And I always assumed there was SOME AI presence on the Ark, but had assumed it NOT making itself seen defined it more as the Forerunner equivalent to "dumb AI" stuck IN system... Much like, the Superintendent... Speaking of... Stories we WANT to read... Where the heck is that little guy? What is THAT Huragok being used for?

: 1.) The novel clearly states that the Halos only work on SENTIENT life.
: Presumably this included at least the Gravemind, possibly the whole Flood
: presence. The whole point of drawing the Flood to the Ark wasn't to trap
: them there, because even Guilty Spark thought that was just the first step
: to the Flood leapfrogging to the next galaxy. I don't like that it only
: works on intelligent life - the idea that ALL biospheres had to be
: eradicated, and that the Forerunners could restore them, both heightened
: the scale of the Flood menace and the abilities of the Forerunners.

GAH, THANK YOU! That was another sticking point I had! It was quite obvious that the Halos killed ALL life... Now maybe before this novel there were other discussions of "Sentient Life"... I had just assumed Sentient was the target, all life was the casualties of war.

"More or less. Technically, this installation's pulse has a maximum effective radius of twenty-five thousand light years. But, once the others follow suit, this galaxy will be quite devoid of life, or at least any life with sufficient biomass to sustain the Flood. But you already knew that... I mean, how couldn't you?"

The explicit showing of other life... too much. HOW would you target Sentient? What constitutes Sentient? And if the Flood only feasts on Sentient hosts, it would be VERY interesting to see them hosting on NON-sentient (like in the comics/cartoon) and showing the audience how it affects the hive mind intelligence. Remember being IN Keyes' head while he turned? And when is the last time we had Grunt perspective?

"Weapons of last resort. Built by the Forerunners to eliminate potential Flood hosts, thereby rendering the Parasite harmless."
On top of the Flood ON the installations STILL being alive.. Other life on Halos? Evolved from non-sufficient biomass?

Any mystery is only as good as imagination... No one's imagination is the same... That's why horror works best when the danger is imagined. Just like intrigue of the Forerunner worked best when everyone had different ideas and discussions... and EVERYONE was right... AND wrong...