[Puzzle] Facility J - A Proper Introduction

[Luminous]

Continued from:
Traveler J - "Catalyst (Find Him)" [02/08/2007]
http://lonelygirl15.com/forum/viewtopic ... &start=150


Here is a rather longish recap of where we are so far and how we got here:

Walterdw released a new video titled A Proper "Introduction"
We have learned he has left clues in this video that will ultimately lead us to his true identity. The name WalterDW is a shield he created to protect himself until we earn his trust.

At the beginning of the video, numbers and letters flash by the screen


Theresascraps discovered these lead to http://tinyurl.com/36gy77, which redirected us to craigs list where Walter had posted a string of
base64 code which translated to

We knew the Soviets had them. They were at least ten years ahead of
us. The Kirov and Sverdlovsk facilities were producing results before we
had even begun. It wasn't hard for some half-witted military drones to
weaponize the standards, although I do feel for the whitecoats. Lovett
wanted something more from us, the intellectual elite. We were to
produce a more discrete product.

gaagagcaagcgccatgttgaagccatcattaccattcacatccctcttattcctgcagctgcccctgctggg
agtggggctgaacacgacaattctgacgcccaatgggaatgaagacggatccaccacagctgtcgagtg
ggaaatctgggactggagggggctggtgagaagggtggctgtgggaaggggccgtacagagatctggt
gcctgccactggccattacaatcatgtgggcagaattgaaaagtggagtgggaagggcaagggggagg
gttccctgcctcacgctacttcttctttctttcttgtttgtttgtttctttctttcttttgaggcagggtctcactatgttg
cctaggctggtctcaaacggatcctcctggctcgactctagtgatcctcctgcctcagcctttcaaagcacca
ggattacagacatgagccaccgtgcttggcctcctccttctgaccatcatttctctttccctccctgccttcatttt
ctccccaatctagatttcttcctgaccactatgcccactgactccctcagtgtttccactctgcccctcccagga
tccgaggttcagtgttttgtgttcaatgtcgacatatgagcatggcgaccagcaccttcagtgcgcagtgtgg
cccggagcatcattacctggctgaacattcttctatttttaatggcgtcttcagccagcagcttaaaaacaac
cttatctactttccctcctcctactttccctcctcccgcttgagggtaggccccatccccccctttcgagtacatg
gatccgaattgcacttggaacagcagctctgagccccagcctaccaacctcactctgcattattggtatgag
aagggacgagggggaggggatgaagaagaggtgggttggatcagagaccaagagagagggtagca
agtctcccaggtaccccactgttttctcctggggtaagtcataagtcggttgaggggagatgaggctaggct
ctggatatctgcagtacccagattggccccactgttcctcttccttccatcgaacctttctcctctaggtacaag
aactcggataatgaggatcctaaagtccagaagtgcagccactatctattctctgaagaaatcacttctggc
tgtcagttgcaaaaaaaggagatccacctctaccaaacatttgttgttcagctccaggacccacgggaacc
caggagacaggccacacagatgctaaaactgcagaatctgggtaatttggaaagaaagggtcaagag
accagggatactgtgggacattggagtctacagagtagtgttcttttatcataagggtacatgggcagaaa
agaggaggtaggggatcatgatgggaagggaggaggtattaggggcactaccttcaggatcctgacttg
tctaggccagggtcgagaatgaccacatatgcacacatatctccagtgatcccctgggctccagagaacct
aacacttcacaaactgagtgaatcccggatccagctagaactgaactggaacaacagattcttgaaccac
tgtttggagcacttggtgcagtaccggactgactgggaccacagctggactgtgagtgactagggacgtg
aatgtagcagctaaggccaagaa

1(+8 ) 1 3(+7) 2(-1) 3(-6) 1(+4) 1(+3) 2(+3) 5 1 6 1 1(-1) 4 7 2 6 9 9 1 5 4 1 1 2 3 1 2 4 4(+1) 5(-1) 5 3 9 9 1 3 1(+1) 1 4 1(+2) 1 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2(+1) 4 1 7 6 1 6 7 1

TOSG decoded this to find a hidden message:

"I had new hope after meeting her. I had my reels back. Three Three R Five Nine P"

which lead to another tinyurl

Leads to http://tinyurl.com/33R59P

TOSG's recap on how he did it:

Okay, here's my explanation. I wish that I had some brilliant, razor-like solution, but I'm afraid that I just used logic and persistence, with a few guiding principles.

