Chapter Three Summary - Reading between the lines.

Sam's Story

• Chapter three kicks off with Sam trying to negotiate his way off the Christiane 1.
  
  
• Mr. Ockham informs Sam that they will not be returning to Jakarta until January (after Christmas) and that there is no way he can deviate from the search for Black Rock just to allow him to jump ship. He reminds him to report for his 3am shift.
  
  
• With nothing better to do and finding an opportunity (with Talbot heading off somewhere), he sneaks into Talbot's cabin and has a dig around. Eventually he finds a briefcase with the initials AMM on it, and a document within (on the salvage of the Black Rock) that links Talbot to the Maxwell Group and the group itself to Widmore.
  
  
• Sam is caught leaving Talbot's cabin by the man himself. He claims the door was open and he was just shutting it, but Mr. Talbot is obviously suspicious.
  
  
• Back in his cabin Sam writes to Tracey once again, this time the only favour he asks is for her to contact his mother and let her know he is alright but that he won't be home for Christmas.
  
  
• He also receives and replies to an email from "Ian and Pam", who appear to be Sonya's parents. They give Sam their support and ask him to come and stay with them. Sam tells them he is out of the country but he is thinking of them and will get in touch some time in the new year.
  
  
• Finally, he receives a new mystery e-mail. This time with a string of letters. Some of which appear to be in a slightly small typeface with a space after them.
  
  
• Later. While taking a breather on deck (presumably during his 3am shift), Sam hears some strange noises from below and comes across some strange anomalies in the control room. The radio is crackling and all the screens seem to be going crazy and making strange beeps and chirps. Sam's never seen that before.
  
  
• Sam returns to his cabin and e-mails Tracey about this. While waiting for her reply he decides to see if he can find out some more information about the significance of the name "Maxwell" by searching on "Answermyquestions.org". The most interesting result was relating to James Clerk Maxwell, a pioneer in the field of electro-magnetism.
  
  
• Tracey replies to his e-mail and tells him that it was probably caused by lightning or a temporary failure inside the system. Although she does mention that it could have been caused by a really strong wave of electromagnetic energy.
  
  
• Tracey's email takes a strange direction however when she suggests to Sam that he may need a holiday and suggests he check out the "BaliHolidayFun.com" web site. A website that appears fake (see clues section).
  
  
• Around the same time Sam receives a voice mail message from Sean Dowling at Oceanic Air. Mr. Dowling informs Sam that his loyalty flyer points have been revoked due to his dismissal and that he shouldn't try and use them. There is however something strange about this message (see clues section).
  
  
• With some time to himself, Sam has figured out that those two mystery e-mails he received earlier contain co-ordinates. He plans to hack into Talbot's chart plotter to find out what they point to.

The Clues

• Talbot's "deep pockets" - He relies on a syndicate, which allows them to plunder heritage sites without tarnishing their reputations.
  
  
• The Document that links Talbot with Maxwell (could this be the "Syndicate"?) and Maxwell with Widmore.
  
  
• The initials on the Briefcase are AMM which seems to refer to a number in Talbot's phone for "A. Mullins".
  
  
• Talbot's mobile phone (used to get the code to the briefcase).
  
  
• The altered letters in the second mystery e-mail are AABBCFC, which when changed to number (A=1, B=2, etc) give 1122463 which read as a co-ordinate is 112.2363 and works with the numbers in the previous email (-11.1748) to give a location in the Sunda Trench.
  
  
• The season 4 clue this episode was a Tunisian Newspaper with an article about flight 815 and Oceanic closing the investigation.
  
  
• The passwords for that clue were "Charlotte Lewis" and "36-15-28"
  
  
• It seems the Maxwell group may well have been named after James Clerk Maxwell.
  
  
• When e-mailing the contact at the BaliHolidayFun.com website (baliholidayfun@gmail.com) you receive a garbled response from a Mr. Ole, but included in the email are fragments of a URL that leads to http://www.find815.com/steg/stegosaurus.png. The subject of the reply email "Amuses Mr.Ole" turns out to be an anagram for "Samuel Morse". Meanwhile the phone message from Sean Dowling contains Morse Code that reads "OPENSTEGO". An application that opens hidden information contained within a file. When run against the stegosaurus.png file it is apparent something is hidden. The suggestion seems to be that the password is somewhere in the clues listed below (from Sam's Video Diary).
  
  
• Sam mentions several things during his video diary that may be clues. While talking about Sonya he mentions that she liked things to be straight forward and out in the open. He also said he feels it is good to get things off his chest.
  
  
• It is worth noting that on his chest there are some figures that appear to be numbers and a minus or dash. By the end of the video these numbers have changed. At the start this appears to read "79-" by the end it is less clear but appears to be something like "7S2". The only thing that is clear is that they change.
  
  
• There are several video flashes during the diary, the most significant of which appears to be something that is clearly braille code. Several possible translations of this have been made so far. But nothing is definite.

