It has been wondered why No.2 of 'Arrival' was replaced so soon in the game. Admittedly he had failed to de-brief the Prisoner, plus he had shown sympathetic tendencies towards the Prisoner, admitting that he knows how the Prisoner must feel, and that "they" had taken quite a liberty. Although that could have been a ploy on No.2's part. On the other hand, perhaps "they" had taken that very same liberty with No.2, that he may once have been a prisoner of The Village himself.
No.2 first tried to get the Prisoner to give up some information by getting him to give his time of birth which had been deliberately omitted from his personal file. The ploy being that if the Prisoner would answer one question, then all the rest would follow, it didn't. Ploy number two was to then send No.66, posing as a maid, to '6 Private' in order to play on the Prisoner's sympathies, by telling him a sob story. that if he gives her some sort of information that "they" would let her go. But she wasn't very good, and the Prisoner soon saw through her, and sent her packing, telling 66 that her services would not be required tomorrow. Although that was after No.2 had taken the Prisoner to see the Labour Exchange Manager in order for him to fill in a questionnaire, perhaps in the hope that he would give something away that way....he didn't. So No.2 had failed again to extract any information from the Prisoner. The Supervisor-No.26 thought No.66 was most convincing, he felt sure she was going to pull it off. As far as No.2 was concerned the Prisoner is no ordinary man, that this has to be handled very differently. The Supervisor then pointed out that that could be dangerous!
So No.2 is replaced by a new No.2, why? Perhaps seeing that the Prisoner is no ordinary man, and that the situation has to be handled very differently, maybe he didn't feel quite up to the job. Or perhaps No.1 didn't feel that the current No.2 was up to the task. Either way there's a new No.2 in the Village, which in itself is a clever ploy, because now the Prisoner-No.6 has been set back to square one, and has to begin all over again with a new No.2! And yet is this No.2 any different from his predecessor? Yes he threatens No.6, No.2 being only interested in facts, that the Prisoner's only way out of The Village is to give them to him. And if he doesn't give then....he'll take them! No.2's report on No.6 is one of normal classification, on arrival subject showed normal shock symptoms, followed by accepted behaviour pattern. Since then has been uncooperative and distinctly aggressive. Attempted to escape, subject proving exceptionally difficult. But in view of his importance, no extreme measures to be used yet! So what measure or method does this No.2 choose to use against No.6? He assigns No.9 to the Prisoner, No.9 who was once assigned to Cobb until he committed suicide by jumping out of a hospital window. Well No.9 wasn't to know that wasn't the truth, neither was No.6 for that matter. According to her story No.9 was going to escape with Cobb.
At Cobb's funeral No.9 plays on the Prisoner's sympathies at the death of his friend. No doubt No.9 had read the Prisoner's file, and read that the Prisoner had once known Cobb, and that would help her. Although No.9 did genuinely appear upset at Cobb's funeral, the tears were certainly genuine, unlike the crocodile tears of No.66! So No.6 fell for No.9's sob story. But where is the difference between this attempt by No.2 in using No.9 and that of his predecessor using No.66? I guess that Cobb having been known to both 6 and 9 made the difference. Personally I don't see that the new No.2 handled the situation so very differently as that of his predecessor. He certainly didn't extract information from the Prisoner, but then he never attempted to either! So what did he achieve? Simply to demonstrate to the Prisoner that escape is not possible! I suppose in that regard it was different, although No.2 did appear to derive some pleasure from it into the bargain!
Be seeing you
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