A Symphony in Blue
A “Captain Scarlet and
the Mysterons” novel
By Chris Bishop
“I think we
made a wrong turn back there.”
Karen
Wainwright – who was known in the Spectrum organisation as Symphony Angel
–looked with frowning dismay at the large unfolded road map she was holding in
front of her, trying to figure out where the hell she had gone wrong
earlier. Behind the wheel of the car,
her companion cast her an annoyed look.
“Leave it to an
ace pilot not to be able to read a simple map,” Adam Svenson – Captain Blue –
muttered curtly.
"Hey, at
least there WAS a map in the glove compartment!" she retorted. "And while we're on the subject, leave
it to a test pilot not to TEST the onboard computer before signing off on the
rental car!"
Blue smiled
sheepishly. "Touché."
She
sighed. "I'll bet the last
customer had trouble with the computer too, but didn't bother to report
it."
“You realise
that last crossroads is at least an hour and a half behind us?”
“Who had the bright
idea of going from El Paso to Las Vegas by heading straight into the desert?”
the girl replied coldly.
“I know, I
know. It’s all my fault… I take full responsibility.”
“Well, don’t fret too much over it, Big Blue… At least, it gives us some more time alone together.” Symphony unsuccessfully tried to fold the map back into its original format and then, giving up, threw it down on the dashboard. “We will just have to continue on this road. We’ll get there eventually.”
“You’re sure
about that?” Blue asked, uncertain about it himself. “How far off course has
this taken us?”
“We’ll be three
hours late,” his girlfriend answered matter-of-factly.
“Great!” Blue mumbled. “The
others will surely wonder what’s happened to us…”
“You’re angry
with me?” Symphony asked him.
“No, absolutely
not.” He glanced at her, momentarily taking his eyes off the road. Then he extended his right arm and drew her
to him. She cuddled against his
shoulder. “You’re right,” he said,
smiling warmly. “It will give us some more
time alone together. It’s just that a
desert road doesn’t seem like a very romantic place.”
“Every place is
romantic to me, so long as I’m with you,” Symphony sighed longingly.
Blue’s smile
widened. “Flatterer. Continue that way
and I might ask you to marry me.”
“Isn’t that
what we’re up to right now?” the girl grinned.
Both of them
chuckled over the thought. Captain Blue
and Symphony Angel had been seeing each other since they first met, over three
years ago, during the Spectrum organisation’s recruitment. Theirs had been an off again, on again
relationship, but for a little more than a year now, they’d been together
fairly regularly… And for some months, they’d realised they were in love, and
had had thoughts of going further with their relationship. The word “marriage” had come up on more than
one occasion. There were just a few
little problems about it.
On Cloudbase,
Spectrum’s flying headquarters, where they were both stationed – Symphony as an
Angel fighter pilot and Captain Blue as one of Spectrum’s senior staff officers
– not many people knew about their relationship. Well, some may have guessed
about them going out together, since they were almost inseparable when
off-duty, but nobody could know how serious they really were. Blue and Symphony had been very careful not
to let that be generally known to Cloudbase’s personnel. Only a few chosen ones had been in their
confidence… Among them was Captain Scarlet, Blue’s best friend and habitual
field partner.
Scarlet’s
situation was somewhat similar to that of his friend: he too shared a close
relationship with one of the Angels, namely Rhapsody, his compatriot from
Britain. Like Blue and Symphony,
Scarlet and Rhapsody were keeping their mutual love a secret from just about
everybody on Cloudbase. The reason for
both couples was the same: they didn’t know for sure how Colonel White,
commander-in-chief of Spectrum, would react upon learning of their
relationships.
Colonel White
was a very stern man, very strict on discipline… It was feared he would follow strict regulations regarding
married couples being stationed together on military bases One of the spouses
could very well be reassigned somewhere else, despite the fact that White
needed every member of his staff.
Symphony and Rhapsody, as part of the Angel team, were almost
irreplaceable, and the same could be said for Blue and Scarlet, who were
Spectrum’s best team of field agents.
And while the colonel might be very upset upon accidentally discovering
that two of his senior officers were romantically linked to two of his Angel
pilots behind his back, there was also another reason that would lead the young couples to think he would be against it.
Captain Brown
had been a fellow officer to Scarlet and Blue, and a friend to both of
them. Shortly after joining Spectrum,
three years before, he fell in love with a young telecommunications
operator. Colonel White granted them
permission to get married. But some
months after the couple had wed, something terrible happened.
