Read Online Halo: First Strike by Eric S. Nylund - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Eric S. Nylund
Tags: Fiction, General, Science-Fiction, adventure, Action & Adventure, Science Fiction - General, Fiction - Science Fiction, Space Opera, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Science Fiction - Adventure, Space warfare, Human-alien encounters, Games, Outer Space, Imaginary wars and battles, computer games, Video & Electronic, Halo (Game)
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cushions on the floor.
Showalter said, "Let me introduce you all to one another.
Everyone has met Horn, my assistant. Next to him are Doctor Diana
Heywood and Mikhail Gonzales, who arrived yesterday." They both
smiled and nodded.
"Lizzie Jordan," Showalter said, pointing to the woman to her
left. "Hi," Lizzie said. She was blonde, thin, with high
cheekbones; she had a smear of gold dust inset below her left eye
and wore rough beta-cloth overalls gapped to show part of a tattoo
between her breastsa twining green stem. Showalter said,
"Lizzie heads the Interface Collective, and thus will be the
person you'll be working with most closely. The people you see on
the screen are also members of the collective. They have a
proprietary interest in all matters pertaining to Aleph and Halo
and have the right to be present at inter-group meetings, and to
speak to whatever issues are entertained there."
Diana said, "I understand."
Gonzales nodded. He knew from Traynor's Advisor that
communal decision-making was the norm at Halo, but he hadn't
imagined it would be so thoroughgoing.
"Next to Lizzie is Doctor Charley Hughes," Showalter said.
"He will be doing the surgical procedure to upgrade your neural
sockets, Doctor Heywood." The man said, "Hello" and looked
intently at Gonzales and Diana. His sparse gray hair stood up in
spikes; his face was pale, thin, deeply-lined. He had been
smoking constantly since they arrived, one hand cupping a
cigarillo, the other supporting the smoke-saver ball at the
cigarillo's burning end.
"And Doctor Eric Chow," she said. The black man next to
Charley Hughes smiled. Chow was a big man with hands the size of
small shovels; he had a round face, very dark skin, a broad nose
and big lips; he wore his hair cropped short. Showalter said, "He
heads the Neuro-Ontic Studies Group and is Doctor Hughes's primary
consultant on the treatment planned for Jerry Chapman."
She paused and turned to the screen showing the IC members.
A window opened at the left side of the screen, and a figure
appeared. Its arms and torso were clothed in gold; its face
shimmered with a formless brightness. Around its head and
shoulders, a nimbus flared, red, blue, yellow, and green.
"Hello, everyone" the figure said. "And welcome, Doctor and
Mister Gonzales. I am a localized manifestation of Alepha
simulacrum for your convenience and mine."
Gonzales noticed that next to him, Diana was smiling, while
all around him there was silence, as all in the room and on the
screen were intently watching the screen.
#
The IC's viewing window had closed, but the simulacrum's
portion remainedin it, the creature of light sat watching.
Showalter, Horn, Diana, Lizzie, Charley, and Gonzales sat around
the table.
Showalter said, "This is Chow's meeting, and I won't say
much in it. However, I should remind you of certain realities.
This project does not have high priority in the overall context of
SenTrax's responsibilities to Halo City; thus, while we support
this experiment's humanitarian goals, we are not prepared to delay
other projects."
Horn said, "We cannot divert a significant amount of people
to promulgation and we are not or do not want to encourage any
behaviors which might adversely impact other SenTrax outcomes."
Lizzie laughed, and Gonzales, poker-faced, looked at her and
thought, yeah, this guy's laughable all right. Gonzales
recognized the performative chatter of the bureaucratic ape, a
mixture of scrambled syntax and pretentious buzzwordslanguage
meant to manipulate or mindfuck, not enlighten or amuse.
Horn, frowning at Lizzie, said, "If the operation becomes
problematized, threatening to seriously impact other more
essentialized Halo priorities, then we require immediate
resolution through proper SenTrax procedures."
Showalter said, "If you screw up, we shut you
Showalter said, "Let me introduce you all to one another.
Everyone has met Horn, my assistant. Next to him are Doctor Diana
Heywood and Mikhail Gonzales, who arrived yesterday." They both
smiled and nodded.
"Lizzie Jordan," Showalter said, pointing to the woman to her
left. "Hi," Lizzie said. She was blonde, thin, with high
cheekbones; she had a smear of gold dust inset below her left eye
and wore rough beta-cloth overalls gapped to show part of a tattoo
between her breastsa twining green stem. Showalter said,
"Lizzie heads the Interface Collective, and thus will be the
person you'll be working with most closely. The people you see on
the screen are also members of the collective. They have a
proprietary interest in all matters pertaining to Aleph and Halo
and have the right to be present at inter-group meetings, and to
speak to whatever issues are entertained there."
Diana said, "I understand."
Gonzales nodded. He knew from Traynor's Advisor that
communal decision-making was the norm at Halo, but he hadn't
imagined it would be so thoroughgoing.
"Next to Lizzie is Doctor Charley Hughes," Showalter said.
"He will be doing the surgical procedure to upgrade your neural
sockets, Doctor Heywood." The man said, "Hello" and looked
intently at Gonzales and Diana. His sparse gray hair stood up in
spikes; his face was pale, thin, deeply-lined. He had been
smoking constantly since they arrived, one hand cupping a
cigarillo, the other supporting the smoke-saver ball at the
cigarillo's burning end.
"And Doctor Eric Chow," she said. The black man next to
Charley Hughes smiled. Chow was a big man with hands the size of
small shovels; he had a round face, very dark skin, a broad nose
and big lips; he wore his hair cropped short. Showalter said, "He
heads the Neuro-Ontic Studies Group and is Doctor Hughes's primary
consultant on the treatment planned for Jerry Chapman."
She paused and turned to the screen showing the IC members.
A window opened at the left side of the screen, and a figure
appeared. Its arms and torso were clothed in gold; its face
shimmered with a formless brightness. Around its head and
shoulders, a nimbus flared, red, blue, yellow, and green.
"Hello, everyone" the figure said. "And welcome, Doctor and
Mister Gonzales. I am a localized manifestation of Alepha
simulacrum for your convenience and mine."
Gonzales noticed that next to him, Diana was smiling, while
all around him there was silence, as all in the room and on the
screen were intently watching the screen.
#
The IC's viewing window had closed, but the simulacrum's
portion remainedin it, the creature of light sat watching.
Showalter, Horn, Diana, Lizzie, Charley, and Gonzales sat around
the table.
Showalter said, "This is Chow's meeting, and I won't say
much in it. However, I should remind you of certain realities.
This project does not have high priority in the overall context of
SenTrax's responsibilities to Halo City; thus, while we support
this experiment's humanitarian goals, we are not prepared to delay
other projects."
Horn said, "We cannot divert a significant amount of people
to promulgation and we are not or do not want to encourage any
behaviors which might adversely impact other SenTrax outcomes."
Lizzie laughed, and Gonzales, poker-faced, looked at her and
thought, yeah, this guy's laughable all right. Gonzales
recognized the performative chatter of the bureaucratic ape, a
mixture of scrambled syntax and pretentious buzzwordslanguage
meant to manipulate or mindfuck, not enlighten or amuse.
Horn, frowning at Lizzie, said, "If the operation becomes
problematized, threatening to seriously impact other more
essentialized Halo priorities, then we require immediate
resolution through proper SenTrax procedures."
Showalter said, "If you screw up, we shut you
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