第186页

　　John  clicked  his  COM  to  get  Blue  Team's  attention,  pointed  to  the  junk  pile,  held  up  two  fingers,  and  then  pointed  again  at  the  alcove.
　　Everyone  nodded,  understanding  his  order.
　　Fred  and  Linda  silently  dropped  to  the  deck,  ran  across  the  bay,  and  melted  into  the  shadows  behind  a  cut  section  of  hull.  Grace  followed.
　　John  looked  up  and  down  and  side  to  side  across  the  bay,  mak?ing  sure  no  Grunts  were  visible.  He  and  Will  crossed  and  took  cover  behind  a  plasma  coil  the  size  of  a  Warthog  light  reconnais?sance  vehicle.
　　ERIC  NYLUND
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　　He  used  both  hands  to  point  at  Fred  and  Linda,  turned  his  hands  so  they  pointed  to  himself,  and  then  nodded  to  the  data  terminal.
　　Linda  lay  flat  and  slithered  to  the  edge  of  the  alcove  shadows  on  his  right;  Fred  took  the  left.  They  would  cover  him  while  he  moved  to  the  terminal.
　　John  reached  to  the  back  of  his  neck  and  pulled  Cortana's  chip  from  his  skull.  He  crawled  on  his  stomach,  hugging  the  wall  un?til  he  got  to  the  terminal.  He  slid  Cortana's  chip  into  the  input  slot  and  then  eased  back  into  the  shadows.
　　"I'm  in,"  Cortana  reported  over  the  COM.  "I  have  secured  our  own  channel  and  encrypted  the  signal  so  we're  free  to  use  the  interteam  COM."
　　"Good  work,"  John  told  her.  "Is  there  a  central  reactor  in  this  station?  How  well  defended  is  it?"
　　"Stand  by.  I  have  to  move  carefully.  There  are  Covenant  secu?rity  AIs  in  this  system."
　　John  hoped  that  this  copy  of  Cortana's  infiltration  routines  was  as  good  as  the  real  Cortana.
　　"I  have  schematics  for  the  station,"  she  told  him.  "The  good  news  is,  each  lobe  has  a  central  reactor  complex  with  five  hun?dred  twelve-terawatt  units  similar  in  design  to  the  pinch  fusion  reactors  on  their  ships.  Apparently  this  energy  is  used  to  power  a  shield  generator  that  can  repel  the  collision  of  a  small  moon.  I  can  overload  one  reactor,  causing  the  melting  of  its  field  coils,  which  will  saturate  the  surrounding—"
　　"Will  it  explode?"  John  asked  impatiently.
　　"Yes—an  explosion  of  sufficient  force  to  vaporize  both  sections."
　　"That's  the  good  news?  What's  the  bad?"
　　"The  reactor's  control  system  is  isolated.  I  cannot  reach  it  from  this  terminal.  You  will  have  to  physically  deliver  me  there."
　　"Where  is  'there'?"
　　"The  nearest  reactor-control  access  point  is  seven  kilometers  farther  into  the  station's  top  lobe."
　　John  considered  this.  If  they  were  careful  and  lucky,  it  might  be  possible.
　　"Is  there  a  way  to  leave  you  in  the  central  system  until  we  need
　　306 HALO:  FIRST  STRIKE
　　you?"  he  asked.  "It  would  be  handy  to  have  you  monitor  the  Covenant  security  systems."
　　The  duplicate  Cortana  was  silent  a  full  three  seconds.  "There  is  a  way,"  she  finally  replied.  "When  I  was  copied  from  the  origi?nal  Cortana,  the  duplicating  software  was  copied  as  well—it  becomes  an  inseparable  part  of  all  subsequent  copies.  I  can  use  this  to  copy  myself  into  this  system."
　　"Perfect."
　　"There  are  risks,  however,"  Cortana  told  him.  "Each  succes?sive  copy  contains  aberrations  that  I  cannot  correct.  There  may  be  unforeseen  complications  associated  with  using  a  copy  of  a  copy."