Henry Glassman

This article is about the doctor onboard UNSC Infinity. For the Spartan Ops mission, see S1/Expendable/Glassman.

"If you take engines built by aliens a hundred thousand years ago, and hire a war criminal to bolt them onto the ship, you can't expect predictable behavior!"

— Glassman commenting on a sudden power loss aboard the UNSC Infinity.

Dr. Henry Glassman (Civilian Consultant 652562) is a civilian human scientist contracted by the UNSC Navy. He serves aboard UNSC Infinity as her chief engineer.^[1]

Biography

Early life and career

Henry Glassman was born February 1, 2522 on New Carthage. He gained ONI's attention early on with his work in astrophysics and quantum theory. Several of his theories aided the UNSC's refinement of translight travel and led to his recruitment into ONI's Beta-5 Division's experimental research group.^[2]

Work on the Infinity

Glassman was assigned in 2553 to the prototype ship Infinity. He had difficulty getting along with Dr. Catherine Halsey, who was installing the Forerunner engines on the ship.^[3] As well, Glassman worked with the Huragok who were assigned to working on and repairing the ship. In a meeting with Admirals Terrence Hood and Margaret Parangosky, Glassman was asked if the Infinity could be sent to Sanghelios to aid the Arbiter, Thel 'Vadam, in the Sangheili civil war, which he was losing. Glassman approved the Infinity ready to be 'put through her paces'.^[4] The Infinity was successful in defending Vadam keep from the Servants of the Abiding Truth.

In February of 2558, the Spartans of Fireteam Crimson recovered a Forerunner artifact from meddling Covenant archaeologists and brought it aboard Infinity. Just moments after unloading, the object began draining power from the ship, causing it to drift towards Requiem's entry corridor. Commander Sarah Palmer was able to clamp herself to the deck and temporarily deactivate the artifact by kicking it, allowing further examination by Infinity Science. Glassman, by physical interaction, unintentionally reactivated the object and subsequently "pulled" the doctor in, almost taking Captain Lasky in the process. ^[5]

Captured

Dr. Glassman escapes with Gabriel Thorne.

The artifact translocated him deep within a Covenant-held site on Requiem where he was beaten and interrogated by Sangheili soldiers. Jul 'Mdama, a shipmaster and leader in the opposing Covenant faction, thought of him as a "gift" in order to activate further Forerunner systems in the planet. ^[6] Glassman then began to work on an artifact in the Sangheili's hands, known to them as the "Shrine", under the careful watch of Gek 'Lhar. However, he could not do much due to the lack of proper equipment and communication; he was unable to speak the Sangheili tongue and most Sangheili did not speak English, and those who did were not too keen on using it.^[7] Glassman eventually activated their Shrine, which prompted all other Sangheili, including Gek, within the vicinity to bow before it.^[8] Glassman took the opportunity to escape, but was stopped by two Sangheili that also retained the Spartan Gabriel Thorne. Thorne killed his captors with a Storm Rifle, and when Gek remotely activated Glassman's plasma-charge-rigged-vest, Thorne quickly disposed of it and the two fled.^[9]

As Glassman and Thorne continued their escape, Glassman grew tired and needed to rest. He asked why they were walking and why Thorne didn't contact Infinity. Thorne informed him his comm gear wasn't working. He asked Thorne how much further to where they were going and Thorne answered that they were headed for Galileo Base, a few kilometers away. Thorne soon realized there was a cloaked Sangheili in the area and informed Dr. Glassman to get to safety. Before he could escape they were attacked by Gek 'Lhar. Glassman attempted to help Thorne fight him but was easily thrown aside. When Thorne was stunned, Glassman attempted to steal Gek's energy sword, but the Sangheili stepped on his arm, breaking it. Just before Gek could kill them both, the Elite was killed by the arriving Fireteam Majestic. They proceeded to take devices off of Gek, DeMarco got his energy sword, Thorne took his active camouflage and Madsen found a map of Requiem.^[10] Later, Fireteam Crimson assisted Dr. Glassman in decoding the map Madsen recovered from Gek. Glassman aided Fireteam Crimson by informing them how to activate nearby Forerunner defenses, including several turrets and AA guns.^[11]

Return to Infinity

Soon after his rescue Glassman was returned to the Infinity via Pelican.^[12] There, he told Lasky how to get the ship free of the planet's anchoring hold. The artifact in their hangar was connected to two other identical ones on Requiem's surface, and deactivating those would free the ship. Crimson and Majestic followed his instructions, and this allowed them to escape the shield world before it was pulled into its sun. Later he analyzed the half of the Janus Key recovered from Catherine Halsey, concluding that the artifact was inert and incomplete.^[13]

Stranded in space

Glassman with Palmer, analyzing 'Mdama's decoy artifact.

Five months after the Requiem Campaign, Glassman continued his inspection of the Janus Key. On July 18, he was visited by Commander Palmer as Infinity jumped to a potential site suitable for establishing UNSC research base Galileo II. As they discussed about the artifacts found on Requiem, Infinity suddenly reappeared in an uncharted system. When the ship jumped to slipspace again, it only reappeared a quarter of a kilometer of her last position. Captain Lasky ordered him and Palmer to go to Infinity's engine room. There Glassman discovered the ship's slipspace drive was overriding coordinates and defaulting back to ones in their local position, stranding the ship in a "Slipspace Cul-de-sac". Roland then informed them of an unusual energy reading coming from a nearby planet—Aktis IV. Glassman and Lasky theorized that it could be the source of the problem. Palmer led Fireteam Majestic to the planet's surface to investigate the issue.^[14]

After the Spartans discovered a Forerunner structure, Glassman traveled to the surface of the planet to meet with Fireteam Majestic and Palmer to examine the structure. Glassman theorized that the structure is part of a translocation grid, and he soon discovered a Forerunner artifact. Glassman realized that the artifact had indentations the shape of the halves of the Janus Key and believed that the Key belonged in the artifact. Unbeknownst to the UNSC, 'Mdama and Halsey were monitoring Glassman and had created the decoy artifact in an attempt to steal the UNSC's half of the Janus Key. Glassman requested to have lab equipment brought to the Forerunner site, along with the Janus Key half, for further analyzing. However, as a D79-TC Pelican delivered the equipment and Key to the planet's surface, the dropship and its Broadsword escort were shot down by Sali 'Nyon's forces, a rogue splinter group of Jul 'Mdama's Covenant.^[15]

Production notes

He is voiced by Jeff Doba.
During production of the first five episodes of Spartan Ops, franchise writer and Spartan Ops author Brian Reed originally intended to kill off Glassman at the end of episode 2. However, as he continued writing subsequent episodes, Glassman "argued his way back into existence" and instead survived his encounter with the artifact.^[16]