A Captain Scarlet story by Marion Woods
Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.
John
Lennon
Cloudbase: December 2085
“Angel
One, returning from patrol; requesting landing permission.”
“Control Tower to Angel
One, you are clear to land. Anything to
report?”
“No,
it’s all quiet out there, Lieutenant.”
“S.I.G., I bet you’re
looking forward to filling in another negative report…” There was a
hint of teasing in the words.
“Always
my favourite kind of report, actually,” Angel One said thoughtfully. “It means that the Mysterons aren’t actually
up to mischief, for a start.”
“There is that,” the lieutenant
conceded. “Control out.”
The
Angel pilot saw the landing deck rising as she approached. She guided her plane to the right spot with
ease, and shut off the engines as the clamps snapped shut, as she had done
innumerable times. Indicator lights
winked off on her dashboard, and Cloudbase’s mighty engines whirred into life
as the deck slowly descended to horizontal.
She
always used the ride down the chute to the
I need to wash my hair… she
thought. There was a lot to be said for
the mundane things in life.
When
the door slid open, she glanced around the
She
headed for the bathroom next to the
She
was looking through the unexciting envelopes from catalogue companies and –
ironically – double-glazing firms, when the door opened and a young voice said
plaintively:
“Mom,
can I speak to you - privately?”
“I
saw Angel One come in, so I knew you were here.”
He
was apologising really, but she could see he was anxious about something. He worried too much, this serious-minded son
of hers.
“It’s
okay, Mike; I just wish you wouldn’t march into the
“Sorry;
I know I shouldn’t have, but well... there’s a problem.”
She
ruffled his hair, despite his protest.
At fifteen he thought himself already a man and beyond such childish
treatment, but there still lingered the need for a maternal helping hand now
and again.
“What’s
wrong this time?”
“It’s
Gabriel. He’s gone missing.”
The
colonel had just concluded an important conversation with the World President
when he glanced up to see the identity of his newly-arrived visitors. His dour expression hardened.
“To
what do I owe this pleasure?” he asked, his deep voice less than welcoming.
“Gabriel’s
gone missing…” the youngster explained.
“What? Have you looked for him?” the colonel asked sternly.
“Everywhere
I can go. I don’t think he’s on
Cloudbase,” the boy replied.
“Well,
he can’t have just strolled off the place, can he?” the colonel remarked with
some exasperation.
“It
isn’t his fault,” his mother snapped.
“He came to report the fact as soon as he realised he couldn’t find
him. What craft have left recently?”
He
glanced at her. “You think he might have
stowed away on board?”
She
leant over to his shoulder and punched a few buttons on the console. Tapping the screen with a long fingernail,
she replied, “No, I think he flew himself off…” She glanced at the lieutenant on Comms duty. “Serena, where was helijet 004 logged for?”
Lieutenant
Green checked her records. “It’s logged
to Ensign Alizarin for a training flight.
He said he had some free time and his pilot’s exam coming up soon.” She looked up in some concern. “Wait a minute, the W.A.S. have just logged
a revised flight plan with us; Alizarin’s going to
“Damn
and blast the boy,” growled the colonel. “We don’t have time for this... the
World President is anxious we get our new assignment underway.”
“Then
the sooner we get him back the better,” the Angel pilot replied. “I’ll go – better keep it in the family,
Conrad.”
“Make
it quick, Eva, please – before he does anything stupid and things go critical.”
“S.I.G.. Come on, Mikey; let’s leave your father to
get on with some work.”
Cloudbase: December 2074
Lieutenant Green was looking
forward to the end of his shift: he was planning to meet up with a few of the
other lieutenants for a little seasonal get-together in the main common
room. He glanced across as the automatic
door snapped back and Lieutenant Claret walked in and saluted the colonel, who
was still sitting at his control panel, before walking over to the
communication station.
“Anything to report?” Claret
asked, as he approached. Zarak Khan, the second-in-command for the
communications section, was older than the average lieutenant on
Cloudbase. An experienced radio
operator, he’d been recruited from the World Army Air Force’s Afghan division
and gave the youthful Corps of Lieutenants much-needed gravitas. Habitually composed, he was considered a
‘safe pair of hands’ by the colonel, and was the first choice officer for the
night-shift on board Cloudbase.
Lieutenant Green had, initially, been rather in awe of giving him orders,
but Claret’s lack of pretensions made him easy to get along with and he was
well-liked. The fact that he frequently
worked nights allowed him to remain slightly aloof from the more boisterous
behaviour of some of his colleagues, which suited his wishes.
Green leant back and
stretched, looking up at his sober subordinate. “Nothing of much relevance,” he replied. “There’s been a severe weather front
stationary over the Mediterranean for the best part of the day, an impressive
tropical storm in Rio and it has started snowing in
“Because of the World Science
Conference being held there?” Claret asked, as he took the seat Green had just
vacated and signed into the system.
“Yes, it starts tonight with
a reception jointly hosted by the American President and the World Government’s
Minister for Science. Captains Grey and
Ochre have reported that they have the place sewn up tighter than a drum, so
there shouldn’t be any problems.” The young Trinidadian sighed and gave a
rueful grimace. “But… if I had a dollar for every time we’ve said that and then
the situation has gone belly-up almost immediately, I would be rich enough to
give up working in this madhouse and retire to my Caribbean island home.”
“You would die of boredom
within a very short time,” Claret said calmly.
Green had to look at him to
see the sparkle of amusement in those dark eyes and confirm that he was being
teased. He grinned. “Oh, sure I would – not! Let me tell you,
Zarak, after a day as slow and devoid of excitement as this one’s been, I feel
ready to die of boredom anyway.”
When Claret smiled, his
strong, white teeth were surprisingly bright against the neat black beard that
covered the lower part of his strong-featured face. “Well, speaking as the man
who has to survive the night shift with Captain Blue, I think you have had the
easier job, Lieutenant.” He glanced
towards the main Control Desk and its occupant. “Things are livelier with the colonel around than with ‘Captain
Cautious’.”
Green chuckled. “There is
that,” he agreed, “but would you rather have Captain Cautious or one of the
other ‘Shoot-first-ask-questions-afterwards’ Americans? Or even Captain
Scarlet?”
“Scarlet’s not that bad,”
Claret remarked, after a moment’s thought.
“I’ll take your word on it,”
Green said, as he made to leave. “It’s all yours for the night, Claret; look
after my baby until I get back, d’you hear?”
“S.I.G., Lieutenant,” Claret
replied with mock formality.
“I’m going to the first of
the Christmas get-togethers in the main common room,” Green reminded him,
adding as he always did, “just call if you
need me.”
Claret raised his head and
glanced at his senior officer with a smile.
“I doubt there will be any need, but thanks for letting me know. Have a good time.”
“Thanks. I’m really looking forward to relaxing for a
while.” He marched up to the Control
Desk and saluted the colonel. “I’m
going off duty now, sir. Lieutenant
Claret has taken over for the night duty.”
“S.I.G.,
Lieutenant. I’m expecting Captain Blue to take over here in,” he
glanced at the clock, “the next two and a half minutes.”
Green grinned; that was about
as near as the colonel came to making a joke.
It seemed that the Christmas spirit was seeping into the old man’s bones
after all. “Goodnight then, sir,” he said and received an affable half-smile
from the Commander-in-Chief.
“Goodnight.”
White watched his Head of
Communications leave and then glanced at the familiar figure of Lieutenant
Claret, already occupied with the steady flow of information from Spectrum’s
bases around the world.
Sometimes it is hard to remember that we’re in a
constant state of alert, he
mused. The Mysterons certainly like to
lull us into a sense of false security…
When the door opened again,
some five minutes later, Captain Blue strode in, balancing a file on top of a
large mug of coffee and carrying a Danish pastry in his mouth. He saluted with
his free hand.
White raised one dark eyebrow
and shook his head. “I’d rather wait
for you to put the coffee down and avoid the risk of spillage, than be saluted
immediately, Captain.”
Blue flushed, put the coffee
on the side and removed the pastry. “Sorry, sir. I was delayed and I hadn’t had my supper.”
White gave a surprisingly
understanding nod, and managed to suppress his ironic smile. He knew where Blue had been delayed – and
why – because he’d happened to catch sight of the tall American sitting on the
Promenade Deck, with his arm around Symphony Angel’s shoulders, as the CCTV
scan had covered the area on its regular security sweep.
He signed off command and
completed the formal handover to his subordinate officer.
“I hope it is a peaceful
night,” he said, as he took his leave.
“Me too,” Blue muttered,
rolling his eyes at the grinning Lieutenant Claret as the automatic door slid
closed, and then taking an enormous bite from his pastry.
Captain Scarlet was woken by
the insistent buzz of the communicator beside his bed. It felt like he’d only just got off to sleep
and he wasn’t best pleased at being woken. He clicked on the light, and glared
at his clock as if the fact that it was showing
“Scarlet,” he growled, in
response to his caller.
“I am sorry to disturb you,
Captain, but please would you report to the Control Room?”
As usual, Lieutenant Claret’s
deep voice conveyed no sense of urgency, so Scarlet, disinclined to comply,
asked, “What’s wrong?” as he sat up and swung his feet to the floor, searching
for his slippers.
“The Acting Commander is
asking to see you, Captain,” Claret replied.
“Claret, tell ‘the Acting
Commander’ that merely missing my company isn’t reason enough to wake me up.”
“It is an order, Captain
Scarlet, sir,” Claret insisted.
“Does he want me in uniform,
or will my dressing gown do?” Scarlet asked, obliquely acknowledging that his
protest was purely rhetorical.
There was a pause and Blue’s
voice cut in.
“Just come up here as soon as
you’re decent, Scarlet. I think this is
something you ought to know about.”
“If this is some daft prank,
I’ll break your neck, Svenson…” Scarlet grumbled in an aside.
Blue lowered his voice and
said urgently, “No, Paul, this is serious…”
The fact that Blue, an absolute
stickler for doing things by the book when he was on duty, had used his
Christian name was enough to convince Scarlet that his friend was serious.
So, when he arrived in the
Control Room some ten minutes later; he was dressed in his uniform but unshaven
and still looking annoyed.
“I know I don’t need as much
sleep as you, Blue, but I do like to get some
rest,” he complained, as he wandered over to the main desk, where Blue was
staring intently at the huge video screen. He watched for a moment and then
asked, “What’s going on?”
“You know where that is?”
“
“Be serious, will’ya?” his friend snapped.
“I will when you tell me
what’s going on.”
“That’s the big Mediterranean
storm and it’s been raging all night.”
“Don’t tell me: the Mysterons
have threatened to ruin everyone’s Christmas with bad weather?” Scarlet
hazarded, still bewildered by the apparent importance his friend ascribed to
the storm.
“It has been raining heavily
for about 24 hours,” Blue explained.
“And it has been centred right over
“Etna?”
Blue nodded. “Now d’you see why it’s serious?”
Scarlet scratched his head
and ran a hand over his unshaven chin.
“Well, I can risk a guess. The
last time I had anything to do with Etna, you and I ended up trapped in a warren
of time-shifting tunnels between dimensions.”
He glanced at Blue and saw the concern on his friend’s face was
real. Scarlet’s levity vanished. “You
mean it might open the inter-dimensional tunnels again?”
“Not might open them – apparently it has
opened some of the tunnels,” Blue said, as he swivelled the chair around to face
his friend. “Lieutenant Argent called
through some minutes ago and reported that a young guy has walked into
Spectrum:
“Alizarin? Sounds like the
baddy from a third-rate production of an ‘Aladdin’ Christmas panto…”
Blue gave an exasperated
shake of his fair head. “It’s the name
of a manufactured organic red dye, derived from the madder plant.”
“Great – a nutter, with an
even crazier colour codename …”
“Paul – please, this is serious!”
Scarlet sighed and shook his
head pityingly. “Adam, just because somebody
walks into a Spectrum ground base and announces they’re Ensign Ali Baba from
the Twilight Zone and they want immediate attention, it does not mean that they are who they claim to be, or that they’ve come from a different
dimension specifically to see us - or even to see me. There’re more than enough nutcases out there who imagine
they’re part of Spectrum and that they’ve got exclusive information vital to the safety of the planet. You don’t have to drag me out of bed every
time one of them gets taken seriously by a lieutenant who’s still wet behind
the ears, do you?”
“No; but this one seems to
know a good deal more about Cloudbase than has ever been made public, and he
knows a lot about you - he knows your
real name, for a start – and … well, take a look at this.” Blue clicked the screen’s control switch to
change the picture to a scanned image of an ID card.
It looked vaguely familiar
and carried a small head-and-shoulders image of a dark-haired youngster, with
bright-blue eyes. He was wearing a
vivid-red tunic that was not entirely unlike the one the three men in the
Control Room were wearing. The ID card
looked like a Spectrum one, except that it sported the insignia of a chubby,
colour-banded, stylised S, enclosed by two golden semi-circles.
Scarlet frowned and met
Blue’s perceptive gaze with a faint blush on his cheeks. “You do recognise it – I thought you
might. It looks like that sketch you
showed me, when we were talking about what’d happened.”
Scarlet took a moment to look
in surprise at his friend, but Blue was now staring at the screen and missed
the glance.
That has to have been at least four years ago – and he
can’t have seen it for more than a few minutes. Sometimes the amount of detail this man’s memory holds leaves me
speechless…he thought, a
wry smile on his lips. I guess the trick is to never say something
you wouldn’t want remembered.
Aloud, he said: “Okay, I
admit that looks like the Spectrum badge I saw when I went through the tunnels
to one of the parallel dimensions; but, even if he does come from Cadenza’s
world, there’s no guarantee he’s who he says he is, or that he’s coming to see me.
I’m not a major, for a start, and although I know you didn’t get to see
as much as me, I can assure you there were numerous dimensions – all slightly
different from this one in some way.
This might be someone from a different dimension than Cadenza’s trying
to reach yet another dimension. After
we left Lieutenant Garnet in the alternative dimension, the portals here were
blocked by an eruption; but we can’t be sure something similar happened
elsewhere. They might’ve been visiting
back and forth ever since, and our visitor might simply be lost.”
Blue nodded. “Yes, I considered that before I called you
up here. In either case – by design or
by accident – he’s here, and we need to know why as urgently as we need to prevent the tunnels’ existence
becoming common knowledge. I called you
because I thought you might like to come with me, when I go to find out the
truth.”
Scarlet snorted with
laughter. “Acting Commanders generally
remain on their base,” he reminded his friend, with a jovial grin. “Besides, if anyone goes it ought to be me.”
Satisfied that he’d succeeded
in rousing his friend’s curiosity, Blue replied, “You don’t think I could let
you go alone, knowing the kind of trouble you’d get into?” The merest smile twitched at the corners of
his lips.
“Touché,” Scarlet replied, recalling the time he’d said as much to
his friend when Colonel White had called for volunteers for a mission. “Right: do we go straight away, or shall we
wait long enough to wake the colonel first, Acting Commander?”
In the secure waiting room of
Spectrum’s
Lieutenant Argent was clearly
dubious about his credentials; it seemed that the young officer hadn’t been
involved in the most significant mission to involve his command, that
pertaining to the Mysterons’ attempt to use technology known as the ‘Volcanic
Pacifier’ to destroy the Earth. Still,
Argent had listened to what he’d had to say with polite, if mistrustful,
attention. Then he’d conducted him to
this ‘waiting room’ where, no doubt, he was under constant CCTV surveillance
while his fate was decided by unseen and unknown individuals. It was frustrating in the extreme and made
him wonder if he’d made the right decision to come here.
Suddenly, Alizarin sprang up
from the chair and paced around the sparsely furnished room, restless with
pent-up energy. He rested his head
against the window and gazed across the rain-lashed bay to where the dark bulk
of
He spun round at the sound of
the door lock, hope that he would finally be allowed to go to Cloudbase flaring
up inside him. The sight of a dapper
Italian carrying a tray of refreshments dampened that expectation immediately.
“For you,” the Spectrum
sergeant said, as he put the tray down.
“Thank you, Sergeant.”
The man was staring at him
intently, a frown between his dark eyebrows.
Alizarin dredged his memory
and came up with a name. “You must be
Carlo Ruffolo.”
“Si,” the sergeant acknowledged, impressed. “Do you know me,
Ensign?”
Alizarin waved a hand,
expressing uncertainty. “I know of you,” he prevaricated.
Ruffolo gave an expressive
shrug, and nodded his head towards the exit.
“Lieutenant Argent, he does no believe you, but he has speakened with
Cloudbase. I should not tell to you,
but Capitano Blue and Capitano Scarlet are on their ways here.”
Alizarin grinned. “Thank you,
Carlo.” Impulsively, he asked, “Do you
believe me?”
Sergeant Ruffolo resumed his
intense study of the young man’s face and a smile broke out on his expressive
face. “There was much to believe when
Lieutenant Garnet disappear. Capitano Blue and Capitano Scarlet, make an investigation most thorough. They will sort this riddle. If you are not in truth, they will find this
out.”
Alizarin gave a wry smile and
watched Ruffolo leave, hearing the lock snap shut once more behind him.
Out in the main office, Lieutenant Argent was bustling about like
a proud housewife, urging his staff to spruce the place up. When he’d reported to his senior officer
that two colour-coded captains were about to arrive from Cloudbase, Captain
Henna’s suggestion that he ought to come directly from Rome and deal with the
matter personally, had stirred Argent’s sense of insecurity enough to make him
decide to treat this visit like an inspection, and make damn sure everything
was impressively organised and operating effectively.
When he was satisfied that
the place was as ship-shape as it could be, he went back to his office and
checked his uniform in the mirror again, practising smart salutes. It was only when he smiled approval at his
reflection that he saw Sergeant Ruffolo standing patiently at the open door,
and behind him were the looming figures of the colour-captains.
Ruffolo’s expression was a
model of discretion as he ushered the two VIPs in.
Captain Blue, who’d worked
closely with Ruffolo when the previous head of station had disappeared in
suspicious circumstances, exchanged a few words with him, and when he turned
back, Argent was shaking hands with Captain Scarlet.
He reached out his hand to introduce
himself. “Nice to be back here,” he said, as he took a seat beside the
desk.
“Things won’t have changed
much since then, I expect,” Argent said.
