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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: Perplex City » PXC: General/Updates
[Update]: The Path of Least Time-First Principles (04/07/06)
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kicktoria
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Joined: 30 May 2006
Posts: 10

 		[Update]: The Path of Least Time-First Principles (04/07/06)
Kurt wrote:
"Do the words 'Special Project 487 mean anything to you?"

Karen didn't even look up from stirring her coffee.

"Nope," she said, "not a thing."

"Sure you don't want to think about it? Take a moment."

She looked up at me, still stirring.

"Means nothing to me, Kurt. Was that all you wanted to know? Couldn't you just have mailed me?"

I leaned back in my chair with a sigh. This was clearly going to take more work than I'd thought.

I've spent the past week doing all the data searches I possibly can on Special Project 487. It's not a designation I'm familiar with, and it's not listed in any of the databases. The one or two references to it I've found on the system - all ordering parts, incidentally - are locked down with the authorisation being, again, Special Project 487. So, after long and fruitless investigation I'd concluded that I'd have to go for help to the one person who'd actually seen some of the packages 487 had ordered.

We were back in the museum cafe, in the quiet part of the afternoon, just a few other people around, mostly on their own at tables, reading. Karen smiled and waved when she spotted me at the entrance and, without really meaning to, I broke into the little jog-walk thing she'd noticed me do before.

She smirked at me as I sat down - it was only when I asked about 487 that she stopped smiling.

"You seem surprisingly certain," I said. "Let me tell you why I need to know."

She shook her head slowly.

"It's not that I don't want to know, Kurt. But I can't afford to, do you understand?"

"No, I don't understand. What does that mean."

She sighed. "I can't be involved in your spy games anymore, Kurt. I can't be involved in anything like this."

She seemed, suddenly, almost about to cry.

"What's wrong?"

She looked up, gazing at me intently.

"My dad's being released," she said. "In only a few weeks' time. He's moving out of the city and I'm going too. I have to get away from all of this, I can't risk getting involved in something that could hurt his chances of release. Nothing illegal, you understand?"

"When are you leaving?"

"Soon. I'm packed already." She spoke decisively and took a sip of her coffee.

I stared at her for a moment. She looked uncomfortable.

"Look," she said, "can't we talk about something else? The elections are coming up, the PCAG's started knockout tournaments. Does it always have to be secret conspiracies and government plots?"

I shook my head.

"No... but they won't just disappear if we cover our eyes. We can't just forget about them. Anyway, I know that you know something about 487," I said mildly.

"I've already told you everything I know. I was the one helping you track down those missing parts earlier, remember?" she retorted.

"I'm not suggesting you're hiding anything from me, Karen" I said, with just that thought fleetingly passing through my mind, to be quickly dismissed. "But if you don't even know what I'm talking about yet, how can you be so convinced that you know nothing useful?"

She smiled. "Sharp as ever, Kurt. OK then, what is 487?"

"It's a secret project in the Academy," I said. "They're behind the orders for the parts you saw being dispatched to this 'Viendenbourg'. What's more," I spoke slowly, making sure she would understand, "Ultimately, 487 is what got Anna Heath killed."

Karen looked away, setting down her teaspoon on the saucer.

"I went to the memorial service. I only ever met her a couple of times. I know she was helping track the packages, but I didn't get a chance to... She seemed very sweet."

I nodded.

"There must be some more information that you can find out on Special Project 487." Karen began to interject, but I interrupted her. "No, look, I believe that you didn't know that those packages were ordered under 487 - you probably weren't provided with that information because you didn't need to know. But you're in the Crypto department, which we do know is linked to 487. It's also one of the few places I can't hack into in the Academy - even the backdoor doesn't give me full access - and since you work there, well..."

Karen dropped her eyes down to the table again.

"OK," she said, "but you're getting into some deep water here, Kurt. There's so much more going on than we understand - I've tried to explain it to myself but I can't." She shook her head. "I still don't even have any idea who it is that was - and still is - manipulating my dad and I. It just doesn't make any sense. Why would they want me to look for 'unusual activity' in my department, and abruptly call it off months later, just when my information is getting interesting?"

I scratched my neck absently. "Maybe they'd gotten all they needed. Or maybe the same thing happened with them - their superior told them to stop investigating. Who knows? The point is that as long as we don't know what this is all about, we'll be open to manipulation and blackmail."

"You mean I'll be open to manipulation and blackmail," she said levelly.

