[The Mysterons...sworn enemies of Earth, possessing the
ability to
recreate an exact likeness of an object or person--but
first, they
must destroy.
Leading the fight, one man fate has made
indestructible.
His name: Captain Scarlet....]
A 'Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons' short story
by Ralph Ferreira
It was 6:50 a.m.
The sun was already born anew and its rays were getting stronger as it was
rising in the blue sky. As usual on
any summer morning in Sao Paulo, Brazil, there was a very thin fog in the
streets due to the rapid evaporation of the water which fell down as rain the
previous day. The humidity in the
air was high, and the sensation of warmth was bigger than its reality. There were already many people going to
work. A morning like this was just
the same they had all seen in the past.
Of course, the traffic was not as crazy as it once had been in Century 20; all
means of public transportation had now become very effective, and people
preferred to use it instead of private vehicles.
The subway and trolley-bus system could take a person to any place in the city
in just a few minutes. Most people
just used their automobiles to get to the main stations, where they left them in
large parking lots. The current
traffic system began to be developed in the 2010's, when the pollution had
reached intolerable levels.
All the commonplace elements of this scene were broken when a distinctive convoy
came down one of the main avenues of S o Paulo City: Three large limousines were escorted by two police officers on
motorcycles in front of the row, and a police car behind it. People on the streets looked at the
convoy and imagined that important people had to be in those cars. Something big had to be happening. The World President was in one of the
cars, talking to people from his own retinue and Brazilian authorities. Among the Brazilians there was a man who
was speaking so enthusiastically that he simply captivated the attention of
everyone inside the car. The long
silver hair, the heavy glasses and the friendly smile on his face made Professor
Rossi a charismatic person.
"I'm looking forward to seeing what you've done over there, Professor
Rossi!" stated the World President. "I was very impressed when I read your reports."
"That's just paper, Mr. President," said a proud Professor Rossi.
"What we've got is much more impressive than any report, you'll see."
Forty minutes later, they arrived at the entrance of a huge complex
called World Nuclear Research Centre IV.
Everybody in the convoy, including the World President, was checked for
security and afterward received electronic identification cards to allow them to
get into the complex. The WNRC-IV
was located about fifty miles outside S o Paulo City in a green area, completely
surrounded by a forest. The complex
was composed of several buildings; the World President's car and the other two
limousines were going to the main building, an edifice of a peculiar
architecture. It looked like an
inverted "T". The first five floors
occupied an area which was about triple the width of the upper ten floors.
The building was surrounded by a four-mile ring-shaped wall.
Access to any place in the complex was controlled by the electronic
identification cards personnel and visitors were required to use.
The entire security system was managed by a centgral computer.
Professor Rossi led the group into the building. They entered a large lobby where a great
many people were moving in every conceivable direction. The activity was so intense that it
reminded everyone of a beehive. The
group went to one of the elevators.
The World President took a look at the elevator floor indicator above the door
and noticed that aside from the fifteen floors, the building also had five
floors under the ground level.
Professor Rossi set the controls of the elevator to the fifth under-floor when
the group had boarded. Then the
doors closed, and they were taken to the place where the world's nuclear
scientists would demonstrate the results of the research they had been doing for
the last several years.
Everything was calm on Cloudbase.
Captain Scarlet enjoyed a rare moment of relaxation, passing the time by
playing chess with Captain Ochre in the rest lounge.
In the Amber Room, the Angels were performing routine tasks; while Harmony was
in the cockpit of Angel One on the launch deck ready for an emergency take-off,
Destiny and Symphony rested in the lounge on standby duty.
Captain Blue joined Captains Scarlet and Ochre in the lounge, having just
returned from a forty-eight hour leave he had spent in Sydney, Australia.
It was not necessary for him to say that he had had a good time over there; his
tanned face demonstrated it clearly.
In the Control Room, Colonel White was looking out the window, contemplating the
splendid view he had thousands of feet above the earth as his aide, Lieutenant
Green, carried out some routine checks on the communication systems.
Then, suddenly, a cold voice came from a speaker, breaking the serene
ambience.
"This is the voice of the Mysterons. We know that you can hear us, Earthmen. We shall continue this war of nerves against you for your
unprovoked attack on our Martian complex.
Our next act of aggression will be to destroy the south cone."
