PRISONER'S RETURN
EPISODE 9 - RIDERS IN THE SKY
Number 6 is alone in his cottage quietly drinking a cup of coffee watching the television. The news is on at the time, showing the latest political events, with shots of number 10 Downing Street, and a collection of ministers getting into their cars after leaving. Number 6 uses his remote control to turn off the television set and settles down in his chair to think.
He recalls the time when he was imprisoned in the old 'Village'. He remembers the village square, number 2's residence, his own house and the view from the window. He recalls the sea and the sand, and the stone boat on the seashore. His memories stray to other events when he was imprisoned, including 'Rover' and how he was pursued by it through the village and across the beach. He then considers some more tangible aspects of the village: the climate, the weather and the rain. Finally, he recalls the time when he was allowed to escape when the village was deserted, and he had a close encounter with the gunrunners. He managed to persuade the British Government to search for the village in an aircraft, but was thwarted when the pilot, who was a village agent, fired the plane's ejector seat to return him to the village. Thinking back, number 6 remembers that he and the pilot were searching an area close to the north coast of Africa at the time, based on the course plottings he was working out just prior to ejection.
Shortly afterwards, number 6 attends a large national airshow. He spends much of his time looking at many of the small fighter aircraft, discussing the relative merits of the different aircraft with the pilots and representatives at the show. He shows a particular interest in the Hawker Harrier with its vertical takeoff facility, and even sits in the cockpit to familiarise himself with the controls. He walks all round the aircraft identifying the main components and particularly its fuel filling point. Once satisfied, he leaves the air show and drives home.
Some time later number 6 leaves home and drives to a nearby RAF base, where he sees Hawker Harriers landing and on the runway. He drives his car into a wood overlooking the base, and leaves it hidden in the undergrowth. Number 6 spends some time watching the base, and soon discovers which hangers house the Harriers. He also sketches the general layout of the site, including the location of the fuel supply on the base. In the guise of being a country walker, number 6 then walks alongside the site close to the woods and casually examines the perimeter security fencing for a suitable entry point. Once he is satisfied, number 6 walks back to his car, and drives home.
At home, number 6 packs himself a shoulder bag, and orders a taxi to take him to the railway station. Once there, he boards a train and travels to a station close to the airfield. On foot he makes his way towards the RAF base, working his way across country through the woods until he finds the perimeter fence in front of him. Number 6 carefully examines the fence for alarms and selects a suitable sheltered spot to cut through the fence. He then takes a pair of bolt croppers out of his bag and starts to cut neatly through the fencing. Once he has cut a hole in the fence, he crawls through the gap and works his way across the airfield towards the hangers where the Hawker Harriers are stored. Using the bolt croppers, he carefully cuts the padlock on the door and immobilises the alarm system. Slowly, in order to minimise the noise, number 6 slides the hanger doors open, and makes his way over to a Harrier which is sitting quietly in one corner of the hanger. He climbs up onto the aircraft, slides open the cockpit cover and gets into the pilot's seat. With a torch, he checks the controls and finds they are as he remembered at the airshow. Checking the gauges, he finds that the fuel tank is full, but that the oil levels need checking. Number 6 climbs down from the cockpit, opens a cowl on the side of the aircraft and checks the oil levels on the engines. As he does so, a figure in uniform appears in the hanger entrance and challenges him. The figure comes towards number 6 with a gun in his hand pointing at him. Number 6 puts his hands up as the figure comes nearer, and points a torch at him. With his foot, number 6 suddenly pushes over the oil drum he has been using to fill the aircraft with, and oil gushes across the floor. The soldier with the gun loses his footing on the oil and slips over. Number 6 quickly closes the engine cowling, and climbs into the cockpit. He starts the plane up and the turbines slowly turn. The soldier on the floor is still slipping about in the oil, but uses his radio to summon help. Number 6 opens the throttles on the plane and it starts to roll slowly out of the hanger.
Meanwhile, guards at the RAF base have been alerted and several jeeps full of RAF guards and Military Police are rushing across the base to the hanger. The jeeps arrive at the hanger just as number 6 and the Harrier roll out into view. Floodlights all over the base come on turning the runway and surrounding areas into daylight. Number 6 is undeterred and accelerates the Harrier along the taxi way towards the main runway, pursued by the jeeps and guards. Once on the main runway, number 6 opens the throttles completely and the jet accelerates hard towards take off. The jeeps attempt to block the runway but fail to stop the Harrier.
In a few minutes, two other Harriers are scrambled from their hangers to pursue number 6, and the base radar is used to track his flight path. Co-ordination is arranged with other radar stations to track where he is going.
Number 6 heads off in a westerly direction in the Harrier at a normal height, with the two other Harriers in pursuit, some miles behind. Once he is over the Welsh Mountains, Number 6 carefully checks his radar screens and finds another aircraft a few miles ahead. He closes up on the aircraft which is a commercial flight, flying at a lower height than he is, and as he passes it, drops rapidly down to roof top height in the Welsh Valleys. Once down at this level, number 6 flies up the valleys at low level avoiding the radar systems trying to track him, and loses the Harriers which were in pursuit.
