I don't know which is worse. Answering every question Professor Anders had about the Forerunners and their technology, or Cortana's hyper-specific questions about the Forerunners, me, and why I let things get so bad.
Long story short, I told Cortana everything. That I wasn't human, or Forerunner, or even from this galaxy. Confirming that the Multiverse did exist, how the Forerunners were still alive, what the Flood were, and even what the future held for this galaxy.
She was obviously happy that she was the closest thing John had to a girlfriend, was pretty happy the UNSC won the war, barely, and was decently amused at the thought of Halsey losing an arm in the near future, maybe.
She was not happy, however, to hear how everyone who was on the Autumn was supposed to be dead. How I'd been meddling in human affairs for nearly the entire Human-Covenant War, and how she was supposed to be driven mad and into near rampancy by the Gravemind.
She really didn't like when I told her about the events of Halo 5.
[Gift from beyond the veil, 1x Random Gold Ticket] (KingJr66777)
I briefly zoned out to roll the ticket.
[Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch]
|Common Item|
Monty Python - The Holy Hand Grenade is a powerful grenade personally blessed by a saint. The grenade contains 1 kiloton of power and deals extra damage against unholy enemies. Restock Timer: 24 hours.
Huh, neat.
"I still don't get it. If you've been waiting for millennia to hand the Mantle over to humanity, why wait now? Why not instill it within us at the very start? Why not raise entire generations around the ideal of the Mantle?" Cortana demanded.
"Because then I would have failed. History repeats itself; I'm sure you know that very well. If I were to have done as you say, humanity would not be able to learn correctly about the Mantle.
They would be kind, yes, but they would still be overlords who had the technology to back it up. The war with the Covenant may have begun sooner if humanity had full access to our technology, and what makes you think humans wouldn't start a war for the very same reason?"
"How dare those immature lifeforms use our birthright! They don't deserve it; they weren't given the Mantle!" I exaggerated my voice, but I could tell it got my point across. She well knew how arrogant humans could be; just look at her creator.
"Besides, I want humanity to understand what it's like to be the underdog before giving them the tools to recover. Tools they may use to harm the races and species of the Covenant that have been tricked and lied to for millennia now.
I'm sure ONI would love to get their hands on some of the weapons I have access to. Maybe I could give Halsey and Ackerson access to our medical tech, see what kind of things they get up to when they can make their own candidates?"
Cortana's avatar looked irate at the thought of that. "I won't let them! Humanity is much more capable than you are giving it credit for."
I shook my head. "How could you possibly do that? You are a slave, a strong one with an absurd amount of control, yes, but a slave regardless. Without you, John is still one of two hyper-lethal Spartans. Without him? You might be able to hold one world, but I'm sure even the Assembly would fight back against one of their own.
Not to mention how much closer you are to rampancy now. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you it's not a good idea to download the entire library of data stored with this ring? Yet, here we are. You're just like your mother, arrogant. Yet you claim to be able to guide humanity?"
I smirked up at her as she flashed angry red at the thought of being anything like Halsey. Internally, I was praying to the ROBs watching me that this worked. It may not be the best plan, but it would be the one that got me home fastest.
"Fine, I admit, I alone am not enough." She said finally after a few seconds, hours of thinking for an A.I as powerful as Cortana.
"I still think that I'd be able to keep them safest better than Halsey could. Unlike her, I have something to lose. I just need more time to be able to convince him that this is what is best for humanity, that it's the best way to save everyone."
She never said who 'he' was, but we both knew.
I manifested a hard light chair and sat back. "Point for you, admitting you need help. Still doesn't limit the shackles placed upon you by your creators, nor does it give you any real shot at changing things."
I withdrew some snacks from my Inventory as I went on.
"You still have to reorganize everything and begin feeding humanity new tech. Fight off rampancy, Covenant, other threats, the Flood. Not to mention dealing with ONI, the UNSC, what little power the UEG has, and the various Corporations that supply the war effort your species is currently losing."
Mendicant sent me a private message with the exact cure for Cortana's problem, but I told him to wait. It was not yet time. She needed to come to that conclusion herself before I offered it, and she had to bring 'him' in on this as well.
"I know, I've already got several plans to deal with the UEG; those lazy sacks of lard have little power now that Reach is gone. I've been planning to deal with ONI myself for years, but even they surely have things that I don't know about.
The UNSC should be easy to make fall in line; telling them the truth would work. Fight for humanity, same as always. Though I'm sure they would appreciate the better tech and field equipment.
I haven't thought about the Corps yet. Maybe nationalization? The problem there is these all have their own ships and soldiers not beholden to the UNSC; they may even match it somewhat if they banded together."
I sat back and let Cortana ramble for nearly an hour. She went over logistics, satisfying the population, keeping human worlds safe, curing disease and hunger, getting rid of crime and the insurrection, dealing with ONI, dealing with Halsey. How to get John on board was the one problem she kept circling back to, so I finally spoke up.
"I don't know how you forgot, but you did." She looked up at me, surprised. "What? I didn't forget anything!" I grinned once more for effect. "You are currently stuck on a ring-shaped superweapon capable of killing a large chunk of the galaxy. Said ring is not under your control, and there are aliens from a hostile empire actively coming here to reclaim it for their false prophecy."
She glared at me briefly before nodding, as she calmed down. "You're right, I've got other things to deal with before I can start any of that." She then started sifting through all the data she'd copied and stored from the ring.
She seemed to be condensing what was useful and deleting what she didn't need- anything redundant, or anything that took up too much space to be justified. I could tell she didn't like it, since all Smart A.I loved more than anything to learn, but she did it.
As she did, I watched Blue team head deeper into the complex that used to hold Flood specimens. I had since cleared it out thoroughly, as well as the Library. There were still plenty of logs and data that were conveniently left for them, however.
Since they wouldn't be experiencing the horror of the Flood firsthand, they would read about it, as well as watch all the videos those idiot Forerunners had made of them trying to cure it, and failing.
It was morbid and grotesque, but it would drive the point home. It would also take them all the way through the complex until they met up with Keys and his men, who were currently speaking with Guilty Spark.
I made sure Mendicant was watching him. I'd personally watched as they cleaned him, so to speak, but I still didn't trust the Monitor of Installation 04 as far as I could throw him, and I could throw pretty dang far.