Tackling the Lost ARG: part 4

Journaling playing the Lost alternate reality game, continued.
Today I'm starting from a post at the very helpful Lost Experience blog.  Checking my RSS feeds this morning, I noticed this one, under the header "Clue #29 - Persephone's Mittelwerk Clue".  After reading it, I tried out the two major steps.

First, I started from the Hanso Foundation's website.  As before, changes in Web content drive narrative; the time readout now read "0B EY", and had become a hyperlink, as had the sound on/off toggle next to it.  The link lead to an all-Flash page, http://www.sublymonal.com/.  It's a puzzle, with glowing monitors around a central word, "OBEY" once more.  I solved it with clicks and a major Lost obsession.  The result: another Flash page, with a code.  The grim soundtrack then repeated one of the show's soundtrack themes.

Second, I returned to Hanso.  The timer and sound controls had returned to normal.  The only apparent change: over in executive bios, Thomas Mittelwerk's blurb was now interrupted by a text entry box.  Entering the code from subLYMONal triggered, after a pause, another distortion of the site.  The page shivered and collapsed into a black ball, like crunched-up paper.  In the center of this appeared a light circle-limned glimpse of a darkened room.  From the shadowed doorwar in the center a dimly-lit person's back faded in.  That back, with dress, skin, and other things?, was a hyperlink.  Clicked, the person turned, we closed in on her face, and followed her to...

.. a position looking over a document.  The shadow of a person (the same one? or ourselves?) could be seen superimposed upon it, moving slightly.  The whole thing was again outlined by a circular light, like a flashlight (this is now a major trope of the secrecy plot).  We learned a bit more about this Thomas Mittelwerk, and about this investigating person's suspicions.  Presumably this is Persephone again, especially as the spoken voice which comes on later sounds like the woman's voice we've heard before.

So where does the plot stand?  We may infer that Persephone is investigating a plot within Hanso, which apparently includes Thomas Mittelwerk, a plague in Africa, a coup against founder Alvar Hanso, and the life extension plan.  Persephone wants to get the word out, but feels threatened enough to do so in secrecy.  Hypothesis: Mittelwerk is either introducing a plague for sale to arms dealers, or has accidenally triggered a disease through some other plan, and, either way, removed Hanso as an obstacle.

OBEY: why the theme of obedience?  Is it a jab at our ARGish, human desire to follow clues, or a hint at some dark Hanso plot?

Again, I'm reminded of the Matrix game, with the missing (male) executive and the mysterious (female) investigator connected to the company.

Previous posts on playing the game: 1, 2, 3.

Comments

[Michael]

subLYMONal and OBEY are Sprite's new ad campaign

[Bryan]

So ARGs continue to be embedded in marketing media. I wonder how many in-game ads we'll see - there was already a Monster.com note in one of the voicemails.