Halo the Flood

Halo the Flood

It's the sequel to Halo: The Fall of Reach. In that book, a boy named John began a rebellion against a cruel slave-master named Puppet the Tree. However, the two joined forces when they encountered an even bigger threat, Yutti the Monster. Yutti was defeated by the ghost of Rhombus the Musical Bench, so John and Puppet the Tree formed a truce and an alliance.

At the beginning of this book, John, the man who later becomes Master Chief, is now a strong young man who is beginning to feel restless after living his whole life on the planet Roofleia In an attempt to get away from his home planet, he asks his friend, Puppet the Tree, if he can get out and explore the galaxy. Puppet the Tree says yes, so John and his best buddy, Baffles, leave Roofleia the next day. John decides that they should go to Earth first.

Unfortunately, their ship is soon stopped short on its way to Earth. The ship has ran out of fuel, so John and Baffles have to fly in a small escape pod to a nearby planet named Xgzisis. When they land there, they discover that it is inhabited by a race of Possum People. The possum people capture John and Baffles and bring them back to their camps to eat. However, John and Baffles are saved when a large group of normal people with spears attacks the possum people. When John is untied, he asks the people why they are alone on Xgzisis. They answer that their spaceship was shot down many years ago by a giant automatic cannon gun on top of a nearby mountain.

John realizes that if his ship comes too close to the planet, the cannon gun might shoot it down as well. So he decides to go and turn it off. The natives send along with him the chief's daughter, June, as a guide, and John quickly falls in love with the pretty young woman. But he can't tell her this because Baffles is also smitten with her. When they get to the top, they find out that the cannon gun is guarded by a giant robot. Baffles goes to talk with the robot and learns that his name is Zabbiter III. The robot Zabbiter III is very polite, but when Baffles asks if they can turn off the cannon gun, Zabbiter III gets very angry and tells them to go away. June tries to sneak around Zabbiter III while Baffles argues with him, but Zabbiter III catches her and decides to punish her by killing her.

Baffles is too afraid to do anything, but John steps up to Zabbiter III and tells him that he has a poem he wrote the night before that he would like to read. Zabbiter III says that he will listen to the poem before he kills June, so John pulls it out of his pocket and reads:

After living all my life

And chewing at Duluth

Laughing pies and play a fife

And want to tell