Fission
A “Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons” story
By Captain Tourmaline and Scarlet Lady
Captains Scarlet and Blue were standing outside of an
old apartment building. There had been suspected
Mysteron activity in the area, and they were checking a hunch. As he looked around, Blue thought he saw a
face at one of the windows. “This way,
Captain!” he yelled, dashing through the main entrance.
“Captain Blue! Wait!” Scarlet gave chase.
Blue stopped suddenly, when he thought he heard
something.
“Adam! Look out!” Scarlet yelled from the
doorway. Blue stared at him. “Paul, what’s-” The floor beneath him gave
way.
“Adam, are you SURE you’re alright?” Scarlet asked his
partner, as they arrived back on Cloudbase and he helped him into the officers’
lounge.
“Yes, I’m fine.
Just a little sore.” Blue stumbled, hitting against the comm. link. “Ouch!”
“Adam!” Scarlet steadied his friend and helped him
into a chair.
“What’s going on?” the angry voice of Colonel White
demanded through the comm. speaker.
“It’s alright, Colonel,” Scarlet assured him, “someone
hit the comm., that’s all.”
“WHO hit the comm., Captain?”
“Captain Blue, Sir.
He’s hurt his leg during this last mission.”
“Get him down to the Sickbay, then. It could be serious.”
“S.I.G., Sir.” Scarlet helped Blue to his feet, and
led him from the room. “OK, Captain
Blue, you heard the Colonel. You’re
going to the Sickbay.”
*******
“It turned out to be a broken ankle,” Captain Scarlet
informed his C-in-C.
“That was amazingly lucky, under the circumstances,”
Colonel White remarked. When he noticed
Scarlet’s perplexed expression, he added, “He did fall through to the
sub-basement.”
“Very true, Sir,” Scarlet agreed.
“Right. I’d get
some rest, if I were you, Captain.
Seeing as the latest report was based on a false alarm, we have to
assume that the Mysterons’ next move shall come soon.”
Scarlet nodded his agreement and left. He made straight for the officers’ lounge,
to finish reading the book he’d started earlier in the day.
Unusually, Captains Ochre and Magenta were
playing chess. Finally, Magenta
announced, “Checkmate.” This was even
more unusual than the two of them playing chess in the first place. He grinned smugly.
Ochre
stared at the board, trying to prove him wrong.
Scarlet
put his book down and joined them.
“He’s right you know, Rick.”
“Well,
everyone knows that gangsters cheat!” Ochre turned to Scarlet, hotly. “And as I
bet my week’s pay...”
The lounge
loudspeaker then suddenly came to life, and the voice they all knew so well
made itself heard, interrupting Scarlet. “This is the
voice of the Mysterons, we have not forgotten your unprovoked attack on our
Martian Complex. Our next act of
retaliation shall be to decimate the Pacifica nuclear store at noon tomorrow,
with the U-235. We will be avenged!”
The speaker went silent again, as
suddenly. Then the Colonel’s voice came
through it: “Will all Captains on
duty report to the Conference Room immediately.” Scarlet, Ochre and Magenta moved toward the door in unison, while
behind them, though the comm. link, the voice of their commander was
continuing, on another matter: “To all Spectrum personnel: I am sure you are all aware that Captain
Blue is out of operation with a broken ankle.
This means that one of Spectrum Headquarters’ finest officers, Captain
Tourmaline, will be stepping in to replace him. His plane is about to touch
down on Cloudbase and will be participating in the next mission as Captain
Scarlet’s new partner.”
Scarlet spun round. “WHAT?”
“He can’t do that!” Magenta turned to
Scarlet.
Scarlet wrung his hands. “I hope the Colonel isn’t going to regret a
decision like that!”
* * * * * * *
Everybody
was seated in the Conference Room - Ochre and Magenta at opposite sides - but
Tourmaline was still missing.
Colonel White began, “As you are all
probably aware, the Mysterons have announced that they will decimate Pacifica
Base. The strange part is that they have said that they will use the U-235...”
he glanced down at his notes, “The Indestructible.
Our plan is this: Captains Ochre and Magenta will fly out to Pacifica Base,
while Scarlet and Tourmaline will meet Grey and rendezvous with the Indestructible. The Angels will patrol over
the base just in case…”
“Colonel,”
Green called, suddenly, “Captain Tourmaline has arrived.”
