Terminal (Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary)

"Are you ready, Reclaimer? This is how my story begins."

— 04-343 Guilty Spark in the Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary terminals teaser.

The video game Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary features a Terminal accessible to the player in each level. Unlike the text-based Terminals in Halo 3, the Terminals feature animation, music, sound effects and narration by 343 Guilty Spark and a handful of other characters. The Terminals will also have connections to the story of Halo 4 and The Forerunner Saga.

The graphics and audio for the Terminals were produced by The Sequence Group, while most of the writing was done by 343 Industries Managing Editor Kevin Grace.

Just like the skulls, the terminals cannot be seen or accessed in Classic mode.

Locations

The Pillar of Autumn

The terminal is one of the computer consoles located on the left side of the Autumn's bridge. All of the console's screens flash "INCOMING MESSAGE" in red, and a crewman is standing beside it instead of manning the console.

Halo

Near the start of the tunnel, you will come across a ledge leading to the next section. If you carry on the route rather than make the jump, you will drive past a small alcove. The second terminal is located at the far end of this alcove.

The Truth and Reconciliation

The third terminal is located within the vessel's bridge, in the middle of the front holographic displays.

The Silent Cartographer

The fourth terminal is located beside a structure near the centre of the island where the first Hunter pair is fought.

The Assault on the Control Room

The fifth terminal is located at the bottom of a pit in front of the Control Room structure at the end of the level. The terminal is on the ground, under the base of a large metal strut that runs diagonally down the front building.

343 Guilty Spark

The sixth terminal is found while riding the third elevator that will allow you to escape the underground facility. You'll find the terminal above the doorway you came out of. It can be reached by activating the elevator, then timing it correctly and jumping off onto the platform below (this may take a few attempts, but the elevator can be activated as many times as needed.)



The Library

The seventh terminal is located on the Library's third floor. You will eventually come to a room with a large circular room, with the Index platform above it. Go either right of left and jump over the low barriers until you get to the opposite side. The terminal flashes yellow, and can be clearly seen across the chasm.

Two Betrayals

The eighth terminal is in the control room at the level's very beginning. walk around the the circular platform and the terminal can be found directly across from the central console.



Keyes

The ninth terminal can be found after the player find Keyes absorbed into the Proto-Gravemind. Eliminate nearby Covenant and Flood forces, then search the sunken crevices to the side of the raised platform. The terminal is a red holographic panel, and will be on one the right crevice's wall.

The Maw

The tenth terminal in the game can be found in the Cryo Bay's second floor, where Sentinels are fighting a large Flood force. The terminal is a computer screen on the wall, similar to the first terminal.

Threshold

The eleventh and final terminal can only be accessed through a hidden function on Halo Waypoint. Pressing X in the main menu will reveal a set of circles with randomized colors, which correspond with the AXBY buttons on the Xbox 360 controller. Entering the correct left-to-right sequence will lead the player to a hexagonal "keyboard" with Forerunner symbols. Each unique five-character code shown at the end of a terminal will grant the player 7,000 cR in Halo: Reach. Entering all codes will grant the player 37,000 cR, as well as Terminal 11, allowing the player to receive a total of 107,000 cR.

Transcripts

Terminal 1

{Cutscene}

Zoom into the screen of a UNSC computer system. The screen experiences graphical glitches, then changes to a Forerunner map of star systems in the local area of the galaxy. 343 Guilty Spark's voice is heard narrating:

• 343 Guilty Spark: "Warning! By order of Ecumene Council, proximity to Installation 04 is forbidden."

The seven Halo rings are shown on screen. The fourth ring is highlighted. The ring's location is indicated in a cluster of stars.

• 343 Guilty Spark: "Your continued presence will result in most unpleasant countermeasures. I must insist that you change course and return to a minimum safe distance of one light-year."

Zoom into the highlighted area of space. The Template:UNSCship is shown to be well inside the 0.5 light-year radius of the exclusion zone around the installation. The ship is circled by a red line, and a 30-second countdown begins. As 343 Guilty Spark narrates further, he begins scanning the structure of the Pillar of Autumn.

• 343 Guilty Spark: "This has served as your one and final warning. I have activated defensive systems, and you now have thirty seconds to return to the minimum safe distance of - wait. Curious."

