By Chris Bishop
PART 3
“In desperate need of some pest
control…”
Straight after launch, Rhapsody started her patrol round – keeping Cloudbase in
view, and waiting for further orders.
Seymour must have come down with a bad cold, she reflected quietly. I barely recognised his voice…
Aside
from the hovering headquarters, there was nothing in sight; the sky was an empty
deep blue, with white clouds hovering below her. Her radar and scanner remained mute, and
that alone was reassuring enough.
Following standard procedure, she gradually started enlarging her patrol
circle, without losing sight of Cloudbase, and contacting the Control Room five
minutes after launch.
“Rhapsody Angel in Angel One…
Nothing to report but empty sky ahead and around Cloudbase. Everything is safe within a 20-mile
radius.”
She didn’t receive any answer. She could hear only total silence from her
speaker; and that made her frown.
“Cloudbase Control, do you copy?
This is Angel One calling…”
This time, there was nothing but crackling noises coming from her radio.
She tried adjusting it; then, she heard the voice of Lieutenant Green in her
ears, loud over the noises, and shouting with a note of obvious panic in it:
“S.I.R., Rhapsody Angel! Return immediately to base! Repeat:
return immediately to base! Gremlins onboard! Launch order has not…”
The voice broke off suddenly, and again only crackling sounds could be
heard into the speakers.
In alarm, Rhapsody played again with the radio control. “Control, this is Rhapsody Angel! What is happening? Lieutenant Green, do
you hear me? Gremlins… What do
you…”
The
crackling noises disappeared, this time completely, and Rhapsody was about to
sigh with relief, when what she heard over the speakers made her frown in
disbelief. It wasn’t Lieutenant
Green’s voice this time, of that she was sure – but another voice, cackling
evilly. And it was… chanting…
“Lieutenant Green!” Rhapsody
called out in an irate tone. “What
IS going on over there?!”
The
chanting was suddenly replaced by a maniacal laugh, that made a shiver run down
her spine. “For God’s sake…”
And then suddenly, her controls exploded in a rain of electrical sparks,
and the radio went completely dead. Something jumped her from behind, and clawed hands grabbed at her throat. That made her jump in total surprise and
she cried out briefly; the nose of her Angel tipped downward, but she managed to
keep it steady, as it began its vertiginous descent toward Earth.
She counted herself lucky that the thick golden collar of her uniform and
the leather strap beneath her chin protected her neck so well, because she felt
for certain that the claws would have ripped her throat out. As it was, she only felt a graze against
her cheek, and the warmth and wetness of blood pouring from the fresh wound.
The ugliest of faces suddenly appeared to her horrified eyes. Green scaled, with cruel yellow eyes,
and a large, wicked smile, adorned with sharp, pointed teeth, it seemed to be
able to bite into any part of her and kill her.
She froze at the sight, her brain unable to understand where in bloody Hell that thing had come
from. She noted the large ears, so
very much like those of the Mogwai on Cloudbase – and then realised what the
creature was. That could only be what a
metamorphosed Mogwai looks like when it comes out of its cocoon…
Gremlins? That
was what Green had said.
The
ugly head was looking straight at her, laughing maniacally, before turning its
attention to the helm that her hands were holding tightly. The pressure on Rhapsody’s throat grew
and she gasped. Another ugly head
appeared next to hers, smiling evilly, cackling.
There were two of those
horrible creatures, she realised with panic.
And that second one was holding her from behind, trying to choke the life
out of her, while its companion was going for the helm. Rhapsody fought bravely to keep control
of the craft, as the cold clawed hands tried to pull the helm from her, claws
cutting through her hands. The creature behind her was now standing on her
shoulders, and its talons were tearing through her uniform and into her flesh.
She winced in pain, gasping for breath, her eyes set on the crazy readings of
her controls, ears filled with the multiple beeping sounds of alerts, mixed with
the laugh of the two creatures. The
interceptor was quickly losing altitude; she saw the ground approaching closer
and closer by the second.
Rhapsody clenched her teeth with resolution, deciding on a new manoeuvre. The
only one which could leave her with a chance to live.
“You
want the helm that much, you hideous bastards?” she said between two laborious
breaths. “Then you can have it!”
She let
go of the helm and the creature, with a victorious cry, jumped onto it.
Rhapsody’s now free hand grabbed the ejector level and pulled it.
The canopy flew off over her head, taking the transformed Mogwai by surprise. The one holding her neck let go, just at
the moment her seat flew high into the air, abandoning the Angel jet. It didn’t save the creature from being
blown freely into the sky, away from the ejected seat, and it screamed in horror as it was launched to its death,
thousands and thousands of feet above Earth.
The
seat parachute then deployed and Rhapsody, now safe, loosened her helmet strap
to finally take a deep breath. She
watched as her Angel craft plunged out of control towards the ground. Of course, she didn’t expect the
remaining creature to be able to hold the helm steady…
She watched grimly as the jet ploughed itself into the side of a
mountain, far below and away. She
blew a deep sigh; she hated losing a
plane, but it wasn’t as if she had had any choice in the matter. She grunted as
she reached for her throbbing shoulders with her scratched hand. God, that is SO going to sting when Fawn
treats it…
There
was one epaulette left on her uniform and it started flashing wildly.
The emergency signal, she realised instantly. She wondered who was calling
her, and she half-expected to hear the same maniacal laugh she had heard
earlier, when she answered. She was
relieved to hear the anxious voice of Lieutenant Green:
“…Rhapsody Angel, can you hear me? Radar’s showing Angel One has crashed… Please answer, Rhapsody…”
“Rhapsody Angel to Control.”
Rhapsody gave a deep sigh. “I’m all
right, Lieutenant. Angel One crashed without me. I had to eject.” She paused a second, rubbing her painful shoulders, and
listening to the obvious relief she could hear in the lieutenant’s sharp intake
of breath upon hearing her answer.
“S.I.G., Rhapsody. Are you injured?” That
was the voice of Colonel White this time, and Rhapsody could very well hear the
concern in his tone. She smiled
weakly.
“I’ll
survive, sir,” she grunted. “But I
will need a pick-up.”
“I’ll arrange that, Rhapsody, as soon as
everything is back under control on Cloudbase.”
Rhapsody frowned at those words. “Colonel, there were two strange creatures in
the cockpit of my jet,” she continued, uncertainly. “Lieutenant Green mentioned… Gremlins?”
“That’s what I said, Rhapsody,” Green
answered in turn. “ The cocoons have
hatched… The Mogwai inside
transformed into those things.
They’re all over Cloudbase.”
“Oh, my
God…” Rhapsody breathed out. “What is
the situation up there?”
There
was a short pause. Then, it was the
voice of Colonel White which made itself heard again, tainted with obvious
grimness… “We’re fighting them off the best we can.”
* * *
Melody
was taking a much-needed hot shower, after a long, eight-hour shift divided
between Angel One and Amber Room duty.
She had
not eaten yet and was planning to go to the Halloween party in the Officers’
Lounge and taste the buffet that she knew had been prepared for the occasion.
It was a costume party of course, and Melody had decided to go as a ‘fashionable
witch’. She had chosen the costume by catalogue nearly a month ago and had
despaired of receiving it in time, until it arrived a week before.
She had tried it right away, to make sure it would fit her, almost
fearing it wouldn’t – but was delighted to discover that it was absolutely
perfect – even beyond her wildest dreams. She looked very classy and absolutely
stunning, not at all the image the fairy tales presented of a witch, of course,
but that wasn’t really the look she was going after. Oh sure, she realised she was being coquettish about this
costume - but, for once, she wanted
to impress the others. Especially a
certain golden-clad captain. She
hoped he would have eyes only for her.
The
costume was hanging in her closet, just the other side of the door to her
bathroom. Stopping the flow of hot
water, she stepped out of her shower, wrapped a large towel around herself and a
smaller one around her head. Humming
quietly, she opened the door, a smile playing on her lips. This evening would be perfect.
Just perfect, she reflected.
