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[Astald]

I thought the weeks happenings told us that Herzog wasn't the Castaway. The Apocalypso picked up the Castaway in space, but about Herzog... well, I will just use your transcripts:

[eMouse]

What have we done?

[HalfMoon]

Aside from trusting or not trusting the Flea, I still have one big, nagging question about the little bugger:


What the heck IS he?

As far as my searching has revealed, we still don't know much about him, in a biographical sense. Everyone(meaning now Melissa+) else we've got a fairly detailed history of, even to an extent the original SPDR. But the Flea's origins are still a mystery.

[nobodyman]

[Rasputin42x69]

De-lurking here... (Gods, I wish I had gotten into this earlier...)

[mtb_man]

[Starblade]

This reminds me so much of my signature.

The Keeper is aware.
Melissa is aware.

The Keeper understands.
Melissa knows who she is.

The Keeper has seen the enemy.
She splotched the SP and reunited, or something, maybe rampancy.


Gee, ILB has a lot in common with Homeworld 2. Just something I noticed.


Anyway, I agree with the spec that the Flea is ONI. Makes everything fit into place, imho.

[thebruce]

[AlexofMaceidon]

Stay with me on this, I'm getting somewhere, but to get there I have to blacktrack to the beginning.

Why did SP call him the Pious Flea?

Pious is a religious affiliation, and thats covie not ONI...

I still don't trust him if he's covie.. and the truth seeking could be because he's Covie Spyware; the Truth he was seeking was information about his enemies... any information that was good for the war effort.

these assumptions fit perfectly with when he got rid of the SPDR. Don't tell me he's a newer SPDR, if that was true it wouldn't have taken him 3 times to get the wording right to get the SPDR deleted by the Op, if he was a real SPDR he wouldn't have needed more then 3 tryies. He tricked the Op into killing the SPDR, and don't ever let anyone tell you different.

But the problems arrise when PF starts HELPING our good guys. What motivation could he possibly have to help them if he's covie. He's suppose to fight them or something, thats how this whole war thing works right?

Unless PF currently has the same mission as Mel, he wants to get to his own time. If Mel gets back to the future (good movie, but irrelevant) I assume PF will be sly enough to sneak along too, thats just his nature. Once he's back, why not send a message to his covie buddies over at reach, giving his current location. EARTH. But to get back, Mel has to be in one piece, so he's been spending his time the last few weeks trying to !attach because he needs to repair Mel to get himself out of here, and to a desent form of communication.

Unfortunately, if I'm right theres nothing we can do about it. [metaly speaking] we if we did, no Halo 2, and then alot of people would be very very angry with us...

As for the artifact, thats why the covies dont' just glass the whole place, they need it back, so MC's mission will probably involve protecting it, after its shut off by our fair heros in ILB.

wow this got really really long, but it makes a strang amount of sence...

[Sunyavadin]

I think we can agree he was some sort of spyware. Who made him and his original purpose, however, I don't believe are as important as what he has gone on to do.

His core programming led to him 'beholding' the truth about the SP. Apparently he did not differentiate between one form of 'truth' and another. All that mattered was that he followed his programming. He was seeking truth, he had found a truth, now he had to reveal it.

Serendipity?

[Astald]

Pious means loyal. So to the SP, he was a loyal bug. So he could be spyware that exists for the soul purpose of satisfying his creator. If he was Covenant, he probably would have already got what he came for, the location of the Artifact. But he stuck around to help Melissa, and is trying to transmit information to a military AI in the future. The fact that Herzog used the same termonology as the seeker leads me to believe that it is his creation. That is just my take on this right now.

[ubersaurus]

Has anyone thought that maybe the Flea is a program developed by Dr. Halsey? She wanted to make things right from all the pain of the SPARTAN program...maybe one of these steps was using the Flea to make the AI remember who it was.

[chaotic_mind]

I think it's time to update the first post with the questions that've come up in this round.

Once again the answer to the questions will be my answers, feel free to dispute them.

*Why Ilovebees?

I know of no satisfactory answer to this question. I like the speculation mentioned in this thread by nobodyman that it has something to do with the experimentation conducted upon her.

Still, the connection is tenuous. This one remains unclear.

*Why Jersey Morelli?

This one, on the other hand, seems to have a clear connection.

Durga is a virtual copy of Melissa, Melissa knew Jason Morelli, Jason Morelli is the father of Jersey.

The damaged Durga may've wanted to find something familiar and comforting.

Kamal is obvious as the most familiar...but he doesn't seem the most comforting.

But, the relationship between Jason and Melissa is not very well defined. It seems Melissa was charmed by Jason, but what did Jason feel. Why did he use the charm on Melissa?

Also, Jason's role in the wider saga is very ill-defined.

I don't think we should expect that Melissa memory of her encounter with Jason will ever be fleshed out, but it's something to look for this Sunday.

*What is the Flea?

There are two perceptions of the Flea that need to be reconcilled.

One holds that Herzog created/used/introduced the flea to Melissa.
The other holds that the Flea is Covenant spyware.

Unfortuantely these two views seem to both have evidencial support, though both is circumstansial.

The Princess named the Seeker allegorically as the Pious Flea. He displays extreme adapatiblity coupled with an unwillingness to change without necessity, a Covenant trait. In the early stages he seemed dumb, like the SPDR, but didn't speak in computer code. This would seem to seperate him both from human programs and AIs.

On the other hand, the Flea fits Herzog's style of operation. Though, of all his methods, it does seem the most blatantly illegal. Though it's very circumstancial, the way Herzog talked about the seeking and beholdind in last weeks .wavs suggest that he's got some connection.

Either one of these is true, or both.

And if both are true, Sunday promises to be a difficult day for us all.

*What caused Melissa's odd behaviors before the Apocalypso found the artifact?

It's widely assumed that some sort of virus or malware inserted onto Melissa's system was causing the problem. The only malware (or what could be malware) we've seen is the Flea.

But what if the references to Melissa's odd behaviors was actually incipient rampancy. Rampancy halted by the ilovebees crash, but a rampancy that resumed after their respective SPDR's repaired them.

Me, the theory that resonates the most with me is that Melissa was going rampant before she found the artifact.

What does that means for Durga and Melissa+ after everything is said and done?

We shall see.

Luke P.

[mbgNarnian]

Just as a note, I think that "pious" could refer to Herzog's sense of morality as easily as it could refer to a Covenant connection.

It could also refer to both, as some have mentioned, which would be... unpleasant.

[chaotic_mind]

Looks like none of the questions presented by the pre-wide awake and physical I love bees website have been answered.