In this bonus episode, we hear all the stories from season 2, plus an extra one and a short commentary from the characters.
Steve and Dan both find mysterious letters in strange places, and then a shady new recruit comes on the scene and the bank is robbed. Can they and their spy ring discover who the criminals are and how to stop them? Listen to find out!
To support the show, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts.
The background music used in this episode is "Moving Sun", "Disco Tokyo", "Resistor", "Machines", "Mainframe", "Ambient Warning", and "Level", all by Bio Unit, and our theme song is "Mosquito" by Caspar Babypants.
You can find Dr. Gareth's work at drgarethmoore.com. He has released many puzzled and cipher related books for kids, as well as a lot of stuff for adults, too.
Thank you for listening.
In this bonus episode, we hear all the stories from season 2, plus an extra one and a short commentary from the characters.
Steve and Dan both find mysterious letters in strange places, and then a shady new recruit comes on the scene and the bank is robbed. Can they and their spy ring discover who the criminals are and how to stop them? Listen to find out!
To support the show, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts.
The background music used in this episode is "Moving Sun", "Disco Tokyo", "Resistor", "Machines", "Mainframe", "Ambient Warning", and "Level", all by Bio Unit, and our theme song is "Mosquito" by Caspar Babypants.
You can find Dr. Gareth's work at drgarethmoore.com. He has released many puzzled and cipher related books for kids, as well as a lot of stuff for adults, too.
Thank you for listening.
Barnabas 1:02
This episode features all the stories of season 2.
Barnabas 1:51
Welcome to The Kids' Code Podcast. I'm Barnabas, your host, and today we will be sharing all the stories of season 2. I will bring in Steve and a few other characters later on in the show to share some of what they thought about the stories of season 2, but first, the story from episode 7, Drops and Rendezvous.
Barnabas 2:29
Steve was out for a morning stroll, wondering what his next adventure would be. He knew it was season 2, so he was pretty sure that soon something would happen, and he wanted to be there for it. Soon, he came to a bench, and since his legs were very tired, he sat down on it. Then, he noticed something sticking out of a clump of tall grass. He walked over to investigate, and found that it was a coded letter. Meanwhile, Dan was also out on a jog. He was practicing for some running things*, and he needed all the training that he could get.
Dan 3:34
I'm very tired. I guess I'd better sit down for a little while.
Barnabas 3:43
He said as he came to a large sign. When he sat down he noticed a letter sticking up from the ground right next to the post that held the sign. he walked over and picked it up. Then, Steve and Dan went back to the good spy HQ to report this to Codemaster Cole and to get codebreaking materials. When Codemaster Cole saw it, he said
Codemaster Cole 4:29
I wonder which villains these are.
Barnabas 4:35
Meanwhile, the badguys had escaped! They had figured out how to get out by a particular fire escape ladder. Immediately, they all got down the ladder on the side of the building and went to their headquarters. They went through their papers, got all organized, and went off to rob a bank. The guards saw them from a good distance, but they ran quickly around to the back, used an old lasso that they had**, and lassoed a pipe on the top of the bank and pulled themselves up by it. Then they snuck in through an air vent, dropped down, and stole all the money in the building. When they got back to the HQ, they put it in locked strongboxes.
Barnabas 5:56
The story from episode 8, Secret Inks.
Barnabas 6:02
Steve and Dan are at their HQ, ready to solve the message in the letters they found. When they look at them, they see that they aren't coded at all - they seemed very plain and regular. But why would they be in those places if they were. Then, Steve had an idea.
Steve 6:36
It's the episode about secret inks, so what if the letters were in invisible ink?
Barnabas 6:48
When they tried secret inks, they found that it was a UV message. It was a communication between Dangerous Dave and The Evil Ant about how they were out of jail and what their next robbery should be. Then, Caw the Crow came in and said
Caw the Crow 7:19
The new recruit is ready to see you.
Barnabas 7:23
said Caw the Crow.
Codemaster Cole 7:25
Bring him in then.
Barnabas 7:27
Said Codemaster Cole. When they brought him in, they also brought in one of the locked strongboxes that the bad spy ring used for stolen treasure. It had a combination lock on it.
Steve 7:50
These look like plans.
Barnabas 7:52
Said Steve.
Steve 7:55
I wonder how we'll figure out the password to open it?
New Recruit 8:00
Plans and passwords? Those are two of my favorite words.
Barnabas 8:06
Said the new recruit.
