Population Explosion

A “Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons” story

By

Kelly Haycock

Many thanks to Chris Bishop for being my Beta Reader (or whatever it’s called!) I do not own the rights to Captain Scarlet, but I did create all characters never seen in the series.

“The Mysterons have been continuing their War of Nerves against the Earth for well over a year now. However, in recent weeks, we have received no threats and had no reports from our operatives as to the whereabouts of Captain Black. Despite this apparent calm, I believe the Mysterons have not ceased their activities, but are waiting. Waiting for the right moment to strike again.”

- Taken from Colonel White’s report

“This is most strange, Colonel,” Captain Blue observed.

He was seated in front of the rotating desk in the control room with Captain Scarlet at his side and Lieutenant Green behind him at the communications console.

“It certainly is, but it’s not our concern. This is best left to the police,” White said.

“Leave it to the police?” Scarlet asked, raising an eyebrow. “Colonel, nearly thirty women have gone missing.”

“Yes, Captain, I know. I also know that we have had no communication from the Mysterons to suggest they’re behind the disappearances. Now, if there’s nothing more, you are dismissed.”

The two captains stood and turned as one before marching out. Once outside the room, Blue turned to Scarlet. “Paul, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know, Adam. I just feel there’s more to this.” They walked on until reaching Scarlet’s private quarters. Both entered and sat down.

“You mean to this disappearance thing?” Blue asked.

Scarlet nodded. “I just know the Mysterons are somehow involved.”

“But we’ve had no threat warning us.”

“No, not yet, but that doesn’t mean anything. You know, it happened in the past that they’d started carrying out their threats before actually giving us any warning about it, thought never on such a large scale.”

“So, what are you saying? That the Mysterons have kidnapped about thirty women, all aged between twenty-three and twenty-seven, and all in no position of importance? It’s just not their style. They usually take people with power or influence.”

“I know it sounds weird, it’s just… Oh, I don’t know. You must think I’m crazy,” Scarlet said, looking at his friend out the corner of his eye.

“I always thought that of you, Paul,” Blue responded with a grin. Scarlet turned to look at him fully and rolled his eyes as Blue glanced at his watch. “Yikes! I said I’d meet Symphony at the galley ten minutes ago!”

“In that case you’d better go.”

“What about you? What are you up to?”

Scarlet’s stomach growled as he stood up. He patted his scarlet-vested middle. “I’m hungry,” he said with a smile.

Blue rose from his seat and stood beside him. “So, you’re heading to the galley, huh? I’ll walk with you. I just hope Symphony’s still there!”

Scarlet laughed as the two men exited the room and walked briskly down the long corridor.

*

Christina Hartley sat in her apartment, drinking her coffee while outside a brutal storm raged on. The twenty-five-year-old woman hated living on her own when the weather was like this. It always made her feel nervous and tonight was no exception.

She raised her cup to her lips as a deafening rumble of thunder coming from outside echoed through the air, followed by a flash of lightning so bright she dropped her cup.

“Oh, bugger!” she quietly cursed to herself as the hot coffee spilled into her lap. “Ugh, what’s wrong with me? Why am I so jumpy?” she added as she wandered through her apartment to the kitchen where she picked up a cloth to clean up the spill.

She turned round and headed back to her lounge just as a power cut plunged the room into darkness. She looked around uneasily, picking out the features of the room using the illumination from the frequent lightning flashes.

Suddenly, she heard a bang that wasn’t the thunder from the storm. It came from behind her front door. She crossed over to it tentatively and pulled back the latch. Outside, much to her relief stood a familiar person.

“Mr Carter,” she said, pulling open the door further. Her neighbour stepped in, holding a torch.

“Are you alright, Miss Hartley?” he asked. Christina frowned. He spoke a lot slower than normal and his voice seemed a little deeper. Looking at him in the bright torchlight, she saw he also looked paler than normal.

“Yes. Yes, I’m fine. Are you? You look very pale.”

Carter seemed to move his torch further away from his face. “I am fine. Would you like to come with me?”

“Go with you? Where to?” she asked, suddenly feeling confused and a little uneasy again.

“Nowhere in particular. I am just worried about you. You’ve lived on your own here for a long time. I just thought you might like to join me.”

“No, I’m fine. I’d rather stay here.” She turned away and sat down on her sofa. Carter shrugged and opened the door again, took one step outside then quietly pulled the door to. Christina turned back to it. He was still outside; she could hear his strangely deep voice, meaning he wasn’t alone and he was talking to someone.

The door opened again and Carter walked back in with another man. “Who’s that?” she asked, referring to the black-clad man who had joined her neighbour in her apartment.

“This is Mr Turner. He would like for you to join us, please.”

Christina frowned again and looked at Turner. He, too, was pale, but not like Carter; his face was a deathly shade of white and his chin was covered in stubble while there were dark bags under his eyes. “Like I said, Mr Carter, I’m fine. I’ll call my friend to spend the night with me.” She leaned over to the phone. There was no dial tone. The power cut must have taken out the phones too, she thought.

“It is no use, Miss Hartley. You will join us,” Turner said. She looked at him, fear creeping through her. His voice was very deep, much more so than Carter’s.

“No, no thank you. Now please, let me get to bed. I’m tired.” The two men glanced at each other as she rose and headed to her room. “I think you know where the door is.”

She heard footsteps and, thinking they were leaving, sighed inwardly until suddenly, she felt a hard object painfully hit the back of her head. Her world fell into darkness even the power cut couldn’t triumph over.

She woke up to find herself in a room with about forty other women of her own age. The room itself was set out like an old style dormitory with rows of beds along each wall.

She sat up and hugged her legs close to her chest. No one was moving from their bed but down the centre, pale-faced men and women wandered about checking on the women. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she looked about and realised that the room looked more like a ward from a hospital than a dormitory.

A dark haired man approached her and she recognised him as the man who had come in with Carter.

He approached her slowly, sat down on the end of her bed and looked her straight in the eyes. This made her feel even more nervous and she unconsciously shifted herself further back.

“Do not worry, Christina, I will not harm you.” Turner’s deep voice somehow calmed her down and she relaxed slightly, even though she was still terrified.

“Where am I? And who are you really?”

“You are no longer in your apartment,” Turner said.

“Well, I could have told you that, Sherlock.”

“You are very fortunate,” he went on, ignoring her comment. “You have been chosen by my…” He paused trying to find a word.

“Boss?” she said, supplying a possibility.

“Yes, you have been chosen by my employers to be part of a unique and important project.”

“That still doesn’t tell me who you are and where I am.”

“Very well. My full name is Conrad Turner. My fellow “employees” call me Captain Black. It’s a sort of code name. And I am afraid I cannot tell you where you are. It is top secret.”

“Top secret?” Christina asked, her eyes widening.

Turner nodded. “Now, I suggest you get some rest, Christina. You have a big day ahead of you and some changes to adjust to.”

Before she could object, a woman in a white lab coat had injected her with a fast acting sedative and she was out like a light.

*

Captain Scarlet was standing on the promenade deck looking down at the cloud layer beneath him.

“Deep in thought again, huh?”

Scarlet turned to see Blue approaching him and smiled. “Yes, I guess I am.”

“What is it this time?”

“The same as the last. You know, there are now nearly fifty women reported missing.”

“Nearly fifty? Whoa, that’s some number. I wonder what’s happening to them all.”

“Who knows? But the Colonel won’t let us find out.”

“Oh, come on, Paul. Our job is to protect the world from the Mysterons. Unless we get a threat or a report, we don’t get involved. You know that.”

“I know, I know.” Scarlet turned away again. “It’s just that I guess I’m worried about it.”

“This isn’t like you, Paul. Are you sure you’re alright?”

“I’m fine. But like I said, I’m worried.”

“Well, don’t let it come into your work or you’ll get into trouble either with the Mysterons or worse.”

“Worse? Than the Mysterons?” Scarlet asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, the Colonel can have quite a temper. Remember when he sentenced you to death for impersonating him in order to save him?”

Scarlet smiled at the memory. “Thinking about that now does seem kind of funny.”

Blue grinned and moved up next to him. “Come on, you. Time to get your head out the clouds.”

“Adam, the clouds are below us.”

“Figure of speech, Paul. Figure of speech.”

The two men left the promenade deck, leaving behind the cloudy vista.

*

Turner was in a small office with a few of the other white-clad personnel.

“I trust you have been giving them the correct drugs,” he said, his deep voice echoing round the room.

“Of course, Captain Black, sir. They were all given the sedative.”

One of the people looked round. “What sedative? Why did you say it like that? Is there something special about it?”

“Ugh, why did we take you on?” one nurse said, fiddling with the hem of her lab coat in annoyance. “You never listen!”

“The sedative,” Turner answered, glaring with his jet eyes at the young nurse, “is not actually a sedative. It will kill them and allow us to continue with our work freely.”

“Kill them?” Then it dawned on the man. “Ooh, I see. You can’t blame me really; you only took me on yesterday! No one ever tells me anything!”

“That is probably because we only took you on yesterday,” Turner said. He turned to one of the other nurses and opened his mouth to speak then decided against it and left the room.

“What was that about?” one nurse asked after he’d left.

“Beats me,” another answered, tugging on his sleeves. “He does that sometimes. It’s as though there’s voices in his head or something!”

Turner walked through the building until he reached another small room, the one that had been put aside as his private quarters.

“I am alone,” he said out loud in his deep voice.

Captain Black, another deep voice answered from seemingly nowhere. It is now time. You know what you must do?

“Yes, I know what I must do.”

