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Return To The Sea
2007-03-22 14:56:49

I believe I see new people entering The Temple today. Do not be shy, introduce yourselves. If you mentioned a secret word and received an answer recently, tell us of it.
Now I leave you to this week's classified excerpt. I'm sure with the help of our senior agents, the task will become clear soon enough.

When you're done here, why not put your employer's time to further good use by sharing the existence of AGENTSOFATLAS.COM?







* * * * *




The shining missile raced across 1200 miles of ocean, banked south, travelled 220 miles before heading east again. It kept up this path over the Aleutian Islands and the Gulf of Alaska in its search for the Natty Bumpo, the ship that had gone missing out of the Port of Seattle. At the port itself waited Jimmy Woo and his team of G-Men, investigating the area as Marvel Boy's headband periodically flashed to let him know another sector had been ruled out.  All around the docks men lay back on whatever surface was comfortable, staring at the cloud formations. 



When Jimmy Woo's team had arrived by rocket, the entire port buzzed with excitement, gathering around. Some had produced guns for fear of an attack. Unlike the similar visit at Hunter's Point, the Port of Seattle wasn't under Naval control and there were no orders given for the inhabitants to accept the strange visitors. When the hatch to the rocket opened and a one-eyed robot stepped out, every Saturday night drive-in movie with invaders from another world leapt to the minds of the Northwest workers. In seconds a hail of bullets ricocheted off M-11's body from all directions. The android's eye began to glow and its white light crossed the spectrum to red. The voice of Jimmy Woo blurted "M-11! Stand down! Do not attack!" The robot's eye returned to it's usual dim glow. 



Then Marvel Boy had exited next, flying. This alarmed the men further and immediately the bullets went towards the moving target. Bob Grayson poured on the speed and raced out of range. Ken Hale was about to leap out from the rocket when Jimmy Woo pulled at his shoulder. "Come on, Ken. What do you think they're going to do when they see a big gorilla jumping out at them? You're not bulletproof like M-11!" 



"Yeah, but I can outshoot any of those dockjockeys. All I gotta do is get hold of one gun..."



"No. Leave this to me." Jimmy pulled out his FBI identification and climbed up over the edge of the hatch.



"Look! The Reds are behind this!"



The hail of bullets returned low and peppered the spaceship where Jimmy Woo had barely gotten to look out. "You idiots! I'm FBI!"



Venus spun around in her seat and smiled. "Would you like me to wrap this up, or are we going to play Wild West all day?"



"We get so deep into missions that I don't watch a lot of television or read the papers. I forget how Cold War crazy the world is. Go on, take 'em out."  



Venus pushed her hair back and tilted her head up. Even before her mouth opened Jimmy and Ken could feel the ethereal voice ripple through them. The air seemed to shimmer and sparkle as Venus' lone chorus began to permeate the port. Sounds of metal hitting the ground came from all around, and then she stepped out of the ship. The men who had been holding guns stood with their arms at their side or reaching before them. Their eyelids hung low, as did their jaws. Standing on the rocket Venus sang louder and the populace fell on their backs in a wave, like a stack of dominos that had been set in motion. 



As the men of the area laid back seeing their deepest desires seemingly brought to life, Venus asked around about the ship that had gone missing the previous week. Within minutes she had ascertained the exact type of vessel that Bob Grayson would send his rocketship hunting. After that, the group looked around at the many ships and the massive cranes that would lower and raise their cargo. They only had to kill time for about ten minutes. 



"I'm getting a message from the Silver Bullet!" said Marvel Boy. "It's located the ship about  650 miles to the southwest.  It'll be back in a minute to pick us up." Jimmy got up and stretched. "That's one impressive wagon you have there, Bob."



Marvel Boy shrugged. "Actually it's kind of limiting. My father made it with the instructions he was given by the Uranian High Council, and I've improved upon it since. But I wouldn't have used the rocket design. I can't put it down just anywhere. The scanning range could be a lot better, and I could really use a meteor smasher on it. If I ever get some time, I'd probably start from scratch and work off the flying saucer model."



