[ARC] Corrupted trinary key released, one puzzle remains

Fiction Portal Intergalactic Summit
1

Pilots;

Significant progress has been made in processing the corrupted trinary data vaults retrieved from Drifter fleets in recent weeks.

However, we’ve now hit what appears to be, of all things, a riddle. In the hope that many minds will make light work, and acknowledging the continual desire among others to see our key, we’re providing a Galnet link to today’s vault, the key compiled over weeks of work by ARC employees, associates, and contractors, and some of our initial thoughts.

Today’s vault transliterates simply as ‘answers,’ ‘clues,’ ‘three.’

The text that follows is a random splash, instead of the file pointers we’re accustomed to finding. Current impression is that this is either a simple insertion key intended to be used with other vaults, a character rotation intended to be used with footage tagged 3, or something of that sort. It’s a simple pointer for footage we’ve not retrieved from other trinary data vaults, one way or another, but somehow it’s escaping us.

Attached are all existing files.

V.938 key set

image
Uw3QWwI.jpg3613×2227 748 KB

47688
uqDearedl
so3Deeda
footybap7

47689
OQTDALFFVTJUDDA
HHODVMR5APINDD

47690
fr4popae
uy5DdalerZ
op1QOpxcrr
dc6Wdcna98ArmDreplamQ

47691
bi9432da
dw5OpeAmmnre
MDecnba32DCwwfa
ko9Darrtr
wddDaroz1
y4eeee
yt6KLutme

47692
ws1edEmang
beZittae
Ai3dfeB4
RagEd73WIAvrsdfer8

47693
zo3lmdsea
ppP56Adv
Jfristggpitw5dvDs
WeBAhpasycAd

47694 - location unknown

47695
dk5xwtre
la7klimab
Srt55dr1Ffbr
BerD45acegmnpo
Tidttofahbdnmwm
wigwiaomvdur

47696
bt5linDa
7534jceqegonbk
fida1Aded
lqponcadfADRV4
mnBBpard
qpijdn453jnsFs

47697

Edit; a small update. A bounty of 1.5b ISK for information leading to the cracking of this vault. It’s not a tremendous sum, but hopefully it’ll grease the wheels.

Edit of edit; a 150m ISK bounty was paid out to Nost Esan for information leading to the retrieval of the latest class of vault.

Edit of edit of edit; with so many involved, it’s impossible to properly credit all parties for their work so far, not least of which when it’s often happening in the pressure cooker of corporate comms under a time constraint. I’d like to extend personal thanks to many contributors, but notable among them are Aradina Varren for her tireless surveillance and decryption work, Jaret Victorian for his production work for the ARCHIVES, Nomistrav for his logistics and decryption work, Trii Seo for her work on T-DART and early decryption efforts, Uriel Paradisi Anteovnuecci for his production work on both composite videos and our reference charts, to name a few. There are dozens more who’ve also helped immeasurably in the weeks we’ve been pursuing this path, and I apologize for those exemplars I’ve missed in this brief honor roll.

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2

Paging Doctor @Woodrow_Ormand, you’re needed to put up or shut up.

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This one is unique in that there’s a direct reference to the reader, “three answers clues”. Whoever created this thinks of it as a puzzle, and they want us to unlock it.

It has seven frames total, the first is the message, the rest are(when read left to right) eooa, eeao, aceo, eeae, eee and eeeee in that order.

We considered that maybe “three” meant we should check the third vault that was discovered, which was 47690, vaults 47690, 47691, 47692, 47693, 47695 and 47696 contain scrambled symbols that tend to repeat over multiple vaults, and at the moment I don’t think they’re of any note.

Here they are anyway, in case someone can find a use for them.

Summary

90:
UbFpEOr?.
1st ?: https://i.imgur.com/NjywrnR.png

jC:Hcv?MrzFt?
1st ?: N potentially. https://i.imgur.com/p6x73bR.png
2nd ?: https://i.imgur.com/s3Cu8qS.png

c2E.??k…FfW
1st ?: https://i.imgur.com/NjywrnR.png
2nd ?: https://i.imgur.com/yxBpxVL.png

?93ohR9tP1Hni8AL
1st ?: https://i.imgur.com/UVyCyo4.png upside down 2, possible 0.