*

“This is the voice of the Mysterons,” the deep voice said, making all members of Spectrum come to a standstill. “We know you can hear us, Earthmen. Attacking our Martian complex was your mistake and we will be avenged. Our next act of retaliation will be integration. We will infiltrate your population.”

The Spectrum personnel stood stock still, looking at speakers or glancing uneasily at a companion.

As soon as the deep echoing Mysteron voice died down, Colonel White activated his radio link.

“Will Captains Scarlet and Blue report to me immediately.”

In the control room, White rotated his desk to face the two approaching officers. “At ease, gentlemen,” he said, indicating the rising stools. “So. The Mysterons have finally made their next move.”

“I was beginning to wonder if they’d forgotten,” Blue said under his breath.

“The Mysterons aren’t the sort of race to forget their promise of revenge that easily, Captain,” White said, hearing his comment. “Now, opinions, please. Captain Scarlet, you first.”

“I think you already know my opinion, sir. I’m still convinced the Mysterons are behind the disappearance of those women. And they were all aged twenty-three to twenty-seven. I think there may be the possibility of the Mysterons carrying out some sort of experiment.”

“How would that take into account their threat of integration?”

“I think I know what Captain Scarlet’s getting at, Colonel,” Blue said, glancing between his friend and superior. “They may experiment on the women to integrate their population into ours.”

“I think I see. You may be right, Captain. I’m sorry I didn’t take your intuitions as seriously before. We must still cover other possibilities. We’ll have one team to investigate the disappearance of those women while the other will remain here and investigate any other possible meanings to the threat.”

The two captains exchanged glances as the Colonel continued his briefing.

*

Christina sat on her bed. She had watched other women leaving the room but as of yet, none had returned. She hugged her legs close to her chest as she awaited her turn. This time, though, she was neither nervous nor frightened.

Finally, a young male nurse walked over to her. “Are you ready, Miss Hartley?”

“Yes, I know what I must do.”

She was led through to a sterile room where she was told to lie down on a bed and wait. She glanced around but there wasn’t much else to see aside from a window to the next room. Through the window, however, she saw something that amused her, the sight of herself. The Mysteron reconstruction smiled and turned back to face the ceiling again as the doctors entered the room.

They smiled at her and told her to relax as they injected a real sedative into her arm. She slowly drifted into slumber knowing that she would be an important part of the Mysterons’ most recent plot when she’ll awake.

*

“I just don’t get it!” Scarlet said. “How can over fifty women just disappear off the face of the Earth?” He drew in a breath. “You don’t think they took them to Mars or the moon, do you?”

“I doubt it, I’m quite sure we would have detected them leaving if that were the case,” Blue answered watching Scarlet pacing around the inside of the SPV. “And will you sit down, already? You’re making me dizzy!”

“Then stop watching me!” Scarlet retorted with a grin. He sighed and sat down. “I just don’t understand. Where could they be hiding them?”

“I don’t know. I just don’t know!”

This new Mysteron threat had given Spectrum the authority to take over the police’s investigations into the disappearances. They had accessed all available records and spoken to many of the witnesses again.

Now, their SPV was parked outside a block of flats in Los Angeles, one of which was the home to one of the missing women, a Miss Christina Hartley according to the records. Her neighbours had reported her disappearance the previous day after she failed to answer her phone. The concerned neighbours had a spare key and had let themselves in to check on her only to find her gone. All the lights had been left on after the night’s power cut, as had the television. For that reason, they doubted she’d just gone away for a few days; she would have turned them off.

“Has the couple who reported her missing returned yet?” Blue said.

“No, their answer phone said something about them being out until later on this evening.”

“What time?”

“About 9:30.”

“Then we’ll come back then. For now, we search the apartment again for any clue as to her whereabouts.”

*

Christina woke with a smile on her lips. She felt strange but well.

“You may go now, Miss Hartley,” one of the doctors said, helping her off the table.

She slipped carefully down and crossed the room.

“Is something wrong, Miss Hartley?” the doctor asked, noticing how she was walking slowly.

“Just a little dizzy. It’s not often you lie down on an operating table as one person and wake up with a companion.”

The doctor smiled. “I’ll send one of the staff to escort you back to your bunk. The fate of the operation depends on your ‘load’. And don’t forget, you must stay on the premises. You have some more treatments to go through yet.”

She looked at him and forced another smile. She might be a Mysteron, but she was reconstructed from a woman who had feelings. And now that the surgery was over, the feelings of the woman in her were running riot. Especially the maternal instincts.

*

Captain Scarlet and Captain Blue sat on the sofa in the lounge of Christina Hartley’s apartment. They had been searching for hours and had found little or nothing.

“Looks like this is the only thing we’re gonna find, Captain Scarlet,” Blue said, holding up a small bloodstained object.

“What exactly is that thing?” Scarlet asked, looking at it with a tilted head.

“I’m not sure exactly,” Blue replied, turning it this way and that. Both captains had gloves on, so fingerprints weren’t an issue.

“Here, let me see it closer.” Blue handed over the article and his companion observed it closely.

“Are you waiting for it to do something?” Blue asked mockingly.

“Har har!” Scarlet raised an eyebrow. “I’m trying to figure out what it is.”

“It’s a remote for an old-style television. Christina liked the old-fashioned models as compared to the new ones. Could never figure out why.”

Scarlet and Blue turned to see a silver-haired woman standing in the doorway. Putting down their evidence, Scarlet pulled off his glove and held out his hand to her. “You must be Mrs Smith.”

The woman nodded.

“I’m Captain Scarlet and this is Captain Blue. We’re from Spectrum and we’re investigating the disappearance of about fifty women. We believe Miss Hartley’s disappearance may be in some way connected. Do you think you can help us?”

Mrs Smith nodded again and gestured for them to follow her. It was clear to the Spectrum officers that she didn’t want to remain in that room.

They followed her out and into the apartment next door where she offered them coffee and biscuits.

“No, thank you, but we must continue with our work. Now do you have any idea at all where Miss Hartley might have gone?” Scarlet said, politely waving a hand at the plate she offered.

Mrs Smith put it and the kettle down and turned back round. “I’m not sure, but I did hear something the night we had that major storm that resulted in a blackout.”

“If it’s not too much, could you tell us, please?” Blue asked, gently.

Mrs Smith nodded. “About two nights ago, we had a massive storm, which, as I said, resulted in a blackout. The thing is, during this time, we heard a bang come from Miss Hartley’s apartment. We didn’t dare go out, but we heard Mr Carter. He’s a neighbour of ours. He lives down the hall at number 58c. At least, we thought it was he. His voice sounded so much deeper than normal, I could be mistaken. But if it was him, he was asking Miss Hartley to go somewhere with him.”

“And you think that might be where she went?” Scarlet asked.

“I don’t know. We heard her refuse in her gentle way quite a few times, but eventually, another man with an even deeper voice joined them. We took a quick look outside, my husband and I, and saw them. Mr Carter looked a lot more pale than normal and so did the man he was with. But this second man, he just made me feel nervous just to look at him. He was a quite tall man, with dark hair and very dark eye. He wasn’t very clean-shaven either; his chin was covered with stubble. All I remember after he arrived is hearing a thud then a dragging sort of noise.”

Blue looked at Scarlet. He could see they both had the same thought on their minds.

“Ok, thank you Mrs Smith. You’ve been a big help to us.”

The two Spectrum officers descended the stairs to their waiting SPV.

“I take it you thought as I did. You think it was Captain Black who was there that night.”

“I’m not jumping to that conclusion, Adam. But yes, I believe it could be a possibility.” Scarlet opened the door to the vehicle as someone ran from the building they’d just left.

“Wait!”

The two officers turned as one to face the man running towards them.

“Can we help you?” Scarlet asked.

“Are you the men who came to investigate Christina’s disappearance?” he asked, a little out of breath.

Scarlet and Blue exchanged glances then Blue answered. “Yes, can we help you?” he repeated.

“I think it is I who can help you then, sir. I was on my balcony and heard two men talking the night Christina disappeared. They said something about taking the others in England at an old closed down naval hospital. But I’m not sure who the others are. I’m guessing though, it’s something to do with Christina.”

“Thanks! That’s a big help!” Blue yelled as he jumped into the SPV. He stared at Scarlet. “Right, looks like we’re taking you home!”

“Adam, you say that too often now! Stop it!” Scarlet said, light heartedly. “Come on, I think I know where he was talking about.”

They reached the airport, LAX, and requisitioned an SPJ to take them to England. Once aboard and underway, Scarlet radioed Cloudbase. He waited, watching the epaulettes on his shoulders blinking white.

“Yes, Captain Scarlet? What have you to report?”

“We have reason to believe that Captain Black is involved with the disappearances of these women and also that they have been taken to a closed down naval hospital in England. The only one I can think of is on the south coast. We’d better check into the database if there isn’t any other one. In the meantime, Captain Blue and I are going there.”

“SIG, Captain Scarlet. Lieutenant Green can start work on the records straight away. In the meantime, you be careful. If Captain Black is trying to help the Mysterons to ‘integrate’ themselves into our population, it’s doubtful that he’ll be alone with the women.”

“SIG, Colonel.” Scarlet watched his mike swing back up to his visor before turning to Blue who was piloting.

“South coast, huh?”

“Yes, that’s where we’re going.”

“You’re the England expert,” Blue retorted, grinning.

Scarlet rolled his eyes and settled back in his seat.

The Spectrum jet soared through the air, swiftly transporting its passengers to England.

They landed the craft and had it stored in a hangar, before requisitioning another SPV. They climbed into it and Scarlet directed them to their destination.

*

Christina left the therapy room. She moved through the corridors slowly thinking to herself. The woman she had been reconstructed from had always wanted children. Now that woman was dead, but this new form of her was fulfilling her wish.

