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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: Perplex City » PXC: General/Updates
[UPDATE] The Path of Least Time - 13th July - Replay
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 		[UPDATE] The Path of Least Time - 13th July - Replay
(Link)

Quote:

Replay
Thursday, July 13 2006, 10:48 AM

Unlike many of the women whom I've needed information from lately, Karen Moro did not immediately run away, drop off the net, and attempt to kill me. In fact, she sounded pleased when I suggested meeting up for lunch in the Academy Museum.

I arrived a few minutes late and hurried over to her table when I spotted her among the tourists and schoolgroups. She had an amused smile when I sat down.

"What's funny?" I said, looking around.

"When you spotted me, you did a little jog-walk thing," she replied.

"What do you mean?"

"You know when you're crossing the road ahead of a car, and they slow down for you? So you feel guilty and do this little skipping jog to try and cross faster. Of course, it only looks like you're going faster; the amount of time you save is probably a fraction of a second. That's what you did." Karen illustrated this by walking her fingers across the table.

"So what are you saying, that I saved a fraction of a second?"

"Right. And now we'll both live for a fraction of a second longer. On your deathbed, you'll be able to get out at least another word. It could be vital."

This conversation was just getting too weird for me. "Okay, but the problem is that we've spent at least 30 seconds talking about it now. That's an entire sentence you've lost."

"We'd better hurry up then. What was it you wanted to talk about?"

I looked at her closely, trying to figure out how much I could trust her. I'd listened to the audio files you guys found from the Crypto backdoor. Karen had been pretty hard done by - blackmailed into snooping around her own department, in return for some unspecified help for her father. Still, she seemed to have come out of it fine, in the end.

It was a shame that I'd have to upset her all over again about that. Something of a habit for me, I reflected unhappily.

"I want to talk about Kam Syndrome," I said.

"How do you know about that? What's my dad got to do with anything?" she demanded.

"I know that your father suffered from Kam Syndrome. There's only one effective drug for it, and it has a very long waiting list. Too long, for most people. You have to be very, very lucky to get hold of it, and your father wasn't. And yet he's perfectly healthy now. How do you explain that?"

"Spontaneous remission," she said.

I closed my eyes briefly. "Don't be ridiculous. There is no spontaneous remission of Kam Syndrome - it's physiologically impossible once the bone marrow stem cells are compromised. I don't think either of us believes in miracles, so let's just assume your father somehow got the drugs. Considering that he's in prison, he probably had some help."

Karen remained silent, hating me. I'd done my research on Kam Syndrome the day before. It was surprisingly easy to find out the details and who'd received the drugs - I didn't even have to do any hacking. I just called up the hospital and asked.

"In fact, let's just assume that I know you made a deal to spy on your own department in order to get the drug, and that I've heard the audio files you sent to your handler."

The crypto department are trained to work under pressure, to find solutions to any problems that they might encounter. I could tell Karen was thinking rapidly, trying to think of a way out or a way around the problem that I represented.

"You know what? Let's not assume that. For all I know, you're just making this up. You've got no evidence, and no business to be making these accusations."

As she said those words, I took out my key. "I appreciate what you've done for my dad, but ... I've done my bit. That's it. That was the deal. You can go digging around in the tunnels-" Her voice from the audio files played quietly across the table. Karen had a look of resignation on her face.

I stopped the recording. "I have absolutely no interest in telling anyone about this, but I want to know who you were talking to, and everything you know about those missing parts."

"I don't know who I was talking to, and I don't know anything about those missing parts! If you'd listened to those files, you'd know that," she said rapidly. I looked around quickly, hoping that we weren't attracting too much attention.

"You didn't even bother doing a backtrace on your mysterious partner?" I said.

"They contacted me through an anonymous account, and they said that if I tried to find them, the deal would be off. Not everyone's as smart as you are, Kurt."

"Fine," I said in irritation, "but what about those-"

"I don't need to take this. You're in the Cube Retrieval Team, this has nothing to do with you. I don't even know what you're doing, hacking into the Crypto system," she said, shaking her head.

"It has everything to do with me. Some of those parts were found in Bernado Holyoke's bar in the Old Town. He's dead now. So is one of his associates, Monica Grand, and the reporter who was trying to help her, Pietro Salk. You probably haven't heard of those guys before, so maybe you don't care, but I'm sure you've heard of Isaac Cymbalisty, the head librarian. He stumbled across evidence about the Cube and who might have taken it. He's dead now. As for me, I've been arrested trying to follow the trail of those parts, and my girlfriend has been killed. So just because your dad's okay now doesn't mean you can walk away."

