The Therapy Zone

Who Is Arthur I Wonder?

   Roland Walter Dutton makes mention of both Arthur and the Colonel whilst on the telephone to No.6 at the commencement of ‘Dance of the Dead.’ We can easily imagine the Colonel, as we have met with him during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben,’ ‘Many Happy Returns,’ ‘Hammer Into Anvil,’ ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling’ and ‘The Girl Who Was Death,’ the Colonel murdered by an exploding cricket ball one run short of his century! The Colonel being a rank, rather than a person.

   So what of Arthur, what are we to make of this non-descript, only mentioned once fellow? Well I imagine he's someone similar to that of Fotheringay, or Thorpe, carrying out his duties as an assistant to the Colonel. Of course there is another Arthur, the late Arthur Butterworth, who was a British Naval man.

You Still Can’t Do It Boy!

    I'm not sure if No.2 was wise in taking No.6 on in this fencing scene, I mean if something was to go wrong. You will recall how the safety cap came off the point of No.6's fencing foil. That No.2 instructed No.6 to "Kill!....Kill boy..... you can do it boy... go on kill!" But No.6 missed, and only wounded No.2 in his shoulder "You missed boy..... You still can't do it."

   But what, after being goaded so much by No.2, No.6 has actually done it... killed No.2 with his foil at that moment? It is quite possible that the end result would still have been the same. That the Supervisor-No.28 enters the embryo room and the body used as evidence just as it was, with No.6 lead away to meet No.1.

   Ah, but the steel door was "time-locked" so the Supervisor would not have been able to enter at that time. Which would leave No,6 and the diminutive Butler to while away the time as they may together until the end of the week, and the steel door opened.

Fall Out

   I read in an old magazine article that when he was finally confronted with the truth - that he was No.1, the Prisoner seemed to go berserk, bringing destruction to the village before escaping with Number two, the butler and the youth.

   Well in my opinion the Prisoner didn't go berserk. To me he appeared calm and calculating, in the way he set the countdown for the rocket, and the way in which he was instrumental in commencing a bloody and violent revolution.

  As I see it, it was No.1 who went berserk, charging about the control room, and screaming wildly, clambering up the ladder into the nose cone of the rocket, when having been confronted with the truth that he was No.6!

It Makes You Think

   This is No.12 of Administration, a "cog in the machine" as he once described himself to No.6 during one of their encounters together in ‘The General.’

  No.12 has strong views on the matter of the Professor, seeing him as a crank and therefore he should be treated as such! No.12 is also not above carrying out an act of sabotage in No.6's cottage. He purloins a pair of security pass discs for No.6, together with a suit of clothes as a disguise as a "Top-Hat" official so as to gain entry into the Town hall. And more, he has been able to reduce the Professor's message to micro size into the ink reservoir of a ballpoint pen!

   No.12 has been working against the village behind the scenes, which begs the question how many more are there like him, within Administration, or any other department of the village?

    And furthermore, just how many Prisoners are there in the village, and how many warders and observers? I mean there are so many Unmutuals within the village, and previously during that episode of Its Your Funeral, we learn all about Jammers from No.118.

   Jammers causing all kinds of mischief, together with the increasing number of Unmutuals in the village. I'm surprised that the village authorities don't have far more trouble than they do. It's no wonder the citizens are drugged at night, so as to keep them quiet!

Be seeing you