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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: Perplex City » PXC: General/Updates
[UPDATE] Sentinel - 13 Feb 07 - Vi pt 2, Kurt, futures
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 		[UPDATE] Sentinel - 13 Feb 07 - Vi pt 2, Kurt, futures
linky

Quote:

Sentinel Exclusive
Iona Interviews Violet Kiteway: "I Was Wrong"
By IONA RODIE

This is Part II of a three-part interview. Part I may be found here.

Kiteway smiles as she recounts her conversations with puzzle scribe Kurt McAllister about her suspicions over a plot to steal the Cube. She clearly thinks of McAllister with a great deal of affection, but my attempts to probe a little deeper into the nature of their relationship are met with a brick wall.

"We're friends," she says, "that's all it is. He's a really good and wonderful friend. Although... well, I must say that everything that's happened has just emphasised for me what a truly amazing friend he is. There aren't many like him. I don't know if there are any like him, really." She grows silent for a moment, then catches herself, pours another half-cup of coffee and continues with her story.

"I told Kurt everything I'd heard and everything I suspected. Like me, he wasn't sure what to think. It seemed so preposterously unlikely -- a plot to steal the Cube?" She smiles wryly. "We never believe anything truly awful could ever happen until it does, do we? But, because Kurt's thorough, he went and made a careful survey of the security systems at the Museum. He said it was actually pretty tight, but he could see how someone might potentially be able to crack it. It would be really difficult, but it'd be possible. I remember chatting about it with him - when the whole thing still seemed like a game we'd made up.

"'So,' I said, 'you reckon it's possible, theoretically, for someone to use the weak points you've found to make an attempt to steal the Cube?' He agreed that it was. 'Well then,' I said, 'how about if we conceal ourselves somewhere in the museum on the night of the party and if anyone tries anything we... foil their dastardly plot? Or just, you know, raise the alarm?' He smiled, and gave me a typical Kurt response: 'Sounds fun. Or at least, less worse than dying.'

"So we laid our plans. There's an entrance to the catacombs inside the museum, and I happen to know the catacombs pretty well -- spent a lot of time playing in them when I was a child. I had an invitation to the Academy Ball, but Kurt and I decided that it'd draw far too much attention if we were both to disappear at the same time, so I should pretend to be ill and then make my way to the museum through the catacombs."

Kiteway leans back and smiles, toying with a pencil. Am I right to think she enjoyed this escapade?

She grins, but her face falls abruptly. "Oh, then," she says. "It felt like an amazing adventure then. I can't think of it like that anymore. Or at least, I think of it that way at times, moments when I remember how I felt before I knew any of this. And then I remember everything that's happened since and..." She trails off. "It's amazing how hard things can start so easily." She draws a breath, composes herself and carries on. "Anyway, the plan was for Kurt, who arranges the fireworks at the ball, to set them to go off automatically and join me at the museum. It all went like clockwork.

"I left my house at 6pm, walked through the catacombs from an entrance in the Old Town to the museum -- I've walked that route many times before, but never in the dark. The flashlight made everything seem strange, I remember that. Like a different city, another place. Once or twice I thought I heard voices or sounds, but nothing was ever distinct enough to follow up. I still don't know whether anything I heard was real. I came up through the entrance in the museum at about 7:15pm -- Kurt had set my key to be recognised as a security tag by the sensors -- and put myself in the position we'd chosen. Behind the exhibit of prehistoric Hausam art, in the gallery next door to the Cube.

"I was in position and reading a novel on my key by the time the other guests started to arrive. I remember it felt like a waste of time right then -- sitting in a dark, empty museum when my friends and family were having fun at the ball. I have a message on my key I sent to Kurt, complaining that it was 'a whole lot of nothing followed by further hours of nothing at all.'" Kiteway tips her head to one side. "I look at that message sometimes, to remind me who I was before... before all of this.

"Kurt kept tabs on the museum security while wandering through the party, chatting to the people he had to talk to. At about 9:30pm he seemed to see some kind of flicker in the system, thought it was probably nothing, but excused himself, found a quiet place in his faculty, pulled up a dozen security feeds and sat down to monitor the museum. We were in audio contact the whole time and still there was... nothing. The flicker didn't reappear. We'd almost decided that the whole thing had been a waste of time, were trying to work out if I could get home and back to the party in my evening gown in time for the last dance when it happened."

