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1voluminous
I read this short story at least 30 years ago:
Main character (maybe Jones) starts wondering about the typing errors he makes. Some are easily explainable. Eg, E and R are on adjacent keys. So it's not surprising he sometimes hits the wrong one. But what about errors from widely separated keys, which you wouldn't expect to confuse?
When he analyses these errors, he finds that by swapping the letters around, messages appear: something like "JONES OBEY OBEY". Frightened by this, he goes and gets drunk.
Rest of the story is hazy in my memory. I think he discusses the situation with a friend. They find a way to acknowledge receipt of the messages. Then he has a terrible insight that this was an unwise thing to have done. He draws a comparison with receiving an envelope in the mail, opening it, and the message inside is coated with some poison or germ, which has now got onto his fingers, and will kill him.
He says to his friend: "It's not important what the (typo) messages mean - we opened the envelope!" Then he and his friend sit waiting for some impending doom.
As always, I'll be grateful for help identifying the story.
Main character (maybe Jones) starts wondering about the typing errors he makes. Some are easily explainable. Eg, E and R are on adjacent keys. So it's not surprising he sometimes hits the wrong one. But what about errors from widely separated keys, which you wouldn't expect to confuse?
When he analyses these errors, he finds that by swapping the letters around, messages appear: something like "JONES OBEY OBEY". Frightened by this, he goes and gets drunk.
Rest of the story is hazy in my memory. I think he discusses the situation with a friend. They find a way to acknowledge receipt of the messages. Then he has a terrible insight that this was an unwise thing to have done. He draws a comparison with receiving an envelope in the mail, opening it, and the message inside is coated with some poison or germ, which has now got onto his fingers, and will kill him.
He says to his friend: "It's not important what the (typo) messages mean - we opened the envelope!" Then he and his friend sit waiting for some impending doom.
As always, I'll be grateful for help identifying the story.
2dwfarmer
That's Damon Knight's "Dulcie and Decorum".
ISFDB bibliography: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?69731
And trying to decode the typoes WAS an unwise thing to do!
ISFDB bibliography: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?69731
And trying to decode the typoes WAS an unwise thing to do!
3lquilter
touchstone fairy: Damon Knight / Dulcie and Decorum
4voluminous
Thanks mjfarmer and Iquilter - that's the story, it has some elements that I'd forgotten, but it's the one - thanks again!
