Just thought I’d point out that in one picture you have labelled “Artificial Canal,” whilst in the other it reads “Artificial Channel.”

No big deal, but I know that you like to get things as precise as possible.

just one comment though about the location of the space elevator and why it is in Mombasa. i have read in numerous books that if and when a space elevator is to be constructed, due to the earths rotation, the elevator must be built on or close to the equator. The reason is to do with the movement of the elevator and the stress put upon the tether, i believe the least amount of stress would be if it was built around the equator. the only thing is Mombasa is a little north of the equator it actually goes through Tanzania which is south of Mombasa, anyway I believe it is still a plausible reason for the location chosen.

I hadn’t realized that Mombassa was so far south down the coast of Africa. If so, there’s something of a flaw in Bungie’s design. Space elevators must be placed as close to the equator as possible, since the centripetal force of the Earth’s rotation will drive it out at an angle anywhere else on the planet. To function, New Mombassa’s cable would have to be placed at an angle that no real engineer would want to deal with.

Also, if we can assume that the explosion caused by the slipspace jump is what caused the tether to fall, then we have another scientific error. While a perfect tether would be carefully balanced so that the weight of the massive cable would be countered by the centripetal force exerted on the tether, so that sum force exerted on the structure’s base would be minimal, there would still be an imbalance, some net upwards force so that the tether would be kept straight by the Earth’s rotation. If so, then an explosion which damaged the base of the tether would not cause the cable to fall over and impact with the ground (as we see in Halo 3), but instead would cause the entire cable to shoot up, out into space!

Then again, slipspace is impossible. Mankind (and other species) must have figured out how to bend the laws of physics by this point! Never mind, Bungie, it’s all good.

Could this be ONI Recon 111? (Remember the game’s original title and that line of dialogue from Tsavo Highway?)

I also have a theory for this Maddie character and a motive for the Rookie to visit the space tehter.

Theory: After Regret’s ship jumps, the citizens of New Mombasa are evacuating via the space tether (similar to what was seen in the events of Contact Harvest). Maddie is somehow important to the Rookie and he is trying to rendezvous with her before she evacuates. Either that or Maddie could be the AI responsible for the operation of the space tether and getting said citizens off the planet.

That may be extremely far-fetched but it is, after all, a theory.

Cheers!

A few thoughts:

- Since Master Chief will potentially be in the city just before the time of its destruction, could there be either a sighting or a link-up at some point? (A-la the Wraith battle in Halo 2 Metropolis)

- Who is Maddie? Just a quick segment on that: There seems to be some specualtion on this subject, from a washed-out Spartan 2, to the little girl from HGN mentioned above. By the way, has Bungie ever said one way or the other whether the characters from ilovebees could be included in canon? It would be awesome if Maddie was one of the Spartan 1.5s or knew their whereabouts. Or is Superintendent going rampant? (unlikely due to the fact it is a dumb-AI)

- Just a side note: The modern map of Mombasa shows a very centrally-located Haile Sellasie Avenue, Sellassie of course being the Ethopian king who withstood the Italians in World War II, in a losing battle similar to the one humans face against the Covenant.