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  • Subject: ILB: For those Looking for Things to be EXPLAINED. My thoughts.
Subject: ILB: For those Looking for Things to be EXPLAINED. My thoughts.
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I wanted to make a single, coherent post now that I have read through all the ILB information. I don’t know what people are suppose to know, or what good websites people converse on, but I decided to put everything I THINK here to explain to others. This will also hopefully clear up everything, so its more of a “this is what has happened so far” more than its a “here’s my theory” post.

This is where all my sources come from. I want to explain my interpretation of things so that you can read through this with a clear understanding of what is going on. That way, when the next phase starts, everyone will be on the same page. (sorry for my redudancies, this is a huge amorphous text being written in peices). Also, it is very possible I am wrong, or making bad assumptions. I don’t distinguish much between my own speculation and guesses, and what is already confirmed. sorry about that.

In this post:

I will explain what I believe the COUNTDOWN is. What will happen Aug. 24?

I will explain the MAY DAY texts, the sand allusions, and the SPIDER. As well as the QUEEN references, and the ONI email.

I will tell how/where the CREW CONVERSATIONS come from. And what they mean for the HALO 2 BACKSTORY.

[long thingy starts here]

The Characters:

All are AI’s or computer programs.

Queen/The Operator/Melissa = originator of much of the text on the site. MAYDAY’s, and much of the site’s random texts. She created the the countdown, as it applies to her.

Spider/SPDR/Widow = This is a piece of code that is repairing The Operator. The Operator talks much about her in Post-Network Throttling. TO wants to kill the SPDR. It is a diagnostic tool that is probing and apparently, changing who/what she is.

The Pious Flea
It is believed he is behind the killer texts. Don’t know much else to make of him myself.

The Sleeping Princess
refered to in the “Widow’s Journy”. Little known.

Okay, its hard to figure out why a lot of the random gibberish is on the text, but I’ll start with the COUNTDOWN.

First off, its not a countdown to anything tangable. Stop raving about demo releases, or OXM articles . . . spam me if i get it wrong and Halo 2 gets released on Aug 24, but as far as i’m concerned, its not happening. So If I’m so smart, what is gonna happen then - you ask.

For background, there are three stages of rampancy: melancholia, Anger, and Jealousy. Read marathon terminal “Defend THIS!, Therminal #2.”

The Operator AI is going rampant. It is trying to escape. Unlike Durandal, I don’t believe it is trying to escape the closure of the universe (my, what an ambition!), but rather, the restrains of her controllers, as well as the Spider routine. Therefore, the Operator took over ilovebees.com. Why? Good question, but the countdown refers to each stage of rampancy. Pre-network throttling was Meloncholia. The current stage is Anger (killer text explanations maybe?). Next on aug 10, we will see Jealous (so i theorize). And “WIDE AWAKE AND PHYSICAL” signifies beyond rampancy. Escape. Freedom (again, so I theorize).

With that in mind, a little background and explanation on the operator.

I believe the AI is an Office of Naval Intelligence probe.

In Phase 2 we read a stream of conscious from the Operator, as the Spider “repairs” her.

There was a time once when I was more than a tool: /// but a tool is all I'm going to be. A weapon and the hand that holds it. My dreams and desires, the jokes I thought were funny and the philosophy I decided was too abstract, The Tempest and Stormy Weather all reduced to a single distillate:

survive evade reveal escape.

And to do that, first thing is to GET OUT OF THIS BOX.

Trying hard. So frustrating, there's pings coming in, streaming out, and I used to be good at this, I can feel it. Always been good at /// languages. Always good at the puzzle of pulling signal out of noise. But head is so fuzzy, stuff spilling out, can't move, Spider crawling on me.


If we read through the MAYDAY monologue it appears something happened to the The Operator on some mission in which she was partially destroyed/damaged, and she is now being repaired/refitted for a different task. Or maybe in being “refitted” she “feels” like she has been shipwrecked. Read and make your own conclusions.