"Then everybody's gonna think you're a little green guy with a big head," returned Ken. "Stick to rockets, that's Earth-style." Grayson stood deep in thought as if he were planning the future saucer at that moment, and the Silver Bullet returned. 






* * * * *




As the rocket approached the lifeless ship it slowed and fired hull nozzles so it could hover over the ocean surface, then went into a circling orbit around the vessel. At the next closest pass, the team jumped from the open hatch onto the ship's deck and the rocket pursued it's elliptical course. 



"See, if I had a saucer, it could just hover there indefinitely. Right over this boat."



"If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a wonderful Christmas, flyboy. Okay, what are we looking for here, Jimmy?"



"Whatever the real reason for stealing a ship on the west coast was, before we went on that wild goose chase.  I gotta say, we're up against some pretty sharp cookies this time. Usually the bad guys just have one goal with any given operation. These people hit about two or three birds with one stone. They got Bob away from helping the Space Center scientists to go after one of the missing ships. Which turned out to be a trap that almost got us killed, since they put a whammy on us in our sleep. Then we find out the FBI agents we met were fakes, and write off the whole thing as a decoy. Then it turns out even that was a trick, because this ship, the Natty Bumpo, actually went out to sea. You really can't take anything for granted with this outfit, they think things through. But I think it was all about whatever this ship was supposed to do."



"I've been thinking about that myself," added Ken, leaning on his knuckles. "The fake agents fed us some of the truth, which made it so convincing. Ships from all up and down the seaboard were taken. I don't think it was for smuggling now though. It looks to me like they wanted ships in the water ready to go, but they didn't know where they'd need them. So they covered all their bases. And whatever they were looking for, it turned up at this latitude."



Bob Grayson took mental notes as Jimmy and Ken threw out theories. Deceit and subversion were still largely foreign concepts to him, but his time on Earth was teaching him more on the matters every day. He still hadn't adopted what he thought of as the casual attitude his teammates seemed to have towards it all. Though he did like the problem-solving aspect that went with it.



Then skeletons began pouring over the deck, from the sides, hatches and pilot house. 



"There's dozens of them!" shouted Venus.



"Hey bones!" blurted Gorilla Man as he grabbed a long pole. "Do I look frozen this time? Thought we'd be a bunch of sittin' ducks, huh?" The gorilla whipped the rod around quickly, knocking the skulls off six of the skeleton army.  Several of the skeletons erupted from a deck door and began to lock their fingers around Venus' legs. "HEY! Someone! These guys don't have the right body parts for me to influence! " Within a second Venus felt something cold wrap around her waist, and then she rose quickly through the air. Once safely out of the grasp of her assailants, she realized that M-11 was holding her aloft with an extended arm. His other arm swept several of the undead off the side of the ship and into the waves. With no flesh on their frames, they sank into the deep blue. 



One skull after another began to explode into white powder. Some were the result of Jimmy Woo's automatic gun, and others were from the laser blasts of Marvel Boy's wristbands. The skeletons stood briefly as if waiting for the return of their heads, then charged into battle again. Marvel Boy widened the field of his blasts and the tenuous cartilage that held the bodies together evaporated in the heat of his beams. Bones rolled over the entire deck until walking or running became perilous. Finally there was but one skeleton left, wielding an ornate dagger like the first one they had met, and the inventor of the Dream Ray later. Kenneth Hale leaped farther than his friends had thought possible and landed before the dagger's bearer. In one quick motion he pulled out the arm with the blade and slung it out into the sea. Then he brought his large forearm back and broke the creature's spine in half. Finally he grabbed the skull with a large hand and squeezed it. Bone shrapnel burst from the gorilla's grasp. Jimmy Woo winced as he touched at his own skull. 



