No.113 "Thank you for
taking the time to speak with me Number Two, especially under the
circumstances.”
No.113b “Smile” {click goes the camera}
“Who’s that leaving in the helicopter?”
No.2 “I’m not at all sure!”
“Tell me, why do you need Professor Seltzman? After all
everything seemed to be going along quite nicely as it was."
"I don't quite understand your question."
"Well you said you
needed Seltzman's reversal process."
"I never said anything of the kind."
"Didn't you?"
"No."
"Well you didn’t need Seltzman to operate your Seltzman
machine, nor do you require the reversal process."
"Why not?"
"Well you simply put the two subjects who originally
exchanged minds, through the exact same process."
"............Ah, I see."
"Well it's hardly rocket science is it?"
"No, no I suppose it's not."
"Tell me Number Two, how did you acquire the
"Seltzman machine" in the first place?"
"Oh I couldn't possibly tell you that."
"Why not?
"Because I don't bloody well know that’s why!"
“Don’t get shirty with us, just because it’s gone wrong for
you!”
“Smile” {click goes the camera}
“Who said its gone wrong for me? After all we’ve still got
the Seltzman machine.”
“Yes, but you had that before you started!”
“Yes and we can still break the security of any nation, as we
gather more and more information.”
“You were doing that before as well.”
“Is that the Colonel leaving The Village aboard that helicopter?”
“It certainly looks like the Colonel.”
“Looks can be deceptive.”
“If it wasn’t the Colonel,
it must have been…………….”
“Professor Seltzman!”
“Never mind, you can contact the pilot and order him to
return to The Village.”
“It will be out of range in a few minutes.”
“Then activate the remote control system of the helicopter.
And get one of the operatives in the Control room to fly the helicopter back.”
“Again it will be out of range.”
“There’s always the landing stage, Seltzman, I mean the
Colonel can be intercepted there and brought back to The Village.”
“What about Number Six?”
“I’m alright!” Number 6 said removing his goggles and
sitting up on the operating table.
No.2 “Oh he’s alright, it’s me I’m bothered about!”
No.113 “The Colonel, I mean Professor Seltzman doesn’t look
too clever.”
“That’s just the trouble, he was thrice cleverer than all of
us!”
“Who’s going to tell Number One?”
No.2 “It looks like I am!”
No.6 “I shouldn’t wonder that he knows already.”
“I could always have a change of mind.”
“Better to have a change of heart, and allow Professor
Seltzman to continue his experiments in peace.”
“Tell me Number Six, why did you resign. Was it over
Professor Seltzman?”
“I didn’t resign!”
“What?”
“When you erased all unpleasant memories of The Village and
returned me to London, having regressed my mind to the day I
was due to hand in my letter of resignation.”
“Yeeeesssssssssssss.”
“Well I had the letter already written.”
“Yeeeessssssssssss.”
“I left it on the mantelpiece, and forgot all about it.
“What?!”
“Well seeing the situation I was in, resigning my job was
suddenly the last thing on my mind!”
“You didn’t resign?”
“No, which means you have me here in The Village under false
pretences!”
“Who’s going to tell Number One?”
No.113 “It looks like you are!”
No.113b “Smile” {click goes the camera}
Reporter No.113
Photographer No.113b
“Portrait Cathy
Johnson”
BCNU
"If he will
answer one simple question, the rest will follow."
{No.2 - The Chimes of Big Ben}
And to his credit
Number 2 did try to get Number 6 to answer one simple question when he asked
Number 6 "One lump or two?" whilst preparing to pour out a cup of
tea. But Number 6 was wise to this ploy, because it had been tried once before.
It was during his de-briefing session with Number 2 on that day of his arrival.
He thought if he could get the Prisoner to answer one simple question then all
the rest would follow. It appeared that the Prisoner’s time of his birth was
missing from his file.
"Well there you are. Now let's bring it all up to
date."
"Four thirty-one am, nineteenth of March nineteen
twenty-eight."
I've nothing to say. Is that clear? Absolutely nothing."
Number 2 wanted to bring the Prisoner’s file up to date, but
the only way he could do that would be to add the reason behind the Prisoner’s
resignation! As for whether Number 6 takes sugar………
"It's in my file" Number 6 said.
