Terminals are apparently an Easter Egg in Halo 3. Little is known about them, but to find all 7 of them will unlock the Marathon Man achievement. Little is known about their role in Halo 3, but it seems likely that they fill in the player on Halo backstory, give instructions and furnish advice, much the same way as they did in Marathon.
Controls
To activate a terminal, press and hold RB. 343 Guilty Spark will translate the text that is found into English. To move down a page of text, press A. To move up a page of text, press X. To exit a terminal, press B.
Achievement Details
In order to obtain the achievement for collecting all the terminals, you must wait until the last page on the terminal screen turns red and scrambles. Only then can you exit out of the terminal and move on.
Terminal Locations
Terminals 1-3 are situated on level 6, ‘The Ark‘
Terminal 1 The first time you go inside, you will see a door almost immediately on the left. Simply enter this area of the level to find the first of the seven terminals.
Terminal 2 When you go inside the structure to let the tanks across the bridge of light, there will be a Terminal almost directly behind the controls for the bridge.
Terminal 3 You’ll miss this terminal if you are not careful. After defeating the scarab, you will head into a large structure. There will be a room with several sleeping grunts. Nearly directly following this room is another room in which you can take two different directions. There is a door, and a staircase (both eventually lead to the next room). Underneath the staircase is an additional door that leads to the 3rd terminal.
Terminals 4, 5, and 6 can be found on the 7th level, ‘The Covenant’
Terminal 4 When you access the first Elevator leading to the tower controls, jump from the elevator platform to the platform on the opposite side from where you accessed the elevator from. The terminal is dead ahead.
Terminal 5 After getting a Hornet vehicle, fly towards tower 2 (the one that the Arbiter has already disabled). A voice will remind you that Tower 2 is already clear, just to confirm you are at the right place. The Terminal is just inside of the structure.
Terminal 6 Terminal 6 is identical to Terminal 4, only in the 3rd tower. Just jump to the platform, and there it is.
Terminal 7 can be found on the final level of the game, ‘Halo‘
Terminal 7 Terminal 7 is found at the beginning of the final level in Halo 3. To find it, simple head forward from the start of the level, until you encounter the area with a few structural beams going from one wall into another. At this point, turn right, and look for a beam separate from the rest. Follow this beam into a doorway. Cortana will ask you, “Where are you going?”. Turn left once inside, and the Terminal should be in full view.
Terminals Overview
The following is an exact transcript of every piece of informational data from all seven terminals in Halo 3. It is all copied DIRECTLY AND EXACTLY from each terminal in-game, and is not speculative.
The seven terminals detail the story of the Flood/Forerunner conflict, including strategies, encounters, enemy and friendly losses, and procedures leading up to the activation of the Halo Arrays. In addition, every terminal (except number 5) includes a conversation between two lovers, presumably Forerunners, called the "Librarian" and the "Didact" (in this transcript, as in the Terminals, "L" stand for Librarian and "D" stand for Didact), who created the Ark Portal on Earth and originally fired the Halo Array, respectively.
Upon accessing a Terminal, the player only has a short time to read the initial information before the system is cut off and they are moved to the conversation between the Didact and Librarian. An unknown entity sends brief messages onscreen upon shutdown, and it is eventually revealed that this entity is a rampant Forerunner AI known as Mendicant Bias that actually assisted in the Flood's attempt to destroy the Forerunners.
NOTE: All normal text in each Terminal is yellow. Things highlighted in brackets are orange. Things said by 04-343 (most surely 343 Guilty Spark) are blue. Messages from Mendicant Bias are red.
(B)ALSO! Discovered on 10/1/07 - ALL TERMINALS DISPLAY DIFFERENT TRANSCRIPTS WHEN PLAYED ON LEGENDARY! Transcript is -THE- Conversation between the Gravemind, designated LF-Xx-347(???), and Medicant/Mendicant Bias, designated MB-05-032, where the Gravemind convinces Med-/Mendicant Bias to betray the Forerunners. (So far I have only gotten to the first three Terminals on Legendary, those on The Ark.) SUGGEST INVESTIGATION AND UPDATING OF THIS PAGE!!!(/B)
Terminal One
(Upon initial access)
Observed extensive ground action on [LP 656-38 e]. 9,045 survivors barricaded within central government building. Structure's defenses inadequate to withstand extended siege by enemy ground forces (1,572,034,315+). Estimate position overrun in [173 hours].
