The Clockmaker's Cipher

Chapter 1: The Clock Shop

Inside Kunst Uhren, dust films the glass of a hundred clocks, and a great chronometer on the counter groans like a man with a stomach ache.

⟨Character 1⟩: This wall clock is dead. The mainspring is snapped, and the escapement is worn smooth. I can fix it, but it will cost you two coupons and a week of my patience. Leave it on the counter. And do not breathe on the other clocks, they are temperamental.

⟨Character 2⟩: ⟨Character 1⟩, you are frightening the customer. Ignore him, he has been like this since 1933. I am ⟨Character 2⟩. I sort the coupons, I clean, I cook, and I keep this shop from collapsing. Your paperwork is in order? Good. Then we will not have a problem.

⟨Character 3⟩: He is not frightening, he is honest. It is refreshing. Most people here lie about everything, including the time. I am ⟨Character 3⟩, I draw, I eat, and I make messes. This is my diary. It has a lock. Do not ask what is inside.

⟨Character 4⟩: I am fixing this pocket watch. See? I almost have the screw. No, wait, it rolled under the counter. ⟨Character 8⟩, can you find it? No, you are a ⟨role⟩, you cannot read screws. That is fine. I will find it after lunch.

⟨Character 7⟩ the husky paces a tight circuit by the door, nails clicking. ⟨Character 8⟩, the German shepherd, does not move from his spot, his eyes fixed on ⟨Character 1⟩’s hands.

⟨Character 1⟩: Bring that clock into the back room. The customer is gone. I want to see what is inside before the dust gets into my lungs. Do not touch it, ⟨Character 3⟩. I know that look. You want to take it apart. Not today.

⟨Character 2⟩: You are not the only one who can see a thing. I have been staring at that clock for an hour. The back panel has been opened before. The screws are mismatched. Someone was in a hurry. Be careful, ⟨Character 1⟩.

⟨Character 4⟩: What if it is a secret compartment? Like in the games. You press a button and a little door opens and there is treasure. Or a map. Or a tiny sandwich.

⟨Character 3⟩: A tiny sandwich, ⟨Character 4⟩? Really? If there is anything in there, it is money or a note or something boring. People hide boring things. I would hide a sketch of a ⟨role⟩ riding a bicycle. That would be worth finding.

⟨Character 1⟩: Enough. The back panel is coming off. Hold the lamp steady, ⟨Character 2⟩. ⟨Character 3⟩, stop breathing down my neck. ⟨Character 4⟩, put that screwdriver down before you lose an eye. There. It is open. And there is nothing but dust and a folded piece of paper.

A slip of paper falls onto the workbench. ⟨Character 1⟩ snatches it, unfolds it, and reads. His face does not change, but his hand tightens.

⟨Character 2⟩: What is it? You are not hiding it, I can see you are hiding it. Give it to me. I am your wife, not a stranger. I have the right to know what falls out of a clock in my own shop.

⟨Character 1⟩: It is a letter. In German. And a list of numbers. A cipher, maybe. The letter says “Save me. I am in the basement of the old textile factory on Oranienburger Strasse. I have information. Dr. Elias Stein.” That is all. I am going to burn it.

⟨Character 3⟩: Burn it? Are you serious? That is a person writing for help. Dr. Elias Stein. A doctor. In a basement. We cannot just burn that. I want to read it. Let me see the numbers. I am good at puzzles. You always said so.

⟨Character 4⟩: Who is Dr. Stein? Why is he in a basement? Is he hiding? Is it a game? If it is a game, I want to play. I am good at hiding. I hid in the coat closet for an hour once. Nobody found me.

A knock at the door, sharp and quick. Everyone freezes. In the shop window, the silhouette of a man in a long coat, and the cold shine of a pistol holster.

Kessler: Good morning. I am Officer Kessler. I have a watch that needs repair. It belonged to my father. The crystal is cracked. I trust you can fix it. This is a respectable shop, yes? You have a permit for the steel and the tools? I am sure you do.

⟨Character 1⟩: Yes. We have permits. All of the permits. The watch will be ready in three days. Leave it on the counter. We are very busy. Good day.

Kessler: Three days will be fine. I will be back. Keep it safe. You never know what might fall out of an old clock. A good craftsman knows where the broken parts are. Do you not agree, Herr Daler?

⟨Character 2⟩: He is gone. Look at this. The back of the watch. A Star of David, scratched into the silver, very faint. That is not his father’s watch. Why would he leave it? ⟨Character 1⟩, why would an SS officer leave that with us? My hands are cold. I do not like any of this.

