Odd Jobs for Old Soldiers

While going through his company’s archives, an employee using the moniker “LOKI” discovered evidence of a conspiracy. After contacting the FBI, Loki took his typewriter out of storage, drafted a cover letter explaining his situation, and sent a package of information to me and others as security. Unfortunately, he “forgot” to load the typewriter ribbon, leaving his explanatory message embossed on an otherwise blank sheet of paper. Risking a headache that still hasn’t gone away, I transcribed the message’s contents here.

The package I received sets the stage for Old Soldiers, a new media comic book by Big House Comics, which aims to deliver comics that let you “[s]tep into an immersive world, where you become a part of the story online.” The first comic in the seven issue mini-series is set to debut in March, but it appears as though the alternate reality game has launched earlier.

According to the typewritten letter, the conspiracy Loki stumbled across involves the US Army. An encoded letter bearing an Army header seems to corroborate that theory, as does a creased photograph depicting a group of soldiers, presumably dating back to World War II. An additional document reveals that Johnathan Desmond Quinn received a commendation for his role in consulting the US Army’s 69th infantry. Johnathan Quinn resurfaced in 1983 as a witness listed on a cattle rancher’s death certificate in Australia.

And then there’s Karl Justice, a Sargeant in the 69th during the Vietnam War. Although records of his service during the war are heavily redacted (making only passing reference to “Project Fubelt” and “Operation Condor”) it’s clear that Justice is far from an upstanding citizen, having abandoned his post in 1985 in exchange for a career as a weapons broker with a penchant for explosives.

Closer to the present, something fishy appears to be going on in New York City. A news clipping alludes to DiCicco Importing’s involvement in the gun-running business, with John Smith taking over the family business. A map of New York City is liberally covered with arrows, with misplaced UN and KГБ identification cards further complicating matters.

Finally, there’s the business card for Meg Sarah Street at Odd-Jobs.biz: a site that makes lighthearted references to past alternate reality games The Beast and I Love Bees by prominently featuring questions like “what is a cloudmaker?” and “do you love bees?” as prompts for potential careers as a pilot or beekeeper. As the website’s Job Personality Test includes a number of questions asking about the best ways to contact you, the Odd Jobs website might be your best bet for getting started with the story. However, with so many unsolved questions hidden in the documents linked above, there are quite a few other narrative threads worth pulling.

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