Checkmate (audio story)

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.

Cast
(in order of appearance)
 * Iago - Paul Darrow
 * Uvanov - Russell Hunter
 * Packard - Nicholas Courtney
 * Voc 101 - David Bickerstaff
 * Cotton - Brian Croucher
 * Rull - Trevor Cooper
 * Carnell - Scott Fredericks
 * Paullus - David Collings
 * Blayes - Tracy Russell
 * Taren Capel - David Bailie
 * Justina - Patricia Merrick
 * Voice - Alan Stevens
 * Cresswell - Robert Lock
 * Yardley - Alistair Lock
 * Landerchild - Peter Miles
 * Kellen - Courtney King
 * Voc 13 - Bruce McGilligan
 * Producer - Mark Thompson
 * Announcer - William Johnston
 * Ghoul 1 - Danny Golem
 * Ghoul 2 - Nickey Barnard
 * Derhaven - Peter Halliday
 * Attendant - Miles Gould
 * Schraeder - Rachel Fishwick

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.
 * Danl 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

 * Kaldor City is a dictatorship.
 * Kaldor City Broadcasting is a news and media organisation. The Producer expects Danl Packard to return for the 2200 update.
 * Justina crosses 'The Boundary' and into the Sewerpits. Late at night it is full with night stalkers.
 * Uvanov decided the survivors of Storm Mine Four, including himself, should not be allowed to tell its true story in fear it would destroy Kaldor City society. A society based on one fundamental principal: robots cannot kill.

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 Danl 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.

Continuity

 * This story takes place immediately after AUDIO: Taren Capel.
 * Several story elements were foreshadowed in previous stories; including the existence of Taren Capel's skull (AUDIO: Death's Head), and the emergence of the Fendahl (AUDIO:  Taren Capel).
 * The Fendahl once survived being dropped in the heart of a supernova. It has grown stronger from this. (TV: Image of the Fendahl)
 * It's been 10 years since Taren Capel attempted to take control of Storm Mine Four using an army of modified robot killers. (TV: The Robots of Death)
 * The conclusion of PROSE: Corpse Marker, in which Uvanov's attained the position of 'Firstmaster Chairholder', occurred "3 years and 30 days" ago.
 * It's been 10 months since Iago arrived in Kaldor City. (AUDIO: Occam's Razor).
 * At the close of the play, Iago is shot and apparently dying when the Fendahl (through Iago's paramour Justina) offers him a deal. This seems to involve him going back to a time and place before his death, although this may all have been an illusion created by the Fendahl for its own ends. He is seemingly taken back into the events as previously featured in AUDIO: Occam's Razor, when they are looking at the painting of the red pentagram. Iago then kills Justina, possibly as a means to retroactively abort the Fendahl.
 * Various concepts originating from TV: Image of the Fendahl feature. This includes:
 * The Ritual of Twelve.
 * A skull containing the Fendahl's power.
 * Placing a hand on the Fendahl skull to activate its powers.
 * "The one that kills."
 * Dead bodies decomposing rapidly.
 * 'The Fendahl Core'.
 * Uvanov quotes someone who he doesn’t recall who: "If Taren Capel didn’t exist then it would be nessercary to invent him." Carnell made this statement in PROSE: Corpse Marker, its likely Uvanov is deliberately not mentioning Carnell, due to his recent betrayal.
 * The Boundary, The Sewerpits, and, The Emptiness. (PROSE: Corpse Marker)
 * The Firstmaster Murders. (AUDIO: Occam's Razor)
 * Iago's statement "Cause and effect. It applies to everything." echos Carnell’s words. (AUDIO: Death's Head)
 * A variation of the following exchange between Blayes and Iago is repeated from AUDIO: Death's Head:
 * Blayes: "Nice place you’ve got here."
 * Iago: "It goes with the job."
 * The assassination of Diss Pitter. (AUDIO: Hidden Persuaders)
 * Rull's investigation into The Larson Project. (AUDIO: Hidden Persuaders)
 * The Oxgenator Four hostage crisis. (AUDIO: Hidden Persuaders)
 * The destruction of Company Central. (AUDIO: Taren Capel)
 * Iago and Uvanov review Carnell’s farewell message. (AUDIO: Taren Capel)
 * The activation of the killer robots. (AUDIO: Taren Capel)
 * Carnell played Chess against V31. (AUDIO: Taren Capel)
 * Rull was attacked and hospitalised in (AUDIO: Taren Capel)
 * Company Central was blown up earlier today. (AUDIO:  Taren Capel)
 * Bextor’s apparent death by auto-erotic asphyxiation. (AUDIO:  Taren Capel)
 * Iago uses a secondary command channel and a Laserson Probe to modify robots as did Taren Capel in TV: The Robots of Death. The difference being that Capel used them to turn robots into killers, whereas Iago is using it to make them safe again. The Laserson probe also makes appearances outside of Kaldor City. (PROSE: Synthespians™, COMIC: Mortal Beloved)
 * The Fendahl Core refers to Paullus as Ander Poul. This is the first only time in the series, the character is addressed directly by that name. The characters full name was first given in PROSE: Corpse Marker.
 * The Fendahl Core uses a variation on the Tarenists refrain "Humanity be in him", here it highlights how the Church of Taren Capel, namely its leader Paullus has been used by the Fendahl. (PROSE: Corpse Marker, AUDIO: Hidden Persuaders)