Flavor text
There are two parts to the puzzle: a short story and genetics logic puzzle. The quote above the short story serves as flavor text and is meant to hint at the following:
- Title & a variation on the Universal Story
- alludes to the idea of tropes
- hid within the digits of my displays
- hints at the A-Z:1-26 cipher in the numbers in the story & spreadsheet
- Discover this message, and you will have learned what you need to proceed
- suggests that once the cipher is decoded, it is time to do the Punnett squares
- in the end, only the story points the way from chaos to order.
- suggests that one must return to the story to order the tropes
- take count of all that you see.
- a hint to count the letters in the encoded message which in turn hints that they correspond to the squares in the chambers
Story
Within the story, the digits encode in a A-Z:1-26 cipher the following words.
- ALIEN
- BIZARRE
- BUFFY
- CREAM
- DINOSAURS
- DISASTER
- DOMINOES
- EGG
- EXPOSPEAK
- ICE
- IMPLEMENTS
- KILLED
- KOAN
- MACGUFFIN
- NOODLE
- PHLEBOTINUM
- REPRODUCTION
- SPEAK
- THE
These words can be assembled into the names of 8 science fiction tropes, all of which are listed at TV TROPES as well as on other sites.
There are 8 sections of the story and 8 trope names. Each trope name is exemplified in one section of the story which provides the ordering for the list of tropes as follows:
- NOODLE IMPLEMENTS
- DISASTER DOMINOES
- EGG MACGUFFIN
- BIZARRE ALIEN REPRODUCTION
- BUFFY SPEAK
- PHLEBOTINUM KILLED THE DINOSAURS
- EXPOSPEAK
- ICE CREAM KOAN
Decoded Instruction in Spreadsheet
The same AZ1-26 cipher is used on the spreadsheet in the table under the section "Excerpts from Lt. Vrolid's Notes." Decoded, the message provides instructions as to what to do with the ordered trope names:
CONCATENATE STORY ANSWERS AND ENTER ROW BY ROW ACROSS CHAMBERS
In addition, there are 128 letters in the trope names, and 16 x 8=128 spots in the 8 chambers. This suggests placing the letters in order in the chambers from left-to-right and then top-to-bottom as indicated in the text on the spreadsheet.
That is all the information that can be extracted from just the story.
Punnett Squares & Logic Puzzle
The solutions to the Punnett squares and logic puzzle are below.
Pod 1: MNSU x NTPU
MS | MU | NS | NU | |
---|---|---|---|---|
NP | MNPS | MNPU | NNPS | NNPU |
NU | MNSU | MNUU | NNSU | NNUU |
TP | MTPS | MTPU | NTPS | NTPU |
TU | MTSU | MTUU | NTSU | NTUU |
Pod 2: MNSU x MTPS
MS | MU | NS | NU | |
---|---|---|---|---|
MP | MMPS | MMPU | MNPS | MNPU |
MS | MMSS | MMSU | MNSS | MNSU |
TP | MTPS | MTPU | NTPS | NTPU |
TS | MTSS | MTSU | NTSS | NTSU |
Pod 3: MTSU x NTPS
MS | MU | TS | TU | |
---|---|---|---|---|
NP | MNPS | MNPU | NTPS | NTPU |
NS | MNPS | MNSU | NTSS | NTSU |
TP | MTPS | MTPU | TTPS | TTPU |
TS | MTSS | MTSU | TTSS | TTSU |
Pod 4: MNPS x NTSU
MP | MS | NP | NS | |
---|---|---|---|---|
NS | MNPS | MNSS | NNPS | NNSS |
NU | MNPU | MNSU | NNPU | NNSU |
TS | MTPS | MTSS | NTPS | NTSS |
TU | MTPU | MTSU | NTPU | NTSU |
Pod 5: MNPU x MTSU
MP | MU | NP | NU | |
---|---|---|---|---|
MS | MNPS | MMSU | MNPS | MNSU |
MU | MMPU | MMUU | MNPU | MNUU |
TS | MTPS | MTSU | NTPS | NTSU |
TU | MTPU | MTUU | NTPU | NTUU |
Pod 6: MNPU x NTSU
MP | MU | NP | NU | |
---|---|---|---|---|
NS | MNPS | MNSU | NNPS | NNSU |
NU | MNPU | MNUU | NNPU | NNUU |
TS | MTPS | MTSU | NTPS | NTSU |
TU | MTPU | MTUU | NTPU | NTUU |
Pod 7: NTSU x MNPS
NS | NU | TS | TU | |
---|---|---|---|---|
MP | MNPS | MNPU | MTPS | MTPU |
MS | MNSS | MNSU | MTSS | MTSU |
NP | NNPS | NNPU | NTPS | NTPU |
NS | NNSS | NNSU | NTSS | NTSU |
Pod 8: MTSU x NTSU
MS | MU | TS | TU | |
---|---|---|---|---|
NS | MNSS | MNSU | NTSS | NTSS |
NU | MNSU | MNUU | NTSU | NTUU |
TS | MTSS | MTSU | TTSS | TTSU |
TU | MTSU | MTUU | TTSU | TTUU |
Solving the logic problem for each pod's Punnett square yields a single cell–the protozygote or progenitor–of a pod.
