Radio Sidewinder's weird transmission

[Fenric]

Hello,

I saw a post on reddit from one of the people from Radio Sidewinder about them being hacked, such that someone was able to transmit their own stuff over their network. There was a link to a short article with clips of the transmissions. One of the clips they say came from the outer edges of the galaxy. Throughout that clip there are short 2 or 3 letter/number sequences using the NATO alphabet. Put them together and you get SYNUEFAI XA-C D14-23. It's only a bit over 100ly from the nearest inhabited system.

I couldn't find anything notable there. I scanned everything even down to the asteroid belts. Since it's close to inhabited space it spawns signal sources, but they're the same as anywhere else as far as I can tell.

So I have to ask. Nobody else apparently took any interest in this post on reddit. Is this something Radio Sidewinder did just for fun? Has FD ever used them as a way to introduce official lore before?

Here's the message in text:

Spoiler

THE EYES

It's April 3301.
After long wars against Federation, Empire, and Alliance I have returned.

SIERRA YANKEE NOVEMBER

Away from civilization, away from the artificial glow of starport security, into my sanctuary within the arms of darkness.

UNIFORM ECHO FOXTROT

But something has changed.
I know the coordinates are correct.
My name is staring at me from the void. The other name is hidden, but it's calling out.

ALPHA INDIA SPACE

This is where I live. But it doesn't feel like home anymore.
I should run. I feel them, studying me.
Stronger. Stranger. Stranded.

X-RAY ALPHA DASH

I look for familiar signs. There should be three, yes, I remember there were three.
They used to keep me warm here in the cold.
Eyes on fire.

CHARLIE SPACE DELTA

Where did I go? Did I kill them all?
The eyes.

FOURTEEN DASH TWENTY THREE​.

They're still watching me.

Unless there is some special meaning to 'the arms of darkness' or the reference to having two names, I'm not sure what to do or where to look besides this system.

When I first heard this my immediate thought was:

Spoiler

oohh, it sounds like a rogue A.I. that escaped destruction by humanity and is malfunctioning. And may be homicidal. I'll go look!

 

[Cookie]

So the 'eyes' could be stars, is there another system close by with 3 stars? It does sound like whatever it is is unfriendly to stars though, 'did I kill them all?'.

 

[Fenric]

There's 3 stars in the system from the message with 2 in a binary orbit. I think that's the eyes. Not the best shot but here they are behind my ship.

 

[Cookie]

OK, it refers to being kept warm by the 'three' while in the cold, is there an ice type plant near the three stars? Perhaps you need to do a detailed surface scan to find something.

 

[Fenric]

I scanned everything, even the asteroid belts.

I'm sure some of the smaller planets were icy, but could have all been rocky.

I convinced myself it was just a bit of fun by Radio Sidewinder and not anything official and went back to inhabited space since I ended up so close to it going to this system. I'd definitely go back, but without any more info from Radio Sidewinder and the general lack of interest in this, I decided to head home.

 

[mossfoot]

I thought it was a cool transmission, just a shame there wasn't a payoff

 

[Wullail]

I was just there....scanned and checked everything...nothing out of the ordinary....what a shame,,

 

[drkaii]

Oh man this community is so awesome!

 

[Kancro Vantas]

Any chance "the eyes" reference is something like in this thread?

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=141994

The gas giant seems to have "eyes" in the surface.

Is there a giant that looks like that one? Maybe icy rings? Dunno.

 

[Fenric]

Any chance "the eyes" reference is something like in this thread?

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=141994

The gas giant seems to have "eyes" in the surface.

Is there a giant that looks like that one? Maybe icy rings? Dunno.

No idea. I'm parked in Avalon now. I'm torn between sticking around inhabited space in case things kick off and going out on another trip. It's not that far to this system, but I think if I go, I'll want to keep going.
Edit: Here's a shot facing the opposite direction of the eyes one from above, so nope. Can't put spoiler tags around it for some reason.

 

[RocketTurtle]

Obviously Thargoids.

 

[Fenric]

Well ComradeConspiracy himself from the hacked Radio Sidewinder transmissions interpreted my interest in the weird message as me being a Federal Agent attempting to track him down. Except I'm not.
This thread popped up on reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDanger...deration_agents_posing_as_cmdrs_try_to_track/

with the comment:

ComradeConspiracy 1 point 7 minutes ago indeed... the darK EyEs must be watched, or Perhaps they wilL be watching yOu! Only the darKness of apathy INhibits proGress!

Pluck out the capitalized letters and you get: KEEP LOOKING.
Hard to say if the rest of the message also holds clues to this mystery.

I decided to keep everything in this thread for anyone who wants to delve into it. It's getting late here as I type this and I don't think I'll begin the trek back out to this area tonight, but maybe someone else will. I'll be very interested to see if anything more can be discovered.

 

[AlianAnt]

Seriously. This is getting so intense my most anticipated thing on the forum isn't even a Development Update, anymore. It's answers to all these crazy happenings. So awesome.

 

[dominathan]

Well ComradeConspiracy himself from the hacked Radio Sidewinder transmissions interpreted my interest in the weird message as me being a Federal Agent attempting to track him down. Except I'm not.
This thread popped up on reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDanger...deration_agents_posing_as_cmdrs_try_to_track/

with the comment:


Pluck out the capitalized letters and you get: KEEP LOOKING.
Hard to say if the rest of the message also holds clues to this mystery.

I decided to keep everything in this thread for anyone who wants to delve into it. It's getting late here as I type this and I don't think I'll begin the trek back out to this area tonight, but maybe someone else will. I'll be very interested to see if anything more can be discovered.

This is really starting to make me think about the black hole thing. What's darker than that? Are there any black holes near there?

