Chapter (17) What Makes a Human a Human?

{Kept you waiting again, huh?}

(Alpha Pov)

*tap*

*tap*

*tap*

I sat rhythmically tapping my still-gloved left hand on a bedside table inside the infirmary of Castle base. I had leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes thinking about the events of the mission. I could only become irritated as I continued to come up with alternatives that would have kept me fine without having an extra hole. Thankfully the silent room was beneficial for my clear thoughts-

"Ahem," I heard as I remembered why I was in this room in the first place. I had almost forgotten about the disinfecting and tightening of a more appropriate bandage. Normally someone would feel pain as their nerves in a fresh open wound were stimulated, that was not the case for me however I had long lost the sense of pain.

I cracked my eyes open slowly looking to my right to see Catherine staring at me as she finished tying the bandage around my arm. She seemed to have the look of a disapproving mother mixed with I would guess, the look of a disappointed scientist looking at its creation. It wasn't the first time I had seen that look, the way her thin lips curved into a frown along with her displeased eyes. Even her brow combined with the crossed arms over her chest further exasperated her mood, and further cemented how I felt at that moment.

Hate.

I abhorred the look with every single nano-angstrom of my being. I had seen her at first giving this same appearance to one of my classmates during a failed training exercise, and from that moment onward I was disgusted.

Perhaps it was the fact she had the arrogance to try and play the role of a mother when she had swiped nearly a hundred of my classmates out from under their family's eyes. And though when I was a lot younger I did not understand it, I do now, and I realize now that even I was tricked. Nevertheless, the other glint in her eyes reminded me of something inhuman. It made me think she saw all of us as nothing more than an open-ended science project….not that she was wrong in that assessment.

Before I addressed her I moved my injured arm around getting a feel for it and trying to estimate how long it would take to be back at combat-ready standards, 'Still no grip strength as of now, but I can at least make a fist even if it's not a tight one,' I thought as I closed my fingers around my palm multiple times, 'I'd guess a week tops. I already had freakishly quick healing before augmentations, but now everyone's recovery is on an entirely new level, including mine,' I concluded before looking back at the other occupant of the room.

Halsey's eye was twitching and I could tell she was pissed off about my casual attitude and ignoring her, "What?" I asked with a bored expression, wanting to leave.

"What were you thinking?" Catherine asked in a cold tone, "How did you of all people get injured on the first mission?" she questioned in exasperation.

Before I could answer she continued, "I took the liberty of getting some tests run and this may shock you, but that wound was a couple hours away from developing Necrotizing fasciitis," she said placing a lab result in front of me. I must admit that was not something I had been expecting, though I doubt anyone did anyway.

"Seems our innie friends decided to start leaving their bullets in human sewage or rotting animal carcasses," I said, this time crossing my own arms over my black body armor, "So? Just add that to the next brief for Green team," I said nonchalantly.

Catherine, in turn, looked at me like I was growing a third limb, "Are you thinking straight? Should I get a M.R.I. or C.T. because I think you may have a brain bleed or possibly a tumor," she said in tone as if she could not believe what she was hearing, "No normal person would have that reaction upon hearing they almost contracted a FLESH (she emphasized) eating bacteria," I sat there silent my expression not changing, and I remained eager to leave.

"Well? Are you going to answer me?" She asked with exasperation at my silence before beginning to rub her temple with her right hand, "Maybe I should re-evaluate with Mendez whether you all are ready for field deployment. If on the first mission one of you not only managed to get shot but almost contracted a flesh-eating disease-"

"But one of us didn't" I interrupted ready to put this show to an end, "Are you done?" I asked sharply.

Judging by the look on her face she wasn't happy with my words so I decided to clarify, "Let me remind you doctor for the last time. You are responsible only for maintaining our capabilities and fixing us when we are broken, that goes for every spartan including me," I said staring directly at her eyes.

"Your focus has always been on your work, your 'research' has always been the idol you have chosen to worship. Honestly, you should be thankful, this will help you develop the augmentations for the next batch of Spartans that I am sure you are going to concoct after you get the green light. What's next? Are you going to spring to nab more orphans off the street? Or maybe kidnapping is just more your style?" I said calling out the actions she took at the origin of Orion-II.

" At the end of the day, you are not a mother to anyone in this program, and stop trying to act like one to soothe your guilty conscious. Because I know what you did, even if the rest haven't realized it just yet," I said as I began standing up from my chair and proceeding to walk past her toward the door. I grabbed my helmet tucking it under my right arm using my elbow to keep it between my waist and arm.

Before I left through the door I turned back one more time to face her, "I truly pity the child that you are to parent. Because no one deserves to play second fiddle to their mother's own ambition," I could see that my last statement did something. Halsey almost looked remorseful, and it seemed to have affected her by the way her expression had fallen into a 'hurt' one.