"Captains Scarlet and Blue, please report to the Control Room
immediately," Lieutenant Green's Caribbean-accented voice announced over the
loudspeakers.
"Knew it was too good to last," Blue complained as he and Scarlet left to
once again resume their fight with the Mysterons.
Moments later, Captain Scarlet and Captain Blue sat on stools in front of
Colonel White's desk. "Well,
gentlemen," started Colonel White with an austere voice, "we have heard the last
Mysteron threat, and I am certain of what they mean about destroying the south
cone. Leftenant Green, the map of
South America, please."
Lieutenant Green pressed a button, and the map appeared on the projection
screen behind Colonel White.
Colonel White nodded toward the screen.
"I've been informed by the World President that the World Nuclear
Research Foundation is working on the development of a matter-antimatter reactor
at the Brazilian Centre."
"I've read lots of things about this kind of research," said Captain
Scarlet. "Since antimatter was
first suggested by Paul Dirac in the 1920's, lots of experiments have been done
in this field by several generations of scientists."
"Yes, I've seen a great deal about this, too," added Captain Blue.
"All those experiments with particle accelerators, the production of
anti-protons, or positrons..."
"Scientists of different countries put lots of effort into this research
at the Brazilian Centre," continued Colonel White. "They managed to produce seventy pounds
of anti-hydrogen, which has been confined in a special tank under a magnetic
field."
"That's a tremendous power source!" exclaimed Captain Scarlet.
"And it could also be the most destructive force that man has ever
created," Colonel White frowned.
"To destroy the south cone," Captain Blue said pausingly. "The WNRC-IV is located in S o Paulo, in
the southeast of Brazil. If a
sabotage was to occur, the results would be catastrophic!"
"Precisely, Captain Blue," replied Colonel White. "You and Scarlet are to fly immediately
to Sao Paulo. Professor Rossi,
director of the WNRC-IV, has been informed that you are coming. It's not necessary to say that this is a
critical situation. I know I can
count on you."
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Colonel Whnite was calm because
he knew that his personnel would do their best, and he trusted them.
He could only hope that that trust and their skills would be enough this time.
Captains Scarlet and Blue went to the Spectrum Passenger Jet bay and
readied the SPJ for takeoff as Lieutenant Green took his microphone and began
alerting all personnel involved in the operation.
"Plan A is in action," informed Lieutenant Green. "Channel 041, Codename Latin. Captain Scarlet will be the commander in
the field of this operation."
In the cabin of the SPJ, Captains Blue and Scarlet had done the checklist of the
plane controls and were ready for take-off.
Captain Scarlet dropped his RadioCap microphone. "Request launch clearance," he said into
the microphone.
"Spectrum is Green," replied Lieutenant Green.
Some seconds later, the SPJ took off.
Like an eagle leaving the nest, the elegant silver bird headed south at maximum
cruise speed.
Soon after the SPJ landed at the Guarulhos International Airport in S o Paulo
State, Professor Rossi went immediately to meet both Captains. "Captain Scarlet, Captain Blue!" called
Professor Rossi at the arrival lobby of the airport, with a smile on his face.
"I'm Professor Rossi. I know that you have a saloon car
waiting for you, but I would appreciate it if you could go with me. I have a limousine ready to take us to
the WNRC-IV."
Scarlet and Blue exchanged glances, then decided to go with Professor
Rossi. It might make their job
easier to start gathering information on the ride to the complex.
The car left the airport and took a highway which would take them to the
complex. It was an eighty-mile
drive, but the sightseeing was very beautiful.
The highway followed the margins of the Tiˆte River. Scarlet and Blue were told about the
history of that river, which at the end of Century 20 had been a dead river. After years of work on it, life was
brought back to the river which had now become a symbol for the Brazilian
ecologists. Professor Rossi also
explained to them briefly the ecological research being done there.
When they arrived at the complex, Professor Rossi started explaining about all
the buildings before they reached the main building. "See those twin buildings?" Professor Rossi asked, pointing
to two identical edifications built in parallel, separated by a 70-foot
distance. "The first one is the
administration building; the other one is for accommodations for our visitors.
It has all the features of a modern hotel."
Rossi went on to point out the many other facilities in the complex.
The complex also had a roomy five-story building which was the shop facility,
and several small buildings for the refectory, medical facilities, and
communication station. All the buildings were surrounded by
attractive gardens of trees, bushes and benches for people to rest while on
lunch break or any other free time.
