Chapter 9: What a Difference an Algorithm Makes
This needed to work.
Catherine was under no disillusion that unless Bias' plan worked, these would be Cortana's final hours. She had been carefully monitoring the cascading failures in Cortana's systems since she had wrangled Bias into the Light's nav systems. Her greenish hue and sluggish calculations were apparent to everyone who looked at her, but only the doctor knew how detrimental Cortana's condition was.
As she made her way through the Light, she read through Bias' plan to save Cortana. While it wasn't flawless -there could be no guarantees with Cortana's current condition- Catherine allowed herself to have faith in the new plan. The technologies at Bias' disposal were far greater than anything she had on Earth; the newly created algorithm and data grafting process would hopefully allow Cortana to achieve the illusive metastability.
She walked into the conference room with Bias and Jacob trailing her. It would be up to her to act as the liaison between Cortana and the Forerunner AI. Cortana's avatar flickered from the holotank in the center of the room.
Jacob looked at her before turning to Cortana. "Good luck," he said sincerely.
"Thank you, sir."
He nodded slightly and circled back to Catherine. "Take care of her," he charged her.
"You know I will," she replied testily.
"I know." He drew up his shoulder and walked out of the room. Jacob wasn't the kind of captain who wanted to sit around waiting for results to come in. No, he was a man of action, ready to fight along side his crew whenever a danger presented itself. But, now, the captain had no other option than to wait for Catherine's updates.
The doctor turned her attention to Cortana. "Where's John?"
"We've already said our goodbyes," Cortana replied.
"I am confident that there is enough time to salvage part of your core processing, Construct. I believe your goodbyes were premature," Bias interjected.
Cortana glared at the AI, but said nothing.
Bias turned to Catherine. "You will find a new matrix chip in my casing that I have created for your construct. The algorithm is already programmed in it. Once we start the transfer, the chip's rudimentary programing will began sifting out any corrupted data. When that is complete, the data grafting process will begin. Shall we proceed?"
Catherine looked at Cortana questioningly. The AI drew in a long breath and nodded. "Yank me."
The doctor nodded and ejected the matrix chip from the holotank. She inserted it back in her tablet which was connected to the Forerunner mainframe and held her breath.
"It will take at least one of your earth's hours to know if the procedure will be successful. Perhaps you would rather return when the results are closer to coming in," offered Bias.
Catherine wasn't going anywhere. "My place is here with Cortana."
"Very well." The orb moved to the front of Catherine. "All we can do now is stand by until the process is complete."
Catherine understood that truth all to well. She looked at her tablet which was streaming data code, both Forerunner and UNSC, but there was nothing discernible as to what was going on with Cortana.
The minutes crawled by. The wait was nearly unbearable.
Throughout her life, Catherine needed to show a seemingly endless supply of patience waiting for approvals from High Commands for various projects and proposals. The doctor drew from that long ago learned practice and forced herself to dismiss the anticipation of needing to know Cortana's status.
It didn't work.
Catherine gratefully looked up from the unhelpful information when the door to the conference room opened.
It was John.
"Captain Keyes requested that I get a status report, Doctor."
The doctor wasn't fooled; Jacob could have easily contacted her via the comm channel or come into the conference room himself. It seemed as though the captain wanted to give the Spartan a chance to check on the well-being of his friend.
"There's been no change in her status so far, John," Catherine admitted. "The first step in the process is nearly complete. Then we will be able to know if the transfer to the new matrix chip will be successful."
He nodded as he watched Bias float between the tablet and the other consoles in the room.
"Data sifting is at ninety-four percent. You may remain here, Reclaimer, until the operation in complete. We will know very shortly about your construct's fate," Bias said, not turning away from the tablet.
John turned to Catherine who nodded, gesturing towards a seat. The Spartan shook his head. "I'll be fine."
He remained motionless as he waited. Catherine hungered to open a conversation with him, but she knew her attempt would prove unfruitful. While Cortana may have been able to break through John's stoicism, Halsey had not.
Several minutes passed as they waited for the sifting process to be complete.
"Data sifting is complete. It is time to attempt to transfer your construct," announced Bias. John turned slightly to face the doctor.
"How much data was able to be saved?" Catherine asked anxiously.
"Forty-six percent."
Catherine closed her eyes at the news. So much data had been lost.
"Do not be too concerned, Reclaimer. Much of the corrupted data came from two main sources: the information she gathered on Installation 04 which will be recoverable and..."
"And?" John prompted.
"The data the Gravemind fed her on the vessel you call High Charity," Bias reluctantly answered.
"She doesn't need to recall that," Halsey replied.
"Agreed. Please proceed with chip transfer."
Catherine nodded and ejected Cortana's old chip from her tablet. Bias floated to Catherine's eye level and rotated. She saw the open compartment and the chip. Gingerly, she took the casing and slid it in the chip reader.
Ones and zeroes began scrolling at impossible rates. Finally, Bias turned to them, his blue eye shining brightly. "Success!" he crowed. "Your construct's core processing has accepted the algorithm! Data grafting will now proceed."
It was a process that could take several hours, Catherine knew. Cortana would have to relearn how to store, process and categorize the data with the new matrix chip.
Bias rotated slightly, giving the appearance of tilting his head. "It would appear that your construct is eager to activate her avatar."
A spark of hope fluttered through Halsey. That kind of tenacity sounded like the Cortana they knew.
"I should warn you, however, she has only the most rudimentary programming. All of the viable data she acquired throughout her first activation is being sorted. It is likely she will not recognize who you are," warned the AI.
She understood Cortana's temporary limitations, but she was still eager to see her. "How much of a delay will activating her avatar create?"
"It will be negligible," answered Bias. "The holographic interface is a minor program."
Catherine nodded. "Then let her proceed."
"As you wish, Reclaimer."
Less than two seconds later, Cortana appeared from the holotank.
Instantly, Catherine was mentally transported to that day when Cortana had first activated her avatar on Reach. Calculations sped over her body at an unfeasibly fast speed, her bright purple color testified to the fact she had, in fact, been reborn.
She watched as Cortana, by instinct or some subconscious memory that had already been processed, turned to John and smiled. "Hi. What's your name?"
He strode across the room and knelt to be level with Cortana. "I'm John," he replied.
Catherine waited for any signs of recognition to pass over Cortana's face, but there was none. She refused to be disappointed; Cortana would remember soon enough.
"It's very nice to meet you." She stuck her hand out before belatedly realizing that she could not, in fact, shake his hand. She moved her hand to her hip. "Do you like to play games?"
A wave of unsteadiness washed over Halsey. She knew those exactly words. She had spoken them to the man standing in front of Cortana, nearly thirty years earlier.
John looked at Halsey briefly. It seemed as though he recognized the question as well. He turned back to Cortana. "Yes."
A wide smile passed over Cortana's face. "So do I."
Chapter 10: What's a Few Trillion Missing Terabytes Amongst Friends?