- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
I base this theory on firstly and foremost the appearance of the dome structure itself as also mentioned in the Bungie’s Halo3 FAQ.
“Q: What was that crazy huge dome buried under Earth? A: We're not saying, but Halo fans may recognize something about its design.”
Well I immediately recognised it as part of the outer surface detail on the Halo super structures.” They without a doubt have this same dome structure on their exteriors. You can see this detailed on the official bungie wallpaper entitled “Delta Halo Exterior” located page 2 of the Halo2 wallpaper section on www.bungie.net
When comparing the larger dome structure in this image to the dome in the Halo3 trailer I noticed that there is also detail of the huge panels that open skyward in the Delta Halo image. Although the spacing does match, (the panels in both the Halo3 trailer and the Delta Halo image are all in pairs) when counted there are fourteen panels in the Halo3 trailer but only twelve on the Delta Halo image. Though if you look at the smaller dome structures in the Delta Halo image you can count fourteen. A perfect match.
Now using an atlas I look for Mombasa in Africa and notice that it lies about 400km south of the equator. To far south of the equator to align the larger dome structures and maybe to far south to align with the smaller dome structures as well. However just up the road from Mombasa is the town of Voi. Same name from the track titled “Road to Voi” from the second movement of the Epilogue on the Halo 2 Soundtrack. This town is around 280km South of the Equator. So if a Halo’s Equator were aligned with the Earth’s Equator then the town of Voi would make a likely dig site to access this smaller dome structure. Also look how sprawled out the city of Mombasa is when in Halo 2’s cut scene were the Master Chief lands on “In Amber Clad” shortly after giving the Covenant their bomb back. Compare that to a current map of Kenya. It seems that Voi in 2552 has become nothing more than an outer suburb of the greater Mombasa Metropolis.
This theory has received yet more evidence from Frankie’s Bungie Weekly Update from the 12th of May 2006. were in:
“xTr1GGeR HaPPYx asks: I'm guessing those ruins in the back are Old New Mombasa, so, whereabouts is the Chief and this Forerunner structure? And Frankie’s reply: That is indeed the ruins of New Mombasa. The artefact and the Chief are where they appear to be, on the desert outskirts of New Mombasa, and many miles inland. The mountain behind him is Kilimanjaro.” Again if you look at a map of Kenya you will see that the town of Voi sits exactly half way between Mount Kilimanjaro and the city of Mombasa. Other supporting information mentioned in Frankie’s Update Q&A section is when
“Just Another Fan asks: In the trailer I'm only seeing capital ships, what happened to the old covenant cruisers, will they make an appearance in the final product? And Frankie’s reply: What you're seeing is an excavation force. Its makeup is purely practical.”
Also a Halo could easily fit with in this region of the Earth even after considering global curvature as the Earths diameter is 12756.34kms at its widest point along the equator. A Halo’s diameter is believed to vary between the different installations slightly however the only Halo we actually know the dimensions for is installation 04 with a diameter of 10,000kms. Therefore the Earth's diameter is larger than that of a Halo's. The difference in diameter could be anything from 2756.34 to just a few kilometres.
As for the concept of building a Halo beneath the Earth’s surface, I believe it was built somewhere else and then slip-spaced under the earth’s crust. Why would a race as advanced as the Forerunners who pioneered and mastered slip-space technology not be able to achieve some sort of slip-space matter exchange system and build the Halos were convenient building materials are to be found, like the asteroid belt in our solar system. Then after construction in the asteroid fields they simply teleport the completed Halo whilst simultaneously exchanging its volume with the same volume of the Earths crust. This crust material then reappears in place of the halo amidst the construction site of the newly built Halo to break apart and become asteroid material itself, leaving us all none the wiser. As for having a powerful enough or precise enough slip-space technique to do this, may I draw you attention to “First Strike” were in Cortana was able to achieve extremely precise slip-space insertions down to the millimetre in spite of gravitational influences. This also brings to mind the significance of the Crystal Dr Halsey discovered in the Forerunner installation under Menachite Mountain on Reach. This crystal changed shape, function and characteristics while in slip-space and increased the power of the slip-space engines on “Ascendant Justice” massively. In fact enough to engulf a spherical area of around 10,000kms around this vessel in a slip-space rupture along with the 14 Covenant Cruisers and a Covenant Carrier that occupied the same volume of normal space before generating the rupture. (Page 212 First Strike) Perhaps Regret’s Flagship was equipped with one of the three remaining shards of this crystal mentioned in the epilogue of “First Strike” and this is why he created the huge crater of Mombassa when he left Earth for Delta Halo in Halo2. This 10,000kms range of the slip-space rupture and the 10,000kms diameter of the Halo’s can’t just be a coincidence. This must be the crystal’s Significance.
