3-193: In the Electronics Lab of Argyle’s Lodge II

Good plan with advanced dice rolling.

Approaching the desk cautiously there is no sign of tripwires on the floor and Oliver makes it there safely.

Studying the case from closer up, there is an empty bay next to the storage bay that has had some kind of small pulley and switch arrangement added, with a nylon line pulling a manual lever and leading outside the computer case.  This line has been detached from what seems to be another line leading outside the cage.  It is unclear where that goes.  Oliver may surmise that there was a destruct mechanism here, but it was removed at the same time as the storage module.

The bulky devices seem to be small metal equipment racks repurposed into holding a composite device.  The device has a the following components:

It will take some time and effort to figure out exactly what is going on, but on the face of the above it seems to be some sort of wireless communications research, broadcasting between the two stations on the table.

The desk computer runs on its own power supply, with the right gear Oliver might be able to see if there’s anything residual in any of its onboard memory that’s readable.  That will take time, or he can try turning it on to see if it has any onboard functions running, but if he does that any residual memory traces will be erased.  The right gear might be assembled from what’s in this lab, but again, that will take time.  There is no evidence that this computer is networked with anything else.

Re, out-of-ordinary tech, the Chip Emulators are unusual, if older models; even that there are two of them here is odd.  Most people get by with just one.  The tech here is an odd mix of older and simpler gear coupled with some high-end stuff.  For example, there’s a top-of-the-line signal detector on the table, sitting right next to an old analogue multimeter; the desk computer itself is quite high-end, but it’s hooked up to an old standard resolution monitor.

The documents here seem to be mostly manuals for routers and circuit diagrams.  Oliver notices there are several different models of routers on the shelves, some opened up with wiring modifications like the one on the table.  Some of the manuals and circuit diagrams have hand-drawn changes.  It seems to Oliver that the author is trying to interface directly with the routers’ systems. 

The exercise book contains scribbled notes on network protocols, deep and advanced stuff.  There are also some advanced mathematical notes of a cryptographic nature, but these seem incomplete; memory joggers referring to another work.  This stuff is interspersed with random and mundane notes, for example, one page has what looks like a to-do list:

It seems like the author is trying to do something with encrypted network communications (and cook a roast).

Oliver’s initial investigation suggests there are hours of work ahead to achieve what he wants to do regarding figuring out exactly what’s going on.  Does he wish to invest that time now?