country houses and in a big new installation just
outside London, were petit-bourgeois and had a vague idea. And the
Decoding Room girls, in the heart of the Park, were mostly
upper-middle–class, even aristocratic, and they saw it all—the
secrets literally passed through their fingers. They typed out the
letters of the original cryptogram, and from the cylinder on the
right of the Type-X a strip of sticky-backed paper, the sort you
saw gummed down on telegram forms, slowly emerged, bearing the
decrypted plaintext.
“Those three are doing Dolphin,” said Puck, pointing across the
room, “and the two by the door are just starting on Porpoise. And
this charming young lady here, I believe”—he bowed to her—“has
Shark. May we?”
She was young, about eighteen, with curly red hair and wide
hazel eyes. She looked up and smiled at him, a dazzling Tatler
smile, and he leaned across her and began uncoiling the strip of
tape from the cylinder. Jericho noticed as he did so that he left
one hand resting casually on her shoulder, just as simply as that,
and he thought how much he envied Puck the ease of that gesture. It
would have taken him a week to pluck up the nerve. Puck beckoned
him down to read the decrypt.
VONSCHULZEQU88521DAMPFER1TANKERWAHRSCHEINLICHAM63TANKERFACKEL…
Jericho ran his finger along it, separating the words and
translating it in his mind: U-boat commander von Schulze was in
grid square 8852 and had sunk one steamship (for certain) and one
tanker (probably) and had set one other tanker on fire…
“What date is this?”
“You can see it there,” said Puck. “Sechs drei. The sixth of
March. We’ve broken everything from this week up to the code change
on Wednesday night, so now we go back and pick up the intercepts we
missed earlier in the month. This is—what?—six days old. Herr
Kapitan von Schulze may be five hundred miles away by now. It is of
academic interest only, I fear.”
“Poor devils,” said Jericho, passing his finger along the tape
for a second time. IDAMPFERITANKER …What freezing and
drowning and burning were concentrated in that one line! What were
the ships called, he wondered, and had the families of the crews
been told?
“We have approximately a further eighty messages from the sixth
still to run through the Type-Xs. I shall put two more operators on
to it. A couple of hours and we should be finished.”
“And then what?”
“Then, my dear Tom? Then I suppose we shall make a start on
back-breaks from February. But that barely qualifies even as
history. February? February in the Atlantic? Archaeology!”
“Any progress on the four-wheel bombe?”
Puck shook his head. “First, it is impossible. It is out of the
question. Then there is a design, but the design is theoretical
nonsense. Then there is a design that should work, but doesn’t.
Then there is a shortage of materials. Then there is a shortage of
engineers…” He made a weary gesture with his hand, as if he were
pushing it all out of the way.
“Has anything else changed?”
“Nothing that affects us. According to the direction finders,
U-boat HQ has moved from Paris to Berlin. They have some wonderful
new transmitter at Magdeburg they say will reach a U-boat
forty-five feet under water at a range of two thousand miles.”
Jericho murmured: “How very ingenious of them.”
The red-headed girl had finished deciphering the message. She
tore off the tape, stuck it on the back of the cryptogram and
handed it to another girl, who rushed out of the room. Now it would
be turned into recognisable English and teleprintered to the
Admiralty.
Puck touched Jericho’s arm. “You must be tired. Why don’t you go
now and rest?”
But Jericho didn’t feel like sleeping. “I’d like to see all the
Shark traffic we haven’t been able to break. Everything since
midnight on Wednesday.”
Puck gave a puzzled smile. “Why? There’s nothing you can do with
it.”
“Maybe so. But I’d like to see
outside London, were petit-bourgeois and had a vague idea. And the
Decoding Room girls, in the heart of the Park, were mostly
upper-middle–class, even aristocratic, and they saw it all—the
secrets literally passed through their fingers. They typed out the
letters of the original cryptogram, and from the cylinder on the
right of the Type-X a strip of sticky-backed paper, the sort you
saw gummed down on telegram forms, slowly emerged, bearing the
decrypted plaintext.
“Those three are doing Dolphin,” said Puck, pointing across the
room, “and the two by the door are just starting on Porpoise. And
this charming young lady here, I believe”—he bowed to her—“has
Shark. May we?”
She was young, about eighteen, with curly red hair and wide
hazel eyes. She looked up and smiled at him, a dazzling Tatler
smile, and he leaned across her and began uncoiling the strip of
tape from the cylinder. Jericho noticed as he did so that he left
one hand resting casually on her shoulder, just as simply as that,
and he thought how much he envied Puck the ease of that gesture. It
would have taken him a week to pluck up the nerve. Puck beckoned
him down to read the decrypt.
VONSCHULZEQU88521DAMPFER1TANKERWAHRSCHEINLICHAM63TANKERFACKEL…
Jericho ran his finger along it, separating the words and
translating it in his mind: U-boat commander von Schulze was in
grid square 8852 and had sunk one steamship (for certain) and one
tanker (probably) and had set one other tanker on fire…
“What date is this?”
“You can see it there,” said Puck. “Sechs drei. The sixth of
March. We’ve broken everything from this week up to the code change
on Wednesday night, so now we go back and pick up the intercepts we
missed earlier in the month. This is—what?—six days old. Herr
Kapitan von Schulze may be five hundred miles away by now. It is of
academic interest only, I fear.”
“Poor devils,” said Jericho, passing his finger along the tape
for a second time. IDAMPFERITANKER …What freezing and
drowning and burning were concentrated in that one line! What were
the ships called, he wondered, and had the families of the crews
been told?
“We have approximately a further eighty messages from the sixth
still to run through the Type-Xs. I shall put two more operators on
to it. A couple of hours and we should be finished.”
“And then what?”
“Then, my dear Tom? Then I suppose we shall make a start on
back-breaks from February. But that barely qualifies even as
history. February? February in the Atlantic? Archaeology!”
“Any progress on the four-wheel bombe?”
Puck shook his head. “First, it is impossible. It is out of the
question. Then there is a design, but the design is theoretical
nonsense. Then there is a design that should work, but doesn’t.
Then there is a shortage of materials. Then there is a shortage of
engineers…” He made a weary gesture with his hand, as if he were
pushing it all out of the way.
“Has anything else changed?”
“Nothing that affects us. According to the direction finders,
U-boat HQ has moved from Paris to Berlin. They have some wonderful
new transmitter at Magdeburg they say will reach a U-boat
forty-five feet under water at a range of two thousand miles.”
Jericho murmured: “How very ingenious of them.”
The red-headed girl had finished deciphering the message. She
tore off the tape, stuck it on the back of the cryptogram and
handed it to another girl, who rushed out of the room. Now it would
be turned into recognisable English and teleprintered to the
Admiralty.
Puck touched Jericho’s arm. “You must be tired. Why don’t you go
now and rest?”
But Jericho didn’t feel like sleeping. “I’d like to see all the
Shark traffic we haven’t been able to break. Everything since
midnight on Wednesday.”
Puck gave a puzzled smile. “Why? There’s nothing you can do with
it.”
“Maybe so. But I’d like to see
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