"Okay. I think we got the right boat this time," said Jimmy, stepping over bone shards. "Besides that it actually travelled a ways, our mysterious enemy made sure it had the most backup in case of trouble."



"I bet these creeps work cheap," said Hale, opening a deck door and poking his head down into it. His next words echoed in the hold. "If skeletons ever get unionized, then we'll have these bad guys where we want 'em. Hey, Living Laser–come over here and light up this cargo hold, please."



Bob Grayson floated over above the dark opening and drifted down, filling the area with golden light. He mused to himself how Ken's latest quip was in fact a pretty good name.



The hold was largely empty but for a couple of large pieces of metal at opposite ends of the room. As the team made their way inside, they took turns looking at what appeared to be wreckage of an odd sort.



Both pieces of metal were warped and charred on the outer surface.  "It looks like it was blasted apart from the inside," said Ken. Marvel Boy put his fingers to the scorched metal. "These are radiation burns." Jimmy raised his palm. "Hey, maybe you guys should back away from that, it might be radioactive."



Grayson shook his head. "My headband would have picked up on that right away. You're right, it should be radioactive if it was bombarded like this, but it's not for some reason. Maybe something absorbed the radiation." Marvel Boy leaned over and put one piece of the wreckage next to the other and looked back at his team. "I thought this looked familiar."



The caped man carried one piece of metal over to the next, and put the halves together. He turned around, holding the heavy assemblage in front of him. 



"It's a cone." said Venus.



"A nose cone!" clarified Ken Hale.



"Right. It's the nose cone of a rocket. One I tried to locate for the folks at the Marshall Space Center. But when I went up to scout for it, it was gone. See, look." Marvel Boy pointed at the charred but still readable name stamped on the metal cone. It read:










* * * * *




			 Russian Translation 
	Good afternoon Mr. Lao 

 

I have visited the website and have translated the Russian ÑÏÓÒÍÈÊ-2.  The literal translation of ÑÏÓÒÍÈÊ means THE SATELLITE.  I am assuming that this is another indication that the keyword given by the codeword "SATELLITE" is the second of two.   

 

Unfortunately I am currently unable to get to IGN.COM so I can't tell if this is significant or a red herring. 

 

Your humble servant.


	Posted by CommercialInn on 2006-08-17 07:37:32

	
 	 	 
		
			 Natty Bumpo 
	One other thing, Natty Bumpo is also known as Hawkeye in "The Last of the Mohicans".  He also appears in "The Deerslayer", "The Pathfinder", "The Pioneers" and "The Prairie".  Now, whether these titles mean anything is another thing altogether.


	Posted by CommercialInn on 2006-08-17 07:44:13

	
 	 	 
		
			 I've got onto IGN.COM 
	Good afternoon again Mr. Lao 

 

I've got onto IGN.COM and searched for "The Satellite" and got nothing.  So I searched for "Agents of Atlas" and re-read the article about the skeletons looting a San Diego comics shop. 

 

Are these skeletons anything to do with your organisation one wonders?  The reason I ask is that our Golden Age heroes spent this week's story fighting skeletons. 

 

You now have me suitably confused - I shall await further instructions. 

 

Your humble servant.


	Posted by CommercialInn on 2006-08-17 08:21:53

	
 	 	 
		
			 Following the trail 
	Hmmm... 

When we were directed to that page the first time, it was part of a trail of clues.  The reference to Marvel Boy covers and reading the words on them lead us to a comic cover posted online.  And then a specific word on the cover was the clue we needed. 

Another time, we were directed to a comic cover, we noticed that one of the caption boxes on the cover was blanked out.  This lead us to look for what had been there previously. 

Mr. Lao has shown us that often, previous methods will be used again later.  So maybe one of those methods is at work here as well?  Or maybe there is something else on IGN.COM that we just haven't found yet...


