unforum

[Wandering_Angela]

Who is the Pious Flea?

[Avery1415]

There's a bit of logic here that has a hole in it that you could drive a bus through.

We are assuming the flea is hostile - and it seems to be, at least to Melissa's stated goals. We know the Covenant is hostile. Ergo the flea must be covenant.

It makes sense, but there's that bus, the one that ran over the Apocolypso's captain. Are we going to assume the bus driver is also Covenant?

No, we know whose handywork that was and they are quite terran. So why are we assuming the Flea isn't also one of their spys?

[Nova]

[Avery1415]

[Astald]

I've been toying with that spec a little as well. That the flea may be a spy for some organization, maybe Herzog's. Then it would make sense that he built those axons, because they resulted in a connection to the future, which could just be the flea trying to report back. I am still unsure why it would have connected to Durga though. But the truth the flea could be looking for is what was covered up by the murders (flu) of the original Apocalypso crew.

[slacktron]

Here is the evidence for "Pious Flea as Covenant":

Memory Block 10 -- Virus, where Melissa picks up a virus piggybacked on a Covenant signal they were monitoring.
If you check out phase 3 from the above page, you can see the Flea's battle with SPDR, where he evades, then masquerades as the SPDR with a later version (SPDR-5.14.77) and has Melissa delete the older one (SPDR-5.14.3).

And since we're all speculating here, what do you think the Fleas' real purpose is?
According to the Cole Protocol, designed to protect the coordinates of Earth, all ships encountering the covenant must:
1. Activate selective purge of databases on all shipbased and planetary data networks.
2. Initiate triple-screen check to ensure all data has been erased and all backups neutralized.
3. Execute viral data scavengers. (Download from UNSCTTP://EPWW:COLEPROTOCOL/Virtualscav/fbr.091)
4. If retreating from Covenant forces, all ships must enter Slipstream space with randomized vectors NOT directed toward Earth, the Inner Colonies, or any other human population center.
5. In case of imminent capture by Covenant forces, all UNSC ships MUST self-destruct.

It appears the Pious Flea was designed to get as much information as possible and transmit it before the Protocol is completed.

Thus, I humbly submit that Pious Flea is using Melissa to discover that this is indeed the Planet Earth and transmit these coordinates to his Covenant masters.

How long would a radio transmission take to reach Covenant space? 500 years?

[FreemanCorporeal]

[Avatrix]

Reversal of roles

[Shad0]

Re: Reversal of roles

[MeKiwi]

Shad0, I think this is brilliant. In fact, I think I can add more spec to your spec and have it work out nicely together...

[ALL SPEC]

1. Durga is an AI sent by whoever is performing the murder/coverups (ONI?) and is out to find Melissa. That's why Melissa/Flea are supressing the voices from Durga (as you said).

2. Herzog's Flea is the one creating the mirrors and reflecting information searches... acting as a sort of firewall. Durga runs queries on Melissa and is reflected to bees, etc.

3. [wild spec] It's even possible that Melissa was infected not with a Covie virus but instead a Forerunner virus -- SP. This hybrid AI might be what ONI is after and is keeping so secret. Whatever caused the timetravel also knocked the Melissa/SP combo out of commission and the SPDR repaired Melissa to original specs (or somewhat close) and that's why Melissa wants to lock up the SP but not eliminate her. (Shad0, this would also explain the Stormy Weather connection we talked about here.)

[Nuriko]

Has anyone tried to !attach or !grope the flea? I wonder how that would turn out.

[MeKiwi]

[Atoner]

[MeKiwi]

[Howdareyou]

Whoa. That's some deep stuff, and now the flea having SERE as a security measure makes sense!