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146
HALO: FIRST STRIKE
middle of the room. There was a pedestal made of the same gold
material as the symbols in the corridor, and floating above it was
a fist-sized crystal, tapered to a point at either end. It spun, and
the facets along its centerline folded and shifted like the pieces
of a puzzle.
Dr. Halsey reached for it and then hesitated. "Radiation?" she
asked.
Fred checked his counter. "Normal background levels," he
reported.
"We must take this with us," she whispered. "Study it. Or de-
stroy it if necessary to keep the Covenant from getting it." She
touched the crystal, and its light dimmed. For a moment the light
appeared to be absorbed by Dr. Halsey's palm.
Static washed over Fred's display, his shields shimmered, a
squeal blasted through his speakers, and his motion tracker mo-
mentarily made contact with a thousand targets swarming through
the great room. His radiation warning flared red and then faded.
"Radiation spike," he said. "Analysis says lots of neutrinos,
but I'm unable to determine the type—it's something not in the
computer's database."
"Is it safe now?" Dr. Halsey asked, peering into the crystal she
gripped in her tiny hand.
"Seems so," Fred told her, "but Doc—"
"No time for debate," she said. "Neutrino radiation will pene-
trate the rock between us and the surface."
"They'll be able to get a fix on our position," Kelly said. "All
they need is three ships nearby to triangulate. We need to get out
ofhere—fast."
"Which way?" Isaac asked Fred. "Back the way we came, or
deeper in?"
"There was no way out from the titanium mines," Fred replied.
"So we go deeper."
An explosion rocked the earth and deep thunder rumbled, but
rather than diminishing, this thunder got louder, closer.
Fred's shadow lengthened, and its edges sharpened.
He whirled toward the source of the intense white light—
directly overhead, a spot in the dome: The holographic scenery
of stars and moons bleached and vanished. He spun Dr. Halsey
around so she faced away, then covered her head.