The second photo from Wayne's file is Mr. Crest. Sure of it. The very sight of him...

From Enaxor:
"I contacted Lyman yesterday and inquired about the items taken during the break-in last month. Besides the laptop, Lyman said a couple of other items taken were an "old heavy lamp" and "a framed reproduction of a Nansen drawing". They were items given to him by an old friend.

Obviously, we know that old friend was Norene. I wonder if there was a drawing under that Nansen print, or maybe Norene hid something in the base of that old lamp. Wondering if Daniel Cooper has acquired a couple of new items."

Considering Norene's mention that she gave the items "to someone that will keep them safe, though unknowingly", I think you may be onto something. I've seen that lamp and drawing many many times. I knew they were dear to Lyman, but had no idea of their true importance. I can only hope that that they were taken by Daniel Cooper and not the Institute. Again, we need to approach this with caution.

If the plans and component were hidden in those items, and if Daniel does have them, he's going to be looking for a way to get them to Wayne. If we decide this is the best course of action, perhaps we can help. How seriously should we take Norene's warnings?

"I must hope that when the time comes, these materials will reveal themselves, but not sooner."
Has the time come?

I opened the Erzh Device mp3 in itunes and found some embedded information. Two images and some text.

The first image is Lyman. No doubt. But I don't recognize the other guy.

"After centuries of failure, we thought we had found success. We were certain of it. It was as though we had emerged from the dark, into a world of light we'd never known. We saw limitless possibilities streching before us. A world of knowledge. Mind-boggling potentialities. This is the feeling I have been striving towards my entire life. A feeling of absolute wonder.

I nominated myself as a test subject. The first to try to walk, as it were. My initial interaction went as it was meant to. Better even. Then the irregularites began. Issues that caused serious safety concerns. To think what might have happened to me...

And then we stopped getting any results at all. Nothing. Reasons unclear. A period of intense activity followed by silence. What was missing? What weren't we seeing? It nearly drove us mad. We all felt that our time was short. That it was only a matter of time before they found us. We had the beginning of the dream, but could not conjure it's conclusion.

The tape has given some clue as to the instability. The problem is in the initial construction. The methods developed by the Orange Group are functional, but incomplete. It’s essentially a hack – and an ingenious one – but something is missing from the process. Her work was incomplete, but will hopefully fill in the holes of our own research. The missing piece. The rest of the dream. If we can only obtain it.

Byrnes expressed doubts about the implementation of the device. But clearly it is essential in advancing our research. She is correct that it must be closely guarded, but unfortunately her caution is working against us. We’ll need to locate the component and the plans and find some way to get them here. I have an idea where she might have hidden them, who she might have given them to. But how willing will he be to part with them? And what am I willing to do to get them? Requesting assistance from D. But even if he can obtain them, how will he get them to us?

We won't be the only ones searching for these items. I even begin to question the motives of my companions.

Every man is a wolf to me."

Thanks for all the hard work getting into the second level of Wayne's filestore. I really thought we had hit a dead end there for a minute.

What we found was another portion of Norene's tape. It describes something called the Erzh Device. Intriguing, but I'm not yet certain of its importance to Wayne. Something's missing. I can't believe there was nothing else in the second level of the filestore...

Either way, I think we need to figure out where the Erzh Device is, and get our hands on it if we can.

Hey everybody,
It’s Yoon Young. Fritz contacted me and we decided that I should post here from now on. Seemed like a good idea to put everything down in one place if we’re going to be working together.

We’re trying to access the second level of Wayne’s filestore. Hopefully we’ll find some clue as to what he’s working on and where he is. No luck so far, but I’m trying to put together a list of potential passwords. As I’m sure you know, I was very close with him for a time. Even so, I feel like I don’t know that much about him. He’s an intensely private person. Anyway, here goes:

Wayne had a dog for a while. Name was Roald. He was really attached to that dog. I used to feel like I was competing for attention. That dog was always right by his side. He even brought him down to the station. They changed the rules just for him. Then one day he was gone. Ran out into a storm. Wayne went out after him, but never found him. No body, nothing. Wayne took it pretty hard. I think that’s the only time I’ve seen him cry.

He has a daughter named Valerie. They’re basically estranged, but I know they have some limited contact. And I know that he loves her very much. He keeps a picture of her in his wallet. Sometimes he’d wake up late at night and just sit staring at that photo.

