The
red ‘L’ shaped intercom began to bleep, No.2, who had been contemplating his
future walked over to his desk and picked up the bleeping intercom. He paused
for a moment before he spoke.
“Number 2 here…….yes sir I realize that
sir, but things got out of hand……….well I realize that sir………my future sir, as
a matter of fact I have been giving that some thought……………..you want me to
remain here sir for a second term in office………..I see sir, there isn’t time to
bring a new Number 2 to the village in time……well I will sir, thank you sir.
“Where am I?”
“In the village.”
“What do you want?”
“Information, information, information.”
“You won’t get it.”
“By hook or by crook we will.”
“Who are you?”
“I am the new Number 2.”
“Who is Number 1?”
“You are Number 6.”
“I am not a number, I am a free man!”
“Yes, yes, yes we’ve heard it all so many
times before. I expect you’re thinking I want to know why you resigned, I know
why you resigned. For peace of mind, because too many people know too much
blah, blah, blah! Let me tell you I do not care a fig about why you resigned,
so you can tell it to the judge for all I care…..oh but you did, didn’t you.
Then you trapped Number 1 in a rocket, launched the damned thing, and managed
to escape in the chaos. But where did that get you, right back here that’s
where, and there’s no escape this time. Forgetting the events of ‘Fall Out,’
the last time you attempted to escape was by the motor ship Polotska. You even
managed to recruit a number of co-conspirators, and you still failed. See, I
have read your file. So seeing as we are no longer interested in the reason why
you resigned, you can resign yourself to living out the rest of your life in peace
and quiet here in the village. Now get out.”
No.6 remained seated in the black leather
chair, he had never been dismissed like that before. He was used to being the
centre of attention.
“What is it you want? He demanded to know.
“From you….nothing but to leave my office.”
“Where do I go?”
“To your cottage, it has been made ready
for you.”
“What am I expected to do?”
“Nothing, just settle down and live out the
rest of your life.”
“Has it begun all over again?”
“Has what begun all over again?”
“Why you had me brought back here.”
“You came back here because you couldn’t
keep away. Going about shouting your mouth off about the village to anyone who
would listen, and demanding compensation, you had to be brought back just to
shut you up!”
“Get Number 1.”
No.2 looked at the Prisoner from the
relative comfort of his chair “Number 1……oh yes, you can’t. He died on impact after
the rocket re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere.”
“There must be a Number 1 get him!”
“There is no Number 1, I’m in charge now.
So get used to it, and out of my office Number 6, you’re no longer important to
us.”
No.6 cut a lonely figure as he made his way
down the steps, across the street, across the square, and back to his cottage.
The door opened and he found a housemaid flicking a yellow dusted about the
place.
“Aren’t you wasting your time!”
The housemaid-No.66 looked at him “What do
you mean?”
“There’s no dust in here. You are no longer
required, get out” he told her.
No.66 left the cottage in a huff, dropping
the yellow duster as she went, the door closing automatically behind her,
leaving No.6 to settle into his home from home.
In the Control Room No.2 and the
bald-headed Supervisor-No.28 stood watching No.6 on the wall screen.
“Do you think he’ll be as much trouble a
second time round?” asked the Supervisor.
“He’s not so important this time, and he
knows there’s no point in rebelling, or trying to escape, or to cause any kind
of trouble, or to go about poking his nose into things which are none of his
concern.”
“Pity” was all the Supervisor said.
“Pity, why pity?”
“It’s
going to be rather quiet in the village without Number 6 and his antics!”
No.2 threw the Supervisor a quizzical look
“You want him to try and escape. Or you wish I had some cunning and elaborate
plan to implement against Number 6.”
“No not really” the Supervisor said “but
you have to admit, as all of your predecessors would agree, he’s been our most
interesting prisoner. There’s never been anyone quite like him before or
since.”
“A pretty speech indeed, however one should
be most careful about what you wish for……you might receive it!”
No.2 walked across the Control Room floor
to the steel steps leading up to the mezzanine level, “if you want me you know
where I am.”
No.2 climbed the steps using the umbrella
shooting stick as a walking stick, the pair of steel doors were already
opening, they closed behind him with a resounding clang.
