Colonel White stood at the opening of the observation tube, looking out pensively into the starry night sky.
This was Christmas Eve, and he was alone in the Control Room with Lieutenant Green, on stand by duty. It was a quiet night, which had followed a quiet period of time, where nothing of significance happened requiring Spectrum’s intervention. There had been no special World Government duties, no reported terrorist activities , and more importantly, no Mysteron threats had been issued from Mars. There was no indication that there would be any either. It was as if everyone from this corner of the Universe had been touched by the Christmas spirit and had called a truce of some kind. It was a very welcome change, and the colonel hoped, without really believing it, that it would continue that way for some time.
At the moment, Cloudbase, being a military base which needed to continuously operational, was manned with the minimum of personnel, White having allowed some of his staff to take a much-needed furlough during these Holidays. He also had given permission for those remaining onboard to hold various parties, on the condition that there would be no alcohol and no other kinds of excesses involved – and that everyone would immediately answer any call to emergency, should it be needed.
Of course, some stations needed to be manned at all times. There was someone on watch at the radar room, various teams on stand by duty in the sickbay, engine room, security and fire centre, environmental control and other such vital sectors. Angel One, which stood on deck, was manned, as usual – and Colonel White himself, with Lieutenant Green, was in the Control Room.
It didn’t come as a surprise that Lieutenant Green had volunteered for Control Room duty, even though another officer from the Communication centre could have taken his post. Green always felt that it was his duty, as senior communication officer onboard Cloudbase and personal aide to Colonel White, to be here with his commander. There was no doubt in White’s mind that Green would have preferred to be at the party, just one floor below on the Promenade Deck, where most of the colour-coded staff and Angel pilots were having their own Christmas party this very night. Instead, here he was, diligently manning his station, humming very quietly at the soft Christmas music coming from the room’s speakers.
He was a good man, Green. An excellent officer whose dedication the Spectrum commander-in-chief appreciated fully.
White lowered his eyes, and looked down towards Earth, some 40 thousand feet below his feet. They were flying somewhere in the vicinity of New York City. Although night lights from such a big metropolis were visible at this altitude, he couldn’t see any right now; clouds were hiding most of the world below – thick, fluffy and obviously heavy clouds stretching for a large distance. What a shame, he thought. From the sky, the sight of New York all illuminated at night was an amazing view. The first time he had seen it was while taking a Fireflash commercial night flight from London to New York. It was too bad to miss it tonight.
A large snowflake floated from the clouds and came floating towards the observation tube. White followed it with his eyes, thoughtfully; another snowflake joined in, then a few others and the wind made them dance a few seconds in front of the Spectrum commander, before they drifted away.
Nice. These clouds must be filled with snow. Maybe it’s snowing for Christmas Eve in New York at the moment. But then it occurred to White that these clouds might be too high for that; it was very likely that snow would evaporate a long time before reaching the ground.
“Lieutenant Green,” he called from where he stood.
Green immediately stopped his humming and lifted his head towards his commander, while his chair swivelled around. “Sir?”
“Those clouds down there…” White waved in a general downward direction beyond the observation tube. “They look like they’re carrying snow.”
Green turned back to his station, pressed a few keys on his keyboard, and then nodded when the information he was looking for appeared on one of his screens. “They do indeed, sir. Mostly fluffy flurries, according to the forecast instruments.”
White nodded, a thin smile playing on his lips. Green’s console was a marvel of engineering, monitoring everything in and around Cloudbase. With its link to the information centre, it would inform Spectrum personnel of any terrorist attack anywhere on Earth, give the latest results on any sports games on every continent, who was the murderer in all of Agatha Christie’s novels, what was the state of traffic in London, and the weather in Timbuktu. No doubt it would also indicate the ambient temperature in any of the living domes of the Lunarville complexes on the moon.
“I did see some flurries flying by,” White said thoughtfully.
“No doubt carried by ascending winds,” Green explained, turning his seat back towards the colonel.
White nodded, still thoughtful. “At what altitude are those clouds at the moment?”
Green checked the information at his station. “According to my instruments, this cloud formation stands between 30 to nearly 40 thousand feet above sea level.”
“Would it be safe to fly through it?”
Green was somewhat confused by the question. Cloudbase was sturdy, built to withstand bad weather of Earth’s atmosphere – heck, it was originally built in space, and endured the hardship of re-entry once complete. Of course, the colonel would never put it at unnecessary risk, when faced with, for example, a Force 3 or above tornado… Not if he could avoid it, at least.
