A Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons story
PART 2 – CONFUSIONS
CHAPTER 1
Captain Blue wasn’t sure if it was
the loud banging he was hearing that pulled him out of his unconsciousness. He
had a violent headache, the awful sound reverberating inside of his skull like a
painful echo.
“Captain Blue!
Open this door this instant!”
The muffled calls punctuated the
banging, and it was with great effort that Blue opened his eyes, groaning. He
was lying flat on a dirty floor, his right cheek against the cold surface of
cement. He took a breath and dust
filled his nostrils. He coughed loudly and pushed himself up; his whole body
protested, and he grunted in pain. He reached for his head with one hand and
felt himself where it was hurting the most; he grimaced when he touched a
sensitive point and brought his hand forward to see blood smearing his fingers.
“Captain Blue!
Open this damned door! That’s an order!”
Blue blinked and
looked around; he was still in the laboratory where the explosion occurred, and
there was wreckage everywhere. The dust in the room had started falling down,
and strangely enough, there didn’t seem to be as much damage as he remembered.
The Kurnitz console was lying on its side, barely two feet from him, and there
was a small fire at the other side of the room; nothing that couldn’t be
controlled, once the fire extinguishers were brought in – which made him wonder
why the foam sprinklers had not activated at all. He imagined that there would
be something defective in the system; either it had been caused by the
explosion, or it was already there. He would have to have a serious talk with
security about that.
Seated on the floor, his head still
pounding, he searched with his eyes for Scarlet, but couldn’t see him.
“Captain Blue!” Blue raised his
head. The muffled voice he was hearing had a distinctly angry edge to it, and
seemed to come from afar. The banging started again and he discovered that it
was coming from behind the door...
A door that, oddly, wasn’t blocked
by debris anymore.
Blue frowned, puzzled. He did remember the large heap of heavy blocks that had
piled in front of that door, trapping them inside this room… as he remembered
Scarlet being half-buried under that same rubble. At least, he
thought
he remembered all that.
His head was hurting so much that he wasn’t sure anymore.
“Open this door!” The voice shouted
again, and this time, Blue recognised it. He painfully pulled himself onto his
feet and, swaying a little, walked towards the door. When he arrived in front of
it, he discovered that the opening controls were still working – but that the
magnetic lock had been engaged with a numeric code. Obviously, it had been done
on this side of the door, which would explain why nobody could enter from the
other side. Fortunately, he didn’t need to know the code to disengage the lock;
he just pushed the opening control and the lock clicked open.
The heavy security door opened, and
Blue found himself face to face with a grim-looking Captain Ochre.
Next to him, stood an equally
sombre Captain Magenta; and Blue blinked in surprise upon seeing him.
How come he’s here?
he wondered inwardly. Last he
knew, Magenta was still on Cloudbase, working on some program updates on the
Cloudbase computers. He was to be very occupied for the next two or three days…
Behind his two
colleagues, there was a small detail of Spectrum guards, led by Lieutenant Obsidian, the young
officer in charge of security at the Research Centre, and with them, three
medics, with a stretcher.
“Hey, Ochre…” Blue said with a
tired smile, overcoming the pounding pain in his head, “I’m sure glad to see
you. Magenta, what are you doing here?”
Magenta addressed him with what
looked like a puzzled expression, tinted with deep irritation. “You playing
smart with us, Blue?”
“About time you opened that door!”
Ochre said sharply. Neither of his two colleagues seemed too happy, and Blue
wondered why. Ochre pushed him aside, none too gently and entered with the
others. They spread around in the
room. “What a mess,” Ochre
muttered, turning to Blue. “What
have you been up to?”
“Me?” a puzzled Blue asked, leaning
against the wall, and reaching for his throbbing head. One of the medics was
already approaching to check him.
“Are you hurt, Captain?”
“I think I got shaken up a bit,”
Blue answered. “I feel a little
light-headed. Doesn’t seem to be
anything broken… I’ll be okay.”
“You might have a concussion.
You should let me –”
“Later,” Ochre said, brushing the
man aside. “He’s up and apparently
able to answer a few questions.”
“Easy, Ochre,” Magenta recommended.
“He might be seriously hurt…”
“Easy? Don’t tell me you don’t feel
like punching this guy in the nose too!”
“What?” Blue asked with a puzzled
expression.
“Don’t play the innocent.
Blue, this time, you’ve gone too far. The colonel will not look the other way!”
Blue opened his eyes wide with
incomprehension. “What did I do?”
Ochre marched over and stood in
front of him, taking him by the collar of his jacket and pushing him forcefully
against the wall behind. Blue was too surprised by his behaviour to react. In any
case, the nausea suddenly hitting him would have made it impossible for him to
defend himself. He could only look
into Ochre’s furious face, with a totally bewildered expression.
“Ochre!” Magenta called again,
walking to his partner and putting a calming hand on his arm, in fear that he
would go too far.
“You know very well what you did!”
Ochre lashed at Blue, seemingly not taking any notice of Magenta by his side.
“This obsession of yours has to stop, Adam! You are going to hurt yourself and
others if you continue acting like this!”
“W-What?” Blue blinked. “I don’t
have the slightest idea what you’re talking about…”
“Let him go, Ochre, you can see
that’s he’s not well!” Magenta tried again.
“Listen, you can explain later,”
Blue said, licking his dry lips. “We have to find Scarlet… He’s somewhere around here and he’s hurt
and –”
“You say Captain Scarlet was here?”
Ochre suddenly let go of him and turned around to exchange a worried glance with
Magenta, and then with Obsidian, who, with his men, had heard the revelation.
They suddenly appeared frantic. “Search around!” Magenta then ordered. “And be
careful, men!”
Blue watched with puzzlement as they spread out, guns at the ready, to search
the room. Magenta joined with them, while Ochre stayed with him.
Exactly
what
was going on?
Ochre turned again to face him.
“Are you telling us that Scarlet caused the mess in here?” he asked him.
“What?” Blue murmured, frowning.
“What are you talking about? Ochre, have you gone insane?”
Ochre raised a brow. “YOU’RE asking
ME that?” he muttered. He sighed. “Was Scarlet here or not?”
“He was… we both were!” Blue
answered. He was starting to lose patience. “You know that as well as I do,
Ochre! You came with us!”
“What the hell are
you talking about?” Ochre demanded.
“Captain Ochre!” Captain Magenta
was standing by the Kurnitz console, while Lieutenant Obsidian knelt down behind
it, obviously examining something that neither Ochre nor Blue could see from
where they were standing. “We found someone!” the Irish captain reported.
“Scarlet…” muttered Blue in
concern. He pushed Ochre aside; he would deal with his annoying colleague later
on, when he had seen to Scarlet. He hurried to the place where Magenta stood,
closely followed by Ochre, barely noticing that the latter had his hand on his
gun.
“He’s been knocked out but I think
he’ll survive,” Magenta reported. Blue stood next to him and looked down; there
was the body of a man sprawled on the floor behind the Kurnitz console; Obsidian
was tending to him. But it wasn’t Scarlet; he was wearing a white lab coat, and
had a cut on the side of his head. Two of the medics rushed to him.
“Giadello?” Blue murmured in
perplexity. He turned to Ochre who
was now next to him. “I don’t
understand… Giadello left well
before the explosion occurred…”
“What caused the explosion, Blue?” Ochre asked
him. “Was it Scarlet who set it off? Or you?”
“Ochre?” Blue shook his head, not
believing what he was hearing. “What are you talking about?
How can you believe –”
“Captain Ochre,” Obsidian said
suddenly, attracting everyone’s attention. He picked up something from the floor
and showed it to the officers standing over him, taking great care to hold it
with only two fingers. Magenta took it; it was a metal rod, one end of which was
covered with blood. “The explosion didn’t knock him out,” Obsidian observed.
Magenta nodded, coming to the same
conclusion. “It seems he was attacked and hit with this.”
“Really now?” Ochre sounded bitter
this time. He turned to Blue, and Magenta did the same. “Scarlet must have
attacked him, then, mustn’t he?”
By the tone of his voice, it was
obvious that he didn’t believe it. But Blue couldn’t help noticing the
accusation. The same was obvious in Magenta’s eyes.
“You think that I did this?” he
defended himself. “No! Ochre, how
can you believe that? What’s got into you? Magenta…”
“We could ask you the same
question, Svenson!” Magenta replied abruptly. “What’s got into you, exactly?
You’ve been driving us nuts with this obsession of yours for weeks…
But now, if you have attacked someone because of it –”
“That’s the second time one of you
has mentioned this so-called obsession,” Blue cut in.
He had trouble concentrating, due to his headache, but not to the point of not
being able to defend himself against his two colleagues’ obvious accusations. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about!”
Ochre didn’t really seem to listen
to him. “You know,” he said,
scoffing, “at first, I felt sorry for you. We all did, in fact, with everything
that happened to you and all that… We felt for you.
But it’s growing increasingly difficult now, Blue.”
“You’re getting worse every day,”
Magenta continued. “Now even the colonel has had enough – and I wonder how your
partner can tolerate you the way he does. The man’s a model of patience, I’ll tell
you that… I never thought I’d ever say this, but he has won my respect…”
“Now, wait a minute –”
“No, you wait a minute, buster.”
Ochre poked Blue in the chest with his finger, warningly. “This has gone on long enough… And you have really gone too far this
time.”
“What did I do?” Blue asked with
impatience. “I still don’t
understand what you mean…”
“Oh, we’re still playing at that,
are we?” Ochre scoffed again, derisively. “Now let’s review your latest
escapade, shall we, Captain Blue? You left Cloudbase without authorisation.
You came here, to the Valley Forge Research Centre, under false pretences, you
broke into this lab, because you knew the Kurnitz console was stored here and
that it was fully operational.” He
ignored Blue’s apparently clueless stare and briefly looked down to the
unconscious Giadello, before returning his attention to Blue. “Now I’m only
guessing the rest… Giadello somehow tried to stop you, and
you knocked him down. Then you tried to set up the console, all by yourself. But something went wrong and it
exploded. Am I right?”
“Ochre…” Blue said hesitantly,
shaking his head.
“Scarlet never was here, was he?”
Magenta added in turn. “You just pretended he was here, just so you could accuse
him of causing the explosion…” He shook his head in a disgruntled way.
“You should have your head examined, Blue.”
“That doesn’t make any sense!” Blue suddenly exploded.
“I don’t understand
anything
that you’re saying. You’re raving, the both of you! Nothing that you say ever happened!”
Ochre shot him an annoyed, almost
murderous look, and would probably have replied when groans coming from Giadello
interrupted him.
The three officers turned to the wounded man and saw that he was coming
round. His eyelids fluttered open,
and he looked about, dazedly, and winced when he tried to move his head too
quickly.
“Easy, Doctor,” Obsidian told him
soothingly. “Stay calm, a medic is looking after you. You took a bad knock on
the head…”
“I did?” Giadello slurred, raising
his hand to his throbbing head. “How… What happened?” He groaned and closed his eyes.
“Doctor Giadello, what happened?”
Magenta asked, kneeling by the injured man’s side.
“How did you get in here?” Blue
asked in turn, staying by Ochre’s side. “You were gone when the console
exploded…” Ochre glared at him, in
a way that was meant to silence him, but he took no notice.
“The console… exploded?” Giadello
said, obviously confused and making an effort to remember.
“I… I don’t remember… My head…”
“You were attacked,” Magenta
informed him carefully. “Captain Blue said that Captain Scarlet was here.
Do you remember seeing him?”
“Captain Scarlet?” Giadello
repeated. Blue wasn’t sure, but he thought he could hear doubt in his voice. He
frowned, wondering what it could mean exactly. Didn’t Giadello remember that he
had brought both him and Scarlet – with Ochre and Lavender – into this room,
just before the explosion?
“Do you know who attacked you,
Doctor?” Ochre asked insistently.
Giadello’s eyes were still closed.
He nodded slowly, at Ochre’s question. “Sure… I remember,” he slurred again. “I
remember perfectly…”
He half-opened his eyes and gestured in the general direction of Blue.
“He did… Captain Blue did…”
Blue was stunned by the accusation.
“What?!”
“We figured as much,” Magenta
muttered between his teeth. He rose to his feet and stood next to Ochre, in
front of Blue, and both men glared at him with the same icy expression. “Should
I tell him, or will you do the honours, Captain Ochre?”
“I will,” Ochre said between his
teeth. “Captain Blue, you’re under
arrest.”
Blue frowned, still unable to
comprehend what was happening.
Nothing of this made any sense.
Had they all gone insane?
“You can’t be serious,” he murmured
in a low tone. “I didn’t do anything wrong!” He pointed to Giadello. “I don’t
even know why he’s accusing me! He wasn’t even here when this explosion
occurred. He was gone, and then
there was a buzzing sound, and then…”
“Will you STOP with this?” Ochre
snapped suddenly, losing patience.
“Captain Ochre, Captain Magenta… you just
have
to believe me! Please, search for my partner, he’ll explain everything…”
“Your partner?” Magenta raised his
brows. “He’s not here, Blue.”
“What are you talking about? Of
course, he’s here! He came with me… with us. The three of us together, with
Ochre, we…”
“I didn’t come here with you,
Blue,” Ochre said. “Captain Magenta and I have been following you here.
As for your partner, he’s in Australia at this moment.”
“He
can’t
be! I know he was here with me! What would he be doing in Australia?”
“Do I have to explain that to you?
You should
know
why he’s gone there!”
“Ochre, it doesn’t make any sense.
I tell you, you have to find Scarlet. He’s around here somewhere, he –”
“He, what, will explain everything
to us?” Magenta scoffed and gestured towards the room. “Look around, buddy. There isn’t anybody
else but us, here! Your partner is not here! Scarlet is not here! You can see
that for yourself!”
“But he
must
be here!” Blue protested again.
Magenta sighed and ran his hand on
the back of his head; he looked tired. “We’re sorry, pal.
Truly, we are. The both of us. But we’ve been running after you since you left
Cloudbase without authorisation last night, and we have no intention of letting
you go now. You’re coming back to base with us, where you’ll have lots of
explaining to do.”
“Magenta, what the devil are you
talking about?” Blue protested again. “I keep telling you, I don’t understand a
word of what you’re saying!”
“This game doesn’t work with me
anymore, Blue.” Ochre motioned to the guards; two of them approached, and stood
on each side of Blue. “I doubt it will work with any of us, now.”
“Game? What game?” This time, Blue couldn’t take it anymore. He shook off the
hand that one of the guards put on his arm, and barely took notice of the other
guard relieving him of his gun; genuinely angry at the way he was treated, his
attention was totally focused on Ochre. “I’m not playing any game, Ochre, and
you damn
well know it! Now I don’t know what
kind of joke
you
are playing, but –”
“Do I
really look
like I’m joking, Blue?” Ochre snapped suddenly, interrupting his colleague.
“Look me straight in the eye and tell me – do I look like I’m joking?”
As Blue remained silent, Ochre stood in front of him, eyes glaring, his face
displaying a very stern, almost implacable expression. “Now, for the last time…
you are under arrest. Will you come quietly back to base with us, or will we
have to drag you back there, in
handcuffs?”
Blue shook his head. “I won’t leave
until we find Scarlet.”
Ochre, sighed, and exchanged
disheartened looks with Magenta. “We were afraid you would say that,” he said in
a low voice.
Suddenly, having had enough of
attempting to make their colleague see sense, both Ochre and Magenta grabbed him
by the shoulders and tripped him. Surprised by the sudden attack, Blue didn’t
react at all, and fell face first onto the half-destroyed Kurnitz Console, where
the two guards, coming to the officers’ help, held him down, pulling his arms
behind his back. Blue yelped; his head was still hurting too much, and he had no
idea why he was treated this way.
A second later, he heard the click
of handcuffs, as they were secured around his wrists. Blue clenched his teeth in anger and
grunted in pain, as the steel bracelets bit into his flesh. He was forced to stand, gasping, confused
beyond reason, and angered because of this confusion; furious, he tried to reach
for Ochre and Magenta, who now stood in front of him, but he was held back by
the hands of the two guards.
“What is the meaning of this?”
Blue lashed out furiously at his colleagues. “Ochre! Magenta! Tell them to let
me go!”
“You’re not really leaving us any
choice, Blue,” Ochre replied, shaking his head. “You have completely lost it. I
really don’t know if it’s still a game you’re playing or…”
“I told you I know
nothing
of any game!” Blue shouted at him. “Why don’t you believe me? I don’t understand anything about what’s
going on! Why are you treating me like this?
I did nothing wrong!”
“That’s enough,” Ochre muttered.
“We’ll get to the bottom of this on Cloudbase.” He turned to the guards. “Escort
him back to the SPJ… Make sure he’s secured safely, but make him comfortable.
And if he offers any resistance, have him sedated.”
“What!?” roared Blue in outrage.
“Ochre, have you gone insane?”
“It’s for your own good, Blue.”
“Have that wound of his checked,”
Captain Magenta added, his voice taking on a more charitable tone. “He might
have a serious concussion…”
“I don’t need any medical help!
Magenta! Ochre!
Please, I beg of you…”
“Take him away,” Ochre ordered the guards,
tiredly.
“No, wait…” Desperately trying to make sense
of what was going on, Blue was pulled and pushed towards the door, stumbling,
trying to resist the hands holding him. The nausea in him was mounting at each
step, and he didn’t know how long he would be able to resist before either
throwing up or losing his senses to this awful pounding headache. “Listen to me,
this is all insane! I don’t know what’s going on… You have to find Scarlet! He’s around here, somewhere, wounded… Ochre! Magenta!”
Neither Ochre nor Magenta listened
to Blue’s desperate cry and they simply turned their backs on him as he was
taken out of the room. Ochre sighed and shook his head, despondently.
“Scarlet… has never been here,” he
muttered bitterly, almost to himself.
And Magenta could only exchange
glances with him, and
sadly nod in agreement with this assertion.
CHAPTER 2
By the time he arrived on
Cloudbase, Captain Blue’s anger had barely simmered down.
He was now locked
in a room in sickbay – especially designed to treat either prisoners or violent
patients who needed to be isolated and kept under lock-and-key for security
reasons – and he knew perfectly well that he was being
observed right at this moment: there was a security camera, right over the
locked door, which was following his every movement. He was aware that his
obviously impatient behaviour might not be helping his case at all. But he
couldn’t help himself.
