Terri Tora, a rogue exobiologist, has disappeared just as she was about to reveal a major discovery. Her last messages suggest she was being pursued and attacked by pirates. With the help of her students, Alex and Elyssia, she left behind several mysterious codes. Your mission: recover her transmissions, break the encryption, and uncover the truth behind her disappearance.
You wait quietly in the lobby, comfortably seated at the bar. Time passes slowly, lulled by the murmur of conversations and the clink of glasses, while your ship prepares itself silently on its pad. Soon, you'll be able to return home with peace of mind.
After a few moments, you stroll through the gallery, window shopping in front of the latest arrivals at Pioneer Supplies, admiring the brand-new equipment and gadgets that always arouse a hint of curiosity in travelers.
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🆘 Help me find my missing student
Suddenly, your signed suit Supratech activates itself and projects an alert. Your HUD blurs for a moment, before your suit's holographic interface projects a priority communication channel.
A face appears, marked by fatigue and concern. The conversation immediately begins with the person desperately trying to contact you...
Commander, An old friend in the Pilots’ Federation has allowed me to use this channel to ask you for help.
Terri Tora, a maverick in the exobiology field, has gone radio silent. I’m her assistant and sponsor. We’ve worked closely for years, specialising in rare alien flora and fauna. Her last comms message was three weeks ago. Since then I haven’t heard anything. It’s not like Terri – we usually talk every other day.
Our last conversation was quite animated. Terri said she was on the verge of uncovering ‘something big’, a discovery that would excite the wider scientific community. I can’t share much more yet – will explain further soon. But Terri has good instincts, and if she says her hunt was for something important then I believe her.
I’ve traced her last position to somewhere in the vicinity of COL 285 SECTOR TQ-A B 15-4. Has to have been within a 10 light year radius. Head out there and see if you can find anything. Look for comms beacons, relays, anything that could store information.
I’ve added her transponder ID to this message, so your ship computer will filter out and automatically decode any secure comms sent from Terri. I appreciate any help you can give.
- Professor Frank Raddix
On reading the message, doubts began to creep in. A renowned scientist, on the verge of unraveling a mystery, who disappears without a trace... The scent of enigma is already in the air. Professor Raddix has chosen his words carefully, but his concern is palpable.
Please enter the name of the system corresponding to the riddle.
Password:
Once the step is completed, proceed to the next step
💡I think I've found something
Once you've arrived in the Jungkurara system, you head for the communication beacon.
A message from Terri reaches you:
Prof, I’m leaving these messages encrypted from here. I can’t let what I’m about to attempt get found out. Don’t frown, but I’ve dragged two of your newest students, Alex and Elyssia, with me to help me track this down. This is too important to exoscience. I’m following the trail to the next system, encoding the location. A mirror would come in handy.
Moments after Terri's message, a new transmission arrives in the cockpit. This time, it comes from Professor Raddix himself.
Aware of the complexity of the code used by Terri, he has sent you a decryption tool specially designed for these puzzles.
Please enter the name of the system corresponding to the puzzle.
Password:
Once the step is completed, proceed to the next step
☠️ We’ve been attacked
Once you've arrived in the Albarib system, you set course for point of interest Z2A-4, located on planet A 1.
Among the debris, you spot a black box. It seems to contain a message:
We were attacked by opportunist pirates while aiding Terri on her ‘little quest’. I fear this is our last message unless we’re rescued, but she asked us to encode her last transmission in the hope you find this, Prof.
Frank. It’s just a bunch of letters : kjmpk rppq omplozbk.
She said it’s a two-stage encryption and to use our ship as the key, whatever that means. Good luck and don’t be too annoyed with us next time you see us in class!
- Alex
You receive another call from the professor:
Commander, It’s just like Terri to get herself into trouble and now she’s dragging others into her mischief
She was my brightest student, and also the most troublesome! While the rest preferred more rigorous and academic methods to study exobiology, Terri loved the field trips out into the black. She saw exobiology as an adventure. I do hope this isn’t her last.”
- Professor Frank Raddix
Here's a new riddle to decipher to continue your search.
Please enter the system name corresponding to the riddle.
Password:
Once the step is completed, proceed to the next step
🔎 Getting closer to the truth
Once you've arrived in the Turot system, you set course for the communications beacon, located on the planet A 1, not far from the planetary port Moon Prospect.
You sense the presence of a hidden message from Terri:
An October Consortium science expedition using two megaships passed through here recently,
it seems one of the megaships can get me to where I need to go because someone in October I know can sneak me aboard.
I’m heading out again. Keep up and hopefully see you at 24 9 18 9 25 1 14 15 1 18.
- Terri
This sequence of numbers is suspicious, surely a new enigma to be solved.
Please enter the system name corresponding to the riddle.
Password:
Once the step is completed, proceed to the next step
🚨 They might be on to me
Once you've arrived in the Xiriyanoar system, you head for the listening post hidden in the system.
This listening post contains a new message from Terri:
I’m dropping this beacon, I’m sure comms are being tracked now, I think someone from the last outpost has alerted ahead of me. Damn!
