On a whole other topic...

[truerevelation]

Hey, can someone send me a loada spam, please?

[...A little while later on, after the rational bit of Kanji's brain has caught up with the loud bit.]

Uh. Yeah. If anyone's been gettin' that crap about the Eridanian prince and they ain't trashed it? Can ya send a few of 'em my way? I'm takin' a look at them.

...Not the only thing I've been takin' a look at, while I'm here, huh. Caught some of that 'colorless green' stuff bein' sent from on the Valiant. Also some other things that ... I dunno what they are, a load more nonsense talk, so anyone think that could be more codewords?

Comments

[awitchdidit]

Thorne was very clear when she was teaching me about computers to not open or forward those e-mails. Do you think they might be relevant in this world?

[truerevelation]

...Eh, normally, they're a load of nothing. And I don't think there's some guy tryin' to give us a load of money. But there's something in that load of money that looks like it's ... not just a big number.

[awitchdidit]

You think someone's using scam junkmail to send coded messages in plain sight. That's brilliant.

[truerevelation]

Yeah, you got it! There's repeated patterns of numbers and stuff that are showin' up in different messages I've managed to look at; it ain't words but it looks like it's ... pointing at something? Some sorta cipher, I think?

[awitchdidit]

You're far beyond me in deciphering purely mathematical patterns, but if those numbers form any sort of riddle or linguistic cipher I can help you take a crack at it. Puzzling out coded messages is an old hobby of mine.

[truerevelation]

Sweet. I can send ya what I've got somehow, just gimme a chance to get the stuff together? I don't know if it's supposed to decode to any given language, but... y'know what, just a second...

[Let's just livestream a Kanji-vision clip of a computer screen he's looking at, poking at the thing.]

These groups of numbers here, right? [poke, poke] That's what's repeatin'. Something familiar about 'em...

[awitchdidit]

In a cipher, repeated patterns suggest words, or a repeated statement of some kind. I doubt it's a simple substitution, but maybe there's something...

[Beatrice is going to have a look at the numbers herself, and see if anything catches her eye as a more analogue-oriented player of idiotic word games.]

[truerevelation]

Right. Like here, here... anyone got any older copies of it lying around? Some of the patterns look like they're changing, might be dates or somethin' new... More of it I get, the more I can ... stick it together. I think.

[breakaleginhalf]

Ugh, that shit? Montrev's been trying to figure it out since I almost died. [what do you mean that's not a standardised unit of time]

You're humanside, right? Eridanus doesn't even have a prince, they're like-- a religious democracy. Their head of nation's a fucking Pope. Also? Fish people. Not normally that big on hard D's in their naming conventions.

[truerevelation]

Huh. Not a lotta 'D' in 'bubble', right? So whoever's sendin' this crap isn't even trying to sound like it's from a real thing, it's just tryin' to ... look dumb and annoying.

[breakaleginhalf]

I mean, that's the idea you want, isn't it. Making sure everyone else thinks it's fucking pointless so that only the person receiving it takes it seriously.

That they're using such a basic cipher is just compounding the insults, too.

[truerevelation]

Right. It ain't fancy encoding, it's just ... not knowing what each of the numbers means, what words or letters or whatever... but it all looks like one lot of numbers is one word and that's it?

[breakaleginhalf]

Yeah, like- making words by pulling random-ass letters out from everywhere in the book. I see that.

The only problem we're having is knowing which book. If we don't get the right one - like, right down to the print edition? - we can't really decode it.

[truerevelation]

...it is a book, ain't it? Like, this page, this line? Damn. And if some of the words are rare enough, I ain't even gonna be able to guess...

[breakaleginhalf]

How the hell do you work out a book when you don't even know the contents?

[how_they_shine]

I don't have any early spam to share, but - great job, Kanji.

[truerevelation]

Heh. Thanks, man. The spam was drivin' me crazy - least there's something coming outta it, huh.

You're in with the military crowd around here - you probably know this codeword stuff, I can give ya a list of what I've picked up?

[how_they_shine]

Sure! I'll see if I can recognize anything out of it. I'll point Matt in your direction too. He's better at codes than I am, and I know he's been doing some hacking. Maybe he's seen some things that I haven't.

[truerevelation]

Sounds like him, yeah. Dunno if he's already got some'f this stuff. Lemme see... what was it? Heartbeat, furious ideas... actually, let me-

[Kanji quiets down, and shoots off a quick stream of a screen he's interfaced the message onto.]

[how_they_shine]

This really makes me wish I had a head for cryptography.

Athena's the goddess of war and wisdom. She gave the city of Athens the olive tree. And didn't she give Perseus the mirrored shield to fight Medusa?

