On the last page (page 4) of the Halo 3: The Cradle of Life comic there are three comic strip panels that can be clicked on over and over and/or dragged to reveal mysterious numbers. These numbers are as follows: Strip One - 206., Strip Two - 16. over 223., Strip Three - 65. These numbers were later discovered to be an IP address by Bungie.net forum goers. By typing http://206.16.223.65/ into the URL box, people would be linked to a website owned by Microsoft with a message saying that you do not have permission to view this page.
The IP address of the site has been traced to "Microsoft Way - Redmond, Washington."
Later in the evening, the website opened to reveal an alien looking website with the text:
The countdown website's first appearance.
Iris Initiated - Vio Transmit + 3 588 000
Searching Re-route...... /confirmed/
System Bypass In Progress. - Realignment Proceeding
000 000 000 000 Remaining
("0" represents the numbers in the countdown. From left to right, the four three-digit numbers represented days, hours, minutes and seconds.)
When bookmarked, the page will be named by default "Transmission Log." Nobody yet knows what the website is counting down to and it is strange that the countdown will skip numbers with the digits 7, 8 and 9 (for example, it will countdown like 32, 31, 30, 26, 25, 24, etc. It will also countdown like 102, 101, 100, 66, 65, 64, etc.). It is also strange that the "minutes" and "seconds" (and possibly "hours") columns of the timer start at the number "113." However, the digit skipping could be explained by the possibility that the timer is counting in Base Seven instead of Base Ten. If this is true, the timer is counting down to midnight on Thursday, June 21, 2007. June 21 happens to be summer solstice. A clear reference to this is made with the Stonehenge cromlech quoted on the Society of the Ancients website. The cromlech in United Kingdom is made to be aligned with the sun on the summer solstice.
(In the following series of text changes on the countdown website; "0" represents the numbers in the countdown. From left to right, the four three-digit numbers represented days, hours, minutes and seconds.)
The countdown website's second appearance.
The text on the website changed around midnight on June 14, 2007 to:
Rotate Transition Point /negative/
Local Interference - Negligible
/confirmed/ Realignment Proceeding
000 000 000 000 Remaining
The countdown website's third appearance.
The text on the website changed around midnight on June 15, 2007 to:
/confirm bounce alignment/
Confirmed - Alignment Request Compiling
Hibernation Resumed
000 000 000 000 Remaining
The countdown website's fourth appearance.
The text on the website changed again around midnight on June 16, 2007 to:
Transmission Interruption - Go Dark /negative/
Possible Intercept - System Bypass Imminent
/adjust bypass according to threat/ Fluctuating
000 000 000 000 Remaining
The text on the website changed again around midnight on June 17, 2007 to:
Iris Transmission Complete.
Awaiting Delivery
/time to awareness/
000 000 000 000 Remaining
The text on the website changed again around mid-afternoon on June 18, 2007 to:
System Breach.
Failure ##myqse7##rf
/report.................../
000 000 000 000 Remaining
The timer also sped up considerably. People say it's 17 seconds for every minute that elapses.
The countdown website's seventh appearance.
The text on the website changed again at midnight on June 19, 2007 to:
/system override/
Core Relevance 37% and Rising.
/negative - system control diverted
000 000 000 000 Remaining
At 1 PM Eastern Standard time the timer on the countdown website ran down to 0. It was shortly replaced by a much longer, much slower moving countdown. And then replaced later with a stationary countdown with the numbers '001 012 034 053'.
On June 19, the text above the countdown changed again:
/Systemic failure. Root cause unknown./
/ rebooting /
000 000 000 000 Remaining
The countdown has now stopped at 001 012 034 053. It is unknown if and when it will restart.
In the evening of June 19, all text disappeared from the page. All that currently remains is the still-frozen countdown timer:
001 012 034 053 Remaining
Mount Elgon Caldera.
BoonIsha at unfiction noted that the stopped countdown timer of "001-012-034-053," when treated as GPS coordinates 1.12, 34.53 result in a location in South Africa. Further investigation reveals that the point is in the middle of the largest caldera in the world, at the tip of Mount Elgon, also home to some "unusual caves," and not far from Voi.
On the morning of June 21, all notion of the time disappeared and it now redirects you to a new IP address. It redirects to: http://206.16.223.61/E5h2JK/flash/web/index.html and this site has a screen asking you if you live in North America or Europe, and asks for your birth date. After gaining entrance to the site, a flash animation appears and a Forerunner looking relic comes from out of a hallway and starts floating and spinning in front of you. The user has the ability to spin the relic in any horizontal direction. When you bookmark this page it is labeled as "Server 5 Open." This is almost definitely in relation to the five servers on the Halo 3 webpage. The relic is clearly Forerunner in design and upon further inspection, has the same symbol on its back as the one in the Iris page.If you click on some of the symbols, it allows you to download four different documents; two text files and two pictures. One of the symbols enables a flash animation.
June 23
If the image named "Slide_Ref070107" which has a possible date of 5 July 2007 is trying to link to something either happening on the site or could lead to another clue in the new books said to release in July. this may possibly be the release date or may refer to a certain date in the books "Four-Issue Miniseries Featuring All-New Adventures and Artwork Launches July 2007" this may be the next part of the Iris marketing campaign.
Message[]
THIS IS MY FINAL ENTRY, AND I AM LEFT WITH ONE HOPE
THAT ONE DAY, SOMEONE, ANYONE IS AROUND TO WITNESS THIS WARNING
[Just after this message blinks, it appears to be another message that is seen just for an instant, this hidden message starts with IF YOU ARE THAT WITNESS, AND IT SEEMS THAT WE PINNED ALL OF OUR HOPES ON THIS SINGLE SUICIDAL PLAN.] {//}
KNOW THAT A THOUSAND OTHER PLANS WERE TRIED AND FAILED [After this message appears, another hidden message appears, starting with MILLIONS OF BRAVE AND HONORED SOULS DIED TRYING TO AVERT THIS DESPERATE, TERRIBLE SOLUTION.]{//}
KNOW THAT ENERGETIC AND TENACIOUS AS LIFE IS
IT HAS AN ANTITHESIS JUST AS POWERFUL
IT IS THAT THING THAT WE MUST OBLITERATE
The hidden messages only appears if the symbol on the back of the artifact is pressed before pressing the symbol that starts the flash animation. During the video, an image denotes similarly to the misfiring of Delta Halo can be visible to the cutscenes. This could provide conclusive evidence that the relic is Forerunner in origin.
Sources[]
- http://www.halo3.com/comic/
- http://206.16.223.65/ (formerly the countdown website)