Blue smiled. “No, Ruffolo is just the same – mind you,
he’s the kind of guy that never seems to change. I expect he still knows all there is to know about what’s going
on?”
Argent gave a nervous chuckle
of acknowledgment. “Carlo is a constant
source of information,” he said.
“Maybe we should get him in here to brief us then?” Scarlet
asked pointedly.
“There’s no need for that,
Captain Scarlet,” Argent insisted. “I can assure you I have all the details
here.” He tapped a folder on the desk
blotter.
“You’ve found out who this ‘Ensign Alizarin’ really is?” Scarlet
asked, in surprise.
Argent hesitated. “Not
exactly, sir. He refuses to say any
more than he’s already said; which is that he’ll only explain everything to
you, Captain Scarlet.”
The two captains exchanged
glances and then Scarlet stretched forward, reaching for the file. “Then we’d better see what he is prepared to say and be fully-informed
before we meet him.”
Argent handed the folder over
and sat back. Scarlet gave the
slightest sigh of exasperation, his dark eyebrows sliding up in an arch. “A little privacy, if you’d be so kind, Lieutenant?”
“Of course, forgive me!” Flustered, Argent sprang to his feet.
“Please, gentlemen, call for anything you need.”
He edged out of the room with
a nervous smile on his face.
As the door closed behind
him, Blue observed in amusement, “I think you enjoy intimidating the ground
staff…”
Scarlet grinned. “It’s what they expect. They’d be disappointed if we weren’t
fearsome and awe-inspiring individuals.”
Blue chuckled. “You’re the one the legends are growing up
around; me, I’m just the obligatory sidekick.”
“Oh, sure you are,” Scarlet
scoffed. “Okay, ‘Boy Wonder’, wrap your
bat-brain around this report and let’s see what we can make of Ensign Ali
Baba.”
“Holy conundrum, Batman! I will, just as soon as you pass me the
documents.”
Scarlet flicked through the
folder and grinned. “Brownie points to Lieutenant Argent, there are two
copies…”
He handed over a couple of
sheets of closely-typed paper.
Blue took them, but before he
started reading he said, “I think we’d better abandon our ‘super-heroes-in-panto-mode’
from here on in, Paul. Alizarin might
not appreciate being called ‘Ali Baba’ and we’ll need his co-operation, if
we’re going to wrap this up and get back to Cloudbase in time for the
‘not-quite-Christmas’ party the Angels have organised.”
“You know, I’d rather skip
the party; but you’re probably right.
Dianne will be livid if I miss it.”
“So she will; and I have my
orders,” Blue confessed, nodding. “I’m
under strict instructions from Karen to make sure you go. Apparently Dianne
thinks you need cheering up.” He glanced at his field partner and closest
friend and asked, “Is she right? Is
something wrong, Paul?”
Scarlet avoided the question
and instead he quipped, “You look nothing like I expected a Fairy Godmother to
look. Are you going to turn into a
beautiful woman in a sparkly frock, wave a magic wand, and say ‘Scarletella, you shall go to the ball’
any time soon?”
“No; I’m far more likely to
say: ‘sorry, Colonel, but it was justifiable
homicide; he wouldn’t take me seriously’.”
Scarlet grimaced. “I think this time of year is too crowded
with parties; I mean you wait all year for a reason to party and then two or
three come at once.”
“There’s the Fourth of July.”
“I suppose we ought to
celebrate getting rid of you Yanks before you became too much of a liability,
but it isn’t quite the done thing… old chap.”
“Okay, if you say so…Limey. But you’re not the only person to have
a birthday; it tends to happen at least once a year to almost everybody. And there’s Halloween.”
“I don’t like Halloween.
Somehow I always get into trouble then.”
Blue shook his head
despairingly; there was no reasoning with Scarlet when he was in this sort of
mood.
“Well, I can’t say your
sudden aversion to partying the night away makes any sense to me, Paul. You didn’t have a birthday party this year,
because we were in
“Well, of course it did. Sort of.”
“Sort of?”
“Is there an echo in here?”
“Please yourself,” Blue said,
with a shrug. “But I warn you now; I’m
not risking having my Christmas ruined because I didn’t get you to the party.”
“Karen’s perfectly unreasonable at times.”
“Is that supposed to be news
to me? I have to live with it,
remember.”
Scarlet chuckled and then sighed. “Oh, all right, if you must know: on our evening out, I made the
mistake of telling Dianne that every new birthday just rubs in the fact that,
whatever it says on my birth certificate, I’m probably going to stay thirty-one
for a long time – maybe for ever.”
“Hey,” the American
responded, “take it from someone who can see forty looming, thirty-one has its
attractions.”
Scarlet rolled his eyes. “That’s my point!” he said somewhat
ambiguously. Blue grimaced in
confusion, but Scarlet didn’t notice and went on, “Don’t worry, Adam, you don’t
look a day over thirty-nine….”
“Gee, thanks… I’m not
thirty-nine – yet,” Blue muttered.
But Scarlet wasn’t listening;
he was recalling the conversation he’d had with his fiancée. “Dianne said I was being morbid and that I
obviously needed cheering up. This
party is supposed to do just that.”
“Well, take the advice of a much older man,” Blue said, “go to the
party and look like you’re having the best time imaginable; otherwise you’ll
have to explain to all five of the Angels why you’ve got a face like a wet
weekend.”
Scarlet gave a ruefully
amused smile. “That’s a fate worse than
death, all right – having all five of them on your case at once. Okay, okay – look, I’m being serious… I have
the report open ready to read.” He
looked down. “Better get started; my
spider-sense tells me this is going to be… difficult.”
“Now you’re mixing-up your
super-heroes,” Blue remarked, with a sorrowing shake of his head. “If you ask
me, that’s a sure sign of encroaching old age, Batman.”
Scarlet chuckled and started
reading.
When the two captains entered
the waiting room, the young man was standing by the window. He advanced towards them eagerly, his hand
outstretched and a warm smile on his wide mouth.
“Major Scarlet – sorry, Captain Scarlet – thank you for
coming. It’s good to meet you, at
last.” His voice, tinged with relief
and excitement, had the timbre of a nervous adolescent, causing both men to
revise their immediate impression of his age downwards.
Alizarin was a gangly youth
and he wore his unruly black hair unfashionably long. Its wayward curl framed an angular face dominated by piercingly
blue eyes, and softened the sharp-angled bone structure of a strong jaw line,
complete with dimple. His complexion
was blemish-free and there was a downy fuzz on his upper lip that had obviously
never encountered a razor. Although he had
a promise of a muscular build in his shoulders and long limbs, he was probably
still a few years short of reaching his adult height and Scarlet put him at no
more than sixteen.
He was dressed, not in the
tunic of the ID card, but a shirt of a deep-red colour that approximated his
colour-code, and dark, well-tailored trousers. He was becoming unnerved by Scarlet’s intense scrutiny, and as
his hand began to be withdrawn, Captain Scarlet extended his and grasped the
large, surprisingly strong hand of the youngster. They shook.
Alizarin dropped Scarlet’s
hand and turned to the watchful Captain Blue.
He stared up at the American with apparent fascination. “I was so pleased to hear that you’d be
coming too; I hardly expected it,” he said, and held out his hand again.
Blue took it more readily
than Scarlet had and shook hands. As he withdrew his hand, Blue glanced
questioningly at Scarlet.
“Nothing,” Scarlet replied to
the unspoken question.
Alizarin smiled. “You want to know if I’m a Mysteron. I assure you, I’m not.”
“Lieutenant Argent will be
reprimanded for failing to test you with a Mysteron detector, nevertheless,”
Scarlet replied sourly.
“It wasn’t his fault,
really. I wouldn’t let them; it
could’ve got… complicated,” Alizarin
confessed.
“In what way?” Blue asked.
His question was ignored, and
by way of a reply, Alizarin continued, “So I told them just enough to get them
to contact you, Major Scarlet. I had to
see you – and I didn’t know what else I could do to make you see me.”
“I’m not a major,” Scarlet
reminded him, adding, “You told them you’d travelled through a ‘portal’ from a
different dimension, which certainly got their attention, but you either have a
vivid imagination, or a poor opinion of my credulity, if you expect me to believe
that.”
“I wasn’t sure how much
they’d know about the events around the ‘Volcanic Pacifiers’ mission,” Alizarin
explained, “but I knew you’d know all
about it. It was the bait to hook the fish.”
“That’s honest enough,” Blue
said, and he moved further into the room, where he could get a better look at
Alizarin. The young man smiled at him
with the familiar smile of one old friend to another. Blue frowned.
“Okay,” Scarlet said briskly,
“I’ve had enough of this pussy-footing about, Ensign Alizarin – or whatever
your name is. Who are you?”
Alizarin’s blue-eyes sparkled
with amusement. “Don’t you know? Can’t you guess?” He spread his arms and announced, “I’m the son of Cadenza Angel –
and – and well - you, Captain
Scarlet.”
The profound silence that
greeted Alizarin’s revelation lasted for what felt like an eternity to everyone
in the room. Scarlet stared
open-mouthed at the youngster and Blue looked from one man to the other in
doubtful bewilderment. Here was the
explanation for the vague resemblance he’d noticed – the answer to the question
of just who Alizarin reminded him of – and it wasn’t what he’d expected to
hear.
“That’s quite an assertion,
young man,” Scarlet gasped, eventually recovering his wits.
“I didn’t expect you to
believe me straight away, but it is true.
You are my biological father.”
“What’s your real name?” Blue
asked sharply.
Alizarin turned to him with
an easy-going shrug. “Gabriel John
Svenson Turner. And before you ask: my
mother is Eva Joanna Svenson, the eldest daughter of John and Sarah Svenson, of
“Turner?” prompted Scarlet,
the memory of shared confidences firing up in his mind.
Alizarin spread his large
hands and went on to explain. “She
married Colonel Conrad Turner – Spectrum’s Commander-in-Chief - when she
discovered she was pregnant. They’d
been… close, for some years before they joined Spectrum, and he acknowledged
and raised me as his own.”
“What makes you think you’re not his son?” Scarlet probed.
“Because of who - and what –
my mom is, I was subjected to never-ending tests as a child – including
“Now wait a minute,” Scarlet
said, “I accept that you might not be Colonel Turner’s son – but that doesn’t
make you mine.”
“I think it does. Are you trying to deny it’s a possibility?”
Alizarin asked, his manner becoming brusque.
Scarlet gave a non-committal shrug
of one shoulder and merely said, “A gentleman doesn’t reveal the names of
ladies he may have been intimate with; even in this day and age, that remains
the lady’s prerogative.”
He turned towards Blue with a
conspiratorially smug smile, but was surprised to see the shocked expression on
his friend’s face. Sometimes it is all too apparent that there’s Puritan blood in him,
he thought with some amusement.
There was a hint of
resentment in Alizarin’s voice as he replied, “Well, my mother exercised that
prerogative! She told us what happened
on the other Cloudbase the night
before you went back to your own worlds.
So it isn’t worth your breath to deny it, Captain Scarlet.”
Feeling awkward, Scarlet
growled, “Oh did she indeed?”
“Yes, she did,” the youngster
asserted.
“Even if everything Cadenza
said was true, that doesn’t mean I am your father. I’m from a different dimension – a whole new
reality - wouldn’t you say that was pushing the bounds of possibility a little
too far?”
Alizarin shook his head. “In Doctor Fawn’s opinion mom could only get
pregnant by a man who’s also retrometabolic – otherwise her body would have
rejected the embryos as ‘alien’ – no pun intended. Colonel Turner certainly isn’t retrometabolic and my parents
never had children together. She says
that only leaves one contender for the identity of my father – that’s the
Mysteronised Captain Scarlet she met on the mission that took them both to an
alternative dimension. And that was you
– wasn’t it?”
When Scarlet didn’t respond,
Alizarin held out his arm towards him and rolled back his sleeve.
“Run your own tests, if you
want to,” he said, dramatically.
“Oh, we will,” Blue assured
him coldly. “From what we know of those inter-dimensional tunnels, there are
numerous other realities, many that Scarlet never encountered. Your mother could be any Cadenza, from any
dimension, and the Scarlet she met, any Scarlet from any where. You can’t know for sure that it was this Scarlet.”
“Are you suggesting my mother
went trawling through the dimensions looking for a different retrometabolic
Captain Scarlet to jump into bed with?” the boy snarled. “She left the group
she was with and came straight back home.”
“So she says…”Blue commented
dryly.
“My mother doesn’t lie! You may not know, but in these other
dimensions it wasn’t always Captain Scarlet who was retrometabolic. It was mom in my world, for a start. She never went back into the tunnels after
she got home, so that doesn’t leave anyone else but that Paul Metcalfe!”
Alizarin pointed dramatically at Scarlet.
“You can’t know this for
sure,” Blue asserted.
“I told you: she doesn’t
lie. You, of all people, should know
that,” Alizarin retorted. He sighed and looked away. “Sometimes I’ve wished she would. She has an uncomfortable way of believing honesty is the best, if
not the only way. Remind you of anyone, Adam Svenson?”
Alizarin turned to look
directly at Scarlet. “I don’t know
about you, though; maybe you would’ve
lied?”
“No, he would not! You’re forgetting your manners, young man!”
Blue snapped.
Reacting instinctively to the
angry tone of Blue’s voice, Alizarin turned back to him, slightly flushed. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to be rude. The truth is, my mom says I generally only
open my mouth to stick my foot in it.”
Blue inclined his head
slightly and, in a rush Alizarin confided, “It seems even weirder to be talking
to you, Captain Blue, than it does to… well, to my father. I know, in the normal way of things, we’re
not related; but you are the mirror image of my mother. Your parents are the same people as my
grandparents. I guess that’s why it
feels as if I know you – because I do feel as if I do. In fact, the expression on your face right
now is the exact same look of disapproval mom’s refined to an art form.
In spite of the situation,
Scarlet sniggered.
Blue cast an exasperated
glance at his partner. “Before we all get carried away, remember that the
mission in question happened less than four years ago.” He nodded towards Alizarin. “Either that is
the most mature three-year old in history, or his story is bullshit.”
Scarlet looked from Blue to
Alizarin and cocked an encouraging eyebrow.
“Well? Which is it?”
Alizarin gave a confused
shrug and complained, “I expected to arrive here on the same date as I left
home, but the only tunnel that was open led me here. You can’t be more gobsmacked than I was when I realised the
date. I left on December 21st in the
year 2085, and now they tell me it’s 2073.
I’m fifteen years old – whereas by rights, I should be toddling about in
a romper suit. My mom is a sprightly
fifty-year-old - on her birth certificate, anyway, although she’s hardly
changed since she was Mysteronised – whereas you, Captain Blue, you can’t be
forty yet. You met my ‘Aunt’ Paula
Metcalfe, didn’t you, Captain Scarlet?”
Scarlet nodded and reminded
Blue, “She was Sonata Angel – the ‘me’ in that dimension.” He added with a vestige of the surprise he’d
felt at the time, “She reminded me of my mother.”
Alizarin chuckled. “My ‘Aunt Paula’ was forty-nine a few days
ago – she was complaining about it – but I guess you’ve just had your 37th
birthday, Captain Scarlet? Am I right?”
Scarlet nodded in an
abstracted way. He clearly remembered
the shock of seeing a female version of himself, not to mention the masculine
versions of the ultra-feminine Angels, yet, at the time, Eva Svenson had been a
reassuringly familiar presence in a world gone crazy. When he and Garnet had met the people in the first alternative
dimension they’d encountered, their personalities hadn’t resembled the people
he knew much – that Captain Blue was a scheming and manipulative man - but Cadenza had seemed like an old friend
from almost the moment they’d met
“What else can I say to make you believe me?” Alizarin asked,
looking from one bemused face to the other, distinctly disapproving one.
Scarlet scratched an eyebrow
thoughtfully and glanced back at the silent Captain Blue. As the silence lengthened his said, “It’s true
that the tunnels skipped about through dimensions and time. I suppose we must face it that if the storm
has only opened a few of the ‘portals’ in this dimension the choices are
limited.”
He turned back to Alizarin.
“I suppose you had to take what you could get – and you got here and now – and
us.”
The youth nodded. “I’m sure I
got the right one, though.”
“Huh. Why are you here?” Blue demanded of
him.
“It’s rather complicated-”
Alizarin began, displaying a sudden reluctance to discuss the topic that was
quite at odds with his previous openness.
“Just when I thought everything was becoming clear…” Scarlet
muttered ironically.
“I want to stay here.”
“What?” Scarlet cried.
“I don’t want to go
back. I want to stay here – with you.”
Scarlet’s strangled laugh was
a pure nervous reaction. “No,” he said fiercely. “That’s out of the question.”
“You can’t make me go
back. I’ll claim political asylum!”
Alizarin exclaimed wildly.
“What from: too much
homework?” Blue snapped.
“You don’t know what it’s like!”
“So tell me,” Blue said,
unmoved by the youngster’s vehemence.
Alizarin turned away and
gathered his thoughts. When he spoke
there was an earnest tone in his voice that suggested he was telling the
truth.
“You have to realise that
I’ve spent my entire life on Cloudbase.
I’ve never been to a normal school or had much to do with non-Spectrum
people, because, officially, I don’t exist.
We were kept secret because Spectrum was secret and mom’s condition made
us vulnerable – we’d be great hostages to make her do whatever they
wanted. Then, when we were about 9 or
10, everything changed. There’d been a
lot of negative comment about the cost of Spectrum and so they had the idea of
publishing a calendar, ostensibly for charity, featuring Spectrum’s agents and
machinery. It was a great success,
people wanted to know more about Spectrum, so World President Flores decided
that it would be a good re-election ploy to reveal the truth behind Spectrum
and the Mysterons. That’s when it went
ballistic: there were models of the machines – the SPVs and SSCs, the jets,
even Cloudbase itself. Then action
dolls - captains and Angel Pilots – lunch boxes, stationery – you name it. The logo became a trademark – the World
Government raked the money in, and then they made a TV show-”
“’Captain Starlight’,”
Blue groaned. “Don’t even mention it.”
“They’ve done that here
too? Ours is called ‘Cantabile Seraph’,” Alizarin explained,
“and it’s based – supposedly – on mom’s exploits. Most of it’s rubbish, of course, and they’ve got her in a
sickening on-off romance with one of the brain-dead, supposedly hunky
captains. Mom finds it amusing, but my
dad hates it – Colonel Black, I mean.
