Day 11: The Countdown Protocol
Act II: Debugging the Supply Chain
Location: Warehouse C - Distribution Control Center
The next morning, you arrive at Warehouse C to begin planning the actual distribution of presents back to Hamburg’s Christmas markets. Frau Weber and her team have already started organizing shipment routes.
But as you approach the central terminal, every screen in the facility simultaneously switches to a countdown timer:
TIME UNTIL AUTOMATIC RE-ENCRYPTION: 23:59:58… 23:59:57… 23:59:56…
The Grinch’s face appears on the main display. He’s wearing noise-canceling headphones and looks supremely relaxed, like someone who just scheduled a disaster and is enjoying the anticipation.
System Message from CEO
“Good morning, Hamburg. I hope you slept well. I didn’t. I was too busy designing THIS.
Did you think once you unlocked my warehouses, they’d stay unlocked? Oh, that’s precious. That’s the kind of optimism I used to have before I understood exponential depreciation.
I’ve implemented an automatic re-encryption protocol. In exactly 24 hours, every single present you’ve ‘freed’ will lock down again. Permanently this time. And the re-encryption happens exponentially faster than the original lockdown—you won’t have time to solve it twice.
The override? It requires understanding exponential and logarithmic mathematics. The kind of math that makes accountants weep and physics students change majors.
I’ve disabled the calculators in the building, by the way. Because I believe in education.
Tick tock.”
– GR
The Challenge
Three time-based locks must be solved before the 24-hour countdown expires. The Grinch has themed each one around his favorite subject: the inevitable passage of time.
Lock 1: “The Temporal Deceleration Unit”
The main countdown clock runs on an exponential equation. To recalibrate it, solve:
\[2^{x+1} = 16\]
Grinch’s Note: “This one’s easy. Like, embarrassingly easy. If you can’t solve this, please leave the building so the adults can work. The fire exit is clearly marked.”
Enter x:
Lock 2: “The Logarithmic Time Dilation”
A backup timer threatens to accelerate the countdown. The display shows:
\[3^t = 50\]
Grinch’s Note: “Now THIS is where the fun begins. You’ll need logarithms. Actual logarithms. Not the ‘I’ll just guess and check’ approach that got you through high school. Round to two decimal places—precision matters when you’re racing against exponential decay.”
Lock 3: “The Compound Time Lock”
The master timer control combines logarithmic properties. A note displays with what appears to be genuine smugness:
\[\log_2(m - 3) + \log_2(5) = 4\]
Grinch’s Note: “Ah, the logarithm addition rule. The one that makes students ask ‘why didn’t anyone tell me logs could combine?’ Someone did tell you. You were on your phone. Now solve it or watch your presents turn into very expensive firewood.”
Enter m (as a decimal like 6.2):
Status Update
You input the solutions with the countdown showing 00:14:48 remaining:
- Primary timer: \(x = 3\) ✓
- Secondary timer: \(t \approx 3.56\) ✓
- Master control: \(m = 6.2\) ✓
The countdown clock stutters, freezes at 00:14:47, and then displays:
COUNTDOWN PROTOCOL: DISABLED
AUTOMATIC RE-ENCRYPTION: PERMANENTLY CANCELLED
Frau Weber slumps against a console. “Fourteen minutes. We had fourteen minutes left.”
The workers cheer. For the first time since this began, something feels genuinely permanent.
The Grinch reappears. He’s taken off the headphones and is pinching the bridge of his nose—the universal gesture of someone whose brilliant plan just failed.
#tactical-retreat
“Fine. You’ve stopped my exponential countdown. The warehouses will stay unlocked. Congratulations on understanding basic logarithmic properties.
But here’s the thing about supply chains: unlocking warehouses is only HALF the battle. The presents are free, yes. But they’re not MOVING.
Tomorrow, you face the Coordination Center. The master system that actually routes presents to their destinations. It’s protected by real-world application problems—the kind where mathematics meets logistics.
Exponential functions modeling delivery times. Mixture problems for packaging materials. Number puzzles for route optimization.
You’ve beaten my time locks. Now prove you can beat my supply chain algorithms.
One more day. One more chance for you to fail.”
– GR
Major Victory: Re-encryption protocol permanently disabled
Progress Update:
- ✓ Warehouses A, B, C: Permanently unlocked
- ✓ Failsafe protocols: Deactivated
- ✓ Re-encryption countdown: Cancelled
- Distribution coordination: LOCKED
- Route optimization: PENDING
Status: Supply chain 75% restored. Final coordination lock tomorrow.