91:
UbFpEOr?.
1st ?: https://i.imgur.com/NjywrnR.png

?9S?KFK4L?g?9.?aZ/
1st ?: https://i.imgur.com/iHti998.png
2nd ?: ^
3rd ?: https://i.imgur.com/lFSE7Lq.png
4th ?: https://i.imgur.com/l0h3ZeN.png
5th ?: https://i.imgur.com/B3Acsj9.png

93ohR9tP1Hni8AL

xzT3I??7dU??
1st ?: https://i.imgur.com/89Sp35S.png
2nd ?: https://i.imgur.com/C57ujId.png
3rd ?: https://i.imgur.com/kEoLVi2.png
4th ?: https://i.imgur.com/jzpQI5A.png

pZQ2?6ky?125T
1st ?: https://i.imgur.com/jyZZwEj.png
2nd ?: https://i.imgur.com/bE2Ewt7.png

IwVrL2E??
1st ?: https://i.imgur.com/5LvMwgb.png
2nd ?: https://i.imgur.com/LWi5vxB.png

U5QMK.???q
1st ?: https://i.imgur.com/mKWbM8e.png
2nd ?: https://i.imgur.com/mj8R19Q.png
3rd ?: https://i.imgur.com/7m4Z0u2.png

SbTu4A??oE?Fv6Jts
1st ?: https://i.imgur.com/c79LrNR.png
2nd ?: https://i.imgur.com/XTl85G7.png
3rd ?: https://i.imgur.com/kkYgtDd.png

92:
FpEOr?.
1st ?: https://i.imgur.com/NjywrnR.png

L?g?9.?aZ//
1st ?: https://i.imgur.com/HNKveg5.png
2nd ?: https://i.imgur.com/eXhuhYC.png
3rd ?: https://i.imgur.com/Zey0FK0.png

/dqwl??EA2
1st ?: https://i.imgur.com/25rMhEE.png
2nd ?: https://i.imgur.com/NjywrnR.png

vwyq

93:
FpEOr?.?
1st ?: https://i.imgur.com/NjywrnR.png
2nd ?: https://i.imgur.com/xXVftmE.png

L?g?9.aZ//
1st ?: https://i.imgur.com/9EMnH0z.png
2nd ?: https://i.imgur.com/rlhlY55.png

dqwl??EA2
1st ?: https://i.imgur.com/HLono22.png
2nd ?: https://i.imgur.com/NjywrnR.png

vwyq

95:
FpEOr?.?
1st ?: https://i.imgur.com/NjywrnR.png
2nd ?: https://i.imgur.com/jico8Ts.png

L?g?9.aZ//
1st ?: https://i.imgur.com/9EMnH0z.png
2nd ?: https://i.imgur.com/rlhlY55.png

/dqwl??EA2
1st ?: https://i.imgur.com/HLono22.png
2nd ?: https://i.imgur.com/NjywrnR.png

vwyq

ky?125T
1st ?: https://i.imgur.com/GaacWcY.png

f2E??
1st ?: https://i.imgur.com/k5JXkre.png
2nd ?: https://i.imgur.com/7bFxYwD.png

96:
FpEOr?.?
1st ?: https://i.imgur.com/NjywrnR.png
2nd ?: https://i.imgur.com/jico8Ts.png

L?g?9.aZ//
1st ?: https://i.imgur.com/9EMnH0z.png
2nd ?: https://i.imgur.com/rlhlY55.png

dqwl??EA2
1st ?: https://i.imgur.com/HLono22.png
2nd ?: https://i.imgur.com/NjywrnR.png

vwyq

ky?125T
1st ?: https://i.imgur.com/GaacWcY.png

f2E??
1st ?: https://i.imgur.com/k5JXkre.png
2nd ?: https://i.imgur.com/7bFxYwD.png

8 Likes
4

Grow up.

I’d like to help with this, but codecracking and riddles really aren’t my areas of expertise… Or any capacity of mine, beyond rudimentary understanding. I’ll look over this and will chime in if I get any kind of epiphanies, but because of the above, don’t expect much.

Also, thank you all for your work and finally releasing the key for public perusal.

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5

My comment was out of line, I apologize.

Edit: However since Woodrow did steal from ARC operations so he could do his own research, I would like to see if that was simple thievery or if he has anything to contribute.

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6

A small update; a donor has added 500m to the pot for cracking today’s vault. The total bounty is now 1.5b.

