Chapter 3
An Attempted Escape
“You must realise Number Two that you cannot leave,
your term in office has only just begun” No.21 explained.
“And how long is a term of office?” No.2 asked prowling the floor
of his office.
“I don’t rightly know” 21 replied “how
long is a piece of string?”
No.2 stopped pacing and glared at his
assistant just at that moment the red, curved, over-sized telephone began to
bleep, both men glanced at it.
“Well it’s not for me” No.21 said.
Snatching up the ridiculous telephone
No.2 announced himself.
“Number 2 here……….I didn’t want this,
I never asked for it…and if I don’t?.........” he replaced the telephone on the
desk.
“Something wrong Number Two?”
“Number 1 has a delicate sense of
humour.”
“How do you mean?”
“There is to be a new arrival in the
Village.”
“Do we have any details?”
“A file is to be passed on to us. He
is to be put in the …….in the round house which will be given the number six.”
“Six sir?”
“Six….six…..six!” No.2 shouted.
“A new Number Six, I wonder what
he’ll be like, can’t be any worse than any of his predecessors” No.21 remarked.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well you don’t imagine you were the
first Number Six do you?”
“And did they all live in the round
house at one time or another?”
“I really couldn’t say sir, but for
the moment there is Number Ninety-three.”
“What about Ninety-three?”
“Well if I may say sir, you have
enough former experience to realize that there are few ways by which to attempt
an escape, well Number Ninety-three doesn’t! He sees it as the right of every
prisoner to try and escape.”
“I would agree with him.”
“You would? This isn’t Colditz where
gentlemen prisoner’s of war behave like over grown school boys thinking it’s all
a game!”
“Isn’t it a game?”
“You have to pick a side, and play a
straight bat.”
“Even on a sticky wicket?”
No.2 may have sympathy towards Number
93, a man who is desperate
to be free of the Village, but who realized he has to play the same
game but in a different way.
14
In his time No.93 had tried numerous ways
of escape, but each time had resulted in failure. Once he had stolen a
speedboat, but as he headed towards the mouth of the estuary and the open sea beyond,
suddenly the engine had cut out and left his boat dead in the water. The white
amorphous Guardian appeared and acted as both power unit and rudder for the boat,
steering it back to shore. Next he spent six weeks carving himself a dugout
canoe out of a fallen tree trunk, and paddled his way up river until he was
eventually caught by Post 9. He had joined the local scuba club, and one day on
a dive he managed to elude his diving buddy, and underwater he swam his way
towards the far shore of the estuary. But then the Guardian appeared out of the
gloom of the water, but this time it was 93 who had had the advantage, his face
mask and aqua lung preventing him from being suffocated or drowned. When the
Guardian could gain no advantage it withdrew, leaving 93 to swim on his way
that is until……….the first depth charge exploded in the water! From a speedboat
on the surface the crew dropped a number of depth charges at various depths
into the water. Each depth charge subjected the diver to a number of hydraulic shocks,
which would either kill or force the diver to the surface. Therapy treatment
had no effect on No.93, he simply became more and more desperate in his escape
attempts. He hid in a dustbin in order to have himself thrown out of the Village
with all the other rubbish! When that failed he simply ran away along the beach
until he was eventually run to ground by the Guardian. He once hid himself in
the woods for three days evading the guardians as they searched for him, then
as the search faded he made a run for it towards the mountains, but was shot in
the leg by Post 12 in the Outer Zone. After that he along with three
confederates began working on a tunnel, however any plan is only as good as the
men you can rely on, and No.32 turned out to be a quisling and informed on
No.93 resulting in further therapy treatment which was to have resulted in his rehabilitation
and being properly integrated. The doctor could not have been more wrong!
“And since then?” No.2 asked closing the
file.
“Nothing, and that’s the trouble,
Ninety-three isn’t the kind of man to give up, so he must be up to something”
No.21 said.
