C-053: Maldemar 732 (N-space to Customs Pinnace Rendezvous)

by · 2020-08-10

 

Argyle’s Journals

Structural Recap

The journals themselves come in four types:
  • Hardcopy journals recovered from the Lodge, these date from 209.450 up to the time the team visited the lodge and met Argyle
    • Oliver now has scanned copies of these
  • Decrypted data blobs from Argyle’s captured computer, apparently Argyle periodically digitised his journals, the most recent time he did that was around 209.450
    • The data blobs date from as early as 199.743
  • A small metal box of eight random notebooks and pads that Argyle apparently used when he didn’t have access to his current journal, at some point he apparently threw a collection of them into a box 
  • As an addendum to the journals, a few scraps of paper were recovered by the Legion from the burned remains of Argyle’s desk. 

Oliver’s Previous Summaries

Hardcopy Books

Oliver’s initial assessment of notebook content (the one that was in Argyle’s lab):

Oliver thinks that Argyle (assuming it’s his notebook) is trying to develop a way of hiding encrypted messages inside other, routine, comms traffic in a way that can’t be detected.  It’s possibly a device that would connect to a router, but maybe not – that part is not quite clear.
There are two broad components to the work:  One is about network engineering and how the messages might be slipped in; the other is cryptographical, about how they might be encrypted.
Oliver’s skills allow him to recognise and understand both fields enough to see what’s going on, he can also recognise that whoever wrote this knows his stuff in both fields, and knows something about security systems too.
The time spent on the trip is enough for Oliver to get the gist of what is going on here; it’s probably cycles (or more) to figure out exactly how it all works – assuming there is more information in places other than this book.
 
 
The exercise book has “G 211086” scrawled on the cover.  Inside are some notes about a range of things:
  • An extensive shopping list
  • What looks like some transaction notes for buying and selling things
  • A couple of recipes
  • One page dedicated to what seems to be a movie review
  • Various to-do lists
 
 

 

Structure of the hardcopy books recovered from the hunting lodge  (Hardcopy HDC#1 to HDG#439 – 209.444  to 211.298)
 
After a while a pattern emerges:  Argyle has written the date he finished the book on the cover and a letter, either a C, E or G.  
  • ‘C’ volumes seem to have cryptographic notes in them
  • ‘E’ seem to contain notes on his electronic engineering work and 
  • ‘G’ contain everything else.  
The books do not slavishly follow this general trend though and there are elements of everything across all three.
The eight small notebooks do not follow the above pattern at all.
 
 
 
Oliver deduced the following:
  • The earliest books start some time (kilocycles) after Argyle moved into the lodge
  • The small notebooks are all from an earlier time period
  • His electrical engineering work was somewhat sporadic up to about a kilocycle ago and then assumed the current focus on building a device to hide messages inside the network traffic
  • Prior to that his cryptographic/math work seemed to be leading up to that, then it looks like he made a breakthrough in understanding a key cryptographic element used in the Dominion’s networks
  • There has always been an element in the crypto notes about solving difficult math problems and obscure proofs – some not related to cryptography at all 
  • Once the focus on building the device started, the crypto notes contain more abstract math puzzle work
  • At that point the network crypto often moves to the electrical engineering books
  • It also looks like he funded his life by doing occasional jobs for an one or more unknown parties – cracking or building codes and cyphers, extracting data from devices etc.
  • From the general books, he also had a small sideline in selling animal pelts and teeth that he had hunted
  • He seems to be a film buff
The exercise books are a useful learning resource for Oliver; he now knows things about cracking Dominion network comms and cryptography he didn’t know before.
 
 

Final review entries ( 4-042 and  4-043) of the hardcopy books (Hardcopy books)

 
When Oliver finished all the hardcopy exercise books, the remaining few books don’t seem to contain any more major discoveries, although the very last book (the most recent General Account) has a note about ‘collect a new test router from the mail from Wu’. 
Oliver found nothing to contradict his earlier assessment (ref 3-243).  He does not find anything to suggest that this project about hiding messages in other traffic that Argyle has been working on is for anyone else, although there is evidence to suggest that Argyle occasionally did unspecified projects for unspecified other people.  Having read all the books, and made his research roll, Oliver now has a +1 to understand anything Argyle has worked on or related to how he works.  This will help with his computer programming work, which has been proceeding faster since he finished the books and spent some time consolidation what he read.

