A “Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons” short story

By Chris Bishop and Marion Woods

Chapter 1

Standing on the glass-encased balcony, protected from the strong high-altitude winds and bitter cold, Captain Scarlet looked thoughtfully toward the valley far below his feet. This was a remote enough area of the Tibetan plateau, with only one small village settled, just down the side of the steep mountain, almost directly beneath the large power complex set on the flank of the mountain. Barely a hundred souls inhabited that village, almost all of them workers at the dual energy plant on which almost all of Tibet had relied on for power for the last ten years. It had been an interesting and revolutionary concept by engineers, combining wind turbines and solar panels to create a new form of power supply – one that would be reliable, totally clean, and about as infinite as the sun and winds themselves. In the early days of the project, many people didn’t believe it would succeed – rather thinking that it would be impossible to put together the two systems and to make them operate smoothly as one. That was clearly a major challenge, but the engineers took it on, backed by United Asian Republic and Tibetan officials alike, who obviously believed in the project.

With good reason, since it worked.

It worked so very well, in fact, that the Tibetan authorities had decided to expand the use of that form of energy over all of the country. It would only be another couple of years, before this would become the only available source of power in all of Tibet, replacing all the other sources previously used.

Consequently, the energy centre had grown considerably, until it covered the entire side of the mountain on which it had been built. Other, smaller plants had been built all over the country, to be linked to this central one, in order to answer the increasing demands for energy. The production system was so reliable, that Tibet had even started to sell electricity to the neighbouring states, thus generating income that could only profit the people. Aside from minor problems that were quickly taken care of, with all the efficiency of the Tibetan people, everything was working like clockwork, and nobody imagined that any major difficulty would ever come troubling the quiet, stable situation.

That was counting without the Mysterons.

The threat had come the previous day, relayed, as usual, to Cloudbase’s speakers, while all the officers were deeply busy in their last-minute preparations for the upcoming Christmas celebrations, just a few days from now. ‘The roof of the world will collapse and darkness will fall all over the entire high country.’ It had only taken a couple of hours for Spectrum to realise that the threat was directed at a Himalayan state – and barely a few minutes afterwards to narrow the field to Tibet, whose unique source of energy – however reliable it might be – made it far too vulnerable if that energy should ever cease to exist.

The central energy plant was the most obvious target for the Mysterons, and so Captain Scarlet had been dispatched to the facility to keep watch over it, with only a handful of Spectrum security guards. No one had been allowed to come armed with any weapon, and that fact was annoying Scarlet greatly. No matter that the strict Tibetan law forbade any firearms on its territory, particularly on Government land, and especially not held by foreigners.

Granted, Scarlet fumed, the Tibetan Non-Violence Act was an admirable one. Ever since the country had gained its full autonomy and had subsequently freely joined other independent states in the United Asian Republic, under the guidance and teaching of the Dalai Lama – the ever resourceful head of state and religious leader - there had been no quieter or more peaceful territory on the surface of the Earth, with one of the lowest crime rates ever to be registered.

But the Tibetan authorities didn’t seem to realise the gravity of the situation, nor accept Spectrum’s assurance of just what kind of threat the Mysterons represented. The Mysterons didn’t care about non-violence, and the universal peace proclaimed by the Dalai Lama’s teachings – for them, all humans, all life on Earth, were to be destroyed. But trying to convince the Tibetan authority of that was next to impossible.

“It looks to me, Captain Scarlet, that your previous worries about the safety of this power plant were groundless.”

Scarlet slowly turned on his heels at the sound of that gentle voice. The director of the plant, Kunchen Norbu, had entered the terrace and was presently approaching very quietly, a faint smile playing on his rounded face. He was at least two heads shorter than the Spectrum captain, and that difference was quite obvious when he stopped right next to him to look out through the large window.

“Isn’t it a peaceful panorama?”

Scarlet could only agree with that statement. “It is very peaceful, Mister Director. You have a very beautiful country. And it’s to keep it peaceful and beautiful that I am here, as you well know.”

“You will forgive me, Captain, but I will repeat myself by saying that I am not convinced of the necessity of your presence,” Norbu retorted, his quiet tone not leaving him. “We are a peaceful people. Surely, your… ‘Mysterons’ must know that.”

“They do not care about peacefulness, sir,” Scarlet replied. He paused for a second. “Their… definition of ‘peace’ is not the same as ours, I’m afraid.”

“Don’t they know we don’t involve ourselves with the politics of outside countries?”

“Again, sir, with respect – they do not care. All they care about is to crush their enemy.”

Norbu shrugged. “Tibet is no-one’s enemy, Captain.” Obviously, he was thinking the Spectrum officer was greatly exaggerating, and deliberately darkening the image of the Mysterons, to show them in the most evil light possible. The minute he had set foot in the centre, Scarlet had the definite impression that the director was under-estimating the seriousness of the Mysterons’ menace – or that, maybe, he was convinced that, upon realising Tibet’s non-violence principles, they wouldn’t carry out their threat.

