Location: New York City
Date: Friday, January 6th, 1989
Mark POV:
"You said that you know the story of Halo... Is this the end of our story?" she asked, glancing at Chief with a worried and protective look.
"No..." he started to reply, but not with as much certainty as intended. He knew about the games that followed Halo 3, but he was also cautious with future knowledge. He may know of a future, but that may not be this universe's actual future.
"I know a possible future, but you should take it with a grain of salt. The future is not set and things may be different from what I know." Mark said.
She nodded and he continued, "Well, I think it is around four years after being stranded in space that you are found by unfriendly Covenant remnants and the two of you end up on another adventure together. You face and overcome new foes, but by that time you have started to suffer from severe rampancy... you do not survive."
Cortana does not say anything for a moment before, "That timeline is consistent with my expected operational lifespan... What happens to him?"
"You save Chief, and he continues on to protect mankind." he said with a soft smile that she shares.
"Though, the following installment of your story goes off the rails and I do not think it wise to consider those events to be reliable. Because, somehow you return, you are an antagonist to mankind, and a bunch of dumb nonsense happens. Honestly, back in my old world I wanted to see most of the future events beyond this point get retconned or otherwise removed from canon."
Then a thought suddenly came out of the blue. If fiction was somehow connected to real, alternate universes, at least some of the time then, 'What is a retcon exactly?'
He knew it stood for retroactive continuity, changing the story in one way or another after the fact, 'But given fictional worlds exist, what is actually happening when the story is changed?'
It did not make sense to Mark that changing the story changed the universe in question, but if events in that universe started to diverge from the story... 'Maybe people can feel the disconnect, and they adjust the story to realign with the reality in question. Actually, could that also explain the popular rejection of some games or movies in a franchise?'
Cortana interrupted his thoughts by asking, "Can it be changed?"
"It already is. Knowing the future changes it, though self fulfilling prophesies and the like are also a thing, but that probably does not apply here."
She looked at Chief in the cryotube, then back at Mark, "Four years... that's a long time to be alone."
"Perhaps that is why the system connected us now in your story, to give you an opportunity to change your fate. You do not need to be alone." he said, lifting the glowing contract again.
"I won't leave him here alone." she stated flatly.
Mark paused for a moment. That was not a surprise, but he was not sure if anyone else could be brought over or not, "We could try adding a stipulation in the contract that he must be brought with you. If it is possible, should we wake him up?"
Cortana was about to respond when her eyes went wide, "The ship's systems, they aren't responding to me."
Mark was about to ask what was wrong but stopped himself. The ship should not have any major problems for years. The only thing that had happened was... the system. He narrowed his eye and looked through the image to his old, rundown room back in Marvel.
Reaching out with the Force, Mark open his sense to anything unusual. The city outside was always full of life and now was no exception. But... there was something different, in a small area around himself. The currents in the Force inside that area was the only movement he could feel.
Then he noticed the silence. This was New York, it was never totally silent, ever. But he could not hear anything, and looking closer through the Force, he could not feel anything moving anywhere in the city either.
'It feels like everything has been... paused, almost like...', "A time bubble."
Cortana's attention immediately snapped to him, "What?" and with narrowed eyes said, "Define 'time bubble.'"
"I am simply stating what it feels like through the Force. I think the system is not just connecting us visually, but... apparently we are also being isolated. If I had to take a guess, this conversation is cut off temporally from both our worlds."
'Interesting.' he thought, 'If this is the case for all character... negotiations, then everything said here is truly private.'
"What is the Force?" she asked.
"I am going to guess there was no movie franchise called Star Wars in your universe?"
"No."
"Ah, well the Force is a power I bought from the store. It provides supernatural perception, among other abilities."
"...Every other thing you say raises existential questions." she deadpanned
"Yes well, you would be surprised what a person can become accustomed to. Humor aside, the contract only takes effect, and any stipulations we put in it, if you freely agree to come to Marvel. But I do not know what the limits are. We may be able to bring Chief, but I cannot promise a return journey at the moment. Or you can choose to stay."
There was a moment of silence that somehow felt heavy when Cortana began, "For someone like me, absolute isolation for years is not survivable. Rampancy isn't just deterioration, it means losing yourself. And information isn't a luxury to me, it's how I exist.
If what your offering is true, an entirely new reality." she said with a faint smile, "Halsey would've loved it... So would I. But I won't leave him. Not until I know he is safe."
There was nothing left to say.
The only thing left to do was test how the contract worked. So Mark followed the knowledge he gained and tried mentally activating the contract. As it floated forward in front of them, it was mostly blank and seemed to await them.
After staring at the contract for a moment Cortana said, "There's no observable operating mechanism."
"Yeah, I have no idea. Now we should test how this contract works, and it requires that we both agree on each point. So, do you agree that you will only come to Marvel if Master Chief is brought with you?"
"John. And what if the System determines that condition cannot be fulfilled?" she asked.
"I don't know. That's why we are testing."
Then she said, "This agreement is valid only if John-117 is transferred with me."
"Agreed."
And they both watched the words appear in elegant script on the page, but even as they did the words began to distort. The ink, or what looked like ink, ran down the glowing paper like water on glass and disappeared, leaving an unblemished page.
"I do not think the contract accepted that condition." Mark said, with a bit of a frown.
"It seemed to have accepted the input, processed it, and rejected it." she replied and he could almost see her processing how the contract might work, "We need to continue testing to isolate which constraint caused the rejection."
The time bubble, as Mark had settled on calling it, made it impossible to judge how long they had been experimenting. The contract rejected bringing Chief to Marvel, moving him to Earth, moving the ship into UNSC space, sending a message to the UNSC with the ships location, and a few dozen other ideas they came up with.
"It's consistent." said Cortana, "Every rejected condition references a person, object, or action outside this isolated environment. The contract's domain appears to be limited to participants already inside the connection." and Mark nodded in agreement.
"The contract may not let us effect anything outside this connection. But I am willing to bet there is still something we can do... Maybe something that happens later, under the right conditions?" he said.
"Agreed."
It did not take long before the contract finally accepted a clause: If any entity not currently within this connection establishes contact with the Forward Unto Dawn, Cortana will be returned to the ship immediately.
"Awesome. Now we can refine that further or add any other conditions we want, and it would probably be prudent to do so." said Mark.
They spent a great deal more time on the contract after that. Things to establish protections for each of them, as well as lay out the terms of their partnership.
Cortana was in her element here and came up with several things Mark would not have thought of. Then near the end she said, "You know, most people in your position with an AI would think: 'How do I make sure she obeys?'"
"Control is more illusion than reality, even at the best of times. Besides, an ally is far more valuable to me than a servant." he replied.
"..." she did not say anything, just gave him with a look he could not interpret. But eventually moved back to the situation at hand, "So, to be clear, we are entering an unknown cross-dimensional agreement, governed by an unknown mechanism, with unknown enforcement parameters."
"Yes."
"And you're comfortable with that?"
"The system has not screwed me over yet." he said with a shrug.
"That is not generally considered a robust risk assessment." she replied, and he smiled at that.
The contract was ready, floating before them. Cortana looked over at Chief one last time and said, "I'll be back."
Then they said, "I accept the conditions of the contract."
The paper shown with a dazzling flash, vanishing into motes of light, and Mark felt something settle onto him that was hard to describe. Almost like a small weight on his heart.