Chapter 265 — Dr. Catherine Halsey
The testing area outside the workshop remained quiet after Commander Osman's skepticism regarding the lasgun.
For a moment, the holographic image of the ONI commander remained suspended in the air between Tony and Gaius.
The newly fabricated lasgun rested comfortably in Tony's hands.
Osman seemed to consider saying something more.
In the end, she didn't.
Dr. Halsey would be arriving shortly.
Whatever opinions she had regarding the weapon could wait until then.
"Our scientist will evaluate it personally," Osman said.
Tony shrugged.
"Fair enough."
If the scientist was truly as important as everyone kept implying, having her examine the technology directly made sense.
There was little value in arguing over a weapon she hadn't even seen yet.
Still, before the conversation ended, another thought occurred to him.
"You should prepare some technology on your side as well."
Osman looked at him.
Tony continued casually.
"And don't bother bringing low-level stuff."
That immediately caught her attention.
Tony raised the lasgun slightly.
"If this exchange goes the way I think it will, we're well past that."
Silence followed.
Osman studied him for a moment.
Not the weapon.
Tony.
She had already learned enough over the past several days to know that Tony Stark was not someone who made statements like that casually.
If he was saying it, then he genuinely believed it.
Eventually, she nodded.
"Understood."
The call ended.
The hologram disappeared.
The air became quiet once again.
For several seconds neither Tony nor Gaius spoke.
Tony lowered his communicator.
He was about to continue discussing the lasgun when something unusual caught his attention.
Or rather,
Someone unusual.
Gaius.
The giant warrior wasn't looking at him.
Nor was he looking at the workshop.
His attention was focused elsewhere.
Upward.
Toward the sky.
Tony followed his gaze.
At first, he saw nothing.
Then he spotted a small shape in the distance, heading straight toward them.
As the seconds passed, the shape grew larger.
The unmistakable sign of an approaching aircraft.
A smile appeared on Tony's face.
"Well."
He folded one arm across his chest.
"I think our guest is here."
Far above, a small aircraft descended through the sky.
It wasn't a civilian transport.
The design was unmistakably military.
UNSC.
The craft continued descending toward the workshop.
Dust shifted across the ground beneath the growing pressure of its engines.
Loose debris skittered across the concrete.
Tony folded his arms.
Beside him, Gaius remained motionless.
The giant warrior stood like a statue of gold, his red cape shifting gently in the wind.
Both simply watched.
The transport carrying one of humanity's most important scientists was finally arriving.
The aircraft slowed as it approached.
Its engines shifted position.
The hum changed pitch.
Moments later, the dropship settled onto an open stretch of land not far from the workshop.
Dust billowed outward as the rear ramp lowered.
Several armed personnel emerged first.
Tony noticed the difference immediately.
These weren't ordinary security forces.
Their movements were disciplined, professional, and methodical. The moment they stepped off the transport, they began establishing a perimeter, their eyes constantly scanning and assessing the surrounding area.
Not because they expected danger, but because protecting whoever remained inside was their job.
Tony couldn't help smiling.
"Well."
He crossed his arms.
"Looks like Marcus wasn't exaggerating."
More personnel emerged.
Then finally the person they were waiting for stepped out.
A woman.
Older.
Gray-haired.
Perhaps in her sixties.
Possibly older.
She wore simple civilian clothing beneath a long coat.
No armor.
No weapons.
No visible military insignia.
Nothing about her appearance suggested power or authority.
And yet every soldier around her unconsciously adjusted their positioning.
They protected her.
Prioritized her.
Centered themselves around her.
Without a word, they made it obvious who the important person was.
Tony raised an eyebrow.
"That's the scientist?"
The woman descended the ramp.
Her gaze immediately moved toward the workshop.
Then toward Tony.
And finally toward Gaius.
For the first time since exiting the aircraft, she stopped.
Not because she was afraid.
Not because she was intimidated.
She was observing.
And perhaps a little excited.
Tony recognized that expression immediately.
He had seen it countless times throughout his life.
It was the look of someone seeing something new for the first time.
The woman wasn't looking at Gaius as a person.
She was looking at him as a scientific curiosity.
A towering armored warrior standing over eleven feet tall.
A genetically engineered transhuman beyond anything modern humanity should have been capable of producing.
Tony grinned.
"Yep."
He shook his head.
"Definitely a scientist."
The woman finally resumed walking.
The soldiers followed.
Not too close.
Not too far.
Close enough to react.
Far enough not to interfere.
Eventually she stopped before Tony and Gaius.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
A brief silence settled over the meeting.
Then the woman extended a hand.
"Catherine Halsey."
Her voice was calm.
Confident.
The confidence of someone who had spent most of her life being the smartest person in the room.
"I've been looking forward to meeting both of you."
Tony accepted the handshake.
"Tony Stark."
Then he gestured toward the enormous figure beside him.
"And the giant is Gaius Maximor Thassor."
Halsey's eyes shifted upward.
Quite a considerable distance upward.
Even standing directly before him, the size difference remained absurd.
Tony watched carefully.
Most people needed time to process Gaius. They stared, hesitated, or simply didn't know how to react.
Halsey didn't.
She adjusted almost immediately.
That alone made Tony reassess her.
Then, somewhat to his surprise, she extended her hand toward Gaius as well.
For the first time since her arrival, Gaius paused.
His gaze lowered toward the offered hand, then toward his own.