I don’t know anything about his ex-wife. Not even a name. He didn’t care to talk about her. Ever. I don’t think they’ve spoken in years, so it seems unlikely that he would use her name.

His sign is cancer. For a scientific guy, he spent a lot of time reading horoscopes.

Burgers are his favorite food. And hotdogs. He loved putting kimchee on a burger or hotdog.

7 is his number. Or was. He was born at 7:07 on July 7. He loves Mickey Mantle. The Magnificent 7. Everything 7’s. His old email address was Wayne7. Roald wore a big lucky 7 on his collar.

Aside from all things Antarctic, he’s really into German cinema. I never really had a taste for it, especially since I don’t speak German. But there was one film he was always watching. He watched it constantly. I can’t remember the title. It was about a man locked in a basement. And then he gets out. I’m not really sure, I only saw bits and pieces of it. Usually tried to ignore it. Something about that movie really spoke to him. It was very important to him. I take back what I wrote before. Once I found him crying, watching that movie.

I don’t know if this is much help. Just stabs in the dark, really.

Jared’s been by. Came home to find him in my apartment. I have to admit, I was scared. He’s in a bad way. Looking for something he’ll never find. He wants our help finding members of the BSAI, past and present. He even talked about trying to make it to Antarctica, catch them all in one place. Jesus.

I told him no way, that I couldn’t help him and tried to get him to reconsider. I don’t know if I got through to him. He left in a hurry, headed God-knows-where. I’d call the cops, but I think that might open a door that I’m not prepared to open.

For now, let’s just hope he gets his head together.

Jared, I'm not even going to try to block you from this site. If you want this to be your sounding board, so be it. A lot has happened in the past few days. Things that none of us feel good about or can even believe. I've spent some time reflecting this weekend, processing the allegations you've thrown at us and at yourself. We simply cannot be held accountable for Lucy's death. There's nothing any of us could have done to stop it. That includes you.

It's a terrible thing that has happened, and none of us will ever forget or feel completely at peace with it. But our resolve has only strengthened. We will expose this monstrosity for what it is. The people responsible for Lucy's death will pay the price.

But it can't happen the way you're thinking.

I really hope you'll rethink your plans, whatever they may be, and work with us. You're always welcome

two can play this hacker's game making damn certain every last one of you hears it from me

you fuck with people's lives
the call came lizzie sobbing screaming deafening wail
couldn't find or form the words
spoke in grief tones
lucy's gone

didn't mean for this to happen i believe you
but it did

didn't put her there didn't pull the trigger
didn't stop it either

live with that

me too i'll suffer every moment

they will suffer worse

quit my job no point any more
up all night
watched the sun rise bright over hills
heading east
just one purpose now

nice to meet you fritz i'm coming to visit
you will help me reach my marks

This seems to be the main find on Dr. Moon's server. It's some kind of journal, but written rather cryptically. He doesn't use any names, with the exception of Cooper, who he refers to as his "Friend". Before we go to Lyman with this, I want to spend some time figuring out exactly what it all means.

Scientists and Scholars
=======================

Our Fearless Leader made one of his rare visits to The Castle. He took all of us Green Badges out for drinks, for camaraderie. We had our laughs and the night wore on. The man can drink, but so can I. After a time, it was just the two of us.
When he’s not recounting his own exploits, he talks explorers. Any period, any region. Name a place and he’ll tell you who got there first, what they were sailing, what they ate for breakfast. I saw a sad nostalgia in him. Living in a conquered world. No place left to go. No more firsts.
Our Fearless Leader is a man born in the wrong era.
He could talk forever about the Europeans. We talked at length about Columbus, all the controversy. He said put yourself in his boots. Would you have behaved differently, better? I said I didn’t know.
And then he leaned in and lowered his voice.
You want to talk about a real controversy?
An Italian.
Once he’d said the name, he’d said enough. Seems like he thought better of it. He told me to forget he’d said anything, and not to mention The Italian around The Castle. Ever. He said I’d end up like The Swede, whoever that is.
I tried to find out what I could about The Italian. Hard to say he even existed.

