The Island of Dreams Page 14

  “Now I am sorry to advise that the black Queen has been taken,” said Gary’s bishop. “I would at least take the opposing bishop as a consolation.”

  “I thought you said we could free her?”

  “I did. But I forgot that that white bishop had a clear run at her. You were in check, though. You had get out.”

  The way to the altar was now clear and before him the white Queen deep in prayer.

  “I wouldn’t let the white Queen see you or you could be in check,” said the bishop. Oh, and by the way, look out for her other bishop. I’ll be off now.”

  The bishop disappeared, leaving Gary with just a pawn for company.

  “Not very reliable that bishop,” said the pawn.

  “I thought the bishop was on our side,” said Gary.

  “He is, but he’s not all that sure that you’re that strong a leader. He now thinks that he can simply come and go as he pleases.”

  “Can’t we get him back?”

  “He’s gone back behind our rook for safety. But I wouldn’t worry about him.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, perhaps our rook wasn’t so silly after all.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, his pawn was merely wounded in that skirmish earlier on. He wasn’t taken.”

  “I thought he was taken.”

  “Things are not always as they seem. It can pay a leader to make sure, and sometimes the good leader must rely on others. The rook didn’t return to his post because he knew he could protect his pawn all the way. And now, if the pawn makes it to the chapel bell he will have reached the end of the board, and we will have a new Queen, right here in the chapel. The white Queen will have to take her. Then our rook can take the white Queen, wipe her clean off. He’ll spare her of course, so long as she directs us to the golden goose, which gives us a chance of checkmate.”

  The bell sounded and the black Queen duly entered, guarded by her rook. The white Queen then rose from her deliberations and took her but, at the black rook’s mercy, she was forced to confess the whereabouts of the golden goose.

  “It’s at the centre of the corn maze, protected by the King.”

  “I think you can trust our rook better than the bishop to do a good job,” whispered Gary’s pawn. “You were right to empower him and now he has rewarded you with a chance to win.”

  “How do we know that the white Queen is being truthful with him?” Gary asked.

  “Because he can hold her until we have verified it. If she lies she knows that she will be taken by your empowered rook.”

  “How do we reach the maze?”

  “Up the coast road, where we will have our second rook’s protection, plus the protection of that old bishop, for what it’s worth.”

  As they set out on the coast road they were quickly ambushed by three white pawns.

  “It’s that damned bishop,” said Gary’s pawn. “He has given us away. Someone needs to be firm with him and give him a direct order. He’s the sort of person who will follow it to the letter, but if left to his own devices he will let you down.”

  “Alright,” said Gary. “Tell him to go out and take the white rook.”

  “Now I think you’ll find him quite reliable,” said the pawn. “Sometimes you have to tailor your leadership style to fit the personality of the employee. The empowerment that the good leader gives to one employee may be entirely inappropriate for another.”

  The second black rook disarmed the three marauding pawns and joined Gary and his pawn on the journey up the coast past the harbour. Soon they were in the maze. Inside they were joined by the one remaining black knight and his pawn.

  “Beware the King be guarded by his knight,” warned Gary’s knight’s pawn, as he led them toward the centre of the maze. “Lucky I have already sussed the way to the middle.”

  At the centre the white King stood in the shape of The Concierge. Next to him was the large wooden goose that candidates were instructed to locate. The white knight stood beside the King accompanied by two pawns. It was now up to Gary to use his skill and judgment at directing his team, to end the game by gaining access to the goose.

  White, typically, was quick to act and the white knight wasted no time in taking the black knight and subsequently threatening Gary.

  “Check,” said the white knight.

  “That means that you have to concede a move,” whispered his bishop’s pawn.

  The white knight then removed this pawn and called check again, forcing him to concede another move. Gary now had to think because he could not afford to simply allow this knight to keep placing him in check. Eventually he would run out of pieces. Furthermore, the white knight was driving him further from his pieces.

  “You can summon one more piece to join us,” his rook advised. “But you will have to choose quickly. You can bring the bishop, but, as you know, he can be unreliable and may not arrive in time, or you can call your other rook, who is reliable, but will have to sacrifice his chance to take the white Queen. If you choose him she will be in hot pursuit to the maze, so you must be confident that you can get checkmate before she arrives. Good luck.”

  “It’s a trade off between speed and reliability,” whispered Gary’s other pawn. “If you were playing as white I would have gone for speed, but as our strength is reliability I would say that the rook was trustworthy and can be relied upon to be here promptly and checkmate the King. In the meantime I suggest you step aside from that pesky knight.”

  Gary duly moved to face his pawn.

  “If I summon the bishop, he will come immediately, won’t he?”

  “He will, but don’t expect him to act on his own initiative when it comes to checkmating the King.”

  The white knight then took that pawn but there was no call of check so the move could be made.

  “I call the rook,” ordered Gary.

  The rook arrived by Kammie.

  “You called, sire.”

  “Yes. I thought I could rely on you to checkmate the white King.”