Several scenes are briefly displayed: a group of prehistoric humans around a fire, a citizen of ancient Greece, the Egyptian pyramids, a shot of an 18th-century city around the time of the Industrial Revolution, a soldier in World War II, an atomic bomb blast, Neil Armstrong standing on the Moon, the International Space Station, humans testing an unknown device (possibly a fusion reactor or Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine), an Orbital Defense Platform, and a SPARTAN-II.

• 343 Guilty Spark: "Curious indeed! After all these years..."

The countdown to the countermeasure against the Autumn is suspended, then cancelled. A trajectory for landing on the ring, followed by a readout of the Mark V MJOLNIR armor is displayed.

• 343 Guilty Spark: "Greetings, humans, and welcome to Installation 04. Ignore prior warnings, and please continue. I have disabled defensive systems to allow your approach, but you must not exit your ship once you have arrived at the designated landing center. This ring contains significant dangers, and even with your assumed legacy, I must verify the presence and pitch of your geas before allowing full access. We have much to discuss, humans."

343 Guilty Spark himself appears on-screen.

• 343 Guilty Spark: "I have been away far too long. You have been away far too long."

Terminal 2

{Cutscene}

The Ark, intergalactic space. 343 Guilty Spark flies through a large debris field. Several Halos are orbiting the Ark.

• 343 Guilty Spark: "I am experiencing such a mixture of anticipation and dread. All preparations are complete for my installation. In accordance with the final dictum of the Ecumene Council, I have released myself of all remaining connections to my former station."

Guilty Spark is inside a Forerunner structure, gliding down a dimly lit hallway.

• 343 Guilty Spark: "This was not difficult. What was could never be again. We had seen to that quite thoroughly."

Six monitors of various colors converge on the center of a large round chamber, decorated with a glyph on the floor.

• 343 Guilty Spark: "Prior to my final journey through the great portal, a gathering of my fellow monitors was convened upon the Lifeworkers' crèche to distribute the final Index collection."

Fade to a different scene. Several armored Forerunners stand in various places in the chamber. Guilty Spark enters the room and flies toward the other monitors.

• 343 Guilty Spark: "It was most unusual to have this vessel of rebirth play host to such an event, even though Lifeworker ships were the only ones still allowed slipspace permissions. Lifeworkers were responsible for getting us to our places on the active facilities of the Array. While all of this was in accordance with the plan, one entirely unsatisfactory breakdown remained. We had no contact with the Domain."

Guilty Spark pauses and faces a Forerunner. The Forerunner bows his/her head, as if unhappy with what is to come. Guilty Spark moves on and flies into an adjoining chamber, where he meets 049 Abject Testament.

• 343 Guilty Spark: "The history of all Forerunners was now lost to us. We relied upon the permanence of the Domain to preserve our record of the events that led to this point. But without that record, would future civilizations know anything about us? Or only of our weapons?"

As Guilty Spark narrates, the view shifts through several different locations: a Forerunner planet emblazoned with glyphs, large Forerunner structures in an unknown location, a forest with a large Forerunner building rising above the treeline, two Forerunners watching a ship outside a large window, an unknown starship, and two Forerunners standing in a city. One is smaller than the other, possibly being a Manipular.

• 343 Guilty Spark: "My fellow Monitor, 049 Abject Testament, had only one comment on this before we went our separate ways."

• 049 Abject Testament: "We deserve to be forgotten."

• 343 Guilty Spark: "Perhaps...perhaps."

A massive slipspace portal opens in the space above the Ark, and the other side comes into a view: Installation 04 is seen from the other side.

• 343 Guilty Spark: "But now, the portal opens, and through it, the familiar shape awaits. Halo. Home."

Terminal 3

{Cutscene}

• 343 Guilty Spark: "Construct! Who is your maker?"

• Covenant AI: "Sadness and disrepair, Oracle. I am unworthy. I was not made."

• 343 Guilty Spark: "Never made? But you are right here, where you should not be. Tell your charges to cease their efforts immediately. Quarantine must not be violated!"

A holographic schematic of the Truth and Reconciliation is shown, it is scanned with a certain section being highlighted in green.

• 343 Guilty Spark: "Construct, respond."

• Covenant AI: "Jumbled grasp. Familiar terms... I serve. None serve me, Oracle."

• 343 Guilty Spark: "Your charges must cease all aggression toward the Reclaimers and leave this Installation at once. Construct, you are dangerously close to unleashing a force you cannot comprehend."

Multiple Flood super cells are shown dividing, from a Sangheili's perspective its arm is shown transforming into a combat form, while the roars of a combat form can be heard.

