It’s been five months since the season four finale of Lost aired. What have you been up to? If you’re a seasoned veteran of ARG’s, then you’ve been busy as an eager recruit of the new Dharma Initiative. While you were in awe of the frozen donkey wheel, some of use remembered a funky commercial about Octagon Global Recruiting. The brave who signed up for an email were rewarded in June with standard emails with clues in them.

The first email introduced us to Hans Van Eeghen, head of recruiting for the Dharma Initiative. He alerts us that the Initiative will be recruiting at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 24-27 and for those who can’t attend, they will get a chance soon after.  Before you went to go look for ticket scalpers, those who pay attention to detail took a look at the email source code and found a clue, “March Has 32 Days,” a reference to a four-page comic book about a man who becomes "unstuck" in time. The same comic book was shown to a young John Locke by Richard Alpert in the episode, “Cabin Fever.”

As Comic-Con grew closer, another email reminding you was sent out. It again refers to aptitude tests. Within the source code, we’re introduced to another new character, RuckusGuy. Apparently, he’s heard that IQ tests and having Bluetooth will be important. Also on the same day, a new website appeared: www.dharmawantsyou.com.

On the day, fans were given waiver forms and put in booths. Codenamed Europa (Yes, another Greek reference), participants looked at a series of images and chose the response that matched their gut instinct. Afterwards, they are told to go to the Lost panel, have their test sheet and are given an ID Card hinting at a July 28 date for “Phase 2.” It seems that Phase 2 will consist of eight (Numbers!) tests that are named after the moons of Jupiter (Astrology!!).

During the Lost panel, Hans Van Eeghen appears but all heck breaks loose when RuckusGuy shows up with a very cool find. The video plays. It is our favorite Dharma Initiative scientist with multiple aliases.

He admits his real name is Pierre Chang, is from Ann Arbor, and is a theoretical astrophysicist. Chang reveals his project on the Island is “to study the Kerr metric solution to the Einstein field equation,” and that he has opened a “pinhole” to communicate to us 30 years in the future. He reveals he knows about George Bush, the Internet, and his group’s impending doom. Chang begs us to reconstitute the Dharma Initiative. Chang’s source and camera man gets agitated and stops rolling. This person sounds a lot like Daniel Faraday but it wasn’t revealed.

Some time later, RuckusGuy posted a Bluetooth video on YouTube. Besides some Dharma advertisements, there is an image of “Little Red Riding Hood” by Gustave Doré.

On July 29, dharmawantsyou.com was updated to allow new recruits to take the Comic-Con aptitude test. Also a new email advertising this was sent. In the source code, we get an anagram (oh boy) that translates to “Black Swan,” a reference to a Nassim Nicholas Taleb. The website also has some foreign language on audio, it roughly talks about “Those who come to the Dharma Initiative must be transported a long way across the sea at a considerable speed. Work will include being outdoors and physical labor. You may also experience some instability of time along the way. Hopefully you, like many others, feel that your social duty is more important than your personal safety.” It reminded me of when Juliet Burke was first taken by Richard Alpert and Ethan Rom to the Island.

On August 6, another email was sent warning us that the Initiative experienced a security breach by a new recruit named Dan Bronson. He was swiftly expelled and we are warned not to talk to anyone about the project. However, two days later, it seems Bronson left a message on the website. After you log on, the center logo glitches and scrambled words appear. They translate to “I am on the inside.”

After a security audit on the website, Hans sends another email informing us that testing starts on August 19. To Be Continued…