2300 Hours September 23, 2517 (Military Calendar ) / Epsilon Eridani System, Reach MilitaryComplex,planet ReachDr. Halsey stood on a platform in the center of the amphitheater. Concentric rings of slate-gray riserssurrounded her—empty for now. Overhead spotlights focused and reflected off her white lab coat, butshe still was cold.
She should feel safe here. Reach was one of the UNSC’s largest industrial bases, ringed with high-orbitgun batteries, space docks, and a fleet of heavily-armed capital ships. On the planet’s surface wereMarine and Navy Special Warfare training grounds, OCS schools, and between her undergroundfacilities and the surface were three hundred meters of hardened steel and concrete. The room where shenow stood could withstand a direct hit from an 80-megaton nuke.
So why did she feel so vulnerable?
Dr. Halsey knew what she had to do. Her duty. It was for the greater good. All humanity would beserved . . . even if a tiny handful of them had to suffer for it. Still, when she turned inward and faced hercomplicity in this—she was revolted by what she saw.
She wished she still had Lieutenant Keyes. He had proven himself a capable assistant during the lastmonth. But he had begun to understand the nature of the project—at least seen the edges of the truth. Dr.
Halsey had him reassigned to theMagellan with a commission to full Lieutenant for his troubles.
“Are you ready, Doctor?” a disembodied woman’s voice asked.
“Almost, Déjà.” Dr. Halsey sighed. “Please summon Chief Petty Officer Mendez. I’d like you bothpresent when I address them.”
Déjà’s hologram flicked on next to Dr. Halsey. The AI had been specifically created for Dr. Halsey’sSPARTAN project. She took the appearance of a Greek goddess: barefoot, wrapped in the toga, motes oflight dancing about her luminous white hair. She held a clay tablet in her left hand. Binary cuneiformmarkings scrolled across the tablet. Dr. Halsey couldn’t help but marvel at the AI’s chosen form; eachAI “self-assigned” a holographic appearance, and each was unique.
One of the doors at the top of the amphitheater opened and Chief Petty Officer Mendez strode down thestairs. He wore a black dress uniform, his chest awash with silver and gold stars and a rainbow ofcampaign ribbons. His close-shorn hair had a touch of gray at the temples. He was neither tall normuscular; he looked so ordinary for a man who had seen so much combat . . . except for his stride. Theman moved with a slow grace as if he were walking in half gravity. He paused before Dr. Halsey,awaiting further instructions.
“Up here, please,” she told him, gesturing to the stairs on her right.
Mendez mounted the steps of the platform and then stood at ease next to her.
“You have read my psychological evaluations?” Déjà asked Dr. Halsey.
“Yes. They were quite thorough,” she said. “Thank you.”
“And?”
“I’m forgoing your recommendations, Déjà. I’m going to tell them the truth.”
Mendez gave a nearly inaudible grunt of approval—one of the most verbose acknowledgments Dr.
Halsey had heard from him. As a hand-to-hand combat and physical-training DI, Mendez was the best inthe Navy. As a conversationalist, however, he left a great deal to be desired.
“The truth has risks,” Déjà cautioned.
“So do lies,” Dr. Halsey replied. “Any story fabricated to motivate the children—claiming their parentswere taken and killed by pirates, or by a plague that devastated their planet—if they learned the truthlater, they would turn against us.”
“It is a legitimate concern,” conceded Déjà, and then she consulted her tablet. “May I suggest selectiveneural paralysis? It produces a targeted amnesia—”
“A memory loss that may leak into other parts of the brain. No,” Dr. Halsey said, “this will be dangerousenough for them even with intact minds.”
Dr. Halsey clicked on her microphone. “Bring them in now.”
“Aye aye,” a voice replied from the speakers in the ceiling.
“They’ll adapt,” Dr. Halsey told Déjà. “Or they won’t, and they will be untrainable and unsuitable forthe project. Either way I just want to get this over with.”
Four sets of double doors at the top tier of the amphitheater swung open. Seventy-five children marchedin—each accompanied by a handler, a Naval drill instructor in camouflage pattern fatigues.
The children had circles of fatigue around their eyes. They had all been collected, rushed here throughSlipstream space, and only recently brought out of cryo sleep. The shock of their ordeal must be hittingthem hard, Halsey realized. She stifled a pang of regret.
When they had been seated in the risers, Dr. Halsey cleared her throat and spoke: “As per Naval Code45812, you are hereby conscripted into the UNSC Special Project, codenamed SPARTAN II.”
She paused; the words stuck in her windpipe. How could they possibly understand this?She barelyunderstood the justifications and ethics behind this program.
They looked so confused. A few tried to stand and leave, but their handlers placed firm hands on theirshoulders and pushed them back down.
Six years old . . . this was too much for them to digest. But she had to make them understand, explain itin simple terms that they could grasp.
Dr. Halsey took a tentative step forward. “You have been called upon to serve,” she explained. “Youwill be trained . . . and you will become the best we can make of you. You will be the protectors of Earthand all her colonies.”
A handful of the children sat up straighter, no longer entirely frightened, but now interested.
Dr. Halsey spotted John, subject Number 117, the first boy she had confirmed as a viable candidate. Hewrinkled his forehead, confused, but he listened with rapt attention.
“This will be hard to understand, but you cannot return to your parents.”
The children stirred. Their handlers kept a firm grip on their shoulders.
“This place will become your home,” Dr. Halsey said in as soothing a voice as she could muster. “Yourfellow trainees will be your family now. The training will be difficult. There will be a great deal ofhardship on the road ahead, but I know you will all make it.”
Patriotic words, but they rang hollow in her ears. She had wanted to tell them the truth—but how couldshe?
Not all of them would make it. “Acceptable losses,” the Office of Naval Intelligence representative hadassured her. None of it was acceptable.
“Rest now,” Dr. Halsey said to them. “We begin tomorrow.”
She turned to Mendez. “Have the children . . . the trainees escorted to their barracks. Feed them and putthem to bed.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Mendez said. “Fall out!” he shouted.
The children rose—at the urging of their handlers. John 117 stood, but he kept his gaze on Dr. Halseyand remained stoic. Many of the subjects seemed stunned, a few had trembling lips—but none of themcried.
These were indeed the right children for the project. Dr. Halsey only hoped that she had half theircourage when the time came.
“Keep them busy tomorrow,” she told Mendez and Déjà. “Keep them from thinking about what we’vejust done to them.”