Other Characters

• Mr Ockham - As stubborn as ever, he refuses to get Sam off his ship. He does however answer some of his questions.
• Oscar Talbot - Continues to grow even more suspicious about Sam. It seems to Sam that whoever his mystery contact is within Maxwell, they haven't told Talbot to expect Sam's company on this trip.
• Tracey R - Continues to aid Sam and perhaps us in direct and indirect ways.
• Ian and Pam - Likely Sonya's parents. They are concerned about Sam.
• Sean Dowling - Continues to be a long distance pain in the butt for Sam. Seems Oceanic aren't going to do him any favours.
• A.M. Mullins - Apparently the owner of Talbot's briefcase.

It's a bit of a strange one this weekend with an important piece of information not quite revealed yet. Hopefully we will have an update for you some time today or tomorrow with that password we need to get into the hidden file inside the picture. Stay tuned folks!

Note: It is likely that this Experience was postponed due to the writers strike and so this is why the current in game time seems to be earlier then the launch date we were given for Oceanic.

Chapter 3- Video Diary

Update 1/19: Opium at Dark UFO did a little creative picture editing and found an image of Maxwell (from the Wiki) in one of the blips in Sam's video. Is hunting through Maxwell stuff the key to this password? Maybe we need to look here some more? ~Ange

In tonight's video diary on find815:

Sam begins by telling us that he couldn't convince the captain to let him off the Christiane 1, and that he's, "In for the long haul." He also give us a little insight into what he's discovered as well as a little about Sonya. He tells us:

• Talbot is working for Maxwell Group.
• No one told Talbot that Sam was part of the expedition and Talbot won't be telling him what he knows any time soon.
• Sam has finally worked out the e-mails. They have coordinates and he doesn't know where they point to.
• He'll hack into the chart plotter and find out.
• Sonya hated sneaking around. She wanted things out in the open and If she had something on her mind would bring it up. She would want Sam to do the same and he hated it.

We had a hunch that there would be a password for the stegged image in the video tonight.

• I managed to grab a random screen cap of some electromagnet blips that had braille in them pretty early on, but we've not had any luck finding a translation that will work as a password in OpenStego to scan the stegosaurus picture.
• Sam also has some writing on his shirt that seems to change as the video progresses.

Also from FYSB in comments, could this be Morse Code?

So that's it as of 11:27 pm . As usual there are a bunch of screen caps in the OC Photobucket. Keep working, e-mail us with anything you come up with, and we'll update as things become clearer!

Chapter 3- Video and a Password?

Info to come, settle in and get comfy...watch a video, have a fish biscuit, find a password. You know the usual Friday night stuff...

Sam's got something on his shirt:

And there's Braille:

Braille is qdxihadfji THANKS ELLEN...more to come!

Ellen's Braille Chart...have a go:

Chapter 3 - 2 Emails, a Website, and a Message

UPDATE 1/18: I just wanted to keep a current log tracing what Dark UFO has discovered regarding the Bali Holiday Fun stegosaurus image and possible stegged clues. Dark UFO readers discovered some possible Morse Code within the voice message from Sean Dowling on Sam's phone (larger image here), translating it as OPENSTEGO. Dark's readers went on to discover a computer program by that name that which scans for stegged data. They found that you need a password to access whatever the data is. So that's where we're at. Trying to find the password (which may well come tonight or be in something we've already seen). ~Ange

We have a busy night tonight at Find815.com. The update consists of 2 emails, 1 website, and 1 message.

E-mails:

• Sent - Equipment Meltdown

Sam explains to Tracey how the equipment on the Bridge went crazy last night. He says it was "freaky" and asks her opinion of it.

• Inbox - Equipment Meltdown

Tracey replies to Sam that the meltdown was probably caused by lightning or a temporary failure inside the electrical system. She continues that it could be caused by electromagnetic energy, but it would have to be a really strong wave.

Then, Tracey tells Sam that she thinks he may need a holiday! Guess where she suggests he look!
At BaliHolidayFun.com there is an e-mail address (baliholidayfun@gmail.com).

• When mailing it you get an immediate response from a Mr. Ole and a bunch of nonsense.
  
• In the nonsense the website http://www.find815.com/steg/stegosaurus.png can be found.
  
• It takes you to a picture of a stegosaurus from Bałtów Jurassic Park, Poland.

Website

• Tonight's new website is Answermyquestions.org. Seems Sam is searching for answers on who The Maxwell Group might be. Surprisingly enough, one of the search results is for James Clerk Maxwell. Ring a bell, anyone?
  
• Considering Tracey's reference to electromagnetic energy waves and the mention of James Clerk Maxwell, I thought it might be interesting to have another look at one of our S4 clues: Daniel Faraday
  

Phone Message:

• Sam has a new voicemail from Sean Dowling at Oceanic Air Employee Relations. Sean is informing Sam that, due to his dismissal, his loyalty flyer points have been revoked. Sean definitely doesn't want Sam thinking he can still use them!(smirk)
  

Chapter 3- Clue Hunt: Do you see the writing on the wall?

