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The Chromatic Witch, Ep 3: W, Did You Know? Zombies Only Eat Orange


Yoruichi-san
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The girl focused on the sound of her own breathing as her feet pounded the belt of the treadmill underneath her.  In the background, the TV was playing, some children’s show - Along a Rainbow or some such, she wasn’t paying attention.

 

Coming upon the last ‘leg’ of her run, she clicked the speed setting up until her legs were flying at their top speed.  Her face set in an expression of determination as she struggled to breathe and watched the odometer count up:  9.6...9.7...9.8...9.9…

 

As the counter reached 10 miles, she slammed down on the “STOP” button.  The belt decelerated precipitously and she breathed heavily.

 

Her breath returned shortly, but with it came thoughts about what was to occur and unwanted feelings of longing and sadness.  The girl winced.

 

“It’s alright to be scared, you know.”  The young man, who had been watching unnoticed from the doorway, took this moment to come forward.  “Anyone would, in your position.”

 

The girl wiped her head with a nearby towel, then shook it.  “No...what I have been tasked with requires a strength of will...fear...fear will only get in the way.  I have to be strong, I have to control my emotions…”  Her voice drifted off as a pained look crossed her features.

 

The corners of the young man’s eyes curled up sympathetically. He placed a hand on her sinewy shoulder.  “Hey...why was the electron invited to the party wagon?”

 

A puzzled expression crept onto the girl’s face.  “I...what?”

 

“It wasn’t, it just lept-on!” The young man gave her a huge, silly smile.

 

Her eyes furrowed with incredulity, but the corners of the girl’s lips couldn’t help curling up into a smile.  “I see…that’s...terrible...” she laughed.

 

The young man shrugged.  “I heard that somewhere and thought you might enjoy it.  I don’t know, you’re the smart one, after all.”

 

Still smiling, the girl squeezed his hand.  “Thanks…”

 

Nodding softly, he gazed into her eyes earnestly.  “You don’t have to go at it alone you know...not yet at least…”

 

Glancing away, the girl nodded sadly.  “I know…”

 

 

 

 

 

The Chromatic Witch

 

EPISODE 3:

 

W, Did You Know?  Zombies Only Eat Orange

 

 

 

 

Knock knock,

Who's there?

Banana.

Banana who?

Knock knock,

Who's there?

Banana.

Banana who?

Knock knock,

Who's there?

Orange.

Orange who -

Orange you glad I didn't say 'banana'?

 

Remembered from a random childhood book of 'Knock knock' jokes

 

 

 

 

Orin ran along, laughing, as his dog Spot barked at him and hopped up and down.  Finally, finding a good trajectory, he tossed the frisbee he was holding high in the air and far into the distance.  Spot sprinted for it, making an impressive jump for the orange disc at the last moment and catching it squarely in his furry jaw.

 

“Good boy, Spot,” Orin praised as the jack russell terrier delivered the prize to his feet, then looked up at his owner hopefully, tail wagging vigorously.  The blond boy reached out his hand to pat his pet on the head and...

 

*Beep*  *Beep*  *Beeeep*...*Beep*  *Beep*  *Beeeep*...

 

Orin groaned and rolled over in his bed, hugging his pillow to his head, which was still pounding from the festivities of the night before.  The persistent noise was so annoying...if only he could press a button and turn that darn alarm off, like before, when...wait, when was that?

 

One of his blue eyes cringed open as the sound of Janine’s voice came into his head over the neuro-link.  

 

“Good morning Agents,” the feminine voice chirped cheerfully...much too cheerfully in Orin's present opinion.  “There is a matter of urgency, please congregate in the main operations room at once.”

 

Groaning even more loudly, the blond young man tumbled out of his bed and somehow managed to rummage up and into his uniform, brush his teeth, and haphazardly throw some water on his face.

 

A few minutes later, he stepped into the main operations room, where the other agents had already gathered.  Father stood on the second floor veranda with Umi and Janine next to him.  As the magnanimous leader began to speak, Orin realized that the fog had gone from his head.  He frowned, then shrugged.

 

“Agents of Sector Lambda,” Father addressed them in a deep, resounding voice.  “While you were engaged with the Green Witch, the location of the Orange Gateway was discovered.  An advance team, Sector Nu, was sent to scout out the area and report back, but as of 0400, we lost contact with them and have not been able to re-establish the connection.”

 

There was a concert of concerned gasps.  “What...what does that mean?” one of the agents inquired with trepidation.

 

Father’s countenance darkened and his jaw set stonily.  A somberness weighed heavily down on his voice.  “It means that, Sector Lambda, you must deploy immediately.”


