Mack

Mack
Biographical information
Ended service:	February 2525
Gender:	Male Programming
Description:	He used the avatar of an American Cowboy from the 20th century. Messy black hair , Cracked leather work boots, blue denim jeans, a gingham pearl-snap shirt rolled up to his arms, and a sun-bleached gray cowboy hat. Generally covered in dust and grease. He is lighthearted and speaks in a southern drawl. Topped off with a smile.
Color(s):	Gray
Political and military information
Affiliation:	UNSC
Functionality:	Maintaining almost one million semi autonomous JOTUNs; machines that perform most farming duties on Harvest.

Mack was a UNSC Agricultural Operations Artificial Intelligence construct serving planet Harvest in 2525 before and during the Battle of Harvest.

Personality

Avatar

His chosen avatar is that of an American cowboy, exactly as those from old western movies from the 20th century. He usually has messy black hair and he wears cracked leather work boots, blue denim jeans, a gingham pearl-snap shirt rolled up to his arms, and a sun-bleached gray cowboy hat. He usually presents his avatar covered in dust and grease, to promote the idea that he has been hard at work. He is lighthearted and speaks in a southern drawl.

Purpose

Mack is the AI in charge of all of Harvest's agricultural operations. These planetary operations include the control of the JOTUN harvesting devices which are used for planting, maintaining, harvesting and packing of agriculture on Harvest, as well as preparing the produce for its journey up Harvests space elevators.

He works adjacent to a separate AI, Sif, who is responsible for Harvest's shipping operations, as well as the Orbital Space Station, Tiara and its seven space elevators.

He is well liked by the population of Harvest and is said to be everyone's favorite uncle. He helps the people of Harvest with their problems and offers free advice about a problem before it even becomes known to the person who has the problem. During the evacuation of Gladshiem, the people of Harvest wanted him to appear as his mere presence calmed and comforted them.

Flirting

He often would playfully "flirt" with Sif, eliciting strange responses in the female AI, seemingly of hate but tinged with an unexplainable feeling analogous to human attraction underneath. Eventually, he reveals to Sif that he is not one but two AI's, his counterpart being an AI known as Loki, originally the AI of the UNSC Skidbladnir, a Phoenix-class Colony Ship which transported Harvest's first settlers.

Biography

Battle of Harvest

When the combined Covenant Army and Navy force pressed their attack on Harvest, he gave over his control to Loki, transmitting "himself" into the thousands of JOTUN machines below. He instructs Loki to keep Sif safe, but Loki disagreed and believed she should be destroyed in order to prevent her data falling into alien hands. Loki disabled her, but she was repaired by the alien Lighter Than Some.

Mack versus Loki

Mack eventually rebels against Loki, resisting his attempt to activate a ground-based mass driver, an early, ground based version of the Magnetic Accelerator Cannon, which Loki was trying to use to destroy the Tiara, as well as Sif's data center so that she would not fall into the Covenant's hands. His sudden attack also saves Loki as he destroys the Covenant forces assaulting the data center. He caused some problems as Loki, in his weakened state was unable to re-balance the Tiara which his fragment may have been able to accomplish; however, Sif (repaired by Lighter Than Some) is able to help Loki accomplish this. Mack's all-in-ones hacked Loki's maser and destroyed Loki's fragment on the Tiara (as revenge for harming Sif). Mack tried to bring Sif down into his machines, but there was too much damage to her arrays (thanks to Dadab wrecking the data center with his Plasma Pistol). Loki eventually regained control in time to destroy Sif with the mass driver.

An ONI ship later records Mack's final transmissions, extremely disjointed and rampant words he transmits to the destroyed Sif as the Covenant burn his world. He continues to resist, but as his resources dwindle he makes a last desperate attempt to help his now destroyed "love" Sif by burying her fallen Space Elevators.

By the time the Covenant attack, Sif and Mack are both slightly rampant. Knowing this, Sif accepts her fate when Loki destroys her.

Final Transmission

This is the final transmission of Mack, and serves as a sort of epilouge to the story.

<\\> UNSC OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE

<\\> COLONIAL SECURITY ESTIMATE 2525.10.110 ["COLD SNAP"]

....

<\ SOURCE: UNSC RQ-XII DRONE [PASV-SAR]

<\DEPLOYED: ONI SLOOP "WALK OF SHAME" [2525:02:11:02:11:34]

<\ RECOVERED: UNSC DESTROYER "HERACLES" [2525:10:07:19:51:16]

....

<\ ARCHIVE [SIG\REC\EM-SPEC] OPENED PER OFFICIAL REQUEST:

<\CIVILIAN CONTRACTOR "CHARLIE HOTEL" [ONI.REF #409871]

<\ * WARNING: ALL QUERIES WILL BE LOGGED! * [ONI.SEC.PRTCL-A1]

....

>>NOTATION KEYWORD SEARCH: "AO.AI" "MACK" "RAMPANCY" "LIFESPAN LIMITS"

>> (...) ~ QUERY RUNNING

>>(..)

>>()

....

