Halo_ The Fall of Reach - Eric Nylund [92]
“No, ma’am. As far as I could see, they were left alone.”
“And this one,” she said. The image changed to his firefight with the gigantic armored aliens. “At any time did you see these things interact with the other Covenant species?” “No, ma’am—” The Master Chief reconsidered. “Well, in a manner of speaking, yes. If you could
review the recording at time minus two minutes from this frame, please.” The holo paused and then blurred backward. “There,” he said. The video played forward as the Master Chief and Fred examined the crushed Jackal in
the museum. “That impression in this Jackal’s back,” he said. “I believe it is the armored alien’s bootprint.” “What do you mean, son?” a new man asked. His voice was older and rough. “I can only offer my opinion, sir. I am not a scientist.” “Offer it, Master Chief,” the same scratchy voice said. “I, for one, would be very interested to hear what
someone with firsthandexperience has to say . . . for a change.” There was a rustle of papers in the shadows, then silence. “Well, sir—it looks to me like this Jackal simply got in the larger creature’s way. There’s no attempt to
move it, and no deviation in the path of the following footfalls. It simply walked over the smaller alien.” “Evidence of a hierarchical caste structure perhaps?” the old man murmured. “Let’s move on,” the woman again spoke, her voice now laced with irritation. The holo image changed yet again. A stone object appeared—the rock the Master Chief recovered from
the museum.
“This stone,” she said, “is a typical igneous granite specimen but with an unusual concentration of aluminum oxide inclusions—specifically rubies. It is a match for the mineral specimens recovered from grid thirteen by twenty-four.
“Master Chief,” she said, “you recovered this rock—” She paused. “From an optical scanner. Is that correct?”
“Yes, ma’am. The aliens had placed the rock in a red metallic box. Visible spectrum lasers were scanning the specimen.”
“And the infrared pulse laser transmitter was hooked up to this scanner?” she asked. “You are certain?”
“Absolutely, ma’am. My thermal imagers caught a fraction of the transmission scattered by the ambient dust.”
The woman continued. “The rock sample is roughly pyramidal. The inclusions in the igneous matrix are unusual in that all possible crystalline morphologies for corundum are present: bipyramidal, prismatic, tabular, and rhombohedral. Scanning from the tip to the base with neutron imagers, we produce the following pattern.”
Again, a series of squares, triangles, bars and dots appeared on the view screen—symbols that again reminded John of Aztec writing.
Déjà had taught the Spartans about the Aztecs—how Cortés with superior tactics and technology had nearly obliterated an entire race. Was the same thing happening between the Covenant and humans?
“Now, then,” the first male voice interjected, “this business with the detonation of a HAVOK tactical nuclear device . . . do you realize that any additional evidence of Covenant activity on Côte d’Azur has been effectively erased? Do you know what opportunities have been lost, soldier?”
“I had extremely specific orders, sir,” the Master Chief said without hesitating. “Orders that came directly from NavSpecWep, Section Three.”
“Section Three,” the woman muttered, “which is ONI . . . it figures.”
The old man in the darkness chuckled. The faint glow of a cigar tip flared near his voice, then faded. “Are you insinuating, Master Chief,” the older man said, “that the destruction of all this ‘evidence,’ as my colleges would call it, happened becausethey ordered it?”
There was no good answer to that question. Whatever the Master Chief said was sure to irritate someone here.
“No, sir. I am simply stating that the destruction—of anything, including any ‘evidence’—is a direct result of the detonation of a nuclear weapon. In full compliance with my orders. Sir.”
The first man whispered, “Jesus . . . what do you expect from one of Dr. Halsey’s windup toy soldiers?” “That’s quite enough, Colonel!” the older