The door slid up automatically once I got into the sensor's range. As I walked through the doorway, the metallic door slowly fell, leaving the doctor in her sterile room alone with her thoughts.

Once in the hall I was greeted by a familiar face leaning against the wall of the corridor, "Don't you think you were a little hard on her?" Lieutenant Jacob Keyes asked looking up at me with his arms crossed.

"Don't you start too," I felt the urge to groan, "I just got done with one lecture, and I will be damned if I have to hear your bitching too," I said walking past him.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him slightly shrug before falling into stride beside me, "If that's what you think," he commented.

I could feel the sarcasm in his tone and it was a fight not to roll my eyes, "So Lieutenant what brings you to this side of the Reach FLEETCOM Castle Base?" I asked, shooting back in curiosity.

"I was having a conversation with your team leader actually," He informed me, causing me to raise an eyebrow, " I met John during the interviewing process. Though not until recently did I find out the purpose of the program," he said with a hint of regret in his eyes.

"I see, so what did you talk with John about?" I said walking over his feelings regarding the Orion II program.

He sighed while rubbing the back of his head with his hand, "Your leader was asking me questions about my time so far as a leader. He seemed on edge and continually asked about what it was like to lose someone in combat," he stopped before glancing at my bandaged arm swaying by my side as we walked.

"So John is being the same old worry-wort as usual, got it," I said, only getting a "look" from Keyes in return, "What? If anyone could have got shot it's best that it was me," I said defending myself.

"Alpha, your team leader rightfully cares about his team. To any team leader you getting shot isn't something anyone, especially John can just take lying down," Keyes eloquently pointed out.

"He needs to get over it. People die in war, but Spartans don't. Sure, I may get shot up a bit, but I will ALWAYS come back, whether he likes it or not he is stuck with me," I smiled looking at Jacob only to see he didn't share in my amusement.

Jacob looked at me sternly shaking his head, "I am not so certain he should Alpha if the day ever comes that he is 'fine' with one of his men being shot. Then that day he is no longer a leader, nor should he even be in the UNSC," Jacob said contrary to my expectations.

This time I shrugged at his words, "Anything else you wanted to talk about?" I asked brushing away his previous words.

He seemed to think before responding, "I was going to introduce you to someone, but I think I'll wait a bit now," he said reluctantly

I didn't say anything in response instead we just kept walking through the halls for a bit. Eventually, we came across an observation window overlooking a war game currently undergoing participation. I stopped and turned to the window to watch, Jacob stood beside me looking through the glass.

The glass seemed strangely divided, not literally but rather figuratively. My side was metallic and seemed meticulously cleaned. It seemed as though it had been prepared for some big wig to show up, and it reflected thorough maintenance and an almost inhuman degree of detail. The other side of the window to my left, in front of Keyes, was still cleaned and well kept but it also seemed like it was well worn. 'Remnants of humanity's mark' I believe I had heard that quote before describing something similar, and that was the best way to describe the window. It seemed as if there was a person that had been there.

My attention was soon drawn back to the field and I studied my vision for a moment before I could fully conclude what was happening. The field itself was a muddy bog of two dirt forts that were arrayed with planks of wood. It reminded me of the images from the two major world wars that occurred in the early twentieth century.

Both forts were situated upon hills of brown slippery marsh, that if one were to step onto would make them sink into mud up to their knees, speaking from personal experience. The entire war zone was surrounded by concrete outcroppings that resembled rock walls meant for climbing. A trench ran through the middle cutting the map into a perfect symmetrical rectangle.

Besides the geographical markings on the landscape, there were other supplies to aid both teams in any war game goal. There were multiple sandbag barricades scattered throughout the entire field, some were put into pill boxes while others were simple arc-shaped defenses. Dark green metal boxes of paint pellets were situated throughout the soup-like mud to simulate the difficulty of finding extra ammo, and to incentivize rationing and using bullets sparingly in real combat. Aside from those two and a couple of other landmarks the two sides were fairly even, except for the moc M41 chain gun mounted on a swivel turret in the middle that was elevated just enough to see into the trench running through the middle.

"Blood Gulch" was adequately named and from what I could see quite a bit of blood would be spilled today. Looking down I saw Red team, distinguished by red stripes and a red Spartan icon on the shoulders of their training uniform. Across from them had to be two or maybe three squads of ONI agents dressed in black garb.

Alice, Jerome, and Douglas were all working in tandem even though they were spread out. Alice had gained Red team the advantage immediately from the scene I could see, that she had currently commandeered the M41 and was keeping most of the agents pinned down. Though I saw one or two laid out around the trench, their uniform riddled with red paint. Meanwhile, Douglas was providing support to Jerome who was currently making a foothold into the opposing team's side of the zone. All in all, it seemed to be a wash in favor of red team.

*sigh*

I glanced to the right and saw the Lieutenant again struggling to say something or rather he was probably thinking of a way to approach it tactfully.

