Yoruichi-san

And now that this wonderful number is out of the bag, so to speak, Anyone want to take a guess what all the rows and major diagonals of a 3 x 3 x 3 magic cube [using the numbers 1-27] sum to? I like this problem...I recall running into it in a physics class . But I think the answer is intuitive...if you think of gravity as, like, invisible rubber bands pulling on the object, from all particles or chunks of the earth, then when you're on the diameter, there is equal pull from both sides, which balance each other out, but if you're closer to one edge, there is more pull from one side, and more pull -> more force -> more acceleration. As for the magic cube...no idea .

The agent in front entered the code and the group heard a satisfactory click. A moment later, the door swung open. “Well, that was easy,” one of the new agents commented. “Yes, too easy,” Wraith replied, stroking his stubbly chin with a thoughtful expression. “The Witch is toying with us. She wanted us to get in..." Orin shrugged. “We have a mission to attend, we can worry about that when we come to it.” With that, he stormed ahead. The agents entered into a long corridor, with walls of navy. As they moved down it, they noted a series of paintings on the walls. Underneath each painting was a bluish plaque, on which was engraved an enigmatic number. At the end of a hallway was another door, of the same color. Orin shrugged and keyed in the same code as the door before. But this time, the lock remained recalcitrantly silent. A voice came over their neuro-link. It was deep, strong, and composed. “Blue,” Father said, “to the Witch, is the color of cold clarity and pristine purity. She will not use things she sees as subjective, such as words or even letters here, but that does not mean you will not need to.” “Here the real challenge begins,” the captain remarked, grinning. "I hope all your neuro-links are in correct working order..."

Yes, yes, new agents are welcome...as long as they've read the memo ...and, oh yes, you'll need to catch your own ride ;P

EPISODE 1: The Gate of Blue Heaven “They talked wildly of the death of the blue heaven and the setting up of the golden one; they said a new cycle was beginning and would bring universal good fortune to all members; and they persuaded people to chalk the symbols for the first year of the new cycle on the main door of their dwellings.” -from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, chapter 1. A procession of sleek black vehicles, their windows tinted and no doubt bulletproof, drove into the dock, pulling up right next to the lapping waters. Less than a second before they had come to a stop, their doors swung ajar and out lept the agents, fresh and ready for action, as they donned crisp new uniforms, black with the symbol lambda meticulously embossed on the breast in silver thread trimmed with gold. The eager new agents searched around. “Where’s the Gateway?” one queried at Captain Wraith, who wore a black shirt under a black leather jacket with the lambda symbol scrawled over the back. Besides him stood Orin, also in a black shirt, with black gloves on the back of which the lambda symbol was engraved. “We’ll have to go a little farther to get to it,” the leader replied, winking. “It's surrounded by blue...” Peering across the waters, the agent frowned. “I don’t see a boat...” Suddenly, the agents noticed a humming sound approaching from behind them. As they turned, Wraith grinned and raised his voice, “That’s because we’re not going by boat.” He waved a lean hand at the pair of approaching helicopters. “A boat wouldn’t take us where we need to go...” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Over the glistening waves the choppers glided, their buzzing mirrored by the buzzing of anticipation inside the new agents. Despite the admonitions of the pilots, they were leaning out of their seats, straining to catch a glimpse of their destination. “No matter how hard you try, you won’t find it that way,” the Captain remarked with a bemused smile. And he was right. All the agents could make out in the blue sky were clouds and, well, more blue sky. A few minutes later, the pilot shouted back at them, “We’re here, buckle in.” Here? Where? There was nothing but clouds around them and a particularly large cloud above them. They looked at each other with confusion but did as they were told. Abruptly, the chopper began moving upwards. Up, up...the cloud was coming closer, nearly touching them. “Is this safe?” One of the agents asked. Wraith only smiled. The new agents held their breaths as the chopper’s blades permeated the cloud, but there was no sudden jerk, no stalling of the motor that most of them feared. They continued to move upwards...into the cloud...through the cloud...and... They emerged in a large alcove, a room really, of immense proportions, with midnight blue walls, and a platform along one side with a long staircase leading to a small, greyish door. The choppers pulled over to the platform and landed, and the agents, most in a state somewhere between shock and awe, piled out slowly. Giving a not-too-gentle nudge to the agent in front of him, Orin frowned. “No time to waste. The Witch has been alerted to our presence by now. We need to get moving.” He stamped up the staircase and the agents followed. As they approached the door, they realized that it was made of a sturdy, metallic material that was not truly grey, but a silvery blue . There was no handle, but a keypad with letter and numbers. Orin’s frown deepened. “We can’t break this door down. We need the code.” Wraith grinned knowingly. “It’s easy enough to see...”

By the way, if you read between these lines, (23.6, 3.5, 47.2, 71.1, 82.2, 88.1, 107.1) A compliment you will find. Thanks. I have to warn you, though, I'm not particularly good at taking compliments...(think Chopper in One Piece ) If you are intrigued by my crazeativity, you might want to follow along with the series which I have just begun. It's going to be my main focus for probably a while . "All the world's a stage... ...of a game... ...and we are all players."

Janine grinned, dimpling prettily. "Good job!" Wraith shrugged. "Eh, not bad...for rookies." He paused, as if listening to a private line on his neuro-link. After a moment: "Father says that is acceptable. Your uniforms will be waiting for you in your rooms. Now, go suit up. The real battle will begin soon." Orin nodded. Umi only stared. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Well done! Next segment will be up shortly. Puzzle-wise, it's pretty simple, but it's more of a set-up for the next stage. And as for the stage itself...well...you'll see

Yes, he's talking to the recruits.