“Miss Hartley?” a voice called out from behind her. “You forgot this.”

She turned to see the doctor she had just left in the therapy room, running after her with her jumper. She’d been so preoccupied, she’d left it on the chair in the small room.

“Thank you,” she said, taking it from him.

“You also forgot to wait for me to tell you when to next come back. I would appreciate it if you would at least wait a few moments to hear my instruction.”

Christina sighed. “Sorry. What time then?”

“Tomorrow at eleven, for two hours.”

“I’m really getting fed up with this! Can’t I just get the therapy all at once?”

“We’re taking it slowly for a reason. We took the egg from your human form, the one you were reconstructed from, and implanted it in you, fertilising it with Mysteron DNA. We are using the retro-metabolic powers we have at our disposal to shorten the gestation period, which means the infant will grow faster. But we don’t yet know what will happen if we take it too fast. We don’t know if it would be safe. These infants are too important for our plans to risk losing them by rushing the experiment. Remember that.”

Christina raised her eyebrows. She’d never seen the doctor seemingly so mad at her; he was usually quite civil towards his fellow Mysterons. “Ok, ok,” she said, pulling her loose jumper on.

“Just take this seriously, please? If we want these infants to grow to dominate the human race, they must be carefully dealt with now or…” The doctor stopped, and looked at her, noticing her slightly sad expression. Strange, he thought, I’ve never seen a Mysteron who has looked sad before. “Is something wrong, Miss Hartley?”

“No, nothing. It’s just the emotions of the body you reconstructed me from. I still have her memories and feelings, remember.”

“Yes, I know. I, too, still have the memories and feelings of the man I was reconstructed from.”

“Well… I dunno. It’s nothing, I’ll get over it.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.” She turned away and started to walk down the corridor, back to her bunk. “I’ll see you tomorrow at eleven, then, doctor.”

*

Scarlet steered the SPV towards the small town on the south coast of England, and then in direction of the closed down facility near it. He parked the vehicle in the car park close by and they climbed out.

“I don’t like this place,” Blue said, looking about. Most of the windows were boarded and everything was deserted. The security post by the main gate still had its security status, from when it was last in use, displayed.

“Tahiti: black, Bikini: black. That’s good, isn’t it?” Blue asked, brushing the mounting dust from the plaques.

“Yes, that meant security was at its minimum. The two words are codes used at the time in naval institutions such as this. I’m not sure why they chose those words, though. At the other end of the scale, if Tahiti and Bikini were red, security was at maximum and no one could enter or leave the grounds. As it was black, anyone could enter and anyone could leave. Look.” Scarlet climbed the few steps to stand next to Blue then pointed a little to the side of where they stood where an old hardback book lay open in the middle. It was displaying a table with a number of names of people who’d signed in, with times, as well as reasons for the visits. Most of the people signing in gave the reason to visit a ward, though quite a lot were signing in for various different forms of work.

“Wow, that thing’s lasted well! Look, the last entry was about fifty years ago,” Blue said, brushing aside some dust. He looked at the figures he’d uncovered and squinted. “19^th October 2016.”

“That’s fifty-two years ago,” Scarlet corrected as his epaulettes flashed green. “Yes, Lieutenant Green?” he said as his mike swung down.

“Colonel White has asked me to inform you that we can find no other possible solution to the threat. We can conclude that your observations are correct. Further investigation will continue, just to make sure, however.”

“SIG, Lieutenant.”

“Ok, Captain. How’s everything going for you? Do you need any help yet?”

“I was waiting for that part!” Blue said quietly to his friend.

“No, thank you, Lieutenant. We’ll radio as soon as we find anything. Out.”

Blue looked at his companion. “Checking up on us? Nice thought, lieutenant,” he said more to himself.

“I’m sure Green added that in himself,” Scarlet said, smiling. He descended the short flight of stairs back to the bottom then headed stealthily down the road and further into the hospital grounds.

*

Christina sat outside the therapy room. They had called her back early and she couldn’t understand why. She was looking about and every now and again casting a glance down. As far as she knew, the retro-metabolic therapy had been working well, in that the infant within her was growing at a much faster rate than a fully human infant.

The doctor came out with another woman who was further along in the treatments than she.

“Nearly time. You’re doing well, Miss Johnston. Come back again, tomorrow, at midday please?” The young girl smiled and walked off; then the doctor turned to Christina. “Ah, Miss Hartley. You’re looking well, today.”

“You said that yesterday, and the day before.”

“Is there something wrong?”

“I’m just fed up with coming down here everyday.”

“It won’t be for much longer. We have news for you. We’ve found that the treatments can indeed be intensified. We can have the sessions last longer, meaning you won’t have to worry about it much longer.”

She smiled at him, but it was put on. She followed him into the retro-metabolic therapy room and lay down. Her form cast a strange shadow on the wall and she watched it rise and fall as she breathed.

Then the doctor walked in and positioned the apparatus above her abdomen. He then strapped her arms down beside her. She always watched him carefully when he did this, she couldn’t see why it was necessary.

He then walked away from her and adjusted the settings on the machine. She turned her head, continuing to watch him.

Finally, he’d finished playing about with measurements and adjusting equipment. He smiled at her. “You know the routine. You’ll feel a bit strange as the retro-metabolic powers do their work. But you’ll be here for a bit longer today, so make yourself comfortable.”

Easy for you to say, she thought. You’re not the one strapped to an operating table and having experiments carried out on you and on the Mysteron infant you’re carrying! She frowned, but made a show of fidgeting to make herself look as though she were getting comfortable. Then she turned to the doctor. “I’m ready,” she said.

He smiled again and turned on the machine. She immediately felt the rays sweeping through her but concentrating on her abdomen where the infant was growing. Growing very rapidly at that particular point in time. She watched as her form slowly enlarged and couldn’t help but smile.

*

Scarlet led Blue through the dusty corridors, brushing cobwebs from overhead as they were progressing.

“Are you sure this is where they are?” Blue coughed, the dust irritating his throat. “I’ve seen no sign of any life-”

“The Mysterons aren’t alive, remember?” Scarlet said, grinning at his friend.

“You know what I mean.” Blue turned to look out through a long window beside him, continuing to move forward until he ran into Scarlet.

“What’s wrong? Why’d you stop?” Then he noticed his friend was holding his head and bracing himself against the windowsill. “Ah, I see. Ok, that’s all the proof I need. You can sense them here, can’t you?”

Scarlet nodded. “I’m not sure where they are, though. And there seems to be so many of them!”

“How many? Any idea?”

“No. I’m going to contact Cloudbase. We’re going to need some help.” Scarlet flicked down his mike and watched his epaulettes flashing white until he heard the English-accented voice of his superior.

“Have you anything to report, Captain Scarlet?”

“Yes, sir. I have reason to believe we have found where the Mysterons are. I also have reason to believe that Captain Blue and I will not be able to carry anything out alone and request backup.”

“Already being taken care of. Captains Ochre, Magenta and Grey will be joining you as will a strike team. Inform me of updates but keep out of sight. No heroics, please, Scarlet.”

“SIG.”

*

Turner sat in his private quarters in the hospital grounds. It had once been an isolation room, in the women’s ward. But now served his purposes well, due to its soundproof qualities and privacy.

All this waiting was making him impatient. He, like Christina, couldn’t understand why they couldn’t just get it over and done with. He was the type that wanted action straight away.

Captain Black! boomed out the deep voice of his Mysteron masters.

“I am alone,” he answered clearly.

Our plans for these women are nearly over. As soon as they have bore the infants, dispose of them. We will keep the scientists so we may continue to monitor the infants’ progress and ensure their safety.

“I know,” Black answered obediently. Finally, I get to do something other than watch them conduct their experiments.

We also have a warning for you. Spectrum knows you are here, and has already sent two agents. They are in the building now and more are on the way. You have very little time left, Captain Black. You need to be out of there before they find you.

“Yes. I know what I must do.”

*

Scarlet sat by the window, his head still in his hands. His sixth sense was detecting so many Mysterons it was overwhelming him. He’d never been so close to so many at once.

“Are you alright? You don’t look too good,” Blue noted, crouching in front of his friend.

“I… I’m fine, I think. I will be. Just as soon as we’re finished here.”

“Paul, I’m worried about you. I’ve never seen you look that ill. As soon as Ochre, Magenta and Grey get here, you’re going.”

“No, no, I’ll be fine. I want to be in it.”

“Paul, what did the Colonel say about heroics?”

“I’d hardly call that heroics. I’d call that doing my job. Now stop arguing with me, you know I’m right. We have to find out what they’re doing to those women.”

“I know, but it doesn’t mean I’m not gonna worry.”

“I’ll be fine.” Upon hearing footsteps, Scarlet looked up, his hand edging to his pistol, until he saw Ochre, Magenta and Grey coming their way, followed by a few members of the strike team, each armed with a Mysteron gun. “Come on, we’ve got work to do,” he said accepting a weapon from Ochre.

*

Conrad Turner marched through the corridors. None of the women were on the ward any longer, as all of them had gone to the therapy rooms.

The idea that he would be able to do something appealed to him, and he quickened his pace.

He reached the therapy rooms section, and entered the waiting room. The sight of all the pregnant women made him cringe, but he knew it would not be long now before it will be over for them.

A door opened and the doctor in charge walked in, talking to one of the women. He looked up and saw Black. “Ah, Captain. Come to check up on us?”

“I need a word with you. Alone.”

The doctor stared at him, confused, but then followed into one of the therapy rooms. This particular one was not in use as he’d just escorted one patient out, and was getting ready to call the next before Black had walked in.