“Mister Director,” Scarlet said patiently. “Remember what they did to Director General Xian Yoh, a couple of years ago. They destroyed his plane on take-off, and there was hardly anything left of him. The same went for his entire staff – they knew nothing about the Mysterons and had never acted against them. They were all killed by the Mysterons.”

Norbu lowered his eyes. “Director General Xian Yoh was a very wise man… His death meant a great loss to all of the United Asian Republic.” Scarlet simply nodded briefly to that comment, in silence. “Were you present when he died?” Norbu continued.

Scarlet hesitated slightly. “I was,” he said finally. “And I tried everything in my power to save him. All of Spectrum did. Without… success.” He didn’t want to tell Kunchen Norbu how deeply involved he had been with the operation, nor that he still saw it as his greatest failure – for it had been him who had made the final desperate attempt to save the Director General. It had been his first ‘death’ on duty since his return from Mysteron control, and although the events had served as a proof of his loyalty and dedication to the fight against the aliens, he still had a most bitter taste from the experience. He didn’t like to dwell on it. Nor did he want to talk about it much. He hoped that Norbu would not ask any more questions.

As a matter of fact, he didn’t have time, for Scarlet suddenly started to feel nauseous. He visibly paled, and swayed on his feet, catching himself against the wall to get his footing back. Norbu made a step forward to help him, and was surprised to see the captain’s face covered with sweat.

“Are you feeling all right, Captain Scarlet?” the man asked with concern. “You look sick… I hope you have not caught a cold?”

Scarlet didn’t answer the question, and looked around in confusion. He wasn’t ill, it was his sixth sense telling him of the presence of a Mysteron nearby. But where? He and Norbu were the only people on the terrace right now… He gave a suspicious stare at the small man. He wished he had been allowed to bring a Mysteron Detector with him, but even that had been denied, because the tool looked too suspiciously like a weapon; so to avoid a diplomatic incident, it had been decided to leave it in the SPC, with the real weapons. That was a terrible mistake - to have come in the middle of the danger zone unarmed.

That was the trouble with dealing with less-than-cooperative authorities.

The threat didn’t appear to come from Norbu… Then, where…?

From the corner of his eye, Scarlet caught sight of a man who was passing by in the corridor beyond the large arch leading to the terrace. He was walking at a rather quick pace. Gently brushing aside Norbu’s helping hands, Scarlet strode to the arch and looked in the departing man’s direction, narrowing his eyes at him.

“That man…” he murmured.

“That’s Palden Sangye,” Norbu informed him, “our chief technician. He’s been with us since the beginning, and knows everything there is to know about the plant.”

“He would know how to stop it from operating, right?” Scarlet asked, stepping into the corridor, with the obvious intention of following his suspect.

“Palden…? Surely, Captain, you’re not implying that he could be in league with these…‘Mysterons’ of yours? Palden is totally trustworthy!”

But Scarlet wasn’t listening to Norbu’s protests. With a determined step, he walked down the corridor, his pace quickening as he approached Sangye. Norbu was following behind, as quickly as he could, trying to keep up with him.

“Captain Scarlet, I must object… Palden is a firm follower of the Dalai Lama’s way…”

Scarlet would have preferred it if Norbu had stayed quiet. As it was, his outburst attracted Sangye’s attention and the man looked over his shoulder to see the Spectrum officer approaching him…

… And then he broke into a run.

“Damn!” Scarlet muttered. He gave chase. He left Norbu behind, still protesting that, if his trustworthy technician was fleeing that way, it was, quite reasonably, because the Spectrum captain had scared him away.

Scarlet could have told Norbu that no matter how faithful and trustworthy a person had been to a cause, whenever the Mysterons had need of that person, they would make sure he would be totally devoted to their cause and nothing else. He could have told him that Palden Sangye was not the same man anymore, that the man Norbu knew had been killed and replaced by a Mysteron duplicate… and that the teachings of the Dalai Lama had very little influence on this new Sangye’s actions. He would have little respect for them.

Because Scarlet was certain, beyond a single doubt, that he was chasing a Mysteron agent and that this Mysteron agent was intending to destroy the Power Centre.

He lowered his cap microphone. “Cloudbase, this is Captain Scarlet. Am in pursuit of Palden Sangye, senior technician at the power plant. Suspected Mysteron agent. Notify all Spectrum personnel on the premises to apprehend him.”

“S.I.G., Captain,” the voice of Colonel White answered. “Keep him in sight, and be careful. We must not let the Mysterons carry out their threat. That could have devastating consequences for the people of Tibet and their neighbours.”

As he was about to reply, Scarlet realised that Sangye was heading toward a maintenance door leading out of the Centre. He swore under his breath. He had vainly hoped that he would be able to catch up with the suspect before he could escape or that - at least - Spectrum security guards would reach him in time and help in his capture.

