CD-BKN04 (Sep 27, 1988)
Puzzle
“A fairly obvious password.”
See: C-BKN03 | 2 Words
Clue
Hover over the clues if you require!
Clue 1: I mean...the Trusted Associate wants Baltimore to reveal his secrets, right?
Clue 2: He said he'd be like an open book to them...
Answer and Explanation
Answer: Open Sesame
Explanation: This is what Felix says to convince Jean-Marc to start talking.
Summary of Receipt
Summary
Transcript
AND RECEIPT
RECEIPT NUMBER: BKN04
RECEIPT DATE: 9 27 19XX
MANAGER TITLE: TRUSTED ASSOCIATE
RECEIPT NOTES:
And so, the truth finally comes out. I suspect he’s still holding back, but for now, I’m mostly satisfied. At last, something that doesn’t feel like a half-truth. An interesting predicament we find ourselves in, eh? Though, mon… nouvel? vieil? ami… he’s left out much of what lies “ahead,” fearing that if we know as much as he does, we’ll veer too far off course. He hasn’t quite grasped that he isn’t visiting the past—he’s living in the present, no?
Baltimore: I… I need to come clean. To both of you. Here we are, in Salt Lake City, the lights overhead, and am I just supposed to keep pretending I don’t know what’s happening? Am I to assume you two wouldn’t figure it out, given time? I can’t bear it any longer.
Trusted Associate: This has to do with the unusual timing of our operations, yes?
Baltimore: Yes.
Mon Amour: As I understand it, you were very eager to get things moving as soon as possible, right?
Trusted Associate: Ah—but then he’s too afraid to make any real progress. As if he’s… waiting for something. Or perhaps, someone?
Baltimore: All of it. The timing of our business is so… “unusual” because we’re years ahead of schedule. Four… five… maybe six years.
Trusted Associate: In your mind, when does the Cafe truly open, nouvel ami?
Baltimore: August 8th, 1994, vieil ami.
Mon Amour: Such a precise date…
Baltimore: Yes. Because it’s already happened. I’m… I’m not from here.
Trusted Associate: I was starting to suspect as much. So, you’re from another Cycle?
Baltimore: …Another Sphere.
Mon Amour: Sphere? You—you are…?
Baltimore: One of the last non-Elder remnants of the 15th Sphere.
Mon Amour: This is the 16th? When… when did that happen?
Baltimore: A month ago. On a Thursday.
Trusted Associate: So you’re telling us that everything—our memories, experiences—they’re… fabricated. Up until…
Baltimore: August 4th, 1988. A miscalculation.
Mon Amour: But it did all happen, didn’t it?
Baltimore: Yes, mon amour. It all happened… just in another Universe. This Universe… it’s a copy of the last one, a rewinding of what already was.
Mon Amour: But… that’s not usually how Universes are made?
Baltimore: No. Normally, everything begins anew… I made sure it didn’t. I wanted another chance.
Trusted Associate: Another chance? How could you have possibly…?
Baltimore: It’s a long story, but in short, my Universe ended, and I was in a position to create the next one.
Mon Amour: How were you in that position?
Baltimore: When I was mortal—
Mon Amour: —When? When weren’t you mortal?
Baltimore: …God chose me to serve as His Otherman. Are you familiar with the position?
Trusted Associate: Vaguely. So you were… God’s Otherman. His agent to ensure the proper flow of time, to keep Cycles spinning into a cohesive Sphere. But rewinding a Universe—that would grossly overreach the Otherman’s duties, wouldn’t it?
Baltimore: Something happened in my Universe that… broke time. Someone tried to go back and shattered the balance between the Flipside and Otherside, so badly it threatened everything. God went to restart the Universe, but His tool of creation—the Pocketwatch—was… stolen.
Mon Amour: You stole His Pocketwatch?!
Baltimore: Ah! No—of course not. Mammon did.
Mon Amour: Mammon? But he knows he can’t use it…
Baltimore: Not without my help. And not without Belphegor’s help. In the chaos, we… we struck a deal.
Mon Amour: What kind of deal?
Baltimore: Belphegor and I, who knew how to operate the Pocketwatch, would reset the Universe—but under the condition that God…
Trusted Associate: No. You didn’t…
Baltimore: I had to.
Mon Amour: You should have returned the Pocketwatch to—
Baltimore: And it all would’ve been for nothing.
Mon Amour: What would have?
Baltimore: …
Mon Amour: Jean… now isn’t the time to keep secrets.
Baltimore: You. You crossed the Cycles, trying to go back in time. You shattered the Universe, trying to save me.
Mon Amour: Save you? From…?
Baltimore: I was destined to die. I held what Fate wanted—what the Cold wanted—and they did everything to ensure my demise. God saved me, offering me protection as an Elder. As the Otherman. To you, it looked like I’d died and disappeared. You went to such lengths to save me… and if I’d let God reset the Universe as it was, we’d never have met. Everything you did… would have been for nothing.
Mon Amour: Jean…
Baltimore: I know. Perhaps it was a foolish bargain with one of the least trustworthy of your kin. But it gives us a chance. God isn’t gone. He’s hidden. Hidden from Mammon, from even Belphegor and me. But He’s safe. And we can save Him. And finally, we can put an end to Fate… Wicked, Phantom… Secret.
Mon Amour: …Sahir?
Trusted Associate: No. Secret. The Secret. One of the Cold Elders who intends to claim this Universe.
Mon Amour: I see… So you already know what’s going to happen? And… you won’t die? You’re… an Elder? The Otherman?
Baltimore: No, I don’t know what will happen—I know what did happen. There’s a dangerous difference. And when I reset this Universe, I also undid my ascension. I’m mortal again. I’m me. You’re you. Everything is how it was. My only advantage is memory—eons of it.
Mon Amour: …I have to tell them.
Baltimore: Who?
Mon Amour: My siblings. The Princes. Not everything, but that the Universe has been… remade. It’s usually obvious, but I can’t let them think we’re still in the 15th Universe.
Baltimore: Of course. It’s a secret that will spread soon enough, once the Elders and Ouroborians catch on. It could never last forever; I just hoped it’d last long enough to defeat Fate.
Trusted Associate: Are you planning to tell them all? Or just the four who aren’t yet aware?
Mon Amour: All of them. At once. With Mammon and Belphegor there. It’ll… it’ll look like I pieced it together on my own.
Baltimore: Clever, mon amour.
Mon Amour: Thank you. Though… I am still quite cross with you for keeping this from me.
Baltimore: I understand. From here on out, no more secrets between us.
Mon Amour: No… more secrets.