Chilled

A “New Captain Scarlet” short story

by LEZLI FARRINGTON

Based towards the end of 'Chiller', Scarlet has to face the consequences of his actions whilst a ghost.

If I owned it, there would have been a Series 3. And 4. And.. you get the picture. Also, Ochre and Green would have still been men (although the girls may well have been around under different guises).

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"So, how are you feeling now?"

"Absolutely fine, Doc," Scarlet said cheerfully. "Glad to be back in my own skin."

Gold frowned; the story Scarlet had related to him during the examination was unbelievable, but not altogether unexpected - he had expected Scarlet's mind to start filling in the blanks during recovery, but to have come up with such a vivid and engaging fantasy was something he had not expected. He was about to comment when Destiny Angel entered, flexing her hands.

"Destiny?"

"Hi, Paul," she said. "Good to see you're better. Doctor, my hands feel odd. They're tingling."

Gold gestured towards the nearest bed, and Destiny obediently hopped onto it.

"Do you have this feeling anywhere else?"

"No, I... Yes, my shoulder," Destiny exclaimed. "Just where that cold... thing touched me earlier."

"Cold thing?" Gold repeated curiously as he examined Destiny's red, lightly blistered fingers. "This is very strange. Which shoulder?"

"Left," Scarlet said.

"Yes, it is," Destiny said, looking past the doctor to her boyfriend. "How did you know?"

"Just here." Scarlet touched her gently so as not to cause her any more pain. "I'm sorry; it was the only way to get your attention."

Destiny blinked in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"In your quarters, I touched you just there to get your attention. Then you put your hands right into me." Scarlet turned to Gold: "And you didn't believe me. You'll probably find that Blue has a similar injury on his left shoulder."

"You must admit, Scarlet, that it is a fantastic story," Gold said. "And you have given Destiny frostbite."

Scarlet had the good grace to look embarrassed.

"What are you talking about?" Destiny demanded.

Scarlet explained it to both of them as soon as Blue arrived in Sickbay, still not quite certain as to how Gold had possibly known about the tingling in his left shoulder. Once a shell-shocked Destiny had departed, Gold turned his attention to Blue's injury.

"Let me get this straight," Blue demanded, all but ignoring the doctor's examination of his shoulder. "That weird cold thing we were following, that was you?"

"Yes," Scarlet said.

"You saved Skybase whilst you were dead? Hell, Scarlet, that's impressive, even for you. I guess I can forgive you for this." He indicated to the red patch on his shoulder.

"You're welcome," Scarlet said with a grin. "And I am sorry about that – I didn't realize how much I would hurt you."

Blue shrugged. "It's not that bad."

"No, it isn't," Gold agreed, finishing his examination. "The frostbite is superficial – it will heal if you don't exert it too much. No daredevil stunts in the next two weeks, please."

Blue immediately looked innocent. "Who, me?"

Gold merely gave him a withering look. "You may go, and remember…"

"Yeah, yeah, nothing stupid," Blue said as he pulled his undershirt back on. "I get it. I'll behave. Anything to save me from you," he added under his breath.

Scarlet snickered and handed him his uniform vest. "I wonder if he'll let you go and pick up Storey with me?"

Blue shrugged. "That's probably okay, but… might let you fly…"

"And drive," Scarlet added, smirking. "Your driving is definitely 'daredevil'."

"Hey!"