“What can I do for you, sir?”

“We are out of time. Spectrum is here.” The doctor’s eyebrows rose at this, but Black continued: “Your instructions are to complete the experiment then dispose of the women.”

“Finish? Dispose?” the doctor asked, perplexed. “What do you mean? We can’t rush through! We don’t know what the consequences would be!”

“We know what they will be if you don’t!” Black said. “Captain Scarlet is already here with a strike team, and more are on their way. Now. Are you going to carry out the Mysteron’s instructions, or are you going to disobey like that treacherous Scarlet, and die with the women?”

The doctor paused only briefly before nodding. “The Mysteron instructions will be carried out.”

*

Blue led the team forward through the building, until they reached what looked like a reception desk.

Glancing about, Scarlet saw a sign on the wall. Crossing quietly over to it, he brushed the dust from it. “Haslar ATC,” he said, reading it out loud. “There’s a navigation board here. This place must be called Haslar and this must be the accident treatment centre.”

“You know what those three letters stand for?” Ochre asked, keeping his eyes open for anyone who may come across them.

“Yes.” Scarlet ran his finger down the list, brushing off yet more dust. “It says there are wards that way, lifts that way and exits to the outer buildings that way,” he said pointing down three different corridors.

“Best bet is the wards, I’d have said,” Blue put in.

“Agreed, but best be on the safe side.” Scarlet turned and counted quickly the number of agents with him. “Fifteen, not including us. That’s not many.”

“There’s more on the way,” Magenta spoke up.

Scarlet nodded. “It’ll have to do for now. Right. You five with Captains Ochre and Magenta; take the lifts. You five with Captains Blue and Grey, you take the outer buildings and you five with me, we’ve got the wards,” he instructed, pointing at the different agents as he spoke.

“SIG, Captain Scarlet,” Ochre said, leading his team away.

“You be careful, Scarlet,” Blue warned before leading his own team through the doors.

Scarlet sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew he was close to them, simply because of how ill he felt, though he was determined to continue with his work, despite this fact.

“Are you alright, sir?” a young agent asked.

Scarlet looked up at him. “I’ll be fine, thank you, Collins. Come on!”

He led them down the last corridor, until they reached some automatic doors. They had to force them hard, since there was no power, and they’d jammed up, because of the decaying over the years.

They finally got them open and found themselves outside, in a large courtyard. There was a path going towards the building, which made up the perimeter of the enclosure, that ran straight through the middle, as well as going round the edges. Two huts sat in ruins on either side of the path. Scarlet looked about and saw a sign hanging above the door opposite reading “Wards A-F”.

He didn’t particularly want to run along the path through the middle, not with all those windows facing down at them. Behind any one of them could be a Mysteron agent just waiting to report to Captain Black.

Or perhaps even Black himself could be there, watching them.

Scarlet signalled to three of his men to go along one of the outer paths while he went with the other two along the other. They moved swiftly, met at the entrance of the building and went in.

*

Captain Blue and Captain Grey led their team swiftly through corridor after corridor of the outer buildings. They’d found no sign of activity to suggest even a rat had been there, let alone a Mysteron.

“I don’t think we’re gonna find anything, Blue,” Grey noted. “This is the last building!”

“I guess you’re right. Wonder if the others are having more luck than we are.”

*

Captains Magenta and Ochre had reached the lifts but like Scarlet with the automatic doors, had found them non-operational. They settled for the stairs and began to ascend them.

They searched everywhere they went and found only empty wards and run down nurses’ stations.

“This is pointless! There can’t be much left to search!” one of the strike team said.

“Easy, Robertson. We still have orders to carry out and there’s still more to search,” Magenta said. Beside him, Ochre’s epaulettes blinked blue.

“Yes, Captain.”

“We’ve completed our search of every room and hut outside the main hospital building. Results proved inconclusive. Have you heard from Captain Scarlet?”

“No, sir. We’re still conducting our search. Request you separate into two teams and join us.”

“SIG. I’ll join Scarlet; Grey will be joining you. Out.”

“Well, at least we know they’re inside this building, somewhere,” Magenta said.

“Yeah, and that means we’ll have more people to help us search.”

None of them noticed the dark figure standing in a stairwell nearby, listening to their conversation.

*

Captain Scarlet’s team had searched most of the wards and found nothing but empty beds.

They came to a junction in the corridors that led to two other, different wards, one to the left, one to the right. Scarlet looked down both, then took a look at a map on the wall nearby. “Right, you three go that way. Looking at it, they’re both built the same way, and will have stairs at the end, leading up to the next level. We’ll meet you up there. You two, we’re going this way.”

They were about to move off when Scarlet’s epaulettes began blinking blue. He flipped down his mike.

“Captain Scarlet? We need to know where you are. We’ve finished our search and found nothing. We’re going to come and join you. Request position.”

Scarlet looked about. There was a sign on the doors labelling what each ward was. “We’re between wards F4 and F5. If you follow the signs, it should be easy enough to find. I’ll activate my tracker just in case.” He put his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small device, which he switched on “Activated.”

“SIG, Captain Scarlet. We’ll see you in a minute then. Out.”

Scarlet’s mike swung back up and his team split, to move on, down to their separate wards. The other three rounded the corner and were gone out of view just as they reached the end of the short corridor leading onto the ward.

Scarlet and his reduced team were about to turn the corner, when Scarlet held the others back, holding a finger to his lips. From the ward, he could hear faint shuffling noises.

Motioning to the others to stay put, he crept forward and peered round the corner. He saw two people in white lab coats running round the ward, frantically trying to gather up as many files as they could carry from the foot of each bed.

He walked quietly out and hid behind an open door until they were nearly on top of him. Then he stepped out in front of them, raising his weapon.

“Going somewhere?” he asked them, ignoring the pain he felt in his head. They dropped their files.

“Why are you pointing that gun at us?” one asked, innocently.

“Because you’re Mysteron agents.”

“What? Why on Earth would you think that?”

“Well, it’s not often normal doctors go running round hospitals that have been closed down for about fifty years.”

The two Mysteron agents exchanged glances, turned and ran, but Scarlet was quicker. He pulled the pistol from its holster at his hip and fired at them, temporarily disabling their legs.

“Now, let’s try that again. Where are you going?”

Captain Blue and his two agents ran through the corridors trying to find the F wards.

“Come on, you two, get a move on!” he yelled over his shoulder at the others.

They picked up their pace as they continued on their way, while behind them, someone else was taking note of their direction.

The two agents had proven to be as devoted to the cause of the Mysterons as any other agent, much to Scarlet’s annoyance. He decided in the end to continue his search and left his two agents with them to sort them out. He continued forward, being ever cautious.

He went down a long corridor. The further he went, the worse his headache got. His eyes were momentarily losing focus every now and then, and he stumbled a few times. He knew then he was on the right track. He must be heading towards the biggest concentration of Mysterons he’d ever been near before.

He reached a corner and peered round it, to see about a hundred people. Mostly women, all of who were heavily pregnant but many, many white-clad doctors too, all moving round between the women and asking them questions. He moved back out of view and jogged a bit further back down the corridor, activating his comm. link on the way. His epaulettes flashed, giving the nearby walls a faint blue shading.

“Yes, Captain Scarlet. Where are you? We’ve found your two agents and their Mysteron captives, but we couldn’t find you! Where’d you go?”

Scarlet quickly explained and Blue silently listened.

“So you think they’ve been impregnating these women? Why?”

“I don’t know, I’m only telling you what I saw. I didn’t ask them, you know! They’re not aware I’m here. I’ll wait for you. Just hurry up. There’s not much round here to hide from them long! I don’t know how long it’ll be before they find me.”

“SIG, Captain Scarlet. We’re on our way, as fast as we can.”

*

The doctors had been rushing everybody through the therapy rooms and nearly twenty-five women were now out of the experiment, having gone through a quick labour. Quick only due to the aid of the retro-metabolic equipment once again. When they’d finished with them, they sent them to a second therapy room. They told the women that this was a sort of post-natal therapy, but in truth, none of the women came out of there. It was the electric shock therapy room.

Christina had been through a therapy session and now held a small child in her arms. She was wearing a wide smile on her face.

“What do I have to do now?” she asked.

The doctor smiled at her, but it was put on. She could tell instantly. “There’s one last therapy session you need to go through. You must also leave the infant with us.”

She looked at him, unsure. “Leave her?”

“Yes. The therapy room is just down the corridor. I trust the retro-metabolism has given you back enough strength to walk?”

She nodded. The doctor then walked over to her, took the small child and left. She stared at the door he’d just closed. Behind her, another door opened and someone walked in, offering to escort her to the next therapy.

“Come with me, Christina. In a little while, it’ll all be over.”

The dark man who’d been running round spying on the Spectrum officers ran through concealed corridors, using short cuts to reach Captain Black. He’d overheard a great deal, including the whereabouts of Scarlet and was eager to report his findings.

He reached the therapy rooms, turned a corner and ploughed into Black, toppling over backwards, while the pale-faced Mysteron stood looking down at him. Other agents in the room looked at him, but soon lost interest and continued with their work.

“Have you anything to report?” Black asked as the other man climbed back up to his feet.

“Plenty!” the young reconstruction answered, beaming. He then began to fill in his superior the details he knew of.

“You mean Scarlet’s close by?” Black said. He turned to two of the male nurses. “You and you. Find Scarlet and bring him to me.”

*

Scarlet was seated, pressed up against a wall, not far from the Mysteron group. His head was spinning and he’d never felt so ill before.

He heard a noise behind him and turned to see what it was. The next thing he knew, a pair of white-clad men was roughly dragging him from the floor. His head was causing him so much discomfort he hadn’t had the time or the energy to react to them.

