If He Will Answer One Simple Question!

    That was the idea shared by two Number 2’s, the one in ‘Arrival,’ the other in ‘The Chimes of Big Ben.’ The idea being that if they could get the Prisoner to give some sort of information of his own free will, then all the rest would follow.  Number 2 of ‘Arrival,’ carried out the debriefing of the Prisoner on the day of his arrival in The Village. Number 2 thought that if he could get the Prisoner to voluntarily give the time of his birth, he could bring his personal file up to date by also adding the reason behind the Prisoner’s resignation!
    "One likes to know everything, for instance I had no idea that you liked lemon tea."
    The Prisoner, looking at a page in his file: "The time of my birth is missing."
     "Well there you are, now let’s bring it all up to date."
    "Four thirty-one am nineteenth the of March nineteen twenty-eight, I've nothing to say, is that clear... absolutely nothing!"
    "Now be reasonable old boy, it's just a matter of time. Sooner or later you'll tell me, sooner or later you'll want to. Let’s make a deal, you co-operate, tell us what we want to know. This can be a very nice place, you may even be given a position of authority."
   "I will not make any deals with you, I've resigned. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered. My life is my own."
    "Is it?"
    "Yes, you won't hold me.
   It was a nice idea, but it didn’t work, nor did it work when Number 2 during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ tried to get Number 6 to answer how many lumps of sugar he takes.
   “I can never remember, one lump or two?”
   “It’s in the file.”
   “Yes, as a matter of fact yes. But it would save time if you just answered.”
   “Why, are you running out of time?”
   It was one simple question, but Number 6 wouldn’t even answer that he’d given up sugar on medical advice! Never off guard is our friend Number 6, and gives little or nothing away, not even about himself. But they knew anyway, having everything on record about Number 6. The one lacking piece of information being the reason behind his resignation, and his personal file wouldn’t be complete until they learned what that reason was. Why was that so important? Because one likes to know everything! That “one,” is that as in an unspecified person or individual, or does it mean Number 1?

Be seeing you