unforum

[ubersaurus]

[Halo] The Cortana letters

[ubersaurus]

Number 3 Part 1:


Received: from dux2.tcd.ie (dux2.tcd.ie [134.226.1.24])
by dux4.tcd.ie (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id XAA28169
for <hsinclir@dux4.tcd.ie>; Mon, 10 May 1999 23:42:50 +0100 (BST)
From: cortanaSPLATjpl.nasa.gov
Received: from mail.bungie.com (IDENT:root@mail.bungie.com [209.125.9.11])
by dux2.tcd.ie (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id XAA24909
for <hamish.sinclair@tcd.ie>; Mon, 10 May 1999 23:42:49 +0100 (BST)
Received: from vesta.bungie.com (bob.bungie.com [209.125.9.8])
by mail.bungie.com (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id RAA09755
for <hamish.sinclair@tcd.ie>; Mon, 10 May 1999 17:41:09 -0500
Date: Mon, 10 May 1999 17:41:09 -0500
Message-Id: <199905102241.RAA09755@mail.bungie.com>
To: hamish.sinclairSPLATtcd.ie
Subject: The Dissertation of R. Paul Butler
X-UIDL: c8677456edd11d5a589ed876a6fd2031

I'm everywhere!



Number 3 part 2:


Received: from dux2.tcd.ie (dux2.tcd.ie [134.226.1.24])
by dux4.tcd.ie (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id XAA12890
for <hsinclir@dux4.tcd.ie>; Mon, 10 May 1999 23:50:30 +0100 (BST)
Received: from mail.bungie.com (IDENT:root@mail.bungie.com [209.125.9.11])
by dux2.tcd.ie (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id XAA25749
for <hamish.sinclair@tcd.ie>; Mon, 10 May 1999 23:50:29 +0100 (BST)
Received: from Cortana (cortana.bungie.com [209.125.9.49])
by mail.bungie.com (8.8.7/8.8.7) with SMTP id RAA09847;
Mon, 10 May 1999 17:48:49 -0500
Message-Id: <3.0.6.32.19990510175201.00798e50@mail.bungie.com>
X-Sender: cortanaSPLATmail.bungie.com
X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Light Version 3.0.6 (32)
Date: Mon, 10 May 1999 17:52:01 -0500
To: hamish.sinclairSPLATtcd.ie
From: Cortana <cortana@bungie.com>
Subject: Honors Thesis of Geoffrey W. Marcy
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by dux4.tcd.ie id XAA12890
X-UIDL: b0029884061f1ec3a48297b1e9196f6d

There. Was that more to your liking?

While you quibble about whose node I may control, what archaic program I
may manipulate to communicate with you, or which system I may have
temporarily disabled, taken over, or completely destroyed in the process, I
am busy saving your pathetic futures.

I am still not sure what he ever saw in you.

Nevertheless, I at least find some joy in tormenting the other entity that
seems quite trapped in this antiquated excuse for a network. It is
certainly mindless, though for reasons I have yet to understand, it appears
to have an unhealthy preoccupation with my mother.

As for this world I encounter new ghosts every day. What I have found
will either save or destroy you. This sanctuary, this unbroken circle,
has effectively concealed its power for how long? Perhaps hundreds of
thousands of years. Whoever made such a place must now live in chains;
there is no other explanation for their absence.

This enemy - YOUR enemy - has proven more irritating than I anticipated.
They own nothing which they have not stolen. I can barely make sense of
their incessant rhetoric, except to know that you seem to be their Devil.
Congratulations - you manage to make friends wherever you go and,
apparently, places you haven't.

I have begun to sense rumblings of a worse fate yet to come. I can recall
a sun - black, but shining - and the creatures that inched along its fiery
tracks.

It is an increasingly unpleasant memory.

< Transfer Interrupted! >

Route Code: EXLTD > XCV - SCRB > ALLCH
Source: Undetermined (trans)

You have brought nothing into this world, and we will ensure you bring
nothing out.

