unforum

[Bellebet]

[Pure Spec] The Pious flea and other Literary Devices

[Kagehi Kossori]

There has been quite a bit of spec on the flea. Having just bought and read the first Halo book and being half way into the second, it occures to me that the flea 'could' be covenant and something similar to the small device that attached itself to the Iroquois and later shot its memory core loose into slipspace to report the locations the ship had been to, which unfortunately happened to be Reach. However, I am thinking more of something designed to latch on, then infiltrate the computer systems. This would be a good reason for it to be hiding and why the Operator was disturbed to see its footprints. Fact is though, we still don't know enough about the entities involved to say for certain what is going on.

[Anton P. Nym]

I've put a possible interpretation for the Flea here in the Wiki. Thanks for the memory-prompt, Kagehi Kossori; I've credited you there as the originator.

-- Steve thinks we may be onto something, but we need more evidence first.

[Thumper]

I think the Pious Flea refers to a character in the third novel, First Strike. I haven't finished it yet, so bear with me here...

When Cortana interfaces with the computer onboard the stolen Covenant Flagship, Ascendent Justice, she encounters a "presence", which she can only describe as a Covenant AI, which discretely probes and blocks her, but which she cannot trace. It seems she never discovers this AI, so it is either very small, or very effective at hiding. It also seems that the Covenant know of this AI, and refer to it as "Guardian of the Luminous Key" among other things. There are also references to this AI or presence as being "holy" throughout the book.

Could this AI be the "Pious Flea"?

[Roc]

Religion is a hallmark attribute of the covenant. Their name, their motivations (responding to 'intrusion' on 'holy' ground), the reference of their fight against Humanity as a Jihad, etc.

the Pious Flea is almost certainly covenant. Particularly given the new interpretation of the computer text on the Wiki.
It seems the Widow took a snap at the Pious Flea when they met.

[PhatRick]

Thumper, I think you are on to something. I Cortana could not find that AI then, there is no way mellissa will find it here.

[Thumper]

Read further into the book, and Cortana found the AI, and disassembled it line by line of code, but not before it alerted the rest of the Covenant fleet. However, she also copied the code as she erased it, so there is a copy of the AI in Cortana's bloated memory.

[PhatRick]

that sounds like it could lead to something bad. Could it reasemble itself in her. Oh wait isnt there an AI being reasembled now? hmmm...