1) Looking at a BLAST (http://130.14.29.110/BLAST/ ; look at "nblast") alignment of the sequence, I saw that there were three large regions of human DNA, and two regions of DNA sequence that did not match with any known DNA source.

2) So, I hypothesized, as before, that the unmatched DNA was likely where the message was encoded (as Walter could have free reign to encode any message he liked there, rather than being constrained to a given sequence of human DNA).

3) Thus, I manually removed most of the regions that had homology with the human DNA, so I could focus on the (in my estimation) important part of the sequence.

4) So, I made a restriction map of this sequence (on the NEBCutter 2.0 program), showing all the restriction enzymes that cut the sequence.

5) I noticed that BamHI was a double-cutter of this sequence (BamHI is a commonly used enzyme, so that tipped me off), and removed the rest of two of the human DNA regions. So, I cut the DNA with that.

6) I then looked at this fragment in NEBCutter, again.

7) Given the clue that TaqI might be used (see my previous post), I searched for that, and found that it cut three times.

I counted up that Walter had given instructions for decoding 61 letters, so I looked for a DNA fragment that was 61*3 = 183 bases long.

9) Awesome! I found that two of the TaqI cut sites combined to leave behind a 183-base pair sequence!

10) I put this sequence into a protein translator, and then grinded away at decoding the letters, according to the same principles as last time.

So, there you have it! Probably not the most elegant way to do it, but it worked, and pretty fast.

For the curious, the DNA sequence is: cgacatatgagcatggcgaccagcaccttcagtgcgcagtgtggcccggagcatcattacctggctgaa
cattcttctatttttaatggcgtcttcagccagcagcttaaaaacaaccttatctactttccctcctcctactttccctcctcccgcttgagggtaggccccatcccccccttt

And the protein sequence is: R H M S M A T S T F S A Q C G P E H H Y L A E H S S I F N G V F S Q Q L K N N L I Y F P S S Y F P S S R L R V G P I P P F

this second tinyurl lead us to a telegram from WD


MY NEW ACQUAINTANCES
I FEAR THAT I HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO TRUST YOU STOP
IT LOOKS LIKE YOU SOMEHOW MANAGED TO PROPERLY CUT THE DNA STOP
I AM SURPRISED STOP
THE FIRST CUT MAY BE THE DEEPEST, BUT THE SECOND ENZYME WAS MORE SIGNIFICANT STOP
I SUPPOSE THAT IT IS TIME THAT I LET YOU KNOW MY FULL IDENTITY STOP
TO FIND IT YOU WILL HAVE TO SHIFT YOUR PERSPECTIVE ON THE SEQUENCE THAT GOT YOU HERE STOP

With these letters stamped on the paper

wnhwyry
aaanay
aagwehjjh
nauaj


The paper the telegram was written on had a number 11226 or possibly 11228 cut off at the top of the paper. Originally I thought they might mean something, but now my thought is they were just random arbitrary numbers on the paper, although I suppose it's possible he could have used them as a key to encode something. But probably not. We have learned we have a vigenere cipher which requires letters for the passphrase, not numbers.

We have taken so long in decoding this and finding Walters true identity, that he gave us a hint through a change in his profile "You act as if I gave you a chiffre indéchiffrable" (French for 'the unbreakable cipher') and which is understood to be a Vigenère cipher.

In order to uncover the true Identity of WalterDW, we must decipher this Vigenère cipher he left us in the telegram.

