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The Master Chief stripped the paper gown off and—with the help of a pair of technicians—donned thearmor components.
Dr. Halsey averted her eyes.
Although the armor’s components were bulkier and heavier than his old suit, once assembled andactivated, they felt light as air. The armor was a perfect fit. The biolayer warmed and adhered to his skin,then cooled as the temperature difference between the suit and his skin equalized.
“We’ve made hundreds of minor technical improvements,” she said. “I’ll have the specifications sent toyou later. Two of those changes, however, are rather serious modifications to the system. It may take . . .some getting used to.”
Dr. Halsey’s brow furrowed. John had never seen her worried before.
“First,” she told him, “we have replicated, and I might add, improved upon the energy shield theCovenant Jackals have been using against us to great effect.”
This armor had shields? The Master Chief had known that ONI research had been working on adaptingCovenant technology; Spartans had standing orders to capture Covenant machines wherever they could.
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The researchers and engineers had announced some breakthroughs in artificial gravity—some UNSCships were already undergoing trials with the grav systems.
The fact that the MJOLNIR armor possessed shields was a stunning breakthrough. For years, there hadbeen no luck back-engineering Covenant shield tech. Most in the scientific community had given uphope of ever cracking it. Maybe that’s why Dr. Halsey was worried. Maybe they hadn’t worked out allthe bugs.
Dr. Halsey nodded to the technicians. “Let’s begin.”
The techs turned to a series of instrument panels. One, a slightly younger man, donned a COM headset.
“Okay, Master Chief.”The tech’s voice crackled through John’s helmet speakers. “There’s an activationicon in your heads-up display. There is also a manual control switch located at position twelve in yourhelmet.”
He chinned the control. Nothing happened.
“Wait a moment, please, sir. We have to give the suit an activation charge. After that, it can acceptregenerative power from the fusion pack. Stand on the platform and be absolutely still.”
He stepped onto the platform that had held the MJOLNIR armor. The pillars flickered on and glowed abrilliant yellow. The pillars started to spin slowly around the base of the platform.
The Master Chief felt a static charge tingling in his extremities. The glow intensified and his helmet’sblast shield automatically dimmed. The charge in the air intensified; his skin crawled with ionization. Hesmelled ozone.
Then the spinning slowed and the light dimmed.
“Reset the activation button now, Master Chief.”
The air around the Master Chief popped—as if it jumped away from the MJOLNIR armor. There wasnone of the shimmer that normal Covenant shields had. Was it working?
He ran his hand over his arm and encountered resistance a centimeter from the surface of the armor. Itwas working.