There was really no worry in his commander’s voice, but nonetheless, Green thought of reassuring him. “There’s no forecast of high wind depression, which might turn this into a violent storm, sir… Besides, at its current altitude, Cloudbase is high enough to avoid it.”
White chuckled almost imperceptibly. He turned around slowly. “You misunderstood my question, Lieutenant: I was actually thinking of purposely lowering Cloudbase through these clouds and then just right below them.”
That was even more confusing. “Purposely?” Green repeated.
“Purposely. At what altitude would that put Cloudbase?”
“Erm… Right below?” Green checked the information on his station again. “That would be about 30 thousand feet, sir.”
“Is there any air traffic in the area at that altitude?”
“None, sir. The sky is very quiet.”
“Good.” White returned to his contemplation of the sky. There was a moment’s silence between the two men; then White glanced over his shoulder. “You can take her down, Lieutenant.”
“Of course, sir. Right away, sir.” Green turned back to his station again and opened a communication channel to the Flight Control Room. He cleared his throat to address Lieutenant Peach, one of Cloudbase’s helmsmen and the officer in charge of the wheelhouse at the moment. He gave the security code, then made a last check of the clouds’ altitude, before relaying the coordinates.
It barely took two minutes before Cloudbase slowly started losing altitude. White felt it, and arched himself to keep his balance within the opening of the observation tube. Then with his hands behind his back, he watched as visibility outside reduced as Cloudbase entered the sea of clouds it had been sailing over until now. A few flurries flew around the observation tube.
Altitude kept decreasing, and a few moments later, Cloudbase emerged from beneath the clouds. White looked up; the sky looked just as if a large amount of candy floss was hanging just above his head. Below his feet, he could finally see the lights of New York, which seemed very busy on this Christmas Eve.
All around the tube, there were far more flurries now, falling gaily from the clouds above in all directions, reflecting the ambient lights of Cloudbase itself.
It was a beautiful sight.
“Perfect, Lieutenant,” White said. “Let’s stay at this altitude, if you please.”
“Right, sir. We’re currently at 31 thousand feet.” Green relayed the order to the wheelhouse, still unsure why the colonel had taken the carrier down at this height.
It took a few minutes still, during which Cloudbase settled down at its new height, and Colonel White, still with his hands against his back, watched the sky in deep contemplation. It was only at this moment that Green noticed the falling snow. He rose from his seat and approached White’s position from behind. The colonel heard him come, but didn’t turn; he could feel Green, standing a couple of feet away behind him, watching as well.
“Very picturesque, isn’t it, Lieutenant?” White still didn’t turn around.
“The snow, sir? Yes, it is,” Green approved. “Very beautiful.” He chuckled. “Growing up in Trinidad, the only snow I ever saw was on television… It didn’t snow either on Marineville. My first experience of snow actually came with Spectrum.”
“The Frost Line Defence system affair?” White enquired.
“Exactly so, sir.”
“How cruel of me to send a Caribbean-born man like you to Northern Canada on one of his first field missions,” White remarked, almost apologetically.
“Oh no, sir! It was quite enjoyable… Well, considering the situation, that is. I liked snow, even if it was so darn cold. And seeing it falling like this, well – that’s another first for me. Too bad I can’t touch it.”
White smiled. “Why don’t you run along to the Promenade Deck and join the others, Seymour?”
The use of his first name made Green blink in surprise. “Sir?”
“Go and join the party for a few hours, Lieutenant,” White clarified. “You’re entitled to a Christmas break too. You’ve worked as hard as any other on this carrier. It’s quiet tonight. I’ll keep watch for a little while by myself. No need to call someone to replace you.”
“Sir – you’ve been working hard too – would you not like to go as well?” Green shook his head. “I can’t leave you on your own.”
White huffed. “I certainly can manage by myself. And I can’t go as well; this station must be manned at all times, even if it’s by a skeleton crew of one. And it would be unfair to tear someone from his or her off-duty time to come over and take your place. Go on… have some fun. Just be sure to be back for o-six-hundred.”
“Sir… thank you, Colonel.” Green turned on his heel and strode briskly towards the exit, eager to obey this unexpected order before the colonel changed his mind.
He almost jumped when White called behind him. “Lieutenant?”
Green stopped in his stride and turned around. “Colonel?”
White grinned and nodded towards the falling snow outside. “Tell the others to enjoy the show – and to have a Happy Christmas.”
