Peppermint

Things have been pretty quiet around Paragon City ever since we de-activated the Harmonizer, so I haven't had much to write in my journal. I've got some big news about my friend Charles, though! I don't think I've told you about him; he owns extraordinary-popular-delusions.com, and he's been giving me free web space!

Anyway, let me start at the beginning! Charles is a fan of this book called "Lord Foul's Bane". (I've been trying to read it, but it's pretty hard going and I'm only up to Chapter 3. The main character is in such a bad mood all the time! I'm hoping he gets a pet soon; that would help cheer him up.)

Meanwhile, out in San Francisco, there's a public access cable TV show called Heatherly and Julie's Fantasy Bedtime Hour, which is all about "Lord Foul's Bane". You can find a good overview of the show here.

So Charles got to appear on the show as a guest expert! But that's not even the best part! During the taping, he proposed to his friend Ann and her poodle Henna, and they said 'Yes!'!!! You can see the whole thing if you download Episode 24! (The proposal starts at the 25-minute mark if you're in a hurry to see it.) I'm so excited for them!!! I wish I could go to the wedding, but they're having it in this weird parallel universe that's hard to get to from Paragon City.

(Newcomers: You can read through my journal in order by clicking here to get to the start, and then clicking the right arrow to page through the later entries.)

I was just reading over my journal and thinking about how far I've come since I started writing. I've solved the mystery of my amnesia, learned my original name, and taken a new name that's more to my liking. Now that Dr. Ferris is dead and the Thompson Harmonizer is dismantled, the story of "Denying-The-Antecedent" is over.

Of course there are still things that need doing. I have to check up on my younger sister, "Highway Sixty-One Revisited". I need to help Brother Psych rescue his own sister from the Hegemon. I need to investigate the mystery of Bonesnapper and Shard Master. I need to support Master Wonderful in his struggle against the Crimson King and the Illuminati.

But, really, I no longer have a story to be the heroine of. For now, I'm going to have to dedicate myself to being a supporting character in other people's stories. (Not that I'm complaining! It's fun to be the main character, but it's also kind of exhausting!)

I'm probably not going to be writing in my journal as much anymore, but feel free to E-mail me at "peppermint [at] extraordinary-popular-delusions.com" if you have any comments or ideas.

Thanks again to everyone who supported me in my quest!

Your friend,

---Peppermint

PS - I was just talking to Dr. Waterhouse from G.I.F.T.'s Cryptography Division about how the Hegemon was able to get all Five Keys. It turns out that I made a mistake by putting encrypted First Key on my website. The Hegemon already knew what the First Key was. (In fact, she was the one who suggested using that Key.) By comparing the two texts, she could find out what type of encryption I was using, and use that information to decode the remaining Keys. Dr. Waterhouse also told me that the ROT-13 encryption I was using is too weak to protect sensitive information. I'm not sure I agree with him, though. I remember how much trouble breaking ROT-13 encryption was for me!

PPS - I got called into Antonio Nash's office today. I thought he was going to yell at me for denting up the Zero-Point Generator; it got sort of stuck when I was trying to disconnect it from the Harmonizer. But he said that the City is so grateful that I deactivated the Harmonizer that they're not going to charge me for the damages, and they're even giving me the right to wear a cape with my uniform! Antonio says that I'll probably be a truly extraordinary superheroine someday, after I've learned some control.

On the balcony of my apartment, looking off into an uncertain future!

Like I said last week, Paragon City is free from the threat of the Harmonizer!

Thanks to everyone who helped: Bonesnapper, Master Wonderful, Ramman, Psychic Scot', Night Eagle, Captain Marvelous, Ramman, Brother Psych, and my new friend Rust who I met for the first time! And to Shard...it used to be physically attached to Bonesnapper, but now it's taken on a body of its own, and started calling itself Shard Master.

I was just about to leave for the meeting when I got an emergency phone call; someone said that their pet penguin had climbed up a tree and wouldn't come down. So I went all the way out to the far side of Faultline, and it turned out to be a hoax! There aren't even any trees there!