“Better late than never, I suppose!”
Scarlet remarked, beneath his breath. “Thank you, Captain,” Colonel White replied,
sternly.
Tourmaline
entered and came to attention before the Colonel. “Sorry I’m late, Colonel.”
“At
ease, Captain,” White replied, trying to conceal his annoyance. “What happened
for you to be that late?”
“I...
um, there was a problem at the airport.”
“Well, at least you’re here now.” White
turned his attention to the group.
“Dismissed, except Scarlet and Tourmaline.” He gestured to Tourmaline to
take a seat. “The two of you are to
safeguard the Indestructible with
Grey. If anything out of the ordinary occurs, you are to notify me
immediately.” This was rather boring
for Scarlet who had already heard it in the briefing. He was relieved when the Colonel said: “I expect you can tell him
the rest, can’t you Captain Scarlet?”
“If
he’d managed to get himself here in time for the briefing, I wouldn’t have to!”
Scarlet muttered.
“That
wasn’t my fault!” Tourmaline yelled back at him, indignantly.
“Wasn’t
it?” Scarlet asked, sarcastically, “Whose fault was it, then?”
“That’s
enough, Scarlet,” White told him, harshly.
“I
just want to know whose fault he thinks it is.”
“Scarlet,
this will be your final warning - this wouldn’t have anything to do with Blue,
would it? You seem to be making things difficult, already!”
“You’d
better be.”
*******
Scarlet
and Tourmaline decided to visit Blue, before leaving. Blue looked up as they entered.
“Hi, Scarlet, got a new friend?”
“Hello,
Adam. Captain Tourmaline will be taking
over from you for a while.”
“Well,
I guess the old man wouldn’t want me following you about in a wheelchair-” “OR
crutches! That’d be even worse!” Tourmaline put in. “I can imagine that - ‘Hello Sir, I’m here to take charge of
security’!” he hobbled round in a little circle to demonstrate. Scarlet and Blue stared at each other.
Scarlet
whispered, “Why couldn’t I have done myself an injury instead?”
“Sorry,
Paul, I should have realised that floor was rotten...”
“Don’t
worry about it, Adam.”
Tourmaline
had tripped over one of the crutches and was now on the floor laughing. Doctor Fawn walked over to him, and then
turned to Scarlet. “Is this one for
Doctor Weiss?”
“No. He’s just came up with a joke that only HE
understands – he has a West Country sense of humour.”
“You
know – in the West of England.”
“Careful,
Paul, remember he’s YOUR NEW partner,” Blue pointed out.
“Don’t
remind me!” Scarlet sighed. “Come on, Tourmaline, let’s get moving.”
“Bye,
Paul!” Blue called out. He turned to
Fawn. “So, what’s the emergency?
Mysteron threat?”
“Captain
Scarlet didn’t stay long.”
Onboard
their SPJ, Tourmaline turned to Scarlet. “So... can I call you Paul?” It was an
attempt to start a conversation. The
last words spoken had been ‘request launch clearance’.
“No,
you may not call me Paul.”
“Why?
Your old partner called you that in Sickbay.”
“Kindly don’t refer to Captain Blue as my
‘old partner’.”
“He’s
not going to be your partner for a few weeks - I am.” Tourmaline replied. “The
sooner you get used to that, the sooner we can start working as a TEAM!”
“Turn
the radio off, it’s frightening me,” Scarlet retorted. “I thought I heard a serious tone - and the
worrying thing is that I was sure it was in YOUR voice!”
Scarlet
sighed. “Well, what do I call YOU when
we’re off duty?”
“Most
people call me ‘Pete’.”
* * * * * * *
In a vast dockyard in San Francisco, a shady-looking
person holding a small case walked through the shadows towards the freighter Autonite that was going to drop off some nuclear fuel at Pacifica. A
member of the crew saw him coming, stepped off the gangplank and approached,
meaning to ask for identification. But he didn’t get that far, a gunshot cut
him off. By the time his body had touched the water, two rings of green light
passed over it. Suddenly there were two mariners, owning the same identity- one
face down in the water, and one standing on the quayside facing Captain Black.
“This
is all you will need to carry out your mission,” Black told his newest agent,
giving him the case. “You know what you must do.”
Another
crewmember appeared on the gangplank.
“Just
giving him directions. He’s looking for dock 17.”