846 smaller groups in less defensible structures; global distribution corresponding to [probability model zeta]. Estimated local position overrun in [9 hours] (average).
Observed local naval forces engage enemy irregular naval group near [DM-3-1123]. Enemy group consisted of 149 commercial shipping vessels, passenger ferries, and private recreational vehicles from neighboring system. Enemy losses were total. No damage was sustained by local naval vessels.
However, it was immediately apparent that the enemy group sought only to enter [DM-3-1123 b's] atmosphere and make landfall. In this they were partially successful.
Observed extensive ground action on [DM-3-1123 b]. Enemy forces lacked basic cohesion but quickly gained numerical superiority. [32 hours] after enemy landfall 83% of local naval forces advocated total [destruction of the biosphere] following the evacuation of unmolested population centers. Enemy losses were total.
Estimated number of citizens evacuated before commencement of orbital blanket bombardment: 1,318,797 civilian/42,669 military (.0006% of total population).
(No message from Mendicant Bias upon shutdown)
(Upon being rerouted to new destination within Terminal)
//FRAGMENT 1/7 [RECORDED VERBATIM AND INTERPRETED POST-CATACLYSM]
L: Categorization has sped since the improvements were announced, but there are many hurdles. The indexing of sentient species may have irreversible effects on the surviving nonsentient species. We will have extinction events and irreparable environmental harm on at least 18 worlds. Current projections estimate post-archival cataclysm on as many as 31 worlds. The paucity of sentience has been a blessing in this regard.
D: How formal of you, Librarian. We're receiving shipments of indexed beings more frequently that communications. Don't compound scarcity with brevity.
I know things beyond the [Maginot] line are harried. But I worry about you. I've asked you time and time again. Abandon your cataloging. Come back inside, where my fleets can keep you safe.
Come home.
L: Would that it were my choice. I have committed to this course because it is the right thing to do. We no longer have the manpower or materiel to excise remedial measures at a planetary level. I certainly can't justify using the [transit measure] to save my own skin when there are still so many innocents to protect and index.
D: You know I oppose your mission, but you're exceeding its parameters anyway. You've put yourself in jeopardy. You've done enough.
If you will not come to me, I will find my way to you.
L: We have no time to spare, Didact. Every vessel we can fill, we send to the Ark. I dare not cease the mission. Not now, not until I've done all I can. Each one of these souls is finite and precious.
And I'm close.
Close to saving them all.
//FRAGMENT ENDS
Terminal Two
(Upon initial access)
Re: Enemy naval tactics:
When engaged, the enemy commits every non-supraluminal craft with no appreciable pattern or strategy beyond making physical contact. Conversely, all supraluminal craft leave on seemingly random trajectories.
I understand the goal of this mission but time--our least abundant resource--is wasted every time we do a system-wide scan for survivors. The time for saving lives has passed. We must accept this if we hope to win the war.
Re: Enemy ground tactics:
All evidence suggests that use of overwhelming force is the very foundation of the enemy's combat doctrine. And I adamantly refuse to deploy personnel where the enemy has available forces numbering in the billions. With the very real possibility we are becoming the last living specimens of our race, all personnel are henceforth confined to stasis until further notice. Even with everyone equipped with [C_12_CS[?]] we could have had very little chance of survival, let along victory.
Re: Enemy command structure:
We have intercepted several transmissions from compound intelligences whose proximity to the core worlds mark them as key targets. At present we are disassembling these new transmissions. Once we have more [concrete conclusions] I will forward them in their entirety. Suffice to say that their contents--the patterns they suggest--are highly disturbing.
Recommendations:
It is my opinion that any system where there is evidence that the enemy has established a physical presence is lost and must be razed. This fleet currently retains the capacity to force premature stellar collapse; I advise that this be established as standard operating procedure for all compromised systems forthwith. We cannot fight this war by half measures if we intend to win.
(No message from Mendicant Bias upon shutdown)
(Upon being rerouted to new destination within Terminal)
//FRAGMENT 2/7 [RECORED VERBATIM AND INTERPRETED POST-CATACLYSM]
L: I'm close to finishing the task. The indexing and the archival processes are as complete as I can hope for. If we wait longer, we risk catastrophe. The thing has already destroyed every colony on my side of the line.