I stopped, and breathed deeply. Karen looked startled, as if she didn't know what to say. I sat back and looked around the cafe, trying to calm down. The cafe was set in a large courtyard that had been covered over by a lattice-like glass dome a couple of decades ago; it had an outdoor feel to it, which probably explained why we seemed to be sitting on garden furniture.

"I'm sorry for what happened to you. But I really need your help. Someone is stealing those parts, and they had something to do with the theft of the Cube and all of those murders. I don't know what's more frightening - that they have an agent in the Academy, or that we have absolutely no idea what they're building with those parts."

"Okay," said Karen, putting her hands down on the table. "Let's say I believe you. How am I supposed to help? I didn't have any luck finding out what was happening to those parts, and I was looking for the best part of a year."

"You mentioned tagging," I prompted.

"Right, right. Isotope tagging. I thought about that quite a lot at the time, and there's a reason why that's not a good idea." Karen paused for a few seconds. "Actually, a whole bunch of reasons. But here's the biggest one - you can only tag a few parts, and you have no idea what they're going to steal or when they're going to do it."

"I think I can figure that out. Or at least, I might know some people who could help." That's you guys, in case you didn't realise. "But assuming we can figure that out, it's possible? You'll help?"

She laughed, genuinely smiling for once. "Yeah, if you can figure that out, I'll help. I've always wondered what you CRT guys get up to. I never imagined it was anything like this."

I looked away. "Well, you might not want to mention this to anyone else in the CRT just yet. I have to go now, I've got another meeting about this SF event thing, but I'll get back in touch soon. We need to work out the details on this, plus there's still something not quite right about what's going on in Crypto, quite apart from the thefts."

Karen looked dubious at this, but the tension was shattered by a series of whistles from across the courtyard. We both swivelled around to look at their source.

"Bloody kids. I don't know why they keep on selling those puzzle cylinders in the gift shop, the people who work here must be driven mad by the noise." said Karen, standing up. "If you managed to get access to my audio files, what else did you find?" she asked thoughtfully.

I scraped my chair back noisily and straightened up. "Well, I obviously didn't want to pry into your personal stuff, but I couldn't help noticing an email about a certain 'crt guy'. I hope I didn't lose all of your respect by using punctuation in a code," I said smiling.

Karen blushed. "I'll see you later, Kurt," she called as she walked away.

So that's it for now. It looks like we're going to have to figure out what sort of parts we'll be needing to tag. While we can't figure out what they're building those parts I mentioned last time - plus the flux compression generator (460WDN-4X) - don't work on their own, they probably interface with other systems. I'm going to read up on them, but if you have any thoughts or ideas, send them over.

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PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 7:07 am
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jonc
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 		Could this be to do with the list of items we have got from backdoor?

Or maybe it's the missing item that we should be watching for (the one where we have the serial number, but don't have the description/it's not connected to the crypto network).

He also mentions "punctuation in a code" could that be what we're getting from backdoor with one end (where we have ' n h so far)?


jonc

PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 8:15 am
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SteveC
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 		For what it's worth, I've emailed:

Quote:

Kurt,
There are two obvious routes to go with tagging parts..

1/ Tag parts that interface with parts we know are missing from crypto

Or

2/ Tag parts that someone has been watching..

Or of course 1 AND 2....

Parts that fit into #1

3141PU-1M - Physics/Baker Spherical Magnetic Containment field
26637C-8Y - Physics/Nelis Nuclear Isomer battery (Hf-178-2m)
And anything to do with fibre networking... Do they get used in Quantum cryptography in Perplex City?

Parts that fit into #2 are:

72690B-0F - Engineering/Smart Dust Cameras
6032VQ-0J - Neuro/Experimental remote TNI scanner
3141PU-1M - Physics/Baker Spherical Magnetic Containment field
62999E-3M - Imaging/Nanoscale imager
477DI5-2Y - Engineering/Active Noise Control system
5239JL-4M - Physics/Yorke-Takayuki simulator
5BPK76-8H - Engineering/Quadropole Magnet Current Regulators
3085NC-6R - Engineering/Broadman Nuclear Decay RNG
177ETC-1U - Engineering/WHISK array
9451RZ-4U - Engineering/Tajison Plasma Wakefield Accelerator
26637C-8Y - Physics/Nelis Nuclear Isomer battery (Hf-178-2m)

Of course, we know they lost their Reynolds Ioniser and their Klebold plates when Holyoake died... Might they be after more of them?