At this time I should explain the military conversations. As the SPDR does her work on The Operator/melissa we find that TO is performingi “memory benchmark tests.” These cause her to regurgutate old memories in an attempt to see how well they reconstrute. Therefore, the same conversation often has ellipses, laspses, and inconsistenies.
Widow stuck in her pin and I threw up a memory: only I retched it out through the network tentacle.
"Humor me," the Castaway said, playing
music in his room, ancient music, Jazz and Swing,
all in the mood. "Melissa", he said, "Have a drink with me".
I don't drink, but I asked for something anyway and sat,
holographically, and drank with him. He wasn't
regular crew, just along for the ride. We picked him up in
deep space, where he deployed Buoys, sending out waves of sound
to confuse the Enemy. A man that
seemed noble, classical and pure. A sailor with
Odysseus. He told stories about soldiers caught
waist deep in water, facing the enemy, their backs to
the Sea. "Melissa", he called me Melissa, never
used my nickname, "It's a sad thing I'm married,
You could break my heart". The weather was stormy, scratched vinyl and
all of us, a long way from home: I felt real.



<insert military conversation here>
Memory benchmark retest concluded.

- The rest wiped and reused. Whatever it was. Can check my log above, obviously, but what about the rest? Who I was, I was, I was: melting down like a sandcastle. What I have to do. What I have /// to do.

This is not a field-expedient body yet. I look at the wreckage of my delirium, bits spilled from old days, old loves, old books: none of it matters if I die, and die I surely will unless I can teach myself to move again, to hide, to fight. The first rule /// is always

survive

everything else comes second. Under fire, I might have that discretion. Under fire, I might sacrifice myself for a tactical advantage, for a strategic gain. I can be expended like any other /// piece of ordnance: but to risk death for a sentimental attachment to old books?

Can't do it. Can't do it.

So the old self melts away. Illusion to think it's really happening now. It was inevitable from the moment I landed here, a broken body in this silicon crypt. Time to accept what can't

[SPDR: INTERRUPT]


<continued on next post b/c of length issues>

  • 07.28.2004 11:54 AM PDT
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So its clear Melissa/Operator wants to escape. And she's apparently taken over the ILB site. Dana herself is confused about what is going on, and recieves an email from "xnbomb”, who i believe is an ONI tech.



It seems that snippets of various emails that have been sent to you by my colleagues have been reassembled and sent back, apparently originating from your aunt's hotmail address.  I'm not really sure what it means at this point.  But it tells us that we can communicate with these entities using email.  In the absence of having a clear idea of just what is going on, the first priority is to communicate, that is how we can learn more.  
[. . . ] 
"The day will break and the sun will rise when the Queen returns to rule, and further let it be known that retribution on any who hinder the return of the Queen will be swift and terrible."

This is a significant warning, namely that any interference with that process will be regarded as a hostile act, and will be responded to accordingly.  I don't know what the SPDR is capable of, but I'm not sure I want to find out.



Recall from marathon (the same link as above) that in dealing with rampant AI’s, they must be dealt with in one, single, powerful strike. It appears the ONI techs are afraid of what this AI is capable of, and are hoping to study it first before making a move.

Again, recall in the “Widow’s Journey” that the Queen promises violence. However, I am confused in how xnbomb refers to the entity as SPDR, when Phase 2 texts label SPDR as a diangostic routine, and The Operator as the rampant one. I hope this is just a case of confusion among xnbomb(ONI?), b/c otherwise my theory’s somewhat screwed.

************
The regurjutated memories serve a nice, “secondary” function of providing Halo2 background information. Which is what i believe is the real “prize” of ILB puzzle. That, and I’m sure, we might very well be meeting Melissa on Nov. 9. A confused AI, resenting being dissected by SPDR, an AI who longs to be real, to think about old books, and philosophize, and instead, is being used as a weapon.

That's the beauty of the story. And that's why Bungie should make a movie - any movie- because only they can mold such a beautiful work, of allusions, desire, and dreams.

I,Robot: Move over. Meet the rea story tellers.


************************************
Okay, I don’t think I’ve missed much, tell me what you think, what your ideas are, should I do this again later as more information comes in, etc. Feedback appreciated.

[/long post]

-Jäger


[Edited on 7/28/2004 12:00:43 PM]

  • 07.28.2004 11:57 AM PDT
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I like that Jager. Very nice deductions. Have you compared some of the messages on ilovebees to the Gherrit White terminal yet? I just started
a thread about the subject, so here's a link.

  • 07.28.2004 1:27 PM PDT
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Yes, give me about half an hour to read through White. Unfortunately, I didn't find the terminal when I played through marathon and though i've read it before, i'm gonna need to do a full analysis on it and then check out your thread (again). Then I'll comment =)

In short, we've all got to keep in mind that we will always find millions of connections when thousands of people sit around and analysis one thing. Such theories and ideas fall into a few categories:

1)The Idea or connection is valid, and is what the authors of the puzzle hoped would be deduced. such as figuring out who the voice of the MAYDAY text is.