No.2 thought for a moment “Let’s have
him in for questioning.”
“What will that achieve?”
“I want to learn what’s behind his
motivations.”
“I can tell you what they are; he’s
motivated by the thoughts of escape.”
“Then we must de-motivate him” No.2
said “take away the reason for his need to escape.”
No.21 led three burly set guardians to
’93 Private,’ and from there No.93 was manhandled to the Green Dome and taken
into the office.
15
No.2 looked at No.93, a tall man in his
late 40’s with a full grey beard, from the comfort of his chair. Leaning
forward he pressed a
button
on the control panel of his desk turning on the wall screen. No.21 leaned over
the desk and pressed the right button. A disc in the floor slid away and a
black leather chair rose up through the hole and No.93 was sat in it, after
which the guardians smartly left the office.
“I have been reading your file
Ninety-three.”
“Perhaps you would like me to add an
inscription!”
“You see that’s not the proper
attitude at all” No.2 told him.
“Proper attitude, I like that! What
about you?”
“We are not discussing me.”
“You were once like me…a prisoner!”
“As you can see I have gone up in the
Village.”
“And now we are to live by the rule
of six!”
“You have resisted” No.2 said.
“YOU resisted!” 93 said.
“And look where it’s got me, and what
makes you better than any of your predecessors.”
“I don’t know, I’m still settling
into the job.”
“What’s he doing, showing you the
ropes?”
“Your attitude does you no credit
93.”
“How’s Number One?”
No.21 pressed a button and 93 jerked
in pain as a current of electricity passed through the chair.
“Switch it off!” No.2 shouted.
No.21 switched off the electrical current and
93 relaxed.
“Sir if I might say.”
“No you may not.”
“This man needs a short sharp shock”
No.21 suggested.
“I think he’s already had one. Number
Twenty-one there are other ways, we must give Ninety-three purpose within the
community.”
“In what way sir?”
“Have him taken to the labour
exchange and have him given a job!”
“Head of security I suppose!”
“That’s one idea, but I thought
something menial. Ninety-Three…..Ninety-three look at me.”
No.93 lifted his head.”
“Are you mechanically minded?” No.2
asked.
“I once built my own kit car.”
“There you are you see 21, he’s a
mechanic, tell the labour exchange manager to put him in vehicle maintenance.”
“Yes Number Two.”
“Let him get his hands dirty, keep
him occupied, the trouble is he’s had far too much time on his hands. Take that
away and there’ll be less opportunity of escape.”
16
The next morning No.93 found himself sat in a leather chair in the green walled office of the Labour Exchange. There was an inner wall made up by a number of light and dark grey painted arches, it gave the impression of being a 1920’s German expressionist film set. A sliver grey haired man sat gazing at No.93 from behind a grey curved desk.
“So, you want to be a motor mechanic”
No.20 said.
“They sent me here to be given a job”
93 replied.
“Well you’ve certainly the
qualifications for being a motor mechanic.”
“What?”
The manager opened a ledger selecting
the appropriate page “In 1964 you built a kit car.”
“You know about that?”
“Oh yes, we have everything about
you, and I think that qualifies you to be a motor mechanic.”
“Does that mean I’ve got the job?”
“Would you care for a cup of tea?”
the manger asked getting up out of his chair. He was dressed in grey tails,
grey waistcoat and trousers, white shirt and grey tie. There was a grey topper
resting on his desk.
“Tea?”
“Elevenses” the manger said picking
up the silver plated teapot and pouring out two cups of tea. He added milk and
two lumps of sugar to 93’s tea.
93 took the offered cup and saucer,
and stirred his tea while the manager drank his not once taking his eyes off
the man sat in the chair. After a few minutes both cups and saucers were
replaced back on the tea tray.
“Thank you for the tea” 93 said about
to rise up out of his chair “I think I’ll be going now if it all the same to
you.”