He had rarely been as furious as he
was at this very moment. He had been accused by two colleagues and friends of
misdeeds – crimes even – he knew he had not committed; then he had been
manhandled, handcuffed, arrested by the same so-called friends, and forced to
take an SPJ back to Cloudbase, while leaving behind a missing Captain Scarlet
whom nobody seemed to care about. What had happened to him, and where could he
be? Australia? That was a load of bull! Scarlet had never gone to Australia, and
Ochre knew it perfectly well. But
he still denied it, and continued to accuse Blue of lying and playing whatever
kind of ‘game’ he was imagining.
Blue
could have thought it was all a joke on Ochre’s part – rather a
huge one, even
considering his colleague’s usual standard – maybe some idea of a ‘bachelor
party’ of some kind that Ochre had come up with. But Blue was about certain that
his colleague would not have gone so far with it – and certainly it wouldn’t
have gone to the extent of having him strapped into his seat – and
eventually sedated, as Blue continued to resist and protest, demanding
explanations of why he was being treated this way.
Blue didn’t even remember most of his flight back to Cloudbase. He had awakened
in this room, the wound to his head treated, out of his uniform and in white
pyjamas. He had obviously been treated by the sickbay staff:
there was a dressing over his head wound, and he felt better. He was free of restraints, and at first
he was relieved, considering all that had happened so far, but it was a brief
relief when he realised that the door, when he tried to open it, was equipped
with a magnetic lock and that he couldn’t get out. Then he saw the camera and
knew
exactly where
he was. He had himself suggested the
concept of this room, more than a year ago. He had never imagined it would be
used against him.
He waited for a
short time, sitting in bed, hoping that someone would come soon to talk to him.
When, about an hour later, nobody had come yet, he considered banging on the
door, to demand explanations again; he kept himself from doing that, thinking –
probably justly – that it wouldn’t be helpful in any way, and that he would
likely be ignored.
He had had enough of waiting, so he
started walking around the room, impatiently. He knew he was under surveillance,
so he imagined that soon, people would tire of watching him and would come. He
would have a few well-chosen words for them. He didn’t know what exactly at this
point, and if his anger was still very high, it was largely impregnated with a
large dose of concern.
Strangely enough, this whole
situation reminded him of that time he had been kidnapped, at the end of the
first year of the war against the Mysterons. People posing as agents from
Spectrum Intelligence had taken him into a false Cloudbase, built inside a huge
warehouse and, accusing him of having given away important information about
Spectrum, they had tried to deceive him into giving them security codes to
access Spectrum’s computers. When they realised they would fail with that
scheme, they had tried to inject him with truth serum, but he had escaped, just
in time. He wondered if this wasn’t a similar set-up. It seemed unlikely, seeing
as he had been captured in the middle of the Research Centre – by Ochre and
Magenta, no less – but it might certainly explain what was happening to him.
That might also indicate that Ochre
and Magenta had been Mysteronised, then… They had both acted openly hostile
towards him, with all those accusations that didn’t make any sense at all… with
the way they had treated him… and with their refusal to look for Scarlet, even
refusing to acknowledge his presence.
Blue shook his head dismissively. Even if he considered that Ochre and Magenta
had been taken over by the Mysterons – he didn’t want to even think of this
possibility, but he had little choice under the circumstances – then what about
the rest of the Spectrum Research Centre?
The Mysterons could not possibly have done the same to
everyone…
Or could they? Blue had seen, what, ten, twelve people, when he had been dragged
forcibly to the SPJ? Certainly no
more than that… Could they
have been Mysteron agents too?
He remembered that they
did
check him with a Mysteron detector, just before putting him in the SPJ – and to
his own relief, as he was starting to have doubts in even himself, he had shown
negative on the results. He was thinking now
– would Mysterons be that that brazen as to actually do that
verification? It was standard procedure, of course… they wouldn’t want for him
to be suspicious of them.
And how about Cloudbase? If indeed
this
was
Cloudbase…
What if the Mysterons were pulling
the same ruse as before? They rarely tried the same trick twice, but this time,
however… it would be more – much more – elaborate…
And where in the world could
Scarlet be? What could have
happened to him?
Blue sighed in frustration.
Stop it, Svenson… You’re getting
paranoid.
You’re
starting to see all this as a big
conspiracy!
There has to be a better
explanation for all this nonsense…
Tired of marching around and of
trying to understand, Blue flopped onto the bed, sighing deeply, and leaned
against the pillow in a comfortable half-seated, half-slouched position to
resume his waiting, as patiently as he could, crossing his arms sulkily on his
chest and glaring murderously in the direction of the door, as if willing it to
open.
Strangely enough, this magic seemed
to work, and he heard the buzzing of the electro-magnetic lock as it was
released. Immediately, Blue jumped
to his feet, and stood expectantly.
The door slid open, and Doctor Fawn
entered, his pad in his hand as always, scribbling on it.
“Doctor Fawn!” Blue took a step
forward to meet the physician. He was relieved to actually see him. So this
indeed would be Cloudbase. “Am I glad to see a friendly face!”
Fawn had stopped in the middle of
the room and raised one eyebrow in what seemed like a dubious expression, as his
attention went from his pad to the tall blond man standing in front of him.
“Indeed? Now this is strange coming
from you… You’re normally way too happy to get away from me and the hell out of
sickbay as fast as possible every time you get stuck in here.
Mostly by your own reckless fault, I must add.”
Blue frowned, hearing the obvious
sarcasm in these bitter words. “Doc?” he asked in puzzlement.
“Don’t try to get out now,” Fawn
observed. “You’re under close surveillance and it wouldn’t look too good in your
records, considering the situation.” He pointed to the door. “You wouldn’t get very far, anyway.”
Blue followed the direction of his
finger with his eyes and beyond the door which had stayed open, he saw that
there was a guard standing rigid outside. He scowled. “So I really am under arrest?” he
demanded, turning to Fawn.
“What did you expect?”
Fawn replied in a neutral voice.
“Sit on the bed.”
“But –”
“Sit on the bed, I’m going to
examine you.”
Reluctantly, Blue obeyed.
Fawn removed the adhesive bandage he had on his forehead and temple and checked
the wound underneath. He seemed satisfied with what he was seeing, and put a new
dressing on.
“Stitches are
holding. They didn’t pop with all this leaping around you’ve been doing in here
since you woke up…”
Blue’s frown deepened.
“This is no time to make jokes, Doctor!
Would you mind –”
“Stay still,” Fawn interrupted.
“Follow the light. Just with your eyes.” He checked Blue’s pupils, shining a
small light into them, and Blue followed its direction as he was instructed. The
doctor nodded his satisfaction again and put the small torch back into his
pocket. “Okay, you don’t seem to have a bad concussion… I shouldn’t be surprised
with that thick skull of yours.”
“Doctor, listen to me:
there ‘s something seriously wrong here!”
“You don’t say?” Fawn said icily.
“I already know that.
I just received a report from the medics at the Research Centre. You’ll
be happy to know that Giadello will make a complete recovery after your attack.
He’s just suffering from a slight concussion… Worse than yours, though. You were
rather rough on him.”
“But I
didn’t
attack him!” Blue protested.
“Yes, you mentioned Scarlet, didn’t
you?” Fawn continued calmly. “He was at the Research Centre, and I suppose
that’s why you went there too? You knew he was up to no good and you wanted to
stop him? How did you come by such
information, Captain?”
Blue scoffed incredulously. “Why
are you all so quick to think that Scarlet is behind what happened at the
Research Centre?” he asked. “Ochre and Magenta made the same assertion.
You’re all wrong. He has nothing to do with it! It was an accident, as far as I can
say!”
“Is it? Now there’s an explosion,
Captain Scarlet is in the vicinity, and it’s not his fault?
That is a new one, coming from you, Captain Blue!”
“What –” Blue shook himself. “We can hardly blame
everything that happens on Scarlet, Doctor!”
Fawn raised a brow. “It’s not like
you to say something like that! What game are you playing now, Captain?”
“Game? What game?
You’re the second or third person to ask me that, Doctor. I’m not playing any game. The way I see it, you’re all playing a
game. Not me!”
Fawn looked straight at him,
pensively, with the same doubtful expression as before. Blue could see he wasn’t
getting through to him.
He addressed the physician with a desperate look: “Doc, I don’t
understand anything that’s happening to me. Why was I arrested? Why do you all
think I did some harm to Doctor Giadello and caused that explosion in the first
place? Why don’t you believe me about Scarlet? This is beyond me!”
“Why?” Fawn repeated dully. “You are asking why, Captain?
Well, you should know why, shouldn’t you? We all know about your obsession, and your interest in Doctor
Kurnitz’s work of late, so it’s natural that we assume that you became… maybe
just a little bit
too
interested in his latest discovery?”
“I don’t have
any
interest in Kurnitz’s work!” Blue protested again. “What latest discovery are
you talking about? The breakthrough he and Giadello stated they had made? I
don’t care! Doctor, you have to believe me! I was just there to escort –”
“Enough, Captain,” Fawn suddenly interrupted
in a stern tone. “I didn’t come here to discuss this with you.”
“But
someone has to
listen to me! Something wrong is
going on, and I’m thinking that the Mysterons must
be behind it!”
“The Mysterons indeed,” Fawn
muttered. “Well, I can assure you, Captain, the Mysterons have nothing to do
with your situation at the moment. You have only yourself to blame for it.”
“But –”
“Colonel White will interrogate you
himself on this particular subject. I know he can’t wait to hear what you
have to say…”
“Finally!” Blue said, throwing his hands upwards. “That’s all I want, really! Someone to talk to, so I can explain
myself!”
“This will be good,” Fawn
commented, rolling his eyes. “Colonel White will be pleased. But until then – there is someone else
who wishes to see you.”
“No, I’ve got to see the colonel
right away… This is too important!
I will go crazy if I don’t…”
“And the colonel isn’t
ready
to see you right now, Captain.”
“But… it might already be too late,
later! Captain Scarlet…”
“Leave Captain Scarlet alone,
Captain,” Fawn warned.
“He had nothing to do with it – not this time.”
“But we
have
to find out where he is!”
“We will,” answered Fawn with a
slow nod.
“What is going on here?
This doesn’t make sense! I have to see the colonel…”
Fawn sighed, tiredly.
“And I said, ‘later’. There is no discussion about it, Captain. You will have to
wait. Now, about this person who wants to see
you…”
Blue frowned, puzzled. He tensed.
“If this is Captain Ochre or Captain Magenta… I’d better warn you, I’m in no
mood to see either of them now. After the way they treated me…”
“And how should they have treated
you after the stunt you pulled, Captain?” Fawn replied, causing Blue to plunge
ever deeper in the most complete perplexity. “Well, I will reassure you: they don’t
really feel like meeting you right now either.”
“Then who is it that’s here to see
me?”
“Why, your fiancée, of course.”
Blue’s tension immediately left
him. “She’s here?” he murmured
hopefully.
“Yes, of course.
She’s waiting just outside. Should
I tell her she has to go, or can she come in?”
There was little hesitation on Blue’s part.
If Symphony was here, then maybe he’d be able to convince
her,
at least, that something was very wrong. Symphony would listen to him; and maybe
help him. And explain to him exactly what all of this meant. He nodded his
acknowledgement to Fawn.
“Please, Doctor, let her come in.”
“Right. I’ll be leaving the two of you alone,
then.”
Of course, Blue mused
inwardly. I’ll be alone with her, but still
under surveillance…
He gave a sideways glance towards the camera hanging over the door, wondering
who could be watching. He imagined
it could be someone he knew well; but if it was friend or foe, he couldn’t
really tell…
Fawn had reached the door and
motioned to someone outside to enter, while he himself stepped out. Blue
smoothed the top of his pyjamas, in an attempt to try to look good for his
visitor. He put a smile on his face; he could see no reason to worry Symphony
needlessly. And anyway, he was rather glad that she was allowed to come and see
him.
He heard her light footsteps and
prepared to welcome her.
She entered fully into the room and
Blue’s eyes opened wide in total surprise; the young woman was not in uniform,
but was dressed in a fashionable ensemble of pastel blue, that he had never seen
before. She went directly to him, at a quick pace, an apprehensive expression on
her beautiful face, which was surrounded by a crown of brilliant red hair,
neatly done in a new hairstyle.
“Darling, are you all right?”
She didn’t seem to notice his
clueless expression, nor the disappearing smile as she came to take him into her
arms, nor that he responded to her embrace like a robot; she stood on tiptoe to
lightly kiss his cheek and he saw the depths of her blue eyes, set on him,
filled with concern for him. He could only look back at her, frowning with
incomprehension as he tried desperately to grasp the reason for her presence
here, instead of the woman he hoped he would see.
“What is it, love?” she asked, the
English accent full of concern, as she tenderly caressed his cheek.
“You’ve turned pale all of a sudden…Are you ill? Is that head wound hurting
you?”
He finally found his voice.
“Rhapsody… what are you doing here?”
She seemed shocked by the question.
But she found in herself the strength to smile, as she stepped back to look at
him. “Rhapsody?” she repeated with a chuckle. “You haven’t call me that for a
long time, Adam. You know that I resigned my Angel commission a year ago…”
“You –” Blue shook his head, still frowning. “No, you haven’t…” he murmured.
“Of course, I have, don’t you
remember? You didn’t want me to leave.”
“Wait…” Blue rubbed his head, which
was starting to hurt again, so hard was he trying to understand what was going
on, what she was telling him. “Wait… Rhapsody…”
“Dianne,” she corrected him,
gently, approaching yet again. She frowned in turn, looking into his puzzled
face. “Don’t you remember?” she asked him teasingly. “Or are you suddenly shy
about using my name? You shouldn’t
feel shy, Adam…”
“Dianne…” He swallowed hard. Nothing was making sense anymore. “Wha… why are you here?
Doctor Fawn said… that my fiancée was waiting…”
“That’s what he said, Adam. That’s
why I’m here. We’re engaged, don’t you remember that either?”
“Engaged…?” he murmured.
“What about… what about Scarlet?
What about Paul?”
He knew they were being watched,
and more than probably, the watchers were listening too, but at this point he
didn’t care if he blew the lid on Scarlet’s and Rhapsody’s secret liaison.
He just desperately wanted to know what was going on.
He saw her shiver, and then freeze,
as she looked at him fixedly. “Why do you ask that question, Adam? You know very
well what it does to me…”
“No,” he whispered. “No, I don’t…
What about… Karen? Where is she?”
This time, Dianne blinked. “Karen?”
she repeated. She stepped back, slowly. “Oh no, Adam…”
“What about her, Dianne?” he asked
insistently. “Why isn’t she here? Why are you here… saying we’re engaged?
Where is Karen?”
“Adam…” Dianne shook her head,
despondently. She looked like she wasn’t sure anymore of what she had to do, or
to say. “Please don’t do this to yourself, Adam Don’t do this to us… We’ve been fighting for too long –”
“WHERE is Karen, Dianne?” Blue
asked again, stepping forward, insisting.
He put his hands on her shoulders,
impatiently and felt her shudder under his touch, as if she was afraid of him.
Automatically, he let go. He looked at her in desperation. There was a sad
expression on her face now, and she seemed to want to avoid looking him in the
eyes. He had some deep, sinking feeling that there was something more terribly
wrong than he first thought.
“Please,” he whispered. “Where is
she, Dianne?”
“Adam… You know the answer to that
question. You know what happened to her. She was…”
“No…” Blue shook his head, suddenly
suspecting what she was about to reveal to him.
“She was killed, three years ago…”
Blue’s heart instantly missed a
beat. His mind suddenly went blank, as he tried to grasp the full meaning of
these words, although he already knew what they would be, before they were
spoken. The worst possible thing they could say to him, which would make no
sense at all… Which would turn his life completely inside out…
No, it was impossible… How could that have happened? Why would they be telling
him these lies?
It didn’t take very long for him to
recover all of his wits…
And to explode, like a simmering
fire which had been slowly building underneath hot ashes.
“NO!” he shouted suddenly, straight
in Dianne’s face.
“YOU’RE WRONG!”
“Adam, please…
You know it’s the truth…”
“NO!” he repeated forcefully, shaking his head
in complete denegation. “This CAN’T be!
I was with her yesterday! We were
making wedding plans! I
know
she’s alive.”
“Adam,” Dianne pleaded.
“Stop, you’re hurting yourself…”
“This is
wrong!” he
continued, turning his back on her and walking away. “All this happening…
Ochre’s and Magenta’s accusations at the Research Centre… Scarlet’s
disappearance…” He spun around to face her again. “And you,
you showing up here saying that Karen is dead!
All this can’t be true! It ISN’T
happening! This is a nightmare!”
He saw the hurt in her beautiful
face. “Adam, we’ve been through
this before,” she said. “I thought you were over it… That you had freed yourself
from this destructive obsession of yours…”
“What obsession?” he roared angrily, walking to her. He grabbed her by the
shoulders, and she gasped, almost fearfully. “What the hell are you talking
about?! What kind of
sick
game are you all playing with my mind, tell me?
What are you trying to do to me?” He blanched, suddenly realising that he had
been right from the start. He let go of Rhapsody and stepped back, starting to
walk around her, looking at her, trying not to shiver. She followed him with her
eyes. “This is all a trick,” he murmured.
“A Mysteron trick… Isn’t it?”
“I’m no Mysteron, Adam. You know
that.”
“How
could I know?”
“You should feel it in your heart.
I’m the woman you are planning to marry…”
“No, you are not! I don’t know what your game is,
Rhapsody, but if this is your idea
of a sick joke –”
“I don’t think
even
Captain Ochre would go this far with a joke, Captain Blue. Step away from the girl.”
The voice coming from behind him
made Blue freeze on the spot as he was about to take an almost threatening step
towards Rhapsody; he blinked in surprise, thinking his brain had suddenly
stopped working again, still wondering if he was dreaming the worst dream he
could imagine. This voice – which
he recognised so easily – he had not heard it in years; and he had never thought
he would ever hear it again.
Slowly, he turned around, unsure,
almost dreading to see what he knew he would see.
His heart started pounding wildly
when he finally saw, and he shivered from head to toes.
With two guards behind him, Captain
Black, in full Spectrum uniform, was standing only a few feet away from him, in
front of the open door. The Mysterons’ main agent on Earth, guilty of so many
crimes against his peers, constantly on the run since his return from Mars, and
whom Spectrum was so desperately trying to catch – he was there, in front of
him, casually looking at him.
