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The implications of that silence chilled her to the bone.
For now, though, she had to at least appear to know everything.
Dr. Halsey stood and took a deep breath, smelling ash, vaporized aluminum, and the faint odor of carbonized meat.
"Next," she said, "this bunker has been subjected to extreme temperature that approximately matches the blackbody radiation
profile from the drones we encountered in space. I surmise that a battle has occurred here."
She glanced at the young Spartans and the dents and flash-burn scoring on their armor.
"A battle, I see, that has been rather one-sided."
"The drones," the girl with the stylized buzz cut whispered. "What are they?"
"A question, good." Dr. Halsey almost smiled. It was a fine beginning step between her and the new Spartans: teaching them. Trust would come later.
"The drones, actually called Sentinels, are similar to those I have seen on an alien construct world," she explained. "Their builders, called Forerunners, possess technology more advanced than the Covenant. And they have just as much, or more, willingness to use that technology to destructive ends."
Dr. Halsey turned and stepped toward the other unknown figure in full camouflaging armor. "But before I continue along theoretical lines of speculation, let me finish with the simple chains of logic."
The unknown person stood nearly two and a half meters tall in his armor.
"I recognize my work," she declared. "You are a SPARTAN-II." Very few soldiers in the UNSC were so tall or moved with such liquid grace.
The figure nodded.
Dr. Halsey walked around this unknown Spartan.
"Despite the UNSC policy of listing every Spartan as missing or wounded in action when killed," Dr. Halsey continued, "I have kept track of those actually 'missing.' There was Randall in 2532, Kurt in 2531, and Sheila, in 2544."
She completed her circle around the Spartan and gazed directly into his mirrored faceplate.
"Sheila is dead," Dr. Halsey said. "I personally witnessed her killed in the Battle of Miridem. Which means you are Kurt or
Randall. If I had to guess, I would say Kurt, because he made an effort to understand people and their feelings. If I were running a secret Spartan program, he would have been the one to select to lead them."
The helmet's faceplate unpolarized and Kurt smiled at her.
"Is there anything you don't know, Dr. Halsey?" Kurt said.
She closed her eyes, suddenly weary, and then patted his gauntleted hand. "It is good to see you alive."
She couldn't let slip exactly how happy she was to see Kurt. One of her Spartans come back from the dead, it was a small victory in a war of endless defeats. It redoubled her determination to save them all from the growing threats. But she had to maintain control. Spartans responded to authority and commands—never sentimentality.
"We need to get a message to FLEFTCOM," she said. "Get help, and perhaps discover what the Forerunners are looking for here."
Get help would translate as ships capable of translight flight, a way for Dr. Halsey to lead the last remaining Spartans to safety.