She just remembered that the previous Halloween; nobody could detach
their eyes from Destiny, who had come dressed as a female ghoul… And that was quite a stunning costume she had worn.
This year, it would be she who
would turn all the heads. For once,
she would be Queen of the Ball – and that was a very satisfactory thought.
Still
humming, she opened the door to her closet with the intention of taking out her
costume and putting it on the bed. It would be waiting for her when she finished
drying herself, and putting on the make-up she needed to go with the costume.
She
wasn’t prepared for what she saw.
Suddenly, the most horrible of heads emerged from behind her clothes, snarling
loudly and viciously at her. Melody just
had time to see the yellow eyes, the brilliant green-scaled skin, the wide ears
and the horrible mouth flashing horribly long and sharp fangs. With a scream of terror, she slammed the
door shut and jumped back. She
could have sworn she heard a maniacal, inhuman laugh coming from the interior of
the closet. She turned around and
watched with wide eyes and a pounding heart.
She
heard violent thumping at her door and again she screamed, taken by surprise.
She spun on her heels, just as the muffled but apparently worried voice of
Captain Ochre made itself heard from behind it:
“Melody! What’s going on in there? Open the door!”
Suddenly, Melody saw red. Now she
knew what was happening! It was,
again, one of Ochre’s annoying jokes!
She angrily rushed to the door and pressed the opening
button. The door slid open and
Captain Ochre hurriedly walked in. Reaching the centre of Melody’s quarters in
four long strides, he looked around, with a concerned expression on his face, as
if in search of whatever threat the Angel pilot might be facing. The young woman noticed the costume he
was wearing: he was dressed as a
very handsome wizard, with false goatee beard and moustache…
That was the masculine matching costume for the one she had chosen
herself. Evidently, Ochre had chosen it from the same catalogue she had
consulted …
Did he
know of her choice and had made his accordingly? She was willing to bet he had.
But right now, that wasn’t exactly the reason why she was furious at him.
“Why
did you scream?” Ochre asked, worry in his eyes as he turned around to face
Melody who was now walking toward him.
“Did you hurt yourself? Were
you… attacked?” He eyed her, and at
first, he appeared uncomfortable to see
her dressed only in her towel, and seemed oblivious to the fuming way she was
glowering at him. An appreciative
flash passed across his eyes just before he turned around, like a gentleman, to
look the other way.
“Stop
playing games, Fraser!” Melody grabbed the lapels of his dark, fancy jacket
and forced him to turn towards her; he nearly lost his footing, and found
himself looking into her glaring eyes, as she gripped him, her knuckles turning
white on the expensive fabric, so tightly was she clutching it. “Now, WHO is your accomplice? Magenta?
Grey? Scarlet?”
“What
are you talking about?” Ochre stammered, frowning at her question, apparently
failing to understand what she meant.
He cleared his throat, smiling faintly.
“Is that your costume for tonight?
Nice…”
“It is
NOT my costume for tonight!” she yelled, shaking him like a leaf with a strength
he didn’t know she possessed – and he didn’t resist anyway. “And you know very well what I’m talking
about! YOU staged this, you low-life,
double-crossing, two-bit fraud!”
“I
didn’t stage anything…”
“Oh
yes, you did!” Melody raged, without leaving him time to protest further. “Don’t you dare deny it! You had one of your friends hide in my closet with the most grotesque mask I have ever
seen in my life, and scare the daylights out of me! And YOU, what an
astonishing
coincidence, you come KNOCKING on my door, playing the HERO coming to save me
from danger! Well, I’m not falling
for it, buster! You went too far
this time!”
By the
end of Melody’s enraged speech, Ochre had finally understood what she was
implying – and knew that, indeed, something unusual had happened in the young
woman’s quarters. He stopped
her from shaking him, gently but firmly removing her hands from his costume. “I swear, I had nothing to do with this,” he protested. “I just came to take you to the party. I knew what costume you had chosen and I wanted to surprise
you with mine…”
“Oh
yes… What a surprise!” she mocked
him, sarcastically.
“I had
just arrived in front of your door when I heard you scream. I never heard you scream in terror
before, Mag. So, I figured there was something really wrong…”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“That’s
the truth, Mag, I swear.” Ochre
looked toward the closet door. “But
that also means there’s really someone
in your closet who decided to play a cruel joke on you.”
“Nooooo… you don’t say?”
Ignoring the young woman’s cynical tone, Ochre walked cautiously towards the
closet door; Melody, behind him,
obviously not believing a single word he had said, rolled her eyes and followed,
adjusting her towel around her and making sure it wouldn’t fall. She watched
suspiciously as Ochre reached silently for the door handle.
He was putting on a very serious show, she had to admit – but she still
wasn’t falling for it.
Ochre
opened the door in a quick, abrupt movement.
He couldn’t see anything wrong; swiftly, he rummaged through the clothes,
looking to see if there was someone hidden behind them. He addressed an inquiring look at Melody
over his shoulder. She was leaning
to the side, trying to look past him into the darkness of the closet. She could see, like him, that the closet
was empty.
“There
was someone in there!” she protested
with a frown, watching the doubtful expression on Ochre’s face. “I heard him
laugh… It was the laugh of a maniac!
Very stereotyped – like in the bad horror movies!”
“I’m
sure.” Ochre turned to face her,
sighing as he did and, putting his fists on his hips, looked down at her with a
bemused and mocking smile on his lips.
“All right, Melody… I admit,
I fell for it.”
“Fell
for what?”
“Well –
it is Halloween night… and you decided to wind me up with this cockeyed story of
yours… Since I’m usually the one doing that, it’s a nice change.”
Melody
stared at him with a slack jaw. She couldn’t believe her ears. “What?!”
She scoffed. “Captain Ochre, I swear to you, I never…”
“That’s
a good one,” Ochre said, laughing softly.
“Oh, I really fell for it…
I should have known there was nothing that would scare you like that.
You’re just not the screaming kind…”
“Captain Ochre, I didn’t…”
Melody’s protests suddenly died on her lips as she caught a glimpse of two
piercing yellow eyes peering down to her –
from the darkness of the upper shelf of her closet. The same horrific snarl she had heard earlier resonated then, and
Ochre turned around – in time to receive in his arms the unbelievable creature
that jumped from the shelf and right at his throat, all fangs and claws out.
Melody
screamed a warning, that just came too late.
Ochre crashed onto the bed behind him, holding the creature by the neck,
keeping it away from his throat, while talons and claws tore into his wizard
costume. Whatever kind of demon his
opponent was, it fought like a wild beast, snarling and growling, and it was all Ochre could do to avoid
as much damage as possible. He fell
to the floor, entangling himself in the blankets, the creature still searching
to reach his throat. He couldn’t
see his opponent now, but he still had a good hold of it, and he didn’t dare let
go, in fear that it would turn against Melody.
“Mag,
get out of here!” Ochre yelled. “Give the alert! Call for help!”
He
rolled over, getting above the creature, successfully freeing himself from the
blankets and using them to trap it.
The beast snarled angrily and protested with a high-pitched scream that was
horrible to listen to.
“Come
on, you ugly bastard,” Ochre muttered.
“Quit struggling like that…”
A claw
pierced through the blankets and grasped his shoulder. Ochre yelped and his hold relaxed; then
he saw the hideous head emerge too, its mouth wide open and its fangs bared; it
went directly for his throat with a victorious laugh. At the last possible second, Ochre caught the muzzle in his
right hand and pushed the creature away from him.
It stumbled on the floor and Ochre did the same, hitting his head as he
did. He saw stars dancing in front
of his eyes.
There
was a crashing sound as a chair was violently brought down onto the creature’s
head, stopping it as it was preparing to leap on Ochre again. The demon squealed in pain and turned
like an injured beast to retaliate against whoever had dared hurt it. Melody was standing behind it, with what
was left of the chair in her hands.
With anger, she smashed it onto the creature’s head again. The skull visibly caved in with an audible cracking sound;
with a last rattle, the creature fell to the floor, moving spasmodically. Then it went rigid.