“Yeah,
well, those signposts never were any good.”
Black
nodded his agreement, and turned to go.
“How
did he get past security, anyway, Phil?”
* * * * * * *
At Los Angeles Airport, the two Spectrum
officers left their SPJ and
found Grey. Once the three men had met
up, they entered the helicopter already waiting for them.
“Luckily
the weather is alright at the moment. I wish we could get the sub to pick us
up, but you know how hard it is to get the Navy to change their plans.” Scarlet muttered, remembering the last time
he had taken a helicopter across the sea. Grey turned to him. “It’ll be
alright, Scarlet.”
As
the three men were taking off, Captain Black had ‘borrowed’ a boat from dock 17
in San Francisco, and was heading out to sea.
* * * * * *
They were only a few miles out, when the captains noticed clouds
building up. The helicopter was going quite fast but the clouds built up faster
still. A few minutes later, Grey pointed out the obvious fact that the storm
wouldn’t hold off much longer.
“Can’t we radio the Indestructible
and ask them to surface so we can land?” Tourmaline asked.
“No, they’re still a few miles away, and I don’t know which
direction they’re coming from anyway. We’re better off waiting here.”
After a moment’s thought, Tourmaline
asked, “Do you know why lightning strikes?”
“I did go to school you know!” Scarlet replied, almost
shouting.
“Well, let me remind you.” Tourmaline cleared his throat
and put on his ‘science teacher’ voice. “A static charge collects in the cloud,
and soon it needs to discharge. It will discharge on the highest, or tallest
object.” He glanced around theatrically, “which appears to be us, at present.”
Scarlet looked a little nervous. “Do you think I should
decrease our altitude?”
“That sounds reasonable,” Tourmaline replied keeping his
acquired voice.
Grey nudged him in the ribs. “Quiet!”
The three men noticed a huge dark shape in the water slow
to a halt beneath them, and then rapidly surface.
“They’re here.” Scarlet remarked, as the huge doors of the
sub opened to reveal the flight deck. Before they landed, Grey remembered to
scan the sub with a Mysteron detector. “We are clear for landing.”
They were just landing when the rain began. A voice over
the radio said, “Please remain in your seats, we will bring you below deck.”
There was a loud humming sound as the aircraft sank down on
the lift it had landed on.
* * * * * * *
Meanwhile, the Autonite was half
way to Pacifica Base, and the small fishing boat that had mysteriously gone
missing from dock 17 was keeping close. Black pulled out a pair of binoculars
to keep an eye on things.
* * * * * *
On board the Indestructible, Scarlet,
Grey and Tourmaline were being given a guided tour.
“Here on the bridge,” the tour guide said, “we control the
whole sub. This is where the primary radar, sonar and satellite navigation
systems are kept.”
“What strike capability has it got?” Grey asked.
“It’s got a store of twenty radar guided
torpedoes which can sink any ship or submarine”
“Only twenty?” Scarlet Sounded puzzled.
“We don’t need many at the moment seeing as we’re not up
against a huge army.”
“What if they don’t use subs?” Scarlet asked.
“We have other capabilities, but we’ll
come to that in a moment. Now to the engine room.”
They next entered a large room, which was
mainly filled with noise. The guide picked up four headsets, which people wear
to shut out noise but enable them to talk.
“What?”
Tourmaline shouted back at him.
“Put
these on, Captain.”
“Ignore
him!” Scarlet advised the guide.
Tourmaline
glared at him too, and put the headset on.
“As you know, this is the main motor,” the
guide continued, still glaring at Tourmaline.“It is powered by the nuclear
generator, next door. But we won’t go
in there-”
“WHY
not?” Tourmaline demanded.
“It
can be dangerous, sometimes, but if you really want, I can get a pass.”
“Don’t
worry about it.” Scarlet replied, before Tourmaline could say any
different. “We are really here to check
security.”
Grey
asked, “What sort of speed can this thing get to?” It sounded as if he were the
only one interested. “About 200 knots on the surface, and 250 under it.” The
guide turned toward the exit door.
“Shall we go, everybody? I WAS going to show you more, but it might be
better if we moved on. Especially as
the Captain wants to see you afterwards.”
“Yes,
we’d better move on,” Scarlet agreed, suddenly focusing on the job in hand
again.