Hope this makes sense and is helpful to everyone

[Luminous]

New Email from Walter:

[Luminous]

This is from kayokosaeki I asked her to do a frame by frame dissection of the video, and she very graciously accepted. I moved it over from the previous thread where we were working on this

http://lonelygirl15.com/forum/viewtopic ... c&start=60
(it starts with theresascraps post "New Vid is up")

so we can keep all the information that has not yet been solved intact.

Below are posted the results she found. Thankyou Kayokosaeki!

I realize I should give you more specific information, to eliminate any confusion. The video we need analyzed is by user WalterDW on Youtube, and it is called "A Proper Introduction" Here's the link -

http://youtube.com/watch?v=SrU0Im9LjNY

We have discovered there are some marks that look like letters roughly stenciled on a chalkboard. So far we have found several A's and several S's. We need to know exactly how many there are, and if there are any others we have missed. Frame count may also be important.

The other thing we have noticed are some dark grey rectangles that mimic film frames going by. This may or may not be important, but if there is a way to count them, we would like to.

And then of course anything else you see that might be a clue.

Again, thank you so much! I'm excited to see what you find

ok, so there are two frames in which a partial "A" appears superimposed over a 36.





then the 36 shifts to appear twice in one frame....



...before a superimposed "S" appears for two frames







then 36 appears again for only 4 frames, just like before only the blacks are darker (i won't post a freeze frame. its just as i say) then 77 appears, shifting once like this



and then 16 frames later the "S" appears again partially



the very end is a fade in and out of the sequence "A" "S" "A" in the same stencil lettering, but i'm going to save my photo bandwidth and not post those freeze frames. its exactly as janesalteredstates posted below

Edit: These are the images were captured from the end of the video by janesalteredstates:







as for the dark grey rectangles that mimic the old film reel, i really see no hidden meaning in them. its just an effect. there's practically one in every frame in the beginning portion (none in the middle or end), but i counted them anyway for you: 47

hope that helps. let me know if you need anything else

[Luminous]

For those of you who want to see the actual telegram, here it is:

[theslyestfox]

New Email from Walter:

the part that says we already have the numbers we need to form his last name makes me think that it might not actuallly be a Vigenère cipher. i mean, maybe when he said "You act as if I gave you a chiffre indéchiffrable" and which is understood to be a Vigenère cipher" what he meant was we're acting like he's given us an incredibly complicated clue, when in reality he hasn't. i think this might be one of the times where we've started looking too hard at things. i think that our answer will not come from a cipher, but from the original sequence that was decoded to get the telegram, and/or the numbers/letters on the telegram itself.

perhaps if we read the original decoded sequence's ANSWER in a different order we'll find it? (backwards maybe?) or, if we take the original sequence, and flip it backwards and then do the same decoding that TOSG did maybe we'll find a different set of letters?

though, him saying that we already have the numbers for it makes me think that the numbers on the top of the telegram are our biggest clue at the moment, and i for one thought that it was 11228 at first, though it is hard to tell if it's a 6 or not...

*sigh*

[Weepel]

To me, the Walter email makes me think that we were on the right track in the other thread

Perhaps the text in the circled stamp is the passphrase, and the DNA sequence . . . is the text to be decoded?

When you do this, decode the dna sequence with the stamp letters you get:
gttgccctgatcctgagctttttcgctxgveicicgcngvgtakyvtxzngiakgnmxcletggptiaawepmtkmptgtkxgmeccigcggcvtcukyvrxvngitkenteclcaccgtctcneymkkvpczctxpvxclvttcpcvccngyvxtmggggxkgtkileccagceccwgymkk

which looks like more dna and more jibberish.

So you shift the dna to get more of the same, more dna, which is the "building blocks" of life (I think). Leaving us with:
gttgccctgatcctgagctttttcgct
So now the last step seems to use some set of numbers to get a name.