“I hate
Peeping Toms!” Melody spat as the creature drew its last breath. She walked over it, carefully avoiding
the claws, and leaned to help a dazed Ochre up.
He was bleeding from multiple cuts and his wizard costume was in tatters;
he swayed on his feet, and the Angel pilot helped him to stay upright. His eyes
were displaying a look of shock.
“Rick,
are you all right?” Melody asked
him, her voice now softer, and caring. She was tenderly stroking his cheek,
where the creature’s claws had left three long but, she hoped, superficial
scratches.
“I
think so…” he murmured, blinking his eyes.
“But this costume is ruined…”
He was trying to be humorous, but his tone was still awkward. He looked down in confusion at the dead
creature. “Where did Ugly come
from, anyway?” he murmured.
“I
don’t know…” Melody answered, staring with the same bewilderment. “But it was certainly deadly…” She frowned after a short second of
reflection. “Have you seen its
ears?”
“What
about them?” muttered Ochre, shaking his head, obviously trying to regain his
senses.
“Rick,
those are the same ears as the Mogwai!”
“The
Mogwai?” Ochre looked down at the
creature again, frowning. “Yeah,
now that you mention it… the ears are similar.
That must be what they look like when they come out of those cocoons… ”
He stopped, and stared at Melody with obvious horror in his eyes. “My God… if they’ve all come out of their cocoons… and are all like that…”
Melody
shuddered. “Cloudbase is in trouble
deep.”
Ochre
gave a grim nod. “We have to warn
the colonel…” he said, reaching for the comm.link. “I hope it’s not too late already…”
* * *
The
Gremlins having tampered with Cloudbase’s communications, it fell to Lieutenant
Green to get it back online as quickly as possible. By the time he had succeeded in doing so with most of the
base comm.links, telephones and personal receivers, dozens of calls and reports
had been transmitted to the Control Room concerning the Gremlins. The creatures had all escaped from the
auditorium and had invaded all Cloudbase’s decks. Swift, strong and clever, their litheness and rather reduced
size permitted them to journey through any air and electrical conduits they
could find, and get to anywhere they wanted to.
They had been tinkering with all mechanical and electronic systems, with
a knowledge that seemed absurdly mind-boggling. They seemed to know exactly where and what to strike. The
lights were now off in most parts of the base, as if the Gremlins knew that they
would cause them harm and had disabled them accordingly. One of the Control Tower pylon lifts had crashed in its
shaft, leaving only one lift and the two pylon escalators – all of them
non-operational, of course – as ways out of the Tower.
Gremlins had raided the canteen, the officers’ mess, and the Spectramart,
devouring anything worth eating in sight. They were chasing, attacking, and playing cruel pranks on personnel, inflicting
serious injuries. People had been
trapped in their own quarters.
Sickbay was inaccessible; Doctor Fawn had been reported missing by Captain
Magenta and Harmony Angel who had barricaded themselves in the chief medical
officer’s offices – while nurses and interns had found refuge in numerous rooms. The Amber Room wasn’t responding, and
Angel One was down. Thank the
stars, Rhapsody had safely ejected from the interceptor before it crashed, or
she would surely have died.
No deaths had been reported yet, but Colonel White feared that it was only a
question of time before someone would be killed, either directly by the fearsome
creatures, or by one of their numerous mischievous actions.
“Captain Ochre just reported in,” Lieutenant Green, seated at his station,
informed the Spectrum commander.
Captain Grey had treated the young man’s injuries the best he could, while he
had been working on re-establishing communications, and although he didn’t look
at his peak right now, the young lieutenant intended to stay on duty. “He and Melody have just been attacked by a Gremlin. They successfully killed it, but now
they can’t leave Melody’s quarters.”
Green looked toward his grim-looking commander.
“From what they can hear through the door, there are other Gremlins in the
corridors.”
“Any
news from Captain Scarlet, Captain Blue and Symphony, and Destiny Angel?” White
demanded grimly.
“None
so far, sir. We can only assume that Symphony is still in the Amber Room, but I
can’t reach it. As for the others…”
“Let’s
hope they are all all right and will report in soon…” White grunted.
He sighed. “Right. That’s one for Ochre and Melody. Two for Rhapsody. One on the Promenade Deck and two here in the Control Room. That makes six. We’ve a long way to go to get the last ninety-seven of these
creatures! Of course, that’s
assuming they won’t approach any
water,” he added with frustration, as if an afterthought.
“Because then, they’ll be able to multiply again and the situation will become totally unbearable.”
“Security guards have successfully closed the airlocks to the pool,” Grey
reminded his commander. “At least, that’s good news. Although these creatures can get access to water elsewhere…”
“Let’s
just hope they won’t get that idea.
We have to find a way to get rid of them fast, before they…”
A
screeching sound made itself heard from the speakers and the three men standing
in the Control Room turned as one to stare at them. White had gone pale.
He knew – they all knew what would
come next.
“Oh no…
not them,” he muttered under his
breath. “NOT NOW!”
“This
is the Voice of the Mysterons… We know that you can hear us, Earthmen…” White closed his eyes and breathed
deeply.
That figures… His plea would go
unanswered. “On the night of All Hallow’s Eve,
the fortress in the clouds will be subjected to deadly tricks and mayhem will
reign until it falls from the skies…”
White
quickly opened his eyes; his face had changed colour; it was now very red.
“WHAT?!” he roared angrily.
“THEY’RE responsible for this mess?!”
“Sir?”
Lieutenant Green asked uncertainly.
“All
Hallow’s Eve… That’s tonight,” Grey
explained grimly. “And the fortress
in the clouds… that’s us.”
“I
thought it was,” Green replied with a forced grin. “I just hoped it wasn’t the case…”
“Damn
it, I should have realised,” Colonel White muttered.. “That’s how the first Mogwai was able to
get here in the first place, getting through security without being noticed!”
“The
Mysterons had Mysteronised him?” Lieutenant Green asked, raising a surprised
brow.
“No… they simply arranged for his safe
arrival here!” growled White.
“Mysteronising Gizmo would have been too
risky,” Grey retorted. “They knew
there was a fair risk of him being checked on Cloudbase eventually.”
“Which
was done,” White grumbled. “He and
the others, that first time he gave birth…
And indeed… why Mysteronise any of them, as they can cause plenty of
trouble without that…”
“I bet the Mysterons knew the nature of those Mogwai when they prepared this threat!”
Grey exclaimed. “Must be their idea
of a joke for Halloween…”
“Some
joke! I certainly won’t let a bunch
of God-forsaken, repulsive creatures do the Mysterons’ dirty work and destroy
this base!” Colonel White said, in a tone full of promise. “We have to get rid of these Gremlins before they kill
everyone onboard or do irreparable damage that will send us crashing to the
ground!”
“How,
sir?” Grey asked. “There’re so many
of them. Half of Cloudbase is without lighting, we have little power over the
controls… These creatures can get
anywhere, going through air vents and other kinds of conduits, to get wherever
they want.”
“We
need a meticulous plan,” White said, rubbing his chin pensively. “What do we know about these Gremlins? What are their weaknesses?”
“Bright
light?” Grey suggested with a raised brow.
That won him a cross look from his commander. He cleared his voice.
“Sir.”
However, White had to agree that his junior officer had a point. His eye fell on the powerful electric
lamp standing on the corner of his desk, right next to his rose tree, that he
had taken from the Promenade Deck.
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, thinking of his own, recent experience against
the Gremlins.
“Lieutenant Green,” he ordered, “contact as many personnel as you can. Order everyone to equip themselves with Spectrum-issued security torches. Light from lamps seems to weaken their
anatomy… It seems to soften their tough hide and
even their bones – they are then vulnerable for the kill.”
“S.I.G.,” Green answered.
“Maintenance is trying to restore light.
Maybe that will be helpful when it comes back?”
“Unfortunately, it seems ambient light isn’t powerful enough to actually destroy
them,” White sighed. “Maybe it would slow them down, but I’m afraid they would
simply hide away deeper into inaccessible dark places, and would continue to
procreate and/or do untold damage to Cloudbase.