It turned out that the call was a clever plot by the Hegemon to distract me so she could take control of the Harmonizer! She entered the Five Keys, and stabilized the power supply, and then she threatened to destroy Paragon City unless she was given a billion influence!

But everyone was saved thanks to Shard Master's quick thinking! It pointed out that the Hegemon was inside the Harmonizer's radius, and that she'd be killed if she set it off! Apparently she hadn't thought of that, and she reduced her demands to one hundred influence. Bonesnapper and Master Wonderful managed to come up with the money, and that seemed to satisfy her. (I'm starting to get the feeling that she's not as smart as she wants people to think...)

Before she left, she gave Shard Master some influence. Apparently Shard had been taking control of Bonesnapper's body when he was asleep, and had assisted the Hegemon in getting two of the keys. I looked around the Hegemon's website some more, and I think I figured out how they got in touch. If you do a "view source" on any of her web pages, you can see the hidden message, "<!-- Before Phase 1, there is nothing. -->". That's a clue that there's a "Phase 0" page, and the URL for Phase 0 would be:
http://www.extraordinary-popular-delusions.com/atc/phase0/index.shtml.

I dunno. Shard Master seems like kind of a jerk, but I guess we should be grateful that he convinced the Hegemon to change her demands...

Anyway, just after the Hegemon left, I got back to Atlas Park, shut down the Harmonizer, and deleted the data files. Those files took the full computing power of Project Messenger to create, and I don't think we'll be seeing any more Harmonizers any time soon

So that's that! I need to think about my plans for the future, but tonight I'm just going to relax.

There's full transcript below the cut:
( Click here )

Left to Right: Master Wonderful, Brother Psych, Ramman, Rust, Bonesnapper!
(Not shown: Psychic Scot', Shard Master, Captain Marvelous and Night Eagle!)

Thanks to everyone who came out tonight to help! Because of you, Paragon City is safe from the threat of the Harmonizer!

I'm getting packed to go out of town for a few days, so I don't have time to tell the whole story. I should have a full report with pictures up early next week, though, so be sure to watch for it!

I made another friend today! His name is Brother Psych. He just recently found out about my journal...I wish I'd gotten to meet him earlier, but I'm glad to have him aboard for the endgame!

Also, I figured I'd better give out some detailed directions to the Harmonizer site. It's easy to get to: From the train station in Atlas Park, just go a little bit to the southwest to the lake. The Harmonizer is on the north side of the lake, directly under the bridge. It's marked with a star on the map below.

If you get to Atlas Park before I do, then please wait for me at the site...I don't anticipate any problems, but I'd like people to be watching the Harmonizer just in case. (But there's no need to get there too early, the console can't be used before 9PM Eastern Time on Thursday.)

Map to the Harmonizer!



Brother Psych!

I finished checking my calculations, and it turns out that the best day to deactivate the Harmonizer is actually two days later! So the meeting will be at 9PM Eastern Time on Thursday, October 21st.

Sorry about the mix-up! I hope everyone can make it!

I found one of the consoles that controls the Harmonizer! It's on the north side of the Prometheus Park district of Atlas Park, just under the bridge. Actually, that's the same place that I woke up back in May. If you look at the photograph in my first journal entry, you can see the tunnel entrance! I wonder what the odds of that are?

I couldn't deactivate the Harmonizer. It's gone too long without maintenance and the power supply is unstable. I'm going to need to wait for a low point in the cycle. It looks like that'll be happening next Tuesday, October 19, at 9PM Eastern Time. Feel free to show up if you're interested in watching! Afterwards I'll be going to the new dance club in Steel Canyon to celebrate! (Please E-mail me if you're planning on being there, so I can watch for you! Also, I still need to double-check the schematics to make sure that October 19th is the right day. So if you're busy on the 19th, then maybe you can let me know what day you hope is the right one.)

