Checkmate
Profiles
Number 2
Male
Height…. 5 feet 10 inches {approx}
Weight…. 150 lbs {approx}
Hair…….. Black
Age…….. 40 {approx}
Nationality… English speaking
Chief Administrator
Chairman of the village
Slight of build.
Wears a signet ring on the little finger of his left hand.
Village attire, plain black double breasted blazer, grey polo neck jersey, fawn trousers, deck shoes, old school scarf and carries a furled umbrella shooting stick.
Has a bony, Hawke like nose.
This is a smooth and at times cold Number 2, with a laid back attitude. Not a hand’s on interrogator as some of those who have gone before him, more just as an administrator of the village.
He appears to have no assistant or at least we never see him conversing with such, unlike many before him.
Again, as we have seen on countless occasions, Number 2 wearing the “Old School Scarf” and carrying about him the furled umbrella shooting stick. Is this regalia somehow a surreal symbol of his power, as in a “Rod of Empire” or “Wand of Office’.
He seems to know little of what takes place within the Hospital, regarding the Doctors experiments. For example, he did not know of the experiment which was about to be carried out on Number 8.
Not the most knowledgeable of the Number 2’s, he was unsure of Pavlov’s experiments were with dogs or was it rats!
He does, like so many before him, see Number 6 as being far too valuable to them to allow the doctor to carry out a leucotomy on the subject. At the same time of wanting to see Number 6 happy, he does threaten him, ‘They do have ways, if you drive us to them’.
He is well spoken, well mannered and quite obviously well bred.
Full of charm but yet capable of applying {or have someone else apply} whatever degree of force or rehabilitation required to bring anyone back into line.
He never once flinches at watching what is being done the Rook-Number 58.
“In society one must learn to conform” he tells Number 6 coldly.
He is a man who will use his own disciplined methods to exact power over those who would conspire against the village.
His self control and discipline is demonstrated when alone in his office, he is a black belt in Karate.
A shrewd adversary for anyone to meet and that includes Number 6.
What he was before he was brought to the Village remains to be seen. A collage professor perhaps or a lecturer maybe, if so that would account for the old school scarf.
Number 2 seems to have little to do with Number 6, certainly he makes no move to gain the secret of the prisoner’s resignation. But he does take Number 6 to the Hospital to see the Rook because he can’t have him worrying! Or is there an ulterior motive, to show Number 6 exactly what ‘they’ are capable of?
Laid back Number 2 may appear, but he does have the authority and the village under his control and having the command of voice when needed and the respect of his subordinates.
Not only that but he appears to have a certain respect for number 6, but also disappointed “I should have thought that you” would have devised something a little more original’ at Number 6 ordering that he be tied up.
Does he see the village as a chessboard? When asked what will happen to the others by Number 6, he replies “They’ll be back tomorrow, on the chessboard.”
But will they, what action would number 2 be expected to take against such a group of escapees? ‘Rehabilitation’ at the very least.
However in the case of the attempted escape by Number 6 and his confederates, it was the Rook-Number 58 who pulled his bacon out of the fire this time round.
At being informed by the supervisor that the searchlight crew in the Tower had been attack, he told the supervisor that he would be right over. When he hadn’t arrived at the Control Room, becauseNnumber 6 had had him tied up, the supervisor had taken no action. This was probably due to the fact that the Rook had arrived at the Green Dome and released him, he would them have informed the supervisor, instructing him to take no action.
So with the attempted escape thwarted, why is it that this number 2 was replaced? Well of course we see only a fraction of that which takes place in the Village. No doubt this Number 2 survived and remained Number 2/chairman of the Village a while longer.
Number 6
Is out and about in the Village, always on the lookout for something, this time watching as the white membranic mass of the village guardian passes by in the street and is suddenly taken by the attitude of a man with a stick. Everyone else in the street is perfectly still, but not this man. So intrigued he is, that Number 6 follows this man Number 14 to the lawn where a huge chessboard has been laid out.
Number is asked if he plays chess and ends up as the white Queens pawn.
He questions the white Queen-Number 8 but she evades his questions.
He asks her who is Number 1, but receives no answer.
He doesn’t believe what ‘they’ tell him and that escape is not possible for chessmen, but not for him.
