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"Doctor," Kurt said more firmly, and he stepped closer. "We have a Covenant armada over our heads, and an army about to swarm through this building. Is there a way out?"
"Yes and no," she replied, still not looking at him. "There is a
room in the core of this world," she explained, "where the Forerunners were to secure something precious. Perhaps the technologies you seek. The room is normally inaccessible, but the arming of the Halo rings triggered something within this planet." She ran her fingers across overlapping streams of hieroglyphics struggling to read. "There is an entrance to this room, open now, but closing. In one hour seventeen minutes the core entrance will shut. Forever."
"Core of the planet?" Kurt said. "There is no way to get to the core that fast."
"We must gather what is within, and make our escape." She finally looked up at him, excitement glistening in her eyes. "And there is indeed a way to get there. This map room can access a Slipspace translocation system similar to the one Cortana used on the Halo ring."
She pointed down.
Kurt saw they stood upon a matte-black surface flush with the floor. It was four meters wide and had seven sides. His gaze seemed to slide deeper into the surface like he was looking at something infinitely deep… or nothing at all.
He blinked, looked away. "Slipspace translocation? A tele-portation system."
"In effect, yes."
The room shook and dust rained from the ceiling.
Dr. Halsey focused past Kurt into the room. She made a slight cutting motion over several gold symbols.
The bridge of light connecting to the outer chamber vanished. The door to the map room closed.
She spotted Dante and her face drained of color. "Oh…" she whispered.
"You must get us to the other SPARTAN-IIIs locked in cryo first," Kurt told her,
"Of course, I believe I understand the intricacies of the transportation system well enough," she said. "I must caution you.
though, not to detonate the FENRIS warheads. The EMP will render the system inoperable."
"Understood," Kurt said. "Just activate this 'translocation' device. Get me to my Spartans."
"There is still so much to learn here," Dr. Halsey said. "I suggest you leave me. I can—"
A tremendous shudder shook the room. Chunks of rock rained from the ceiling. Dr. Halsey fell, and Kurt caught her, shielded her with his back as baseball-sized stones bounced off the hardened plates of his SPI armor.
Outside the chamber there were four gut-jarring detonations— the LOTUS antitank mines Kelly had set up.
"We've run out of time, Doctor," Kurt said. "They are here."
She stood, brushed the dust from her lab coat, and straightened her glasses. "So it appears." She tapped a handful of symbols. "There is a translocation platform"—she consulted the holographic map—"within a kilometer of the other Spartans."
Beyond the holographic map of Onyx, the wall of the room cracked as the stones heated to dull red.
The Spartans positioned themselves between the wall and Dr. Halsey.