The Imitation Game Page #4

---

to the bottom of the ocean.

Our daily failure was announced

at the chimes of midnight.

And the sound would haunt

our unwelcome dreams.

Tick, tock.

Tick.

Damn it!

- Whatjust happened?

- Midnight.

All the work we've done today

is useless.

Oh, but don't worry, we've a few hours

before tomorrow's messages

start flooding in,

then we start all over again.

- From scratch.

- I'm so sick of this.

Four hours rewiring

his plugboard matrix.

Three hours yesterday

on his rotor positions.

- Don't go over there.

- Look, John, no.

If this job wasn't already impossible

before, it bloody well is now.

Hugh, don't.

Damn you and your useless machine.

My machine is how we are going to win.

Really?

This machine?

Are you talking about

this bloody machine?

- Hugh!

- Hugh, don't! Don't!

- Stop!

- You arrogant bastard.

You could help us.

You could make this go faster

but you won't

Get off.

He's right, Alan.

There are actual soldiers out there

trying to win an actual war.

My brother protects

food convoys in the Navy.

My cousins fly RAF patrols.

All my friends, they're all making

a difference while we just

while away our days producing nothing.

Because of you.

My machine will work.

Come on, Peter.

Okay.

Joan!

Could you have made a bit more noise?

I'm not quite sure my landlady woke up.

- Oh, sorry.

- Oh, uh, look.

I think that's the best I can do.

No male visitors after dark.

- So, what did you bring me?

- Erm...

- There you go.

- Here.

Some men try flowers, you know.

These are actual decrypted Enigma

messages direct from Nazi High Command.

"0600 hours, weather today is clear.

"Rain in the evening. Heil Hitler"

Well, clearly that vital piece of

information is going to win us the war.

t's the relationship

between the encrypted

and decrypted messages

that interests me.

Can we find a clue here

that we can build into Christopher?

- Who's Christopher?

- Oh, he's my machine.

You named him?

Is that a bad name?

No.

No, never mind.

Are you trying to build

your universal machine?

I read your paper at university.

- Is it already being taught?

- No.

No. No, I was precocious.

So, you theorised a machine

that could solve any problem?

It didn't just do one thing,

it did everything?

It wasn't just programmable,

it was re-programmable?

Mmm.

Is that your idea behind Christopher?

Human brains can compute large sums

very quickly, even Hugh can do that,

but I want Christopher to be smarter.

To make a calculation

and then to determine what to do next.

Like a person does.

Think Of it.

An electrical brain.

A digital computer.

Digital computer?

Hmm.

What's going on?

What's happening?

- No, no, no. Don't touch that.

- Stay back.

That's my desk.

Thank goodness. I'd hate to think

we were searching the wrong one.

What are you doing? What's going on?

There is a spy in Bletchley Park.

The Navy thinks that one of us

is a Soviet double agent, Alan.

Why?

Our boys intercepted this

on its way to Moscow.

Look familiar?

It's a Beale cipher.

Encrypted with a phrase from a book

or a poem or...

You...

You don't seriously think I did this,

do you?

Double agents are such bastards.

Isolated Ioners.

No attachments to friends or family.

Arrogant.

Know anybody like that?

Hmm. I know you don't like me

but that does not make me a Soviet spy.

Nothing out of the ordinary, sir.

Really? Hmm, all right.

The Home Office

may be protecting you now

but sooner or later,

you will make a mistake.

And I needn't bother firing you.

They will hang you for treason.

Hello.

I heard about what happened.

It's all the girls in Hut 3

can talk about.

I have an idea of what

might cheer you up.

So, because no letter can be

encoded as itself,

there's already a handful of settings

that can be rejected at the outset.

- Is that your team?

- Uh, yes.

- Shall we say hello?

- No.

Hello.

I told you not to do that.

Alan.

- Uh, Hugh, hello.

- Didn't know you drank.

He doesn't, really.

He just sort of sips at the foam.

I'll let you

into a little secret, Miss...

- Clarke.

- Miss Clarke.

- Please.

- Foam's my favourite part, too.

- Is it really?

- Come and join us for a drink.

- We'll be there in a moment.

- Miss Clarke.

Well, he likes you.

- Yes.

- You, uh...

You got him to like you.

- Yes.

- Why?

Because I'm a woman in a man's job

and I don't have the luxury

of being an arse.

Alan, it doesn't matter

how smart you are,

Enigma is always smarter.

If you really want to solve your puzzle,

then you're going to need

all the help you can get

and they are not going to help you

if they do not like you.

What are those?

- Apples.

- No.

Oh, they really are. Um, I've

Well, Miss Clarke...

Joan, actually, um,

said that it would be nice

if I was to bring you all something.

So here we are.

- Thank you.

- I like apples.

My best to Miss Clarke.

Uh, there are two people in a wood

and, um, they run into a bear.

The first person gets down

on his knees to pray.

The second person

starts lacing up his boots.

The first person asks the second person,

"My dear friend, what are you doing?

You can't outrun a bear."

To which the second person responds,

"l don't have to,

I only have to outrun you."

I'll be with Christopher

if anyone needs me.

If we assume that the

square root of two is a rational number,

then we can say that

the square root of two is A over B,

where A and B are whole numbers

and B is not zero.

- Mr Turing, passing notes, are we?

- No, sir.

Only Turing would pass notes

written in gibberish.

All right, gentlemen.

Do not forget your algebra

over the break.

Have a pleasant holiday.

And we'll resume your irrationals

when you return.

Mmm.

But Euler's Theorem

gives you that immediately.

Erm...

Here, look at this.

If you run the wires across

the plugboard matrix diagonally,

it will eliminate rotor positions

500 times faster.

That's, uh,

actually not an entirely terrible idea.

I think that was Alan for "thank you".

- That's my sandwich.

- You don't like sandwiches.

Are you nervous?

What happens now?

Well, it should work out

the day's Enigma settings.

How long?

The German Army

has fanned out across Europe,

from Poland to Serbia,

Lithuania to Denmark, Norway to France.

The Nazi flag now flies from more

than two dozen national capitals.

Their campaign mounts in fury

as a free Europe crumbles.

Oh, it's still going.

- Good morning, sir.

- Morning, Margaret.

Gears keep spinning on and on.

Rotors on and on.

it's endless.

- With no result in sight?

- No.

Turing.

Turing, open the bloody door.

No. No.

Open the door or we'll break it down.

I can't let you in.

I cannot let you interfere.

Go on, then.

Turn that thing off!

No. Don't, please.

Please, please, please!

No. No, don't! No, no!

Well, then, it seems that your great

big expensive machine doesn't work.

It does.

Wonderful.

So you've broken Enigma, then?

It was just...

Rate this script:4.0 / 3 votes