Humidity pressed down on the group like a living thing, each breath damp and heavy inside the greenhouse chamber, it's scent earthy and citrus.
Anders stood in the Basin's center, the Orb hovering in place. The basin's gel gave slightly as Anders leaned forward, extending her arm out to it. Her fingers brushed the surface, letting it compress slightly before pushing into it.
The interface activated, bioluminescent ripples shifted out in rings, forming shapes of various colors and hues before glyphs manifested in the gel."
"New Glyphs, new-... that's not new."
The professors brows furrowed, lips pressing tight for a moment. The glyph reflected off her glasses, it was the same glyph Milo had. The agent took a step forward, her voice clipping.
"What is it Professor."
"A flat disc with undecipherable elevation... repetition... we can work on a cipher later."
The agent exhaled softly, her eyes leaving to focus on the room around her.
"At least they're consistent."
"Consistency means predictability, predictability can save our lives."
Anders refocused on the interface, she leaned forward and pushed deeper, the chain of glyphs shifted before dulling. The gel beneath pulsed once, sending bioluminescent veins towards the wall, branching it up to each of the encased Flora before forming separate glyphs for each specimen.
The professor halted as a 3d glyph of the room appeared before her.
"This... is very new.."
The agent said nothing, inching closer to one such specimen enclosure. The symbol above was different but obvious, her gaze sharpened while focus emerged from her eyes, she swiftly reached for a portable camera prior to snapping a picture.
"I agree, but this makes the cipher easier to make."
Anders' eyes lit up, a cheeky grin forming.
"Ahhh, so ONI can be clever."
Finch's teeth clicked her head tilting while rolling her eyes, her attention returning to the various symbols.
"Hmmm..."
Down the hall in the main room, Milo was still standing in the chamber's gel-filled basin, his hands still slightly engulfed in the gel sphere.
Milo's focus shifted, his lips quirking up to look behind him.
"Th-these Glyphs are so simplistic yet different, all of these glyphs could have different meanings. Like how we humans have different words with the same meaning... mom and mother.. or Kid and Child, n-nuance is going to be difficult to decipher."
The super soldier said nothing, his helmet reflecting soft pastel light from the alien console.
Milo blinked before they narrowed, his lips followed into a jut forward. A pout.
"What do you think J-Jerome?"
The spartan said nothing at first, simply leaning forward into a heavy step and into another.
"If we make an attempt, we'll need a lot more glyphs, Sir."
Milo's gaze returned to the interface, a gentle pink hue rising to his cheeks.
"O-oh. Of course, y-you're right, let's do this then."
With a slow exhale he leaned forward, his fingers and palms sinking deeper into the sphere. It rippled the glyphs glowing softly, shifting and turning into something new.
An unhurried gasp escaped Milo, his eyes landing on the same glyph he had seen earlier, a disc with undecipherable elevation.
"I-i wonder. If I leaned in some more i can-"
His eyes widened the moment he pitched too far forward. His breath hitched after, his hands sunk deeper, reaching all the way to his wrists.
Jerome took a step forward, his shoulders tensing and his grip on his rifle tightened.
"Doctor!"
The sphere brightened, light raced along the veins in the basin and the sphere before extending to the room around the two personnel.
Jerome took a step back as the Basin itself shifted, another gasp ran from Milo, his eyes lowering as the gel beneath his feet gave, ripples of bioluminescence flared, rising into streaming ribbons that spiraled around the awestruck Doctor.
"Doctor, pull back now!!"
Shapes formed from the ribbon's mass, coalescing into an all too recognizable shape: The Ark, and with it, unnerving details that made even Jerome give pause.
Milo, hearing only the shifting of the spartans armor jerked his head, only for his voice to vanish.
"J-jerome what's--"
His eyes seemingly glowed, reflecting the light from the shaped Gel.
"Th-that is... the Ark."
Soft sounding footsteps echoed behind Jerome, the spartan jerked around before relaxing, Anders, Finch and the ODSTs ran in, only to stop before the massive gel-born cartograhph.
Finch's eyes narrowed, her voice dropping to a dangerous quiet.
"Milo... what in God's name were you thinking?"
She took a step closer, her gaze hard, but her hand brushed his arm for a moment, grounding him even as she scolded.