***
Lieutenant Green made a detour to his quarters to pick up a few Christmas presents he had bought while on a visit to his family in Trinidad a couple of weeks before, and then hurried to the Promenade Deck, with his arms full of packages wrapped in colourful paper and bright ribbons. When the double doors opened in front of him, he was welcomed by a background sound of Christmas music, much louder than in the Control Room, and welcoming cheers from his colleagues who were already there.
A Christmas tree was erected not that far from the doors, gaily decorated with lights, garlands, baubles and tinsel. There were already presents underneath it, and Green dropped his amongst them. Then he went to the buffet table, which was loaded with all kinds of food and refreshments prepared by the personnel at the officers’ restaurant, picked up a plate onto which he piled a few sandwiches, and bit into one before joining the others.
Captain Magenta was the first to ask him how he had been able to free himself in order to join them, when almost at that moment, Rhapsody Angel, standing next to Captain Scarlet, pointed outside and exclaimed joyfully: “Hey, look! It’s snowing!”
That attracted everyone’s attention and they turned around. They gathered in front of the large windows, and there were “oh!s” and “ah!s” of appreciation at the big, cotton-wool-like snow falling from the thick cover of clouds above. Some of it was starting to accumulate on the landing deck below, but it wouldn’t be long before the carrier’s automatic defrosters would activate themselves to melt it completely, and the runway would be operational for take-off and landing.
“That is so beautiful!” Melody said with a sigh. “Oh, that’s wonderful – snow on Christmas Eve!”
“Well, that’s certainly a sight you don’t see often at this height,” Captain Ochre commented. “Especially considering we were above the clouds a few minutes ago.”
“We did feel Cloudbase decreasing altitude,” Captain Blue said, turning to Green. “We were wondering why.”
“Was it to avoid some passing aircraft?” Symphony enquired. She nodded towards the windows. “Or bad weather?”
Green shook his head. He swallowed the piece of sandwich he was currently chewing. “No aircraft and the weather is fine,” he answered. “It was the colonel who asked for the carrier to lower altitude. Right underneath those clouds.” He pointed outside, where they could see the woolly cover over their heads.
“Why?” asked Scarlet with a frown.
“Actually, and that’s what’s odd, the colonel didn’t give any specific reason. But when we finally arrived at this current height, he was looking outside, through the observation tube, watching the snow falling, and he just said that it was a beautiful sight.”
“It sure is,” Symphony confirmed, sighing as she turned to watch the falling snow and putting her head against Blue’s broad shoulder. “I love the sight of falling snow… I don’t know, it always has a calming effect on me.”
“So are we to believe the colonel took Cloudbase below those clouds to offer us a white Christmas Eve?” Blue asked, with some doubt in his voice.
“It does look that way,” Rhapsody said.
“Isn’t that unusual of him?” Ochre asked in turn.
“Well, that doesn’t surprise me,” Symphony countered. “And I think it was a beautiful thought. That’s such a nice gift!”
“And the colonel also said,” Green added, as if an afterthought, “to tell you to enjoy the show and to have a Happy Christmas. That was just after he told me to join you in the Christmas celebrations.”
Scarlet narrowed his eyes. “He relieved you so you could celebrate with us?” Green nodded, before taking a new bite of his sandwich. “Who’s manning the Control Room right now?”
Green swallowed his bite. “No-one but the colonel. I didn’t want to go, but he insisted. He said I was entitled to have a Christmas break too. I’m not due back on duty before six o’clock. He didn’t want anyone called to replace me, and said he would manage on his own.”
“I knew he was an old softy,” Rhapsody said with a fond smile.
“Just don’t say that while he’s within earshot,” Ochre chuckled. “I still say it’s unusual. Why, the Old Man makes such a show of being so stoic and unemotional, he might not approve of appearing soft, especially to his staff.”
“Hush, Richard,” Melody retorted, punching him in the shoulder and making him wince. “What a thing to say!”
“Ow!” Ochre protested. “Why are you always so violent towards me?”
“I’m only violent with you when you act like an insufferable ass,” Melody replied. “You’re lucky the colonel isn’t within earshot to hear you. Calling him unemotional – he’s not a robot, you know.”
Okay, okay – It came out all wrong,” Ochre defended himself. “I do know he’s a good man and I know he cares… He just doesn’t show it often, that’s all. Those English people – they do tend to keep their emotions in check, don’t they?”
