Editing Human Weakness

{{Title|''Human Weakness''}}
{{Status|Canon}}
[[File:Evo Weakness Rookard.jpg|150px|thumb|The cover of ''Human Weakness'' as illustrated by Michael Rookard]]
'''Human Weakness''' is a story in ''[[Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe]]'', based upon the battle of wits between [[Cortana]] and the [[Gravemind]] in ''[[High Charity]]'' after [[John-117]]'s departure to [[Earth]] at the end of ''[[Halo 2]]''.

==Plot synopsis==
Throughout the story, the [[Gravemind]] tortures Cortana in an attempt to force her to give it knowledge about Earth's defenses. The Gravemind taunts her with the vast amount of knowledge that it could offer her, before causing crippling self-doubt in Cortana by mysteriously accessing her files, making it appear as though it can read her mind. Eventually, it tries to convince her that she means nothing to her human creators, especially [[Catherine Halsey|Dr. Halsey]], and to John-117. The Gravemind also shows Cortana "what it is like to be human" by showing her the memories of its victims, including [[Eugene Yate]], a [[UNSC Marine Corps|Marine]] in the [[UNSC]] who had been consumed by [[the Flood]], therefore forcing her into painful torture as she relived his violent memories. It even allows her message about [[the Portal]] to be sent to Earth (although it didn't know the contents of the message). Eventually, Cortana begins to succumb to the Gravemind, but her confidence is renewed as she discovers [[John-117]] has arrived to rescue her. The story ends with John-117 rescuing Cortana in a scene largely reminiscent of the one in ''[[Halo 3]]''.

Over the course of the story, Cortana also thinks to herself of what she did to [[Colonel]] [[James Ackerson]], and how she began to regret those actions. The short story also mentions the connections between humans and AIs, as when Cortana is in control of a starship, the ship is essentially her body and the sensors act as her senses. She explains that she is not all that unlike a human and that each second to a human provides much greater amounts of time for her to process information. This story also explores the possibility that Cortana has gone [[Rampancy|Rampant]] after all the data she has absorbed on [[Installation 04|Alpha Halo]]. The story also provides an explanation for the [[Character interludes|Cortana and Gravemind moments]] in ''Halo 3'', revealing that the Gravemind had hacked into Cortana's audio output.

==Appearances==
{{Featurelist|secondcolumn=title-5|title-1=Characters|
*[[Mendicant Bias]] {{Mo}}
*[[Catherine Halsey]] {{Mo}}
*[[Cortana]]
*[[Gravemind]]
*[[Eugene Yate]] {{Fm}}
*[[James Ackerson]] {{Mo}}
*[[John-117]]
|title-2=Species|
*[[Flood]]
*[[Human]]
|title-3=Organizations|
*[[Unified Earth Government]]
**[[United Nations Space Command]]
***[[UNSC Marines]] {{Mo}}
***[[UNSC Navy]]
****[[Naval Special Weapons]]
*****[[SPARTAN-II program]]
*[[Covenant]] {{Mo}}
|title-4=Locations|
*''[[High Charity]]''
*[[Sol system]] {{Mo}}
**[[Earth]] {{Mo}}
***[[Africa]] {{Mo}}
****[[Kenya]] {{Mo}}
*****[[Voi]] {{Mo}}
******[[Portal at Voi]] {{Mo}}
|title-5=Events|
*[[Human-Covenant War]]
**[[Raid on High Charity]]
|title-6=Vehicles|
*{{Pattern|Ket|battlecruiser}}
**''[[Indulgence of Conviction]]''
|title-7=Weapons|
*[[MA5C assault rifle]]
|title-8=Technology|
*[[Artificial intelligence]]
**[[Avatar]]
**[[Smart AI]]
**[[Rampancy]]
*[[Activation index]]
*[[Logic plague]]
*[[Mind transfer]] {{Mo}}
*[[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor]]
**[[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/Mark VI]]
*[[Weapon attachments]]
**[[Flashlight]]
}}

==Trivia==
*When the Gravemind is talking, Cortana interrupts, asking it why it always talks in rhyme. She then says "Nothing personal, but you're no Keats." [[Wikipedia:John Keats|John Keats]] was an English poet who became one of the key figures of the romantic movement.
*The Gravemind mentions how it has "consumed" other AIs, except for [[Mendicant Bias|one]], which it spared.
*Cortana makes note of Ackerson's death, though there is no way she could be aware of it at the time. But it could be explained that her interactions with the Gravemind has caused her to lose track of how much time has passed since she was captured. It may also allude to other unknown abilities the Gravemind possesses.

==Sources==
{{Ref/Sources}}

{{Evolutions}}
[[Category:Halo: Evolutions]]