第144页

　　She  might  have  made  a  good  Spartan.  There  were  worse  eulogies.
　　The  Master  Chief  sighed,  called  up  his  team  roster  on  his  heads-up  display,  and  marked  Anton  and  Li  as  Missing  in  Action.
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　　He  paused  to  view  all  the  others  on  that  list;  his  first  and  best  friend,  Sam,  was  there  ...  and  he  hadn't  even  realized  a  dozen  more  had  been  listed  as  MIA.
　　He  saved  the  changes  to  the  roster  and  closed  the  file.
　　"What  about  Kelly  and  Linda?"  he  asked  Cortana.
　　Cortana  looked  up  and  flipped  the  hair  from  her  luminous  eyes.  She  paced  a  small  circle  on  the  holographic  pad  and  then  said,  "SPARTAN-087,  Kelly,  is  recovering  from  second-degree  burns  on  seventy-two  percent  of  her  body.  Doctor  Halsey  has  ac?celerated  tissue  regrowth  with  dermacortic  steroids.  She  should  be  fully  healed  in  a  matter  of  days...  although  her  mobility  will  be  severely  hampered  until  then."
　　"And  Linda?"
　　"Accessing  status."  Cortana  paused  for  a  full  second.  "Doctor  Halsey  has  SPARTAN-058  currently  in  medical  facility  alpha,  three  decks  above  us.  She  still  has  her  in  a  cryogenic  state  and  is  presently  performing  exploratory  surgery.  She  has  given  me  several  orders  to  prepare  the  flash  clone  banks  for  replacement  organs  pending  transplant."
　　"So  she's  alive?"  the  Master  Chief  asked.
　　"Technically,"  Cortana  replied,  "no."  For  a  moment  there  was  a  look  of  genuine  concern  on  her  face—but  it  quickly  vanished.  "The  doctor  and  Admiral  Whitcomb  have  debated  the  risk  of  at?tempting  to  revive  SPARTAN-058  before  we  reach  a  major  medical  facility.  Doctor  Halsey,  I'm  sure,  will  brief  you  when  she  has  all  the  facts,  Chief."
　　John  frowned  at  this  lack  of  detail.  He  didn't  appreciate  Cor-tana's  increasingly  difficult  attitude,  one  that  had  slowly  shifted  ever  since  she  interfaced  with  the  Forerunner  computer  system  on  Halo.  He  made  a  mental  note  to  ask  Dr.  Halsey  about  Linda  later...  and  he'd  ask  her  about  Cortana,  too.
　　"All  other  hands  on  board  are  accounted  for?"  the  Master  Chief  asked,
　　"Yes,  Chief.  They  are  all  engaged  in  repairs  to  the  conjoined  ships.  We  took  tremendous  damage  in  the  expanded  Slipspace  from  plasma  bombardments  and  mass  impacts.  Both  ships'  super?structures,  however,  remain  intact.  The  Gettysburg's  reactor  is  online  and  operating  at  sixty-seven  percent  capacity.  Ascendant  Justice's  reactor  is  offline  undergoing  repairs.  Five  of  our  seven
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　　plasma  turrets  require  refit.  And  worst,  Ascendant  Justice's  en?gines  are  crippled.  We  have  less  than  three  percent  operational  thrust."
　　"Can  the  ship  still  jump  to  Slipspace?  Are  we  stranded  out  here?"
　　"A  jump  is  possible,"  Cortana  said.  She  shook  her  head  the  way  an  older  sister  might  when  her  baby  brother  asked  a  naive  question.  "It  wouldn't  do  us  any  good,  though.  The  alien  artifact  in  Doctor  Halsey's  possession  emits  high  levels  of  radiation  in  Slipspace.  This  unknown  radiation  even  penetrates  your  suit's  shields.  I  estimate  lethal  exposure  in  just  under  seventy-two  hours.  Also,  that  radiation  would  serve  as  a  beacon  for  any  Cove?nant  ships  prowling  Slipspace,  searching  for  us."