In the radar controls tracking number 6, they see his image merge with that of the commercial flight, but not his rapid dive into the valleys. They have lost him.
Number 6 flies the plane out of the valleys at rooftop level and heads across the Bristol Channel at very low level to avoid radar as far as possible. Once out of British air space, he swings out over the Bay of Biscay and heads towards the North African Coast.
Once he is close to the African Coast, he lifts the Harrier up to a working height and starts to sweep the coast using his charts and looking down for the old 'Village'. After a while of sweeping, he spots what looks like the old 'Village' and he descends to investigate. From a thousand feet, number 6 can make out the stone boat, the dome of number 2's house, and the village square. He sees a clearing in the centre of the old 'Village' and uses the vertical take-off facility to bring the Harrier in to land. Once down, he opens the cockpit and looks around the old 'Village', which appears derelict and run-down. Carefully, number 6 leaves the plane and cautiously makes his way into the old 'Village', checking all the time for signs of a trap, but nothing happens. He walks to the old 'Village' shop and waits at the door expecting it to open automatically, but it stays shut. He manually opens the door to go in. Everything inside and on the shelves is dusty and unused. There are no signs in the dust of anybody having been there. He walks across to the bandstand and gazes round the old 'Village', but nothing moves. On further investigation, he discovers his own house, empty and run-down. Finally, he walks across to number 2's residence and finds the old control room. All the screens are still there on the walls, and the penny-farthing bicycle is also there. The control room consoles and chair remain but again are dusty and give no suggestion that anybody has been there for years.
Number 6 wanders around the room, but finds nothing of interest to him. He stands in front of the control console and idly tries several of the switches. To his surprise, one of the screens comes to life and shows scenes of his life in the old 'Village' before he escaped and destroyed it. Number 6 starts wildly and crouches ready to run from the trap, but nothing happens and nobody appears. He then tries all the switches on the console, each giving a view of different aspects of his life in the old 'Village'. One particular switch shows the scenes as the old 'Village' was evacuated. He realises that somebody in the old 'Village' must have filmed the scenes for future use, and, therefore, there must be a link between the old and new 'Villages'. Number 6 examines all of the evacuation film several times over, trying to find some clues in it, but finds nothing. Disappointed, he leaves the building and makes his way towards the Harrier. On the way, he sees a bronze statue covered in verdigris and turning green, and is struck by the likeness to somebody he knows. He walks back to the control room in number 2's house, turns the console on again and re-runs the evacuation film. Number 6 identifies the figure whose statue he has seen. Deep in thought, he recalls the television news he saw recently, and the people leaving Downing Street. He recognises the man in the film and the statue as being one of the politicians in the television news shot.
In the new 'Village', the control room staff report to the leader that they have lost number 6, and don't know where he is. They flick through a number of monitoring screens but can find no signs of him. The leader is not too worried, as he believes they will pick up number 6 in due course anyway. In the control room, an alarm suddenly sounds. The control room staff and leader are surprised as this alarm warns of an intruder in the old 'Village'. The control room staff turn on some special surveillance equipment and are able to view the old 'Village' control room. They see number 6 working his way through the evacuation film, and take an interest in the one particular man. The leader wants to know how number 6 found the old 'Village'. The new 'Village' technicians activate some of the cameras in the old ' Village' and soon spot the Harrier in the centre.
Number 6 finishes watching the evacuation for the last time, and leaves the building. He heads for the Harrier, gets in, starts it up and takes off. He then heads back to Britain, where he lands the aircraft in a remote spot and abandons it.
Meanwhile, the new 'Village' contact the politician who number 6 identified and warn him that number 6 may try to contact him about the new 'Village'. They tell him to avoid number 6 at all costs, and if he follows him, to inform the new 'Village' who will take care of him. After returning to his cottage, number 6 goes up to London to find the politician. The politician is taking great care not to be followed. As he is driving home in his car, the politician becomes suspicious of a car, which is keeping several cars back behind him, and seems to be following him. He takes a detour in his car, but the other car stays behind him. The politician speeds up, but again the car stays with him, until he is travelling much faster than he should be and his car goes out of control and leaves the main road. The car crashes through the central reservation, nearly hits an oncoming car, and overturns on the wrong side of the road. The driver of the car, which was following him stops, gets out, checks the pulse of the politician and finds that he is dead. He gets back into his own car and then drives slowly away.
A few minutes later, number 6 arrives on the scene, sees the accident and goes across to observe the police at the scene. He is frustrated to find that the politician is dead.
Back in the new 'Village', the leader congratulates his control room team on successfully eliminating the politician so that he could not tell what he knows to number 6.
END
Copyright: D.J.Groom 1987