We can’t afford to play hide and seek with them. We have to destroy them swiftly, if we
want to save the base. Tell all the technicians you are able to contact to
continue their repairs, and find available security guards to protect them. We
have to get control back, and as much light as possible, quickly.”
“S.I.G., Colonel.”
“It
seems to me, sir,” Grey offered then, “that, in view of what he found in his
search, Captain Magenta is the one who would know the most about these creatures
at the moment. That online book he
found…”
“…
Might very well be our only key to finding a way to destroy these creatures,”
White agreed swiftly. He turned
again to Green. “Lieutenant, try to
contact Captain Magenta. And if
possible, make this a secured channel.
I don’t know if those ‘Gremlins’ can understand us, but I don’t want to take the
risk of them listening in as we make our plans to destroy them.”
“S.I.G., Colonel,” Green acknowledged, turning to his communication console.
And let’s hope it’ll work…he added inwardly.
* * *
Dressed
as a female pirate, in colourful clothing, a large, black leather, sleeveless
vest, a vivid red bandanna on her head and a rather heavy cutlass by her side,
Destiny Angel was walking the corridors on her way to the Officers’ Lounge to
join in the Halloween party when all hell broke loose on Cloudbase.
First she had witnessed the lights go out, to be replaced by emergency
lighting in most of the area. Then,
strange sounds made themselves heard from all around.
As if something was running through the air vents above her head and
behind the doors along the corridor.
She could hear murmurs, hollow whispers, in a language she was unable to
define. She had the funny feeling
that she was being followed and watched; but each time she turned around to
check, she could find nothing.
Strange shadows were outlined on the walls, projected by the few lights, but the
young woman was incapable of identifying any of them – or to find out from where
they were coming.
Then
she heard screams echoing through the corridors. Very human screams, coming from not too far away. Actually, too far away for her to be
able to do something about it, but still too close for comfort. Those screams of
obvious terror and pain were mixed with deep, throaty growls and almost inhuman
laughter. The hair on the back of
Destiny’s head started to stand up.
There was something strange going on on base that she couldn’t explain to
herself.
And to
make matters worse, the comm.links were down too. She couldn’t even call anyone – either to report the strange
happenings or to find out if someone knew
it was happening. She had a
suspicion that it could very well be the case, but that the alert had failed to
be raised – for some still unexplained reason.
That wasn’t a very comforting idea at all. Whatever was going on, she reflected, everyone onboard might be in danger, with no knowledge of it, no way
to protect themselves.
She heard running feet, a buzz of panicky
speaking voices and finally encountered a few people passing by – civilian
personnel, technicians – fear splattered on their faces and desperate to get
away. She was nearly run down and
was compelled to throw herself against the wall to escape being trampled.
That’s
when she saw them.
Green-scaled, horrible creatures, armed with claws and talons and sharp teeth, running down the corridor on all fours,
although they looked like bipeds,
destroying everything in their path, slashing through walls and doors,
and hanging from holes pierced in the ceiling,
chasing everyone in sight – as if humans were but prey for them. With a thumping heart and eyes wide-open
with horror, Destiny saw an unfortunate security guard pass by her, screaming in
pain, one of those awful creatures clinging to his back, its teeth sunk into his
shoulder. He was unable to get it
off him and was running blindly, wild with fear. He had disappeared from the Angel pilot’s view before she
could even think of helping him; hearing more creatures coming along, Destiny
swiftly sought refuge inside a maintenance cabinet.
What were they? she wondered in confusion… They seemed to have appeared from
nowhere, and there was a multitude of them.
She took a certain time to realise that they might very well be the
metamorphosed Mogwai, who had finally escaped their cocoons… Of course, since her first encounter with Gizmo a
couple of days before, and with her increased allergies – for which Doctor Fawn
had given her medicine and ordered a few days off duty, without flying – she had
not dared be around any of the Mogwai.
But she had been kept informed of everything that had been going on with them. Last thing she had heard was about the
pupal phase which they had entered.
So, considering that it was quite unlikely that another security breach had
happened with the courier plane – since none had come back to Cloudbase since
Gizmo’s arrival anyway – it seemed highly probable – if not absolutely logical –
that these new creatures were indeed the now-transformed Mogwai. The ears were similar, even if the rest
of the body was definitely not.
Since
that first moment she had seen them, Destiny had been making her way through the
Control Tower by hiding herself at almost every step, in an attempt to avoid the
creatures. There had been a few
other close calls, and she could still hear them through the vents down the
corridors, along with all the other noises of destruction and panic that seemed
to accompany them. She had been lucky
enough not to encounter them directly.
From time to time, she attempted to make contact with the Control Room,
using the nearest wall comm.link she could find on her way. Each time, she was unable to even raise
a single acknowledgement. Only
static answered her.
Great.
It looks like I’m left on my own.
It was the uncertainty of what was going on and what
the status of the others was, that was pushing her forward. Although she hadn’t heard from them, she
had to assume that people in the Control Room – Colonel White, Lieutenant Green,
all the others – were alive and well.
As long as the Control Room was safe, Cloudbase was still running.
She had
just walked the presently non-operational escalator down to Port Engine B
walkway. From there, she would access one of the pylon lifts leading to the
Control Tower. Assuming it was
working. If not, there was still
the high pylon escalator – which, Destiny supposed, probably wasn’t working any
more than the escalator she had just left.
She wasn’t exactly looking forward to climbing a rather steep staircase,
nearly ten storeys high, up to the Tower.
Not with a band of demonic creatures on her heels, ready to tear her to
pieces, anyway.
The
walkway was dark, like most of the other corridors she had followed until then,
only illuminated by the red security lights on the wall. Walking slowly, Destiny kept all her
senses on alert, frequently looking behind, making sure she was still alone. So far so good. No trace of the creatures yet.
Dead ahead of her, she could see sparks, and she slowed down. The ceiling and walls of the walkway had
been damaged, she realised, as her eyes made out the outlines of dangling
electric cables dropping from ripped ceiling panels. They were touching each other, and that was causing the
sparks. She hoped she would be able
to get through them, without difficulty.
As she
was nearing the dangling cables, a soft, gentle humming reached her ears and she
stopped in her tracks, listening intently.
It sounded like singing, although it was mixed with frequent sobs. It sounded very sad, and Destiny was
quite certain she could recognise notes from
‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’…
She
frowned and approached cautiously.
Just
under the sparking cables, she could see a body, lying on its side, dressed in a
very recognisable red tunic.
Destiny’s heart nearly jumped out of her chest. She continued her
approach, holding her breath, to finally crouch down, trying to get a better
view.
“Mon Dieu…” she whispered
under her breath. “Paul…?”
Captain
Scarlet’s eyes were closed, as if he were sleeping. In the crook of his right arm, close to his face,
Destiny could see a small Mogwai, wearing a sad face, his head resting against
the captain’s arm, that he was gently stroking as if comforting him. It was that tiny creature who was
singing so sadly.
“Gizmo?” Destiny called, opening wide
eyes. She was unsure – last thing
she had heard, Gizmo was dead – and there were a certain number of other Mogwai
who had been born since the last days.
This one could very well be one of them…
But at the call of the name, he raised his head and looked straight at Destiny.
His expression was one of total sadness.
“You
are Gizmo, right?” He started
muttering gibberish to her, speaking very quickly, but she couldn’t decipher
anything he was saying. “Calm down, petit.
I don’t intend to hurt you…”
She looked around in concern, hoping that someone would come along –
anyone, except, of course, those ugly creatures.
Seeing she was still alone, she turned her attention back to the still
body and the gibbering Mogwai.
“Shhh… Calm down… Don’t be afraid… You’ll attract those
ugly beasts to us…”
The
Mogwai grew quiet instantly, watching her with wary eyes. Destiny examined the situation. She
could see a small pool of blood underneath Scarlet’s still body and a darker
shade of red on the side of his uniform.
