Unsolved mysteries

This page contains a list of all our "known unknowns" - questions that we don't yet have answers to. There is also an oft-unused page of False Puzzles & Speculation.

Current Hot Topics

Our Perplex City contacts have been talking about these recently:

• Who killed Isaac Cymbalisty? He was the fairly dislikable chief librarian at the PXC Academy Library and was working on restoring the Granier Diaries with Violet. He died shortly before the final entry could be transcribed - the police say suicide, but Anna Heath says murder.

• What is on the last page of the Granier Diary? It was in the custody of murdered librarian, Isaac Cymbalisty, at the time of his death. Violet insinuated that no harm would come to it - "The police confirmed... they'll release it back to the museum when their investigations are concluded." - but right now we don't know of its whereabouts. Also: what were the Granier Diaries specifically referring to?

• What is at Viendenbourg? What did the Castille family do there? We know it's some kind of military installation, and that they're trying to put together something that used to be there, according to Claire Castille's story to Scarlett. The sound of drilling emanates from a long, low-slung industrial building. It's very heavily protected by a neurodisruptive field built by Claire that renders intruders confused and ultimately unconscious. It was implied that Sente knows about its existence, but the employee might have assumed this from Scarlett's presence at the facility. Does it have something to do with content in the previously mentioned Granier Diary?

Unsolved Puzzle Cards

See: Puzzle Cards for more on these.

• #238: Riemann. It's not really meant to be solved. Bastards.

• #243: Shuffled: Once the method is discovered, it'll be easy...

• #251: The Thirteenth Labour: We know how to do it, it just needs lots of time and people and computer resources and... seeRccrypt Work Unit checkout for more.

• Many of the Cards have Playing card symbols, and their various respective Letters. The full message and meaning is still unknown.

On The Back Burner

No news from Perplex City lately:

• Who created the Djinn virus? This was a virus that destroyed or accessed data on people's keys, and was transmitted key-to-key. It was created by someone who accessed insider information at the Centrifuge labs - a company that manufactures keys. The answer to this question is also the answer to the silver Shuffled card.

• Who are those crazy anarchist vandals? They've been vandalising Perplex City up a storm with their funny symbols and references to leading Earth Anarchist thinkers. Do they have anything to do with anything, or are they simply easy press-scare fodder?

• The London Morse Code Message - WTF? We have snippets that are possibly decoded, but no concrete solve for the full message. We were possibly meant to go to the Tate Gallery at some point, but clearly haven't. Chalk another one up to the 3P, y'all!

• Who, and where, is Cyrus Quinton? We think Cyrus Quinton was the operational mastermind of the Cube Theft Team (codename: V) who disappeared once he had murdered Monica Grand. V's DNA records are not on the city databases, according to police leiutenant Helena Frye, which means he is either from outside the city, or has been able to hack into their records. Kurt can't find the name Cyrus Quinton on any databases either.

• Why build a Clean Room? Kurt stumbled across extremely well maintained tunnels beneath the Gillit Road Subway. In return for providing information on Quinton, Helena Frye revealed that the 3P were constructing a clean room for purposes unknown.

• Helena Frye - really as straight as all that? Helena Frye claims the Gillit Road fiasco was a legitimate secret Police operation gone wrong, no thanks to Kurt. But why did Kurt overhear the passing lackeys ask "why is Frye getting the police involved?" Was she a double-triple-something agent? And even if she is, as we assume, legit, we don't know anything about her obviously extensive counter-3P investigations. Or why she lied about the items found at the [[Five of Cups] to The Sentinel.

• What do you mean, "we never held it"? When Monica died, she told Sylvia that the original theft team "never held it" - meaning The Receda Cube. Was this part of the plan? Did the Cube autotransport itself to Earth? Or was their whole operation a botched mission, or indeed a decoy from the real setup?

• Who was above V in the chain of command? We know he has a Bigger Boss, possibly representative of an even bigger Conspiracy. Who are these people?

• Who's crooked at the Academy? We know that Cyrus Quinton called the Academy and had a heated discussion with someone on the day following the theft. (Alejo: "Even our best production guy, Cyrus, was a little off that day - I remember he was having this big argument, said he was talking to Helix about his contract, but when I redialed from the studio console a little later to talk to Helix, I got some office at the Academy.") Also, Kurt's friend speculated (with an unknown level of actual information) that it would take at least two people to thoroughly circumvent the Academy's security systems, but said it was a "danger to say more." We know that one is probably an Adjunct Senior Fellow from the leaked emails. V also refers to someone "more senior", who probably resides at the Academy, and therefore is probably a Senior Fellow.

• Why steal the Cube? We currently can't ascribe a clear motive to the Third Power in their theft of the artefact.

• When will Violet & Kurt do the honourable thing and fall hopelessly in love with one another? Talking of which...

• Should we hate Miranda Katsoulis? Turned excessively paranoid, we've come to be highly suspicious of Kurt's new beau, Miranda, who appeared alongside another chap at the Library at the time the Granier Diaries were being restored. Which is not only suspicious, but there's also the fact that she isn't Violet, hence not good enough for Kurt. Obviously. Also, she turned on the waterworks when interviewed about Isaac Cymbalisty's death. However, Violet seems to think she's alright.

• What happened on the night of 7th Jan, 2004? One of the conspirators nearly gave the game away to a female somebody. They said a "challenge" line, and the person they were talking to (by chance) completed the "third element", at which point the conspirator started blabbing. They quickly realised their mistake and said that "I barely gave anything away before realising the error. She didn't appear suspicious." Does anyone remember anything?

• Inari Ekeba is a Professor Of Natural Sciences and wanted to do Cube Research, but Sente Kiteway wouldn't let her. The meeting flared up and she rashly threatened to steal the Cube. Significant, or a red herring?

• Who was Mrs Kiteway? One assumes that Violet and Scarlett have a mother - who was she, and where is she now? (Our working theory is that she died when the girls were very young, I think.)

• The big question: If the cube is on Earth, how did it get here and how are we meant to get it back to Perplex City?

• Some while ago, a special offer was sent out from Firebox, which contained the Firebox 100 Letters. Many have speculated this is a global sudoku. While it is not directly tied to the rest of the story, the question remains, what is the correct solution?