Sick bay personnel had
the procedure down to a fine art. As the
medijet landed and the emergency light flashed, they moved efficiently into
action. Captain Scarlet’s recovery room
was always in a state of readiness and the robot nurses didn’t take long to
fire up.
The senior nurse had
already been informed of the nature of the emergency:
One injury: CS amber
alert, and one walking wounded.
Dr Fawn, currently
occupied in removing a burst appendix from a Hungarian computer technician, was
notified, but because it was ‘code amber’ he felt justified in completing his
operation before examining his new patients.
The doors to the ward
swung open and three orderlies wheeled in a gurney on which lay a comatose man
in a vivid red uniform. Behind them came
another orderly assisting a man in a grey uniform to walk along the
corridor. The officer’s head was bandaged
and his complexion pale, so that a nurse came over as he entered the ward and
took his other arm, guiding him to the triage station on the opposite side of
the facility from Captain Scarlet’s recovery room as Sick Bay returned to
normal.
About twenty minutes
after Scarlet and Grey had arrived, Dr Fawn left the operating theatre and made
his way to the recovery room. Nurse
Ingram greeted him with the reassurance that the patient was comfortable and
handed him the medical record print out.
He scanned down the report and commented,
“Hmm: four broken ribs on the left hand side, left leg, hip and collarbone
broken, a broken cheekbone and a contusion to the left temple.” He looked towards his patient and back to the
nurse. “Any potential damage to the
optical nerve?”
“Well, he has a
magnificent black eye, but I’m not seeing any evidence of internal damage on
the scanners,” Belinda Ingram replied.
“He’s certainly concussed, but there’s no difficulty breathing and the
brain scan shows an acceptable level of activity.”
“A car crash wasn’t
it?”
She nodded. “Yes, Captain Grey says a lorry came out of
nowhere and forced them off the road, they skidded down an embankment and slid
sideways against a concrete retaining wall.
He managed to scramble out of the car, but Scarlet was against the wall and
knocked unconscious. The lorry came down
on top of them and crushed the SSC.”
Fawn raised one
eyebrow. “I’m surprised he only
sustained the injuries he has. How is Captain Grey?”
“Minor cuts and bruises - and shock, of
course.” She paused and glanced at the
silent body on the bed. “He’s not used
to working with Scarlet and all that that can entail. I mean, not like Captain
Blue is.”
Fawn closed the folder
and sucked in his cheeks. “I’m not sure
Captain Blue is ‘used to it’ either, Bill.
He copes, but the fact that he sits out almost every recovery period at
Scarlet’s bedside tends to suggest that he’s never got used to seeing his
friend always recover from what ails him.”
She smiled agreement. “Yes, I suppose that’s true; Blue always
looks relieved when Scarlet first opens his eyes and insults him.”
Fawn chuckled and shook
his head. “Those two will never admit
how much they mean to each other. To hear them talking you’d doubt they even
like each other on occasion.”
“Boys, as they say,
will be boys, Doctor, and it isn’t quite the done thing to be ‘best-ever
friends’ once you’re out of short trousers.”
Fawn laughed
aloud. “How right you are.” He handed her back the file. “Do we know when Blue is due back on base?”
She shook her
head. “He and Ochre were providing
security for that conference at the petrochemical site in Minsk where there was
an outbreak of that new strain of pulmonary Adenovirus. They’ve been quarantined, of course, in case
they’ve been infected. I did hear,
through the grapevine, that it’ll be touch and go whether the Adenovirus gets
them before one of them kills the other.”
She grinned ruefully.
“Well, I wouldn’t want to be quarantined for
any length of time with Captain Ochre, especially not a bored Captain Ochre…” Fawn replied genially.
“Surely, if anyone can
resist throttling him, it’d be Captain Blue?” Nurse Ingram observed.
“True, but I only hope
Blue doesn’t feel the need to patronise him; otherwise I can see Ochre having
grounds for justifiable homicide,” Fawn remarked.
“Well, we should have
them home again in day or so now…Surely they can last out that long?” she replied, as they left the recovery room
to their patient and went back to more mundane work.
The Angels were all in
the Amber Room, except for Symphony, who was on duty in Angel One. The atmosphere was subdued as the news about
Captain Scarlet’s latest injuries had just reached them through the medium of
Captain Magenta, who had been up to the Sick Bay to see Captain Grey.