“Right,
I said I’d show you the rest of the strike capabilities and the next stop is
the aircraft hanger.”
“But
we STARTED there!” Tourmaline pointed out.
“But
the TOUR didn’t.” Scarlet was still annoyed with Tourmaline. They left the engine room, along with the
headsets, and headed down a corridor.
When they entered the hanger, Scarlet realised that they were in a
different part. Instead of being
surrounded by a few planes, they were in the company of over fifty interceptors
and nearly the same amount of other fighters.
“The
hanger you came from is directly above us.”
“Hence
the elevator,” Grey commented.
“This
hanger houses the interceptors, the one below us is for bombers and torpedo
bombers, and then, of course, there’s the transporters’ hanger, situated above
us. That’s the end of the tour. The Captain said he’d meet you on the
bridge. Think you can find it? ‘Cause
I’ve gotta go.”
*******
On
the bridge, the Captain was waiting for them.
“Good afternoon, Captains.”
Tourmaline
glanced at his watch and realised the tour had taken longer than he
thought. “We are about to surface. As Colonel White told us to show you
everything about our sub, I’ve arranged a launch.” Scarlet was about to hit Tourmaline, should he make a daft
comment, and was surprised when he remained silent.
“If
you’d like to follow me, gentlemen,” the Captain continued, “We’ll go down to
the flight deck.”
They
entered the flight deck, which was a huge room with a curved ceiling and plenty
of lighting. Suddenly, an interceptor
came up on the lift and taxied over to the catapult, ready for launching. As they watched, two other came up. Within minutes, fifteen fighters and five
bombers were on the flight deck. Then
the speakers came to life. “We have
surfaced. Opening bay doors.” As the
doors opened and the light flooded in, the three Spectrum Captains realised how
dark it had been. Tourmaline turned
toScarlet, with a big grin on his face.
“I think the show’s about to start!” he said, as one of the
interceptor’s engines began to glow.
Suddenly, the catapult fired it off the end of the deck. The Captain turned to the Spectrum officers
and said, “This way, we can launch all
planes within two minutes of surfacing.”
Captain
Scarlet had been watching with interest.
“Very impressive. What sort of
armaments do they have?”
“Well,
it varies. The interceptors carry air to air missiles and 30mm cannons, the
bombers at the moment have high explosive torpedoes.”
Tourmaline
decided to get to the point. “Do you have any nuclear weapons on board?”
“No, Captain, we haven’t. Why do you want
to know?”
“We were NOT arguing,” Scarlet glared at
him.
“Just radio the Colonel before he gets
worried.”
Scarlet nodded his agreement.
Back on Cloudbase, Colonel White was beginning to worry. Not one of his members had called in for
some considerable time. At last, a red
light blinked on the console. “Have you
anything to report, Captain Scarlet?”
“No, Colonel. Nothing significant.” The
captain replied. “The Indestructible
has no strike capability, plus the Captain now knows what the Mysteron threat
is. He’s changed course so that we’re
heading away from the area.”
“How did he find that out?”
“Um… It came up in a conversation, sir.”
“I wish you’d be careful, Scarlet.”
“I’m sorry, Colonel.”
“Is that all you were calling to say?”
“It was just a routine call, sir.”
“You call this a ‘routine call’ do you,
Captain?” Colonel White asked, in an unpleasant tone. “Aren’t ‘routine calls’ meant to be every half an hour? You were
ten minutes late!”
“Sorry, Sir.”
“So there’s nothing to report at all?”
White asked, deciding it was best to change the subject. “How strange.”
*******
At Pacifica Base, Captains Ochre and
Magenta were watching the unloading of the Autonite. The containers were taken out of the hold
and loaded onto automated guided vehicles.
They noticed that there were two men following one of the cars and
decided to follow. They wouldn’t have
been so suspicious if they thought that both men were crewmembers, but one
wasn’t in uniform. The AGV moved into a
storage building, and still the men followed behind.
“Do you think we should follow those two?”
asked Magenta, knowing shifty people when he saw them.
“Go ahead, if you WANT to,” Ochre
muttered, sulkily.
Magenta turned to him. “Aren’t you
coming?”
Ochre followed him, grudgingly, into the main
storage building. The men headed down
the corridor and came to a door. Ochre
turned to Magenta. “Hurry it up, then.”
“I err… I haven’t got a pass for this
door.”
