TAPE: So I told Robin one of the intercepted Enigma codes that I had been working on. Then another. And then another... We continued, on and off like that, for two years until code-breaking, like prime numbers, was no longer any fun. I had long since broken off my engagement with Joan. It was 1943 and everyone thought we were still losing the war...
ROBIN: Another one?
ALAN: No, not another one!
ROBIN: Please?
ALAN: Don't you dare beg, Robin Gandy.
ROBIN: Why not?
ALAN: Because it's an old problem, that's why not. U-boats are a non-issue. The Enigma codes are completely broken. Decrypting yet another intercept with you would just be turning the crank.
ROBIN: Turning the crank?
ALAN: Yes. You've become a boring little tease. From a mathematical standpoint, Mr. Gandy, you and I have become completely and utterly mind-numbing. If we don't come up with a new hobby, I suspect I'll have to gnaw through my own wrist.
ROBIN: How very melodramatic.
ALAN: Thank you. I've been practicing ever since I returned from New York. They're very good at it, those Americans.
ROBIN: I wouldn't know. While you've been busying yourself as Churchill's little cabana boy in America, I've stayed behind and continued to work quite diligently in drab old England, thank you very much.
ALAN: Which brings me to my next point: If it's all right with you, I have every intention of inviting myself over and shacking up at your radar facility.
ROBIN: What? Yes, by all means, but... What's so exciting about radar?
ALAN: Nothing at all, actually!
ROBIN: Good! I haven't gone completely barmy, then.
ALAN: But there's more going on there than simply radar, my good Robin. There's radio, telephony, machinery, electronics! I intend to get my hands completely and utterly filthy with all of it.
ROBIN: How dare you!
ALAN: How dare I what?
ROBIN: You've run off and found a hobby without me!
ALAN: Don't blame me if you can't keep up. While in America, I got a peek at some of their work on audio encryption. To be perfectly frank, I think we can do them one better.
ROBIN: We?
ALAN: Have you even been listening? Of course "we!" You and I. Will that be all right with you, Your Highness?
ROBIN: What about your work at Bletchley? What about the war?
ALAN: Forget Bletchley. Pretend it never even existed. In fact, it's safer that way. I shouldn't have told you any of it in the first place.
ROBIN: And the war?
ALAN: From a mathematical perspective, the war is already won.
ROBIN: You're completely and utterly off your tits.
ALAN: Yes, as I said, I've been practicing ever since I returned from New York.
ROBIN: ...Welcome back, Alan... I'll talk to the brass and see if they can set you up with a workroom of some sort.
ALAN: And a place to stay?
ROBIN: ...I, uh, have a cat.
ALAN: Rain check, then. I'll find an inn room somewhere.
ROBIN: I'm sorry, Alan...
ALAN: Don't you dare be sorry, Robin Gandy.
ROBIN: Her name's... Fluffy.
ALAN: I'm sure it is.
ROBIN: ...I hate to ask but...
ALAN: About the audio encryption?
ROBIN: Yes, well...
ALAN: I thought that might pique your interest. It will take a bit more than one of these country picnics to go into any detail, mind you...
ROBIN: Summary?
ALAN: Sound goes in one end and comes out the other. In between, whether you're sending it over a radio frequency or storing it on magnetic tape, it appears completely random to all observers.
ROBIN: White noise.
ALAN: Exactly. Pure static. Completely unbreakable. Better yet, there's no way of knowing if anything is even being sent or recorded at all.
ROBIN: Blimey!
ALAN: To top it all off, I think I can construct it out of readily available parts and keep it small enough to be carried around in a suitcase.
ROBIN: I hate you.
ALAN: No you don't. It's more fun than radar and all it needs is for us to build it. Well, that and a codename.
ROBIN: Delilah...
ALAN: Biblical?
ROBIN: The deceiver of men.
ALAN: Fair enough... For a moment I was worried you were trying to name it after an old heartache.
(The idyllic countryside fades.)
YOU ARE READING
The Turing Tape - a one-act play
Historical Fiction"The Turing Tape", a one-act play, is a madcap conspiracy theory about the life and times of Alan Mathison Turing, a brilliant cryptanalyst, computer visionary, and homosexual within the British intelligence community of the 1940s and 50s. The play'...
