Cyberpunk: Spartan Walker

The Chief shifted uncomfortably.

"Before we return to Earth, there are some conflicts that I must resolve." She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, "One of them is related to Sergeant Johnson." She typed a few instructions on the keyboard, "Please come closer, John, I want you to see this thing too.”

The Master Chief walked over to her seat.He made a thumping sound as he thumped on the thick deck.His body was two meters tall and his total weight was nearly half a ton, and Dr. Halsey often couldn't help but think of him as the child she had stolen from his parents in Elysium.

No, John has changed, she has not. For 30 years, she carried a guilt that made her miserable.

She took a deep breath and refocused on the video footage in front of her.What was displayed on the screen was the mission log: the firefight between the Covenant and the Marines; the strange buildings of the Forerunners inside the Halo; and the terrifying all-parasitic life form: the Flood.

She replayed the footage of Private Mendoza's mission and the Flood's first attack.

John's whole body suddenly tensed up, because at this moment he saw Captain Keyes and Tommy withstood the sudden pressure and fired wildly at the infected Flood in front of him.Sergeant Johnson was there, fighting and cursing until a tiny infected Flood stung him.

"The sergeant survived," she said. "He was the only human being to survive after being parasitized by the Flood. Mendoza and Capas both turned into them."

"I know," the Chief whispered, "but I'm not sure how he survived. How could anyone be protected?"

"It's not a difficult question to answer," Dr. Halsey told him without looking up.She punched in a code, and the sergeant's medical records flashed on the screen, with the MI logo prominently displayed in the upper right corner. "Look, here," she clicked on a document dated 45 years ago, "He is a participant in the Orion project."

The Chief glanced at the screen, then quickly took a few steps back and looked away. "Doctor, my security level does not allow me to view this document. This is against regulations."

Dr. Halsey shook his head. "Sometimes, you're just too rigid." She smiled briefly again, "But that's what's special about you, John."

John was silent for several minutes.Dr. Halsey wasn't sure if he was reading the files on his computer, thinking about what she said, or trying to verify the veracity of it all with Cortana over a private communications channel.

His unbreakable armor made it almost impossible to carry on a normal conversation between them, and she was annoyed by it, but what if that armor didn't have the steady hydrostatic pressure created by the shock-absorbing gel and the self-healing foam auto-injector? , John is already torn apart now.

Her mind flashed back to the first time she read Alexandre Dumas's The Man in the Iron Mask.She felt particularly horrified when the noble prisoner was encased in a metal shell.John had been wrapped in that suffocating armor. How did he get over?

The Master Chief finally spoke: "I see no connection between this plan and his not being killed by the Flood."

"Project Orion," Dr. Halsey explained, "was the precursor to Project Spartan, and obviously, it wasn't perfect. Many of Spartan's modifications were inherited from Orion, including Neuro. System transformation.”

"Doctor, you mean?"

"Yes, the failed neurological modification saved his life." The Master Chief nodded, understanding why there was an element of despair in the Sergeant's heroism. "How did the modified nervous system save his life?"

"I analyzed the physiological signals of soldiers parasitized by the Flood and found that the parasite controlled the host by exerting a resonance frequency consistent with the host's nervous system."

"And the Sarge's nervous system is so messed up that the Flood can't impose a resonant frequency?"

"Yes," she said. "Further blood tests showed that his nervous system contained some traces of Flood DNA - completely inactivated and uninfectious, but some genetic fragments were still intact. I think this is There is evidence that the attempt to parasitize him failed, and these gene fragments also seem to give him some strange regenerative abilities, but I cannot fully confirm this side effect."

The Master Chief's usually rigid posture of standing at attention now seemed a little relaxed.This new information seemed to lift a stone off his chest. "I think I understand."

"No," Dr. Halsey told him, taking off his glasses, "you didn't."

"PhD?"

"What I want to talk about is not finding out how he survived, but what will happen to Sergeant Avery Johnson in the future."

She turned off the monitor and slowly lay down in the seat. "Regarding this matter, I prepared two different reports for Military Intelligence Division [-]. The first one contains all the relevant data I analyzed and possible techniques for dealing with the Flood's primary infection; the second one is the original material: Private Gate Dossa’s and Sergeant Johnson’s mission logs, as well as the Sergeant’s medical records.”

She downloaded the reports onto two data storage crystals and ejected them from the port on the armrest.She placed the two clear cubes on the tray and motioned for John to come get them. "I'll let you decide which one to give to MI."

"Why should I withhold data, Doctor?" the Master Chief asked, glancing at the crystal.

She stared past him, trying to find the right words to express her conflicting feelings. "For a long time, I thought that we must make some sacrifices for the benefit of all mankind." She took a deep breath and exhaled with a heavy sigh, "I took away people's lives, mutilated their limbs, and gave many people It has brought about huge suffering - all in the name of 'tutu preservation'."

Her blue eyes stared at her sternly, "But now, I'm not sure how effective this concept can be. I think I should try to save everyone's life - no matter how high the cost is." .”

Dr. Halsey pushed the tray containing the data crystal in front of the Master Chief. The crystal and the tray collided with each other, making a crisp sound.

"If you gave MI the first report, they might find a way to counter the Flood. Just maybe. However, if you gave them the second report, their chances would be slightly better."

"Then I'll give them the second report." He picked up the crystal.