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turning to page one
A few minutes later, Alan sits alone in a cluttered office. He stares ahead blankly at the empty chair behind the desk. Waits.
COMMANDER DENNISTON (O.S.)
— What are you doing here?
Alan turns with a start.
ALAN TURING
The girl told me to wait —
COMMANDER DENNISTON
In my office? She tell you to help
yourself to a cup of tea while you
were here?
ALAN TURING
No. She didn’t.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
She didn’t tell you what a joke is
then either, I gather.
ALAN TURING
Was she supposed to?
COMMANDER DENNISTON
For Christ’s sake — who are you?
ALAN TURING
Alan Turing.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
(looking at papers on his desk)
Turing... Let me see... Oh, Turing.
The mathematician.
ALAN TURING
Correct.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
How ever could I have guessed?
ALAN TURING
You didn’t. It was written on your
paper.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
... King’s College, Cambridge. Says
here you were a bit of a prodigy in
the maths department.
ALAN TURING
I’m not sure I can evaluate that,
Mr... ?
COMMANDER DENNISTON
How old are you, Mr. Turing?
ALAN TURING
27.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
How old were you when you became a
fellow at Cambridge?
ALAN TURING
24.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
And how old were you when you
published this paper here, that has
a title I can barely understand,
which apparently got you this
fellowship?
ALAN TURING
23.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
And you don’t think that qualifies
you as a certified prodigy?
ALAN TURING
Rather depends on how old my peers
were when they did comparable work,
doesn’t it?
COMMANDER DENNISTON
And how old were they?
ALAN TURING
Newton discovered the binomial
theorem at 22. Einstein published
four papers that changed the world
at 26. As far as I can tell I’ve
barely made par.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
You’re serious, aren’t you?
ALAN TURING
Would you prefer I make a joke?
COMMANDER DENNISTON
Not sure you know what those are.
ALAN TURING
It hardly seems fair that that
would be a requirement for
employment here, Mr...?
COMMANDER DENNISTON
Commander Denniston, of the Royal
Navy. All right, Mr. Turing, I’ll
bite. Why do you want to work for
His Majesty’s government?
ALAN TURING
Oh, I don’t, really.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
(suspicious)
Are you a bleeding pacifist,
Turing?
ALAN TURING
I’m agnostic about violence.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
But you realize that 600 miles from
London there’s this nasty chap
named Hitler who’s looking to
engulf Europe in tyranny?
ALAN TURING
Politics is not my area of
expertise.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
I believe you’ve just set a record
for the shortest job interview in
British military history.
ALAN TURING
Mother says that I can be off-
putting sometimes. On account of
being the best mathematician in the
world.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
You’re the best mathematician in
the world?
ALAN TURING
Oh. Yes.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
... Do you know how many people
I’ve rejected for this program?
ALAN TURING
No.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
That’s right. Because we’re a top
secret program. But I’ll tell you,
just because we’re friends, that
last week I rejected one of our
great nation’s top linguists, knows
German better than Bertolt Brecht.
ALAN TURING
I don’t speak German.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
What?
ALAN TURING
I don’t. Speak German.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
How the bloody hell are you
supposed to decrypt German
communications if you don’t, oh, I
don’t know, speak German?
ALAN TURING
I’m quite excellent at crossword
puzzles.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
(calling off)
MARGARET!
ALAN TURING
The German codes are a puzzle. A
game. Just like any other game.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
MARGARET! Where are you?!
ALAN TURING
I’m very good at games. Puzzles.
And I think this is the hardest
puzzle in the world.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
MARGARET!?!
(beat)
For the love of... This is a joke,
obviously.
ALAN TURING
I’m afraid I can’t make jokes,
Commander Denniston.
And for a split second, Denniston actually smiles.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
Have a pleasant trip back to
Cambridge, Professor.
ALAN TURING
Enigma.
At the mention of this word Denniston looks suddenly serious.
SECRETARY (”MARGARET”)
(popping head in)
You called for me?
He WAVES HER AWAY, entirely focused on what Alan just said.
ALAN TURING
(after she leaves)
... That’s what you’re doing here.
The top secret program at
Bletchley. You’re trying to break
the German Enigma machine.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
What makes you think that?
ALAN TURING
It’s the greatest encryption device
in history, and the Germans use it
for all major communications.
If the Allies broke Enigma — well,
this would turn into a very short
war indeed. Of course you’re
working on it. But you also haven’t
got anywhere. If you had, you
wouldn’t be hiring cryptographers
out of University. You need me a
lot more than I need you. I’d just
as easily go work for the Germans,
frankly, but they simply don’t have
anything this good to work on. Our
mathematicians aren’t as impressive
as theirs. With one significant
exception. I like solving problems,
Commander. And Enigma is the most
difficult problem in the world.
COMMANDER DENNISTON
Enigma isn’t difficult. It’s
impossible. The Americans. The
French. The Russians. The Germans.
Everyone thinks Enigma is
unbreakable.
ALAN TURING
Goody! Let me try and we’ll know
for sure.
The men stare at each other. Neither blinks.