Strangely enough, he didn’t look
like the man Blue imagined he would be. Captain Black was unlike the other
Mysteron agents – who looked exactly like any human being on Earth… and acted
the part, until they started to work for their evil masters. For Black, it was
different. Those who had the bad fortune to meet him – witnesses, colleagues,
and civilian victims who had been lucky enough to survive such encounters – had
described Black as a withdrawn character, not talkative, cold and unfeeling. But
most noticeable was his physical appearance: with a gaunt and very pallid look,
badly shaved, unkempt features… and sunken, dark eyes, so deep and unfeeling it
would freeze your soul.
His touch, Scarlet and Symphony had told him, was glacial – as if he was
dead inside and outside. Not quite a walking corpse – rather more like an
implacable, living zombie.
There was none of this in the
Captain Black Blue was now facing. He looked cool, composed, his face closely
shaved, looking healthy and displaying a slight tan. A man of a smaller stature
than Blue, he was still an imposing presence, just standing there in his clean,
freshly pressed Spectrum uniform, with his sidearm hanging from his gun belt –
which was black, Blue noticed, instead of the white one he used to wear before
the Mars debacle, the sign of his status as second-in-command of the Spectrum
organisation.
It was a shock for Blue to see him
in this place, on Cloudbase, the most secure of all Spectrum’s facilities, where
no Mysteron agent could set foot without raising a hundred alarms… unless
someone had died inside the base, and had been Mysteronised on the spot, which
was always something to consider, and a potential nightmare for Spectrum
security, who had set up various check points, not only on Cloudbase itself, but
on all Spectrum bases.
And yet, Black was here; and the
guards standing behind him didn’t seem to be wary of him. None of them raised a
single finger
when he walked casually into the room and went to Rhapsody. The latter
seemed shaken, but Blue could see it had nothing whatsoever to do with Black’s
presence.
Instead, it had something to do with him.
“Are you all right, Dianne?” Black
asked the young woman quietly.
“Yes, of course, I’m all right,”
she replied sharply enough. “You know that Adam would never harm me…”
Black stopped by her and put what
he probably meant to be a reassuring hand on Rhapsody’s arm. It might have been
a casual enough gesture, but Blue interpreted it as a potential threat.
And he reacted accordingly.
Black barely had the time to turn
to face the tall American officer, who, as soon as he saw his foe within
striking distance, launched at him… with a spectacular punch that sent Black
reeling back a number of feet.
Blue had acted so quickly that
nobody had had the time to actually realise what he was doing. For him now,
everything was so very obvious: the explosion, Scarlet’s disappearance, Giadello
being hurt… and all this nonsense
happening, with him being accused and arrested, and the talk of Symphony being
dead… all this was Black’s doing. It was the only possible answer.
Plus, Blue couldn’t forget the many
sins this man in front of him had committed – his beloved Symphony was alive, of
that he was sure, but Black had nearly been responsible for her death, years
ago. Blue had swore he would force the man to pay for that, one way or another.
Now was his chance.
As Rhapsody gasped in total shock
and a surprised Black fell to the floor from Blue’s initial attack, the latter
went to him and leaned down to grab him by the throat. Black reached for Blue’s
hands, trying to release the vice-like hold that was threatening to strangle
him.
The two guards had lurched inside,
and took hold of Blue’s arms; he didn’t want to let go of his prey, and it took
all of their strength to pull him off and drag him away from his intended
victim. They forcibly held him back, as he was still struggling to reach for
Black. The latter got back to his feet, rubbing his sore throat with one hand,
and retrieving his cap with the other, staring at Blue with a puzzled expression
on his face.
“Black, you
bastard! I should have known you
were behind this! What have you done with all of them? Tell me, creep!”
“Adam, stop it!” Rhapsody urged, trying to
reach for Blue. Black stopped her from approaching him, as if in fear that she
would receive an accidental blow.
“Keep your hands OFF her!”
Blue roared furiously.
Black turned to him. “What’s got
into you?!” he asked with a deep frown. “You know I wouldn’t hurt her…”
“Let go of me!” Blue raged,
addressing the two guards still holding him. “Don’t you see who’s standing
there? It’s Captain Black!”
“Boy, you sure know how to state
the obvious…” Black said, tilting his head.
“Adam what
is
it with you?” Rhapsody added in turn.
“Conrad is your friend… Why did you attack me?”
Blue gasped in total surprise. “My
friend? He isn’t my friend! He’s a murdering creep! An agent of the Mysterons…”
Black shook his head.
He looked hurt by these words. “You know that isn’t true, Adam… I’m not anymore! All thanks to you…”
“LIAR!” roared Blue. “What’s wrong
with you, people? Captain Black, free on Cloudbase… and you don’t do a thing?
You know how dangerous he can be…
Get him!”
“Adam, calm yourself,” Black
demanded.
“What have you done to them?!” Blue
asked him. “What have you done to me, Black? Is this yet another of your masters’
evil plans? What’s the trick now? I swear, I’ll find out what you’re up
to!”
“Adam…” Rhapsody tried again.
“Please, calm down…”
“Calm down? How can you ask me that? I get knocked out in an explosion, and I
wake up in a crazy world, where the woman I love is dead and Captain Black roams
free on Cloudbase! None of this makes any sense!”
“What is going on here?”
From the still open door, Doctor
Fawn appeared, accompanied by a newcomer dressed in a dark blue Spectrum
uniform, who looked sternly into the room, obviously wondering what the
commotion was all about. Blue gasped in total astonishment when he saw him, and
his eyes went wide open.
What he was seeing now was totally
impossible!
“Captain Indigo!”
he exclaimed, stunned beyond belief.
“My God, what…”
His shock had been such that he
stopped struggling, and the two guards who were still fighting to subdue him,
used this to their advantage; they pushed him back, face-down across the bed,
holding him in this position. He resisted and tried to push himself
up, in vain. Again, like when he
had been arrested, they forcibly pulled his arms behind his back.
“This can’t be!” he shouted over
his shoulder. “You’re dead!” Nobody was really listening to him, except maybe
Rhapsody who heard the painful accent in his voice.
“You’re hurting him!” she
protested.
“Sorry, ma’am, but he’s strong as
an ox,” one of the guards defended himself.
“Doctor Fawn,” Captain Indigo said,
turning to the physician. “You’d better sedate him, before he hurts himself.”
“Or hurts someone else,” the other
guard piped up, still struggling with his companion to keep Blue down.
Fawn nodded his acknowledgement of
Indigo’s instructions and strode quickly into the room, plunging his hand into
the vast pocket of his white vest, and taking a syringe and a small bottle out
of it. He stood over Blue and
started filling the syringe, while the blond officer, still struggling to get
free, was keeping his eyes, burning with confusion and anger, riveted on Black
who was watching the scene with an apparently set expression. Black seemed to
want to offer himself as a strong shoulder to lean on to Rhapsody, who was
standing by his side, looking miserable and distressed.
“This is totally insane!” Blue said
between his teeth.
Then, as he watched Indigo coming
to stand next to Black, a thought crossed his mind, and suddenly, he understood
exactly what was happening to him… just at the same moment that Fawn was pulling
up one of his sleeves.
“Doctor, wait!” he yelled.
He felt the needle piercing his
forearm, and because of his struggling, it hurt him, more than it should have.
He grunted in pain, but kept on resisting; he knew it wouldn’t take long before
the drug would take effect, and that it was futile to resist, but he didn’t want
to give up.
“When did she die?” he asked
urgently.
“What?” Fawn asked with a frown.
“Symphony… she died… three years
ago?” Blue asked again. He was starting to feel numb already, his mind slowly
clouding. “Please… tell me…
I have to know… How did it happen?”
Standing over his patient, Fawn
exchanged concerned glances with the other officers standing in the room with
him. Rhapsody seemed appalled by the question – while Black and Indigo were as
puzzled as he was.
“It happened at the Culver Atomic
Centre,” Fawn answered softly.
Blue’s jaws tightened.
“…Black?” he muttered, fighting to stay conscious. “He killed her?” There was a
short moment of renewed fighting in him, but it didn’t last long; his eyelids
were getting very heavy; his mind, even heavier.
“No…” he heard the voice of Black,
as if it was coming from a long distance. “I wasn’t there. It was Captain
Scarlet. I’m sorry. He shot her… while you were watching, unable to help…”
“Oh God…” Blue murmured, realising
he was right. “This can’t be true…
I… I know now… This isn’t my world,
this… This is…”
Those were the last words Blue was
able to utter; but before plunging into oblivion, he now knew with absolute
certainty, that this nightmare he was presently living, was not a dream at all.
And that it wasn’t his life, but
the life of another…
CHAPTER 3
“Would you say he’s worse than
ever?”
Doctor Fawn was seated in the
conference room with Colonel White and Captain Grey, and the three of them were
watching the large screen, which was broadcasting the recording of what had
happened in sickbay, the evening before. There was no visible expression on the
Spectrum commander’s face, but neither Fawn nor Grey were fooled by his apparent
calm: they knew that deep inside,
White was dismayed by what he was seeing, and that he probably felt dreadful.
Maybe even a little guilty.
“Don’t you mean ‘Has he become a better
performer’, Charles?” Fawn asked without humour. He turned off the transmission and the screen turned black,
before displaying the Spectrum logo.
He ignored the frown on the colonel’s face as he turned to him. “You always thought he was acting a
part, somehow. While I –”
“… While you were persuaded that
there was something seriously wrong with him,” White cut in suddenly.
He shook his head. “Well, considering what happened
recently, Doctor, I would have to agree with you that there might indeed be
something seriously wrong with him.”
“Finally!” Fawn said, rolling his
eyes.
“Well, as far as I’m concerned,”
Captain Grey said sombrely, “I am not totally convinced he’s not still
play-acting, at the moment.”
“Wait a minute, Grey…
What happened last evening was far worse than before.
He’s never been that violent with anyone before.”
“No?” Grey replied doubtfully with
a raised brow. “That’s funny, I seem to recall a few instances…”
“Well, yes, he was violent,” Fawn
admitted, somewhat reluctantly. “He wouldn’t be Blue if he wasn’t, but never
without reason.”
“His reasons probably are valid
enough for him,” White groused. He sighed deeply.
“I thought he was finally over it. That he would make a full recovery. He had
accepted Black amongst us, as a colleague, a partner and even a friend.”
“Strangely enough,” Grey commented. “But I agree that
that
alone should have been proof
enough that he was… getting better.”
“Then there was his recent
engagement... that I had
wholeheartedly agreed to,” White continued. “It had been a long time since he
had been that happy.”
“Since Symphony’s death, I would
say,” Fawn remarked.
“And now…” He gestured
towards the huge Spectrum logo on the screen. “One thing happens, and see what
it did to him. He’s worse than
ever. I blame myself for it.”
“You did your best with him,
Edward,” Grey remarked.
“You are certainly not to blame.”
“No? Well, I say I am. I should have seen it coming. With everything that happened
to him….”
“Then I am to blame too,” White
replied dryly. “I do feel
responsible. If I had not allowed
him to push himself that way… all this might not have happened to him.”
“Sir, the job needed to be done,”
Grey reminded him.
“And Captain Blue, despite it all, was our best asset – and was willing
to take whatever risk was necessary…
We all have to.”
“To the point of pushing him to
insanity?” White replied.
He shook his head in negation.
“No, Captain Grey. We went
too far this time, in accepting this situation, in the name of duty. And Blue might be paying too high a
price because of that.”
Fawn grunted.
“But I’m not giving up on him yet.”
“Neither am I, Doctor.
We have to find a way to get him to snap out of this obsession of his.”
“That might not be that easy to
do,” Grey remarked. “If he’s as sick as you say he is, Doctor –”
There was a beep, and the door
behind them slid open and Captain Black walked purposefully in. The three men turned to welcome him.
There was an ugly bluish bruise on his left cheek, going up to his eye and
surrounding it; Grey grimaced.
“It looks like your partner did a
good job on you, Captain Black,” he commented.
“He did at that,” Black answered,
coming to sit with them at the table, and removing his cap.
He rubbed his sore cheek, and ran a finger round his uniform collar.
“He’s got quite a grip too… and he’s stronger than I remember. I’m glad that he’s on our side.”
“For now, Captain Blue is on
nobody’s side, except his own,” Fawn remarked.
Black slowly nodded his assent.
“We saw in what state he was last
evening,” White said. “But how is he, at this moment?”
Fawn shook his head. “He’s been
sleeping since his outburst. Heavily sedated, at first. I cut the sedation this morning. Captain Indigo has ordered his door to
be guarded at all time.”
“And where’s Dianne?” White asked.
“She was with him when I left
earlier. She refused to leave his side and I had to order her to take some rest,
before she made herself ill.
She did leave, but only to return after barely two hours.”
“She’s worried about him,” Grey
commented.
“Of course, she is,” Black
concurred. “They’re very close to each other. When I went to Koala Base
yesterday to inform her of the situation and to bring her back here with me, she
made no secret of the fact that she blames all of us for what happened to her
fiancé.” He pointed to White.
“And you, more specifically, Charles.
I believe you’re in for an earful of reproach soon.”
“And she would not be entirely wrong,”
murmured White pensively, his hands resting on the table, with his fingers
intertwined. “I should have put him
off duty much sooner.”
“He wouldn’t hear of it, Colonel,”
Black continued. “You know that. And I… well, I should have kept a better eye on him, I guess.
Maybe he would not have ended this way.”
“She blamed you too, I take it?” Grey asked.
“Oh, yes…” Black nodded his head.
“I told you she’s blaming all of us.”
“Well, the important thing is,
she’s here,” Grey reasoned. “Blue might need her around him, given the circumstances.”
“I thought her presence would do
him some good,” White agreed with a nod. “That maybe seeing her could have
helped him snap out of this state of his. Now, in view of what happened last
evening… I wonder if it was a safe
move to make. She could have been
hurt in all that commotion.”
“No,” Grey replied.
“Blue would never have allowed any harm to come to her.”
“I agree,” Black added.
“Even if totally insane, I doubt that Blue would hurt her.”
“He did hurt Giadello… and you…”
“That’s different, Colonel.”
Black stroked his cheek again, and grimaced slightly, feeling the tenderness.
“He might be confused right now, but that young lady is still something special
to our Blue… even if he denies it at the moment.”
“Nevertheless,” White groused, “I
wouldn’t want her to come to any harm. You know I wouldn’t hear the end of it…”
There was a new beep at the door,
which slid open; Dianne was standing outside, with Captain Ochre, and both of
them entered. When he saw the young woman walking his way, with long strides,
and a determined and severe expression on her face, Colonel White rose to his
feet and came to her, with the intention of comforting her, and reassuring her
that everything possible was being done to help her fiancé get through this
difficult time. He didn’t even have
the time to speak; her hand came to his face with a solid slap that knocked him
sideways.
Everyone in the room stared in
shock, absolutely astounded at the scene.
Colonel White was more surprised
than really hurt; and certainly, angry at what she had dared to do, especially
in front of men from his senior staff. Rubbing his cheek, he turned to her, eyes
glaring, with every intention of giving her the rebuke she so rightly deserved.
But upon seeing her face, distorted in cold anger, and the unshed tears he knew
she had not allowed to fall, and would probably never show in public – least of
all in front of him – he stopped himself.
Maybe he deserved that slap after
all…
But he wasn’t about to tell her
that.
“You
are
really
fortunate that you are family now,” he told her with barely contained anger. “Or I would have your commission on my
desk before the day’s much older!”
“Don’t let that stop you, Colonel,”
she replied insolently, making everyone who was witness open their eyes even
wider with surprise.
“I might not be an Angel pilot anymore – thanks to you – but I’m still
working for Spectrum. Or do you want my resignation from Koala Base as well? You
know, good instructors for pilots are difficult to come by…”
White scowled.
“They are difficult to come by indeed,” he answered dully.
“Especially when they’re as good as you…”
He stopped rubbing his sore cheek.
He could feel it burning like fire; he was sure it had turned a nice shade of
red.
Her impetuous character be damned…
“Your mother would kill me if I
were to sack you. You’re taking the fact that I’m your stepfather too much for
granted, young lady.”
“Even if you were not, I would not
have acted differently,” she replied icily. She pointed an accusatory finger at him.
“How could you let Adam’s condition deteriorate to this point? This is your
fault!”
“I’m sorry you feel I’m responsible
for his present state, Dianne –”
“Yes, you are! You needed your best
man so much, to continue to do his job, to fight the Mysterons, that you
overlook his safety, his well-being… his mental health!” Dianne turned around,
facing the other men in the room accusingly. Ochre was carefully keeping a few
steps away from her, as if, being the closest to her, not counting the colonel,
he was dreading he would receive the next slap. “You’re all to blame, as far as
I’m concerned. You knew he had problems, but you kept pushing him, or ignored
the blatant facts. You led him to this point! And you say you are his friends!”
They exchanged embarrassed glances.
“We already accept that we are not
blameless, Dianne,” Fawn told her, speaking as soothingly as he could, leaning
against the table to look at her. “But believe us… with what happened to him
these last few weeks, we couldn’t foresee how bad it would turn out. I’m ashamed
to admit it but – he fooled us all.”
“Yes, that he did,” Ochre
continued. “We all thought at first
it was simply surges of bad temper – you know, like he used to have, in the
past, before… he got to know you better?
Of course, it looked like it was… a bit worse than that, but we let it
slide.”
“Because he was still doing his job
well,” Dianne said dryly, glaring at her stepfather.
The latter sighed.
“Dianne, you know how he is. He
wouldn’t obey any order to slow down, and he wouldn’t agree to see a doctor.
He still wanted to do his job and – I suppose that he played his part so
well, that we didn’t fully realise how bad he really was. Until it was too late for us to react
properly, that is.”
“I think all of us, we were giving
him the benefit of the doubt, hoping that he would get through eventually,”
Black said in turn. “And you were there, we hoped your presence… the closeness
that grew between the two of you would be helpful to him.”
“Despite what you imply, we are his
friends,” Grey continued.
“Dianne, we won’t let him down,
believe us,” Black finished. “We are prepared to help him as best we can. And
even beyond that. We’ll do the
impossible for him.”
Dianne kept silent; she looked at
each of them in turn, recognising the encouragement and support in their whole
disposition. She then faced White,
who was still standing before her. He, too, nodded quietly; the hard expression on his face
changed, into a benevolent one; he opened his arms to her.
“You are right. I should have
discharged him sooner than that. I’m sorry if I let him down.”
She looked down. “Damn…” she
murmured. She let herself be enfolded by the strong arms of the man who had been
her commander, and who had become her stepfather, since his marriage with her
mother. “Damn them all,” she whispered, pressing her face against his chest and
hugging him, trying desperately not to cry. “Just give me back my interceptor
and I will blow them from here to Mars…”
“I understand how you’re feeling,”
White concurred, holding her comfortingly. He knew exactly to whom she was
referring.
