Leaked E-mails
On Wednesday 16th November 2005, Perplex City players who had completed the set of four blue hex cards were sent an e-mail congratulating them from the Academy.
However, it seems that the Academy's e-mail system managed to leak some internal e-mails at the bottom of these e-mails sent out to players. Each player so far has received a different e-mail fragment. They are arranged below in date order.
The top portion of the e-mail reads:
Congratulations, you've solved a set of four Perplex City cards. We've rewarded you by doubling your points for each of the cards in the set.
Your Perplex Point total is now [total]. You have solved [x] cards. We in Perplex City would like to thank you for your continued dedication to our cause. With your help, we are certain that the Receda Cube will be found and returned safely.
Sincerely,
The Puzzle Scribe Team
Then follows an error code:
"f8080:xx95034
internal error academail
criticalerror 420
error-authconflict
error-redirect
error-handover
error-output
From 20th December 2005 it appears as if some of these emails have been sent again, although at this time they don't appear to be related to the actual solving of a set (i.e. although the email refers to solving a set, no card was solved at the time the email was sent). The resent email has an additional header at the start of the mail as follows.
Failure in Centre for Reality Research Sandbox Mail Transport Daemon (daemon
subprocess 3ea5). Mind Candy unavailable. Final resend attempt follows.
Wave 4 cards appear to have new e-mails associated with solving a set of cards. These e-mails start with an error message like the following.
criticalerror1037
error502-authconflict
error503-redirect
This page has become very very long. To help curb that, we are now sorting by year. Please see the appropriate page, linked below for older emails. This page will contain only emails from the current year. It would appear newer emails are being recieved in progression with waves of cards and major events, so (in theory) the newest emails should be chronologically sorted, to the bottom of this page.
Some of these messages have become extremely important. Those should be listed below......
Violet told us a story, after sherevealed she stole the cube, about her visiting the Five of Cups bar, and being approached by Q. Here is Q apologizing to his boss:
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8 Jan. 2004 2.28am From: name withheld It's not my fault. I simply mistook the contact. The contact gave the appropriate response to the feeder line and correctly completed the third element. I barely gave anything away before realising the error. She didn't appear suspicious. Contact correctly identified within two hours. I don't think this need go further up the line. Please do not refer to V. |
After being led to suspicions of ill-will, Violet thought maybe it would be best to camp out in the Museum and see what happens. This meant sneaking in, which meant having a reason not to be at the ball:
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15 Jan. 2004 3.28pm From: Violet Kiteway Hiya - sorry, you know I said I was coming down with something? Well, it's turned into definite flu: headache, achey joints etc. I don't think I can make it tonight. Scarlett's coming, though, isn't she? I'm sure it'll be a great success as usual. V. |
After stealing the Cube, Violet was left holding the bag. Literally. An embroidered "I <3 NY" bag, a shovel, and a jacket were the only physical evidence Violet had ever been to Earth. And Scarlett managed to make a mess of the bag.
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3 April 2005 12.17pm From: Scarlett Kiteway Dad.... would you let Violet know that I borrowed her embroidered bag and, well, kind of spilled juice on it.... I promise I'll get her a new one, honest, but I know she'll be cross and it'd be so better coming from you... Pleeease? xxx Lettie |
Q (Bernardo Holyoke) got a bit full of himself. He hid some stolen academy parts, which were later discovered by police (after a tip from Pietro Salk, who got a tip from Monica Grand). Holyoke's penalty for disobedience was swift execution.
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27 April 2005 8.54am From: name withheld And Q? Do we wish to take any other retributive measures? As a message to anyone else who might be tempted to try to steal from us? V. |
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27 April 2005 8.55am From: name withheld I think not. We always knew that we might have to eliminate members of your team. Q was foolish in trying to keep some of these items from us, and he has paid the price. I think the matter ends here. |
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27 Apr. 2005 8.56am From: name withheld Very well. I shall continue to monitor the other members of the team, as agreed. V. |
In the middle of endless confusion, it was revealed that Aiko was a reconstructionist. She had already come under suspicion for her involvement in the Academy ball, but not discernible connection could be made. Violet's discovery at the recon compound, and a certain Recon Encryption Puzzle put all eyes on her.
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14 June 2005 4.38pm From: Anna Heath Aiko's personnel file is attached. As you can see we've always been aware that she was strongly religious. I do not see that this has the slightest implication for her work. |
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14 June 2005 4.39pm From: Sente Kiteway I disagree. This information is certainly evidence in the theft of the Cube. I'm turning it over to the proper authorities now. |
Caine is a man of many hidden secrets. Most of them quite incriminating.
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9 Sept. 2005 10.15am From: Garnet Reed Remember, I've been trained to withstand torture. You have no need to fear. Your secret is safe with me, Tristan.... |
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23 Sept. 2005 9.40am From: Aiko Entrescore That today would be a good day to go back home and call in sick a bit later. Fortunately for you, only Von and I are in the office so far to see your telltale fingernails. My advice is, cut them as short as you can and use McWhirter's Reliable Remover. Old fashioned but it works. It was a nice piece of performance theatre, though. |
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3 Oct. 2005 1.59pm From: Tippy Ankron For the last time, PLEASE will you ALL stop taking my stapler! |
Lara Feldenbrandt, manager of Viendenbourg mining operations, reported directly to Sente. You see, Sente was secretly building a new Cube. This required a great deal of unstable materials, and experimental technological procedures. Scarlett and Violet would stumble upon these things later.
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12 May 2006 3.22pm From: Lara Feldenbrandt Good news to report, sir. We've finally achieved a good accretion rate for the material, and we should be able to amass the desired concentration by sometime toward the end of the month. If all goes well, this means we should be able to begin trials of the device by mid-June. Provided, of course, that we get those last bits of gear you keep promising. |
Violet & Kurt snuck bits and bobs onto Puzzle Cards. This was their big plan. And neither Mind Candy nor the Academy were aware of it until the cards were in the wild.
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20 July 2006 10.38am From: Adrian Hon We've been doing a QA assessment of the Wave 4 cards now that they're printed, and we've noticed a lot of unusual markings on them. They don't seem to be integrated into the card designs, and now we're wondering if there was a problem on your end, or is this intentional? |
...And then the blame starts.
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21 July 2006 5.47pm From: Adrian Hon Can you believe this? They pretty obviously screwed up something fierce somewhere on their side and when we pointed out it couldn't be production problems and our fault, they go radio silent. Typical. They're always on about how very superior and intellectual they are, but you know S wouldn't last a week at Cambridge or Oxford. And at least we don't celebrate holidays based on the mystical properties of the divine right angle. |
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21 July 2006 5.47pm From: Naomi Alderman You sure know how to make friends, Adrian. Don't worry, I'll help you clear your desk out... |
In the days before the SFConn, the Third Power were also making plans. They intended to hijack the signal, and send a dozen agents to Earth.
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23 July 2006 9.49pm From: name withheld Don't worry, it's under control. There's no way we'll miss our big date. |
We on Earth are very very stupid sometimes. Sometimes, it takes a lot for us to notice anything at all.
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17 August 2006 06.54pm From: Garnet Reed |
One girl's utter embarrassment is another boy's coming of age.
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11 September 2006 08.57am From: Tippy Ankron |
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11 September 2006 09.26am From: Von Lubik |
The 3P in the city may have been hampered -- but on Earth, they're going strong. possibly stronger, since everyone in the city was raided and rounded up. But what are they working on?
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11 September 2006, 12.57pm From: name withheld |