“Scarlet to Cloudbase! The suspect has left the building. Am giving chase!”

He pushed the door and went outside, as oblivious to the cold winds as the man he was pursuing. Sangye’s pace had quickened very significantly, and he was now running down a steep and treacherous footpath down the side of the mountain, his footing assured as only a man having the knowledge of the ground could have. Down below was the village Scarlet had been watching earlier. The Spectrum officer would have given anything for a gun, if only just to wound his prey and slow his pace. Grumbling, he followed suit, running as quickly as Sangye, careless of the rolling stones and unsteady ground under his boots, driven only by his determination to catch up with the man he was now more sure than ever was a Mysteron agent.

He had no intention of letting him get out of his sight…

High above the Tibetan plateau, Spectrum Helijet 223 swooped through the clear air. Watching the barren terrain below them was not exactly the most interesting job he’d ever been given to do, but Captain Grey had an enviable ability to get down to even the most boring jobs with thoroughness. Next to him, Harmony Angel was humming to herself as she directed the craft up and down the valley with precision. She was rather enjoying herself. Usually, it was either Melody or Symphony who got to fly the helijets, and it made a nice change to have nothing more complex to worry about than running out of fuel.

“One more sweep should do it, Harmony,” Grey said, breaking into her reverie with a smile.

“Of course, Captain,” she said in her lilting English. “I take it there are no signs of any trouble?”

“No, there is nothing to report, Harmony – which is all to the good, of course. If anything happens to this central power plant, the whole country and those in the immediate neighbourhood could be condemned to some very cold and dark nights.”

The Chinese Angel nodded stoically. “It is true that progress benefits everyone,” she said thoughtfully, “but sad that traditional ways are also lost. There was a time when the people would have known other ways to light and heat their homes, Captain.”

“Yes, you could say that,” Grey agreed with some hesitation. “But follow it through to its logical conclusion, Harmony, and we Americans would still be living in log cabins and drawing water from streams and wells.”

She gave him a disbelieving glance and opened her mouth to argue, but - with a mental shrug - she closed it, her thoughts remaining unspoken.

Grey raised an eyebrow and sighed. Holding a conversation with Harmony could be hard work. Of all the Angels – and even of all the officers from Cloudbase senior staff – she was the quiet one. Even to the point of seeming withdrawn. She didn’t like to involve herself in any debates. Not that she didn’t have opinions, but she preferred to keep them to herself and couldn’t see the point of arguing over any subject. It wasn’t just worth quarrelling with friends. Harmony was a gentle and kind soul – a very intelligent and feminine woman, whom everybody appreciated, and respected very much.

The helijet swerved around at the end of the valley and began its journey back towards the power plant for the last time. Still nothing to report. Harmony was looking down towards the village below, with curious eyes.

“Captain Grey,” she asked suddenly, “I have wondered what is that building… the largest one in the village?”

He consulted his map. “A hospital run by the World Government’s Health service. See, another example of the advantages of progress?”

“Most assuredly,” she agreed and fell silent again.

Grey waited a few moments and when he was certain she wasn’t about to speak again, he returned to his survey of the ground below them.

A flashing white light on the onboard radio indicated to Harmony that Cloudbase Control was contacting them. She flipped up a small lever, and the voice of Captain Magenta – who was presently manning the communication console on Cloudbase – made itself heard through the speaker:

“Helijet 223, Captain Scarlet is in hot pursuit of a suspected Mysteron agent who has just left the Power Plant and is heading down to the village. Request immediate assistance.”

“S.I.G.,” Grey answered quickly. “Come on, Harmony, let’s move. Let’s not let this one get by us!”

Harmony acknowledged the order with a grim nod, and the helijet veered toward the village.

The air so high up was difficult to breathe, and Palden Sangye was more used to it than the Spectrum agent who was pursuing him down the slope of the mountain. From where he was, Scarlet saw his quarry arrive in the village, and then continue his race toward the hospital at the other end of it. Hospital was rather a grand name for what was basically a health clinic, providing the Tibetan villagers, the workers of the Central power plant and all inhabitants of the area with all the necessary services given by a hospital. And Sangye was going straight for it, probably hoping to find a refuge there from his pursuer. At least, that was what Scarlet deduced.

Despite the rarefied air, Scarlet was able to keep up – and even to narrow the distance between him and Sangye. So he was near enough to see the Mysteron agent push open a door and enter the hospital. Scarlet grunted; he didn’t want to lose his prey, so he quickened his pace, at the risk of breaking his neck while sliding down the remainder of the slope. He barely slowed down until he reached the door and violently pushed it open.

At the other end of the corridor in which he found himself, he could see his prey still running away from him. Scarlet rushed after him; both fugitive and pursuer dodged past startled hospital personnel, ignoring their gasps, shouts and protests. Sangye looked over his shoulder, to see that Scarlet was still gaining on him; he threw anything he was able to put his hands on into his path: trolleys, gurneys, even a nurse that came too close to him.