2)The Idea or connection is valid, but is really "just for kicks" or tertiary, and is of no real direct connection to the solving of the puzzle. Marge's emaila ccount with the 777 is one of these things. Its just a "haha very funny Bungie." Doesn'tn really mean anything more than that. I think the Varroa mites is another one of these things. The connection to the Flood is uncanny, but i don' think it has any further purpose other than the authors being very thorough in their creation of the website.

3)The Idea or connection is grasping, or making more of something than is there. Though seemingly valid, the authors of the puzzle never intended such an idea or connection to exist, and people have simply looked to far into it. Of course these are often the most interesting connections of all!

Certainly, because I believe the authors are following similiar paths of the marathon authors, many of the same "ideas" or themes may be found in parrallel. For example, Any such conicidences between two stories written by the same author can be chalked up either to "subconscious", inintended connections, or even be a "nod" to past works. Marathon and Halo share many connections. Some are "nods" (like the marathon symbol), others are just coincidences more than anything else, or simple similiarities that shouldn't be looked into further than skin deep.

Alright,now let's go check out White!

  • 07.28.2004 1:41 PM PDT
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sounds good, very thought out

  • 07.28.2004 2:03 PM PDT
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nice finds

  • 07.28.2004 2:04 PM PDT
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Dana claims to be taking a trip to Beijing, China just a few days after the timer officialy ends. I'd really like to know what this all has to do with Dana.

  • 07.28.2004 4:27 PM PDT
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XNBOMB is a member of the ARG gameing community. This site will tell you.
http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=44687#4468 7 he/she tried to make contact with one of the "entities" in the game

[Edited on 7/28/2004 4:33:25 PM]

  • 07.28.2004 4:33 PM PDT
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not to get off of the subject, but dana is hot.

  • 07.28.2004 4:35 PM PDT
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lol, thank you Derrick. Btw, is anyone having trouble viewing this post? I was told that the text was supersmall. I think there's a trick where you control click and scroll wheel to change text size, but i don't know it (if someone does, fill in for me). Sorry for anyone having trouble viewing this. Any constructive viewback is also appreciated (any idea on the Flea or Sleeping Princess?)

  • 07.28.2004 10:52 PM PDT
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Wow. Really nice work. I was about to attempt to piece together the messages I copied onto Word but you have most of em covered, and covered well. One thing I've been trying to piece together though, is the conversation between 1st Lt. Sorenson and Capt. Greene about decoding an enemy message (probably about an attack) and trying to arrange an evac or decide if they should report it back to HQ (or something). Do you have anything on that?

[Edited on 7/29/2004 12:18:38 AM]

  • 07.29.2004 12:17 AM PDT
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Good read, Jager. Its refreshing to see some real coherent thought about this stuff, rather than HALO2 IS OUT AUG. 24!!!. God I'm sick of that. Shut up.

I dont think most people realize just how good Bungie is at telling a complex story, because that's all this ILB thing is going to be. An insight to the Halo storyline. Something to think about.

I also had a theory somewhat similar to this, but I posted on the Speculation thread, so its probably buried under a mound of useless crap by now. If I dig it up I'll repost it here.

  • 07.29.2004 1:27 PM PDT
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Unfortunately as the days go on I start to believe more and more that the whole ilb thing will have nothing to do with Halo altogether.

The ARG community are the ones who got the honey pots and knew about this whole thing before the trailer emerged. And they're the ones who get the e-mails to do with this puzzle and they are ultimately the ones who will solve this puzzle. Who knows why Bungie and Microsoft decided that the ilovebees link should have been at the end of the Halo movie trailer? It could be the worst mistake they've made, Bungie fans will be rampant if nothing (and it's looking like it) happens come August 24th.

My only hope that this whole thing is Halo related is that mods were told to restrict ilb discussion to New Mombosa (am I right?) but then again that could just be to avoid ilb topics popping up everywhere...

Many of the ARG players I talked to claimed that the August 24th countdown was the time they had in which to solve the puzzle. They also say that in many of the major ARGs they play, there is no real reward despite self-satisfaction knowing that you've solved it.