There was one strange thing I found. The schematics don't have anything that looks like an "Orb of Moqiss". I'd thought that the Orb was going to be the power supply, but it turns out that it's using a plain old Zero-Point Power Generator. That's not all that revolutionary; I just read in the paper that scientists will be able to re-create the Zero-Point technology in another twenty years or so. (Based on the schematics, this particular Zero-Point Power Generator is one of the ones from the Pyramid at Giza. Grrr! I can't believe that Ferris stole it for one of his personal projects! It belongs in a museum!)

Actually, I'm starting to suspect that the Orb of Moqiss might just be a hoax. When I had my memories erased, the Hegemon couldn't have known what my next personality would be like, so she might have made that up as a "hook", in case I turned out to be motivated by a lust for physical power.

I think my long quest is almost over. I hope everyone can make it on the 19th!

The Tunnel in Prometheus Park!

I just got in touch with one of Mori's friends! His name is Blind Guardian, and apparently we were both in a group called Nightfall back in Osaka.

Something weird happened, though. He said that he'd talked to me on the phone last week! I don't remember that at all, and I'm worried that my amnesia is getting worse! Blind Guardian was really reassuring, though...he said that he might have been talking to someone else who was just posing as me.

Anyway, he didn't want to give out the Second Key over the phone, so he had a courier deliver another copy of his letter. (The first letter got delivered to a vacant office in Steel Canyon. I went there but didn't find any clues.)

Now I have all Five Keys, and I've got a lead on the location of one of the Harmonizer consoles! I just need to run around the city and find the lake and statue I remember!

---

<td>To Memento Mori: [As you requested, here is another copy of the letter I sent last week. I think it likely that the original fell into the hands of our enemies, but I remain confident that the charm I placed on the paper will prevent them from obtaining the Second Key] It is good to see that you are alive and well. Your periods of being out of contact seem far too long. Thank you again with your help against the Oni. If not for you, the battle would have spilled out into the open, which, I believed, the world was not yet ready to be made aware of. However, the way that so many did not cower in fear of the Rikti attack makes me think, now, that I may have been wrong in my estimation. But that doesn't ease my fears that those beasts were just a symptom of a bigger problem. I realize you probably don't remember our discussion of this when you resurfaced, just as you didn't remember me when I found you, barely clinging to life after having gone missing for several years after the rest of Nightfall fought the invading Oni. As we contemplated the beasts and what your sister was telling you, you made the decision to give me the Second Key for safe keeping. You also said that I should be careful of giving it back to you since you'd discovered some memories of you working for the other side. So this brings me to the reason I am writing this letter. I'm not in the habit of trusting many mortals and I am well aware of the apparent naive nature that you current personality has, which could easily be a ruse on your part. These are things I have had to ponder before deciding on releasing the Second Key to you, which is part of the reason why I have not contacted you before now. I have chosen to place a charm on the text in this letter containing the second key. If someone is unable to read it then they clearly intend to use the Harmonizer for malign purposes, so they shall never be able to glean the information that they desire from this letter. Those who wish to finally totally disable the Harmonizer shall be able to learn that the Second Key is: [REDACTED ("Redacted" is my new word for this week! - Peppermint.)] There is nothing more I can do to help you save to tell you this one thing: The "All Seeing Eye" is a powerful foe, but if you can find an ally amongst they high council, there are many doors that you would now find open. Also beware of the Crimson King and his court, their intentions are secret to even the rest of the "Enlightened." You ally in shadow, The Blind Guardian </td>

Last night, I remembered some things about my sister, Highway Sixty-One Revisited. It's not a clear memory, just a sequence of images...like a dream of a memory, or a memory of a dream.