 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

This is the Orange Gateway?” A dubious expression hung on Orin’s handsome features as he stepped out of the black van and shut the door adorned with a silver lambda symbol.  The faces of the other agents echoed his reticence as they stared up at the ramshackle structure towering before them.  

 

The immense warehouse-resembling construction boasted several rows of crumbling windows covered with boards that were themselves displaying differing degrees of dilapidation.  A mosaic of plaster, concrete, and faded paint in a shade that could barely prove it had been orange at some point in its lifetime spanned the building’s outer walls.  In the center of the monolith, rounding out the pageant of decrepitude, an enormous bright orange upward-sliding door stood like an 18th century street walker in London.

 

Wraith shrugged.  “That’s what the intel said, but, I don’t know...it doesn’t really seem like the Witch’s style...”

 

“It’s what Father said,” a pretty red-headed female agent interrupted him, glaring.  “Are you questioning his instructions?”

 

Throwing up his hands as if in a shield, Wraith blinked.  “Whoa, no, of course not, I’m just questioning...well I guess I’m questioning the Witch’s taste.  The previous Gateways seemed more...well, elegant…”

  

“The Chromatic Witch is a vile, repugnant, and vulgar creature,” The flame-haired agent blazoned.  “Claiming otherwise is treachery to the cause and to Father.”

 

“Yeah...of course…” the Captain stammered, taken aback.  The redhead opened her mouth to continue her beratement, but Wraith was saved by Janine’s voice broad-casted over the neurolink.

 

“We scanned the entrance, and it doesn’t appear to locked or fixed in any way.  It doesn’t appear to be trapped either, you have the go to enter the Gateway.”

 

Shaking his head ruefully, Captain Wraith stepped up to the orange door, took hold of the handle, inhaled, and pulled up.  The door slid easily, the chain machining it clicking as it rose.

 

“Well, that was easy, that’s a good sign, right?” Orin piped up, putting on a smile.

 

“Mmmhmm…” was Wraith’s reply.  In truth, he wasn’t sure that a smooth entrance was really an auspicious omen…

 

The light rolling through the doorway illuminated an empty floor, devoid of anything other than a thick layer of dust.  The space beyond was dark, and expansive.

 

Wraith bit his lip hesitantly, but Orin felt a sense of excitement welling up internally and stamped into the building.  After a moment, the other agents followed.  The Captain sighed, but brought up the rear.

 

The moment he was inside the structure, the door abruptly slammed to the ground behind him and what seemed to him an ocean of fluorescent lights blasted on.  Apprehensive murmurs rumbled through the group of agents as they waited at the mercy of their eyes adjusting to the brightness.

 

When they did, however, the disquiet in their tones modulated into acquisitiveness.  Before them extended a long corridor inlaid with 14 burnt-orange doors, each presenting an inscribed gilded plaque.  Orin stepped up to the one nearest him, it read the letters “MP

 

Below the letters was an old fashioned slider, with somewhat larger dimensions.  Orin slid out the gilded cover, and below was shown:

 

(-1) 3

(+1) post-7969-0-65567200-1405225481_thumb.pn

 

The agents investigated the other doors, and found similar markings.

 

(-1) 6
(+1)
post-7969-0-93449500-1405225473_thumb.pn

 

(-1) 5

(+1) post-7969-0-89388600-1405225475_thumb.pn

 

(-1) 3
(+1)
post-7969-0-16396300-1405225477_thumb.pn

 

(-1) 3

(+1) post-7969-0-71944300-1405225478_thumb.pn

 

(-1) 4
(+1)
post-7969-0-98362000-1405225479_thumb.pn

 

(-1) 3
(+1)
post-7969-0-25944700-1405225483_thumb.pn

 

(-1) 4
(+1)
post-7969-0-89114700-1405225484_thumb.pn

 

(-1) 3
(+1)
post-7969-0-19322300-1405225486_thumb.pn

 

(-1) 2
(+1)
post-7969-0-90547500-1405225487_thumb.pn

 

(-1) 5
(+1)
post-7969-0-36125900-1405226557_thumb.pn

 

(-1) 7
(+1)

post-7969-0-04902600-1405226559_thumb.pn

 

(-1) 4
(+1)

post-7969-0-36113700-1405226560_thumb.pn

 

(-1) 2
(+1)

post-7969-0-91618000-1405226561_thumb.pn

 

 

“Well,” Captain Wraith ruminated.  “I’m guessing we have to pick the right door...and that the others probably lead to a fate that’s...unpleasant.”  He glanced around, frowning.  “I don’t see any signs of Sector Nu, they must have gotten past this point.  We should try to get to them as quickly as possible.  Let’s get to cracking this!”

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First impressions.

Thinnest man

Hawking

curry

Blind leading the blind

I have yet to understand the numbers and the letters.

