So, Halo Fans, I’m sure you all have noticed that this has been a very interesting couple of weeks. The newest tease was a simple timer, at least until the clock hit 00:00 this morning. Even before that happened, this mysterious site made history, as Halo Fans around the world actually read the Terms and Conditions! As I’m sure many of you know, these terms refer to an upcoming contest, with the grand prize winners getting their faces in Halo 5!!! Unfortunately, you have to be 18 or older to enter. It seems that although the powers-that-be think it’s okay to train six-year-olds to become soldiers, it’s not okay for underage Reclaimers to enter a simple contest. But I digress.
There was more than just a simple Terms and Conditions related to the countdown timer. Over 20 domain names have linked to various aspects of the site, if you know where to look. Thankfully, many people have already discovered some, and a few of the things that popped up are listed here. The results have fascinating implications, especially for those Halo fans who are familiar with the novels. Warning: Spoilers Ahead.
One of the mysterious links held a conversation between Dr. Halsey and her personal AI, Jerrod. The conversation, from the novel Ghosts of Onyx, references a mysterious crystal found on Reach in the previous novel First Strike. The transcript is below:
“Good afternoon, Jerrod.”
“Good afternoon, Dr. Halsey,” the spark replied in a formal British voice. “Although technically according to my internal chronometer it is morning.”
“There have been a few temporal anomalies since we last spoke,” she said.
“Indeed? I look forward to the explanation, ma’am.”
“So do I,” she murmured.
After an alien artifact and combat in warped Slipstream space had distorted space-time. Dr. Halsey wasn’t so sure precisely what time line she belonged in. Quantum paradoxes that once seem a quaint mental exercise were now a part of her reality.
“How may I be of service?” Jerrod asked.
Dr. Halsey smiled at the simple AI. Although she often thought of Jerrod as a toy, it was a fully functional micro-AI. The experiment had been initially to see how long a budding smart AI would last in a constrained processor-memory matrix. The theoreticians at Sydney’s Synthetic Intellect Institute calculated its life-span to be a matter of days. Jerrod, however, had fooled the experts at the “Double S.I.” It had rapidly
grown but then stabilized within its pea-sized cell of memory-processor crystal.
Jerrod would never be a tenth as brilliant as a real “smart” AI like Cortana, nor even as smart as a traditional “dumb” AI of unlimited proportions. But he had a spark of creativity and -Yoink!-, and despite the stuffy butler persona he had adopted, she liked him.
Jerrod had one other feature uniquely suited for Dr. Halsey’s purposes: portability. Other AIs required an institute, a starship, or at the very least a full set of MJOLNIR armor to function.
Unsurprisingly, this crystal was some sort of Forerunner artifact that distorted both space and time. You heard me correctly; the forerunners could alter time. It wasn’t time travel; at least, if it was, no being alive knew how to use it. In general, the crystal caused a lot of- well, interesting things to happen, from manipulating the time Chief and Cortana got back to reach to totally screwing with slipspace. Eventually, the crystal was destroyed to keep it away from the Covenant; however, this only partially succeeded, as they were able to salvage some shards from the wreckage.
Why am I explaining this?
My friend (the one posting this for me) and I were texting the other day, and this happened:
Him: I’m wondering what’ll happen when the time ticks down to zero on the 6th…
Me: Tht convo with halsey and jerrod was in ghosts of onyx
Him: Ah… Weird
Him: U know, I wonder if they are gonna make this whole #huntthesignal thing canon… Would certainly break the fourth wall, or introduce time travel XD
Me: OH MY GOSH U R A GENIUS
Him: I am??
Me: THATS EXACTLY WHAT THIS IS
Him: I mean, I AM! 
Yeah, of course I knew that…
Me: IM NOT JOKING THIS IS LEGIT
Him: Wait, legit??
As you can probably, tell, I’m pretty excited at this point. Pardon my deplorable spelling and grammar.
Him: U are kidding, right?
Me: NO! Okay, so that convo between halsey and jerrod was talking about how it was technically morning/afternoon/whatever rt??
Him: Yeah… And a disruption in space time— OH MY FLIPPING CHICKEN NUGGETS
Him: They are pulling a DR WHO on us XD
Me: THERE IS A CANON TIME TRAVEL FORERUNNER STONE OF MAGICALNESS
Me: AND THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT IT IN THAT CONVO
Him: 0.0
Him: mind=blown
Him: Now that I think about it, the forerunners and for them to have NOT invented time travel yet would be weird
Me: THE STONE MUST HAV SENT CONVO BACK INTO OUR INTERNET
Him: Wow… #fourthwallgoesboom
Like I said, fascinating implications. Obviously, there are a couple things I overlooked in my excitement. The stone had been destroyed by the time the conversation in Ghosts of Onyx took place, but as the conversation implies, the effects of the crystal’s power still influenced the time-space continuum. It is not impossible that certain conversations and transmissions (such as what popped up this morning) were being sent who-knows-where. At least one shard of that artifact is still at large, after all.
Of course, the main argument against this theory is a simple one: we are just being delivered a small piece of the Halo Universe as if we were living in 2559. That seems to be how the Audio Series “Hunt the Truth” is running. I would agree, except for one thing: The Contest.
“Hunt the Truth” is something we listen to, yet “Hunt the Signal” seems to be something we interact with to influence the story in some way. After all, the winners are going to find themselves in Halo 5! If they are going to make this canon, and I admit, there is a chance they won’t, but if they do, it isn’t impossible that this is some sort of time travel. Ordinary 21st century humans hunting down a signal from centuries into the future, and finding, what? I wonder. We’ll have to wait and see.
The other argument against this theory is that the focus is not on the stone at all, but Jerrod. The AI is featured in other links to huntthesignal.com, and this excerpt is one of the first real descriptions of him. Could the reference to the artifact be nothing but a mere coincidence? Possibly, but it’s simple existence is still fascinating.
Even if I am completely wrong, and the crystal has nothing to do with all this, rest assured that this artifact is not gone for good. I know this is a crazy theory and more than a little bit “out there.” One thing is clear: this stone has not vanished from the Halo universe entirely, and who knows? We might see the Chief travelling through time at some point in the future.
After all… We all like crazy. 
-Eagle
Submitted by GamR X 24 on Behalf of an Anonymous Friend, “Eagle.”
