In truth, the test was quite demanding, but not impossible. You perhaps already know that Morse code is an international method used to transmit text by a series of dots and dashes. It doesn’t matter whether it is an open transmission or a clandestine one, all the text is encrypted into code and each unit of code consists of four sets of Arabic numerals. Given that Abing was unfamiliar with such a coding system, for the first test they permitted him to listen to a string of ten characters, perhaps about thirty seconds’ worth. This was in order for him to familiarize himself with the model. If during those thirty seconds he was unable to grasp the concept and distinguish its special characteristics, then it would have been impossible for him to take the actual test and listen to a whole string of codes. After he listened to the sample, our people set out to confuse him by playing eight different recordings one after the other, each with a different coded message; and again they only played a string of ten characters. When Abing had heard them, he shook his head first at one and then at the next. The ninth recording was the same as the sample he was given in the first place, just ten characters, but after the fourth, Abing stubbed out his cigarette and said: ‘That’s the one.’

He was quite right. That was the one.

Abing had won the first round.

The next rounds were done the same way as the first one – the tests were conducted according to the same principles, but the samples got shorter and shorter. So in the second round of tests, the sample was only nine characters, and one bit of code was taken off each time, so by the time he got to the tenth round, the sample consisted of only one character. Without any doubt the difficulty of telling the various messages apart increased massively as the sample got progressively shorter and the listening time decreased. But it didn’t seem difficult to Abing; all the tests were equally easy. From the first test to the last, none of them caused him any trouble, nor did he make a single mistake. Not only did he make no mistake; right from the very first exam he did not need to listen right to the end to make his decision. The fastest was the fifth round of tests: he just listened to the first character and then he clapped his hands and shouted, ‘Great! That’s the one!’

Everyone who was there that night was amazed and delighted!

10

Everyone in Unit 701 was eager for victory.