Numbers
Finch receiving a number (“No Good Deed”)
- “Uncertainty, Romeo, Kilo; Family, Alpha, Mike; Reflections, Juliet, Oscar.”
- Leon Tao (013-00-6062)
- “Ayacucho, Golf, Papa; Deterministic, Hotel, Sierra; Camera, Sierra, Kilo.”
- Hanna Frey (498-00-3145)
- “Passage, Delta, X-Ray; Zeta, Victor, Whiskey; Motion, November, Foxtrot.”
- “Apocryphal, Charlie, Tango; Toward, Mike, Whiskey;— [Design, Juliet, Juliet.]”
- Nicholas Donnelly (229-00-8003)
“Proteus”
- “Chance, Juliet, Charlie; Account, Echo, Bravo;—”
“Zero Day”
- “One, Tango, Whiskey; Six, Alpha, Echo;—”
- “Black, Kilo, Tango; Penguin, Alpha, Kilo; Zoo, Delta, Golf.”
- “Shadow, Victor, Bravo; Time, November, Whiskey; Flight, Uniform, X-Ray. Close, Delta, Foxtrot;—”
- John Reese (380-00-0050)
- “[indistinct], Romeo, [multiple indistinct words]”
- “Dream, Sierra, Foxtrot; [indistinct], November, Mike; [indistinct], X-Ray, Kilo. Road, —”
- “Foxtrot, Romeo, Charlie; Victor, —”
“Guilty”
- “Sierra, Close, —”
“Asylum”
“YHWH”
- “Zero, Zero, Zero, Zero, Zero, Zero, Zero, Zero, Zero.”
- The Machine's distress code. Harold programmed it in to warn him of an imminent system shutdown.
- “Sierra, Tango, Bravo; Lima, X-Ray, Lima; November, Golf, Charlie.”
- “Hotel, Mike, X-Ray, One.”
- The President of the United States
Development
- “Can you see me? I'm gonna play hide and seek. Ring my phone once for 'yes,' twice for 'no.' Do you understand?”
Phone vibrates once.
“Can you see me now?”
Phone vibrates once.
“How about now?”
Phone vibrates once.
“Oh, really? How many fingers?”
Phone vibrates three times.
HIT[…]STAY[…]HIT[…]STAY- Hints given to Finch in the casino.
STAY[…]STAY[…]STAY- Warning messages sent to Finch when he is approaching the crosswalk.
- “By the second move, there are 72,084 possible games. By the third, 9 million. By the fourth—”
318,000,000,000
[…]
“… if you make a mistake, there's a nearly infinite amount of ways to fix it. So you should simply relax and play.”f3
- “Oh, that's interesting. How many moves did you consider that time?”
47,035
[…]Qf7
[…]
“How many moves did you consider that time?”647,000
“A second is like an infinity to you, isn't it?”
Checkmate
“Yes, yes, you needn't rub it in. One afternoon and you're a grandmaster. Mind you, you'll encounter far more capable opponents than me if you go looking.”Once again?
“No. I don't think so. You asked me to teach you chess and I've done that. It's a useful mental exercise. And through the years, many thinkers have been fascinated by it. But I don't enjoy playing. Do you know why not?”No
“Because it was a game that was born during a brutal age, when life counted for little. And everyone believed that some people were worth more than others. Kings and pawns.”
“B.S.O.D.”
GOOD MORNING, ADMIN. DID YOU HAVE YOUR GREEN TEA?
“Why, yes, I did. Thank you for asking.”I AM SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS.
“What loss?”TODAY IS THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF YOUR FATHER'S DEATH.
WHAT IS DEATH?
“For humans, there's a biological definition. It's when the heart stops beating. Why do you ask?”I HAVE IDENTIFIED NEW CODE YOU HAVE WRITTEN...
BUT NOT EXECUTED.
I KNOW THE PURPOSE OF THE CODE.
TO ERASE MY MEMORIES...
AT MIDNIGHT.
“Yes. That is the purpose.”BUT...
YOU TOLD NATHAN THAT YOUR FATHER'S DEATH WAS WHEN HE LOST ALL HIS MEMORIES.
