Engineering Report – T.S. Gonzo

Report incoming from LED-Master Gonzo.

During maintenance on a malfunctioning console I heard a strange noise coming from behind the cable patch panel. It sounded as if something was generating a static noise. I have performed maintenance here before, but never heard anything other than the small buzzing overhead from the energy generators. Digging through the cables, I found older and older looking cables going to different tubes leading in different directions. I managed to get through the – what seemed like a hundred or more cables – managed to detach the patch panel, and found a hole of which I couldn’t reach the end with my arm. I felt something like a box, I could feel with the tip of my fingers that it was something with square edges.

I adjusted my uniform LED’s brightness to get a clearer view of what could be inside that hatch. It looked like a metallic, rusty and old box. From what I could see it had some kind of dials on it, and it seemed that the box was the origin of the strange noise, I needed something to reach for the box, as my arms were just a few centimetre too short…

After getting some tools from my workshop I returned to the hatch, but when I tried to reach for the box the sound suddenly changed and I heard a melody I hadn’t heard in ages! It was Dr. Steel’s song: Secret Message, it seemed clear I was dealing with some kind of audio device, an old cassette player or some kind of radio maybe? I had to get to this thing. Working with a pinching tong I could grab an edge of the box and managed to wedge it forward a few centimetres until it got stuck. At least I could reach for it with my hand a bit better now and started to feel around the box, I touched something that felt like a dial and accidentally turned it, the Dr. Steel song disappeared but now I heard a woman voice announcing a string of numbers. I quickly grabbed my notebook and scribbled down the numbers:
6,2,8,8,6 – 6,2,8,8,6 – 1,3,2,9,7 – 1,3,2,9,7 – 6,0,3,1,8 – 9,7,7,0,2 – 9,7,7,0,2 …

After that the sound ceased. I was baffled, what could this mean? What is this thing? I lifted the box a little, and tried to pull it toward me some more, I heard some creaking behind the box and suddenly something snapped and I fell backwards with the box in my hands. It turned out to be a very old and rusty radio. This thing must’ve been down here for ages, by pulling it out of the hatch, I had snapped the cables that were connected, but were very damaged already by the hand of rust, dust, and probably some hamsters gnawing at the cables. I put the box in my bag, and finished maintenance on the faulty console, placed the panels back and returned to my workshop.

Back at the workshop I unscrewed the rusty screws, opening up the radio. It was a very old looking electronic circuit, still generating energy even though it was not connected to any external power source.

Here’s what those insides look like:

It seems I have a lot of engineering to do before I can begin to understand that weird device, but I will keep you informed about my progress.