Kiteway, clearly unnerved by retelling this portion of her tale, pours herself more coffee and begins to fiddle with a pencil again. She looks down as she continues.

"I couldn't hear anything but Kurt's sudden, sharp intake of breath in my ear. I said, 'What's going on?' Kurt paused for a moment and said, 'I don't know. Something, there's some process running...' Then another pause. 'It's going faster than I can keep up with.' He sounded scared, which is rare for Kurt. 'Someone's coming, Vi. Just like we thought, someone's coming and I don't know how to...' I kept asking him what he was seeing, who was coming, but he didn't answer me, and then all of a sudden he was shouting in my ear, 'They're coming your way through the main entrance. Run. Run!'

"So I ran. I ran up the long gallery, and into the Cube room, where it was sitting on its plinth. There were no sirens blaring, no sign that the security had been breached. Could I really leave it here to be stolen by whoever was coming? Whoever it was who'd kill to get their hands on it? 'Kurt,' I said, 'are you sure they're coming? I can't see anything.'

"But as he was telling me that yes, he was certain, yes he was sure, I heard the noise of footsteps -- loud, confident steps marching toward the Cube room through the gallery I'd just left. And I thought, I can't, I can't leave it here for them. So I picked it up. And then I was... elsewhere."

Kiteway requests a brief pause at this point in the conversation. She fills a glass with water and drains it, then calls a nearby restaurant to order some sushi to be delivered. In the meantime I glance again around her apartment; if the religions are right and the Cube holds some special spiritual significance, there's no sign in the clutter and detritus that Kiteway's been enlightened by her experience. What was it like to hold the Cube, to travel with it?

"What was it like? The closest I've got to it is in what I wrote in the Library of Babel site I made for the people on Earth. The whole experience felt like a dream. Arriving in New York, the seamless way the arrangements were made. The Cube must have done it, but how, and why doesn't it do it more often? The flight to London and the car out to Wakerley Great Wood all felt unreal. I think perhaps I wanted it not to be real. It would have been easier. But it wasn't a dream, as I discovered when I found myself back in Perplex City."

And why didn't she tell the proper authorities about what had happened to her then?

She sighs.

"I thought about it. I talked about it with Kurt. He'd thought I might be dead, certainly didn't know if I'd ever get back to the city. But he'll have to tell you about that himself. Our reasoning went like this. To get the clearance and know-how to launch that theft of the Cube, whoever had done it had to be both powerful and deep within many organisations in the city. I didn't know who I could trust and who I couldn't.

"Moreover, if I confessed to the theft, who'd believe I'd done it to save the Cube? I'd certainly have been arrested, possibly convicted of the crime. In either case I'd have been a sitting duck, a target for any Third Power operatives in the criminal justice system to kidnap and try to get the information out of me. The only way to keep safe was to keep silent. And it wasn't just my safety I was thinking of, it was," she stops, pushes her hair out of her eyes. "Well, look, I thought I'd keep everyone safe if I just kept quiet. But I was wrong. As much as I don't like to think so, I find I'm wrong quite often."

So why the clues, the elaborate dance with the people of Earth to give hints at the Cube's location?

"That started as a safety net really, or..." she pauses, choosing her words carefully, "maybe it'd be better to say a failsafe. Kurt and I had talked a lot about the possibility that the Third Power might have agents on Earth, that they might start looking for the Cube or have methods to find it like those we could use here in the city. And one thing was clear to me from the start -- we didn't want those people digging the Cube up and getting hold of it.

"We wanted to be able to get a message to the good guys, the players on Earth, but we were worried that the Third Power might be listening in, so we couldn't just tell them the location. When the Cube Retrieval Project was launched, it seemed like the perfect way to get messages to the people of Earth if we needed to. Kurt was on the team, and could alter the cards in such a way that it was only visible from the Earth end of the feed, not in Perplex City.