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Honestly, with any luck and this data, our colleagues over at CDIA will have a fair shot at cracking this.

1 Like
8

This assumes, of course, that our capable friends at the Directive Intelligence Agency have any interest in sharing data.

5 Likes
9

Bah! These riddles are making my head spin. All I see are a bunch of symbols supposively constructed by these Drifter freaks.

Can’t we just keep shooting them…?

1 Like
10

While i cannot offer a concrete solution to this riddle, it seems interesting to note a few oddities about our puzzle.

Disregarding frame 1 we have definite overlap on frames 2 and 6 of the video, and this seems very intentional, and raises questions as to why someone would allow this happen in a situation where the data may be overlaid like this…

Aside from this, we only see A, E, O, and C used as characters…and C only once…which given the frequency and random nature of the patterning makes me question if the “frames” we’re seeing are of data similar to the other vaults.

i’ll admit this is a bit of a tinfoil moment here…

A as in Apollo/Artemis, our mainline drifter battleships, and possibly seen in the previous vault videos

E as in Enemy vessels, which seems likely to what were seeing in the vault recordings

O for Orion, our new cruiser friend, who has been quite effective

C for Cassandra…who’s shown up as well…

is it possible that the overlapping “a” and “e” are in fact closely engaged ships?

I’m positing that there is a slim chance that the “frames” we’re seeing are not of “data” as we were seeing previously, but of battlefield data in an ultra simplified form, possibly from the same battle that vaults recorded their footage from…perhaps a final bit of context to show how this enemy operates…

However this fails to explain the “three answers clues” portion of the message…of this i’m well aware, and am still working on…however in light of the massive brick wall that’s been hit i figured it might be an ok idea to get something out there that someone might be able to use…

Anyway, it’s late, if someone solves by the time i wake up i’ll promptly edit this confirming this was merely sleep deprived ravings.

5 Likes
11

if it turns out that the glowy doodad that CONCORD demanded from me is the the key to this mystery, I am going to be more annoyed.

That damn icosahedron is an endless source of woes.

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O0o0O0oooh, it looks very impressive. I am amazed by the work that was put into deciphering this alphabet. :hushed:

Is it a bad thing that actually I now want to produce some fake artifacts to sell to the crowd gathering in Eram? :sweat_smile:

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The Drifters have obviously taken note of my attempts to feed them slaves and are attempting to communicate with us. The message obviously is expressing annoyance at PIE’s interference with my diplomatic efforts.

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14

The merit of your claim is highly unlikely, at best. I need not go into what it is at worst.

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15

I took a look at this, and there are a few things i noticed.

Most of the “letters” show up on the same grid, except in the last frame. This one appears higher than in any other frame. Although it is the letter “E”, it reminded me of the “A” at the top of the answer key from the war college.

Also strange, is that frame 6 only has 3 “letters” while all other slides have 4. If we put these letters into a grid we get something similar to this:

Frame 2 EOOA
Frame 3 EEAO
Frame 4 ACEO
Frame 5 EEAE
Frame 6 EEE
-------------
Frame E EEEE

also of note, if we take “O” to mean zero, only 3 letters are used. Resulting in a triangular numbering system. If we take the original frame “Answers, Clues, Three” we can assign numbers to the letters. A=1, C=2, E=3

Frame 2 3001
Frame 3 3310
Frame 4 1230
Frame 5 3313
Frame 6 333?
-------------
Frame E 3333

It could be some form of ternary base coding, but is strange that it includes both 0 and 3. one would expect it to only include 0 or 3.

Fun side note: a numeral in ternary is called a “trit”

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16

None of the letters are capitals.

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Not sure if this was directed at my post or the one assuming the letters are related to names. My use of capital letters is just for ease of reading.

2 Likes
18

Could they be communicating with hexadecimal? None of the letters go above f assuming O to be zero.

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3rd slide (after “answers clues three”) has three vertical symbols (only slide with three symbols on same line or column) AND in the same column as “clues” from the intro slide… and states ‘ceo’

Is there something that the CEO of Drifter’s corp might know?

My 2 ISK on the matter…

Knic o7

1 Like
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Noticed the “CEO” thing earlier. Probably a red herring-- it’s not like their corp CEO, if they have such a thing, has been any more talkative than the rest of them, or like there’s any shortage of them among us or any reason to expect a CEO to have a special key the rest of us lack. At least to this.

1 Like