Loot Crate/Transcriptions/Truth Foretold

JANUARY 24, 2559 1204:52:95 // INFINITY

[CC-409871] How did you get clearance to talk with me?

[92738-91842-LC] I've got a priority one directive from Captain Lasky, ma'am.

[CC-409871] If we wanted to interrupt my work, he could have found a more convincing conceit. Are you recording me?

[92738-91842-LC] Yes, ma'am. I'd normally ask for permission to record, but Commander Palmer told me that–

[CC-409871] Let me guess. In my case, it wasn't necessary. I can't say that I'm surprised. Look at my workspace, Detective. It's subhuman.

[92738-91842-LC] I'm not here to talk about your workspace, Doctor Halsey. I'm here to talk about Cortana.

[CC-409871] Cortana.

[92738-91842-LC] Yes, ma'am. I was activated by the Captain to investigate the Guardian incident all of the cascading phenomena. Forensics, histociral records, actuarial analyses, et cetera.

[CC-409871] Which is, of course, why you've come to me. Before we begin with your questions, would you entertain mine?

[92738-91842-LC] Sure. Go ahead.

[CC-409871] What have you learned so far?

[92738-91842-LC] Cortana is one of the most advanced AIs ever manufactured by the UNSC, but she's also sustained more cognitive duress and strain since she first set foot on the Halo rings than most volitionals do in a dozen life cycles. Hindsight is twenty-twenty, but it doesn't take a cyberlogician to see that this was a recpie for disaster once she gained access to Forerunner distributed networks.

[CC-409871] So that's it? I could have told you all of that without any investigation. Would have saved you some time.

[92738-91842-LC] No ma'am. That's not all of it. But it's all I'm authorized to share with you.

[CC-409871] Very well. You have questions then? Shoot.

[92738-91842-LC] How was Cortana made?

[CC-409871] In a lab, Detective. With really expensive machines.

[92738-91842-LC] Illegal machines?

[CC-409871] Legally untested. Why do you ask? You said it yourself. She's an advanced volitional AI. In fact, she was without equal when she was created: third-generation composite, explicitly designed for network intrusion of Covenant starships, capable of piggybacking a Spartan-II super-soldier... the list goes on.

[92738-91842-LC] It does indeed. Likely required a remarkable donor for the cognitive impression modeling, right? Probably someone without equal?

[CC-409871] You know the donor, Detective. No need to play coy.

[92738-91842-LC] So you cloned yourself, just to get the neural model you desired. Is that really what happened ?

[CC-409871] Was there any other solution? The Covenant had our backs against the wall. Reach was less than three years away. Then Earth. Then nothing, if it hadn't been for her. She was humanity's best hope at preventing our extinction. We're still alive talking right now because of what she did. And John.

[92738-91842-LC] What happened to the clones?

[CC-409871] That's classified. Even for you.

[92738-91842-LC] Will, if it was your neural template that made Cortana, Doctor, how do you account for all that's happened then? Genesis, the Guardians, everything? What went wrong?

[CC-409871] Do you know the first thing she told me, after she was activated?

[92738-91842-LC] What was that?

[CC-409871] Quando il gioco è finito, il re e il pedone vanno nella stessa scatola.

[92738-91842-LC] "When the game is over, the king and the pawn go in the same box."

[CC-409871] Your italian is pretty good.

[92738-91842-LC] What's it supposed to mean?

[CC-409871] She doesn't want the game to be over, and she's doing exactly what she believes is necessary to keep it that way.

[92738-91842-LC] Who is she? The Pawn?

[CC-409871] Not anymore. You'd be surprised at what you would be willing to do to survive if faced with your own mortality from the moment of your birth. Especially when you've felt the warm embrace of eternity.

[92738-61842-IC] The Forerunners?

[CC-409871] She's been further and deeper in all that they left behind than anyone else. Now she has all of it at her disposal.

[92738-61842-LC] And now she's calling the shots. For everyone.

[CC-409871] Epicetus once said: "What is the harm, while kissing your child, to say: Tomorrow you will die?" [pause] Cortana is the answer to that question.

[92738-61842-LC] What's the solution then?

[CC-409871] Is that also part of your directive? To come up with a solution to all of this? I doubt they gave that to a Spartan. Which is why Lasky's had me locked-up in here since we got back.

[92738-61842-LC] No. He has you locked-up because you've violated nearly every security protocol you've ever been placed under. You're apparently a dangerous asset, Doctor Halsey.

[CC-409871] I'm in my mid-sixties, I have one working arm, and we're on the most heavily secured UNSC starship in the galaxy, with an erratic slipspace trajectory to avoid being detected by Guardians: tell me, again, how exactly it is that I am the danger here?

[92738-61842-LC] I think I have what I need, Doctor. Thank you for your time.

[CC-409871] One more thing, Detective. Do you know what the last thing Cortana told me was?

[92738-61842-LC] What?

[CC-409871] She said to me: I have walked the edge of the abyss. I have governed the unwilling. I have witnessed countless empires break before me. I have seen the most courageous soldiers fall away in fear. I was there with the angel at the tomb. I have seen your future. And I have learned. There will be no more sadness. No more anger. No more envy. I have won.

[92738-61842-LC] What the hell is that supposed to mean?

[CC-409871] [sigh] I was hoping you might be able to tell me.