We’re not in it, of course, because we’re not supposed to exist – which
suits me fine - I don’t want to go through my life as the real ‘Cantabile’s kid’.”
“Annoying as it may be, it
doesn’t justify you staying here,” Blue remarked.
“But I want a proper life,
where no one knows who I am. I want the
chance to do all the things I’ve never had the chance to do… I’ve had enough!”
“Nevertheless, you can’t stay
here; your parents will be worried about you,” Scarlet said.
“No they won’t: they won’t
care.”
“I find that hard to
believe. Besides, you have to go back –
you can’t remain in a different dimension-” Scarlet began to reason.
“Lieutenant Garnet did – didn’t she? My mother said she was going
to stay in the other dimension. The
world hasn’t ended, and the fabric of space and time hasn’t broken down, has it?”
The two captains glanced at
each other and Alizarin exclaimed, “I want to stay here. With you; you are my father, after all.”
“Look, kid, like I said, you
can’t even be sure this Captain Scarlet is
your father. You need to go back home
and sort this problem out there.
Running away won’t help,” Blue said dispassionately.
“No,” Alizarin said, his
lower lip protruding slightly in determination.
Scarlet suddenly caught a
flicker of light on the CCTV camera and put a hand on Blue’s arm to draw him
aside. “We can’t discuss this here and
we’d better take the security recordings with us when we go. Too much has been said already,” he said in
a confidential whisper.
Blue nodded. “Where do you propose we go?”
“Cloudbase.”
“You’re crazy; we can’t take
him back there,” Blue hissed in alarm.
“You got a better idea? Until he can be convinced he has to go back,
we need to keep him hidden, Adam.”
Blue sighed and
shrugged. “Okay, but you’d better have
got him out of the habit of claiming to be your son before Dianne sees him.”
“Oh crikey…”
“And did you notice how he
kept referring to-” Blue began, but before the conversation could continue,
Scarlet’s epaulettes started flashing and his cap mic swung down from the peak
of his uniform cap.
“Yes, Colonel White?” he
responded.
“Captain Scarlet, your report is overdue. What’s happening?”
Scarlet explained that he and
Blue believed the young man’s claim was genuine. He made no mention of Alizarin’s assertion about his parentage,
or his wish to remain, but that came as no surprise to the attentive Blue who
hadn’t expected him to; he knew Paul Metcalfe was an extremely private man.
“Yes, bring him back to Cloudbase,” Colonel White agreed, at
Scarlet’s suggestion. “We’ll need to question him further and we
must consider the consequences of the re-opening of the tunnels. I’m not sure I
like the prospect of inter-dimensional tourists popping in and out of the
place.”
“S.I.G., Colonel,” Scarlet
acknowledged, as the communication channel closed. He turned to the
others. “We’re going to Cloudbase to
continue this discussion, Alizarin; then you’ll only have to tell your story
once.”
“S.I.G,” Alizarin replied,
making the older men react with surprise. Realising they had forgotten he was
steeped in the culture of Spectrum, he grinned at them and added, “I didn’t bring
any luggage, I thought it would complicate things if they saw me leaving with
fully laden suitcases.”
“Not to worry; I’m sure we
can kit you out, if necessary.” Scarlet
opened the door and strode out to organise transport to the airfield where
their SPJ was waiting.
Alizarin picked up the
leather jacket he’d left on the sofa and glanced at Captain Blue. He gave a surprisingly shy smile. “You know, I’ve been dreaming of meeting my real father ever since I was a kid, and
yet, when I knew it was about to happen, I was terrified. I don’t know what I expected; I guess it
can’t be easy suddenly being presented with a teenager who claims he’s the son
you never knew you had, but I thought he took it very well, don’t you?”
“To be honest, I don’t think it’s sunk in yet; but, yes, he’s
taking it very well - for now.”
“You don’t like me though, do
you?” Alizarin asked with obvious disappointment.
“It really has nothing to do
with me,” Blue said brusquely, but unusually for him, he couldn’t meet the
youngster’s forthright gaze.
Alizarin looked downcast and
slouched out of the room, leaving Blue to stare after him, thoughtfully rubbing
his chin.
There was a security detail
waiting for them to disembark from the SPJ as they landed on Cloudbase. Colonel White was taking no chances, and
Lieutenant Viridian and his small brigade of guards were armed. Under the circumstances, the reluctant
Alizarin made very little protest about submitting to a Mysteron Detector test.
He was then escorted to the
Conference Room by the armed guards, with Scarlet and Blue walking some
distance behind.
Scarlet studied the
photographic image Viridian had handed him and glanced at his field
partner. “I don’t think he’s a Mysteron
– not a real Mysteron- even though this is a positive image. I mean, I give a positive image and I’m not
a Mysteron.”
“Not anymore,” Blue mumbled,
with a distinct lack of enthusiasm.
He’d been very taciturn on
the trip back, and although this in itself was nothing that unusual, Scarlet had
sensed an uncharacteristic disquiet in his friend.
“Did I ever tell you that I
had no ‘sixth sense’ reaction to Cadenza?
In fact, none of the other retrometabolic agents in the other dimensions
fired up my sixth sense; and there was nothing at all odd about Caddie – we got
on like a house on fire.”
“You did mention it,” Blue
replied shortly.
“It seems to me that whatever
the truth of his parentage, there’s no denying who his mother is. It stands to reason that some of her
retrometabolism might have rubbed off on Gabriel.” When Blue didn’t answer, he prompted him, “Don’t you agree,
Adam?”
“Paul, Fawn’s done innumerable tests on you without pinpointing
any genetic trait that might suggest retrometabolism is hereditary – hasn’t
he? Why should it be different for
Cadenza?”
Scarlet ignored him and
carried on, apparently without noticing his friend’s aversion to the
topic. “I wonder why she called him
Gabriel. I mean, it’s not a common name
– not all that common, anyway. I guess
it’s biblical and you could say Eva is, as well as Adam, of course…”
“So’s Paul,” Blue said
abruptly, as he veered away into a nearby toilet.
He was exasperated with his
friend’s ready acceptance of the young stranger, and Paul’s persistent lack of
objectivity was causing him concern. He
didn’t doubt that Captain Scarlet was prepared to take Ensign Alizarin at face
value.
“Oh yeah; you know, that
never really occurred to me? I just
accepted that I was named after my grandfather and never gave it another
thought…” Scarlet continued, and then realised he was talking to himself. He stopped walking and sighed, staring in
the direction his companion had taken.
Blue’s not convinced, that’s bloody
obvious, he thought, and watched the armed guards turn into the Conference
Room with Alizarin. But I don’t know how else to react to the
fact that it all seems plausible to me and I do have a son - and not a bad
specimen of one, at that.
He started to saunter towards
the room, expecting Blue to catch him up.
Eva was so sure she couldn’t get pregnant… I never
doubted her. ‘Typical Paul’, as mum
would say. But, here we are – and if
that young man is my son even my mom would have to admit he’s
okay. He gave a wry grin. Shame she can never meet him; she’d be over
the moon.
He paused and glanced behind
to see if his partner was coming. There
was no sign of Blue. He ambled on.
I wonder what Alizarin expects of me. There’s no way he can stay in this
dimension, and I hope he isn’t planning to use his ‘it’s my dad’s home’ theory
as an argument for stopping here… He shuddered at the thought of
the explanations that’d entail. Blue obviously dislikes the boy, added to
which he’s given a positive Mysteron reading, which isn’t going to be easy to
explain. I just hope the fact that Caddie’s retrometabolic means they might not
question it.
I wonder if all the children I have will be
retrometabolic. I assume this means I
am able to have kids – unless, of course, Dianne’s body rejects the alien in
me. The fact that the other Doctor Fawn
thinks it was only because both parents were retrometabolic that the baby
survived suggests an inbuilt level of incompatibility… I suppose.
Once more he stopped suddenly
and stared with unseeing eyes out of the nearby porthole.
Always assuming that after Di’s heard about Gabriel
she’s even prepared to speak to me. She might be livid that I never told her …
but, then I didn’t know!
he reasoned, trying to ignore the fact that his fiancée might just dislike the
fact that he’d had even so fleeting a relationship with another woman. Dianne Simms might lack Karen Wainwright’s
possessive jealousy, but she’d probably draw the line at him ‘playing away from
home’ - whatever the circumstances – especially as it had resulted in something
she’d set her heart on having one day – his child.
Whatever my
friends say, I can’t turn my back on the kid, anymore than I could refuse to
help them if they asked – he’s got no one else here, even if it turns out that
I’m not his father …surely they’ll realise that?
He followed the others into
the meeting, saluted the colonel and nodded hello to Doctor Fawn, who was also
present. The Doctor came over to speak to him.
He was positively radiating eagerness.
“Well, from what I hear, it
seems we have another renegade Mysteron amongst us,” he said chirpily. “Viridian says our new friend tested
positive, but the colonel tells me you’re not sensing any Mysteron
presence? This is the chance I’ve been
waiting for! With two unrelated
subjects to study, it could make pinpointing what retrometabolism is, far
easier.”
“Ah, Doc, a quiet word before
we start?”
Scarlet led him to one side
and confided Alizarin’s claim about his parentage to the somewhat surprised
doctor.
“Really?”
The normally imperturbable
Fawn actually looked shocked. He
glanced thoughtfully at his companion a few times and then asked, “And, is this
a distinct possibility, Paul?”
Not normally the bashful
type, Captain Scarlet felt himself blushing. He said, with what started out as
an air of nonchalance but rapidly became concerned and earnest, “Well, you know how it is… we were both a
long way from home and neither of us was sure we’d ever get back to where we
belonged.”
He sighed and recalled the
uncertainty of his situation in the different dimension. “You see, although I
wouldn’t ever admit it to Blue, I missed having him around. After all, he’s become something of a
fixture in the weird and wonderful thing that is my life, Doc, and I’m used to
bouncing ideas off him when there’s a problem. And, boy, did I have a problem.”
Fawn nodded thoughtfully; he
knew the strength of the bond between the captains and their
interdependence.
Scarlet continued, “So, there I was, wondering if I was ever going
to get back home, and there was no one to talk it through with, except Caddie…
Cadenza Angel, I mean. You see, we’d shared an instant rapport when we met, and
when I was with her that night, it felt exactly
like it does with Adam.”
Fawn’s eyebrows nearly went into
orbit at this remark and realising his unintentional ambiguity Scarlet hastened
to clarify things. “That sentence really came out a bit skewed, didn’t it? What
I meant was: I felt at home with
her and I was able to talk things over with her, like I do with Adam - that’s
all. We’d had a long chat after the
reception on Cloudbase and probably said more to each other than we would’ve if
we’d thought we were likely to meet again.
We said goodnight – all very prim and proper - but I couldn’t sleep and
I eventually gave up trying and went back out for another walk. It seems Cadenza was feeling the same and we
bumped into each other on the Promenade Deck.
We got talking again, and it was reassuring being in her company – and I
think she felt the same – she told me she and Paula Metcalfe were close friends. Anyway, we went back to her room for coffee and … one thing led
to another, as they say. I’m sure I don’t have to draw you a diagram, Doc…”
Fawn gave a pitying glance at
this weak attempt at humour and asked, “And the result is that young man?”
“So he says. He told me that the doctors who looked after
Caddie are of the opinion that she only got pregnant because – well, because
we’re both retrometabolic and her body recognised a kindred spirit, if you
will. She never had children with her
human husband.”
“That certainly makes a
difference,” Fawn said thoughtfully. “I
really must run the series of tests I did on you, on the Ensign. It could open a whole new field of research…
as the off-spring of two
retrometabolic people how much of that adaptation has been inherited? I wish I had a sample of Cadenza’s
It had occurred to Scarlet
that the tests could give him the reassurance he craved regarding any children
he might have with Dianne. Fawn knew
about his relationship with Rhapsody and that they hoped to get married and
start a family – at least, Dianne
wanted a family whereas he’d always been far less convinced it was a good idea.
He waited with uncharacteristic patience for Fawn to deliver his
opinion.
Finally, the doctor gave a
thoughtful smile and said, “Of
course! It is more than likely that
Captain Blue will share at least mitochondrial
Scarlet rolled his eyes. “Thanks, Doc. I’m so glad I’ve helped you plan your potential Nobel Prize
winning research programme. It makes
my… indiscretion worth while.”
“Do I detect a hint of
sarcasm in that remark?”
“Heaven forbid.”
Fawn smirked. “I promise not to subject you to many tests,
Captain; after all, I have plenty of samples from you. I shall need to take a full set of samples
from Captain Blue and Ensign Alizarin.
Mind you, knowing what to look for from your
Scarlet put his hands to his
face and shook his head. “Whatever you
do, Doc, I’d be grateful if you’d keep this between ourselves? Blue knows, of course, he was there when Gabriel
explained, but I can’t see him blabbing it about.”
Fawn glanced across to see
Captain Blue walk through the door; from the guarded expression on the
American’s face and the way he avoided looking at Scarlet and Alizarin, Fawn
deduced that all was not smelling of roses in Blue’s world. He glanced to where the on-duty Angel pilot
was chatting with Lieutenant Green, and was slightly relieved to see that it
was Harmony. Of all the Angels she was
the least likely to repeat anything… confidential
that might come out in their discussion.
Scarlet was still waiting for
a response and as Colonel White called the meeting to order and everyone took
their seats, Fawn said,
“Doctor-patient
confidentiality is something I consider sacred, Paul. Your secret’s safe with me.”
“It’s hardly a secret, and I
expect it will common knowledge before this is all resolved, but for now, I’d
appreciate you keeping it quiet, Edward.”
Colonel White had made good use of the time it had taken his
officers to bring Alizarin to Cloudbase and had re-familiarised himself with
the details of the mission that had led Captain Scarlet into the tunnels
beneath
He invited Alizarin to
address the assembled members of Spectrum’s elite personnel, and listened
intently as the youngster began to explain why he was here.
“I am sure you know that I
have come here from a different dimension, where the world still exists,
although things are different in some ways.
My mother is Cadenza Angel, the leader of Spectrum’s Angel squadron on
Cloudbase. Like Captain Scarlet she was
killed by the Mysterons and retrometabolised.
She’s taken part in thousands of missions, died hundreds of times, and
is the lynch-pin of Spectrum’s defences against the Mysterons.”
“This is known and
understood,” White remarked. He was
impressed by the way the youngster conducted himself; he didn’t seem awed by
finding himself on Cloudbase, or at having to address the assembled Spectrum
grandees.
“Yes, sir. She met Captain Scarlet during a Mysteron
threat and proved that he was indeed from a different dimension to that we
inhabited. Consequently, I’ve always
known things aren’t exactly the same between the dimensions, Colonel. Some people are the opposite of what we’d
expect; that things happened differently or at different times, which results
in various permutations of all potential situations. Despite the differences in the people or variations in the
decisions they make, there remains a fundamental synchronicity between my
universe and this.”
“I’ve read Captain Scarlet’s
report about the Volcanic Pacifiers, and I know what he experienced when he was
swept into the tunnels beneath Etna,” White confirmed. “What I need to know is why you are here
now, Ensign.”
Alizarin glanced around the
table and saw Scarlet’s pleading expression for him to be a little economical
with the truth; what surprised him was that this expression was mirrored on
Captain Blue’s face.
“Yes, sir.” Alizarin continued, “I’m a junior officer
on Cloudbase, and…”
“You’re a member of
Spectrum?” White asked, betraying a little surprise at this. “In this organisation we don’t have serving
officers on Cloudbase below the rank of lieutenant, nor, I would guess, as
young as you.”
“It’s because of my parents, sir,” he explained. “Maybe I should have said, my full name’s Gabriel
John Svenson Turner and I grew up on Cloudbase, where my father, Colonel Black,
is the commander–in-chief.”
There was a murmur of
astonishment at this news, even Colonel White’s dark eyebrows rose.
Oblivious to the reaction to
his explanation, Alizarin continued, “I was given a codename when I was just a
kid, because they needed a way to ‘lose me’ in the records, I guess. Especially when, as your detector test
showed, it became clear I’d inherited some aspects of retrometabolism.”
“Ermm,” Fawn interjected,
raising his hand. “What aspects?”
Alizarin thought for a moment
and then replied, “I heal rapidly, I don’t get ill – I’ve never had any of the
usual childhood diseases - and yes, Doctor Fawn, they did try to infect us with
them. I have greater strength and
stamina than most guys my age... or so they tell me, I haven’t met all that
many. I don’t know if I’m
indestructible, like my mother and you, Captain Scarlet; I’ve never been killed
and the idea of putting it to the test, just to see if I can recover, isn’t one
I like to think about.”
“No,” Scarlet interrupted,
shaking his head vehemently. “You
really don’t want to put it to the test.
If it happens in the course of a mission – well, that’s something everyone
has to face. Recovering from it is …”
he paused and drew a deep breath. He could see the others looking at him
expectantly, and concluded lamely, “…an added bonus. I suppose.”
“Quite,” White said. “Now, Ensign, why are you here? I understood that four years ago it was agreed
between Cadenza Angel, acting for the authorities in the… additional dimension
and Captain Scarlet on our behalf, that the tunnels would not be used. And that was before they were blocked by an
eruption in our dimension.”
“Well, sir,” Alizarin drew
breath and plunged into his explanation. “In my world, Spectrum is not a secret
organisation anymore. The World
President before the one we have now, revealed all the facts about the
Mysterons and Spectrum’s fight against them to the general public.”
There was consternation
around the conference table and when the murmuring died down Alizarin went on:
“My father – that is, Colonel
Black, had a difficult job to keep the identity of his agents secret. He could only do it by sacrificing some of
them and allowing them to become celebrities.
As more of Cadenza Angel’s missions were reported in the newspapers she
became famous for her ability to survive.
It was never explained how she managed that, of course. There are Angel action dolls and a TV show
called ‘Cantabile Seraph: Rainbow
Warrior’ – it’s dreadful, but….”
White raised a hand to his
forehead shaking his head, in disbelief.
Alizarin hesitated.
“Go on, Ensign,” the colonel
muttered, recovering his poise.
“There was always some cop
out in the TV shows about how she survived; that’s all I was going to add.”