---

<td> I'm crawling through an opening that's been cut into a chain link fence. Ahead of me I see a loading dock with crates of electronic equipment. Behind me and off to the side, some drunken street thugs are walking into the alley. They haven't seen me, and I'll be hidden in the shadows before they get much closer... I'm standing in a tunnel, with an infant cradled in my arms. In front of me is a grate. Beyond it, I see a small lake with a monument in the center. There's a computer terminal set in the wall. I bring up a security menu. The word "Harmonizer" catches my eye for an instant, but I read past it, looking for a control to open the grate... I'm arguing with the Hegemon. She's speaking emotionlessly, but I'm angry, as angry as I can ever remember being. I become even more furious as I start to understand that she's right... I'm standing outside the door of a building, an orphanage... </td>

---

I also had a memorial ceremony for the Hegemon today. Only one other guest showed up...I'm not sure who, because he had a Distortion Field running. I figured that he wanted his privacy so I didn't try to talk.

I wish I'd been able to have a proper funeral, but the body had vanished from the morgue. There was no sign that the doors had been tampered with, and the security videos didn't show anything out of the ordinary.

One more thing about the Hegemon...I got a call from my friend Ann who works in the archives at City Hall. She'd noticed that the biography in the Hegemon's apartment had used the spelling "Heliogabulus" instead of the usual "Heliogabalus". It could have been sloppy editing, but I'm wondering if there's some deeper significance. Maybe a coded message in the sequence of misspelled words?

Today I've got good news and better news!

I rented that "Azumanga Daioh" video that I told you about. I liked it OK, I guess. It was pretty funny, but I wish it had been more realistic. Anyway, the character on the box cover is named "Osaka", which is also the name of a city in Japan. I called Osaka City Hall and asked about Mori, and they said that they had records of a "Memento Mori" who mysteriously vanished about six months ago! I'm going to follow up on that and see if I can find out who her friends were.

Also, I just noticed something about the "Project Messenger" document on the Hegemon's website. According to the "Sequence 3: Trial 6" section, I have a younger sister! (Or maybe a brother, but I think that "Highway Sixty-One Revisited" sounds more like a girl's name.)

I'm prepared for the worst, but there's a good chance she's still alive! Dr. Ferris didn't seem very interested in finding her after she was kidnapped. The trail is pretty cold at this point, but I'm definitely going to track her down someday!

Well, I'm completely hooked on "Neon Genesis Evangelion"! It took me a while to get into, because there were a lot of translation problems. The English dub was just depressing. I tried listening to the original Japanese audio with subtitles, but the subtitles were even more depressing. Finally I turned off the subtitles and made up my own dialog, and then I started enjoying it! It's a wacky sit-com about a family and their pet penguin, set during the Rikti invasion of Tokyo.

I'm still looking for leads on Mori's friends. Once I finish watching NGE, I think I'm going to rent that other video; maybe watching it will help me remember something. But please E-mail me if you come up with any ideas before then!

The police came by this morning. They told me that The Hegemon was dead, and that they'd found some papers in her apartment saying that I was her next-of-kin. They needed me to identify the body. I'm still in shock.

Apparently she was overwhelmed by Clockwork and had been partially disassembled by the time her body was found. It turns out that she was almost entirely mechanical, but the coroner said that there's no real hope of recovery. The remaining components were connected in a weird, organic sort of way, as if her circuits were grown instead of designed. Even if we could recover the missing pieces from the Clockwork, there's no way we could reassemble her.

I've been looking through her possessions. I suppose that I've inherited them. She really did have a stamp collection, and it looks like a pretty impressive one. There were four crystals found on her body...they look a lot like mine, but they're inert. She had a lot of books; mostly history and political science. There was a biography of Heliogabulus open on the nightstand next to her bed. I also found the password to her web page. She'd organized some notes for the Phase 6 puzzles, but they were only half done.

At the end of the Phase 6 puzzles there was a document. I've read it, and it bothers me. I don't feel guilty about killing Ferris any more; his crimes were even worse than I'd imagined. "Hypothermia" is death by freezing.

Since I've inherited the files, I suppose I should carry out her last wish and put them on her website. You can find the puzzles on her page:
http://www.extraordinary-popular-delusions.com/atc/

And since I already know the answers, I'm going to put them up on my page:
http://www.extraordinary-popular-delusions.com/peppermint/.
(But don't cheat! See if you can get the answers on your own!)

