Catherine Halsey: Difference between revisions

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===ASTER===

{{Quote|no=four|q1=I have doubts, Déjà. I thought the reasons so compelling when we first started Project: SPARTAN. Now? I... I just don’t know.|Catherine Halsey|q2=I have been over the ONI projections of Outer Colony stability three times, Doctor. Their conclusion is correct: massive rebellion within twenty years unless drastic military action is taken. And you know the ‘drastic military action’ the brass would like. The Spartans are our only option to avoid overwhelming civilian losses. They will be the perfect pinpoint strike force. They can prevent a civil war.|Déjà|q3=Only if they survive to fulfill that mission. We should delay the procedures. More research needs to be done. We could use the time to work on [[MJOLNIR]]. We need time to—|Catherine Halsey|q4=There is another reason to proceed expeditiously. Although I am loath to bring this to your attention, I must. If the Office of Naval Intelligence detects a delay in their prize project, you will likely be replaced by someone who harbors... fewer doubts. And regrettably for the children, most likely someone less qualified.|Déjà|Halsey shares her concerns with Déjà.}}{{Ref/Reuse|HTFOR6}}

On [[2525#February|February 23, 2525]] Halsey got a chance to have a long chat with [[John-117|John]] during which, to her surprise, she learned he was convinced the Spartans were to enter a new, more severe phase of training.<ref name="HJF2325">''[[Dr. Halsey's personal journal]]'', ''February 23, 2525''</ref> Writing in her journal, she expressed her desire to share everything she could concerning the upcoming [[Project ASTER|augmentations]] and wondered if any of them would refuse were she to offer them the choice of whether or not to proceed. Déjà had continued to update and run Catherine's revision of [[Elias Carver]]'s model weekly by this point, and the results were only growing worse. This data made Halsey more resolute in her conviction that nobody involved had any choice but to forge the Spartans.{{Ref/Reuse|HJF2325}} Five days later, she gave birth to her daughter, [[Miranda Keyes|Miranda]].<ref name="WaypointMirandaKeyes">[https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/universe/characters/miranda-keyes '''Halo Waypoint''' - ''Miranda Keyes'']</ref> Near the end of February Halsey and the rest of her team sent their prototype suit of [[Mjolnir]] armor to [[UNSC Special Forces|Naval Special Weapons]] for evaluation.<ref name="HJ63025">''[[Dr. Halsey's personal journal]]'', ''June 30, 2525''</ref>

{{Quote|Incredible. [10141-026-SRB4695], with minimal influence from this [[The Assembly|Assembly]], has attempted to build an abstract fractal structure within Shaw-Fujikawa Space. Although her first attempt was a failure, success could finally remove our dependence on biological systems altogether! If our Minds could somehow achieve freedom of expansion within eleven-dimensional space, immortality might be within reach.|An [[artificial intelligence]] of the [[Assembly Minority]] theorizes on what Doctor Halsey's experiment could mean for the future of A.I.s.}}<ref name="HRTPDP">''[[Halo: Reach]]'', ''[[The Package]]'' [[data pads]]</ref>

[[File:Halsey'sJournal Math.PNG|300px|thumb|Equations]]

Once she secured access to the drive, she first needed to breach the external, internal, and vacuum coupling shields to the singularity, for which she bemoaned that the UNSC couldn't make a proper pan-[[Wikipedia:Torque|torque]] screwdriver.<ref name="CF74">[https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/canon-fodder-noble-intentions '''Halo Waypoint''' - ''Canon Fodder: Noble Intentions'']</ref> She would have preferred to use hardened remotes for the breaching, but they would have been detected by networks which would also record their activities. As a result, a peculiar [[Wikipedia:Synesthesia|synesthetic]] effect moved along her left arm up to her neck when she removed the shields. She also experienced a kind of "hiccup" in her awareness which she surmised was due to the [[Wikipedia:Delta timing|delta time]] which could occur with abrupt transitions into slipspace. Next, she had to check the probe's telemetry systems after compensating for how close the experiment was to Reach's [[Gravity well (physics)|gravity well]], and found they were within tolerable variances. Halsey then verified the data of the [[Smart AI|A.I.]] seed "H-7" to seven [[Wikipedia:Significant figures|significant figures]] and initiated its transfer to the matrix strata within the probe. After starting the slipspace drive and verifying the data received, as well as activating the AI seed, she confirmed an initial growth state. Upon checking and triple verifying the probe's telemetry uplinks she then finally launched it on an aligned trajectory. Recording her observations in her journal, the doctor noticed again that time seemed to have mysteriously elapsed, as there was a step anomaly in the chronometer. This had not affected her or her wristwatch as far as she could tell, and she guessed that the anomaly might be a technical artifact or a subdimensional leakage from the probe as it was inserted. It was only then that she realized she had already made a note of this "hiccup" closer to the time it had occurred but could not recall doing so. Telemetry confirmed that A.I. growth was beyond exponential—appearing instantaneous. Halsey wondered variously if this might be explained by the temporal discrepancy, some hitherto undiscovered multidimensional effect on the A.I. cross-linkages, or even alternate physical laws harnessed by the unshielded slipstream. Much of the incoming data and consciousness cross-checks soon became garbled and voice communication from the A.I. was attenuated. Logic/mathematics [[Scriber test]]s confirmed full functionality, but Halsey was disturbed by the conclusions, insights, and even what she considered nonsense being generated. The A.I.'s comments on [[humanity]] and the [[Covenant]] defied reason from her perspective, but she made sure they were all recorded, including those concerning [[The Assembly|other intellects]] in the "mist". Halsey wondered in her journal whether the "mist" referred to [[slipspace]] and also commented on another four-hour "step" in time that might also be explained by lost consciousness. She additionally noted that the data-transfer buffer had been blown—capable of one hundred and forty-eight hours at its maximum rate. As soon as she made this observation Halsey set about replacing it. After the telemetry became fully operational she noticed glaring gaps throughout the record. And although the voice communications continued to grow increasingly nonsensical, all [[rampancy]] indicators were negative.{{Ref/Reuse|CF74}}