Cheers,

SteveC

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PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 8:19 am
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Scribe
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jonc wrote:
Or maybe it's the missing item that we should be watching for (the one where we have the serial number, but don't have the description/it's not connected to the crypto network).


Assuming you're referring to the 460WDN... one, I think somebody found this, but it probably got lost in the 13-page backdoor thread. Wiki link.

jonc wrote:

He also mentions "punctuation in a code" could that be what we're getting from backdoor with one end (where we have ' n h so far)?


He also mentions personal e-mail, referring to a 'crt guy' - have I missed this somewhere? Can't see it in any of the files we uncovered yet, and the only mention of Kurt is in an audio file... Maybe it came from somewhere else?
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 8:36 am
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thalamus
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jonc wrote:
He also mentions "punctuation in a code"


erm - i hate to mention this, but kurt was responsible for the 13th labour.

does that mean that there may be some punctuation in there, and our efforts are gonna be in vain ?

PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 8:40 am
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jonc
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thalamus wrote:
jonc wrote:
He also mentions "punctuation in a code"


erm - i hate to mention this, but kurt was responsible for the 13th labour.

does that mean that there may be some punctuation in there, and our efforts are gonna be in vain ?


Hmmm... that would be nasty, but then it wouldn't be called 13th labour if it was going to be easy. The letters we've got from backdoor might be able to help though, if they're related at all....

It does suggest that she knew the solution to something where he used a piece of punctuation, so maybe what we're getting from "one end" is her solution...

jonc

PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 8:51 am
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duckiemonster
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 		Kam Syndrome, of course, doesn't exist in this world.

My best guess from the limited info that Kurt's given us is that it's a little like a leukaemia, affecting the bone marrow that makes blood components (red cells, immune cells and platelets).

I still want a Perplex City medical textbook.
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 9:01 am
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sledgecallier
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 		I confess to have not been following this part of the story very closely over the last few weeks so may have missed something obvious (feel free to trout me if this is the case) but why are the 3P stealing more equipment? My understanding of the situation was that the ioniser and plates etc were stolen to transport the cube to Earth... Now as this has already happened??
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 9:19 am
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Alter Ego
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sledgecallier wrote:
I confess to have not been following this part of the story very closely over the last few weeks so may have missed something obvious (feel free to trout me if this is the case) but why are the 3P stealing more equipment? My understanding of the situation was that the ioniser and plates etc were stolen to transport the cube to Earth... Now as this has already happened??


From my understanding i think they are using the gear to build something (we don't no what) at Silbourn-Griggs and until we find out what they are taking we have no idea (really) of what the hell they are building!

Get me? Coffee
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 9:46 am
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jonc
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SteveC wrote:
For what it's worth, I've emailed:

Quote:

Kurt,
There are two obvious routes to go with tagging parts..
[snip]




Let us know if you hear anything back (How long do they usually take to reply to e-mails out of interest, only been playing for a couple of weeks, so would be interested to know),


jonc

PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 10:06 am
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jbd
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jonc wrote:
Or maybe it's the missing item that we should be watching for (the one where we have the serial number, but don't have the description/it's not connected to the crypto network).


I managed to snag the missing part we didn't have last week, and Kurt mentions it:

Quote:
those parts I mentioned last time - plus the flux compression generator (460WDN-4X)


PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 10:25 am
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jbd
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 		Extra comment: based on Kurt's remark

Quote:
they probably interface with other systems.


this might be what we need to tag -- find which parts are most likely to go with the set of five. Just for the record, the stolen parts were:

Quote:
CRYPTO PARTS REF: 254ID9-3R
EXTERNAL REF: HN424P

DESCRIPTION: Physics/174-Ytterbium Atomic Clock; locked time-signal to interface with dedicated fibre network and 3D imager.

CRYPTO PARTS REF: 122C76-3S
EXTERNAL REF: 45442R

DESCRIPTION: Imaging/Klebold plates; networked in array for large-scale 3D spatial scanning. Double redundancy.

