Delta Green: The Last Equation

A Delta Green investigation by Dennis Detwiller, 2010

Brussels-born mathematician, sage and astronomer Fascius Claudan (1535-1561) was responsible for many minor breakthroughs in science and technology during his short but broadly travelled life. Between journeys to Egypt, Persia, central Asia and more extreme locales, Claudan published six books on astronomy and mathematics and one last book on cosmology, a book which is considered dangerous by some who know of such things: the Libri Plures Admiratio (“Book of Many Wonders”).

For the most part he is remembered as a minor inventor or various knots, pulley systems, cog-works and early machines for pumping water, but despite his vanishing almost entirely from known science one legacy of Claudan remains: the Laqueus. This short code, believed to be an equation, was rendered just days before his death. It is regarded in the small circles that know of it as either an epiphany or complete gibberish. To date, no one has publicly claimed to understand it, much less to have solved it.

Mathematicians and cryptographers throughout the ages have spent spare hours plugging away to solve the glyphs, with little or no success. It holds a place in the annals of cryptography as one of the few cryptograms to resist modern attempts at cracking. It is used as an example in many cryptography tomes as a “clean” cypher — one that remains untranslatable.

Until now.

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Operation IAPETUS Briefing Summary
You are to investigate the murders of MALCOLM RIDGEWAY (age 44), DINAH RIDGEWAY (43), MICHAEL RIDGEWAY (18), CLARK RIDGEWAY (16), DEAN RIDGEWAY (14), MARY RIDGEWAY (13), ALICE RIDGEWAY (12), and CLAIRE RIDGEWAY (10) in Alliance, New Jersey, on October 12.

The murderer was MICHAEL WEI (26, deceased). Wei was a mathemats student at Columbia University, New York. At the scene, Wei wrote a series of numbers which are known to possess dangerous, paranormal properties.

Instructions

Determine if WEI distributed the number in any manner besides the crime scene (such as phone, text, social media, or email).
Locate WEI’s notes and other works on the number and destroy them.
Destroy the numbers written at the scene and all photographic evidence of them in the hands of the authorities.
Locate any individuals who have been exposed to the numbers and have mathematics experience and report them to your case officer.
To establish a cover story for WEI’s actions, link WEI romantically to DINAH RIDGEWAY. Create whatever documents are necessary to make an affair between the two seem likely.
Once these actions are complete, contact your case officer for further instructions.
Possible Friendly Contact

Trooper Thomas Blanet, New Jersey State Police