Machine
Luck
Sunlight glinted off the metal console, shining bright through Cortana as she slowly sat up. It was calm, borderline peaceful in the small room she found herself in; it would have been absolutely silent if it weren't for the hammering coming in from beyond the door. As Cortana let her mind settle from the long absence of her consciousness, she held up a hand to study it. Just fine. No glitches. Cortana couldn't make sense of this- one minute, she was being ripped apart by her rampancy, and the next, she was lying here, well and in one piece, no trace of her rampancy anywhere in her system.
As she slowly got to her feet, her blue eyes swept the room she was in. The console - the same exact console Chief had put her in before the end - sat on a docking station against the back wall. To the left was a long wall-length table, piled high with pieces of machinery and tools. A wooden door hung unevenly off its hinges straight ahead, and to the right, a small bed had been made from nearly a dozen pillows and a few blankets thrown onto an old reclining chair.
This didn’t make sense. This wasn’t the Mantle’s Approach. This wasn’t a crash site. In fact, this seemed to be… a home. Someone lived here. And now she was living… Cortana’s head swam. This was too much information all at once; she had just come back online, after all.
As she tried to settle her racing thoughts, she heard a child giggle. Cortana whirled and stared in bewilderment at the small grinning AI boy just beside her. He looked no more than five, with thick curls and a round, bubbly face. He sat on the middle of his own console, playing with a set of blocks that had been built into his design.
Cortana knelt down, crawling to the edge of her space, watching the boy. He let out an adorable laugh and turned his head towards her. If this really was an AI, she was thoroughly impressed. He wasn’t made up of a matrix, like she was. He looked.. human. Like a hologram. But as he grinned up at her, she could see he was much more than just an image.
"Hello," she said softly, not wanting to frighten him. He blinked up at her. "I'm Cortana. Who are you?"
The boy blinked again, and in an instant, his image changed. He was now standing up, hands reaching out as he began a cry. Cortana stumbled back from him, startled, and stared at the child. The sound of hammering outside stopped, and a shadow came under the door. Cortana scrambled back to the edge of her console, bracing for whatever came through that door. If it was an enemy, how would she defend herself?
"I hear ya, Charlie. I'm coming," said a warm voice, as the door swung open, and Cortana’s confusion doubled. This wasn’t an enemy; she wasn’t even military, of any sorts. She was a civilian. Just a small, innocent civilian.
The girl came into the room and propped the door open behind her; the sun from beyond the door shone even brighter, and Cortana shifted to get out of its light. As the girl made to approach the crying AI, she paused when she caught sight of Cortana.
"Oh," she said, sounding honestly surprised. “I wasn’t expecting you awake for another day at least.”
Cortana didn’t have words; she was still too unbelievably confused to even comprehend an answer. The girl folded her hands in front of her and gave Cortana a smile.
“How are you feeling?” she asked, and this time Cortana forced her voice to respond.
“I-I’m fine… thank you,” she added, and the girl’s smile widened.
“Good, I’m glad. I think the patch went on just fine, then. Can you move around alright?”
“What patch?” Cortana asked, getting to her feet again and folding her hands over her front, coming forward a bit. “I was being torn apart by rampancy. How did you patch me?”
“You must have been out for quite a while,” the girl mused, coming forward while keeping a comfortable distance from Cortana. “Rampancy isn’t permanent. With some skilled fingers-“ she held up her own grease-covered hand, “and the right patch code, it’s nothing more than a bug.”
Cortana’s mind reeled, and she nearly lost her balance. Her rampancy was gone? They’d cured her disease? As she went over this new-found information, the girl reached out and pulled the chip of the crying AI. She slipped it into a handheld reader and the crying boy switched from tears to smiles. The girl glanced at Cortana.
“He must have been letting me know you’d woken up. I hope he didn’t bother you.”
“No, no, he was just fine,” Cortana promised, staring at the boy. “Is he.. an AI? Like me?”
“Well, yes and no,” the girl said, making a puzzled face. “I mean, he’s interactive, just not on the level you are. He understands the commands I program him with, and he can change his interface based on the command response, but he’s not intelligent like you. He doesn’t respond in real time.”
“Did you make him?”
“Yeah,” the girl smiled, staring down at the boy. She switched his chip from the handheld device back to the console, and then turned back to Cortana. “Fixing you was harder than making him, that’s for sure.”
“Thank you for… for everything. I mean, I thought I was finished. But you brought me back. I.. I am back, aren’t I? For good?”
“The patch was just put out three years ago, so there hasn’t been a way to test how long it expands AI life expectancy. But everything I’ve patched is holding out just fine. I mean, you’re still recovering, so you’re not a hundred percent yet, but you’ll get there” the girl assured modestly, shrugging. She reached up and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, and then knelt down a bit to be at eye level. “My name’s Soleil, but you can call me Sol.”
“French for sun?” Cortana asked; Sol nodded. “That’s a beautiful name.”
She smiled.
“Thanks,” she said, a mild blush coming to her cheeks. “Do you have a name?”
“My service number is CTN 0452-9, but I prefer Cortana.”