[truerevelation]

Heh. I just ended up with one by accident. And - man, yeah, 'course that's her thing! ...Were you around for the stuff back there?
Plus 'silent chariot'... Auriga is the chariot constellation. ... I oughta know that one.

[how_they_shine]

I was infiltrating at the time, pretty focused on Hephaestus.

That may be referencing the alien empire, then.

Colorless green doesn't make any sense to me at all. Unless they mean something translucent. It just sounds sticky.

I couldn't resist

[breakaleginhalf]

Soylent green, zero carbs.

Re: I couldn't resist

[how_they_shine]

[There's a paaauuuuuuuuuse.... One can almost hear Shiro staring absently into space.]

I should have expected that. ...I'm not sure why I didn't.

[breakaleginhalf]

I reserve the right to gallows humour.

But at least I'm probably completely off-base. I can tell you for a fact that funerals are a really big part of Xuil culture, doing shit like that to the dead is straight-up blasphemous.

[how_they_shine]

...Hm. Maybe we need to figure out what happened to the victims of the attack. Do you know what sorts of funeral practices are held for the Xuil?

[breakaleginhalf]

Yeah, we collect the bodies from our enemies under a white flag. The priests prepare them, leave them out overnight so that they can be sent on with the stars in the morning, and then there's a big celebration to see them off with honour. All the Xuil deaths in the war have had really fucking big parties, they go on until sunset that day.

[how_they_shine]

All right... I'm going to see if I can find out what we've been doing with the bodies and what our policy is. If we can shift even that much, maybe we can make some traction toward peace.

Any other important parts of the culture we should know about?

[breakaleginhalf]

Mostly just dont desecrate the corpses before we get them back? If we can find out it got done intentionally outside of general war stuff there'll be hell to pay. Try to keep people from dissecting them or whatever.

[dragoonrouge]

I have been speaking to the spam and have managed to acquire quite an amount that I could direct your way.

They do not have overly much to say though I assume 'tis some sort of code.

[truerevelation]

[...Well, that's new.]

You ... you talked to it? Huh. What ... sorta things was it sayin'?

[dragoonrouge]

Aye, though I do not believe that that kind of message has much capacity to do more than relate the key information underneath the nonsense.

'Twas related to a book of all things, "Page forty-six line eight word two." was what that all kept repeating. The issue is knowing what book it is referring to.

[truerevelation]

Forty-six, eight, two... that's ringin' a bell. There was somethin' going on with that number... I don't think it was showing up in the old stuff. Part of why I was checking it...
'course, the word could be anything. Dammit.

[dragoonrouge]

I am uncertain how much help with that I shall be, my knowledge of Earth things is not the best but if I encounter any other spam or messages I shall notify you.

[Kanji will find himself spam bombed by the multitudes of it that Q'uila drew in.

Some time goes by before Q'uila pipes back up.]

I have just intercepted a message about Colourless Green which might bare a little more fruit, 'twas rather flighty and suspicious but I persuaded it to share its message with me.

[truerevelation]

[Interesting thing of her to note, Kanji thinks.] Hey, you're doin' your best with Earth things anyway, yeah? That's what mat- whoa!

[Okay. There's the spam. Just... Let him get this filed away somewhere before it gives him a headache.]

Right. I ... uh, guess a secret encrypted somethin' wouldn't really wanna talk, huh...

[dragoonrouge]

[Q'uila can't help but laugh at Kanji's surprise.] Apologies, they are rather eager are they not and aye, I had to justify why I wanted to read the message the communication carried but it told me the following.

'...OPERATION COLORLESS GREEN critical update - Suspect operatives from WESTMOST KOREA GARDEN who knew FURIOUS IDEA are protecting it from ALEXANDROS. In addition, further information about HEARTBEAT discovered. Will dispatch SILENT CHARIOT with further details.

Urgently request communication to FLYING RAPIER under ATHENA GIFT protocol.

- LYNN'

[truerevelation]

...Well, damn. Lemme check - yeah. I think that's the one I grabbed too. You're good at this...

[dragoonrouge]

[Q'uila laughs.] Kind of you to say but I have no bloody clue what I am doing, this is the first time I have been able to try such a skill.

[truerevelation]

Ya picked a hell of a place to start, huh?

[dragoonrouge]

That I did. Any previous jaunt where I might have practised I ended up Infiltrated. I am very glad that it works at least.

[truerevelation]

Same. Sucks when you only find out afterwards you coulda been doin' something there, huh...

[dragoonrouge]

Aye, but 'tis hardly a new sensation at this stage and is something we can hardly plan for. What matters most is how we can assist in the present and all those here do that fantastically.