 

The Eight Notebooks

 
The metal box contains eight smaller notebooks of various sizes.  Some of the books show signs of ageing.  The pages show a variety of different sorts of pen marks, although they do all seem to be in the same hand.  Oliver surmises that these books have been written in sporadically over a long period of time, with occasional bursts of frequent use and then ignored for some time.
One of the older books seems to have some notes in it regarding setting up the hunting lodge, with comments such as, “Turret defenses, int + ext.  4 inside?  Use mines?  Need supplier.”  There are also more mundane calculations such as how much power will be needed per dekacycle and how much can be extracted from a solar array on Pristine at the hunting lodge’s latitude.  On one page the words “Entertainment Room!!!” are written with double underlining.
One older notebook seems largely devoted to cryptographic scribblings, The notebook it seems to be a mix of abstract theoretical cryptographic puzzles the writer is trying to solve, plus parts of something else he is working on.  There are also the usual random inserts, memory joggers and to-do lists Oliver has come to expect, although there are not as many in this work.  One page is taken up with what looks suspiciously like a decryption key, but there are no contextual clues as to what it might apply.
 

 

The Decrypted Journals

Oliver’s research aboard Illuminator (to Book DN#432 – 203.209)
 
Just before arriving at Zargonia, Oliver presented a summary of what he had learned at that point.  At that time he had read up to Argyle’s timeline at 203.209.
Oliver determined the following information:
  • Argyle’s earliest exercise book began on 199.743, and he was aged 5 at the time.
  • The first book suggested there may be others before then, but this is the first one in the collection.
  • Argyle has designated his earlier books DN#<number>
    • They split into different, topic-based books later, but Oliver hasn’t read that far yet.
  • His earlier books are quite scrappy and disorganised, but he gradually evolved conventions around writing dates, action items, reminders, decisions and other people’s conversational notes
  • At the time of his first book he was in Senior Education, very much on the maths-science-computing course
  • His first book is largely about notes he was keeping for a school project, and that may be the origin of these writings
  • In similar vein to his later works, the notes are interspersed with random reminders, diary notes, and technical notes on several topics at once
  • The school project was a computing assignment that used a conjunction of a mathematical proof and a brute-force computing algorithmic approach using a modified computer to analyse a mathematical sequence.
  • Apparently he received an excellent mark for it.
  • After the project is over he retained his journalling, note-keeping habit.
  • The young Argyle seemed fascinated by mathematics, science and computing.
  • Oliver believes Argyles birthday to be 193.780.
  • At the time of his initial writings he was on the B Colony world of Zargholme in Octant 7. 
  • He entered the Higher Education stream, remaining on Zargholme while he studied for his HE Certificate
  • During this time he lived on campus.
  • There are occasional references to visits with his father, but no other mention of family at all.
  • His studies seemed related to mathematics and electronics, computing was, at least initially, only a sideline for him.  
  • At age 7, he moved to Zargonia to study his AHE there at Bright University.
  • He was excited at the opportunity, and it is at that point that it is apparent he is a Hybrid class.
  • His AHE continued his maths/engineering path but it was at that point that he developed an interest in Cryptographic applications of his maths skills
  • He began some computer studies so he had the tools to work more practically in the maths/crypto space.
  • On Zargonia he formed a romantic relationship with a fellow student named Lyanna, who was apparently studying astrophysics.
    • The notebooks are interspersed with love poetry of questionable quality at this point 
  • He also refers to his friend Barty, who is also studying electronics.
    • Barty doesn’t seem to be as clever as Argyle
    • There are even a couple of notes in another hand, presumably Barty’s, as they are working on problems together – Argyle seems to be teaching Barty stuff.
    • Argyle appreciates Barty’s perspective and his social nature
  • There are occasional references to other classmates (and later, workmates) and some confusingly cryptic references to someone named Abbas.
  • At age 8 he attempted to do a CHE, but was not approved.
  • Instead, he did some brief grunt work as a private contractor in the private sector, apparently installing and repairing comms panels in houses.
  • That did not last long and he was apparently taken on as a private contractor for the Planning Bureau working on mathematical forecasting models.   
  • Once his first major project with Planning was complete he was apparently seconded to the Vizierate (still employed as Bureaucracy Technician) where he spent some time at MAPACOA working on networking problems and security.
  • Shortly after turning 9, he wound up working at The Black Palace.
  • His employment with the Bureaucracy was terminated and he was engaged as a member of the Overlord’s Household.
  • During this time his books become a lot more cagey and cryptic about what he is working on, he’s obviously mindful of security.
  • When not making cryptic notes or scribbling obscure mathematical formulae, his books lament the difficulty of spending time with Lyanna, as she is now working for the Industrial Bureau and it is difficult for them to match their work schedules.
    • There are gaps of Cycles in these times when it’s apparent he is with her and not taking notes in these books.
  • Nearing the end of Oliver’s reading progress, Argyle was focussed on some sort of security upgrade to the The Black Palace network and he appeared concerned about patching a security vulnerability.
 

