trans_9 | A moment of silence [Open]

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A moment of silence [Open]

Stacy was never truly silent. There was the slightly audible hum of the systems, and the others in the Sensorium, to create a rather pleasing sound within the audible range of most species. But Cortana wasn't adding to that; rather she was sitting on her own created boulder, deep in thought. She'd learned quite a bit from Chief's video logs, and more still from the Library once he'd uploaded her back into Stacy's systems. It was a lot of data to process, and so she'd adopted the thinking pose some humans used. Legs pulled up to her chest, and her head resting on her knees. She looked, and felt, almost normal.

...well, normal as an AI passing as a human could get. Oh, the plant suit she'd chosen to appear to wear went a long way to making her blend in compared to her normal holographic form, but the violet tinted blue hair and bright blue eyes didn't help her to blend in. And she honestly didn't know why she'd chosen those. Nostalgia, perhaps? No, she could return to her simple AI form at any time she wanted. And it wasn't as if Stacy didn't carry some different looking people, so it wasn't to stand out. Maybe it was becuase it just felt right to look this way. A mix between a human and the AI she was.

But it didn't really matter. Even with all her processing power, sorting all the information she had taken in over the past few days would still take some time, and that time would be much better spent on figuring out just what the hell had happened then moping about why she had chosen to take this form.

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That playful tone made Cortana smile.

"Oh, not much. I'm pretty much retired now, so I'm sure I can tell you some things." She just wouldn't mention any names, places, or dates.

"Then, why don't you?" Irma said, patting the rock beside her, offering her a seat. "I got all the time in the world... unless you'd feel better not to. We gotta have some things we gotta keep safe, right?"

"There are some things I do keep safe. But I know what I can tell you." With that, she hopped up onto the rock beside Irma, drawing her legs up to resume the posture she'd held when the girl had first arrived.

"A long time ago, centuries before I was born, humans thought they were the only ones in the galaxy. They hadn't learned how to get to the stars yet, and they were trapped on a dying world. But then, the greatest minds of the age found a way to make travel to other planets possible, and humans started out into space. Do you know what they found there?"

Irma listened to what Cortana had to say and the way she said it made her wonder.

"Sounds like something unpleasant, wasn't it?" she said. Too many sci-fi movies. Who knows, she might be wrong.

Cortana nodded, digging deep into her memory banks for this.

"Something very unpleasant. They encountered a group of species calling themselves the Covenant. The Covenant hated the humans, and swore to kill everyone of them. They attacked human colonies, destroying everything in thier path. It seemed like the human race had traded one death for another."

Irma's face turned to one of worry. The Covenant seemed to be just like the Ohm, but on a more smaller scale.

"Well, what happened? It's kinda obvious that you're around so... how did you guys fight back?"

"We fought back by the skin of our teeth. We created the Spartan Program. Humans altered into super-soldiers. Humanity's last hope against the Covenant, and it took years to come to fruition. By the time they were ready...it was almost too late. The Covenant had decimated the colonies, and were on the way to our homeworld, before we could get the Spartans out there." She had to smile faintly.

"A Spartain could never be classified KIA. Only MIA. If the public found out a Spartan could die...we would have lost all hope."

Irma couldn't believe it. It was sounding like Cortana's story was just like what they were going through. In this case, they were the Spartans.

"Wow... and you guys won, right?"

"Barely. It took over twenty years, and we were nearly completely destroyed by what came in after the Covenant. But we survived."

Humanity lived on, even if she and John had never made it home.

"Like we will, right?" Irma said, a little hopeful with that. "We're gonna win and we're gonna survive..."

Letting out a sigh, she pulled her legs up, then moved to lay her head on Cortana's shoulder, hoping she didn't mind.

And probably hoping she's still there.

"We;ll be fine, Irma. We'll make it." She meant every word of that.

Seeing more then feeling Irma place her head on her shoulder, Cortana smiled faintly. Oh, she didn't mind at all. Nor was she going anywhere anytime soon.

"Yeah..." Irma muttered. She looked up at Cortana and chuckled. "Gonna tell me another story?" She chuckled and shook her head. "Nah, you don't hafta. Right now, I don't mind just being like this, talking about whatever comes to mind."

It felt like she was really bonding with Cortana, no matter who or what she was.

"Well, I don't know many other stories..." Hold on. SHe actually did. And it was one that might cheer the mood up a good deal. With barely a sound, a photograph appeared in Cortana's hand. It was of a small boy, brown haired and blue eyed, with quite a few freckles over his nose.

"This is John. He's a lot older now, but he's been my partner for as long as I can remember."

Irma couldn't help but chuckle at what Cortana showed her. "Aww, he looked so cute! Can I see what he looks like now?"

"This stays between us, alright?" Still, the photograph changed to reflect how much John had changed. It was probably a little outdated, but he was a grown man now. The freckles had faded, and he was far too pale to be healthy, with a few scars on his face. But eyes were what had changed the most; while the eyes of the child he'd been had been not entirely happy, they'd held a smile. The adult? Barely held any happiness at all.

Irma looked at what became of John and she couldn't help but blink at who it was. She could swear that she'd seen him somewhere, but wasn't sure where.

"Wow... war can change people, can it?" Irma said. "Kinda makes you worry about the kids here, doesn't it?"

The photograph vanished, and Cortana closed her eyes. Her data banks still had some of Dr. Halsey's memories of John and the others laughing. How things had changed...

"It does. And it only gets worse the younger you are." She sighed, opening her eyes again.

"You might actually know John from around here."

"You're right, I..." Irma began before it clicked. "...the Chief!" She gawked at where the picture of the child once was then back at Cortana in shock.

"Wow, he was such a cute kid back then...!"

Cortana smiled, nodding a little.

"They all were, back then. John is a Spartan, Irma. One of the last survivors of the project."

"Oh, wow..." Irma whispered. "...then he may be one of our biggest chances of survival here, huh?"

"He is. But you have to know something. Even with all his training, John is still human. Even he needs help sometimes." He'd scared her sometimes...and there really hadn't been much she'd been able to do for him.

"I guess that's where the rest of us come in." Irma said. "Don't worry, we're all behind each other. Hopefully."

"I hope so." And she certainly did appreciate it. She and John were used to working with just eachother, but help was always appreciated.

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A moment of silence [Open]

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