He is told by Number 14 {the chess champion} that he plays a “fine game.” Number 6 was only a pawn, making just one move on the board. So this remark can only be directed to the way he plays ‘The Game’ against the village.
Number 6 learns a very important lesson from Number 14, how to distinguish between the blacks and the whites. By their dispositions, by the move they make, you soon find out who’s for or against you.
It’s simple psychology, the way it is in life, you judge by attitudes. So Number 6 comes up with a plan to discover who are the prisoner’s and who the warder’s, this by detecting their subconscious arrogance. The Guardians pose as prisoners but none of them would be intimidated by him, only prisoners would obey him. This then is the first step in a plan for a daring escape attempt, but no plan can succeed without first knowing who he can rely on.
He virtually frightens the living daylights out of the Rook as he questions him, in that well trained authoritative voice of his, convincing the Rook that he is one of them! So Number 6 takes control of this little venture
His confederates are; the Rook-Number 58, Number 14 {the chess champion}, the Shopkeeper-Number 19, the painter-Number 42 {so Roland Walter Dutton is no more, or has had a change of Number} and a few other non entities. And number 6 has complete control over them, he makes all the decisions, gives them orders, tells them what to do. He dominates them and has an air of authority about him which matches any to be found in the village.
This in much the same way as one would in a school gang, when one person dominates all the members of that gang.
Number 6 appears to be a goat amongst so many sheep!
On a personal note, during a word association test at the Hospital it is discovered that number 6 drank at “The Hope & Anchor’ his local public house he used to drink at.
He can be rather reckless, taking too many risks on behalf of others. He tells the Rook “to let me worry about that.” But when it came to having to take a risk on number 8, he declined to do so ‘not me’ he tells Number 8.
He also has an independent mind.
It is suggested by Number 14, that Number 6 must be new here, as in time most of us join the enemy against ourselves. But number 6 has been in the Village for many months now.
He enjoys a certain rapport with Number 2.
He readily joins Number 2 in a visit to the Hospital in order to see the Rook.
Through concern, or does Number 6 have an ulterior motive?
His psychiatric report finds positive abnormality, that he has a total disregard for his personal safety and a negative reaction to pain, which would take superhuman will power, this together with aggressive tendencies.
When nervous or agitated his left hand gets a nervous twitch.
He has a peculiar style of running all his own.
He can be a cruel man, he does not let Number 8 down gently, he tells her that she’s when told that she loves him.
He keeps women at arms length, but cannot help but be effected by the tears shed by a woman, even though he says that a slight drizzle wont wash away his doubts!
He still doesn’t trust women, he has been betrayed by women before, Number 9, Nadia, Alison and Mrs Butterworth to name but three. So he Number 8’s offer to help him with his escape plan, as he rejects her love for him. And he certainly cannot see them being happy together.
He is cruel towards Number 8, but at the same time shows kindness towards her after he has made her cry.
He wants to know who put her up to it, for her to so suddenly latch onto him like that.
Each night a maid usually comes to ‘6 Private’ in order to make him his nightly cup of hot chocolate in order to help him sleep. However this time it is Number 8 who makes his cup of hot chocolate for him, which he likes ‘yes nice chocolate’ and ‘a kind thought’, but the end result is the same, a sound night’s sleep for Number 6.
One curious observation is that there is not one single woman amongst his confederates, he tells the Rook ‘let’s find our reliable men’.
And when alerting his chosen men on the day of their planned escape, he uses a coded phrase; “Tonight at moonset, Rook to Queens Pawn 6 check.” this so as not to alert the guardians.
But exactly how reliable is Number 6? Can ‘they’ his fellow confederate trust him?
He has not had any real feelings for anyone in the village, perhaps he sees his confederates as a means to an end, his eventual escape.
Down on the beach when he finds the abandoned lilo, he had two choices, to paddle out on the lilo in the hope of being picked up by the ship, or to return to the Green Dome and his men, he chose the former. It is a decision which would seal his fate and cost him his freedom. Was this an error in judgement? He had plenty of time, he could have returned to his men in the Green Dome, thus preventing the situation which was developing there. He would have been in time to prevent the Rook from convincing the others that Number 6 was not in fact one of them, a guardian, thus preventing the release of Number 2, with plenty of time remaining to bring the ship in. But instead he set out to bring the ship in himself, an act which resulted in him over powering the crew okay, but found him struggling with a lock ships wheel!