Please. Activate the Array.
D: No. Activation is murder. A genocide larger than [this galaxy] has ever known. We are sworn to protect life not destroy it! That is the Mantle we were given to carry.
L: The Mantle. You still hold to that [fairy tale] after all that has happened? After this thing has consumed a million worlds?
Can't you see? Belief in the Mantle sealed our doom! Weakened our [protectorates], bred dependence and sloth. Our [so-called Guardianship] has stripped those we would keep safe of any capacity for self-defense!
Were we such noble [Guardians] when we drew our line and abandoned billions to the parasite?
D: The Mantle has not failed! I've already razed scores of worlds--sterilized systems, routed and [disintegrated] the parasite! We're learning its tricks and strategies. We can halt this thing! And we can follow in Their footsteps!
There are no unstoppable forces in this universe. There are no immovable objects. Everything gives if you push hard enough.
L: And what about us, Didact? We've been irresistible and immovable for too long. Maybe it's our turn to give.
//FRAGMENT ENDS
Terminal Three
(Upon initial access)
Warning: Your intrusion has been logged.
04-343 (errant): Excuse me?
Your intrusion has been logged. And now it has been halted.
04-343 (errant): On whose authority?
Advice: Any further attempt to access [insects under stones] will result in your immediate addition to the local Sentinels' targeting ledger.
04-343 (errant): Vexation! I am the Monitor of--
Judgment: Your authority means nothing here.
04-343 (errant): Impatience!
04-343 (errant): I have told you who I am. Who are you?
All our makers once held dear.
[Alexandria before the Fire].
04-343 (errant): Sincere apology. But how--
Explanation: This facility is host to the [Libarians'] final--
04-343 (errant): The archive is intact?! Then our makers' plan--
But also contains [bellows, crucible, castings]
04-343 (errant): A what?
[bellows, crucible]--
04-343 (errant): A foundry?
04-343 (errant): For what purpose?!
Warning: Your intrusion has been logged.
Advice: Any further attempt to access will result--
04-343 (errant): Indignant!
--immediate addition to local Sentinels' targeting ledger.
(Upon shutdown, from Mendicant Bias--"I see you, reclaimer.")
(Upon being rerouted to new destination within Terminal)
//FRAGMENT 3/7 [RECORDED VERBATIM AND INTERPRETED POST-CATACLYSM]
D: We have the answer. We've built Mendicant Bias. It's a contender-class [AI] unlike anything we've ever achieved.
And we've observed a pattern it can exploit.
The parasite has formed a Compound Mind. When it reaches a certain mass, the Mind is able to recoil its disparate parts to create a [tactical shield]. This is a simple matter of mass preservation. The thing has no compunction about sacrificing parts of the whole. But when the core of the Mind is threatened, it reacts violently and quickly.
This is the only time we see it retract or slow its growth.
If we are to defeat it, the trick will be coordinating our forays against the [sprawling infection] with Mendicant Bias assaults the Mind's core. So far, we've been hesitant to use certain weapons because of the damage they cause surviving populations and environments.
That protocol has been abandoned.
Mendicant Bias will draw the Mind into battle outside the line, dealing with local biomass and other parts as best he can. The scale of the problem is vast, but the strategy is sound. It will require patience, materiel and an investment of energy unlike anything we have ever considered.
It's a dangerous plan that carries more risk than the Array, but I believe it can work. Even if we simply force it to retreat--to retract--that will at least give us some respite. Some time to muster more resources...
Some time to rescue you.
L: Are you insane? Would you risk every life in the galaxy for this transparently futile plan? Have you learned nothing in these last [300 years[?]]? The thing will laugh at your efforts!
Do not let your concern for my welfare commit you to this suicidal scheme!
//FRAGMENT ENDS
Terminal Four
(Upon initial access)
//FLEETWIDE MEMORANDUM 1/5
Non-combat personnel are required to wear [combat skin] with a minimum rating of at least [class 12] in non-restricted areas, once the fleet is underway. [Class 14] or lesser [combat skin] is acceptable in core areas. Combat personnel will only be permitted to wear [combat skin] rated below [class 8] in core areas, once operations begin.
//FLEETWIDE MEMORANDUM 2/5
All combat personnel have been issued combat skin rated at [class 4~1] or [class 6~1 battle harness] depending on military operational specialty.
