Marathon secret hunters hit their first gold mine: Spooky terminals, a hidden website, and a Durandal audio log

If there was any doubt that Marathon would be Bungie’s new canvas for community puzzles and ARGs, let it go, because the community has already stumbled into a doozy. Terminals linked to Marathon (the ship) on Perimeter have suddenly awoken, and they’re pointing toward a spooky audio log seemingly left by Durandal, the rampant AI from the original Marathon series.

These terminals, as far as I can tell so far, are sharing scraps of info about the Cryo Archive, the upcoming fourth map that’s supposedly similar to a Destiny raid. As shared by Reddit user Ok_Fold_1268 (and others), terminals that were previously inoperable on certain compounds in Perimeter now display a map marker that points toward a second terminal.

I took a Rook shell into Perimeter and followed the clue shared by Ok_Fold. In the back hallways of the main South Relay building, I found this first terminal with the insignia of the Marathon ship. It was making a distinct clicking sound, almost like a fax machine.

(Image credit: Bungie)

The map on screen points toward a spot in the middle of Data Wall. It’s a fairly direct route from South Relay: down the green hatch outside Relay, through Tunnels until it spits out into the outside of Data Wall. Head in, go up a level or two, and look for this secluded, dark hallway not far from Hauler.

In the crevice is another terminal, this one playing a looping security feed of what appears to be the Cryo Archive on the Marathon ship. Speaking over the footage is who players believe to be Durandal, the rampant AI. He says the following:

“What do you do when faced with something you cannot understand? When your mind is screaming at you to run? You reach out, yes. You conquer. But do you even understand why?”

I would’ve taken a beat to contemplate those words, but I only had a few minutes to hoof it to an extract.

Folks believe this is just one of several similar clues hidden on Perimeter and possibly other maps, too. This one was found by chance, but the community has also traced an IP shown in a Bungie social post to a website: www.cryoarchive.systems/cargo. Bungie has since linked to the site directly in a follow-up post.

That website looks like this:

(Image credit: Bungie)

A total of 10 camera feeds are seen, all seemingly depicting areas of the Cryo Archive, similar to the one on Perimeter.

CargoIndexSteerageRevivalBiostockPreservationControl”Camera06″”Camera09″

What do you make of it? I’m not versed in the last decade-plus of Destiny easter eggs, but I hope this is all leading toward some sort of community event to “unlock” Cryo Archive ourselves. Now I won’t be able to loot any compounds without hunting for ship terminals.