Years pass.
Walking through The Castle, I stop for conversation with a Yellow Badge. Under his arm a large book, and very old. A title and a name on the spine, Italian. A bell rings faintly in some corner of my mind.

What have you got there?
Oh nothing, just some old thing from the archive.
Might I have a look?
Oh, I’d really better get it back to the archive.
Just a look, I’ve got such an interest in antique texts.
Well... can you read Italian?
No.
All right, I suppose a quick look can’t hurt.

Improvising my newly acquired hobby, I comment on the amateur typesetting, the poor binding. Better to appear critical, I think. And he agrees. A cheaply produced book, miraculously preserved by The Scientists. He is proud of himself and his Yellow Badge.
Flipping through the pages slowly, stalling, tying to invent comments on the craft as I scan the text hungrily. Able, after all, to read Italian.
A few lines stick.
...una civilizzazione più avanzata della nostra, vivendo isolata in fondo al mondo.
Or something to that effect.

Those lines.
They lead me to The Scholars.
Devoted to progressing their cause.
Regal Founder.
Recent legal troubles with The Scientists.
I feel the irresistible lure of the forbidden.

Lover Green Badge leaves.

Looking for information.
Attempting to contact a Scholar.
Courting the enemy.
No looking back.

Despite my honesty about being one of The Scientists (or perhaps because of my honesty), The Scholar’s skepticism quickly subsides. He sees in me an opportunity. So begins our uneasy alliance.
Thus The Scholar becomes My Friend.
What manner of trouble are we bringing upon ourselves, My Friend and I?

The information comes thick and fast.
Enough to drown in.
Some on The Italian, but mostly the work of a Great Scholar.
So willing to share.
It makes me wonder what My Friend is looking for in return.
At present, I have very little to offer.
But I am inside The Castle.

So much to see, but I think they’re looking at it all wrong.
And there are pieces missing.
Resemblances to science, but before the proper vocabulary was established.
So it all comes off as inconceivable. But we’re catching up now.
This is the mission of The Scientists.
This is what my colleagues and I have been working on, unknowingly.
We have developed the language, it just needs to be applied.

Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, Purple
Each Badge contributes something, some piece of the puzzle, some step forward.
All feeding one impossibly complex endeavor, centuries in the making.
But the Orange Badge is rarely seen.
What, then, is their mission?

I begin to understand the conflict.
In The Scholars’ version of history, Our Namesake takes abuse. Is accused of deceit, negligence, murder. But most offensively, most egregiously, is accused of being A Scholar. In the eyes of The Scientists, an insult that cannot stand.

The Great Scholar’s death was ruled a suicide.
But My Friend sees it differently. He sees a murder.
He sees a plot to silence her, and he seeks proof.
Secretly, for not all of The Scholars agree.
And I begin to wonder who the crazy ones are...

The Great Scholar’s notes went missing stolen taken someplace safe
someplace remote the first time My Friend has hinted at what he
might want from me the first time I realized how valuable I am

I tried the archives.
Young kid Yellow Badge working the desk, not more than 25. I requested admittance.
No, Sir. You are not and will never be admitted.

Our Fearless Leader visits the station again, and I ask him to join me for a drink. I drink slowly. Letting him get ahead of me, hoping to get some more information. When he gets going there’s no stopping him. I steer the conversation to explorers again. After a while I mention The Italian, as though I hadn’t thought of it since our last drunken conversation. He goes white, whipsers, tells me not bring that up. I ask about The Swede, what had happened. He tells me he was ruined by The Scientists. Fired, blacklisted. Left with nothing. Eventually committed suicide. It’s a good job with The Scientists, but they’re a serious bunch, he says. Don’t get on their bad side.
Wouldn’t think of it.
For the rest of the night he speaks of baseball.

A realization:
The Castle will be deserted this winter, or nearly so. Drained of Scientists, every Badge. A chance to work unobserved. The only such chance I will get. There is only one way to stay behind. Our work will go unfinished. Apologies to The Freshman Green Badge.

Isolation is key to an Orange Badge. They’re nomadic. Roaming around the large restricted sector. Each month, supplies are left at a designated depot, and each month they disappear. The only way The Scientists know the Orange Badges are still alive. They use a transmitter to report their present location, in case The Scientists have cause reach them. The receiver resides at the Purple Tower, in the dark sector. That receiver hasn’t been turned on in eleven years. What work has been undertaken in that time? What has become of their minds? I mean to find out. By snow horse, the Purple Tower can be reached in a matter of hours.