"We decided to put really tough cryptic clues on the cards. That way, only a big group of smart people could find the Cube. Our thought was that a big group of smart people who'd have the interests of Earth at heart were more likely to be able to follow those clues than a small group of smart-but-evil people." She sighs, then smiles slightly, "it was a desperate move, but that was all we had. And, thanks to the hard work of the people of Earth, our desperate gamble's paid off. I'll never be able to express fully how grateful I am to all the Cube hunters who worked so hard to solve our clues -- the fact that the Cube's safe now... well, we can't know how many lives that's saved."

And does she have any regrets?

She toys with her pencil again, tapping it on the coffee table and chewing the end.

"Some days... some days I have nothing but regrets. What I did, well, it might have been the right thing to do, but it was at the expense of the people closest to me. The people I love. And all the lying." She passes a hand over her forehead. "I've been lying and lying for the past three years. I'm a good liar, a good poker player, but not to be able to talk about the biggest thing that's ever happened to you? That changes you; I'm not even sure I know how yet. I wish I could have told the truth a long time ago but I just didn't see how I could.

"And there are the people who died -- Bernardo Holyoke and Monica Grand, well, they got in over their heads before I ever appeared on the scene. But Isaac Cymbalisty? Anna Heath? And what happened to Scarlett... Perhaps things could have gone differently if I'd made different choices, and I'm not sure I'll ever be able to forgive myself for that. I'm not sure I want to."

Her head lowered, she bites her lip.

"So yes," she says at last, "I think it'd be fair to say I have regrets."

The doorbell rings; it's the sushi and the interview time is almost up. One final question -- what next for Violet Kiteway, thief and saviour of the Cube, the only Perplexian ever to travel to Earth and return safely? Kiteway looks up from her toro sashimi and grins: "I don't know what's next. But I'm sure I'll think of something."


Quote:

CRT Scribe Reinstated

Puzzle scribe Kurt McAllister has been returned to his prior position in the Academy, following a brief suspension. McAllister was suspended when he became implicated in security flaws in the Earth data ling, but has now been found to be instrumental in protecting the Receda Cube from the Third Power.


Quote:

The Baby (February 11 - March 10)
An unsettling encounter leaves you restless and wondering whether you have your priorities straight. Fear not, pumpkin, this new perspective will make all sorts of sense when you've had a few days to sleep on it.

The Eagle (March 11 - April 10)
Feeling lucky, champ? That's because you are. Get your game face on and go find a tournament or three, preferably the kind with cash prizes. Madame promises you'll rock the house down.

The Spider (April 11 - May 10)
It's never too late to make a fresh start, muffin. Just wash you hands of the same-old same-old and strike out in a new direction. And don't listen to the naysayers; caution isn't the path to greatness, now is it?

The Wave (May 11 - June 10)
Feeling a little blue? Don't worry, a new love is coming into your life and you'll have forgotten all about it quicker than two shakes of a tretretretre's ears. Something about all of those zingy hormones makes you forget your sorrows.

The Archer (June 11 - July 10)
The worst is definitely over, darling. It may not seem so sunny now, but by the time the first green shoots of spring poke through the soil, you'll be well on your way to being something quite a bit stronger than before.

The Half-filled Jug (July 11 - August 10)
You put on this whole tragically-misunderstood act, but you and me both know it isn't true.

The Dragon (August 11 - September 10)
Don't take the critics too seriously, sunshine. You know you did what you had to, and as long as you can make peace in your own heart that's the only thing that matters. That and finding a new card game where nobody knows you so well.

The Three Balls (September 11 - October 10)
I can tell you're having a hard time letting it all go. Relax, dumpling, and enjoy the ride. Things are looking up all around, blue skies and clear sailing ahead. At least for a little while.

The Dice (October 11 - November 10)
You may be feeling a bit like everyone else's sock puppet these days, but don't let it get you down. Shake off those chains, pumpkin, and get to doing the things you want and need to do and not just the things somebody else says you ought to.

The Maze (November 11 - December 10)
Nobody ever had it as good as you and still managed to blow it. Them's the breaks, kid. But hey, better luck next time, right? And at least you've still got your health.