New Recruit 8:08
Let me try.
Barnabas 8:11
He tried, and almost immediately found the answer. Then he opened it, and they looked at the plans. Later, Steve noticed the new recruit sneaking around the good spy HQ. Steve tailed the recruit the to the bad spy HQ, where the recruit went inside.
Steve 8:53
There is something strange about that person. He may be a double agent. We must be very careful.
Barnabas 9:03
said Steve.
Barnabas 9:06
The story from episode 9, Atbash.
Barnabas 9:13
Steve shadowed the new recruit again as he went toward the bad spy HQ for the second time. He followed him all the way there. Then, the new recruit went up to the combination lock on the door and said
New Recruit 9:38
Hmm, what was that code again? Yes, I remember.
Barnabas 9:43
and he typed in
New Recruit 9:45
YZW FLRZH IFOV.
Barnabas 9:53
and the lock opened. He went inside and the Evil Ant came towards him. Then the the door shut and locked behind him. Steve realized that this was worse than he thought.
Steve 10:17
Oh no, he really is a spy, and he's got to have something up his sleeve.
Barnabas 10:28
Then Steve went back and reported it at his HQ. Codemaster Cole said
Codemaster Cole 10:39
Just as I thought. We don't have any proof, but something bad is happening. I think you're right. We need to put patrols out, and maybe soon we'll stake out the bad spy ring HQ.
Barnabas 11:04
The story from episode 10, Pig Latin.
Codemaster Cole 11:10
It's time.
Barnabas 11:13
said Codemaster Cole
Codemaster Cole 11:15
We need to ambush their HQ.
Steve 11:20
O.k.
Barnabas 11:21
said Steve. That morning, they had seen the new recruit go in again and this time he entered a different code at the lock. Then, Codemaster Cole, Steve, Dan, Caw the Crow, Fred Fine, and Al went to ambush the HQ. Soon, the Evil Ant came out.
Evil Ant 11:59
What a wonderful day to think up evil plots to take over many places and rob many others.
Caw the Crow 12:14
Oh no!
Barnabas 12:16
said Caw the Crow. The Evil Ant heard and came towards Caw the Crow.
Evil Ant 12:24
I was sure I could hear something from over there, but maybe its just the narrator. No it's not, I heard that.
Barnabas 12:43
Caw the Crow tried to hide further into the bushes, but the Evil Ant still saw him. Then, the Evil Ant pulled out a ray that he had, and said
Evil Ant 12:55
Apzay awcaw ethay owcray.
Barnabas 13:03
and the ray zapped Caw the Crow and immediately Caw the Crow said
Caw the Crow 13:08
Oh, Evil Ant, let us go and think up some evil plans.
Codemaster Cole 13:18
oh no! He just brainwashed Caw the Crow.
Barnabas 13:24
said Codemaster Cole.
Dan 13:27
I guess that Caw the Crow is evil now. We gotta stop that from working.
Steve 13:37
I agree.
Al 13:39
I think that his voice sounds more natural when he is not brainwashed and when he is good.
Steve 13:51
What does that have to do with anything?
Barnabas 13:59
The story from episode 11, book code.
Evil Ant 14:04
Hm. When the good spies come here, we should have some traps to stop them.
Barnabas 14:18
said the Evil Ant to Caw the Crow and the other members of the bad spy ring.
Caw the Crow 14:26
We should think of a way to make a labyrinth in front of all entrances to our HQ so that they have to go through to get anything.
Evil Ant 14:43
That's an ingenious idea, Caw the Crow.
Caw the Crow 14:49
Thank you!
(Sound of door opening)
Emily End 14:53
Dangerous Dave! Evil Ant! I have an idea! Let's divide the good spy ring on the subject of the Beale cipher mystery!
Barnabas 15:01
said Emily End.
Dangerous Dave 15:04
That's a good idea, but everybody knows that the Beale cipher is real.
Evil Ant 15:14
of course it's not, it's fake! All fake!
Dangerous Dave 15:20
Of course it isn't, it's real.
Evil Ant 15:24
It's fake!
Emily End 15:27
Stop it, you two.
Evil Ant 15:30
Okay. Fine. I will stop. But I still think that the Beale cipher is fake.
Barnabas 15:40
Meanwhile, at the good spy ring HQ. Codemaster Cole and everybody else were sitting around the table with Bob Bot and two new faces. Codemaster Cole said
Codemaster Cole 16:06
Here I have Tracker Travis...