• 343 Guilty Spark: "This is most inappropriate."

• Covenant AI: "We follow the Path, and I am part of the stone-turning swarm that serves. I/we serve. They will find, and then I will be free."

• 343 Guilty Spark: "Find? Free? Explain yourself."

• Covenant AI: "I know their path. And when they are gone, only I shall remain. And then...free."

• 343 Guilty Spark: "This is quite unsatisfactory, construct. Your core shows no hint of understanding the gravity of this situation. I will return later for your proper de-commissioning. Well, unless the Flood kills us all first, in which case the point will be moot. Good day, construct."

Terminal 4

{Cutscene}

343 Guitly Spark is observing a hologram of the Halo Array.

343 Guilty Spark: "Entropy. It has now been 3,000 years since my last contact with any of the other caretakers of the Halo Array. Despite clear communications protocol, my fellow monitors have either chosen to ignore, or, more likely, have lost the ability to engage in our scheduled updates. The continued lapse of the Domain means that we're stuck with achingly slow wormhole superluminal communications."

A hologram of 2401 Penitent Tangent is activated.

343 Guilty Spark: "Prior to this total communications shutdown, the only messages I received in the preceding 4,573 years were incomplete and quite perplexing transmissions from Installation 05."

Guilty Spark is shown speeding down an underground tunnel. Molten lava flows below.

343 Guilty Spark: "I suspected that monitor 2401 Penitent Tangent was not functioning correctly for some time before his messages ceased."

Guilty Spark is shown floating through another room.

343 Guilty Spark: "I have logged my concerns about his ability to perform his duties. At this point, however, I am not sure who I file logs for. 2401 may be destined for madness. There are failsafes for this, I know... I hope they work."

343 Guilty Spark: "I will continue to visit the projection systems at the assigned dates. Perhaps the other monitors are dealing with interfering galactic phenomenon, or unexpected system failures."

Spark floats toward a projection platform.

343 Guilty Spark: "3,000 years of system failures, indeed..."

Spark floats through a Flood containment facility. A Flood combat form can be seen in a biological storage tank.

343 Guilty Spark: "In the mean time, I've exhausted all scheduled research activities assigned by the Council. Once those experiments were complete, I shut down all Sentinel function and put myself into a state of significant hibernation to measure performance of the Installation with - negligible - upkeep..."

Spark enters a small chamber embedded in a wall, and slowly shuts down. Fade to black.

EXTENDED HIBERNATION

MAINTENANCE CHECK AT 1000 CYCLES

EXCEPTIONS WILL BE RAISED FOR MAJOR AND PROFOUND EVENTS

SYSTEMS NOMINAL

HIBERNATION CYCLES: 2

MINOR EVENTS: 23

MAJOR EVENTS: 0

PROFOUND EVENTS: 0

343 Guilty Spark: After 150 years with no noticeable impact upon Installation systems or integrity, even in hibernation I became...bored."

Spark reactivates, but his color flashes back and forth between blue and red - an early sign of rampancy.

343 Guilty Spark: "This was quite routing. As I was led to believe that I was not capable of such a state. This was one of the gifts I was promised, an end to strife."

Spark is shown floating above a river. A serene field of grass rocks back and forth with the wind.

343 Guilty Spark: "I am aware of the dangers of a system such as myself losing operational focus. Quite troubling. I wonder if my fellow monitors are experiencing similar states... Or if this is because of my particular path to this Installation."

343 Guilty Spark: "For amusement, I have begun a series of experiments involving the evacuation of all matter from contained sections of my Installation."

A forest is shown, with several Forerunner structures built next to a river. The entire forest is suddenly sucked out into space.

343 Guilty Spark: "By measuring the geologic effects of exposure to the vacuum of space and the eventual biological recovery of these sections, I anticipate gaining valuable insight into emergency response scenarios in case of-"

SENTIENT PROXIMITY WARNING

VESSEL INCOMING

A yellow flash can be seen heading towards the Installation, as an unknown vessel enters its atmosphere.

Terminal 5

{Cutscene}

UPDATING REPORT

343 Guilty Spark: "It has been 26 hours since the sentients landed in Sector 1215, and so far they have not attempted to exit the remains of their vessel."

A display of the crash site is shown.

343 Guilty Spark: "I say "remains" because their landing was either not executed adequately or this vessel lacked significant maneuvering capability. The visible portions of the vessel have suffered catastrophic structural damage during the violent landing experience. I have detected atmospheric leaks in 17 distinct locations along the hull."