“Now that’s a daft stereotype is ever I heard one,” Rhapsody said, rolling her eyes. “Now stop this – before I get angry and hit you for uttering such bullshit.” Those around who heard her laughed, as the young English woman continued with a thin smile, still addressing Ochre: “And if it’s not proof enough that English people don’t always keep their feelings in check –”
“You don’t count, Dianne,” Ochre interrupted her teasingly. “You’ve got Irish and Italian blood as well. That gets you all mixed up. And you’re too much of a lady to actually hit me.”
“Oh, poo.” Rhapsody poked out her tongue at him in a very unladylike fashion, before sniggering. “Mags is right, Rick. You’re sometimes such an ass.”
“Hey, where did Paul go?” Magenta was looking around, looking for his friend who had left Rhapsody’s side. His first thought was to check in the direction of the buffet table, but the English officer wasn’t there. The others looked as well, but Scarlet was nowhere to be seen.
“What gives?” Symphony asked. “One second he was there, and then he’s not. Where can he be? He can’t be hiding behind the bushes...”
“Has anyone seen him leave the room?” Green asked.
“I know I didn’t, but that doesn’t surprise me,” Blue answered. “When Paul wants to surreptitiously disappear without anyone noticing it, he’s better at it than an Apache warrior.”
“Why would he leave like that, without saying a word?” Magenta asked frowning.
“I… have a suspicion.” Blue took a sip from his glass of non-alcoholic champagne. His eyes met Rhapsody’s as she did the same thing, and he could read in them that she had possibly the same suspicion he did.
And if Scarlet didn’t want to tell anyone where he was going, then neither of them would say either.
***
When Captain Scarlet walked in, the Control Room was dark, barely lit by the lights coming from the multiple electronic equipment within. The Christmas music coming from the speaker was just a little louder than it had been a few hours ago when he had reported in, not long before the start of the Christmas party.
He couldn’t see anyone around, and that certainly felt unusual. “Hello?” he called.
He heard footsteps echoing through the room, that seemed to come from the observation tube. Colonel White stood there, in the opening, his dark silhouette against the background of snow falling from the sky beyond the tube.
“Shouldn’t you be the host of your own Christmas party, Captain Scarlet?” he asked matter-of-factly. “What are you doing here?”
“I’ve come to wish you a Happy Christmas, Colonel,” Scarlet answered. “Do you know it’s just past midnight?” He held a large gift bag in his hand and with it, he strode towards the command desk, while Colonel White walked towards him from the observation tube. “Why is it so dark in here?” Scarlet asked with a frown.
“Ah, I just turned the lights down,” White replied. He vaguely waved in the general direction of the observation tube. “I thought I would have a better view of the falling snow outside the tube.”
Scarlet smirked. “I see. By the way, thank you for that gift.”
White huffed. “What gift? There’s nothing to it, really. It’s been a long while since I last saw a snowfall on Christmas Eve. So when I realised those clouds were filled with snow, I thought ‘why not have a good look at it’?”
“Are you telling me, sir, you asked for Cloudbase to decrease altitude to watch snow – only for yourself, sir?” Scarlet asked dubiously.
White sighed loudly. “Don’t you have a girlfriend waiting to dance with you at that party of yours?”
Scarlet ignored the question. “I came to see if I can convince you to let me replace you here while you pop in to the Promenade Deck to say hello to everyone.”
White grunted. “Not a chance. Bah, humbug.”
“That’s not even a remotely convincing ‘bah, humbug’ sir,” Scarlet said, keeping himself from sniggering. “You’ve been working as hard as any of us. Don’t you think it would be somewhat unfair to leave you to man the Control Room all alone tonight?”
White raised a brow. “Lieutenant Green said something similar. You’re both being presumptuous. I’m here alone by choice, Scarlet.”
“No-one should be alone on Christmas Eve, Colonel.”
“I like being alone at Christmas,” White retorted.
“Now, are you totally honest with that, sir?” Scarlet grinned and put the bag on top of the desk. “Wouldn’t the correct statement instead be ‘I’m used to being alone at Christmas’?”
“And now, you are being impertinent as well.” That could have been viewed as a warning, but instead, Scarlet could hear that it wasn’t the case; White was just slightly annoyed. At least, in appearance. “Don’t push your luck, Captain.”
“Sir, I know Christmas isn’t the best time of the year for you…”
This time, White frowned. “Why in Heaven’s name would you be thinking that?”