EDIT: I'm thinking the numbers explain to us what order to put the letters in, which will spell out something for us to do.

Edited by flamebirde
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Since it's been awhile since the beginning, a refresher or for new agents:


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Welcome to Sector Lambda




Our world is in grave peril. The most nefarious, most maleficent, most devious Chromatic Witch seeks to destroy it through her malevolent tricks and heinous devices.


The Chromatic Witch draws her vile power from her seven Gateways. Each Gateway has the property of being a different color, and each color grants the Chromatic Witch different powers.


Hence, we have gathered you, the best and the brightest agents, here, under the skillful supervision of the most capable and fair Father to form an elite team in the world’s defense.


You and your fellow agents will have to venture into the territory of these Gateways and destroy them, one-by-one, to remove her hold on this world and vanquish her.


There are a few things you must know, though, before you can attend the task at hand.


1. Do not question the word of Father. He is here for your guidance and protection. Father knows best, and has your best interests at heart. Normal human beings such as you and I cannot hope to understand the depth of Father’s knowledge and comprehension.


2. Do not question the above, ever.


3. Some of the challenges the Chromatic Witch will pose will require special knowledge, which should be readily available through the neuro-link to the vast information network implanted into your minds. If your neuro-link is malfunctioning, please contact the BioIT department at SectorLambdaBioIT@gmail.com for help.


4. Some of the challenges the Chromatic Witch will pose may have more than one possible solution. If you discover multiple solutions, then take pride in your savvy as an agent. However, you will have to face the Chromatic Witch in her own domain, and to defeat her power over the domain, you must find the solution to what she has set as the key to her devices and abilities.


5. Some agents will be more readily adapted to certain tasks or easily identify the knowledge needed for certain challenges than others. After all, no man may have complete knowledge, no man except Father, that is, but he is no mere man. Therefore, to be the most effective, you must function as a team and build on each others' strengths. Remember, this is not about you as an individual, this is about protecting our world.


6. Do not question any of the above. It just may cost you or your team their lives.




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Links to the previous episodes on my 'About Me' page ^_^

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"Yes, some of those words sound familiar," Janine piped up over the neuro-link. "I wasn't paying that much attention to Sector Nu's dialogue, Father was overseeing them...he's occupied at the moment, but I'll try to help if I can."

"Thanks, Janine," Orin replied.

Wraith nodded. The agents had made some insightful guesses to the images presented under the sliders. He wasn't sure they were all correct, but he suspected that there was a theme of some sort, a method to the Witch's madness, as usual. And the letters on the plaques...what did they mean?

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It may be possible that the markings are to throw us off, and the letters are all that matter. In such case, I would assume that SH may be the correct door, as it is the only door whose letters are not used on any other door. However, I would ask my colleagues if they believe that to be the solution before deciding whether or not to test my claim, as it may be mere coincidence.

I have also noticed that several of the answers seem to refer to names (MP: Pulling, NB: Hawking, ER: Newton, JC: Rutherford/ Rudderford, SH: Maxwell, LP: Cheryl/ Chareel) so that may also be hint.

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gila + ton = guillotine? Doesn't seem like a room I'd want to go into.

More likely when dealing with Y-san, and follow up on Omega Scales:

Bohr (atomic model)

Planck (Planck's constant)

Boltzman (also with a constant named after him)

Feinman (idk what he did, but heard of him a lot)

Curry (maybe means Curie for radioactivity, but I think there was some scientist called Curry)

Maxwell (daemon master)

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Looks like the pictures encode the names of famous scientists (mostly physicists):
MP: Pauling
NT: Feinman ?
IN: Fermi
LB: Tesla
NB: Hawking
ER: Newton
RF: ??
JC: Rutherford
SH: Maxwell
EF: Bohr
MC: Planck
DB: Curie
JM: Boltzmann
LP: ??
I think the letters are just their initials.
LP - Linus Pauling
NT - Nicola Tesla
IN - Isaac Newton
and so on...
Edited by k-man
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Looks like the pictures encode the names of famous scientists (mostly physicists):
MP: Pauling
NT: Feinman
IN: Fermi
LB: Tesla
NB: Hawking
ER: Newton
RF: Bernoulli
JC: Rutherford
SH: Maxwell
EF: Bohr
MC: Planck
DB: Curie
JM: Boltzmann
LP: ??
I think the letters are just their initials.
MP - Max Planck
NT - Nicola Tesla
IN - Isaac Newton
LB - Ludwig Boltzmann
NB - Niels Bohr
ER - Ernest Rutherford
RF - Richard Feinman
JC - ??
SH - Stephen Hawking
EF - Enrico Fermi
MC - Marie Curie
DB - Daniel Bernoulli
JM - James Clerk Maxwell
LP - Linus Pauling

I aggregated everything I could into here.

