The Name's Oliver - Ben Oliver. Ch. 159: Duty vs Ethics, Pt. II

[Magz from Oz]

I don't have a clue who the saboteur is! And if I do try I would be wrong, that is how good you are with the mystery stuff Schip! I can't wait for the next update!

Ditto... on all counts.  I did think it was Gobias so my judgement is obviously way off.

[Seabody]

I've got an idea of who the saboteur is, but I have a feeling that Schip has already seen my reasoning, and left it out as a red herring...

Nevertheless, I can't wait until tomorrow!

[Schipperke]

And the Saboteur is ... (Conclusion)

Diary Entry

Well, that definitely got their attention.  Don't blow it, Oliver! I mentally admonished myself.  I continued, "Before I explain how the saboteur knew that their own life wasn't at risk, first a brief history and geography lesson. 



"You were all raised to believe that the Sim world was just the towns you had heard of.  But more and more towns have been discovered and have joined our Federation.  Just recently a new town, Aurora Skies, has petitioned to join the Federation.  Can you doubt that there may yet be more undiscovered towns?  The old legends tell a fantastic tale of a long-ago conflict in the Sim world, in which a warlike faction stole all the llamas, declared independence and cut off ties with the rest of the Sim world.  Until recently, everyone thought those tales were just myths.  But recently my fath a well-known traveller discovered the old tales were true. 

"The lost Sim world is called Llamastan, and it is lost in many ways.  Primitive, warlike, nursing old grudges.  The populace is brainwashed into believing that our people - the Federation towns - are their enemies, and they behave accordingly.  They are also envious of the cultural and economic success of our society.  Descendants of those who stole all the llamas, the current Llamastan attitude is the same:  if someone else has something they want, their response is to try to take it by force or guile.  The burning water was part of a Llamastan plot to kill off Federation Sims so they could seize our territories.  But they needed to stop the members of your team from figuring it out before they were ready to act, which is why they planted the saboteur in the team.



"The saboteur is from Llamastan, and intends to return there as soon as their assignment is complete.  That's why this person is not worried about the destruction of our water supply - he or she won't be here."

The room was abuzz with excited whispering.  I raised my voice and continued.  "But Llamastan residents share the same genetic heritage as other Sims - they look exactly the same as the rest of us.  So I needed to find another way of identifying the Llamastan spy.  I thought it might be possible to use their own self-imposed isolation against them.  As an experiment, I gave each of you an item in a box.

"Dr Plett identified the item as something he could use in the garden or kitchen.



"Dr Nita was eager to use the item in her own kitchen.



"Dr Avenel wanted to give the item to her nieces to play with.



"Dr Swift intended to use the item in her garden.



"And Dr Anderson identified the item as a popular new ingredient in nectar-making in France.



"Four of you were correct in identifying the item as something that could be eaten, planted, or used to make nectar.  But the Llamastan spy believed the rounded rubbery purple object was a child's toy.  Dr Avenel, your handlers did a good job of preparing you to pass undetected in Sim society.  They provided an excellent cover story for you.  But they neglected to tell you about eggplants, because eggplants were only discovered recently when Monte Vista joined the Federation."



I ended with a dramatic flourish, pointing at Nadrena Avenel and declaring, "Nadrena Avenel, you are the Llamastan spy who has been sabotaging the work of this group of Scientists!"



The room was hushed.  Everyone was looking at Nadrena Avenel.  Nadrena herself stared steadily at me.  I had one more thing to say.  "Before I came up to this meeting, I had a long discussion with Dr May Bea.  I'm sure you've all heard of her.  Pre-eminent in the field of plant biology.  I told Dr May Bea about Dr Nita's feeling that she had seen the molecular structure of the fire-producing adulterant before.  Dr May Bea thought it was quite possible that Dr Nita was correct, and quickly narrowed down the possibilities.  Dr Avenel, I believe your burning water is caused by an extraction of the flame fruit which removes the fruit and leaves only the flames."



Someone said, "Of course!"

Nadrena Avenel realized, as they say, that the jig was up, and lost it.  She began shouting incoherently about the inferiority of the Federation, its people and its scientists.





She was still ranting when the Lucky Palms police arrived to take her away.



I told Gobias, "Now that their spy has been captured and they know we are aware of their plan, I don't think they'll try to go ahead with it."



Gobias said, "Nevertheless, we'll continue our work to find the antidote.  Just in case.  Now that we know what the substance is, it should be easy to find an antidote.  We'll finish up our work here and finally the team members can all return home, thanks to you."

I said goodbye to the Scientists and wished them all well in their future careers.  Then I bade goodbye to Gobias with a snappy salute, and caught the taxi that would take me to the airport for the journey home.



Diary Entry Ends

Thanks again to Cndneh for sharing the wonderful screenshot that gave me the idea for this mission!  And to SassySimmer, whose building,as many of you have noted, provided the perfect setting for the science team.

The idea for the eggplant test was inspired by a hollow rubber eggplant toy that my dogs have.  It's quite realistic, and as eggplants do have a rubbery texture, I thought it was plausible that someone who had never heard of eggplants or seen one might mistake it for a rubber toy.  So when I said the secret plan came from my dogs, it was true.  But of course, for that clue to be useful you would have to know the contents of my dogs' toy box.  It was really more a piece of misdirection - I was afraid the puzzle was too easy, and was trying to throw people off the scent.

