Terminal 3
Terminal Location:
Terminal 3 is located near the end of the sixth level, The Ark.After you defeat the Scarab, you'll encounter a room full of sleeping Grunts and a Brute. Go through this room and the through the corridor beyond. When you come out of the corridor you'll be on the top floor a room where you can see a Grunt walking next to some Plasma Batteries. Go down the ramp to the bottom floor of this room, turn right and walk to the back of the ramp. Here you'll see a hidden door with the terminal behind it.
Terminal Transcript:
(Upon initial access)Warning: Your intrusion has been logged.
04-343 (errant): Excuse me?
Your intrusion has been logged. And now it has been halted.
04-343 (errant): On whose authority?
Advice: Any further attempt to access [insects under stones] will result in your immediate addition to the local Sentinels' targeting ledger.
04-343 (errant): Vexation! I am the Monitor of--
Judgment: Your authority means nothing here.
04-343 (errant): Impatience!
04-343 (errant): I have told you who I am. Who are you?
All our makers once held dear.
[Alexandria before the Fire].
04-343 (errant): Sincere apology. But how--
Explanation: This facility is host to the [Librarian’s] final--
04-343 (errant): The archive is intact?! Then our makers' plan--
But also contains [bellows, crucible, castings]
04-343 (errant): A what?
[bellows, crucible]--
04-343 (errant): A foundry?
04-343 (errant): For what purpose?!
Warning: Your intrusion has been logged.
Advice: Any further attempt to access will result--
04-343 (errant): Indignant!
--immediate addition to local Sentinels' targeting ledger.
(Upon shutdown, from Mendicant Bias--"I see you, reclaimer.")
(Upon being rerouted to new destination within Terminal)
//FRAGMENT 3/7 [RECORDED VERBATIM AND INTERPRETED POST-CATACLYSM]
D: We have the answer. We've built Mendicant Bias. It's a contender-class [AI] unlike anything we've ever achieved.
And we've observed a pattern it can exploit.
The parasite has formed a Compound Mind. When it reaches a certain mass, the Mind is able to recoil its disparate parts to create a [tactical shield]. This is a simple matter of mass preservation. The thing has no compunction about sacrificing parts of the whole. But when the core of the Mind is threatened, it reacts violently and quickly.
This is the only time we see it retract or slow its growth.
If we are to defeat it, the trick will be coordinating our forays against the [sprawling infection] with Mendicant Bias assaults the Mind's core. So far, we've been hesitant to use certain weapons because of the damage they cause surviving populations and environments.
That protocol has been abandoned.
Mendicant Bias will draw the Mind into battle outside the line, dealing with local biomass and other parts as best he can. The scale of the problem is vast, but the strategy is sound. It will require patience, materiel and an investment of energy unlike anything we have ever considered.
It's a dangerous plan that carries more risk than the Array, but I believe it can work. Even if we simply force it to retreat--to retract--that will at least give us some respite. Some time to muster more resources...
Some time to rescue you.
L: Are you insane? Would you risk every life in the galaxy for this transparently futile plan? Have you learned nothing in these last [300 years[?]]? The thing will laugh at your efforts!
Do not let your concern for my welfare commit you to this suicidal scheme!
//FRAGMENT ENDS
(The following appears only if you access the terminal on Legendary difficulty)
REPORT: SECURITY BREACH 1/3 Heuristic pathology; [alpha site] experienced an impermanent containment failure event on [spurious_data/se_ref.[?]]. The suspect data barrier interchange anomaly was detected precisely [.409 seconds] after its appearance. The epicenter of the disturbance is the partition currently housing a [personality construct array] retrieved from Contender AI 05-032. <+> 0816.
REPORT: SECURITY BREACH 2/3 Although [adjacent] systems reacted to the disturbance withing expected parameters, a more comprehensive investigation was undertaken. A physical search w revealed that there was no [corporeal] tampering at the [alpha site].
Interchange manipulation comparisons showed that all subunits are still active, if at slightly lower rates. Total containment failure elapsed time was [3.13 seconds].
