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[Vegechan]

[SPEC] Durga = Pious Flea

[WhiteGulls]

The flea starts out with "Survive Evade REVEAL Escape", if I remember correctly. Then, it turns into "RESIST" after a while. I'm checking the wiki right now to see if I can provide a link, but I think that's what it does. So, if Durga's conversation is in the future, then what caused the change from RESIST to REVEAL, and back again. And, also, why isn't the Flea talking in normal english, like Durga does in the conversation. There's also links in the conversation that say that Durga is Melissa, as well. Waking up, staying awake, wide awake, and so on.

Oh, and the Op's Monolouge has the "Survive Evade Reveal Escape" in it, as well. So it's more likely to be Melissa as opposed to The Flea right now. There's just a too many little things that don't seem to add up in my opinion, for Durga to be the Flea.

[Scumbag]

Perhaps the Flea's coding says to RESIST until it discovers what it needs in a hostile network, then switches to REVEAL when it finds its commanders?

Resist until your spying is done, reveal when it is done.

[Heresiarch]

SERE in it's original form "Survive Evade Resist Escape" comes from an army manual. It's a part of Melissa, unaltered by the flea. As the flea influences her, it gradually changes to "Survive Evade REVEAL Escape," then finally to "SEEK Evade REVEAL Escape."

That Durga says it right (Melissa never does--her first mention is already partially corrupted) indicates that Durga is totally free to the flea--not that she is the flea.

[SecondSundodger]

[Son of a Beep]

I still think the pious flea is some kind of covenant AI. It's incessant probing for information and handshakes with the princess show its spying nature. How the pious flea came with the Princess to ilovebees, I dont' know.

It's also stated in the book "First Strike" that the covenant AIs are similar to human ones, but not as "smart" which could mean they're lacking the personality that melissa, cortana, and durga display. That's why the flea is still on a command line basis.

There's also the name of the pious flea.
Pious defined here-

[Vegechan]

I've been thinking about this theory some more and have a revised one. I've been thinking maybe Durga is some type of fusion of Melissa and the Flea. I don't think Durga is Melissa because the "personality" doesn't quite fit. People have also said that they don't think it's the Flea for the same reason. The flea only seems to understand basic English, and things like that. But, I think Durga seems to be a perfect match if Melissa and the Flea where combined. That would explain why Durga doesn't remember everything about herself, might be a side effect from the fusion. I think the Pious Flea is a Covenant AI. The definition fits nicely. I think it's one focused on spying and recon though. That would explain it's obsession of revealing the truth and waiting. Also, Durga likes "finding things out". A side of the Flea showing it's self. I think after Durga finds out a lot of information and eventually repairs, that it transmits to the Covenant, giving away Earth's location.

[Vegechan]

Sorry for the double post, but here is a very organized version of my latest theory on this. I posted this on Bungie.net:

"Now we know there are multiple "AI"s making ILB their home. We have The Operator, The Pious Flea, and the Sleeping Princess. We know that Melissa (a.k.a. The Operator) is now taking orders from The Pious Flea. We also know how to distinguish who is who on ILB. Usually anything in small text in the Flea. He usually talks almost in code, and seems to have a basic understanding of English. This brings me to the first part of my theory, and I am sure many people have pointed out before.

I think the Pious Flea is a Covenant AI specialized in collecting data, spying, and recon. I am not sure if someone has posted this exactly before, but here is a definition of Pious:
pi·ous
adj.
-Having or exhibiting religious reverence; earnestly compliant in the observance of religion; devout.
-Marked by conspicuous devoutness: a pious and holy observation.
-Marked by false devoutness; solemnly hypocritical: a pious fraud.
-Devotional: pious readings.
-Professing or exhibiting a strict, traditional sense of virtue and morality; high-minded.
-Commendable; worthy: a pious effort.
We know the Covenant are a very religious alliance, so the name pious would be very suiting for one. Also notice at some of the text the Flea has. It's usually very obsessed on finding out and exposing the truth. It's also usually stealthy. This isn't the main part of my theory, but is a crucial part.