Blue ran through corridor after corridor until he reached the place Scarlet had told him he was. The place was empty. He looked about but could see no sign of his friend.

“Paul?” he called out in a soft whisper, receiving only silence in reply. He tried again. “Paul?” Still nothing.

He walked on a little way, then kicked something on the floor; it was his colleague’s colour-coded cap.

He picked it up and looked at it, worry suddenly becoming the dominant emotion in him.

He heard a sound behind him and spun round, his hand flying to his pistol and whipping it from its holster.

“Whoa! Whoa, we’re on the same team, remember?” Captain Grey said, approaching with the others.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that then.” Blue looked at them briefly, taking in that the entire team was back together, then looked back down at the cap he held.

The others noticed it. “Oh no! What’s happened? Where is he?” Ochre asked, concern in his voice.

“I don’t know,” Blue answered quietly, then sighed and activated the radio in his own cap, his epaulettes flashing white.

“What is it, Captain Blue?” Colonel White asked, only moments after Blue had initiated contact.

“It’s Captain Scarlet, sir.” He took in a deep and shaky breath, his mind fully of fear for his friend.

“What about him, Captain?” White asked, his own voice betraying concern.

“He’s disappeared, sir. We think some Mysterons caught him. All we’ve found is his cap.”

“Surely not, surely he would have put up a fight,” the Colonel said. He sounded as though he couldn’t believe it, which was probably very true. This was one of his top agents being referred to.

“Sir, as soon as we came into close range of the Mysterons, his sixth sense kicked in, but due to the number of them, he’s been feeling very much worse than normal.”

“So that’s why he sounded slightly different when he contacted me last.”

“Yes sir. And it’s for this reason that we believe he would not have been up to countering any attack or noticing an ambush.”

There was a brief silence as at the other end of the line, Colonel White was relaying the information to the Sickbay so Dr Fawn would be prepared for their return. “Ok, Captain. Captain Scarlet will be ok, you know that, just do what you can. He needs your help.”

Blue nodded, despite the fact that his superior wouldn’t have seen the movement. “S.I.G., sir.” His mike swung back up and Magenta was about to say something, when they heard voices heading in their direction. Motioning to them to get out of sight, Blue quickly slipped to hide behind an open door and peered out. A young man dressed in white was leading three women down the hallway. They were all talking about infants and therapy.

Blue watched them go, then slipped out of the room, glancing down the corridor the Mysterons had just come from. He could still hear voices coming from there, but they weren’t getting closer this time. Beckoning to the other hidden Spectrum agents, they moved down the corridor towards the voices.

*

As soon as they had found him, the two Mysteron agents had pulled Scarlet’s arms awkwardly behind his back and bounded them; they then put a blindfold made of an old sling over his eyes. He was now being dragged through the corridor and into the room he had previously looked into.

They pulled him through; receiving a few questioning glances from the others around them, and dragged him into a back room. He felt them release their grip on his arms a moment, before he landed roughly on the floor, where he’d been pushed.

He strained his ears to try and pick out anything that might give away where he was, but he could hardly concentrate. He was sweating and his head felt like it may explode. He felt so faint.

“Sit up,” a deep and sinister voice said. He did, looking about without seeing.

“Where am I?” Scarlet asked, weakly.

“You are our prisoner.” He listened carefully.

“That voice…” he said, his words trailing off. His head started spinning again, more violently than before, and he toppled forward to the floor, unconscious.

*

Captain Blue looked round the door silently, taking in what was on the other side. He slipped back to the others and reported on what he saw.

“This is big!” Magenta said. “What are we going to do about it?”

“What can we do? We’re seriously outnumbered. And we’re a man down,” Blue replied, looking back towards the room.

“We have to find him,” Ochre said.

“But where do we start?” one of the agents, Robertson, asked.

Blue was about to answer when he heard footsteps coming in their direction. “Somebody is coming. I think we may have found our source of information.”

*

The Mysteron walked back from the final therapy room. He wore a white lab-coat similar to those of the other Mysterons but he had a worse job than his fellow reconstructions.

He was quiet, partially due to the fact that he was alone, but mostly because he had just witnessed three women being killed in the only way a Mysteron can. By electrocution. Just thinking back to what he had just witnessed made him feel ill.

He wasn’t really paying attention to his steps, as he knew he was heading back only to take the next group to their ends. If he had been, he would have noticed the Spectrum agents before they pounced on him.

The reconstruction was on the floor quicker than anything. Captain Blue had pinned him down by pressing his knee into his back, and holding his arms together behind him.

“Now then,” Blue said angrily, “I’m gonna ask you a few questions and you’re gonna answer them all. Correctly. If you don’t, we’ve got a Mysteron gun with your name on it.” The man nodded.

“Where have they taken Captain Scarlet?”

“Who?”

Blue pulled hard on his arms and dug his knee further into his back. The Mysteron cried out in pain. “I’ll try again. Where have they taken Captain Scarlet?” Blue repeated through gritted teeth.

“I don’t know! All I’ve been doing is taking the women to the final therapy room.”

Blue was on the verge of digging in his knee again when Grey put his hand on his shoulder. “He’s not gonna say anything, he’s a reconstruction! He answers to the Mysterons only.” A thought occurred to him. “Unless it makes no difference to their mission whether they say or not.” He crouched to the man who was still awkwardly pinned under his colleague. “That’s why you answered, isn’t it?”

The reconstruction raised an eyebrow. “You think I’d tell you anything of importance?”

“Then let’s see if you answer this: What do you mean, taking them to the final therapy room?” he asked.

“After the women have given birth, it’s my job to take them through to their final therapy session in the electric shock therapy room.”

“Electric shock?” Magenta asked, confused. “You mean; you’re killing them?”

“Yes. Captain Black ordered that the doctors finish the experiment and dispose of the women, but I don’t know anything else!”

The Spectrum agents exchanged glances; then Blue got off the Mysteron. He swiftly jumped to his feet and started to run off, but Ochre was quick. He raised his weapon and fired an electrical burst at the reconstruction. He dropped to the floor, dead.

Ochre turned back to the others. “So, they’re killing these women after the experiment. Why would they do that?”

“I don’t know,” Magenta answered. “But what I do know is we’re still no closer to finding Scarlet.”

“Well, whatever we do,” Blue said, a distant, worried look in his eyes, “we’ve got to do it fast! They have access to electric shock therapy equipment.”

“Oh my God!” Magenta said, realising what he meant.

“Exactly. The only thing that can truly kill Captain Scarlet,” Blue said, grimly.

*

Captain Black looked down at the unconscious Scarlet, lying on the floor at his feet, and then turned to one of the orderlies.

“You. Richards. Find his colleagues. They can’t be far from here. Lead them away as far as you can…”

Captain Black outlined his plan to Richards, then released him to carry it out. The man ran through the room then out a back entrance. Running through a corridor, he saw the Spectrum team ahead of him.

Looking about, he found a plant pot and pushed it over. The agents looked up and saw him, as he ran off down the closest corridor.

*

Blue had seen the Mysteron before the other Spectrum agents, and was already after him before they could react. Coming out of their surprise, they followed, pursuing the reconstruction through corridor after corridor.

They chased him through corridors, run down wards, inside and outside. Past huts and gardens and through reception areas, then they caught up with him, very suddenly.

The man seemed to slow down; he was standing in front of a crossroad of corridors as if contemplating which way he should turn. Before he realised it, the Spectrum strike team was on him and were aiming their weapons at him. He was trapped.

“Where were you going?” Blue yelled, his tone full of anger.

The reconstruction laughed. “You are even more foolish than Black said, Earthmen!”

Blue looked at him. “What do you mean by that?”

“Like I’d tell you!”

Grey looked at him thoughtfully then his anger rose as he figured it out. “You’ve been leading us away from Captain Scarlet!”

Blue glared at the man angrily. “Where is he?” he yelled.

The reconstruction remained silent but Grey had been thinking fast. He turned to the others. “We must have been near if he’s been drawing us away, and besides we were near his last known co-ordinates and we found his cap. The way he was feeling, he wouldn’t have got far.”

The others exchanged glances.

The Mysteron looked at them, an evil grin on his face. In his mind, he was sending a message to Captain Black, warning him that they were about to return for Scarlet.

“My part is done, it’s over to you, Captain Black.”

“Very good,” came the mental answer from his superior, far on the other side of the grounds. “By the time Scarlet’s friends get here, they will be far too late to save him!”

Blue looked at the Mysteron. “Why did you lead us away? What do you intend to do with Captain Scarlet?”

“You should already know the answer. So Captain Black could carry out a threat of his own.”

“A threat of his own?” Magenta repeated, afraid to understand.

“Captain Scarlet has often managed to stop Captain Black from fulfilling his missions successfully. Now he has the chance to get his own revenge on Scarlet. You know he’s a man who likes to have everything go his way, without hitches.”

“What’s he going to do?” Ochre asked.

Blue’s eyes went wide. “Good God! He’s going to take him to the electric shock therapy room!” He looked at his fellow agents, ignoring the evil grin on the reconstruction’s face. “He’s going to kill him!”

*

Black looked down at Scarlet again. The Spectrum agent was pale, shaking slightly and sweating. He crouched down in front of him and looked him over, silently stripping him of all his weapons.

He signalled two men to come and pick Scarlet up off the floor and tie him to a chair to ensure that even if he did wake he wouldn’t get away. Black thought this highly unlikely, as the way his nemesis looked, he wouldn’t be able to get up, let alone run away.

The two reconstructions went about their task quietly and without question as behind them, Black pocketed Scarlet’s weapon.

