- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
You don't know Cortana has been tortured or is in pain. Firstly, it's a promo piece that she's narrating. Think about how much they changed the last annoncement trailer before Halo 2 began! In the trailer, the Earth was being overrun, the Earth's spacefleet was being decimated. The truth, however, was exactly the opposite.
Secondly, the screaming you hear may be signal degradation. If she's really transmitting across half a galaxy as some people think she is (Personally, I think she's just narrating like in any good story) there's likely some astronomical phenomena that would mess up the signal. Notice how she comes through more clearly as she continues speaking.
Oh yes, and we also don't know if High Charity is capable of opening a slip space event. It's power core just left with Master Chief in it. It could be that there's enough power left in the engines to make one last jump... but Miranda... if she has any brains at all isn't going to allow that. Seriously, she'd be bringing the flood to Earth.
[Edited on 7/23/2006]