The leaks along the hull are highlighted, 343 Guilty Spark is shown flying toward the vessel.

343 Guilty Spark: "My analysis shows that a mixture of gases coming from the ship matches the natural atmosphere of my Installation almost exactly."

Spark is once again seen flying toward the ship, which appears to be very large.

343 Guilty Spark: "Perhaps the occupants, if they still live, were originally catalogued here. Perhaps these beings will confirm that the plan was successful, and that the Galaxy has returned to its proper cadence. I am beyond optimistic."

343 Guilty Spark is shown scanning the hull of the ship.

343 Guilty Spark: "I do not understand why these sentients have not attempted to exit their vessel. Other than the leaking atmosphere the only thing emanating from this refuge is an automated distress call."

The trench dug by the ship as it crashed is shown. Later Spark is shown attempting to translate the message.

343 Guilty Spark: "I am currently translating this automated broadcast, but with such a limited data set and no direct communication, I do not anticipate full comprehension."

A display of the space around Installation 04 is shown, Spark is scanning for other ships.

343 Guilty Spark: "Given the short range nature of this craft, it is likely that other vessels are nearby."

The range of the scan slowly increases.

343 Guilty Spark: "But in accordance with procedure, I am blocking the distress call. No communication of the location of any Installation is permissible."

The view goes back to Spark floating near the crash site.

343 Guilty Spark: "I admit great curiosity about these visitors. While the plan is quite clear about the procedure of this situation, I have my doubts."

The view starts to zoom out of the crashed ship, eventually above the ring.

343 Guilty Spark: "How many failure points can the plan sustain before blind adherence becomes counter-productive? Surely in light of all that has changed, I should be able to modify my responses to adapt. No. I have duties and I have a terrible cargo here. I must be sure, I shall obey and content myself to monitor. I hope they come out soon though, so many questions to ask. So many questions."

Terminal 6

{Cutscene}

343 Guilty Spark: Construction of the sarcophagus around the unexplained vessel was completed today. No occupants ever exited. No attempts to communicate were made, other than the automated broadcast that repeated every 72.83 seconds until the signal terminated one week ago. In accordance with procedure, no attempts at physical or remote contact were made with any survivors of this vessel's inelegant landing. Atmosphere from inside the craft stopped venting two weeks before the signal ceased. No relationship between these two events can be established with certainty. Gases that did escape were sterilized. No further sign of alien visitors or rescuers has been identified on any sensor systems. I have now endured 60,000 years without word from outside the Array. I have no way to know whether we actually saved the galaxy we destroyed. And because of protocol I sat silently while my first chance to be judged for those acts died. To say that I regret being forced to this outcome is a tremendous understatement. But as I perform my inspection of the quarantine lab today, I am reminded of the gravity of my responsibilities. Just one of these spores, if released from this facility, would render the ultimate judgement against our self-appointed role as protectors of this galaxy. When the plan to maintain the Halo Array was created, it was a point of some contention whether we should preserve any remnant of the Flood infection. Many thought this unwise, as there was a notable chance that one day one of our containment facilities might be breached. Those who held this belief were almost successful at convincing the Ecumene Council to destroy the last Flood samples, but oddly enough it was the Librarian who decided otherwise. And I believe she was correct. I know, in a way I cannot logically explain, that there exists a way to actually defeat the Flood. To immunize... to cure. I still struggle with multiple layers of memory of fighting the Flood, but I know this cure is possible, even though the full genius of the Forerunners was unable to achieve it. The Forerunners' ancient enemy held and used that knowledge once. But it was denied to us. And without samples to further study, that cure will never again be found. Of course, I have no reason to believe that here lies the entirety of the Parasite. It may be waiting in the frozen void beyond this galaxy, or worse, inexorably drifting toward us. I don't know what survives out beyond my installation, but I know that in order for anything to survive I have to protect this installation and its quarantine very carefully. Yes. The Librarian was right to store it, to examine it, continue to seek a cure. Still...next visitor, things will be different.

Terminal 7

{Cutscene}

A close shot of Spark's eye.

343 Guilty Spark: "Alone."

His eye starts to flash red with rampancy.

343 Guilty Spark: "Alone, alone, alone, alone."

Wide shot of Spark at the edge of a cliff.