“Yes, as a matter of fact yes. But it would save time if you
told me” Number 2 replied.
“Why, are you running out of time?”
At one point Number 2 was under the apprehension that it was a
question of time, that having handed in his resignation he then needed time to
think. Well he might have been right about that, seeing as how the Prisoner had
been going on holiday, somewhere different, somewhere quiet where he could
think. And of course it was a question of time for two particular Number 2’s.
One was given only three days to extract the reason behind Number 6’s
resignation, while another was give slightly longer, a week. But they both
failed in the task, they both allowed Number 6 to turn the tables on them.
Never underestimate Number 6, as one further Number 2 found out, seeing as
Number 6 wouldn't drop his guard with his own grandmother!
Be seeing you
Mostly the Canterbury in Number 6’s cottage is empty of any
newspapers and magazines, such as Village publications as The Tally Ho, the
Village Weekly, the Village Journal, and the Village Mercury. But here in ‘Many
Happy Returns’ there does happen to be either newspapers or magazines in the Canterbury of some description. The only trouble
is I cannot make out what they are. That part of the picture is too small to
enlarge clearly enough in order to make the newspapers out. Pity, it would have
been interesting to know, especially if it turned out to The Times, or The
Daily Telegraph or any such other newspaper or magazine not available in The
Village!
Be seeing you
I was
writing an entry in my common place book the other day, just as an ancestor of
mine also maintained a common place book. The entry had something to do with
‘the Prisoner,’ that if it wasn’t for the writing of my blog, and producing my
quarterly newsletter The Tally Ho I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. Well
I do, I’d be doing something else like writing a blog about my Deskanalia,
which is another passion of mine. Perhaps I will do that, one of these days.
The Prisoner has a nice writing bureau, and matching desk items which look to
be made of leather but I can’t be sure. He has a desk blotter, but its unused
seeing as he never writes with a fountain pen, always with either a ballpoint
pen or pencil. A favourite scene in ‘Hammer Into Anvil’ is when Number 6 goes
to the General Stores to purchase a small notebook. The shopkeeper produces a
nice little selection from a cabinet behind the counter, and Number 6 selects
one. I like notebooks, small pocket notebooks which are always handy to have
about you. Well you never know when an idea for a piece of blog will strike.
The Labour Exchange manager has a nice piece of deskanalia, an old
style ledger which he notes everything down in by hand, instead of typing it up
and putting papers in a file. In fact he had everything about Number 6 written
down in his ledger, which he consulted on the question of Number 6 not taking
sugar.
Really I should make a study of all deskanalia to be found in ’the
Prisoner,’ I don’t know why I haven’t thought of it before. One pen, a gold
coloured biro which is given to Number 6 by Number 12 the evening the lights
went out in ‘6 Private’ during ‘The General,‘ I have one just like it, except
mine has Portmeirion on it. In fact I’ve several items of Deskanelia collected
from Portmeiron over the years. Pencils, pencil sharpeners. Rulers, biros and
fountain pens, note books of course, a handful of which are still unused. And
of course Max Hora, when he used to run the Prisoner shop in Portmerion back in
the 1980’s into the late 90’s sold a line in stationary. Both A4 and A5 writing
paper with matching envelopes with a canopied penny farthing, later to have a
black square around it. Also a variety of Prisoner ballpoint pens which had
either “I am not a number I am a free man, or person” on them, together with a
small canopied Penny Farthing. I still have some of those ballpoint pens. Only
now I create my own Prisoner/canopied Penny Farthing headed writing paper
and envelopes.
I used to correspond with a great many fellow fans and enthusiasts
of ‘the Prisoner’ over the years and decades, all by letter. But not so much
these days, as most of my correspondents prefer to do via email, which of
course is quicker, more convenient. But I do still enjoy writing letters, and still
write to two fellow enthusiasts and long time friends by letter, and have done
so on a regular basis since the early 1990’s. I have three boxes filled with
files containing correspondence from my days in Six of One: The Prisoner
Appreciation Society, that’s going back a good few years now. People I still
remember, their faces not forgotten, but with many, contact has long since been
broken. I suppose really I should clear the letters out, and would have done
years ago, save for the fact that they are part of the history, part of the
archive. And yet one moves on, and in more recent years I have made fresh
contacts, made new friends because of ‘the Prisoner,’ and that’s good, because
that is the way it should be. Now there’s a letter I must write.
