"It's not exactly the Daily Planet is it", said Mike as he and Ellie looked up at the offices of the Manchester Examiner. The building was in one of those parts of the city that some would say was "coming up", but this part had quite a way to go.

"Are you even sure that this is the right place?," said Ellie.

"It's what it says on the card," replied Mike, "and Noma geotags all her chirps. Most of them come from around here, see." He held up his phone to show Ellie a map of the Manchester streets with a large dot flashing over their location. "OK. We walk in, grab the drum and then get out."

The two children walked up to the solid front door of the building and looked around for a knocker or a bell. A tiny piece of faded paper was sellotaped to the door: Manchester Examiner: Please come round the back.

"That doesn't sound promising," said Mike. He and Ellie carefully walked along the narrow alley at the side of the building and found a fire exit propped open by an empty plastic bottle of value cola. "I'm not convinced that this is a totally professional establishment," sniffed Ellie.

"Come on," said Mike, who was already through the door and half-way up the stairs. Ellie raced after him. At the top of the stairs they found themselves in a large room full of desks and about twenty people each furiously typing into computers. Large TVs on the walls were screening news channels and showing live internet feeds.

"This is more impressive than I was expecting," admitted Ellie. "There is just so much information."

"Hoi. What do you want?" a tall woman was standing in front of the pair and looking at the suspiciously. "The TVs are all loaded with paint bombs that will explode if you try and take them off the walls. It's not worth stealing them."

"Stealing! Huumph. Who do you think we are?" exclaimed Ellie.

"We're here to see Noma de Plume?" said Mike producing the business card from the pocket of his hoodie. "She wanted to interview us for a story"

"Noma," said the woman, "I should have known. Always interviewing the waifs and strays. Back left." She jerked her head to indicate a desk in the darkest corner of the room and furthest away from the TVs.

Noma was sitting at the desk staring at the computer screen a far away look on her face. "Hello," said Ellie. Noma jumped and let out a small yelp. "Sorry," said Ellie, "I didn't mean to scare you." "No problem," said Noma. "Errr... Is Mike with you? I'd really like his insight for the story that I'm writing."

"I'm here," said Mike, appearing from behind Ellie. "What can I do for you?" As Mike started talking to Noma, Ellie had a careful look around the desk. There it was. The drum was wedged under a stack of paper and Ellie couldn't grab it without the whole stack falling down.

"Noma," said Ellie, "I really need the toilet. Can you show me where it is please? I've got a terrible sense of direction."

"Oh, alright," said Noma. "Mike, I won't be a sec."

When Ellie and Noma returned Mike was no where to be seen. "Said he had somewhere to be and ran out," shouted the tall woman from over the office. "Well," said Ellie, "I'd better be off as well. Thanks for your time." She rushed down the stairs and nearly ran headlong into Mike who was waiting outside with a grin and the drum.

"Quick. Let's get out of here before she notices it's missing."

"Barquith," shouted Ellie and Mike. "Are you in here?"

"Behind the desk," came the feeble reply. Ellie gasped when she saw Barquith collapsed on the floor, holding his hand to a nasty cut on his forehead. Mike and Ellie helped their friend into his chair, put a steaming cup of tea into his hands and waited to hear his story.

"I don't know what happened," said Barquith. "I was working at my desk. I heard somebody come in and then I woke up on the floor. They must have knocked me out."

"The bad news is that the box is gone," said Mike. "The good news ia that we found the drum in that reporter's office." He pulled the drum from his pocket. "Now let's see what's under the cover." Mike popped the cover from the drum and pulled out a piece of paper.

"It's ripped," said Mike. "and part of it is missing."

"I think that there is still enough here for us to work on though," said Ellie.

Below is the ripped scrap of paper. It contains a secret message. Once you have found the message, you should enter the 24th word.

Alan Turing Cryptography Competition 2020 is organised by the The Department of Mathematics at The University of Manchester.
© The University of Manchester 2012–2020, All Rights Reserved
Contact us | Privacy notice