If it were possible for one to choose one’s own destiny, then frankly speaking I wouldn’t have chosen the path my life has taken. It is a lonely, solitary career, forever in the shadows. It twists and warps your character; it strangles you. I remember clearly the night I was escorted away from S University by the men from headquarters. I remember sitting on a train for hours, then in the middle of the night the train stopped at some unmarked station. There was no nearby village, no shops, nothing – it looked like a desolate and deserted station in the middle of nowhere. At the station we got into an unmarked jeep and began driving into the darkness. Finally, the man who climbed in after me offered me a drink of water; he seemed to be full of concern for my welfare. God knows what he put in it, but whatever it was, it knocked me out completely. When I awoke, I was in a cold and cheerless barrack courtyard: the secret training ground for future cryptographers. There were five of us in total to be trained, four men and one woman. For the first month they taught us how to ‘forget’. The aim was to forget who we had been, our pasts. This was followed by a month’s training on how to conceal and protect secrets. Finally, we had three months of professional instruction. This was how half a year passed, in an atmosphere of secrecy and tension. Then we were removed from that place, with our eyes blindfolded. I still don’t know where it is … East? West? South? North? I haven’t a clue, I only know that it was somewhere deep in a forest, an almost primeval woodland.