Tuesday 5 November 2013

The Cabin Wall

The cabin wall seems to want to tell a different story than the one S. writes. Below you will find one from page 207. Jen thinks it's contains another message or something that will help in another cipher. What do you think? Or is Eric's new green-ink perspective correct? Let us know what you find.


I SWAM AWAY FROM THE SHIP,

the wall says.

I HAD ASPIRED TO DESTROY IT.
I FOUND MYSELF UNDER AN ARCH, 
CURSING AT SENATORS, COULD I HARM
THE NOISY DEMONS ABOVE?

Fn2: "This may be an allusion to the anonymous 1866 novel Les Démons en Haut, a scathing rebuke of the contemporary Parisian bourgeoisie. While the book is not well-known–indeed, it was banned almost immediately–one can easily imagine that Straka felt a kinship with its author."

conversation in the margin

Eric: in pencil: Doesn't exist (no surprise there)

Jen: Probably a code in the wall writing – don't you think? Whether it's part of Ch. 6 code or something else entirely?

Eric: Agree - VMS didn't do stuff like this by accident. He did like to mess w/ people who read everything as a clue re: his identity. Kind of like John Lennon writing nonsense to taunt the "Paul is dead" crowd.

Jen: ? Paul was dead?  <<baffled>>

Eric: Just look it up when you have time to kill. Pointless but fun.

Eric: (later in time, green ink) What if it's not a code or a joke but something serious about trying to tell a story or express a feeling, but never having it come out the way you want it to?


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8 comments:

  1. ObFuSc85 November 2013 at 21:58

    Yes, the Cabin Wall (or what I'd been calling offset text) -- literally the writing on the wall. ;)

    The Cabin Wall passages are poem-like and interesting. Poem Codes are simple (well, they're supposed to be) & I've wondered if one may have been incorporated into these Cabin Wall passages. POEM CODE

    Another possibility is a Null cipher of some sort.

    If I recall correctly, there are at least 2 references FXC makes to "mediated "or "transposed" writing in the FN's referring to Cabin Wall passages. Which makes me think of transposition ciphers in general, though I haven't actually found anything in them...yet.

    Also Les Démons en Haut = The Demons Top

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just Thinking9 November 2013 at 20:58

    Does this go with the Arch photo with the big S written on the wall? Don't know how that would help with a code though.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mystimus6 December 2013 at 23:30

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mystimus6 December 2013 at 23:31

    I may be crazy, but could this point to a specific song by the Beatles?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. melvillean9 December 2013 at 10:11

      Probably not. The book is written a good 11 years before the Beatles began and the comments that Eric is making are just referencing a popular urban legend

      Delete
  5. Tonzi9 December 2013 at 12:00

    Could the text on the wall be a reference to the Arch of Constantine (or the Arch of Titus)? The Roman Senate was responsible for building it. Plus it has Phrygian purple marble (I can't get that word out of my head after digging into the Interlude).
    Also, it's location (approx.) matches up on the Eotvos wheel at 41N 12E for WY.GE

    Or is it just a foreshadowing of his writing in the orlop room?

    Just throwing things at the wall.

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  6. Unknown27 January 2014 at 07:13

    Tossing this out there. What I did was take the difference between the sentences in line 1 (what S. thinks he writes) vs. line 1 revised (what the wall actually says). This leaves us with the following letters that are different:

    PIRTONACHURSANORSMY

    It gives a possible 2 word return of : honorary manuscripts
    Or 3 word returns of: Orphan roams. Scrutiny! or Anarchy! Impostor runs!

    I have a few more crazy ones jotted down. I am not saying this is the correct methodology for this. Just submitting this as a possibility.

    My post is here: Ch. 6 S's Wall Scrawl

    ReplyDelete

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