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"Reminds me of Dante's Inferno," Mendez said, and offered his hand to Dr. Halsey.
She took his hand and eased onto the ridge. "Dante's hell was a series of descending rings," she said. "These are more representative of—"
The floor shifted.
Kurt instinctively crouched to keep his balance, but there was no need; it had only dropped a few centimeters.
The entire room settled, however, the distortion propagating toward the hill with a subsonic rumble.
"If the core room is in the center," Dr. Halsey said, hastening her pace, "we should hurry."
"Something here, sir," Fred announced over the COM. "You better see for yourself."
Kurt turned toward Fred's and Mark's IFF signals on his heads-up display. They were silhouettes against the glare, 150 meters away.
"Ash, Chief, escort the Doctor to the structure. Keep me posted."
"Roger that, sir," Ash said.
Kurt jogged to Fred and Mark and saw the Spartans standing at the edge of a black hole, a seven-sided smooth patch devoid of Forerunner iconography. A holograph console stood next to it, icons moving.
"Translocation platform," Fred whispered. "Active, if I'm reading these controls right."
"We'll use another pod to block it," Kurt said.
He started to key the COM, but Ash then broke in: "Sir. I've got some height, and I can see… dots on the floor."
"Black dots?" Kurt asked.
"Yes, sir. Counting a dozen—no, make that at least thirty of them scattered in a rough circle."
Kurt's heart sank to the pit of his stomach.
There were too many points of egress to block. They potentially faced an enemy with superior numbers and firepower, and all they'd have was a single semidefensible position.
"26:00" morphed to "25:59" on his countdown timer.
They were close to that core room, a possible treasure trove of Forerunner secrets. With a sizable Covenant force on their trail, it wouldn't be enough to get there first. They had to prevent the enemy from getting there as well.
Kurt balanced the lives of his Spartans against the billions that might be saved… and the choice was regrettably all too clear to him.
Kurt double-clicked the TEAMCOM. "Olivia, Will, Holly grab those pods and get to the top of that hill ASAP. Kelly, set up the last LOTUS mines around the structure. Everyone else, get to the top and unpack everything, load all rifles. Prepare to defend against incoming enemy forces."
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THIRTY-EIGHT
SEVENTH CYCLE, 265 UNITS (COVENANT BATTLE CALENDAR) \ UNNAMED FORERUNNER CITY; ONYX-SYSTEM: ZETA DORADUS (HUMAN DESIGNATION)
Fleet Master Voro inspected his battalion. They had amassed on the surface of the Forerunner city, over two hundred Sangheili in orderly rows for his review. Dropships and Seraph fighter craft hovered overhead, their landing lights playing over the courtyard, guarding against unexpected Sentinel or demon attacks.
The nearby edifices and paving stones of black-and-white-banded mineral provided a sharp contrast to his soldiers in their primary-colored armors.