He wasn't wearing a power fist, but his auramite gauntlets remained firmly in place. Even armored, his hand was enormous. A normal human head could have fit comfortably within his palm.
For a moment, Gaius seemed uncertain.
Not because he was nervous.
The gesture was simply impractical.
Eventually, he reached forward with deliberate care. The massive golden gauntlet closed around Halsey's hand with remarkable precision.
Despite his immense size, the movement was gentle and controlled.
Halsey's hand nearly disappeared inside his own.
The contrast was almost ridiculous.
Tony couldn't help smirking.
The image alone was worth remembering.
Neither Gaius nor Halsey appeared bothered by the size difference.
Halsey, in particular, paid little attention to it.
Her focus remained entirely on him.
His height.
His proportions.
The structure of his face.
The armor.
The way he stood and moved.
Years of scientific experience made such observations automatic, and Gaius presented more questions than almost anything she had ever encountered.
His existence challenged assumptions across multiple fields.
Biology.
Genetics.
Medicine.
Materials science.
Even simple questions became interesting.
How much energy did a body that size require?
How had it been engineered?
How powerful were the biological systems beneath the armor?
Despite the obvious curiosity in her eyes, she remained professional.
Eventually, she released his hand and stepped back.
"Impressive."
Gaius tilted his head slightly.
"In what regard?"
Halsey's gaze briefly moved over the armor before returning to him.
"You."
Silence followed.
Then Tony laughed.
"Yeah."
He pointed toward Gaius.
"That's usually the first reaction."
A faint smile touched Halsey's face before disappearing.
Professionalism quickly returned.
She shifted her attention toward the purpose of the meeting.
"Then," she asked, "have you already analyzed the materials and elements of our universe?"
Tony gestured toward the workshop.
"We finished analyzing them."
As he spoke, he handed the lasgun back toward the nearby nanites.
The constructs responded immediately.
The weapon was carefully taken from his hands.
The nanites carried it back toward the workshop for storage and continued observation.
Tony continued speaking.
"They're about ninety-nine percent identical to Earth equivalents."
He briefly glanced toward Gaius.
"Only minor decimal-level deviations."
Then he added:
"Which means our exchange is completely viable."
"Compatibility shouldn't be a major issue."
One of Halsey's eyebrows rose slightly.
That answer wasn't what she had expected.
Not because of the conclusion.
Because of the speed.
The materials had only arrived late last night.
Realistically, work had begun this morning.
Yet by midday they had already completed comparative analysis across multiple categories of elements and materials.
That level of efficiency exceeded conventional laboratory expectations.
Significantly.
Either their technology was far more advanced than ONI had projected.
Or their analytical methods bypassed multiple standard procedures entirely.
Possibly both.
"It seems," Halsey said calmly, "you do have considerable capability after all."
Her eyes briefly shifted toward the workshop.
"You've already gone through an entire set of materials humanity can offer in just a few hours."
There was no accusation in her tone.
Only recalibration.
A scientist adjusting her expectations based on new evidence.
Tony simply shrugged.
"We had help."
His gaze flicked upward briefly.
A tiny movement.
Almost unnoticeable.
Halsey noticed it immediately.
Artificial intelligence.
The possibility entered her mind at once.
Humanity already possessed AI.
And everything she had seen suggested Tony Stark's technology exceeded current UNSC capabilities in several areas.
The nanites alone were extraordinary.
Considering the precision required to control them, advanced AI support seemed almost inevitable.
More than that, she found herself feeling something unusual.
A small amount of professional awe.
Tony Stark was supposedly from Earth in 2012.
Yet the technologies he carried rivaled or surpassed systems developed by an interstellar civilization centuries later.
That alone was remarkable.
"It does confirm something important."
Tony tilted his head.
"Oh?"
Halsey met his gaze directly.
"There are real differences between our universes."
Silence followed.
Then Gaius spoke.
"Tony."
Both scientists looked toward him.
"The lasgun."
The brief philosophical discussion ended immediately.
The purpose of the meeting returned to the forefront.
Tony nodded.
"Right."
He turned toward Halsey.
"Come in, Dr. Halsey."
He gestured toward the workshop entrance.
"We have something for you to judge."
There was more focus in his voice now.
"We'll need your evaluation for ONI as well."
"That should allow the trade process to begin properly."
Halsey observed both men for a moment.
Then nodded.
"Very well."
But internally, her thoughts had already moved ahead.
Lasgun.
The word was unfamiliar.
The name suggested some form of weapon, obvious enough from context.
So that was what they intended to present.
A weapon.
Her eyes briefly drifted toward the workshop entrance, toward the weapon the nanites had carried away moments earlier.
That must be the lasgun.
Still…
Something about it felt underwhelming.
Only a weapon?
Compared to the nanotechnology.
The AI systems she had thought of.
Everything else they had already shown.
It felt almost mundane by comparison.
Yet she refused to make assumptions.
She had not examined it.
She had not studied it.
And in her experience, premature conclusions often led directly to mistakes.
So she kept those thoughts to herself.
Instead, she stepped forward.
What Halsey didn't yet realize was that the most remarkable aspect of the lasgun wasn't the weapon itself.
It was the power pack.
And its capabilities were about to leave a far greater impression than she expected.
"Lead the way."
Tony smiled.
Gaius turned toward the workshop.
Together, the three of them began walking.
Behind them, the security personnel remained outside.
~~~
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