Epsilon

Epsilon was an artificial construct used by the Special Operation's program Freelancer. Its assigned agent was Freelancer Washington, later known as Recovery One.

The Epsilon Incident
Epsilon is a fragment of a "smart AI". Artificial constructs were all subject to a number of algorithms to ensure stability, but these procedures failed to predict Epsilon's eventual rampancy. Alpha was tortured in order to 'fragment', resulting in extra AIs for Project Freelancer. Each was not a full AI, but an aspect of Alpha's personality. The last thing that Alpha fragmented was its memories, as it would otherwise have been driven insane by what it had experienced. These included memories of other AIs, as episode 6 of recreation confirms. These memories became Epsilon. Unfortunately, Epsilon proved unable to cope with the memories and entered full rampancy. Worse, this happened while it was inside its host, Agent Washington. The construct's rampancy caused Washington to become temporarily insane, as he was unable to differentiate the AI's deteriorating thoughts from his own. The incident caused the board of directors to supposedly terminate the use of AI implantation out of fear of a worse incident arising. This caused future agents, namely South to miss out on the program. He was revealed in chapter 16 of Reconstruction to have been removed from Washington and then taken back to Freelancer Command. Wash also revealed that he gained all of Epsilon's (and therefore Alpha's) memories as a result of the incident, and now has full knowledge of Project Freelancer's experiments. This is also why he no longer trusts AIs; for fear that his knowledge would be discovered and eventually reach command (which would likely result in Wash being imprisoned or killed).

During the Epilogue of the Reconstruction series, Caboose is seen, apparently about to attempt to implant Epsilon into the body that Tex once used, but throughout Relocated he is seen fiddling with Epsilon, along with Tex's body and the destroyed ship, finally seen in Part Four with parts from the ship, Epsilon, and Tex's body, stating that they "can be together...forever." In Recreation, Caboose is again seen modifying the parts, to little avail, even going so far as to light himself on fire. He is also seen telling Epsilon stories of the events of "The Blood Gulch Chronicles," because, as Caboose claims, Epsilon enjoys being told stories, and even makes an odd humming sound when spoken to. In Chapter 4, Catching Up, Caboose reveals to Donut his intentions; to use Epsilon, parts from Tex's body, and parts from the ship "to make a new super best friend," although he has had little success.



Caboose is seen taking Epsilon to the Red bases secret Holo-Chamber, upon hearing of its existence by Donut. Inside the chamber, the container opens revealing Delta, which Epsilon explains as him talking a form which had expressed reliable information in the past. Caboose asks if he could take other forms, Epsilon explains he could, if they were in his memory banks (such as Delta, as Epsilon had detailed memories of his fellow iFrag, leading a few to believe he must have been the last to eject from the Alpha). Epsilon then suggests that Caboose heads to the desert where Tucker was last spotted, noting an energy spike there he could use to create a new body. Caboose agrees, and Sarge and Grif are convinced to join him.

Caboose inserted Epsilon's AI program into a new body, a Forerunner Monitor, and it has since assumed the character and attitude of Church.

Epsilon-Church


In Relocated, Caboose held onto the AI hoping to create a new "best friend" from Tex's body and the Sheila AI he had scrounged from the downed Pelican in Valhalla, but with no success. During his attempts he told Epsilon stories about his last few years with the Blue Team. Due to Caboose's total lack of reality, however, the stories were skewed and incomplete.

After several unsuccessful attempts at creating a new "best friend" he decided to make use of the Red's new HoloRoom to work on his project, in Recreation. It was in there, after sneaking past the Reds, that Epsilon used the HoloRoom to create an image of Delta (an AI Caboose was familiar with) in order to communicate a plan it had to Caboose. Epsilon stated during its talk with Caboose that it was able to take on any form and/or character of any individual in its memory.

Epsilon asked Caboose to investigate the message that Donut delivered to the him earlier about a distress beacon from Tucker, which Caboose agrees to. When the Red's discover Caboose in their HoloRoom, Sarge and Grif volunteer to join him in order to get the Blues noticed and put back in Command's database (Simmons deleted all references to the Blues in the database during Reconstruction per Sarge's orders) and to rescue Tucker.

Upon arriving at the coordinates that Donut gave them, Sarge, Grif and Caboose enter a minefield and consequently destroy the jeep in trying to get out. The team that is currently working at the dig site are very secretive and only allow them just enough time to fix their jeep. Grif notices as they look for parts that all the jeeps in the are seem to have their radio's pulled. When Caboose looks for it himself, he tries to integrate Epsilon into the jeep. As always, Caboose winds up getting the team into trouble with C.T., the leader of the dig team. At that moment the dig team members are attacked by Tucker and he covers Sarge, Grif, and Caboose as they head into the pyramid at the dig site. Inside Tucker brings the team up to speed on C.T.'s plans for the weapon stored in the pyramid, but Caboose wanders off and starts looking for parts.



