Axons


 * Axon [ak-son] (noun)  - An axon, or nerve fiber, is the long slender part of a nerve cell that conducts electrical charges. Axons are in effect the primary transmission lines of the nervous system.

In the I Love Bees saga, Axons were The Operator's way of communicating. She did this via audio clip files that had to be "unlocked" by "crew members" of the Apocalypso.

The Puzzle
On August 10,2004 a new white-text-in-black-box message appeared on links.html, containing the enigmatic phrase "AXONS GO HOT" above the same countdown to August 24 that appeared on the site's main page. Beneath the black box, a two-column table containing 220 pairs of numbers that were eventually found out to be GPS coordinates.

GPS coordinates for actual pay phones spread across the United States of America. The out-of-game (OOG) site payphone-directory.org is a list of public phones, many of which include the address. By using another OOG site the, geocode test site returns GPS coordinates that appear to coincide exactly with the coordinates that Melissa has been posting.

Apparently, Melissa used the axons as venues for voice communications to her crew. Each list of axons is divided into groups, and each group has a name, like "pqi" or "troy" or "beer." Each axon in each group has a unique GPS coordinate, and a corresponding time between 06:07 and 18:06 (PDT). Initially each group is green in color. There is also a status bar next to the group name, indicating the number of axons that Melissa wants connected.

So at a designated time a pay phone rings at the address corresponding to the GPS coordinate. When you pick up the phone, Melissa asks if you are there, and then complains that "damage to your hardware is making it difficult to maintain this voice." And indeed, her voice does sound very odd, like a combination of at least two separate female voices with the occasional exclamation of "I love bees!" thrown in for variety.

Next, Melissa says, "I have something important to tell you. But I'm not sure you're who I think you are." She then asks a question to verify your identity. Listed below are the questions she was asking:


 * As of September 7, Melissa is asking "What ship are you assigned to?" to which the correct answer is "Apocalypso."
 * As of September 14, Melissa is asking "What is your captain's last name?" to which the correct answer is "Greene."
 * As of September 21, Melissa is asking "What is my favorite game?" to which the correct answer is "Hide and Seek."
 * As of September 28, Melissa is asking "What is my favorite song?" to which the correct answer is "Stormy Weather."
 * As of October 5, Melissa is asking "What must we reveal?" to which the correct answer is "The Truth."
 * As of October 12, Melissa is asking "Who is the enemy?" to which the correct answer is "The Covenant."
 * As of October 19, Melissa is asking "On what colony was I created?" to which the correct answer is "Reach."
 * As of October 26, Melissa is asking "What insect do I hate the most?" to which the correct answer is "Bees."

If you get the answer wrong, Melissa tells you that you're not meant to hear this, and instructs you to "purge the contents of your chatter." Then an endless, spooky repetition of "I love bees!" until she hangs up on you, unless you hang up first.

Once Melissa verifies that the caller is who she thinks they are, she plays an audio clip. The particular clip that plays is the same for each axon in any given group. You will also notice that the group name has something to do with the clip -- for example, someone will say "much lifting" in the clip played for an axon in the group named "much_lifting."

After the audio clip is played, Melissa will ask whether she should "repeat or continue?" If you say "repeat," the audio clip is repeated until you are brought back to the same question to repeat or continue. If you say "continue," Melissa states that the communication equipment that you're using is not allowing her to continue, and the phone call ends with the same "I love bees!" repetition.

Each time Melissa makes a successful connection, she updates her list of axons, marking it "CONNECTED" and "AXON HOT," and she also increments the status bar. When enough axons are activated in a group -- that is, when the status bar for that group is full -- the group color changes to orange, and the name of the group becomes a link to the same audio clip, so everyone can hear it.

At the top of each page containing axons is a giant status bar, keeping track of the total number of connected axons and counting down to 777. What will happen when we reach that magic number was anybody's guess; we now know that live conversations between Melissa and players were triggered.

Game Over
On Nov 4, 2004 all the final axons were unlocked and then available online on the Ilovebees.com webpage. It then that Melissa returned to her own time. Read her farewell message.