“I’m afraid it’s not all the same to
me” the manager said quickly pressing a button on the control panel of his
desk.
No.93 was shocked by an electrical
current passing through the chair. It stiffened his body and forcing him back
in the chair, unable as he was to release his grip on the arms of the chair.
The manager pressed a second button and the lights dimmed, the touch of another
button activated the large wall screen, upon which was pictured the silhouette
of 93’s head. There were two angled lines which converged at the silhouette’s
forehead, and on the upper line was a circle, on the lower a square.
“This” announced the manager “is the
truth test, anything you think here is thought in strictest confidence. Why do
you wish to work as a motor mechanic?”
93 gripped the armrests of the chair,
he closed his eyes tight shut, he tried not to think, but his thoughts betrayed
him. The circle moved forward towards the forehead of the black silhouette.
“That of course is a lie, but will not
be held against you. You thought that if you became a motor mechanic you would
be working in the
motor pool, or perhaps maintaining one of the two speed boats, then to try and
escape by road or sea.”
“Now we come to the truth of the matter. But you were mistaken in this thinking weren’t you?”
The circle on the screen moved forward again.
“Please let us have the truth” the manager said.
The square moved forward on its lines towards the forehead of the subject, then both circle and square moved backwards, then forwards again in synchronization until they met at a point and merged into the mind of the subject.
93 collapsed in his chair!
The next day No.93 was busy in the
motor pool changing a tyre of the Mini-Mokes, he was being watched not by the
supervisor, but by No.2 on the wall screen in his office.
“I think he’ll settle down” No.2
said.
“You think so?” his assistant said
giving his superior a sideways glance.
“He seems happy in his work.”
“That could be a façade.”
“You mean he’s attempting to put us
to sleep.”
“What do you want me to do, bring him
in for questioning?”
“I don’t want you to do anything”
No.2 said sternly “let the man be, he’ll settle down all of his own accord.”
Tea’s up No.63 announced. No.93 wiped
his hands on a cloth and went to join his two fellow mechanics for a tea break.
“When you’ve finished changing that
tyre Ninety-three one of the jet boats has developed an engine fault, go over and
sort it out would you” the foreman said.
“Righto.”
Two days later……
It was a beautiful morning and No.2 had
decided to stretch his legs, he wound the old school scarf around his neck and
shoulders, picked up the umbrella shooting stick, and left the Green Dome
making his way to the maintenance shed.
He stood in the open doorway watching those
at work, he was observed by the foreman, a middle aged man in cap and overalls.
“Number Two, what can we do for you?”
“Nothing really, I’m just stretching
my legs, getting my bearings. This is the maintenance shed.”
“Yes sir.”
“Good” he said stepping into the
building “why is that taxi here?”
18
“A problem with the engine, suspected
blocked fuel line” the foreman said.
“Well sort it out, can’t have a taxi
off the road you know.”
“Yes sir, my best man is on the job
now.”
No.2 walked over to the taxi where
No.93 was working under the bonnet, he bent over “What’s the problem?”
93 looked at the man who had put his
head under the bonnet, he was surprised to see it was No.2 “It won’t start,
suspected blocked fuel line.”
“Might be the carburettor” No.2
suggested standing upright he leaned his shooting stick by the Mini-Moke,
removed his scarf and blazer and rolled up his sleeves “May I?” he asked
picking up a spanner.
“Be my guest.”
“Don’t look so worried, I’m a bit of
a dab hand when it comes to mechanics myself, I once built my own Lotus Seven,
I knew every nut, bolt and cog” No.2 said getting to work.
The two men got their heads together under
the bonnet putting a spanner to the carburettor.
“If you are thinking of attempting escape
by Mini-Moke let me assure you that all roads lead back to the Village!” No.2
told him.
“What?”
“And I can tell you it’s not much
better by sea.”
“Why, why are you talking like
this….you’re trying to trap me!”
“I could help you.”
“Why should you help me?”