Be seeing you
Why did Number 6
seek to exact his revenge of Number 73 on Number 2? After all Number 2 didn’t
actually kill 73, he might have looked to have been about to lay his hands upon
her, but he hadn’t. In fact 73 didn’t jump out of bed and out through the
hospital window until Number 6 came bursting into the room. Did she recognise
Number 6? Perhaps she thought Number 6 was Number 2’s assistant, there to do
her harm. What other reason could there have been?
There’s something else about ‘Hammer Into Anvil,’ it is only
the fourth time in which Number 6 admits to his number. The first time is
during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben,’ the second in ‘A B and C,’ and the third time
is in ‘The Schizoid Man,’ and ‘Hammer Into Anvil’ makes it the fourth.
When I first watched ‘Hammer Into Anvil,’ I remember how I
thought Number 2 had got it right, no matter how paranoid he was. That Number 6
was a plant. That his resignation was nothing but a front, the reason behind it
was to see where his resignation would take him. Perhaps ZM73 had merely
followed the way of others before him. People who for one reason or another had
disappeared without trace, and ZM73’s task was to find out what had happened to
them. And when ZM73 finally managed to escape, it was up to the Colonel to
de-brief him about The Village. But the powers that be were too clever, seeing
as they snatched their prize agent from under their noses, to return him to The
Village, this time thinking for good.
Be seeing you
Have you observed that when confronted by
the white membranic mass of the Guardian, Number 6 nearly always throws himself
out of something! First it was a Mini-Moke when the Prisoner was attempting an
escape by driving along the beach. Suddenly ahead of him appeared the amorphous
mass of the Guardian. The Prisoner could see there was going to be a collision,
so he hurled himself out of the vehicle. He didn’t even attempt to drive round
the Guardian. Mind you there was a bit of an impact with something on the beach,
not the Guardian, but something in the sand. Don’t know what.
Then there was that time when Number
6 and Nadia had escaped The Village by boat. Everything was going fine, they
only had another two miles to go, around the next headland. But then Nadia
spotted the Guardian skimming across the waves towards them. There was only one
thing for it, abandon the boat. So Number 6 and Nadia jumped out of the boat,
into the water and swam for it. Well that boat was rather slow, and wouldn’t
have afforded any protection against the Guardian.
Another time was during the local
elections. Number 6 was standing for public office, for the position of Number
2 in fact. But something happened to make Number 6 throw off his rosette. It
was when he was trying to teach Number 58 to day “Be seeing you “ in English,
but he ended up saying “Ly ezeet
azoon” in her language! It was as
though something suddenly clicked inside him. So having discarded the rosette,
he rushed out of his cottage and drove off in his official transport, a
Mini-Moke. But with the road blocked outside the Town Hall Number 6 abandons
the vehicle and goes running off. Eventually he finds himself by the slipway,
and steals the boat which two mechanics are busy working on. He does manage to
overpower the two mechanics, as he once did on land, the two men in the
Mini-Moke when he attempted to escape The Village on the day of his arrival.
And like the eventual encounter, Number 6 at the helm of the jet boat sees the
white membranic mass of the Guardian heading towards him. However unlike on
land he does attempt to steer the boat around the approaching Guardian, except
the helm does not answer. So once more Number 6 is forced to jump overboard and
abandon the boat.
There is one further occasion when
Number 6 abandons a vehicle in order to evade the Guardian, although it might
be stretching a point. When on the evening in ‘The Schizoid Man’ Number 6 has
made his way to the cottage of ‘6 Private,’ and sees a Guardian on guard
outside. In order to distract Rover, Number 6 jumps into a nearby Mini-Moke and
drives it off. Then he jumps out of the taxi and into the bushes leaving the
Guardian to follow an unmanned vehicle, such is its slow wittedness. On the
other hand perhaps Number 6’s action would be akin to setting Rover after the
Mini-Moke as throwing a stick for a dog to chase!
Be
seeing you
No.113 "Thank you for
taking the time to speak with me Number Two, especially under the
circumstances.”
