The Audio Logs are terminals that contain in-universe information scattered throughout the Halo 4 campaign.
Dawn[]
Spartan John-117's service record[]
Location: After exiting the Cryo, there are a set of stairs on both sides of the walkway. The audio log is down those stairs and back where the cryo tube would be above.
Note: Although the Pillar of Autumn is a cruiser, the service record misclassifies it as a frigate.
Transcript:
- System: "This is the service record for Spartan John-117. Would you like to continue?"
- System: "Frigate Pillar of Autumn discovers Forerunner Halo Installation 04 and deploys Spartan 117 to protect UNSC AI Cortana. Chief uncovers a Covenant plot to fire the weapon, and sacrifises the Autumn to destroy the Halo ring."
- System: "Pursuing the Covenant flagship after an attack on Earth, Spartan 117 arrives at Installation 05 to find the Covenant erupting into civil war. After preventing the Covenant from firing the ring, 117 followed them back to Earth in search of a Forerunner installation that could activate all the galaxy's Halos."
- System: "The Covenant arrive at Earth, and open a portal to the Ark, an extragalactic Forerunner installation that can fire the Halo Array. Spartan 117 unites a joint Covenant/UNSC team to pursue the Covenant to the Ark, where he succesfully destroys the Installation and prevents the rings from being used."
- System: "When Spartan 117 attempts to escape from the Ark aboard the Forward Unto Dawn, the slipspace portal that the ship is passing through collapses."
- System: "Aboard the aft section of the dawn, SPARTAN-117 is placed into cryo sleep pending recovery by UNSC forces. A.I. Cortana to remain active as long as is technically feasible. End of service record.""[1]
System check[]
Location: Near the very beginning of the level, right in front of the hologram of the Forward Unto Dawn.
Transcript:
- System: "Weapon systems online."
- System: "Gravity controls online."
- System: "Ship propulsion offline."
- System: "Bow hull integrity compromised."
- System: "Life support online.[1]
Requiem[]
Cortana's origin[]
Location: At the very beginning of the level, this audio log is in the wreckage that houses the dying Elite. Right behind that Elite on the far side from where you enter is the audio log.
Transcript:
- Unknown voice: "Catherine Halsey Research Excerpt, 11 February 2550."
- Halsey: "The interesting factor here isn't that H-1 disabled the viral termination code I had implanted in her matrix. These metrics imply its success wasn't just unlikely, but that even the accepted 7-year life cycle estimates may not apply."
- Halsey: "Thus far, I've determined that the unique circumstances of her creation have triggered what I can only refer to as a recessive variant in the A.I seed."
- Halsey: "As her architect, I'm currently at a loss as to the origin of the development of this rogue element. Very curious."[2]
Covenant's motivations[]
Location: Located on the top of some Covenant wreckage near a dying Grunt. Note: All dialogue in this Audio log is spoken in Sangheili, and translated into English by Cortana.
Transcript:
- Cortana: "Non-believers walk the sacred ground. Purge the heretics, so they not foul the air of Paradise. The time has come to enter the Great Light. The Promethean awakening is nigh, our reward is at hand."[2]
Didact[]
Location: In on another piece of Covenant wreckage near the beginning of the level.
Transcript:
Infinity[]
Infinity Shipwide Waypoint Network[]
Location: On the console in the point where the first and second hallway meet in a T-shape after you pilot the Mantis. It is on the left side of the hallway close to the end.
Transcript:
- System: "Infinity Shipwide Waypoint Network currently offline."[3]
Difficulty Processing[]
Location: On the console to the right of the above console. Closest to the end of the hallway.
Transcript:
- System: "Welcome to the Infinity Shipwide Waypoint Network. For more information concerning-I'm sorry. We are currently having difficulty processing your request due to the high amount of-"[3]
Maintenance Request[]
Location: On the left upper catwalk in the hall right after the Broadsword maintenance area, but before the elevator door. It's right near the first mech construction area.
Transcript:
- System: "Maintenance requests concerning the Mark 10 Macedon Z-PROTOTYPE Forerunner engine cannot be processed at this time."[3]
Sub-Vessel Bay[]
Location: On the opposite catwalk from the above console. This one is located near the farthest mech construction area.
- System: "Sub-vessel deployment bay is currently off limits to unauthorized personnel. Please see the local Deck Officer for further assistance."[3]
Shutdown[]
Wargames[]
Location: First room overlooking the hanger that contains one Marine, the audio log is located on a computer terminal right in front of the window.
