 March 28, 2014 - 9:03pm | I thought this might provide an interesting plot hook - something taken from real life that can easily be adapted to a sci-fi setting. Anyway, thought I'd post it here in case anyone was interested. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/numbers_station http://www.damninteresting.com/number-stations/ I don't have to outrun that nasty beast my friend...I just have to outrun you!  |
 March 29, 2014 - 4:22am | Interesting... Have you seen the movie Frequency? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_%28film%29 apparently it was based on an incident where a short wave operator heard a broadcast of a show and noted the episode and sent off a QSL report but it turned out that the station had been closed for 16 years. There was high sun spot activity and supposedly the time travelling radio signal is linked to that. Movie is interesting in that a father and son who are separated by 30 years and the father's death communicate through the same short wave radio. The father was a fire fighter and the son is a police detective and the backdrop is a serial killer who has operated for 30+ years. What might be interesting for a real world story would be a short wave broad cast form say WW2 or the cold war time hopping due to sun spots and its a numbers station when the encryption key is located and the message is decoded it leads to a revelation about something that happened in the past but everyone had assumed that things had been a certain way and now the clues to the reality are begging for a protagonist to discover the truth because the truth is out there. In the Frontier I would go for interesting effects to sub space transmissions that must travel straight line past Laco and the Tetrarch pyramids.... I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 March 29, 2014 - 9:35am | You can download a bunch of them here (and there's more at the site): http://irdial.hyperreal.org/the%20conet%20project/disc%201/ |
March 29, 2014 - 12:20pm | I hadn't heard of that movies before Jedion - I'll look for it on Netflix. I don't have to outrun that nasty beast my friend...I just have to outrun you! |
April 25, 2014 - 4:56am | I can see this happening in a system like Dramune where operative from inner reach are operating on Outer Reach and recieve some of their orders via radio signals like this. Or in a system with tight megacorp control anf the number station is for passing messages to operatives of a rival. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 April 25, 2014 - 11:51am | Finally found it, there is a 2013 direct to video movie starring John Cusack called The Numbers Station. It is run by the CIA and is how they transmit coded instructions to operatives. Terrorists get a hold of the codes and take over the station with the plan to prodcast alot of assassination and sabotage orders to destabilize the entire world. How's that for a Sathar directed plot? Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