“Make way! Make way!” Scarlet shouted forcefully, concerned that civilians might be hurt, either directly by Sangye or during the course of the pursuit. “Spectrum business! Move! Let me pass!”

He wished again that he had a weapon; he would have used it, if only to order the fugitive to stop, or to shoot him in the legs if he would not obey. As it was, shouting after him was totally useless, under the circumstances. The Mysteron agent would not listen to him – of course, he probably would not listen even if Scarlet WERE armed… and the Spectrum officer wondered what the witnesses’ reactions would have been if he had used a weapon in the hospital. He had noticed the concerned and suspicious looks they were giving him, rather than the man he was pursuing. He was the stranger here – and so they might be thinking he was the bad guy...

Closely followed by Scarlet, Sangye skidded to turn a corner and took a new corridor. It was empty, except for a young woman carrying a baby in her arms; she had just closed the door leading to an office and was quietly striding toward the exit door at the end of the passage. Scarlet’s heart sank as he heard Sangye barking sharp words at the young woman, who, her hand on the handle of the door leading out, suddenly froze and turned around to investigate what was going on.

“Ma’am, get out of the way!” Scarlet yelled a warning. “He’s dangerous!”

The young woman screamed when she saw the two men coming at her so quickly. It was unclear to Scarlet if she had understood him, but by the way she was looking at him, she was as unsure about him as she was of her compatriot. She hurriedly pushed the door open just as Sangye reached for her. He violently shoved her outside; her baby’s wailing covering the woman’s new scream. Scarlet growled with anger as, in the space of two seconds, Sangye, the woman and the baby disappeared completely from his view. He literally leapt through the door…

…And found himself in a large garden, on the flank of the mountain. Panting, he quickly scanned the surroundings, but it was the cry of a child that made him turn on his heels. He found Sangye standing against one of the stone walls encircling the garden, keeping the young woman in front of him, as she held her crying baby. Scarlet made a move toward the Mysteron agent, but stopped suddenly, barely ten feet away from him, when his eyes caught sight of something metallic flashing in Sangye’s hand.

“Hold!” the Mysteron agent said coldly. “Or the woman dies.”

Scarlet recognised a knife in the Mysteron’s hand. He had no doubt that Sangye would kill his hostages. The baby was wailing loudly, and its mother was staring at the Spectrum agent with wide eyes, filled with tears. She probably didn’t understand what was happening. Keeping his distance, Scarlet tried to give the woman a reassuring nod, then glared at his opponent, whose murderous eyes he could see just over the top of the crying baby’s head.

“Very brave of you,” he stated coldly. “Using a defenceless woman and her baby as a shield…”

“Be careful, Earthman,” Sangye hissed, the blade getting closer to the woman’s cheek.

“Don’t hurt her, Sangye. She’s done nothing to you. None of her people have done anything to the Mysterons.”

There was a disdainful huff from the man. “Can you really believe that argument would work with me?”

“Does your mission include hurting innocent people?”

“No Earthmen are innocent, as you should know, Captain… Not you, not this woman… not even this baby she’s holding. Every one of you has the potential to do violence.” Sangye nodded slowly. “As we learnt…” He smiled thinly. “But we will be avenged. I know my mission… I know what I must do.”

Scarlet narrowed his eyes. “What can you possibly do out here?” he asked carefully. “Your target is up there. How can you destroy the Power Plant while you’re so far away from it?”

“You’re a fool, Captain,” Sangye scoffed. “You think you know everything? There is more than one way to skin a cat… You came after me… But do you think I left the power plant without an exact purpose?”

As he pronounced those words, a violent explosion made itself heard from the top of the mountain. Scarlet swiftly turned on his heels, eyes opened wide with horror. He saw an enormous tongue of fire erupt from the power centre just over his head; thunder seemed to rock all over the mountain, and the ground shook under his feet. Scarlet realised, almost instantly, that either Sangye had installed a bomb inside the complex before leaving it, or that he had an accomplice, who acted quietly while Spectrum was concentrating on capturing the fugitive.

Shouts and cries came from all sides, as the echoes of the explosion continued to roll across the valley; people were starting to panic. The ground continued to shake, more violently, as if the initial explosion had disturbed its delicate balance. Under Scarlet’s horrified gaze, the side of the mountain slowly started to crumble…

A landslide!

A cry behind him suddenly attracted his attention and Scarlet turned to face Sangye again. The wall against which the Mysteron agent was standing was disintegrating under the violent tremors, and rocks were falling onto him. He had let go of his hostages, and Scarlet reached to take the woman’s hand, pulling her towards him. Her screaming baby safely cradled in her arms, she leaned against the Spectrum officer’s chest; he did his best to protect her with his arms, while watching as Palden Sangye suddenly disappeared under a rain of falling rocks.

“Come now!” he shouted to the woman over the thunderous sound all around them, and unsure that she would understand him. “We have to get to safety!”