From where she was, she could see that he had been either shot or stabbed. It was unclear if he had been touched by
the electric cables, although he was lying a good two feet clear of them. She didn’t know if Scarlet was still
alive or not, and she knew that he was vulnerable to electricity. Depending on the amount of voltage in
those cables, if he had touched them, he might have been hurt badly – or even
killed permanently. She didn’t dare
think that this last eventuality could have happened.
But if
he was alive, Destiny reflected, and was to rise from there instinctively, unaware of the danger, he might run the
risk of being electrocuted. She had
to do something to prevent that from happening.
She had to get Scarlet out of his precarious position.
Cautiously, keeping herself out of reach of the dangling cables, she reached to
grab Scarlet’s ankles, and pulled; he didn’t move an inch. He was obviously heavier than she first anticipated. Planting her feet firmly on the ground,
Destiny arched her back and gave a sharp tug that seemed to unglue Scarlet from
where he was lying. Inch by
inch, slowly but surely, calling on all of her strength, the Angel pilot dragged
his body toward herself, while keeping her eyes on the electric cables that were
still sparking over him. She caught
a glance of the little Mogwai who now appeared to be straining to push on
Scarlet’s shoulder in her direction.
He was obviously trying to helping her, though she had her doubts that his
efforts were actually very useful.
If not for the perilous situation, she might have found the scene rather
amusing.
One
last tug finally removed Scarlet from under the cables, and sent Destiny falling
on her rear onto the floor. She
clutched on the captain’s tunic to draw him further away from the cables, making
sure he would be totally safe.
She thought she heard him emitting a faint groan when he fell limply onto
his back between her arms. The
Mogwai climbed into her knee to get closer, as she put her fingers on Scarlet’s
neck to check his pulse. She had
hardly touched him when he groaned again and moved, taking a deep breath as he
did – but he didn’t open his eyes and grew quiet instantly. Destiny gave a sigh of relief.
“Thank
God, he’s okay…”
“Paul okay?”
Destiny
stared down at the small Mogwai now seated on her thigh, looking at Scarlet,
then at her, and back to Scarlet again, moving his ears attentively.
“He
just needed to rest in order to be okay,” she surprised herself by answering the
animal. She gently eased the
recovering captain down to the floor, lying him on his back, in as comfortable a
position as possible. Her attention
then came back to Gizmo, who was watching her expectantly.
“Gizmo,” she repeated almost to herself,
frowning with perplexity. “I
thought they told me you were dead?”
She
didn’t have time to ponder more on that – nor on the fact that so far none of
her allergic reactions had manifested themselves in Gizmo’s presence. Echoing sounds caught her ears –
whispers coming from the other side of the dangling cables. She raised her head instantly and looked in that direction,
narrowing her eyes to see beyond the flashes produced by the cables. She saw shadows approaching, red eyes
glowing in the semi darkness and heard an ominous growl. She went rigid.
There
were three of those horrible creatures she had seen earlier standing there,
watching her intently.
Gizmo,
squeaking in obvious fear, reached out to her and held onto her arm. He was shivering like a terrified little
child, looking in the direction of the three approaching creatures.
“Gremlins,” he said in a tone so low that
Destiny had trouble understanding him.
“Bad Gremlins…”
Destiny
slowly rose to her feet, Gizmo in her arms, her eyes not leaving the creatures.
They had stopped just short of the cables which then gave a big flash of light. They stepped back, rumbling in anger. Obviously, Destiny
reflected, they weren’t too keen on bright
light, anymore than the Mogwai…
“Gizzzmooooo…” a deep throaty
voice slurred. A concerned Destiny saw the first creature bare its teeth and
take a tentative step – to step back again, obviously unsure how avoid the
electric cables dangling in front of them. But she could see they were just
waiting for the right moment to jump through the cables and reach for her…
…Or for
the scared little creature trembling in her arms.
“Gizzzmoooo…” the same voice
repeated, anger even more obvious in its tone.
“Gizmo, bye-bye…”
Destiny
lowered her eyes to Scarlet, still lying unconscious on the floor. He still needed time to recover
obviously, and was still very vulnerable. If he was to be attacked by these
creatures while in that state, at the very least, his recovery would take more
time. At the worst… the ‘Gremlins’ could tear him to pieces.
But
they didn’t seem to be concerned by him at all – maybe they considered him out
of the game, she couldn’t be sure.
It was her and Gizmo they were concentrating on.
They were their quarry.
“You want a piece of us, abominations?” she
called, looking defiantly at them.
Her free hand grabbed for the large cutlass hanging from her belt; the Gremlins
snarled furiously when she brandished it, threatening them with it. It wasn’t much of a weapon, of course,
not having any sharp edges, but that, the creatures couldn’t really know. “Then come and GET US!”
She
threw the cutlass into the cables, in the direction of the Gremlins, and broke
into a run, squeezing Gizmo against her breast. Enraged by the challenge, the first of the creatures jumped
forward, avoiding the projectile with ease, and rolling into the floor to keep
the cables from electrocuting it.
The second Gremlin also passed through, but the third got caught in the dangling
cables that the cutlass had hit and sent into dangerous motion. Electricity ran through his body with an
almost blinding spark, and he squealed loudly; his two companions turned on
their heels in time to see him being fried to a crisp. They growled in anger – then turned
around, snapping in the direction taken by Destiny. whom they could see fleeing
down the middle of the corridor.
They leapt after her.
Destiny
gave a brief glance behind; she could see the two Gremlins in hot pursuit.
Good, she thought. They’ve completely dismissed Paul. That would give him all the time he needed to recover. She was, however, very aware that she
was the one in danger of being ripped apart by the horrible creatures if they
laid their hands on her. That
wasn’t a very engaging perspective.
She
reached the motionless escalator she had previously walked down. She climbed the steps as quickly as she
could, praying that she would reach the top before the Gremlins caught up with
her. She could feel their presence,
so very close.
At the
last step she turned around; just as the first Gremlin was making a leap in her
direction, roaring victoriously.
Destiny’s foot caught him under the chin in mid-air and sent him flying
down the stairs – right into the path of his companion, who barely avoided the
collision. The first Gremlin rolled
down the steps, in a concert of snarls and growls and protesting cries – the
second one continued the chase.
Destiny had taken off again.
She had
barely made two metres when the Gremlin jumped on her and landed on her back.
She was fortunate enough that the beast’s talons didn’t get through the leather
vest she was wearing for her costume.
She was, however, thrown to the floor, and barely avoided crushing the
protesting Gizmo underneath her.
How she
managed to turn around to hit the creature with her closed fist, she would never
know, but she caught him right on the nose. At the obviously painful blow, the Gremlin let go of her and
she managed to crawl away, trying to put some distance between them. She glanced back in terror in the
direction of the creature – and saw it preparing to pounce anew – and taking its
time.
That’s it… This is the end.
The
Gremlin leapt in her direction; protecting Gizmo in her arms, she gathered her
feet against herself, preparing to counter-attack.
The
lights suddenly went on in a violent, blinding flash.
A
horrible cry of pain emitted from the Gremlin as well as from Gizmo, who
instinctively burrowed deeper into Destiny’s arms, hiding under the large
sleeves of her costume. The Angel
pilot’s legs uncoiled like a spring and hit the Gremlin hard, right in the
belly. The result was rather spectacular – and
quite gruesome, as the ugly creature’s midsection seemed to suddenly explode
under the impact, covering Destiny with a disgusting green goo. Cut in two, the Gremlin fell to the
floor, horribly crying out in pain, and under the young woman’s incredulous
eyes, started… melting slowly.
What just happened? she asked herself,
shaking, and breathing hard.
Gizmo’s trembling and whimpering attracted her attention and, remembering
that bright light might hurt or even kill him, she protected him from it, the
best she could, as she pushed herself up into a sitting position.
It was
quite unnecessary, as the lights dimmed to a more normal, comfortable level –
before dying out once again.
Maintenance must be trying to re-establish
the lighting system, Destiny reflected.