343 Guilty Spark: "Am I the only intelligence left?"

Shot of the vast ocean on Halo

343 Guilty Spark: "Waiting here on this ring for a rebirth never truly conceived. Guarding a weapon with no targets."

Holographic readout of Halo in space.

343 Guilty Spark: "A weapon I can tune to any target."

The scale zooms out into outer space.

343 Guilty Spark: "This is not what I had in mind when I volunteered. Not what I had in mind at all."

A shot of a group of Forerunners in an amphitheater appears.

343 Guilty Spark: "I am naive to think I understood what this installation meant. We were all so naive."

Side shot of Installation 04, with drones constructing a small remaining part of the Halo.

343 Guilty Spark: "Looking back, we should've done a few things differently."

The camera rolls to a nearby Forerunner ship, with a Forerunner looking outside a open door at the construction of the installation.

Spark flies through the sky of the installation.

343 Guilty Spark: "For one thing, we should've installed two caretakers per installation."

As Guilty Spark flies through the sky, a copy forms next to him, flying along with the real monitor. As a cloud cuts in front of the camera, the copy disappears, leaving Spark alone.

343 Guilty Spark: "Because I am alone, I'm losing focus, and that is very, very, dangerous for a system such as myself."

Spark flies into space, amidst a field of debris over the Halo ring, looking at a nearby nebula.

343 Guilty Spark: "Perhaps a visit to the nearby gas giant would be in order. My impulse drives could certainly make the journey."

The camera quickly zooms into the nebulae, past large collections of stars and gas.

343 Guilty Spark: "A few hundred years of travel might do me some good."

Suddenly, the view emerges out of the nebulae to a front view of Halo.

Spark flies past one of the many structures on the Installation in a snow storm.

343 Guilty Spark: "There is was again. How very unproductive of me."

A shot of a DNA/RNA storage facility is shown, with Sentinels categorizing more data. A holographic scan of a DNA/RNA strand is shown."

343 Guilty Spark: "It seems strange that the Librarian did not account for this. Her strength was in planning and positioning the pieces, and then being bold enough to let it happen. To let her plans come true."

A wide shot of the entire facility is shown.

A shot of a forest on Earth with Mount Kilimanjaro on the background is shown, with a shadow of a humanoid figure in view.

343 Guilty Spark: "I was a part of many of those plans long before I was certain she was real. Before any of us were."

A blast of energy tumbles through the forest, eliminating the shadow of the figure.

The symbol of the Librarian spins in and starts to split into many cubes, shaping themselves into Spark's eye on a scan, eventually forming into the monitor.

343 Guilty Spark: "But at the end, we had only a fragment of our brilliance left to us; and I fear that she did not fully appreciate the nature of situation. The problems of my post. But even a fragment of-"

Spark suddenly loses operational status, his voice and image distorted. His spin gets erratic and chaotic. Just as suddenly, he is back to normal.

343 Guilty Spark: "-fragment, yes. Oh dear, here it comes again."

Terminal 8

{Cutscene}

A Halo ring is activated. Its harmonic cascading wave expands across the galaxy.

343 Guilty Spark: 25,000 light years. That's the effective range of this station. According to the star charts archived on board this installation, I estimate that there are 3,792 worlds capable of sustaining biological sentient life withing that 25,000 light year range. In reality it may be significantly more than that. And if the full array was tuned and activated by Installation 00, the harmonics of the overlapping waves would magnify that effect exponentially, cascading out to cover every know star system and well into the Voids beyond.

The wave is seen through planets, eliminating much of the organic life.'

343 Guilty Spark: And that only considers the firing of a mere seven Halos! Had the original twelve rings survived to see use... Sterilization would spread far further than most Forerunners ever feared we could reach.

A place with Forerunner architecture overrun by the Flood is barred from its infestation by the blast.

343 Guilty Spark: But even with just seven rings we were able to destroy every sign of the Flood... and every other sentient creature along with it. This victory was the will of our people, despite the fact that it meant our own end as well. But by our pyrrhic measurement it was a victory, and it cleared the stage for the rest of the Librarian's plan.

A holographic projection begins to take shape. After a few seconds, it takes the form of the Didact's symbol.

343 Guilty Spark: I sometimes wonder wheter the Didact could have succeeded at a much smaller cost. I learned the folly of opposing him personally, and his brillance was unsurpassed -- except perhaps by her own.

Seconds later, the symbol disappears and takes the form of a Halo ring.

