第117页
He sent a fiber-optic probe ahead, bent it slightly, and poked it around the corner.
The room contained display cases of mineral specimens. There were sulfur crystals, raw emeralds, andrubies. There was a monolith of unpolished pink quartz in the center of the room, three meters wide andsix tall.
Off to one side, however, were two creatures. The Master Chief hadn’t seen them at first—because theywere so motionless . . . and so massive. He had no doubt that one of them had crushed the Jackal thathad gotten in its way.
----------------------- Page 194-----------------------
The Master Chief got scared all the time. He never showed it, though. He usually mentallyacknowledged the apprehension, put it aside, and continued . . . just as he’d been trained to do. Thistime, however, he couldn’t easily dismiss the feeling.
The two creatures were vaguely man-shaped. They stood two and a half meters tall. It was difficult tomake out their features; they were covered from head to toe with a dull blue-gray armor, similar to thehull of a Covenant ship. Blue, orange, and yellow highlights were visible on the few patches of exposedskin the creatures sported. They had slits where their eyes should be. The articulation points lookedimpregnable.
On their left arms they hefted large shields, thick as starship battleplate. Mounted on their right armswere massive, wide-barreled weapons, so large that the arm beneath seemed to blend into the weapon.
They moved with slow deliberation. One took a rock from the display case and set it inside a red metalcase. It bent over the case while the other turned and touched the control panel of a device that lookedlike a small pulse laser turret. The laser pointed straight up—and out through the shattered glass domeoverhead.
That had been the source of the infrared radiation. The laser must have intermittently scattered off thedust in the air—flashed enough energy into his sensors to burn them out. Something that powerful couldbeam a message straight out into space.
The Master Chief made a slow fist—the signal for his team to freeze. Then, with slow, deliberatemovements, he signaled the Spartans to stay alert and get ready.
He waved Fred and Kelly forward.
Fred crept closer to him. Kelly slid up next to James.
The Master Chief then held up two fingers and made a sideways cut, motioning them into the room.
Acknowledgment lights winked on.
He went in first, sidestepped to the right, with Fred at his side.
James and Kelly took the left flank.
They opened fire.
Armor-piercing rounds pinged off the aliens’ body armor. One of them turned and brought its shield infront of it—covering its partner, the red case, and the laser beacon.
----------------------- Page 195-----------------------
The Spartan bullets didn’t even leave a scratch on the armor.
The alien raised its arm slightly and pointed at Kelly and James.
A flash of light blinded the Master Chief. There was a deafening explosion and a wave of heat. Heblinked for a full three seconds before he recovered his vision.