 

Oliver’s skip-ahead research in Purpleton (DN#535 and DN#536 – 204.049 to 204.106)
After discovering that Willard Argyle seems to be Abbas Lozenge-Sok, Oliver skipped ahead some:
 
He can certainly find when the change occurs.
Book #535 ends with the writer looking forward to his upcoming time off with Lyanna and noting the project is drawing to a close.
Then there is a time gap of 57 Cycles.
Book #536 opens with the words
 ### PROPERTY OF  WILLARD ARGYLE  ###
 
taking up the entire first page.
He notes that he lost the previous book.
Then several pages have been torn out.
The remainder of that book is filled with what looks like math puzzles.
 

Oliver’s routine research in Purpleton

 (to Book DN#536 – 204.106)
Oliver’s research through Argyle’s timeline as he approaches the point of the vehicle crash when his identity switched.
 
Argyle’s writings become increasingly cryptic as Oliver reads toward the date of the vehicle crash.
Oliver can gain the following information:
  • Abbas Lozenge-Sok
    • He is working with a team of several others on a project for Household (cyber) Security
    • They are working on something he simply calls the system replacement
    • He’s concerned there is a flaw in the system but seems to be having trouble conveying his idea, or even precisely how that flaw will manifest
    • He meets occasionally with Lyanna and his old boss Ohare, who he seems to be using as a mentor, both of which make him feel better, apparently
    • As the date of the crash approaches the project is nearing completion
  • Willard Argyle
    • The books after the crash have a lot of diversions in them
      • Puzzles, cryptographics, math problems, etc
      • He starts writing film reviews
    • He appears to be doing several exercises to get the idea of a new identity to stick
      • eg Pages filled with the name ‘Willard Argyle’, ‘I am Willard Argyle’ etc.
    • He talks occasionally of missing Lyana
      • Some of the writing gets messy at these points
    • Many pages are ripped out, a possible explanation for this Oliver discovers near the end of the reading he can do to this point:
      • He writes, “Have to be more disciplined; go back and redact some stuff!”  
    • There are some lists that suggest travel and shopping
      • One of the lists has several items of cold-weather gear
 
 
(To Book DN#664 – 205.100)
After the identity change, the writings are a little wobbly.  It seems ‘Argyle’ arrived on Pristine with some savings, and spent some time splitting his attention between forging a new life for himself and occasionally mourning his old one through cryptic references.  The incidence of torn-out pages drops off after a time.  
He did some work for the mine site, low-level tech repairs etc.
Not long after that he was caught out in a bad storm and saved local hunter Billy Bobb-Jobethunt from an accident and subsequent exposure (the book is low on details but Argyle writes the hunter was ‘in a bad way’.)
He apparently befriended Billy, who, when Oliver is reading, is teaching him to hunt and invited him to stay in the hunting lodge.  Argyle has decided he needs to take proper control of his life, and is partitioning his books into topics as part of a more orderly way of living and organising his thoughts.
 
Oliver’s research as he arrived at Pristine
  Read up to book #DE243 (Total Book #1484) for Argyle it is 208.572.  Oliver gleans the following information from the journals.
He was able to link Argyle’s journal time line to his IT project blobs, and gain insight into the general nature of each work.  [List snipped – see update below]
Argyle initially did some work for the local mining operation.  However around 207.6 he met someone at the mine he refers to only as ‘Contact’ who began paying him to do shady, hacking-type work.  However, when he took a trip to the mine on 208.280, he learned that Contact had been killed in an industrial accident a few DekaCycles previously.
Argyle’s house mate, Billy Bobb-Jobethunt indicated he had to leave Pristine for a time, and invited Argyle to stay at the lodge while he was gone.  He left at the end of kCy 207.  
At the time Oliver was reading, Billy had not returned.  Argyle was hunting and selling the pelts and pursuing his own projects.
Oliver learned from the Vizierate Wardens that Billy had died while off-world.