6 days I’ve been gone.
Feels like a lifetime.
I had set out to find the Orange Badges and find them I did.
Said they’d been waiting for a Green Badge to show up.
In eleven years they have drifted far from their original mission.
Mnemonics remind them,
and so much more.

In the archive I saw The Italian, The Great Scholar, glimpses of Our Namesake.
Hints at the awful truth of him.
And of The Scientists. Us.
They kept it from our eyes with good reason.
Made me feel small. Made me feel manipulated. Made me wish I could forget their names.
But only burned them deeper.
I’ve looked and there’s no such thing as unlooking.

My Friend tells me The Regal Scholar cannot be reasoned with
the best of intentions an incomplete understanding
his tribute to a lost love will initiate a quiet and costly war
unless we can stop him
04.11.2009

The Regal Scholar doesn’t know about me. My Friend means to keep it that way.
But I will offer a warning. Perhaps The Regal Scholar will listen to me.

i must leave now and for good or risk bringing trouble upon the inoccents around me no person with even a sliver of an idea of what i know is safe the only option is to run no goodbyes now an Orange Badge

The Swede, Red Badge.
Died October 12, 1992, Stockholm
Going to seek the truth of how this man met his end. My Friend will join me.
Going to show him what I’ve done, what I’ve created.

Lives taken:
The Swede.
And The Great Scholar, too. I believe it now.
If not already, I’ll be in their crosshairs soon.
And My Friend.
And The Regal Scholar.

We know The Great Scholar kept a record.
But where did she hide it? Our goal is to find it.
My Friend says others will do the work for us.
Her secrets cannot be set free. Not yet.
They would only be misused, misunderstood.
My Friend understands.
That chapter needs to be erased for now.
Besides, sometimes you say more with what is missing.
My Friend will carry it out somehow. It’s in his hands now.

she knew
they have known
we now know
the descendants are out there
the search the race begins

Introductions to be made
My Friend,
meet the Orange Badges.
Call me Cooper.
Call us Scholars.

Ever seen a White Badge?
The Swede did.
The Great Scholar did.
Pray you never do.
Ever seen a Black Badge?
No one has.
Pray you never do.

Great work getting in.

u: wayne
pw: yoonyoung

There's a lot to sift through in there. Hopefully we can piece together what Dr. Moon has been up to, and how exactly he figures into all of this.

And hopefully there's something that can help Lucy...

Dr. Wayne Moon's filestore:

http://antarcticmoon.com/

Now it's just a little matter of getting into it. Unfortunately, we don't have much to go on. We may need to reach out to Lucy again. Unless anyone is onto something new?

We've reached out to Jared, and he seems receptive, but a touch skeptical. Our next step is figuring out how to ease him into this rather daunting world. What to include, what to omit. I'm buried in work today, so can you guys think on this and form a strategy? I think we should get him another message soon.

The clock ticks, though who can say towards what?

Lucy's private blog has been hacked, revealing the true nature of her winter in Antarctica. It seems she's having a hard time down there, all thanks to Wayne Moon, her rather unreliable and mysterious boss.

Most interesting is Wayne's possession of a pamphlet from the Linian Society's April event and what appear to be two Candrian Mnemonic devices. Not sure how he came into possession of these items, especially considering it was already night in Antarctica when we held our event. Very mysterious indeed.

Our goal now is to reach Lucy, gain her trust and get her help figuring out what Wayne's motivations are and what he's playing at.

I'm not sure how our other leads fit in with all of this, or if this is even connected with the messages Lyman has been receiving. Whatever the case, this seems worth investigating. It seems to be the best thing we've got going right now.

It seems that some of Lucy's blog entries are accessible only by logging in. There may be some important information in those posts. There's got to be a way to get in. As of now, it looks like the only people that have access are her friends, Lizzie, Matt, and Jared. Any ideas?

Thanks to your work we have a new person of interest. Lucy Bastiana, who has been following Lyman on twitter and has been confirmed as a member of BSAI. She has been in Antarctica for the past 10 months and maintains a blog.

http://lucybastiana.com/

Still not sure what the connection is, but she recently sent Lyman a message asking about her boss, Dr. Wayne Moon. I'm going through her blog now, looking for information.

