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101 " So from here on out, we need to find a way to fight the killer with brains, not brawn. Attack this problem like scientists, not... Dirty Harry. "
― Christa Faust , The Zodiac Paradox
102 " Repeat the experiment?” Nina echoed. “We almost got ourselves killed today. If you want to repeat that, you can count me out. "
103 " Are you sure that’s wise?” she asked. “I mean, the last time you opened this gate, you let a killer stroll right in to our world. What if it happens again? "
104 " Okay,” Nina said. “What if you two drop the special acid and concentrate on opening the gate again, and I’ll stand by with Lulu. "
105 " I wouldn’t want to be summarily exterminated by aliens who judged the whole human race on the behavior of Charles Manson, for example, "
106 " But I still think having Nina standing by as ground control couldn’t possibly be a bad idea. Not as an executioner—just as armed back-up, in case things get ugly. "
107 " Information that might be useful—or at least good to know before we open the way again. Forewarned is forearmed. "
108 " He reached for a pencil and a blank sheet of paper from a stack beside Nina’s typewriter, and began to fill it with scribbled notes and test keys. "
109 " Some time later, although Walter couldn’t have guessed how long if he’d been paid to do so, he became aware of a warm, spicy, almost ambrosial smell. "
110 " In fact, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had anything to eat. "
111 " But Walter was only interested in what Nina was carrying. She was the one with the food. "
112 " Nina,” Walter said as she handed him one of the warm boxes. “You are my angel. "
113 " Just these,” Nina replied, holding up a fist full of balsa wood chopsticks. “That’s okay,” Walter said, tipping the box to his lips like a cup and slurping up the noodles. "
114 " So Nina’s got a small lab we can use, set up in the basement,” Bell said. "
115 " I tried all the basic approaches,” he said. “Including the one those teachers used to crack the cipher he sent to the papers. No dice. This is much more complicated, and far more secure. See, look here. "
116 " The most common double-letter pairing in the English language being the double L, of course, challenged only by the double T. "
117 " There are only one or two repeats in the whole book. So that got me thinking polyalphabetic substitution. "
118 " It uses twenty-six substitution ciphers,” he told her. “One for each letter of the alphabet. But the problem is that it requires a keyword to solve. "
119 " We could spend the rest of our lives trying to randomly guess his keyword. And worse, I’m fairly certain he’s using multiple keywords, maybe even more than one on every page. I wouldn’t say it’s crack-proof, but I believe it may be beyond my own personal abilities. "
120 " Try Reiden,” he said. “My God,” Walter said, putting his own food aside and grabbing the pencil. "