I know some of you were suspicious of the old lady in the swimsuit, or at least you said you were (if you weren't just creating your own variety of misdirection).  The lot was Visitors Allowed, and she was just some random townie who wandered in.  I don't know why she happened to be wearing a swimsuit.  I couldn't get the screenshot without including her, so I tried to come up with a plausible reason for her to be there.  It never occurred to me that people would see her as a suspicious character, but I should probably send her a thank-you note for being such a successful (if unintended) red herring.  Same with the "receptionist" - he was just a townie playing computer games who got written into the story because he was there.  When Kaila Swift decided to "escape," she really was trying to go home, to the house I had moved them all into.  That's how that particular story twist came about.

When I was taking the shots of Ben and Nadrena, I was struck by the fact that the wall behind Ben was white while Nadrena's wall was dark grey.  This effect occurred because they happened to be standing in front of a corner, with one wall more brightly lit and the other in shade.  It was pure chance they were standing like that - definitely not planned.  But I thought it was an effective indication of their characters, as in this screenshot that I didn't share with you before because I didn't want to give away the whole show.



As that picture shows, she was Evil while Ben of course is Good - and yet there was a genuine attraction between them.

[MarianT]

Excellent mystery! I never figured it out. I thought it was Dr. Plett because he could get into his spaceship and go home. Agatha Christie would be proud of you.

[Audren]

Excellent mystery! I never figured it out. I thought it was Dr. Plett because he could get into his spaceship and go home. Agatha Christie would be proud of you.

That's what I assumed at first. Then I figured you'd subvert the "of course the alien did it," and I switched my suspicions to Conrad. (just because) I also assumed that Ben gave each person a different gift, so I never connected the dots.

It was really more a piece of misdirection - I was afraid the puzzle was too easy, and was trying to throw people off the scent.

Pun intended? 

[Beezy]

I thought it was the lady in the swimsuit!

[RainBeau]

Ahhh! Brilliant! I never saw it coming. Of course, just like Agatha Christie (whom as you know I really admire) it seems perfectly obvious now that I know

[Louise56]

I never had a clue who it was! Awesome conclusion, never thought of flame fruit lol. I'm already looking forward to Ben's next adventure!

[Magpie2012]

Well I never knew how they did it... Flame fruit?!?! Who knew *shrugs*
At first I also thought it was Dr Plett but then I thought Nah Schip won't be speciesist and make the bad guy the lone alien in the bunch which is when my suspicions fell on the seductive kiss lady scientist lol as if a smooch would throw "Glade" off the trail!!

[Ausette]

Bravo, Schipperke! What a wonderfully written mystery, and how great that we're gradually learning a little bit more about Llamastan! Personally, my pet theory was that Dr. Nita was stealing the water to rejuvinate Lucky Palms, but the gifts really threw me for a loop  . You should incorporate game events more often; the little twists with Kaila and the dotty old lady really added to the tension!

[Anushka]

First I had the funny reaction after seeing the conclusion in the title, and read it trough in a single breath! Thank you for this fantastic story!
As already mentioned, Agatha Christie would be proud of you, I thought that Poirot might be better in solving this mystery than Sherlock, but Ben is doing the perfect job and is handsome while doing it hehehe
I had no (good) idea about the end. At first thought it was the lady from Sunlit Tides angry of tourists destroying the paradise there but that didn't work out as later figured all water is burning, then as others had suspicious about alien but he seemed well domesticated in Sim world and he would be too obvious. Didn't like Dr. Avenel fer her know-it-all attitude and find it a little suspicious for her to try to reveal the method Ben used to identify the spy. Her reaction to the present actually made me think it was a different present for everyone and was wondering why the others got the garden object and she got the toy! Never occur to me it was the Llamastan spy and I aplaud you for a fantastic mystery that kept me checking for the next clue and still left me clueless lol.
Now I can't wait to see the next mission!

[ladybug53]

This was a great mystery . Didn't suspect her to be the saboteur really . For a while , I wasn't sure anymore who to suspect . Well done Ben !  Can't wait to see where to next . 

[Caterina]

Great story!  I actually figured it out - sort of.  I guessed the Flame Fruit was somehow involved in making the water burn (from the interview with Dr. Plett).  I also thought it was a Flame Fruit that was in the boxes.  I had to go back and reread the interviews to find out who reacted differently to the gifts.  That is how I guessed whodunnit!  Of course, like any great mystery, I wasn't 100% sure.  I loved your explanation about LLamastan.  I didn't guess that part.

I am a big fan of all your stories.  Keep up the great work and thank you for giving us all something to look to forward to every day.

[Schipperke]

Congratulations on figuring out the flame fruit thing, Caterina!  That idea didn't come to me until fairly far along in the story, and I thought it was the perfect explanation for why water might burn in Sims. 

I've always loved reading mysteries, but this is my first time trying to write one.  And it has certainly given me renewed appreciation for the great writers like Agatha Christie, with their ability to keep you guessing until the end when all is revealed and then, as Rosa said, it suddenly seems totally obvious.

And it's really hard - at least for me - to know when I'm writing what is and isn't going to be obvious to the readers.  I was afraid the screenshots with Ben in the light and Nadrena in the shade would give things away (even though it was entirely accidental), so I kept trying to use different camera angles and wound up scrapping most of the screenshots that I took for that episode.

[Magz from Oz]

A thoroughly ripping good yard!  I didn't see that coming.  I will wait with bated breath for the next installment of Ben Oliver and his deeds of daring do.