The Network. Spectrum had
discovered the existence of this undercover organisation quite recently.
They were dedicated to supporting and helping the Mysterons in the War of Nerves
against Earth, in the hope of benefiting from the aliens’ appreciation and
gratitude once they had won the war and established ‘a new order’. These people
didn’t seem to have a single idea of the amplitude of the Mysterons’ threat… or
they didn’t seem to really care.
They were the worst kind of scavengers, feeding on their own people, out of
thirst for personal gain and power.
And they were in large part
responsible for Captain Blue’s condition.
“We will find them, Dianne,” White said,
gently raising her chin. “We will find these turncoats and make them pay for
what they did to Adam.”
She nodded her thanks and left his
arms, looking down again, composing herself.
“In the meantime,” Fawn suggested,
“we have to find a more practical way to help him out.
We certainly don’t want for him to stay in the state he’s presently in.”
Dianne opened her eyes wide in
horror at the thought; Black frowned in doubt.
“This is Blue we’re talking about,”
he commented. “If I know him, he
will bounce back.”
“Well, we thought he had healed
nicely after what the Network had done to him,” Grey replied.
“And obviously, we were wrong.”
“Up until recently, he still had moments of
lucidity,” Fawn said. “That’s
probably what fooled us. These
moments – however prolonged they might be – were only temporary, and he would
return to this sad condition, which worsened each time.”
“His obsession has grown,”
commented Ochre. “At the same rate as his interest in the Anderson Theory, and
the breakthrough made in that field by Doctor Kurnitz’s studies.”
“If he was interested in Kurnitz’s
project and discoveries,” Black remarked with a puzzled frown, “why would he
have destroyed his lab, then?”
Ochre shrugged. “I don’t think he
did it on purpose. I think he rather tried to make the Kurnitz machine work –
and as the process developed by Kurnitz is still pretty unstable…”
“It exploded,” White concluded,
musingly. “Does Giadello confirm that’s exactly what happened?”
“Captain Magenta and I interrogated
him earlier this morning when he woke up. Doctor Giadello explained that Captain
Blue came to him yesterday, with a signed authorisation that he was to be
admitted to the lab where Kurnitz’s experiments were conducted.”
“Signed authorisation?” White said,
frowning. “By whom?”
“By you, sir.”
White scowled “I never signed any
authorisation.”
“Of course not,” Grey reasoned.
“It was as phoney as that other authorisation he waved at the hangar technician,
when he requisitioned that SPJ to leave Cloudbase in the first place…”
Black chuckled, almost despite
himself. “One thing for sure, our
Blue has not lost any of his resourcefulness…”
“That’s not funny, Captain,” White
warned with a frown.
“I never meant for it to be,
Colonel.”
Somewhat irate to have learned that
Blue had made use of his name without any scruples, Colonel White gestured to
Ochre to continue his report.
“Captain Blue asked for Doctor
Giadello to see the stones Doctor Kurnitz was working with,” Ochre continued.
“So far, Doctor Giadello didn’t see any reason to mistrust Captain Blue, so he
removed the stones from the safe where they were kept. Then Captain Blue
demanded a demonstration of the console – without the stones, of course. That’s… when it went wrong.”
“Meaning?” White asked with a
raised brow.
“When Blue started moving around
the Kurnitz console and touching the controls, Giadello then realised that he
had a personal agenda. He tried to stop him then, and power down the console.
Blue then knocked him down, to get him out of the way.
That’s the last Giadello recalls of what happened.”
“What can you tell us of the rest?” White
asked.
Ochre sighed.
“From what Captain Magenta and I could figure, we must have arrived not that
long after that. Just in time to feel the tremor of the
explosion. We didn’t want to risk taking the lift, so we took the stairs to the
level where the console is stored.
The door of the lab was shut and the magnetic lock was engaged from inside. We
couldn’t open it, so I asked Lieutenant Obsidian to come down as soon as
possible with the emergency codes to get it open. While waiting for him, we kept
banging on the door, ordering Blue to open it. He eventually did – after quite a few minutes. The rest… you know, sir. Captain Magenta
stayed at the scene, to gather clues while I… returned to base, with Captain
Blue as a captive.”
White nodded slowly, at first
silent, musing upon the revelation. “Thank you, Captain Ochre,” he said in a low
voice. He turned around to return to the table, and he motioned to Dianne and
Ochre to take seats. “Obviously,” he added, as he sat down heavily on his chair,
“this… obsession of his has ultimately brought Captain Blue to desperate
measures. I wonder what exactly he wanted to accomplish with the Kurnitz
console.”
“I think this is quite obvious, sir,” Black commented.
“He wanted to be with Symphony.
Any
Symphony in the universe. That’s
how deep his obsession was.”
“He has been displaying this
unhealthy obsession for some time,” Fawn observed. “But with the events of last year – your
getting free of the Mysterons’ influence, Captain Black, and subsequently
becoming his partner, and your… romantic involvement with him, Dianne – had made
a positive impact on him. He was
starting to… ‘live’ again.”
“It wasn’t that easy winning his
trust, Doctor,” Black remarked sourly. “He was watching my every step at the
start. I swear, I was even afraid to sneeze too loudly when around him, in fear
that he would jump in surprise and shoot me without thinking.”
“I think you’re exaggerating,” Grey
sniggered.
“Am I? You know Blue as well as I do, Captain.”
Grey nodded his head.
“Probably even better,” he acknowledged.
“If not for the Network, who
awakened this obsession again – he would probably be fine today,” Dianne
groused.
White sighed, and rubbed his
forehead. “Now I’m quite sure that it was not exactly what the Network intended
for him, but this is nevertheless causing us some headaches…”
“Not to mention that it’s screwing
up Captain Blue’s life…” Ochre added. “He’s a threat to others all right – but
to himself as well.”
“Unfortunately, that’s all too
true,” Fawn conceded.
“The incident of yesterday could
have had serious consequences,” White continued. “Someone could have been seriously hurt
– or even killed. And that someone could have been Blue himself.”
“And if we are to believe the way
he acted last evening – he’s far from being well right now.”
Fawn shook his head, and stared directly at White.
“He has to be relieved of duty.”
“Of course,” murmured White,
pensively.
“Perhaps discharged indefinitely,”
Fawn insisted. “We don’t exactly know the extent of the treatment he received
from the Network. He could have sustained permanent damage, and his condition
might become even worse than it is right now.”
“You certainly know how to announce
bad news, Doctor,” Dianne commented, glaring at him. “If you are saying that Adam might never
recover from this –”
“I’m not saying that, Dianne.
I know how strong Adam is, but I also know that this strength is exactly what we
will have to fight against, if we are to help him recover. I think that while
he’s in such a state, he might not want to cooperate. It could be a very long
process, and a very gruelling one.
I just want to point this out.”
“You are giving up on him,” Dianne
accused with a frown.
“I am not!” Fawn scoffed
defensively. “I’ve said it already:
I will not give up on him.”
“Well, I won’t either,” she
answered decidedly, getting to her feet. “And if you think that this little ‘pep talk’ of yours is
going to discourage me from standing by his side, no matter how long his
recovery takes, you are wrong.”
“Dianne,” White said in a soothing
voice, “he barely recognised you when you went to him. He doesn’t remember the two of you being
engaged. All of his thoughts, all of his memories… are of Symphony.”
“His long dead love,” Black
murmured.
“It will be hard for you,” Grey
pointed out.
“It doesn’t matter,” Dianne replied
insistently. “Since when have you know me to back out when facing difficulties?
Adam needs me now, more than he ever needed anyone in his life.
And I don’t intend to abandon him.” She stood tall.
“Now if you’ll excuse me, gentlemen, I don’t think my presence is necessary for
this pointless assembly of yours.”
She didn’t even wait to be
dismissed and turned around, to walk decidedly towards the door, under the five
men’s watchful eyes.
“This is not pointless,” Fawn
defended himself. “We need to know what we have to do exactly, if we are to help
Captain Blue.”
“Then make your plans, Doctor.
I believe I am needed much more elsewhere.”
“And where do you think you’re
going exactly?” a scowling Colonel White called to her as she reached the door.
She pressed the opening button and
the door slid open in front of her. She turned to face White. “To sickbay,
my dear stepfather, to give the support he needs to the man I love. If you are looking for me, you will find
me there.”
“Dianne…” White frowned deeply, seeing the
determination on her face. He knew
her all too well; he couldn’t very well see how he would be able to convince her
that it would be pointless for her to go – short of ordering her to stay put, or
consigning her forcibly to guarded quarters. If he was to resort to either of
these actions, that could only result in her loathing him for the rest of his
life. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to live with that.
Considering that his wife would
probably side with her daughter, anyway…
He sighed deeply. “Do be careful,
please.”
She nodded her consent, and then
turned on her heels, still watched by the five men she was leaving behind; the
door slid closed behind her.
“She’s quite a strong-minded lady,”
Ochre commented quietly, with a knowing smirk. “Blue doesn’t know what a lucky
devil he is.”
“She’s a handy one to have on your
side…” Black approved.
“But I wouldn’t want to cross her, that’s for certain.”
“Don’t I know it, Captain,” White
answered quietly, pushing himself back on his seat. “Believe me… I’ve got a similar model at
home.”
CHAPTER 4
The former Rhapsody Angel made her
way back to sickbay, almost absently, as her mind was mulling over the changes
in her life, during the past year. The marriage of her mother to her commander
had been the first indication that things would never be the same for her ever
again; then, after that, a series of events came in quick succession, and her
life took a radical change.
When she had been forced to resign
from her duties as a Spectrum Angel, a big part of herself had been left on
Cloudbase. At the time, she had tried to reach for the sombre Captain Blue –
still grieving, even after so many months, for the loss of his great love, for
which he felt so responsible. She had been attracted to him for some time, and
she had hoped that her departure from the base might have been the catalyst that
would force him to reach back to her. Although still keeping a friendly façade,
Blue remained distant from her, and had not responded at the time, much to her
disappointment. She had left for Koala Base, for her new work as chief
pilot-instructor, thinking about all the lost and missed opportunities she was
leaving behind.
Since her arrival at Koala Base,
Dianne Simms had thrown herself into her new duties, finding little time for
herself in this new community that welcomed her into its midst. Major Stone was
a very kind commander, and he felt somewhat honoured that a former Angel was now
working under his orders on his training base. The other officers were also very
amiable, and some of them, she realised, showed some amorous interest in her;
the same with the cadets who, upon seeing her for the first time, became quite
smitten by her. They would soon realise that the young woman was one of the most
demanding and efficient training officers they would probably ever have… But
even that fact didn’t seem to cool off their flattering attention. Dianne didn’t
care that much. She didn’t feel like mixing with the crowd – not right now,
anyway. Not even in social events.
She had left too much behind her – her duty as an Angel pilot, her friends, her
colleagues, her entire life on Cloudbase – nothing for now seemed able to
replace that. She felt so desperately alone.
However, this feeling of loneliness
wasn’t to last, and Adam – quickly enough, and quite unexpectedly – came to
Koala, for an official visit. It was less than a month since she had left
Cloudbase, and she was delighted to see him. What was unanticipated – and a
welcome surprise – was that he also seemed very pleased to meet with her again.
He had always been fond of her, she knew that of course; each of them had been
for the other the shoulder they could rely on, when both had lost the single
person who counted the most in their respective lives. But they never became
romantically involved.
Not until that moment, anyway.
Quite in contrast to the behaviour
he displayed the last time they had seen each other, this time, Captain Blue was
more attentive to her, warmer and more caring. His visit demanding that he stayed a few
days in Koala Base, he spent most of his free time with her, enquiring about her
new life and duties, and talking with her of things of the past – mostly good
things, and shared memories, as if neither of them wanted any bad thoughts to
come spoil these quiet and happy moments between friends.
Dianne was aware that this first
night in Adam’s arms probably didn’t have the same meaning for him that it did
for her; she didn’t care. He had been as lonely as herself, perhaps even
lonelier, as the grief and guilt he felt for Symphony’s death had never truly
left him during the past three years.
As a tribute to her loss, he was still wearing that irritating beard of
his, which hid half of his handsome face, and he had steadfastly refused or
ignored any orders from Colonel White to get rid of it. That he was now ready to
open up to someone, to share tender moments with a woman – and not only for the
simple purpose of relieving some physical needs – and that she would be that woman, was enough to tell Dianne
that there was still hope for Captain Blue to finally be on the road to
recovery.
And as for herself, she was content
to simply be with him. As for the rest… it would only be a matter of time.
They met often in the following
weeks and months, Captain Blue coming over for more official business – she
started to believe he was volunteering for the sole purpose of meeting with her
– and the bond between them
deepened at each encounter. They met outside of work too, and even planned for
their respective furloughs to overlap. Gradually, Dianne noticed changes in him
– and she wasn’t the only one to notice it. He became more relaxed than he had
ever been in these last few years; his relationship with his new partner,
Captain Black, recently released from Mysteron control, at first tense and
tainted with mistrust, had improved considerably, and his obsession with
capturing Mysteron agent Captain Scarlet and avenging the death of Symphony was
not as important anymore. The sombre side of his persona started to fade, and
Blue became a more agreeable person to know and to work with. He still wore his
beard, though, which annoyed Colonel White no end; and there were still some
moments when his brooding mood would come back, and he would become decidedly
unsociable, refusing to mix with people – especially in friendly gatherings. In
those times, it was best to leave him alone with his thoughts, and eventually,
he would come around.
In time, Dianne and Adam became
more than friends and lovers – much more indeed, as eventually, Adam proposed.
It was totally unexpected by Dianne, and she was absolutely elated.
She had accepted, of course – she barely took a moment to think about it,
although she had been wondering how her family – especially Colonel White, who
was now her stepfather – would take the news. Contrary to what she imagined, he
took it very well; as a matter of fact, he didn’t bother to hide any sign of
pride he might have when he learned about it. He was the first to congratulate
Captain Blue, pumping his hand so vigorously that the younger man, afterwards,
confided jokingly to his fiancée that he would never get any feeling back in it
ever again. Of course, White was still a little put out that his best officer –
soon to become his son-in-law – would still not shave that insufferable beard of
his; but it was just a minor setback: the important thing was that he approved
wholeheartedly of the engagement. The news spread around on Cloudbase and in
Koala Base in the following weeks, and plans were drawn up for the future.
But then, the Network arrived on
the scene. They kidnapped Captain Blue while he was on furlough with Dianne in
New York, and kept him prisoner for three whole days, during which they
tried to subvert his mind to their bidding, using an atrocious device they
called the ‘Dream Spinner’. Blue
resisted, during those three days, with the strength of will that characterised
him so much. Finally, as they had been alerted by a worried-sick Dianne Simms,
Spectrum found out where he had been taken, and stormed the place, to free their
man. Adam had been found alive, thankfully – but the dreadful Dream Spinner had
already had its malevolent effect on him, and he was so very weak, shaken and
confused that it took him a long time to recuperate.
And just when everyone thought he
had finally shaken off the effects of the conditioning the Network had tried to
impose on his mind, and Captain Blue seemed to be his good, recent self again,
and resuming his life, signs started to show that something was amiss.
And the first one to notice them was Dianne herself.
He started by showing a rather odd
interest in what was referred to as the ‘Anderson Theory’, which studied the
possible existence of parallel worlds, quite similar to their own, but ever so
slightly different. Spectrum knew very well that the Anderson Theory had
verified itself – although it wasn’t public knowledge so far – because of the
strange encounter they had had a year before with a Captain Scarlet and a
Captain Ochre from one of those parallel worlds, who became stuck in this world
following a rather odd accident involving the Kurnitz console and red stones of
Martian origin. Doctors Kurnitz and Doctor Giadello had helped these strange
visitors to return home, by opening between both worlds a vortex quite similar
to the one they had crossed to begin with. The operation proved a success, and
the vortex closed – apparently forever. Still, this rather extraordinary event
in which they had been involved had pushed the two scientists to pursue study in
that field – exploring the possibility of making further contact with these
other worlds, or at least to study them from a distance – and contemplating the
very interesting idea, if necessity should arise, even to cross the barrier
between worlds.
Blue found all of this fascinating and kept himself informed of any new
discovery made in that field. At first, nobody really thought twice about this
new ‘hobby’ of his – Blue had always been insatiably curious about all things,
so it wasn’t such a surprise that he would want to know more about the Anderson
Theory. But soon, they came to the realisation that Blue’s only fascination for
it was the thought that in these worlds, other Symphonys could exist… and be
perfectly alive and healthy. He knew that it was the case in at least
one
of these worlds… The one from which those visitors of a year ago had come.
He was talking about Symphony – his
Symphony, his Karen – far more than he used to, after having seemed to have
nearly forgotten about her in the past few months. Now he would mention her as if she was
still alive, using the present tense when he did. At first, when he realised it,
he would correct himself, and chide himself for the misuse; it became more
frequent, and he would grow annoyed, frustrated, and even irritated, as if he
was desperate to get rid of a very annoying habit that was hard to kill. But it didn’t die... On the contrary, it
got worse; and Blue’s temper grew more irascible each passing day. That’s when he started to display
frequent, violent mood swings.
Dianne had heard that the Dream
Spinner treatment would use a traumatic event, weaving false memories around it
to apply the conditions needed to break the mind of the subject and convert him.
If that was so, it was considered by Doctor Fawn that Symphony’s death was
probably the traumatic event that the Network tried to use against Adam. Even if
he had resisted the treatment, it was quite possible that it left some kind of
after-effects that might have altered his mind – subtly enough, for them not to
be visible at first.
But as time passed, these after-effects would become more apparent.
Captain Black, Blue’s ever-patient
partner for the past year, who had won his friendship and trust the hard way,
was the first to suffer the consequences of these changes; he became the venting
focus of Blue’s growing anger and frustration – and again, of his mistrust.
Blue’s obsession with his long-lost love showed itself more and more, to the
point of exasperating colleagues and friends – and most of all, his commander
and his fiancée. At times, it would become intolerable, and nobody quite knew
how to handle Blue’s moods anymore. It lasted until it nearly reached the
breaking point – and the engagement nearly was called off – about a week ago.
