Castaways Log18 HaloSpoilers

Sunshine was fun and all, but when a seven foot tall super-soldier is stuck under it with nowhere to go for a day and a half, the charm runs dry pretty quick.  The Master Chief lay on his back, the shadow of his small shelter falling far enough across his visor to keep the dimmers off, tossing a piece of HK-154 produce up and down.  He would fling it up with the motion of both wrists, watch it gain altitude, fight physics, hang, obey gravity and return to the raft where he’d catch it in one hand or the other.  It was the left’s turn.  It did a good job.  Both hands flung it up again.

Cortana was bored.  “Are you ever going to eat that?”

“Eventually.”  He said.  The right caught the fruit as well as the left had.  They congratulated each other and sent it up again.

“You know, we only have one MRE left.”  Cortana said.  “We’ll have to find a new source of protein for you when we get to shore.”

“And me without any leather to eat.”  He said.  “This bothersome modern age we live in..”

“At least you have enough vitamin C.”  Cortana said.  “You won’t catch scurvy like a pirate.”

“Hah!”  He caught the fruit.  “I would die laughing.”

“You’d die doing other things too.”

“I’m not getting scurvy.”  He replied.

The quiet sounds of the open ocean passed between them again, punctuated by the regular 'thump' of fruit hitting hand.  “You still haven’t named your boat.”  Cortana said.  “Have you been thinking?”

“Not really.” He said.  “I’m sort of in a pleasantly useless state of brain-death.  There’s not a lot going on.”

“Well, I’ve been thinking.”  Cortana said.  “And I think you should call it something symbolic, like the ‘UNSC Abiding Hope’ or the ‘UNSC Chartered Future’ or something like that.”

“I’m not that poetic.” He said, sending the fruit skyward again.  “I’d rather name it ‘UNSC Life Boat’.”

“How about ‘UNSC Toward New Land’?”  She offered.

“The ‘UNSC Hasty Assemblage’.”

“The ‘UNSC Backward Glance’”

“I most definitely don’t like that one.”  He said.  “At this point I’d say it was the ‘UNSC Staring Up’.”

“You’re right.  We should remain hopeful.”  Cortana said, pondering.  “How about the ‘UNSC Imminent Doom’?”

He caught the fruit and gawked a minute.  “That’s hopeful?”

“No I guess its not.”

“You’re getting a little random.”  He said, tossing again.

“I’m just floating on a stream of consciousness.”  She said.  “Just saying what comes to mind.”

“I’m proud of you for not being worried about making little to no sense.”  He said.  “You usually freak out if you mistake something like ‘hopeful’ for ‘horrifying’.”

She realized he was right.  “Should I freak out?  Do you think its that important?”

“Put it off until later.”  He said.  “Nothing we can do about it.”

“Good point.”  She got back to thinking.  “How about the ‘UNSC Radiant Sunshine’?”

“Whoa.”  He caught and held his toy.  “U-Turn.  I think you just made me diabetic.”

“It's not that bad!”

“’Radiant Sunshine’?” He resumed his previous occupation.  “You’re joking I hope.”

“We are enjoying the sunshine.”  She noted.  

“Then we should call it the ‘UNSC Rain No More’.”  He said.

“I like that one.”  She noted, pleased.  “Its lighthearted and fun to say.”

“I’m not traveling on the ‘UNSC Rain No More’.”  He said.  “Lets name it something manly like the ‘UNSC Bloody Onslaught’.  Maybe people will fear us and give us gifts.”

“What people?”

He ignored her.  “The ‘UNSC Expectant Offering’.  Better; the ‘UNSC Expensive Taste’.  No, the ‘UNSC Drop Your Weapons, This is a Stickup’.”

“That would be hard to spray paint on the side of something as small as this.”  Cortana smiled.

“We can make it into an acronym.  The ‘UNSC DYW, TS’”

Cortana sounded it out.  “Diwts?”

“Yes, the ‘UNSC DITZ‘.”  He shook his head at the stupidity of the idea and continued catching.  “The most intimidating ship in the fleet.”

“I still like ‘Toward New Land’.”  Cortana said.  “Because its true and sounds respectable.”

“I guess that works.”  He said.

He didn’t sound convinced.  “We can keep thinking if you want.”

“I don’t really care.”  He said.

“How about the ‘UNSC Chiefy Boat’?”  She teased.  “You are its captain, we can name it after you.”

“If I’m the captain I’m supposed to name it after my mother or my girlfriend or my daughter.”  He said.  “And we end up with something really lame like the ‘UNSC Suzy-Q’.”

She laughed.  “You named your daughter ‘Suzy-Q’?”

“Not by choice.”  He said.  “It was her mother’s fault I’m sure.  She’s probably Mary Jane or something else.”

“You know Mary Jane was once a drug reference back at the turn of the millennium.”  Cortana offered.

“See, look, that explains everything.”

Cortana laughed again.  She’d been doing it more often since they’d left Cant.  “Its sweet that you’d name your ship after a girl though, that’s very chivalrous.”

“It’d be more chivalrous if I knew any girls.”  He sighed.  “Present company excluded of course.”

“You can name it after Miranda.”  Cortana offered.

“I’m not naming it after Miranda.”  He scoffed.

“She died, it could be a tribute.”  Cortana reasoned.

“Johnson can name a boat after Miranda.”  The Chief said.

“He’s dead too.”  

“All the more appropriate.”  His voice took on a bitter grate.  

Cortana suspected it was a mistake to bring up his recently deceased friends.  “We don’t have to do that then.  We don’t have to name it after anything.  We can name it ‘Radiant Sunshine’.”

“No.”  He repeated.  “Might as well name it ‘UNSC Aim Here’.”

“We want people to find us.”  She said.  “Maybe we should name it ‘Aim Here’.”

“The ‘UNSC Rescue Us Please’.”  The Chief offered.  “The ‘UNSC Over Here!’.”

“I don’t think we’re going to be found until we get a new beacon going on the southern continent.”  Cortana said.  “So it might be premature to call it something having to do with ‘Please Find Us’.”

“Then I guess its more appropriate to call it the ‘UNSC Meantime’ or the ‘Interim’ or the ’Pateince’.”

“How about ’Second Chance’?”  Cortana asked.  “The ’UNSC Second Chance’?”

“Sounds good.”  He agreed.

“And she’s the first of her fleet so she’d be the ’UNSC Second Chance, AAA - 001’ under Captain John-117, Master Chief of the SPARTAN program.”

“So christened.”  He caught his fruit and sat back up.  “And I guess that makes you my ship-board AI.”

Her voice sounded like a sweeping bow.  “At your service, Captain!”

“A toast then.”  He took a deep breath, popped the pressure seal on his MJOLNIR armor, hiked up his helmet, took a bite and sealed himself back in so he could breath again.  He swallowed and lay back down.  “Eating is slow.”

“I want you to know I find it very entertaining.”

“Stop spying on my insides.”  He said, tossing the half-eaten food in the air again to resume his game.