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236
HALO: FIRST STRIKE
He paused to view all the others on that list; his first and best
friend, Sam, was there ... and he hadn't even realized a dozen
more had been listed as MIA.
He saved the changes to the roster and closed the file.
"What about Kelly and Linda?" he asked Cortana.
Cortana looked up and flipped the hair from her luminous
eyes. She paced a small circle on the holographic pad and then
said, "SPARTAN-087, Kelly, is recovering from second-degree
burns on seventy-two percent of her body. Doctor Halsey has ac-
celerated tissue regrowth with dermacortic steroids. She should
be fully healed in a matter of days... although her mobility will
be severely hampered until then."
"And Linda?"
"Accessing status." Cortana paused for a full second. "Doctor
Halsey has SPARTAN-058 currently in medical facility alpha,
three decks above us. She still has her in a cryogenic state and is
presently performing exploratory surgery. She has given me
several orders to prepare the flash clone banks for replacement
organs pending transplant."
"So she's alive?" the Master Chief asked.
"Technically," Cortana replied, "no." For a moment there was
a look of genuine concern on her face—but it quickly vanished.
"The doctor and Admiral Whitcomb have debated the risk of at-
tempting to revive SPARTAN-058 before we reach a major
medical facility. Doctor Halsey, I'm sure, will brief you when
she has all the facts, Chief."
John frowned at this lack of detail. He didn't appreciate
Cor-tana's increasingly difficult attitude, one that had slowly
shifted ever since she interfaced with the Forerunner computer
system on Halo. He made a mental note to ask Dr. Halsey about
Linda later... and he'd ask her about Cortana, too.
"All other hands on board are accounted for?" the Master
Chief asked,
"Yes, Chief. They are all engaged in repairs to the conjoined
ships. We took tremendous damage in the expanded Slipspace
from plasma bombardments and mass impacts. Both ships' super-
structures, however, remain intact. The Gettysburg's reactor is
online and operating at sixty-seven percent capacity. Ascendant
Justice's reactor is offline undergoing repairs. Five of our seven