“Good work,” Black said, as the two men finished. “Now leave.”

They nodded silently and left the room, while Black pulled the blindfold off Scarlet’s face.

Black walked around the still form of Scarlet. The Spectrum agent was almost as pale as he was himself.

As he moved, Scarlet groaned and shifted in his seat. Black looked down at him as he came round.

“Ugh, where am I?” He looked around then saw Captain Black. “You! What am I doing here? Where am I?”

“Do you really need to ask me that, Scarlet?” Black said in his monotonous voice. He leaned forward and spoke again. “You are here because the Mysterons are. Now I have you and I can finally finish you off!”

He got up and toyed with Scarlet’s gun. “This is an interesting weapon. I have one just like it from when I was in Spectrum.” He pulled his own gun from the inside of his jacket and held it up next to the stolen one. “They look so alike yet they have been used for very different purposes. I have killed so many people with this gun.”

Scarlet looked at him carefully. He could see a trace of emotion on Black’s face. He looked as though he were pondering, thinking about what he had done. The closer Scarlet looked, the more it looked like Black was showing remorse for his actions.

Black closed his eyes briefly and shook his head, any thoughts or feelings gone as quickly as they had appeared. He moved the weapon round in his hands then looked at Scarlet’s. “I expect you’ve never killed anyone innocent with this. You were a failure as a Mysteron and a weak human!”

“If I’m so weak, how was I able to escape the Mysterons and you couldn’t?” Scarlet said through gritted teeth. “But I’d rather be weak than like you any day!”

Black narrowed his eyes and leaned forward. “You may have escaped us, but soon you won’t cause us any more trouble!”

A sudden sharp pain stabbed through Scarlet’s mind and he squinted his eyes and lowered his head, grimacing with the agony.

“What is the matter, Scarlet? Not feeling too good? Am I right in thinking this is that ‘sixth sense’ you possess? The one that tells you when you’re near one of my kind?” he said, his voice a hiss as he spoke Scarlet’s ability. Scarlet looked up at him from a grimacing face. “Yes I know all about that. I too have a similar ability, though because I still serve the Mysterons, I simply feel their presence, not nausea or migraines.”

“It passes and I carry on, unaffected! Argh!” Scarlet cried, wishing he could hold his pounding head.

“Yes, yes, it passes. But will it pass now? There are over fifty agents here and we’re all very close to you. You would make an interesting test subject. The effects of Mysteron presence on an ex-Mysteron!” Black narrowed his eyes. “But I have other plans for you.” He bent down and untied him from the chair, but left his hands bound. “You will come with me.” He jabbed his weapon into Scarlet’s back, leaving him little alternative but to follow.

*

Blue led the strike team through the deserted corridors to where they’d just been. Taking a peek inside the big waiting room, they could see there were far fewer women than there had been the last time they looked, only a dozen or so.

“They must have taken the rest through to the electric shock room,” Ochre said, moving back from the doorway.

“I’d say so, there’s so few of them,” Magenta added, his hand resting on the pistol holstered at his hip.

“Ok, ok,” Blue said quietly, glancing back round the door. “Now the question is, where’s Scarlet now? He’s not in that room or we’d have seen him.”

“If only we hadn’t run off to the other side of the ward tracking that Mysteron agent!” Ochre said angrily. “We’d have-”

“Ochre! That’s it! Why didn’t I think of this earlier?” Blue said, urgently, making the others jump.

They looked at him, confused, as he started going through his pockets until he pulled out a small device and switched it on.

“You gonna let us into this, Blue?” Grey asked, looking at him as he walked off, staring intently at the object he held.

“The tracker!” Blue answered, showing him the device. “Scarlet turned on his personal tracker to help me find him earlier! I completely forgot about it!”

Grey, Magenta and Ochre exchanged glances, then smiled. “Good thinking! We’ll find Captain Scarlet in no time now!” Ochre said.

“Not necessarily, we must still be cautious. If Captain Black got to him, he may not still have his tracker,” Blue countered.

He silently led them, following the signal he was picking up from the instrument he carried.

*

Black had led Scarlet from the room. He was beginning to get annoyed by the fact that the man could hardly hold himself up and kept tripping over.

He picked Scarlet up for a fifth time. “You see, Captain,” he hissed into his ear, the pistol still jabbed into Scarlet’s back, “that sixth sense of yours has been holding you back! You can hardly stand! You’re weak and pathetic!”

“Your kind will not succeed,” Scarlet said breathlessly, ignoring Black’s comment. Just talking was a great effort for him. “We will win this war.”

Black rolled his eyes. “This is coming from Spectrum’s top agent, is it?” He made a noise that sounded like a disgusted laugh. “If you’re the best Spectrum has to offer, the Mysterons have nothing to worry about.”

Black lowered the pistol and shoved his captive roughly into a darkened room. He landed awkwardly on the hard floor.

Scarlet looked around, but could see very little. Normally his eyes adjusted well to most light conditions, but he knew he was close to losing consciousness again.

Behind him, Black was slinking about, checking the doors and closing the one they’d just entered through. A sharp pain made Scarlet crease up, lowering his head to the floor; he screwed up his eyes, wishing it would pass.

Black crouched down in front of him again. “Don’t worry Scarlet. Soon, you won’t feel any more pain.” This was the last thing Captain Scarlet heard before passing out again.

Black looked down at him, shaking his head. “Pity. He could have been a great Mysteron agent had he returned to us.”

He hauled him from the floor and dragged him through the room to where the equipment was set up. They hadn’t been using this room for the Mysteron mothers, as they felt they had enough using the other four rooms.

Using little of his superior Mysteron strength, Black hoisted Scarlet into the machine and worked at binding him, strapping him to the table using leather straps. He attached electrodes to either side of the unconscious officer’s head then stepped away from him. “Soon you will never be a problem for me again.”

*

Blue led the others through another corridor before finally stopping. His sudden halt caught the others off guard and they ran into him, making him turn and glare at them.

“Will you watch where you’re going?” Blue’s voice was an urgent whisper and he spoke through gritted teeth.

“Look, Blue! Calm down!” Grey said, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. “We all know you’re worried about Scarlet, but please don’t take it out on us!”

Blue sighed, then drew in a deep breath to try and calm himself. “Ok, I’m sorry.” He looked back down at his instrument, remembering why he stopped in the first place. “Unless they’ve removed and relocated the tracker, Scarlet is in a room around this corner.” The others nodded as he continued. “Ok, one of you come with me, the rest of you stay here until we call for you.”

Grey immediately stepped forward. “I’m coming.”

Blue nodded grimly. “Alright. Magenta? Ochre? Can one of you contact Colonel White and update him of the situation?”

The other two captains nodded, then, with Grey beside him, Blue walked slowly round the corner pressed against the wall.

Looking up, they saw a sign indicating the use of the rooms. When they saw what it said, they were suddenly full of fear for their colleague. Grey was about to say something when Blue stopped him, holding up a hand.

Grey stood frowning, trying to figure out what his colleague was doing; then Blue moved quietly closer to the door and put his ear against it. The gap at the bottom of the door gave out no light, signalling that the room behind was pitch dark.

“What are you doing?” Grey whispered.

“Shh!” Blue said, waving a hand at him, his face still very close to the door. “I can hear something on the other side,” he whispered, looking at his companion. “I heard a shuffling noise and some… er… grunts.” He frowned. “Like someone was dragging or lifting something… or someone.”

Grey was about to answer when Blue cut him off again and gestured wildly for him to move closer and listen.

From the other side of the door, a voice could be heard; a deep, sinister, monotonous voice that the two Spectrum officers recognised straight away.

“Goodbye, Captain Scarlet. I will finally be rid of you and the Mysterons will be free to carry out their vengeance without hindrance from you!”

Grey and Blue exchanged glances. That was the voice of Captain Black.

“This is Captain Magenta, calling Colonel White,” the Irish man said, speaking clearly into his mike.

“Go ahead, Captain.”

“Sir, we have an update for you,” Magenta said, a little slower than he could have been.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s Captain Scarlet, sir. It is very possible that Captain Black has him. Whether or not he does though, he has been taken to an electric shock therapy room.”

“What?” White almost yelled. “Where’s Captain Blue? Let me talk to him.”

“He’s gone with Captain Grey to help Scarlet, sir. He informed us to wait here should he need us and to inform you of what’s happened.”

White let out a deep breath. “Ok, then that is the best course of action for you. What about the Mysterons?”

“It seems that all the women have been impregnated, sir. It is my opinion that they are doing an experiment, trying to integrate their population with ours.”

“The threat! ‘Our next act of retaliation will be integration. We will infiltrate your population,’” White said, recounting the words the Mysterons had used in their threat.

“That’s not all though, sir. From what we have learned, they know we’re here. Captain Black apparently ordered that their experiment be concluded and the women separated from their infants then taken to be electrocuted.”

“Electrocuted?”

“Yes, sir. They must want them out of the way if they are killing their own.”

White said nothing as he sat and quietly mused over what was happening. “Ok, Captain Magenta. Thank you for informing me of your progress. And I expect you to keep me informed.”

“S.I.G., sir.”

“There is one last thing, Captain. I will be asking Lieutenant Green to organise a plane. It will fly out to the hospital and bomb it. Hopefully this should remove all traces of the Mysterons being there.”

“Yes, sir,” Magenta said, slightly confused. He knew that a simple bomb would not kill a Mysteron.

“Ok, get Scarlet back then get yourselves out of there, that’s an order!”

*

“Goodbye, Captain Scarlet. I will finally be rid of you and the Mysterons will be free to carry out their vengeance without hindrance from you!” Black said to the unconscious Spectrum Captain in front of him. His voice had an evil hint to it as he turned and went to the control panel, powering it up.