Suddenly, Blue’s behaviour changed again, drastically – as if he had suddenly
been cured overnight of whatever he was suffering from. He became sociable
again. And people wondered if, at last, he had beaten his obsession once and for
all when he appeared one morning at a staff meeting – freshly shaved. White had
been the most surprised – and that surprise actually overshadowed his
satisfaction that Captain Blue,
finally,
had deigned to acknowledge his order. Dianne had been stunned too; she had
mentioned the beard to Adam often, wondering when he would get rid of it – and
he had simply chuckled, saying that it had been a part of him for so long, he
would find it very difficult to depart from it.
And suddenly, it was gone. Blue
didn’t offer any other explanation than a shrug and a mutter stating that ‘it
was time’. Somehow that didn’t
inspire any comfort in Dianne. There was something going on, she could feel it.
And then these new events happened;
and quite frankly, she didn’t quite know what to make of them.
Had Adam finally lost it? Dianne
hoped not. And even if it was the case, she was a woman of her word. She would
stay by his side and help him, no matter what the future may throw at them. She
would be there for him.
She was now in Sickbay, and came
out of her fugue as she approached the room where Adam was being kept; there was
still a guard, leaning against the wall next to the door, and when he saw her
coming, he straightened up and stood to attention. She smiled at him.
“At ease, Corporal…?”
“Samuels, ma’am,” he presented
himself.
“How is Captain Blue doing,
Samuels?”
“So far so good. He woke about a
half hour ago. Just in time to get
his breakfast.”
Dianne kept herself from scowling.
You could always count on Adam to have stinking timing; he probably woke up a
few minutes after she had left him.
“I went in with the nurse, just in
case he… tried anything?”
Samuels offered a bashful smile.
“But he looked calm and quiet. He didn’t make a single threatening move.
He was preparing to eat when we left.”
“Good. He has to keep his strength up.” Dianne gestured at the door. “Can you let me in?”
Samuels hesitated.
“I’m not sure if it’s a good idea, ma’am… I’ve got orders.”
“He won’t hurt me, Samuels.
You said yourself he was calm now.”
“Well, he was a few minutes ago,
yes…”
“Then we can check that out,”
Dianne suggested. She pointed to
the small monitor set next to the door, fitted into the wall. The screen was
presently dark. “Let’s turn that on and have a look? If he’s still calm, I can go in, and you
will stay by the door, in case I need your help – not that I expect I would.”
“I still don’t know, ma’am…”
“Well, let’s start by checking
first…” She stood in front of the screen and turned it on; it relayed the
picture from the camera inside of Adam’s room, set just over the door, and
pointing in the direction of the bed; it would show whatever was going on
inside. The screen flicked for a
second or two, before the image came into focus.
And suddenly, Dianne’s heart missed
a beat and she paled horribly.
Adam’s body was half slumped on the
floor, the upper part of his body resting against the side of the bed; he was
lying quite still, and his head was hanging low onto his chest; there were large
reddish stains, covering both his wrists, and his right fist was closed on a
sharp object.
“Oh, dear God…”
She turned to Samuels, who, standing next to her, was staring at the screen with
unbelieving eyes. “Open this door right away!”
“But –”
“Don’t you see he needs help,
dammit? OPEN THIS DOOR!”
Under the vehemence of her order,
Samuels didn’t hesitate anymore; he certainly didn’t want to be responsible for
his charge dying on him. He punched in the security code for the lock, which
hummed before the door started sliding open. Both he and Dianne entered the
room.
The young woman was already rushing to her motionless fiancé, her heart pounding
wildly, all sorts of dreadful thoughts coming to her mind all at once. How could
Adam do a thing like this – was he so desperate that he could see no way out but
to kill himself? It was too horrible to even
think
she had arrived too late to save him.
“Call for a medic!” she urged
Samuels. “Adam, you fool…”
When Dianne leaned over Adam,
fearing the worst, she gently reached to touch his chest, hoping that they were
not too late.
She was amazed to feel the steady
beating of his heart.
Blue opened an eye at that moment
and stared at her, and that caused her to freeze.
Swift as lightning, he grabbed her
and pulled her against him, making her fall onto his lap; she was so totally
taken by surprise that she merely gasped, and didn’t react when he imprisoned
her, twisting her right arm behind her back with his left hand so roughly that
it actually hurt her, while his right arm snaked around her neck to hold her in
a strong lock. She felt something cold, possibly sharp, pressing under her
throat, and instinctively, she lifted her chin to avoid being cut.
Samuels, upon witnessing Blue’s
stealthy attack, tried to reach for him, but it was already too late; when he
saw the cold grey metal so closely held against Dianne’s throat, he stopped in
his tracks, his hand resting on his gun, not daring to make another move.
“That’s right, soldier,” Blue told
him in an even voice, leaning against Dianne to secure his hold on her, his head
resting against hers, and his lips next to her ear. “If you don’t want anything
bad to happen to the lady, you will stay quiet and do whatever I tell you.”
“Adam!” Dianne gasped, torn between
concern for him and fear for herself. “Have you gone crazy? What do you think
you’re doing?”
“What I am forced to do, I’m sorry
to say.” Blue addressed Samuels anew: “I won’t do anything to her,” he said,
still very calmly. “But I want to
see Colonel White.”
“What?” Dianne whispered.
“Tell him to come to me,” Blue
demanded again. He pressed his
weapon closer to her throat and she winced in anticipated dread. “Or else…”
“He won’t do that, Adam,” she said
urgently.
“On the contrary, I think he will,” Blue replied coolly.
He glared up at the guard, still standing in front of him, rigid as a
statue. “Do as I say,” he said sternly. “Go and get Colonel White for me.
Convince him to come into this room in thirty minutes, or I might get desperate.
And you
don’t
want to know what I’ll do if
I get desperate.”
“You wouldn’t dare!” Dianne told
him.
He ignored her intervention. “Is
that clear, soldier?” he asked Samuels forcefully.
“It is clear, sir.”
“Then get the hell out of here –
and close that door behind you.”
Not taking his eyes off them,
Samuels backed away slowly, and finally left the room, closing the door as he
was instructed. Blue followed him with his cold eyes, not releasing his hold on
Dianne. There was a buzzing sound as the lock was engaged.
“We’re getting up,” Blue told his
hostage. “Slowly.”
Dianne had no other choice but to
follow his lead, as he was keeping his weapon still very close under her chin as
they moved up. Once they found themselves on their feet, Blue pushed the young
woman down onto the bed, more roughly than he intended to; she landed on top of
it with a huff and turned angry, concerned eyes in his direction. But he had now
turned his attention to something else, as he grabbed the mug filled with warm
coffee from his bed table, next to his half-eaten meal, and threw it violently
against the wall over the door. The gesture startled Dianne, as for a split
second she thought he was having a sudden outburst of rage; she understood
almost immediately that it wasn’t the case as her eyes followed the mug’s
trajectory.
He had perfect aim; the mug crashed
on the wall, spilling the hot beverage all over the camera beneath, which
sizzled and started to smoke. A red light on top of it extinguished, indicating
that it was now out of commission.
Captain Blue blew a deep sigh and,
satisfied with himself, turned to a surprised-looking and dishevelled Dianne,
who was glaring at him with barely contained anger.
“I can’t believe you pulled a knife
on me!” she spat at him. “Have you lost your mind?! Where did you find that
knife?”
“What knife?” Grinning, he opened
his left hand and showed her the object now resting in his palm; it was a simple
spoon – the handle had been the ‘blade’ he had threatened her with. He threw it
onto the table.
“Do
you
really
think sickbay personnel so
careless as to actually provide a dangerous patient with a knife? Doctor Fawn
would have their hide.”
“But… your wrists?” she enquired,
frowning. “You didn’t try to commit
suicide?”
“Hardly.” He picked up a napkin
from the table, revealing two empty plastic packets. “Ketchup,” he explained, then used the
napkin to wipe his soiled wrists.
“The oldest trick in the book.”
“And yet, still very effective,”
Dianne commented, realising that she had been thoroughly had. “I should have
seen it coming.” She pushed herself into a sitting position, Blue keeping a
close, watchful eye on her. She rearranged her hair, and smoothed her clothes,
carefully demonstrating a calmness that contrasted with her rather bleak
situation. “All right, now what are
you planning to do?”
“If it’ll reassure you, I will not
harm you, Rhapsody.”
“I didn’t expect you would.”
She frowned again. “And stop calling me Rhapsody.”
“Sorry. Old habits die hard.” He tilted his head. “You’re not an Angel
pilot anymore. You’re… chief pilot
instructor at Koala Base.”
“It’s been over a year.
Nice to see you can actually remember.
Maybe there is hope that you’ll recover yet.”
“Actually…I didn’t remember it.
I was told.”
“By whom?”
Blue shook his head.
“If I tell you that, you will still say I’m crazy.”
“I don’t need that to say you’re
crazy,” she replied bluntly. “Adam, what’s got into you?
What do you think you will accomplish by taking me hostage? You’re still
locked in here. You can’t hope to escape!”
“I don’t plan to escape. Like I
said… I just want to talk to Colonel White,” he said, simply enough.
“The colonel will have you jailed –
if not worse – and throw away the key! What makes you think he won’t send
someone here, gun blazing, to take you out, instead of maybe risking his own
life?”
“Do you really think I pose a
threat to him?” Blue enquired.
“What I think is not relevant. If
he thinks you’re dangerous –”
“And do you really think
he
would go to that extreme? You might get hurt in the process.”
“The fact that I am his
stepdaughter will not –”
“His
stepdaughter? Blue interrupted
suddenly, raising a curious brow.
“Since when?”
“Since he married my mother… Adam,
what is it with you?
How can you not remember that?”
Dianne looked at him with deep concern and sorrow – and curiosity as
well. She couldn’t help noticing
how different he looked and sounded from the night before. He was composed, very
relaxed, and sure of himself, despite the situation – well, at least he seemed
like it. But he also appeared to
still suffer from that strange amnesia of his – as if he couldn’t remember some
details of his life, or of the lives of the people surrounding him. He was presently looking at her with
attention, obviously musing over what she had revealed to him; he nodded slowly,
and sat down on the only chair available in the room.
“Well, if you are family, then I
suppose it’s a good reason for him to answer my ultimatum,” he remarked.
“And if he doesn’t?” Dianne asked
insistently. “Will you carry out your threat? Will you kill me?”
“Come on, Dianne! Whatever happens,
you know I wouldn’t hurt you. I was only bluffing.”
“Nobody is sure with you anymore, Adam.
Although I kind of worked out you
were bluffing.
But it’s good to hear you say it. With the weird way you’ve been acting
lately…”
Blue nodded again. “I had a feeling
that there was something like that,” he commented, looking thoughtfully at the
tip of his toes.
They heard the beep at the door,
signifying that the lock had been opened and they turned as the door slid open.
Boy, that was fast,
Blue reflected inwardly, and
he stood up swiftly as Colonel White entered and walked purposefully towards
him; he fought the urge to stand to attention when the older man stood in front
of him, eyes glaring. Behind him followed Captain Indigo who came to stand next
to Blue, pointing his gun at him.
“Captain Blue, have you completely
lost what’s left of your mind?” the Spectrum commander snapped in an irate tone.
“What are you trying to do with a stunt like this, get yourself in front of a
firing squad?”
Dianne rolled her eyes. “Oh
please…”
“Stay out of this,” White ordered
her. “I am still your commander.” He turned back to Blue.
“Hand me your weapon, Captain, before someone really gets hurt.”
“Weapon, sir?”
“The blade you were threatening my
stepdaughter with! Hand it to me right now!”
Dianne quietly reached for the
spoon on top of the table and showed it to White. “This was his weapon,
Colonel.”
White glared ominously at the
utensil. “You have to be kidding
me,” he muttered.
“Did you really think I would
threaten Dianne with a knife, sir?” Blue inquired calmly. “You should know I
would not hurt her.”
“With you, these days, I don’t know
what to think anymore.” White shot a suspicious look at his stepdaughter.
“Did you have any hand in this?”
“If you’re asking if she willingly
helped me, I can tell you that she didn’t, sir,” Blue answered quickly.
“She wasn’t aware of my plan. I…
simply used her. So I could get you to come here… and
have a little talk with you.”
White scowled, before gesturing to
Indigo to lower his gun. “Now what is it with you? Resorting to a fake suicide and taking a
hostage to get my attention?”
“It worked, didn’t it?”
“So much so that I will either have
you strapped onto your bed or locked in a high security cell in the brig. It’s a
toss up between the two. So don’t try my patience.” White’s attitude loosened up
slightly, but he still was glaring dangerously at Blue. “You wanted to talk to
me? So talk.”
“Only if you promise you will hear
me out completely,” Blue replied.
White’s frown deepened. “You are
playing with fire, Captain,” he warned. He nodded curtly.
“I will hear you out. But it had better be good.” He glanced
in Dianne’s direction. “You must
also allow my stepdaughter to leave.”
“Out of the question,” the young
woman suddenly objected.
“I’m staying.”
White glared at her. “You are
also
playing with fire,” he cautioned her.
“We will definitely have to have a little talk about discipline, you and I. The fact that I married your mother
doesn’t give you the right to contest my authority.”
She didn’t answer but the
expression in her eyes spoke volumes; she lifted her chin defiantly,
demonstrating thus that she wouldn’t change her resolution.
“Does Captain Indigo have to stay
too?” Blue asked, looking in
Indigo’s direction.
“As long as I will think you might be a threat to our commander, or
anyone
in this room, Blue – I will be staying,” Indigo replied bluntly. “I am
responsible for security onboard Cloudbase, and I will do whatever needs to be
done to enforce this security.”
“Stay by the door, then, Captain,”
White told him. “You’ll be able to
watch his every move and intervene if he should pose any kind of threat.”
Indigo hesitated; he glared
meaningfully at Blue, then acquiesced to the colonel’s order. He went back to stand at ease by the
door, his eyes set on Blue, watching him like a hawk.
Blue ignored him.
“Thank you, sir. But I can assure you – I have no
intention of threatening anyone onboard.”
White sighed.
“Your behaviour of late is enough of a threat as it is, Captain Blue.”
“It’s hardly his fault,” Dianne
commented. She left the bed to sit
on the chair, and made a show of not noticing her stepfather’s annoyed and
warning glance.
“What is it that you want to talk
to me about?” the Spectrum commander demanded gruffly.
“I just wish to explain myself,
sir.” Blue took a deep breath, and then let it go, slowly. “I am not who you
think I am,” he said carefully.
White raised a curious brow.
“You are not what?”
“I am not Captain Blue. At least,
not your Captain Blue.”
White’s expression became hard and
from the corner of his eye, Blue could see Dianne tense.
Strangely enough, Indigo, still standing guard next to the door, didn’t seem to
react; his expression stayed neutral.
“Are you telling
me you’re a Mysteron?” White asked in a low voice.
“No!” Blue gave an brief, nervous chuckle. “No, that’s not what I’m telling you at
all.”
White turned an enquiring look at
Indigo, who shrugged, before he turned back to face Blue. “In any case, you were
checked when you got onboard. And again, a few times after that. You would have
checked positive a long time ago if it were the case. And we wouldn’t be having
this conversation now.” He crossed his arms on his chest. “I suggest you’d be
careful with your choice of words.”
“I’m sorry, but there is no easy way to explain this.
I am genuinely
not
your Captain Blue. I… come from a
parallel world.”
If Blue expected a reaction, he was
highly disappointed.
White was like a statue, looking at him with an icy expression. A look
down at Dianne informed him of her dismay, just by the expression displayed on
her face; as for Indigo, he obviously was keeping himself from sighing – and was
rolling his eyes upwards.
None of them believed him.
“Is this some kind of joke?”
White finally asked, very slowly.
“I know this is hard to believe,
but it’s the truth!”
Blue defended himself.
“Look, you met my partner last year:
the Captain Scarlet of my world…
who’s not under the Mysterons’ influence anymore? And Captain Ochre too? They told us all about you. And I know
it was hard to believe them, so I can understand that you don’t believe me
either!” He looked straight at an
imperturbable-looking Colonel White. He could see he still wasn’t reaching him.
“You hired Scarlet’s service to capture your Captain Scarlet – and Captain Black
too – in exchange to sending him
and Ochre back home. He only got
half of the job done, but you held to your end of the deal.”
He stopped and watched again,
waiting for a reaction. White kept silent for a moment, before slowly shaking
his head. “Blue, this has to be your most ludicrous trick ever...”
“Sir, it’s not a trick at all.
I’m telling you the truth. I was
with Captain Scarlet and Captain Ochre, and we had escorted Doctor Lavender to
the Research Centre…”
“Doctor Lavender has been dead for
a year,” Indigo pointed out from his post at the door. He has been listening to Blue’s
justification, and by the tone of his voice, it was obvious that he didn’t
believe a single word of it.
“Ours isn’t,” Blue replied swiftly
enough, turning briefly to him. “Our Captain Indigo, however, is.”
Indigo tilted his head to one side,
eyes flashing, but didn’t say a word; he had caught the warning glance Colonel
White had sent in his direction, instructing him to keep silent.
“It’s actually when I saw Indigo
that I realised what had happened,” Blue continued, addressing White.
He walked a few steps around the
room, feeling the need to move to clear his mind. While he had his back turned on them,
White glanced briefly at Dianne; she was displaying a disheartened expression on
her beautiful face and he couldn’t hide the fact that he also felt somewhat
disillusioned. Blue’s condition
seemed to be worse than ever, if he expected them to believe such a story.
“I should have realised it sooner,”
Blue continued, not really taking any notice of their dubious expressions. “When
the Kurnitz console exploded in my world, I was alone with Scarlet in the room,
where Giadello had left us. The explosion… I might be mistaken, but it seemed to
originate from the console itself – or somewhere around it. It destroyed most of
the room, and we got trapped there. The door was blocked with debris, and
Scarlet was knocked out. I came out
of it unscathed…”
“Unscathed?” White asked. He
pointed to his own brow.
“And that cut you have there?
How did that happen?”
“That’s the odd thing, sir. I told you, I was alone with Scarlet and he was out
cold. And then… I heard something. I could swear there was someone else
in the room. I went to check that out… and that someone blindsided me.”
“You don’t know who that ‘someone’
was?” White asked with a frown.
“I didn’t see who it was, no… I
lost consciousness and the next thing I remember… well, I woke up again, Scarlet was not
in the room anymore, the door was not blocked with debris… and Captain Ochre and
Captain Magenta were making wild accusations and arresting me.”
White nodded slowly; he rubbed his
chin, thoughtfully. “If I am following you… you’re suggesting that our Captain
Blue might have been the one to knock you out… and to trap you here, so you
would take the fall for his… misdeeds?”
Blue seemed puzzled.
