CEA:Terminals
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
- "Are you ready, Reclaimer? This is how my story begins."
- — 343 Guilty Spark in the Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary terminals teaser.[1]
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary features a Terminal accessible to the player in each level. Unlike the text-based terminals of Halo 3, the Anniversary terminals feature animation, music, sound effects and narration by 343 Guilty Spark and a handful of other characters.[2] The terminals also have connections to the story of Halo 4 and The Forerunner Saga.[3][4] After the player accesses a terminal in the campaign levels, the terminal can be watched in the game's main menu, in the "Extras", similar to the Theater function in Halo Wars.
The graphics and audio for the Terminals were produced by The Sequence Group,[1] while most of the writing was done by 343 Industries Managing Editor Kevin Grace.[5]
Just like skulls, terminals cannot be seen or accessed in Classic mode.[6] They can be seen and accessed on any difficulty and in Co-op mode. Once unlocked, the terminals can be viewed via Halo Waypoint. Starting from Series 7, Halo: The Master Chief Collection allowed unlocked terminals to be viewed from the Extras menu.
The Terminals[edit]
Campaign level: The Pillar of Autumn (video-guide)
The terminal is one of the computer consoles located on the left side of the Autumn's bridge. All of the console's screens flash "INCOMING MESSAGE" in red, and a crewman is standing beside it instead of manning the console.
| “ | The discovery of Halo becomes even more mysterious when the Pillar of Autumn receives a very familiar greeting. | ” |
[044657.04.21.21.34.56]
The screen of a communications terminal on the UNSC Pillar of Autumn's bridge is shown. The screen experiences graphical glitches, then changes to a Forerunner map of star systems in the local area of the galaxy.
- 343 Guilty Spark: "Warning! By order of Ecumene Council, proximity to Installation 04 is forbidden."
The seven Halo rings are shown on screen. The fourth ring is highlighted. The ring's location is indicated in a cluster of stars.
- 343 Guilty Spark: "Your continued presence will result in most unpleasant countermeasures. I must insist that you immediately change course and return to a minimum safe distance of one light-year."
Zoom into the highlighted area of space. The UNSC Pillar of Autumn is shown to be well inside the 0.5 light-year radius of the exclusion zone around the installation. The ship is circled by a red line, and a 30-second countdown begins.
- 343 Guilty Spark: "This has served as your one and final warning."
Guilty Spark begins to scan the structure of the Pillar of Autumn.
<Pillar of Autumn - Data Acquisition
1345.99.331.1 - 1390.33.124.6
Remote Access Limited>
- 343 Guilty Spark: "I have activated defensive systems, and you now have thirty seconds to return to the minimum safe distance of - wait. Curious..."
Historical data taken from the Autumn's systems are briefly displayed: a group of prehistoric humans around a fire, a citizen of ancient Greece, the Egyptian pyramids, a shot of an 18th-century city around the time of the Industrial Revolution, a soldier in World War II, an atomic bomb blast, Neil Armstrong standing on the Moon, the International Space Station, humans testing an unknown device (possibly a fusion reactor or Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine), an orbital defense platform, and a SPARTAN-II.
- 343 Guilty Spark: "Curious, indeed! After all these years..."
SUSPENDED
CLEARED
The lock-on circle surrouding the Autumn changes from red to green.
CONFIRMATION
4-000002
CLEARED TRAJECTORY
A trajectory for landing on the ring is displayed.
WARNING
YOUR TRAJECTORY HAS NOT BEEN ADJUSTED
PLEASE LOCK IN NEW TRAJECTORY
Spark analyzes the Mark V MJOLNIR armor, as well as its human occupant.
- 343 Guilty Spark: "Greetings, humans, and welcome to Installation 04! Ignore prior warnings, and please continue. I have disabled defensive systems to allow your approach, but you must not exit your ship once you have arrived at the designated landing center. This ring contains significant dangers, and even with your assumed legacy, I must verify the presence and pitch of your geas before allowing full access. We have much to discuss, humans."
343 Guilty Spark himself appears on-screen.
- 343 Guilty Spark: "I have been away far too long. You have been away far too long."
Campaign level: Halo (video-guide)
Near the start of the tunnel, you will come across a ledge leading to the next section. If you carry on the route rather than make the jump, you will drive past a small alcove. The second terminal is located at the far end of this alcove.
| “ | In the aftermath of a terrible sacrifice, careful plans are laid for the Halo Array. | ” |
[000003.09.12.06.54]
The Ark, intergalactic space. 343 Guilty Spark flies through a large asteroid field. Several Halos are orbiting the Ark.
- 343 Guilty Spark: "I am experiencing such a mixture of anticipation and dread. All preparations are complete for my installation. In accordance with the final dictum of the Ecumene Council, I have released myself of all remaining connections to my former station."
Guilty Spark is inside a Forerunner structure, gliding down a dimly lit hallway.
- 343 Guilty Spark: "This was not difficult. What was could never be again. We had seen to that quite thoroughly."
Six monitors of various colors converge on the center of a large round chamber, decorated with a glyph on the floor.
- 343 Guilty Spark: "Prior to my final journey through the great portal, a gathering of my fellow monitors was convened upon the Lifeworkers' crèche to distribute the final Index collection."
Fade to a different scene. Several armored Forerunners stand in various places in the chamber. Guilty Spark enters the room and flies toward the other monitors.
- 343 Guilty Spark: "It was most unusual to have this vessel of rebirth play host to such an event, even though Lifeworker ships were the only ones still allowed slipspace permissions. Lifeworkers were responsible for getting us to our places on the active facilities of the Array. While all of this was in accordance with the plan, one entirely unsatisfactory breakdown remained. We had no contact with the Domain."
A yellow monitor faces a Forerunner. The Forerunner bows his/her head, as if unhappy with what is to come. Guilty Spark moves on and flies into an adjoining chamber, where he meets 049 Abject Testament.
- 343 Guilty Spark: "The history of all Forerunners was now lost to us. We relied upon the permanence of the Domain to preserve our record of the events that led to this point. But without that record, would future civilizations know anything about us? Or only of our weapons?"
As Guilty Spark narrates, the view shifts through several different locations: a Forerunner planet emblazoned with glyphs, large Forerunner structures in an unknown location, a forest with a large Forerunner building rising above the treeline, two Forerunners watching a ship outside a large window, an unknown starship, and two Forerunners standing in a city. One is smaller than the other, possibly being a Manipular.
- 343 Guilty Spark: "My fellow Monitor, 049 Abject Testament, had only one comment on this before we went our separate ways."
- 049 Abject Testament: "We deserve to be forgotten."
- 343 Guilty Spark: "Perhaps...perhaps."
A massive slipspace portal opens in the space above the Ark, and