† The absence of war meant that for the moment there were not as many coded telegrams being sent back and forth.
2. A high-level cipher is like the main actor in a play: there has to be an understudy. When developing a high-level cipher, generally two are created: one for use, the other in reserve. But the essence of PURPLE was derived from Liseiwicz’s very own character; it was impossible for him to simultaneously create two ciphers. Furthermore, when he was constructing PURPLE he never once thought that it would become a high-level cipher. When he created it, it was as though he had researched and developed an entirely new language, a language that itself required considerable precision. But once X country decided to use PURPLE as a high-level cipher, they immediately determined that a reserve cipher would have to be created; this understudy was none other than BLACK.
3. Correct, as soon as he set foot in X country he was immediately whisked away to participate in the development of BLACK. But to be precise, he served as an observer of the work.
4. Strictly speaking, one man can only create one high-level cipher. His participation in the development of BLACK was as an observer, meaning that he was not directly engaged in the research. His role was to highlight clearly the special characteristics of PURPLE, to work in tandem with the researchers, to guide them away from making a simple replica of PURPLE. Sort of like a navigator. For instance, if PURPLE set its gaze upon the sky, then he would ensure that BLACK directed its attention towards burrowing into the ground. How it was to in fact burrow into the ground was for the actual researchers to determine.
5. Before they learned that Jinzhen had cracked PURPLE, the underlying structure of BLACK had already been completed — the two ciphers were about the same level of difficulty. Making them difficult is the primary aim of creating high-level ciphers; why else would the field of cryptography gather in the most talented and erudite of people if not because everyone wishes to confound and baffle their opponents? But, after learning that Jinzhen had deciphered PURPLE, he became adamant about the need to make revisions to BLACK. He had the distinct feeling that since Jinzhen had been able to crack PURPLE, he could do the same with BLACK. He knew this because he knew Jinzhen: he knew the type of person he was, and he appreciated his innate talent, a talent that only became more excited and aroused when confronted with a difficult and seemingly impenetrable problem — more determined to solve it. Nothing would stop him, not even death. If death would not stop him, then the only remaining option was to devise some means to thoroughly baffle and confuse him, to introduced manoeuvres that would challenge his entire way of thinking: this was the only way to defeat him. As a result, BLACK was revised, but not in a traditional manner. Rather, the cipher had become almost absurd; certain sections were extremely impenetrable, whilst others were incredibly easy: it was neither fish nor fowl but something nondescript. To use Liseiwicz’s own words, it was like a man who on the outside appears absolutely refined and exquisite, but underneath is wearing neither underpants nor socks.
6. You’re absolutely right,* but Jinzhen understood Liseiwicz’s mind too well. You could say that cracking PURPLE was akin to him and Liseiwicz sitting down to play a game of chess; he would not be distracted by Liseiwicz. Since he couldn’t be distracted, it was possible for him to go on to crack other ciphers. But BLACK was not broken in this manner.
7. I don’t agree with what you said:† after all, even if such a person existed there would have been no way that he could have accomplished everything himself, he must have relied upon what Jinzhen wrote in his notebook.
* The world of cryptography has an unwritten rule: an individual can either create ciphers or crack them! This is so because whatever path the person takes, either creating ciphers or deciphering them, that person’s heart and mind have already been given over to their work. However, the world does not allow two similar ciphers to exist.
† I told her that in the end, BLACK was not deciphered by Rong Jinzhen.
8. If you can, could you please tell me exactly what happened to Jinzhen?
9. I suppose what Liseiwicz said was correct.
10. He said, ‘Our lives were ruined by Jinzhen, but in the end he still destroyed himself.’
11. Jinzhen — this kind of person — could perhaps only be destroyed by himself; no one else would be able to accomplish it. Actually, both of them, Liseiwicz and Rong Jinzhen, were cursed by their fates: fate killed them. The only difference was that Jinzhen’s fate was not independent of itself; his fate was tied up with Liseiwicz’s destiny. But from Jinzhen’s perspective, Liseiwicz was simply his gifted teacher and that is all.
12. Let’s talk more again another day. When you come, please bring along the letters Liseiwicz wrote to Jinzhen. I would like to see them.The third time:
1. Yes, Liseiwicz was Weinacht.
2. This much is clear. At the time, he was a member of the Secret Service; how could he use his real name to play the role of a mathematician? A mathematician is someone in the public eye, but the nature of his real work would not allow for that. Besides which, in terms of professional ethics it would not be permitted. What kind of organization would allow you to take a high salary and then just carry on doing your own job?
3. Because he was only an observer on the team developing BLACK, he had the time and energy to engage in other research. In truth, he had always dreamt of working on artificial intelligence and I should say his theory on the binary nature of mathematical constants was of great importance in the development of computer technology. Why did he hope to persuade Jinzhen to leave China? It wasn’t because he was acting at the behest of certain people with certain political aims. No, he hoped that Jinzhen would remain overseas so that the both of them could collaborate on this artificial intelligence project.
4. You will have to think about this problem yourself;* I can give you no answer. In short, Liseiwicz was a scientist: in terms of politics, he was terribly naïve and so it was very easy for him to be wounded; it was also easy for him to be used. As for what you just mentioned — that he was a virulent anti-communist — that is a complete fabrication; I am sure that he harboured no such feelings.
5. Some of the circumstances are clear.† Both of these highlevel ciphers (PURPLE and BLACK) were cracked one after the other. The first, he (Liseiwicz) had created solely by himself, the second he had been a participant in. What is more, the person responsible for deciphering them both was his student. I was there. He did write so many letters — although to look at them they seemed to be an assortment of stratagems aimed at misleading their reader, in truth, who knows whether or not those riddles contained yet more secret information hidden inside them? The probability of deciphering a highly sophisticated cipher is extremely low, and now to see one person crack two of these ciphers in succession and do so incredibly quickly — well, ordinarily that would be impossible. The only way it could have happened was if someone were leaking secrets. But who? The greatest suspicion fell on him, on Liseiwicz. 6. We were put under strict house arrest after it was discovered that BLACK had been broken: that was in the second half of 1970. But even before then, starting around the time when PURPLE was cracked, we were being shadowed whenever we went out. Our telephone was also being monitored, and there were so many restrictions. In truth, it was as though we were under partial house arrest already.
7. In 1979, Liseiwicz passed away due to illness.
8. Ah yes, that was while we were still under house arrest. Every day we were together, every day we had to find things to talk about. That’s how I came to know so much about these things; it was during our period of house arrest that he told me everything. Before that, I knew very little.