Monitor Report: Age of Doubt
Fade in on 343 Guilty Spark.
- 343 Guilty Spark: "I'm starting to fear that you're not very smart."
Close-up of Sesa 'Refumee.
- Sesa 'Refumee: "...Mind your tongue, Oracle!"
Cut back to Guilty Spark.
- 343 Guilty Spark: "Oh. I mean no offense. I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about your species. How long have these Prophets been anointing Arbiters?"
- Sesa 'Refumee: "Since the fall of Fal 'Chavamee. The first disgraced Arbiter. Roughly four hundred years ago."
He starts walking down the hallway. Guilty Spark follows.
- 343 Guilty Spark: "Incredible! And in all this time it never occurred to you how convenient it was that your Prophets were able to find a powerful capable leader among your people..."
'Refumee stops at another terminal. Guilty Spark hovers nearby.
- 343 Guilty Spark: "...who happened to suddenly commit a terrible blasphemy every time the power structure of your Covenant was threatened?"
'Refumee stares down at the terminal.
- Sesa 'Refumee: "I do not understand."
- 343 Guilty Spark: "Hmmm. You do little to dissuade my fears."
'Refumee turns back to Guilty Spark.
- Sesa 'Refumee: "Then teach me."
Guilty Spark brings up a series of holographic images of previous Arbiters (including Ripa 'Moramee and Fal 'Chavamee).
- 343 Guilty Spark: "Looking back at the record of the Arbiters you've discussed, was it not surprising to anyone that those chosen to become Arbiter were more than simple warriors?"
- Sesa 'Refumee: "How so?"
- 343 Guilty Spark: "Each of them had significant political influence among your people."
Scene circles around Guilty Spark and the holographic images surrounding him.
- 343 Guilty Spark: "In some cases, that influence was already being used to question the decisions of your Hierarchs."
Scene stops and zooms in on a holographic image of a Hierarch. Scene transitions to High Charity where the Hierarch sits in his gravity throne, watching.
Pan to the right, revealing a second Hierarch.
- 343 Guilty Spark: (voiceover) "In fact, that very questioning often gave rise to the charges of heresy that so neatly removed the challenger from the Hierarchs' concern."
Cut to a distant shot of the two Hierarchs, who are waiting alongside a third Hierarch. Two Elites drag a condemned Sangheili into their chamber and throw him to the floor.
- Sesa 'Refumee: (voiceover) "And once they were branded Arbiter..."
- 343 Guilty Spark: (voiceover) "They promptly and quite cheerfully ran to meet their deaths."
Fade to black.
Fade in on a pair of Sangheili escorting a floating casket through the Mausoleum of the Arbiter. Inside the casket is the body of the condemned Sangheili from earlier, now fully dressed in the armor of the Arbiter. A single Hierarch watches as one of the Elites taps a control on the casket, which floats up to join the dozens of other caskets aligning the Mausoleum walls.
- Sesa 'Refumee: (voiceover) "All our lives we looked down at the Path. Put our feet where the Prophets tell us. All our lives spent convincing ourselves of the truth of our Covenant..."
Cut back to the gas mine.
'Refumee slams his fist down on the terminal. He stares down in despair.
- Sesa 'Refumee: "Could all of it truly have been wasted?"
- 343 Guilty Spark: "Let's hope not all of it. For we have a great deal of work to do."
Close-up of a side view of Guilty Spark.
- 343 Guilty Spark: "The Flood is still out there. So I require a cooperative Reclaimer to enact proper containment procedures."
Cut to a close-up of Guilty Spark and 'Refumee.
- 343 Guilty Spark: "But your Covenant keep trying to kill all the Reclaimers I can find. All this bickering is quite a deadly waste of time. Right now, the most important question we can ask is this: Who could break this hold the Prophets have over you?"
Scene pans down to the lower levels of the mine. A single Flood Infection Form crawls along the floor.
Fade to black.