UPDATE 1/17 (3:20pm): Dark UFO has confirmed to us that OurMutualFriend42 is an "in game" character. So you might want to head over and check out the "interesting developments". Apparently they were given a code to break, which lead to this website: http://www.baliholidayfun.com/
There was an email address there that some people, after emailing of course, received a response from. The response had THIS hidden URL in it. That is all I know at this point, so check it out and see what you can come up with. Jess

UPDATE 1/17 (6:53am): Over at Dark UFO there are some interesting developments. I'm not sure what to make of this, but it's either really clever or an extremely elaborate wild goose chase. Have a look and decide for yourself. ~Ange

Tonight's hunt begins with Sam looking over the edge of the Christiane 1. He hears radio static and other strange electrical sounds and goes into the ship's control room to investigate. There he sees weird things happening like flickering screens and strange electronic beeps and chirps.

• Here, you can click on two monitors and hear Sam say things like, "I've never seen that before," etc...

Clue Hunt:

By clicking around in the room inside the ship we find our 4 season clues:

• Virgin Mary- your season 1 clue
• 108-your season 2 clue
• submarine- your season 3 clue
• Tunisian newspaper- your season 4 clue
  • Nirvana at DarkUFO is posting a possible translation for the text in the paper. (Thanks to Maven for the heads up on this.)

To view the season 4 clue, you are directed to ABC.com or Yahoo7 to find the password. There you play a game called Talbot's Search. In it, Sam needs to plot an unbroken course through Talbot's search grid without taking the same path twice.

• There are 3 search grids to complete, and you basically have to connect the dots.
• HINT- watch carefully when each search grid loads for a hint about where to start.
• Passwords are here in hidden-ish text--> 36-15-28 or Charlotte Lewis
• Click here for what could be more information on the second password. (Thanks to Pharmacopaeia for the Yahoo7 password.)

As we search for the four season clues you can see an image of Sonya on the wooden door in the cabin as well as some writing (Sayid's Girl and her daughter Sayid's Girl Jr. were keen to notice this is the e-mail Sam received with Sonya's picture in it). What could that be about, and what do those password numbers mean?

Chapter 3- You've Got Mail

Tonight's update gives us 4 new e-mails:

In Sam's Inbox we find:

1. Subject: invitation Sender: Ian and Pam- They are asking Sam to stay with them sometime. They're thinking of him as his anniversary approaches and they offer to help him through it as a family. (Are these Sonya's parents?)
2. Subject: no subject Sender: unknown The e-mail is a string of letters A A B B C F C which appear in slightly smaller font than the rest and with a small space after them.

In Sam's Sent Box we find:

1. Subject: Invitation Recipient: Ian and Pam- Sam replies to their mail telling them he is out of the country, but that he is thinking of them. He goes on to say that things have been rough and he will get in touch upon his return sometime after the New Year.
2. Subject: Mother Recipient: Tracey R- Sam writes to Tracey telling her that Mum is worried about him. He thinks he'll be away longer than he thought and that call reception on the ship is "dodgy". He wants her to call Mum and let her know he is okay, but that he won't be home for Christmas.

Super sleuths Maven and Shellma in comments figured out that by replacing the letters A A B B C F C with corresponding letters of the alphabet (A=1 B=2, etc) you get the number 112.2363. Combine that with the number from the first round of e-mails (-11.1784) and you get coordinates for the Sunda Trench.

So it seems that Sam's family and friends (other than Tracey R. and his thousands of Facebook and MySpace friends) have no idea that he is out of the country.

Thanks to Codysmom for the e-mail on the find815 updates.

Chapter 3 - Oscar Talbot's "Syndicate"

Update 1/15: Ninja has found the Sydney graffiti (picture in our "Image" area). Thanks to Carol (aka Lavenda) for the e-mail about this. ~Ange


Chapter 3 begins tonight at Find815.com with a recap of Chapter 2, a video, and an activity.

• The video:

Begins with, NONE OTHER THAN, a discussion about Christmas Island. How ironic considering Patch, Capcom, and Ellen spent today discussing just that! Sam learns from Mr. Ockham that the Christiane 1 will not be returning to Jakarta until January, after Christmas. (So we get a little idea of a timeline here.) Sam questions Mr. Ockham about who provides the "deep pockets" for Oscar Talbot. Mr. Ockham replies, "a syndicate", so they can plunder heritage sites without spoiling their reputation. As Sam walks away from the conversation, he sees Talbot leaving his room. Of course, he has to go in, which leads us to the activity.

• The activity for Chapter 3 takes place in Oscar Talbot's Cabin. The objective is to find the clues that:

1. Lead to Talbot's briefcase (see the above picture *click to enlarge).
2. Find the code to open the briefcase. (Hints: Think where numbers would be stored, and check the initials on the briefcase.)

Once you are able to open the briefcase you are taken to another video. This second video shows Sam going through Oscar Talbot's briefcase. You can see what he finds HERE. It seems we do have a connection to Widmore.