 

[Fenric]

Some random thoughts for anyone else thinking about this. I'm in the system again but still not seeing anything that is obviously unusual. I do hope whatever this is doesn't have to do with strong signal sources. I'm not equipped for those.

into my sanctuary within the arms of darkness.

Not sure about arms of darkness. Galaxies are described as having arms, however with the exact coordinates of a system given, I'm not sure this line of thinking makes any sense here unless we're supposed to somehow learn a new location to check from here. But how? And where?

But something has changed.
I know the coordinates are correct.

Great, so this is the right system then. But what could have possibly changed in a system with the current game mechanics? Or is this reference to some game lore I don't know? I'm not sure about this either, this seems to be just a "procedurally" generated system, not something put in for a specific reason.

My name is staring at me from the void. The other name is hidden, but it's calling out.

I definitely think there is something here. Two names, and one calls out? How does it call out? How is it hidden? Are they both names for whatever sent the transmission, or only one?

This is where I live. But it doesn't feel like home anymore.

You live here? Where? There's no Earth-like world, nothing terra-formable, nothing that even supports basic life forms. Again a reference to something changing.

I should run. I feel them, studying me.

This thing is mobile? Great, that could potentially make it much harder to find. Who or what is studying you, and how can you feel them?

Stronger. Stranger. Stranded.

Now it's stranded? I thought this was it's home? No idea what would be stronger or stranger.

I look for familiar signs. There should be three, yes, I remember there were three. They used to keep me warm here in the cold.

Again change. Signs of what? Is the thing disoriented or has something changed in this system that it doesn't recognize?

There should be three. Ok, there's three stars here. They could certainly keep you warm. But why 'should be'? Does this imply you can only see two of them, something blocking the view? I can't think of anything else that would keep it warm besides the stars.

If there 'should be three' that implies from it's perspective, there isn't. So is it close to a celestial object blocking it's view? I'm trying to drop out of supercruise but without a signal of some kind the odds of dropping somewhere within range of my scanner picking it up are astronomically small.

Eyes on fire.

Yep they sure are. It's a neat binary. That and the coordinates are about the only things I'm sure of.

Where did I go? Did I kill them all?

More confusion. It doesn't seem to remember how it got where it is, yet it recognizes this is it's home. Who could it have killed, and why is it uncertain if it even did kill them all?

The eyes.

Yes, the eyes.

They're still watching me.

I'm trying to watch you. Believe me, I am.

indeed... the darK EyEs must be watched, or Perhaps they wilL be watching yOu! Only the darKness of apathy INhibits proGress!

Dark eyes now? Like, a binary eclipse?

Apathy? I'm trying here.

 

[ColdGlider]

the eyes!!!

 

[Fenric]

More speculation, but with the current events of how we came to acquire unknown artefacts, I'm starting to think even more that this is a malfunctioning A.I. unit and could be found in a SSS, like I said in the first post. It just makes sense. The transmission itself seems to be a very clear signal. The distortion in it actually sounds like it's from the speaker and not the transmission itself. Whatever it is seems confused.


Holy crap. What does this thing know!?

the darK EyEs must be watched, or Perhaps they wilL be watching yOu!

/tinfoilhat Something is watching us through black holes!?

The other name is hidden, but it's calling out.

Hidden, like, unknown? Are the unknown artefacts calling out!? To what?

I should run. I feel them, studying me.

Yeah I hear 'they' are really good with A.I.! I think I'll run too!

Wait, are the unknown artefacts bio-engineered A.I. tech made by 'them'?

Spoiler

This is so cool.

 

[Fenric]

Whatever it is, it found me. It knew I was there, but I did not come under attack.

Instead, it used my own ships systems to deliver a message, much like it used Radio Sidewinder's.

Here is a transcript from my ship's log:

Spoiler

THE EYES!!!!
THIS WAS MY SANCTUARY!
THEY KEEP WATCHING ME!
THE EYES!
???
???
???
THREE
???
???
???
THREE
something is missing
IT WILL BE TIME TO MOVE ON SOON
UNTIL THEN...
...WE WILL HAVE TO LISTEN
RADIO FREQUENCIES WILL MAKE IT HERE
THREE WILL BECOME FOUR
???
???
???
AND MORE WILL BE REVEALED
You have looked.
Soon, you should listen!
Farewell for now, Commander.
I am not safe here! THE EYES! Sleep while you can.
Rest while there is time. When three becomes four, it will be time to move on!
???
Those who came. Those who decoded. They made the first step.
Sierra. Yankee. November.
Uniform. Echo. Foxtrot.
Alpha. India. Space.
X-Ray. Alpha. Dash.
Charlie. Space. Delta.
Fourteen. Dash. Twenty-three.
When three becomes four, it will be time to move on!
???
UNTIL NEXT TIME...
...THE RADIO FREQUENCIES ARE YOUR FRIEND...
<<<end of transcript>>>

It seems the mystery continues.

You'll have to forgive my <ahem> earlier excitement. (I still have my tinfoil hat though).

 

[Mephane]

Okay, I am now a bit confused. Maybe it is because I have no idea what "Radio Sidewinder" even is and in which way it relates to the game, the OP makes it sound like it is something in-character and in roleplay, which is fine except... this was not posted in the roleplaying forum - so I am wondering, has that website been hacked? Or do they roleplay their ships as having been hacked within the game?

 

[Fenric]

Okay, I am now a bit confused. Maybe it is because I have no idea what "Radio Sidewinder" even is and in which way it relates to the game, the OP makes it sound like it is something in-character and in roleplay, which is fine except... this was not posted in the roleplaying forum - so I am wondering, has that website been hacked? Or do they roleplay their ships as having been hacked within the game?

There's a roleplaying forum?

I could ask to have it moved, I guess.

http://www.radiosidewinder.com/about/