Machine

“Wake up, Sol! I need you!” Cortana shouted, and I jolted out of my restless sleep. Exhaustion pulled at my body, but I forced myself onto my knees as I looked up at Cortana.

“What’s-“ an explosion ripped through the air, making the small ship tremble and knocking me back onto my side.

“The Covenant tracked us down after I intercepted the message! They’re attacking! You need to go now!”

“Why do you want me to leave?” I asked, having to raise my voice over the generators as Cortana powered the ship on; she’d gotten a lot done while I was napping. But Cortana didn’t answer me. She forced the hatch open, and waved at me.

“Hurry, before they spot you!”

I scrambled up again, adrenaline shoving aside my weariness as I rushed for Cortana. I planted my hands on the console, on either side of her. She refused to look at me as she tapped away on the ship’s board.

“Cortana, what’s going on?”

“The Covenant traced back my interference and found out I was the one who tapped their message,” she told me; another explosion shook the world around me. “They’re coming for me, and you need to leave before they find me! If they find you, they’ll kill you to get to me.”

“What?” I breathed, my eyes widening. “Why do they want you?”

Cortana finally turned to face me; her face was masked in anguish and guilt.

“The ‘demon’ they mentioned in their message is Chief. And I was… I am his AI. I have all the information they’d need about the UNSC, about Earth, and especially about their number one enemy.” Another explosion made her pause, but she met my eyes and kept going. “They want me for information, and for bait. Chief and Halsey would do anything to have me back.”

Another explosion hit, this time just yards away from us. The power on our small ship shuddered, and Cortana and I both stumbled. When I regained my balance, Cortana nodded for the door.

“Get to your house. I’ll fly the ship to them and give myself up. They’ll leave your ship, so you can still get to Earth-“

“Why are you assuming I’m just running off to hide and leaving you to the Covenant?” I asked her, drawing my brows together. Cortana looked taken aback.

“I’m nothing to you. Just an AI you found in rubble. If you stay here, you’ll die because of me-“

“It’s a risk I’m willing to take,” I told her softly. “I’m not just leaving you for them to take. They’ll torture you, they’ll corrupt you… and they’ll use you to destroy the people you care about most. Why would I let that happen?”

“But you could die, Soleil-“

“I’d rather die helping you than stay here knowing I let them take you.”

When Cortana stared up at me, utterly perplexed at why I was still standing there, I continued.

“If Chief cares for you as much as I’m convinced he does, there’s no way I’ll give up on the chance to get you back to him. I’d have given anything for a stranger to have saved my family, and now that I have the chance to do that for Chief and Halsey, and all of the UNSC that care about you, you can bet your holographic ass I’m staying right here.”

Cortana swallowed hard, still staring up at me; her bright blue eyes shimmered as she studied my face.

“If you won’t let me stay because of my charity, then look at it from a military standpoint,” I offered desperately. “If I abandon you, then I’m just turning over one of the biggest Intel leaks the Covenant need to take down all of humanity. I can’t just stand by and let my species be wiped out because I’m scared. It’s my duty to protect you and keep you out of the Covenant’s hands.”

After hesitating for just one more moment, Cortana hit a button and the hatch shut; she went to say something, but her words were cut off. Another blast shook the ship so much we actually slid to the side. I hit the wall and fell over as Cortana struggled to keep the generators whirling.

“They’ve landed!” Cortana shouted, turning back to me. “You need to-“

“I’m staying, so save your breath,” I ordered as I climbed to my feet, dusting myself off. “Tell me what I need to do.”

Cortana gave me a look, but didn’t argue. We had no time to spare. I could see the figures approaching us on the screen. They were less than a mile out now, and we were still on the ground. She pulled up a screen and nodded at the box beside the control panel.

“Control the throttle. Open it slowly, and I’ll give it power. When I say so, hit the orange button, and then open the filters with the green one above it!”

“Right,” I said, standing beside her with my hands on the box. As Cortana went to push us up into the air, the engine whined, but we didn’t go anywhere.

“What’s wrong?” I asked as the screen flashed; Cortana flicked from her console to another across from me, tapping furiously at the screens.