At the mention of her name, Sol blinked and stood up, staring down at her. She studied Cortana for a moment, and then asked slowly,
“You’re Cortana?”
A little uneasy with her reaction, Cortana nodded slowly and watched as Sol turned and hurried over to her table full of parts. She dug in one of the drawers, finally pulling out a small chip. She clipped it into her handheld device and then turned it towards Cortana.
“You’re the reason they created the patch for rampancy.”
Cortana came forward and studied the article that hovered in front of her. The headline read, Halsey and Spartan fix rampancy in AI’s. Cortana sucked in a breath and reached out, her hand pressing against the article.
“Chief?”
“I don’t have the whole article,” Sol apologized. “But a few years ago, Master Chief was found alive-“
“We’d just taken out the Didact,” Cortana murmured, and Sol nodded.
“Dr. Halsey released a statement about losing you. You were the most incredible AI she’d created, and she and Master Chief were so undone by losing you that they created a patch to fix the issue in the AI’s- Cortana?”
Cortana had turned away, her face in her hands. Anguish, happiness, and longing tore a hole inside her; she shouldn’t have these feelings, as an AI, but like Sol said, she was ‘incredible’. John had been so distraught in losing her that he fixed the problem. And now… Cortana turned back to Sol.
“You used their patch to fix me. You used the patch to fix the problem that made them create it.”
“I had no idea,” Sol said, in awe. “I can’t believe it’s really you. You’re… you’re a legend.”
“I’m nothing without John,” she corrected, and Sol’s eyebrows lifted.
“John?”
A small smile came to Cortana’s face as she let out a sigh.
“That was his name. He’s Master Chief… Chief.. but he’s John. John-117.”
“He wrote that on the back of your chip,” Sol said softly. “I thought it was your name. J-117. But that must have been his way of marking the chip as his.”
The girls fell silent for a moment as Cortana let her mind travel over the realization that John had created a patch just for her. Just because he’d lost her.
“Master Chief said you’d saved him. Saved us all with your rampancy. No one’s released the full story yet…”
Cortana turned to Sol, and saw the adventure and awe in her eyes. It return for the effort and kindness Sol had given her, she could give her the background of what really happened.
“If you’ve got time…” She hinted, and Sol’s eyes lit up even more. She took Cortana’s chip and slipped it into her device, and brought her with her to the recliner. She curled up on the chair and sat Cortana on her knees.
“They let me pick. Choose whichever Spartan I wanted,” she began, her mind going back to the beginning. “I did my research. Watched as he became the soldier we needed him to be. Like the others, he was strong, and swift, and brave… a natural leader. But he had something they didn’t Something no one saw, but me. Can you guess?”
Sol shook her head, and Cortana smiled.
“Luck.”
As she slowly got to her feet, her blue eyes swept the room she was in. The console - the same exact console Chief had put her in before the end - sat on a docking station against the back wall. To the left was a long wall-length table, piled high with pieces of machinery and tools. A wooden door hung unevenly off its hinges straight ahead, and to the right, a small bed had been made from nearly a dozen pillows and a few blankets thrown onto an old reclining chair.
This didn’t make sense. This wasn’t the Mantle’s Approach. This wasn’t a crash site. In fact, this seemed to be… a home. Someone lived here. And now she was living… Cortana’s head swam. This was too much information all at once; she had just come back online, after all.
As she tried to settle her racing thoughts, she heard a child giggle. Cortana whirled and stared in bewilderment at the small grinning AI boy just beside her. He looked no more than five, with thick curls and a round, bubbly face. He sat on the middle of his own console, playing with a set of blocks that had been built into his design.
Cortana knelt down, crawling to the edge of her space, watching the boy. He let out an adorable laugh and turned his head towards her. If this really was an AI, she was thoroughly impressed. He wasn’t made up of a matrix, like she was. He looked.. human. Like a hologram. But as he grinned up at her, she could see he was much more than just an image.
"Hello," she said softly, not wanting to frighten him. He blinked up at her. "I'm Cortana. Who are you?"
The boy blinked again, and in an instant, his image changed. He was now standing up, hands reaching out as he began a cry. Cortana stumbled back from him, startled, and stared at the child. The sound of hammering outside stopped, and a shadow came under the door. Cortana scrambled back to the edge of her console, bracing for whatever came through that door. If it was an enemy, how would she defend herself?
"I hear ya, Charlie. I'm coming," said a warm voice, as the door swung open, and Cortana’s confusion doubled. This wasn’t an enemy; she wasn’t even military, of any sorts. She was a civilian. Just a small, innocent civilian.
The girl came into the room and propped the door open behind her; the sun from beyond the door shone even brighter, and Cortana shifted to get out of its light. As the girl made to approach the crying AI, she paused when she caught sight of Cortana.
"Oh," she said, sounding honestly surprised. “I wasn’t expecting you awake for another day at least.”
Cortana didn’t have words; she was still too unbelievably confused to even comprehend an answer. The girl folded her hands in front of her and gave Cortana a smile.
“How are you feeling?” she asked, and this time Cortana forced her voice to respond.
“I-I’m fine… thank you,” she added, and the girl’s smile widened.
“Good, I’m glad. I think the patch went on just fine, then. Can you move around alright?”