With the Power plant now beyond his help and the Mysteron agent gone, Scarlet’s main concern was to get the young woman and the child under his care to safety. But there was no real cover, no safe shelter to be found anywhere, as the ground continued to shake, and the rocks kept falling from the side of the mountain. All the houses around were crumbling, not sturdy enough to resist the earth’s fury, and debris and falling rocks were a deadly threat to anyone in their path. The only building that seemed to have a chance to stand against the overall destruction was still the hospital... and so Scarlet guided the young woman through falling debris and shifting stones, the crying baby, protected between both their bodies, in the vain hope of at least keeping this woman and her infant child from harm.

And maybe save their lives.

The helijet was about half way along the valley when the brilliant flash erupted before it, followed by a tremendous rumble as the sound of the explosion reached the occupants. The aircraft rocked with the blast impact and Harmony fought to keep it steady.

Grey swore. “That was the plant – the bastards have caused an explosion! Scarlet can’t have found his suspect… He must have followed a decoy!” He slammed his hand against the side of the vehicle in frustration. “If only the authorities had taken our warnings seriously and allowed us to bring a full security team in… with weapons. Talk about not having the resources to do a decent job…” He activated his radio to report to Cloudbase.

Harmony nodded to show that she understood the situation. They were woefully understaffed on this mission and it was always going to make doing anything constructive that much more difficult. She directed the helijet towards the power plant. As the dust settled, it was easy to see that the majority of the buildings had been destroyed – but there were already some survivors staggering from the rubble, many of them bleeding from cuts or more serious wounds. In the distance a siren wailed mournfully. There was another, smaller, explosion and even that sound died away.

“We’ll have to see if we can help,” Grey said decisively. “There’s no way any serious lifting or cutting gear can get here for hours.”

As they flew closer, Harmony gasped out a warning:

“Captain Grey – look! The mountainside… it is moving!”

Grey swivelled round to the window on the other side and his face went ashen. It was as if a huge knife had sliced through the rock, for an enormous part of the mountainside was slipping with an awesome and seemingly slow majesty down towards the plateau. Standing between this rock fall and the vast, open ground of the plateau was the tiny village, with its proud hospital building, nestled in the shallow river valley. Slowly, the Spectrum agents became aware of the terrifying rumbling that signified the unstoppable descent of the rocks.

“Harmony, is there any way we can warn the villagers?”

The Angel pilot had already swerved the helijet away from the mountain and towards the village, but even at maximum speed, the helijet could not overtake the wall of destruction as it careered down the steep cliff face. They watched with horror as the first boulders – larger than the houses in many cases - crashed and rolled into the village. They could see the people fleeing out into the open, and running in all directions away from the avalanche.

“They don’t stand a chance – the poor souls…” Grey muttered as the now swift-moving tide of death-dealing rocks flooded the small valley. Mothers with children were engulfed, old men and women mown down by the flow. The huge boulders crashed and careened into the hospital’s walls and ominous cracks appeared in the white-washed building. The walls began to lean and suddenly collapsed, the roof falling down onto the shattered supports in a cloud of brick dust.

Harmony looked away, her eyes closed against the horror of the scene.

A grim-looking Grey placed a call to Cloudbase to report the latest events, with a heavy heart. He listened to Colonel White’s instructions, before putting a comforting hand on the young woman’s thin shoulder. “It looks as if the Mysterons have won this round, Chan. There isn’t much left of the installation and the power relays are coming down all along the valley. I think we ought to try to help down at the village – maybe we can find Captain Scarlet? We must get to him first – especially if he is ‘hurt’. And, besides, there might be other survivors. Can you find somewhere to land the helijet?”

Harmony nodded and forced herself to survey the devastation below them. They flew over the scene until the avalanche had lost its momentum and the dust had cleared enough for them to identify a viable landing site. Harmony inched the machine down and slowly the great rotor blades came to a stop.

An unnatural silence fell over the area… a silence far more poignant than the peaceful stillness of only a few short moments ago.

Harmony sighed and disengaged her seat belt. Behind her, Captain Grey was rummaging for a first aid kit; although what good a few bandages and aspirins could do faced with the total obliteration of a hundred dwellings, neither he nor Harmony could imagine.

He wrenched open the door and jumped down onto the gravel-strewn ground, turning to help the Angel down. She rested her hand on his shoulder and jumped lightly down to the ground. Even in such a place and such a situation, she does everything with such grace, Grey thought affectionately. A momentary jab of shame – that he should notice such things at such a time – made him turn a little brusquely and lead the way towards the hopeless task of searching the ruins.

In a few hours’ time, the daylight would be fading. Tired, dirty and heartbroken at the evidence of death and destruction they were uncovering, Grey and Harmony stopped their fruitless search for a moment to report to Cloudbase on the progress of the still fledgling rescue efforts. The high altitude was taking a heavy toll on them both, and every movement was getting harder. Grey’s shoulders ached with scrabbling to remove debris and he was panting heavily. Harmony sank wearily onto a boulder and ran a hand over her dirty face.