The complex also had its own security force, needed due to the nature of the
research which was being done there.
As it was a civilian center, it had no heavy weapon defense system. Hence, two Army helicopters patrolled
the airspace around it. They did
this in a 24-hour work arrangement, divided into six-hour shifts. To avoid leaving the complex unguarded,
each crew had different scheduled hours for changing their shifts. As part of the Spectrum plan, Spectrum
helicopter A-50 was to join them later, with Captain Magenta and a Spectrum
pilot.
The men arrived at the main building and exited their limousine. Scarlet, always wary of any kind of
danger to the success of their mission and especially so with a Spectrum
helicopter due to join them shortly, cast a glance at the sky and frowned. As usual this time of year, the sky was
becoming full of heavy dark clouds which were a prelude to a summer storm at the
end of the afternoon. The sun was
still reigning in the sky, however, and the temperature was quite high.
"Hope the weather holds," Blue indicated.
"This time of year, in South America?" Scarlet replied. "Hardly likely. We're in for a nasty storm. I don't like the looks of this at all."
Scarlet and Blue were soon introduced to the team of scientists who
directed the complex, people from Brazil, the United States, England, Japan,
Italy and Germany. They entered the
matter-antimatter reactor control room, were shown the vacuum chamber where
airless experiments in matter manipulation were performed, and then the reactor
room itself. Despite the menace of
the Mysterons, the scientists explained, the work at the Centre had to continue
as usual, and systems could not be shut down.
Scarlet shook his head.
Things like this always worried him.
The weather, the experimental nature of the Centre, the continuing
operations...all of it was making him very uneasy.
The Mysterons loved situations like this.
And Scarlet had a feeling Spectrum was already behind the curve.
The wind was blowing hard already, and the first raindrops were falling from the
dark sky. All the external lights
of the complex turned on automatically due to the premature darkness of the day.
It was approaching shift change hour, and another Army helicopter was on its way
to replace one of the patrol units.
The rain, after some minutes, had become heavy, and the visibility was
practically zero. The crew was
flying by instruments.
In a clearing in the woods, a car was parked.
Not far from it, a man dressed in black was looking at the oncoming
helicopter. The figure stood there, impassive and
alone, unmoved even by the heavy drops of rain which were hitting his pale face.
Suddenly, one of the helicopter's engines stopped.
"We've lost engine one, sir!" exclaimed the first officer.
"We'd better get back to base," said the commander. "Get in touch with them and inform of
our condition. They need to send another helicopter."
"Communications are not operating," frowned the first officer.
"Now we're...we're losing engine two!"
With both engines inoperative, the helicopter fell like a shot bird, crashing
into the trees. The explosion was
diminished by the heavy rain, but the destruction of the helicopter was total.
Then, a green ray came from the sky, forming two thin rings which
silently swept over the wreckage of the helicopter, vanishing seconds later.
Former Spectrum officer-turned-Mysteron agent Captain Black dictated a
description of the scene to his invisible masters, then deviated his attention
just enough to notice the noise of another helicopter.
The Mysteronized aircraft landed in the middle of the clearing in the woods
where he stood. Captain Black
walked to it and got in, taking his seat behind the empty control cabin. The Mysterons had not recreated the
pilots--only the machine.
The change of patrol shifts was performed normally. When the Mysteronized helicopter arrived, one of the others
left the place. Although they flew
relatively close to each other during the shift change, the heavy rain gave the
Mysterons a perfect cover. No one
noticed the strange man behind the controls.
The helicopter approached the ground and hovered at a distance of less than four
feet, low enough to permit Captain Black to jump to the ground. He then ran to hide behind a group of
trees.
Captain Scarlet was talking to the security chief, Mr. Da Silva, telling
him the precautions Spectrum was taking by placing agents at the entrance and at
strategic points within the WNRC-IV, as well as the Spectrum patrol helicopter.
All of the patrolling Spectrum guards were using Mysteron detectors and weapons. Scarlet found himself hoping that he was
more reassuring to the other man than he currently felt. An uneasy feeling kept nagging at him
that something was about to happen.
He just wished he knew what.
Captain Blue stood in the reactor control room with Mr. Dos Santos,
Professor Rossi's assistant, who was showing him the many safety features of the
reactor. "So, you can control all
systems from this room as well as from the reactor room?" he asked Dos Santos,
while the technician was removing a defective component from a computer.
