Oh fuck Episode 3? (Maybe)

[Neelpos]

As part of the Portal 2 ARG an email was sent from Doug Lombardi's email account (Doug is heavily associated with Valves Half Life team last I checked) which contained a locked winrar file that was recently cracked, inside was a text document stating the following:

Code: Select all

]---LOG FROM [ REDACTED ], BY J.H. TO C.J.---


1. We designed the entire thing to be very, very durable. It was easy to get the materials since everyone's been thinking
it's a simple icebreaker ship. Ha.

2. We have made sure to strip it of anything not necessary, so that we have plenty of space for it. It doesn't have any
backup supplies in the event the crew runs out of food, though. And there isn't much food onboard in the first place.

3. In the event you need to send it off all of a sudden, use the OR box with code 'hb1'.

That's all, C.J. Not much else I can tell you other than this won't leave a blight on our record. Mesa is going to be sore
when they see what we've done. 

What we think so far:
C.J. is Cave Johnson
The "icebreaker ship" is the Borealis
Mesa is most definitely referencing Black Mesa
J.H. (the sender of the message) is Judith Mossman, her ties with Aperture seem to be growing more and more likely as the evidence mounts.

The thread where we're currently tackling this can be found here: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/s ... ?t=1841967
Just thought I'd give the j2 community a heads up because holy fuck holy fuck holy fuck.

[Neelpos]

Now then to elaborate on the Judith Mossman connection I'll just list some more things about her:
*Her middle name is Helena, making her initials J.H.M. which correlates with the J.H. initials in the message.

*Her involvement with the recovery effort of the Borealis seems to suggest she was associated with it in some way in the past, due to her being able to track down its location as well as be in control of the team attempting to secure it.

*Black Mesa teleportation technology involves slingshotting around Xen to get to your destination, Aperture Science technology is much more direct, the teleporter built by Kleiner, Eli, and Mossman uses Aperture Science type technology in its teleportation indicating one of the three figured out how Aperture was doing it, or was a former employee (which neither Kleiner or Eli are)

*The gravity gun is seen in the background of the Lab Rat comic, however the gravity gun uses a xen crystal to power it, something Aperture wouldn't have access to. If Mossman worked for Aperture and was able to either bring the unfinished gravity gun, the plans for it, or still remembered them from working on the project personally, to Black Mesa East then Eli would have been able to provide the Xen crystal to power the device, finally making it functional. This also would explain why she is so protective of it in HL2, calling it only by it's full name, as well as asking Alyx not to treat it like a toy.

[incandescent]

2. We have made sure to strip it of anything not necessary, so that we have plenty of space for it. It doesn't have any
backup supplies in the event the crew runs out of food, though. And there isn't much food onboard in the first place.

oh god this is going to be awful when you play on the ship

[Nightwolf]

OMGahhh!

[mbaxter]

The SPUF thread references the wiki a couple times. This information is not on the wiki. So where did this information come from?

[Neelpos]

I don't remember which specific parts you're looking at, and apparently the threads that I was reading that are covering the subject are now filled with spoilers from the game so that more connections can be drawn, so I can't help you there.
If you're brave enough you can look yourself, but for the moment I can't really tell you much.

[mbaxter]

I'm just stating that if this was true, it'd be on the ARG wiki. The ARG wiki doesn't mention lombardi emailing any rar file, or that supposedly cracked bit of text.

It's fake.

[Neelpos]

Even if so, the evidence of Mossman being an ex-Aperture employee is still quite interesting.

[mbaxter]

Well then, retracting previous statements. Apparently the wiki just fails at posting relevant information

[Grndslmhttr3]

Maybe Valve just puts that type of shit in there to fuck with you guys, knowing you'll nut in your pants at the very thought of Episode 3.

[Chief Cheese]

Episode 3 is in fact the Valve remake of "The Ship."

[incandescent]

the ship was a pretty good game so i wouldnt mind

[Chief Cheese]

I bought it too late, when no one was in the servers. Didn't get much play out of it, and what I did everyone just rushed for the guns which I found lame. Looked like it could have been fun.

[johnFF]

[incandescent]

and then valve would be promptly sued there after for false advertisement.