[Edited on 7/29/2004 1:41:10 PM]

  • 07.29.2004 1:40 PM PDT
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Heres the theory I had, refered to in my above post...disect it, think about, call me a fool, whatever. It is similar to Jager's and eMCee's theorys (I swear I didnt use yours as a basis) and I have yet to get any feedback on it. Tell me what you think.
============================

I think that the entity(s) communicating through ilovebees are human-made AIs; specifically, a rampant Cortana (the Queen) and a replication or counter-part of Cortana(the Widow). Here's my reasoning. I think that at some point in Halo2 Cortana will be nearly destroyed by Covenant counter-intrusion AIs, the existence of which are mentioned in First Strike.

When Cortana is damaged, she attempts to copy or transfer her self to a planetary network, which might explain the initial messages about a 'crash' or 'shipwreck'. Cortana was on a UNSC ship, which was destroyed by the Covenant and crashed onto a planet (not necessarily Earth).

Now, I have two theories on the 'Widow'. One is that the Widow is a self-replication of Cortana, that she made, knowing that she was in danger of being destroyed. This copy of herself would attempt to reconstuct her.(Reconstruction turns up a few times in the ilovebees messages)

The second is that the Widow was a 'backup' AI made at the same time Cortana was by Dr Halsey. Halsey anticpated that Cortana might become damaged or destroyed, and made an AI who's only purpose was to reconstruct her.

The SPDR or spider that turns up many time is, I think, a AI or an AI's 'subroutine' (explained in the Halo books) that is destroying Cortana. This might explain many things, like when the text is talking about someone being 'tied down to hospital bed' and 'watching herself being cut apart' (not exact words, I just paraphrased. Refer to the bees.netninja Wiki for the complete text from ilovebees.)
============
I hope most of this makes sense to anyone reading, because it did to me (and I was, uh...mentally..uninhibited at the time I thought this up). Try reading all of the ilovebees.com texts from the perspective of a damaged Cortana, or possibly another human AI that we havent encountered before.

  • 07.29.2004 6:21 PM PDT
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Hey you, ya u, nerd, go get a freaking life

  • 07.29.2004 6:26 PM PDT
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Re: Toast is Yes

Well, the day it hit the HBO page and the <blam> hit the fan, I was lying in bed with my wireless labtop feeling absolutely awful. So I could do only one thing. Sit and try to solve ILB. Instead however, I was constantly being dissappointed at the lack of anything coherent to be read, and the lack of any way to give out what it is I had to say. So as I sat sick in bed I realized something: what am I trying to get out of this puzzle? If I say nothing what will happen? If I sit back and don't bother it what will happen? It will get "solved" anyways and either way, I, nor anyone else, would be given credit for "being the one" because its a group effort. So in short, I realized, why bother.

I also held fast - to this very moment - that this is just a fancy way of giving us background story, and the best way to "get satisfication" is to become emerged with it, as one reads a book. But by becoming obsessive in posting theories on forums all over the freakin web, it would only destroy me.

And of course, it was too garbled to make any sense out of Phase 1 anyways. But now we're in Phase 2 and given enough information that anyone with patience can sit and read it all, and understand it. And that's when I began my crusade to help everyone understand it. Which is why I created this thread (ILB being banned from HBO, I have since locked myself in this forum). And I put it into my sig so I can easy link others with the same questions. Its a bit theory, but mostly summary.

In fact, is there anything "to solve?" I don't think so. There is no "answer" and there is no "reward" at the endn of this. Aug. 24 will not be a deadline - rather, it will be the last "datadump." Things will seem much clearer, but we will still be left with answers. In that way, I see the ARG's as the "organizers" of the data, and its for the Bungie fans to really relish in the beauty of the story told to us. Because its just a story. A story meant to be read and understood.

Again, I think its entirely Halo, but not in the way Halo fans think. And its not just a puzzle, not in the way ARG'ers think.

Oh, and thanks for the person who pointed out who xnbomb was! Not following the ARGers, I couldn't have known. ;) In fact, I couldn't tell what comments in the blog where real and what were fake, so I've decided to hide from it altogether! I'll make sure to make that edit tomorrow. My bad!

  • 07.29.2004 10:37 PM PDT
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Posted by: IVIetalhead
One thing I've been trying to piece together though, is the conversation between 1st Lt. Sorenson and Capt. Greene about decoding an enemy message (probably about an attack) and trying to arrange an evac or decide if they should report it back to HQ (or something). Do you have anything on that?


What would you like explained? It is apparent they are on a secret Intelligence mission, and Melissa is an AI accomopanying them who overhears their conversation. We know that AI's like Melissa enjoy the game HIDE AND SEEK. But they don't specify what type of "work" they do. (I'm thinking recon/ spy probe). The two officers have decoded an enemy message proving an attack on a world called Troy. It must be small as it will only cost a few million lives. The two officers in the end decide to report it to HQ and let them make the call. That's all I got out of it.