"Yes, Captain Blue," answered Dos Santos. "All systems are double-controlled, so
that if we have problems in one of them, we can use the other to maintain normal
operations. See this control card?
It's failing. I'll take it to the electronic shop and
get a replacement. Could you please
wait here for a moment with these gentlemen?
I'll be back in a few minutes."
"Sure." Captain Blue stood
with the other technicians and watched Dos Santos depart. Although he was seeing a great many
interesting things, he was apprehensive because he knew that at any time the
Mysterons might try something.
Unlike Scarlet, Blue had no innate ability to sense Mysterons, but he did have
good old-fashioned intuition. And
it was telling him the Mysterons were probably closer than he liked.
Night fell, and there was no sign of the storm that had been, except for
puddles on the ground. The black
sky was full of stars, and the temperature was very pleasant, with a fine summer
breeze. Dos Santos was making his
way to the shop facilities when suddenly a man emerged from a group of bushes
and stood in his way.
"Who are you?" inquired Dos Santos. "Where's your identification card? How did you get in here?
I'm going to call Security right now!" He reached for his pocket radio.
Captain Black whipped out a gun.
"No, Earthman, you will not."
Without mercy, Captain Black fired twice, the noise of the gun being
deadened by a silencer.
The unfortunate Dos Santos fell down lifeless on the ground.
Captain Black stood there looking down at him, almost expectantly.
A green ray came down again from the sky, forming the two thin rings which
slowly swept over the dead man's body.
Moments later, Black and a Mysteronized Dos Santos dragged the body away
into the bushes. Dos Santos
silently reached to pick up the circuitry card the dead man had been carrying,
which now lay on the ground, and then looked at Captain Black.
"You know what you have to do," said Captain Black emotionlessly after
giving the Mysteronized Dos Santos his own gun.
"Yes--I know what I must do," said the Mysteron agent, nodding slowly.
Spectrum Helicopter A50 was still patrolling the airspace when Captain
Magenta saw a strange man running across an open field toward some tall trees.
The rubber trees, more than 100 years old, were high and their branches full of
big and heavy leaves, produced a wide area of good cover to anyone who would
want to hide beneath.
"I just saw someone going under those trees," said Captain Magenta,
pointing at the trees, to the helicopter pilot. "Circle them, and I'll check the person
out."
A50 maneuvered around and started flying very low around the rubber trees. Captain Magenta had his detector ready
to use. Spectrum could not take any
chances, and Magenta knew he must find out who that man was.
One of the army helicopters was approaching very fast, apparently as if to
assist the A50 on its quest. The
A50 pilot started to relax...until he realized there was no one in the other
copter's control cabin. "It's a
trap!" he screamed, trying desperately to out-maneuver the flying death machine.
Before Captain Magenta could say a word, the powerful nose cannon of the
Mysteronized helicopter fired at them, hitting the tail of their helicopter.
The Spectrum aircraft spun along the axis of the main propeller like a toy top,
then plunged the short distance to the ground.
Captain Magenta recovered quickly, thankful that the low altitude at
which they had been flying had eased their landing, and looked around. Immediately he saw that there were signs
of fire inside their craft, and that the pilot was unconscious. Although he was hurt as well, Magenta
rapidly unfastened his and the pilot's seat belts and got out, carrying the
other man and trying to reach a safe location before the copter exploded.
With the Spectrum helijet down, the Mysteronized helicopter aimed at the other
Army patrol helicopter and fired an air-to-air missile that it carried on one of
its stabilizer wings, destroying the craft.
Then, it rapidly maneuvered to fly at maximum speed toward the
communication station. The element
of surprise had been effective; no one had time to take any action or launch a
counter-attack.
Most of the essential personnel on the anti-matter program were still working
overtime, although it was getting late at night. But the lateness of the hour was beginning to show on some of
them.
"I'm getting tired," yawned Professor Rossi to Captains Scarlet and Blue.
"I'm going home now. The personnel
of the night shift will stay here to perform the usual essential tasks. We have prepared accommodations for both of you, Captains."
"Go and get some sleep, Captain Blue," said Scarlet to his partner.
"I'll take the first watch."
"Right. I'll relieve you at
2 a.m." He and Rossi started to go.