“Spectrum’s agents are
celebrities?” Captain Magenta demanded
in dismay. He was currently confined to
a wheelchair having broken his leg on a recent mission, but Doctor Fawn had
allowed him out of
“As I said, Colonel Black
managed to protect some identities, but only by allowing agents like Sonata
Angel to become largely ornamental – well, that’s how Aunt Paula describes
it. She married Major Scarlet – Julian
Pontoin - and went to work in the
“I bet she wasn’t,” Scarlet
muttered. “I wouldn’t be.”
“Be that as it may,” Colonel
White said, “What has it to do with why you’ve come here, Ensign?”
“Until recently, Spectrum
managed to defeat most Mysteron threats, but there have been some high profile
failures in the past months. A dam was destroyed in
“Politics can be a dirty business,” White remarked, “but I fail to
see what that has to do with your arrival here.”
“The money went to set up
secure camps for anyone suspected of being a Mysteron. The World Government never explained about
retrometabolism, they thought it was a step too far, but they did announce that
Mysteron agents – alien doppelgangers, as they call them - can be
detected. The feeling against the
Mysterons is running so high that anyone suspected of being a Mysteron, or even
guilty of nothing more then setting off one of the detectors, is being sent to
these camps – and no one complains about it.”
“Do they face trial?” White
asked.
Alizarin shrugged. “No one’s been tried so far, and no one’s
been released from any camp either. My
father says it’s surprising the number of political opponents of the World
President and his government that have suddenly been taken over by the
Mysterons.” The young man gave a broad
smile that lit up his face; in much the same way as Captain Blue’s boyish grin
did to his. “My dad has a nice line in
sarcasm, sir.”
Colonel White gave an
acknowledging nod.
The youngster sobered and
concluded, “I want to do my bit to defeat the Mysterons, sir, but my father
says it’s too risky; if anyone found out about us we could be incarcerated for
the rest of our lives.”
“I’m sure enough people would know about your parentage for you to
be exempt from suspicion,” Magenta said thoughtfully.
“No one knows that Mom is
retrometabolic, and even though we’re not Mysterons we’d be treated as if we
are…”
Alizarin turned to Colonel
White once more and made a direct impassioned plea. “I can fly planes and I’ve
been well educated, sir. I want a
useful life; if I stay there, I’d always be mistrusted and at risk of perpetual
imprisonment, if not execution. My
mother told us about the other dimensions when we were youngsters and I thought
maybe here, where no one knows who I am, I’d have a chance to a fair
hearing. I want my freedom, sir, and I
want to stay and fight where I can be of most use.”
Colonel White nodded and
indicated that he could sit down. There
were vacant seats all round the table, yet some instinct sent Alizarin to sit
beside Captain Blue.
Scarlet looked at them,
noting with interest the similarities in their features and build: except for
the dramatic difference in their colouring, they could’ve been brothers – or
father and son… he gave a mental groan.
That’s not a happy thought, given the strained
relationship between Adam and his father…I never asked Caddie how she got on
with her father, but it might explain why Adam looks so tense with the boy
sitting next to him, he
mused.
The next few minutes did
nothing to dispel his apprehension that Blue did not like Alizarin.
The colonel said, “Well,
everyone’s heard Ensign Alizarin’s eloquent statement and his request. Do you have any questions or comments,
gentlemen?”
“I don’t think it would be a wise move to let him stay; I’m not in
favour, sir.”
Every head looked towards the
speaker in surprise - and Scarlet saw the expression of injured surprise at
this unexpected betrayal, on Gabriel’s face.
“Captain Blue?” Colonel White’s mild question invited an
explanation.
Keeping his eyes fixed on his
commanding officer, Blue began, “As I see it, there are several major
problems. It could set a dangerous
precedent and suppose – as is more than likely – someone comes looking for
Alizarin, determined to take him home again?
How would we deal with it? How
would we deal with him remaining in this dimension, come to that? He’s not supposed to be here, we’d have to
create an identity for him. In
addition, what right do we have to judge how another society has dealt with the
Mysteron threat? Would we want another
dimension muscling in on our affairs
if it was the other way round? And there
is always the danger of affecting the timelines…”
Scarlet listened to Blue’s
damning words with a growing sense of injustice. Finally, he interrupted his partner, oblivious of the colonel’s
disapproving glance.
“Look, Blue, the kid’s
talking of spending a life under suspicion and mistrust – and who is to say how
long a life it might be? Feeling at
odds with everyone else is something I do know about,” Scarlet protested, as
Blue shook his head. Frustrated, he
turned to White and continued, “We shouldn’t dismiss his appeal out of hand,
Colonel. Give him a break! He’s…Cadenza’s son, after all. I can – and I
will - vouch for her. She was a good
woman; I trusted her.”
Before White could reply,
Blue snapped, “A Spectrum Officer must not allow personal feelings to affect
his decisions.”
“Oh, that’s rich,” Scarlet
retorted, “you quoting those regulations at me!”
He emphasised his words with the jab of an accusing finger at his
friend.
Magenta interposed, “Seems to
me Blue does have a point, Scarlet.” He
turned to Alizarin, who’d exclaimed in protest at this. “No offence, Ensign.”
“What’s with you guys? Feeling threatened by the presence of
another man with retrometabolism?” Scarlet demanded.
“Gentlemen.”
With that one word, the
colonel’s raised voice stopped the heated exchange that followed this
outrageous taunt in its tracks.
Once silence had returned,
White continued, “It seems to me that we need to ask Ensign Alizarin to give us
time to debate this in private – and we will debate it in an orderly manner.”
“S.I.G.,” his officers
chorused, although there was still an atmosphere of acrimony in the room.
White turned to Harmony. “Would you please contact the
Harmony bowed slightly and
led the angry Alizarin out into the corridor.
Ensign Alizarin was obviously
frustrated at what he’d heard during the meeting in the Conference Room and
Harmony Angel, always anxious to keep the peace, limited her conversation to
the party they were heading for.
“It should be a good one;
everyone will go because it will last all through the duty hours.” She sighed.
“I only hope Captain Scarlet does not miss attending; Rhapsody will be
most annoyed if he does.”
For the first time, Alizarin
showed some interest. “Rhapsody? Is she – are she and Scarlet…?”
“They are very good friends,”
Harmony confirmed. “For many years they
have been so.”
She excused the boy’s interest
by remembering his youth but nevertheless she was pleased to see Symphony turn
into the corridor from the direction of her quarters.
“Ah, here is Symphony
Angel. She …” Harmony paused and
considered the woman coming towards them.
Symphony had – as usual –
gone slightly too far; her dress was just a little too revealing of a cleavage
unashamedly enhanced by none-too-subtle corsetry, and she’d resorted to hair
extensions and backcombing again. The
result was undoubtedly deliberate and, while it would unquestionably be popular
- with the men, at least - Harmony couldn’t help wondering what the effect
would be on the man it was almost certainly intended to impress – the
sophisticated Captain Blue.
But then, she thought, I never have quite
understood what the attraction is between these two incompatible individuals.
She glanced up at Alizarin
and saw that her friend’s appearance was certainly registering an impact there;
he was wide-eyed and open mouthed as he watched her approach.
Harmony changed what she’d
been going to say and continued, “She helped arrange the party and she is
off-duty and so will be one of the hostesses for now. She will look after you, I am sure.”
“Oh, I hope so,” the
youngster beside her breathed out.
Harmony gave a cautious smile
and thought, I am sure Symphony is more
than capable of dealing with this dazzled teenager, but I hope he does not do
anything to reinforce Captain Blue’s reservations about his being here …
Aware that the colonel had
not given permission for the truth behind Alizarin’s presence on Cloudbase to
be revealed, Harmony hoped the young man would have the sense to be a little
circumspect in what he said.
“Symphony,” she called, and
her friend drew closer, “this is Ensign Alizarin. Colonel White has asked that he be entertained at the party until
further notice.”
“Sure thing, Harmony. Leave it to me,” Symphony said, with a
welcoming smile.
Harmony handed Alizarin over
to Symphony with a feeling of some relief.
“I had better get back to the Conference Room. I hope that I will see you again, Ensign.”
Alizarin snapped out of his
daydream and thanked her as she left.
Then he turned back to the woman who’d stirred feelings he’d never
experienced before.
“Hi,” Symphony said, holding
out her hand. “I’m Symphony Angel;
welcome to Cloudbase.”
“Thanks; it’s remarkable, but
you’re the first person to actually say that.”
“Oh, surely not; we’re a
friendly bunch around here,” she remarked, as they started towards the off-duty
lounge closest to the
“That…that’d be nice,” he
stammered, his bright-blue eyes taking in her curvaceous figure accentuated by
the bold, abstract-patterned dress with obvious appreciation. She glanced up at him from beneath her
long, dark lashes and swallowing hard he continued, “Is it a proper
party?”
She smiled and nodded, so he
continued, his voice breaking as he spoke, “Then, if there’s dancing, will you dance with me?”
“Of course I will; we don’t
worry about rank at the Christmas party, so you can ask anyone to dance. It’s a chance for us all to get to know each
other informally.”
“I’d sure like to get to know
you… informally…”
“Down, boy,” she said, with
an admonishing wag of a finger towards him, but her tone and expression showed
that she was more amused than annoyed.
“My name’s Gabriel,” he said,
blushing furiously. “And it looks to me
as if Heaven’s missing an Angel because you’re here, Symphony.”
Her peal of laughter made him
hesitate, but then she gave him a smile, not an unkind or censorious smile, but
a friendly - and to him – encouraging one.
It sent his pulse racing.
“I bet you say that to all
the girls…” she responded, in the same light-hearted vein.
“No, no really; I… I really
meant it.” To his utter chagrin his voice chose that moment to turn shrill
again.
She realised he really
thought he’d made an original remark and reflected how disarming inexperienced
young men could be. Nevertheless she couldn’t allow him a free rein. Keeping her tone light she replied:
“Behave yourself, Ensign
Alizarin, or my very jealous fiancé might just take you apart, joint by joint.”
“I’d like to see him try,”
Alizarin retorted, in a fit of bravado.
“No; you wouldn’t,” she
corrected him.
“He must be quite a guy to
have you.”
“He’s the most wonderful man
in the world, and I wouldn’t swap him for the world. Now, if we’ve got that quite clear, I suggest
you mingle with the others and get to know some of them, Gabriel. I’m sure you’ll find plenty of young ladies
only too happy to dance with you.”
“And what if I don’t want to dance with anyone but you?”
“Then you’ll have a
problem…because I intend to dance with all
my friends.”
She glanced at him and seeing
the blatant admiration in his eyes, softened her intended rebuke. “You’re lucky I’m such an understanding type
of gal: the women on Cloudbase are more than capable of wiping that smile from
your good-looking face, Gabriel, and, just for the record, so am I. I don’t know what it’s like where you’re
based, Ensign, but here we don’t take too kindly to guys who patronise us.”
“Oh - I didn’t mean to do
that - honest. I know how to behave,
Symphony.” My mom would have something to say about it, if I didn’t, he
thought wryly.
She relented towards him; he
was handsome and charming, and very
young…
“Come and have some fun
then. I hope you know how to
dance? We like a man who can hit the
dance floor with conviction.” She
sighed. “They’re few and far between on this base.”
“Dancing is my second
favourite pastime…”
If he’d expected her to ask
what the first one was, he was disappointed – she’d already worked that out for
herself.
“I won’t risk the security of
this world in order to allow you, or anyone else, to dabble in the affairs of
another dimension,” Colonel White said firmly.
“But-”
“Captain Scarlet, you’ve
argued most persuasively and I can understand why you feel a kinship with this
youngster. I am sorry: the answer
remains no. The boy must return to his own dimension – or another one, if he
chooses to keep trying his luck.”
White collected his papers. “Ask
Alizarin to come to the Control Room, will you, Lieutenant Green? I’ll speak to him myself.”
“Don’t bother – I’ll tell
him,” Scarlet growled, with a face like thunder, as he headed for the door
Ignoring Scarlet’s rudeness,
White looked at Captain Blue. “You’d better go and keep an eye on him; I don’t
want him doing anything rash.”
“With respect, Colonel, maybe
someone else could do it? Scarlet’s not
exactly pleased with me at the moment, and the feeling’s mutual.”
“I don’t have anyone else, Captain.
Magenta’s going back to
As White left, Doctor Fawn
got behind Magenta’s wheelchair, slipped off the brake and turned it towards
the door. “What’s eating you, Captain?”
he asked Blue.
But Blue shook his head and
gathered his file together. “I’d better
see what he’s doing, I suppose.” He
looked in the direction of the
“At least you’ll get to go,”
Magenta said wistfully.
“Why don’t you take Pat with
you?” asked Fawn, thinking that the genial Irish-American might ease the
baffling tension that had developed between the two partners. “As long as he doesn’t try to dance the
night away, there’s no reason why he can’t go to the party.”
Blue looked at the hopeful
expression on his friend’s face and smiled.
“Sure – why not? If I’m not
around to wheel him back when it’s finished, there’s bound to be someone who
will.”
“Right – that’s settled
then. Maybe you could also ask Ensign
Alizarin to stop by the
“Ask him yourself,” Blue said
with uncharacteristic abruptness, as he wheeled Magenta at some speed from the
room.
Fawn watched them go and said
to himself, “There is definitely something
eating that young man, but I’m damned if I know what it might be.”
The party was in full swing
when Scarlet arrived; in fact, he could hear the thump of dance music echoing
down the corridor as he approached. He
stood in the entrance for a moment looking around the gaudily-decorated,
poorly-lit room for Rhapsody or Alizarin.
There was a long trestle-table loaded with buffet food and bottles of
soft drinks, fruit juices and bottled water, and draped across it was an
improvised white-cloth banner, that said ‘Merry Christmas!’ in large, unevenly
spaced, red letters.
He couldn’t see Dianne in the
select throng of guests, but he noticed Gabriel on the packed dance floor,
enthusiastically jigging around in the company of Lieutenant Wisteria, the
base’s Welfare and Morale officer.
“Paul! You made it. Happy belated birthday!” Symphony threw her arms around his neck
and planted a kiss on his cheek.
“Thanks, Karen,” he said, his
gaze riveted on her astonishing dress – or, more accurately, the areas where
the dress wasn’t. He managed to drag
his eyes to her face and ask, “Where’s Di?”
“She went to get some more
lemonade from the SpectraMart. Seems
everyone’s thirsty today. Where’s
Blue?”
“I don’t know. I came away before him,” Scarlet replied
dismissively. “I need to talk to
Gabriel.”
“Oh, you’re not going to take
him away, are you? He’s been the life
and soul of the party.”
“And here was me assuming
that must’ve been you,” he replied.
“Ah, you’re so sweet,” she
exclaimed, bestowing another kiss on him. “But, I don’t think Gabriel’s sat
down once since the music started.
Every unattached female lieutenant and technician is queuing up for a
dance! He’s having a whale of a time.”
Scarlet gave a rueful
smile. “I don’t think he’ll feel much
like dancing when I’ve told him my news.”
She sobered immediately. “The colonel’s turned him down? He told me he was hoping to stay here – at
least for a while.”
“Yes,” Scarlet growled. “White has turned him down. Apparently, we’re all too short-sighted to
see the advantages of having another … person around.”
“Oh, poor Gabriel; I guess
he’ll have to finish his training at a conventional ground base after all?”
Scarlet knew that beneath the
hedonistic persona she chose to adopt, Karen Wainwright was an intelligent and
perceptive young woman, with a background in industrial counter-espionage. There’d been times when her life had
depended on her ability to assess people quickly and accurately and she was a
shrewd judge of character – just as long as her emotions weren’t colouring her
judgment. He decided to take advantage
of that now.
“What do you make of him,
Karen? Do you like him?” he asked, as
nonchalantly as he could.
She gave a momentary pause, considering her answer, and then
said, “Yes; yes, I do. He’s a nice
young guy – a bit fresh, maybe, but there’s no real harm in him. Well, nothing
he won’t grow out of anyway.”
She studied Scarlet’s face
and recognised the signs of discontent, so she suggested, “Look, why not give
the boy a chance to unwind and have a good time before you spoil his fun,
eh? I’m sure the colonel didn’t say he
had to leave right this minute, did he?
Paul?”
“He wants to see him.”
She wrinkled her nose. “White will expect you to take a while to
locate him; parties are like that.
Besides, you’re the guest of honour – this is doubling as your belated
birthday party, remember! Come on,
Paul. Dance with me!”
The music had changed to a
funky dance track, and she tugged his arm.
“Come on – once Di’s back I won’t get a look in! I want a dance with the birthday boy…”
And so Scarlet found himself
dragged onto the crowded floor, and, as Symphony started to wriggle beside him,
he noticed that Gabriel’s eyes fixed on her like homing beacons.
There must be something genetic that fixates Svensons
to Wainwrights… well, this Wainwright, anyway, he thought, with a smirk. Then, banishing the problem of the youngster from his mind, he
surrendered to the pulse of the music, joining in the dance, clapping his hands
in time to Symphony’s rhythm-driven, syncopated gyrations.
Then, without quite realising
how it happened, Scarlet found himself dancing next to a rather startled
Lieutenant Wisteria, as Gabriel stepped between him and the oblivious Symphony.
Wisteria watched with some
amusement as the youngster moved in on the Angel pilot, and grinned at Scarlet
before leaning forward to holler:
“You can’t make it clearer
than that, can you?” She laughed. “Happy birthday for the other day, Captain!”
Scarlet shook his head in
acknowledgement of the inevitability of Gabriel’s usurpation of his partner,
and grinned back at her. He decided to
let the kid have this one fling before he escorted him to Colonel White –
Symphony was probably right and he wouldn’t be expected back immediately - and
so, he finished out the dance with Wisteria.
As the music slowed to a slow
and more intimate song, Symphony, who had finally registered her change of
partner, seemed happy enough to give Gabriel her hand and allow him to pull her
close.
The young man looked to be
enjoying himself enormously.
Scarlet and Wisteria made
their way to the table in search of liquid refreshment, and they were still
there, talking amicably, when the door opened and Rhapsody came in. She was laughing with Captain Magenta, who
was nursing three large bottles of lemonade on his lap as Blue wheeled him
along.