Burned Desk Papers

In the Legion Warehouse Oliver recovered some items listed under ‘Office, Desk Drawer, Contents (charred papers)’ that had been placed in a small, flat box.

If that’s referring to the same room that the team was referring to as the ‘Office’ it’s where Oliver recovered the computer he has from.  When he left it was fine, though it did contain an undetonated fire trap, so he might surmise how these papers came to be charred.
The items in here are in various states of damage.  Based on crumpled piles of ash, some have been totally destroyed, but others are untouched.  A lot of this seems to be a storage space for things like user manuals for equipment, important receipts and delivery slips.  Eg the delivery note for one of his computers is there. 
Several pages look to have been torn from the ubiquitious exercise books.  Many seem to be the usual general drivel that Oliver is used to reading, though one catches his eye:

 

‘Contact’ is now ‘Patron’!?

 

 = Joe      
 
 
The rest has been burned off, it’s even difficult to read if the name Joe~ is the whole name or just the first part of a longer word.
Oliver has seen Argyle’s handwritten Jobethunt enough times that he can be fairly certain that is not what was intended here.
The writing below the line uses a different pen to the one above.
At the time of discovering the burned papers in the desk, Oliver had read up to 208.670
  • The last mention of ‘Contact’ was on 208.280 (see 9-076) when Argyle learned that ‘Contact’ had been killed in an industrial accident at the nearby mine where he worked. 
  • They last saw Argyle on 211.297 and it’s now c.~211.4 so there were three kiloCycles between where he’s read up to and what he might expect to find in the journal.

Related Research

Zargonia

On Zargonia Oliver learned:
  • Willard Argyle is almost certainly a false identity for a man born Abbas Lozenge-Sok
  • Lozenge-Sok worked for the Planning Bureau, the Vizierate as a secondee working on the partition security for MaPaCoA and was later recruited to the Overlord’s Household, working on cyber security at the Black Palace 
  • At the Black Palace he worked with a man named Alec Bronze-Stepping, who Oliver interviewed
  • He was supposedly killed in a vehicle accident while returning to the Palace after a short leave
  •  
  • Argyle’s (Lozenge-Sok’s) partner, Lyanna David left Zargonia only a few Cycles after the date of Lozenge-Sok’s supposed death, in company with his former Vizierate project ViC, Minor Vizier Sardo Ohare.  
    • Ohare never returned to Zargonia, dying under unknown circumstances on Aaran’s Pride on that trip.  
    • Lyanna travelled to Saman, an outer planet in the Four-Three system and apparently never left.
    • Lyanna is listed as a Vizierate Contractor and her VizNet message history was not available to Oliver when he queried it 
  • As the MaPaCoA cyber security advisory board has reps form all the main areas of Dominion government, they are now all interested in this matter, though not all willing to share information.  The Overlord’s Household was stiffly formal, and Oliver and Fromm were quizzed over lunch by the Planning Bureau representative.

Pristine

On Pristine Oliver learned:
  • The lodge where Argyle was staying was, and is, in Jobethunt’s name
  • Argyle had an absolutely minimal footprint, though there were a couple of cryptic messages he sent directly to comms servers 
  • The Legion raided Argyle’s lodge not long after the Vizierate team had left the planet
    • Some were killed and injured by Argyle’s booby traps
  • Legion Commissar Commander Usher has taken the chip emulator the team was supposed to retrieve if they could, and various other bits of equipment
  • ‘Contact’ was almost certainly a man named Matthew Hale, who died under suspicious circumstances at Pristine Number One Mine.
  • After being spooked by Oliver and the team, Argyle fled to the mine site on a snow mobile that he then gave away to a former associate
  • Argyle used his control over the mine’s ore bucket line to penetrate outer security at the local downport
  • Then he used his electronics knowledge and some basic disguises to move around inside the port
  • After some time he was observed entering a cargo handling facility leased to Iceheart Import Export Brokerage, from which he was never seen leaving
  • There was an instance of a ship loading a single speculative powered cargo container of fragile technology components from Iceheart’s shortly after that
  • That ship was last reported heading for Zarg’s World