As they did, Dos Santos finally came back from the electronics shop.
Suddenly, cold sweat started breaking out on Scarlet's face, and he
swayed.
Immediately, Blue was by his side.
"What's wrong, Captain Scarlet?" he asked.
"I'm having that sensation I get when there's a Mysteron around," Scarlet
replied, trying to fight through the nausea.
Several scientists looked toward Scarlet, not even realizing the Mysteron
agent stood behind them.
The sound of a distant explosion, then a closer one, caught all of their
attentions. Then, a frantic voice
over the loudspeakers confirmed their worst fears.
"We are under attack! One of
the Army helicopters shot down the other two, and is now firing at the complex!
The communication station has been destroyed.
We can contact nobody; we're isolated!"
Captain Scarlet rapidly flipped down his RadioCap microphone
and said, "Channel 041. Latin."
His epaulets flashed green, and Lieutenant Green's voice answered, "Cloudbase to
Captain Scarlet. I'll transfer to
Colonel White. Stand by."
"S.I.R."
"What's happening, Scarlet?" asked Colonel White, his voice worried.
"The WNRC-IV is under attack.
An Army helicopter is apparently under the control of the Mysterons and
has shot down the other patrol helicopters.
We are cut off from the outside world and require immediate assistance."
Scarlet could almost hear White frown.
"This is it—the Mysterons have begun their plan," the commander replied.
"Spectrum is Red, Scarlet. I'm
launching Angel One. She will be
there in a few minutes."
"S.I.G."
"Angel One, immediate launch."
With those words from Lieutenant Green, Symphony Angel in Angel One was
immediately catapulted off the launch deck and into the stratosphere.
Although Captain Magenta and the unconscious pilot were already at a safe
distance from the Spectrum helicopter when it exploded, the shock wave threw
them against the ground. Captain
Magenta slowly raised his head and saw that the man he had been pursuing was
standing there, looking down at him.
Too late, he recognized that man, who wore a sardonic smile, as Captain Black. Magenta reached for his gun.
Black watched as Magenta quivered for a moment, then passed out. Quietly, he stepped over Magenta's body
and walked throught the ruins of the walls surrounding part of the complex.
His car stood outside those walls waiting for him.
Black hurried over to it.
Another Army helicopter was due soon, and he had to work fast.
Opening the trunk of the car, he extracted from it a portable
surface-to-air missile launcher, pointed it at the night sky, looked into the
infrared sight, and waited.
Right on schedule, the helicopter appeared in the night sky.
When it got into his firing range, he aimed and fired.
The Army helicopter literally disintegrated in a ball of fire.
Satisfied, Captain Black dropped his weapon and got in his car. He simply sat there and waited until his
car mysteriously started to disappear, as if the Mysterons, sure of their
victory, wanted to transport Captain Black to a safe place.
Scarlet and Blue were outside the research facility, trying to find and
destroy their Mysteron enemy, but neither their weapons nor those of the
security personnel would be capable of damaging the heavy armor of the
helicopter, an MH-29, which looked like a flying tank. The Centre, a civilian facility, had no
anti-aircraft
defense system.
"Is there a way for the helicopter to destroy the reactor with its
attacks?" asked Captain Blue to a technician beside him, as a pane of glass
shattered due to an A-S missile which got into the main building.
"Only if they're carrying tactical nuclear weapons," the technician
practically shouted over the noise of the assault.
"If it had them, it would have already used them," said Blue, frowning.
"A decoy," suggested Scarlet.
"Then I'd better go back to the reactor!" Blue said anxiously.
"They might be trying something over there, too."
"S.I.G.," said Scarlet, taking a machine gun from a security man who was
with them. The three were hiding
behind the carcass of a destroyed truck. "I need to borrow this, please." He then turned to Blue. "I'll cover you, Captain Blue."
The Mysteronized helicopter was flying very low, using its rocket launcher pod
to destroy every part of the building it could.
Scarlet and Blue looked at each other for a moment, as if synchronizing
moves, and then Scarlet ran away from the building entrance toward a parking lot
and started firing the machine gun.
The helicopter deviated its attention toward the new attacker, giving Blue a
good chance to make his move. Blue
raced for the building.
Scarlet jumped in and out among the parked cars, trying to escape from
the heavy fire of bullets from the MH-29's nose cannon. It was like standing in a hurricane of
pieces of metal, glass, dust, smoke and fire, as the cars were being
obliterated.