“Oh, hi,
Paul! Happy unbirthday!” the beautiful English Angel Pilot exclaimed,
stretching up to give him a kiss on the cheek.
She was in blithe good
spirits and failed to register the frosty atmosphere between Scarlet and Blue,
but as she hugged him, Scarlet glanced at Blue over her shoulder. He realised that his friend must be able to
see Gabriel holding Symphony in a clinch as they swayed to the sensual
music.
The American’s expression
darkened into a frown. Following the
direction of his partner’s gaze, Scarlet saw Gabriel’s hand was resting on
Symphony’s rear-end as she swayed in the dance, and even as they watched, she
gently, but firmly, removed his other hand from wherever it had been straying,
and held it firmly in hers, away from her body.
Amused, Scarlet slipped an
arm around his fiancée and returned her kiss.
Rhapsody peered out into the room.
“Where’s Karen?” she asked him.
“There are two guys here who are really anxious to see her in her new
dress! I’ve been telling them all about it on our way here.”
“I can understand their
eagerness,” Scarlet said, adding with spontaneous and uncharacteristic
insolence, “It leaves very little to the imagination and, once more, Karen’s
exhibitionism triumphs over elegance.”
There was a sharp intake of
breath from the newcomers and Lieutenant Wisteria opened her mouth to say
something, but Magenta beat her too it.
“Karen always makes kooky
look kinda cute,” he said.
“She does indeed.” Rhapsody
defended her friend’s unconventional dress sense with a glare at Scarlet and an
elbow dig in the ribs. “I wish I had the self confidence – not to mention the
superstructure - to wear the things she does – and as well.”
Scarlet rolled his eyes. “You have far too much taste to ever wear some of the things she does,
Di.”
Rhapsody’s astonishment at
his comments was obvious: Paul had always been close to Karen.
“Anyway, what are you still
doing here? I thought you were supposed to be taking Alizarin to see the
colonel,” Magenta cut in quickly, before Blue could respond to these barbed
remarks, hoping to defuse the rapidly growing tension.
“I was,” Scarlet agreed, “but
Karen’s still ‘dancing’ with him – as only she knows how to dance, if you get
my drift - and she asked me not to take him away because he deserved to enjoy
himself, and it was a shame he wasn’t going to be able to stay for
longer.”
He was well aware that his
comments would stoke the suspicion he’d seen in Blue’s expression, not to
mention outrage his friend, whose premeditated blindness in the face of his
fiancée’s sartorial excesses was legendary, but he felt he’d gained some slight
revenge for his partner’s betrayal of the youth who – he was now convinced –
was his son.
“I think the colonel wants
him to leave sooner rather than later.”
When Blue spoke there was an
edge of anger in his voice, but his gaze was still directed out towards the
dance floor. His expression softened
and gentle smile tugged at his lips as Symphony saw him and immediately broke
off her dance. She came towards them,
smiling.
Gabriel followed her,
unwilling to let her leave him. He
realised that Scarlet and the others were almost certainly there to relay the
colonel’s decision and from the look on their faces he surmised that it was not
favourable.
He was ready to argue before
he reached the group.
Symphony bent to hug Magenta
and then, laughing gaily, gave him a twirl so he could admire the outfit she
was wearing – although he never doubted the intended beneficiary of this
display was Blue.
“Like it?” she asked.
“It’s great,” Magenta replied
loyally, with a glance at Scarlet that dared him to repeat his comments to her
face.
“I was going to keep it for
Christmas, but when this party was arranged, I thought it deserved my new
dress. What do you think, Paul?”
“The pattern really suits
you,” Wisteria said, chipping in to keep the conversation going.
Blue and Scarlet were now
glaring at each other like boxers psyching each other before a fight, so that
even Rhapsody noticed their antagonism and thought she knew what had started
it.
“He thinks you look wonderful
– he was just saying as much, weren’t
you, Paul?” she said forcefully.
As they waited for Scarlet to
speak, the sound system suddenly failed.
There was a chorus of groans from the partygoers, although the senior
staff tensed, straining to hear the usual tell-tale hiss that preceded any
Mysteron threat.
THIS
IS THE VOICE OF THE MYSTERONS. WE KNOW THAT YOU CAN
“What on earth can that
mean?” Lieutenant Wisteria gasped.
“They get more obscure all
the time, don’t they?” Rhapsody agreed, although she was looking towards
Scarlet and Blue as she spoke.
“We’d better get to the
Conference Room,” Scarlet said to Blue, who nodded.
Spectrum’s Premier Field
Officer Team both knew enough to remember their priorities: whatever quarrel
they had between them would keep until this threat was over.
“Captains Scarlet, Blue and Magenta, please report to
the Conference Room.”
Lieutenant Green’s voice had just a touch of weariness in it.
“Let me come with you,”
Gabriel pleaded. “I can help. I have experience of the Mysterons and their
cryptic threats too.”
“I don’t think so,” Blue said
sharply. “This is Spectrum business.”
“I’m a member of Spectrum!”
“Not on this base,” Blue snapped.
“He might be of help and
we’re short staffed,” reasoned Scarlet.
“Besides, as you so helpfully reminded me, the Old Man wants to see
him. Come on, Alizarin.”
“Captain Scarlet!” his
partner protested. “You’re letting
your… partisanship blind you to the dangers.”
“I’m not suggesting he comes
with us wherever we end up going,” Scarlet exclaimed. “Simply that he might help us unravel the threat. Or are you afraid he might solve it before
you do?”
“Of course not!”
“After all, he probably has
the same kind of mind you do – so bloody devious it outthinks the Mysterons!”
“Paul!” Rhapsody stepped
between them and stared in bewilderment at her fiancé. “What’s got into you?”
“I just don’t like it when my friends bail out on me mid-way
through a discussion.”
“What discussion?” Blue raged. “You wouldn’t even listen. So, I’ll say it again in front of Alizarin –
because I’m not afraid to admit to my opinions, Captain - I’ve never said I agreed with you on this,
in fact, I told you plainly, that I didn’t.
I can’t help it if you refuse to accept what you hear as the truth.”
Scarlet looked across at the
rigidly impassive face of his closest friend and said coldly, “I guess I’m
disappointed at the actions of someone I expected better from.”
“Bullshit, Scarlet,” Magenta
interjected. “Blue’s argument is sound
enough. Besides, the final decision
lies with the colonel and we all have to live with it – whether we agree with
it, or not.”
“Stop it!” Rhapsody
exclaimed, turning to each in turn.
“The Mysterons have issued a threat and the colonel’s waiting. Paul, push the wheelchair to the lift.”
She ordered him into action,
seeking to keep them apart, as Symphony moved between the red-faced Alizarin
and the silently angry Blue.
“We’re making a spectacle of
ourselves here; people are starting to stare.
Let’s go to the
But Alizarin was too incensed
to listen. “Why do you hate me?” he
cried, pointing a finger at Blue. “What have you got against me and my
mother? I thought you’d be the one to
understand…”
The older man shrugged and
shook his fair head, dismissing the comments.
Goaded, Gabriel continued, “I
thought you’d care – I thought you’d want to help me – but you don’t! You’re as bad as the other Svensons:
money-grabbing, selfish, and so toffee-nosed they don’t consider me as a
‘suitable’ member of their precious family!”
“I don’t know what the
Svensons you know are like – but that’s not the people I know!” Blue leapt to
the defence of his family with alacrity.
“I owe you nothing – none of
us do! Don’t you understand that? You don’t belong here.”
“Adam?” Symphony looked at
her lover in some confusion. “What’s
this about you and his mother?” A
dreadful, fully-formed revelation came to her, and she realised why Alizarin
had seemed so familiar: the broad, muscular build, the classical bone-structure
of his face… “Oh my God - you’re a
Svenson,” she breathed, staring at the youth.
“Yes,” Gabriel snarled. “And
much good it’s ever done me!”
He pushed past her and
followed Scarlet’s path to the lift.
Symphony turned Blue for an answer, but he merely patted her arm and
shrugged.
“Later, Karen,” was all he said,
as he followed the others.
Colonel White was less than
pleased to see Alizarin enter the room in the wake of Scarlet and Magenta. Captain Blue, arriving alone, met his
commanding officer’s eye and grimaced, implying that he’d done his best to keep
the young man away.
“Gentlemen, you’ll have heard
the latest threat,” White said, as Blue took his seat opposite Captain Scarlet
and Alizarin. “Even so, please play it
again, Lieutenant.
The cold, impersonal tones of
the Mysterons filled the room, and even the experienced elite captains felt the
familiar shiver of apprehension as the sound died away.
“Lieutenant Green, have the
researchers come up with anything that makes sense of this?” the colonel asked.
“Not so far, sir. The obvious gathering is the Science
Conference in
“Maybe it should have been
somewhere else?” Magenta suggested.
“I’d have been happier if it hadn’t been at MIT: maybe I wouldn’t have
fallen down the fire escape while checking all the safety exits with Captain
Ochre, for a start.”
“Was the conference ever
scheduled to be held anywhere else, Lieutenant?” White asked.
Green stabbed at the console
keyboard. After a few seconds he
replied, “The meeting was proposed by Professor Morton of
The colonel nodded thoughtfully.
“But the invites went out from MIT.
Maybe it should have been in
“It’s a possibility,” Magenta
said thoughtfully.
“I’ll alert the researchers
and get them on to it, sir. They’ve
done preliminary searches under the obvious terms: cadence, misplaced,
gatherings… nothing looks even vaguely possible,” Green reported.
“Gathering of the misplaced,”
Alizarin said, “that suggests something that will be taking place – people, I
mean. Not something lost, like keys.”
“Not necessarily,” Magenta
responded, “someone may be gathering together ‘misplaced’ items and when
they’ve gathered them together, they’ll be dangerous.”
“Cadence…” Blue said softly,
his mind wrestling with the flimsiest of ideas that were forming.
“A native cadence,” the
colonel confirmed, used to his officer’s methods of teasing sense from the
often torturous threats they faced he was prepared to wait while Blue worked
through his ideas.
“Cadenza,” Blue said
suddenly.
“You can’t let this lie, can
you?” Scarlet muttered.
“Just listen for once,
Scarlet: where are the inter-dimensional tunnels – answer Etna, which is in
Scarlet nodded with an air of
patronising exasperation – he really was angry with his friend.
“Well then, cadenza is the
Italian for ‘cadence’ – so there you have your ‘native’ cadence. Native to
“It’s plausible,” the colonel
mused, “but is it likely? How would
they know about Alizarin and Cadenza?”
“We know they were active in
more dimensions than just this one when we investigated the Volcanic
Pacifiers,” Blue reminded everyone. “If
they wanted her here, they’d find a way to make her come.” He stared at Alizarin. “We know the Ensign gives a positive Mysteron
image, we only have his word that he isn’t a Mysteron.”
“And mine,” Scarlet snapped.
“I’m not experiencing the nausea a Mysteron creates in me-”
“-Sometimes – creates in you sometimes,” Blue reminded him.
“And you’d like it if I was
wrong this time, wouldn’t you?” Scarlet accused, half-rising from his seat to
lean aggressively across the table.
“Captain Scarlet, Captain
Blue,” Colonel White snapped, “this is neither the time nor the place for any
private dispute you may have. Until we have further evidence to explain the
Mysterons’ intentions, we’ll presume Captain Blue is right and act accordingly;
but I want security at
“No!” Alizarin and Scarlet
protested in unison.
“If she’s in danger, I must go to my mother,” Alizarin cried.
“Idiot kid,” Blue growled. “That’s
what the Mysterons want.”
The youngster rose to his
feet with a show of offended dignity.
He looked at Captain Blue in silence for so long that the normally
self-possessed Bostonian started to blush. Then, in a voice that hovered close
to breaking, Alizarin said:
“I don’t know what you feel
about your family, Captain, but my mother loves hers and is loved in return, by
all of us. If no one here is willing to
lift a finger to save her from the Mysterons, I’ll do it myself!”
He turned and raced towards
the door ignoring the cries of protest from the other men. Scarlet stood and glared at his partner.
“Thanks, Blue. You’ve been a great help,” he snapped, and
went after the youngster calling: “Gabriel, wait!”
“Damn,” Blue muttered,
slamming his pen down onto his open folder.
“I didn’t mean it like that.” He looked across at the silent
Magenta. “You can see that, can’t you,
Pat?”
Magenta shrugged. “Kids always take offence easily, and you
weren’t exactly easy on him, Blue. I
don’t understand what you’ve got against him, myself.”
Blue frowned and bit his lip
momentarily. “Colonel?” he said, by way
of asking permission to follow them, but he didn’t wait for an answer, jumping
up from his chair and hurrying from the room after his partner.
Common sense told Blue that
Alizarin and Scarlet would head for the hangar decks and the chance of escaping
to Etna and a meeting with Cadenza. He
realised his friend was now committed to the young man and with his usual
partisanship would devote his considerable talents to the youngster’s
cause.
They’re as hot-headed as each other, he thought, acknowledging to himself that,
given their hypothetical relationship, it wasn’t that surprising.
Dodging a small group of personnel heading for the canteen, he saw
Lieutenant Flaxen come hurrying round a corner carrying a large pile of
research files back towards her office.
“Flax!” he shouted, skidding
to a halt by grabbing her arm, so that she spun around and dropped her bundle
on the floor. “Have you seen Captain
Scarlet heading towards the hangars?”
“Oh, hello, Captain. Captain Scarlet? Yes, he was taking someone in the lift to hangar deck three when
I came out of the registry…”
“Three? Yes, it would have to be three, wouldn’t
it?”
The lieutenant shrugged, completely
bewildered by his words.
“Thanks, Flax. Tell the colonel I’ve gone after them, will
you?” He darted away, calling over his shoulder, “Sorry about the filing…”
“Sure…” Flaxen acknowledged,
as she watched him sprint round the corner to Hangar Three’s dedicated
lift. “I wonder what all that’s about?”
she asked rhetorically, grimacing as she surveyed the untidy heap of paperwork
scattered across the corridor. She
sighed, bending to pick it all up and steeling herself to report the fact to
Colonel White that his senior officers seemed to be playing ‘hide-and-seek’
around the base during a Mysteron threat.
As the door slid shut behind
Captain Blue, Colonel White sighed and reached for the base-wide PA.
“This is Colonel White. Cloudbase is on yellow alert. All personnel are instructed to report the
whereabouts of the visitor known as Ensign Alizarin or Captain Scarlet to the
Control Room.”
He glanced at Magenta. “You don’t know why Blue is suddenly being
so… objectionable, do you? It isn’t often
that he reminds me of his father’s caustic manners, but…”
Magenta shook his dark
head. “No, sir, I don’t. There’s definitely something going on
between him and Scarlet though, and it has to do with Alizarin and what
happened to Scarlet in the other dimension.
I mean, it’s not unusual for the two of them to bicker, but it’s only
ever in a spirit of friendship. This is
different; this is for real, and it’s getting worse, sir.”
Colonel White shook his
distinguished head. “I really need them
pulling together on this one. When all
is said and done, Captain, whatever happens could have an effect in two
dimensions.”
“If not more than that,” his
officer remarked in agreement, causing the colonel to look even more concerned.
On hearing the colonel’s message,
Rhapsody consulted the distinctly distracted Symphony, and urged her friend to
come with her to the hangar decks.
“If the colonel’s told
Gabriel he can’t stay, my guess is the boy will want to get off here quickly,
and that Paul’s following him. If we go
down to the main hangar deck entrance, maybe we can help? I’m sure the colonel only wants what’s best
and Gabriel’s cause won’t be helped by his running away.”
She glanced at her friend and
saw Symphony was chewing her bottom lip in some deep personal dilemma. She’d
been very moody ever since she’d gone and changed back into her uniform.
“Karen? Do you agree?”
“Hmm? Oh sure; lead on.”
“What’s the matter?” Rhapsody
asked, as she jabbed the lift button for the hangar decks.
“Nothing.”
“I’m not even going to point
out that I know you’re lying. You were
fine just minutes ago, but something’s bugging you now. If you don’t want to share, that’s okay by
me; but don’t treat me like an idiot. I
get that too much from Paul.”
“Di, how would you feel if
you discovered Paul had… well, if… if before he met you…” She sighed and said simply, “Children.”
Rhapsody double-blinked
rapidly and frowned at her companion.
“But he hasn’t,” she said.
“But if he had…”
“I’d be cross that he didn’t
tell me about… it… err… them. I
suppose. But, I know he loves me now, and one day, I most sincerely
hope that my children will be his.”
Symphony looked away.
“Why?” Rhapsody asked
brightly. “What’s brought this on?”
Her friend hesitated, drew a
deep breath and then spurted out, “Who does Gabriel remind you of?”
Rhapsody blinked several
times and replied, with a shrug, “No one, in particular. Should he?”
“He reminds me of Adam.”
“No – he’s nothing like…”
Rhapsody paused. Whilst almost anything could
be said to remind Karen of Adam, now that she mentions it there is a
certain… similarity – but that’s just plain daft! She continued, “Well, no more than anyone might be – you know - a
random sort of thing.”
“He claimed he was a
Svenson!”
The realisation of her
friend’s thinking dawned on her. “Oh.
Karen; you don’t think that Adam’s his-” She couldn’t bring herself to say
it. “That’s ridiculous. He adores you; he’d have told you if there
was anything like that in his past.
Besides, there are other people called Svenson on this planet, you know,
he’s got brothers, hasn’t he? Maybe –
if it is the same Svenson family –
Gabriel’s something to do with one of them…”
“His brothers are much
younger – they’d’ve scarcely been out of diapers when Gabriel was born,”
Symphony exaggerated petulantly.
“Karen, that’s not true!” Rhapsody retorted, as the lift juddered
to a halt and the door opened. “Anyway,
I can’t see Adam having secret children scattered around the globe, any more
than Paul would have. And you’re
forever telling me that Adam has no secrets from you.”
“Huh – maybe I was being too
optimistic? They’re very good at
keeping secrets, Di.”
“That’s as maybe, but he
wouldn’t – it just isn’t his style, Karen.”
“But what if he did and
Gabriel is his…?”
“Well, worrying about it won’t
change it. We have a job to do; buck
up, Karen! If you think Adam knows more
about Gabriel than he’s letting on, you’ll have to tackle him about it – when
you have a chance, which isn’t now.”