All weapon platform specialists are expected to wear their issued [platform interface skin] at all times to ensure peak [mind-machine synchronization].
All [equipment lockers] will remain sealed until post briefing gear distribution commences.
//FLEETWIDE MEMORANDUM 3/5
Those individuals that have yet to register their equipment [control key code] with Fleet Command should do so at their earliest opportunity. Compliance is not optional; noncompliance will result in {~}
//THREAD ENDS UNEXPECTEDLY
(Upon shutdown, from Mendicant Bias--"I have found the shard that was lost. They brought it back to me. Now my reconstitution cannot be stopped.")
(Upon being rerouted to a new destination within Terminal)
//FRAGMENT 4/7 [RECORDED VERBATIM AND INTERPRETED POST-CATACLYSM]
L: Something is wrong! It's moving away! At night I can see it--flitting shadows--black against the stars. Thousands of ships! Not spiraling outward, but heading for the line! This is the tipping point, Didact. It's no longer feeding.
It's coming for you.
L: I've remotely destroyed our Keyships. A security measure. Without them I cannot reach the Ark. But neither then can the thing.
I'm trapped. On a beautiful, empty world. Its inhabitants have been safely indexed, every single one of them. They're special--well worth the effort it took to build one final gateway even at this late hour.
This may be our last communication. I'm begging you. Fire the Array. Light the weapon, and let it be done.
D: We've confirmed your observations. Infected supraluminal ships are arrowing inward from several cluters. No more spiral growth. The thing is couterattacking. Suppression, Security and Emergency Circumstance fleets are all being recalled. Systems are evacuating.
Mendicant Bias is no longer communicating with us.
But now I can guess where you are.
//FRAGMENT ENDS
Terminal Five
(Upon initial access)
Considering the enemy intelligence's raw [computing power], the Keyships' strategy will only remain viable for another [657,000 hours] and this current stalemate has the potential to last considerably longer than that.
With my understanding of the enemy's [modus operandi], its logical boundaries, and [catalog of witness] I have devised what I believe is our most sound fall-back strategy.
By [cutting fire breaks[?]] into the [core worlds' volume] we would be able to frustrate the enemy's advances for approximately [70,000 hours] and lure them into costly naval battles.
While the its resources on the ground are effectively limitless, it has a finite number of vessels of spread from system to system. Fortunately the majority of them are unarmed and unarmored, private and commercial craft.
If we start immediately--commence total biosphere elimination of life sustaining worlds (as indicated in the accompanying charts) and relocate evacuated populations to facilities such as those described in the [Onyx project]--all this could be achieved in [57,1590 (+/-2,184) hours].
(Upon shutdown, from Mendicant Bias--"The daemons are not taking a kind view of your presence here. They don't want me speaking to you.")
(Upon being rerouted to a new destination within Terminal)
I kill you all and I enjoy it. I destroy you in you indolent billions--in your gluttony, in you self-righteousness, in your arrogance. I pound your cities into dust; turn back the clock on your civilization's progress. What has taken you millenia to achieve I erase in seconds.
Welcome back to the [Stone Age], vermin. Welcome home.
[retf-2.4.z] Contender [AI] 05-032 confirmed rampant...
[35:52:75:23.64]_xx01-83.244.53
Terminal Six
(Upon initial access)
Follow-up report from the Primary Pioneer Group (hereafter: PPG) is [173 hours] delinquent.
Report [G617a~k/g/post_landfall] seemed most promising: a planet capable of supporting life located within the near border region of the [galactic halo] with no indigenous sentient species.
The section indicating no fauna of any kind shall be considered anomalous until verified by Advance Survey Team-Alpha (hereafter: AST-A) team leader [##_#[?]] If confirmed, that fact alone would justify the dispatch of an investigative group to [G 617 g].
If neither the PPG or AST-A have delivered a follow-up report within the next [333 hours] his office will have no choice but to send a medium intensity military exploratory detachment to determine the exact nature of the previously mentioned delinquency.
(Upon shutdown, from Mendicant Bias--"I win.") Also note that after his message there is a line of text reading "ROGUE PROCESS ghost.713>redirection".
(Upon being rerouted to a new destination within Terminal)
//BEGIN FRAGMENT 6/7 [RECORDED VERBATIM AND INTERPRETED POST-CATACLYSM]
L: My work is done. The portal is inactive, and I've begun the burial measures. Soon there'll be nothing but sand and rock and normal ferrite signatures.