A few moments later the two men emerged
from under the bonnet, No.2 had the carburettor in hand, he blew into a tiny
jet.
“That should do it” he said and the
two men put their heads back under the bonnet to replace the part.
“We haven’t got long, I don’t want to
attract the attention of the foreman” No.2 said.
“Wh…what?”
“You are not happy here ninety-three?”
“In the motor pool….I’m happy
enough.”
“In the Village I mean.”
“Why do you care?”
These few words brought back a memory
“Why do you care? I know your voice. I’ve been here before, why do you care?”
“I, I don’t, just get on with your
work and you will do well” No.2 said donning his blazer and scarf once more.
The butler was employed with putting out
the afternoon tea things. The pair of steel doors slid open and No.21 walked
smartly down the ramp and approached the desk.
“I’m just about to have afternoon tea
Twenty-one, would you care for a cup?”
The butler was already pouring out
two cup of tea, adding milk and sugar
to one and a slice of lemon to the other., then wheeled his trolley across the
floor, up the ramp and out through the opening steel doors.
19
No.21 picked up his cup and saucer and
stirred his tea “You went to the motor pool….to see Number Ninety-three?”
“We have something in common.”
“Really.”
“Mechanics” No.2 said sipping his
tea.
“Is he going to try and escape do you
think?”
“In my opinion yes, his spirit’s
broken.”
“Then we’ll be ready for him, which do you
think by land or by sea?”
“Neither, he’ll find another way.”
“Is there another way?”
“There’s always another way.”
“But you of all people will not be
too hard on him!”
“Drink your tea Twenty-one.”
The day was sunny and warm, ordinarily citizens
would be down on the beach either sunbathing, playing beach ball, paddling in
the gullies of water left by the outdoing tide, or building sandcastles.
However today the tide was in as it had been for the past three days which as
it happens gave the village added security. Someone might attempt an escape
along the beach, but they could hardly walk on water, although one citizen was
enjoying himself water skiing. No.49 was at the helm of the jet boat as it
powered through the waves of the estuary with the water skier towed behind
performing all manner of skilful tricks. That is until the engine of the jet
boat spluttered, coughed, and died leaving the jet boat dead in the water, and
the water skier floundering.
In the control room an Observer had
been watching her monitor as a surveillance camera made a sweep over the
estuary, and had observed the boat floating in the water.
“Supervisor, one of the jet boats has
broken down and is now adrift in the estuary.”
“Let’s have it on the screen” the Supervisor
said.
At the press of a button the large
wall screen came to life.
“Get in closer on the boat” the
Supervisor ordered.
A camera zoomed in on the boat just
in time to see the crewman helping the man out of the water, along with his
ski, into the boat. Then the crewman uncovered the engine and began to tinker
with it.
“Better send out the other boat with
a mechanic onboard” the Supervisor told his assistant.
“Right sir” No.60 said picking up the
yellow ‘L’ shaped telephone “Put me
through to maintenance…..maintenance control room here. One of the jet boats
has developed an engine fault, send a motor mechanic
to retrieve boat and two people.”
20
No.93 and another mechanic set out to
the aid of the broken down boat in the second jet boat. The boatman and water
skier were helped into the rescue boat, while 93 went aboard to try and start
the engine.
“I’ll throw you a rope and I’ll tow
you in” No.125 offered.
“It’s alright” 93 said lifting the
engine cowling “I bet it’s the plugs, this won’t take a minute or two, you head
back to shore.”
The second jet boat skimmed across the
waves back towards the village and the slipway.
In the control room the supervisor and his
assistant stood watching the scene play out on the wall screen.
“I wonder why he refused the tow.” No.60
asked.
“I don’t know” the supervisor replied
picking up the yellow ‘L’ shaped telephone “Number 2.”
No.2 was sat behind his desk studying
a number of confidential files when the yellow ‘L’ shaped telephone began to
bleep. He put down the file on village protocols and picked up the telephone.