“I’m not making any suggestions, sir,” he answered.
“I know this, though: it is obvious this is not my world. You can understand that I was confused earlier – I couldn’t
understand why I was treated the way I was.
I’d done nothing wrong.”
“Or so you say,” Indigo muttered.
“Captain,” White warned.
“Please, Colonel,” Blue continued, “I don’t know what it is that your Captain
Blue did that everyone seems so angry about – but it has nothing to do with me.
When Rhapsody… sorry, Dianne… came to see me, claiming to be my fiancée, and
telling me that Karen – the woman I’m engaged to in my world – was dead, my
confusion deepened even more and… well, I admit I flipped. And I totally lost it
when I saw Captain Black – who was claiming to be
my
partner… I thought it was all a trick of the
Mysterons’, you see? That’s why I
attacked him…”
“I saw the recording of what
happened, Captain. No need to make any report on it,” White declared curtly.
“I still need to explain myself,”
Blue replied with a frown. “Scarlet had mentioned how things were in this world…
about the other, still Mysteronised Scarlet, how he had helped capture Captain
Black – I’m guessing that Black was eventually freed from the Mysterons’
influence…”
“Eventually,” came a voice from the
door. Blue swiftly turned in that direction; Captain Black was standing there,
next to a silent Doctor Fawn; Indigo had let them in without announcing them.
Black looked straight at Blue. “You
probably remember how I woke up that first time, after I was captured, and I was
myself again,” he said, walking further into the room. “How difficult it was for
me to prove myself, to make myself accepted by everyone – by you especially,
whom the colonel made my partner. I suspect, to keep an eye on me.”
“I don’t remember that,” Blue said, shaking his head.
“I am
not
that Captain Blue.”
“Adam, please,” Dianne said
imploringly.
“Come on, Adam,” Black grunted in
turn, stopping in his approach and standing a few feet from Blue – who, feeling
some kind of a threat from him, took a few steps back. “We heard every word of
your story – the doctor and I,” he specified, gesturing in Fawn’s direction.
“Don’t you think this game has gone long enough?”
“You came with the colonel, then?”
Blue inquired, almost accusingly.
“What did you think?
We were with him when, alerted by Samuels, Indigo informed him of what happened
here. Do you think we would let him come here alone, to face a crazed man?
We had cause to be concerned, when we heard that you had taken Dianne
hostage. So we acted accordingly.”
“Meaning?” Blue asked, tensing.
“We don’t want this to turn ugly,”
Fawn added quickly, fearing that Blue would get upset. “Spectrum guards are outside, with
Captain Ochre, waiting to come in at the first sign of trouble and to subdue you
should it become necessary.”
“I am not armed, and I am not
planning to hurt anyone,” Blue replied dryly. “All I wanted to do was to explain
myself.”
“You could hurt yourself,” Fawn
offered in a gentle tone.
“Come on, Adam – this game must finish now, before it goes too far.”
“Why do you keep thinking I’m
playing a game?” Blue asked in annoyance, frowning. “I’m telling you the truth.
I am not your Captain Blue.” He turned to White. “You promised you would hear me
out,” he accused. “I thought I could trust your word as much as my own
commander… You only agreed to meet me… just to set me up!”
“Captain Blue…” White sighed
deeply, and took a step forward.
When Blue backed away again, he stopped his approach. He didn’t want to
scare him to the point where he would make a desperate gesture. “I was true to
my word, Adam… I heard what you had to say.
But admit it to yourself, it doesn’t make much sense.”
“You’re wrong,” Blue replied with a
shake of his head. “Why don’t you believe me?”
“Because it’s too far-fetched,
Adam,” Black replied. “As far as we know, travelling between parallel worlds
doesn’t work – well, not since we sent those visitors back to their own world
last year, that is. The Kurnitz console is not functional.”
“As far as you know…” Blue
repeated. “Why don’t you ask Doctor Kurnitz and Doctor Giadello how far they’ve
got in their research at the moment?”
“If you are indeed from a parallel
world, what would you know of the extent of that research?” White demanded.
“Similar research is being performed in my world,” Blue defended himself. “And I don’t know how far
they went, either, but they were hopeful that they would make some kind of
breakthrough, soon. We were about to attend a demonstration, when the explosion
occurred. And considering I’m here, at least in one
of our worlds, the research
in that field must be advanced enough. It’s the only reasonable explanation!”
White clicked his tongue in
exasperation and shook his head. “No, there’s a more reasonable one, Captain,
and you know it,” he declared sternly. “This story of yours may be far-fetched,
but somehow I think there is some truth in it.”
“What do you mean?” Blue asked with
a frown. “You believe me, then?”
“Not quite, no.” White stepped
forwards again, and this time, Blue didn’t back away. The Spectrum commander
looked levelly into the younger man’s eyes. “This is what you were planning to
do, isn’t it?”
“I fail to understand, sir… I was
planning to do what?”
“I think you genuinely believe that
travelling to a parallel world is possible. So much so that you built your
entire fixation upon it.
It is quite alluring to imagine that in this other world you mentioned,
there might be another Symphony – another Karen – quite alive, and waiting for
you. All you need to do is to open
an inter-dimensional vortex – and get there, isn’t it?”
Blue couldn’t believe his ears.
“Wait a second… Are you saying…”
“You’re so obsessed with the girl’s death, you
blame yourself so much for it, that you would be willing to do anything – even
the craziest of schemes – to try and be with her again. Even if it’s only another version of
her.” White pointed to Blue’s face. “That’s the reason why you shaved your
beard. I never could get you to get rid of it in three years. The only person who would have been able to do that would
have been Symphony. You were probably planning this for a very long time. The
thought of being with her again was so strong, wasn’t it? You couldn’t resist.”
“Adam, is that true?” Dianne asked,
her voice sounding as if she had been hurt by the realisation that what Colonel
White was saying could be accurate.
“No!” Blue shook himself. “I mean… I don’t know what
the other Blue
was planning, but I…”
“I don’t blame you, Adam.” The
Spectrum commander shook his head, despondently. “I
really
don’t blame you,” he said in a softer voice. “It’s not your fault, none of this
is, really. No, I blame myself, for having letting things go this far, without
seeing your torment – and without putting a stop to this sooner. I should have
foreseen it. You’ve been distraught ever since we rescued you from the Network’s
clutches.”
Blue opened his eyes wide. “The
Network? What has the Network got to do with this?”
“They tried to convert you to their
cause,” Dianne softly informed him, as he turned to face her. “Don’t you
remember what they did to you? Don’t you remember the Dream Spinner?
You’ve been having nightmares about it for weeks.”
“I didn’t even come
near
that dreadful machine,” Blue objected.
“You might not remember now, that’s true,” White added quietly. “You might have
escaped their programming, but what they did wasn’t without consequences. All
the lies, the secrets you’ve been keeping from us – you weren’t well, but you
pretended you were. You became even more careless in your work – to the point of
endangering not only
your
life, which wasn’t so uncommon in the past with you, but the lives of others as
well.”
“I told you, I
didn’t
attack Giadello…”
“Giadello is not the only one,
Blue,” Black said in turn, approaching. “What about Destiny?”
“What about her?” a puzzled Blue
asked.
“Don’t you remember? When you went
on your own to Iceland… pretending to be looking for clues to find Scarlet… Was
it only coincidence that he was there – or maybe he was waiting for you? Destiny
was caught in the crossfire and got injured. She was lucky to get out of it alive.
And so were you.”
“We know now that you were looking
for red stones,” Indigo continued. “Or maybe Scarlet provided you with some? Were you ready to make a deal with the
devil for your plan to work, Blue?”
“You’re talking crazy!” Blue
protested.
“We found red stones in your
quarters,” White explained. “Well, more like splinters, actually, very tiny,
probably not powerful enough for what you were planning. Did you have more on
you, when you left Cloudbase without authorisation, to go to the Research
Centre? Doctor Giadello only had
two – according to what we know, you need three to open up a vortex…”
Shaking his head grimly, White
slowly started walking, and passed by Blue, turning his back on him and going to
his stepdaughter who was still sitting on the chair, looking miserable at all
these revelations. Blue turned around, following the colonel with his eyes; he
watched as White put a comforting hand on Dianne’s shoulder and she raised her
beautiful, sad face to look at him.
“If
your Blue had the third stone,” Blue said sternly, as a sudden thought came to
his mind, “and if what you’re saying is
exactly what he
was planning to do… then it would mean that his plan worked all too well! That
would explain everything… He
trapped me here so he could be in my world. With my
Karen.” These last words seemed to sadden Dianne even more and she lowered her
eyes, not daring to look at him.
Seeing this, Blue considered that his counterpart in this world was a right
bastard for putting her through all this ordeal. He forced himself to ignore
this, and took a step towards White’s back. “I swear it’s the truth… You have to help me find a way home… if that man is as crazed as you say, and he’s with my fiancée
now –”
“The plan backfired, Captain,”
White interrupted over his shoulder, interrupting him. “Because you’re still
here. But you do need help, and we
intend giving it to you.” The colonel turned around. “Even if it’s despite yourself.”
Blue felt Black’s presence close
behind him only after the latter swiftly crossed the last steps separating them
and caught him in a strong arm lock, his hands pressing against the back of
Blue’s head in the process to immobilise him.
“Hey, let go…” Trying to free
himself, Blue stumbled, and Black used the momentum to push him against the
nearest wall. Indigo had left his position at the door to come to the rescue.
Both of them were nearly not enough to keep the very strong and desperate Blue
still, and they were trying very hard not to hurt him.
“Let go of me!” Blue demanded,
grunting. “I’m telling you it’s all a mistake!”
“Sorry, Adam,” Black answered with
a genuine accent of regret in his voice. “But you must believe us, it’s for your
own good.”
“Like
hell! Your Adam is in
my
world, with my fiancée! You have to let me go back!”
“Doctor!” Black called urgently.
“Bring that sedative right now, we won’t be able to hold him very much longer!”
“Not again!” Blue moaned between
his teeth.
During the scuffle, as Blue was
trying frantically to get free, his pyjama top got loose, and Black, pressing
his resisting opponent against the wall, inadvertently pushed it up Blue’s back,
revealing a good part of his upper body. Something unexpectedly caught the
attention of Dianne, who was watching the scene with total dismay. Unsure, she frowned and made a
double-take. She looked carefully, opening her eyes
wide with perplexity.
Fawn had neared the three
struggling men, an hypo-gun in his hand, and was about to give Blue his third
shot of sedative in less than two days, when all of a sudden, Dianne jumped to
her feet, and ran to them. “Doctor, wait!”
Fawn stopped.
“Dianne, we don’t have any choice…”
“Come back here, Dianne,” White
ordered sternly.
“No, wait. You don’t understand!”
She got closer to the fighters; pressed against the wall, Blue could barely
move. Jaws clenched in his efforts
to resist, he addressed a hopeful look at the young woman, who was now standing
next to him.
“Dianne, you’d better get away from
there,” Colonel White warned.
“No!” She turned to Blue and locked eyes with
him; she saw the desperate and pleading expression in them. She nodded, slowly,
as the full realisation finally made its way into her mind, and she knew with
complete certainty that he was saying the truth. “He’s not Adam,” she said
softly.
“What?” an unbelieving Indigo said,
while Black was staring at her with mystification.
“You believe his crazy story?”
“Yes, I do!” she answered firmly.
“He’s telling the truth!”
“Come on, Dianne, don’t fall for
his story,” White remarked with annoyance. “It’s completely irrational!”
“I have proof!” she suddenly
declared with self-confidence, much to everyone’s surprise. “Doctor, take a look. Look at his back…
at his right hip!”
She pushed the bottom of the pyjama
jacket up and pointed to Blue’s naked upper body. Narrowing his eyes, Fawn
approached and looked closer. He could see nothing. At first, he
wondered what the young woman was driving at, and suddenly, he realised…
Still somewhat sceptical, just to
make sure he wasn’t mistaken, he leaned closer, and pushed the pyjama top
further up, to run his expert hand over the surface of Blue’s skin; the latter
shivered visibly.
“There’s no scar,” the physician
announced, stunned.
As Blue, still imprisoned in the
arm lock, was looking at Dianne with a confused expression, she explained, as
much for his benefit as for all the other men in the room: “Six months ago, Adam
got injured during a very difficult mission. Badly injured. He survived, of
course, but it left him with a scar that he will keep all his life. A long scar
that runs from just over his lower back, down to his right hip…” With her
finger, she followed the described path on Blue’s unscathed skin. “See?
There is no scar there!”
She looked triumphantly in White’s
direction; the latter was staring at Blue’s back with a stern and scowling
expression. He then looked at Fawn
for confirmation. The physician nodded, letting go of Blue’s pyjama top.
“That’s true. The Captain Blue I know will have that scar for good. But this man
here, he doesn’t have the scar.”
Fawn looked at Blue in disbelief.
“It means this is
not
the same man,” he concluded.
“Or the Mysterons found a way to
duplicate someone without making him sensitive to our detectors,” Indigo replied
suspiciously.
That was
not
exactly what Blue wanted to
hear and he groaned in obvious frustration.
“You’re full of optimism, you know
that, Indigo?” he lashed at the other man. “And full of bull, too! I am no
Mysteron… If I was, I would
probably have that scar anyway.
Remember, exact duplicate? A
mistake like that could give me away instantly!”
White glared at Dianne. “I won’t ask you how you know about the
scar,” he grumbled with humour.
Dianne kept herself from smiling; she knew her stepfather couldn’t be that
naïve. She could see by the look on his face
that his mind was now processing all this new information, analysing it and
pondering what he should do now. They all waited expectantly for his decision –
Blue obviously hoping that he would
finally
give credence to his story and wouldn’t consider
Indigo’s suggestion.
White made his decision very
quickly, and gave his next order to Black and Indigo within the next minute:
“Release him.”
Both men obeyed without any
hesitation, and Blue, finally free, turned around, massaging his sore neck and
arms in the process. He grimaced
when he heard his muscles and bones pop and crack as they returned to their
rightful places. He addressed a shy and grateful smile at Dianne who was still
looking at him attentively.
“Thank you,” he told her with a
deep sigh of relief, as he smoothed down his wrinkled pyjama top. “You’ve just
saved me from getting sedated again… I was beginning to get rather tired of
it.”
“Don’t mention it,” she answered
with a weak smile of her own. “I think I saved you from much worse than that,
actually.”
“Yes… like spending the rest of my
life in a padded cell.” He chuckled, but he still felt very uncomfortable.
It had been too much of a close call for him to be perfectly at ease. He could
still see in the expressions of the two men standing on each side of him that
they weren’t that sure of what to make of him. He wondered if they still doubted
him, thinking he was the Captain Blue they knew – who obviously, in his
insanity, had deceived them a few times already –
or if they still entertained the thought that he might be a Mysteron.
He was somewhat reassured when
Indigo held out his hand – and grinned at him. “So sorry about this, Captain,” he said,
genuinely apologetic. “I hope you understand it was nothing personal…”
“You could have fooled me, Captain
Indigo.” Blue shook the proffered hand.
“No harm done. You were just doing your job. Obviously, you couldn’t know.”
“No, we couldn’t,” Black said in turn, causing Blue to turn his attention to
him. The older man was staring at him, a frown displayed on his face, and
seemingly studying his features very closely.
He presented his hand in turn. “I
can see there
is
something decidedly different in you.
The madness isn’t in your eyes…”
“I probably looked crazy enough
earlier,” Blue commented sheepishly, taking the man’s hand, if a little
undecidedly. “I was getting really
desperate to make you believe me.” He looked squarely into Black’s face.
“You know, this is awkward. The Captain Black from my world…”
“I know. Is still under Mysteron control.” Black shook his head. “If not for your partner who visited us
last year, I still would be too.”
“And your Captain Scarlet…”
“… Is still on the loose,
unfortunately.” That was Colonel
White, who had approached and now stopped in front of Blue. The latter stood tall in front of the
Spectrum commander’s probing eyes.
“Colonel White… thank you for
finally believing me.”
“It’s Doctor Fawn and Dianne you
should thank, Captain Blue. They’re the ones who finally realised you were
telling the truth.”
White nodded slowly, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, while still examining
Blue steadily. “Captain Black is
right. There is something different
in your eyes… Something which is in our Captain Blue’s eyes, and isn’t in yours.
I can see it now.”
“That’s because
now,
I’m far more relaxed than I was,” Blue commented.
“So you are.”
White gave a rueful smile. “Welcome to Cloudbase, Captain.”
“Thank you, sir,” Blue answered,
shaking his third hand of the morning.
“And how is your partner, Captain
Scarlet? And Captain Ochre too?”
“They’re very well, sir.
At least, I think they should be. Although, the last time I saw Scarlet was when
I… departed… from my world. He was half-buried under rubble at the Research
Centre…”
“Knowing him, that wouldn’t be too
much of a problem, I believe.”
“No… He was alive, and didn’t seem
too badly hurt,” Blue confirmed. “But I’m still worried nevertheless, sir.”
His expression became very serious.
“As I am also very worried about what your man might be up to in my world.”
For a moment, White kept silent,
and thoughtfully considered this comment from the younger man – this visitor
from another world – who was scrutinizing him with a concerned gaze.
The Spectrum commander gave a brief nod of acknowledgement..
“Yes, I can understand your
apprehension. We have to discuss this, but this is not the right place. Do you
want to get some rest, or are you up for debriefing right now?”
Blue raised a brow, not amused in
the slightest by the question. “I slept enough as it is,” he replied dully,
stealing a glance in Fawn’s direction. “And I wouldn’t want to waste too much
time. Just… give me time to get a
shower… and a change of clothes would be appreciated too. And then I’ll be with you, sir.”
“I’m sure all that can be
arranged,” White confirmed.
“Captain Indigo will escort you to the visitors’ quarters. You are our guest, Captain Blue.”
“Thank you, Colonel.
But I hope you understand… I certainly don’t plan to hang about very long…”
CHAPTER 5
Quite relieved to finally be
allowed to leave sickbay, Captain Blue followed Captain Indigo to his new
quarters, where he took his much needed and desired shower. When he stepped out of the bathroom,
Indigo, who was waiting for him, handed him a brand new uniform – a blue one,
that he had retrieved from the quarters of this world’s Captain Blue, while Blue
was under the shower. Apparently,
his own uniform had not been cleaned up yet, since they had returned from the
Research Centre, and the colonel had ordered that his guest be dressed properly
for the briefing.
