In Response To: Cortana lying to Foe Hammer (Mark Simmons)
: I mailed this to halostory a few days back, but thought it might be of
: interest to a few others as well. It's pretty long though, so get settled,
: read through and see what you think...
: ------------
: After playing through Halo a number of times, I have to say that the one
: thing that really bothers me is Cortana's exchange with Foe Hammer near
: the end of The Maw.
: Being specific, Foe Hammer says: "Echo 419 to Cortana. Things are
: gettin' noisy down there. Everything okay?"
: ...and Cortana replies: "Negative, negative! We have a wildcat
: destabilization of the ship's fusion core. The engines must have sustained
: more damage than we thought!"
: Now what does she mean by 'more damage than we thought'?
: Is she implying that cracking the engine shields has caused the engines to
: melt down quicker than she first assumed? Possibly, but I don't think so.
: Given the complete lack of any communication with any other UNSC forces of
: the intention to destroy Halo, Cortana's response is tantamount to a
: blatant lie. It sounds like she's implying that the PoA's engines suffered
: more damage in the original crash than was previously assumed, and that
: the meltdown is not as a result of anything done deliberately after that
: particular incident.
: If so, why is she appearing to hide the fact that it's due to her and Master
: Chief's actions?
: For that matter, why have none of the other human forces been ordered to
: abandon Halo by any means? Doing so is hardly going to alert the Covenant,
: since they have already been ordered off Halo themselves and would see
: nothing odd in the humans leaving too.
: As it is, after Halo's destruction, Master Chief asks Cortana 'did anyone
: else make it'. Again, given that nobody else seems to have been aware of
: their intentions, why should they have?
: As an aside, but connected with this, is the issue of getting off Halo. At
: first, after initially setting the PoA's engines to detonate, Cortana
: says: "That should give us enough time to make it to a lifeboat and
: put some distance between ourselves and Halo before the detonation."
: One, why would they be any lifeboats left? Two, I would have thought it
: doubtful that any that were left would still be operable by now. Three,
: would a lifeboat actually be capable of getting them back to Earth or any
: other human outpost? Possibly. Four, and most importantly, it implies that
: originally Cortana had no intention of contacting Foe Hammer and thus
: reinforces the suspicion that she was/is not interested in the survival of
: any other UNSC forces.
: However, given that her second choice is Foe Hammer, does that imply that a
: Pelican would equally be capable of getting back to Earth or reaching any
: other UNSC forces or human outpost?
: I don't know. But whatever, the Cortana/Foe Hammer exchange near the end of
: The Maw really bugs me. It very much suggests that Cortana is not 'coming
: clean' with Foe Hammer as to the reasons for the PoA's engine meltdown.
: The question is, why?
: ---------
: Part of the reply was (and I'm not quoting here as I haven't asked
: permission): ---------
: And what about "Warning: Hitchhikers May Be Escaping Convicts." Has
: the Master Chief picked up any hitchhikers?
: ---------
: (Still with me? Good.)
: To which I replied: ---------
: Indeed...
: Cortana, in. Cortana Plus, out. Certainly plausible (if that's the direction
: you're heading). It's a possibility I've been toying with myself.
: Don't get me started! ;-)
: Of course, arguably, it could be seen to imply that 343 Guilty Spark is the
: 'escaping convict', 'hitching' a lift by following the Longsword. But that
: seems far too obvious for Bungie's tastes.
: It's interesting to note though that Cortana refers to her 12 hours in Halo's
: core as being 'cooped up', which is a curious turn of phrase in itself,
: given the apparent wealth and breadth of information suddenly available to
: her. She makes it sound as if she was getting bored...
: Moving on though, if she was 'watching' MC and 343GS during those 12 hours
: she must have been aware of the monitor's intentions to fire Halo before
: they got back to the Control Room. In that case, linked directly with the
: core, surely she could initiate a far more precise and effective method of
: stopping Halo from firing than just blowing it up. So why choose the
: apparent finality of the 'destroy it and escape' method instead.
: Plot defined to allow for game play..? Possibly... Because she couldn't..?
: Maybe she only had read-only access... Difficult to say.
: Here's a bit of wild, crazy speculation though: If Halo is capable of killing
: the Flood's food, then destroying Halo would stop that from happening.
: Which begs the question; could the Flood survive Halo being broken into
: pieces?
: 343GS states: "The installation was specifically built to study and
: contain the Flood."
: If, by 'installation', he means Halo, then his comment implies that it's
: primary function was not to destroy all potential food sources. That would
: only be a last resort failsafe function in light of the Flood actually
: getting off Halo. However, if Cortana is right and destroying Halo has
: killed the Flood, then why was there not a first level failsafe that
: allowed for the self destruction of the installation if the Flood got
: loose upon its surface? Surely a far simpler and cleaner solution than the
: mass wiping out of life across the whole galaxy.
: What if destroying Halo in that manner doesn't actually guarantee killing the
: Flood completely? After all, breaking up Halo would definitely stop it
: from firing. But completely kill the Flood as well...?
: While Cortana's plan to stop Halo from firing is quite laudable and certainly
: understandable in the circumstances, her single minded concerns over doing
: so tend to ignore the potential of the Flood themselves.
: Is there a chance that something came out of the core with Cortana (full
: circle here) that wishes to preserve/release the Flood and get rid of Halo
: at the same time?
: "Its parasitic nature belies the Flood's intelligence."
: Could the Flood have already infiltrated the core in some way? If they can
: repair and operate/navigate a space-going vessel, then surely tampering
: with Halo's systems is not beyond their means.
: As it is: Just what is a 'drone control subsystem'? What exactly constitutes
: 'Flood activity'?
: What is Halo to the Flood, if not a prison? Do we have some form of 'escaped
: convict'? Not necessarily Flood itself, but possibly Flood contrived.
: 343GS: "The Flood must not escape the installation. They could soon
: evolve."
: Into what precisely..?
: What if not informing the humans of the planned destruction/break-up of Halo
: means more bodies left for any surviving Flood on the large remaining
: pieces..?
: Okay, that's probably a bit too wild and I may be speculating a little too
: much (long day), but Halo does tend to lend itself to doing so rather
: voraciously, and eventually the tru7h will out. :-)
: --------
: Finished...?
: Damn. You made it.
: Well, I know that it's a lot to take in all in one shot. But...any views on
: this?
: Mark
Your forgeting that the meltdown would cause (If i remember) "Over a 100 million degree's." No life can survive at that temp. Meaning that all life was gone. But I agree, I never quite got why cortana's personality changed after you get her from the core. Hum...
Of course then you have the fact that in the Halo 2 trailer (Love it, seen it a million times) it say's "Extermination of Parasitic Alien Lifeform" (May not be exact but extreamly close none the less.) and then "Complete" inplying that the Flood are killed.
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