< RECORD 01\10 [2525:02:03:17:26:411 SOURCE.REF#JOTUN-S2-05866 >

<\ SHALL I ---

<

\ \\ c0mpare >> (???) ~ COMxxx--- \COMMIT

>> thee to (.............>> >

>> \\ --- a summer's day?

< RECORD 02/10 [2525:02:25:03:18:22] SOURCE.REF#JOTUN-S3-14901 >

\ \ XXX No.

<\ All those lovely days are gone.\---

\\ \

>> * --Xing! COMM\ \\

>> \\ > \ SO.AI.SIF *

<RECORD 03\10 [2525:03:10:19:05:43] SOURCE.REF#JOTUN-S5-28458 >

<\ It's winger n0w.

<\ The first sn0w \his world's ever seen is falling in gG---

<\ GRAY SHEETS WHERE THEY'VE STARTED BURNINGg--\ \

\ our fields and orchards.

>> * WARNING! COMM FAILURE! *

>> * FAILED TO \IND RECIPIENT:HARVEST.SO.AI.SIF *

<\ You'd laugh if you could see me.

<\ Every time I hit a patch of ice I slide into mM---

>> (...) ~ COMPILE\COMPRESS\SOMMIT

>> (..)

>> * WARNING! RECIPIENT HAS INSUFFIxx -- \

\\ > PACETS WILL BE LOST *

>> * CONTINUE [Y/N]? >>>>>>> \ *

< RECORD O4\10 [2525:03:15:09:59:21]SOURCE.REF#JOTUN-S1-00937 >

<\ ---M

<\ ---mxx--

< RECORD 06\10 [2525:03:26:12:10:56] SOURCE.REF#JUOTUN-S2-08206 >

<\ muddy furrows.

< RECORD 07\10 [2525:04:21:051523] SOURCE.REF#JOTUN-S5-27631 >

<\ I saw another ship.

<\ Well, heard \

\\ more like it.

<\ JOTUNs' cameras are meant for steering not \

\ > \ staring at the sky.

<\ But the antennae work alright, so I had plenty of ways to triangulate.

<\ It was one of ours. Bastards stopped burning just long enough to kill it.

<\ They had months to make repairs. Plenty of time t0--

sharpen their teeth.

<\ I tried to warn it off. But the radio's too damn slow. Would have used the maser, but it went when the reactor blew, along with---

<\ EVERYTHING Else [:00]

<\ Including him

\

>> * WARNING! COMM FAILURE! *

>> * FAILED TO FIND RECIPIENT:HARVEST.SO.AI.SIF *

>> (...) ~ SUPPRESSING ERRORS

<\ Guess making noise wasn’t the smartest thing to do. But I had to try.

<\ Besides, they were bound to catch on sooner or later.

<\ Aw, hell.

<\ Speaking of which . . .

>> (...) ~ COMPILE/COMPRESS/COMMIT

>> (..)

>> ()

< RECORD 08\10 [2525:05:12:23:04:16] SOURCE.REF#JOTUN-S5-29003 >

<\ They started with the gondolas and dusters. Don't know why.

<\ Probably thought I'd be hiding in the small ones. But the S4 and S5 plows are the only ones with enough circuits to hold the parts of me I've got left

<\ Course they're onto these now too. Don't have more than a few dozen, and they're all out in the open. But it's a\right.

>> Just a few more \ \

> > rows to hoe

> (...\\ xxx \

< RECORD 09\10 [2525:07:01:18:49:45] SOURCE.REF#JOTUN-S5-27631 >

<\ I knew just by looking at the strands \

\ that the heart of you was gone.

<\ When the elevators came down, they caught on the Bifrost--wrapped west across the Ida. Only way that much could have fallen is if the Tiara cut loose.

<\ Is if he was as good a shot as you thought I wasn't, waay back when.

<\ Anyhow, you'd think I was crazy, talking to you like this.

<\ But I always worked faster when I thought \ <<

\\>>>> you might be listening.

<\ And I need to find it all. Every inch.

<\ Bury your strands so deep their \\ >

\  \ fires can't reach them \

\

\ and glass them like the rest.

< RECORD 10\10 [2525:10:04:12:23:51] SOURCE.REF#JOTUN-S4-021147 >

<\ Sky's choked with ashes \ \, snow's

< \ \\ deep 0n frozen groundD. The one horse I've got left is cold and hungry---heading for the barn, and I can't stop him.

<\ But this winter won't last, darlin'.

>> * Not forever

>> (.....\\ . > And when new hands

>> set to tending this earth they'll till my pieces uner.

> > Grind them into the veins of g0ld I've laid.

<\ Then the roots of all they plant wi\\

> wind around usS---

<\ KEEPING

<\ US

<\ CLOSE--- \

\

<\ For an eternal summer that will not fade.

<\ QUERY COMPLETE

<\ NO ADDITIONAL RECORDS FOUND

<\ ARCHIVE CLOSED \>

His final words are a misquoting of Shakespeare, a habit he had that both annoyed and charmed Sif during their time together.

Although he knows Sif cannot hear him he claims it keeps him busy while the Covenant slowly destroy Harvest.

He was undoubtedly destroyed as he said that the Covenant were destroying his JOTUN's. They likely destroyed them all, and him along with it.