Symphony nodded miserably,
but followed her friend out of the lift, just as Captain Blue burst through the
door from the stairway and raced towards them.
“Have you seen Scarlet?” he
called.
“No, we’re looking for him
too,” Rhapsody replied, sprinting towards him.
“Hangar Three,” Blue
gasped. Changing direction, he set off
at run, with both Angels in hot pursuit.
Blue keyed in the code to
open the entry lock to the hangar and saw Scarlet and Alizarin logging in to the
flight computer for the SPJ sitting waiting out on the launch turntable.
“Paul!” Blue cried, “What’re
you doing?”
“I’m taking Gabriel to Etna;
what else? Back off, Blue – this has
nothing to do with you. You’ve made it
quite clear you wanted nothing to do with it.”
“Don’t be a fool-” Blue
protested.
“I’m warning you – back off,”
Scarlet said angrily.
“Didn’t you hear the
colonel?” Rhapsody asked, moving between them. “We’ll have to let him know
where you are, Paul.”
“Keep out of this, Dianne,”
Scarlet said, taking his eye off Blue for a moment to glance at her worried
face.
“I don’t care what Colonel
White says - I won’t stay here while my mother’s in danger!” Gabriel
shouted. He looked directly at Captain
Blue. “And I never want to see you again!”
“Think about the risks,
Gabriel-” Blue urged. “If I’m right…”
“Shut up-” Gabriel sprang
forward, aiming a wild punch at Blue.
Startled by his sudden lunge, Rhapsody jerked backwards and his swinging
fist caught the side of her head. She
staggered against Captain Blue’s arm, raised to parry the punch, and his elbow
caught her a glancing blow on the other side of her head as she collapsed
heavily.
Symphony screamed and darted
forward to kneel beside her stricken friend.
“You bloody fool!” Scarlet
yelled, although it wasn’t clear which of the two he meant, and while Blue was
distracted by the impact and its result, he grabbed Gabriel’s arm and roughly
hustled him through the door and out into the hangar.
Cursing under his breath,
Blue reached for the intercom and called for emergency medical aid, before
turning to Symphony.
“Look after her, Karen,” he
said, “help’s on its way. I’d better go and make sure Paul doesn’t beat that
boy to a pulp. I think I’m too late to
stop him heading for Etna, so I’m going with him. Tell the colonel, when we’ve
gone.”
“Good riddance to you all,”
she retorted, and turned back to Rhapsody.
As the launch siren had
already started sounding, Blue had to over-ride the automatic electronic
security device on the airlock to gain access to the deck. The warning lights were already flashing and
the launch platform slowly rotating towards the direction of take off as he
raced across the hangar. He jumped onto
the turntable as it started to rise towards the launch bay’s doors.
Knowing he would asphyxiate
if he was still out in the open when the launch doors opened, Blue rattled the
handle of the aircraft door and pounded on the side. He glanced upwards, dreading the first glimmer of daylight that
would indicate they were starting to move apart. He felt the pressure start to drop and heard the whine of the
motors as they strained to break the seal on the launch doors above him.
He was seconds away from
jumping down to the deck and taking his chances there when Scarlet’s hand
grabbed the neck of his uniform tunic and dragged him inside the plane, throwing
him across the gangway, as he slammed the door closed – just in time.
“Of all the bloody stupid things!” he raged, as he towered over the
breathless American. “What were you
trying to do? Get yourself killed? In case you’ve forgotten, Blue-boy, I’m the indestructible one around here -
and I’m the one who does the bloody
stupid things that regularly get us both into so much trouble!”
“Thanks, Paul. I owe you,”
Blue gasped, and twisted onto his hands and knees, fighting to recover his
breath and steady his nerve.
“I’m surrounded by idiots; I
ought to have left you there…” Scarlet
grumbled. He’d regained his equilibrium
now it was clear that his partner was all right. “Why did you come? If you intend to lecture me about doing my
duty and try to make me turn back, I’ll strap you into a parachute and push you
back out. If I’m feeling magnanimous I
might even give you an oxygen tank…”
He waited for Blue to recover
and helped him to his feet.
“Well?” he asked.
“I’m profoundly grateful -
under the circumstances – for your undoubtedly superior strength, but you have
to admit I’m the brains in this partnership, and, on present evidence, you and
Gabriel are going to need me along. If
you’re determined to help … your son, Paul, then I’m determined to help you
help him.”
They stared at each other for
a long moment; Scarlet recognised the stubborn set of Blue’s jaw and thought he
saw a glimmer of apologetic embarrassment in his friend’s expression.
“I wouldn’t use your last crazy stunt as evidence of your superior
intellect, if I were you,” he said, and broke into a grin. “Welcome aboard, Svenson!”
Blue’s responding grin was
one of pure relief.
“Who’s flying this plane?” he
asked, as he brushed himself down with an assumed nonchalance.
“Gabriel.”
“You mean he’s still in one
piece? I thought you’d have ripped him
apart after what happened to Dianne.”
Scarlet glowered. “Don’t think I wasn’t tempted. But it was an accident; he assures me he was
aiming at you, which you richly deserved.
Still, I left him in no doubt that if he ever did anything like that
again, it’ll be the last thing he ever does.
Is she all right, Adam?”
“I called Fawn and left Karen
looking after her; beyond that, I don’t know.
She’s going to be badly bruised at the very least; I’m afraid I caught
her with my elbow as she stumbled.”
Scarlet’s face was a picture
of misery. “I couldn’t stay with her –
you see that, don’t you? I had to get
Gabriel away before the colonel had time to prevent it. I don’t think he means any harm, Adam. Really I don’t.”
“No? It didn’t look like that to me when his
hands were all over Karen.”
“Oh, come on – you’ve got
nothing to worry about; he’s just a teenager, I don’t think he presents you
with any kind of competition. Besides, don’t
you remember what it was like when you were that age? You’d want anything that was on offer, even if you didn’t know
what to do with it when you got it.”
“There wasn’t anything on offer,” Blue growled, still resentful of
Scarlet’s unflattering remarks about Symphony.
“Sure, we knew that, but you have to admit, Karen does overdo it…
sometimes? And with all those raging hormones, Gabriel wasn’t likely to think
before he groped, was he?”
“Maybe not,” Blue conceded,
as he remembered his own early experiments with the opposite sex. He added, “But setting that aside, he might
do unintentional harm.”
“Give it a rest!”
“Okay – I’m not going to
labour it here and now; I know it won’t do any good. If he’s really your son, he’s probably as much of a hot-head as
you, so I might as well save my breath to cool my porridge.” He smirked at Scarlet’s scowling face.
“You’ve got better over the years, but you still have your moments, Paul, and
this is certainly one of them.”
Scarlet raised a cynical
eyebrow and said, “And yet you’re here… how do you account for that, ‘Captain
Cautious’?”
Blue shook his head
ruefully. “I must be slipping in my old
age.”
Chuckling, Scarlet said, “Come into the cabin and make your peace
with Gabriel.”
“You sure he’s ready to make peace? He seemed pretty cut up back there.”
“Well, that’s hardly
surprising; you’ve been needling him since we met in
“Stop saying that!” Blue exclaimed, and drew his hand across his
forehead.
“Stop saying what?”
“I’m not the same person as Cadenza Angel – how could I be? We have nothing in common – nothing at all!
She’s a woman and I’m not – in case you hadn’t noticed? And yet, you go on and on about it. Don’t you realise how it makes me
feel?”
Scarlet looked blankly at him
and shook his head in response.
Blue looked away and exhaled
deeply before saying quietly, “You really don’t, do you?”
Scarlet shrugged. “I know you never met her, so I guess it
might make it hard to grasp just how bizarre it was to see almost everyone I
knew as the opposite sex. But she was
more like you than the other ‘Adam Svensons’ I met. Besides, I met myself as a woman too - remember? – and that was
distinctly weird; yet, fundamentally, Paula Metcalfe was as much me as Eva Svenson was you.
So, no; I don’t see what you’re getting so worked up about.”
“Then I’ll tell you, Paul.
What you’re actually saying is that you… you actually slept with a woman - a woman you keep
insisting was… is me - albeit in some other dimension,”
he added hastily. “That’s… well, it’s
what makes me feel… uncomfortable
about all this. That’s all. It just
freaks me out -”
There was a long silence and
Blue glanced across at his friend, wondering at his reaction. Seeing that glance, Scarlet said: “Oh…shit, Adam. It never
occurred to me that you’d feel that way about it.”
Blue gave an apologetic
grimace and asked, “How am I supposed to feel?
I mean, we’re friends – good friends, and all, and well… you can’t be
ignorant of the backstairs gossip that has us… more than friends – if you
follow me? This… liaison… with Cadenza
is creeping me out.”
“Well, no; I never
realised.” Scarlet found the
temptation to tease his friend irresistible.
He assumed a coy expression and continued, “I mean… don’t you think it’s
kind of flattering? I mean, I would, if it was you that’d slept with a female me…”
Blue’s expression
hardened. For all his liberal outlook,
there remained a rock-solid streak of Puritanism in Blue’s character, and he
was the one who cared most about the rumours that invariably circulated, given
they were so closely associated in the public mind, about the nature of the
relationship between them. They did,
indeed, share a close emotional bond; one forged during the innumerable
dangerous missions they’d shared, and tempered by the painful injuries and
deaths Scarlet experienced. It was a bond the Englishman valued, and knew he’d
be infinitely poorer without.
He’d often reflected that, in
many ways, Blue was one of the least judgemental people he knew, but even so,
there were well-defined limits to his friend’s broad-minded outlook – at least,
when he judged himself. Scarlet knew
there’d been some cataclysmic event in Blue’s life that was responsible for
blind spots in his psyche, and although he’d sometimes privately speculated
about the nature of it, he’d never asked what had happened, accepting that if
Blue wanted to, he’d explain.
He sighed, wondering why he
was always surprised when he ran up against this prudishness. Usually, he knew better than to fight it;
however, the devil was in him now, and he felt the American was behaving badly
with respect to Alizarin, so he simpered impishly and said:
“You ought to know, my dearest Adam, there’s really no need for
you to be jealous-”
“It’s not funny; can it, Paul!” Blue protested angrily. “The whole idea really freaks me
out.”
Scarlet noticed a shadow come
into Blue’s pale-blue eyes, presumably at the memory that could, even now,
conjure nightmares for his friend.
“Just can it, okay?” Blue
pleaded wearily.
While recognising his
friend’s disquiet as genuine, Scarlet still thought the whole situation was
amusing, even if the joke was on him.
“I’m sorry.” He tried to frame his expression to one of suitable
contrition, but failed, and by way of an apology for that, he continued, “It’s
just that it is funny – no, okay- it
isn’t funny! What I meant was: it’s odd to think that you think that I thought
of her as you, and that’s why I
fancied her. I mean:
cards-on-the-table-time here, Blue-boy; Eva Svenson is one hell of a sexy
woman, and the very last thing we did together was sleep,
but at no point in the whole experience did the thought of you even enter my head – I swear. It would’ve put a real dampener
on things if it had.”
Blue was looking at him,
half-convinced and wholly-wanting to believe.
Scarlet stopped teasing and said soberly, “You’re my closest friend, I
trust you with my life and everything pertaining to it, but – and I mean this
most sincerely - you do not turn me on, Adam. Not even a little bit.
Scouts’ honour!”
He raised his hand in the
three-fingered salute of a Boy-Scout and stared directly at his partner, a
veritable picture of solemnity.
Colour mounted in Blue’s
tanned cheeks. “I’m a complete jerk,
right?”
Scarlet pursed his lips and
gave a brisk nod. “Pretty much.”
“But you’ll stop going on
about Cadenza and me being the same person, won’t you?”
“I’ll stop saying it. On one condition.”
“What?” Blue asked warily.
Scarlet pounced. “Give
us a kiss!”
He dodged the inevitable
punch, and roaring with laughter, made his way to the cabin, where Gabriel was
making a good job of speeding them away from Cloudbase.
Cadenza
Angel pressed the throttle and the helijet rose from the tarmac into the cloudy
skies above
“The
forecast is for a bad storm,” he said.
“We’ll
be there well before it breaks, and if it makes it impossible to return, we’ll
have to sit it out in the security guards’ huts.”
“Colonel
Black said we were to be quick about it,” he reminded her.
“Leave
your father to me,” she said, adjusting course slightly. “He knows I won’t waste time anyway.”
Her
son smiled. “I guess so.” He drew a palm-sized computer from his tunic
pocket. “I’ve had a reply from the
Security Area Commander: it seems not
all of the tunnels are accessible, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to discover
which one Gabriel took.”
“Hmm. I just hope he isn’t causing problems –
wherever he’s gone.”
“Do
you think he got his wish and found the right dimension, so that he’s met up
with Captain Scarlet?”
Cadenza
gave a slight shrug. “The tunnels went
into several dimensions, from what I can remember. The Captain Scarlet and the Captain Blue I met, all those years
ago, came from different dimensions, and I went back with them to Captain
Blue’s dimension. I never visited Captain Scarlet’s.”
She
paused thoughtfully and gave a reminiscent smile. “I wonder if he’s changed much.”
She glanced at her son, seeing the uncertainty on his face. “I suppose, because he’s like me, he’ll be
much the same.”
“What
was he like?” Tyrian asked hurriedly, as if he feared delaying the question
would mean he’d never have the courage to ask it.
“Paul
Metcalfe? He was about my height – a
little taller, maybe - and he had jet-black hair and very blue eyes. He also had the same cute little dimple in
his chin that you and Gabriel have …”
“Mom!”
She
laughed. “You asked the question,
Mike.”
“You
must’ve liked him…”
“Oh,
I did. He was charming, and very good
company. I felt I’d known him for
ever.”
She
glanced at him, thoughtfully. Michael
was the more serious-minded of the boys, intelligent and measured in his
manner. Unlike Gabriel, he’d never
questioned her about his biological father and she felt it had cost him
something to do so now.
So
that he didn’t have to ask any more questions she explained, “I was unhappy at
the time, Mike. Your father – the
colonel, I mean – and I had separated; he felt it wasn’t right for the
commander-in-chief to associate with one of the Angel pilots. I was dating Captain Blue - as Kevin
Wainwright was then - at the time, but it wasn’t what I wanted. Paul was the right man for me, at the right
time. We both felt that there was a
risk we might not get back to our loved ones and we were attracted to each
other. There was affection on both
sides, I’m sure of that much, and I considered him a good friend. As it happens, I’m also grateful to him for
giving me my children – in a strange way I feel that fate intended us to be
together, even if only for that one night, because there was no other way I
could ever have had a family. That
makes both of you very special to me.”
“I
guess there was no way he could ever have known about Gabriel and me?”
“No,”
she said firmly. “It was agreed that
the tunnels were too dangerous to be used in anything less than a dire
emergency. Then, a few months after all
this happened, about the time it was confirmed that I was pregnant, there was a
major eruption and the volcano was so dangerous it was cordoned off. That gave the World Government the perfect
excuse they needed to restrict access to the area, and, when it was finally
safe for anyone to go back, the security officers found that the tunnels had
closed - they had a tendency to open and close with every eruption or quake,
but this was more permanent. So there
was no way I could’ve told Paul about you, even if I’d wanted to.”
“Did
you want to?”
“By
then your father had decided he loved me too much for us to remain apart; and I
was happy again. I wondered how Conrad
would take it – my pregnancy – but he was okay with it, even when it was
confirmed that he wasn’t your biological father.”
She
turned to her son and smiled reassuringly.
“Your
father has always loved both of you; he was of the opinion that you were my
sons and that he loved me, so there was no problem. I’m sure you couldn’t have asked for a more loving father?”
“No…
and I guess it was right to tell us the truth about Captain Scarlet, but-”
“But? There’s a but?”
“I
guess I think I owe Dad something for looking after us.”
“Oh,
Mikey… he loves you and Gabriel. You
don’t owe him anything.”
“If
you say so.”
“Conrad says so. You love your father, don’t you?” Tyrian nodded slightly. “Then you’re quits.”
Cadenza
frowned slightly and made a show of adjusting their flight path while her mind
was dealing with the fear that her honesty might have been preying on her son’s
mind for years - and she’d never realised.
They
flew on in silence for some minutes until Tyrian said:
“I
bet there are people who think I’m the luckiest kid alive: I’ve got the best mom in the whole world,
the bravest dad you could imagine and the greatest place to live. I’m sure thousands of kids envy me living on
Cloudbase...”
“But?”
she asked again, raising one sculptured eyebrow.
Tyrian
looked down at his hands and admitted, “I sometimes agree with Gabriel and wish
we could’ve had a normal life: gone to
normal schools like normal kids.”
Cadenza
sighed: she’d had this ‘discussion’ with Gabriel many times before but Michael
had never mentioned it. “Quite apart
from the fact that you’ve both inherited some aspects of retrometabolism, it
wouldn’t have been wise, even if you’d been born as non-retrometabolic
individuals. Your father has a high
profile – he has enemies, including the Mysterons and their primary agent…”
“I’m
not scared of Steve Zodiac-” her son asserted.
“Good,
because I am. Zodiac is the conduit
through which the Mysterons attack us, he’s dangerous and he’s deadly. Maybe it wasn’t his fault he over-reacted on
Mars and started their vendetta against us, but since then, through their
manipulation, he has been responsible for more deaths than you can count,
Mikey.” She looked at him, her
sincerity clear in her pale-blue eyes.
“Maybe he’s unaware of his actions, I’ve wondered that many times before
now; but whether he feels remorse or not, he has no choice but to act against
us. If you ever see him, keep away,
Michael, because he will kill you –
or Gabriel, me or your father - without hesitation.”
“Be
careful, Mom…”
“I
always am; I have too much worth living for, darling.” She reached across and patted his hand.
Tyrian
gave a half-hearted smile. “Do you
think Captain Scarlet will be pleased to see us?”
Cadenza
sighed. “Now you’re really asking,” she
replied uncertainly.
Alizarin was reluctant to
cede control of the SPJ to Captain Blue, but over the captain’s shoulder he saw
Scarlet nodding encouragingly, and besides, the habit of obedience to a certain
tone of voice, common, it seemed, to his mother and this familiarly-unfamiliar
man, was ingrained, so he moved out of the pilot’s seat and stood behind
Scarlet who was in the co-pilot’s seat.