A grin swept across his face, a malicious sort of grin. He turned a dial and a small electrical current began to flow through Captain Scarlet, making him twitch.

Black narrowed his eyes, thoroughly enjoying the pain he was inflicting on the officer. He turned his back to the door and slowly raised the current. So far it wasn’t high enough to kill him permanently, but Scarlet was still in a considerable amount of pain. His face was contorted into a grimace and covered in sweat and his twitching had developed into shaking. Had he been conscious, he would have been shouting and crying out with the amount of pain.

As he continued to slowly raise the power, the door opened behind him, unnoticed to him. Two figures walked in soundlessly and it wasn’t until Black received a sharp blow to the side of the head that he realised he’d been found.

“Grey! Shut that thing down!” Blue yelled, threading his arms under Black’s shoulders to try to keep him away from the console.

“No! Earthmen, you will not succeed!” Black shouted, his deep voice booming through the room. He used his superior strength to flip Blue over him then made for Grey, who was frantically trying to shut down the machine.

Upon seeing Black approaching, Grey spun, withdrawing his pistol, but Black was faster. He hit Grey hard, knocking him away from the machinery, giving himself the opportunity to turn the power levels up more. Again Scarlet’s twitching and shaking increased, but now he began thrashing against the table. The electricity still wasn’t high enough to fatally harm him though.

A shot echoed through the room and Black was suddenly clutching an injured hand, blood staining the controls in front of him.

Blue raised his weapon to fire at him again, but found himself suddenly being pinned to the floor and being hit several times. The Spectrum officer took only a moment to regain himself and begin fighting back.

Behind the viciously fighting men, Grey quickly got up and deactivated the machine. The lights on the panel flicked off and Scarlet stopped twitching and shaking. Grey then quickly flicked down his mike as a flashing pink light lit up the area round his shoulders.

“What is it, Captain Grey?” Magenta asked urgently.

“Magenta! Get in here now! It’s Black!”

Magenta needed no more persuasion. He informed the others, then they ran in the direction of the shock therapy room.

Blue had been pinned against a wall with Black’s forearm pressed against his throat.

“You will regret your actions, Earthman!” Black hissed at him.

“Not likely!” Blue managed to wheeze.

The Mysteron narrowed his eyes and pressed his arm harder against the Spectrum agent’s neck. Blue tried to gasp for air but was unable to. “You Earthmen are all talk! All I have to do is crush a simple pipe in your throat and all that talk stops!” He leaned his head closer. “The fact that so does the breathing is a delightful bonus.”

Behind them, Grey had been checking on Scarlet. The latter was still very ill and weak from his ordeal, but alive. Well, at least Black wasn’t able to kill him, Grey thought. He looked round the room. Blue had just kicked Black hard, making him ease the pressure on his throat. The former dropped to his knees, holding his neck and gasping while the latter stumbled back, tripping over wires and landing heavily on the floor.

At this point, the door flew open and the other Spectrum agents ran in. They went straight over to the fallen Mysteron agent, their anti-Mysteron weapons lowered at him, armed and ready.

“If I were you, Captain Black, I’d stay very still. These strike team agents have itchy trigger fingers and they’re just looking for an excuse to fry your ass!” Magenta said.

Behind him, Ochre lowered the mike on his cap and was contacting Cloudbase when Black suddenly got up and stood before them. Nervously, the officers followed his movement with their guns.

“You may have your anti-Mysteron weapons, but how can you shoot something you can’t see?” Black said.

“Fire! Now!” Ochre yelled, knowing what was about to happen. They fired, but Black had already vanished. All they did was leave scorch marks on the walls behind where he’d been stood. “Damn it!” Ochre yelled, throwing a punch at the wall next to him.

“Repeat please, Captain,” Colonel White’s insistent voice shouted through the minute speaker in Ochre’s cap.

“Sorry, sir. Black got away. We were so close to have him!”

“Alright, Captain,” White said. “What about Scarlet?”

Ochre looked to Grey who’d been standing beside Scarlet since he’d shut down the machinery.

“He’s in a bad way, but alive,” Grey informed him.

Ochre nodded. “Did you get that, sir?”

“I did, Captain Ochre. I suggest you all get out of there fast! That plane is on its way with enough explosives on board to wipe that hospital off the face of the planet. I don’t want my agents in there when it drops its load.”

“S.I.G., sir. How long do we have?”

“You have fifteen minutes to get out of there and back into those SPVs.”

“Understood. Ochre out.”

He looked about at the others. “You heard him, let’s get outta here!”

As the strike team swiftly worked at freeing Scarlet from the equipment, Ochre looked about the room and saw Blue sat up against the wall, still gasping for breath.

“Hey, are you ok?” he asked, his voice laced with concern.

“I can hardly breathe,” his colleague rasped. He moved his hand from his throat and in the dim light from the doorway; Ochre saw the bruised and damaged condition of Blue’s neck.

“Oh my God! Did Black do that?” he asked as behind him, the others had freed Scarlet.

Blue nodded, grimacing with pain at the slight movement.

“Ok, don’t you worry, we’ll be out of here in no time.”

“We’d better hurry or none of us will be going anywhere,” Blue said quietly. “That plane’ll be here in just over ten minutes.”

“Don’t speak, you’ll only make your throat feel worse,” Ochre said, helping his friend from the floor and supporting him.

“Where am I?” another quiet voice asked, making all heads turn. Captain Scarlet was now awake and sat up on the table; he was in a bad way, but awake. Which would make the job of his fellow agents a lot easier.

“You’ve woken not a moment too soon, Captain,” Magenta said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “D’you feel up to walking outta here?”

Scarlet looked at him. “Do I have a choice?”

“Unless you fancy being blown up when this place is destroyed to remove any Mysterons in about, ooh, eight minutes, I’d say no,” Magenta replied, consulting his watch.

“In that case lead on,” Scarlet said weakly. Grey and Magenta moved up on each side to support him, and led him from the room, the others in tow.

They got to the bottom of the stairs. All they had to do now was remember which corridor they’d used to gain entry.

Ochre glanced about. “This place is like a maze!” he said, frowning. “Um, any ideas?” He nervously glanced at his watch. They had only five and a half minutes left.

Scarlet looked over at a wall. “Over there, that chart, I recognise it.”

The others looked. It was a simple directions board. “What about it?” Magenta asked.

“That’s the board I referred to earlier when we all split up. Which means we have to go…” He closed his eyes briefly, trying to remember. He opened them again and looked down the four corridors facing them. “That one! That’s the corridor, it has to be.”

“He’s right,” Grey said, getting up from a crouching position. “This is the only corridor with far more than five sets of footprints in the dust on the floor.”

“That way it is then, and make it fast!” Blue croaked from beside Ochre.

*

With Grey and Magenta still holding up a very weak and drowsy Captain Scarlet, and Ochre supporting Blue, they made their way to a number of Spectrum Pursuit Vehicles waiting in the nearby car park, with the strike team members in tow.

Captain Scarlet was helped into one vehicle and laid down in the back, while Blue sat with him, nursing a still sore neck.

Robertson stayed to take care of Scarlet and Blue, the other members of the strike team joined Ochre in another SPV. The others started engines and Grey stood on the ledge by the open SPV door; his mike was down and he was talking to Colonel White.

“We’re just leaving the premises now, sir.”

“S.I.G., Captain. That plane will be there in less than a minute.”

“I hear it!” Grey leapt from the step of the vehicle and scanned the skies. “It’s here!”

“Then get the heck out of there!” White snapped, urgency in his voice. “That plane won’t wait for you to be out of the way before it drops the explosives!”

“S.I.G., sir!” Grey shut down the communication then opened another to the drivers of vehicles. “Time to go, guys! Step on it, Magenta!”

The SPVs’ engines roared and they raced down the high-walled street towards the old Haslar Bridge.

Behind them, a loud explosion shook the ground; looking back, the passengers of the vehicles saw a large plume of smoke and a massive fireball erupt into the air.

They gasped. “Captain Magenta, we must go faster!” Robertson said, looking over his shoulder at his senior officer. “Otherwise, we’ll be caught in the tail-end of that blast wave!”

They passed over the bridge, the weight of the vehicles making it shudder, but all made it safely across.

After a considerable drive of about an hour, they arrived at Southampton Airport. A few of the strike team members helped the Captains in getting Scarlet on board a Spectrum Passenger Jet, and made sure he was comfortable, then left in a number of Spectrum Patrol Cars to report back to Spectrum HQ in London.

Ochre started the engines of the sleek silver and blue craft and soon they were swiftly making their way back to Cloudbase.

Blue sat in the back with Scarlet who’d lapsed back into unconsciousness. His retro-metabolic capabilities had been put through its paces before, but never against electrocution.

Blue crouched down next to him, a hand still on his sore throat. “You’re gonna be okay, Paul. I know you will. You just gotta pull through.” Scarlet remained motionless, his chest barely moving due to shallow breathing. Blue saw the burns on the side of Scarlet’s head and became confused. By now, his retro-metabolism should have started to heal them, but they still looked like fresh burns. He frowned, then closed his eyes briefly. The pain he was feeling from his neck was nothing compared to the pain he felt, seeing his friend like that. “Come on, Paul. Don’t give Black the satisfaction of winning this one! You’re so much stronger than that! Come on! Please!”

Still, he received not the faintest clue that his companion could hear him. Blue lowered his head as Magenta came in. He’d left Ochre and Grey piloting.

“You ok, Blue?” he asked. Blue looked up. In the bright lights inside the SPJ, it was clear just how badly Black had damaged his neck.