We've got a couple of likely suspects for our heckler. Dr. Emmanuel Clint III of the Yellow Group and Dr. Branford Littleton of the Blue Group.

Still trying to pin down exactly who it is in the video, but we need a clearer comparison image to be sure. We need to find out whatever we can about these two.

We've got to explore all possibilities. I've been hesitant to bring this up, but I know we all have some concerns about Daniel Cooper. I don't think we can rule him out. The more I think about it, the more suspicious his behavior since the event seems. We need to look into it. If he's involved... well, let's just hope he's not.

Is there anyone else that might be keeping tabs on Lyman?

In considering Lyman's problem, my mind wandered back to April.

If you saw the footage on the Linian Society website, you may have noticed that Lyman seemed a little off during his lecture, a little nervous.

There were plenty of reasons for that. Aside from it being a big night for the Society, The Smythies had planted a team outside the theater. They were asking people not to attend and handing out literature.

Nothing we could really do about it. I was pretty pissed off about the whole thing and Daniel was begging Lyman to close the exhibit, fearing trouble. But through it all Lyman stayed cool, determined to make it through the night.

Just before Lyman took the podium, the owner of the theater handed me an envelope with Lyman's name on it. Apparently, someone had left him a note. I delivered it and took my place running the slide show. From the back of the theater, as the lights went down, I watched Lyman read the letter. His faced went pale. I followed his eyes as they scanned the crowd. His gaze landed on two guys in white jackets sitting a few rows from the stage. Smythies. But it was too late. Showtime.

It started civilly enough. Annoying, but manageable. Lyman stumbled through the lecture. I sat there changing slides, dying to know what the hell was in that letter. Again, the guy in the white jacket stood up.

This time his companion joined him, and the tone took a turn for the worse with the mention of Norene. Daniel shifted uncomfortably at the edge of the stage, shooting me a look that said "we need to shut this thing down."

But Lyman continued, and I followed. Somehow, Lyman made it to the end of the lecture. When we reached the last slide I hesitated, Daniel's eyes pleading with me from across the theater not to push the button. I looked at Lyman and he gave me a subtle nod. I took a deep breath. My thumb depressed the switch.

Our exhibit on the Veykin Spiral was destroyed. One of the camera guys we'd hired ended up with a split lip. But it was the look on Lyman's face that worried me. By the time I had a moment to think, those Smythies were long gone. Lyman, too. The night went on and I played my part, smiling and answering questions while I sipped nervously at a glass of wine.

On Monday back in Seattle Lyman told us to forget about it. "Not worth a moment of our thought", he said. I tried to put it behind me. Lyman was right, it wasn't worth dwelling on. But I never asked about the letter.

Now I see. That was only the beginning.

We need to figure out who that Smythie in the video is, and what the hell was in that letter that put the fear of god in Lyman.

It isn't very easy to see him in the video, and I didn't get a good look at him that night, either.

Well, today's the day I said we'd be getting back to work, and sure enough, I've landed a job. I'll be working in the media library at the University of Michigan. Not exactly what I imagined for myself, but I can't complain. Times are tough. I'm just glad to be employed.

I think I found a place to live. Now it's just a matter of getting all of my stuff out here.

So where to begin? You may have seen that I picked up the trail of the Linian bloodline while I was in Halifax. Not sure where Bjorn went next, but I hope to dive back into this line of inquiry soon. But for now, I think we have more pressing matters to attend to.

I mentioned some time ago that Lyman has been receiving strange messages, some of them threatening. After hearing Norene's tape (or what was left of it) I think we'd better take this pretty seriously, make it a priority.

I noticed that Lyman posted some footage from our April event on the SfLS website. There's more to that story, and I think it might be our first lead. More to come on this.

We'll need to get as much information as possible from Lyman. I'm sure he'll want to be as discreet as possible.

Thanks for being patient while I got things together. I hope you guys are still up for this. Send me a sign if you're out there.

-Fritz

I had some time before my interview in Halifax today, so I was strolling around the city. I came across the Cambridge Military Library and thought I'd stop in for a look.

I'm in San Francisco this week. Seeing some old friends, checking if there are any interesting job openings here. Might be a nice place to move.