The Mysterons
launched their war of nerves on the people of Earth.
The Mysterons
were inhabitants of Mars. Two years
earlier, an Earth exploration expedition, led by Spectrum’s Captain Black, had
discovered their city complex and destroyed it, mistakenly believing the
Mysterons were about to attack their vehicle.
The aliens had then vowed revenge upon the entire human race, and
stopping their multiple acts of terror on Earth had become Spectrum’s principal
mandate. Unfortunately, during
Spectrum’s first strange encounter with the Mysterons, Captain Brown became one
of their first victims… Captain Blue
was the one to break the news to Becky Evershaw, his friend’s wife, who was
then expecting their child. He still
remembered the look on her face when he had gone to see her, in London. She knew what had happened before he could
say a word.
Colonel White
had eventually gone to visit the young widow.
Years ago, he had himself lost his wife, under tragic
circumstances. The colonel knew the
pain of losing a loved one… Upon seeing Becky Evershaw trying so hard to be so
brave, the commander in chief of Spectrum had felt somewhat guilty about what
had happened. Granted, he had sent
agents to face death before – and after – that incident, but he blamed himself
for the young woman’s predicament. To
lose a husband at so young an age and to raise a child who would never know his
father… Captain Blue had heard Colonel
White say that he should never have given Brown permission to marry in the
first place. Knowing the daily danger
faced by all Spectrum field agents, it wasn’t a wise move to even consider it.
Hence the
decision of Captains Blue and Scarlet not to inform their commanding officer –
or anybody else, for that matter – of their feelings towards their respective
girlfriends. In the beginning, it all
seemed like an amusing game of hide and seek, but as the months passed by, and
the war against the Mysterons continued to rage on, Blue and Symphony had begun
to grow bored with it and had expressed the need to move on with their lives.
The next
logical step would be marriage. Blue
knew that Scarlet and Rhapsody had already talked about it between them, but
that they had mutually agreed to wait until this whole business with the
Mysterons was over with before actually going through with it. But for Blue himself, that was not something
to even consider. Nobody knew how much
longer this war would go on… One year,
five, ten… Scarlet was fooling himself
if he thought for even one minute he would be able to wait THAT long. Blue didn’t want to take that course. He was now impatient to go on and felt
himself ready for it. And Symphony felt
exactly the same way.
Colonel White
was the major obstacle to their plans.
How to tell him about all this without having him objecting vehemently to
it? That was a risk neither Blue nor
Symphony wanted to take.
They simply
decided they would not have to. As soon
as they were able to go off-base together, they would get married, secretly,
without Colonel White ever knowing about it.
Captain
Scarlet, when they took him into their confidence, found the enterprise rather
hazardous. Keeping such a secret from
Colonel White? If he were ever to find
out, there was little doubt both Captain Blue and Symphony Angel would face
court-martial, even get sacked from Spectrum.
Their commander would never forgive such disregard for Spectrum
regulations… or the respect due to himself.
But Scarlet
could see his friends were ready to risk everything, careers and way of life,
to profess their love for each other. “You know what you’re risking, don’t you?”
he had said to them, after pointing out what it would mean, if they were to be
found out.
“Yes, we know,” a determined Blue had
responded.
“Eventually, HE’ll find out, you know.”
“We know that too.”
“And there’s no telling what he might do…”
“We’ve already talked about all this, Paul. Don’t feel compelled to help us, but please,
don’t try to convince us to change our plans.
Nothing you can say or do will stop us.”
Scarlet had
sighed deeply. “You’ve got more courage than I have,” he had simply noted. “All
right. I’ll help you, however I
can. Don’t think for one instant I
would miss your wedding. THIS I have
got to see.”
The occasion
soon presented itself. Blue and
Symphony each arranged for their personal furlough to be due on the same
time. They had announced their
intention to go to Texas, as they had to specify their location to Spectrum in
case they should be recalled for emergency duty. The plan was relatively simple: from Texas, they would travel
through the desert to Las Vegas, Nevada…
While it may not be the most romantic spot on Earth for marriage, it was
still the best place to get it done fast and simple.