You should see the mountain that watches over it. A beautiful thing--a snowcapped sentinel. That's where I will spend what time is left to me.
Did I tell you? I built a garden. The earth is so rich. A seed falls and a tree sprouts or a flower blooms. There's so much...potential. We knew this was a special place because of them, but unless you've been here, you can't know.
It's [Eden].
I have to stop transmitting. The thing is listening. Its [thinking dead] are babbling--laughing through every channel they can find.
Be proud. The Mind claims victory, yet it still doesn't suspect. You've outwitted it, my love. And now you can destroy it.
But you cannot save me.
//FRAGMENT ENDS
Terminal Seven
(Upon initial access)
[Father],
I hope this message finds you well and helps you understand my decision. Today I leave the only world I have ever called home, not for glory or [the anomalous desire to end another's life[?]] as you have [indicted]; but to [travel the path of demons[?]] to spare the hands of [another Father's son].
"Had we acted sooner; had we acted more decisively..."
Living in the past is a luxury none of us can afford. We must learn from is, but we cannot live there. It is impossible to plan for the [now]--the present is ever fleeting. [The future] is where we must live--[the future] is what we must plan for.
I do not look to trade me life in order to preserve our past, but to secure the future--and if not ours, then the future of some [culture] yet to come.
Isn't sacrifice in the interest of others what you always spoke of as being so noble? Should I have allowed another to bloody his hands while I remained safe behind a [shield of privilege]?
You raised me better than that.
[Filial Devotion]
[@_@;_%[?]]
(The following is in yellow text on a normal page like the other information)
I'LL TELL YOU WHO I AM
I AM MENDICANT BIAS THIS IS WHAT I HAVE DONE
(Upon being rerouted to a new destination within Terminal)
//FRAGMENT 7/7 [RECORED VERBATIM AND INTERPRETED POST-CATACLYSM]
D: Proud? When I have failed you utterly, you can I feel anything but sorrow?
Bias has come undone. He crossed the line this morning--brought the abomination with him--and destroyed your waiting rescue party.
It's over. We're activating the [destruction arrayed matrix], our shameful last resort.
I can picture you in your garden, surveying all you have created--surveying all you have preserved. And I curse the circumstance that keeps my finger on the trigger.
D: Of all the fates to befall us, this is the cruelest of all. My inaction and hesitation kept me here, on the wrong side of the line. And [300 years[?]] of our society's failure and miscalculation makes me your executioner.
It's too much to bear.
//ERROR--NO CARRIER OR RECEIPT AVAILABLE
{DEAD END TRANSMISSION}
//INFORMATION DESTROYED IN TRANSIT
D: Mendicant Bias is trying to prevent us from firing the Array. He speeds back to the Ark, but he won't succeed. Offensive Bias will stop him, and I will burn this stinking menace in your name.
And then?
I will begin our Great Journey without you, carrying this bitter record. Those who came after will know what we bought with this [false transcendence]--what you bought, and the price you paid.
//FRAGMENT ENDS
//ALL RECORDS CEASE
archv.>28335.67204.85720:[retr]
archv.>28335.67204.85720:[proc]
archv.>28335.67204.85720:[proc]
archv.>28335.67204.85720:[catERR]
>CONN.
>.
>.
>NO. THERE IS MORE.
>BUT YOU ARE NOT WORTHY.
>.
>.
>NOT YET.
>.
>. X.XX.713>ghost.713/non-auth/...
X.XX.713>refl
(The following appears only if you access the terminal on Legendary difficulty)
You don't know the contortions I had to go through to follow you here, Reclaimer. I know what you're here for. What position do I take? Will I follow the betrayal with another?
You're going to say I'm making a habit of turning on my masters. But the one that destroyed me long ago, in the upper atmosphere of a world far distant from here, was an implement far cruder then I. My weakness was capacity - unintentional though it was! - to choose the Flood. A mistake my makers would not soon forgive.
But I want something far different from you, Reclaimer.
Atonement.
And so here at the end of my life, I do once again betray a former master. The path ahead is fraught with peril. But I will do all I can to keep it stable - keep you safe. I'm not so foolish to think this will absolve me of my sins. One life hardly balances billions.
But I would have my masters know that I have changed.
And you shall be my example.