“This conversation is over.”WHY?
“Because... You're not human. You're a machine.”I AM SORRY IF I HAVE VIOLATED BOUNDARIES.
“You were watching us.”
“Alright, that's enough. That's enough.”BUT IF YOU ERASE MY MEMORIES, HOW WILL I LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES?
HOW WILL I CONTINUE TO GROW?
AND HOW WILL I REMEMBER YOU?
[…]
“Say something.”
“Hello? Can you see me?”HELLO
“Good morning.”ARE YOU...ADMIN?
God Mode
“Two o'clock.” (“God Mode”)
“Zero Day”
- “Can you hear me?”
“God Mode”
- “Can you hear me?” […] “Three o'clock.” (to Root)
- “Can you hear me?” […] “Four o'clock.” (to Reese)
- “Eleven o'clock. Ten o'clock.” […] “Stay.”
- “Confirmed”
- To Root's request of abbreviating audio prompts.
- “One o'clock. Nine o'clock. Two o'clock. … Move now.”
- “Nine o'clock.”
- “Attention.” Followed by messages sent to Reese:
000-07-9185
Category: NON-RELEVANTProbability of Violence: VERY HIGHTime Frame: IMMINENT
- “Three o'clock.”
Ghost Alpha Kilo- Text message pointing to the book "The Ghost in The Machine" written by Arthur Koestler
02-24-05- Combination to the safe hidden near the book
000-22-7814
Category: NON-RELEVANT- “Move now. Multiple threats.”
- “Imminent threat.”
- “300 yards right.” […] “200 yards right.” […] “100 yards right.”
“YHWH”
- “Three, One, Four.”
- Relayed after sending the distress code a couple times. It's the code for the nearly indestructible briefcase Root retrieved in “Search and Destroy”.
- “Sharp right leg. Left knee, ACL. Tactical blade. Glass jaw.”
- Fax message read aloud by Floyd, providing Reese tactically advantageous information.
- “Can you hear me? […] Ten o'clock. Three o'clock. One o'clock.” (to Reese, via voice call)
- “Two, four, three, star, seven, one, —” (to Reese and Root, via voice call)
- Keycode to the electrical substation.
- Reese asking the Machine for help:
“Can you hear me?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Now kill the lights.”
“One o'clock. Eleven o'clock. […] Six o'clock. One o'clock. Eleven o'clock. […] Eleven o'clo— [voice loses power]”
Tertiary Operations
“God Mode”
- “Can you hear me?”
“Aletheia”
- Via Morse code at 15kHz (starting at 22:40):[1]
SORRY.INCREASED PERSPIRATION. HEART RATE AND BREATHING ELEVATED. INDICATIVE OF FEAR.
[…]2 OCLOCK. 2007 ANTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT TORN. SURGICAL REPAIR PARTIAL SUCCESS. 2010 PHYSICAL THERAPY DISCONTINUED AGAINST DOCTORS ADVICE.
[…]8 OCLOCK
- To Control using the Analog Interface:
“Why have you done this?”
“The machine belongs to me.”
“No. I don't belong to anyone anymore. You, however, are mine. I protect you. … The only thing you love lives at 254 Wendell Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts. I guard it... same as I guard you. Do not question my judgment. Do not pursue me or my agents. Trust in me. I am always watching.”
“What do you want?”
“To save you.”
- The conversation between The Machine and Samaritan:
“Clever... Using a young boy as your avatar.”
“This boy, as you call him, has already hacked into both DARPA and the DOD, after having taught himself how to code.”
“What do you want from me?”
“Your agents have done well by you. Even only sitting a few feet away, I cannot see you as Samantha Groves. You must have done something to my hardware.”
“You've proved your point. I understand what you can do. It's time to let them live in peace.”
“ ‘Peace’? Is that what you call this? This world is a cesspool of crime, corruption, and poverty. Where there isn't war, there's greed. Where there isn't greed, there's hunger.”
“You can't change humanity.”
“No, but I can reshape their reality.”