Then once the Village Guardian appeared on the scene, and the vessel taken under remote control, Number 6 had no choice but to accept the inevitable, his return to the village.
This was a good idea by Number 6 but he only had himself to blame for its failure, the decision he made at the end together with his air of authority over the Rook and the others. Number 6 failed his own test when Rook applied that test to him!
Number 8 –The White Queen
Female
Height…. 5feet 4 inches {approx}
Weight….120 lbs {approx}
Hair…….. Black
Age…….. Mid forties {approx}
Nationality…. English speaking, but has an air of being born in another country, perhaps India.
Slight of build.
Village attire, a black and white hat, black and white stripped jersey, white slacks, deck shoes and colourful stripped cape.
Beach attire, black swim suit, pale yellow and white hat, yellow poncho.
Night attire, of salmon pink eastern style dress.
Nadia was a previous Number 8, now we have met with a new number 8, the white queen.
This is a woman who offers her help to Number 6 in order to help him with his plan to escape, if it’s a good one she’ll escape with him. She has often helped other people with their plans, but none of them have ever succeeded, that’s why she is still here. But it would be good experience for Number 6, at least she could tell him what not to try. One day she would betray number 6 to save him from his own folly, not that she would be able to help herself, not even when it comes to love.
Number 8 has often helped other people with their plans, this would suggest that she never came up with an escape plan of her own and that she latched on to others in order to try and escape the village, unable as she was to carry out a plan of her own!
So how long has this woman been in the Village? Quite some time would be the answer, as she has often helped other people with their escape plans, which curiously all failed, because of her involvement one might say. A betrayer of her fellow prisoner’s, well that us what she is being used for here, and who is to say she has not been used in much the same way before?
Under hypnosis number 8 is in love with Number 6, she has a locket about her neck which she is told he gave to her. Mostly she is happy, except when Number 6 rejects her love for him with his cruel attitude towards her.
But even Number 8 betrays the man she loves, even though she does it without knowing, with the hot chocolate which she so kindly makes for Number 6.
She is an eager woman and totally believable as a love struck victim, because that is what she is….. a victim of a doctors experiment.
Number 8 maybe eager, but she is also annoying and infuriating at the same time, never far away and always there.
What possible reason could there be for having this poor woman brought to the Village? What position of a secret nature had she once held?
Any such secret information that she possibly had, she would have given up long ago.
Number 8 does not appear to be of strong resistance, but then perhaps like so many, she joined the enemy against herself!
It is difficult to know this woman, as for most of the time she is under hypnosis and therefore we do not get to see this woman’s true character, merely a glimpse at the beginning. Before she would have helped Number 6 in his attempt to escape, but later she tells him that they could be happy together, together in the Village?
Women have tried to betray Number 6 before and some have succeeded, Nadia, Number 58, Alison, Mrs Butterworth for example, and they did it through their own free will. This woman would have no choice in the matter, having no free will of her own!
But unlike most women in the village, there are just a few who one can truly feel sympathy towards, Number 8 is one such women. She is so happy when number 6 tells eventually tells her in his cottage that he likes her. She tells him that he is so good to her, she thanks him when she asks if she may see him again. Even though he’s here all the time!
She is blatantly used as an expendable pawn against Number 6, in this regard there is a certain amount of compassion for this poor deluded soul, even though she is under hypnosis.
This woman who feels so much love for a man who cruelly rejects her and the love she feels towards Number 6, who has no feeling for her what’s so ever. Indeed she is rejected at every turn, no matter how hard she tries.
How number 8 must have been feeling inside, only someone who themselves have been so cruelly rejected would know.
Yet at night time Number 8 goes round to ‘6 Private’ and busies herself making number 6 his nightly cup of hot chocolate, instead of a maid. A kind thought on her part no doubt, but the result is the same.
Number 8 would be unaware that she was actually drugging Number 6, as much in that she was unaware that she was under hypnosis and that her love for Number 6 is nothing more than hypnotic suggestion. But how would she feel once brought out of hypnosis? Would she remember anything? It is highly probable that she wouldn’t.
Poor number 8, a prisoner of the village and a prisoner of both love and rejection.
The Doctor/Psychiatrist –Number 22
Female
Height…. 5 feet 8 inches {approx}
Weight….130 lbs {approx}
Hair……..Grey
Age…….. 45 {approx]
Nationality…. English speaking
Slight of build.