Their accidental intervention was certainly in the nick of time – and welcome. Still, she would have preferred it
if the lights had stayed on…
“Gizmo…”
The
bestial voice froze Destiny, and sent a shiver down her spine. She turned her head, to see the second
Gremlin who had been pursuing her appear at the corner of the corridor, having
finally reached the top of the escalator.
“Oh no!” Gizmo uttered,
rolling frightened eyes over Destiny’s arm, in the direction of the creature who
was crouching on the floor, getting ready to jump.
“Not
again…” murmured Destiny.
“Gizmo… bye-bye!”
The
Gremlin was about to leap when a tall silhouette suddenly appeared from the
corner and kicked it violently into the wall.
The beast turned around to snarl at the newcomer – but its cries were
meaningless threats that transformed themselves into a dying shriek as a strong
arm raised Destiny’s cutlass high into the air before crashing it down violently
into the creature’s head. Even
though the cutlass’s edge was blunt, it was driven deeply through the Gremlin’s
skull and into its brain, killing it instantly.
Leaning
over the dead beast, Captain Scarlet removed the cutlass from its head and
straightened up, looking in concern at Destiny, only a few feet away, watching
with obvious disgust at the gruesome kill.
Obviously, Gizmo seemed to share the same opinion as herself.
“Oh, yuck!”
“Are
you okay?” Scarlet asked, walking briskly to the young woman. He reached to give her a hand, which she
accepted to get to her feet. He
gently took her by the arm, looking at her with concern.
She
frowned at him. “Couldn’t you just revive a bit sooner?” she asked him in an
affected tone.
He
smiled weakly. “Well, apparently
you ARE okay…” He gave an
absent-minded kick at the half melted Gremlin at his feet and wrinkled his nose
at Destiny’s appearance. “And you
also seemed to have done quite well by yourself…
You and Gizmo, that is…”
She
nearly scoffed. “I was scared half
to death. Those creatures are
evil.”
“Paul!” Gizmo then replied, with a broad
smile, apparently delighted to see him up and about. He was moving his arms
frenetically in Scarlet’s direction, perhaps in a plea for the captain to take
him. Scarlet contented himself with
scratching the small creature’s ear, making him purr with joy.
“Hi,
Giz… Good to see you’re okay.”
“Paul… Rambo!” There was something like a tone of excitement
in Gizmo’s voice as he made that declaration that caused Scarlet to look at him
with puzzlement and Destiny to chuckle.
“Yes, I
quite agree with you, Gizmo,” she said, matter-of-factly. “He
is
a regular Rambo…”
“Gremlins,” Gizmo then declared. “Gremlins… bad!”
“They
certainly are, old boy…” Scarlet’s
smile broadened. “Good to see you
and Giz are getting along well, Destiny…”
She
rolled her eyes. “Adversity makes
strange bedfellows, Captain.”
He
frowned. “That’s odd… How come
you’re not allergic, all of a sudden?”
“Who
knows? Maybe it’s Doctor Fawn’s
medicine… or I was too afraid to
concern myself with a little thing like…”
She suddenly sneezed, much to Scarlet’s surprise. “…Allergies…” She groaned in desperation and annoyance, before handing the
small Mogwai to the puzzled English captain.
“And you had to mention this, didn’t you?!”
“Sorry…” Scarlet said, with some amusement.
“Come on. Let’s not stay here, it’s
not safe.”
“Where
are we going?”
“Sickbay. Gizmo and I were on our way there when
we were attacked.”
“Wasn’t
Gizmo supposed to be dead?”
“I’ll
explain later, Juliette,” Scarlet retorted, pushing her along the corridor.
“But now is not the time, we’re too vulnerable here.
These… Gremlin creatures might fall on us without notice.”
“They
are everywhere over Cloudbase,” Destiny informed him. “They are transformed Mogwai, aren’t they?” She already knew the answer, but she had
to ask the question.
“Yes,”
Scarlet answered grimly. “And we
have to find a way to get rid of them before they kill someone – and I hope
we’re not too late.”
* * *
Symphony Angel wasn’t happy at all.
She had certainly had better moments in her life than right now.
First,
those horrible monsters had appeared out of nowhere in the Amber Room. Four of them, each uglier than the last,
green, covered with scales, with sharp claws, talons and very long teeth… They were jumping all around, taking
Lieutenant Tuscan and herself by surprise, laughing maniacally and breaking
everything they laid their hands on.
Most of the books in the bookshelves had been either completely
destroyed, half eaten away or thrown to the floor. Only one cushion from the orange-coloured sofa had survived
the continuous attacks of the creatures, who had engaged in a vicious battle of
pillow fight – taking the humans within the room as targets. Lieutenant Tuscan had been knocked
senseless when he had finally been thrown onto a glass table, which had
shattered under his weight. And if
that had not been enough, one of the creatures had used his head as a punching
bag, as if to make sure he would stay unconscious.
Symphony had tried to help him before he was killed, but a flying book
had hit her over the head, and the last thing she remembered was the carpeted
floor jumping at her face.
When
she woke up, she had no idea how long she had been unconscious; and the
situation she had found herself in had quickly dispersed the headache she was
feeling. The creatures had
installed her in the elevator seat leading to Angel One and were presently very
busy tying her down to it with whatever kind of restraints they could find. Electric cables, leather straps, a rope
from God only knew where, even a Halloween garland, all was used to securely
rope the Angel pilot into place. They were making sure she would not be able to
escape, and they were having lots of fun, laughing maniacally, as if they were
preparing a huge prank.
She had
seen Tuscan, lying in the middle of the Amber Room, trussed up like a pig, and
had heard him moaning, indicating that he was still alive. Now reassured on his state, she vented
her anger towards the creatures. At
first, Symphony had found their appearance quite repulsive and absolutely
terrifying, now she was also finding them intensely irritating.
“Come
on, you guys, this isn’t funny, anymore!
Get me out of these ropes this instant, and nobody will get hurt.”
She was
still afraid, of course, and certainly nervous. She had seen the beasts whispering between themselves, and
pointing to the activation controls that would send the seat up the tube leading
to Angel One. Except… there was no
Angel One waiting above at the moment.
Only an empty space since Rhapsody had taken off earlier.
“Come
on, let me go. I didn’t mean it
earlier… when I said you were ugly…” She heard the one closest to her hissing a
warning at her and she drew back as best she could from the sharp teeth he was
baring at her. “I didn’t mean to
hurt your feelings… You’re rather
charming… whatever you are.”
The
creature snorted indignantly and pursued his work of roping her tightly. One of the other monsters had grabbed
the helmet on the shelf next to the seat and was now putting in on, laughing
absurdly, apparently having tremendous fun.
“Hey! Leave that alone, that’s mine!” Symphony
said furiously. “You’re gonna leave
your reptilian dead skin inside!
Come on, guys, I can hardly breathe… Hey, jerk, get those filthy claws off of
me!” she suddenly snapped at the creature standing on her knees, and touching
her a little too intimately for her
taste, while making sure the ropes were nicely tight around her.
“Angel… gonna fly…” one of
the creatures snarled into her face before laughing evilly.
Symphony turned to him. He pointed
to the opening of the tube over the seat, then to one of his congeners, who,
after removing the protecting casing of the elevator seat controls, was
presently busy playing about with the wires, and seemed to be very absorbed in
what he was presently doing.
Symphony was more afraid that he actually knew very well what he was doing, than
that he didn’t. These creatures, despite their bestial
appearance, seemed to be very
intelligent… and she had no doubt that this one there
would be able to fix the controls to his liking.
“Bang! BANG!… Zoom… To the moon! Bye-bye Angel…”
All the
creatures started laughing maniacally at the good joke. Symphony opened her eyes wide with
horror. She looked up. If they were to send the
seat upward… it was a toss up
between smashing into one of the four security hatches on the way to the launch
pad or being ejected into oblivion.
In either case, she had very little chance of survival.
She turned to her tormentors in fury, kicking wildly as she did so.
“Listen, buster! You better stop
this ridiculous game and get me OUT of this seat
pronto! And I mean NOW, before I do some
real damage!”