“You say Scarlet’s injuries
weren’t fatal?” Melody asked, seeking reassurance from their visitor.
“That’s what Nurse Ingram said. He’s out cold – quite understandably - but
he’s not critical and he didn’t – at any point – die. It won’t take him long to
come round,” he added with a sympathetic glance at the silent Rhapsody Angel,
“and then he’ll be wanting visitors while Fawn runs his usual gamut of tests.”
“He’ll be worse than
ever about staying in sick bay,” Rhapsody said quietly, but with a brave little
smile. “He’s been planning a visit home
for weeks. His mother wants to have a
special family celebration for his birthday and she wanted them to be
together. His father is due to retire
after Christmas and I think they wanted a family get together before that; I mean, it’s unlikely Paul will be able to
attend the official retirement parties and so forth, so…”
“Oh, he should be up
and about in time for that,” Magenta interjected. “This isn’t as serious as the usual things he
… well, I mean – even we’d all get
over broken legs and so forth – wouldn’t we?”
The other Angels nodded
and Destiny laid a hand on Rhapsody’s arm.
“I am sure that Paul will be leaping about like a little sheep in no
time. And if you ask smartly, you will get
the colonel to give you leave as well to be at the party – if that is what he
and Madame Metcalfe wish.”
“Well, I was sort of
invited,” Rhapsody said, with a grateful smile at her friend. “But, I wasn’t sure we could swing the duty
rota…”
“The rota can always be
swinged when something important is coming,” Destiny assured her. After a
slight pause she added, innocently, “I have the memory that Symphony owes to
you swapped duties, yes? You worked for
her when she was invited to her friend’s wedding, in Iowa.”
“That’s true,” Rhapsody
said, sounding happier. “I’ll have a
word with Paul before I speak to her about it though. He may not want me to go with him.”
“And I can see some
pigs flying past our windows…” Destiny remarked, to a ripple of laughter from
her companions.
Colonel White ambled
into the sick bay and nodded to the two duty nurses who acknowledged his
presence with a gesture that was somewhere between a salute and a wave.
“Where is Doctor Fawn?”
he asked.
“In his office, sir,”
one young woman replied.
White tried to read her
name badge, but caught himself starting to squint and sniffed slightly before
nodding briskly and striding over to Fawn’s lair.
He knocked and walked
in at the unhurried ‘Come in’.
“G’day, Colonel,” Fawn
said, starting to get to his feet.
White waved him back to
his seat. “Good day, Doctor.”
There was a brief
silence until Fawn asked, “Is there anything I can do for you?”
White pulled a chair to
the other side of the desk and sat down, crossing one leg over the other and
resting an arm on the edge of the desk.
“Why hasn’t Captain
Scarlet reported for duty?”
Fawn closed the file he
was working on and looked across at his superior officer with a significant
expression.
“Because he hasn’t
recovered consciousness yet.”
“Isn’t that a little…
unusual?”
Fawn pursed his
lips. “Could be. There is so much we still don’t know about
retrometabolism that I can’t say, for certain, if there is anything ‘unusual’
or not.”
“Edward, Scarlet’s come
back in a much worse state before now and still been demanding to be let out of
sick bay in less time than this. It has
been almost forty-eight hours since the accident.”
“Yeah, and I still
can’t say if this is unusual, Charles.
There seem to be many factors involved in his recovery process: the
situation immediately prior to the accident being one, the extent of the
injuries and how quickly he’s brought back here being another. Even the fact that Captain Blue is generally
to be found haunting his bedside might have an effect, I just don’t know.”
“Blue will be back in
about another hour or two. The medics in
Minsk say he and Ochre were not infected with the Adenovirus.”
“That’s good news; the
nurses were running a book on how long they’d survive being cooped up
together.”
The colonel struggled to
suppress a smile of amusement. “Hmmph;
well, be that as it may, they’ll be here.
Blue will want to see Scarlet, I’m sure.
You’d have no objections?”
“None whatsoever. There have been several visitors dropping by
over the past day or so, I’ve placed no restrictions on that.”
Colonel White nodded
but said nothing. Doctor Fawn waited
mentally counting the seconds under his breath.