I thought I was being careful. I can’t get caught, not when I’m this close. Encoding my location again, maybe use the Codex for this one. Lefthand side of the Knowledge Base, 6th entry, 5th paragraph.
- Terri
Suddenly, a communication from the professor reaches your device:
Commander, please hurry!
I fear for Terri’s safety, she seems to be on the verge of uncovering something that could radically shake-up the exobiology field and it seems she’s attracting too much interest in her little quest.
- Professor Frank Raddix
With these new elements, you know the routine: a puzzle.
Please enter the system name corresponding to the riddle.
Password:
Once the step is completed, proceed to the next step
🗝️ There’s a secret they don’t want us to know
Once you've arrived in the Upaniklis system, you'll head to the communication beacon.
Once again, Terri left a message at the beacon:
I’m aboard. My contact came through and my sources were right, something is definitely being kept a secret but nobody knows why. I managed to scan their jump manifest but it’s incomplete, sorry.
Best thing you can do is find this ship and scan the manifest properly to get all the locations. I can’t transmit again for fear of being discovered. The location order is listed, so my guess is that you will only be able to locate the ship in the target systems in short intervals. According to the manifest, it should restart a new run on 31st August at 18:00 UGT.
I’m encrypting the manifest. If in (##doubt##) your student, Vigenere, has the key.
There's no need to guide you: this strange sequence of words is surely the key to your next destination.
Please enter the system name corresponding to puzzle number 1.
Password:
Once the step is completed, proceed to the next step
🚀 Complete cygnus manifest
At around 18:00 UGT on August 31, 3311, a point of interest named "Cygnus" appeared in the Nukamba system.
Entering the POI, we discovered that this was a Beckett-class science vessel. When scanning the Logbook, the following voyage itinerary was communicated:
You examine the manifest and notice that, despite the presence of the five known systems, two new ones have been added: HR 6524 and Col 359 sector AE-N B9-4.
Once the step is completed, proceed to the next step
⏳ Cygnus is late. Again.
You're heading to the HR 6524 system, and its landmark The Orion, orbiting the 1 A body.
The Orion
I don’t know why the Captain of the Cygnus is so sloppy, it’s just the usual sweep of potential sites.
We’ll wait here a little longer, I expect we’ll rendezvous at COL 359 SECTOR AE-N B9-4 to complete scans before heading into the target system again for final analysis.
The message is clear, but disturbing. Without missing a beat, you head for the Col 359 sector AE-N B9-4.
Once the step is completed, proceed to the next step
Prof, I’ve asked my contact to drop this beacon, I’m going to try to get off the ship undetected while they’re conducting more scans.
They’ve had this place permit locked for years and I’ve no idea who 'they' are but it’s clear the October Consortium has something to do with it otherwise how else could they get by the permit lock?
I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to stay without being discovered but from my initial scans I think I’ve stumbled onto something that will blow your mind!
- Terri
A call from the professor sounds:
Commander, This appears to be the final message from Terri. There are no more encrypted messages here. That concerns me.
If I’m reading the data from this, there’s a permit-locked system neighbouring this one. But its contents aren’t registered on any cartographic maps as far as I can tell.
What could be in there? What was she hunting for that is being kept secret, and who wants to keep it a secret? Any secret big enough to hide from explorers and exobiologists must mean something remarkable.
I’m going to continue to dig into this – you’ll from me again once I find out useful. Something feels wrong about all of this, but I now know I can count on your help. I’ve issued a reward to your account.
- Professor Frank Raddix
You'll also notice the presence of the megaship Cygnus, orbiting the body A 2.
Once the step is completed, proceed to the next step
📰 A scientist goes missing
On September 2, 3311, a Galnet communiqué was published confirming that Terri Tora's last location was in the HIP 87621 system.
Mystery of missing exobiology protégé deepens
A recent hunt for maverick exobiology scientist Terri Tora has only deepened the mystery surrounding her disappearance.
The search began after Professor Frank Raddix issued an appeal to locate his missing colleague, who was last reported pursuing “something big” for the science community. An encrypted trail of messages led search pilots across multiple systems, piecing together encrypted comms data. Thousands participated, ultimately confirming Tora’s final location at HIP 87621, a permit locked system.
Speculation about the system is rife as no third party or superpower has claimed ownership of the permit lock, leading to rumours about its true significance and why access has been restricted for so long.
Professor Raddix issued the following statement after the discovery of Tora’s last known location:
My thanks go to the many pilots who answered my call. Terri’s trail has led us somewhere we have never been able to access before.
Why is access to this system restricted?
Who operates the permit?
And what discovery did Terri make that beyond this cloak of secrecy?
A spokesperson for the October Consortium responded to calls regarding the presence of two of its megaships, stating that a routine survey expedition was occurring in the region. It denied knowing anything regarding Tora’s current whereabouts.
As one mystery has been answered more questions are raised, with ICE-casters and opinion piece authors demanding to know what lies within HIP 87621 and where Terri Tora is now.
The trail seems to end here... But no doubt Terri will give us her news one day... well, maybe.
To be continued
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