In some cases, the color of the chamber heading in the diagram indicates the progenitor phenotype; in others, it can be determined from the logic in the Notes section.
The progenitor squares are outlined in red in the Punnett square solutions above, and their row and column coordinates are given in the summary table.
Putting together the Punnett square solutions and the solution to the logic puzzle embedded in the notes gives:
chamber | (row, col) | cell | eggs | Pheno | Cross | Pod |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | (2, 3) | This square is fuchsia | 3 | NS | MNPU x MTSU | 5 |
2 | (0, 3) | This square is red | 4 | NU | MTSU x NTPS | 3 |
3 | (0, 0) | This square is sky blue | 8 | MP | NTSU x MNPS | 7 |
4 | (1, 0) | This square is teal | 5 | MS | MNSU x NTPU | 1 |
5 | (2, 0) | This square is gray | 2 | TP | MNPS x NTSU | 4 |
6 | (1, 1) | This square is green | 7 | MU | MTSU x NTSU | 8 |
7 | (2, 2) | This square is blue | 6 | NP | MNSU x MTPS | 2 |
8 | (2, 1) | This square is gold | 1 | TS | MNPU x NTSU | 6 |
Same table, in POD order
chamber | (row, col) | cell | eggs | Pheno | Cross | Pod |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4 | (1, 0) | This square is teal | 5 | MS | MNSU x NTPU | 1 |
7 | (2, 2) | This square is blue | 6 | NP | MNSU x MTPS | 2 |
2 | (0, 3) | This square is red | 4 | NU | MTSU x NTPS | 3 |
5 | (2, 0) | This square is gray | 2 | TP | MNPS x NTSU | 4 |
1 | (2, 3) | This square is fuchsia | 3 | NS | MNPU x MTSU | 5 |
8 | (2, 1) | This square is gold | 1 | TS | MNPU x NTSU | 6 |
3 | (0, 0) | This square is sky blue | 8 | MP | NTSU x MNPS | 7 |
6 | (1, 1) | This square is green | 7 | MU | MTSU x NTSU | 8 |
Final extraction
Given 8 chambers with a 4x4 grid and 8 Punnett squares with a 4x4 grid suggests superimposing the one on the other for an extraction mechanism.
Superimposing the Punnett squares on the appropriate chambers highlights one cell per chamber. With the letters of the trope names filled into the boxes in the chambers:
N | O | O | D | L | E | I | M |
P | L | E | M | E | N | T | S |
D | I | S | A | S | T | E | R |
D | O | M | I | N | O | E | S |
E | G | G | M | A | C | G | U |
F | F | I | N | B | I | Z | A |
R | R | E | A | L | I | E | N |
R | E | P | R | O | D | U | C |
T | I | O | N | B | U | F | F |
Y | S | P | E | A | K | P | H |
L | E | B | O | T | I | N | U |
M | K | I | L | L | E | D | T |
H | E | D | I | N | O | S | A |
U | R | S | E | X | P | O | S |
P | E | A | K | I | C | E | C |
R | E | A | M | K | O | A | N |
Ordering these by number of eggs, as hinted in the story, yields the answer CLAMBAKE.