When Tucker, Sarge, and Grif finally find Caboose, he has installed the Epsilon AI into a Forerunner Monitor and it has taken on the personality of Church. It is soon apparent that Epsilon-Church has the attitude and character of Church, but none of his memories other than those supplied by Caboose's stories which were wrong, like that Tucker was Captain Flowers back from the dead; Grif was wearing yellow armor also thinking that his name is spelled with two F's; and that Sarge is a pirate and captain of a ship. He is also still learning about his new body and is unable to fully control it.

Epsilon-Church still maintains the acerbic and sarcastic attitude of Private Church as well as his character of always taking charge. However, due to lacking the experiences Church had at Blood Gluch which led to his angry and world weary attitude, Epsilon-Church seems to be slightly more selfless and optimistic. Soon after being activated he lost control of his body, and drifted around, he dealt with this, but while trying to turn on his long-term memory, he instead shut off his short-term memory. It was turned back on when Caboose meleed him.

In episode 17 he realizes he can levitate objects such as boxes and crates, and in episode 18, he kills an alien with one such box. He is later disabled by Jones and grabbed by C.T and after a long chase is stopped by Tucker, yet seems to also destroy Epsilon. Later C.T. has Tucker cornered atop a forerunner structure at gunpoint, Epsilon comes to the rescue and shoots C.T. with his "laser face", having seemingly remembered how to use it. Tucker then asks Epsilon Church to "shoot the yellow guy", but he's not too sure he can do it again.

In Revelation, Epsilon is being worshiped by the aliens, and is slightly abusing the power. He then starts having memory flashes, including a vision of Valhalla and a dark figure entering the Blue Base.

In Episode 4 of Revelation, Epsilon/Church rages at the sight of Agent Washington, firing a laser in the process and blocking an entrance to the remaining reds and himself. He then starting panicking about them "Finding Her", shortly before shutting down. It is believed that Epsilon/Church had gone through horrible experiences with Washington, explaining its/his anger at seeing the latter. It is also unknown why he thinks that Washington will "Find Her", much less why Wash discovering "Her" would be bad.

In episode 6 of Revelation, a memory of the Delta AI tells caboose the Epsilon is looking for a specific memory. He also notes the Epsilon may restart a cycle and "that must not happen". Delta also reveals that the rest of the AI are with Delta, yet Epsilon must not know of their presence. This could mean that the Alpha AI (who was seen in the Recreation trailer as Church) may have escaped with the other AI fragments and is now trying to recomplete itself.

Later, Epsilon manages to get himself and Caboose past FILSS, who mistakes him for the Director. He and Caboose enter a room filled with identical Churches, though whether or not these are robots, clones, or even the copies from Sidewinder is unknown. He then reveals he has been looking for something in a metallic box which has cold air escape it when it opens. In Revelations Chapter 9, it was revealed to be Tex. After Tex soundly defeats the others, including Tucker, she is sudddenly hit in the head by the deactivated Monitor shell of Epsilon-Chuch, who is revealed to have downloaded himself into a new Church body.

Other

 * Epsilon is revealed to be stored in Freelancer Command in Episode 15 of Reconstruction instead of being deleted, and is removed from storage by Washington.
 * Epsilon was able to send flashes of images to Church while he was merely standing near the A.I. towards the end of Episode 15 of Reconstruction. Because of its connection with the Alpha, its contact with Church allowed him to remember several of his former memories; memories that Epsilon witnessed.
 * He is revealed to be Alpha's memory by Agent Washington, with its fall to insanity the aforementioned result of the tests performed against it in the past.
 * Epsilon can be seen in the introduction to Part four of Recovery One during a flashback, while Washington is reminiscing about the incident
 * During Reconstruction & Recreation Epsilon is represented as a portable gravity lift, but from Chapter 14 of Recreation onwards he is represented by a Forerunner Monitor (the Monitor in Forge mode of Halo 3).
 * Because Epsilon is Alpha's memories, Epsilon-Church can be seen as a back up copy of Alpha-Church as the two are nearly identical. Burnie Burns even said in an interview that they were the 'same person but separate'. However, Epsilon-Church seems to be slightly more selfless, stating in Chapter 15 that if they don't stop C.T that "those guys out there are going to kill alot of people", and that he can't allow that to happen.
 * In Episode 4 of Revelation, Epsilon had panicked about 'They'll find her'. Meaning Tex.