He’d got to nine before the colonel said:
“I don’t mind telling you I’m worried,
Edward.”
“You don’t say? Well, relax; you’re not the only one,
Colonel. Rhapsody Angel is creeping
about like a little red-eyed mouse. She’s spent all of her off-duty time here
since he came in – apart from the times when I’ve packed her off to the Room of
Sleep, that is.”
“This isn’t what we’ve
come to expect from Scarlet.”
“One thing I have
learned about Captain Scarlet, Colonel, is ‘expect the unexpected’. Stop worrying – at least, until I start. I’ve got him under continual observation and
he’s not getting worse.”
“We can’t be sure that
this remarkable power won’t leave him as unexpectedly as it arrived; I want to
know when anything changes – anything. We must be prepared for all eventualities,
Doctor.”
“S.I.G., Colonel.”
“Thank goodness you’re
back!”
Captain Blue’s eyes
widened in surprise as he walked into the Amber Room and Rhapsody threw herself
into his arms.
“Whatever’s wrong,
Dianne?”
“Paul’s in sick bay and
he’s not recovering. No one knows why!”
Blue frowned. “Even Fawn?”
“You need to go, Adam –
straight away. You need to be with
Paul. He only gets better when you’re
there!”
“What it is to be
needed,” Ochre remarked dryly from where he was leaning against the door
jamb.
“Whoa, calm down,
Di. There’s nothing to prove my being
there will help.”
“But when you are there
he gets better – he ought to be better by now and he isn’t – ipso facto- you need to be there!”
“I’m not a miracle
worker,” Blue protested. “There’ve been
plenty of times when Paul’s recovered and I’ve been nowhere near him. You’re making a mountain out of a molehill
here. Look, let’s go and see Fawn,
eh? I bet it won’t make a jot of
difference and Paul’ll wake up when he’s ready to.”
She was crying now and
clung to him even as she nodded agreement.
Blue put an arm around her shoulder and glanced over her head to where
Melody and Harmony were sitting watching their friend’s unhappiness with
dismay.
“Hi ladies; please say
Hi to Symphony and Destiny for me, will you?
I’ll be in sick bay for a while.”
“Of course, Captain
Blue,” Harmony replied. “They are on
patrol and will be back in twenty minutes from now. We will tell them – both.”
Blue smiled thanks and
turned to Ochre.
“You want to come too?”
“No; much though I’d
love to see a genuine miracle, I think it’d be better to keep it an exclusive
gathering. I’ll drop by and see Scarlet
later. Say Hi for me,” he added with a
grin, as Blue led Rhapsody out.
“Hello Captain,” Nurse
Ingram called, as she looked up at the sound of the door opening. “Glad to have you back. Hello, Rhapsody.”
“Nice to be back; I
earned time out of my allotted spell in purgatory by being stuck in Minsk.”
“How’s Captain Ochre?”
Nurse Ingram asked innocently.
“Irritating. How’s Scarlet?”
“Awake. He woke up a couple of hours ago. Doctor Fawn’s-”
“-running some tests,”
Blue chimed in with the end of her sentence.
They shared a smile.
“He’s awake?” Rhapsody
asked sharply. “Why wasn’t… didn’t
anyone tell me – us? I – we’ve been
worried sick.”
“Doctor Fawn told the
colonel, as usual,” Nurse Ingram explained.
“He doesn’t usually tell anyone else.”
“But I always hear…”
Rhapsody started and then glanced at Blue.
“Oh, I usually hear it from you…”
He grinned. “See, I told you there was nothing to worry
about. Shall we wait to see Paul?”
Rhapsody glanced at her
watch. “I can’t, I’m on duty when Symph
and Destiny get back. Tell him – tell
him, I’ll drop by later – okay?”
“S.I.G., Rhapsody.”
He watched her go and
then asked, “Can I help myself to a cup of coffee, Bill?”
“You always do, Adam,
so go right ahead…”
Blue had finished his
second cup of coffee – and the newspaper’s daily crossword - before Doctor Fawn
came out of the recovery room.
“G’day, Captain,” Fawn
said.
“Hi, Doc; can I go in
and see Scarlet?”
Fawn considered for a
moment and then said, “I’d rather you didn’t at the moment.”