"Well, yes. And that's why it's so important for us just to follow the thread a little longer. I have an authorisation code that might get you somewhere if you do a search on 487 within the Crypto department."

"Okay, okay. Might as well get it over with," she muttered, pulling out her key. "I don't even want to know how you got that," said Karen as I transferred the authorisation code to her.

"Oh, come on," I laughed. "Sure you do. But I'm not telling you."

Karen didn't reply as she looked down at her screen and logged in, but I saw her relucantly crack a smile.

"All right, there's definitely something." She drew in a deep breath, and transferred a file over to my key. "Not much, though. When I did a search for 487 using your code, it came up with a whole list of parts being modified and sent to Viendenbourg. There are some I had no idea had even passed through Crypto. And there's a single word associated with the project: 'axiom'. I haven't seen that used anywhere in the department. OK?"

"OK," I said, "it gives me something to work with."

Karen stood up and pulled on her jacket. She turned to leave, and then turned back.

"If you start looking for these guys, Kurt, you'd better be prepared for what happens if you find them."

She was gone before I could ask her what she meant.


The Path of Least Time
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 1:45 pm
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garethfoot
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Joined: 08 Aug 2006
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 		Definition of axiom:

A statement or assertion for which no proof or demonstration is required. Simply put, an axiom is a self-evident truth.

An axiom is a statement which is assumed to be true, and is used as a basis for developing a system.

PostPosted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 2:33 pm
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rose
...and then Magic happens


Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Posts: 4117

 		the 3P
Possibly the title of the post "first principles" applies to the word axiom

Quote:
Why would they want me to look for 'unusual activity' in my department, and abruptly call it off months later, just when my information is getting interesting?"



Who is the "they" in that sentence? The 3P I assume.

So the parts were for Vienborg which seems to be a Sente project. But that means that Claire possibly knows about the parts too and she was one of the original theives.

I'm trying to put all this together into a coherent story and I am having trouble. Smile
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 2:57 pm
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Flabyo
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Joined: 25 Aug 2006
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Location: Guildford, UK

 		Claire didn't know exactly what was going on at Viendenbourg, she never got into the main hanger. But she thought she had a good idea, hence her excavation. But she wouldn't tell Scarlett her suspicions. I guess it's too late to send someone out there again to see if she'll open up.

Whatever it is that the project at Viendenbourg did to Anjsbourg, it's linked to these parts and Sente. I'm not convinced that it's connected to the 3P at all, they just got wind of the parts being at the academy through their mole and realised that they could jack them for their own plan.

PostPosted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 3:45 pm
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Dranioth
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Joined: 18 Apr 2006
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 		Project 487 reminds me alot of a Catch 22. The project is authorized by itself and authorization can only be given to those who already have it. Razz

PostPosted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 4:37 pm
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Rand0m
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Joined: 14 Mar 2006
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Location: London
garethfoot wrote:
An axiom is a statement which is assumed to be true, and is used as a basis for developing a system.


A bit like this?

Quote:
There are many equations in abstract mathematics that have been solved on the assumption that the [Riemann] hypothesis is true.


Incidentally, the town I live in is being tranformed from a crumbly old s***hole into a shiny new s***hole by a company called Axiom Homes... the word's plastered all over the High Street in tree-height banners. Maybe the Cube's buried here too? Hope not - it'll have already been stolen and traded in for a second-hand Honda Civic with tinted windows, underfloor strobe lighting and huge bass speakers in the boot...
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 4:44 pm
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garethfoot
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Joined: 08 Aug 2006
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Quote:
Possibly the title of the post "first principles" applies to the word axiom.
That's right. An axiom is the first principle which leads to other principles e.g. Riemann.

PostPosted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 5:07 pm
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jonc
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Joined: 04 Jul 2006
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garethfoot wrote:
An axiom is the first principle which leads to other principles e.g. Riemann.


If Riemann was an axiom, by definition it couldn't be proved. An axiom is something that is assumed to be true, but cannot be proved to be true. (All though I suppose you could prove an axiom if you had a set of axioms that already covered that axiom)

PostPosted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 5:18 am
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European Chris
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jonc wrote:
If Riemann was an axiom, by definition it couldn't be proved. An axiom is something that is assumed to be true, but cannot be proved to be true.


That's not necessarily true, an axiom could be proved but for the sake of the argument you could state it without its proof.
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 8:44 am
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DrKra37
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 		Rather than "Riemann is true," I'd say an axiom is more like "1=1."

PostPosted: Wed Sep 06, 2006 4:05 am
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