Relationship to IT Blobs

Having read all the journals, Oliver can now gather some information about when the IT Blobs were created and some broad clues about their nature.
He has been working through them in order if their Blob ID, but that’s just a meaningless order created by Argyle’s decryption program assigning random dates to the encrypted source files.
Date Blob ID Project Summary Researched?
206.1 #17 Early Yes
206.3 #50 Early Yes
206.5 #02 Early Yes
206.7 #20 Shady work for ‘Contact’ Yes
206.9 #52 Shady work for ‘Contact’ Yes
207.3 #64 Shady work for ‘Contact’ No
207.7 #69 Shady work for ‘Contact’ No
207.8 #08 Shady work for ‘Contact’ Yes
208.2 #05 Shady work for ‘Contact’ Yes
208.4 #55 Self-directed No
208.5 #67 Self-directed No
208.7 #63 Shady work for ‘Patron’ No
208.9 #72 Self-directed No
209.0 #37 Shady work for ‘Patron’ Yes
209.4 #07 Shady work for ‘Patron’ Yes
209.5 #59 Shady work for ‘Patron’ No
209.6 #35 Shady work for ‘Patron’ Yes
209.7 #27 Shady work for ‘Patron’ Yes
209.8 #28 Shady work for ‘Patron’ Yes
209.9 #04 Shady work for ‘Patron’ Yes
210.2 #26 Shady work for ‘Patron’ Yes
210.3 #24 Self-directed Yes
210.5 #68 Shady work for ‘Patron’ No
210.7 #30 Shady work for ‘Patron’ Yes
210.9 #58 Shady work for ‘Patron’ No
211.0 #12 Shady work for ‘Patron’ Yes
211.1 #15 Shady work for ‘Patron’ Yes
211.2 #48 Self-directed Yes

New Information

Oliver’s latest analysis covers Argyle’s timeline of 288.280 – where Oliver was up to before travelling to the mine on Pristine until the end of the encrypted journals on 209.450.
  • Argyle writes cryptically about a trip to the mine where he met someone who eventually introduced himself as a ‘replacement for his Contact’, someone who would be his ‘Patron’, and make sure he was looked after
  • Argyle’s suspicions about what happened to ‘Contact’ are aroused and he notes he will make some enquiries into ‘Patron’
  • Later, he notes he has checked up on ‘Patron’, found out who he is and some background, though he doesn’t commit this detail to the journals
  • Argyle is almost certain that ‘Patron’ had ‘Contact’ killed, but notes that ‘Patron’ seems to be a better ally for him to have 
  • Indeed, he observes a steady stream of lucrative, paid-in-cash work coming his way as a result
  • Near the end of the decrypted journals, ‘Patron’ introduces him to his ‘associate’
    • Argyle thinks he means his boss 
  • The ‘Associate’ notes that he has a specific problem and Argyle is able to help him out
    • This is apparently documented in IT Project#59
  • The Associate assures Argyle that if ever there’s any trouble arising from his activities, he will be taken care of, and not in the same way as ‘Contact’ (apparently he asked)
  • On one of the pages of the decrypted general journal, Argyle is apparently feeling philosophical, having just watched his favourite movie again.  
    • He writes that at last he feels he has found some kind of peace with his life and self, and that he may have actually escaped his past.  
    • He only wishes, he writes, that Lyanna were here with him to share in this life of his on the cold but beautiful world he has ended up on.  
    • If only he could actually communicate with her, even if it was just once, to let her know he is alive and still thinking of her, though they parted a long time ago.
    • He revisits this idea several times through the journals, though the references become more cryptic as time goes on
    • Oliver will recognise that these are actually also mentioned in the hardcopy journals that come last chronologically but which he read first, and now he sees these for what they are 

1 Response

  1. Oliver Starr says:
    2020-08-10 at 00:01

    Oliver notes that Argyle’s work into the message sending system was most likely all with the goal of contacting Lyanna.
    He also notes that Hale was murdered.
    He will also note again that now there’s a suspect who works at the mine who will be guilty of assisting Argyle’s escape and conspiracy for murder.
    He notes that they’re after some sort of group or corporation and not just Argyle alone.

    Then he will continue with his work, more time dedicated to Data blobs now that his reading is finished and will prepare for the customs check.

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