Captain Scarlet
would be there. At the Los Angeles
Headquarters for a routine security job, he had arranged for a few days
furlough in order to join his friends in Las Vegas, after his work was
finished. The only drawback in this was
that Rhapsody Angel, who was in on the secret, could not attend. She was not able to liberate herself from
duty. Destiny Angel was to accompany
Scarlet.
Despite the
fact that Captain Blue and Symphony would have preferred Rhapsody’s presence at
their marriage, they were quite satisfied with Destiny. Captain Scarlet’s
oldest friend in the Spectrum organisation – and an ex-girlfriend of his –
Destiny knew about Blue and Symphony’s relationship, though she had never
talked about it openly. Taken into the
confidence of her fellow pilot and Blue’s plan, she had shown herself pleasantly
surprised… and not at all concerned by all the problems it could raise. “Oh! A conspiracy!” she was reported to
have joyfully said to Scarlet. “That
certainly sounds exciting! Count me
in. I wouldn’t miss it for the
world!” That was not a surprising
reaction coming from Destiny: sometimes, she had the tendency – which annoyed
Scarlet intensely – to take life as a game.
The professional military pilot then gave way to the child in her, and
it was all she could do not to get carried away. Fortunately, she had the discernment to know when it was time to
be serious – and she took her job VERY seriously when it counted – and when it
was time to have some fun.
Destiny was to
join Captain Scarlet in Las Vegas. Blue
had arranged for rooms to be reserved for the four of them at a good, but not too
sumptuous, hotel. No sense in drawing
too much attention by staying at Caesar’s Palace, he had said to his
friends. The Svenson name carried some
weight and influence, he had found out during his not-too-frequent leaves
off-base. As the eldest son of one of
America’s wealthiest financiers, it seemed people thought he was entitled to
some privileges. While he generally
didn’t care very much about that, he didn’t mind THIS time around. It helped him to make quick reservations and
ask for – and obtain – total discretion.
“I feel bad,
though, doing this to the colonel,” Symphony sighed, cuddling closer to Blue in
the speeding car.
“Yeah, me too,”
Blue replied. “But it seems more
cautious to act this way. You know Paul
still says it’s a crazy move.”
“He should know
about crazy moves,” Symphony smiled fondly. “I think he would rather face ten
Mysterons all at once than Colonel White’s wrath, if he was in the same
situation as us.”
“Want to bet he
will be before long?” Blue laughed out loud.
“I don’t think he and Dianne will be able to wait for this war to end…
They’ll be marching down the aisle too, before we know it!”
“Do you think
he’s arrived at the hotel already?”
Blue glanced at
his watch. “Probably. When I called him this morning, he told me
that he was waiting for Juliette to arrive in L.A., and that they would head
off for Vegas soon after.”
“Maybe we
should call them, as soon as we can,” Symphony suggested. “Just to make sure they don’t worry about
us…”
Blue glanced at
her, wondering what was on her mind. He
could see she was very serious about this. “I’ll call them,” he said. “If
that’s what you want.”
“Just don’t use
your Spectrum communicator. You never
know: what if the communication was to be intercepted?”
“By whom, may I
ask?”
“I don’t know… Some Spectrum official… Lieutenant Green… Colonel White.”
“Don’t fret
over it. I won’t use the
communicator. Besides, if I did, I
wouldn’t say anything to ‘incriminate’ us, you know that.”
“It’s not
somebody else learning about our plans that’s got me worried. I don’t want anybody taking the opportunity
to call us back to duty before we’re through.”
“Stop worrying
about that. It won’t happen.” Blue cast his fiancée an amused glance.
“I’ll use a phone when we reach the next town or gas station.”
“Good idea.”
“Mind if I ask
you a question, now?”
“What
question?”
“What makes you
think Paul and Juliette would worry about us?”
Symphony
sighed. “You know, with our kind of job, there’s always some possibility that
we may run into some kind of trouble…”
“Mysteron
trouble?”
“Please! Don’t even mention them! Paul once told me he and Steve were actually
discussing them before their car crashed, two years ago…” Symphony shivered at the mere thought of her
friends plunging into a ravine to their deaths, in a blazing car. That one of
the two men should have been brought back to them afterwards was simply a
miracle. “I hope they’ll give us a
rest, until we are actually married,” Symphony added grimly.
“I just can
hear them right in the middle of the ceremony…” Blue stopped suddenly, when
Symphony angrily punched him on the shoulder with her closed fist. “Ow!