  “Sure, mate in two moves,” said the chapel rook.

  “Check,” the white knight shouted again.

  “As I was saying, it’s mate in two moves as long as you sacrifice me to get out of check. Think carefully, but don’t dither as the white Queen is already in the maze. You will have to move one more square from me I’m afraid.”

  The white knight took the black rook, but Gary trusted the taken rook’s words. Now he had to think of two moves that he could make to end the game. Without his second rook he deduced that he would need to have a bishop and a rook for checkmate to be possible.

  “You may tell me your move,” said the white knight.

  “Call the bishop,” ordered Gary.

  The bishop arrived exactly as ordered and the white knight withdrew to his King’s side. Now Gary could see how mate was possible.

  “What colour is your square?” Gary asked the bishop.

  “White, old boy”

  “And the white King?”

  “Black, and his goose.”

  “Can our last rook take the knight?”

  “Yes.”

  “Can you take the knight?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then who should take the knight?”

  “I should,” said the bishop.

  “No, I should,” said the rook.

  “You will have to choose one or other of us and look sharp about it,” advised the bishop.

  It was now a question of trust. Both pieces expressed the desire to be the one that took the knight, but only one could. Gary chose the rook.

  “Wrong, I’m afraid,” called the white Queen from behind him, as she removed his rook from the board. “And now it is checkmate to us.”

  “How do you explain that,” Gary asked The Queen.

  The Concierge then advanced to Gary and explained all.

  “Your trustworthy rook,” he said. “Was right in telling you that it was mate in two moves, and it could have go
ne your way if you had disregarded your bishop’s advice to choose one or other piece to take my knight, or at least questioned it, as you knew his information was suspect. The pawn could have taken my knight, then I would have had to move and it would have then been checkmate to you if you had then ordered the bishop to act. He betrayed you though because he did not like your air of authority toward him.

  Knowing how to read the character of people is no easy matter and it takes time. You may have lost the game, but you, like the others, have won by the knowledge that you have gained. Leaders are made, not born, and in our society everyone must know how to lead. Children act out this game with their teachers at school. The teachers always win of course, because they can manipulate the outcome of the game. I was in communication with your pieces and mine throughout the game, so, of course I was able to control it so that you learnt exactly what I wanted you to learn.

  The good leader is the one who never allows his or her subconscious arrogance to get the better of them, and whose mind is always focused on possibilities, with the ability to weigh up and devise a range of possible outcomes. All leaders will be influenced by track record. Your bishop was highly efficient in carrying out orders, but he was evasive and economical with the truth. There are people like this in real life. In your old world these people could easily be alienated. In ours they are not. If they are the type that need to be handed orders for everything then this is accepted, but it is not done with arrogance or the threat of discipline.

  I can tell you that Connie played a very different game, having chosen white quickly enough to be accepted by them. Her problem was the question of deciding which rules one is allowed to break and which rules one is not. This too is never an easy question, and is something that has to be learnt. Favouritism for one side at the expense of another cannot be allowed to stand, and it creeps in once one starts to break or bend rules, or allows results to stand that have been achieved by such bending or breaking. Claims of unfairness then abound and a leader is quickly discredited. Yet, at the same time, there can sometimes be very good reasons for not conforming to a specific rule or set of rules. Each time one must consider who wins and who loses, and what the possible consequences will be every time a rule is bent or broken. Often a system has to be fault tolerant when it comes to rules, as ours is. Nitpicking is no better than favouritism and can also lead to a leader being discredited.

  You will receive your feedback reports from The PM in due course. Meanwhile, keep up the good chess because you’re doing just fine.”

  *

  By the end of August all of the 240 setmates had played the real-life chess game. There was then just one event left to bring the chess season to a close, and that was the annual duel of the supremes that took place between The Concierge and The Reverend on ice.

  Thirty-two of the sixth formers that had played the game with the setmates were then selected to take their places on the giant curls that were in place on the rink, now resurfaced with curling ice, upon which dark and light squares had been superimposed with the aid of the lighting system. The barrier that surrounded the ice during skating sessions had gone and the floor that surrounded the perimeter of the ice had been partially removed so as to create a ditch into which the curls would be pushed by one of two boys from the school, or else lifted and placed by a crane that the rink engineer had, under supervision, permitted one lucky girl to operate for the knights both to move and be taken.

  At the commencement of the game The Concierge and Reverend faced each other at either end of the rink mounted on high chairs. Meanwhile, in the royal enclosure, Queen Katie sat along with Joanie, her Chancellor, The Deputy and the other royals.

  The rink was full to capacity as the entire population of The Island, consisting of 1,200 inhabitants and 240 staff took their seats to watch this annual event. When everyone was seated The Queen rose.

  “I hereby declare this year’s contest open,” she said. “Let battle commence and may the best man win.”

