going to be sick.

And just like that, I was crying. There were no tears running down my face, but the sobs and the trembling were still the same. Everything I had ever known had changed in an instant and I was just not ready for this! I wrapped my arms around myself; I'd never feel the touch of a human being again. I almost thought to put the word 'another' instead of the objective 'a.' But I wasn't human, not anymore.

"I'm sorry," Tom said again, "I-I want to help you so much, and I can't do anything. I'm… weak, useless as always."

Stop. Apologizing.

I wanted him to hug me, to touch me, to just do anything that would prove to me that I was still physically real! But I wasn't; I was just a computer. I had sunken to my knees. I must have been able to stand, I had no shortage of strength now, but I couldn't bring myself to stand again. I just stayed where I was, curling up like a frightened child. Pathetic.

"I'm sorry."

Stop saying you're sorry!

"I'm so, so sorry."

I couldn't take it anymore, I hadn't stood up, but I was on my feet again. The world around me turned a violent red.

"Stop saying that!" I shrieked, my voice coming from every speaker in the room.

I would have felt dizzy if I was still human, but I wasn't even breathing heavily. I clenched my fists at my sides.

"You did everything you could!" I continued, "And I'm still here, and I want to at least believe that I'm still alive! But if you're just going to remind me that I may not be who I hope I am anymore every second of every day, I don't want anything to do with you! Am I clear?!"

Thomas had stood up, retreating a few steps away from me.

"I'm sorry…"

The words had come from my mouth this time. The red faded and the world returned to its normal colors. "I… I really would like to be partnered with you. Just please, stop blaming yourself. Stop apologizing. I need you to do that for me. I can't put this behind me, but you can put it behind us."

Tom was speechless, or so it appeared. After a few moments of silence I decided I would do something about this.

"Sully and Orenski are both here with you," I began objectively, maintaining firm eye contact. "I can only assume that you decided to stay on with the fleet."

"I'm not an ODST, I'm just a—"

"It doesn't matter what rank, or position you've landed in; the point is that you decided to be a protector of humanity. There are monsters…" I checked the ship's database and learned everything I needed to know about the creatures that killed me. Me, not Chyler Silva. I am Chyler Silva. "These… Covenant Aliens. They want to murder every human in this galaxy to the last. Nobody knows why, they just do. Are you going to step up? Or are you going to allow a single failure to send you spiraling?"

"I don't… Hell with it… you're right."

"I know I am," I paused briefly, and sent a message to the others over their coms. Sully followed April back into the room. "We're still a team," I said professionally, "We're all that's left of the Corbulo Academy's Hastati Squad and we've managed to survive having our planet glassed. I'm sure you're not going to let me of all people stop you, Lasky?"

"Of course not. Thank you Chyler."

He smiled, finally, and I returned the gesture.

For the first time since I awoke, I looked at myself through the ships cameras to see what myself as I really was.

To see the projection of myself.

It wasn't as metaphysical or hallucinatory an experience as I had expected, and I'm certain that I could attribute my reaction, or lack thereof, to the part of myself that was a computer. I would have to accept that I was a computer. It would be better to do so now, before the issue forced itself, and as Murphy's Law dictates, it would happen at the worst possible time. I might be a computer, but I could still choose to be more than that. Much more.

My body looked like it was wearing a fitted suit of organic computer chips. I couldn't seem to change that. A moment of info mining later, I was able to alter it, if only slightly. I integrated my ensign uniform into the holographic matrix, 'wearing' it over my standard model.

A voice over the shipwide com-system announced that all hands were to prepare for the jump to slipspace.

"We're jumping past an unmapped sector," said Orenski, "the three of us are stationed at one of the portside airlocks for patrol in case we get jumped by Covenant forces. She tossed Sully and Thomas a pair of battle rifles.

"Axios!" I shouted, saluting.

Tom's eyes hardened, but the smile had also returned to his face. Had I gotten through to him? He glanced at the others, who nodded.

"You know, we don't really do that anymore," he said.

I shrugged.

"It don't think it really matters," I said. "The important thing is that we remember we were a team. And can still be one."

"She makes a good point," Orenski agreed.

"Well then, I'll be joining you at your station. I'll need you to—"

"Alright then. Yank her," said Orenski.

"What!?" I sputtered. What kind of crude—Whoa! Being disconnected from the ship's mainframe was slightly disconcerting. I was suddenly very aware that Tom was holding me between his thumb and forefinger. Such an odd thought. A moment later I was inserted into a slot at the base of his helmet. So he'd be wearing that, and I'd be in his head.

I had to say, it might not be worth dying for, wasn't it every girl's dream to know exactly what the boy she liked was thinking?

This was going to be fun… Awkward, possibly, but fun nonetheless.

Time to begin.

Author's Note: By no means is this a completely happy ending. As Cortana informs the Chief in Halo 4, rampancy typically begins after seven years, and even if we all decide to take a tip from Red vs. Blue and Project Freelancer, there are still A.I. issues (i.e. The Meta… Especially The Meta). However, I felt that Silva had a lot more potential as a character to be killed off after only one feature length addition to Halo's (impressive, and surprisingly large) lore-library. So, I made this, and gave her seven more years of service. I'd appreciate if someone used them. It'd make my day. She doesn't have enough admirers.

Thank you for reading.