What’s that for?”
“You’re really
terrible, Adam Svenson! Hearing you
talk like this makes me wonder if you really want to get married!”
Blue laughed and
drew her closer still to his heart.
“Honey, I’ve never been more sure of anything in all my life,” he
assured her. “And nothing, not even Colonel White, nor the Mysterons, would be
able to prevent me from marrying you.”
* * *
The St-Maurice wasn’t a hotel with an international reputation, which was one of the main reasons people, famous or otherwise, stayed there. That certainly was why Captain Blue had chosen it, anyway. He was very conscious that his real name could be tracked right back to his father. The reputation of the family firm, Svenson and Sons, was renowned all over the financial world, not just on Wall Street, and his father and brothers had almost celebrity status. Blue could just see the news in the papers if he was careless enough to chose a hotel where reporters had the habit of camping in the lobby, just to get their hands on some good exclusive.
Nevertheless,
the St-Maurice was a very good
hotel. Excellent food, congenial
employees, marvellous services, very clean rooms. Captain Scarlet, who had taken rooms there with Destiny Angel,
under their real names of Paul Metcalfe and Juliette Pontoin, had no
complaints. And he knew that Destiny
had been well pleased upon discovering that the hotel was run by genuine French
people. He was fairly certain that the
hotel manager had developed an immediate attraction toward the very beautiful
pilot.
“We don’t receive very much foreign visitors,”
he personally said to the British-born Scarlet, with an accent heavier than
Destiny’s. “Our clients are mostly American people, desiring to live up a little
‘exoticism’, as they say. Why anybody
would think that French are exotic people is beyond me!”
The thought of
the little man brought a smile to Scarlet’s face as he stepped out of the
shower and dried himself. He was almost
certain the man would have asked Destiny on a tour of the city if he hadn’t
thought she was the imposing Scarlet’s girl.
That was funny, smiled the British Spectrum captain to himself. Some years ago, that would have been true. Today, Destiny was a very dear friend, but
no more than that. Captain Scarlet’s
heart was taken by another Angel.
Scarlet
consulted his watch, which he had put on the sink previous to his shower. He nodded thoughtfully. The day was still young. Adam and Karen were not due to arrive for
another two or three hours. The other guest at their little get-together would
arrive before them. Her plane was due
at the airport in about an hour and a half. That gave him and Destiny some time
off. Las Vegas had some shows going on twenty-four hours a day. Maybe he would invite the Angel pilot to go
see one of them. She must still be in the
other room, Scarlet mused. Like
him, she had craved a good long shower upon their arrival at the hotel,
something none of them were really able to do on Cloudbase. Must
have finished now, though. He would
dress and knock on her door, to ask her what she thought about going out.
His clothes
being in the bedroom, Scarlet wrapped a towel around his hips, opened the door
and stepped through…
…only to
quickly retreat back into the bathroom.
“Juliette!” he
cried out.
Destiny was in
HIS room, obviously browsing around.
She had turned around when he had stepped in and got only a glimpse of
him. She laughed out loud when he
disappeared so hastily.
“Really,
Captain Scarlet! You don’t have to be
so shy!”
Scarlet only
poked his still wet dark head into the room, casting an angry – and surprised –
glance toward her.
“What are you doing in my room?” he snapped at her.
She smiled at his use of French, even though he was shouting it at her,
recalling how she'd complimented him on his accent when they'd first met. Even now, years later, they spoke her native
language whenever possible, because she was much more comfortable with it than
English.
“I was
waiting for you,” Destiny answered in French. “I thought maybe, before the others arrive, we’ll have time to catch a
show.” She rolled her eyes at him
and added, with a wicked smile: “Although
I think I had a very good one…”
“Oh! Very funny!” Scarlet grumbled, amused despite
himself.
“Oh, come on, Paul!” Destiny protested. Then, reverting back to English: “That would not be the first time I saw you
naked!”
Scarlet could
feel himself reddening. “I am not naked!” he objected. He took a look at himself, searching for a
smart repartee. “I am just at some… disadvantage, here.”
Destiny
chuckled a little, trying very hard not to burst out laughing.
“That’s the English reserve for you,” she retorted. “Always so uptight, so prudish…”
Scarlet scoffed.
“I’m not uptight!” he protested again. “Or prudish… Well, to a certain extent, perhaps. For God’s sake, Juliette, you should understand how embarrassing
this is! You were educated in a
convent, for crying out loud! Please, I
have to dress. Go back to your room.”