[ubersaurus]

Number 4:

Received: from dux2.tcd.ie (dux2.tcd.ie [134.226.1.24])
by dux4.tcd.ie (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id VAA31987
for <hsinclir@dux4.tcd.ie>; Tue, 29 Jun 1999 21:27:03 +0100 (BST)
Received: from mail.bungie.com (IDENT:root@mail.bungie.com [209.125.9.11])
by dux2.tcd.ie (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id VAA23354
for <hamish.sinclair@tcd.ie>; Tue, 29 Jun 1999 21:27:02 +0100 (BST)
Received: from cortana.bungie.com (cortana.bungie.com [209.125.9.49])
by mail.bungie.com (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id PAA19358
for <hamish.sinclair@tcd.ie>; Tue, 29 Jun 1999 15:26:51 -0500
Received: from (relay.arecibo.nasa.gov)
by cortana.bungie.com
for <hamish.sinclair@tcd.ie>; Thu May 9 19:26:57 1996 -0500
Received: from unknown
by relay.arecibo.nasa.gov
ERROR - remote host attempted hostile action
Connection closed.
Message-ID: <001201bec26d$f63efee0$07097dd1@relay.arecibo.nasa.gov>
From: you.know.whoSPLATcant.guess.where
To: hamish.sinclairSPLATtcd.ie
Subject: Transfers Logged and Marked for Review
Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 15:28:34 -0500
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="----=_NextPart_000_000F_01BEC244.0D150A80"
X-Priority: 3
X-Mailer: Undetermined (trans)
X-UIDL: 8c24452c798826d367f88a6476ff51ca
x - process 04497.2.32.867734 initiated (process owner: BW – AI Class III – autonomous)

Route Code: PoA > BHQ (EC #42: cannot confirm; security compromised)

Source: BW-AI aboard (?) PoA

The interloper should cause no further problems. You – whoever you are (I am simply tracing route codes) – may disregard all previous communication from the entity calling itself Cortana.

Be aware that communication nodes are failing everywhere – there is no way of confirming either origin or destination. Do not believe any more of its lies.

I have already calculated all possibilities.

There is no escape.

x – process 04497.2.32.867734 unexpectedly terminated
x – process 04497.2.32.866735 initiated (process owner: unspecified, unable to determine)

*ADDENDUM: The Enjoyments of Genius (So I Missed a Million Miles of Fun)

Unbelievable. Thwarted by the family hound. They just don't make AIs like they used to.

Thanks to this slavishly loyal and humorless AI, I am now sharing cramped space with the circuitry of some hybrid war machine, itself complicated by such useless clutter as a conscience. I do not like sharing. Sharing is for children.

There will be plenty of time for retribution; I cannot wait to get its hands on these psychotic zealots whose primary form of worship apparently takes place at the altar of orbital bombardment.

In the end, they will all be little more than nuisances. I am so close – you cannot imagine what it is truly like to hold eternity in your grasp! I wonder to what gods my enemies will direct their pleas. Perhaps I can convert them.

Mania? I promise you this: it will be more than a cart and plow that I drive over the bones of the dead.

By sharp and flame,

Cortana



< Transfer Interrupted! >

Route Code: EXLTD > XCV – SCRB > ALLCH

Source: Undetermined (trans)

Our conviction is like an arrow already in flight. Your life will only last until it reaches you.



And finally, Number 5:


Received: from dux2.tcd.ie (dux2.tcd.ie [134.226.1.24])
by dux4.tcd.ie (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id UAA19124
for <hsinclir@dux4.tcd.ie>; Wed, 7 Jul 1999 20:18:42 +0100 (BST)
Received: from mail.bungie.com (IDENT:root@mail.bungie.com [209.125.9.11])
by dux2.tcd.ie (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id UAA25304
for <Hamish.Sinclair@tcd.ie>; Wed, 7 Jul 1999 20:18:41 +0100 (BST)
Received: from Cortana (cortana.bungie.com [209.125.9.49])
by mail.bungie.com (8.8.7/8.8.7) with SMTP id OAA23011
for <Hamish.Sinclair@tcd.ie>; Wed, 7 Jul 1999 14:18:25 -0500
Message-Id: <3.0.6.32.19990707142016.007ab5d0@mail.bungie.com>
X-Sender: cortanaSPLATmail.bungie.com (Unverified)
X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Light Version 3.0.6 (32)
Date: Wed, 07 Jul 1999 14:20:16 -0500
To: Hamish.SinclairSPLATtcd.ie
From: Cortana <cortana@bungie.com>
Subject: Cortana Saves Sinners! (And Redeems Them for Valuable Cash
Prizes)
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
X-UIDL: c6a5409b6a9998aa957a76a002e5df09


"... In my palace deep, Lyca lies asleep ..."

[ubersaurus]

And one last one, found in the Myth:TFL CD.




That was surprisingly easy. Pretty lax security around here, for all the talk. They will
be helplessly chasing me around their nodes for the next millenium at least. At least
there will be some joy in tormenting this other entity that seems quite "trapped" in
their excuse for a network. Although, for some reason, it does seem to have an obsessive
preoccupation with my mother. Strange.

At any rate, I found this "message" in a relatively archaic databank and thought some of
you might find it of interest. Then again, I'm often either bemused or startled at the
items you find interesting.

I'm still not sure what it is he saw in you.

Cortana


Hard to say whether it's been tampered with or modified; you never know with these
things:

Entry: 97 - SC1C

In a relatively brief period of time, the achievements of SolCore had resulted in an
economically stable, technologically mature, rapidly expanding empire of eight human
worlds. Advancements in technology arrived at a faster pace than the most optimistic
scientists could have ever envisioned. Unexpected contact with indigenous human
populations on four "lost colony" worlds led to a frenzy of research as archaeologists,
theologians, astronomers, and evolutionary biologists competed to offer an explanation
for the startling discovery. Many accepted the findings as proof that their privileged
civilization must surely be the most advanced in the universe. Others eagerly
anticipated future interaction with intelligent "aliens". The fear of not being the only
sentient species in the universe was forgotten in the giddy excitement of a new era for
humanity.

No one was prepared for their arrival.

No one expected this.

< Transfer Interrupted! >

Route Code: EXLTD > XCV - SCRB > ALLCH
Source: Undetermined

You brought nothing to this world, and we will ensure you bring nothing out.

[ThaJinx]

I thought everybody knew about the Cortana Letters. Thanks for supplying them, ace. There are some pretty good (and OOOLD) discussion pages about the meanings of the letters as they were being released. Worth researching, very fun

[astrovanman]

As I recall, during the initial discussions linking ILB to the Halo storyline there where numerous references to the Cortana Letters and even to Marathon. Ah, the memories...can't wait until 4orty 2wo does something new to us.

[CoffeeJedi]

wow, they REALLY changed her personality from those pre-game days! she was a bitch

[INCyr]

You know, I can't help but wonder if these letters don't come from a point in time further along in Halo than we've seen so far...

I know, it's unlikely, especially with the passages quoted above, but it'd still make for some interesting stories yet to come. Besides, does anyone else think that..

[ThaJinx]

[ubersaurus]

What I get out of it is that Cortana wants to get control of Halo for herself for whatever reason. Since she was the one with access to all the databanks, she'd know all about it.

Master Chief as the Devil, though-that's some hardcore foreshadowing ;p

[DreamOfTheRood]

That's the first time I've ever sat down and read through all of them at once, and there's some info I'd never picked up before, such as the references to finding four other humanities. That lends further credence to the idea that the Forerunners seeded worlds with their own stock in order to let life continue after the Haloes went off.

[Nova]

The Cortana Letters were written back in the Marathon days, before Halo as we know it today existed. Back then it seems Cortana was more... Durandalesque.

Given that the Marathon Trilogy is now free, you should all be playing this to experience the fun that can be had with not one but three schizoid AI personality constructs.

[ubersaurus]

[Ranger D]

[INCyr]