“I’m ok,” he said, quietly, putting a hand back against his throat and rubbing it.

Magenta simply nodded, not sure as to what he could say to help his colleague feel better.

The rest of the trip passed without incident. It felt so much longer than it really was to Captain Blue who remained by Scarlet’s side for the entire journey.

“Lieutenant Green, this is Captain Ochre. Request landing clearance.”

“Request granted, land in Hangar One,” came the young lieutenant’s reply.

“S.I.G., Lieutenant,” Ochre said, prepping the craft for landing.

“Welcome home,” Green added before closing down the link.

They were met in the hangar by a team of doctors. They helped the Captains lower Scarlet onto a medical trolley to get him to the Sickbay, then helped Blue out. His injuries made him feel sick and because he was having trouble breathing, he felt dizzy.

The remaining agents, Captains Ochre, Magenta and Grey, headed to the officer’s lounge to sit down for half an hour to unwind, before freshening up and reporting to the Colonel for a debriefing.

*

Captain Black sat in an old, rusty car, nursing his wounded hand. He’d escaped the blast and was now in the car park of a nearby supermarket.

It was dark outside and the landmarks round him were lit up in a haze of orange from the streetlamps.

Captain Black, are you alone?

He glanced round the car park and saw nothing but a few foxes. “I am,” he answered.

Our threat could not be carried out, the experiment failed.

“How?” Black asked. He knew of what happened to the facility, but he didn’t know if anyone had escaped as he had.

All the infants perished even before the bomb blast. They were weak because the experiment was rushed.

“If Scarlet and the rest of Spectrum hadn’t got involved, I am sure the experiment would have succeeded.”

As are we. When the bomb hit, it killed all the scientists, but because all the infants were already dead, we saw little point in using retro-metabolism to revive them. Their bodies were burnt to ashes in the ensuing fire.

Black gripped his wrist as a shot of pain stabbed through his hand. “Is there anything that can be done about my hand?”

We will pass on retro-metabolism to heal it.

He sat and watched as the wound disappeared before his eyes. The green circles only appeared when they were recreating a body, never when they were simply repairing it.

We will leave you now. When we have chosen another mission for you, we will contact you. We suggest you find somewhere to stay until then. Spectrum is always looking for you.

“I know,” he answered, as obediently as ever.

*

Captain Scarlet lay in Sickbay, attached to a number of monitors and various drips. Beside him, his partner and best friend was asleep in another bed.

The former had been unconscious since they arrived back on Cloudbase some six hours ago, and the latter was being treated for a damaged windpipe.

Dr Fawn was patrolling around the room, keeping a close eye on his two patients.

He looked up when Colonel White walked in.

“Colonel White, sir,” he said, walking over to him.

“How are they?”

“Captain Blue will be fine. His throat was very badly damaged but it was nothing I couldn’t handle. He’s been complaining of feeling dizzy but that was probably because he wasn’t getting enough oxygen. He couldn’t breath properly.”

“And Captain Scarlet?” White asked, as Fawn led him over to where the two Captains lay.

“Not so good, I’m afraid. His burns have only just started healing. I believe he will be okay, but he will be off-duty until I am satisfied that he has fully recovered.”

White shook his head, a faint smile tracing his lips. “He won’t like that. He prefers to be up and about, at work.”

“Like you, sir?”

White shot him an amused frown, and the Australian doctor stepped back slightly. “No disrespect meant, of course, sir.”

The Colonel sighed. “I know. Just help them get through this.”

Fawn nodded as his superior left.

Rhapsody and Symphony were on duty, seated waiting in the Amber Room, while up on the runway deck, above them, Destiny was in Angel One, staring at the clouds.

Everyone on Cloudbase had heard about what had happened and were deeply worried for both officers, if not a bit more for Captain Scarlet. They hadn’t heard anything on his condition for quite some time. The electric shock treatment he’d been put through must have put a strain on his abilities.

Melody entered the Room, in order to keep them company, and saw the distant looks on their faces. She smiled and walked over to them.

“Hey, girls, good news.”

The other two Angels jumped, having not noticed her enter. “Would you not sneak up on us like that?” Symphony said. Her mood had been affected by her worry and she had snapped at quite a few people.

“Sorry, I just thought you’d like to know. I’ve just been in the Sickbay. Had to have one of those annoying routine check-ups. But anyway, Captain Blue was allowed to leave this morning.”

Both Symphony and Rhapsody sat up straight hearing this, their faces brightening immensely.

“Thought you’d like that.”

“And Captain Scarlet?” Rhapsody asked. As much as she was happy that Blue was okay, she still wanted to know about Scarlet.

“He’s fine. He’s still not allowed back on duty though. He was seated in bed and eating when I went in.”

They all laughed a little, then looked up as they heard a mechanical noise behind them. Destiny was returning from her shift in the interceptor. Symphony glanced at the clock. “Is that the time? Guess I’d better go!” She got up, picking up her helmet from beside her as she went.

The lift bearing Destiny arrived at the bottom of the shaft and the doors opened. Destiny smiled at Symphony as their paths crossed.

“Bye Symphony, hello Destiny,” Rhapsody said, fidgeting in her seat. “Where’s Harmony? She’s supposed to be taking over soon.”

Melody smiled. “You want to go and see Captain Scarlet?”

Rhapsody blushed but nodded. “I want to see for myself. Not that I don’t believe you, but…” She frowned, realising she was babbling.

Melody smiled again. “Go on, I’ll cover for you and fill Destiny in.”

Rhapsody looked at her French companion and realised she was looking at them blankly. “Thank you, Melody, I owe you one.”

In Sickbay, Dr Fawn was concluding some tests on Captain Scarlet.

“Looks like your retro-metabolism still works, Captain.”

Scarlet silently nodded. He still didn’t feel completely right, but felt a lot better than he did in the derelict hospital.

When he saw the redheaded Rhapsody Angel walk in, he smiled.

“Ah, looks like you have a visitor,” Fawn said, then grinned. “Unless you came to see me.”

She laughed. “No, I came to see Captain Scarlet.”

Fawn pretended to look disappointed. “Oh, okay, I’ll leave you alone.” He grinned again, then walked off. “Just give a yell if you need anything,” he said before entering the nurse’s station to talk to the duty staff. And get a mug of coffee.

Scarlet shook his head at the slightly mad doctor and smiled, then turned back to the Angel who’d just joined him. “So, what did you want to talk about?” he asked, moving the table round so his plate would be in front of him. He’d put it out the way when Fawn had came to tell him he wanted to do some tests. He now moved it back, picked up a sandwich and took a bite out of it.

“I just came to see how you were,” Rhapsody said.

He smiled and swallowed. “I’m okay. Still a bit, um, off I suppose, but fit enough to return to duty!” he said, raising his words loud enough for Fawn to hear the last part of his sentence.

“No, Scarlet!” the doctor shouted in return from the station.

Scarlet shook his head again. “Spoil sport!”

Rhapsody laughed. “No, he’s right. You stay here until Dr Fawn thinks you’re fit and well.”

Scarlet smiled at her, taking another bite of his sandwich.

“I’d better go, I left Melody covering for me until Harmony arrived.”

“Ok then,” he said when his mouth was empty. “It was nice to see a friendly face again.”

Fawn put his head out the door. “You’ll find flattery usually works better than insults, Scarlet!”

Rhapsody and Scarlet laughed again.

Captain Blue was seated in his quarters. Even though he’d been discharged from Sickbay, he still wasn’t on duty yet.

He sighed and lay down on his bed, looking out through his window at the clouds as they floated past in wispy layers.

He sighed again and soon fell asleep.

*

About a week later, Dr Fawn finally released Scarlet from the Sickbay. The Captain gratefully donned his scarlet uniform and left the sterile environment that he had come to know much too well.

He walked into the officer’s lounge and saw Captain Ochre staring out the window.

“Are you ok, Rich?” he asked, noting that he was out of uniform.

Ochre spun to see him. “Paul!” he cried. “You’re ok!”

Scarlet raised an eyebrow. “I’m on duty, but yes, I’m ok.”

Ochre grinned. “Bet you’re thankful to have been let out of Sickbay.”

“Definitely. Anyway, I’d better go, the Colonel’s expecting to see me.”

“Before you go, I found this on an old CD in the library.”

Scarlet frowned as his companion walked across the room and turned on the old fashioned CD player a junior member had supplied for them.

The music started with string instruments then continued with electric guitars and woodwind instruments further in.

“This is strange music. It sounds very, um, Sci-Fi.” Scarlet tilted his head. “What am I listening for anyway? Anything? Or did you just want me to hear it?”

“You’ll see, just give it a couple more minutes.”

Scarlet shrugged; then the music changed slightly and a male singer started giving out his lyrics. “The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one, he said. The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one, but still they come.”

Scarlet hid a grin behind his hand while Ochre started sniggering. “I definitely think that should be Spectrum’s theme tune!”

Scarlet shook his head and put a hand on Ochre’s shoulder. “Rich, I worry about you sometimes, really I do!”

Ochre laughed again. “Ok, so I’m losing my marbles!”

Scarlet chuckled and released his friend from his grip, then turned to leave. He got as far as the door before turning back. “What’s that from anyway? I’m sure I recognise it.”

“War of the Worlds,” Ochre answered.

“I see,” Scarlet responded, chuckling again. “Anyway, I’ll leave you to your strange music.”

“Ok, Captain. I’ll see you later.”

Scarlet nodded and left the lounge, heading up to the Control Room. He knew it wouldn’t be long before he’d next get the instructions from Colonel White to go out and try and counter yet another Mysteron threat.

THE END

Kelly Haycock

November 2001

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