第133页
"A map?" Kurt asked.
"Of our present location," Dr. Halsey said.
"So this building is round?" Kelly asked.
"Not precisely incorrect," Dr. Halsey replied. "We are in this building. And this building is in this city, which is technically on this so-called planet, but that view is backward. Observe."
She rotated a golden circle symbol, and holographic structures passed though Kurt as the map expanded. A dot on the surface of the sphere magnified and resolved into lines and a grid, squares, triangles, and one circle.
The view zoomed in upon that circle and it tilted 90 degrees, showing depth, and a faceted dome with seven arches.
Dr. Halsey twisted the gold circular symbol and the focus sharpened, descending through the layers of the building, showing the landing pad, and the outline of the Covenant dropship with a blazing reactor core. Mendez and Ash appeared and tiny bio signs displayed next to them.
The view plunged deeper and the room they stood in resolved and Kurt watched himself, the other Spartans, and Dr. Halsey.
"And back," she said as she spun the circle icon.
The room shrank to building to city and back to the large sphere construct.
The scale of it finally clicked in Kurt's mind. Once he understood, it took him a few seconds to again speak.
"When you said the Forerunner translation for Onyx was 'shield world,'" he whispered, "that was a literal translation, wasn't it?"
"Apparently so," Dr. Halsey agreed. "The entire planet is artificial… like the Halo rings."
Something caught her attention on the console. She tapped a blue octahedron. "Could it be… ?" she whispered.
The map shifted once more, through the surface of the world, deep into the crust, and revealed a chamber full of machinery and eight oblong pods that shimmered with energy fields. Within were human bodies, translucent, their features like specters. Next to each pulsed the trace of their heartbeats.
"That's Katana," Ash said, and took a step closer. "At least five of the people in those things. They vanished in Zone 67— before this all started."
"We've got to get them out," Kurt said. "Doctor, find me a route to that location. Kelly, Ash, get the medical kits from the ship and—"
Dr. Halsey held up one hand. "One moment. Lieutenant Commander." She touched a dot.
The map of Onyx receded to a meter across and stars winked upon the map-room walls. A tiny Covenant destroyer appeared in orbit… then another… and another, until twenty-four ships had flashed into normal space from Slipspace.
Kelly muttered, "Out of the frying pan…"
Kurt's mind raced. They could still do this. Rescue Team Katana and get out of here. But they couldn't just leave and give the Covenant the technology on Onyx. There were the FENRIS warheads, but if he detonated them all it wouldn't even destroy a tiny fraction of this planet.
"We've got incoming," Fred's static-filled voice crackled over the COM. "Sentinels."
"How many?"
"Sir, all of them."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------