Friends.
Thanks for all your creative thinking on the glyphs (but why does it all seem to come back around to "Die?") and with proposals for our "team" name. "Percepticons," "Hanso Hunters," "The Blake Brigade" -- we're all these things. But, more than ever I have to believe, I have to HOPE... that we're friends.
Because, in this moment, with the nasty turn things have just taken... we've got to hold the line.
Armand Zander is MISSING.
I went by the Vik Institute. His car wasn't in the lot. I went by his house. The place was surrounded by cops. And reporters.
Rumor has it, they think Zander set the fire. Word has it from his superiors, he's been unhappy for some time. On edge. Writing threatening letters.
This stinks of Mittelwerk. Zander was our key to understanding what those mathematicians were doing with that equation, how those hieroglyphs, how their MEANING, fit into it. He stuck his neck out -- and he paid the price. I'm so sorry, Zander.
And of course, Mittelwerk has vanished in the night once again... Where could he have gone? GidgetGirl?
Well, let's think about it.
LOGIC would dictate Mittelwerk's run off somewhere safe, rather than face the scrutiny the fire has brought to bear.
LOGIC would dictate, now that his cover's blown, Mittelwerk's setting up another savant sweatshop to crunch that equation. But, in my gut, neither of those scenarios feels right. And, I'll tell you why:
Two nights ago, DJ Dan did a show. One part of it just keeps coming back to me over and over. Listen to his podcast
HERE.
Oh, that Valenzetti Equation. Gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling, doesn't it? The more I hear about it, the more I agree with you guys... this just has to have SOMETHING to do with Mittelwerk's mystery equation. Now, first off... in case you're wondering, in case you hadn't figured it out already -- yeah, that was me who called in to DJ Dan's show.
I'M PERSEPHONE.
Sorry I wasn't straight with you from the get-go, but I just couldn't cop to hacking a DANISH WEBSITE while I was in Denmark. But, now that I'm out of the country, I feel like I owe you guys the truth.
That having been said...
Did you hear it? The part that made me think twice? You see, DJ Dan's guest, this mathematical forecaster, he says something REALLY interesting. He says Valenzetti died but in the next breath tells us the REAL TRUTH without realizing it himself: Valenzetti merely disappeared.
And "disappeared" doesn't equal dead in my book.
So, what if with his equation disrupted, with his formulations possibly destroyed by the fire, what if the reason Mittelwerk took off like a bat out of hell is that he's going to find Enzo Valenzetti? Crazy, right? Of course, it begs the question: WHERE?
So, that's my best theory. Let me know your thoughts - have I ignored my own warnings? Am I completely off the mark with this Valenzetti Equation? GidgetGirl, it's time to earn those contributor privileges. Can YOU tell us anything? (And, since we're giving out names, care to share yours?)
Rachel and GidgetGirl exchanged another conservation:
GG: Rachel. I hate to say it, but I have heard the name Enzo Valenzetti. More than once, actually. I have it on authority (don't ask how) that the Valenzetti Equation is among the highest priority items on Mittelwerk's agenda.
RB: So, the mathematicians at the Vik Institute... were they really working with the Valenzetti Equation?
GG: All I know is that from the minute the Institute opened, Mittelwerk's had those autistic savants running calculations in an unbroken loop, twenty four hours a day, not a single day missed. It was imperative that they never stopped. And, then, of course, the fire struck.
RB: That's why he went there personally, isn't it? He wouldn't care about a few mathematicians killed. But, with that equation stopped...
GG: I won't speculate.
GG: All I know is that Mittelwerk is, right now, in the Italian Riviera. Sanremo. Where Valenzetti was born... and, where he resided before he got on that plane.
RB: You know he's alive, don't you? Tell me.
GG: I know no such thing. Please, believe me, Rachel.
RB: I'm booking my ticket right now. And, I've gotta tell you. All of you. If Mittelwerk REALLY has these mathematicians from the Vik Institute working with the Valenzetti Equation... if those savants were really running the damn thing 24/7, then I think we're all in serious trouble. And, I'm not one for drama. And, I know our info comes from a dead writer with no research or book to back up his claims... and a random guest on a podcast known to exaggerate. But, if it does predict the END OF THE WORLD, and if it does have to be running all the time, what happens when the Valenzetti Equation STOPS? Does Mittelwerk know something we don't? I'd better find out.
Rachel links us to DJ Dan's podcast, during which she phones in:
DJ Dan: Next caller.
Rachel: Maybe you shouldn’t be so quick to shutdown your callers, DJ Dan.
DJ Dan: Oohh a feisty one. Er you sound WAY too hot to be one of my conspiraspies, who am I talking to here?
Rachel: Here’s what I know, remember your Vik Institute show.
DJ Dan: Um hum.
Rachel: Mental hospital run by the Hanso Foundation full of number crunching savants and a mysterious third basement.
DJ Dan: Yeah yeah.
Rachel: I know for a fact its full of mathematicians. And those savants, they’re running an equation over and over. It’s just like what you said, Mittelwerk doesn’t want a data trail.
DJ Dan: So er, so so wha, so you think they’re running this Valenteekee equation?
Rachel: Guess you are as smart as you look?
DJ Dan: Hohoho, if I wasn’t married I’d take you to the Puerto Rican beach where I grew up and marry you on the spot.
Rachel: Too bad you’re married.
DJ Dan: (speaks Spanish, translates into: Maybe you could catch my drift and tell me what you have on, please?)
Rachel: You wanna know what I’m wearing? Something cute. Too bad the Hanso Foundation wants me dead, you’ll never get to see.
DJ Dan: Wait a minute, who is this really?
Rachel: Persephone.
(Rachel’s call ends, DJ Dan yells to Tonya to try to track her call)
