I put this up on another blog, one that has a high geek index:
"Forevor Lord, We Place Our Trust In Thee"
by Miles Naismith
The foundation of our faith is Christ
The uplift of earthly life,
At childhood's end our faith protects us
A high castle above strife.
This could be a plot device in a book, where the guy leaves instructions on how to obtain the magic Macguffin from his secret safe after his demise. Without any context to say, "Hey, this is a clue to something", it just reads like a stilted, oddly phrased prayer. To a science fiction fan, though, it should ring a few bells.
Two big hints here, even if you miss the overall references. First is the spelling error in the title: "Forevor". Without knowing anything else, this might not be very significant. In a novel, however, the detectives might eventually Google the author of this prayer and come up with this for Lord Miles Naismith Vorkosigan. The entry talks about the Vor. Looking at the title of the prayer, we see "Forevor Lord", which should tip off to "For a Vor Lord". That means that the prayer is really code, using science fiction references.
Another way to approach it is by the references in the lines for "foundation", "uplift", "childhood's end" and "high castle". These are titles of novels written by Asimov, Brin, Clarke and Dick. A-B-C-D.
This is the key. Go into the victim's library of first editions. Arrange the right books in alphabetical order, by author, and implanted RFID tags unlock something in the final book, "The Vor Game" to provide you with the ultra screct access code you need.
He put his trust in the Vor Lord, get it? He left this puzzle, figuring that only his pal and fellow geek John Doe, would understand it and decode it.
Why am I putting this up in a public space, instead of in a word processor? Why not write the book? Too lazy, I suppose. Plus, I want the credit for being clever NOW, not when the book ever gets written.
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