The legend of the dog sticker bandit

When I first started at OIMB three years ago, I noticed there were some random stickers placed around our lab. On the windowsill, on the corner of a desk. All of them were the same approximate size and artistic style, and all of them featured dogs. They must have been part of a pack. At the time, I just assumed that someone had an extra sheet of stickers one day and decided to get rid of them by sticking them around the lab. It added to OIMB's charm. No big deal.

Every once in a while, I would notice a new sticker and scratch my head for a second. It wasn't frequent at all - every few months, perhaps - seldom enough that I could convince myself the sticker had always been there and I had just never noticed it before. But recently, I've changed my mind. Ever since I've gotten back from Norway, dog stickers have been appearing in the lab on a regular basis, and they are showing up in places where I am positive there's never been a sticker before. Someone must be placing stickers in the lab one by one.

Dog sticker in my notebook

And the sticker bandit is closing in. There was one on the corner of my desk, in a location that could only be reached by someone sitting at my desk. There was one day I taped a series of graphs to the wall, and when one fell off, a sticker appeared in its place. The sticker locations are getting personal.

And stickers are showing up on the cruise! I'm sure any of the OIMBers would be glad to tell you about the look on my face when I found a dog sticker in my scientific notebook. It was impossible. The dog sticker bandit was on board! And in my notebook of all places!

Dog sticker on my door

Just a few days later, a sticker showed up on the lab bench under a microscope. Then there was one on my door! The door to my room! I have no problem admitting to you that the mystery is driving me nuts. It's like an Agatha Christie novel in reverse: And Then There Were Ten. The stickers keep multiplying, and I cannot for the life of me figure out who is behind it all.

My current hypothesis is that it's a team effort: someone back at OIMB must have one or more agents on board placing the stickers for them. It's the only explanation that makes sense, because each of the OIMBers on board insist on their innocence, and I believe them. Plus, I'm not the only OIMBer that's been hit. The sticker on the lab bench was under the microscope that Caitlin usually uses, and stickers appeared on Katie and Luciana's cabin doors today too. We're apparently all targets for the sticker bandit.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to set up a single light bulb in a dark room on the ship to interrogate my shipmates one by one.