Transcript:
- Announcer: "Wargames simulations. Offline."
- Announcer: "Come back later."
- Announcer: "Combat deck information offline."
- Announcer: "Killing spree postponed."
- Announcer: "Spartan wargames scoreboard not available during departure."
- Announcer: "Return later for more red versus blue carnage."[4]
Composer[]
Activation Index[]
Location: In the room where two Hunters are fought, there are numerous containers located to the left side when you enter. It is the container closest to the door.
Transcript:
- Tim: "OK... Specimen 2006..."
- Tim: "Artifact is believed to be the Activation Index for Gamma Halo, based on anecdotal information from Alpha and Delta Halo mission logs."
- Tim: "Key component in the activation and firing of the Halo weapon, a few of us have been speculating lately if it has secondary and tertiary purposes as well."
- Tim: "Theories still forthcoming."[5]
Icon[]
Location: In the room where two Hunters are fought, there are numerous containers located to the left side when you enter. This is the container that's the second closest to the entrance.
Transcript:
- Dr. Tillson: "Specimen 815, though that's a bit misleading as we've been seeing these things all over the Halo."
- Dr. Tillson: "Icon is similar to other Forerunner glyphs, with the noted exception of a strong, vertical extrusion."
- Dr. Tillson: "Going to send this to Linguistics but... I don't know. My gut's telling me there's something else here."[5]
Specimen 1534[]
Location: In the room where two Hunters are fought, there are numerous containers located to the left side when you enter. This is the second to last container.
Transcript:
- Scientist: "Specimen 1534. Initial suggest an imaging component, perhaps a piece of some large device or possibly a vehicle of some sort."
- Scientist: "Reticular hazing also implies use as a beam focuser: could have done double-duty as a weapon sight."
- Scientist: "Passing off to SPEC-WAR for further testing."[5]
System-wide outages[]
Location: In the room where two Hunters are fought, in the container that's the farthest from the entrance. It is also located in the open area where the Mantis' can be found.
Note: This log can be activated in a number of locations.
Transcript:
- System: "I'm sorry. We are currently experiencing system-wide outages. If you require immediate assistance, contact Infrastructure, 048."[5]
Halsey's observations[]
Location: A data pad on a desk, behind a window at the back of the room where two Hunters are fought.
Transcript:
- Halsey: "Catherine Halsey, personal observations - December 15, 2554."
- Halsey: "While the survey crews examining Gamma Halo may be what pass for experts at ONI now, they are woefully out of their league for a task of this scale."
- Halsey: "There has been one startling discovery, however."
- Halsey: "One of the teams stumbled upon a device remarkably similar to the AI Matrix Compiler currently in use by the UNSC."
- Halsey: "Seeing as how I designed that particular compiler, this finding, needless to say, has piqued my curiosity."[5]
Phosphorous Test[]
Location: Located out in the open, this audio log is in front of a rock to the right of the Composer.
Transcript:
- Scientist: "Phosphorous Test 72. We had some luck yesterday breaking the connection between the artifact and the surrounding terrain."
- Scientist: "I'm going to see if adjusting the elemental density... what the hell was that?"
Ceased transmission[]
Location: In the open area where the Mantis' can be found. Located on the far side of the area by a Forerunner spire.
Transcript:
- Tim: "This is Tim Pherson. Sandy asked me to make an addendum to the last observation log on Specimen 1101."
- Tim: "We're still going over the logs, but we now believe the transmission stopped emanating from the artifact approximately 0900 on the 21st."[5]
Artifact test[]
Location: In the open area where the Mantis' can be found. In front of a group of rocks on the see-through floor with a marine standing right in front of it.
Transcript:
- Scientist: "Fourteen Thirty One hours. I don't know what's happening topside, but I was in the middle of rerunning the Gilwood-Elman Tests and the artifact started..."
- Scientist: "I don't know WHAT it's doing. Rerunning the sensor leads now."[5]
Something big[]
Location: In front of the terminal, near some crates and equipment.
Transcript:
- Scientist: "Something big's happening outside the station."
- Scientist: "I'm initiating a full redundancy cycle on the chromatics data, but in the event it doesn't go through, I'm going to store a hard dump of the same in the #31 Maintenance shed!"[5]