After reading Digital Fortress by Dan Brown, I was left with the following code printed at the end of the book... What is the meaning of it?
128 - 10 - 93 - 85 - 10 -128 - 98 - 112 - 6 - 6 - 25 - 126 - 39 - 1 - 68 -78
Digital Fortress is a techno-thriller novel written by American author Dan Brown and published in 1998 by St. Martin's Press. The book explores the theme of government surveillance of electronically stored information on the private lives of citizens, and the possible civil liberties and ethical implications of using such technology. - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The novel is about a cryptographer working in NSA, named Susan Fletcher. I don't want to be a spoiler but I want to share some of my experiences while reading the book and also to share the meaning of the code written at the end of it.
A lot of debate arises regarding the book. Some find it uninteresting and spotted logical and mathematical errors on how the book was written, but I have a different take about] it. I guess it has a different effects on all kinds of readers out there and I respect that.
While reading the book, for me, it holds high level of suspense through out the end. Although, since I am a Dan-Brown fan, I somehow predicted the "villain-plot twist". Chapters are also short. So it lead me to the eagerness of reading the next chapter.
Now let's go back to the question - What is the meaning of the code at the end of "Digital Fortress"?
Answer:
128-10-93-85-10-128-98-112-6-6-25-126-39-1-68-78
At first, I honestly don't know what to do. I wanted to solve it by myself like what the characters in the book did but with no avail. I couldn't get what these code meant! I am so frustrated so I search it in the web. ^_^
I found out that these numbers were Digital Fortress' Chapter and all I had to do was take the first letter from each chapter. I didn't read the whole solution in the web. I just took the first step and try if I can decode it.
I found these:
W E C G E W H Y A A I O R T N U
Now What???
There were 16 letters! I immediately remembered The Caesar's Box when Susan and the rest was decoding the last code in the book. Following it's principle, we need to make a 4 x 4 square with those letters - 4 rows and 4 columns.
W E C G
E W H Y
A A I O
R T N U
Then, read these letters from the left top letter downward. The code is:
WE ARE WATCHING YOU
These codes were engraved on the ring given to Numataka. The customs official hand over it to him with an envelope of adoption papers, birth records, the golden ring proving that he is Tankado's only living relative. The past was revealed him as a husband abandoning his dying wife and deformed child many years ago. His child is none other than Ensei Tankado. Thus, proving that no matter how he forgets his abandoned family, they will always lead back to him.
I love the book without wax. ^_^
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