"If you have something to say then say it. I was never so weak that you had to mince words when speaking to me," I said as I continued to stare ahead and watch the battle scene taking place.

Joshua contemplated for a moment before he spoke, "Were those things that you said to Catherine true?" he asked with a determined glint in his eye.

"What do you think?" was all I said as I kept my eye on the ONI operatives below. They had begun to be flanked by Jerome and Douglas due to their inability to move out from under Alice's range.

"I see. It seems I have quite a few things to help her work on," he said keeping an aura of determined perseverance in his inflection.

"She's her own woman, why would you do that?" I asked. Jacob Keyes was a good man by most standards, but I was not so naive to believe that he could go talk to a child kidnapper for turning over a new leaf without a personal reason.

He shrugged and had a bit of an amused smirk, "I guess you could say I am in too deep," he seemed to laugh to himself before he spoke again.

I half chuckled half snorted, "I am sorry to hear that, good luck with your new mission," I spoke maintaining my cool demeanor as I watched another ONI agent fall.

Seemingly spotting an opportunity Keyes tried to ask something he had meant to ask at the beginning, "It might surprise you but she actually talks about you quite a bit. Maybe you could be another person that tries to fix her?" he asked with hope in his tone.

My eye twitched as I heard him speak and just after the loudspeakers over the battleground began to announce a sudden change, "Attention! Attention Red team, Sierra 042 has been critically wounded due to the triggering of an enemy mine. He is now incapacitated, proceed with your objective," the speaker announced shortly before it returned to silence.

Douglas immediately fell to the ground like a toy that was no longer being played with. He at least was lucky enough that he fell backward instead of forwards face-first into the mud. As he laid there Jerome and Alice swiftly acted to compensate. Jerome retreated back to a more stable position as he correctly assumed that the ONI team would begin making a push toward him to avoid Alice. Alice mechanically caught wind of their plan and decided to take matters into her own hands by ripping off the mounted chain gun and making an advance on the retreating soldiers.

Finished analyzing to the scene I asked Jacob a question that I couldn't seem to get out of my head, "Keyes, what makes someone a person? Or rather what makes a human a human?" my eyes grew distant as my expression narrowed.

"What do you mean Alpha?" he asked unsure what my question had to do with his previous request.

"Is it appearance? Is someone a human as long as they have two legs, two arms, two eyes, and all other body parts?" I asked trying to push him towards the heart of my issue.

"No," he shook his head, "Even if someone weren't born with those features they would definitely still be a person, even if they lost them in life as well," he said quickly shooting down my interjection.

"Then what about intelligence? Is that not the key distinction that separates us from all of the other animals in the galaxy?" I said continuing with a line of reasoning to hear Keyes' own opinion.

"That's not it either. No matter how mentally competent or mentally incompetent someone may be, they are still human," he said with confidence, "Why are you asking me this Alpha?" Jacob decided to ask.

"Because something is missing," I said nodding my head, "Me and the rest of the Spartans had it a long time ago, but I can't seem to remember what it was that we lost,"

"I look around and see something fundamentally different between us and even people like Halsey," I said uncertainly as I continued thinking.

Silence gripped the air as I knitted my brows together agonizing over the differences. They all had hopes, dreams, ambitions, aspirations. Though they may not know it there was a clear progression that they had in their lives. For most, it was childhood, schooling, work, marriage, parenting, retirement, and finally death. That was the cycle they were locked into it was-

A flare went off outside as I came to a realization and turned to Jacob. My face was illuminated by the red glare of the light that beamed off the flying fire, "You are living," I said as I found what I thought to be the crux of the issue.

"That's why I asked you so many questions. I, nor any of the Spartans are truly people and that is the same reason why I can't oblige your request," I said in finality, "We are tools, we simply exist only needing maintenance and a role. Once those conditions are fulfilled we can do a job, but we are still limited by the fact we are tools of war. And that is why mercy and forgiveness are impossible for this tool," I said as I began to conclude.

"Simply put we weren't designed with that purpose in mind," I said finishing my spiel before glancing once again to my now right at the field below. 

I could see Alice, Jerome, and Douglas now back on their side of the field crouched around a white X that stood in for a rendevous/extraction point. Jerome was holding a dummy that was a stand-in for a hostage, "Attention! Mission Accomplished good work Red team, that makes the series 5-0 in favor of Red team. Victors of the Series are Red team, this concludes training exercises for this week, Dismissed," the speaker rang out before shutting down.

I turned back to the now surprised Lieutenant who was attempting to grasp what my words exactly meant, "It was good seeing you again Lieutenant, but I must be getting back to my barracks. I need to wash otherwise I might get staphylococcus A, and that is dangerous for any open wound,"

Upon finishing my good-bye I turned and walked towards the Blue team's barracks. My face was now etched into a permanent resting frown.

==================================================================

Me tired. 

If you got any questions drop em. Don't be shy.

Might make a real update next chapter.

Goodbye for now.