THE LAST GOOD WAR: A Novel by Paul Wonnacott

coming along splendidly. I'm afraid that we've left you alone with the most frustrating job.”
    “Somebody's got to do it. Sooner or later, we'll make a breakthrough. It may be something very simple. It makes sense for someone to sift through the rubbish for clues. It makes sense for me to do it. I don't have the skills to help with the machine. I've been trying a new system—start off each morning with a list of possible tricks the Germans may be using. It gives my day some structure. It also gives me an illusion of progress.” Anna smiled wryly—“most evenings I've succeeded in my task for the day, working through the whole list. Unfortunately, everything on it is crossed out.”
    “I think the time has come for us to take a long-run view.”
    Anna was surprised. They needed results. Hitler had seized Austria; the threat to Poland was growing. Marian paused. Anna waited for him to finish. After a few moments, he continued.
    “I think—we think—that it might be a good idea for you to take an extended vacation, say six weeks.”
    “Six weeks?” Anna was astonished.
    “You've been slaving away, almost nonstop, for more than a year.” True, thought Anna; she had taken only the one vacation, over Christmas. “Anybody can get overtired and stale. Spend two weeks relaxing, sleeping ‘til noon. Then have fun for a month; you're young. When you come back, you'll be refreshed. That's when you get new ideas.”
    Anna couldn't help but smile. It was good advice, but, from what she had heard, Marian was careless in following it himself. Just before he left on his last vacation, one of his historian friends had given him an encoded letter written in 1904 by Pilsudski, who was trying to rally support for an independent Poland. The letter was addressed to the Japanese, who were at the time embroiled in a conflict with Russia—one of the powers occupying Poland. Marian said he was too busy, but made the mistake of taking the letter with him. It wasn't much of a vacation. He behaved oddly, pacing back and forth in an upstairs bedroom. When he got home, he presented his friend with the deciphered message. He also gave his friend gentle, but firm, instructions: no more encoded letters .
    Marian continued. “Keep a note pad with you; you never know when your subconscious may throw up an inspiration. But make your notes obscure—if anyone sees the notebook, they shouldn't be able to figure out that you're working on a decoding project. Throw in a few distracters—equations on the velocity of weather balloons, and stuff like that, which makes it look as though you really are working on meteorology.”
    It was an offer Anna couldn't refuse. She realized just how exhausted she was—and how marvelous it would be to have a social life again. In retrospect, even Zbig seemed attractive. But that was an illusion. Whenever she had begun to feel the least bit serious about him, she couldn't help but think back to her earlier boyfriend, Ryk. He was so much more fun—that secret plane ride and all. She wondered what he was doing. Odd. She was sure that they'd both been in love, but never at the same time. Perhaps she should get in touch with him during her six weeks off. Some day, their timing might be right.
    Now that Marian offered her a holiday, she couldn't wait to escape the social wasteland known as the “Meteorology Project.” Social gatherings were rare; people were completely consumed by the Enigma puzzle. The few eligible men seemed to shy away because of her senior position. And the demands of her job had cut her off from her college friends. Oh, well, she sighed. She didn't have many illusions when she took the job. Or did she?
    She spent the first week at her family home, west of Warsaw. Marian was right; she did sleep in every day ‘til noon. Then she was ready for the fun part. She was off to visit her first cousin, Krystyna, who was also in her late teens and attended the University of Warsaw, where the fall term