“What? If you need a pass, how did THEY
get in?”
An AGV stopped behind them, and started
beeping. They stepped out of the way,
so that it could move up to the door.
When the door automatically opened for it, they followed through, before
the doorway closed. They hadn’t got
very far, when they heard footsteps a short way ahead of them. Cautiously, they turned a corner, and
spotted one of the men – the uniformed crewman – they’d seen earlier. He stopped when he heard them, turning
round. “Can I help you, gentlemen?”
“Where’s the man you came in with?”
Magenta demanded.
“He’s just behind you,” the man answered
with a smirk.
The captains turned to see Captain Black,
who was holding a can of teargas.
“Goodnight, Earthmen!”
*******
At 10.30 am, Captains Grey, Tourmaline and
Scarlet were sat in the mess chatting.
“When did you join Spectrum?” Tourmaline asked.
“Before it had officially started.”
Scarlet told him.
“Oh! You were picked by the selection
committee, like me.”
“What’s so special about you, then?”
Scarlet asked, in a half-humurous tone.
“I was the best saboteur in the World Army
Special Ops.” Tourmaline said, proudly.
He grinned slightly, “What’s so special about YOU, Scarlet?”
“How much do you want to know, Tourmaline?
I have PLENTY to tell.” He paused. “IF
I want to.”
Grey glared at him. “Scarlet…”
Scarlet stood up. “Well, I
suppose I should get up to the bridge, while the two of you are still sipping
coffee.” He turned a quick glance in Tourmaline’s direction. “Or SLURPING, as the case may be.”
Tourmaline glared back at him, angrily,
over his mug.
“Oh, come on!” Scarlet added. “The words ‘inefficient’ and ‘suction pump’
come to mind!”
Tourmaline gave an especially loud ‘slurp’
and Scarlet left, slamming the door behind him.
“Why do you keep annoying him?” Grey was
livid.
“Well he STARTED it!” Tourmaline answered,
indignantly. “He called me a suction
pump!”
“You ARE a suction pump! I’ve never heard
anyone make so much noise drinking a cup of COFFEE! I mean, you can probably
measure it on the Richter scale!”
“OK, OK!” Tourmaline hung his head. “Sorry, I’ll try not to be annoying.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry too.” Grey blew out a
sigh. “I don’t USUALLY lose my temper like that – it’s usually Scarlet’s job.”
He decided to change the subject.
“Anyway, what was it you wanted to talk about?”
“The Mysteron threat. They said they’d use the Indestructible, so
they will. Now, the best weapons aboard
are the torpedoes, which would cause a lot of damage.”
Grey nodded. “But you’re missing something – they used the word ‘decimate’,
which means to destroy everything, leaving nothing standing.”
“Could they mean Scarlet?” Tourmaline
asked, unexpectedly, “I mean, HE’S indestructible.”
“No, they said U235. They didn’t use the word ‘indestructible’.”
Tourmaline thought for a moment then
shouted, “Oh PIG!”
“What?”
“I think I know what they mean. They mean URANIUM 235.”
“Nuclear fuel!”
“Right!” Tourmaline paused, to think. “You
tell the Colonel, I’ll call Scarlet,” he then ordered, momentarily resembling
his partner.
Captain Scarlet was on the bridge when his
epaulets flashed blue. “Yes, Captain
Blue?”
“My name is TOURMALINE, Scarlet, and I
have some news for you. We’ve worked
out that the Mysterons plan to detonate the nuclear fuel at Pacifica.”
“WHAT?”
“I know this isn’t the first time they’ve
tried something like this,” Tourmaline went on, ignoring him. “Just meet me on the flight deck as soon as
possible.”
Scarlet’s cap microphone flipped back up
and he turned to address the ship’s captain.
“I’ve got to borrow a plane.”
On the flight deck, Captains Tourmaline
and Grey were already waiting. Scarlet
finally arrived and joined them. Tourmaline quickly explained in details what
he and Grey had figured out and Scarlet nodded. “We have an X-120 waiting for us downstairs. Tourmaline, you and I are going to
Pacifica. Grey, you are to stay here,
in case anything happens.”
*******
Captains Ochre and Magenta awoke in a
broom cupboard, handcuffed together.
“Well, Pat, this is another fine mess!”
“Ha! You didn’t see Black either!”
