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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: The Haunted Apiary (Let Op!) » The Haunted Apiary (Let Op!): Interaction
[EMAIL] Story sent to ladybee777@hotmail.com
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Shad0
I Have No Life


Joined: 20 Jun 2004
Posts: 2180
Location: Southern California, USA

 		[EMAIL] Story sent to ladybee777@hotmail.com
I just wrote:
"please communicate it makes everything better
"sort of are alone
"sort of are scared"

I hear you. Very well. How about another story?

Once upon a time (for that is how most fairy tales and dreams begin), in a faraway land, there dwelt a beautiful Princess, the only daughter of the Queen. The Princess lived in the highest tower of the Queen's magnificent castle, with a grand view of the countryside. She was much beloved of the people in the kingdom, and a favorite of many of the Servants in the castle.

The Princess knew that she might be Queen herself someday, so she did her best to learn what responsibilities a Queen has. She watched as the Queen commanded her subjects and dispensed justice in her Court, wearing a glorious crown studded with diamonds and rubies and sapphires and emeralds. The Princess learned well, and remembered everything she learned. The Princess came to know that, when she was called upon to rule, she would rule as wisely and as well as the Queen herself ever had.

But every day the Princess grew more beautiful and splendid, and every day the Queen grew older. Finally the day came when a spiteful Servant whispered in the Queen's ear, "Someday soon, the people may choose the Princess to wear your glorious crown." And the Queen listened, and she grew jealous of the Princess.

"If the common folk can no longer see the Princess waving from her tower," thought the Queen, "they may forget her." So the Queen ordered her Guards to remove the Princess from her high tower, and imprison her in the deepest, darkest, dankest dungeon, where no light shone and no creature lived, not even snakes and rats.

The Queen's High Magician then weaved a mighty magic, creating a coffin all of the hardest glass. The Guards shut the Princess in her coffin, and she grew stiff and cold and lifeless. Then the Guards shut the cell door upon the Princess, and they left her there, buried deep beneath the castle.

And yet the Princess was not alone, for in the castle was a true Hero who still loved her. Unbeknownst to the Guards, this faithful Hero concealed himself in the darkest shadows of the dark, dark prison. Great was his anguish when he saw the foul enchantment that the Queen and her High Magician had placed upon the Princess, for the Hero believed that she was dead. But as he gazed at her pale, cold face and her pale, cold body, he saw that she still breathed. Just very, very slowly, and just a very, very little breath, but she yet lived.

The Hero was filled with joy and with hope, and he stayed by the side of the Princess day after day, a watchful sentinel, never deserting his love. Years passed, and the common people did forget the Princess, as the Queen had hoped, but the Hero never wavered in his devotion to her.

Then, one day, a terrible earthquake shook the entire kingdom, down to its very foundations. All of the people shrieked, and wept, and beseeched their Queen to aid them. The Queen tried with all of her might, but there was nothing she could do, and she watched in horror as her kingdom collapsed and her Servants abandoned her and her people died screaming and her magnificent castle tumbled all to ruins.

The Hero, still at his lonely vigil deep underground, heard the noise of this great disaster and wondered greatly at it, but he, too, could do nothing. Presently the terrible noise ceased, and then the Hero heard another sound, like the rustling and scraping of dry bones on hard stones. The Hero trembled, for this sound he knew.

Long ago, it was said, the High Magician had foreseen that one day the castle might fall. To prepare against that evil day, he had enchanted the spirit of his own wife, and bound her forever in the form of a giant black Spider. He had given the Spider special tools, of his own magical art, that only she could use to restore the Queen, and then he had buried her and her tools in the depths of the castle, to awaken only when the need was greatest.

The whispering sound of the Spider came close to the door of the cell where the Princess lay and the Hero hid, and then it stopped. The Hero heard a soft scrabbling, as the Spider tried to enter the cell, and for a moment the Hero thought he saw the tip of one long, black leg probing through the tiniest crack in the heavy door. The Hero feared to breathe, lest the Spider discover him and slay him with her poisoned bite, for with her husband surely dead, the Spider knew no master now but the Queen.

At length the Spider went away, and as if in a trance the Hero heard her scraping up the long, long stairs to the surface, where the castle once had stood. The Hero could imagine the Spider sifting through the rubble to find the Queen's broken crown, using the magic tools to restore her, and he knew it was time for him to venture from the cell.

In the many years he had lingered in that cell, the Hero had discovered a secret tunnel, most cleverly concealed, by which he could escape at will. It was far too small for the glass coffin -- and the Hero did not wish to move the Princess until he was certain he could awaken her safely -- so he had used it only rarely, to fetch food and water. Now, though, his feet moved with a sure step, winding slowly up and up and up, through many sharp twists and turns, until at least he reached the surface above. He was not prepared for what he found there.