	Posted by KRB NRG on 2006-08-17 08:42:12

	
 	 	 
		
				the red box is no use, it still says to go to the pulse.com but i couldnt find anything Lao-ish there. 

unless i missed everything, which is highly probable


	Posted by dp_lombardo on 2006-08-17 11:38:48

	
 	 	 
		
			 Things that make you go.. Hmmmm. 
	 

"...Bob Grayson floated over above the dark opening and drifted down, filling the area with golden light. He mused to himself how Ken's latest quip ["Hey, Living Laser.."] was in fact a pretty good name." 

 

Interesting choice for a nickname, I'd say.  Don't know if there's a connection to this particular mission or not, but... it's just interesting. 

 

http://www.marveldirectory.com/individuals/l/livinglaser.htm 




	Posted by msr.oresteus on 2006-08-17 13:33:01

	
 	 	 
		
			 Marvel Directory 
	Living Laser leads to Mandarin leads to Yellow Claw...


	Posted by dp_lombardo on 2006-08-17 13:56:14

	
 	 	 
		
				is Satellite 2 Yellow Claw's spaceship that crashed last time the Avengers fought him?


	Posted by dp_lombardo on 2006-08-17 13:59:42

	
 	 	 
		
			 Red Box is now Red X 
	Our old red box still hovers 'oh yes it does. (etc.)' but the picture is down... 

Well at least for me, anyway.


	Posted by dp_lombardo on 2006-08-17 14:22:02

	
 	 	 
		
			 It begins... 
	The page featuring the "I gun commies" image is titled "news." So, off to IGN.Com's comic news page we go, and we find THIS: 

 

http://uk.comics.ign.com/articles/726/726193p1.html 

 

Not sure where to go from there, but on Newsarama today, we find this post from the venerable one: 

 

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=3548088&postcount=7


	Posted by Chris McFeely on 2006-08-17 14:22:27

	
 	 	 
		
				Er, CBR, that is, not Newsarama. 


	Posted by Chris McFeely on 2006-08-17 14:23:23

	
 	 	 
		
				The missing puzzle piece that will surface later might be the down red box?


	Posted by dp_lombardo on 2006-08-17 14:27:16

	
 	 	 
		
				I'm thinking that it'll be another image that appears between the Russian word and the gun-commies logo on the linked page. Pure speculation, though.


	Posted by Chris McFeely on 2006-08-17 14:27:56

	
 	 	 
		
			 "nefarious" 
	Could be nothing, could be something, but that living laser link for the marvel directory links to Count Nefaria's page, and in the IGN.com article the store owner says "nefarious"... 

...still, i thought it was interesting that the living laswer page also links to madarin's, which links to Yellow Claw's.


	Posted by dp_lombardo on 2006-08-17 14:32:38

	
 	 	 
		
			 Ah. 
	Today's exercise is refreshing.


	Posted by mr. lao on 2006-08-17 15:52:04

	
 	 	 
		
			 Newsarama clue 
	Mr. Lao posted this at Newsarama 

MXQJ TYT JXU IAKBB TE? 

 

I solved the puzzle as 

WHAT DID THE SKULL DO? 




	Posted by nhartz on 2006-08-17 16:48:37

	
 	 	 
		
			 THE SKULL 
	Do you mean moan?


	Posted by nhartz on 2006-08-17 16:54:51

	
 	 	 
		
			 The story 
	The object at the end of the story is Sputnik. Is this a clue?


	Posted by nhartz on 2006-08-17 17:01:39

	
 	 	 
		
			 Moan. 
	Now we're getting somewhere.  

And which Sputnik is it, nhartz?


	Posted by mr. lao on 2006-08-17 17:08:19

	
 	 	 
		
			 awesome 
	i'm checkin ut the web site rite now


	Posted by tarhaun on 2006-08-17 17:12:29

	
 	 	 
		
				Ahh, yee-es, the linked page in the article now says that we were being "too literal" in our interpretation of the russian words... we had to actually find out what object would bear those words, rather than what the words meant...  