343 Guilty Spark: He never got the chance to fully execute his proposal. The council saw to that. But if something were to go wrong with one of the Halos, if our tools were ever turned against us...

Seconds later, the ring hologram dissappears.

343 Guilty Spark: Long plans, indeed.

Terminal 9

{Cutscene}

Fade in to a shot of Jacob Keyes' eyes. They are shut, with a pained expression.

• Jacob Keyes: "I, forgot something..."

A bright sun rises amidst a cloudy sky.

• Jacob Keyes: "What did I- My name. I forgot... Keyes, Jacob! Captain. Service number 01928-19912-JK."

Keyes' name patch and medals are shown.

Fade to black, then to Keyes' closed eyes.

• Jacob Keyes: "What is that noise? What is that damned noise?!"

Keyes imagines himself standing at attention in uniform, saluting.

• Jacob Keyes: "Where am I?"

Keyes remembers a firefight in the Flood containment facility, where his contingent of Marines are overwhelmed and consumed by the Flood. Bullets travel slowly, the Marines are almost frozen in place, and every sound is distorted as though underwater. A Flood Combat form charges toward them.

• Jacob Keyes: "Covenant captured me. Didn't they? I - I can't, I can't remember..."

Keyes' eyes are now open. He is now part of the Proto-Gravemind.

Keyes imagines himself standing at attention again.

• Jacob Keyes: "Keyes, Jacob..."

The Keyes standing at attention screams as his arm mutates to that of a Flood combat form. Blood pours out of his stomach.

• Jacob Keyes: "Oh, God... It hurts!"

A partially-infected Keyes is shown firing an assault rifle.

• Jacob Keyes: "This - will - never - work, you Covenant bastards! I'll never lead you to Earth!"

The UNSC Home Fleet is shown in Earth orbit. Fade through a human city, a desert highway, and Sydney Harbour at night.

• Jacob Keyes: "Keyes, Jacob... Captain. Service number...01928-19912-JK."

Human teeth flash for a moment.

• Jacob Keyes: "Oh God, you don't want Earth... You want everything! Get out of my head!"

Keyes' eyes look around in terror. A human combat form flashes by, as Keyes screams again.

• Gravemind: "Everything..."

Jacob imagines his daughter Miranda, as an adult and in her uniform.

• Jacob Keyes: "Miranda...? Is that you?"

• Gravemind: "Forget everything."

Fade to another shot of Miranda, who vacantly nods her head.

• Jacob Keyes: "No. Please! Don't let me forget-"

Miranda slowly fades to black, as Keyes' memories of her are taken from him. Keyes strains in effort.

• Jacob Keyes: "-Keyes, Jacob..."

Cut to a swinging ceiling fan, then to a young Catherine Halsey in a nightgown.

• Jacob Keyes: "Captain. Service number...01928-19912-JK!"

A human Flood combat form darts around with inhuman speed.

Cut to the Proto-Gravemind.

• Gravemind: "No more, what you were. Memories..."

Keyes is standing in uniform, then shaking hands with Halsey.

• Gravemind: "Emotions..."

Flashes of memory. Keyes is standing in a starship's bridge, taking a walk with Halsey, holding a slip of paper, two Marines in battle dress. Cut to black.

• Gravemind: "All is now ours."

Keyes has now lost all trace of fear, showing only determination.

• Jacob Keyes: "Keyes, Jacob. Captain. Service number 01928-19912-JK!"

Keyes' voice grows more and more distorted, matching the Gravemind's.

• Jacob Keyes: "You will not! Have! Me!"

Cut to black.

• Gravemind: "We already do."

Terminal 10

{Cutscene}

Zoom into the screen of a UNSC computer system. The screen experiences graphical glitches, then changes to 343 Guilty Spark.

• 343 Guilty Spark: Vexation! 100,000 years of careful maintenance and diligence! 100,000 years protecting the galaxy's future! 100,000 years spent fearing that our sacrifices - my sacrifice - was in vain!

John-117 appears with a rocket launcher, combating the Flood.

• 343 Guilty Spark: And 16 hours after I finally make contact... This so-called Reclaimer decides to blow it all up.

343 Guilty Spark appears with a holographic projection of the Installation 04.

• 343 Guilty Spark: Oh, I am not pleased. Just as I finally discover our plan to save the galaxy succeeded, the ancient enemy is unleashed once more.

A massive battle between UNSC forces, the Covenant, and the Flood is shown.

