The Tin Men

Goldwasser is working on the automation of newspapers and has invented UHL (Unit Headline Language) to this end.

Examples such as "Strike Threat Probe" and "Lab Row Looms" produce sentences that everybody recognises but nobody can explain the meaning of.

He has no idea of the plot or characters and spends all his time writing ecstatic reviews of the non-existent novel and glowing portraits of himself as the author.

Nunn the security officer has a mania with sport, doesn't understand the 24-hour clock and is constantly confusing himself with his own elaborate codes, the meaning of which he forgets.

He suspects Goldwasser of being up to something in the weeks preceding a visit by the Queen to open a new wing of the Institute.