2012/5a.plaintext

   1 Dear Charles,
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   3 Much is now apparent to me. My Uncle’s work for British Intelligence explains the gaps in his history, and if indeed Tiberius found himself caught up in a conspiracy beyond his power to control then perhaps his death was not that of a coward but, just possibly, the result of foul play.
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   5 Tiberius implies that the Fabulists were involved in my injury and if he is correct then for the first time since my evacuation from the Battlefield I have a new enemy to find and to fight. I swore during the long weeks of my treatment in the field hospital at Etaples that I would never bear arms again. My nurse, Miss Brittain, urged me to take courage, but all bravery was gone, dissolved by the burning pain of the corrosive gas. Now I feel a new fire, the anger stirred in me by Uncle Tiberius’s account. Reigniting my old fighting spirit and I have decided to take on the investigation of the Fabulists myself. You say that my enemies may still be active in London so I will embark on the next steamer to the City. Could I ask you to please arrange accommodation for me? I will telegraph my travel plans.
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   7 By the way the cypher used by Tiberius in this text was devilishly difficult to decrypt, but since we now know that he was trained in cryptology we might expect future chapters to be increasingly hard to decypher. I conducted my own research and discovered that this type was first broken by Charles Babbage. To save you time I will tell you that the key has length three.
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   9 Yours sincerely,
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  11 Nicholas