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"Well done, agents," Captain Wraith applauded as his elite team blasted through the pictograms. Now they just had to focus on the bigger picture. "Let's look at the parts we haven't yet...there is most likely some meaning to it. From our experience, we have seen that, when it comes to judging the Witch's ploys, it is prudent to err more towards method than madness."

```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Personal note: I love watching you guys think :D.

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Orin frowned. They had figured out that the pictures were names and the letters were initials, but why were the names and initials mismatched? And what was the meaning of the (-1) and (+1)? Something an agent had mentioned popped into his mind, something about figuring out an order...

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When I tried that, I got the following, which didn't seem to help as far as I could tell.

If the "(+1): Picture" means that the person described in the picture is the next in a sequence, then you get

Max Plank -> Linus Pauling -> JC -> Ernest Rutherford -> Isaac Newton -> Enrico Fermi -> Niels Bohr -> Stephen Hawking -> James Maxwell -> Ludwig Boltzman -> Nicola Tesla -> Richard Feinman -> Daniel Bernouli -> Marie Curie -> Max Planck

If the "(-1); Number" means that the number on the plate should be assigned to the previous person in the sequence, then I get

2 Max Plank -> 4 Linus Pauling -> 4 JC -> 5 Ernest Rutherford -> 2 Isaac Newton -> 3 Enrico Fermi -> 3 Niels Bohr -> 4 Stephen Hawking -> 3 James Maxwell -> 6 Ludwig Boltzman -> 3 Nicola Tesla -> 7 Richard Feinman -> 5 Daniel Bernouli -> 3 Marie Curie

If you interpret the numbers to mean "from this person move X steps forward in the cycle" then you can form a loop involving Boltzman -> Pauling -> Fermi -> Maxwell -> Feinman -> Newton -> Bohr -> Boltzman, and no matter where you start you will eventually enter that loop. While it's possible, it seems like a big stretch to say that's a seven member loop and therefore the plate whose number would be assigned 7 (RF) is the door you should take.

Edit: fixed spoilers

Edited by plasmid
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"Yeah...that sounds about right," Janine affirmed as Agent plasmid detailed the order he had found for the names.  "Hmm...I also remember them saying something about 'indices'..."

 

Wraith nodded, starting to comprehend.  "Yes, the pictures with the (+1) coded the last names, but the plaques contain the initials for the first and last name, so maybe the (-1) will correspond to the..."

 

"Oh!" Janine's exclamation in their heads made the agents jump.  "There was something else...one of the agents of Sector Nu was saying how it looked like gibberish, and another said something about 'looking at it backwards'..."

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Looks like the pictures encode the names of famous scientists (mostly physicists):
MP: Pauling
NT: Feinman
IN: Fermi
LB: Tesla
NB: Hawking
ER: Newton
RF: Bernoulli
JC: Rutherford
SH: Maxwell
EF: Bohr
MC: Planck
DB: Curie
JM: Boltzmann
LP: Charles
 
I think the letters are just their initials.
MP - Max Planck
NT - Nicola Tesla
IN - Isaac Newton
LB - Ludwig Boltzmann
NB -  Niels Bohr
ER - Ernest Rutherford
RF - Richard Feinman
JC -  Jacques Charles
SH - Stephen Hawking
EF - Enrico Fermi
MC - Marie Curie
DB - Daniel Bernoulli
JM - James Maxwell
LP -  Linus Pauling
 

I aggregated everything I could into here.

 

I figured out who JC is.

Hrm... Still stuck on the numbers.

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The agents had made a complete assessment of the pictographs.  The indices still troubled them though.  The Witch was clever, but not that clever...perhaps a similar device had been seen...

 

Orin frowned.  For some reason, this part reminded him of the very first puzzle the agents had had to solve.  He had started at the door for Max Planck, but the very first door from the left was the one for Richard Feynman.  And Janine's words rang in his head:  "...Looking at it backwards..."

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The very first puzzle consisted of figuring out who the division commander was by a six letter clue. Each person had some six letter name or reference, so it was necessary to figure out the given puzzle. If my guess is correct then the fourteen doors is referring to there being a fourteen letter name. That would lower the choices to only Richard Feynman, Jacques Charles, and Stephen Hawking. After that... I'm stuck again.

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"The very first puzzle?" and observant agent remarked, when Orin shared his thoughts.  "You mean the number of letter in the name might match some clue?"

 

Orin shook his head.  "No...I don't think it's the structure of the puzzle that seems familiar, but a particular device.  I was also thinking  that since the pictograms of the (+1) use the last names only, but the initials are for both the last name and first name, maybe the (+1) part is related to something to do with the first names?"

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