The Forerunner Installation were this crystal was found was under the old titanium mines of Menachite Mountain mentioned in “First Strike”. The Master Chief and the other Spartans Trained for most of their lives in this area of Reach and apart from possibly a few ONI agents no one ever new about this Installations existence, not even Dr Halsey Who’s Spartan program was situated in the ONI Installation built above and amidst the titanium mines under Menachite Mountain. For this massive Forerunner Installation over 100,000 year old to sit 6kms under a Mountain formed millions, maybe even billions of years ago with out any noticeable or detectable geographic disturbance to the Mountain or any of the surrounding terrain, only a method of matter teleportation and exchange, using precision slip-space technology, similar to what I suggested above could be employed. Also the majority of the Earth's inner and outer core is made up of nickel and iron so it would be extremely hard to detect a Halo made of an unknown metal stone mineral alloy under the Earth’s crust using a kind metal scanning system as a method of detection.
Also the crystal found on Reach emitted neutrino radiation. Neutrinos pass through all known matter as if it were empty space. In theory they could be attuned to a specific frequency in order to create a resonating wave front that’s frequency reacts with specific protein stings (what DNA is made from) typical to sentient life in order to kill the life form reliant on the DNA. This would ensure the destruction of all sentient life in its firing range. These neutrinos would not normally do any harm to anybody, though we humans have never been able to recreate them let alone alter any of their characteristics, so maybe the Forerunners worked this out and made this normal physical phenomenon into a weapon like Halo.
As for why would you hide a Halo under the Earths crust? I consider it to be possible to have both a Halo and the Ark right here on Earth. Maybe all are one and the same. Perhaps the Earth is the Ark and it is because our planet hides a Halo under its crust that protects us from the influence of Halo’s weapons. Maybe these domes create a containment field that both shields us from the Halo’s sentient destroying influence and creates an impenetrable barrier that no known matter can penetrate that way the surviving Forerunner can live on to escape the cataclysm on the safety of the Ark. That way after the Halos firing sequence is complete and the Flood have starved to death the survivors can leave the Ark and re-establish the ecology of life on Earth by reterraforming it. Much the same way Noah and the Ark’s survivors did in the Bible. There has to be a shielding effect for the Earth as the previous activation of the Halo’s over 100,000 years ago never affected it despite the Earth being well and truly within the firing range of multiple Halos. The fact remains this firing has never effected our Earth as the fossil record and ecology of sentient life on our planet has a flow of evolution that can be traced back seamlessly millions of years. There is absolutely no solid scientific evidence on this entire planet that in the last few million years let alone 100,000 years that any type of sentient ecocide has ever taken place.
As for how much tectonic movement has occurred in the last 100,000 years and if it is enough to destroy or pull apart a superstructure built by the Forerunners, a race that’s existence possibly precedes all other sentient life and technology in the Halo universe by billions of years? Compared with our current technology I would have to say it is likely. But at the moment we humans are a planet bound race of hairless ape that can not even face up to our own diversity let alone comprehend the engineering prowess required to build something like a Halo. All I know is the Forerunners like to bury their installations at an undetectable depth within a planets crust. That is with the exclusion of the 2 Halo’s we have seen so far. Maybe our Halo is a Halo amongst Halos and because it is hidden with in our planet that makes our entire Earth into an Ark. If our Earth was to become the last stronghold of the Forerunner in a war against the Flood it would make perfect sense to incorporate a weapon system that can both starve and resist the Flood indefinitely right where they intended to make their last stand.
[Edited on 5/19/2006]