Goodbye, sister. I wish that I had known you better.

(Yes, I know that The Hegemon has a history of faking her own death. But since she's gone to so much trouble, I figured that it would be polite for me to play along!)

Well, I'm embarrassed. I just found out from Ramman that I've been sleeping in a utility closet! That was an easy mistake to make; it was a lot more spacious than my old apartment on Kings Row. My space is actually a whole suite, with a walk-in refrigerator and an entertainment room and everything! Thanks, Ramman! What a swell guy!

I was just down at the video store renting something to watch in the entertainment room. I asked one of the clerks if she could recommend something that a penguin would enjoy, and she picked the first volume of a TV serial called "Neon Genesis Evangelion". I can't wait to watch it with Snowball! I hope it's funny.

I noticed another video on the same shelf that had an odd effect on me...it triggered something, but I don't think it was a memory. It was more like a sudden flash of intuition. I got the feeling that it had something to do with Mori's friends, the ones I've been looking for because they have the Second Key.

According to the back of the case, that video is a weird fantasy about what it might have been like to go to high school in Tokyo, if all their high schools hadn't been destroyed by radioactive monsters and giant robots.

I thought maybe that meant that Mori lived in Tokyo, but I made some calls and there aren't any records of her there. I still think that the video case is important, though...and it's this particular video case; they also had some other videos in the same series but they didn't trigger anything.

Please E-mail me if you have any ideas! This could be my lead to the Second Key, and I could get it without having to rely on the Hegemon for once!

Can this picture lead me to Mori?

Image from amazon.com

Here's a report on the Thompson Harmonizer from E.L.I.T.E. archives. A lot of this we knew already, but the information about the relationship between E.L.I.T.E. and the Fifth Column is interesting.

---

<td> The Thompson Harmonizer was first theorized by E.L.I.T.E. researchers in the 1950's. It was seen as a way to protect Paragon City from invasion. The basic theory behind the device was simple enough, but the mathematics needed to build it were incredibly complex. Some of the equations are insoluble even with the computing resources we have today. In the 1980's, Dr. Ferris and the State Science Institute somehow managed to solve those equations (no one knows exactly how) and he worked with E.L.I.T.E. to build the Harmonizer in secret. This was not one of our finest moments. The decision to build the Harmonizer was extremely controversial, and their were bitter divisions within our ranks. The project site was sabotaged several times. At about this time it was discovered that the Fifth Column had infiltrated E.L.I.T.E...ironically, it was the Harmonizer Project that triggered this; the Fifth Column was equally divided and the warring factions eventually exposed each other. The Harmonizer was completed in the early 1990's, but then, in one last great act of sabotage, someone managed to destroy all of the blueprints, and then seal the Harmonizer itself with five passwords. Dr. Ferris was unable to re-create his research, and he was assassinated a few years later. More recently, interdimensional anomlies have been manifesting around the Harmonizer. These seem to be related to an instability in the power source...and with the Harmonizer's control software sealed, there's no way to fix this. Attempting to physically dismantle the Harmonizer could have catastrophic side effects, so it's imperative that we find the Keys as soon as possible. </td>

Things are really starting to look up for me!

The Fifth Column was hit pretty hard by the arrests, and they've been ignoring me. I mean they're completely ignoring me. I ran across a squad in Boomtown. They didn't seem to be breaking any laws, so I couldn't arrest them, but I spent the whole afternoon heckling them while they pretended I wasn't there!

The Crimson Tape invited me out for ice cream, and she even paid for it! She's a lot friendlier than she used to be. She told me about how she's working to restore the good name of the Concerned Citizens Council. The Fifth Column had turned it into a bigotted anti-mutant organization, but she's dedicated to returning the Council to its original mission, which apparently had something to do with segregation in the public schools. She also gave me those folders from E.L.I.T.E. that I needed. One of them had the Third Key, which matched the ones I'd gotten from Ramman's and Bonesnapper. The other had some information about Dr. Ferris and the Harmonizer...I'll post a summary here in the next few days.