He beckoned Blue to
follow him into his office and the American closed the door behind them. He knew Fawn’s moods well after all the times
they had watched and waited together for Captain Scarlet’s retrometabolism to
work its magic. He could see that the
dapper Australian was worried, and felt the icy finger of doubt touch his own
psyche. He knew better to rush the
doctor, so without saying anything, he sat in the same seat Colonel White had
used earlier.
Fawn poured them both a
cup of coffee and sat down at his desk.
He took a sip of the coffee before he began:
“Don’t worry; Scarlet’s
on the mend. I don’t know what took so
long for him to regain consciousness, but I can tell you that his bones are
starting to knit. He will make a full
recovery.”
“Isn’t that a good
thing?”
“Of course it is.” Fawn exhaled deeply. “He seems to have lost his memory – probably
due to the concussion. He can’t remember where he was going or who he was with
when the crash happened. But more than
that, he’s worried about something and he won’t tell me what it is. He’s getting very agitated and refusing to
eat or drink but keeps demanding to be allowed to get up. At the moment he can’t – but that isn’t going
to last. I have the feeling I might have
to strap him to the bed once he can stand unaided.”
“How can I help?”
“You can go and see him – he’s been asking for
you, by the way – and try to and find out what it is he’s so worried about,
assuming you don’t already know?”
Blue shook his
head. “As far as I know he wasn’t
worried about anything except when he was going to do his Christmas shopping
and what to buy Dianne. But that’s nothing he’d fret about …much.”
“I wish my life was so
carefree…” Fawn said wryly and finished his coffee.
Captain Blue wandered
into the recovery room with a bright smile and cheerful salute to his friend.
Captain Scarlet was
lying flat on his back staring at the ceiling and chewing his bottom lip.
“Hiya, Paul,” Blue
said, coming to stand by the bed where he could be seen without Scarlet having
to strain to turn his head.
“Hello,” Scarlet
replied, staring up at Blue with a glimmer of recognition. “Where’ve you been?”
“Minsk.”
“Chilly at this time of
year, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, proper brass
monkey weather.”
“Was I there?”
“No, you weren’t. The colonel sent Ochre and me to provide some
security for the World Government’s representative at what was supposed to be
an acrimonious meeting about excessive discharge of chemicals into the water
courses. Instead of anything being
agreed, we were all quarantined in case we’d caught this new virulent
Adenovirus the World Medical Organisation’s getting all het up about. I’ve spent the past 14 days going
stir-crazy with only Captain Ochre for company.”
“What was I doing?”
“Working with Grey – as
far as I know.”
“We went somewhere,
Adam. He was driving.”
“Yeah, that’s what I
was told.”
“I don’t remember. Not a thing.
I mean I remember who I am and who you are and stuff like that, but I
don’t remember anything recently.”
“What’s the last thing
you can remember?”
Scarlet frowned. “I’m not sure. I think it was having dinner with Dianne and
talking to her. There is something… I
don’t know.”
There was a hint of
frustration in his friend’s voice, so Blue said genially, “Well, when she comes
off duty, we can ask her what you talked about.
Maybe that’ll help.”
Scarlet turned
panic-filled eyes to his friend and grabbed at Blue’s arm with his uninjured
hand.
“She mustn’t come
here! No one must come here – it’s too
dangerous!”
“What? What’re you talking about? I’m here, aren’t I? It doesn’t look dangerous
to me.” Blue made a show of looking around the austere room.
Scarlet’s grip on his
arm tightened. “You’ll remember – you must remember! When the Mysterons killed me the first time
it was in a car crash. After that
they made me kidnap the World President and fire on my friends and I don’t remember any of it! I don’t remember a thing now; what if they’re doing it again?”
Blue’s face went pale,
but he covered Paul’s hand with his own and said, reassuringly, “Look, Paul;
Brad was with you all the time. He’s
okay and you didn’t go anywhere or do anything he doesn’t know about.”
“No, think! I came back
to Cloudbase, I was normal – that’s what everyone thought, wasn’t it? The colonel gave me my next mission without
hesitation – that’s what the official report said… I know it did. I read it.
No one suspected anything until I kidnapped the World President. But I don’t remember anything about any of
it. I remember the car crash; I remember poor Captain Brown and then – nothing,
until I woke up here. You have to
believe me! I can’t remember anything
about this accident, all I know is that there is something I have to do. What if the Mysterons have programmed me for
another mission?”
