The changing-room door opens, and a thin lower-form boy of about twelve hurries in, wearing a rumpled blazer, loose tie, and anxious expression. Patrick turns from the mirror as the boy approaches Alan.
The Messenger Boy
Turing, you are required at The Green immediately. The Head Boy has ordered you to attend him there.
Patrick’s posture stiffens. Beyond the open doorway, several prefects wait in the corridor, while Geoffrey O’Hanlon remains in the dayroom with the hearing’s account and does not follow.
Patrick Mermagen
I am coming with him. The last report involved Angel, the packet, and a journey outside school. Alan should not face a crowd without a witness.
The messenger boy leads them through the quadrangle toward The Green. An unusual number of prefects have gathered there, forming a silent ring around the senior prefect.
The Senior Prefect
Turing, the Head Boy has received a verbal report from outside the school concerning the sealed packet and Angel’s accusation. Another witness has offered information.
The Senior Prefect
I will not identify that witness until you are present. You will hear the account here, with Mermagen beside you, and answer only what is asked.
✓ Quest Accepted
Admit guilt to every accusation in the verbal report
“Are the accusations in the verbal report serious?”
NO (Likely, rolled 80)
The Green Prefects tighten their silent ring, making the summons look grave enough to threaten a severe consequence. Yet no one reaches for the packet or orders Alan restrained.
The Senior Prefect
The verbal report contains accusations, but none is serious in itself. Angel describes a private conversation and a failed departure, not a proven offence or immediate danger.
The gathered prefects exchange disappointed looks. Their numbers suggested an impending judgment, but the report offers no basis for the severe consequence their formation seemed to promise.
Patrick Mermagen
Then the gathering is more imposing than the evidence. The report may justify questions, but it does not establish guilt, danger, or authority to punish.
The Senior Prefect
That is correct. You will hear the account and answer what can be answered, but this verbal report authorizes neither seizure of the packet nor punishment.
The ring remains in place, preserving the appearance of danger while its immediate force drains away. The inquiry continues, but the accusations themselves are plainly insufficient for a severe consequence.
✓ Quest Accepted
Tell the senior prefect everything I know honestly
− Scene Quest Removed
Admit guilt to every accusation in the verbal report
“Would the prefects like to find a reason to punish me?”
YES, BUT (VeryLikely, rolled 69)
The Green Prefects do want a reason to punish Alan. Their disappointed glances sharpen into calculation, searching Angel’s report for an impertinent phrase or an unauthorized departure they can enlarge.
The Senior Prefect
You will not be punished merely because they would like a charge. But the gathering will continue, and you will remain here until the Head Boy has heard the report.
The cost arrives as a formal restriction: Alan cannot return to School House or seek Geoffrey O’Hanlon without permission. Patrick may remain beside him, but neither boy may leave The Green.
Patrick Mermagen
That is a restriction, not a punishment, but it still places Alan under the prefects’ control. I will witness every question and distinguish delay from guilt.
One Green Prefect steps forward with a notebook, plainly hoping to turn the delay into evidence. The others close ranks, while the senior prefect prevents them from inventing a charge.
The Senior Prefect
Record that the prefects sought grounds for punishment and found none established. Record also that Turing remains under supervised attendance until the Head Boy decides whether further questioning is warranted.
The attempt to find a punishable offence has succeeded only in creating a supervised delay. The packet remains untouched, and Alan is not required to give the account he refused.
The Green Prefects
We understand.
“I give the senior prefect my full account honestly”
SUCCESS (Superb Reasoning, rolled +0)
Alan Turing
I will give my full account honestly. I spoke privately with Angel about my conduct, accepted that I had behaved impertinently, and tried to flee toward Sherborne when the conversation became an official concern. I did not give him the packet, reveal its contents, or place any device on the coach.
The Green Prefects listen without interruption. Patrick remains beside Alan, while the senior prefect’s notebook stays open but no hand moves to enlarge the account.
Alan Turing
The replacement coach was examined and cleared conditionally. I left when I believed the delay and questioning had become excessive, but the bicycle failed, and I continued on foot to Sherborne. I accept that departure was unauthorized.
Patrick Mermagen
That is the account I witnessed afterward. He returned to Sherborne on foot, and Angel’s report does not establish that Alan planted the casing or knew of any further device.
The Senior Prefect
Your account is complete and plainly stated. You admit the unauthorized departure, but you deny concealing the packet’s contents or placing the device. Those are separate matters, and I will record them separately.
The senior prefect writes the distinction into the notebook. The Green Prefects lose the easy charge they were seeking, though their restriction remains in force until the Head Boy reviews the record.
The Senior Prefect
No punishment follows from this account. You will remain under supervised attendance, and your refusal to disclose the packet’s contents is respected. The Head Boy will decide only whether further questions are necessary.