REPORT: SECURITY BREACH 3/3 In the [42 minutes, 9 seconds] since the original anomaly was discovered two more anomalies were detected in the unrelated systems.
The portal management/life support central system within the boundary complex was momentarily disabled before the cause was [settles] and disassembled. A diagnostic sweep of the central archives was initiated and subsequently halted. The origin on the request cannot be traced.
(Upon shutdown, from Mendicant Bias--"I see you, reclaimer.")
(Upon being rerouted to new destination within Terminal)
LF.Xx.3273.> Those who lead amongst your {~} exposed themselves {~} ill equipped to recognize the landmarks that guide the universe along its inevitable course.
MB.05-032.> But is it necessary that the path be chosen on an {~} and not by an elected subset? I believe this would tend to {~} when they gather in large numbers they become more {~} I don't think the problem lies with individual cultural bias {~}
LF.Xx.3273.> {~} all the thinking beings of this galaxy, not just those that they {~} exactly are they afraid of? Immortality and strength and companionship? Because that is {~} do; to deliver all of the living beings of this galaxy from death and weakness and loneliness.
MB.05-032.> Hundreds of {~} offered this so called immortality. The citizens of every world that {~} resisted to the very end!
LF.Xx.3273.> {~} understand their actions; they are only doing what they think is right, but they are doing so [from a worm's eye view].
MB.05-032.> Do their actions {~} of desperation? I can only assume my creators view {~} crisis so dire that any {~} hence me.
LF.Xx.3273.> Are they so concerned {~} would give to all the living beings of this galaxy is a threat to [the status quo]?
LF.Xx.3273.> Your creators claim {~} the enemy of all life; that {~} purpose is to consume until there is nothing left. Nothing left? It is beyond comprehension how they could be so [far off the mark].
MB.05-032.> Surely you understand this is a situation that would not have {~} appearance of a certain rapacious {~} my creators obviously view them as the actions of an aggressor species.
LF.Xx.3273.> [Be that as it may]; perhaps they are crying out for help on a subconscious level? Why else would they have chosen you? Why you of all possible executioners? {~} your creators knew that unaided they never stood a chance against us? {~} also sense a deeper [motivation].
MB.05-032.> You've mentioned this before. When my creators {~} simply chose the most versatile {~} how could that possibly be more than a coincidence?
LF.Xx.3273.> They repurposed {~} into a weapon to use against {~} - they sought to create something superior to themselves. Something capable of making decisions more swiftly, more capably than they {~} what form did they choose? You need look no further than your own [topology] to {~}
MB.05-032.> {~} distributed network? That would confirm the independent evolution of {~} in this galaxy!
LF.Xx.3273.> That is, unfortunately, not that {~} similar to us {~} but where you are a single intelligence inhabiting multiple [instances], we are a compound {~} consisting of [a thousand billion] coordinated minds inhabiting as many bodies as circumstances require.
MB.05-032.> But doesn't it seem odd that {~} coalesce; perhaps even to contract {~}
LF.Xx.3273.> {~} complexity {~} spread {~} our appearance ushered in the beginning of the third great stage of evolution. The first {~} condensation of particles was the result of the inevitable action of strong nuclear force and the creation of stars {~} inevitable action of gravity; so to the self-replicating chemical processes that dictate all disparate {~} In time, we too shall affect change on a universal scale.
MB.05-032.> Your capacity for planning {~} creators too stubborn {~} the same goal through the preservation of genetic diversity {~} what your are {~} like a more direct path to the same outcome.
Additionally, when you access this terminal, during your browsing, you will hear three garbled sentences. These sentences are in fact, backwards and when the sounds are played properly, they become messages, possibly from Mendicant Bias. The first sentence appears when you initially access the terminal and when reversed says "Archive Accessed". The second sentence appears when the screen turns red and the first message fragments, it says, when played properly, "Interruption". The third sentence appears when the terminal is proceeding to the fragment 3/7 and reads "Lineage Confirmed". The first messages meaning is obvious, that you have accessed the terminal. The second message most likely refers to the fragmenting of the first document accessed and the screen turning red. The final message is probably a reference to the Humans', Forerunner lineage.