It sounds like something from a Dan Brown novel: a noted Harvard symbologist receives a strange parcel in the mail, a box filled with random and unusual artifacts from a lost and ancient civilization. Using his unsurpassed deduction skills, he must piece together the puzzle to unlock a mystery that could change the course of human history.
Yeah, it’s just like that, if you replace “noted Harvard symbologist” with “basement-dwelling podcaster,” replace “random and unusual artifacts” with “weird stuff” and replace “a lost and ancient civilization” with “New Brunswick, Canada.” Actually, you can leave that last one.
A few days ago, I was contacted by Simply Syndicated listener and fellow Canadian Steven Cogswell, who asked if I’d like his castoff VHS collection. I have mentioned my love for cheap old tapes on Starbase 66 before, so Cogs decided to pass along his science fiction films. “Sure,” I told him, and a few days later, the mailman brought me a couple of boxes of movies. And what a treat … I’ll be discussing the films on the show soon, so we’ll leave that for now.
What caught my attention, though, were the other items Cogs packed in the boxes. These include:
- … a magnifying glass
- … a 1997 CPU from Silicon Graphics
- … a Chromatography and Filtration post-it note set
- … a little purple fuzzball souvenir from National Chemistry Week
- … a beanie from the University of New Brunswick
- … a CD of the Journal of Experimental Biology archives
- … a gold medallion from the video game Oblivion: The Elder Scrolls
- … and a package of something called Electron Gun Filaments.
I have been trying to figure these things out for a few days now, and I’m stumped. I’m no symbologist, so this kind of thing is beyond me. I’m still trying to understand how fax machines work, for pete’s sake. Superior deduction skills? If I remember where I parked at Walmart I consider it a good day.
The best I can piece together is that I have to go to the University of New Brunswick and use the magnifying glass to look for clues relating to chemistry, biology and fantasy role-playing games. In true Dan Brown style, I suppose I have only 24 hours to do this. And, in true Dan Brown style, there’s a weird science factor at play here with these electron filament thingies. Maybe I’m supposed to prevent oblivion by bringing these gun parts to some place where they’re building a mega laser, or some kind of top-secret super-fast hockey puck. In New Brunswick. I know Cogs is some kind of science whiz, with a sciencey job, so maybe he’s part of all this.
I could really use your help on this, puzzle solvers.
Kennedy, Starbase 66