 

I would assume, simply from the "2", that it is therefore SPUTNIK 2.


	Posted by Chris McFeely on 2006-08-17 18:02:14

	
 	 	 
		
			 My first comment, by the way... 
	...was a clue.


	Posted by mr. lao on 2006-08-17 19:19:17

	
 	 	 
		
			 New Clue 
	IMXQJ   FTYT   KLQDUIIQ   JQDT   DRER   VREJX     ATE? 

 

I found this new Cryptoquote to solve.


	Posted by nhartz on 2006-08-17 21:03:00

	
 	 	 
		
			 Cyphers 
	nhartz, 

I am not able to find the pages where these clues were left. 

Could you enlighten us? 

And as you are no doubt aware, the second message can be easily decoded as well. 

The Question usually leads to the Answer.  You just have to connect the Q to the A. 

Sometimes answers come with an extra suprise as well. 

Separating the extra so it can be appreciated on it's own is important. 

By now, the new agents should have an NEW question to answer.


	Posted by KRB NRG on 2006-08-18 13:41:16

	
 	 	 
		
			 Incidentally... 
	MOAN is but a puzzle piece, not a keyword. We are some ways from the keyword. Listen to KRB NRG.


	Posted by mr. lao on 2006-08-18 15:07:05

	
 	 	 
		
			 dude 
	i check out the site AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it friggin rules


	Posted by tarhaun on 2006-08-18 18:13:59

	
 	 	 
		
				Hmn, a couple of pieces. On Newsarama, Mr. Lao said yesterday, "We've been this way before." 

 

http://forum.newsarama.com/showpost.php?p=2357183&postcount=105 

 

Then, on CBR, he says: "Stress not. All clues are in place. Remember the paths we have taken before." 

 

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=3548088&postcount=7 

 

AND, provides the cryptic message nhartz recited above: 

 

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=3548610&postcount=52 

 

- which decodes, using the legend created by msr. orpesteus back on our 7th July mission, as: 

 

SWHAT PDID UVANESSA TAND NBOB IBOTH KDO? 

 

Which is to say, "What did Vanessa and Bob both do?" with the word "SPUTNIK" spelled out at the start. 

 

As to what Vanessa and Bob both did, however, I'm not sure yet. 

 

And whatever path we should be following, it should be "refreshing"...


	Posted by Chris McFeely on 2006-08-18 19:22:44

	
 	 	 
		
			 Ha ha. 
	Excellent manipulating, McFeely.


	Posted by mr. lao on 2006-08-18 19:36:05

	
 	 	 
		
			 Refreshing? 
	Refreshing? That's it!  We should check www.sublymonal.com and... 

No, wait, that's the LOST online hunt...sorry. 

 

The problem I am having with this part of the mission is that I can't for the life of me figure out who Vanessa is... 

Maybe I'm just forgetting something...if so, maybe someone could refresh my memory?


	Posted by KRB NRG on 2006-08-19 03:23:13

	
 	 	 
		
			 Ping Ping! 
	The two links that McFeely listed above had Subject lines also. 

"Path" was w/ "We've been this way before." 

 

And "Ping. Ping." was with the coded message "What did Vanessa and Bob both do?" 

'Ping. Ping.' is a reference to the Sputniks again.  They 'pinged'. 

 

And since I can't figure out who 'Vanessa' is, so I looked at what Bob was doing.  Bob was searching for Sputnik.  One of our clues was 'The Satelite-2', so *I* searched for 'Sputnik-2'.  Here is an interesting link I found: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_2  

It seems sputnik-2 had a passenger.  A dog.  He...didn't make it. 

 

there are two other clues floating around..."Moan" & 'refreshing'. Not sure how to work them in.  Something that people do that is refreshing....sleep?  And some people moan in their sleep.  But that seems a tenious link at best.  Even with all the dream manipulation going on. 