  Chess games are rarely quick and this one was no exception, although a maximum time limit of four hours had been set such that if not completed within this time the game would be declared a draw. This ensured that the game, having started at 6 p.m. would at least be over by 10 p.m. As it happened this game was over by 9.30 with The Reverend, playing as black, victorious, following a closely fought contest. The spectators were kept entertained throughout as both players proved their ability to take calculated risks and both, although of virtually matching standard, refused to accept the possibility of the draw.

  At the conclusion of the game the taken pieces were pushed along the ice covered ‘ditch’ to the far corner of the rink where a wooden partition lifted allowing them to be pushed, minus the students, into their closet ready for the next year. Then, under the control of Commander, the side of the ditch nearest the ice rose vertically to form the ice rink barrier once more, whilst the other side folded horizontally to reform the perimeter floor. The two Grand Masters meanwhile dismounted, met halfway along the side of the rink that housed the royal box, then shook hands before climbing the steps up to it.

  The Queen held in her hand the twelve-inch high glass trophy, shaped in the form of a King from a standard chessboard, and presented it to The Reverend.

  “It gives me great pleasure to present the annual ‘Duel of the Supremes’ trophy to our one and only Donald McIlroy,” she declared as she handed him the trophy. “Now it is eight victories each in our annual joust. But we must not forget our runner-up, also one of the world’s finest players, our very own Master of Ceremonies, our Concierge Mr. Patrick O’Rourke.”

  The audience applauded again as The Queen reached for the six-inch high glass pawn that was the runner-up trophy. The Reverend then said a few words:

  “As this year’s champion I thank you all, but I especially thank my good friend Patrick for making this such a wonderful event each year. Like other things chess takes two to make a game. I also thank the ice rink staff and our resident engineer Alexis Childas for doing a great job with the ice, the lighting and the overhead equipment. Also, last but not least the sixth formers of The Karaginsky School for doing such a marvellous job helping to train our new recruits. So, for now, it’s goodnight from me and it’s goodnight from him.”

  So the game was over for another year, but, as the setmates were soon to discover, there was far more to these two men than just chess.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Sabfelt

  The first of September.

  Joanie was up bright and early, the lengthy chess assignments finally completed. The Chancellor stood beside her as she placed the last of her completed feedback reports onto the pile beside her.

  “Now,” she said. “I am going to ask you to send these forms out to each setmate, but first I need you to fetch me those new identity cards and place the correct group of cards in each pack along with the details of their next assignment. You will find the cards and the assignment sheets in the cupboard marked C over in the corner.”

  “Yes Ma’am,” replied The Chancellor.

  “And whilst you are doing that I will see about letting them loose on the supermarket. Use of the cards at the checkout will greatly simplify their shopping task, reducing the need for all of those Requisition Orders. They should all be fully conversant with our system by now, with concepts like deviance quite fully understood. You will find the instruction sheets in the cupboard marked D. If you could place one instruction sheet in each twelve pack I would be much obliged. I’m sure they won’t have any difficulty now in adapting to standard shopping for each of the basic classes of goods.”

  “I’m sure they will each take only as much as they know they will need,” said The Chancellor. “As soon as they realise that all they need do is take as much as they would need for ordinary consumption that is what they will do.”

  “Good. Then I will let them see their new store today on a set-by-set basis. Then they can prepare to take a trip to Sabfelt. It s
houldn’t take quite as long to get through as it did with the chess, as there are only twenty games of this rather than 240, but it will still take a couple of weeks I’m sure. I’ll make sure The Concierge and Reverend have been fully briefed as to their timings, along with those of the sixth formers.”

  An hour later during breakfast the post arrived for Gary’s set.

  “The feedback reports have arrived,” said Anne

  “Let’s have a look,” said Carl.

  Carl scrutinised the reports.

  “Looks like we are all ok on leadership,” he said. “Though it’s interesting how all of those games turned out so differently. I never knew that leadership had so many different aspects to it. There’s certainly quite a lot to remember.”

  “There looks to be a few other things in the pack,” said Anne.

  “What?” asked Connie.

  “Well, it looks as if we have all got these ID cards with our number on and we can use them to shop in the supermarket which will be open from tomorrow morning. The store manager will call us when he is ready for us to start shopping there.”

  “Hooray,” said Yvonne. “I wondered when that place was finally going to open down by The House of Cards.”

  “Looks like The PM has finally come round to trusting us,” Connie remarked.

  “Instruction sheets seem simple enough,” said Anne. “Excessive removal of items may be subject to a Declaration of Deviance. But who would?”.

  “I suppose she had to be sure that we all know what a Declaration of Deviance is and what a Deviant Act is,” suggested Terry.

  “At least now we know that these things are not something to be afraid of,” added Elena. “A person would have to be really feckless to fall foul of such a set of rules.”

  “Great. So now we can go and do our own shopping without everything having to be approved by the authorities first,” said Graca.

  “There’s more,” continued Anne. “On Friday morning we have to report to the train station at eleven. Another special task it looks like, and like the last one sets are not allowed to discuss it until all sets have had a chance to complete it. Special uniforms will be provided.”