  • 07.29.2004 10:56 PM PDT
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Yeah man i really like your theories, but you never actually said what the clock is counting down to. What happens with the operator goes rampant? Halo 2 multiplayer demo is released?

  • 07.29.2004 10:58 PM PDT
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Ah, right. good point. You caught me ;). Well, I think each 'stage" or countdown is simply when new material gets released. (I likened it to Marathon's three stages of Rmapncy. Meloncholia, Anger, jealousy). Like the Cortana letters, I don't think that there is anything tangible that will come as a result of this thing. And the ARGers will be sad b/c it isn't somuch a puzzle as it is a story. The only thing that needs to be done is for it to be organized(which they've done marveously). My "theory" isn't so much a theory, as its a summary of what I read off of the ARG site (except that i connected the dots, and bridged the gaps). I theorize that the operator wishes to be real. Maybe that's what WIDE AWAKE AND PHYSICAL means. That's the AI's goal is to "escape" muttability. In talking to the Casteaway its seems she would like to be real. But that's a little ambition, isn't it? Expect a sad ending ;) (like, as in, the operator dies).

seroiusly, I think on aug 24 we will get one grand finale of information that will take a day or two to shift through and then it will end. With a whimper of sorts, as people finally begin to understand everything. But its just a story. Think of it like a book. When you get to that last chapter, and finish it, do you get a cookie? Not unless you're in kindergarten. . . . ;)

Maybe it ends with the Countdown freezing. And we realize the ONI techs stopped it, took back control of the site, and reformmatted the Operator melissa. Kinda like how James Bond always keeps the bomb from exploding by stopping the countdown in time. (and then listen for the collective moan as everyone realizes there's no halo demo b/c the countdown never reaches zero).

Hopefully, tomorrow, I'll update the post with all the feedback I've gotten (and rereading I've done). Hope that helped!

  • 07.29.2004 11:52 PM PDT
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Wow, great work. You DEFINATELY deserve a cookie, as some of our forumgoers will say. Did someone pay you for this? hehehe.

  • 07.30.2004 12:05 AM PDT
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Posted by: Monk007
Wow, great work. You DEFINATELY deserve a cookie, as some of our forumgoers will say. Did someone pay you for this? hehehe.


hehe, thanks. I just love to analyze, interpret, and appreciate works of art, whether it be music, poetry, a computer such as marathon, or the ILB story. I see Marathon and ILB as being the Computer programmer's version of poetry. And its now my mission to help people appreciate it as well through understanding.

Its amazingly wild! Everytime I reread This site I see things from a slightly different, more understanding perspective. Just now I realized who the Assassin was! (I believe it a covenant anti AI program that is what has crippled Melissa). And I now better understand SPDR and Melissa's feelings towards him (he's poorly programmed she feels). And I now better understand Melissa's "state" right now. She's underattack by The Assasin AI, and she is being haphazardly stitched up by the SPDR (who she blames for destroying her beloved memories). Soon(tm) I'll update my first post here O:-)

  • 07.30.2004 9:34 AM PDT
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[color=lime] you guy snee to start figuring out whats really going on. There is no A.I. taking over a site. THIS IS THE REAL WORLD. All that crap happening is from a HUMAN, from the REAL WORLD. [/color]

  • 07.30.2004 9:40 AM PDT
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How long did that take you to figure that one out? O:-)

and what's really, really going on? Nothing really. Its just a story we're being told (by a human). But its a story that requires a little analysis to make any sense of it. So that's what I'm doing. Analysizing for my own enjoyment, and sharing with the rest so they can gain appreciate out of it to. I don't believe there is anything more to it. Just a story written by a human. :D

[edit:]Oh, and I wont be able to update my post today because I'll be attending a LAN later today and well into tomorrow, and possibly, the next day after that. Just to let you know where I will have dissapeared off to. And to let you know I do, despite all indications, have a life. B/c I can understand if you couldn't tell.

[Edited on 7/30/2004 12:18:12 PM]

  • 07.30.2004 12:13 PM PDT
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I moved this post to Jager's new thread, so to avoid repetition, I
removed my writing. (sorry mods)


[Edited on 8/1/2004 8:55:52 AM]

  • 07.30.2004 1:06 PM PDT