Blue gasped, seeing the
anxiety and desperation in his friend’s face.
“The Mysterons don’t do
the same thing twice,” he began. “If it
fails the first time they forget it and move on. And so should you.”
Scarlet was
unconvinced. “You can’t check me with a
Mysteron detector because I was already a Mysteron – but what if they used this
crash to take me back? I am the perfect
agent as far as they’re concerned. You
all trust me and you can’t detect me and all the time I might be a wolf in the
fold…”
Blue swallowed hard and
said as reassuringly as he could: “Well,
we’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we?”
Doctor Fawn insisted
they go straight to see Colonel White.
“But it’s nonsense,”
Blue exclaimed, as he trailed after the doctor.
“He’s just over-conscientious…”
“Yes, it probably is
nonsense, but are you prepared to risk seeing Cloudbase go up in flames or
crash onto a city, because you didn’t take Scarlet’s concerns seriously?”
“No, but…”
Fawn stopped suddenly
and Blue bumped into him.
“No ‘buts’, Adam. We can’t afford to give him the benefit of
the doubt. I don’t like it any more than
you do, but if Scarlet’s worried it might be the case, we have no choice but to
take precautions.”
“How will we ever
tell?” Blue exclaimed. “They’ll have to
incarcerate him for the rest of his life and they’ll never know the truth!”
“Think I don’t know
that? Come on, we’re wasting time.”
“And I used to think
your bedside manner was improving,” Blue muttered grumpily, as he followed the
doctor once more.
“You did what?”
Rhapsody Angel stood
before Captain Blue, her hands on her hips and temper flashing in her blue
eyes. It looked rather like a red bantam
hen facing down a golden lion – and winning.
“I told Fawn: he’d
asked me to find out what was worrying Paul and so I did. Then Fawn said we had to tell the
colonel. He’s right, Rhapsody; consider
what might’ve happened if we hadn’t reported the concerns. There is a risk and, after all, they are Paul’s concerns…”
“Did you stop to
consider what would happen if you told White?”
she snapped. “Paul’s under guard
by security men with electron rifles.
He’s got more broken bones than you have brains, and he’s under guard in
case he runs amok and tries to sabotage the base! As if!”
“That wasn’t my idea,”
Blue almost wailed in his own defence.
“But we have to take precautions.”
“I wish your parents
had thought of that before they had you!” she snarled and turned on her heel to
storm out of the Amber Room.
“Ouch,” said Melody, as
the door slid shut. “That was well below
the proverbial belt.”
“She is very concerned
for Captain Scarlet,” Harmony said, with an apologetic smile at the browbeaten
captain. “She will apologise when she is
calm once more, I am sure.”
“Hey, don’t worry,
Harmony; she can’t think of me as more of a heel than I think I am,” Blue said
and sighed deeply.
“She shouldn’t talk to you like that,”
Symphony said coming over to her boyfriend’s side and slipping her arm through
his. Unlike the others she knew Adam
Svenson was overly self-conscious about the circumstances of his birth, some
six months after his parents’ marriage.
“No, that’s right,”
Melody agreed, “Only Karen’s allowed to speak to you like that.”
Blue chuckled and
squeezed Symphony’s arm tightly as she opened her mouth to argue with
Melody. She looked up at him and he
shook his head.
“I’ll go make my peace
with them both,” he said, “if Rhapsody will let me. See you charming ladies later.”
As the door closed
behind him, Symphony glared at Melody, but bit back her angry comments: Blue didn’t want it mentioned, and she owed
it to him to keep her cool.
“I wonder if what
Scarlet thinks can be true?” Harmony mused.
“The colonel’s right to
be wary,” Melody said. “Rhapsody was well
out of line; it isn’t Blue’s fault.”
“Ah, but Rhapsody is in
love,” Harmony explained. “That always
puts a different perspective on events.”
Melody nodded. “And Blue’s a man who’d understand that…
thankfully. If she’d said that to Ochre
there would’ve been a punch-up.”
Symphony nodded. “Scarlet won’t blame Blue, that’s for sure.”
“Of course he won’t; he
raised the concerns in the first place!” Melody agreed. “I just hope they find a way to resolve the
uncertainty.”
“So do we all,” Harmony
said quietly.