No.6 prowled his cottage like a caged tiger,
every so often he would pause and glance out of the window. He could see
citizens promenading around in the Piazza. Two white Mini-Mokes drove slowly
round, and an elderly chap pushed a Penny Farthing bicycle making no attempt to
ride it. From what he could see nothing had changed since he was last here, the
same old faces, the same people doing exactly the same thing. Suddenly quiet,
gentle music began to play through the black loudspeaker. It was playing in
order to try and calm him. There was no on/off switch, and he remembered that
trampling the thing to bits under foot made no difference, but then he recalled
putting the speaker in the fridge did do the trick. He did so, and the music
stopped. Then the door to his cottage opened and the housemaid in her dark blue
dress, white frilly apron, and white sailor’s cap stood framed in the doorway.
“What have you come back for?” he shouted.
“I forgot……” she started pointing at the
yellow duster lying on the floor.
“Yes I bet you did, deliberately on purpose
no doubt.”
“Who says?” No.66 asked somewhat sternly.
“On your way out don’t forget what you came
back for!”
“What did you come back for?” she asked stooping to pick up the duster.
“Because this room is the only place I can
ever go, either here or in London
“London London
“About the same.”
“Yes, places don’t change….only people.”
“That’s rather philosophical for a Tuesday”
he told her.
“Be seeing you.”
The door to the cottage closed.
“Not if I see you first!” he said under his
breath.
The next day in the village was much like
any other day, it could have been yesterday, it might have been tomorrow, but
it was today. And as usual the ice cream flavour of the day was strawberry. The
Tally Ho broadsheet was on sale, the headline read “New Concert Hall To Be
Built.” No.6 wasn’t interested, to be perfectly honest when push comes to shove
he wasn’t interested in very much at all. He went on his daily stroll around
the village. He climbed the Bell Tower
“What was that?” a man asked.
“That” said another “was a warning to those
with a mind to step out of line.”
No.6
sat watching the man on a bench on the opposite side of the Piazza. The man
opposite saw No.6 looking at him, he shifted his position and went back to
reading his copy of The Tally Ho, so he did not see No.6 stand up and walk
away.
“I thought it was you Chambers.”
“The man put down his newspaper and looked
at the man sat next to him.
“You didn’t keep our appointment.”
“I wanted to.”
“You went over!”
“No.”
“What then?”
“Who do you think you are to be questioning
me?” I suppose Number 2 sent you to spy on me.”
“No.
“What are you doing here anyway?”
“I resigned the job, and before I know it
I’m waking up in this place.”
“You honestly expect me to believe that?”
“It’s true.”
“But you were always so loyal, about to
marry the boss’s daughter.”
“Circumstances alter cases. But what about
you, you sold out, I was going to try and make you change your mind.”
“I went home from work, packed two
suitcases, the next thing I know I’m waking up in what I thought was my own
home. I was here.”
“Cobb was here as well.”
“Was?”
“He jumped from a window at the hospital,
he’s buried in the graveyard!”
“So what now?”
“What do you suggest, we go and put flowers
on his grave?”
“I didn’t think you were quite so
sentimental.
“Cobb was a good man, there are few of us
left.”
“Yes and we all seem to end up here in
the……the village. All we want is for Dutton to put in an appearance and have a
full house!”
“Dutton, he’s not here is he?”
“No, no I don’t think so. They were working
on some poor blighter in the hospital, a nasty looking doctor who gave the
appearance that he would go to any lengths in order to test a man’s breaking
point. So how do we get out of this place?”
“We don’t, there is no way out. We are here
for the duration.”
“You seem very sure of that.”
“I am. Unless you have someone on the
outside who knows where we are, get used to the village, you’ll be here for a
very long time.”
“Well I suppose if you can’t escape, then no-one can.”
“Oh I escaped alright, but then I came
back.”
“You mean you were brought back.”
“No.”
“Well if you’ll excuse me” Chambers said
folding his newspaper “I’ve a suitcase to pack.”
“Why where are you going?”
“They’re letting me go, I’m going back to
the Foreign Office. I’ve no doubt Cobb went back to work for his new masters.
But of course you ZM73, you have no job to go back to, seeing as you resigned!”
“Cobb?”
“The next time someone commits suicide by
jumping out of a hospital window, I’d have a look if I were you, just to make
sure. Be seeing you.”
Be seeing you
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