The Culper Ring: Y- The Last Man Issue #41

sphinx · Post by **sphinx** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 7:56 pm

FallingIntoSin · Post by **FallingIntoSin** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 8:16 pm

Thanks Sphinx!

Jengels2002 · Post by **Jengels2002** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 8:17 pm

What is this?

sphinx · Post by **sphinx** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 8:31 pm

Recap:

At the drop 11/26/06 Phoenix Theater Petaluma, CA, File #2 on the SD card was:

http://www.filelodge.com/files/room32/8 ... 41554b4554

Hex -> Text translation of 53455441554b4554 is SETAUKET

Add .rar to this and you get a password protected RAR file.

It was discovered in the chat that the password was SASCHA, which is a tag from the gemma video. There is one file, the filename is 4e494c49, which translated from hex says NILI. It is a text file. The contents of the file are AN LQUIYHL UOE ZAV KA A DIXG YIH IL QBT. It is a vigenere cipher with SASCHA as the key. It decodes to: "in tonight she had it a life rip it out".

KitWisdom wrote:
deagol wrote:
covedweller wrote:Deagol, did we have The Culper Ring on our list of agencies that used #s for code names?
Nope. And they had that agent 355... reminds me of Tach's 335
Of course, this all reminds me of the great graphic novel series "Y: The Last Man" where they have a Culper Ring agent that goes by 355. Am I the only reader? Because one of the male agents who is mentioned was also 355's mentor and lover...1033. Just add another zero in there and we have Brother. Interesting, eh?

deagol wrote:
Absynth wrote: ...
im not sure any of us know why setauket was included yet.
...
It has to be about the Setauket spies, aka as Culper Ring.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culper_Ring

[George] Washington made sure that these spies had more support. [...] he provided them with codes, invisible ink, dead drops, and aliases.
We have codes, aliases (remember that list), and, of course, dead drops. Op has dismissed the use of invisible ink, but I remain open minded.

From a more extensive article, http://tvhs.org/18thcent.html

"Nancy" Strong, as she was known by friends and neighbors, hung her laundry from the line in a code formation to direct Woodhull to the correct location. A black petticoat was the signal that Brewster was nearby, and the number of handkerchiefs scattered among the other garments on the line showed the meeting place.
I doubt "Nancy" is a coincidence, as well as the signals in code. Tach should learn from Nancy, her codes are too obvious. I know that most of us "decoders" would get distracted if she started posting pics of her laundry
...

deagol wrote:Just to say I don't think it's fact that Tachyon works for the Culper Ring.

Yes, there's interesting connections, the most striking one is that comic book... I wish I could get this issue #41. Anyone seen it?

What Happens: Agent 355 used to be a kid, you know. There she is on the cover, with her stuffed monkey. Aw, so cute, especially alongside the gun and bloodstained wallpaper.
...
Three introduces 355 to 1033. “From now on, he’s going to be your Prime.”
...

Gee, what's up with everyone having a monkey?

Just too many connections to be coincidence. Doesn't necessarily mean the Tachyon story can be read from the 'Y' comic book though, it's more like it's inspired by Y, a kind of homage perhaps.

In Y, 1033 is 355's mentor. Notice how 1033 is a prime number (thus "he’s going to be your Prime"). But 355 isn't prime, its factors are 5 and 71.

Now back to our story. Tachyon once said FRI 335. We first thought this was a time, and it turned out to be a wrong assumption. Later we realized it might have been a clue about the Pea Soup drop, which was in the intersection of California SR-33 and I-5. However, I think those 2 roads cross in multiple places (they roughly parallel each other), so the clue wouldn't have helped much (interesting that only in hindsight seems like a good clue, but it isn't).

But what if it was just Tach signing off? like "meet you on friday. signed 335." It opens interesting avenues of thought. Lets go back to those factors:

335 = 5x67
10033 = ?

I'll tell you right away that 10033 isn't prime.

Go ahead, get your old calculator and start checking for its factors...

Found them? No? Keep looking, they're there, trust me...

Still nothing? Give up?

Well, I guess those more computer savvy could code a little program to search for them pesky factors, but that's cheating. Or you could google for a prime factor calculator, which is what I did since I'm lazy.

Anyway, the point is, if you did check a few by calculator you probably gave up after checking for a 17 or 19 factor, or perhaps if you're very persistent you got to 37. Oh, I'm not going to give them away. It is really relevant that you try so you understand where I'm getting at. I think it's a big clue about Tachyon and "Brother"

From Wikipedia: "Public-key algorithms are most often based on the computational complexity of "hard" problems, often from number theory."

It's quite a long article, but that's the gist of it. Indeed, one of these "hard" problems is integer factorization:

When the numbers are very large, no efficient integer factorization algorithm is published; a recent effort which factored a 200 digit number (RSA-200) took eighteen months and used over half a century of computer time. The supposed difficulty of this problem is at the heart of certain algorithms in cryptography such as RSA. Many areas of mathematics and computer science have been brought to bear on the problem, including elliptic curves, algebraic number theory, and quantum computing.