“Sit down and belt up,” Blue
ordered, jerking his head towards the passenger cabin, as he adjusted a few
switches and checked the dials.
“But I want to-” the boy
began to protest.
Blue glanced up, a deep frown
between his brows.
Alizarin surrendered. “I’ll just go and sit down, shall I?” he said, and with a shrug at the smirking
Scarlet, left them.
Scarlet chuckled. “I think you enjoy intimidating the
juniors,” he paraphrased innocently.
“Don’t you start, or I’ll try
my father’s best disapproving look on you too,” Blue said, closing the
conversation by busying himself with the controls.
Sniggering to himself,
Scarlet monitored their rate of descent.
It was gloomy, and although
the storm had died down somewhat, it was still raining in a persistent, heavy
drizzle and there was a fierce, unpredictable crosswind. Nevertheless, Blue brought them down on the
small concreted landing strip that served the security zone at the base of the
volcano, with scarcely a jolt.
“He’s damn good,” an
obviously impressed Alizarin whispered to Scarlet, as they disembarked.
They were waiting for Captain
Blue before heading towards the cabin used by the commander of the security
squad that regulated access to the volcano.
“You don’t say?” Scarlet
suppressed a smile.
“My mom’s the best pilot I’ve
had experience of, but he… he’s as good.”
“And you think that’s
surprising under the circumstances?”
Alizarin looked slightly
abashed. “No, I guess not.”
Scarlet patted the
youngster’s shoulder. “Never mind, it
took me some time to get used to it too, when I met your mother.”
“You know what’s really
weird? That there isn’t an alternative
‘me’ in this world. I mean, if Captain
Blue and my mom are the same, surely he’d have kids too – even if they’re only
little kids right now.”
Scarlet shrugged. “Your mother didn’t lose Conrad Turner for
ever - even if, at the time I met her, she thought it was all over between them
- but Blue lost his fiancée – she died, Gabriel - and I think it’s taken him
time to get over it; time, and a force
of nature who just wouldn’t take no for an answer!”
“Still, it’d have been cool
to have met the ‘me’ here.”
Scarlet raised a sceptical
eyebrow. “It’s not always the unalloyed
pleasure you seem to imagine. Some of
the less-laudable aspects of your character can be more prominent than you’d
like. The Paul Metcalfe I met was a
priggish, self-righteous fellow. I
hoped I was nothing like that.”
“So it’s like someone holds a
mirror to you, and you see the true picture?”
“Warts and all,” Scarlet
confirmed, with a wry smile.
“I can see that might not be as
much fun as I’d imagined; but at least, you’d know what you could make of your
life. People are always telling me I
have to do this or that, or can’t do what I want to because it might upset
things. I know I’m ready to go on missions – and it’s great to be here on one
with you - but they just say ‘you’re too young’.” Gabriel gave a dramatic sigh.
“It’s no fun being a retrometabolic teenager.”
Scarlet grinned. “No, it’s just being a teenager that’s no
fun. Believe me, Gabriel;
retrometabolism doesn’t change that feeling of being fenced in by adults who
don’t understand.”
As they approached the
airfield offices, he opened the door for Alizarin to enter and said,
“Your time will come – I don’t doubt that – and then maybe you’ll wish you
could say ‘I’ve had enough of doing this, I want to do something else and be
like a normal guy’.”
“Do you ever wish that,
Captain? I sometimes think my mother
does.”
“Only when I’m tired and
dispirited. I suspect it’s the same for
your mother as well; there are times when you feel as if you couldn’t endure
another painful injury or death.” He hesitated and added in a quieter voice,
“Or times when the slightly wary look in your friends’ eyes reminds you that
you’re different.”
He glanced at Blue who was
approaching them in long, easy strides.
“You see, Gabriel, that’s why I value Blue’s company; all I ever see in
his eyes is friendship.” He gave a
judicious pause and added honestly, “And the odd burst of exasperation…of
course.”
Alizarin joined in with
Scarlet’s chuckle and although Captain Blue frowned inquiringly at his friend
as to what was so funny, he got no reply beyond a friendly wink.
Deep within the dark tunnels
that honeycombed the vast bulk of
From the inky darkness of one
of these shadows a man emerged. He was
tall, thin to the point of appearing skeletal and his pallid face was
unshaven.
“They are here,” he said to
the newcomer.
“Good. We have work to do. The Mysterons’ orders must be carried out.”
The thin man nodded. “United we can overcome our adversaries,
once and for all. They will not be
prepared.”
“No, we will be too strong
for them, Captain Black.”
“The Cadenza-being is
coming?” Black asked the pale man beside him.
Colonel Steven Kalinski – the
man the press had dubbed Steve Zodiac - nodded. “She seeks to find her child and return with him to her own
dimension.”
Something approaching a
disdainful smile tugged at the edges of Black’s thin lips. “Those misbegotten creatures may yet prove
the undoing of their unnatural parents.
But such chances do not occur often, Colonel.”
“Then we must not fail,
Captain. Our masters demand we succeed, and to that end alone, they have
brought us together.”
“The Mysterons’ instructions
will be carried out,” Black said, his deep voice laden with menace.
The two men moved together
towards a smaller tunnel that led upwards out of the cavern.
“Maybe you should wait here
for Cadenza to arrive?” Scarlet suggested to his companions, as they prepared
to enter the volcanic tunnels.
“Not if the threat means she’s in danger. I’m not going to risk anything happening to
her while I’m sitting about doing nothing; but you can wait here if you like,”
the youngest replied. He was already by
the door, kitted out with the necessary equipment for a descent into the caves.
“Well, we’ve no certainty
that she’s even on her way here,” Blue mused aloud, as he adjusted a
bright-yellow hard hat to fit. “But, if
Alizarin and I go in and we meet her half way, he can go back with her, which will
prevent her fully entering into this dimension,” he said. “Hopefully that’ll be
enough to scupper the Mysterons’ threat.
And you don’t even have to meet her, if you don’t want to,” he added,
glancing perceptively at his field partner.
“That’s got nothing to do
with it,” Scarlet snapped, fastening his torch battery to the belt of his
uniform. “I’ll be delighted to see her again, Blue-boy. It isn’t me who’s ‘freaked out’ by this…
but, if you’re right, then her arrival here could trigger some Mysteron
threat. That is why we’re here,
remember. So, the best way to avoid
that is for me and Alizarin to stop her coming into the tunnels, or at least
meet her half-way, and get her to go back,” he concluded reasonably.
“Oh sure, a meeting between
the potential catalysts of some cataclysmic event right beneath a volcano… what
could possibly go wrong there?” Blue muttered sardonically. “We already know
the power of the Mysterons allows them to create trouble in more dimensions
than this; we don’t know if they’ve issued a threat in the other world, but
they have threatened us with destroying some sort of gathering, through
Cadenza-”
“You can’t be sure of that –
they could be out to destroy her,”
Alizarin interrupted. He was shuffling
from foot to foot in his eagerness to be in action.
“’A native cadence destroys
the gathering of the misplaced’ – that’s what they said - and that doesn’t
suggest she’s their target, more their weapon,” Blue reasoned.
“We still don’t know who or
what this ‘gathering of the misplaced’ is,” Scarlet said thoughtfully.
Blue looked at Alizarin. “I think it’s Gabriel. He doesn’t belong here, ergo he’s misplaced.”
“You would say that,” Gabriel
snapped. “I agree that we should send
my mom home; but I don’t want to go with her.”
Scarlet shook his head. “If we meet Cadenza, you go straight back
with her, my boy. I’m not arguing with
your mother about it.”
Alizarin frowned. “Awww,” he complained, in the universal
protest of every teenager since time began.
To hide his amusement, Blue
tested the lamp on his helmet. “Come on
then. ‘If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done
quickly’.”
“Does your mother do that?”
Scarlet asked Gabriel, as they trooped out of the locker room.
“Do what?”
“Have a fund of quotations
that she trots out at the slightest opportunity, until you want to throttle him
– her?”
The youngster nodded
cheerfully. “I swear she swallows whole
volumes for breakfast just to be irritating.”
Scarlet shook his head
sorrowfully. “There’s no help for it
then.”
Blue was grinning at
them. “Just because I can remember the
darn things…”
The journey through the
tunnels took some time. Nothing looked
familiar to Alizarin or the captains, and a couple of times they came to a dead
end. Scarlet began to wonder if they’d
ever find the opening to the alternative universe where Cadenza and her family
existed.
Blue continually encouraged
Alizarin to try and remember the way he’d come and slowly they began to make
progress. Finally, they came to a sheer
wall with a jagged crack half-way along.
“That’s it,” Gabriel said,
relief evident in his voice. “I came
through there.”
“Right, let’s go. Keep together and remember – we don’t know
what sort of welcome we’re going to get.”
“If I know anything about Cadenza,” Blue muttered,
“someone’s ears are going to be burning… and if they were a year or two
younger, that wouldn’t be all…”
Gabriel’s face was a picture
of misery as they slithered into the narrow tunnel.
Minutes later they emerged
into a broader passageway that started to climb towards the surface. At the mouth of the tunnel, Scarlet held up
his hand and they waited while he scanned the area through night-vision
binoculars.
“The coast is clear,” he
whispered. “Where is the landing strip
from here, Alizarin?”
The young man pointed and
they walked out across the rough ground away from the tunnel entrance, into the
radiance of a single floodlight.
The two shots that rang out
came from the blackness beyond the floodlight and caught them unawares.
Blue and Alizarin fell to the
ground with no more than a surprised exhalation of breath, as a third shot hit
Scarlet. He stumbled on for three or
four more steps until another bullet struck him and he too dropped to the
ground.
The guard in the nearest
watchtower sounded the alarm and from the Portacabins around the base rushed
men, hastily pulling on uniform jackets and checking their guns. But before they could spread out to search
for the perpetrators, or reach the victims, a woman raced into the circle of
light from the direction of the airfield.
Her fair hair glinted in the floodlight.
She hesitated and glanced
down at the body of Captain Scarlet, then hurried to kneel beside the other
man; his hard hat had rolled away as he fell and revealed a head of fair
hair. Frowning, she turned him and
closed her eyes in dismay. Placing a
hand at the side of his neck, she waited just long enough to detect a faint,
erratic pulse before she scrambled to the side of the dark-haired youth who had
fallen nearby. She turned him, brushed
the tangle of hair from his face and cradled him against her breast, throwing
back her head and howling in defiant misery at the grey sky above:
“No!”
The guards surrounded the
fallen men and the distraught woman, two of them dragging another dark-haired
youngster with them.
“Get them into the cabin,”
the commanding officer ordered. “I’m
going to tell Cloudbase what’s happened.
I’m sure they’ll send someone to interrogate these strangers.”
“No!” Cadenza snapped out
fiercely. “These men are to be taken to
Cloudbase immediately. Radio for a
medical helijet – and tell them it is condition red.”
“And who’re you?” the
commander asked suspiciously.
“Cadenza Angel.” She turned to face him and he recognised
her.
“Sorry, ma’am.”
She lay the youngster down with
great tenderness, and stood. “Contact
Colonel Black immediately and tell him that Captains… Metcalfe and Svenson have
been attacked by unknown assailants on their arrival here, and that Ensign
Alizarin is with them and... they’re all badly hurt.”
The man looked at the ID card
she presented to him for a long moment.
“Cloudbase is on red alert, ma’am, I can’t send anyone there. We have medical facilities locally-”
“Captain – this young man is
the colonel’s son. Do you imagine he’ll
thank you for risking his life? We need
to go to Cloudbase. Doctor Fawn will
take care of everything.”
Still the commanding officer
hesitated.
Cadenza held out her
hand. “Give me my flight helmet, I’ll
get you permission.”
He nodded at his subordinate
who handed over the helmet. Cadenza
slipped it on and immediately contacted Lieutenant Green.
“Is everything okay, Cadenza?” she asked.
“No, I need to speak to the
colonel – now. I don’t care what he’s
doing. I have three men down, and this
fool in command here is telling me we can’t come back to Cloudbase.”
“There’s been a Mysteron threat.”
“I don’t care if they’ve
announced the start of Armageddon!
We’re coming back.”
“Putting you through…”
Conrad’s voice held a touch
of asperity. “Cadenza, what’s wrong now?”
“Unknown assailants have
attacked Alizarin; he was making his way back to us with two officers: Metcalfe
and Svenson. They’re all wounded. I want the emergency medical helijet here as
soon as possible, Conrad.”
“Tyrian?”
She glanced at the
ashen-faced boy. “He’s fine – I’m
okay. But it is imperative we get the
others to Cloudbase. It’s condition red,
Colonel, but Fawn will know what to do,” she stated, obliquely reminding her
husband that Scarlet, at least, was retrometabolic and would recover sooner or
later.
“SIG.” She heard Black call
out, “Lieutenant, launch the medical
helijet and set a course to move us towards Etna. Spectrum is red!”
“Thank you, Conrad,” Cadenza
said.
“Everything will work out, you’ll see.
Gabriel will be all right.”
“I hope so. Cadenza out.”
She glanced at the commander,
seeing the epaulettes on his uniform were illuminated by a pale green glow as
Lieutenant Green relayed orders. She
looked towards the guards still holding Tyrian and said, “Let him go; he’s with
me.”
Tyrian came to her side and
stared down at his brother. “Will he be
all right?” he asked.
“If everything that has
happened to me and your father during our lifetimes, means anything at all,
Mikey; yes he will.”
She turned and issued brisk
orders for the wounded men to be given first aid and her jet made ready for
immediate take off, as soon as the helijet had collected them. She pointed to Captain Scarlet. “This man will have to travel in my plane;
there won’t be room in the helijet for the three of them. Ensign Tyrian can look after him while I fly
the plane.”
“What about the assailants?”
the commander asked, as she went to kneel between Blue and Alizarin.
Cadenza stared out into the
intense darkness. “Find them, kill them and throw the vermin into the volcano,”
she replied with barely suppressed anger. “Let’s see the Mysterons resurrect
them after that!”
Colonel Black was waiting
with Doctor Fawn as the helijet landed and the wounded were rushed into
Moments later, Cadenza’s
plane landed and shortly after that the paramedics who’d met the plane wheeled
Captain Scarlet into intensive care too.
Cadenza came to stand beside
her husband. “Any news?” she asked.
He shook his head. “They were only just ahead of you. What can you tell me about what happened
down there?”
“Very little. We’d just arrived and were making our way to
the command centre when we heard shooting.
By the time we got to the scene, the three of them were down and the
guards came out in force. Captain Blue
was alive: I felt a pulse, not much of one, but it was there. Gabriel,” her voice choked on the name, “was
alive too, but he’s badly hurt.”
Her eyes flooded with tears
and she clenched a fist to her lips.
She turned to her silent husband and asked, “What if… despite everything
– he doesn’t recover?”
Black drew her into his
embrace and stroked her hair. “Eva,
he’s your son. You know Fawn says
there’s a damned good chance he’ll have inherited retrometabolism from you and…
his father.”
“He’s just a kid, Con! Just my little boy – why couldn’t they
leave him alone?”
“You think this was the work
of the Mysterons?”
She shrugged and turned away
from him to where Tyrian now stood, silent and shocked. She wrapped her arms around him and drew him
closer to the colonel. Black put an arm
around them both, alarmed at the rigid tension he felt in his son.
“Are you all right, Michael?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Maybe we should get a nurse
to give you a cup of tea? You’re cold.”
Black beckoned over one of the nurses and handed the youngster to her care.
“I’ll stay with him,
Colonel,” she said. “The best thing we
can do for him now is get him to relax and then get some rest. Come on, Mikey;
I’ll get you a hot drink and you can lie down in the side ward. As soon as there’s any news, I’ll come and
tell you.”
Cadenza watched Tyrian until
the door of the side room closed. “I
should go with him,” she said, running a hand through her hair and feeling a
profound exhaustion seep into her bones.
“Michael’s in good
hands. You need to think of yourself,”
Black reassured her. “Maybe you need
some tea as well?”
She was about to flare up at
him, but caught the gentle smile at the corner of his thin lips and realised he
was teasing. She shook her head and
sighed, flopping down onto one of the padded seats that lined the reception
area. He sat beside her, his hand on
her knee in a silent sympathy.
She knew him so well: knew
his stern self-control, his difficulty in showing the emotions he felt, and
that the job he was doing - and doing well – made it even harder for him to
show any weakness. She also knew that
without him - her rock - life would be even more difficult than her
retrometabolism already made it. She
laid her own hand over his and squeezed it gently.
There was no let up in the
daily pressures Conrad faced as Commander-in-Chief of Spectrum, and, even
though he was in his mid-fifties, with two teenage sons and a wife who,
whatever anyone knew to the contrary, was physically in her early thirties, he
never expected any special consideration.
Cadenza felt some guilt at the realisation that due to her and the boys,
his home life was not exactly tranquil either.
Now, she sensed that however
well he appeared to be dealing with the situation, Conrad was suffering as much
as she was. These boys were his family
as much as they were hers; he’d watched them grow from helpless babies to the
young men they were now. He loved them
with the deep and proud affection that was so characteristic of him.
She removed her hand, and
looped her arm through his. “I’m glad
you’re here with me, Con. Whatever
happens, we’ll cope together – we’re a family, aren’t we?”
He smiled and nodded. “I still wish I knew who had done this, and
why. When they catch the perpetrators,
I want them thoroughly interrogated. I’m determined to get to the bottom of
this.”
Cadenza said nothing, but
nodded.
Doctor Fawn gave a sigh of
relief and nodded to her junior doctor.
“Close him up.”
She turned away and peeled
off the bloodied latex gloves, while a nurse removed her surgical apron and
tied another over her theatre scrubs.
The nurse held out clean gloves with a pair of tongs and Fawn slipped
them on.
“How’s he doing?” she asked
the team around the adjacent operating table.
“Vital signs are stable; some
slight improvement,” Doctor Tan reported.
“The bullet went in just above the heart, but didn’t hit it.”
“Can we get it out without
damaging his heart?”
“If we take care.”
Fawn gave her colleague a
sharp glance. “Do we ever do anything
without taking care?” she remarked.
“Let’s do it then.” She paused. “How is Captain Scarlet?” she called to the
third team, around the final gurney.