“I could swear
I’ve just heard Papa!” Destiny
sighed.
“I’m not your
father.”
“No, you’re an
ex-boyfriend of mine who has a sudden case of shyness with me.” Destiny sat down
on the bed, demonstrating rather obviously to a distraught Scarlet that she had
no intention of going away. “What’s the
matter, anyway?” she asked again in French. “Are you afraid of me?”
“Why should I
be afraid of you?” a dismayed Scarlet replied.
“Well, that
would be rather strange now, n’est-ce pas,
that a man that has no fear even of death should be afraid of little old me…”
Destiny looked mockingly at a silent and very annoyed Scarlet. She narrowed her eyes at him again. “You think I would get you in trouble,”
she added quietly.
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re not afraid of me. It’s Rhapsody who frightens you so.”
Since Scarlet did not even answer her remark, Destiny gave a victorious smile.
“That’s it, isn’t it true?”
“I really don’t
know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, you don’t?
Paul, it’s me,
Juliette. I was the one who presented you to
one another, remember? If you recall, I
already noticed some sparks flying between the two of you at that time…”
“Juliette, that was three years ago…”
“Well, some
people take longer than others…” Destiny smiled. “How long has it been going
on, exactly? I’ve suspected something
for quite some time, but…”
“Do you really
expect me to confide in you, while I’m dressed like this?” Scarlet asked, frowning
with perplexity.
“Well, since
you’re at a disadvantage… as you put it yourself.”
This time,
Scarlet laughed. He pointed toward his
clothes spread on the bed.
“Give me something to put on. I’ll admit anything to you afterward.”
“Is that a promise?” Destiny asked him.
“Yes, it is.”
Scarlet sighed. “Please, Juliette, I’m about to freeze to death, here.”
“Fat chance of
that.” Destiny got to her feet, taking up Scarlet’s clothes, and walked toward
the half opened door of the bathroom.
“Don’t come any
closer!” Scarlet suddenly urged her, stopping her right in her tracks. “Just
throw me the clothes.”
“Vraiment, Paul! You really have turned shy on me!”
She obeyed
anyway and threw each piece of clothing one after the other. Scarlet expertly caught them on the wing,
save for the shirt which he received squarely in the face. He smiled at Destiny.
“This shouldn’t
take very long,” he announced before disappearing completely into the
bathroom.
Destiny nodded
and turned away toward the window, checking out if they had a pretty view of
the city.
“So, how long
have you had your suspicions?” came Scarlet’s voice from the bathroom.
“About you and
Dianne? For some months, now.” The view wasn’t so bad, Destiny thought. Well, the manager didn’t lie about that. “They
became certitude when I saw that rock on her dresser.”
“Rock?”
“The ring you
gave her. A big ruby, surrounded by
smaller diamonds… I thought the colour
of the principal stone was a dead giveway to who gave it to her.”
“Oh!” There was
a short moment of silence, before Scarlet continued: “Maybe I should tell
Dianne to be more careful with that ring.”
“Don’t bother,”
Destiny replied. “I have seen it only once, and only for a moment.”
Scarlet came
out of the bathroom, fully dressed with trousers, shirt and socks. He was still busy buttoning his cuffs when
Destiny turned to him with a faint smile.
“So,” she said,
“I take it you’re engaged now?”
Scarlet nodded.
“Yes, we are. Since Valentine’s Day.”
“You always were the romantic one,” Destiny
remarked fondly. “Who knows about this?”
“Only Adam and
Karen.” Scarlet shrugged. “I haven’t told my parents yet, and Dianne hasn’t
told her father, either. In fact, they
don’t even know we’ve been seeing each other.”
“I hope your
father won’t be as difficult with her as he was with me,” Destiny noted. She remembered vividly how Scarlet’s father,
General Charles Metcalfe, commander of Winchester Air Base, had reacted to his
only son going out with her. He didn’t
seem to trust the young woman’s real feelings toward Paul. She shook her head. “No, I don’t think he
would object to you marrying Dianne.
She’ll find a way to charm him.
Why I didn’t succeed in that is still puzzling me, though.”
“I think you
tried too hard,” Scarlet retorted, smiling a little.
“What about
Colonel White?” Destiny asked.