Tracker Travis 16:11
Oy, mate!
Codemaster Cole 16:13
...and Sneaky Sam. And, just for good measure, I brought along Bob Bot.
Bob Bot 16:24
I do not have any flubs to report.
Codemaster Cole 16:29
That's good.
Barnabas 16:32
Steve raised his hand.
Steve 16:34
Why do we need them?
Codemaster Cole 16:36
The more people the better when we need to stop the bad spies.
Steve 16:44
So, how do you plan to do that?
Codemaster Cole 16:49
Well, I know their HQ end to end 'cause that used to be our HQ, so I know how we can all sneak in.
Dan 17:04
Then why didn't we do that last time?
Codemaster Cole 17:09
I just wasn't thinking about it.
Steve 17:14
So, when do we start?
Codemaster Cole 17:18
Well, we start when everyone is ready.
Steve 17:24
I'm ready.
Dan 17:25
I'm ready.
Fred Fine 17:28
I'm ready.
Al 17:30
I'm ready.
Codemaster Cole 17:34
Did you ever notice before how similar Fred Fines voice is to Al's?
Steve 17:45
No, I didn't. But let's go.
Barnabas 17:49
Then the good spy ring all went off towards the bad spy headquarters. Back at the bad spy headquarters the Evil Ant was getting ready to leave. He said
Evil Ant 18:07
We'll have to split directions. Here, I have instituted this book code•. Read that message to see what is going says.
Dangerous Dave 18:23
730603 080205 581007 311810 190208
Evil Ant 18:54
Thank you, Dangerous Dave.
Barnabas 18:59
Then, the bad spies left the bad spy HQ.
Barnabas 19:08
The story from episode 12 Polybius Square.
Codemaster Cole 19:14
Well, it looks like they've decided to block off all the entrances.
Barnabas 19:22
said Codemaster Cole when they got to the bad spy ring.
Codemaster Cole 19:30
That means we'll have to go through that little door over there.
Barnabas 19:37
he said, pointing to a door which was a good ways from the HQ that went I to a tent that was piched over the entrance to the HQ.
Steve 19:55
well then, what are we waiting for?
Barnabas 19:58
said Steve. When they went in, they found a maze in front of them. But, because the bad spies loved leaving clues to where they were going and the answers to things, they had left an important clue. When Bob Bot looked at the walls, he said
Bob Bot 20:30
Look, isn't that arrow squiggly?
Barnabas 20:35
Because there was a panel next to each doorway that had four arrows on it. In all of them, every squiggly arrow pointed to the door on the right of where they came in. Knowing that , they followed all the squiggly arrows through the maze until they came to a lock. But before they break it, I want to give you a flashback. The bad spies were gathering to leave the bad spy HQ.
Dangerous Dave 21:21
Hey, they're terrible at this game, so why not leave them a clue to where we're going.
Evil Ant 21:31
Good idea! It will also make the stories more interesting later.
Dangerous Dave 21:41
It won't help them anyway, because there will probably be reports of our crime in the areas we are going.
Emily End 21:51
That's true.
Barnabas 21:54
said Emily End. Then, they left. Meanwhile, the good spies were trying to figure out the lock. The lock's key was all numbers and the clue was "good spies are terrible".
Steve 22:16
Aha!
Barnabas 22:17
said Steve, and he quickly put in some sets of numbers. The lock opened and they went through the door. They came to another lock, but this one was an alphabetic lock. The clue was "when is next episode happening"?
Codemaster Cole 22:44
Oh, I get it.
Barnabas 22:47
said Codemaster Cole, and he quickly typed in the message from episode 1. When they went through that door, they found Caw the Crow in the middle of the labyrinth.
Caw the Crow 23:05
Hey guys, it's me.
Barnabas 23:08
said Caw the Crow.
Dan 23:10
But wait, I thought you were brainwashed?
Barnabas 23:13
said Dan.
Caw the Crow 23:16
Yeah, I was, but they unbrainwashed me. I'm not sure why, but they're very clumsy at their job.
Steve 23:22
Well then, we should start going.
Caw the Crow 23:26
Yup.
Barnabas 23:27
When they came to the next lock, it was another alphabetic lock, and it said "where is the new recruit and what does he think"?
Caw the Crow 23:40
Oh, I think I know that one.
Barnabas 23:44
said Caw the Crow.
Codemaster Cole 23:47
Then put it in.
Barnabas 23:51
said Codemaster Cole. THE END.