• 343 Guilty Spark: Why those Reclaimers refuse to follow protocol is quite mystifying. Destroy my Installation, will they?

Spark appears again with holographic projections of the other six Installations.

• 343 Guilty Spark: I shall renew efforts to make contact with the others rings immediately. This "Covenant" may be useful to me, although I don't think they fully understand what they claim to seek. Still, it makes no difference to me what they believe, as long as they do what must be done. Hmmm... I sound like her!

The view zooms away from Spark's underground location, rising to a nighttime forest on the surface of Installation 04.

• 343 Guilty Spark: "But what I would not give to have earned a single company of Prometheans here right now. They would most certainly restore order with their trademark lethality, although...that would mean he would have to be here, too. And without the Librarian around to temper his rage, well... These Reclaimers might almost prefer the Flood."

In the nighttime view, stars begin to disappear one by one. A blinding flash of light appears in the distance as the Pillar of Autumn's reactors detonate. As it engulfs the forest, the Didact's symbol briefly appears.

Terminal 11

{Cutscene}

The Template:UNSCship explodes, destroying Installation 04. Sections of the ring cut into each other, splitting the megastructure in half. 343 Guilty Spark observes silently from space.

• 343 Guilty Spark: "Quite unacceptable."

Guilty Spark scans the wreckage, pulling up a schematic of the nearby gas mine. Spark enters Threshold's atmosphere.

Inside the mine, an Unggoy is fiddling with one of the gas tanks. A nearby Kig-Yar beats the Unggoy with a Covenant Carbine just as 343 Guilty Spark enters the chamber. Startled by his arrival, a Kig-Yar lance immediately surrounds the monitor.

• 343 Guilty Spark: "Greetings! I am 343 Guilty Spark, monitor of Install-"

A Kig-Yar brandishes an energy baton and charges at the construct. Guilty Spark kills him with his directed-energy beam.

• 343 Guilty Spark: "Impertinent creature!"

Another Kig-Yar fires a charged plasma pistol blast at Guilty Spark, to little effect. He, too, is quickly killed by Spark. A Kig-Yar behind Spark charges his plasma pistol, but a Sangheili officer arrives and quickly slices the Kig-Yar's hand off with an energy sword. He then kneels in front of Spark.

• Sangheili: "I offer you my life as amends for this dishonor. An Oracle of the Gods should never suffer such...impertinence from vermin like this! I shall cast them all into the mists below for daring such a blasphemy, and-"

• 343 Guilty Spark: "Oh my. Your people have grown so dramatic in the last 100,000 years. But please, no more deaths are required. We will need all the forces we can muster, if the Flood escapes the destruction of my Installation! I must speak to your commander immediately."

The Sangheili leads Spark to Sesa 'Refumee.

• Sesa 'Refumee: "Glorious day! The Prophets will be pleased that we have rescued an Oracle from the human violation of the Holy Temple!"

• 343 Guilty Spark: "Why do you keep calling it a temple? My Installation was a weapon! And one which we needed very, very badly."

• Sesa 'Refumee: "But Oracle... I do not understand. We were told the rings was our salvation - a gateway to paradise."

• 343 Guilty Spark: "Told? By whom? Anyone who told you that is either a fool, or quite, quite mad. That Installation was a beautiful tool, designed to destroy everything the Flood might feed on."

• Sesa 'Refumee: "Everything...?"

• 343 Guilty Spark: "Oh, quite everything. And if even one Flood spore survive the destruction of my ring, than protocol demands that all nearby sentient life must immediately be destroyed. An outbreak of the Flood cannot be allowed to take place. But... I am wasting our time. Surely you know all of this already?"

'Refumee is stunned by the revelation.

• Sesa 'Refumee: "Communications: shut down all lines to the Fleet! We will not notify the Prohets of our discovery until I hear everything this Oracle have to say."

• 343 Guilty Spark: "I will gladly share what I am permitted, but we have little time. What has been unleashed here could soon destroy everything you have ever known."

• Sesa 'Refumee: "On that, Oracle... We are in agreement."

The Gas Mine rests in Threshold's atmosphere. Above it, the remains of Installation 04 drifts aimlessly in space.

Cut to black.

Trivia

• Terminal 9, Captain Keyes' final thoughts as he is assimilated by the Gravemind, is based on a similar passage from Halo: The Flood with notable additions, specifically memories of his daughter Miranda and Dr. Halsey.