Not all numbers of a given length are equally hard to factor. Given the state of the art as of 2006, the hardest instances of these problems are those where the factors are two randomly-chosen prime numbers of about the same size.
So, you see where this is going? Could Tach and Brother be using a very simple (so we are able to crack it) public-key algorithm with 10033 as the public key? This train of thought seems very promising to me.

Or maybe I'm just a crack addict

Ziola wrote:Um, Tach sent me a message today

Maybe its not that far off, since the "Y" and "the last man" are in quotations.

Any intelligent insight?

Edit: To remove misinformation.

Lola · Post by **Lola** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 8:31 pm

So agent 355 had a baby sister that died with her parents.

She was recruited into the Culper spy ring by a mentor referred to as Three. They are an historical group of female spies that report to the President and act as escorts or protectors.

She discovered that her mentor Three had defected to an enemy group known as the SETAUKET RING which is working against the government. She tells 355 that she doesn't know everything, there's a group of powerful men in the government up to no good.

Agent 355 is introduced to her new handler 10033.

Agent 355 kills Three using the very skills the woman taught her.

covedweller · Post by **covedweller** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 8:43 pm

I think Tachyon's reference to "Y The Last Man "confirms The Culper Ring in some form as who she works for, but remember that the organization hasn't existed since 1780 officially.

"Y The Last Man" is one interpetation of The Culper Ring and their rules, codes, etc. but it doesn't mean The Culper Ring that Tachyon belongs to is exactly the same setup, protocols, and stuff.

Borrowing too heavily from Y The Last Man would be a dicey situation I am sure, since Brian K. Vaughan isn't a writer on OpAphid/Tachyon or LG15.

But from what I've read of Vaughan's interpetation, it probably wouldn't hurt to assume some things alone those lines about Tachyon and her organization, 10033, etc.

rachelalexis · Post by **rachelalexis** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 8:48 pm

sphinx wrote:Recap:

Thank you thank you thank you!!! That was an awesome recap, and was super informative. I have been keeping up with stuff, but apparently not enough the last week or so, because I couldn't put all that together in my head. You are awesome

Destrin41016 · Post by **Destrin41016** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 8:51 pm

Lola wrote:So agent 355 had a baby sister that died with her parents.

i think this and the sascha password kind of screams that tachyon was the girl gemma was talking about...

tigerlilylynn · Post by **tigerlilylynn** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 8:52 pm

covedweller wrote:I think Tachyon's reference to "Y The Last Man "confirms The Culper Ring in some form as who she works for, but remember that the organization hasn't existed since 1780 officially.

"Y The Last Man" is one interpetation of The Culper Ring and their rules, codes, etc. but it doesn't mean The Culper Ring that Tachyon belongs to is exactly the same setup, protocols, and stuff.

Borrowing too heavily from Y The Last Man would be a dicey situation I am sure, since Brian K. Vaughan isn't a writer on OpAphid/Tachyon or LG15.

But from what I've read of Vaughan's interpetation, it probably wouldn't hurt to assume some things alone those lines about Tachyon and her organization, 10033, etc.

Dicey works both ways. We'd eat the PM alive if they followed an existing story. I'm sure the rate of Buffy fans is high but we'd hate to play Buffy. We can find out the ending.

covedweller · Post by **covedweller** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 8:59 pm

From my understanding of "Y The Last Man," I really hope the OpAphid/Tachyon/LG15 story isn't going down those lines.

Though wouldn't be funny if Daniel, and not Jonas, were the last man on Earth!

Ziola · Post by **Ziola** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 9:56 pm

So, here's my totally uneducated guess based on the comic's storyline.

OpAphid is the agent 355 who recruited Tachyon into some organization. I think that maybe she was/is an orphan and that perhaps her parents died in an accident.

Op was Tachs mentor, and trainer until she handed her off to Brother, who then became her contact person.

Somewhere in the middle of this, Op became disenchanted with the path the original organization was going down and switched sides, working her way up to a seat of power in the Order.

Tach was able to infiltrate the Order and avoided Op at all costs so she could garner information. She found out that Op recognized her and she had to run.

And she's been running ever since, but maybe she found out some things that Op did and she has now sworn revenge.

I have no fact that I'm basing this on, I'm just throwing ideas out there.

KitWisdom · Post by **KitWisdom** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 10:33 pm

Wow...when I first brought up Y: The Last Man I had *no* idea that anyone else would follow up on it. This is all awesome. I think I messaged Brother asking if he knew Yorick Brown (the aforementioned last man) but I doubt he'll reply.

Jengels2002 · Post by **Jengels2002** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 10:42 pm

Traveler J...have his answers been confirmed?

deagol · Post by **deagol** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 10:47 pm

Jengels2002 wrote:Traveler J...have his answers been confirmed?

Actually, his very creative anagram solution was confirmed wrong, right? The anagram was confirmed "I sought to infiltrate the I of Aphid." He just tied the inflight idea with a flight to Setauket.

Jengels2002 · Post by **Jengels2002** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 10:50 pm

deagol wrote:
Jengels2002 wrote:Traveler J...have his answers been confirmed?
Actually, his very creative anagram solution was confirmed wrong, right? The anagram was confirmed "I sought to infiltrate the I of Aphid." He just tied the inflight idea with a flight to Setauket.

Are you a fan of mathematics?