Read Halo: First Strike for Free Online

through a ceiling
    speaker; it said, "The sign you are looking at is the original
    emblem of the Aleph system when it was built by SenTrax.  In
    Cantor's notation, it represents the first of the transfinite
    numbersdenoting the infinite set of integers and fractions, or
    natural numbers.  Aleph is also the first letter of the Hebrew
    alphabet and the name of a story"
     
    "Get on with it," Traynor said.
     
    "The system was constructed at Athena Station, in
    geosynchronous orbit, where it supervised the construction of the
    Orbital Energy Grid, and later was transported to Halo City, at
    L5, where it serves as the primary agent of data interpretation,
    logistical planning, and administration."
     
    Gonzales said, "Seems odd to have a project the size and
    importance of Halo administered by an obsolete m-i."
     
    "It would be so if Aleph were obsolete," answered the
    Advisor.  "However, this is not the case.  The machine we refer to
    as Aleph, has capabilities superior to any existing m-i."
     
    Gonzales looked at Traynor, who held up a hand, indicating
    have patience, and said, "Next series."
     
    On the screen came a pan shot across a weightless space where
    a man floated, encased in a transparent plastic bubble.  He was
    naked, and his limbs were shrunken and twisted.  He had tubes in
    his nose, mouth, ears, penis, and anus, metal cups over his eyes. 
    Two thick cables connected to junctions at the back of his neck.
     
    The Advisor said, "This man's name is Jerry Chapman.  He
    suffers from severe neural damage, the results of a toxin
    transmitted through seafood contaminated with toxic waste.  Though
    most motor and sensory functions are disabled, he is not comatose. 
    In fact, he appears to retain all intellectual function.  Note the
    neural interface sockets:  they are the key to what follows."
     
    "He's at Halo?" Gonzales asked.
     
    "Yes," the Advisor said.  "He was taken there from Earth."
     
    "Very special treatment," Gonzales said.
     
    "The group at Halo has been looking for such an opportunity,"
    the Advisor said.  "To explore long-term Aleph-interface."
     
    Traynor said, "In fact, Chapman's relations with Aleph go
    back to the machine's early days."
     
    The Advisor said, "When he and Aleph worked with Doctor Diana
    Heywood, who at the time was employed by SenTrax at Athena
    Station.  She was blind at that time."
     
    "Even in this deck, Doctor Heywood's the joker," Traynor
    said.  "She was involved with Aleph at the time, and later she and
    lived with Chapman, on Earth.  She was released by SenTrax for
    unauthorized use of the Aleph system, but we've brought her back
    into our employ.  She's going to Halo, where she will assist Aleph
    in an attempt to keep this man alive."
     
    "Alive?" Gonzales asked, gesturing toward the hulk on the
    screen.  "There doesn't seem much point."  As he understood these
    things, given the man's condition, withdrawal processing should
    have started, SenTrax as medical guardians making application to
    the Federal Medical Courts for permission to cease support.
     
    The Advisor said, "Aleph believes it can keep him alive in
    machine-space.  There are special problems, as you can imagine,
    among them the need to have love, friendship  I do not understand
    these matters well, but Aleph has communicated to me that the next
    weeks are critical for the patient."
     
    Traynor said, "However, using Doctor Heywood presents its own
    problems."
     
    "She left SenTrax years ago," the Advisor said.  "In somewhat
    strained circumstances."
     
    Traynor said, "So she has no reason to be loyal to the
    company."  He paused.  "And we have no reason to trust her."
     
    Gonzales said, "I presume this is where I enter in?"
     
    "Yes," Traynor said.  "I want you to accompany her.  You will
    represent me and, indirectly, SenTrax Board."  Gonzales raised his
    eyebrows, and Traynor laughed.  "Yes, I am representing the board
    on this one, unofficiallythey see this treatment as