“The ship needs more power! I can pull from the house’s generator, but I need the control switch off!”

“I can do that,” I told her. “It’s just on the other side of the house. But Cortana I swear, you better not leave me!”

“I won’t,” she promised, and I didn’t waste any more time threatening her. She dropped the hatch and I jumped out, sprinting for the house. For half a second, my feet twisted me towards the door; Charlie and my research were still inside. But if I stopped for them, I wouldn’t have time to get the generators off and get back to Cortana.

I’d deal with my misery when we were safe; I changed my route and skirted the side of the house, ripping open the cover to the power grid. The box itself was easy to wrench open, but the handle was rusted in the on position from so many years of neglect. I grabbed the end of the handle with both hands and threw my weight down. The lever inched for a moment, and then stopped. I leaned back until I was hanging off the handle, all my weight pulling down on it. It still wouldn’t budge. I jumped up and down, pulling desperately, but it wouldn’t move.

As I surged down again, something large, purple, and flaming shot through the sky and hit the ground behind the house. The blast was enough to jostle the handle, and it snapped down, sending me to the ground. The engine of the ship roared; the power boost had given Cortana what she needed.

As I got to my feet, shadows crept around the corner, accompanied by shuffling and a high-pitched sniffing sound. Before I could even get to my feet, a group of awkward, animalist creatures donning orange pointed packs swarmed towards me.

I jumped back at least a foot and scrambled up, startled by their appearance. They were large, nearly as tall as me, with beady eyes and some sort of breathing mask. When they caught sight of me, their sniffling turned into high yelps of excitement, and they threw their arms up in the air. Two of them let off shots from rounded, glowing guns as they raced for me.

“Cortana!” I yelled at the same time a jet of green light shot between me and the creatures. The weird monkey-like attackers let out shrieks and dropped their weapons, running in frantic circles before heading back the way they’d came. In an instant, I was back on the ship, panting and wide-eyed.

“What the hell were those things?!” I cried as Cortana lifted the door and sealed it.

“They’re Unggoy, or, as humans tend to call them, Grunts. They’re part of the Covenant fleet that just dropped out of the ship!”

At her words, I looked up through our windshield, and stared in awestruck terror at the massive, glowing purple ship that hovered into sight. More and more small creatures – Grunts – dropped from the ship, and from the dark mass of the forest, I could see taller figures moving closer.

“They brought backup,” she said anxiously. “Open the throttles!”

I tapped the orange button, and the ship trembled. Cortana gave the engines a burst of power, and we were off the ground. I would have been thoroughly more excited and impressed if it weren’t for the creatures that came into the light of the ship. They were massive, towering over the Grunts, wearing heavy glinting armor and carrying massive guns. As they looked through the window, they locked beady eyes with mine and let out a howl. Their mouths pulled open, four different mandibles pulling apart to reveal rows of pointed teeth.

“Oh my god,” I breathed as the creatures began to jump at the ship; the glass trembled. “What are those?!”

“Sangheili, or Elites,” Cortana muttered. “Open the throttle more! Grunts are one thing, but I don’t want any of them getting on this ship!”

I hit the button, and the ship shot straight up.

“Good, okay,” she breathed, almost trying to calm herself. “Hold it steady, steady…” she murmured, and as I waited, I caught sight of the massive gun of the Covenant ship turning to face us.

“Cortana…”

“Almost there, almost powered up,” she said anxiously. The gun began to glow, building up a swell of pinkish purple light.

“Uh, Cortana,” I said again; Cortana hit one more button.

“Hold it, hold it, almost there!”

The gun swelled brighter and brighter, and the light began to pulse, a small beam of light glinting off the window.

“Cortana!”

“NOW!” she shouted, and I punched the green button. The ship rocketed forward just as the blast from the ship’s gun soared under us. We took off into the sky so fast I had to hold tight to the console to keep from dropping back into the hatch. Cortana steered us skillfully through the sky, over the trees and straight past the Covenant ship.

“You got it working for real!” I laughed, my adrenaline trembling through me. I sunk to the ground and leaned up against the console.

“We did it,” she laughed shakily, and then half the ship exploded.