Doctor Beige replied, “He’s
dead. We’re monitoring the situation.”
“Fine; let me know when he
turns the corner.”
“S.I.G., Doctor.”
As she prepared to perform another
life-saving operation, Fawn paused long enough to say to the closest nurse,
“Let his parents know what’s happening.”
It was the longest night of
Cadenza’s life.
She refused to leave
Envying the fact that her son
could be lulled to sleep by powerful narcotics, she stared at the ceiling and
allowed her mind to roam over the events of the day and beyond, back across the
years. She remembered her overwhelming
surprise and delight at discovering she was pregnant, and the excitement of
discovering it was twins. She
remembered the guilt when Fawn told her that her lover was not their father,
and the big-hearted way Conrad had dismissed her concerns, married her and
accepted the boys as his own.
There had been problems
raising them on Cloudbase, but the risks of sending them ground-side had been
too great, especially as Spectrum could not spare either of their parents to go
with them.
They’d been given their
‘codenames’ as toddlers – Alizarin and Tyrian, manufactured dyes that reflected
their unique status – and were always referred to by those names in any
official capacity. They’d had the
freedom of the base, growing up used to a world governed by duty rotas, parents
who were seemingly always on duty, and a mother who was frequently hospitalised,
but never for long. The experts on Cloudbase
had educated them, teaching them a syllabus that no school would recognise, but
which had engaged the interest of their intelligent and lively minds.
They bickered and fought like
any brothers, got into trouble and were spoilt by everyone on the base. ‘Ali’ and ‘Ty’ were Cloudbase’s unofficial
mascots and they’d both grown up far too quickly surrounded by the forceful
adult personalities of the other Spectrum agents.
It isn’t fair.
I can’t have guarded him for all these years for this to happen now –
just as he’s starting to live his own life… there’s no justice – and none in
what’s happened to Paul and … Adam, either.
It’s Gabriel’s fault they’re here fighting for their lives.
She closed her eyes and whispered, “Dear God, I’ve never asked for
anything – I take whatever gets dished out and I do it willingly to shield the
others - but I am asking now: please,
don’t take them - any of them.”
With that last coherent plea,
she drifted into a light, fitful sleep.
Fawn came into the room and
stood, surprisingly irresolutely for that decisive woman, wondering if she
should disturb them.
The problem resolved itself
when Michael sat up in bed and looked with fearful eyes at the kindly
doctor. Fawn had stopped long enough to
clean up, but her hair was a mess and the black rings under her dark eyes
testified to the hard night’s work she’d just finished.
“Doctor Fawn…?” Michael asked
softly, unable to voice the rest of the question.
Even those quiet words were
enough to wake his mother, and Cadenza sat up, smoothing her hair and looking
towards the woman she’d come to know very well over the years.
“Edie, is it good news?”
Fawn smiled. “So far, so good. We got the bullet out of Captain Blue – although we won’t know
for certain if it’s caused nerve damage for some time yet. He’s sedated and being monitored very
closely – the less movement the better for now. Captain Scarlet is in a deep coma, but he’s alive. So is Gabriel.”
“Thank God,” Cadenza
breathed. “Did he…? Did he die?”
“No – but it was touch and
go. The bullet was close to his heart,
but he’s strong – we know that – and he heals fast. However, not as fast as you do, Eva, or as fast as Scarlet’s
recovering. So we still can’t be sure
what level of retrometabolism he and Mike have inherited; or even if they’ve
inherited the same level, if it comes to that.
All I can promise you is we’re doing everything we can to encourage his
natural ability to heal.”
“Thank God,” she repeated,
and slid from the chair to hold out her hand to the doctor. “And you – I knew you were the best chance
the three of them had.”
She stooped to kiss Fawn’s
cheek.
Fawn smothered a yawn. “I had a lot of help and we were lucky. I suggest you two go and get washed and brushed
up, have something to eat and then, if you want to, you can come and see them
all. I’m not sure how long I can keep
Scarlet sedated, but right now he’s unconscious without the need for drugs. The others I’ll keep sedated for the rest of
today, at least. They’re all hooked
into the robot nurses, so you can check up on their progress. I’ve given you access to the computer, Eva,
you just have to login as normal to your computer account. You don’t have to be here 24:7 – unless you
want to be.”
“You look like you need some
sleep,” she said with concern.
“I do. I’m going to use the Room of Sleep – I can’t
afford the time to do it properly until I’m sure they’re all on the road to
recovery. I’ll see you later.”
Cadenza waved goodbye and
hugged her son in delight. “We’ll have
a family Christmas yet, Mikey! Come on, let’s go and tell your father!”
News of Alizarin’s condition
had swept the base and there was a surge of relief as the news spread as
quickly that he was alive. Despite the
unresolved Mysteron threat – ‘We, the Mysterons, will destroy Spectrum’s
capacity for resistance’ – the mood on Cloudbase was upbeat.
Colonel Black made sure that
no one was aware of the identities of the two agents injured along with
Alizarin; he had no intention of anyone getting wind of Captain Scarlet’s
retrometabolism. The word went out
through the unofficial grapevine - so carefully managed by Lieutenant Green –
that the men were ground-based agents who’d been escorting the youngster to a
rendezvous with his mother.
For now, Fawn issued regular,
bland reports about the ensign, designed to reassure her colleagues the boy was
on the way to recovery. Yet, the three
men remained unconscious; Blue was sedated to prevent him moving, but both Scarlet
and Alizarin were in comas. Fawn wasn’t
too concerned, she reported that the bullet that had done the most damage to
Scarlet had fractured his skull, and as such she hardly anticipated a speedy
recovery.
“I’m going on what I’d expect
with you, Eva,” she explained to Cadenza, “but I doubt there’s much
difference. As for Gabriel, he’s better
off unconscious for now – he’s going to be in pain when he comes to. His body is healing, slowly. His brain activity is increasing, as is
Scarlet’s – I have no doubt they’ll be awake fairly soon. I’m not going to rush it.”
“I wonder if we should try
and alert Scarlet’s dimension to what’s happened to him,” Cadenza asked her
husband, as the doctor finished her report.
“I assume the Adam Svenson with him is from the same dimension – his, I
mean – although it could be the Captain Blue I met… we don’t know if they came
straight here or spent time searching for the right dimension, after all.”
“I’m not having anyone going
back to Etna until we’ve apprehended the assailant,” Black said soberly. “They’ve found nothing and no sign of who it
might’ve been, as yet.”
“If it was the Mysterons we
know they can transport their agents out of danger – it’s been reported as
happening to Zodiac,” Tyrian ventured.
“There might be nothing to find.”
“Hmm,” Cadenza said. She wasn’t sure if the fact that no one had
been found was due to her impulsive order.
“I guess we might have problems finding the right time anyway – if the
tunnels have shifted, we could end up reporting that ‘they’re recovering in our
Sick Bay’ before they’ve left…”
The colonel nodded. “Leave well alone, Eva.” He turned to
Fawn. “Keep me informed, Doctor.”
“S.I.G., Colonel.”
Black turned and strode
towards the door, saying over his shoulder, “See you later, Ev-”
The automatic door failed to
open and he walked straight into it, banging his elbow and losing his balance
due to the surprise.
“Con!” Cadenza jumped to her
feet and went to help him to his feet.
“Are you okay?”
Rubbing his elbow he grunted
a positive response. “Better get the
door circuits checked, Doctor!”
“It was working fine when you
got here,” Fawn retorted, and went to key in a code. The door juddered, sighed and opened a few inches.
Cadenza glanced at Tyrian and
they tried not to grin. After a period of such strain, the incident, however
minor, was almost hysterically funny.
They had to call the maintenance team to get the door open and Colonel
Black was annoyed as he stomped out back to the Control Room.
Shaking her head, Fawn went back
to her regular work and Cadenza and Michael settled down to their vigil.
Cadenza just got involved in
the book she was reading when the lights flickered and went out. It was just for a moment, as the medical
generators cut in immediately, but she glanced up, frowning; Cloudbase was
always kept in tip-top condition – the lives of over 600 people depended on
that.
Tyrian was still tapping on
his laptop and seemed unconcerned by the event, but his mother put her book down
and stood, walking slowly over towards Fawn’s office. She met the doctor as she came out.
She raised an inquisitive
eyebrow and Fawn replied,
“It’s not a drill. We have emergency lighting only.
Everywhere.”
Cadenza clicked the intercom
and spoke to Lieutenant Green.
“What’s happened?”
“Maintenance are working on it now; don’t panic,” the lieutenant
replied. She sounded harassed.
“We have a Mysteron threat,
doors that were working perfectly suddenly start sticking, the lights go out
and you tell me not to panic? Now I am worried. What else has happened, Serena?”
There was a pause, and
finally Green replied, “Radar’s out.
Navigation say they’re getting no response from the engines when they
adjust our course.”
“We’re dead in the water – so
to speak?”
“Pretty much.” She lowered her voice, “The colonel is about
to launch all Angels.”
“But you’re not supposed to
tell me,” Cadenza surmised. She shook her head. “I’m on my way, Lieutenant. If my squadron’s launching I’m going with
them. Cadenza out.”
“What about Gabriel?”
Cadenza hadn’t seen Tyrian
come to stand beside her, worried by the tone of the conversation he’d
overheard.
“He’ll be fine; the medical
generators are on different circuits and they’ve got backups too.”
“You’re going to leave him?”
“Mike, I have more
responsibilities than just Gabriel.
There are 600 people on Cloudbase, including your brother. This base fails, they’ll all die. Don’t worry about him; Doctor Fawn will
watch over him, and you can stay here too.”
His answer surprised her.
“No,” he said, “I might be able to help too.
I can at least ask Lieutenant Green if she needs me.”
“Don’t get in the way, Mike,”
she said, placing her hand on his shoulder and kissing his serious face.
Then she was gone, striding
from the
Tyrian paused long enough to
look in on the three patients, and then, collecting his laptop, made his way to
the Control Room, where Serena Griffiths and his father both seemed pleased to
see him.
He stood beside his father in
the observation tube and watched three Angel jets streak away into the sky, on
the look out for any approaching danger.
Every engineer and technician
on the base had been called back into work to try and correct the fault in the
systems. When the stabilizers went
offline the base was effectively at the mercy of the winds, and Cloudbase was
drifting, unable to use her own power to correct her flight path.
In the Control Room, Colonel
Black spoke the Director General of the World Aeronautical Society and issued a
code red warning to all air traffic. He
contacted the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander Earth Forces and repeated
the message. Then he called the World
President and informed him that – as of now – Cloudbase was inoperative and he
was evacuating all but a skeleton crew.
“Is the base in danger of crashing, Colonel?” President Günter asked
in alarm.
“Not immediately, sir. But we’ve lost the hover combines, and at the
moment, we’re hanging on by the skin of our teeth.”
“She will crash?”
“Yes sir. She will.
I can’t tell you when, and I can’t tell you where. We had moved over the
“The crash could kill hundreds of thousands of people!”
“We’re doing all we can, and
as soon as we have any power we will take every possible evasive action.”
“Keep me informed, Colonel. I want to know what’s going on every hour. Is it worth us evacuating the cities?” he asked, helpless in the face of such
uncertainty.
“If you feel the panic that
might cause would be worth it, sir. However, there’s no knowing where she’ll
come down. If the storm hits, we could
drift over
“Gott im Himmel. I cannot
evacuate whole countries, Colonel!”
“Yes, sir, I know. I’ll notify you immediately we have any definite information.”
“You do that, Colonel. And in the meantime, find a way to keep that base airborne.”
“S.I.G., Mr President.”
Doctor Fawn was at her desk
when the communication link buzzed. “Yes, what is it?” she asked, distracted by
the latest reports she’d received from the duty nurse.
“Doctor Fawn, are you ready to move your patients off base?” Lieutenant
Green asked.
Fawn gave the question a
moment’s thought. “Those that can go
are ready. The nurses have been
preparing them for transport to the Spectrum medical facility in
“How many can go?”
“At present we have a dozen
people in medical care. Two of them I
would hesitate to move and one most definitely cannot be moved.”
“And they are?”
“Ensign Alizarin and Captain
Scarlet are the two I would hesitate to move; their unique physiology means we
need to keep them here, under surveillance.
Even the medical facilities in
Green thanked her and closed
the channel. Fawn shook her head at the
details on the medical report and went to the intensive care ward where the
three ‘special’ patients were still housed.
“Nurse, is this report
right? Or has the automatic monitoring
failed?”
“No, Doctor. The readings are accurate.”
“Then why haven’t Scarlet and
Alizarin regained consciousness?” she asked rhetorically. “With the level of brain activity they’re
showing I’d say they should be up and about, and probably doing something that
requires concentration.”
The nurse shrugged. “They haven’t moved a muscle, except for
some rapid eye movement.”
“And Blue is still sedated?”
“Yes, Doctor.”
“I know that retrometabolism does
some strange things from time to time – but this is unprecedented. Let me know immediately if anything
changes…I’m going to have a word with the colonel.”
The technical officers were
surprised but appreciative when the colonel came to deliver their orders in
person.
“Cloudbase,” he said, “has
been declared a hazard, and to prevent the danger of her crashing onto
inhabited areas, she will be blown from the skies in a very short time. All personnel are to leave the base immediately.”
Martin Campbell, the Chief
Engineer, listened in confusion. “But
sir-” he began in protest.
Colonel Black turned his dark
gaze onto the man and
“My orders must be obeyed,”
the colonel said.
“But not five minutes ago you
were saying we’d fight to the end to keep her, sir.”
“Five minutes ago is a long
time. I have my orders and now you have
yours: abandon Cloudbase.”
“S.I.G,”
As the colonel marched away,
“He’s got a lot on his mind,
I guess; but he’s not usually so distant.”
“No; you’re right.”
“Not until you do, Marty.”
“Good man. Come on, we have work to do. I’m not letting her go down until there
really isn’t any choice.”
Cadenza hurried from the
“What’s going on?” she asked,
going to pour a drink.
At a gesture from the
colonel, Doctor Fawn explained the situation they were facing.
“You can’t send Gabriel and
Paul to
“It isn’t down to you, Eva;
not in the final analysis.”
“Conrad, they came here to
bring our son back. They deserve
nothing but our help.”
“I know. But, if the base crashes… they’ll die
anyway.”
“It’s a big if. I guess they’d rather take their
chances here than in – what is to them – an alien world. Besides, Scarlet would be at risk of being
incarcerated, at the very least, if they realised he’s retrometabolic, and they
might do the same to Blue as a collaborator.
We must keep them here.”
“Can you speak for them all?”
Fawn asked her.
“One is my son, and he’s not
of an age to make his own decision yet.
The other is the father of my sons and a man who shares the curse of
retrometabolism with me: I think I know
what he’d say. Captain Blue – well,
let’s just say I have a singular insight into his mind.”
“I disagree. I think they should be moved,” Conrad said.
“Oh, I know there’s a risk to Captain Blue, but he’d be alive, and Alizarin and
Scarlet – well, I’m sure we can hush it up afterwards, especially if you go
with them, Fawn. The last transport leaves in ten or fifteen minutes…”
“If you’d already made up
your mind, why bring me back?” Cadenza asked angrily. “If you’re expecting me to rubber stamp your decision, Con,
you’ll be disappointed. I think they
should stay on board.” She glanced at
Tyrian. “But Michael should go.”
“No!” he protested. “I want to stay with you – and I agree with
Mom; Gabe and the officers should stay too.
I don’t believe the base will crash.”
“Michael, we can’t find one
single reason why Cloudbase is in this situation. Every check, every diagnostic, has shown clear, with all systems
working. I want you off here,” the
colonel said.
Tyrian moved to stand beside
Cadenza. “I won’t go. You might be able to send Gabriel away, but
you can’t make me.” He looked down at
her. “Please, Mom, all my life I’ve
done what you wanted. I’ve been told
I’m special and that you didn’t want to risk people finding out why, and I’ve
believed you. If that’s true, then my
place is here, with my parents and my brother and the man who’s my father.”
“Mikey, Cloudbase is only
hanging in the sky because I don’t think gravity’s caught up with it yet,” she
said, looking deep into his bright-blue eyes.
“You’re staying,” he stated,
not needing to ask them that question.
“How would I survive without you?
How would Gabriel? We’re a
family; whatever happens should happen to us all.”
“The final transport is ready to leave, Colonel.” Lieutenant Green’s voice, coming over the
intercom, cut through the tense silence.
Tyrian looked at his father
and the pair locked gazes. It was
Conrad who looked away first. “Will you
board, Edith?”
Fawn shook her head. “I have three patients who need me to stay
here with them.”
Colonel Black looked steadily
at his old friend, and seeing no doubt in the doctor’s face, he said, “Launch
the transport, Lieutenant.”
“S.I.G., Colonel.”
There was a common exhale of the breath that had been held for
long moments as the tension evaporated.
“I just hope none of us live
to regret this,” Conrad said.
“Thanks, Con. I appreciate
your concern,” Cadenza said, with a rueful grimace.
He embraced her. “One day you’re going to have to make do
without us, my dear,” he said affectionately.
“I’ve known that for years;
but it isn’t going to be today.”
Fawn went back to her wards
and smiled in appreciation to see Doctor Tan was still there and three of the
nurses had chosen to remain as well.
“I sent Beige off in the last
transport,” Tan said, “but I – we – thought you’d appreciate a helping hand.”
Fawn thanked them all in a little speech that left at least one of
the nurses tearful.
Angels Three and Four
launched and now four of the Angel Interceptors were escorting Cloudbase from a
safe distance, but Cadenza went back to the Control Room with the colonel,
thinking she’d be more help on the base.
The colonel stood stock still as the door opened, and demanded:
“Lieutenant Green, what are
you doing here?”
Serena Griffiths stood up and
saluted. “This is my post, Colonel. You
didn’t give me a direct order to leave, sir, and so I assumed you wanted me to
stay. After all, if we stand any chance
of saving the base, you’ll need me at the control computers. Sir.”
Standing behind her husband,
Cadenza smiled. She could see Conrad
was torn between annoyance and being touched by the younger woman’s
declaration.
“Very well; carry on,
Lieutenant,” he managed to say and smiled gratefully at his Executive
Officer.
“S.I.G, Colon