Suddenly, the attack stopped, and Scarlet could take a breath and notice
he was momentarily able to flee from the danger. Wasting no time, he ran for cover before the copter made
another pass for him.
Once he was out of danger, he looked himself over carefully. Although his clothes were covered in
fragments of debris, he was not injured.
Quickly, he looked out toward the grounds.
He could see the MH-29 flying at maximum speed toward the twin buildings, and
then heard a familiar sound. He
looked upward.
In the sky, he saw the familiar shape of Angel One. Once more Scarlet mentally noted that "Angels" was the right
name for those intrepid girls, as he watched the beautiful plane, illuminated by
moonlight, coming in fast.
The entrance to the main building was illuminated only by emergency lights and
the small bursts of fire. The place
which hours before had been so alive and busy was now only a smoking mess. Captain Blue knew that the underground
levels were beneath a ten-foot-thick concrete floor and their electrical power
came from an independent generator, also located underground, and thus were
probably in much better condition than the rest of the building. Blue headed for the evacuation stairs
since the electricity that powered the elevators was not working and hurried
downstairs.
Running through deserted corridors, Blue noted everything seemed to be
intact until he reached the reactor control room.
To his horror, all the control panels were destroyed. Only a few display consoles around the room's perimeter were
intact. He found a severely wounded
man lying motionless on the floor.
Blue knelt down near him. Although
the man was in critical condition, he was still alive.
"The...the vacuum chamber...fast!" whispered the dying man.
Vacuum chamber...the airlocked room used for airless experiments...oh,
no...Blue called for medical assistance over his radio as he ran toward the
chamber.
When he got there, he could see through a small window in a heavy iron door that
a group of scientists were locked in there, and the atmosphere inside it was
being removed at lethal levels.
Immediately, he started trying to find a way to reverse the process and
open the airlock to save those men and women, in a desperate race against time.
Symphony was unable to destroy the Mysteronized helicopter. It kept darting between the twin buildings, using them as
protection, like a rat trying to escape a cat.
"So you want to play hide and seek, hm-m?" she smiled delicately.
"O.K., I know how to win that game."
Symphony took her jet into a steep dive and levelled out at a very low
altitude, in a position where the MH-29 could not see or detect her. The trees and the grass beneath her
plane were shaken by the exhaust gases of her plane.
Angel
One was now right on a perpendicular path with the walls of one of the twin
buildings.
Symphony concentrated her nerves of steel and pushed her plane ever
closer, then suddenly made a sharp curve and maneuvered along the building's
contour, between the canyon created by the walls of the twin towers.
After that rapid maneuver, she was face to face with the Mysteronized
helicopter. She knew she would need
millimetre precision, because she was going to fly between those twin buildings,
and any mistake would certainly be fatal. Her heart was beating harder, and she put the MH-29 in her
gun sight, knowing that it could not escape, but that she would need
instantaneous reflex action to avoid destroying her aircraft as well.
"Take this, baby," she said, after stabbing at the firing button.
The MH-29 disintegrated.
Symphony swung her plane up and away, passing through the flames of the
explosion. Seconds later, the
ultrasonic fighter was hundreds of feet away from the twin buildings, levelling
out at 10,000 feet.
"Symphony Angel to Cloudbase.
The Mysteronized helicopter is destroyed. Four Army MH-29's are just now arriving. The situation in the air is under
control."
When Captain Scarlet arrived at the reactor control room, he found medical
personnel attending to some of the victims of the vacuum chamber while those
that were well enough to assist joined a group of scientists and technicians
working desperately, some trying to repair control panels, others working on the
benches of the work stations. Worry
was on all their faces, including Captain Blue's.
"Dos Santos is a Mysteron agent!" Blue said in alarm. "He destroyed all the control panels,
and now he's in the reactor room, where he's got the only working controls. The consoles that are working here
indicate he's trying to overload the system.
If he puts all that antimatter in contact with matter in the mixing chamber at
one time..."
"They'll annihilate each other, liberating a colossal quantity of
energy!" growled Mr. Gomes, a technician whose nerves were completely shattered.
"The subsequent explosion would devastate a quarter of the surface of South
America! This is the end!"
"No!" shouted Scarlet, cutting him short. "We can't give up. We have to find out a way to stop this."