Fawn looked up in angry
surprise as the door to his office opened and a slender woman with long, red
hair swept in and started haranguing him before he had time to react.
“They won’t let me in –
your goons! They won’t let me in! It’s
stupid, it’s ridiculous, it’s not… not fair!”
“It’s Captain Scarlet’s
orders, not mine,” Fawn snapped. “He is
my patient and I have to allow him to make the decisions about who he sees and
when. Right now, he doesn’t want to see
you – and given the way you barged in here and started complaining, I can’t say
I blame him, Rhapsody Angel. Now, sit
down and calm down and maybe I can have a word with the captain and see if he’s
changed his mind.”
“I’m sorry, Doctor
Fawn,” she gulped, as she flopped into the chair. “Why won’t he see me?” She turned her large
blue eyes onto him and he caught the glint of tears.
“Because he is worried
he might hurt you, or turn against Spectrum.”
“It’s madness… he would
never do that.”
“Quite possibly, but
until he accepts that, I don’t think it wise to argue with him. He does have the right to say who he wants to
see – same as any patient does.”
“But he can’t spend
forever in there.”
“No, he can’t,” Fawn
agreed, with a deep sigh.
“What am I going to
tell his mother?” Rhapsody asked. “She’s
expecting him home for his birthday…”
“Say again?”
“He was going home for
his birthday; they were planning a family party because his father’s coming up
to retirement and Paul won’t be able to attend the ceremonies for that. Well, it’s not likely that he will. So, Mrs Metcalfe was going to have a combined
Paul’s birthday, pre-retirement party at their home.”
Doctor Fawn said
nothing, but chewed on his bottom lip thoughtfully.
“Doctor?” Rhapsody said
quietly to remind him she was still there.
“Hmm? Oh, excuse me, Rhapsody; I have to speak to
the colonel…”
She watched him stride
from the room and sighed. If I can’t see Paul now, I might as well go
back and do some work… I wonder what Fawn’s up to. I wish everyone around here wasn’t so
secretive all the time!
Doctor Fawn was
adamant.
“You’re my patient and I say that you will undergo a programme of
physiotherapy exercises. I don’t care
what you think,” he continued, brushing aside Scarlet’s inarticulate protest,
“no one in my hospital is going to stay and wallow in their beds. Not while I
have any say in the matter. I took a
Hippocratic oath not to make things worse, and lying there consuming enormous
meals three times a day while watching dross TV is not going to solve matters,
Captain.”
“But what if I’m a
Mysteron?” Scarlet shook his head. “You
can keep me under restraint in here and neutralise any threat I may
represent. You don’t want a fit Mysteron
on Cloudbase, do you?”
“I sure as hell don’t
want a fat slob of a Mysteron on board,” Fawn retorted. “I have arranged for Captain Blue and Captain
Grey to accompany you in the gym and the pool. That should square your
roundness, as my old granny used to say.”
“But-”
“Don’t worry – they’re
under orders to deal with you if they see the slightest sign of you being a
danger to anyone or anything. And you
can take your guards with you, and their electron rifles. I don’t want them in my sick bay.”
“But…”
“They’ll be here in
about 20 minutes; so there is just time for you to shower and shave... you look
like something the cat dragged in.”
“Another one of your
old granny’s pithy sayings?” Scarlet asked grumpily, somewhat disgruntled by
this sudden volte-face.
“She did have a large
repertoire of them,” Fawn agreed. “Do
you want me to ask Nurse Ingram to come and scrub your back for you?”
“No!” Scarlet said
emphatically. “I can manage… thanks.”
“Better get on with it
then. I’m sure you won’t mind me
pointing out that even a Mysteron needs to use deodorant and aftershave at
times…”
“You’ll never win the
bedside-manner-of-the-year award if you go on like this,” Scarlet sniped, as
Fawn turned away with a satisfied smirk on his face.
Buoyed up by a flood of
natural endorphins, Captain Scarlet was feeling much happier as he led the damp
procession back from the pool to his recovery room.
“…and that’s when the
leg of the bed gave way and the major, who was billeted next door, came rushing
in to see what the noise was… talk about red faces, I can tell you! I’ve never seen a woman put her uniform on so
quickly - before or since!” He laughed at the memory of his youthful
indiscretion. “Ah, those were the days…”
“Seems like you’ve
always got away with murder, Paul…” Grey retorted, grinning.