The
creatures contented themselves with sniggering at her outburst of useless anger
and continued their evil deed. They
stopped suddenly, when a furious voice suddenly rang into the room:
“Do as
the lady says or you’re dead meat!”
All
heads turned in the same direction, and Symphony let out a sigh of deep relief.
Captain
Blue was standing just in front of the sliding door leading out to the corridor
beyond, his face grim, the top of his uniform splattered with green goo, holding
a Mysteron gun in his arms. To Symphony, he was the living image of an action
hero arriving in the nick of time.
To the Gremlins – he was nothing but a killjoy.
Two
Gremlins left Symphony, growling with anger, obviously not happy to have been
interrupted in their fun, and strode in the direction of the intruder. The Mysteron gun spat once, and hit both
the creatures in one single shot, burning them beyond recognition in seconds. All that was left of them was a puddle
of greenish grey bubbling matter on the carpet, and a smell similar to a very
bad stew burnt in the pan. Symphony
grimaced with disgust.
The two
other Gremlins, snapping with fury, jumped off Symphony’s seat and slowly walked
toward Blue; watching their approach, he removed the Mysteron gun from his
shoulders, and held the cumbersome weapon in his left hand while taking his
handgun into the right. The two
creatures launched forward; Blue ducked to avoid their claws and talons and they
literally flew over him while he rolled on the floor.
“Light,
full intensity!” he bellowed.
The
computer obeyed the order just as the Gremlins were turning around toward Blue
again. The sudden light blinded
them on the spot. Blue emptied his
gun into their repulsive bodies.
When
the creatures finally fell to the floor, in a new pond of green blood, Blue
stood up and walked toward Symphony; he crouched in front of her and proceeded
to free her from her bonds.
“Do you
know how dangerous it is to use a handgun in the Amber Room?” she admonished
him.
He
raised his blue eyes at her.
“That’s why I waited to have them in front of the door, and not in front of the
windows,” he explained with a roguish smile.
“And do you know how hard it’s been
for me to get here? I swear,
there’s dozens of those beasts running freely in the corridors.”
“How
did you know that light would hurt them?”
“They’re metamorphosed Mogwai,” Blue explained.
“I played the hunch that they would have the same vulnerability to light.
But ambient light will slow them down, apparently.
And weakens them, not kills them. I found that out, while coming over here.” He offered a bashful smile. “I was lucky the lights worked in here. Most of the lights in Cloudbase are off
or down. That’s why they can get
around so easily. And they use the
air vents.”
“That’s
how they got in here,” Symphony reflected pensively. Blue having removed sufficient ropes, she squeezed underneath
them to completely free herself.
Her fiancé helped her to her feet.
She thumped him in the chest.
“Anyway, it was about time you arrived, Svenson!” she told him with a falsely
irritated tone.
He
chuckled, and decided not to tell her about all the tribulations he had
experienced just to get to her; she didn’t need to know he had had numerous
brushes with death since he had left the Control Tower, just before the
creatures had appeared – how many of them he had encountered, and how many more
he had hidden from, before they were really too numerous for him to fight. He
contented himself with smiling.
“Check
on Tuscan,” he said instead. “I’ll
try to see if I can reach someone on the comm.link. All the communication systems around Cloudbase have been down
since the beginning of this insanity, but maybe I’ll be able to use the one in
here.”
While
Symphony was leaning over Tuscan to check on him and free him from his bonds,
Blue approached the comm.link system built into the wall. He had nearly reached it when the door
slid open; Blue came to a full stop, raising his handgun defensively.
On the
other side of the door, in a similar stance, but wearing a wizard costume that
had seen better days, Captain Ochre was aiming his gun at him, Melody Angel in
full uniform behind him. Both men
let out a sigh of relief and relaxed.
Ochre and Melody entered the room completely, and the first thing they noted was
Tuscan, whom Symphony was finishing untying, and the four dead Gremlins all over
the floor. Ochre grimaced.
“I see
you’ve been busy in here. How’s the
lieutenant?”
“Shaken, but alive,” Symphony answered.
“I suspect he may have a concussion.
Would you help me put him on the sofa in a more comfortable position, Captain?”
“Nice
costume,” Blue remarked, watching as Ochre went to give a hand to Symphony. “By any chance, did you make these
creatures appear out of thin air with your magic wand to liven up the Halloween
party?”
“If I
had, then I would gladly use that magic wand again to make them disappear,”
grumbled Ochre, carefully laying Tuscan down on the sofa. “They’re transformed Mogwai, Blue.”
“I
already figured that out,” Blue replied, turning to activate the comm.link.
“I’m trying to contact Control. I’m
just hoping that…”
He had
hardly pushed a few buttons when a crackling sound made itself heard from the
speakers and the voice of Lieutenant Green followed:
“…ber Room, this is Control on the emergency
channel… Please, answer ASAP. Amber Room, please answer…”
Blue
sighed a deep sigh of relief. “Control, this is Captain Blue in the Amber Room.
Good to hear your voice, Lieutenant!”
* * *
Doctor
Fawn woke up with a terrible headache.
The last thing he remembered was rushing out of the room where he’d been
with Magenta and Harmony, and heading towards his office. He hadn’t reached it before something
heavy had fallen on his head and knocked him unconscious. From there, it was a total blank.
He
grunted with pain and tried to stand, only to find that he was unable to. As he was also unable to make a single
move; he was lying on his back, and he could feel restraints keeping him down. That realisation made him open his eyes
instantly.
The
surrounding lights had been dimmed slightly, to a lower level than normal, but
he had no trouble recognising the background; he was in the operating theatre,
strapped down on the padded operating table.
He could see the shut-down reflectors just above him, and the table
covered with instruments by his side.
He
wondered how the hell he had ended up there, and what could be the reason he had
been tied up on this table. He
didn’t like at all the awful thoughts his situation was suggesting to his mind.
The
reflector overhead flashed open, blinding him.
He heard a growl not far from him.
“Bright light…”
The
reflector shut down and Fawn blinked, trying to dispel the dark dots the
all-too-sudden bright light had left on his eyes. He grunted in annoyance.
“Who’s
there?” he called in an authoritative voice.
He felt
movement by his side and turned his head around. To open his eyes wide in astonishment.
The
living, spitting image of the creature he had seen on Magenta’s computer screen
was there beside him, balancing on the backrest of a chair, looking at him with
an evil glitter in its eyes, its mouth widening into an horrible, cruel grin.
It was wearing Fawn’s white coat, and a surgical mask was hanging loosely around
its neck.
“Patient ready, doctor…” it
said, in that husky, throaty voice Fawn had heard earlier. He shivered when another creature
entered his vision, wearing a similar coat, but having put it on the wrong way. It jumped onto the table and
looked down into Fawn’s horrified face.
It could easily have bitten off the physician’s nose if it had wanted to. Instead, it raised a skeletal hand and
almost delicately grazed Fawn’s neck with a very sharp claw. Fawn gave the impression of wanting the
table to swallow him, so hard was he trying to draw away from the dangerous
claw. The scaly hand was
brightly-coloured, rough to the touch and cold – like a serpent.
Fawn’s heart was thumping with fear.
One swift gesture and the creature would slit his throat; he fought not
to swallow hard.
The
hand left his neck and the Gremlin stood up, to turn to its companion. “Prepare patient for surgery…” Fawn felt a shiver going through his
spine, and paled horribly when he saw the first Gremlin pick up a lancet from
the instrument tray and examine it with attention, testing the edge with its
finger. The creature cut itself,
and growled with irritation; dark green blood appeared on the tip of his finger.
“Better get the dynamite…” The joke made the
two creatures laughed heartily, with a deep, maniacal laugh that sounded
terribly ominous to Fawn. He
struggled, trying to get free. It
was useless.
“No,
please… let me go.”
The
creature standing on the chair put the lancet down and started to play with
surgical scissors. As for the other
Gremlin, nearly over Fawn’s head, it chose a laser scalpel and activated it. It seemed fascinated by the red point
which appeared at the tip and pointed it onto the operating table… only an inch
from Fawn’s head. The latter saw
with horror the deep cut the laser burned onto the padded surface. The Gremlins growled with approval.