"There is a way," said Professor Rossi, who appeared in the room wearing
a radiation suit.
"I'll go into the reactor room and reverse the process."
"It's better if Captain Scarlet or I do this, Professor," said Blue.
"Dos Santos is now a Mysteron agent, and we're better prepared to face him."
"No, I cannot permit that.
The overload in the reactor room caused a leakage of excessive radiation
in there. The automatic radiation
isolation system was activated. If
I am able to stop the leak, it will return the room to habitable conditions, but
only after seven hours. A man would
die in there under those conditions, even wearing this suit. I'm the one responsible for this
Centre--if someone has to die, I should be the one."
"I insist you leave this task to Spectrum personnel, Professor," said
Scarlet, running toward the locker where the anti-radiation suits were stored.
"No, Captain! I'm sorry,"
Professor Rossi said, cutting Scarlet's path off.
Scarlet was startled to see Rossi now holding a gun and training it on
the center of his chest. Had his Mysteron sensitivity failed to detect Rossi as a
Mysteron?
Rossi looked desperate. "As
I told you, I'll die if necessary to stop this!" he stared firmly. "Please don't force me to hurt you.
There's enough anaesthetic in this gun to make a man sleep for many hours."
Gomes had been ticking like a mental time bomb whose clock was running
short, and the pressure building up inside him exploded as he watched the scene.
"It's Doomsday!" he screamed hysterically.
"We won't be safe from Hell! We
have to repent of our sins! We
don't have time--it's the end!"
Professor Rossi looked toward the screaming man.
Captain Blue seized the opportunity...and seized Rossi's gun, once more
taking control of the situation.
As other technicians and scientists were trying to calm Gomes, Blue and Scarlet
relaxed slightly and tended to the unbalanced Rossi. "Sorry, Professor," said Blue, trying to soothe Rossi's
jangled nerves. "Everything will be
all right. Please, trust us. We need you to stay calm and tell us how
to stop the reactor from overloading."
While Captain Scarlet was putting on an anti-radiation suit, Professor
Rossi explained to him how to stop the reactor overload. It was very simple; he merely had to
turn off some power switches in the control alcove located beside the reactor.
When Scarlet finished dressing, Rossi led them to the airlock between the
control room and the reactor room.
"We use this to send robots into the reactor room in case of radiation leakage,"
he explained. "The robots are put
in the airlock, after which the access door to the control room is sealed and
the access door to the reactor room opened.
But this airlock can be used only once.
Only when the ambient atmosphere in both the airlock and the reactor room
returns to a habitable condition can it be opened again. If you fail, there will not be another
chance."
"Then I won't fail," Scarlet replied simply. With that, he entered the airlock under
the anxious glances of many men and women.
Scarlet knew the responsibility he had on his hands: The destiny of all those persons, and
millions of other innocent people, depended on his success.
"Good luck, Paul!" said Blue, optimism in his voice.
Scarlet smiled at Blue, then pressed a button on a panel beside the
access door, which closed it. After
pressing the button to open the access door to the reactor room, he heard the
noise of the entrance door being sealed, then the reactor room door opening.
Now the real work began.
The temperature inside the reactor room was troublingly high due to the
overloading systems. There were
gases and smoke everywhere, but the real hazard was invisible--the radiation
leakage.
Carefully, Scarlet entered the reactor room and checked his handgun,
knowing that the Mysteron agent could be anywhere. Slowly, he advanced toward the mixing chamber.
As he neared the mixing chamber, a bullet passed very close to his head, hitting
the concrete wall of the mixing chamber.
Immediately, Scarlet backed up and hid behind the 20-foot-radius
cylindrical chamber and looked around for the source of the shot.
"It's useless to try to do anything, Earthman!" shouted Dos Santos.
"In twenty minutes, this place will blow up.
We will be avenged, Earthman!"
"Don't be stupid, Dos Santos!" Scarlet answered in a loud voice.
"You're going to blow up along with this place!"
"You will never win!"
Spotting Dos Santos in the control alcove behind the control bench, Scarlet
looked for an opportunity to fire at him.
The control bench was just four feet high, and the Mysteronized man was standing
there looking for the opportunity to kill anyone who would try to get closer to
him. There was a bigger problem,
however: Some of the switches
Scarlet had to turn off were in a panel just behind Dos Santos' head. If Scarlet missed the mark, he could
destroy the mechanism, and the consequences would be disastrous.