Blue felt awkward, as he slipped
into this uniform that wasn’t really his own, all the while wondering what its
owner might be up to at the moment. What he had heard from everyone onboard so
far concerning this other Blue wasn’t very reassuring, and he couldn’t help
feeling worried, not knowing exactly what could be going on in his world, where
a duplicate of himself – who was not a Mysteron – was walking around, amongst
his friends, totally undetected, free to do whatever he wanted.
Thoughts of Symphony kept coming to
Blue’s mind; he recalled that Colonel White had said that his counterpart was
totally obsessed with her. Consumed by thoughts of revenge against the man who
had killed her, and feeling remorse over her death, more than three years ago…
Considering that this man might presently be pretty unstable, Blue wasn’t very
reassured either of what might happen to his friend and partner in his own world
– but most importantly, he was starting to get worried sick for his fiancée.
Indigo walked him to the Conference
Room. This Cloudbase, Blue realised, was very similar to the one he knew, except
for a few details; Scarlet had already told him about that, and how he had found
it so perplexing when he had been there. Blue was experiencing the same sense of
puzzlement now, as well as some disorientation. The mere presence of Captain
Indigo, walking there by his side, served him as a reminder that this place
wasn’t exactly home.
Indigo was dead in his world – a victim of the Mysterons, in the first
year of the War of Nerves. He had seldom been on Cloudbase before his death. But
this Indigo was at ease in this place; he was responsible for security onboard,
and it was obvious he was taking this responsibility very seriously.
When they reached the conference
room, Captain Indigo pressed the opening button for the door, which slid open in
front of them. The others were all present, already waiting for them: Colonel
White, of course, who came to welcome him, Captain Black and Doctor Fawn, who
already knew everything about him, and Captains Ochre, Magenta and Grey, who
glared at him suspiciously as he entered. Blue wondered how much White had
already told them about him – and if they believed any of it, to start with. By
the way they were acting now, neither of the possibilities seemed very likely.
Lieutenant Green was there too, on White’s left, in front of the computer
keyboard imbedded into the table, while Dianne Simms, Blue noticed, had also
taken a seat at the circular table.
He imagined that, since she had been deeply involved with the events since the
very start, she had a right to attend the meeting too.
Ten minutes later, as everyone was
ready, the briefing started. Lieutenant Green had set up a video contact through
to the Spectrum Research Centre and Doctor Giadello, his head bandaged, and
Doctor Kurnitz appeared on the screen, seated at a work-table. White started by
enquiring about Giadello’s health, concerned that the meeting might be a little
too demanding to the injured scientist. The latter simply smiled at the comment,
and thanked the colonel for it.
“Do not worry, Colonel White,”
he said quietly. “Really, it is simply
a slight concussion… My doctor says I should be all right, as long as I don’t
exert myself physically. Quite
frankly, considering the content of your message earlier, I really wouldn’t want
to miss this meeting at all.”
“We’re glad to have you, then,
Doctor,” White replied.
“Your expertise will be welcome.
Because, you will see – we are presently faced with a very peculiar
problem. One you and Doctor Kurnitz already were confronted with, about a year
ago.”
Having gained everyone’s attention
that way, White started by first presenting Captain Blue
to the whole assembly, and carefully explaining his present situation to those
who didn’t already know about it. The first flicker of mistrust and surprise
Blue had seen earlier in the eyes of Captains Ochre, Magenta and Grey gradually
changed to scepticism, then puzzlement, and was finally followed by total
surprise. But these men were officers as effective as those Blue knew on his
world, and, when they were totally reassured that this man sitting amongst them
was on the level, they soon recognised that there was a need to go into action.
They would help in whatever way Spectrum could, so he would be able to return to
his world, and they could reclaim their own man.
If that was possible.
“What about the Mysterons?” Magenta
suggested, as White came to the conclusion of his introduction. “Do we know if
they’re involved in this?”
“I am not a Mysteron agent, Captain
Magenta,” Blue said warningly.
“That’s not what I’m implying,
Captain,” Magenta told him, apologetically. “Not at all. I know that Captain Indigo has checked you out…”
“More than twice, actually,” Indigo
confirmed.
“I just meant – could they be
behind this incident that got you and our Captain Blue… trading places in both
worlds?”
Blue considered this. “I don’t
think this has anything to do with the Mysterons, Captain. Either in my world, or in yours.”
“Are they the same Mysterons, to
begin with?” Grey pondered out loud.
“We already wondered about this
during the last year, Captain,” White intervened, “and we didn’t come up with a
satisfying answer to that question. I don’t think now is the time to present the
problem again. However, I can see why Captain Magenta is wondering about the
Mysterons’ involvement in this affair.”
“The Iceland incident,” Black said
with a nod.
“The one you mentioned earlier?”
Blue inquired.
“When your man, as well as Destiny Angel, was injured?” At Black’s nodding, he continued,
frowning: “What happened in Iceland?”
White indicated to his officers
that they should offer the explanation. Black was the first to start:
“Captain Blue – our Captain Blue,
that is – somehow got hold of information that he would find clues to Captain
Scarlet’s whereabouts in Iceland,” he explained. “At least, that’s what he told
us afterwards, although he never truly explained how he received that
information.”
“That was shortly after we
retrieved him from the Network’s clutches,” Fawn continued. “He had been in sickbay for a few weeks,
recuperating, after that earlier incident.”
“When he got out of there, he set
out for Iceland, without any explanation,” Black continued. “We went after him,
of course. Doctor Fawn wasn’t convinced he was fully recovered.”
“And apparently, I was right,” Fawn
groused.
“We found Blue eventually,” Ochre
continued. “Around the site where Captain Indigo was nearly killed a few years
ago, when the Mysterons set up a meeting place to ‘discuss peace’.”
“Destiny thought
he might be around those parts,” Grey said in turn. “Logically, it would be the
only place for Blue to look for clues…
at least, it was a place for us to start searching for Blue.
So Destiny flew there and saw a car parked in front of the half destroyed
cabin, where Indigo nearly was blown to smithereens. She reported the
information, and landed to verify. Blue was there, all right. But he wasn’t alone.”
“He had found Scarlet,” Blue
realised.
“Yes,” Black confirmed. “He did
find Scarlet. At this point, we didn’t know about Destiny’s discovery, and when
Destiny failed to respond to our calls, we went there in turn, thinking she had
hit trouble. When we arrived, we found Scarlet and Blue firing at each other,
with Destiny lying on the ground, in a pool of blood; Blue got hit, while trying
to get to Destiny and take her to safety. We didn’t waste any more time trying
to figure out how things had got to that point, so we went into action.”
“Scarlet eventually escaped,” Ochre
added. He gestured with his fingers, and glanced sideways at Black.
“Evaporated into thin air…”
“Don’t remind me,” Black griped.
“I know the Mysterons did that to me a number of times, but I have no idea where
I went in those times or how it felt…
I’m thinking, not very comfortable.”
“And you don’t know how your Blue
got the information on how to find Scarlet there?” Blue demanded with a frown.
“No. When he woke up in sickbay two days
later, he said he didn’t remember,” Fawn said in turn. “Which was a possibility, mind you… He could have had a short-term amnesia for that particular
incident.”
“I never bought that,” Indigo
snorted. “Most likely, he could have heard about it while captive of the
Network. Overhearing the information…”
“… Or maybe the information was
freely given to him,” Ochre suggested. “As part of the Network’s attempts to
convert him.”
“In any case, when
Destiny woke
up, and she was interrogated about what she knew of the incident,” White
pursued, “she said the last thing she remembered, just before she was shot, was
to have crept to the cabin to see inside, and to have seen Blue and Scarlet
facing each other, arguing. Blue was arguing, at least, and shouting, and
threatening to kill Scarlet. Then
guns were drawn… and Destiny was hit.” The Spectrum commander shook his head. “What happened before the argument and
the shootout, we never knew. Blue never told, because he claimed not to remember
either.”
“You said that your Captain Blue
got his hands on red stones,” Blue said, rubbing his chin pensively.
“Would he have found those on that site?”
“That’s what we’re assuming,” White
said.
“We had searched the place with a fine tooth comb,” Giadello then said from the screen.
“We thought that the largest pieces had all been
retrieved and brought back to the Research Centre, so that our scientists, under
Doctor Kurnitz’s directions, could study them.
Whatever Captain Blue might have found, could only be insignificantly small
fragments.”
“What we found in Blue’s quarters
certainly was tiny,” Indigo confirmed. “Most of them, barely big enough to fit
onto a ring.”
“You thought that Scarlet might
have provided him with a bigger rock,” Blue suggested.
“I was just trying to make
you react –
as I thought you were him,” Indigo admitted. “However, now that you mention it…”
“That’s preposterous!”
Dianne scoffed. “You really think that Adam would have
accepted a gift from Scarlet?”
“Desperate as he was, Dianne…”
“You’re forgetting something,
Captain Indigo: the ailment from which he suffers now didn’t appear until many
days, weeks, after this incident,” she said insistently. “And it came on slowly,
gradually… What you’re suggesting would mean that he had been planning this trip
to the other world almost from day one.”
“It could have been planted in his
mind,” Black suggested softly. “Either by the Network, as part of their original
plan… or by Scarlet, who recognised the weakness of Blue’s condition at the
time, and thought he could use that to his masters’ advantage.”
“If that’s the case then, it isn’t
really reassuring,” Grey said.
“But what would they have to gain
by doing such a thing
to the poor man’s mind?” Blue wondered.
Black shrugged. “Creating havoc,
pure and simple? Who knows?”
“I thought that maybe
you
would, Captain Black?”
Black raised an eyebrow at Blue’s
question. “Me? Well, maybe I know a
little about them, but not that much, and certainly not what’s going on in their
collective mind. The memories I have of my time under their control are very
vague, Captain – and fortunately, only come back to haunt me in occasional
nightmares. I don’t retain anything from them, thank God, and don’t wish to
remember more than I already do.”
“You’re not retrometabolic, then?”
Blue asked with a curious frown.
“You mean, like your friend?
Your Captain Scarlet? No…
I’m quite human, as far as I know.
Just like you.”
“Sorry. I naturally assumed…”
“I know that the Mysterons must
have killed your friend,” Black interrupted swiftly, before Blue could add more.
“The way they killed the Captain Scarlet from this world…”
“It was a car accident, during the
very first mission against the Mysterons,” Blue explained. “They had threatened the World President. They
killed Captain Scarlet – and Captain Brown with him – and took them
over.”
“Exactly like they did here, then,”
Black said evenly. “But I can assure you, Captain, with the little I know of the
Mysterons…
that ‘car accident’ was
anything but an accident.”
“We already that figured out,
Captain Black.”
“As for myself, I don’t know what
they did exactly to me,” the unflappable Black continued. “I don’t remember
having been killed… Either on Mars, or anywhere here. I’m not saying they
didn’t… My memory is quite like
a Swiss cheese, regarding the Mars mission and whatever lucid moments I might
have had when the Mysterons took control of me. Doctor Fawn says I have a…
selective memory – blocking from my mind whatever horrific recollections I
wouldn’t be able to bear. Call it survival instinct, if you will… I can live with that.”
Blue narrowed his eyes at him.
“You’re quite the cold fellow, Black,” he said in a low voice. “The Black I know
never was a very demonstrative person, but you... you’re like an iceberg.”
“I can’t afford not to be,” Black
replied. “I need to keep my emotions in check at all times.
Or I would go mad.” He raised a brow. “Beside, as my partner, Blue has enough emotions for the both
of us. I have to keep some balance…”
“He’s not that bad, really,”
Captain Ochre, seated next to Black, said quietly. “Always a good victim for a joke,
actually.”
Black gave a patient sigh and
addressed an amused look towards his American colleague. “Yes, and you’re constantly trying to
get me to break up, aren’t you, Captain Ochre?”
“Always aiming to please, Captain…”
“If you’ve quite finished…”
White leaned on the desk, intertwining his fingers, and glared warningly at his
officers. “We have a meeting going on, gentlemen?”
“Of course, sir,” Blue apologised.
“If I may… I might have another suggestion of where
your Captain Blue could have got those stone fragments you’re talking about…”
He turned towards the screen, narrowing his eyes. “Doctor Kurnitz, Doctor
Giadello… aren’t you using something similar for your research into the Anderson
Theory?”
Both scientists exchanged surprised glances, before looked straight at Blue
through the screen.
“And how do you know
that, Captain Blue?”
Kurnitz asked.
“Quite simply, because your
counterparts are conducting the same research in my world, Doctors.
They mentioned such shards shortly before the incident that sent me here.
Is it possible that the other Captain Blue took those shards from your
own reserve?”
“Quite impossible,”
Giadello answered with assurance.
“He never came to the Research Centre before
yesterday...”
“And he already had his fragments
here on Cloudbase,” Black remarked. “Which reminds me…” He indicated Magenta. “Aside from these fragments found in
Blue’s quarters, we found something else…”
“Yes, indeed…”
Magenta leaned down and picked up from the floor a small box that he put on the
table in front of him. Opening it, he took out a little device, which was about
the size of a hand-sized remote control.
He flipped the cover open and a screen automatically flickered into life with a
red glow. He put the object flat on the table and pressed a button under the
round table, which started rotating, slowly, so that everyone could get a good
view of the device.
“What is it?” Dianne asked, with
curiosity.
“We don’t know,” Magenta answered.
“I found it at the Research Centre, next to Blue’s cap, while searching the site
of the explosion. I showed it to Colonel White earlier. We were hoping that
Blue…” he pointed to the man in front of him, “would be able to tell us, but
obviously he’s not the right person to do that. Perhaps you can, Dianne?”
“Me?” Dianne said with a frown. She
picked the object up and checked it out, on all sides. “I’ve never seen this thing in my life. You’re sure it belongs to Adam?”
“It has his fingerprints all over
it, anyway,” Magenta answered.
“Well, if it is his, he never
showed it to me,” Dianne replied.
“Can we see this object more closely, please?”
That was the voice of Doctor Kurnitz on the screen.
Nodding to their request, Dianne put the small device onto the table
which continued its rotating course.
She stopped it in front of the screen.
Both scientists narrowed their eyes at the object they could now see very well.
Giadello gave a sharp gasp.
“Doctor Kurnitz, this is your missing prototype!”
“Indeed, it does look like it,”
Kurnitz confirmed.
“Prototype?” White frowned deeply upon hearing the
two men’s exchange. “You mean to
say this is yours, gentlemen?”
“It was, Colonel,”
Kurnitz said. “Do you remember the break-in in my
office at the Nash Institute, quite a few months ago? I had some papers stolen, as well as a few communications
devices I was working on at the time…
Amongst them, this thing.” He shook
his head.
“The security at Nash Institute did find the
thief, about three days after the incident. His car had run off a cliff and caught fire. He was killed in that accident, and
everything in his car was destroyed.
I thought this device was too!”
“Uh-oh…” Ochre muttered darkly.
“It has all the hallmarks of
a Mysteron reconstruction here... I would handle this thing very
carefully, if it were me…”
“No danger in that, Captain,”
Kurnitz replied.
“The device is not one of destruction.
And in any case, it never worked properly, so…”
“What did you build it for?”
Blue asked, taking the object in his hand. “Your
counterpart in my world, Doctor Kurnitz, did mention that he worked on a
hand-held device of some sort. This
thing of yours… it looks a bit like… an over-sized portable videophone.”
“It is not quite a communication device, Captain Blue,” Kurnitz confirmed.
“It’s only a receiver… it doesn’t transmit. Basically, it was built
to create an opening into the inter-dimensional wall – a tiny pinhole, if you
wish, of no consequence at all, which would have permitted us to reach into a
parallel world.”
“The device,”
Giadello continued, “ would focus on
various radioactive signatures – which are unique to each world – to find the
one which would meet our requirements… Of course, we only had one
signature we could really recognise and concentrate on…
We really didn’t have that many samples to work on…”
“In English, Doctors?” White
interrupted, sighing.
“Quite simply, Colonel,”
Kurnitz said, “this device, if
working, could have recognised the world from which our visitors of last year
came – the same world as yours, Captain Blue – and to open a kind of channel
through to there… and we would have been able to observe that world.”
Blue nodded thoughtfully. “That
sounds like something similar to what your counterparts in my world were
attempting to do,” he reflected.
“But why our world?”
“Because of your friends’ visit of
last year, as we said. Theirs was
the only sample of radioactive signatures we had.
So the only vortex we could open with that signature would be to your
home.”
“You said the device didn’t work?”
Blue mused.
“No… it should have worked with red stone shards…”
Kurnitz frowned, as every eyes turned to Indigo.
“Quite like those you
actually described, Captain Indigo… But Captain Blue could not possibly have made the
receiver work. It was defective,
and never produced any results.”
“He might not have been able to make it work, but what do you want to bet the
Mysterons
could?”
Blue said darkly.
“They have powers beyond our
imagination,” Black said softly with a slow nod. “Of course, they could have
made the device functional.
Must have be a piece of cake for them…”
“Lord, they
were
behind this,” Captain Grey muttered.
“Or it was their self-proclaimed
allies,” White commented. “To whom the Mysterons could have provided the means
to carry out whatever plans they were preparing…”
“The Network?” Blue suggested.
White nodded. “It isn’t the
Mysterons’ way to prepare such long-standing strategies. The Network on the other hand…”
“That would be like them, all
right,” Blue confirmed.
“So I take it, from what you’re
saying now and by your lack of surprise earlier when we mentioned the Network,
that you’ve had to face these
despicable people too in your world,” White commented musingly.
“A couple of times, sir,” Blue
admitted. “They’ve been a thorn in Spectrum’s side that we are trying very hard
to extract.”
White nodded thoughtfully. He
turned to the screen. “You said this device of yours was simply to observe our
visitor’s world, Doctors. Could the Mysterons be able to modify it so that a
journey to this other world would be possible?”
Kurnitz shook his head.
“Impossible, Colonel.”
“Impossible is not Mysteron, gentleman,” Captain Grey declared. “They might not
need
any
device at all to make such a
journey.”
Kurnitz sighed and shook his head obstinately. “For
themselves, perhaps – although this is not a reassuring thought… But for human
beings, it might be different. That said, I can confirm that the
receiver cannot be modified to provide the energy necessary for such a trip
through the inter-dimensional vortex to the parallel world. It could provide a direction, though – the path to follow to
access this world.”
“Through that signature you were
talking about,” Blue said thoughtfully. “A signature that you took from Scarlet
and Ochre’s visit to this world.”
He took the device and examined it.
“It doesn’t seem to work now, does it?”
Indigo shook his head. “Aside from
that red glow in the screen… we were unable to do anything with it.”