Chapter 2: The Coupons

One bare bulb over the table in the attic apartment. Four heads bent close. ⟨Character 5⟩ sleeps on the rag pile in the corner, and ⟨Character 6⟩ is curled on the newspapers by the stove.

⟨Character 1⟩: The numbers are a grid cipher. It took me two hours and I am not proud of the time. The message is real. Dr. Stein was a physicist. The letter says he knows how the new weapon works, the one they are building at Peenemunde. He wants to trade the knowledge for a way out. He needs travel papers. Forged coupons.

⟨Character 2⟩: No. Absolutely not. I will not have my children in the same room as a piece of paper that could hang us all. You know what they do to families who forge coupons. They do not hang the father first. They hang us together. Burn the letter, ⟨Character 1⟩. Tonight.

⟨Character 3⟩: And if we do nothing, what happens to Dr. Stein? He is in a basement, and someone already knows he is there, or the letter would not be in a clock. We are the only ones who saw it. That means we are supposed to do something. I am not saying I am brave. I am saying I am already in this room, so I might as well be useful.

⟨Character 4⟩: I do not understand the weapon part. But a man is in a basement, and we are not in a basement. So we should let him out. That is the whole thing, right? Also, I am very good at stamping. I stamped my report card once and nobody noticed for a week.

⟨Character 1⟩: Fine. Fine. ⟨Character 3⟩, you copy the stamps. Your hand is steadier than mine, and the ink matches the old official green. ⟨Character 4⟩, you hold the lamp and you do not touch the ink. ⟨Character 2⟩, you keep the spare blanks. We will make six coupons. Six is enough for a man to cross one border.

⟨Character 3⟩ bends over the table, copying the eagle and the small square letters of the stamp. Her hand trembles, then steadies. ⟨Character 4⟩ leans in with the lamp. His elbow catches the ink dish.

⟨Character 2⟩: ⟨Character 4⟩! The ink. It is on the corner. Give it here, I have a rag. Do not move, do not move, I have it. It is only the margin. It is fine. It is fine. Look at me, ⟨Character 4⟩. It is fine.

⟨Character 4⟩: Sorry. I am sorry. I was trying to help. I always do this. I break things and then I am sorry. I will sit in the corner and not touch anything.

⟨Character 3⟩: Sit where you are, little brother. You held the lamp perfectly. The ink was my fault, I put it too close to the edge. See? The coupons are done. Six blue wings of false trust. ⟨Character 1⟩, hide them before I start thinking about all the ways this goes wrong.

⟨Character 1⟩ goes to the loose floorboard by the window. It is empty. He lifts the board, checks the gap, checks his coat pocket, then slowly straightens. ⟨Character 3⟩ has gone very quiet.

⟨Character 3⟩: I took them. I know. I am an idiot. No, do not look at me like that, I am not an idiot, I took them to show Ilse. She sits behind me in class and she is nice and she told me about her brother who is in the Hitler Youth and I wanted to see if she would think it was exciting. It was a mistake. I am sorry. I am so sorry.

⟨Character 2⟩: A mistake? You gave forged papers to a girl whose brother walks in those parades? We are dead. We are already dead. I told you. I told you, ⟨Character 1⟩. This is what comes of acting.

⟨Character 1⟩: If her brother has them, then he would have given them to his leader by now. No knock on the door yet. So maybe he has not seen them. Maybe Ilse is frightened and hiding them. We do not know. We never know.

A knock. Three soft, polite raps. Through the frosted glass, the long coat.

Kessler: Forgive me. I forgot my gloves on your counter. I thought I would save you a trip. This is a fine room. Many books. A diary, red cover. I see a drawing of a clock. It has a little door in the back of it. That is a clever thing to draw. Good night, Herr Daler. Good night, Frau Daler.

⟨Character 2⟩: He looked at the table. At the ink smudge. At the diary. He did not take a single thing. Do you understand? A loyal officer sees a smudge of official green ink and a child’s drawing of a clock with a hidden compartment and he says nothing. He is not hunting us. He is waiting for something. People, ⟨Character 1⟩. I think he is waiting for people.

⟨Character 1⟩: Then we do not wait. We go tonight. Oranienburger Strasse. We take nothing that can be traced. ⟨Character 4⟩ stays home. I am sorry, ⟨Character 4⟩, but you stay. ⟨Character 8⟩ stays with you. ⟨Character 7⟩ can come, she is worse than a guard dog for stealth.