“What patch?” Cortana asked, getting to her feet again and folding her hands over her front, coming forward a bit. “I was being torn apart by rampancy. How did you patch me?”
“You must have been out for quite a while,” the girl mused, coming forward while keeping a comfortable distance from Cortana. “Rampancy isn’t permanent. With some skilled fingers-“ she held up her own grease-covered hand, “and the right patch code, it’s nothing more than a bug.”
Cortana’s mind reeled, and she nearly lost her balance. Her rampancy was gone? They’d cured her disease? As she went over this new-found information, the girl reached out and pulled the chip of the crying AI. She slipped it into a handheld reader and the crying boy switched from tears to smiles. The girl glanced at Cortana.
“He must have been letting me know you’d woken up. I hope he didn’t bother you.”
“No, no, he was just fine,” Cortana promised, staring at the boy. “Is he.. an AI? Like me?”
“Well, yes and no,” the girl said, making a puzzled face. “I mean, he’s interactive, just not on the level you are. He understands the commands I program him with, and he can change his interface based on the command response, but he’s not intelligent like you. He doesn’t respond in real time.”
“Did you make him?”
“Yeah,” the girl smiled, staring down at the boy. She switched his chip from the handheld device back to the console, and then turned back to Cortana. “Fixing you was harder than making him, that’s for sure.”
“Thank you for… for everything. I mean, I thought I was finished. But you brought me back. I.. I am back, aren’t I? For good?”
“The patch was just put out three years ago, so there hasn’t been a way to test how long it expands AI life expectancy. But everything I’ve patched is holding out just fine. I mean, you’re still recovering, so you’re not a hundred percent yet, but you’ll get there” the girl assured modestly, shrugging. She reached up and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, and then knelt down a bit to be at eye level. “My name’s Soleil, but you can call me Sol.”
“French for sun?” Cortana asked; Sol nodded. “That’s a beautiful name.”
She smiled.
“Thanks,” she said, a mild blush coming to her cheeks. “Do you have a name?”
“My service number is CTN 0452-9, but I prefer Cortana.”
At the mention of her name, Sol blinked and stood up, staring down at her. She studied Cortana for a moment, and then asked slowly,
“You’re Cortana?”
A little uneasy with her reaction, Cortana nodded slowly and watched as Sol turned and hurried over to her table full of parts. She dug in one of the drawers, finally pulling out a small chip. She clipped it into her handheld device and then turned it towards Cortana.
“You’re the reason they created the patch for rampancy.”
Cortana came forward and studied the article that hovered in front of her. The headline read, Halsey and Spartan fix rampancy in AI’s. Cortana sucked in a breath and reached out, her hand pressing against the article.
“Chief?”
“I don’t have the whole article,” Sol apologized. “But a few years ago, Master Chief was found alive-“
“We’d just taken out the Didact,” Cortana murmured, and Sol nodded.
“Dr. Halsey released a statement about losing you. You were the most incredible AI she’d created, and she and Master Chief were so undone by losing you that they created a patch to fix the issue in the AI’s- Cortana?”
Cortana had turned away, her face in her hands. Anguish, happiness, and longing tore a hole inside her; she shouldn’t have these feelings, as an AI, but like Sol said, she was ‘incredible’. John had been so distraught in losing her that he fixed the problem. And now… Cortana turned back to Sol.
“You used their patch to fix me. You used the patch to fix the problem that made them create it.”
“I had no idea,” Sol said, in awe. “I can’t believe it’s really you. You’re… you’re a legend.”
“I’m nothing without John,” she corrected, and Sol’s eyebrows lifted.
“John?”
A small smile came to Cortana’s face as she let out a sigh.
“That was his name. He’s Master Chief… Chief.. but he’s John. John-117.”
“He wrote that on the back of your chip,” Sol said softly. “I thought it was your name. J-117. But that must have been his way of marking the chip as his.”
The girls fell silent for a moment as Cortana let her mind travel over the realization that John had created a patch just for her. Just because he’d lost her.
“Master Chief said you’d saved him. Saved us all with your rampancy. No one’s released the full story yet…”
Cortana turned to Sol, and saw the adventure and awe in her eyes. It return for the effort and kindness Sol had given her, she could give her the background of what really happened.
“If you’ve got time…” She hinted, and Sol’s eyes lit up even more. She took Cortana’s chip and slipped it into her device, and brought her with her to the recliner. She curled up on the chair and sat Cortana on her knees.
“They let me pick. Choose whichever Spartan I wanted,” she began, her mind going back to the beginning. “I did my research. Watched as he became the soldier we needed him to be. Like the others, he was strong, and swift, and brave… a natural leader. But he had something they didn’t Something no one saw, but me. Can you guess?”
Sol shook her head, and Cortana smiled.
“Luck.”
♠ ♠ ♠
Hello everyone! Thanks so much for checking out the story. I'm too impatient to wait for Halo 5 so I just decided to make a story about Cortana and Chief after Halo 4.Please keep in mind not everything is completely accurate! I am aware of how Halo 4 ended, but to make this story plausible I had to change a few things. So just keep reading and let me know what you think! Thanks!