Scarlet turned his head
over his shoulder to grin in response.
“It’s a good job the beds on Cloudbase aren’t as shoddy-”
He came to an abrupt
halt at the sight that met his eyes.
Blaaa-aaar
The noise from the
single party-blower sounded almost mournful in the silent aftermath of the
party.
Captain Scarlet blew it
again.
Captain Blue pushed his
radio cap up from his forehead and looked up.
He was sitting in the armchair with his arms folded across his chest and
his long legs stretched out onto the bed; the brim of his cap had been pulled
down to shield his eyes.
“Do you have to make
that noise?” he asked.
“Wasn’t that the best
party you’ve ever been to?”
“It certainly went with
a swing,” Blue agreed, reluctantly lowering his legs and getting to his
feet.
He glanced around the
recovery room and grimaced. There were
paper plates, plastic cups and the debris of a finger buffet on every flat
surface – and several surfaces that weren’t exactly flat – paper streamers
festooned the furniture and gaily-coloured balloons bobbed around the ceiling. There was a pile of wrapping paper at one end
of the bed and a collection of boxes and gifts scattered across it.
Scarlet blew the
party-blower again and picked up his plastic glass of non-alcoholic chardonnay.
“Cheers,” he muttered and drank the rest of it.
“Your mum certainly
knows how to cater for a party,” Blue said.
“She does that. All my favourite things…”
“I can’t remember the
last time I had strawberry jello and Neapolitan ice cream,” Blue admitted.
“Jelly
and Ice Cream. It’s a tradition,”
Scarlet replied.
“It’s all over the bed
covers,” Blue remarked, pointing.
“Trust Patrick, he was
so busy entertaining Nurse Ingram with amusing anecdotes, that he didn’t notice
he was getting ice cream everywhere,” Scarlet said, with a huge grin on his
face. “Did you see the look on Destiny’s face when that blob of chocolate ice
cream slid off her plastic spoon and down the inside front of her blouse? I thought I was going to split my sides
trying not to laugh.”
Blue nodded and
chortled with laughter. “I don’t think she
appreciated Ochre’s helpful suggestion that she take the blouse off and let him
lick her clean… I can’t imagine why; any man would have offered to do as much.”
“Good job my mum missed
that,” his friend agreed. “She was
chatting to Symphony at the time, wasn’t she?”
Blue nodded. “Yes… and I dread to think what they were
talking about. I have a strong suspicion
I shall be hearing from my mother in the next few days.”
“Well, it is almost
Christmas. She’s allowed to call you on
high days and holidays, isn’t she?”
The American rolled his
eyes. “Not if all she’s got to say is
‘why aren’t you coming home for Christmas’…”
Scarlet chuckled and
then blew the party-blower towards his friend.
“Party on, Adam.”
“You mean, party
over. We’re supposed to be cleaning this
up, remember?”
Scarlet swept the
debris from his bed and lay down, pressing a hand to his forehead.
“I am still
recovering,” he said. “I need to
rest. But don’t let me stop you…”
Laughing, Blue stooped
down and yanked the mattress so that Scarlet rolled off the bed and onto the
floor in a sprawling heap.
“Oops, sorry… did you
say something?” he asked, as his friend got to his feet, almost helpless with
laughter.
“You Yankee bastard….”
“You despotic redcoat…”
Scarlet looked around
the room. It really was a complete
mess. He glanced across at Blue who was
idly picking a streamer off the rail of the bed and winding it around his
fingers.
“Come on then; if we
work together we’ll get it done quicker.”
Blue smiled, and
dropped the loop of paper streamer into the waste basket. “Man and Mysteron working in partnership, now
that is something I’d celebrate.”
They made a start and
the job was almost done when Scarlet suddenly sat on the bed and clapped his
hand to head.
“I’ve remembered,” he
said.
“Remembered what?” Blue
asked, pausing in the middle of sweeping the floor with a long-handled soft
duster.
“What it was that I
thought the Mysterons were trying to get me to do. The thing I thought might bring everyone into
danger.”
“Oh, that. And will it?”
“What?”
“Bring everyone into
danger,” Blue explained patiently. He
was paying close attention to Scarlet, a glint of caution in his pale-blue
eyes.
