Cyberpunk: Spartan Walker

Chapter 160 Linda ([-])

At this time, the communication channel was opened again. "Tommy, where have you been wandering around? Why haven't you come back yet?"

Although there was some static noise in the channel, the Master Chief recognized the voice of artificial intelligence Ellie.The tone and attitude she spoke to Tommy were completely different from the way Cortana spoke to her. It didn't sound like a conversation between comrades or companions, but more like the Master Chief racking his brains and couldn't describe what it felt like.

Tommy walked to the control panel and pressed the communication button on it. "I'll be back in a moment." He then briefly told Ellie what they were going to do next.

The Chief noticed that Tommy's cheeks, which had been tense when he spoke to her, softened and his whole person seemed less nervous, maybe even he didn't realize it.

"Oh, it's so troublesome. Why do things like this always happen to you?" Ellie muttered dissatisfied, "I detected a reflection wave from an unknown source nearby. The battleship will first enter the dark side of the critical star to hide and complete the mission. We will meet there later.”

"Well, thank you for your hard work, Ellie."

There was silence for a full second. The Master Chief knew that this was extremely unusual for artificial intelligence, because their thinking speed was much higher than that of humans. To exaggerate, one second was like a century to them. .

"Huh, what are you talking about? Idiot, you have to pay attention to your safety. I will wait for you to come back on the ship."

The communication was hung up by Ellie, and Tommy touched his head, looking very confused.

The Master Chief always felt that the way they talked to each other was a bit weird, especially the sentence "I'll wait for you to come back on the ship."Soon, John blinked and put these confusions behind him. He was never good at thinking about these things, so he simply didn't think about it.

Cortana's slender holographic image appeared on the holographic display table installed between the pilot's and system operator's seats.She put her hands on her hips, raised the corners of her mouth in an intriguing arc, and said to Tommy with a hint of irony: "She cares about you quite a bit. How about I send you back first so that you can reunite?"

Tommy frowned visibly, "What do you mean?" he retorted, "Don't you care about John's safety?"

Cortana tilted her head slightly to one side, "This is different."

John bit his lip lightly. He didn't like Cortana's increasingly bad attitude, especially her sarcasm towards Tommy, which made him feel even more uncomfortable - ever since she came into contact with the Forerunners in Halo's control room. After using computer systems, attitudes began to change.

He remembered in his mind that if he had the chance, he would ask about Cortana and what impact the Forerunner's computer had on her.

The Master Chief intervened in the conversation between the two and ordered Cortana: "Without further ado, Cortana, start scanning. Take back the cryopod and we will return to the Truth and Harmony."

Tommy nodded and stopped arguing with Cortana.

Cortana glanced at the Master Chief, "Under scanning," she said, and was silent for a while.He could see scanned data scrolling across the main display terminal.After a moment, she spoke again, her voice surprisingly calm, "There is nothing but dust and reflected waves."

How could there be nothing?The Master Chief was unwilling to give in and said, "Scan again."

"The scan has been completed," she said. "There is nothing out there. I told you: only dust and reflected waves."

The Chief clenched his hands into fists, feeling a momentary urge to smash something, then he relaxed, wondering how his temper had gotten so bad.He had exhausted all his strength in the past - and the battle at Halo was undoubtedly the most painful memory of his military career - but he had never lost his temper so easily.

Fighting the Flood must have affected him badly, more than he realized.He tried not to think about the Flood again.There may be time to heal this trauma in the future, or there may not be.There is no use worrying about this now.

"Scan again," he repeated.

Cortana stared at John, brushed her hair away from her bright eyes, and crossed her arms over her chest, clearly annoyed by the Master Chief's request.

"Linda is one of my siblings, and I don't want to give up on her easily, so," he finally said as patiently as possible, "let's scan it again."

Cortana sighed heavily, and then her holographic image disappeared.Then the scan panel buzzed to life, the screen filled with mathematical symbols.

After a while, the scanning panel dimmed, and Cortana said: "Still nothing, Master Chief. All I collected was a huge reflected wave from the base star, but there was no signal from the transponder, and there was no call for help. Signal."

"You didn't do an active scan?" Tommy asked at this time.

Her slender hologram appears again, this time with static on her fingers. "There are trillions of things out there, and you actually want me to scan them like this and identify them one by one - even if we sit here and do nothing else, it will still take eighteen days. time."

"What if the cryopod's transponder is turned off?" Tommy asked.

"That's just not—" Cortana paused, ever so briefly.The static around her disappeared and she stared out into space. "interesting."

"what?"

Cortana looked a little irritated, then seemed to recover quickly.

"With the new data, the signal reflections are getting stronger and stronger."

"Does it make sense?"

"It makes sense," she replied. "That's not a reflected wave."

When Cortana turned on the interceptor's long-range reconnaissance equipment, the scanning panel buzzed and came to life again.After a moment she exclaimed, "Uh-oh!"

Cortana must have identified what the valid signal was. The Master Chief stared at the scanning panel intently.The unique spherical outline of the Covenant force cruiser slowly came into view, and it was moving on the other side of the base star.

Polaski, who was sitting in the driver's seat, widened his eyes and said, "Holy shit."

"Reduce power consumption." Tommy put on his helmet and quickly ordered, "Except turning on the passive scanner and maintaining the minimum energy you need, stop all programs."

The cabin became dark.Cortana's full image kept flickering, and after she cut off the power to the holographic system, her image gradually disappeared.The cruiser flew into the Halo wreckage, prowling like a hungry shark looking for prey.Another cruiser appeared, then another, then three more.

(End of this chapter)