Time was running out, and Scarlet had to think fast, had to find a solution. He took a rapid look at Dos Santos, then
went back into hiding when the Mysteron started firing again. On the right side of the control alcove,
there was a power supply, which was connected directly to the generator which
supplied the underground floors of the building with power. He had an idea, but he needed to get
closer to Dos Santos.
Scarlet started shooting out the lights of the room. In a few seconds, only the weak light
from displays was illuminating the place.
He threw himself upon the ground and started creeping along silently. The flicker of light on Dos Santos face
accentuated the deformation caused by the radiation's high levels. It was almost too grotesque to witness.
After moving about the contours of the room, creeping behind control
benches, computer frames and other objects, Scarlet stopped behind one of the
four big magnetic generators, which were located in positions around the mixing
chamber. He was at a distance of
less than eight feet from Dos Santos, and he knew that he did not have much
time.
Captain Scarlet jumped toward Dos Santos, who immediately fired on him,
striking him in the abdomen. A
hand-to-hand fight began, but one where Scarlet had a distinct advantage. Even a Mysteronized man would require
hours to recover from all the damage the radiation could cause to his body, and
Dos Santos was very weak.
Scarlet fought through the pain of his stomach wound, knocked Dos Santos'
gun away, and sent the Mysteron agent stumbling and falling onto the power
supply switching board, the resultant short circuit glowing in the room like
lightning and killing Dos Santos instantly.
Then deadly silence fell again.
Scarlet had lost a great deal of blood due to the wound, and he knew he
had only a few minutes before the whole place would explode. He also had to hurry because his vision
was starting to dim due to his loss of blood.
Fighting the wave of unconsciousness that threatened to engulf him,
Scarlet reached for the control panel.
Captain Blue was biting his lips hard.
It had been too long since Captain Scarlet had entered, and time was
running out. The numbers on the
panels were reaching critical levels...
"He's got it!" shouted an excited man who was monitoring one of the
display control consoles.
"Oh, my God, he's got it!"
A celebration broke forth in the room as the systems slowly returned to normal
and the overload condition stopped.
It was nearly midnight. Another day
would dawn normally. South America
was safe.
Gradually, the euphoria in the control room ceased, however, and a
funereal silence came down.
"We're safe; millions are safe," said a beautiful blonde woman, tears in
her eyes. "But a man had to die to
save us, a very valiant man."
"Don't be so sad, Doctor Roberts," said Captain Blue in a serene voice,
after wiping with his right hand a tear which was running down the woman's face.
"Captain Scarlet will be all right."
"I know he's your friend, Captain Blue," replied the woman, "but no one can
survive under those conditions!"
"Maybe he can. Believe me."
Captain Scarlet opened his eyes and realized he
was in the Cloudbase sickbay.
Slowly, he sat up and saw Dr. Fawn working at his desk.
Fawn looked up from his work at the sound of Scarlet's movement and smiled, then
punched the intercom button on his desk.
"Fawn to Control," the doctor said. "You asked to be notified when Captain Scarlet regained
consciousness."
"Thank you, Doctor," White replied over the speakers.
Fawn turned his attention to Scarlet.
"Welcome back, Captain. Say
hello to your bunkmate."
Scarlet looked to his right and saw Captain Magenta sitting on a bed
beside his own, grinning at him.
"I'm glad to see you, Captain Magenta," said Scarlet. "How are you doing?"
"Not having as fast a recovery as yours," he smiled, "but I'm doing O.K."
Captain Blue and Colonel White arrived within moments. Both looked visibly relieved to see
Scarlet awake. "It's good to see
you in good shape again, son," expressed Colonel White with a smile of
satisfaction on his face. "You did
very good work over there."
"We all did, sir," Scarlet replied.
"Yes, I know."
"What about the Centre?"
"It will take some months to rebuild it," answered Captain Blue.
"But it could have been much, much worse.
The only thing no one over there could believe was that you were still alive
when the automatic radiation isolation system released the room.
They said you're like a cat with many lives."
"Well, a cat has only nine lives," joked Scarlet.
All the officers laughed with Scarlet, and a high spirit reigned in the sickbay.
One more time, they had won a battle in this war of nerves against the
Mysterons.
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