Scarlet pursed his
lips. “Not everyone, only me.”
“Will you stop with the
cryptic hints already!”
Chuckling, Scarlet
said, “I was trying to remember to get some Christmas presents to take home
with me when I went back for my birthday party…”
“And that’s it? That’s what you’ve been driving us all crazy
with worry about?”
Captain Scarlet nodded
and shrugged, an apologetic smile on his face.
Then his expression sobered as a new thought occurred to him. “And I’m
still in danger, Adam, I don’t have anything to send home and I doubt I’ll have
a chance to go shopping, once Fawn lets me back on duty tomorrow.”
“Forget it. Dianne and Karen sorted it out when the
colonel agreed that your mum and dad could come aboard for a surprise birthday
party. They’ve sent your parents home
with a selection of thoughtful gifts from their only son.” Blue paused. “Probably far more thoughtful gifts than
their only son usually gives them,” he amended.
“Don’t think that will
go unnoticed…”
The two men exchanged
meaningful glances and then they both dissolved into weak laughter at the
expectation of the interrogation likely to follow the opening of the
presents.
“Oh well,” Scarlet
said, as they fell silent. “A Spectrum
agent gets used to living dangerously.
You finished with that duster, Captain Blue? I feel like wandering down to the canteen for
a late supper.”
Blue nodded and dropped
the hated tool onto the floor. “Call it
an early breakfast and I’m your man, Captain Scarlet,” he replied.
As they left sick bay
Scarlet asked in a puzzled voice, “What did you give me for my birthday?”
“Can’t you remember?
You’d better tell Fawn your short-term memory’s shot to pieces then…” Blue
remarked casually. He hadn’t actually given Scarlet the present he’d bought for
him yet – afraid that the two tickets for the 5-day Ashes test match starting
on Boxing Day in Melbourne, might’ve got lost in the mountain of wrapping paper
and party favours. He also had no
intention of telling his friend that he had gained the colonel’s guarantee that
– as long as he wasn’t on active field duty or in Sick Bay - Captain Scarlet,
and one selected ‘other’, could have the five days of the test match as leave
on the condition that Captain Blue covered his duty periods. That would spoil the surprise.
Scarlet grimaced. “There were so many things and they’ve all
got mixed up in my memory – that’s all.
My mum’d gone overboard, as usual.
I mean, I’m sure whatever it was you gave me was exactly what I wanted;
you seem to have the knack of hitting the nail on the head, so to speak, and I
was going to thank you for it… except – I can’t remember exactly what it was.”
“Well, if you really
can’t remember, you’ll have to guess. Call it a kind of therapeutic ‘Kim’s
game’. It’ll sharpen your faculties.”
Captain Scarlet gave
his friend a cautious glance, but the genial American did not seem offended by
his confession. The merest hint of
suspicion flittered across Scarlet’s mind. “Well, okay… let me see; what would
you have been likely to give me?”
They stepped onto the
escalator heading towards the Officers’ Canteen and Blue looked expectantly at
his friend.
“The ‘Captain Starlight’ boxed set?” Scarlet
hazarded, with an expression of profound concentration on his face.
“No.”
“The New York Yankees
baseball cap?”
“No!”
“It wasn’t the bright
green knitted sweater was it?”
“No… that was your
aunt, for Pete’s sake. Why would I give you a bright green sweater?”
“I don’t know; but you do the daftest things sometimes…”
They were still
bickering when they reached the canteen….
Author’s notes:
I am told that it is now a tradition for me to write something for
Captain Scarlet’s birthday, so here is this year’s ‘birthday story’. For once I actually got it done in plenty of
time - which is certainly not part of the tradition! The birthday stories are not usually more
than what my CEO calls ‘fluffy writing’, and this is no different.
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons™ belonged to Carlton Media –
when I last looked. It was created by
Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, to the delight of children who were transfixed by
this Brave New World. And I still
am. I hope no one minds me playing with
the characters.
Thanks go to Hazel Köhler for beta-reading services, par
excellence and Chris Bishop for the best website and the inspirational
chats! And thank you for reading; I
hope you enjoyed it.
Happy Birthday, Mr Metcalfe.
Marion Woods
7 November 2010.
Other
stories from Marion Woods
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