最后一战：虫族肆虐 (2003)

Halo: The Flood is a military science fiction novel by William C. Dietz, based on the Halo series of video games and based specifically on the 2001 video game Halo: Combat Evolved, the first game in the series. The book was released in April 2003 and is the second Halo novel. Closely depicting the events of the game, The Flood begins with the escape of a human ship Pillar of Autumn from enemy aliens known as the Covenant. When the Pillar of Autumn unexpectedly discovers a massive artifact known as "Halo", the humans must square off against the Covenant and a second terrifying force in a desperate attempt to uncover Halo's secrets and stay alive. Though the book roughly follows the same events of the Xbox game, featuring identical dialogue, Dietz also describes events not seen by the game's protagonist, the super-soldier Master Chief.

After the success of the first Halo novel, Halo: The Fall of Reach, publisher Del Rey and Halo publisher Microsoft signed a deal for new books based on Xbox games, including another entry in the Halo series. Del Ray approached author Dietz to write the next book. Dietz incorporated his first-hand experience in the military for the additional scenes of The Flood not found in the game.

Upon release, Halo: The Flood cracked the Publishers Weekly Top Ten Bestsellers List for Paperbacks, but critical reception to the novel was less positive than Eric Nylund's Fall of Reach or other Halo novels. The repetitive fight scenes and dramatically different characterization of the protagonist compared to Nylund's work were seen as major flaws, and Dietz's style of writing was alternatively praised and lambasted. The next Halo novel, Halo: First Strike, would serve to bridge the gap between Combat Evolved and its sequel, Halo 2.

The book was re-released on October 12, 2010, with new content and editorial corrections.

Background

The first Halo book, Halo: The Fall of Reach, sold more than 1,000,000 copies and prompted an extended agreement between Del Rey Books and Microsoft to produce more Halo novels. Science fiction writer Larry Niven, author of the Ringworld series of novels, was initially approached by Del Rey Books to pen a novelization of Halo: Combat Evolved. Niven declined, citing his inability to write for a "fully programmed universe". William C. Dietz, a Seattle-based science fiction author, was then approached to write the next Halo novel. Though he had never played the game, he immediately bought an Xbox console and a copy of Halo. When he learned that the game was selling rapidly at his local retailer, he agreed to pen the book.

Dietz, a former United States Navy Hospital Corpsman, incorporated elements of what he fondly called "The Green Machine" into his work; despite being in the 26th century, the marines of The Flood are very similar to their modern counterparts. To assist Dietz in writing, Bungie provided what Dietz referred to as "a tremendous" amount of background information on the Halo universe. Once Dietz had finished his draft, Bungie checked it over to make sure it complied with the plot established in the games and novels, as Bungie considers all Halo novels canon.

Synopsis

Setting

Halo: The Flood is set in the year 2552. Humanity has colonized hundreds of worlds across the galaxy, using faster-than-light drives and cryonic sleep to travel between worlds. Without warning, a collective of alien races known as the Covenant began attacking the outlying colonies, brutally exterminating all life by vitrifying the surface of the planets. Humanity, outnumbered and outclassed by the alien's superior technology, wages a losing war against the enemy. After the human bastion of Reach falls to the Covenant, the human ship Pillar of Autumn jumps into Slipspace to lead the Covenant away from Earth.

Plot

Pillar of Autumn exits slipspace, discovering a massive ringworld hidden by a moon in orbit around a gas giant. In the system are a host of Covenant, who notice the lone ship. A Covenant leader forbids the fleet to fire on the Autumn, for fear of damaging the ring. Instead, they board the ship. The humans prepare for battle and rouse the Spartan supersoldier known as the Master Chief from suspended animation.

Deprived of defensive options, the Autumn's captain, Jacob Keyes, tells the crew to abandon ship. The Master Chief is entrusted with the artificial intelligence (AI) Cortana; given the wealth of tactical information the AI contains, Keyes cannot allow Cortana to fall into enemy hands. The Master Chief leaves for the surface of Halo in a lifeboat; other soldiers, including a battalion of shock troops led by Antonio Silva and his second-in-command, Melissa McKay, land by special drop pods, and take a strategic bluff from the Covenant. They use the location as a central command point for the survivors, called Alpha Base. Captain Keyes is captured by the Covenant, and taken aboard the cruiser Truth and Reconciliation; the Master Chief and a platoon of Marines later board the ship and rescue the captain. Keyes has learned that the ringworld they are on, called "Halo", is important to the Covenant and a weapon of great power. Keyes gives the Master Chief the mission of finding the Control Room of Halo before the Covenant. The Master Chief and Cortana discover the location of the Control Room, and with the help of some Marines, insert Cortana into Halo's computer network. However, Cortana realizes that the ring is not a weapon as they understood at all, and hurriedly tells the Master Chief to find Captain Keyes.