Empyrean Iris

Chapter 40

"Is that it, is that your entire contact list?"

"Yes, Doctor, of course, but I don't see how this is going to help." Dr. Krill barely acknowledged Rita as he transferred the file and began cross referencing it with all the names on the list, and their contact information.

Sensing Rita still staring at him, he turned his head to look at her, "It isn't that hard to understand, Rita. Now that we know what these people have in common, we have to find who they were contacting, and why, and since you are a medical professional, I find it likely that you were already contacted."

"Why not check your own contact list." She wondered, leaning back in her seat, and watching him with narrowed eyes.

"Because I am not human, and humans seem to be what they are most interested in. He sat for a moment, tapping his foot impatiently as he waited. It was only from the look on Rita's face that he realized he was doing anything at all. The tapping stopped, and he looked down at his own leg with some surprise, "Hmm, interesting." Though he did not have more time to think about the phenomena as he was suddenly alerted to the quiet ping of his readied information.

Transferring the data to a holo-pad, he dropped to the floor and scuttled from the room taking a turn down the hallway and up towards the bridge.

He ran into one of the bridge crew at the end of the hall, who saluted –on pure force of habit–, "Sir, the captain's shuttle is returning. You requested that we let you k-"

"Ah, good, he will want to see my findings."

Two of his cortical hemispheres were busy reading down the list of names and cross-referenced contacts. Each name had a percentage number next to it which marked the percentage of people out of those 41 subjects who had had contact with them. Granted he had been hoping for a solid 100%, but the best he got was up at a 75%.

All together there were at least ten names that fit that description, and none of them with names he recognized.

Going by what he could see of the names and descriptions, many of them were human, implying that it was probably superior officers or supervisors within the organization, though he couldn't have said for sure

There was a sharp hiss as the cargo door opened onto the docking bay, and he stepped into the large echoing room just in time to watch airlock 1 as it depressurized. The man from the bridge crew, who had alerted Krill to the captain's arrival, was still with him, waiting patiently with his hands behind his back.

The red light above the airlock stopped blinking, and Krill hurried rapidly forward, coming to the doors of the shuttle just as they were opening.

"Captain, I think I found something: a link between your missing 41 humans. You see I did a preliminary examination and upon finding the link I-" He paused for a moment, speechless as Captain Vir and Sunny came stumbling out of the shuttle, the two of them looking a little worse for wear.

The captain's right pant leg had been rolled up to reveal his mechanical leg absolutely mangled, missing large chunks of its plexiglass exterior, while the interior pneumatics were firing with great difficulty and irregularity. For this reason, he was half supported by one of Sunny's lower arms, while one of his arms was thrown over her shoulder for support.

The difference in their height was enough to force Sunny into an awkward crouch to allow him to learn on her, and like that, they hobbled from the shuttle.

"Captain! What happened?"

To Krill's ever increasing annoyance, captain Vir ignored his question and turned to look at the lieutenant, "Get the GA and the UNSC on the line immediately. They have to be alerted."