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Kurt motioned for Tom and Lucy to follow him, and they slinked into the room ahead. Shadows shrouded rows of squat machines, and the only light came from eight podlike sarcophagi clustered in the center.
These pods were semitranslucent, and within each lay a person, their features obscured.
Olivia moved next to Kurt. "Five of these have to be Team Katana," she whispered. "This one is still tagged with the lime-green 'kill' flag from top-honors exercise."
Kurt smoothed his gauntlet over the pod's surface. Were they alive inside? Dead? Somewhere in between? He had come here first—not gone after the technology that the UNSC needed, risking everything for Team Katana.
You never leave a fallen comrade behind.
But there was more to it than that: given a choice between alien technologies that might save all of humanity and these five Spartans… he had picked them first. He would have done anything to protect them.
"Let's see what we're dealing with here," he said.
Kurt flickered on his helmet's tactical lights, and panned them over the chamber. Organo-metallic appendages cradled each pod and radiated branches that connected to banks of two-meter cubes.
On closer inspection, Kurt saw a faint light leaking from these cubes… and staring closer, he noticed they were not at all cubes—their edges distorted and radiated extra dimensions.
He staggered back, hands reflectively grasping for his temples. Disorientation washed over him as he tasted the faint green light, inhaled the dusty odors of meaning from the symbols on the floor, and heard the bell-like tinkling of the organic electronics of the pods.
He sank to one knee and the tangled sensory input faded.
"Stand back," Kurt warned the others. Over the COM he said, "Will, escort Dr. Halsey up here."
Another wave of disorientation hit Kurt and his vision swam. When he again could see. Dr. Halsey knelt next to him.
"Move him away from the machines," she told Will.
Will dragged him back to the room's entrance, and Kurt's vision immediately cleared and the dizziness vanished.
"What was that?" he asked Dr. Halsey.
"Unshielded Slipspace field," she said. Her face was a mask of concentration, staring at the cubic machine housing. Frowning, she crossed to the pods. "Linda," she said, "your assistance please."
Linda moved up to Dr. Halsey, her sniper rifle aimed at the floor.
"Use your weapon's range finder; point at the interior of the pod."
Linda nodded, raised her rifle, and aimed at the Spartan inside the pod. After a moment, she lowered the weapon, checked her Oracle scope's settings, and then repeated the procedure. She shook her head.
"You are reading an infinite range?" Dr. Halsey said.
"Yes," Linda replied, uncharacteristic annoyance in her tone. "There must be something wrong with it."
"No," Dr. Halsey replied. "I'm afraid it is in perfect working order."
She turned to Kurt. "I cannot revive your Spartans or the other three, Lieutenant Commander. They are not in cryogenic suspension."