Some time in the future, humanity discover a planet which once held an alien civilization. This civilization is long gone now, and only the empty structures remain, a testament to the achievements of their society. By working out the language system the aliens have used, researchers find several references to a temple built in the rocky wastelands, that contains the most sacred doctrines of their people. This is a story about recovering those doctrines.
Ricky: Chris! We have a serious problem!
Chris: What's up?
Ricky: Our map of the rocky wastelands are shredded, and the logs are ruined!
Chris: What map? What logs?
Ricky: (sighing) You don't know about the map, do you? Fine, I'll explain.
Ricky: We have a very strict protocol for exploring the wasteland. We send out groups of men, distinguished by a color, and get them to write logs about where they go, and what landmarks they find. Then, back at base, because we know where they started, we can construct a map showing their starting position and the landmarks they found. Here, I've got an example in my pocket- (rumbles around)
Orange team log:
Travelled 4km north, found a landmark.
Travelled 3km east, found a landmark.
Travelled 5km south, found a landmark.
Travelled 2km east, found a landmark.
Travelled 6km north, found a landmark.
Travelled 3km west, found a landmark.
Travelled 4km south, found a landmark.
Ricky: And sometimes we abbreviate this like so... (scribbles on a piece of paper)
Orange: N4 E3 S5 E2 N6 W3 S4
Ricky: This then allows us to draw a map back at base:
Chris: Ok, I get that. How is it relevant, though? What happened?
Ricky: Well, yesterday we sent out four teams to survey the area where we thought the temple might be. They all came back, we collected their logs and made a square map. It was late, and I hadn't had much sleep, so I put both the logs and the map in a folder and went to sleep. However, when I woke up - (pauses) - the maps and the logs had been sabotaged.
Chris: It is salvageable?
Ricky: Well, I'm not sure. That's why I came to ask you. You see, the map had been cut in a most mysterious fashion - into twelve identical L shaped pieces. I'll show you - just wait a bit. (dashes out, and comes back with a whole lot of paper)
Ricky: Have a look at this.
Chris: I don't see how those could fit into a square.
Ricky: Some of them have been rotated.
Chris: (slowly) ...oh.
Chris: But surely you can just reconstruct the map using the logs?
Ricky: That's just it. Some of the text off the logs has been removed. I'll show you what's left.
Red: N?,W6,N5,E?,S10,W11,N?,E?,S?,E6
Green: W3,N9,W11,S?,W?,S7,E11,N?,W6,S11
Blue: S2,W?,N2,W8,S?,E4,S7,W?,S3,E?
Purple: E?,N3,E1,S6,E?,N7,W5,S?,W?,N4
Ricky: Those question marks could be anything from 1 to 17, as far as I'm concerned. I don't remember what the numbers were before they were erased!
Chris: It still looks possible to reconstruct it... I think.
Ricky: That would be good, because the green team told us that the last landmark they visited was the temple we were looking for. Oh, you should know one more thing... (trails off)
Chris: What's that?
Ricky: I didn't write the compass directions on there. So I don't know which way is north.
Chris: ...
Can you help Chris reconstruct the map?