CRYPTO PARTS REF: 813QE2-7X
EXTERNAL REF: 9315WC

DESCRIPTION: Physics/Reynolds ioniser; adapted for use with Baker SMC-E for quick startup time.

CRYPTO PARTS REF: 384621-5A
EXTERNAL REF: 9CE42T

DESCRIPTION: Optics/High Power phase-conjugate laser; calibration and adjustment for high spaciotemporal accuracy.

CRYPTO PARTS REF: 460WDN-4X
EXTERNAL REF: IKLC45

DESCRIPTION: Physics/Explosively Pumped Flux Compression Generator; linked to 174Ytb clock and Nelis battery backup system.


Keep in mind we can't just say 'let's tag all of these' because they're, well, gone. If there's spares of the Ioniser and Klebold plates they'd be worth a tag, but the items sound extremely expensive so the crypto department might not have any more.

So I'm going off presuming the question we need to ask is this: based on the list of 5, what are they most likely being used for, and what else will be needed?

EDIT: Check out the Flux Compression comment about the 'Nelis battery backup system'. They haven't stole that one yet.

EDIT EDIT: Steve already mentioned that. Brain skipped somehow, sorry. I do think the battery is the best bet just because a nuclear 'tag' would be easiest to hide on a nuclear device, since people will *expect* it to be nuclear.

Quote:
CRYPTO PARTS REF: 26637C-8Y
EXTERNAL REF: 5933EN

DESCRIPTION: Physics/Nelis Nuclear Isomer battery (Hf-178-2m); made compatible with facility electrical subsystem and dedicated fibre network. Enhanced burst mode added.


The nanoscale imager also looks up their alley.

PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 10:56 am
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GasparLewis nli
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 		Or the Baker SMC-E, for that matter.

PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:39 am
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zaeil
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sledgecallier wrote:
I confess to have not been following this part of the story very closely over the last few weeks so may have missed something obvious (feel free to trout me if this is the case) but why are the 3P stealing more equipment? My understanding of the situation was that the ioniser and plates etc were stolen to transport the cube to Earth... Now as this has already happened??


This current line of investigation is in regards to equipment already stolen as well as equipment that may yet be stolen (probably to make the previously lifted stuff work).

Honestly, we never knew WHAT the Klebold plates and the Reynolds ionizer were stolen for. Spec was that they could have been used either to transport or to copy the Cube, but this is unconfirmed as far as I can recall. I can't find any specific info, anyway. Smile

Also, in regards to character response: They rarely respond personally anymore, as I'm sure they get so many emails from us players. Very Happy If Kurt deems the email a valid course of action, then he'll probably discuss it in his next blog update.
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:57 am
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GasparLewis
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 		Now that I'm not in such a god-forsaken rush, let me elaborate.

The atomic clock would act as a timer, working in conjunction with the 3D imager. This is the Klebold plates, or possibly some other holographic imaging equipment. The Nelis battery, flux generator, and Reynolds ioniser appear to deal with the power source for whatever contraption is in the works. Googling yields this as a description of phase conjugation (the laser), which appears to deal with sending something in reverse no matter the angle (?!?!).

As to the remaining pieces in the description, the Baker SMC-E appears to relate to power again (start-up time, anyway; charging and the like), and the Nelis, as said, is a battery; once again, power.

It seems to me, more than anything else, that what's being done is a replication of something, perfect even to physical detail, without the exact object being there. For what reason, I can't say, but that's what I've got.

EDITASTIC:

Wikipedia wrote:
It is possible, using nonlinear optical processes, to exactly reverse the propagation direction and phase variation of a beam of light. The reversed beam is called a conjugate beam, and thus the technique is known as optical phase conjugation (also called time reversal, wavefront reversal and retroreflection).

One can interpret this nonlinear optical interaction as being analogous to a real-time holographic process. In this case, the interacting beams simultaneously interact in a nonlinear optical material to form a dynamic hologram (two of the three input beams), or real-time diffraction pattern, in the material. The third incident beam diffracts off this dynamic hologram, and, in the process, reads out the phase-conjugate wave. In effect, all three incident beams interact (essentially) simultaneously to form several real-time holograms, resulting in a set of diffracted output waves that phase up as the "time-reversed" beam. In the language of nonlinear optics, the interacting beams result in a nonlinear polarization within the material, which coherently radiates to form the phase-conjugate wave.


Sounds like I'm on the right track to me. Anyone else?

PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 12:07 pm
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