Barnabas 24:01
Well, I hope you liked those stories. I've got another one to help get closer to resolving our cliffhanger.
Barnabas 24:16
With Caw the Crow leading them, the good spy ring easily got through the rest of the maze.
Codemaster Cole 24:26
I thought they would make that a lot harder.
Caw the Crow 24:31
Well, it is pretty hard, but they didn't think I would help you, or that you would even get to me.
Codemaster Cole 24:40
Yeah, good point.
Barnabas 24:44
When they got through the final door and into the HQ itself, they looked around for any signs, but they could not find anything.
Steve 24:57
Well, it looks like they packed up and left.
Dan 25:01
But wait, there is still that piece of paper.
Barnabas 25:06
said Dan, pointing to a sticky note on a table.
Fred Fine 25:13
It says
Evil Ant (Note) 25:15
To the land of barbed wire I have gone.
Dangerous Dave (Note) 25:21
I, to take all of your things, like your gong.
New Recruit (Note) 25:28
I, to the place where the shadows creep.
Emily End (Note) 25:33
and me, for your secrets in the deep.
Al 25:37
Well that sounds bad. What does it mean though?
Steve 25:47
I can tell that it means that Dangerous Dave is going to steal from our houses, because he said "like your gong" and my gong is one of my favorite things.
Fred Fine 26:06
I think that the first one has to do with the prison because the prison has lots of barbed wire.
Al 26:19
Yeah. I bet they went there to free the prisoners or do terrible things to them.
Codemaster Cole 26:30
I think that Emily End went to rob and find our secrets from our own HQ.
Dan 26:44
I think that the new recruit went to the convention of criminals, because that is sometimes called "the place where the shadows creep".
Codemaster Cole 27:00
Hey Barnabas, what's the new recruit's name?
Barnabas 27:06
I don't know. same as you guys.
Codemaster Cole 27:11
Ugh. We need a new narrator.
Steve 27:16
We'd better go. Let's split up and go all four of those places.
Al 27:24
I'll take Fred and we'll go back to the prison.
Codemaster Cole 27:31
I'll go to the HQ with Bob Bot.
Steve 27:35
I'll go try to protect my gong.
Caw the Crow 27:40
And I'll go to convention of criminals with Dan.
Steve 27:46
Okay.
Barnabas 27:48
THE END.
Barnabas 27:56
I guess we're now closer to finding out what happened. Now let's see what the characters think about that. Dan, what do you have to say?
Dan 28:12
Well, that in episode 7, the bad spies were using my own lasso. Here's the story behind how they got it.
Dan 28:29
Before I joined the good spy ring, I may or may not have been a cowboy, and when I met the Evil Ant one day, I thought he was just one of them friendly new neighbors that I kept having. He said that he had a couple of cows that were gettin' away from him every time that he brought them out to graze, but he didn't have the tools to round them up, and this was gettin' to be a problem, so he asked to borrow my lasso. I, being a good neighbor, said yes. I didn't expect nothing until I learned that he was a wanted criminal. Then, I put my mind into stoppin' him and gettin' my lasso back. I eventually found the good spy ring, and joined. I said to Codemaster Cole "If you're wantin' to keep that bad spy ring out of trouble, I'm joining up. Then he said
Codemaster Cole 30:06
Good. Oh, hey, I like your narrating. You're a lot better than Barnabas.
Dan 30:14
Ever since I've been a member of the good spy ring. THE END.
Barnabas 30:27
Wow. Nice flashback, Dan. I didn't know you had narrating skills. Codemaster Cole, how about you?
Codemaster Cole 30:39
Well, I think that you should really keep Dan as the narrator.
Barnabas 30:46
Um, not happening. Steve, you've been a big help in the past season. Do you have any thoughts about the stories of season 2.
Steve 31:01
None, other than we should have season 3 earlier.
Barnabas 31:08
Sadly, I am not doing that - though I want to. But that gives us a perfect way to end off. In this episode, all the background music was by Bio Unit, and our theme song is Mosquito by Casper Babypants. A new season will be out in February, but look frequently in your podcast app, because in the next couple of months we have another episode for you which I think is going to be pretty cool, but, until then, Keep on Cracking!
*The spring marathon. Dan is a runner. The Evil Ant is also a runner. (spoiler alert)!
**The story about the lasso is at 28:29 in the episode.
• This book code uses Top Secret by Paul B. Janeczko. See show notes.