I've seen quite a few posts about the origins of the mysterious crash-landed ship in the terminal on Halo Anniversary. But what has intrigued me more is actually not its origins as much as its atmosphere. 343 points out several atmospheric leaks after the ship crashed, and also states the leaking atmosphere is almost identical to Halo's (and Earth's) composition. Yet, in one of the final clips before the sarcophagus is complete, the leaking atmosphere changes, suddenly looking frighteningly similar to Flood atmosphere. He also states there were no known survivors, and no signs of life. But he expresses great remorse for not being able to investigate the crash site and attempt to communicate. However, 343 is quick to ridicule the shipmasters for a terrible landing... I agree with another poster here, had humans (ancient or modern) been aboard, he would have recognized them as he did with Master Chief in the first terminal. 343 also appears to communicate with a Covenant ship pursuing the Pillar of Autumn, so 343 should be capable of determining all currently known sentient life on board, yet he seems just as mystified by the ship as we are watching it. Also, 343 mentioned the ship was broadcasting a short-range distress signal; something was terribly wrong and help was not too far off. But in protecting Halo's location and preventing such a powerful weapon from falling into the wrong hands, he blocked the signal so no help would come. It is interesting to note that the symbols displayed from a translated segment are certainly NOT modern human, and nothing like anything we've seen from the Covenant. In fact, no one (as far as I know) has been able to recognize or trace these symbols to any faction, species or character in the Halo story or universe. Which also increases the strange mystery surrounding this ship. It would almost appear to be extra-galactic in origins...a possible shout-out to Halo 4?? Any thoughts on this would be awesome!