“Number Two here.”
“Supervisor here sir, there is a
stranded jet boat in the estuary.”
“What do you want me to do about it?
Send the second boat and have it towed back to shore.”
“We did that, but Number Ninety-three
refused the tow. He’s working on the engine of the boat as we speak.”
“Who did you say?”
“Number Ninety-three.”
No.2 leaned forward and looked at the
buttons on the control panel his finger poised, but which one to press “Switch
me in” he said.
The wall screen came to life and there
was No.93 aboard the jet boat busy working on the engine.
“It seems alright” No.2 said.
Then he watched as 93 dropped the cowling
over the engine, and taking the helm started the engine and steered a course
for the mouth of the estuary and towards the open sea beyond. Just at that
moment the pair of steel doors opened and No.21 walked smartly down the ramp.
“Anything wrong sir?”
“Ninety-three is aboard a jet boat
and heading for the open sea!”
Orange alert seems the obvious choice
of command” 21 suggested.
“That will not work” No.2 said
“believe me I’ve had personal experience, for the Guardian to be effective Ninety-three
needs to be in the water. The helicopter could give chase.”
“The helicopter left the Village
twenty minutes ago sir.”
On the telephone the supervisor asked
for instructions.
“There is always
“
“Electronic Defence System, known by
the simpler title of the Beam.”
“Supervisor, deploy the Beam” No.2
instructed.
21
“Very well sir, maximum strength?”
the supervisor asked.
No.2 put his hand over the speaker of
the telephone “Beam set at hellfire?”
“No, we don’t want the boat to
explode, maximum strength should be adequate” 21 responded.
All the time the jet boat was getting
further away from the village.
“Supervisor, Beam maximum strength.”
The supervisor passed the word to an
operator, and at the touch of a button the top of the flagpole lifted clear and
a steel rod rose up and at a 45 degree angle transmitted a signal across the
estuary. No.93 was approaching the mouth of the estuary by this time, he
glanced over his shoulder, there was no sign of a pursuit boat nor of the
helicopter, and no appearance of the Guardian. But then the engine began to
splutter then it died. In desperation he turned the ignition key, nothing!
Leaving the helm he lifted the engine cowling and set to work on the engine.
No.2 sat watching the wall screen and
93 aboard the drifting boat “We can’t leave him there, perhaps we should send
M. S. Polotska to go to Ninety-three’s aid.”
No.21 smiled, “He’s beginning to get
it” he thought to himself.
No.2 picked up the ‘L’ shaped
telephone “Control room…….control room, tell the crew of M. S. Polotska to go
to the aid of Number Ninety-three.”
The radio crackled into life, Ernst
picked up the mouthpiece and gave the recognition signal. A voice over the
speaker gave Ernst and Gunter their instructions “A mariner in a small jet boat
is in distress, go to his aid immediately.”
“Okay, will do” Ernst said.
Gunter at the wheel turned hard to port,
steering the motor ship towards the mouth of the estuary. A search pattern was
carried out in search of the small boat, then two points off the starboard
beam….a man standing in a drifting boat waving his arms in the air. M. S.
Polotska pulled alongside, Ernst threw a line to the stranded mariner who made
the rope fast, and then was helped aboard the motor cruiser.
“Thank you” 93 said entering the
wheelhouse “You don’t know how good it is to see you.”
“You must be relieved” a voice said.
93 spun round to see the familiar
face of No.2 sat in his black global chair on the television screen.
“We could see you were in distress,
cast adrift and in need of rescue!” No.2 said.
93 looked about him; he saw a heavy
glass ashtray and moved a hand towards it.
“I shouldn’t if I were you, deliberate
destruction of official property could result in a fine, possibly imprisonment”
No.2 warned.
22
Before he could throw the ashtray 93 was
held in a sudden strong grip and restrained as M. S. Polotska was steered on a
course along the estuary towards the village.
23
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