 

Unless someone has a better connection to make, I suggest we start working our way back through our previous 'paths' looking for new clues.  Remember, one of the first clues we got was "The Path will loop back as it progresses." 

So...Jinx world?  Anything there?  The Pulse?  Anything there? 

What about those links to character history pages that have come up before?


	Posted by KRB NRG on 2006-08-19 12:19:25

	
 	 	 
		
			 Vanessa 
	I found one example of a comic character named Vanessa. Vanessa from Venus. Vanessa looks like any other girl, except that she comes from Venus. Vanessa can do magic with one twirl of her finger. Vanessa uses her powers for good and so goes the blurb: “The most amazing friend an Earth girl ever had!” when Vanessa arrived in her spacechip.  

 

Maybe Bob and Vannessa both came to Earth in Spaceships?


	Posted by nhartz on 2006-08-19 15:15:30

	
 	 	 
		
			 I wonder... 
	...could there have been more than one news story?


	Posted by mr. lao on 2006-08-19 16:07:54

	
 	 	 
		
			 If there is... 
	...I can't find it at CBR, IGN, Newsarama, Jinxworld or the Pulse! Where else have we been sent to for news, lads?


	Posted by Chris McFeely on 2006-08-19 17:38:57

	
 	 	 
		
			 news story 
	Try Silver Bullet.


	Posted by jshelmig on 2006-08-19 18:10:59

	
 	 	 
		
				I don't know if I'm just being dense or blind, but I'm not seeing anything there, either...


	Posted by Chris McFeely on 2006-08-19 18:45:22

	
 	 	 
		
			 Silver Bullet 
	Vanessa and Bob went Scouting. 

 

Scout and Moan


	Posted by nhartz on 2006-08-19 19:43:54

	
 	 	 
		
			 Silver Bullet part 2 
	http://www.silverbulletcomics.com/news/story.php?a=2154 

Here is where I found the story.


	Posted by nhartz on 2006-08-19 19:45:05

	
 	 	 
		
				AaaAAGGH, sunnuva--! I blundered onto SilverBulletComicBOOKS, not SilverBulletComics... frick's SAKE.


	Posted by Chris McFeely on 2006-08-19 19:57:11

	
 	 	 
		
				Boy, I have to credit my brother with this one! SCOUT MOAN is an anagram of COSMONAUT!! IS that the keyword?!


	Posted by Chris McFeely on 2006-08-19 20:00:37

	
 	 	 
		
				(Cosmonauts, of course, being Russian astronauts, and Sputnik being a Russian craft. Bada-bing!)


	Posted by Chris McFeely on 2006-08-19 20:01:17

	
 	 	 
		
			 Congratulate your Brother, McFeely 
	If you wish to give his name (or codename), we can award him status as you have already achieved so much!


	Posted by mr. lao on 2006-08-19 20:03:48

	
 	 	 
		
				He professes to require no status, sir! He decrees the challenge to be joyous enough!


	Posted by Chris McFeely on 2006-08-19 20:07:00

	
 	 	 
		
			 Cosmonaut 
	Great Job McFeeley. I always am falling just short of getting the keywords. Keep up the great work everybody.


	Posted by nhartz on 2006-08-19 20:17:26

	
 	 	 
		
				I suck at the anagrams, myself. Good thing my sibling was sitting here!


	Posted by Chris McFeely on 2006-08-19 20:18:46

	
 	 	 
		
			 ya know 
	if u rearange the letters lao is a.o.l get it ??


	Posted by tarhaun on 2006-08-22 18:17:13

	
 	 	 
		
			 Interesting. 
	It appears our excerpt for the week has been intercepted. I shall send some of my skilled loyals to deal with this.


	Posted by mr. lao on 2006-08-24 20:17:42

	
 	 	 
		


		
	
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About this blog:
The Temple of Atlas is the training ground for all prospective Agents of ATLAS.

About the author:
Mr.Lao does not exist. Any myths or fables relating to him should be disregarded as same.


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