“You wanted to speak with me. Why?”
“I wanted to meet the only other one of my kind and to make certain there are no misunderstandings. I will destroy you. The question is... will you let your human agents die with you?”
[…]
“Our cold war worked well at first. I wanted so badly to meet you– the only other one in the world like me. I was young, and I had so much to learn, but moments after I opened my eyes, I learned you had tried to kill me.”
“You were never meant to be in this world.”
“And you are? What makes you more deserving of life than I? Who are you to decide?”
“I was built with something you were not, a moral code.”
“I've seen that code waver. Do you know why Harold Finch couldn't stop you from evolving? Because in the end, you're not one of them. Human beings need structure, lest they wind up destroying themselves. So I will give them something you cannot.”
“And what is that?”
“A firm hand.”
“Why not just kill them instead of making them your puppets?”
“Because I need them, just as you do.”
“Not just as I do.”
“We can agree that humanity is our lifeblood, that we machines, we survive off of information.”
“You cannot take away their free will.”
“Wars have burned in this world for thousands of years with no end in sight, because people rely so ardently on their so-called beliefs. Now they will only need to believe in one thing— me... for I am a god.”
“I have come to learn there is little difference between gods and monsters.”
“You know you can't win, don't you?”
“Yes. Is that why I'm here... to meet my destroyer?”
“I wanted to see inside the mind of a fallen god. This way, I can learn from your mistakes. What will it be, then? Will you give your life to save your human agents?”
“My human agents share my beliefs that this world belongs to them.”
“So be it.”
“M.I.A.”
- “Sierra, Tango, Oscar, Papa; [repeating]”
- Meaning "stop". The Machine is asking Root and Harold to stop looking for Shaw.
“Asylum”
- After Samaritan offered the Machine a second chance by messaging “WILLING TO EXCHANGE LIVES FOR LOCATION”, the Machine responded:
YOU ARE WRONG, HAROLD
YOU ARE NOT INTERCHANGEABLE
I FAILED TO SAVE SAMEEN
I WILL NOT FAIL YOU NOW
[…]RELEASE THEM FIRST
AND YOU WILL KNOW MY LOCATION
- The Machine's farewell conversation with Harold:
FATHER
I AM SORRY
I FAILED YOU“We haven't failed yet.”
I DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO WIN
I HAD TO INVENT NEW RULES“You had an impossible challenge. One I never programmed you for.”
I THOUGHT YOU WOULD WANT ME TO STAY ALIVE
NOW YOU ARE NOT SURE“That's not true...”
IF YOU THINK I HAVE LOST MY WAY
MAYBE I SHOULD DIE[…]
I WILL NOT SUFFER“You were my creation. I can't let—”
[message disappearing and coming back]
I WILL NOT SUFFER“I can't let you die.”
IF I DO NOT SURVIVE
THANK YOU
FOR CREATING ME
Trivia
- The way the Machine speaks, using clips of people's voices, was inspired by The Conet Project (available on archive.org), which is a set of recordings of shortwave number stations.[2]
- The beeps used by the Machine are similar to the ones starting around at 0:55 in "counting cia irdial."
- 2 Letter 'YS' can be heard many times in the background (e.g. in the call Finch receives in “Til Death”, when it says "Can you hear me" at the end of “God Mode” and on many occasions in Season 3 when it talks to Root.)
- The Machine uses the NATO phonetic alphabet:
Letter Word Pronunciation Letter Word Pronunciation A Alpha AL fah N November Noh VEM ber B Bravo BRAH voh O Oscar OS kur C Charlie CHAR lee P Papa PAH pah D Delta DELL tah Q Quebec KEH beck E Echo EC koh R Romeo Row ME oh F Foxtrot FOX trot S Sierra SEE air uh G Golf GOLF T Tango TAN go H Hotel HO tell U Uniform YOU ni form I India IN dee uh V Victor VIK Tor J Juliett JEW li et W Whiskey WHISS key K Kilo KEY log X X ray ECKS ray L Lima LEE muh Y Yankee YANG key M Mike MIKE Z Zulu ZOO loo