Looks like this is drifting off into obscurity once again.
I really would like to know what the Base64 stuff on the primary node translates into. The message may be the user manual for the Reboot UI uncovered by Pam and Addy or it may contain some interesting insights into the various heavy hitters in our little virtual world. Either way it would be interesting reading. So, although I have not had much success in breaking down the cipher, perhaps sharing my thinking might benefit some other operative out there. My pursuit of the truth in this matter has caused me to leave the service of Zion and strike out on my own. To be true to this path I feel I still should continue to share my findings, help operatives of all organizations in need, and hope for the best.
As has been mentioned before, the Base64 passages decrypt down to a stream of single, space separated digits. Digits 1 through 9 are present, there are no 0's in the cipher-text. This I feel is a significant clue as to the nature of this cipher. ASCII & EBCDIC substitutions, stream addition (Solitaire) and XOR ciphers are likely to result in at least a few zeros.
Another interesting fact is that each of the five Base64 code blocks, decrypt into exactly 1000 digits. Now 1000 is 10 cubed. Factoring further we have 1000 equals 2 cubed times 5 cubed. It is also interesting to note the each message lists an error code of 27 which is 3 cubed.
Operatives will note that I performed a Frequency Analysis on the Merovingian code block. First I assumed that the code is like a telephone type code except the digits correspond to different sets of characters then those on a normal telephone. In principle and on average, one can arrange the letters in such a manner as to even out the frequency distribution. This seems to be the case given the relative flatness of the single digit frequency distribution posted several entries back. The thing here is it should be a simple matter to find a pattern from the Crib "The Merovingian" and break down the message that way. I have not had much luck with this approach.
Another cipher involving single digit cipher-text is something based on Numerology. One would assign the letters a number starting with A=1, B=2 and so on up to Z=26. One then adds two digits numbers together (multiple times if necessary like for 19 which gives 1+9=10 and then 1+0=1) so that the code is reduced to a single non zero digit .... Z for instance would become 2+6=8. One might expect that this approach would not produce such a flat spectrum. I also didn't get very far with this. One should note that there are other ways numerologists assign numbers to letters that I did not explore. Either way, it really doesn't matter how the letters were assigned, a trial and error substitution relying on the crib should sort this all out.
The problem with these single digit codes is that it requires a bit more work on the part of the intended recipient to decrypt the message then a standard substitution cipher as for each number there are multiple letters that can be substituted so the correct choice is dependent upon the juxtaposition of the choices for each cipher digit.
Given the problems with the single digit ciphers .. I started looking at two digit ciphers.. I found the fact that the Primary node started off with a quote from "The Art of War" and Book 1 of "Endymion" was perhaps a hint that some sort of Beale Cipher was in use. The two digits corresponded to the line number and word in the indicated passage. Unfortunately, when I did the two-digit frequency analysis of the Merovingian coded text it disclosed that all two digit possibilities from 11 to 99 (excluding those with 0) were present in the cipher-text. It turned out that in "Endymion" there are not always at least nine words in a line.
The bifid cipher came up in my research but that was immediately rejected as it only had a cipher alphabet composed of the digits 1 to 5. I also came across the straddling checkerboard cipher, which is usually based on the digits 0-9, but a slight stretch of the imagination could see a cipher alphabet using 1-9 working as well. The checkerboard also has the attribute of flattening out the letter frequency count which seemed to be the case with the Merovingian code block. This cipher is sort of a hybrid between a 1 digit and 2 digit cipher. In the end I rejected it as to far-fetched an idea.
With my good friend Google helping me search I eventually came across the Grand Pre Cipher. This is a homophonetic cipher that allows for different substitutions for a given plain text character. It usually involves a cipher alphabet of the digits 1-8, but cipher alphabets of 1-9 and 0-9 are also possible. In the case of the 1-9 cipher-alphabet, the key is a list of nine nine-letter words. These words are placed in a 9x9 grid and the row number and column number of a given plain text letter form the cipher text for that letter. I thought that I had the answer, but alas in playing with the Merovingian Code block I could not make any headway using "TheMerovingian" as a crib. In my attack on the code I assumed that adjacent digits in the code stream were the Cipher alphabet to use. Alas this went no where..... and I developed a sneaking suspicion that the code stream needed to be transformed in some manner to yield the correct order of cipher-text row/column pairs. Considering the cubic factors found associated with the code block, I thought, one was supposed to arrange the data in 10 x 10 blocks and stack them 10 high and then read the faces vertically. It was a very dejecting thought, and basically caused me to give up hope of solving the problem. The obscurity of the problem just was overwhelming.
