Agent 024

MORSE CODE

"Welcome to your first theory class, Agents. You will be taught how to record precise coordinates of a location which is of prime importance in times of fatal crisis when you have to ask for immediate evacuation. You'll be taught how to bug a room without getting detected and every other trick under the sun. Theory is of the utmost importance to you whether you become a intelligence analyst or choose o enter the field. It'll be crucial in sending over the information you've been sent to collect, to save yourself in moments of crisis. You'll be taught strength speed and skill in the field and here we'll teach you how to use it."

"I'll be teaching you communication. We'll start with the Morse code. Now this code is far from being dead, it is alive in many of the encrypted devices being used as the first shield of protection. You'll be unwise to underestimate one of the oldest codes known to humanity."

 The letters of a word are separated by a space equal to three dots (one dash), and the words are separated by a space equal to seven dots. Every time you press a dot, you'll hear a DIT sound-and a DAH sound whenever you press a dash. The pause dot and dash will be the only elements of this encryption much like a binary code. You'll be able to create complete messages with just three characters. Now you must remember, your message has to be brief and clear. ."

I yawned Firstly because theory bored me as hell. I knew the agent was right and theory was as important in field as strength and skill but that couldn't change the fact that I couldn't stay still in a place for a long time and that is exactly what the class demanded. I sometimes felt that I was an athlete not simply because I stumbled into the field and fell in love with it but because it is mybasic instinct to keep moving. 

We spent an hour studying Morse code. my only entertainment was when a student dozed off and a chalk landed on his unaware self a second later.

"I'm passing you sheets of the International Morse Code. I want you to have each character memorized when we next meet. And when I say memorized, I mean that even if I wake you up in the middle of the night and ask you to encode the letter F, you should be able to."

"You're not actually going to, right?", one of the front row students asked.

He laughed. "Class dismissed.", he said

"I so want to go back to the field.", I sighed as we came out of the class.

"All in due time.", Roger patted my back.

"Theory is boring the shit out of me.", Aradhya said as we walked out of the building.

"I don't know what you guys are complaining about, this class washonestly the coolest. I loved every second of it.", Aviral said.

Aviral bumped into Roger and realized the rest of the group had stopped walking at his statement.

"Aren't you supposed to be..", Roger began.

"What?", Aviral said.

"I don't know the opposite of nerd.", Roger completed.

"Oh Roger Roger how little you know about me, it amuses me."

"Someone give this guy a Snickers. Hunger has made him mad."

We laughed and parted ways as I headed to the infirmary for my physiotherapy and the team headed to the fields for their training.

"Your coolest patient is back, Doctor Kumar.", I said knocking on the door to her cabin.

"How did classes go?", she asked closing her notebook.

"Honestly infirmary is more fun than theory.", I sighed.

"How's the back?", she said as we walked into the balcony.

"Much better. I still wake up with a stiff back but I hardly feel it the rest of the day."

"Good and did you apply the warm oil as I had instructed."

"Your orders are being carried out to the last letter.", I promised.

"Good.", she chuckled as I began my stretches.

"So no more crowd today?", I asked as walked towards the exit of the infirmary after an hour.

"Oh, they will land up in a while. Training schedule was postponed a bit today.", she said.

"Okay, enjoy your free time, Doctor. I'll see you tomorrow.", I said and walked out of the building.

I was strictly off the field for today. And I had no intention of testing Agent Kumar's patience. I was going to use the free reign I had been allotted patiently and then go running into the wild again once it was lifted off my shoulders.

"With nothing left to do, I sat in a garden under the shade of a huge banyan that was as old as the Academy. On the tree, stood a panqlet that read - This peepal tree has been planted on the Founding Day of this Academy by Independent India's first secret agent. May this always remind us of our roots."

"History everywhere you go.", I said to myself awed at the magnificence of the tree with its aerial roots hanging down. I smiled as I remembered the time I had grumbled to Snigdha about the uselessness of every Biology fact -

"I don't care, I will never care that the banyan tree has aerial roots hanging down like Batman. That it needs these roots to support its huge structure."

"Well, I'm going to be a doctor, Tisha, and trust me I am going to date a botanist for the sole purpose of him answering your doubts and leaving me the hell out of it."

I sat against the tree eagerly waiting for Sunday when we would get our phones back and I'd be able to talk to my friends.

I opened my bag and took out the sheet I had kept inside one of my notebooks to prevent it from getting creased.

Each character a set of multiple dots and dashes in front of it. A three-dot pause was the spacing between letters and a seven dot pause was for the space between words.

I took out a pen and started noting down each character around 5 times till I felt confident enough to encode it without having to refer to the manual. And sure enough, I managed to get four out of five characters absolutely correct. This victory was all the push I needed as I set to the task of completing the manual. Perhaps theory wasn't as boring as it sounded.

I started tapping the first ten characters with my fingers after I had got the hang of it.

"Morse code?", someone said and I looked up to find a 20 something guy with black track pants and a black hoodie with his hair disheveled and glasses covering up half his face. He had clearly jumped out of bed to attend class.

"Yeah, just starting with the characters.", I said showing him the manual.

"Agent Saxena?", he asked.

"The guy has got one hell of an aim.", I said nodding.

"Yeah, don't doze off the second time in his class, his aim tends to be almost perfect then.", he warned and took a side beside me flipping my manual.

"I'll keep that in mind."

"You'll be better to pay attention in his class. The guy is a legend in the communications department.", he said.

I raised my eyebrows. The professor didn't look anything like that.

"Yeah, he likes to keep a low profile. But the guy has invented some of the encrypting techniques used by our agents in crucial missions.", he said.

"Well, it would have helped if he'd start his class with that instead of Morse code. I mean it's available on the internet. Who even uses it anymore?"

"Well if you're stuck in prison, it is perfect for communicating with the other cellmates through piping or even walls."

"That helps.", I said sarcastically.

He laughed.