Established by Sente Kiteway, the Cube Retrieval Team was made up of seven highly intelligent Academy scribes. Their job was to co-ordinate the hunt for the Cube - but they also tended to conduct their own investigations out of hours...
Kurt's magnum opus, a 4,000-word blog post covering: how he was persuaded to 'save' the Cube; what happened on The Night; an encounter with Caine; doctoring the puzzle cards; getting friends killed; and whether it was all worth it.
In Part II of her interview, Violet tries to explain what happened on the night she took the Cube, how Kurt was involved, and why the two of them planned to use the puzzle cards as a way of getting the Cube back safely.
She also admits to having made some serious and fatal errors of judgement. No kidding.
Kurt goes retrospective, looking back over the past couple of years and realising what's changed. His friends, himself, even the city. But they will all carry on, absorbing the changes, because that is what civilisations do.
The Council delivers a report on the Third Power ('soundly dismantled'), Helena Frye ('immense contributions') and Violet & Kurt ('took the Cube'). Looks like our blogging friends are going to be cleared of any charges, though.
GOT IT! Intrepid amateur archeologist Andy Darley (aka 'Astro Random') comes over all Indiana Jones and finds the long-lost Cube. Perplex City is overjoyed and Mind Candy is delighted, while Darley keeps his cool and offers some sage advice: "Take more care of it next time."
An epic entry from Violet - in length as well as importance. Not only does she recount 'Operation Bayonet', but she also reveals how she discovered that Caine killed Anna. Turns out that 'Faberling' is not only the name of Caine's new single - it was also Anna's very secret pet name for her husband Fleming. Either Caine and Anna were having an affair, or she told him the name as a final clue to the others, pointing the finger just before she died.
Violet has been going out with a liar and a killer for a year. She's trying to deal with it.
A restless Violet tries to make herself useful. She's desperate to get in on the rescue attempt, but how can she convince Helena to take her along to Ascendancy Point?
Caine, over-worked and burning the candle at both ends, is starting to worry about Scarlett too. His laid-back veneer is beginning to crack... but at least the gig went well.
Vi is furious that somebody has turned over her dad's (and therefore her old) home. Fortunately, Scarlett was safely out of the way at Caine's place. It's all another annoying distraction from the important business of looking for the Cube.
Caine drags everyone along to the Ball - only for them to witness Sente's arrest. Kurt goes on a bender, Violet screams at the police, and Caine takes Scarlett back home and looks after her... and has a romantic near-miss.
Caine returns to the fray. He gives a full round-up of the past couple of months' events, including the state of his relationship with Violet, Scarlett's mental health, the Third Power's hunt for the Cube, politics at the Academy, the PCAG final, and The Ooze's rising profile.
Violet gives us an update on what's been going on during the lockdown: Scarlett's been a mess; Caine has been a rock (and about as active); Sente still has his job (just); the CRT are decimated; and Violet herself is exhausted by it all.
Kurt returns! But he's hardly returning in triumph - it looks like he's about to get fired for the apparent flimsiness of the data link's firewall and the infiltration of the Library of Babel site.
With all that, he doesn't feel much like going to the Academy Ball tonight.
Oops. Nathan Earlywine decides he might not have been right to close the data link after all - especially as it looks like the Third Power has been circumventing the firewall all along.
Henrik Tanner and the CRT's very own Garnet Reed reveal that secret communications have continued between Earth and Perplex City, despite the recent lockdown. The sources of these messages are not known, and the content has not been made public - except for one enigmatic message reading, "Phase 3 complete. Happy birthday."
Could this development offer a glimmer of hope to those Cube Hunters on Earth hoping for the comms link to be fully re-opened again? The Council will decide.
Kurt is in charge of locking down the data link, in accordance with Earlywine's orders. That means no more blog posts, no more uncensored communication... is this goodbye? Or just au revoir?
New Council Leader Nathan Earlywine limits the data link between Earth and Perplex City, insisting on a screening system to block 'potentially dangerous or subversive' material. Even the Sentinel may be censored. The order is put into effect today.
Violet and Scarlett spill the beans to the Sentinel, handing over all the material they found at Lancewood and Viendenbourg, implicating Sente and Council Leader Camryn Scott. Nathan Earlywine capitalises on the political situation and makes a decisive move for power.
Kurt updates us on the latest rumblings in the CRT, his heart-to-heart with Scarlett, and the strange virus that seems to be destroying all references to Special Project 487.
Kurt works out that the squiggly lines correspond to the landscape of the Lancewood Archipelago - a rather remote set of islands off the coast. So Scarlett and Violet book passage on the next chater boat out there. They'll need to get some directions from the Reconstructionists, though, who know the islands best.
Kurt explains how Violet's lighthouse puzzle worked - all sounds rather complicated - and says that the solution points towards an island in the Lancewood Archipelago. Also, he notes that the search results for 'Axiom' have been altered recently - meaning someone has been keeping an eye out for such searches.
Kurt trawls the world for useful information related to Special Project 487. Nothing interesting yet.
In other news, Garnet has put Kurt in charge of plugging any security holes in the Earth-PXC link (oh, the irony). It looks like Henrik's Academy Security dept is being sidelined.
With a little help from Karen Moro, Kurt finds out more about who had ordered the stolen parts at the Academy. They were associated with 'Special Project 487'.
Helena Frye tells Kurt what she knows about the Third Power's portal. Her investigations have been hampered by discouragement from her superiors, so now she's asking Kurt to help her look into the Academy thefts and their connection with the portal's construction.
Kurt gives an insider's view of the CRT, post-portal. There's been something of a security clampdown, and the Crypto department have been grilled pretty throughly. But maybe Helena Frye will have something interesting to say about the portal - why else would she be leaving messages on Kurt's key...?
Caine's car crash seems to have caused a split in the band (not that he minds that too much). Petty squabbles hold no charm for him. He points people towards Aiko's memorial to Anna.
Violet gives her account of the blackout. She was with Kurt when it happened, and the enormity of it all wasn't immediately apparent... but it's sunk in now. Even on Earth, the darkness seems deeper.
The city suffers a huge power cut and the data link to Earth is lost. (All Perplex City websites become inaccessible from Earth.) Sente blames the Third Power - but everyone else blames him.
The largest Perplex City event on Earth... and perhaps the most nerve-wracking. What was supposed to be a celebration turned into a matter of extreme urgency, when the data link to Perplex City was lost. It was sabotage, apparently carried out by the Third Power. An emergency site was erected by Mind Candy, explaining the situation.
Connecting the new link in San Francisco became a much more important (and much tougher) proposition. Without the Academy on hand to help, the Cube Hunters were left to solve hundreds of online and offline clues to re-establish communications.
Violet and Kurt come to a decision: they can no longer risk people's lives in this investigation. Their own lives, perhaps, but not other people's. They can't face causing again the kind of misery they've seen in the Heath household. Vi also gives us an insight into how Caine and Scarlett have been reacting.
After the whole AQSYS tracking exercise, Kurt realises that two things are missing: the lost equipment and Anna. She left home last night and didn't return. If she's gone for much longer, it may be time to call in the cops.