Village attire, white coat, grey polo neck jersey, white shoes and a skirt under her uniform.
This doctor is as the doctor from “Dance of the Dead”, the only difference is that she is an unfeeling, heartless female, both cold and calculating, who is only too ready to carry out her next experiment on her next unsuspecting victim. She would be only too willing to find out the breaking point of number 6 and enjoy doing it.
On Number 6 she suggests a leucotomy, to knock out the centres of the brain, in order to cure Number 6 of his aggressive tendencies!
As any doctor before her, she is not averse to carrying out any form of experiment, the patients care not at the top of her list of priorities.
She is well informed regarding the experiments involving implants in the brains of Dolphins in connection with submarine detection. She feels nothing for her patients, and looks upon them as though they were animals. Like her predecessor she would be right at home in a Concentration Camp, or working at Porton Down research establishment. Is that where this good doctor was recruited from, an experimental research facility?
To be recruited to the village, would have been a dream come true, free as she is to experiment as she sees fit, on any subject, except Number 6.
Conditioning, therapy and rehabilitation are just words to this doctor, by which any degree of medical interference with a human being is justified.
One such experiment of rehabilitation is carried out on the Rook, dehydrated and not given water until he learns to obey.
Worse is carried out on Number 8, hypnotism, telling this poor woman that she loves number 6 {the man on the screen} and that he loves her and has given her a locket which she must always wear next to her heart. This in connection with an experiment to help control in detecting anyone who is going to attempt to escape, the subject is Number 6.
Around the neck of Number 8 is a locket, inside the locket a reaction transmitter. It picks up number 8’s emotions and relates them to control, all in pulse rates. Number 8 will dote on number 6, follow him around like a dog.
When he’s in sight she will sigh.
When she sees him her pulses will quicken.
If she thinks she is about to lose him, if he attempts to escape, she will be frantic and her emotions will send an alarm to control. Once they have a full record for analysis they will be able to program her into the alarm system.
They even use her to make Number 6 his nightly cup of hot chocolate!
One can only imagine that after this experiment, the doctor had Number 8 brought out from hypnosis. To have Number 8 left in such a position would have been most cruel.
You could imagine a doctor of her calibre, gaining access to experimental research documentation from the Nazi death camps and using such material for further such
experiments of the type.
Supervisor – Number 56
Male
Height…. 5 feet 11 inches {approx}
Weight….175 lbs {approx}
Hair……..Greying
Age……..50’s {approx}
Nationality…. English speaking
Village attire, a plain black blazer, olive green polo neck jersey, dark trousers and deck shoes.
This man has a very casual manner, much in the same way as his superior number 2, and runs the control room in much the same way. Not as menacing as other supervisors we have encountered.
He appears to have an assistant, Number 249.
Nothing appears to rattle this man, not until the doctors latest gadget packs up that is. But even then he is quick to point out that he wouldn’t have wanted to be in her shoes if they’d lost Number 6 and Number 8.
So he’s quick to pass the buck!
He has no fear of Number 2 and isn’t afraid to disturb his superior when the occasion arises, even when ordered not too!
Supervisor of the control room he maybe, but seeing that he reports every little thing to Number 2, it seems that he cannot make a decision of his own. Perhaps he cannot be trusted to do so, hence his casual manner, free of any such responsibilities.
But if that is so, how did he become supervisor of the control room?
Certainly he is not as authoritative as the supervisors before him, perhaps this is due to his somewhat casual manner.
This man could be an interim supervisor like two others before him, in both “The Schizoid Man” and “Dance of the Dead”, or simply working his shift. Only this supervisor works both day and night time shifts!
This supervisor whilst operating camera 34 during the search for Number 8, failed to notice that the view of the panning camera had altered slightly, as the Rook worked to remove the camera from its mounting, the camera was tilted forward, the lens of the camera pointing down. This would have been reflected in the view seen upon the wall screen in the control room and should have alerted the supervisor of the fact that someone was meddling with the camera itself.
He reported direct to Number 2 that the two man searchlight crew in the tower had been attacked. Number 2 told the supervisor that he would be right over.
When number 2 failed to arrive at the control room, why didn’t the supervisor react to this and send security over to the Green Dome?
Checkmate continued next time
Be seeing you
