‘So,’ said Chen rudely, ‘I suggest that you stop trying to bite off more than you can chew and settle down to working through the information and intelligence seriously, whereby you deal with actual concrete radio intercepts. Every message decrypted is another step forward, and I am sure that once we have reached a certain point, a chain reaction will be set off.’

Huang Yiyi said, ‘Of course if you now go on to decrypt another thousand messages, then you’ve cracked it. However, by the time you’ve done that, this cipher may well have long been taken out of use and the messages will have become irrelevant. As I just said, this one message text is not a goose that is going to lay golden eggs; and having decrypted one isn’t going to help us with the rest. This message is it: it’s a gander, which not only doesn’t lay eggs but also can’t turn into a phoenix. Just think about it, Chen: if it takes you a week to decrypt one message, how long is it going to take you to do one thousand?’

Chen said angrily, ‘Well, it’s better than your stupid carryings-on.’

Huang Yiyi raised her voice. ‘What do you mean by stupid carryings-on?’

Things were going from bad to worse, so I quickly started trying to calm them down. Huang Yiyi was clearly not going to let this one go at that, and said nastily, ‘You know, Comrade Chen, in the past your work might have been called cryptography, but now you’re nothing better than a high-level cryptanalyst.’

Chen was very upset. ‘What? I’m just a cryptanalyst? There are many, many cryptanalysts in this building – how come I have never seen one of them decrypt a cipher text? Haven’t you noticed them hard at work day after day, analysing messages and picking out cribs – though even then they often get them wrong.’

‘They are ordinary cryptanalysts; you are a high-level one.’

Chen was so furious that he bolted out of his chair and glared at her. ‘Humph. Many thanks for the information. Now it’s my turn to say something to you.’

‘Please do. I’m all ears.’

Chen ground his teeth and said, ‘If a silly little piece like you can crack RECOVERY …’

She looked at him with interest. ‘Then what?’

Chen glared at her, stretched out a hand, and said, ‘I’ll use this hand as a grill to cook a fish for you!’

Huang Yiyi laughed. ‘I’ll be waiting. I dare say the fish will be delicious, particularly with overtones of human flesh.’