I moved into Ramman's tower on Talos Island today. It's a little too fancy for me, but it's a secure building, so I won't have to worry about my neighbors getting caught in the crossfire if "Jack in Diamonds" comes after me again!

Teasing the Fifth Column!


Home Sweet Home! (I'm on the sixth floor from the top!)

Bonesnapper got a copy of the Third Key for me! Actually we got it from the alien Shard that's the source of most of his superpowers. Shard isn't telling us how it got the Key, but it probably involved those classified documents at E.L.I.T.E. Headquarters.

Later on I met Ramman. His fellow-God Loki had managed to steal some information about the Third Key from the Fifth Column. There were some coded documents, and the address of a lawyer's office. (Apparently the lawyer had been holding the decryption keys in escrow.)

We ran into Lady Spik-ten on the way to the lawyer's office. It was a good thing she came along with us, because the office was under attack by Circle of Thorns mages, and it took all three of us to fight them off! Eventually we found the decryption key for the document, and it matched the Third Key that Bonesnapper had given me. I've updated the factsheet page on my web site.

Now I have four of the Keys! In order to get the last one, I need to get some more information about my "Mori" personality, so I'm going to concentrate on that. I also need to find one of the Harmonizer consoles.

But my first item of business is to find a new place to live! The apartment in King's Row isn't safe any more. A while back, Ramman offered me the use of his tower on Talos Island. I think I might take him up on that...

Ramman and Lady Spik-ten!

I just got back from walking Snowball, and my apartment building was surrounded by police and fire engines! There had been an explosion that took out most of my living room and badly injured someone in the hallway! I'm pretty tough, so I think I could have survived it, but little Snowball wouldn't have had a chance!

As far as the police could tell, someone had broken into my apartment and planted a bomb that was rigged to detonate when the door was opened. Later on, a second person also tried to break in, and he set off the bomb and got knocked unconscious in the explosion. He must not have been too badly hurt, though, because he snuck out of the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

There were a few clues. There was a playing card, a Jack of Diamonds, left at the scene. I've been getting some threatening letters from a "Jack in Diamonds", who I think is a member of the "Illuminated Ones" and a servant of the "Crimson King". The Crimson King has mostly been harrassing my friend Master Wonderful, but lately he's taken an interest in getting the Keys to the Harmonizer. Master Wonderful can tell you the story better than I can...you can contact him in the "Justice Server" universe as "MasterWonderful", or write to him at "majin [at] houston.rr.com".

The person who was caught in the explosion had been carrying a crowbar and some cans of spraypaint. I think that he was trying to trash my apartment. On the wall next to the door, he'd spraypainted "No more APO/THEOSISes!"

I checked "APO/THEOSIS" in the archives. It was the name of a rogue Artificial Intelligence software that was created several years ago. No one knows where it came from; by the time it was discovered it had distributed itself across hundreds of computers all over the Internet. It knocked out the electricity across half of Europe, and then came close to hacking into the Pentagon and launching a full-scale nuclear war. It was stopped...literally at the last minute...by a custom virus written by the Junior Chipmunks, an elementary school superheroes' league and computer club.

I don't think I have any connections to "APO/THEOSIS", so I'm not sure why he came after me. Maybe he just got the wrong apartment?

This has been a really good week for me!

Photonic e-mailed me with the First Key! There were actually two different Jonathan Pryce movies with passwords, but it didn't take me long to watch them and see which one looked familiar. (I'm trying to keep the Keys secret for now, so I'm not going to post the name of the movie here. Feel free to E-mail me if you'd like to know what it is, though.)

Edit: (Now that the Harmonizer situation has been resolved, it's safe for me to tell you that the movies were "Brazil" (Password: "'Ere I Am. J. H.") and "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (Password: "B-Flat"). The Hegemon was the one who rented the movie, so "Brazil" is the most likely choice...it's set in a nightmarish Orwellian dictatorship.)