Ochre turned his head, slightly, in an attempt
to glance at his partner. “You can get
out of handcuffs, right?”
“Not when my hands are handcuffed to
yours, like this!”
“So how do we get out of here?”
“I wonder if he left the keys somewhere…”
“He probably left them in his POCKET!”
“Why do people ALWAYS insist on putting
locks on broom closets?” Magenta asked to change the subject. “Who’s going to
steal a BROOM?”
“Wait a minute!” Ochre almost yelled.
“This room hasn’t got a lock.”
“Someone got it right, then.”
The two men scrambled to their feet,
awkwardly. Ochre kicked the door,
thoughtfully. “How do we open this
thing?”
Magenta thought for a second then said, “I
think I should rephrase that question. What idiot puts a door handle only
on the outside?”
“We’re approaching Pacifica, Captain,” Scarlet
announced.
“Good.” Tourmaline peered through the
window next to him. “I’ll try to
contact Ochre and Magenta.”
Scarlet nodded. “Right.”
After a few moments, Tourmaline
frowned. “Paul, I can’t get through to
them.”
“Perhaps there’s too much interference,”
Scarlet replied, without looking round at him. “And don’t call me Paul. We’re on duty.”
“There’s no static. They’re just not answering.”
“You’re sure?”
“’Course I’m sure!”
“Then there’s something wrong.” Scarlet
summed up. “Alright, contact Colonel
White. I’ll take her down.”
“Owww!” Magenta gasped. “Was bashing the
door down a good idea?”
“Got a better suggestion?”
“Yeah. You could find a better battering
ram than me. Or we could try to find a way out of these cuffs!”
Ochre groaned. “How? I don’t think I’d like to use a cutting tool, with our
hands so close together, and no way of seeing what we’re doing!”
“If only one of us could contact
Cloudbase, or… someone!”
“Looks like we’re stuck here, then.” Ochre
sighed. “Got any good secrets to share?
This could be good bonding time!”
“OK…….hmmm…. I didn’t cheat during that chess game.”
“OK, OK! Sorry.”
“Good thing the Colonel didn’t overhear
the bet!” Magenta laughed.
Ochre winced. “I’ll say!”
There was a long silence. Then Ochre’s epaulettes flashed blue.
“Where are our caps?”
“Up on that top shelf.”
“Let me guess. Just out of reach?”
*******
At 11:03, Scarlet and Tourmaline climbed
out of the jet at Pacifica and at the same time checked their watches. “We’ve got about an hour -” Tourmaline
mused.
“You mean 57 minutes?”
“I’ve got 58.”
“Best make it 56 to be safe.” Scarlet told
him, grinning slightly. “Anyway, we’ve
got to find Ochre and Magenta. I expect
the Colonel has already informed them of the situation.”
“What about the Mysterons?”
“We’ll get Ochre and Magenta to help with
the search. We can cover more ground,
that way.”
After asking around for ten minutes, they
still had no idea where Ochre and Magenta were. “I don’t understand it.
They must be around here somewhere.” Scarlet frowned, glancing up and
down the corridor they were both standing in.
“Right. We’ll have to work it
out with the information we have.”
“OK.
They couldn’t have got into a storage building without a pass, and there
aren’t that many people on the base with a pass. Only inspectors, I’d imagine.
And we already have a list of them.”
“Yes, and Ochre and Magenta are not on the
list, so we know they haven’t checked that out.” Scarlet added. “Now, a shipment of nuclear fuel arrived
this morning, didn’t it?”
“Yes.
They’re just finishing with the unloading. Let’s get over there!”
After speaking to the captain of the Autonite,
they discovered that one of the crewmembers was missing.
“Where does the fuel get sent?” Scarlet
asked.
“Follow these AGVs,” the captain
informed. “They take the fuel to the
storage rooms, in the main building.”
They followed one of the robots to the
main storage building. The door
automatically opened for the carrier to enter.
It closed just in front of them.
“So how do we get in?”
“We wait for the next one, and sneak in
behind.” Scarlet explained, patiently.
“Talk about high security!”
“That’s enough, Tourmaline.”
Ochre and Magenta were still discussing
possible ways of escaping. Suddenly, the
door opened and the mysteronised sailor stepped in, brandishing a gun. “You will come with me.”
They struggled to their feet again, and he
led them out of the cupboard, with the gun trained on them.
