Checkmate (audio story): Difference between revisions

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=== Allusions ===
=== Allusions ===
* "Four hours can be a long time in politics." – [[Kiy Uvanov|Uvanov's]] echoes the words of former British Prime Minister {{w|Harold Wilson}}. <ref>[http://quotes.dictionary.com/a_week_is_a_long_time_in_politics Quotation by Harold Wilson, Lord Riveaulx at Dictionary.com]</ref>
* "Four hours can be a long time in politics." – [[Kiy Uvanov|Uvanov's]] echoes the words of former British Prime Minister {{w|Harold Wilson}}. <ref>[http://quotes.dictionary.com/a_week_is_a_long_time_in_politics Quotation by Harold Wilson, Lord Riveaulx at Dictionary.com]</ref>
* [[Carnell|Carnell's]] last line to [[Kaston Iago|Iago]] is a paraphrase from the {{w|Christopher Marlowe}} play ''{{w|Doctor Faustus}}''.
* [[Justina Kessel|Justina's]] surname 'Kessel' (literally meaning a kettle, cauldron or cooking vessel) in conjunction with that of [[Ander Poul|Paulus]] (a general who unwittingly condemns his entire army to death) references the apocalyptic {{w|Battle of Stalingrad}}. The 'Kessel' at Stalingrad was the pocket in which Paulus' army was cut off and destroyed (with only a very few survivors returning from the {{w|Gulag}} years later). This is possibly derived in turn from the {{w|World War I}} {{w|German}} term 'Hexenkessel' ('Witches' Cauldron'), a name applied to several of the worst places on the {{w|Western Front}} - with the implication that troops were trapped there at the mercy of the enemy artillery.


== Notes ==
== Notes ==

Revision as of 12:40, 14 July 2015

RealWorld.png

You may wish to consult Checkmate (disambiguation) for other, similarly-named pages.

Checkmate is the fifth audio play in the Kaldor City series. Written by Alan Stevens, it deals with Uvanov and Iago's struggle to contain the threat of the killer robots.

Publisher's summary

"Cause and effect. It applies to everything."

Taren Capel's legacy is unleashed, and death stalks the streets. As Uvanov fights for his career and life, Paullus contacts a force which could be the salvation of the people of Kaldor -- or their destruction.

With Carnell gone, Iago is the only one who can save the city from its fate -- but to do that, he must sacrifice everything...

Kaldor City - Checkmate uses characters and concepts from Chris Boucher's Doctor Who novel Corpse Marker to tell an apocalyptic tale of subterfuge and revelation.

Plot

to be added

Cast

(in order of appearance)

References

Indiviuals

  • The Doctors estimate Rull will be released from hospital in 2 months.
  • Landerchild is 1 of only 10 people to survive the attack on Company Central.
  • Derhaven mentioned to 'old Galitzian' how Uvanov is unpredictable.
  • Uvanov's parent’s were from the Sewerpits. Citizen's from there wouldn’t have got anywhere 30 years ago, back when his sort knew their place.
  • Daniel Packard has been in the public eye for 20 years.
  • Rull mentions the Larson Project scam and how Bextor died of auto-erotic asphyxiation. Cotton mentions it involved a piece of lemon. Rull suspects Bextor was murdered.
  • Rull discovers Cotton is working for directly for Landerchild.
  • Landerchild accuses Uvanov of killing 39 founding family members.

Objects

  • Iago rationalises Carnell’s chess game as a retreat from the emotional and unknownable into the logical and seft contained. A displacement activity: he was losing control of the real world, so he retreated into a fictional one. The game of chess was a way for him to pretend he was still in charge.
  • Uvanov marks the bottles in his personal wine stock in an attempt to prevent any going missing.
  • Iago uses a Laserson Probe to modify V13’s secondary command channel. Uvanov likens the Laserson Probe to using a spanner.

Kaldor City

The Company Board

  • Company Central have a secret emergency location unknown to Uvanov. He is to contract then using an emergency code, contained in a file marked emergency procedures.
  • At 0000 hours a full emergency meeting of The Company board will take place to discuss the recent attack on 'Company Central' and the outbreak of killer robots.
  • Firstmaster Derhaven supports Landerchild in calling for a vote of no confidence in Firstmaster Chairholder Uvanov.
  • The representative of the most senior family is Firstmaster Schraeder.
  • Uvanov has been Chairholder for exactly 3 years and 30 days.

Robots

  • There are no robots at Uvanov's residence.
  • Prior to boarding the Storm Mine, Taren Capel used his position in The Company to ensure every Dum, Voc and Supervoc in Kaldor City would at the sound of a trigger phrase turn into a remorseless killer.
  • Some robots are unaffected as since Taren Capel made his upgrades 10 years ago there have been several modifications to the basic robot programming which could have influenced the changes made by Capel in any number of ways. It could have even nullified them, it depends on when the individual upgrades took place and how.
  • The instruction to 'stop the killing now' is passed from V13 to V101. Iago plans to use the news link and entertainment channels to broadcast it on a frequency that only robots will be able to detect.