And my pet penguin Snowball got delivered yesterday! I've already set up a nest for her...I'm worried that the apartment's going to get too hot during the day, so I tipped over my refrigerator and punched some air holes in it, and then put in a "dog flap" so she can get in and out. Did you know that the light inside the refrigerator doesn't really go off when you close the door?

She is so mischievous! While I was out today, she figured out how to work the faucets in the bathtub, so the apartment was kind of flooded when I came back. Lucky there's no one living below me!

Well, I've got to update the factsheet page on my website with the new information, and then I need to go to Independence Port and pick up some fresh fish! I'll have more news later, though!

Well, I guess you've all read today's issue of the "Paragon Times"! The Fifth Column agent I saw at the police station turned over a lot of valuable information about their plans, and their ties to the Concerned Citizens Council were exposed!

It was a pretty close call! The Fifth Column Special Police found out that he was about to defect, but a team of heroes was able to rescue him in the nick of time! Since the Special Police operate in secret, the rest of the Fifth Column was caught completely unprepared, and there were dozens of arrests.

It wasn't in the paper, but the Hegemon was involved in the rescue...I know this because my friends Ombre Rose and Ramman helped her out. (There were also two other heroes that I haven't been able to identify. They gave their names as "S." and "N.")

I've been trying to get in touch with the Crimson Tape, but she's not answering her phone. I know she wasn't arrested, since there are documents that prove she wasn't directly involved with the Fifth Column.

Photo From The Paragon Times!
"S.", "N.", Ombre Rose, Ramman!

I've already told you about the memory of Dr. Ferris I recovered at the State Science Institute. I also remembered something else, about a different part of the building. This memory seems to be a few years older than the other one:

---

<td> I'm taking the faceplate off of a keypad next to a locked door. I take a pale yellow crystal out of my pocket, and peer through it at the exposed circuitry. It takes me only a fraction of a second to punch in the combination, and the door slides open. Inside is a computer room. I take three more crystals out of my pocket, and press them all to the monitor. Random characters begin to scroll across the screen. While I'm reading them, the Hegemon walks into the room: Hegemon: Ferris had car trouble, so he isn't in the office today. Car trouble! Two years I've spent planning this, and it's falling apart. At least I was able to destroy the archive tapes. What about the Harmonizer? Do you have access to it? Me: Hang on, the disk is encrypted. [There are shouts from outside. An alarm starts ringing.] Hegemon: I will guard the door, I think. Me: Interesting. They're not using any of the standard algorithms. Hegemon: (*gunshots*) Me: Got it! It's a transformation based on elliptical curves. Key is WHOISJOHNG. Oooo, it's a UNIX system! I know this! The password file encryption will be salted-MD5, that's...username FERRISF...password DAGNY...I'm in. Hegemon: (*explosion*) Me: If the backups are gone, then I just need to disable the Harmonizer and then delete the software... Hegemon: No! Deleting the software would be f...um, too dangerous. Just put another layer of encryption on top of it so that Ferris can't get back in. Me: OK, done! What password should I use? Hegemon: How about the password from that movie I rented last month? That should be easy for me to remember. Me: The one with Jonathan Pryce? Hegemon: (*bad words*) (*gunshots*) (*explosion*) (*more bad words*) (*more gunshots*) A sudden sense of foreboding comes over me. It occurs to me that I can trust my sister with my life...but I'm not sure that I can trust her with the Harmonizer. I shrug. If one level of encryption is good, then five levels of encryption will be even better... </td>

---

I don't have to tell you, that's a pretty frustrating memory! If it had gone on just a little longer, I would have had all five Keys!

It seems like the First Key might have something to do with Jonathan Pryce. But according to imdb.com, he's been in 62 different movies. It'll take me a while to watch all of them, so please write me if you have any ideas about where I should start!

Oh, and here's a photo from my trip to the State Science Institute:

Back row: Vir Talio, Master Wonderful, Bonesnapper!
Front Row: Me!
Not shown: Fusion Overload! (He had to leave early.)