The two officers were taken to a storage
room, where Captain Black was sat preparing the bomb. The sailor made them seat
on the floor. “Hello, Captains. I thought you might appreciate witnessing
our victory at close range – before you perish.” He seemed to think about
somethingfor a moment, then continued,
“Come to think of it, with the speed of an atomic explosion, you’ll
probably perish at the very moment we succeed, so you won’t be witnesses of
much.”
A voice outside the door hissed, “Hold it!
Did you hear something in here?”
Recognizing the voice, Black snatched his
gun, and Philip picked up the gun he’d used before. Ochre had an idea. “Hey!
That’s mine!”
“Shut him up,” Black ordered.
“Come on, guys! Spectrum gave me
that. It comes with the job!”
“I am warning you, Earthman. SHUT UP.”
The door burst open, and Tourmaline
stepped in. “I believe you have two
friends of mine…” he glanced down at Ochre and Magenta.. “Ah! There they are.” He dived aside just as
Black opened fire. Phil stood over him,
with gun at the ready. “Stand up,
Earthman.”
Black went to the door. “I know you’re out there, Scarlet. Drop your gun, and come in.”
“Why should I?”
“Do as he says, Scarlet,” Tourmaline
called out to him.
A red-coloured gun slid to a halt just in
front of the doorway, and Scarlet walked in with his hands up. “Right.
I want the four of you over there.” Black gestured with his gun. Scarlet and Tourmaline moved toward the
seated Ochre and Magenta. Both Mysterons got back to what they were doing.
“Is it hot in here, or is it just me?”
asked Tourmaline, unzipping his top.
Knowing that he had a plan, Scarlet ignored Tourmaline as if he was
being stupid again. Captain Black paid
little attention to the Spectrum officers.
He had a lot of work to do, if
the Mysterons were to make the deadline. Captain Scarlet watched the two
Mysterons as Black set up the equipmentthen noticed Magenta’s gun on a table.
He waited till the Mysteronised sailor wasn’t concentrating on him and jumped
behind a crate next to him.
Black turned round, “Come out of there,
Scarlet!” Then turned to Philip: “Get him!”
As the Mysteron crossed the room, Black
got back to work. Nobody had noticed
Tourmaline take some objects from various pockets and discretely start screwing
them together
A shot sounded and Phil collapsed.
Black turned around again saying, “Philip,
you didn’t have to…”
“Where did you get that?” Scarlet demanded, pulling his partner
behind the crate, indicating the gun he was holding..
“Always carry a backup weapon,” Tourmaline
replied, with a broad grin.
“Backup weapon?” Scarlet repeated “I don’t know ANYONE in Spectrum who carries
a backup weapon!”
“You do now.”
Scarlet decided to go for the gun on the
table. Tourmaline knew what he had in mind and ran in the opposite direction.
Black shot a few times at him, but missed, and at the same time Scarlet made a
dash for the gun. Black hesitated and then shot Scarlet three times. The Spectrum Captain collapsed.
Ochre looked at the clock. “Only ten
seconds left!” He shouted.
Tourmaline jumped up and shot at the remote
detonator in Black’s hand. The Mysteron pressed the button on the remote, but
nothing happened. He pressed it again, then noticed the bullet hole. He only
addressed an icy stare in Tourmaline’s direction.
“Get him!” shouted Magenta.
But it was too late: Black was already vanishing into thin air.
“We did it!” shouted Captain Tourmaline.
Ochre glanced at the clock again. “A lot
can change in twenty seconds!”
“Yeah!” said Magenta, who was still cuffed
to him. “Twenty seconds ago we were unarmed, and held prisoner by two armed
Mysterons who were about to detonate a nuclear device in a nuclear store. NOW one Mysteron is dead, the other’s
vanished, one of us is armed and…
Tourmaline crouched near to where Scarlet had fallen and searched
for a pulse on his partner. “… Another is dead,” he finished for Magenta.
“He’ll be better, don’t worry.”
“You’ve missed one important fact,” Ochre
stated.
“What?” Magenta asked.
“It’s NOW the afternoon.” Ochre finished,
smugly. “I didn’t think we’d survive that long!”
Tourmaline hit him.
*******
Back on Cloudbase, at 13.00, Tourmaline
was waiting for news concerning Scarlet in the Sickbay. He saw Doctor Fawn coming his way. “How is he?”