[Luminous]

Try 11228 or 11226

[Luminous]

OMG I can't believe it - slightly off topic, but I have to share. Look what I just found! Look familiar?



http://acswebcontent.acs.org/joinacstod ... /index.htm

The game creators have certainly done their homework!

[trainer101]

They've certainly put a lot of work into this.

[janesalteredstates]

To me, the Walter email makes me think that we were on the right track in the other thread

Perhaps the text in the circled stamp is the passphrase, and the DNA sequence . . . is the text to be decoded?

When you do this, decode the dna sequence with the stamp letters you get:
gttgccctgatcctgagctttttcgctxgveicicgcngvgtakyvtxzngiakgnmxcletgg
ptiaawepmtkmptgtkxgmeccigcggcvtcukyvrxvngitkenteclcaccgtctcne
ymkkvpczctxpvxclvttcpcvccngyvxtmggggxkgtkileccagceccwgymkk

which looks like more dna and more jibberish.

So you shift the dna to get more of the same, more dna, which is the "building blocks" of life (I think). Leaving us with:
gttgccctgatcctgagctttttcgct
So now the last step seems to use some set of numbers to get a name.

I don't understand what you did here.
"you shift the dna to get more of the same"
What does this mean? How did you "shift the DNA?"

Sorry

[Luminous]

Sorry

Haha Me too!

[TOSG]

OMG I can't believe it - slightly off topic, but I have to share. Look what I just found! Look familiar?



http://acswebcontent.acs.org/joinacstod ... /index.htm

The game creators have certainly done their homework!

Sheesh, how did I not notice that?!

EDIT: Slyestfox brings up some good points here.

[deagol]

Guys, what some of you have done here is amazing. Really impressive work. I hope you stick around OpAphid when true puzzles hit us hard over there.

Luminous, that sadistic pleasure you mentioned from us Aphids? Nah, we're nice! And I doubt any of us can do what you guys are doing here any faster. But you might wan't to ask this Walter guy about sadism. Sick SOB!

I personally have no knowledge or interest in genetics and dealing with none of these DNA codes, so I won't stay around for too long. But I thought I'd let you guys know it's impossible that this result would happen by chance:

When you do this, decode the dna sequence with the stamp letters you get:
gttgccctgatcctgagctttttcgctxgveicicgcngvgtakyvtxzngiakgnmx...
which looks like more dna and more jibberish.

So you shift the dna to get more of the same, more dna, which is the "building blocks" of life (I think). Leaving us with:
gttgccctgatcctgagctttttcgct
So now the last step seems to use some set of numbers to get a name.

These are some Vignere facts:

Code: Select all

msg: a t g c
-------------
key: a h u y to cipher into a
key: t a n r to cipher into t
key: g n a e to cipher into g
key: c j w a to cipher into c

And you were given:
wnhwyry
aaanay
aagwehjjh
nauaj

All those letters on the stamp are keys on the above table. As you already found out, that decodes the first 27 nucleotides. Oh, and somewhere I read something about a shift mutation that messes up decoding from there on. It looks like that's exactly what's going on here. Try completing the key or something... I tried adding one letter (t a n r) but didn't work, but I'm sure trying a second (16 combinations) or maybe a third will! (64 combinations to try sounds sufficient torture). I'll let you guys do it... good luck!

[Luminous]

Hey Deagol

Thanks for the pointers and the encouragement. We'll see what we can do with it.

And yeah, you're right about Walter. He is a sadistic old fart. It hasn't gotten by me that the first three chalkboard characters at the beginning of the video are ASS

[theslyestfox]

These are some Vignere facts:

Code: Select all

msg: a t g c
-------------
key: a h u y to cipher into a
key: t a n r to cipher into t
key: g n a e to cipher into g
key: c j w a to cipher into c

wait wait wait....in that table a can be decoded into BOTH a and g? how does that work???


EDIT: no...wait a is in every single line? ok now i'm really confused about how that table works.