Tarenists

  • The Church of Taren Capel is announced to have claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack on the Company Central building.
  • The cover-up story, broadcast as a news report, for the robot attacks is that the Tarenists, described here as an anti robot fundamentlist organisation, have been carrying out random murders whilst disguised as robots. Blayes, who is thought to be the ring leader of the Tarenists, has also been linked to the terror attack on Company Central, and the Oxygenator Four hostage crisis. A reward of 100,000 (currency not stated) is being offered for information leading to her capture, or proof of her death.
  • Another cover-up story, courtesy of Iago, claims Daniel Packard to be a Tarenist spy. Iago got a witness statement from Jasta Hicks, the producer of 'Kaldor City News'. Apparently he was also a Tarenist spy working with Packard. Packard has been moved to a insane asylum. Hicks is dead, the cause of death being gravity, courtesy of Iago. Iago postulates there will be a new generation of Taren Capel's as a result of the recent robot attacks.
  • Uvanov describes the Tarenists as having "a twisted mix of robophobia and religious fanaticism."
  • The cover story Uvanov gives to the Company Board is that Tarenists released the trigger phrase to awake the killer robots.
  • Uvanov accuses Carnell of financing the Church of Taren Capel.

Fendahl

  • The Fendahl communicates with Paullus through the static on the tapes using Taren Capel's aspect.
  • Paullus knew the robots were going to go on a killing spree. Apparently Taren Capel told him. (This is likely to have been the Fendahl using Capel’s aspect.)
  • For the Fendahl live again the 'ritual of twelve' must be performed in order to give it a body. A donor in the form of Justina has been chosen. Taren Capel’s skull contains their power, which must be positioned at the base of a pentagram. The tweleve believers then form a circle around the pentagram, at the centre of which a place is set for 'the one that kills'.
  • The Fendahl instructs Paullus to place his hand on the skull for its power to be used to attack Uvanov's place of residence and aid Justina’s escape:
    • All of Uvanov’s guard squad are killed in what is thought to be a gas attack. When the dead bodies arrived at the mortuary they were found to have already started to decompose. A full autopsy report is expected tomorrow morning.
  • The Fendahl describes Justina as 'The Core'.
  • 'Snake creatures' appear, these are the Fendahl's servants known as Fendahleen. 'The Fendahl Core' tells Paullus that his followers purpose in the 'ritual of twelve' was to nourish the Fendaleen. It describes Taren Capel as a false god, and that when there are 13 it shall be transformed into a gestalt known as 'The Fendahl'.
  • 'The Fendahl Core' mentions the winter wind, ‘they’ call it ‘The Emptiness’. It is a desert wind that comes directly from the centre of the Blind Heart Desert, it only blows in the dry time and cuts like razors edge.
  • The Fendahl possesses the power of a supernova. 'The Fendahl Core' describes itself as death, how it survived being dropped in the heart of a supernova, and how it has grown stronger from this.
  • Iago is shot and apparently dying when the Fendahl, through Iago's paramour Justina, offers him a deal where he can travel back in time to a point before his death. It tells Iago that if he accepts the offer he will have free will to change things because of Justina’s love for him. It cannot see into the future, but predicts that death may be a possible outcome. If he goes back he will have two choices, either he stays in Kaldor City, or he leaves. If he stays he will have two more choices, to change the past or not to change it. If he changes the past it predicts death.

Allusions

  • "Four hours can be a long time in politics." – Uvanov's echoes the words of former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson. [1]
  • Carnell's last line to Iago is a paraphrase from the Christopher Marlowe play Doctor Faustus.
  • Justina's surname 'Kessel' (literally meaning a kettle, cauldron or cooking vessel) in conjunction with that of Paulus (a general who unwittingly condemns his entire army to death) references the apocalyptic Battle of Stalingrad. The 'Kessel' at Stalingrad was the pocket in which Paulus' army was cut off and destroyed (with only a very few survivors returning from the Gulag years later). This is possibly derived in turn from the World War I German term 'Hexenkessel' ('Witches' Cauldron'), a name applied to several of the worst places on the Western Front - with the implication that troops were trapped there at the mercy of the enemy artillery.

Notes

  • Following the release of this play, and the sad death of Russell Hunter, it was generally assumed that the Kaldor City audio stories had reached a natural end. However, to date, three further audio productions have been released.
  • Due to the ambiguous ending to this story, it can be speculated that what happens on Kaldor from this point onwards, (particularly AUDIO: The Prisoner and AUDIO: Storm Mine) is a product of Iago's dying brain. Another explanation is that everything onwards including the climax of this story is taking place within the Fendahl gestalt. (See story notes and continuity sections in AUDIO: Storm Mine for additional reasons as to why this might be so.)
  • The play closes with a version of the theme music from The Logic of Empire, a fan produced Blake’s 7 audio co-written by Alan Stevens, before leading into the series theme.
  • A specially recorded audio trailer was released to promote this story taking the form of a short monologue as read in character by Paul Darrow as Iago.[2]
  • The copyright notice printed on the CD release of this production states: "Unauthorised copying, hiring, renting, public performance and broadcasting is strictly prohibited or Cotton will insert a lemon."
  • This story was part of a recording block that also consisted of: AUDIO: Hidden Persuaders, and AUDIO: Taren Capel.[3]
  • The CD cover art was designed by Andy Hopkinson.
  • The third edition of Mad Norwegian Press' reference work AHistory gives a year of 2890 for the events of this story.

Continuity

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Quotation by Harold Wilson, Lord Riveaulx at Dictionary.com
  2. ↑ 'Checkmate' Trailer
  3. ↑ The True History of Magic Bullet: An interview with Alan Stevens, producer of Kaldor City and Faction Paradox. (Part 1 of 2)
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