Later, in the dark street, three figures walk toward the textile factory, and behind them, twenty paces back, a small boy and a German shepherd keep to the shadows. The factory gate is patrolled by one soldier, who stops and lights a cigarette, his rifle slung loose across his chest.

Chapter 3: The Wire

The guard's cigarette end glows by the factory gate. ⟨Character 1⟩ picks up a pebble and tosses it down the alley. The guard walks toward the sound. Two shadows slip through the side door.

⟨Character 1⟩: Count to thirty. If we are not back by the time you have counted thirty twice, take ⟨Character 4⟩ and go home. Do not look for us. Just go. I mean it, ⟨Character 2⟩.

⟨Character 2⟩: I have never once done what you told me to do, and tonight is not the night I start. Twenty-nine. Twenty-eight. Go. Go.

The basement smells of wet wool and rust. In the corner, a thin man with a grey beard sits against a pipe, a blanket over his knees. He looks up and does not seem surprised.

Elias: You came. I thought the letter was a fool's hope. I am Elias. You have three minutes before the guard checks the furnace. There is a panel by my feet, a loose brick. Behind it, a paper with a code. It is how to reach me after tonight. Take it and go, and do not stop to be kind to me. There is no time for kind.

⟨Character 1⟩: There is always time to be kind. It is the only thing that costs nothing and weighs a great deal. Take my arm. ⟨Character 3⟩, the panel.

They come out into the street. A figure steps from the shadow of a lamppost. A pistol, silver in the low light. A long coat.

Kessler: Stop. Hands where I can see them. Also, Herr Daler, you have a boy and a ⟨role⟩ twenty paces behind you, and the boy is not as quiet as he thinks he is.

⟨Character 1⟩: If you shoot, you shoot me first. My daughter walks back to her mother. That is the only order I will take from you.

Kessler: I am not going to shoot you. Look at my hands. Both of them. Empty. Dr. Stein. You taught me Planck's constant in the winter of 1931, and you told me I was the brightest in the room, and I have been failing your class ever since. I joined to keep my mother alive. I have been trying to find a way to help for four years. This is the way. There is a truck at the end of the street. Go. Now.

⟨Character 3⟩: And you? If they find out you helped a Jew leave Berlin, what happens to you? The same thing, or worse?

Kessler: Worse, I expect. But I am tired of the sound of my own boots. Go, girl. Cover your tracks. And burn nothing you might need. Time is the only thing I ever trusted, and it has a way of settling accounts.

The truck rattles north through dark streets. Dr. Stein sits between the children, a blanket around him. ⟨Character 2⟩ holds ⟨Character 4⟩'s hand. ⟨Character 8⟩'s head rests on ⟨Character 4⟩'s knee. ⟨Character 7⟩ stares out the back, watching Berlin slide away.

⟨Character 2⟩: I thought he was the worst of them. I thought I could read a man from a long coat and a silver watch. And I was wrong. That is the part I will not forget. Being wrong, and being glad of it.

⟨Character 4⟩: I am sorry I followed. But ⟨Character 8⟩ wanted to come. And I wanted to see if the man in the basement had a tiny sandwich. He did not. He had a code. I think that is better.

At the border of the trees, the truck stops. Dr. Stein steps down. He gives ⟨Character 1⟩ the folded paper with the code. He shakes ⟨Character 3⟩'s hand, then ⟨Character 4⟩'s, then ⟨Character 2⟩'s. He walks into the dark between the pines and does not look back.

⟨Character 1⟩: We will need better paper. Better ink. Better stamps, and more than six. We will make the blinking coupons properly, and we will not show them to anyone until they are dry. I have the precision of twenty years in a clock shop. Time is on my side, even now.

⟨Character 2⟩: We did a good thing. A small thing and a good thing. And now we will go home and sleep, and tomorrow we will be the same family with a little more work to do.

In the dark living room, ⟨Character 7⟩ dozes by the stove, ⟨Character 8⟩ stretches out by the door, ⟨Character 5⟩ sprawls across the sofa, and ⟨Character 6⟩ blinks slowly from the newspapers. The clock on the mantel ticks. ⟨Character 1⟩'s eyes close. ⟨Character 3⟩'s diary slips from her lap. ⟨Character 4⟩ sleeps against his mother's shoulder. The ticking goes on, steady, quiet, keeping everyone's time.