Scarlet
scowled. “What about him?”
“Don’t avoid
the question. You know what I
mean. He doesn’t know, évidemment?”
Scarlet made a face and shrugged
again. “You know how it is,
Juliette. I haven’t worked up the
courage to tell him about it yet.”
“So,” Destiny
smiled, “You may just decide yet to do like Blue and Symphony and go get
married without telling him…”
“Are you
kidding?” Scarlet started to protest.
Then he shook his head. “I must admit, the thought had crossed my mind,”
he finished.
“Then it’s a
good thing it’s ME who is here with you, today.” Destiny continued. “What, if Dianne had come with you, this
adventure may have ended up as a double wedding.”
“Don’t joke
about that. I tried hard to talk Adam
and Karen out of it. Can you imagine if
the colonel happened to find out? There
would be Hell to pay.”
“Yes, for us as
well as for them, since we would be regarded as ‘accomplices’. But I think we were very cautious about
this. Karen and Adam having gone in
Texas before coming over here, and us coming on our own from Los Angeles… I don’t think anyone could suspect this was
planned all along.”
“I don’t
know. The colonel isn’t a fool, you
know.”
“Then why don’t
you tell him about YOUR situation with Rhapsody?”
“Would you
believe I’m SCARED of the old man?”
“That, I would
believe.” Destiny smiled. “Well,
whatever you decide to do, let me be the first to congratulate you… after Blue
and Symphony, of course.”
Scarlet grinned
broadly when Destiny came to him, with her arms opened, and hugged him warmly,
kissing him on both cheeks. There was a
time, he thought, about two years ago, just after he snapped out of the
Mysterons’ control, when she would not even give him the time of day. She did not trust him, did not even consider
him the real Paul Metcalfe, since his original body had been destroyed in the
car crash, and then recreated by the incredible powers of the Mysterons, into a
clone whose only purpose was to follow the orders of his masters. That Scarlet should have broken free of
their influence was due merely to a twist of fate and thinking about it now
only brought up one more concern to his mind.
“You don’t know how happy I am for you!” Destiny was
saying in French, still hugging him. “You
and Dianne, I think you were meant for each other.”
“Yeah, I’m happy
too,” Scarlet stated. “But you do realize, of course that there is
ONE major drawback to all this…”
“Whatever do you mean?”
“You know what I mean. My… particular condition?”
Destiny broke
the embrace and looked at her friend, realizing what he was implying.
Since his
encounter with the Mysterons, Captain Scarlet had become virtually
indestructible. He had acquired the
ability to heal from any injury, even a fatal one, in a matter of hours… He could not be killed and had proven this
amazing power repeatedly over the last two years, putting his life on the line
and taking on missions that would have meant certain death to anyone else. Destiny herself had seen him ‘die’ before,
and then come back to life again, his body completely unscathed, and himself
seeming to be totally oblivious to what he had gone through.
Destiny knew
for a fact that his condition had caused him a great deal of distress. For a long time, and even now, she realised,
he had felt apart, different from other, normal human beings. He had confided in her, in the first year
following his initial ‘death’, that he was afraid he could eventually lose his
sense of identity, that he would not be able to relate to the rest of the
world. In that respect, he felt
desperately alone, and she was particularly grateful that, for Scarlet’s sake,
he was surrounded by some very good friends.
The fact that he had fallen in love with Rhapsody Angel and eventually
became engaged to her was a very good sign.
“Now, Paul,” Destiny said in a soothing voice, “I don’t think that should be a problem for
you and Dianne. I’m quite sure she thought hard about it before…”
“I don’t think you understand,” Scarlet
interrupted abruptly. He hesitated and
sighed heavily. “Juliette, for the past two years, have you noticed anything
different about me?”
“Anything
different? Well, apart from the fact
that you seem a little more at ease with your indestructibility…”
“I mean about
my appearance, Juliette,” Scarlet cut in again. She looked at him, puzzled, and he shook his head. “I don’t seem
to have changed much, do I?”
“No… At least…
I don’t see anything different.” Destiny frowned. “What are you trying to say?”
“Don’t you
think I should, at least, AGE, Juliette?”
“Are you
saying…”
“Yeah,” Scarlet
sighed. “I haven’t told anyone about
that, beside Doctor Fawn, Adam… and Dianne, of course. And without being sure
about it, I think the colonel might know too.