The Green Prefects
Understood.
“I ask whether my scientific interests caused criticism”
SUCCESS (Superb Reasoning, rolled -1)
Alan Turing
Did my scientific interests cause the criticism I received, or was the criticism directed at how I neglected other duties?
The Senior Prefect
Your scientific interests were not themselves the cause. Gervis and the Headmaster recognized your ability. The criticism began when physics displaced Latin, Greek, or assigned duties, and when you challenged prefect authority while pursuing it.
The Green Prefects remain gathered around the edge of The Green, but their attention shifts from Alan’s subjects to the distinction between scholarship and conduct.
Patrick Mermagen
That matches what I have witnessed. Alan was criticized for neglecting required work and provoking authority, not for understanding resistance, physics, or mathematics.
The Senior Prefect
Precisely. Your scientific interests earned attention because they were unusual and productive. They became grounds for criticism only when your choices made them appear to compete with school obligations.
The answer is plain: Alan’s science did not cause the criticism. The conflict came from neglected classical work, disputed obedience, and his habit of testing authority while pursuing it.
The Senior Prefect
You may repeat that distinction accurately. Sherborne objects to neglected duties and impertinence; it does not, on this account, condemn scientific curiosity itself.
The Green Prefects
Understood.
“Is it likely that the Senior Prefect or the Green prefects will become annoyed if Mermagen, a junior boy, continues to interrupt them constantly?”
YES (VeryLikely, rolled 40)
Patrick continues to interpose corrections and qualifications before the senior prefect can finish. The Green Prefects’ patient silence thins into exchanged glances and tightened mouths.
The Senior Prefect
Mermagen, you have made your point. Interrupting every answer will not improve the record, and it is beginning to test the patience of everyone assembled here.
Patrick Mermagen
I am trying to prevent the report from implying more than the evidence supports. If I must wait to be recognized, I will, but the distinction still matters.
His explanation is reasonable, yet his repeated interruptions have become the most visible disturbance on The Green. Several prefects shift their stance, no longer merely disappointed but openly irritated.
The Green Prefects
We understand the distinction. We also understand that Mermagen will continue interrupting unless someone stops him.
The Senior Prefect
Mermagen, stand beside Turing and speak only when invited. Your defence of fairness is noted, but constant interruption is itself becoming impertinent.
“Does the Senior Prefect have access to a cane if he needs one to punish me or Mermagen?”
NO, AND WORSE (VeryLikely, rolled 100)
The senior prefect checks the desk, the nearby cloakroom, and the prefects’ cupboard. No cane is kept there, and he cannot summon one for this hearing.
The Senior Prefect
There is no instrument available, Mermagen. I cannot punish either of you by corporal means, and I will not pretend otherwise.
A Green Prefect searches the open notebook instead of finding a cane. Beneath the report lies a fresh written order, already signed by the Head Boy, directing that both boys be confined pending formal examination.
The Senior Prefect
The worse consequence is this: neither of you is to leave The Green or return to your house. The Head Boy has ordered a formal examination of the packet, Angel’s report, and Mermagen’s interruptions.
Patrick Mermagen
So the absence of a cane does not release us. It gives them time to build a larger proceeding around a written order we have not been allowed to inspect.
The Green Prefects close their ring again, this time under formal instruction rather than the senior prefect’s discretion. A messenger is sent toward the Head Boy, while the sealed packet remains outside their reach.
“I persuade the Senior Prefect to permit me to pay for a new cane to be purchased so that Mermagen or myself can be punished appropriately if it should prove to be necessary.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +0)
Alan Turing
Senior Prefect, permit a new cane to be purchased. If the examination proves punishment necessary, Mermagen or I can receive it appropriately rather than delay the decision.
Alan’s voice holds through the request, then falters audibly on “receive it.” Patrick notices the hesitation, and the surrounding prefects hear how deliberately Alan offers himself as well as Mermagen.
Patrick Mermagen
Do not purchase a cane merely because Alan has made punishment sound like the safest answer. If one is obtained, its use must remain subject to the formal examination.
The Senior Prefect
Your request is permitted. The Head Boy’s order does not forbid purchasing an instrument, and I will authorize one for possible use only after the examination establishes that corporal punishment is warranted.
The senior prefect directs the Green Prefect on the left to send for a new cane from the nearest reputable shop, with the purchase recorded and the instrument kept out of sight until the formal decision.
The Senior Prefect
You have secured permission, Turing, but not a sentence. Mermagen and you remain confined here, and neither of you will treat the purchase as proof that punishment must follow.
Quest Complete
Tell the senior prefect everything I know honestly
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Superb→Legendary