Sally wrote:

Easily. For a start, Deva is obviously [a] in charge of the computers, if not the whole base, and [b] one of the main authorities *on* the base (remember, Blake ostensibly goes to get his targets - in effect, his 'orders' - from Deva). So he fudges Arlen's records, tells the other workers she turned out to be innocent,

Except if this isn't Blake's base there isn't any reason to keep her there. It's not a good idea to keep her there. Fudging records is something that could bring attention to them.

The other point you're overlooking is how and why Arlen got on the base. The Federation used her to infiltrate "Blake's" base. If this had been a general bounty hunter station, that elaborate ruse wouldn't have been necessary. They could have given someone bounty hunter creditials and sent her/him in to check the place out. Or they could have sent someone in in the guise of a civilian employee--a paper-pushing clerk. But Blake runs a tight ship. The only way they could get someone on Blake's base was to put an officer at grave risk. Maybe Arlen wasn't the first one they tried to get on the base. Maybe others were killed by bounty hunters while attempting to allow themselves to be captured by Blake.

that quite a few of the scummier bounty hunters started out that way too).

Per the script it's more likely to go the other way: bounty hunters end up as criminals.

This is Blake and Deva talking about Tando:

BLAKE: He didn't have a price on him, though, did he? DEVA: It was only a matter of time.

This isn't a proper police station with an eye to the niceties of law and order -

Yet the base is very orderly.

That's between the three of them. No one else on the base is involved. Notice that Klyn always takes her orders from *Deva*, even if Deva gets

them

first from Blake:

Deva definitely has authority; he gives orders even when Blake isn't around. In the scene you quote, Deva is the one next to the communicator.

A very *old* very large price., as Tarrant mentions: TARRANT: Well, it might. There's still a price on our heads from the old days. SOOLIN: Not on G-P, there isn't.

That's before Soolin learns that law and order has returned to GP. Now there *is* a price on their heads there.

Why should any of the GP people recognise him? He wasn't that famous in

his

own right (Shrinker and other Federation officials *on Earth* didn't recognise him), and much of the information about Blake's people was suppressed.

But the Scorpio crew appears to have gained a degree of infamy. Belkov identifies Scorpio, Avon and Tarrant without an introduction.

And in GAMES, Keiller explains how he knows so much about them: "On the grapevine, my friend. You're getting to be big news."

Blake was also quick to realize that the Tarrant in the crashed ship was *that* Tarrant.

The worries the crew express are about *Blake* (if he's a real bounty hunter) selling them.

Not just Blake. Now that law and order has been restored, Avon says:

AVON: It is the day of the bounty hunter. [cut to close-up of Vila] Thieves, [cut to close-up of Dayna, pan to Soolin] killers, [cut to close-up of Tarrant] mercenaries, [cut to close-up of Avon; he smiles] psychopaths, are as unwelcome now as the farmers once were.

But he's wandering around among genuine bounty hunters without being

spotted

Except he has been spotted, which is why Arlen is there. His appearance is also rather different because of the scar. But whether or not Blake is willing to risk his own life--and Deva clearly regards it to be a risk--would he risk Avon and Avon's crew? It would take just one sharp-eyed bounty hunter to make things very messy.

(moving away from on-screen evidence, there's also the fact that no one recognise the damned ex-President, who *also* has a price on her head

IIRC.

People just *don't* :-)).

She is also recognized on occasion. The risk is there for Servalan, for Blake, for the Scorpio crew.

Also, remember, Blake doesn't know *for certain* that it was Avon

following

him.

He seems near to certain; certain enough that I can't see him putting Avon down in the midst of real bounty hunters.

[a] There's no canonical proof it *is* Blake's real base (he calls it 'a base, the beginnings of an army'. Not *this* base.)

Chris apparently thought he was giving enough clues that he didn't have to spell it out. He does include directions with that very line to help make the point. From the rehearsal script:

BLAKE: (Gestures round) With a base; the beginnings of an army.

Blake's body language was intended to confirm that it was Blake's base.

[b] Klyn obviously believes Blake to be a genuine bounty hunter:

There's no indication of that. All of them are careful to use dissembling language, such as referring to Blake as a bounty hunter, because they don't want to slip up at the wrong time, as in when Blake brings in a prisoner. And also because the Federation observors are expected. The best way to keep up a pretense is to maintain that pretense at all times. But Klyn's dedication to duty isn't that of a civil servant; her behavior is that of a dedicated rebel. She stays on watch because there's too much activity. She doesn't slink away and hide when there is trouble; she gives a warning and gets shot by Avon.

Similarly, the bounty hunters hanging around and getting their orders are genuine (and some of them complete scum).

We never see any bounty hunters hanging around. The only bounty hunter we ever see on the base is Blake.

This is an underground base. Blake uses a random flight program when approaching it. Everything indicates it is a secret location known to very few.

Blake's become jaded and suspicious, not suicidally stupid ("I'm still alive,") so that completely rules out this being the rebel base for me.

Not suicidally stupid; simply human and capable of making mistakes. He makes many mistakes in BLAKE. Deva tells him he's making mistakes. Blake even admits he's being irrational. So it's no surprise that his plans are a calamity in the making.

And it's not as if he isn't taking precautions. The base is obviously well secured. Strangers aren't allowed to wander around unless they've been cleared, which is why we see Klyn question Tarrant. If this were a wide open base, she had no reason to stop him. He didn't come in under arrest; he was walking beside Blake. But Klyn knows about Blake's testing. She knows what procedures are necessary before someone is cleared to roam the base. Tarrant hadn't yet been given that clearance so she tries to stop him.

[c] Blake takes both Arlen and Tarrant there *before they've been tested*, not something someone as suspicious as he's become would do with the real base. He certainly wouldn't have survived to this point (even if 'to this point' isn't very long, see below) if he'd taken all and every candidate there before Deva could run checks on them (one thing that must be remembered when judging Blake's risky policy - up to this point, by all

the

evidence we have - *it has worked*, since he's still alive :-).

Or one might say it didn't work because he's about to be dead. The Federation operation was carefully planned and executed. They didn't just find out he was there a day or so ago. They had to set up a cover for Arlen. They had to get troops in place to mount an assault on the base. And as I said, Arlen might not have been the first/only agent they employed. Others might not have made it that far.

There's something else you're overlooking. When Blake goes to Avon, he calls him by name. He identifies himself as "Blake." Now he wouldn't do that in an unsecure base that has real bounty hunters wandering in and out. That *would* be suicidally stupid.

Then there's Deva's cry that the base is under attack. Deva isn't running in to warn Blake that the two of them need to make like rabbits and run. It's the entire base he's worried about. Blake's base.

And there are Arlen's words; she calls the base "a nest of rebels."

Carol