GMT Chapter 2 – It’s all Phil’s
Fault
The continuing saga of Phlyaway
Phil…
Your cousin Phil is in trouble again, and it’s up to you to bail
him out – but this time you are put to the test not by Phil but by
a government
agency so secret that even knowledge of its acronym could land you
in Sing Sing.
Here’s the story…
You’ve known for quite a while that Phil has had an interest in
vegetable improvement – ever since your wild chase after the
Groovium – but you hadn’t realized that Phil was at least usually
in league with the good guys. His most recent assignment
was to chase down a new non-hydrogenated oil that could be used to
preserve celery while not changing taste or crispness.
…may sound dull to you, but then again, you’re not a celery
farmer…
He was working undercover in the CHUB (Celery Hucksters United
Brotherhood), the largest union of celery workers in California,
trying to spoil
their plans to deny the world this celery breakthrough. With the
aid of Professor Smallage, (a German with vast knowledge of all
things
crispy that complement peanut butter) he had been getting
information about planned garden demonstrations, greenery stamping
parties, and
herbicidal threats to the folks at the FDTSAS (Federal Department
of Top-Secret Agriculture Stuff – but forget you ever heard
that).
Thanks to Phil and Smallage, the CHUB plans were dormant.
Phil’s latest big score was to abscond with a disk containing
the entire membership roster of the entire CHUB covert action team
(The CHUB Big Yahoos).
Naturally the CHUBBYs aren’t eager to let any positive information
about celery make it to the
public – so they hatched a plan to get rid of Phil. Cut him off at
the roots. Pull him out of the ground. Mash him.
So Phil – not eager to become food processor fodder – did the
smart thing. He took off and ran.
…and ran.
He kept in touch for the first few weeks by sending messages to
Professor Smallage – always encrypted in a special code
developed
for Vegetative Agents. We know that he was safe and hiding in Mrs.
MacGruder’s garden a few days ago…
Since the Professor’s tragic, fatal mayonnaise accident, though,
we don’t know Phil’s whereabouts. We did get a message
from him today, but can’t decode it without the Professor.
From reading the Prof’s notes, we know that it was designed to
be deciphered with no equipment beyond a pencil and paper.
Figuring out how to squeeze the information out of the text and
track down the missing disk is your assignment.
Here is the message. Good luck!
FGFNJ TYNYI FBMXM TQBJF JSQMI KLTDJ
NYTYP WXJTW SJPWS EKOGB
WAHUR BOAFG HBMOH VOUPI SUDPT HSGST FRCRS IHIAR BCHSA YUCOS
WSTIF RDVZR SKRNC PKXJL FKYFG KENKG JVJFY RVNGF IVTVC RVVDV
KBJNB JUVTF HIKPY DYYCO MYPOX OSDRE YSOSH BYBEQ PQGEZ DBRYR
RXOGO DEDOU XYSYB CXVOD QXDSD KNGRO GHRDS DLHQS HNBHA OTUPA
WKUSL LAVKK OVVUL RBLKL AHPKH YTSUD SPKOP RLGUY HOLIX YYCYV
SUNHY HWCUJ LSXGB XNMUL LJUZL IYVBW NUFYH CUIAY YIWHS XYLHH
LZAOB CNIUY NIIII FGHLP LBCFJ NGANB NABVZ APHBA RVBFX TQPHH
BVVEC NSAEB YYSGR FRFEU PFBZH RGRSN AFVQH YICHS HSALU LPVNC
WJZKU UHYLH OHDAA JHEWH NAAWS DGQKA YEEAE OBOKJ PZOPP PJADE
YANDP NPOWG IYKGR LILYM QSCCE GSRLR NNJDS BPRJK JDCCP CCYDP
CSYME CYYLQ SCBNL LCRBG GBGZM DHUZM CBNCH YBQNH CCICM FOWGF
WUYVB HMYQJ