The Apple-Thief (December 11 - January 10)
So take the photographs and still frames in your mind; hang it on a shelf in good health and good time. Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial. For what it's worth, it was worth all the while.

The Hand (January 11 - February 10)
A few simple rules for the days and weeks to come: Never say no to a dance or an evening in good company, never take yourself too seriously, and keep your wits at all times, you never know when you'll need to be sharpest.

And remember, the journey never ends as long as you keep walking.


If you don't know what the Apple-Thief is fro, where have you been? Wink

(And does anyone know why I posted that 13 Sep originally? Sorry about that...)
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 9:47 am
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bit1313
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Joined: 10 Oct 2006
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Location: Western PA USA

 		Since you like puzzles so much, here's one that sums up what I think about your story. Fill in the blanks:


B _ L _ S _ I T

So CT was two people (kinda)... and now they are the heros that helped save the cube by stealing it, hiding it, altering the cards, lieing about everything, and having a two+ year wild goose case.

I say lock them all up. They can be back with their buddy Caine, behind bars.

bit1313
_________________
"Curiouser and Curiouser" exclaimed Alice, which wasn't very good English, but it did get her point across.

Trout, Trout - Pretty Little Trout.
One more splash then come right out

PostPosted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 12:47 pm
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Rand0m
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 		Heh. I'm an Eagle, but Beloved Other Half is the Maze... what to make of that?
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How the Cube was found - my Season One endgame microsite. Arrow

PostPosted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 12:52 pm
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bit1313
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 		I was gonna ask when your Bday was, Rand0m. Did MC know it? I think that was written for YOU, Champ! Laughing
_________________
"Curiouser and Curiouser" exclaimed Alice, which wasn't very good English, but it did get her point across.

Trout, Trout - Pretty Little Trout.
One more splash then come right out

PostPosted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 12:55 pm
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Dommccas1
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 		 Apple thief
Just thought i'd say that the apple thief is Good riddance (Time of your life) by Green Day.

Make of that what you will

PostPosted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 1:16 pm
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ramsfan
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 		fly like an eagle
eagles of the world unite. Or at the very least get into a flap.
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 1:19 pm
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rose
...and then Magic happens


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Quote:
and now they are the heros that helped save the cube by stealing it, hiding it, altering the cards, lieing about everything, and having a two+ year wild goose case.


I guess Violet would have been content to just leave the Cube on Earth until the 3P and Sente started to look for it? I wonder how she feels about the Cube going back to PPC. (By the way, how did she get back?)

I'm not sure how she thought the 3P would have agents on Earth, I've never understood how the first agents got here, but maybe we just have to go with it as an assumption. Also, the story of Violet finding out about the plot to steal the Cube through mistaken identity, from the previous installment of her interview, seems a bit sketchy. Again, I guess we just have to go with it.

I can see Violet not knowing who to trust other than Kurt. Half the time in this game we didn't know who to trust either. I'm still not sure that we have found all the people who were behind the attempt to find the Cube.

I can understand why Violet didn't come forward if she feared for her own safety from the 3P - as well she should given the violent deaths (starting with the security guard through Cymbalisity and Anna.) As the story progressed, she seems to have gathered more reasons to be afraid - as more people died - and I think she was justified in that fear. If she had revealed that she knew where the Cube was, she couldn't possibly expect to be safe.

I am not sure how she can expect to be safe even now. Did they catch everyone involved in Scarlett's kidnapping? I wonder why the 3P thought Scarlett was involved (or had information about where the Cube was didn't she say "I don't know where it is?") and not Violet? Or maybe Scarlett was easier to kidnap? Again, given how Scarlett was treated by the kidnappers, I think that confirms Violet's fear of harm.

Still, I agree, that Violet and Kurt would be so easily forgiven and not face any punishment is a stretch. They did steal the Cube. They have excuses for not telling anyone, but come on, Sente, Violet's own father, was the person visibly leading the search for the Cube. I don't know how he could secretly recover it and not tell anyone. They wouldn't even tell him? I wonder about their home life as kids ; it couldn't have been great. Now, once again, one of Sente's daughters is publicly humiliating him.
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 6:32 pm
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bit1313
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 		"Well, you see officer, I took the money from the bank because I overheard in a bar that someone was going to steal the money anyway. I figured that the bank president or even the police chief might be in on it, so I had better take the money first and then hide it for safe keeping until I knew that the REAL robbers were all captured."