"You can't go leaning into alien tech like that. You nearly scared me to death."
"I-i-i don't know, i leaned forward to discover more glyphs. I-i slipped and this emerged from the Basin, th-the entire Ark is mapped."
Anders and Finch shared a look, then back to the shaped Gel.
"Do you think it's a cartographer, Finch?"
She shook her head, scanning the Ark and it's intricate details.
"I don't think so, we don't have enough information to go off here... first the greenhouse, now this... I don't know what we're dealing with."
Anders brought a hand to her chin while Jerome approached, leaning forward with each step.
"Professor, the gelatin map displays both UNSC and Banished sites, it also displays additional sites that may belong to whatever aliens we're dealing with."
The Agent and professor scanned the map, and it was true, the map of the Ark was entirely documented and detailed, UNSC assets blipped in blue like Omikron base, Theta base, even the ruined structure of Isabels research post was detailed.
Banished sites we're also present, blipping in red, scattered but present, until finally all eyes locked onto the 3rd color: Violet. The color of various sites belonging to the aliens breathed occasionally into opalescent teal.
-------
Anders took a step forward, extending her hand out to the gel-formed projection.
"You're right, Jerome, see if you can't cross reference what were seeing here with our own data."
The super soldier inclined his head, tapping the side of his helmet, a dull click of a button echoing. Finch made a low hum, crossing her arms while her gaze never left Milo.
The young doctor seemed to sense his mother's eyes landing on him, his weight shifting side to side, the glasses sliding down a bit.
"U-um... Finch, c-can i help you with something?"
Her voice clipped, yet it held it's softness.
"Honestly."
She began, walking over onto the gel basin to fix his glasses and doctor coat.
"There..."
She backed up again, crossing her arms.
"Th-thanks mom."
She clicked her teeth, turning her head and walked away, hiding the smile threatening to form. Anders glanced over, her lips tilting up.
"Cute, but if you're done let's focus please."
Milo flinched, shoulders raising in a tense silence.
"Y-yes ma'am. I-i'm sorry... u-um Jerome, can you confirm that the data on the silly putty projection is accurate?"
Jerome inclined his head, taking a step over before raising his hand over a violet-teal blip.
"Yes, the data is accurate, we're here, the Mastodon is here. The aliens have Omikron and Theta marked, I suggest we document the map before departing, we've spent too much time here."
Finch returned.
"I'm inclined to agree, the Captain wants a full report immediately.. let's pull back while we have the chance."
Finch scanned over to Milo while Anders used Milo's camera to take several photos of the projection.
"Silly putty. I hope that's not going into the official report."
Milo flinched again. "Y-you heard that?"
The agent's lips twitched, saying nothing.
Seconds passed and the slow whine of the camera began, it's lenses and screen dimming.
"There, photos are taken and sent. Let's get out of here... Milo, think you can get out of there on your own?"
Milo blinked.
"U-um... m-maybe."
Milo took a slow breath in before tilting his hands to the side before leaning back. The Gel shifted, ripples of bioluminescence waved out as Milo's hands inched out.
The gel projection of the Ark slowly melted into ribbons, dripping more into a gooey liquid before landing in the basin.
"Th-that's still so cool."
The young researcher continued to pull back, the surface of the interface stretched with his hands before reluctantly letting go, the light of the bioluminescence dimming into nothing.
"Good. Let's get going."
The group swiftly began their departure, each step muffled by the gentle give of the floor, bouncing subtly before reaching the corridor, a soft breeze brushed past as the group approached the entrance, but with it, something floral.
Finch's eyes narrowed, sharpened like daggers.
"Stop, you smell that?"
The spartan and ODSTs halted.
"Smells like flowers ma'am."
Finch glanced to the drop troopers.
"I know, that's the issue, every time we've had problems with these aliens, that scent always comes with..."
Jerome turned to Finch.
"Meaning they're nearby...."
Silence followed, the clicking of rifles rising into position echoed through the corridor. Jerome took point, tapping the side of his helmet to turn on his helmet-mounted flashlight. The ODSTs followed after.
Milo kept quiet, grabbing his satchel and holding it close to his chest before adjusting his glasses.
The chapter comes to an end with the Floral Scent intensifying and the sound of shuffling nearby.