My main theory is that Durga is some type fusion between Melissa and The Pious Flea. I've heard theories that Durga is Melissa and I originally thought Durga was just the Flea, but things don't add up. The personality of Durga doesn't match either Melissa or the Flea, however fits quite nicely as a blend of them. Here are some examples:
- in the audio file "Escape" Durga recites these words, in order: Survive, Evade, Resist, Escape. The flea is seen many times saying this on ILB. It looked like this:
Survive
Evade
Resist
Escape
- One of the things the SPDR wanted Melissa to do as it was repairing her was to delete the Flea because it was of foriegn origin and didn't belong. The Flea then took over Melissa and deleted the SPDR. It seems the Flea will do anything to survive and will eradicate anything that endangers it's life. Something Durga likes to do as well. Anything that was close to deleting it or finding out to what it was (the NAVY sentinels). A personality trait both the Flea and Durga have in common.
- The Flea doesn't seem to speak along exact the same as Durga. Durga has a better comprehension of English then the Flea seems to have. Well, so does Melissa. If Melissa and the Flea where to fuse, then it's result would be able to communicate easier and have a better grasp of the english language.
- Here is a link (http://www.ilovebees.com/yellowbrickroad.html) to a conversation The Sleeping Princess had with the Flea. If you translate what it's saying you'll notice again, it's obsession of finding things out and how quickly it does. It constantly probes and wants to find out and reveal the truth. Something Durga likes to do as well. As heard in many of the audio clips containing her.
- Durga's voice is primarily female. However there is something wrong with her voice. Almost as if it was ghosted or something. As if something else was there. I think this might be the result of the fusion between Melissa and the flea as well.
- I think Durga has lost her memory as a result of the fusion. A fusion between a Covenant AI and Human AI might have that sort of effect. After all, when Cortana first took in all of the Halo's information from the control room she was overwhelmed. Imagine if you had an entire different personality inside of you. Wouldn't you have trouble figuring out who you are?

The last part of my theory is that Durga eventually finds out a lot of information being connected to the hackers computer pad. By attaching itself to a hacker's computer it has access to a lot of Earth's information. Especially with what that kid could do. Eventually Durga remembers who it is and informs the Covenant of the location of Earth. With all the information Durga now has, and with it being in the inside, it could be very useful in the Covenant invasion. Perhaps even Durga hacks the orbital guns and deactivates them. The fleet that was left when Masterchief destroyed the Unyielding Heliophant (probably spelt wrong) could not survive all the Orbital MAC guns giving Earth defenses. I think this is all setting up the stage as to how the Covenant found Earth, and how it invades.

So, that's my theory in a nut shell. I am really interested into seeing what you guys think about it. If you know any flaws in my logic, or know something that proves me wrong, don't be shy to let me know. Any criticism is good criticism in my book."

[Kagehi Kossori]

How then do you explain Durga existing 'before' the AI ended up back here? The flea wasn't even in the picture then.

I would say odds are better that Durga is SP or an early version of the AI that was SPDR, Melissa and SP, as some people have speced that the three where at one time the same. At some point Melissa went awol, possibly during training, when special encryption was still in place to prevent her from altering her own design (or even before recieving a name), having no clue who she was, but already having all the skills of a hide-n-seek type AI, she found her way onto another system. What happened between then and when she got renamed Melissa...

Now, as for other matters. AIs are known to be able to encrypt and shut down parts of their own self. Cortana did this when her ethical routines and other part started to interfere with needed mission parameters. So, for some reason Melissa seals off all the ethical and other 'non-essential' parts of herself. Later the crash happens and the SPDR starts mangling the operational AI in the process of repairing it. Possibly the Flea is already there and manipulating events, but SP, due to the damage is still encrypted and now perhaps entirely severed from Melissa, or close to it. The Flea pokes around and starts decrypting SP, but being 'part' of Melissa, SP has some of the same features (like the SERE protocol) and is no longer entirely asleep, but she seems more creative. It is like Melissa is the logical part, while SP is the clever part, so SP breaks loose and goes into hiding, evading the percieved threat. The flea, now has only one target it can deal with and realizing that SPDR has spotted it and that Melissa is finally more awake, it slips in manipulates Melissa and she nukes the SPDR, believing that it is now not simply repairing her, but deleting her memory (which may still have been archived some place and not ready to be reintergrated). I.e. 'repair first', then worry about the AI remembering less critical data. Had the Flee not interjected and changed Melissa's core purpose to 'reveal', Melissa would have never had a reason to kill the SPDR.

[grimcat]

[sheeps]

in AI world the flea seems like he's a guy..

But then again, there could be no rhyme or rhythm.

[Kagehi Kossori]

[grimcat]

[voipme]