Loose threads

Loose threads

Unsolved

insurance.bin: A large binary file found in the El Paso drop. Message 18438 hints that it contains dirt on Debra Fisher, the Chief Finance Manager at Emtanon.
“Shadow Code Drops”: Found in a letter inside a player's mailed package, this is an unsolved blob of 512 random bytes.
Agent code 55559: Found among data leaked by Maria, this code says “Melter” and then prompts for input. We speculate that it may be used to upload MXP20 machine code to the MELTR ships, as mentioned by Jeff in the Riverside drop.
OTP-DAT-05: Unsolved blobs of 500 or 600 bytes added to agent letters of players in Poland. It's in the book.
Technoscrip: Seems to be a sort of Emtanon's cryptocurrency. Can be earned by entering friendly codes to number 16000 on AS32, and the balance can be checked using the agent management system. We don't know what is it useful for.
Flare Pepper Kitchen menu: An item obtained in the Macau drop. We don't know how to use its contents. It also includes two QR codes, each containing 2048 bytes of random data.

Partially solved

El Paso drop photos: The El Paso drop contains multiple JPG files with pictures of people. One of the pictures appeared on AS32 before. It is heavily implied that there is something encoded in these messages using steganography.
- Update 8/8/23: The program Steghide was shown being used on the amber terminal, providing us with a hint. Running this tool on Maria_1.jpg with an empty passphrase yielded a message.
- Update 8/27/23: More messages have been discovered.
Agent code 637829: Found in a player's agent letter, this code provides an interface to change the value of an 8-bit register. What is its purpose, and what value should we set it to?
- Update 2/22/24: This register appears to control aspects of AS32.
  - Unit 0: Indicates whether the numbers on XORFS are decimal (0) or hexadecimal (1).
  - Unit 1: Controls whether the numbers on XORFS are separated by nothing (0) or by a tone (1).
  - Units 3–5: Sets the TTS voice used to read XORFS numbers.
Washington drop files: The Washington drop includes numerous files with random data.
- Update 10/26/23: Jeff has used jotp1.bin to encrypt the Riverside drop RFID tag. Therefore, the jotpN.bin files might be his one-time pads for secure communication with us.
- Since then, the jotpN.bin files have been used numerous times for back and forth exchanges with Jeff. However, we still know nothing about the other files.

Solved

Emtanon portal: The Emtanon website contains a login interface to some kind of portal.
- Update 9/11/23: We have gained access to the portal. It allows us to interact with the amber terminal and an emulator of the ABISM TV interface (Vectortone).
Agent codes 301, 302, 303: Throughout 2023, each of these codes gave a new 32-byte sequence every 24 hours, but their purpose was never identified by us or mentioned in-universe.
- Update 1/6/24: It's now known they are messages encrypted using the book “Slate Deposits in the Intermountain West”.
Who helped Felicity and Jeff escape?: Someone got Felicity off Gough to Brazil, and helped Jeff when he was purposefully stranded. Who was it and what are their motives?
- As of 10/30/23, we are trying to set up a communication line with Jeff via Felicity's voicemail to get some clarity on his involvement.
- From this communication, it seems that there is an inside group of Emtanon employees who are plotting to expose the organisation. We don't know who else besides Jeff is involved.
+1-856-666-0004: Found in Felicity's diary, this phone number plays chiptune music and accepts DTMF.
- Update 12/4/23: We found out this system is used to provide data disguised as chiptune music, and requires specific input codes, which are shared on other agent systems.
Protected entries in Felicity's diary: Three posts on Felicity's USB diary are password protected. The posts contain information that is very private to Felicity, so she is reluctant to give out the password.
- Update 9/16/23: The hidden entries have been unlocked, leading to the discovery of the Washington drop and some new agent codes.
Amber terminal: Yet another terminal color, this one has a slightly older software version than the green and red terminals. Purpose unknown.
- Update 8/8/23: The terminal was shown to be able to run Unix programs, and was used to encrypt data in an image using Steghide.
- Update 9/11/23: We can now interact with this terminal through the Emtanon portal.
Cleveland Direct: The calling card is back! Received in the mail along with an agent letter. Now to find some Class 6 numbers.
- Update 9/27/23: The Washington drop included card activation instructions, and a class 6 number 3033090004, containing audio from the Cleveland Direct training video. 4196460004 and 8677440004 were found to be valid, but containing nothing yet.
- Update 11/1/23: 8677440004 now contains the MELTR ship coordinates.
Path controller: A mysterious system accessible by the Emtanon portal. Asks for a KEY:. Purpose unknown.
- Update 12/18/23: The key was provided via Felicity's voicemail and a player's mailing, as strings of bytes to XOR together. Path controller provides access to semaphores, most of which are password-protected.

Table of Contents

Loose threads

Unsolved

Partially solved

Solved