Doctor Fawn shook his head. “He’ll be out of it for at least four hours yet, Captain.”
“It’s amazing, isn’t it? I mean, I’ve read about his
unique condition but…”
“Yeah. It’s
still hard to grasp,” The Doctor nodded.
“Will all available personnel report to Control
immediately.” Lieutenant Green then called over the loudspeaker.
Captains Ochre, Magenta, Grey and Tourmaline filed
into the Control Room for the debriefing. The colonel gestured for them to take
a seat in front of his desk. “Well
done, men.”
The door opened again, and everyone looked up to see
Scarlet. Colonel White frowned at him,
with disapproval. “I thought you were
supposed to be in bed for another four hours, Captain.”
“Yes, but I’m feeling better.”
“Doctor Fawn was about to run some more tests on me, Sir,”
he replied, truthfully.
“Take a seat.” White decided to change the subject,
and leafed through one of the reports in front of him. “I see that there is a mention of a back-up
weapon.” He glanced up at Tourmaline. “Aren’t our weapons good enough, then,
Captain?”
“My Spectrum gun had been taken from me,” Tourmaline
explained, carefully. “With my background, I always carry a back-up.”
“How exactly did you disarm the bomb?”
“I managed to shoot the remote detonator, Sir.”
“I see. You
must have quite an aim, Captain.”
Tourmaline felt his face flush, slightly. “Thank you, Sir.” Scarlet, seated beside
him, smiled.
“Nobody cleared up how you – or the Mysterons –
managed to get into the storage area.”
“We just took adv - aaarrgh…” Tourmaline began, as
Scarlet stamped on his foot.
“What was that, Tourmaline?”
“I was going to say that we took advantage of the
robots going in.”
“Care to elaborate, Captain?”
“They got in without a problem, so we followed, Sir.”
“I see. Didn’t
you bother with passes, then?”
“That’s the good thing about the good old – OOH!”
Scarlet jabbed him in the ribs.
“Are you alright, Tourmaline?”
“Just a pain in my side, Sir.”
“Get the Doctor to take a look at it then.”
“I will, Sir,” Tourmaline assured his commanding
officer, grinning unpleasantly at Scarlet.
“Right. That
should be all. Thank you,
gentlemen. Dismissed.” As the men stood
and began to leave, the colonel added, “Captain Scarlet.”
He turned back, snapping to attention. “Sir?”
“Return to Sickbay – and that’s an order.”
“S.I.G., Colonel.” Scarlet then left with Tourmaline.
Only Captain Magenta remained behind. “Colonel,” he
began, hesitating, “for arguments’ sake…”
“Yes, Captain?”
“How much does Captain Ochre get in his
wages?”
“That’s a strange question!” White remarked,
raising an eyebrow. “Why do you ask,
Captain?”
“It’s just to settle an argument, Sir.”
Magenta added with a shy enough smile. “Nothing more.”
In the officers’ lounge, Captains Scarlet
and Tourmaline were chatting. “You
should be in the Sickbay, you know, Scarlet.”
“I know,” Scarlet replied, smirking. “But the mess is better.”
“I’ll have to get you to Sickbay soon,
though – I DID promise the Colonel!”
“You did WHAT?”
“You heard me. The Colonel told me to get the pain in my side checked.”
“VERY funny!” Scarlet rolled his eyes.
“I thought so.” Tourmaline paused. “Anyway, how did you know that I was going
to say about the ‘good old World Navy’, and taking advantage of their useless
security?”
Scarlet glanced about him, nervously. “I keep getting the feeling that the
Colonel’s listening…”
“Well, if he is, he can like it or lump
it!”
Scarlet shuddered. “Now, I REALLY hope he
isn’t listening!”
“Come on, Scarlet, you haven’t answered my
question.”
“I knew it was the sort of thing you’d do,
Brain of Britain! Did you know that Colonel White is from the Navy?”
Tourmaline blanched. “You… you mean I almost…? I could’ve been
sent to the lowest rank! No! I would’ve been kicked out! NO! I probably
would’ve been executed!”
“Don’t worry about it,” Scarlet told him.
“He won’t hear it from me – just DON’T say anything to Ochre or Magenta, and
you’ll be alright. Oh! And don’t
mention it to the Colonel, either.”
“Very funny, Scarlet.”
“I thought so.”
The end
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