I may be stuck forever just the way I was looking when the Mysterons
took me over.”
“That would mean that in twenty years…”
“I would STILL
look like this. And fifty years from
now, it would be the same.”
Destiny was
amazed. She could not take her eyes off
him. “Diable!” she murmured. “We’re
not talking only invulnerability, here, but… what? Immortality?” The word
seemed so strange, yet accurate enough.
Scarlet nodded
grimly. “What good is immortality if you’ve got nobody to share it with?” he
grumbled.
Destiny shook
her head in disbelief. “What does Docteur
Fawn have to say about this?”
“Nothing much,”
Scarlet answered curtly. “He said
there’s nothing really conclusive yet.” He stuck his fists into his trouser
pockets, sighing. “But here I am, two years later, feeling absolutely the same
physically, absolutely unchanged. Damn
it, I don’t even have grey hair yet! I
think that with our kind of job, and the Mysterons to boot, I should at least
have some!”
“How old are
you, Paul?” Destiny asked him.
“Thirty-three…
Well, technically. I was thirty-one
when the Mysterons… well, you know.”
“So, you’re at
an age where physical differences often are not so apparent,” the French girl
remarked. “And you don’t have grey
hair? That doesn’t prove a thing. Lots
of people don’t have any before their late thirties. Others have it before their twenties. Look at Captain Magenta.
He’s about the same age as you.
His hair is as black as yours… I don’t think he has grey ones either.”
“He’s about two
years and a half older then me,” Scarlet replied, musing. A sudden thought came
into his mind. He looked at Destiny, narrowing his eyes. “How do you know about
him not having grey hair?” he asked.
He saw the
young woman blushing violently. “A lucky guess, maybe?”
“Mmm… Perhaps
Blue and I aren’t the only ones around Cloudbase with a secret girlfriend…”
Scarlet said jokingly. He instantly received a thump on the chest in protest
and laughed out loud. “Hey! Striking a superior officer! I could have you
court-martialled for that!”
“Try it, and
I’ll sing like a bird about you and Rhapsody, Captain!” Destiny hissed
mockingly. “Seriously, Paul, about
Magenta and me…”
“Your secret is
safe with me, you know that.”
“But there is
nothing serious going on!” Destiny protested indignantly. She could see by the expression on his face
that Scarlet didn’t believe her in the least.
She gave up. Anyway, her
personal life wasn’t the subject of the conversation, here. His was.
“Anyway,” she
said clearing her throat, “you shouldn’t worry too much about all those
thoughts that seem to be troubling you.
We live very fast lives, Paul.
All of us. Who knows what
tomorrow might bring? You should reach
to every available moment of happiness you can find… and hang on tight to them!”
“A bit of a
poet now, aren’t you, Destiny Angel?” Scarlet smiled raggedly.
“Well, I’m French, Capitaine Scarlet. And after all, the best poets are
French. Won’t you agree?”
“Whatever you
say, chérie.”
“And somebody
should try to raise your spirits, since you’re being so depressing.”
“Me,
depressing?” Scarlet scowled. “I was rather, wasn’t I?”
“Oui. Énormément.”
Scarlet sighed. “All right.
I’ll take your advice to heart.” He smiled broadly. “This is no time to
feel down, anyway. After all, Adam and Karen
are about to get married. That should
be a happy moment!”
“Now you’re
talking!” Destiny said joyfully.
The phone began
to buzz at that moment. Scarlet lifted
the handset.
“Hello?” he
called into the receiver. A wide smile
came upon his face when he recognized the voice at the other end. “Oh, hi,
Adam! How’s it going?”
At the other
end of the line, Adam Svenson was standing in a corner of a small smoky bar,
using a public phone. He was trying to
block out some bad country music, coming from an antique jukebox not very far
from him, as he spoke into the receiver.
“I’m calling to
tell you that Karen and I will arrive late at Vegas,” he said, plugging his
free ear to muffle out the music. “We took a wrong turn at a crossroads that
sent us a few hundred miles off course…”
“Who had made a
mistake like that?” a bemused Scarlet asked.
“Would you
believe Karen did?”
“Sure it wasn’t
deliberate?”
“I admit I have
my doubts about that myself!”
Scarlet noticed
his friend was almost screaming into the phone. He also noticed the muffled music.
“What’s that
noise?” he asked.
“Country music,” Blue replied. “At least, it sounds like it.”