In so remote a place, the infra-structure was not good enough to allow easy access by any craft but planes, and without a standing army to respond to such disasters, the Tibetans were having to ask for help from neighbouring states and their earliest estimated time of arrival was the next morning – there were few pilots prepared to risk flying through the treacherous mountains in the dark. The only search team at work now consisted of the few surviving engineers and frantic villagers, who had been away from their homes when the avalanche struck – and they were too few to make much impact.

At the request of a harassed-looking engineer, whose broken English testified eloquently to his own distress, Grey went across to help rig a floodlight to a portable generator. Over the other side of this particular area, one light was already flaring into the gathering gloom.

The men struggled to fix the lamp upright, and in driving it into the ground, struck something solid. They bent to clear the rubble and found a partially intact roof, still resting on a few courses of bricks.

“Harmony,” Grey shouted excitedly, “bring the torch… there is someone under this… and they are still alive!”

The Angel scrambled towards them and held the powerful Spectrum flashlight so that the men could gently drag the injured child from the wreckage. A little girl, about nine-ten years old, Harmony estimated.

The child had broken limbs and was bleeding from a severe gash in her side.

“Bandages…” Grey snapped. Harmony handed over the contents of the first aid kit. “We need more… can you get across to the hospital, Harmony, and see if you can find anything that will help?”

“S.I.G., Captain,” she replied, and, leaving them with the flashlight, scrambled away towards the ruins of the hospital.

She staggered through the only part of the building still standing - a roofless hall that had been an out-patients’ clinic. There were a few posters on the wall, showing smiling women with jolly, round-faced babies. Harmony blinked away her tears and stumbled onwards.

Suddenly before her, emerging from the gloom, she saw a figure; a figure in a dirty, red tunic, kneeling in a corner.

“Captain Scarlet?” she called.

Scarlet turned awkwardly and waved her over. As she approached, she could see what he was doing. A young woman, obviously dying, lay in his arms. Clasped to her heart was a baby, wrapped in the traditional bundle of brightly coloured clothes against the all pervading cold. It had the full, round cheeks of a young infant and a pouting rosebud mouth, with dark eyes open wide and staring at the man with mixed emotions. The child was either in pain, or afraid, or apprehensive about the presence of this stranger holding his mother this way. One thing was certain, he was terribly upset.

Scarlet looked up at the Angel as she stood beside him. The child shifted its gaze towards the young woman, his eyes still displaying the same fear and uncertainty.

“There’s nothing I can do… I think her back is broken, but I couldn’t leave her… and the baby looks all right… battered and bruised, but I think he’s all right.”

“It is a boy?”

Scarlet shrugged. “I don’t know. She won’t let me take it from her.”

Harmony crouched beside him and touched the woman’s face. With enormous effort, two feverish eyes opened and looked at her.

“We can save your baby,” Harmony said in Chinese – praying the woman would understand – at least enough to know the child was safe.

Seeing the young pilot, her kind face suffused with pity, the mother gave a weak smile and nodded her head as if confirming a decision she had reached. She gasped something and feebly moved her arms to push the child towards them.

“You take him,” Scarlet whispered urgently to Harmony.

She leant down and scooped the child up. It let out a thin wail. Its mother crooned to it with her dying breath and, grasping Scarlet’s hand with her last strength, her dark eyes closed forever as her head fell back.

The baby started crying.

Blinking back his own tears, Scarlet gently laid the woman down on the rubble. He stood up, and with military correctness snapped off a salute. Glancing down at Harmony, rather shame-faced, he saw nothing but approval in her dark eyes as she watched him over the weeping baby’s head.

“Sometimes,” she said, her voice thick with emotion, “not every warrior in the fight wears a uniform.”

Scarlet gave a self-conscious smile. “Not every warrior can even tell you his name, rank and serial number, either,” he answered, and stroked the whimpering child’s dark hair.

“We should find someone to care for the child,” Harmony said, wrinkling her nose against the acrid scent arising from the wet cloth wrapped around the infant.

“How did you find me?” Scarlet asked.

“Captain Grey sent me to find bandages – there is a survivor.”

“Well, you won’t find them here, Harmony. This place is just so much rubble now.” Scarlet ran his hand through his own dust-covered dark hair – his radio cap was long gone. “Let’s find Grey and see what we can do… maybe someone knows who this little tyke is…”

He placed a hand on her arm to escort her over the rubble. “Captain Scarlet,” she asked hesitantly, “Would you carry the child? I am afraid that I am too out of breath… I might fall.”

Scarlet’s dark eyebrows rose. “Well, I guess so… I mean, I’m not very good with children.” He accepted the damp bundle with a grimace and Harmony wiped her hands on her uniform before leading the way back towards Captain Grey.

