A Character Witness

    Dance of the Dead was something of a trial for No.6. And having been put on trial, he called for a character witness. Someone he thinks he once knew. Someone who is scheduled to die, and therefore more fitted to say the things that need to be said. And so it was that No.6 called Roland Walter Dutton.
    What it was that No.6 expected Dutton to say, will now always remain a mystery. Perhaps No.6 expected Dutton to say something about No.6 in his defence. What are the things No.6 thinks are needed to be said? It might be, that seeing as Roland Dutton is due to die, a termination order issued against him, that he is in the prime position to say the things which need to be said, speaking out against the Village, and his own treatment. The only trouble is.........the doctor-No.40 has gone too far in his experiments on Roland Walter Dutton. Experiments in order to gain the remainder of the information inside Dutton's head. Oh Dutton gave quite a lot of information, but he is reluctant to go any futher. Trouble is, Dutton didn't know any more. He never had access to the vital stuff. Dutton told the doctor this, but the doctor wasn't listening. And so Roland Walter Dutton was left a brainwashed imbicile! As though a Leukotomy, which the Village doctors are only too keen to operate, had been operated on Dutton, and that operation had gone badly wrong.
    Roland Walter Dutton was dressed as a Court Jester at the Dance of the Dead, have you ever wondered why? Well back in the dark and distant past, when every King had a Court Jester, the Jester could voice to the King any complaints his subjects might have against him, and get away with it. Perhaps that is what No.6 meant, seeing Dutton dressed as a Court Jester, in being able to say the things that needed to be said against No.2 and the Village, and being able to get away with it! Be seeing you.