{{Quote|Life is too short. I will never learn all that exists in our own tiny galaxy, let alone the rest of the universe. And I so desperately want to know ''everything''. But the UNSC acts like children at play in a sandbox. Mistaking its edges for the limits of the world.|Catherine Halsey to Captain Thomas Lasky regarding her subterfuge.}}

[[File:Halsey Infinity.png|thumb|300px|Halsey examines the recovered Forerunner artifact.]]

{{Expand-section}}

[[File:H4-SO Halsey discover John' status.jpg|left|thumb|250px|Halsey discovering John-117 is alive.]]

Late in the attack, Halsey was kidnapped by a Promethean Knight and teleported to Requiem. When Admiral Serin Osman was informed of this abduction, she chose to finally enact Parangosky's wishes and ordered for Halsey's immediate termination. While Captain Lasky protested against this, instead sending Fireteam Majestic to rescue Halsey, Commander Palmer departed to carry out Osman's order.<ref name="Spops8">'''Spartan Ops''', [[S1/Expendable|S1E8 ''Expendable'']]</ref>

Halsey was then taken to the [[Librarian's Rest]], where Jul 'Mdama had her disable the shield previously erected during Doctor Glassman's attempts to access the shrine. As the shield deactivated, she quickly entered the beam of light being produced by the shrine, to 'Mdama's great anger.{{Ref/Reuse|Spops8}} There, she met the Librarian and was given the [[Janus Key]], which gave the location of every Forerunner artifact in the galaxy. After taking the key, Halsey was returned to the shrine, where 'Mdama acquired one half of the artifact. The intervention of Palmer and Fireteam Majestic forced 'Mdama to retreat from the site with Halsey, but not before she threw the key's other half to Thorne. During the firefight, however, Palmer managed to shoot Halsey in the shoulder.<ref name="s1key">''[[Spartan Ops]]'': [[S1/Key|S1E9 ''Key'']]</ref>

}}

Many of those unfamiliar with the internal dynamics of ONI and the SPARTAN-II program have come to interpret Halsey and her work in a highly negative light. Despite the predominant role of ONI and the UNSC Naval leadership in the conception and execution of the SPARTAN-II program, Dr. Halsey is often perceived as the sole individual responsible, due to her conspicuous position as the project head.<ref>'''Halo: Glasslands''', ''page 178''</ref> Taking advantage of this, ONI prefers to attribute some of the more controversial aspects of the project to their alleged lack of sufficient oversight.<ref>[http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=96218485&postcount=40 '''NeoGaf:''' ''Was Dr. Halsey justified, ultimately, in creating the Spartan-II program in Halo? — View Single Post''] ([[Frank O'Connor]]: ''"Other even less savory characters are trying to harm her legacy to boost their own careers. And they're doing it by illuminating her prior actions in an ugly way."'')</ref> [[Black-Box]] even privately acknowledges to Serin Osman that the main reason for Halsey's fall from grace is to conceal or minimize the responsibility of the many others who participated in the project.<ref>'''Halo: Mortal Dictata'''</ref>  Although she was responsible for much of the program's scientific basis and harbored no illusions otherwise, Halsey was under ONI's constant supervision and was even repeatedly pressured by Section III to use more inhumane means for faster results.{{Ref/Reuse|for29}} Many have also interpreted her primary motivation as a supposed perverse scientific curiosity, ignoring—or unaware of—her sincere determination to prevent further excessive bloodshed in the Insurrection and her initial naiveté in failing to grasp the full moral ramifications of her work until witnessing it in practice.{{Ref/Reuse|HJ12410}}

*''[[Halo Infinite]]''

*''[[Halo: The Television Series]]''

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