They trudged across the devastation in the direction of the flickering floodlights. There were still only two of them and they would do little to banish the stygian darkness and numbing cold of the plateau at night. Suddenly, the encroaching blackness was shattered by a brilliant flash from the mountainside as another part of the power plant exploded like a huge orange and red flower. The noise rolled and echoed around the plateau, making Harmony and Scarlet grimace. He handed her the baby and advanced a few yards towards the power plant.

“What can you do, Captain?” Harmony called.

He half-turned. As he opened his mouth to speak, he saw a huge boulder, that had been halted by a partially standing wall, crush the obstacle in its path and start to roll forward once more. The tremors from the second explosion had started many of the small boulders sliding forward again. Scarlet shouted, “Harmony! Watch out! Get out of its way….”

Startled, the Angel twisted and, seeing the danger she was in, she turned to run back towards the helijet. The unstable rubble beneath her feet slithered and she fell headlong into the path of the boulder – the baby in her arms preventing her from stopping her fall. Dazed, she could not move.

Scarlet sprang forward, and sliding his arms under her shoulders, hefted her to her feet; scooping the baby up and thrusting it into her arms, he shoved her away from the danger zone. That forceful shove was enough to cause him to lose his footing and he too slipped to the ground. Desperately, he began to struggle to his feet – too late - as the boulder, bouncing off smaller rocks, crashed down onto his left foot, crushing the bones.

Screaming with the excruciating pain, Scarlet fell prone to the ground as the torrent of smaller rocks half buried him. Harmony yelled for Captain Grey. She laid the baby on the ground, at a safe distance from the stream of debris following the boulder’s downward trail like the rats followed the Pied Piper, and rushed back to scrabble at the pile that covered Scarlet.

Panting heavily, Grey arrived and together they dragged the unconscious captain from his stony grave. Harmony gave a horrified gasp as she surveyed, through the ruins of the red boot, the shapeless lump of flesh and bone that was all that remained of Scarlet’s left foot from the toes to the ankle.

When Scarlet’s blue eyes opened, he could not suppress the groan the pain brought to his lips. He cursed in fluent Anglo-Saxon… until he became aware of Harmony’s startled eyes, glittering in the flashlight with unshed tears, and bit back the cathartic flow of obscenities. At least, he thought ruefully, when something like this happens and I’m with Blue, he doesn’t give a monkey’s if I swear….

“You saved my life,” the Chinese girl said, placing her slight hand on Scarlet’s arm. “Mine and the baby’s.”

“He’s okay?” Scarlet gasped through clenched teeth.

Grey turned and saw the infant lying on a bank of rubble. The baby waved a chubby arm as its bottom lip trembled and a protesting wail split the air. “Yep,” he said. “Angry, if I’m any judge, but definitely okay.”

“We must find someone to take care of it,” Harmony said again, “and get you back to Cloudbase, Captain, as soon as we can.”

Scarlet grimaced and glanced at the throbbing mass of skin and broken bone that was his foot. Grey could see the beads of sweat on his pallid face and he guessed that Scarlet was in tremendous pain. Retrometabolism could heal any wound, defeat any disease - up to and including death itself – but it did not relieve the patient of his suffering.

He activated his cap mic and quickly reported the recent events to Cloudbase.

Colonel White waited until he had finished before asking, “Is there anything else you can do, Captain, that will assist the rescue teams? Captain Blue informs me from Lhasa that the Tibetan authorities have sent out an appeal for urgent help, and the World Government is responding with all haste. Equipment is being airlifted from India and China – it should arrive tomorrow morning soon after first light.”

Grey glanced at the make-shift search teams and the ramshackle lights they had erected. “Well, sir, every pair of hands is useful…”

“Then have Harmony bring Captain Scarlet back to Cloudbase, whilst you stay there to co-ordinate matters…”

“S.I.G., Colonel.” Grey smiled at his companions. “You heard? You guys are off home,” he said.

“I can stay – I’ll be fine soon,” Scarlet began.

“And have everyone see just how quickly and how well you heal? I don’t think so,” Grey reasoned.

“We must find someone for the baby before we leave,” Harmony insisted.

Grey nodded his approval, and she went to retrieve the child. As she bent towards it, the wailing stopped and the baby gabbled in pleasure. She smiled lightly, wondering if the little bandit wasn’t somehow looking for attention…

As Grey helped Scarlet to the helijet, she went over to where the rescue team was stolidly shifting the rubble and debris. She spoke in English to the nearest man. “We have found this child, its mother is dead – but the baby is not badly hurt. Does anyone know who it belongs to – or where we might safely leave it?”

The man straightened up and stared at her with unfriendly eyes. “No,” he replied in Chinese, without even glancing at the child.

“Where are the village survivors being sent?” she asked, slipping easily into her mother-tongue.

“Woman, there are no survivors… even those we find alive do not survive! You and your warlike friends have drawn the fire of these evil men onto our peaceful community… we pose no threat to anyone – why else would they attack us, except because you are here?”

