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This topic has moved here: Subject: Wait! What is Cortana not telling us!
  • Subject: Wait! What is Cortana not telling us!
Subject: Wait! What is Cortana not telling us!
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I just thought of something.

Johnson, Commander Keyes, and Arbiter were just about to learn about the Ark when we were interrupted by the ending of Halo 2.

I'm absolutely sure that information about the Ark would have been mentioned in the computer database of each Halo installation.

Also we are pretty much agreed that the Ark is on Earth (although this hasn't been confirmed).

So, if it is recorded on the computer and it is (supposedly) on Earth, then let me ask this

Why hasn't Cortana mentioned the Ark to the Master Chief, or for that matter anyone, especially if it (possibly) is on Earth!?

  • 05.15.2006 12:12 AM PDT
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Usually, when you start a sentence with "What", it implies that it will be ended by a question mark.

  • 05.15.2006 12:15 AM PDT
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I'm guessing that information is restricted to anyone less than the Monitor if it is in there at all.

Perhaps the only place it is listed is inside the Monitors themselves (incase someone breaches sercurity aka Cortana or Gravemind) and it is at their discretion the information is released.

Think about it, the forerunner knew the Flood were computer handy and the activation of the ark is a big deal, bigger than putting the rings on standbye or anything else. The knowledge of the Arks location and instructions would be kept in highest secrecy because if the flood found it's location they could stop the activation sequence... which is what I guess Gravemind has in plan.

  • 05.15.2006 12:17 AM PDT
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i don't think its public info or that its stored in an halo installations. i think the monitors know about it, but they know because they need to in order to 'monitor' the status of the rings.

  • 05.15.2006 12:20 AM PDT
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Posted by: Pezza
I'm guessing that information is restricted to anyone less than the Monitor if it is in there at all.

Perhaps the only place it is listed is inside the Monitors themselves (incase someone breaches sercurity aka Cortana or Gravemind) and it is at their discretion the information is released.

Think about it, the forerunner knew the Flood were computer handy and the activation of the ark is a big deal, bigger than putting the rings on standbye or anything else. The knowledge of the Arks location and instructions would be kept in highest secrecy because if the flood found it's location they could stop the activation sequence... which is what I guess Gravemind has in plan.


Hmmm... I see your point, but then again, Guilty spark said:

"Why the Ark of course."

He said it in such a way that indicates that it should have been obvious or common knowlegde.

[Edited on 5/15/2006]

  • 05.15.2006 12:21 AM PDT
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Plus, the index was supposed to be foolproof (once it was inserted into the control panel) but Cortana easily stopped it.

Maybe the computers aren't as hard to crack as we thought?

  • 05.15.2006 12:35 AM PDT
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^^ But Guilty Spark obviously thinks the Chief is forerunner and knows all this. (1st post from Spartan 28)

[Edited on 5/15/2006]

  • 05.15.2006 12:38 AM PDT
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Posted by: Zanjo
^^ But Guilty Spark obviously thinks the Chief is forerunner and knows all this. (1st post from Spartan 28)


Yeah but the issue is wether or not Cortana knows about the Ark and it's place on Earth (if it is on Earth).

And if she does, then how come she hasn't told the Chief?

  • 05.15.2006 12:43 AM PDT
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And GS is a fruit loop. He is convinced MC is a forerunner "Why would you hesitate to do what you have already done?"

It is also worth noting, he seems hackable; either because of a weakness in Forerunner tech or a weakness in 343GS specifically as he told the covies about the index in Halo 2 (he was seen seemingly 'unconscious' floating in some sort of field).

The monitors do not seem invincible (Gravemind hacked 2401PT to an extent I think) but I also doubt the location of the Ark would be kept on the same network that studies the flood.

  • 05.15.2006 12:44 AM PDT
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Posted by: Pezza
...but I also doubt the location of the Ark would be kept on the same network that studies the flood.


Why not? Wouldn't Forunners, stationed on the Halo rings need to communicate the Ark? Therefore they would need some kind of automated way of communicating with the Ark (like a contacts list for your e-mail) and therefore be references to the Ark?

  • 05.15.2006 12:51 AM PDT
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she never told us the last dream she had. if u read the cortana letters, she claims to have had four dreams. she never tells u the 4th

  • 05.15.2006 12:52 AM PDT
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Communication is one thing, like most military operations, I assume Halo's comm systems are closed circuit so a direct link (almost ethernet, which i think Halo is outfitted with) would not require tuning in to a specific source (like radio receivers).

