Time Traveler
Vigenère is home and grants me admission. We are able to communicate in French with little difficulty. I tell him I am a scientist from England since that explains my accent and unusual appearance. Of course he would never believe that I have come from America more than 400 years in the future.
He is gracious and offers me wine, but I tell him I would prefer tea if he has any. I want to stay sharp. He sends his servant to make tea. He warns me that Protestants are not safe. He then launches into a discussion of Martin Luther. I suppose that is natural since he was secretary to the French envoy to the Diet of Worms and now with the massacre fresh in history the Protestant problem is severe. I tell him I am confident I will be safe. The tea arrives and he asks me about my unusual armor. He is referring to the time machine. I tell him it is an invention of mine and will keep me safe from attackers. This is true in a way since I can escape with the push of a button. But I tell him I interested in his invention, the Vigenère cipher.
"Ah, but it is not mine, really. Bellaso described it in 1553. I merely improved it. In fact, I have devised another, stronger cipher called the Autokey. Here, I'll show you." First he writes out an example of the so-called Vigenère cipher.
MWINC MJERO MQXLP OHRTT TKSMX MTYIP AWSIE BUSPA TXWAX GDFLP YXISZ VPERJ DRCAY BTYIW MVXOT BGILL QVWEO MVEFP UPICZ UPIEW THHUC WB
I had trouble deciphering it at first. He then showed me the new Autokey cipher. He tells me instead of using a fixed repeating keyword this one uses a keyword at the beginning and enciphers the same way as the Bellaso cipher, but after that, uses the deciphered text as the key to the remaining text. He provides an example for me in English since he realizes my French is not so good.
JYPAE IYTAI JSYFG WKJKC CILMI SQFHZ RWAUZ PWGXV UMJHI EWKMS ZOGLY AOJOO QUA
We drank our tea and talked about cryptography for hours. I avoided the topic of religion, although it was much on his mind. I considered touring Paris and asked him what sights or features would be most interesting. He recommended several museums and restaurants but warned me there was an epidemic of cholera going through the city. I figured if I ate nothing that wasn't thoroughly cooked and drank only wine and tea I would be safe, but I did not try to explain to him about microbes. The notion that we have tiny creatures in our stomachs and our blood would be too fantastical for him. Perhaps I should forgo touring Paris. I could visit a safer place that I've always wanted to visit, like the South Pacific.
He is gracious and offers me wine, but I tell him I would prefer tea if he has any. I want to stay sharp. He sends his servant to make tea. He warns me that Protestants are not safe. He then launches into a discussion of Martin Luther. I suppose that is natural since he was secretary to the French envoy to the Diet of Worms and now with the massacre fresh in history the Protestant problem is severe. I tell him I am confident I will be safe. The tea arrives and he asks me about my unusual armor. He is referring to the time machine. I tell him it is an invention of mine and will keep me safe from attackers. This is true in a way since I can escape with the push of a button. But I tell him I interested in his invention, the Vigenère cipher.
"Ah, but it is not mine, really. Bellaso described it in 1553. I merely improved it. In fact, I have devised another, stronger cipher called the Autokey. Here, I'll show you." First he writes out an example of the so-called Vigenère cipher.
MWINC MJERO MQXLP OHRTT TKSMX MTYIP AWSIE BUSPA TXWAX GDFLP YXISZ VPERJ DRCAY BTYIW MVXOT BGILL QVWEO MVEFP UPICZ UPIEW THHUC WB
I had trouble deciphering it at first. He then showed me the new Autokey cipher. He tells me instead of using a fixed repeating keyword this one uses a keyword at the beginning and enciphers the same way as the Bellaso cipher, but after that, uses the deciphered text as the key to the remaining text. He provides an example for me in English since he realizes my French is not so good.
JYPAE IYTAI JSYFG WKJKC CILMI SQFHZ RWAUZ PWGXV UMJHI EWKMS ZOGLY AOJOO QUA
We drank our tea and talked about cryptography for hours. I avoided the topic of religion, although it was much on his mind. I considered touring Paris and asked him what sights or features would be most interesting. He recommended several museums and restaurants but warned me there was an epidemic of cholera going through the city. I figured if I ate nothing that wasn't thoroughly cooked and drank only wine and tea I would be safe, but I did not try to explain to him about microbes. The notion that we have tiny creatures in our stomachs and our blood would be too fantastical for him. Perhaps I should forgo touring Paris. I could visit a safer place that I've always wanted to visit, like the South Pacific.