Okay! I'll take my key to the city now! Hey, wait a minute.. why the handcuffs? Where are we going??? I'm a hero... a hero I tell you... Help... someone help me... Combed Thunderclap would have gotten away with it! HEEEELLLPPPP!

Wink

bit1313
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"Curiouser and Curiouser" exclaimed Alice, which wasn't very good English, but it did get her point across.

Trout, Trout - Pretty Little Trout.
One more splash then come right out

PostPosted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 6:57 pm
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DarkHuman
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Joined: 19 Apr 2006
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 		Laughing ahhh, good stuff man, good stuff!
rose wrote:
(By the way, how did she get back?)
it was in the last part of the LoB. something like, and then i was back in pxc, holding bag & shovel. .....oh HOW... t3h k00b. Wink
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:33 pm
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Afgncaap5
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Joined: 18 Dec 2006
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 		I probably would've done the same thing in Violet's shoes, to be honest. I mean, until she was suddenly in Earth, she was just keeping the prize from V&Co. Could've easily taken it to Kurt or Sente or someone if she got away.

And if I ever pick up a mysterious artifact and find myself in another world, well, I'll go along with whatever weird coincidences and people who know my name tell me to do.

PostPosted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:44 pm
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Scribe
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Joined: 09 Jun 2006
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 		Oh. It's obvious now, really...
rose wrote:
(By the way, how did she get back?)


Issues around the possible sentience of the cube and/or tinkerings with it - both linked to the academy - have yet to be cleared up. IMHO (now there's the chance of extra cubes), there's still a good chance that this won't be cleared up yet. On to Season 2!

rose wrote:

I wonder why the 3P thought Scarlett was involved (or had information about where the Cube was didn't she say "I don't know where it is?") and not Violet?


I'm still pretty sure this was due to one of Violet's coats being in Scarlett's room - see 'Gone':

Quote:

They'd even gone through my wardrobe, ripped into the linings of my coats. One of them was Violet's coat, in fact, but she didn't seem too angry.


Oh. Duh. Wait a minute. Violet received a coat when she got to Earth, according to the LoB. I bet you anything that's the same coat that Scarlett had in her room, and the same object that the 3P confirmed as being an original Earth object.
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 8:05 pm
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Flabyo
Boot

Joined: 25 Aug 2006
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 		Re: Oh. It's obvious now, really...
Scribe wrote:
I bet you anything that's the same coat that Scarlett had in her room,

I'm not going mad then, that's the realisation I came to myself this evening.

Poor Scarlett. So utterly hard done by from all and sundry.

PostPosted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 8:12 pm
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looosy
Boot

Joined: 04 Aug 2005
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Location: Kent, England

 		 
Quote:
He's a really good and wonderful friend. Although... well, I must say that everything that's happened has just emphasised for me what a truly amazing friend he is. There aren't many like him.


Violet and Kurt, kissing in a tree, K I S S I N G

Well, it is Valentines Day!
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 9:00 pm
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GasparLewis
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 		If all this is true, can I use the Receda Cube to book my next vacation? Rolling Eyes

If the blogs were Earth-only, you'd think they could have been a bit more straightforward, or at least not played so utterly dumb this whole time. And not cracking after over two years of running and dodging and fiddling with lives? That's either excruciating, or those two are some cold-blooded mother Censored ers, I'll tell you what.

PostPosted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 9:55 pm
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Daffy889
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 		Re: Oh. It's obvious now, really...
Scribe wrote:
Oh. Duh. Wait a minute. Violet received a coat when she got to Earth, according to the LoB. I bet you anything that's the same coat that Scarlett had in her room, and the same object that the 3P confirmed as being an original Earth object.


...and probably the same coat that Violet mentioned in her second ever post to us in April 2005.
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 2:18 am
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