Epilogue
"Mr B", said Ellie, "but that must be ..."
"Barquith!", finished Mike.
"You called," said Barquith ambling up the street. "Hello Noma, or can I call you Lauren now? Excellent job. Just send me an invoice and we'll settle up later."
Ellie looked at Mike. Mike looked at Ellie. They both looked at Barquith and the woman next to him. "What is going on?", Mike and Ellie chorused.
"Forgive and old man his foibles," said Barquith, "but I was so terribly bored and I thought up this little diversion to keep us all entertained."
"But you were attacked," said Mike.
"Ah yes, one of my best performances. Did I never tell you about my days on the stage? I was quite the actor"
"Certainly a better actor than a poet," whispered Mike.
"So all of this was an elaborate prank," said Ellie, her voice rising.
Barquith had the good grace to look a little embarrassed. "Uhm, yes," he said. Noma here is really an actress, who played the part brilliantly, I must say."
"She certainly had me convinced," added Ellie. "She was very good at being really annoying."
"That was certainly one of the perks of the job," said Noma (Lauren). "I'll be off now. Thanks for the gig Mr B. It was fun."
"Was any of it true?" asked Mike. "I was really looking forward to finding Turing's version of pyschobabble."
"Psychohistory," said Barquith gently. "All complete fiction I'm afraid."
"Where did you get the drums from though?" asked Mike.
"Oh, those really were a gift from Alan, "said Barquith.
"Thought they might have been," said Mike, who had been studying the still slightly soggy cylinder. "This one's got another hidden message on it."
"What?" exclaimed Barquith.
"Give that to me," said Ellie. She and Barquith started studying the drum more closely.
"Here we go again..." said Mike.
The code found in the cylinder is shown in the image below. Once you have found the message you should enter the 26th word.
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