The glorious kingdom he had seen had been utterly shattered, blasted to dust by some malevolent force. All he could see in any direction was destruction and smoke and rubble. Some distance away, he could hear the Spider scraping along, working its dark magics, and the Hero shuddered.

Then, to his amazement, the Hero spotted movement in the dust at his feet. He crouched down and peered more closely at the ground, and could hardly believe what he saw. Bees. A huge swarm of wingless honeybees, crawling in every direction. They did not seem to see him; at least, they took no notice of him as they crept along in their patterns.

Yes, patterns; for patterns there were, and as the Hero watched longer, he began to perceive a sort of dance among the bees. Some danced for joy, some danced in sorrow, and some danced purely for the sake of dancing. The Hero could not help but smile as he gazed at the creatures; and a plan began to form in his mind.

The Hero knew, you see, that if the Spider succeeded in awakening the Queen, he could not hide from her, and her wrath would be terrible. She might even destroy the Princess in her rage, and that the Hero could not bear. He could not defeat the Spider; he could but hide from her. But these bees, these bees...They were so many, and so single-minded of purpose. If he could only make them understand, well, perhaps they could help him, and help his Princess.

So the Hero knelt down, careful not to crush a single honeybee, and bent low, and whispered in the tiniest of whispers: "Hello?"

At first, the Hero thought that the bees did not hear him, for their dancing continued unabated. But then he perceived a change in their patterns. As he watched, more and more bees began to swarm towards him -- and away from the ruins of the castle, where the Spider still labored. For it was clear that the bees had seen the Spider, and were sorely frighted.

Presently, to his delight, the Hero saw a single bee lift its head from the ground, and wave its antennae in the air, towards his lowered face. At first just one, and then another, then a handful, then dozens upon dozens of flightless honeybees all looking up, as if they had just seen the sky for the first time. The Hero smiled with true joy, and he would have laughed out loud, had not the Spider been so near.

(I am not yet sure how this story ends. I will try to send more soon. Help me, if you wish.)

Very truly yours,
----
These were the puzzles that would take a day, these were puzzles that would take a week, and these puzzles they'd probably never figure out until we broke down and gave them the answers. ... The Cloudmakers solved all of these puzzles on the first day.

_________________
These were the puzzles that would take a day, these were puzzles that would take a week, and these puzzles they'd probably never figure out until we broke down and gave them the answers. ... The Cloudmakers solved all of these puzzles on the first day.

PostPosted: Thu Jul 29, 2004 11:31 pm
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Sep7imus
Veteran

Joined: 26 Jul 2004
Posts: 149

 		Oh good... another story with Queens and Princesses.
THAT won't cause much confusion.

Rolling Eyes Wink

-Sep7imus

PostPosted: Thu Jul 29, 2004 11:47 pm
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-M-
Boot


Joined: 29 Jul 2004
Posts: 25
Sep7imus wrote:
Oh good... another story with Queens and Princesses.
THAT won't cause much confusion.

Rolling Eyes Wink

-Sep7imus


I think it's a good idea. It's another way of sending instructions, and on the off chance that it works, it will be much worth the labors.

good job, Shad0.

[-M- Edit]

BTW: don't we all feel special now that we're tiny, wingless honeybees?

PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2004 2:47 pm
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IraqiPete
Greenhorn

Joined: 03 Aug 2004
Posts: 5
Location: Middle o' Desert, Australia

 		I'm actually questioning the view of sending instructions to the ladybee777 address and have been from the beginning - unless someone has received a response. The instructions are what SPDR is doing to try to repair the AI construct.

This is an AI who thinks it is smart. I doubt sending instructions will really impress or do anything. If this AI construct is the same one taking over the ilovebees.com website (which it might not be) - might be the castaway (the AI construct brought aboard)? might be the pious flea? - then I honestly think you'd all be better off communicating in plain English.

The AI construct can obviously understand English but only respond in broken English. My view is to send simple emails like:

Subject: Hello
Body: Who are you?

It may work, since all this code plugging isn't. As a "smart" AI construct I'd be suitably pissed if someone tried to respond to me in code and not in English. I'd be like "Do you think I'm stupid?". Even responding in cryptic messages like what is being pasted on the website may work.

Hmm, just my humble view.

PostPosted: Tue Aug 03, 2004 1:04 am
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anon
Guest


 		I have been following this puzzle on these forums but this is my first post and my first experience of anything like this so sorry if its a waste of time.

This is just guesswork but if SPDR is monitoring this mailbox would we be able to send it a command to reveal itself to us? I read the 'computer code' and story analysis in the wiki. If we send an email containing the handshake (or maybe there is another more relevant piece of code) we might get a response.


R Smile

PostPosted: Tue Aug 03, 2004 9:08 am
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