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142
HALO: FIRST STRIKE
Fred realized that he was holding his breath. He exhaled.
This new corridor was twenty meters high—large enough for
a titan to stride down its length. It vanished into the distance, a
straight line that gently sloped deeper into the earth. The floor
was paved with asymmetric blue tiles patterned to look like
waves lapping upon a shore. Four-meter-tall symbols of gold
were centered and inlaid into the mirror-smooth walls. These gi-
ant triangles, squares, bars, and circles began to emit the same
soft light... and Fred felt his foot shuffle forward.
He stopped, shook his head, and looked away. He checked his
radiation counter; it pulsed, and then fell back to a normal back-
ground count.
He keyed the COM. "Doctor Halsey, I think I've found what
you've been looking for. Sending video feed now. Copy?"
There was a long pause. The COM was open, but Dr. Halsey
wasn't responding.
"Doctor Halsey, copy?"
"Yes," she finally said over the COM. "Don't move, Fred. And
don't touch anything. Excellent work. Kelly, Isaac, Vinh, Will—
meet me at Fred's location."
Fred wanted to stare at the gold symbols and the light they
cast, but something warned him that this would be dangerous.
He had long ago learned to listen to that inner voice when on pa-
trol or in the heat of battle. It had saved him from dozens of am-
bushes. He kept his eyes on the dirt floor of the tunnel. There was
something too fascinating and nearly familiar about those sym-
bols. They reminded him of the Greek mythology that Deja, the
Spartans' first teacher, had taught—legends of hauntingly beau-
tiful creatures who lured the unwary to certain death. Sirens.
He checked his rifle. The ammo counter read full, but he
hit the magazine release and visually confirmed it. He slapped
the clip back into the receiver. This simple operation cleared
his head.
He detected four blips on his motion tracker—they glowed
green, indicating fhendlies.
Kelly, Vinh, Isaac, and Will jogged up next to him, weapons
ready.
"What is this?" Will whispered. The golden glow reflected in
his helmet's faceplate.