Now that we have an apparent hint in the latest scanline broadcast, I indeed see that a digit stream transposition is probably the case. I believe that the the Rubic Cube Invisible man image contained in the X=-963 data node is what the broadcast is referring too. If you examine the head closely you will see that the head is composed of and array of smaller cubes. Given the factoring I described above I believe that small cubes are groups of 2x2x2 characters. Each of these cubes is arranged in a 5x5x5 super cube which makes up the Invisible Man's head. This would sufficiently scramble the digit stream so as to make the correct order of the digits hard to recreate. I see further evidence for the Grand Pre cipher in that there are 9 pictograms (corresponding to the 9 key words of the Grand Pre Cipher) surrounding the Invisible Agent. The purple Triangle for instance may correspond to the Azimuth Monument with the purple line leading out of the Matrix into the Various Archives. Now usually only 9 letter words are used in Grand Pre .. so that is a possible weakness of this interpretation, but then again a phase could also work to fill in the keyword slot with extra letters ignored.
What this means to me is that we need to break the Coded digit stream into 8 digit groups and orient them into the 8 corners of a 2x2x2 cube. Off hand I can think of 14 different ways to do this. One then needs to line up the 2x2x2 cubes into a 5x5x5 array of cubes to form the head. Then one reads off the digit stream from the layers of this super cube, uses the passwords from the pictographs to perform the substitutions and reveal the message. All rather complicated and much too much work for me to devote time to, given that it may be completely off in left field and not even close to what needs to be done, but .. nobody else has posted a better idea .. so there it is, if for nothing else your amusement and example of the wishful thinking a human mind is capable of.
Another interesting thing about the Invisible Man's Head is the left face of the cube. If you count the squares you will note that they are 6 rows deep for at least 4 columns of the head ... with a little imagination one can extrapolate a 7x6 array in the head based on this. Now in the UI revealed by Pam and Addy underneath the chess cube there is a 7x6 rainbow array of chess pieces. Our task is to pick one to activate the maintenance procedure. I am suggesting that the Joker logo indicates the choice one needs to make in the rainbow array. Please note that next to the Joker is a checkerboard pattern in red and black, which also might be an alternate pointer or clue.
I always wondered about the symbolic significance of the Rainbow chess pieces on the death page. Much to my surprise a search on Rainbow lead me to the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior which in turn lead to a search on "Warriors of the Rainbow". The result is a Cree Prophecy told by an old lady named "Eyes of Fire" (an Oracle analog?). The prophecy is about a time in the future when through the greed of Man the World would fall sick. She went on to predict that a group called the Warriors of the Rainbow would arise and unite the peoples from all corners of the Earth teaching them the ways of Unity, Love and Understanding and ultimately cure the ails of the World. It sounds kind of familiar given the polarized state of affairs we find ourselves in, and certainly suggests a path to redemption of the world through joint action of all three organizations, who finally cast aside their differences and work for a better future. ((Now this may all be coincidence, but imagine my surprise on finding this prophecy after having walked away from Zion and the other organizations and grinding until I had at least -126 rep in all three orgs. My only regret is I can not found a faction called "Warriors of the Rainbow" given my minimum reputations and start a grass roots organization that will work for peace. A neat personal outcome for a player event regardless if it finishes or not))
Well for what it is worth, that is my theory, on the decryption of the Primary Node coded passages. I believe that in those coded passages a description of "Emergency Protocol 19" is provided and the key word needed to resolve the final fate of 991 is provided.
While it is clear that the operatives on Syntax where able to block the maintenance cycle on their instance, it is equally clear that the operatives on Recursion did not. One would assume that 991 retains some of the system knowledge that the deletion of all the data nodes was supposed to affect. Perhaps just enough information from the data nodes was deleted so that 991 can not decrypt the primary node information and start it's reboot process on it's own and the ultimate fate of 991 is truly in our hands... Good luck to my friends and Good luck to my enemies.
Working Toward Unity,
Con