Oops, sorry...I honestly have no idea how the 'four' got there...and somehow my brain totally missed it when I was proof-reading . It's just 12 columns...this is one of those moments where I wish I could edit...*sigh*... I have a feeling I'm going to have a lot of those before this series is over :/. The columns are alternating non-blinking/blinking.

Sorry, Aaryan, but circumstantial will not work on the Chromatic Witch...and you don't need it . But I appreciate the show of interest, and encourage posting of working thoughts, etc. There will be a 'boss battle' at the end that will be interactive, so it's good to have a gauge on how many people will probably participate so I can work out the boss stats .

Nah, according to my therapist I have ADD . I also found many more of these while thinking about it...;P

Um...is that a challenge I sense...? >D MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Well, apparently my hidden hitchhiker went unnoticed...but...

Outside the Box Studios Presents... A Y-san Puzzleduction... (Based on the short story The Chromatic Witch that Y-san's real life alter ego was too lazy to actually write...) The Chromatic Witch The room was almost completely dark. Around the periphery of the room, the girl could barely make out the outlines of pieces of equipment, stands where pieces of equipment should have been, lab benches with varying degrees of dust cover, drawers brimming with supplies, and cabinets littered with specimen jars that were labeled in a weary hand. “Are you ready?” asked a voice, muffled by the presence of a light turquoise surgical mask. The man it belonged to, donning the matching attire, adjusted the fluorescent stand light next to him. Then he turned and selected a scalpel and surgical drill from the trolley of tools sitting next to him. It could have been his imagination, but he thought that, for just a brief moment, he caught a slight wince in the corner of the girl’s eye when her gaze fell upon the drill. But he blinked, and it was gone. Reclining back onto the vinyl back of the surgical chair, the girl closed her eyes. “Do it.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Led by a tall, gangly man with scraggly dark hair and close-knit brows, who had introduced himself as “Agent Wraith”, the new agents entered the main operations room of Sector Lambda, burdened by a combination of excitement, anticipation, and anxiousness. “And this is the main control unit,” Agent Wraith explained, waving his arm towards the an expansive sloped panel covered with back-lit buttons of various shapes and sizes, from which a number of holo-screens protruded. “We use it to coordinate all of our operations in the field. It sends real-time feedback from our agents’ neuro-links, so we can monitor their vitals and receive any information they attain, allowing us to guide them as effectively as possible.” He demonstrated by dragging out a sample schematic on the nearest holo-screen, featuring a rotating representation of a head on one half, which zoomed out and displayed the agent’s infrared signature, and with several panels of scrolling data on the other half. Most of the group emitted the appropriate oohing and aahing sounds. Wraith nodded acceptingly, ignoring the few holding back. Then he turned and went to stand by a panel with four 12 columns of lights, every other column of which was blinking, and contained 1, 4, 3, 2, 5, and 2 lights, respectively. The non-blinking columns contained 5, 6, 4, 7, 7, and 6 lights. “That ends the orientation. But before you can start your duties, there is a little test we administer to new Agents to make sure they’re up for the trials ahead.” He swept out his arm at a group of Agents sitting nearby. “Hi, I’m Janine,” said a pretty, freckled girl with short reddish brown hair and glasses. She gave them a warm smile. “And I’m Orin,” followed a somewhat tall, muscular blonde with clear blue eyes, a strong jaw ,and prominent cheekbones. He gave them a welcoming nod. “And that is Umi,” Wraith finished, gesturing towards a small, thin, silver-haired girl with pale skin and sharp eyes. “She doesn’t talk much, but she’s a wiz with computational stuff.” The girl blinked at them and then turned back to her work. “One of the agents here is the squad captain. Did you get the memo? Good. Your test, new agents, is to figure out which one. And no random guessing.” He wagged a finger. “Only answers with appropriate reasoning will be accepted. You must demonstrate your prowess before gaining the right to wear a Sector Lambda uniform.”

Nice puzzle. Hehe... ...I dare say my life has ten time more meaning now. ;P

You can either ask DD or figure it out yourself ;P As per line 6, the puzzle is completely self-contained.

Lol...nice pun ;P. To find the real highlight of the puzzle, highlight. You can try it with all my posts in this thread...

Yes, and while you two were doing that, that week I spent with your mom was totally worth it. (And if I get in trouble...making that joke was totally worth it )

I refer you to this: ;P

I've been following this thread kind of haphazardly, but I have to come in and say that what you're saying, whether you're trying to or not, is discouraging people from posting with their ideas/thoughts on a puzzle, which I think is a key aspect of BD being a 'community' rather than just a website. Even if people are wrong, they may say something that inspires thoughts in others, and that in itself is valuable. I am a scientist, and highly value collaboration. Pretty much all great discoveries, although often credited to one person or the other, were made by a collaboration or at least one person building the past works of others. Also as a scientist, I've noticed that in science, economics, game theory, and even math, there are still problems 'experts' disagree on the correct approach to. And personally, as a puzzle maker who likes to make somewhat complex puzzles, I highly encourage people to work together and share their working thoughts. It usually 'gets the thread going' and builds a kind of happy, fun atmosphere as well. To be honest, I have not given this particular puzzle enough analysis to form an opinion on who is 'correct', my beginning line was with probabilities such as your first line, but I never took the time to finish. I recognize that you've put a lot of work and thought into your answer, and you gave a really good and thorough explanation...but I have to point out, it does not constitute a proof...your own 'comments' in red show the parts that need to be completed for it to be a proof. Welcome to the den ;P.