“You don’t have any family left, do you?”
“That’s incorrect,” White replied briskly. “You should be checking your facts before making such a statement, Captain. I still have some family left.”
“You do?” Now Scarlet was surprised.
“Yes. Two old aunts, living in Wiltshire. I do not see them often, or mention them at all, but I can assure you, they do exist.”
“Oh. I’m sorry, Colonel. I just assumed – well – that you were all alone in the world.”
“That’s a wrong assumption. Again, you are being your presumptuous self.” White eyed the gift bag on his desk. He frowned when he saw Scarlet taking two glasses out of it and putting them down next to the bag. “What do you have in there?”
“A proper way to celebrate Christmas, sir.” Scarlet put his hand in the bag and took a bottle out. “Highland single malt whisky. Ten years old. Straight from Orkney.”
White held his breath for a second or two. “You like to live dangerously, Captain,” he said warningly.
“Well, I’m indestructible, sir,” Scarlet replied, while working on the screw cap. “So taking risks comes with the territory.”
White sighed. “Captain, you know that drinking – ”
“– Drinking alcohol while on duty is a very serious offence,” Scarlet finished for him. He opened the bottle and started pouring whisky into a glass. “Don’t worry. You are not on duty. I just released you.”
White rolled his eyes. “My memory must be playing tricks on me,” he replied. “I don’t actually recall accepting your offer.” He watched as Scarlet poured a second glass, obviously for himself. “And what about you?”
“What about me?” Scarlet asked innocently.
“If you do release me, then you are on duty. So you ought not to drink.”
“It’s only one glass, sir. As commander, you can certainly allow that, no? And anyway, you know as well as I do that alcohol doesn’t have any effect on me.”
Scarlet put the bottle down and handed one glass to White; the latter found himself mechanically accepting it, all the while saying: “That’s beside the point, Captain. A commander leads by example.”
“Well, I won’t tell anyone if you don’t, sir.”
White opened his mouth to reply, but this time found nothing to say. He sighed deeply and shook his head, almost in dismay, before tsk-ing. “You will never change. You are incorrigible… and incredibly cheeky. I could put you on a charge for this. How on Earth did you manage to reach the rank of colonel in the W.A.A.F., back in the day?”
“By being ‘incredibly cheeky’, as you said, sir,” Scarlet replied, tongue firmly in cheek.
“Such an attitude would never have passed muster in the Navy.”
“Truthfully, sir – I heard you were quite the cheeky one as well.” Scarlet raised his glass. “A toast, then? To us, incredibly cheeky English officers?”
An amused smile appeared on White’s lips. “If you repeat anything of this to anyone –”
“I give you my word, sir.”
“Well, if there’s something else I know about you, it’s that you are a man of your word.” White raised his glass. “A toast, then.”
Both men chinked their glasses and drained the contents in one gulp.
When they lowered their glasses, they kept silent, seemingly in contemplation of their empty glasses. White’s eyes drifted towards the observation tube, and to the falling snow beyond. The flurries looked larger now, and were falling faster.
He felt Scarlet pouring some more whisky into the glass, but said nothing. He simply nodded his thanks, before pointing with the glass towards the snow. “It was on a night like this that my Elizabeth – my wife – told me she was pregnant,” he said, pensively. “On Christmas Eve.”
Scarlet nodded his understanding, while filling his own glass.
“I lost her in the following year. She was nearly ready to give birth but – we didn’t have the time to become parents. But that night, that Christmas Eve – it was the best day I ever had, in all my life.”
White took a sip from his glass, as Scarlet stayed silent, feeling he ought to keep discreet as his commander obviously wanted to confide in him.
White gazed down into the contents of his glass, turning it in his hand. “You said earlier that Christmas isn’t an easy time for me,” he continued in a low voice. “That’s true, starting with the following Christmas. Fate had denied me a family of my own with whom to share the day. But when I see this…” He pointed again to the falling snow. “That reminds me of all the joyous times I had during this time of year and of that last, wonderful Christmas Eve with Elizabeth.”
“I understand, sir.”
“I never felt quite as happy after that,” White continued. “And yes – it’s a lonely time for me.”
“How about those two aunts of yours you just told me about?” Scarlet suggested. “Those who live in Wiltshire?”
