Meeting HIGHCOM - Part 2

"Well," I say, striking a pose, "How do I look?"

Keyes seemed to be incapable of saying any incoherent thought, while Halsey was too busy looking me up and down appreciatively. I waved my hands in front of both of their faces to snap them out of it.

"Does this work?" I ask.

"It sure does, but you might want to put something on." says Halsey, "Your breaking Keyes. Again." I looked over at Keyes to see smoke coming out of his ears. I look down to seem my small dress to be torn to pieces.

"Ah," I say, not fully comprehending what happened. I look at my self for another moment before reflexively slapping Keyes again and crouching down on the ground.

'Hey, Eve. Can you do something about this?' I say, hugging my body.

[You can technically grow clothes onto your body]

'Ah, that's perfect.' I think mentally pumping my fist in the air, 'Let's do it!'

[But, there is a slight issue]

'What is it?'

[You will still be naked. It just seems like you aren't]

'Ah.' I scramble in my head to think of other solutions. 'Maybe I can get clothes from Halsey' I look up at her. 'No' I think. 'She doesn't have any sort of outer layer. And I am meeting HIGHCOM.' I let out a sigh. 'Fine, Eve, grow me a set of clothes.'

[Will do, Alia]

Clothes start to form on my body. They form into the uniform that the Spartans Twos wore in training camp, except mine didn't have a number behind my name. I get up and look at my body. It really did look like clothing, except, I could still feel the wind on my 'skin'.

"You really like breaking people's minds, you know," says Halsey. She was rubbing her forehead. "First you changed your body, now you changed your clothes. Give you some training and you could be the best spy of the UNSC." she lets out a long sigh.

"Let's go," I say.

"You should first heal up the Lieutenant," she says, pointing at the limp body of Keyes.

"Oops," I mutter. I hurriedly grab the Lieutenant before putting my hand on his forehead. A couple of seconds later, he's up.

"Well then" begins Halsey, "Let's not keep HIGHCOM waiting any longer." She gets up and starts moving through the entrance.

The inside of Facility Bravo gave of a conical feel. It was like walking into an ant hive with all the officers and NCOs moving with purpose to fulfill their jobs. There were patches of plant life here and there, both native and exotic in nature, breaking up the gray color scheme. Passing through the metal and explosive detector, we walked towards the receptionist's station. When we got close, the receptionist looked up, with a tired and uncaring expression.

"Dr. Halsey, you're expected," she said, her voice barely hiding her exhaustion. "Please proceed to elevator eight."

Our group moved off to the solid steel wall, where a pair of doors parted for us. When we entered the small elevator, the doors closed before locking with a whisper-quiet snik. A fingerprint pad and retinal scanner extended from the wall. Doctor Halsey pressed her hand on the scanner, a needle stabbing her index finger. She removed her hand after a few seconds then put rested her chin on the retinal scanner.

[Good afternoon, Doctor] chimed a female AI.

"Good afternoon, Lysithea," replied Halsey. "I'm afraid we will have to cut short our little game today, after all, I do not want to keep High Command waiting too long."

(AN/: Before anyone says that Lysithea shouldn't be there as there are 8 years between where she is mentioned in the book, First Strike, and the present in this novel, I want to remind you that the 7-year life span is only for the smart AIs, not the dumb AIs. Since Lysithea is a dumb AI, or at least I think she is, her lifespan is only limited to her hardware as she is incapable of learning new things and overloading her processes to death, like how smart AIs do.)

[Understood, Doctor. But weren't you supposed to be out scouting other subjects?]

"I discovered something important that needed to be immediately introduced," said Halsey.

[Of course, Doctor. You many proceed]

We walked through the doors and down a corridor lined with walnut panels and paintings such as Washington Crossing the Delaware, various alien landscapes, and space battles. At the end of the hallway were a pair of MPs. They snapped to as we approached, but they kept their hands on their holstered sidearm.

'Geez,' I thought. 'They really do go all out when it comes to their own safety.'

The doors silently swung inward. When we entered, the doors closed behind us and locked. I looked up and barely recognized any of the faces of the top brass seated at the crescent-shaped table. The ones I knew of had yet to rise through the ranks. 'This is going to make it a lot harder.' I think. 'Should I go big, or should I keep it simple?' I gave the idea some thought before settling on a decision.

Coming into the room, Lieutenant Keyes immediately saluted while Halsey and I just stood straighter. The top brass was talking amongst themselves for a couple of minutes before one of them acknowledged Keyes. He returned the salute before saying, "At ease, Lieutenant." He turned towards Halsey. "It has been a while, Doctor Halsey. I believe you had something important to discuss." He glanced at me saying, "I supposed this Miss, has something to do with it?"

"Yes," replied Halsey. "It is quite a matter of importance. This person here is the one who will tell you more," she says, subtly pushing me forward.