And for the Flood to find Earth would be diffirent to the Flood making a phone call to Earth on a private channel. Real space coordinates could be kept on ships or such things because they would need to be able to travel there in real space, not send a communication.

Afterall, you dont need to know the location of a computer using GPS to send it an email.

  • 05.15.2006 12:57 AM PDT
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I still think it's likley that Cortana may have found out about the Ark.

  • 05.15.2006 1:01 AM PDT
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Spartan 28 "So, if it is recorded on the computer and it is (supposedly) on Earth, then let me ask this

Why hasn't Cortana mentioned the Ark to the Master Chief, or for that matter anyone, especially if it (possibly) is on Earth!?"

I'm pretty sure that the info would be stored in the forerunner facility, which as we all know, humans' didnt know was inside the earth, it's not a matter of cortana just searching google for it and saying hey cheif look at this cool site.

I highly doubt anyone other than the forerunners (pre H3) would know anything about the facility on Earth. That's my opinion on why Cortana hasn't mentioned anything.

[Edited on 5/15/2006]

  • 05.15.2006 1:02 AM PDT
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Alright it dosn't look like she knew about it anyway.

  • 05.15.2006 1:05 AM PDT
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Posted by: Spartan 28
I still think it's likley that Cortana may have found out about the Ark.


As do I but I dont think it was screamingly obvious to her. Perhaps the Forerunner use a diffirent system of co ordinates so when she saw the location of something called the Ark it's location wouldnt have looked familiar (aka Earth).

The location of the Ark in a forerunner database probably looks completely foreign to the location of Earth in a Human battlenet.

  • 05.15.2006 1:06 AM PDT
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Posted by: Pezza
Posted by: Spartan 28
I still think it's likley that Cortana may have found out about the Ark.


As do I but I dont think it was screamingly obvious to her. Perhaps the Forerunner use a diffirent system of co ordinates so when she saw the location of something called the Ark it's location wouldnt have looked familiar (aka Earth).

The location of the Ark in a forerunner database probably looks completely foreign to the location of Earth in a Human battlenet.


So what your saying is that even though she may know about the Ark, she may not be familiar with it's location. Is that it?

  • 05.15.2006 1:11 AM PDT
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Ya.

You wouldnt be able to read the word 'Monday' if it were written in ancient Mayan, same thing.

[Edited on 5/15/2006]

  • 05.15.2006 1:15 AM PDT
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I see.

  • 05.15.2006 1:18 AM PDT
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Cortana is a computer AI. She knows what she has access to (and then some depending on what she puts to her memory software). The only time she would have learned of the ark would be in HaloCE where she went into the control centers main computer. Even then, she may not have had the chance to learn of the Ark because the information was not present to her (due to the circumstances that were not present until the removel of the icon at the end of Halo 2).

Through my logic, it makes sense that Cortana does not know of the Ark because, at the end of Halo 2 she was not in Halo's computer system, she was in High Chairty's. And the times that she was inside Halo's computer system the information may not have been accessable to to circumstnaces at the present time. Which explains why she doesn't tell the Chief because, since a lot of the information she recieved wasn't stored in memory files, once she left the system, whatever didn't come with her she completely forgot that it was even there.

Cortana is, in a sense, a computer and her memory storage and realizations work as such.

EDIT: Cortana was able to understand the information that she did recieve because if you remember, she had said in HaloCE that she was recieving, "information, so much, so fast!" when she accessed Halo's computer (and she was also able to easily use the system to locate Captain Keyes). From this, you can "imply" that she understood the information she was given.

[Edited on 5/15/2006]

  • 05.15.2006 2:08 AM PDT
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After obtaining all the info Halo had, which was alot. Cortana put it in storage for later examination, it was all encrypted so it would have taken a long time to decrypt and make sence of it. In the book First Strike she is allways busy with something else, she didn't even start to decrypt it. She took over a covenant ship's battle net while there was another AI in there. In there she had to open doors, seal them, keep away the enemy AI and loads of other stuff, if she would have started to decrypt the Halo information she would have done too much and been overthrown by the enemy AI, and other stuff would have taken longer to do. I belive that in Halo 2 scientists took the information from her and started examination of it, as it was much info, finding something about an Ark in the middle of a buttload of new tech is of little concerne, especially if you haven't been on Halo. She accesd the flood very easily though, and the answer to that would be that the Flood was an obvious thing to the Forerunners and it didn't need any encryption. I bet that if there was a background in the halo computer it would have said "this installation is made for the containment of the utterly dangerous flood which shall not be released, or else the complete universe will be endangered, do not play games on it" so that is why she knew what halo was so fast

  • 05.15.2006 2:15 AM PDT