“It’s
positively awful!”
“Yeah,
well… The place is awful as well. I’m in a small bar, at a gas station, in the
middle of the desert. ‘The Bull’s Horn’,
it’s called. I won’t describe it to
you. Just think of the worst you can
imagine of those kinds of places… And I
can assure you, it’s even worse.”
Blue could
almost see his best friend frowning at the other end of the phone line. “You’ve
taken our Symphony into a dump like that?”
Blue laughed. “You sound exactly like a worried big brother or something like that!” he noted with amusement.
“Well, you know
I regard Karen as the sister I always wanted…” Scarlet replied, rather primly.
“Then keep your
shirt on, bro! She’s not in here.” Blue looked around, glancing over the few
men strolling around the place. None of
their faces were really pleasant ones.
They all looked like rugged, tough characters. “She’s out at the gas station, filling up the car,” Blue
continued, addressing Scarlet. “We’ll find something to eat when I finish this
call and then be on our way.”
“Not too
nervous?”
“No, she seems
fine.”
“I’m talking
about you, Adam.”
Blue
smiled. “Are you kidding? I can’t wait to be in Las Vegas so we can
get on with this. By the way, did you
check out any of the chapels on the list I gave you on Cloudbase?”
“Yes, I
did. I've still got one or two left to
check… But so far, there are two which
seem very nice… and they’re available for a ceremony tomorrow.”
“Great! I’ll tell Karen right away. She’ll be glad to hear we will really make
it.”
“When do you
expect to arrive, anyway?”
“At seven… or
eight tonight, at the latest.”
“That IS a long
way off track! Well, at least it gives
you and Karen some time alone together.”
Blue smiled, nodding thoughtfully to himself. “You know, you really could be her brother. She told me the exact same thing, earlier.”
“Great minds
think alike, Adam, you know that.”
“Yeah, that’s what
they say. We’ll see you in a few
hours. Did… our ‘special guest’
arrive?”
“Her plane
should touch down at the airport in about a hour and a half. Juliette and I will pick her up, don’t
worry.”
“Karen will be
so pleased to see her. What will you
and Destiny do in the meantime?”
“Probably go to a show.”
“We really
appreciate your help, buddy. Yours and
Destiny’s. Give her our regards.”
“Give Karen our
love. And try to be here as quick as
you can.”
“Will do,
buddy. See you soon.”
Captain Blue
hung up the phone, sighing. Well, he
thought, things were looking up. Paul
and Juliette had already arrived at the St-Maurice,
a couple of the chapels he had looked at in the brochures were available for
the next day and he and Karen only were a few hours away from getting
married. No Mysteron threat, no call
from Spectrum, and no Colonel White to oppose their plans.
Now to get out of this godforsaken place and get back on the road…
Blue walked
toward the exit, at a very determined pace.
He was about to open the door and go outside when he suddenly bumped
into the shoulder of a big man who staggered under the shock and turned around
to face him.
“Watch where
you’re going, mister!”
Blue turned
too, fully aware that he was the one at fault here. “Excuse me,” he started politely, “I didn’t see you…” He stopped in the middle of his sentence.
The rugged man,
of about fifty, with greying beard and hair, particularly sharp blue eyes and a
short scar that crossed his left cheek right through to the bridge of his nose,
was staring at him blankly. Blue’s face
became pale, as he recognized the face.
He knew those piercing eyes, that scar…
And the
memories of them suddenly made him very uncomfortable.
“Excuse me,” he
croaked.
He tried to
turn away from the staring man, who then put his hand on his shoulder, stopping
him. His grip was like iron, like he
didn’t want to let go of Blue.
“Is that you,
kid?” the man said, still staring at the younger man with a querying look.
Blue shivered,
upon hearing that voice. He drew back
from his touch, looking at him nervously.
Then he turned away. Without
even answering the question, he shouldered his way past the man and pushed the
door to get out.
Fresh air, he
thought. He desperately needed fresh
air… and to get the Hell as far away as possible from this place.
As he walked
toward the car, where Symphony was waiting, Blue cast a quick glance over his
shoulder, toward the bar he had just left.
He could see
the man with the scar, standing in the opening of the door, still looking at
him.
Blue quickened
his pace toward the car, feeling as if he had just seen a ghost.
A ghost he had
thought had been dead and buried for twenty-five years…