“The shards used as its power source must be dead,”
Giadello provided.
“It was made to observe,” Blue continued pensively. “It is equipped with a
screen, so whoever was using this
device could actually
see
what’s going on in my world?”
“If provided with the proper power source… and if the Mysterons indeed modified
it so it would work properly… Yes, I believe it could,”
admitted Kurnitz.
“It would be set on the signature,
then…” Blue rubbed his chin, thoughtfully. “He was spying on us…” he murmured.
“What?” White said with a frown.
“Your Captain Blue was spying on us. This device was set to follow Scarlet or
Ochre’s signature. So he used it to know our whereabouts…
My
whereabouts. To know exactly when
to make his move.” He put the
device back onto the table. “You
were right, Colonel White… he was planning this for a long time.”
“Now just wait a minute,” Dianne
started to protest.
“So it is, then,” White said, not
listening to his stepdaughter’s interruption. “Either the Network – or the
Mysterons themselves – provided Blue with the means to carry out his plan.
Whether this was exactly what they wanted is as yet unknown, but at the very
least, their actions are creating havoc… which probably suits them fine.”
“Who knows what’s going on in my
world,” Blue murmured. “What this
crazed man could be up to there…”
“Adam isn’t a bad man,” Dianne interrupted
again, causing everyone to look gravely at her. “Surely you must know that, Captain Blue: he’s this world’s
version of yourself. He wouldn’t do anything wrong while in your world.”
“Obviously,
he was planning all along to trap me here and take my place, Dianne,” Blue
explained, frowning. “Spying on us, he knew that I was to escort Doctor Lavender
to the Research Centre – he knew that it had to do with the Kurnitz console we
also have stored there, and with the studies that
our
Kurnitz and Giadello were making on the Anderson Theory…”
“That would be plausible,”
Kurnitz declared. “The
console in your world would provide the ‘exit door’ of the vortex, opened from
our side… He would certainly land there. The same room he would have left in our
world, the same space/time continuum.”
“This is getting too heavy for me,”
Ochre declared with a frown.
“It’s simple, Captain: when you travel through the dimensional
continuum, you will end up in the same space that you left, but in a different
dimension,” Giadello explained.
“You’re in Cloudbase’s conference room right now.
That would be your destination if you went to Captain Blue’s world, for
example.”
“Even if Cloudbase is a moving
carrier?” Grey asked with a frown.
“Let’s not get too technical,
here,” Ochre protested.
“Grey, don’t complicate things with superfluous questions…”
“I’m not getting superfluous…”
“To explain his presence in my world,” Blue continued, not hearing them out, and
following his train of thought,
“and to actually take my place – he needed me to be at the same place where he
would arrive. So that was the
perfect
time for him to strike.”
“I
thought the console wasn’t working!” Indigo remarked in turn.
“If the Mysterons made
this
thing work,” Blue said, pointing to the receiver on the table, “then they could
have provided a helping hand for the console to work too.”
“And we actually had
some results with it,” Giadello remarked.
“Nothing really that conclusive, but we were on the right track.
Remember, Captain Blue came to me that evening, asking me questions about
it, requiring to see the stones we had left… He powered up the console.
Unfortunately, he knocked me out before I could stop him – or even see
what his actions would be leading to.”
“It led to an explosion, that’s
where it led to,” Magenta remarked.
“The opening of the vortex between dimensions would cause an explosion,”
Kurnitz replied.
“You are going too far,” Dianne
protested again, confused by all she was hearing, and not ready to accept any of
it. “Captain Blue would not have planned all this…”
“Oh yes, I believe he did,” White
replied with a frown.
“That would explain a lot of what’s been going on, actually…”
“Well, I can’t believe it!” Dianne
defended her fiancé.
“He would not willingly become the pawn of the Mysterons. You’re wrong
about him. You cannot accuse him
without evidence!”
“Unfortunately, we have evidence,”
Grey remarked. “As well as the
means…”
“And a motive,” Blue added, causing a distraught Dianne to turn to him. “To what
purpose, do you think, did he do all this, Dianne? I don’t think he’s willingly
doing the work of the Mysterons either. I’m sure you’re right when you say he
wouldn’t do that. No, he has his
own agenda. He’s a sick man, obsessed with only
one
thing…”
“Being with Symphony,” White
supplied.
“If not
his, then
mine
would do perfectly,” Blue said between his teeth. “In his sick mind, that’s the
only thing that really matters to him.”
“I…” Dianne stopped herself, unable to go on,
to find any arguments to effectively support the man she loved. She looked into empty space, dazed,
shaking her head in dismay, as she tried to absorb all this. “I don’t know what to say…” she murmured. “Didn’t I count for anything at all,
then?”
“You cannot think that,” Ochre
answered, putting a hand on her own, as it rested on the surface of the table.
He squeezed it comfortingly. “I know that Adam cared for you…”
“He’s just confused,” Indigo
provided in turn. “It’s that damn Dream Spinner’s programming… He’s not to
blame. He’s just a sick man who desperately needs help.”
“He might not be to blame,” White
said, “but we need to bring him back home.” He turned to Blue. “And send you
back to your own world.”
“How do you propose we do that,
sir?” Black enquired.
“The same way Blue used himself.”
White’s seat spun to face the screen. “Doctor Kurnitz, Doctor Giadello…
You reported that the Kurnitz console was damaged during the explosion which
opened the vortex to the other world.
Can you repair it?”
The two men
exchanged glances, then nodding to each other, returned their attention to the
waiting Spectrum commander. “We can always try,”
Giadello answered, if a little hesitantly. “As I said, we’ve already had
results with it. Whatever modifications might have been made to it, we should be
able to get it to work again…”
“We have spare parts from two other consoles that we might use too,”
Kurnitz continued.
“How about the power source?” Black
enquired. “You have two stones
left. If I remember correctly how it’s done, you would need a third.”
“That would be the problem, indeed,” Giadello mused.
“ Maybe Captain Blue had a third stone, that he
took with him on his journey.”
“Or maybe the receiver that you presently have can be used as such,”
Kurnitz proposed. ‘If it’s filled with shards of the red
stones… it might be sufficiently
powerful to replace a fully charged red stone.”
“We can try,”
Giadello said with a nod.
“And anyway, we will
need the receiver, to use as a key to open the right portal, if we succeed.”
“We need enough power for
two
such journeys,” White reminded them. “To send back our visiting Captain Blue to
his world – and to bring back our own.”
“He might not want to come
willingly,” Black observed. “So I’m
volunteering to go over with you, Captain Blue.”
Blue raised a curious brow.
“You? Are you sure that’s wise, Black?
Have you forgotten that in my world, the version of yourself is under Mysteron
control and a wanted man? My
colleagues are liable to shoot first and ask questions later. Like your
colleagues did with Scarlet last year, if I’m not mistaken. He was lucky, since
he was indestructible. But you…”
“I’m willing to take that risk.
Blue is my partner, and although our relationship has been tense at times, he’s
still a friend of mine. If circumstances were reversed… I know he would do the
same for me.”
“Provided he’s in his right mind,”
Ochre muttered under his breath.
White nodded his agreement to
Black’s volunteering, and turned again to the screen. “Get to work on the
double, gentlemen. Captain Ochre will be on his way soon, with the receiver.
Do whatever it takes, but make that machine work. Captain Black and Captain Blue
will prepare for their journey, and will be
with you as soon as you give the word.”
“Understood, Colonel White,”
Giadello said with a smile. “I
mean… S.I.G.
You’re giving us quite a challenge.
But Doctor Kurnitz and I, we love a challenge – and working under
pressure. Expect news from us very
soon… Spectrum Research Centre
out.”
The image on the huge screen
flicked out and the giant Spectrum logo soon replaced it. Captain Ochre was already moving,
picking up the receiver from the table and putting it into its box.
“They’ll be wanting this as soon as
possible. I’ll be on my way right
away, sir,” he said to Colonel White.
“S.I.G., Captain Ochre. Captain
Magenta, you will accompany him.”
“S.I.G., sir.” Magenta stood up. He
nodded around and then he and Ochre left the conference room in a hurry.
“As for us,” Colonel White
continued, “we will wait.
But stay alert, everyone. As
soon as we receive the call from the Research Centre, we will move. This meeting
is now over. Dismissed.”
With murmurs, everyone rose from
their seats and started to leave.
CHAPTER 6
The waiting period was always the worst part before a mission, and especially
when no-one knew for sure
what would happen next. This
time was even worse for Captain Blue, as he genuinely wondered if he should put
too much trust in the efforts of Giadello and Kurnitz who, for hours since the
end of the meeting, had been working on the Kurnitz console.
The last news they had received from the Research Centre, in the middle of the
evening, had been encouraging enough, but neither one of the two scientists were
making any promises as yet. There was still too much unknown data for them to
work on, and the console was such in a sorry state, that they had to work
practically from scratch in order to make it function again.
Although Blue didn’t feel much like it, he tried to get some sleep that night,
but without much success. He kept
tossing and turning in bed, wondering if he would ever get back home, worried
sick about what was going on there, with all his friends, with Karen… The thought of knowing she was presently
with a perfect stranger, who looked like him, who actually
was
him, with an insane streak, and completely obsessed with her, was haunting him. He was afraid the other Blue would do
her some harm… and that fear was increased even more by the possibility that
this crazy situation might have been orchestrated by the Mysterons after all.
Nothing good ever came from them…
Well, except Scarlet, of course, but in his case, they never meant for him to
escape and join Spectrum again to fight them. And he would certainly argue that
the powers they had given him were more of a curse than a gift.
Unable to sleep, Blue left his bed
and dressed in the borrowed uniform. When he left his quarters, it was to
find, with surprise, that Captain Black was leaving his as well. He was in pyjamas and slippers and
looked like he was having a rough night so far.
“Couldn’t sleep either?” Black
said, as the two of them met in the corridor.
Blue shook his head. “No – I was
heading to the officers’ lounge for a coffee and something to read.
I don’t think I’ll sleep at all tonight.”
“I’ve got insomnia,” Black
explained, shaking his head. “Not an uncommon problem with me, I’m afraid to
say. Right now, it’s the fourth night in a row. I normally fight it with
sleeping pills, but I didn’t dare take any tonight, as the Research Centre could
give us a call at any time and we’ll have to go.” He sighed.
“I’m afraid I’ll have to resort to using the Room of Sleep tonight. I need to be fresh when we receive the
call.”
“I don’t remember our Captain Black
ever suffering from insomnia,” Blue reflected.
“If he’s like me, he always
suffered from it, but never mentioned it to anyone,” Black said, with a weak
smile. “But it was to a lesser degree, before I was… taken over. It’s been worse after I was released
from Mysteron control a year ago.”
“You mentioned having nightmares.”
“Yes, when I do sleep. But maybe
I’m simply afraid of having them, and that’s what’s keeping me from sleeping?”
Black shook his head. “It’s possible. Come on, I’ll escort you to the officers’
lounge. It might not be a good idea for you to stroll Cloudbase’s corridors
unescorted. Considering the situation, you might attract attention.”
Blue had to admit he had not
thought about that, and so he thanked Black for his consideration.
They reached the lounge, and Black, trying
hard to suppress a yawn, pressed
the opening button for the door, which slid open in front of them. The room was
quiet, dimly lit, and empty – except for Dianne Simms, who was there, standing
in front of a porthole, gazing thoughtfully outside.
When she turned to see who was
coming, she stood rigidly, as if transfigured, staring straight at Blue. The
latter had frozen at the entrance, just after clearing the door. Black, still by
his side, looked from one to the other, curiously; then, recognising that there
was a need for them to talk things over, he cleared his throat, and stepped back
outside. “I’ll be leaving now,
Captain… I still have to get that
little shut-eye tonight.”
“Have a good night’s sleep, Captain
Black,” Blue said, giving him a grateful nod, and Black pressed the button
again, to close the door.
Left together, Blue and Dianne
continued to stare at each other; it lasted only a brief instant, before she
found her composure and her voice again: “For a moment there, when I saw you
arrive, I thought you were… him. I
know I saw you earlier in that uniform, but…”
“Colonel White suggested I wear it. I hope
your fiancé won’t mind… and that you don’t mind either.”
“Of course not.
It suits you as much as it does him.”
“Why, thanks,” he said with a wry
smirk. He approached to stand in front of her. “I take it you couldn’t sleep either?”
She answered with a shake of her
head. “I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in a week,” she answered.
He nodded his understanding. “I’m
glad we’re having these few minutes, Rhapsody – I mean, Dianne. I wanted to
thank you again for helping me this morning… no, yesterday morning.
It’s well after midnight, now.”
She smiled, and frowned with some
amusement. “Why is it that I always end up playing Angel of Mercy to the men
from your world?”
“Because you are one where I come
from?” he suggested. “I mean… the other Dianne Simms that I know…”
He stopped. “This is really confusing,” he admitted, smiling again, but this
time shyly.
“You’re telling me,” Dianne
answered, rolling her eyes. “What is your relationship with her… in your world?”
“You mean with Dianne?” Blue shrugged. “We’re friends.
Very good friends. But,” he
added quickly, as if fearing she might misunderstand his meaning, “not
that good…
or that
close either, if you see what I mean.
I’m in love with Karen, and I’m faithful to her.
And Dianne…”
“She’s Captain Scarlet’s
girlfriend, I know,” she interrupted before he could go on. “He told me as much when he got stranded
here last year. At least, they were
together at the time…”
“They still are,” Blue confirmed.
“Still very much in love with each other, I must say. Not married, yet, but…
we’re still
hoping
they’ll get there eventually. Those
of us who know about them, that is…”
“And you’re not married either, I
understand…”
“No. Not yet, either.
But that should be done soon. In a few months, probably in spring… if things all
go according to plan.” He sighed and looked thoughtful.
“We… we are still trying to figure the ceremony out. We would like all of our
families to be there, and our friends too… but it is difficult to reconcile
family, private life, and our work with Spectrum.
We might have to give up on a few things…”
“I understand completely.”
“And your Adam and yourself,” Blue
asked, “when were you supposed to…?”
“We had not set a date yet either.
We were thinking that we would do it sometime before the end of the year.”
“That would have been very soon,
then.”
Dianne’s expression became a sad
one. “Yes, but that was before this whole mess with the Network started, and
Adam gradually started to get ill.”
Blue nodded his sympathy for the
young, visibly heartbroken woman. Almost instinctively, and a little shyly, he
reached for her arm in an attempt to comfort her; he felt her shivering under
his touch, and the first thought that came to his mind in response was that he
should probably let go of her; he fought that urge, sensing she needed a
friendly contact at the moment.
“I’m sorry… it’s probably not very easy for you
right now,” he reflected.
“No, it’s not,” she said in a near
whisper. “I had to see him going progressively deeper and deeper into this
depression of his… not to mention his obsession – for another woman. No matter
that she is long dead, it’s still a disheartening thought.”
“For any woman, I should assume so,
yes…”
“I often wonder why I kept on
going. Maybe I was sensing his
distress… his need for help.
I could see there was something wrong with him, but even though I was
willing to help him, to support him… I often felt so helpless. Because whatever
I would do, it seemed to do no good.”
Dianne swallowed hard, trying to chase away those depressing thoughts.
“I wish I could go with you and Conrad.”
“To get him back?”
“Yes. Maybe I could try to reach him… to make
him see the folly of his plans… how ill he is,
and convince him to come back willingly. Without having to resort to force. Because, you know,
that
will be the only way for you and Conrad to get him
back. I don’t think he will listen
to any of you, and that might end in violence.”
Blue shook his head. “Your
stepfather would
never
consider letting you come with us, you know that. And I wouldn’t want to take that risk either, so forget about
it. I doubt you would be able to reason with him, anyway.”
She lowered her head, sadly.
“You might be right. It might not make such a difference after all. Although he
used to listen to me. If he still
loves me… or if he ever loved me…”
“I’m sure he does love you.”
“Sometimes, I wonder.
What if I was only a distraction for him, while he was waiting to get back to
the woman he really loves?”
“He cannot be that insensitive.”
Blue stroked her shoulder, in a reassuring gesture. “He’s sick, but he’ll get
better, Dianne. You’ll see.” He grinned encouragingly. “If I know him like I know myself…”
“I have to believe he will get
better, yes,” Dianne admitted. “And that he’s not yet beyond help.” She sighed again, deeply, and looked away; her eyes were
brimming with tears, but she was not willing to cry in front of him. “You know,
three years ago, when that awful thing happened to Paul – I was heartbroken. I
had not told him of my feelings for him, and he never knew. Then the Mysterons
took him, and he was lost to me forever. Now Adam is slipping away from me too,
after he finally opened up during this last year and admitted me into his heart.
I’m wondering now if I’m jinxed, or something, and some awful curse will fall on
every man I ever love…”
“Awww… don’t talk like that. You
know it’s not true.” Blue took her into his arms and brought her close to him.
She leaned against his powerful chest and held on to him, while he gave her a
warm comforting hug. “You’re not jinxed, Dianne,” he said over her red head. “No
more than I am myself. And sometimes, with the kind of lives we lead, it would
really seem like all of us in Spectrum are cursed! It’s just Fate, throwing unfair
curveballs at us. But you know what
they say: what doesn’t kill you makes you
stronger.”
“Then we must be the strongest
people in the Galaxy…” Dianne replied, and there were barely-contained tears in
her voice.
“You’d better keep away from me, though… Just to be on the safe side.”
He chuckled, recognising her
attempt to regain her composure. He let go of her, and stepped back to look into
her face; gently, he wiped the still visible tears from her eyes with the tip of
one finger. “Dry your eyes,” he told her softly. “Dear Dianne…
He shouldn’t make you suffer like this.”
“It’s not entirely his fault,” she
replied.
“Maybe not , but you don’t deserve it.
And I’m wondering if
he
deserves you, with the way
he’s treating you.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” Dianne answered
with a faint smile, that she wanted to appear wicked.
“He’ll get what’s coming to him… when he’s his old self again, that is.
But for that, he first needs to be helped… and to get that help, he must come back.”
“We’ll see that he will,” Blue
promised. “He’ll come back to you, Dianne, and I’ll return to my world, to my
Karen. We’ll set everything all
right again… Despite the Network – and despite the Mysterons.”
“I sincerely hope you’re right,”
she said, offering a courageous smile.
“Yes,” he said with a nod, bringing
her close again “You and me both, honey…”
It was not only an attempt to reassure her,
but to reassure himself as well.
Because he had no idea how – and if
– he would ever get back home.
END OF
PART TWO
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