Harmony stiffened, seeing other men stopping work and nodding agreement with the speaker. There was an undercurrent of hate in their muttered words. “Spectrum was here to try to prevent this from happening,” she began – but her speech was cut off by a sharp rock, which whistled towards her and caught her cheek a glancing blow. She gasped and backed off as a second and third stone was hurled in her direction.

Staggering under the weight of the child, her tiredness and the pain of the impact, she was making slow progress to escape, until she felt a strong arm surround her. She gasped and glanced up to see Captain Grey, his face stern under his cap.

“That’s enough,” he growled warningly at the advancing mob. “She was trying to help you – we all were…”

Another rock was lobbed towards them and without hesitation, Grey turned Harmony around and escorted her to the helijet. He strapped her and the baby in next to Scarlet, took the pilot’s seat and flew the craft into the dark sky.

“Cloudbase, this is helijet 223. We are returning to Cloudbase – all of us.” He went on to explain why.

“Very well, Captain. I will inform the authorities in Lhasa that Spectrum has left the area. We do not wish to exacerbate local feelings by remaining uninvited. I will alert Doctor Fawn to expect you,” Colonel White said evenly. He hoped Captain Blue and Lieutenant Green were having more success in their negotiations with the authorities in Lhasa.

Excusing himself, Captain Blue moved across to the other side of the room and answered the insistent flashing of his epaulettes. He heard Colonel’s White’s voice over his cap mic and listened in silence as his commanding officer explained what had happened to his colleagues at the disaster site.

“Captain Blue," the colonel concluded, “I wish you to make it clear to the Minister that, whilst Spectrum appreciates the sensibilities of the Tibetan people, we must be allowed access to the area and granted permission to utilise whatever means we can to stop the Mysterons – even if that means force.”

“S.I.G., sir,” Blue replied warily. “I will do what I can – but I have to say, I wouldn’t hold out much hope.”

“Your best will have to do, Captain…”

The American grimaced as the conversation ended. He sighed deeply and returned to where Lieutenant Green was speaking to Dhargey Samdup, Tibet’s First Minister.

“Not more bad news, Captain?” the small man asked as Green’s voice trailed into silence.

“It is not the best news there might be, sir,” Blue admitted. He gave a sketchy outline of the events at the power plant.

The Minister frowned. “Are you telling me your colleagues were attacked, Captain, even as they strove to save the life of a Tibetan infant?”

“My commanding officer tells me that they were, sir. My colleagues have been forced to take the child with them to our Cloudbase headquarters, until such time as it can be returned safely. ”

“This is most regrettable. I know Spectrum means us well, and that no blame should attach to you or your colleagues for the wicked actions of anyone else. I offer you and your colleagues the deepest apologies of the Tibetan government, Captain… if there is anything I can do to compensate you…”

Blue hid his smile and said briskly, “Well, sir, Spectrum is concerned that the Mysterons may not have finished pursuing their threat against your people – they may yet try to hamper the reconstruction and repairs to the power plants and infrastructure. If you would grant us an office in Tibet, and permission to pursue the people who committed this crime – the Mysterons – we would consider ourselves honoured and would endeavour to make sure no Mysteron activity hampers the recovery here.”

The Minister raised an eyebrow. “Spectrum do not miss a trick, do they, Captain?”

“No, sir, not when the safety of a nation depends on it.”

The First Minister sighed. The negotiations with Spectrum had been going on for some time and were getting nowhere. Personally, he deplored the use of any weapons – by anyone – and was whole-heartedly committed to the nation’s policy of non-violence, but he could also see that the Mysterons posed a threat to his country and that their misdeeds would lead to great hardship for his people. He gazed reflectively at the two Spectrum officers waiting patiently for his decision. They were personable young men, obviously as dedicated to doing their jobs as he was to doing his. The news that villagers had attacked Spectrum agents was disturbing. He began to speak.

“The Tibetan people are a hardy race long inured to life in this harsh land. We love our country and would do much to save it. Being as remote as we are, we are unused to a great influx of strangers, yet we are a hospitable people, Captain, and gladly welcome friends to our homes. This attack by the Mysterons on our nation is unwarranted and unexpected, and we are not equipped to deal with such warlike actions. The recent past has been catastrophic for us – the Dalai Lama, a most holy and erudite scholar – died so unexpectedly that all the nation still mourns. Without our spiritual leader, we are vulnerable. Alone, I have little authority and so I hesitate to grant your wish – but I can understand what makes you ask it of us.” He paused and looked solemnly at his companions. “I will endeavour to win the council’s confirmation of this, Captain Blue; you may have your compound, here in Lhasa. But, until the Council has ruled otherwise, I must insist you use only peaceful means to do your job.”

“Thank you, sir. I appreciate how difficult this must be for you under the circumstances. We will comply with your restrictions for as long as we can, but, you are tying our hands, and if the Mysterons attack again, we shall be forced to use weapons…”

“We are a peaceful people…”