White emitted a sound that resembled a scoff and a chuckle at the same time. “Aunt Agatha and Aunt Edna. I’m not that close to them. Well, I used to be, actually, when I was a boy. One of them’s a widow of old and the other never married. They lived together, and they helped my father to raise me – I never knew my mother. I liked them, but hated their place. The house was so old and musty… I would pass my summers there, while growing up. I thought there couldn’t possibly be an older house in the whole of England.”
“How strange,” Scarlet mused. “I thought the same of my grandfather’s house.”
“My aunts were always at odds with my father,” White continued. “They didn’t approve of him being in the Navy… or me joining it as soon as I was of age. Damn it, if I had listened to them, they would have me joining the clergy instead, can you imagine?”
Scarlet, who was drinking a sip of his glass at that moment almost choked at this revelation. “I really can’t, sir,” he said in a strangled voice. He certainly couldn’t imagine Colonel White becoming a clergyman. Not if he lived a hundred years.
“I haven’t seen them in a long while,” White continued thoughtfully. “I always send them little gifts and stuff at Christmas and other occasions… But I never found the time to go and visit them.”
“Do they still live in that place of theirs?” Scarlet asked.
“Last I heard. You couldn’t extract them from there with a crowbar. They’re quite fierce when they want to be. They could give the Mysterons a run for their money. A few years back, a developer wanted to buy their home and turn it into a pub. He thought that two old spinsters like them, with no man in their lives, would be easy to influence. Do you know what they did?” White’s eye glistened mischievously, as Scarlet was looking at him with curiosity. “They turned the developer’s offer down and opened their own pub – which they operated themselves.”
Scarlet laughed. “Maybe you ought to visit them one day,” he suggested.
“And sleep in my old room?” White replied, raising a dubious eyebrow and seemingly shivering at the thought. “That might be the stuff of nightmares…”
“Come on, from what you said, it wasn’t always that bad,” Scarlet said.
“No…” White admitted. “Christmases were actually very nice at their house.” He nodded. “You’re right. I should see the old girls, while it’s still possible.” Maybe visit them with a certain friend of mine, he added inwardly. He was meaning to soon get a date with Amanda Wainwright – Symphony Angel’s mother. The thought of the American woman, with whom he had grown close, made him all warm inside – or maybe it was that whisky Scarlet had offered him, he couldn’t decide.
I should call her. Take a furlough just after the Holidays are over and arrange a meeting with her. I’m due some time off, anyway. Of course, if the situation allows it…
He turned around and looked again at the falling snow. “The view must be wonderful from the Promenade Deck,” he said thoughtfully.
“Magical, sir,” Scarlet confirmed. “Everybody appreciated it.”
White nodded. “Then maybe I’ll follow your suggestion and pop down there for a moment and convey my best wishes to all,” he mused.
Scarlet grinned. “Of course, sir. I’ll hold the fort up here.”
“I won’t keep you from your friends very long – perhaps I’ll stay for an hour or so, then I’ll come back here.”
“Take all the time you need, sir.”
“Can I take the bottle as well?” White asked, almost teasingly. “It’s not that I don’t trust it with you here but – maybe the others would like a drink of it too.”
“Of course they would,” Scarlet grinned. “But what about drinking while on duty being a serious offence?”
“They’re not on duty, if I recall correctly. And as you said, as commander I can allow one drink on occasions. I did that already for Spectrum’s anniversary, remember?”
Scarlet rolled his eyes. “Oh, do I…” he said.
White raised his glass again.
“Can I suggest a new toast?”
“That’s your privilege, sir.”
“For all we’re fighting for, then.”
Scarlet kept silent for a brief second, before nodding approvingly. He raised his glass as well. “For all we’re fighting for.”
Both men chinked their glasses.
Acknowledgements:
Thanks to Hazel Köhler for beta-reading this story in such a short notice. If there’s any mistake left in it, they are my own.
“Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons” belongs to ITV Global Entertainment. The characters were created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and the team working with them who brought them to life. My thanks – that is, our thanks – to all of them, for all the joy and excitement they gave us all.
This story makes references to the episodes “Avalanche”, where Lieutenant Green joined Captain Scarlet during an assignment, and “Flight to Atlantica”, in which Spectrum celebrated its first anniversary – with champagne spiked from the Mysterons.
The character of Elizabeth Gray (née Somners) was created by yours truly, at first in the story “Spectrum is White”, in which she was mentioned only, before appearing in “A White Christmas Carol”, written in collaboration with Mary J. Rudy and Sue Stanhope.
A very Good Year 2022 to all of us and may we all be safe, sane and healthy!