“Yessssss…”
Oh God, thought Fawn when
he saw the scalpel slowly approaching his face. He struggled anew.
The scaly hand came to rest on his forehead, pressing it down forcefully to keep
him still, while another hand rose over his face, playing with the button
activating the laser scalpel. Fawn
opened horrified eyes.
“HELP!” he bellowed at the top of his lungs,
closing his eyes against the terrifying vision.
“SOMEBODY, PLEASE HELP ME!”
Only
the bestial snigger of the Gremlins answered him and he opened his eyes again;
the one holding the scalpel was looking down into him with a cruel expression.
It seemed very satisfied to cause such a panic in the physician and it was
apparently taking its time with him.
And there was no doubt in Fawn’s mind: the creature was intending to torture him
properly before killing him.
Fawn
gasped when he caught sight of a very peculiar dark spot he could see between
the creature’s large ears. He recognised it instantly, and knew who this Gremlin was.
“Quincy?!”
“Doctor
Quincy…” the creature growled evilly. He started laughing again. Now, he had his vengeance at hand. He would show the doctor what it meant
to be probed and examined like a real
lab rat. He raised his scalpel again and smiled evilly. Fawn’s eyes grew wider with terror.
“Let go
of me! Please don’t do that… HELP!”
Fawn’s
incessant screams seemed to finally irritated the Gremlins and the one standing
on the chair jumped astride ‘the patient’, to push a piece of cloth deep into
his mouth. Fawn thrashed, tried to
resist, to spit out the improvised gag, but he was also concerned with the
creatures’ sharp claws so dangerously close to his throat, and the laser scalpel
which was coming down once again…
…Getting dangerously close to his face.
Fawn
could do nothing more than watch with bated breath, his heart beating wildly.
He started to feel the heat on the skin of his cheek.
The
doors slid open suddenly.
“Let
him go!”
The
laser moved away from Fawn’s face and he breathed a deep breath of relief.
Quincy
and his companion turned with angry growls to face those who had dared to
interrupt their operation. Captain
Magenta and Harmony Angel were standing in the doorway, looking with
stupefaction at the scene that had revealed itself to their eyes. Magenta was about to make use of his
sidearm when the Gremlin wearing Fawn’s coat threw a very sharp scalpel at him. It missed him by an hair and embedded
itself in the wall, right next to the captain’s shoulder. A second after, the two Gremlins were leaping at their new
prey. They aimed straight at Magenta, probably
considering that his gun was a direct threat to them, disregarding the petite
and apparently non-threatening Harmony.
Magenta’s shot went wide when the first creature pounced onto him and
pulled him down; the second one – Quincy – went for the Irishman’s throat…
Ignoring Harmony was the creatures’ biggest mistake.
Her fist caught Quincy’s head with a violence that stunned the Gremlin
and stopped him in his leap. Quincy
stepped back, growling with anger, narrowing his eyes at the young woman who was
taking a calm, defensive pose in front of him. Roaring with fury, he leapt again at her, but she was no
longer where he had anticipated.
She had just slipped underneath him and was now standing right next to the
operating table where Doctor Fawn lay; realising where she had gone, Quincy
turned on himself, all claws out, snarling.
Harmony grabbed the large reflector over the table and powered it up to its full
intensity, flashing the light right into the Gremlin’s eyes. Quincy stopped in his tracks and backed
way, hissing. Harmony took
advantage of his hesitation and spun on herself to aim a violent kick at the
Gremlin’s face. It didn’t have
quite the effect she expected when she saw the entire head explode in a
spectacular fashion, sending bit of viscous yellow goo all around the place.
In the
meantime, Magenta was having difficulty keeping his opponent’s fangs and claws
away from his throat. The
Gremlin’s talons were tearing into his tunic, and he was lucky that it was so
thick, for it saved him from deep, painful cuts.
His arm was pinned down; it was completely impossible to raise it to use
his gun on the creature who only wanted to kill him.
A hand,
with a sleeve wearing the Spectrum insignia, came into his view and grabbed the
creature by its skeletal neck; the Gremlin was forcefully thrown away from
Magenta, who then was able to raise his gun and pull the trigger several times.
Hit by each bullet, the creature howled in pain and collapsed like a felled
tree.
Panting, Magenta let himself fall on his back and looked up at the man standing
over him. “Scarlet… You arrived
just in time. Thank you…”
Captain
Scarlet grinned and produced his hand to help Magenta to his feet. By the English captain’s side Destiny
Angel was standing, wearing elegant buccaneer attire, with very large sleeves. She had removed the leather vest
that went with the costume, and was holding it bundled up in her arms. Magenta smiled at her.
“Very
nice,” he said with an approving nod.
“I see you were planning to have a little fun at the party tonight…”
She
scoffed. “Not exactly the kind of
fun we’re presently having…”
A
muffled call attracted their attention toward the operation table, and they
approached swiftly, as Harmony, leaning over Doctor Fawn, removed the piece of
cloth he had in his mouth. He spat
the rest of it out, and took a deep gasp of breath; obviously he had nearly
choked on the gag.
“Get me
the hell out of these restraints!” he called loudly.
“Hey,
Doctor, are you all right?” Scarlet
asked, as he moved in to help Harmony free the physician. “Looks like you’ve had a bad time…”
“It was
about to get a whole blasted lot worse when you all arrived!” Fawn declared gruffly, quickly sitting
up as soon as he was able to. “They
were about to cut me open like next Christmas’s turkey… I swear, I’ve never been so afraid in my entire life!” He threw away from him the remnant of
the straps and jumped down from the table.
Right away, his eyes fell on Scarlet’s blood-soaked tunic – and the rips
in Magenta’s. “You two have been
hurt,” he worried. “I have to check
you out right away.”
“You
can’t take the doctor out of the man,” Scarlet noted with a broad smile. “Don’t bother with me, Doctor… It’s already healed. But maybe Magenta needs a little iodine
on those cuts of his…”
“Iodine?!” Magenta protested. “I
think I would need more than that…”
A
cooing sound interrupted him before he could say more. Turning to Destiny, he saw the bundle
she was carrying move slightly; he almost jumped when he saw a small white paw
pushing aside a fold of leather to show a little scowling face, surrounded by
brown and white fur.
“That’s
another one of these creatures!”
“Take
it easy, it’s only Gizmo,” Scarlet replied.
“And he’s not ‘one of those creatures’.
He’s still a Mogwai.”
“Gizmo?!” Magenta repeated with surprise.
“Isn’t he supposed to be dead?”
“Uh-uh,” Gizmo uttered, shaking his head.
“Well,
apparently he’s not,” Scarlet said with a fond smile, reaching to scratch the
little Mogwai’s head under the leather.
He was rewarded by a low purring sound.
“Are
you sure?” Fawn demanded in a suspicious tone.
“I mean… maybe we should
check him with a Mysteron detector or something…”
He offered an embarrassed smile, seeing the odd way Scarlet was glaring
at him. “Just to make sure,” he
added. “Too many strange things
have been happening lately…”
“Of
course, Doc, put your mind to rest,” Scarlet replied quietly. “In the meantime, we’d better find a
safe place and secure ourselves, in case those creatures…”
“Gremlins,” Magenta corrected.
“Gremlins,” Gizmo confirmed
with his little voice. “Gremlins, bad.”
Scarlet
looked over to Magenta.
“Apparently, you’ve been making some progress with your research.”
Magenta
sighed. “More than you think. Come on, we’ll be better in Doctor
Fawn’s office. And there’s an
intercom working there that we can use to contact the Control Room. I’m sure the colonel will want to talk to you.”
“Is
everyone all right in the Tower?” Scarlet asked.
“Last I
heard… Everyone onboard is
safe. Although – Angel One has
crashed.”
“Angel
One…?” Scarlet paled. If he wasn’t mistaken, Rhapsody was on
Angel One duty; he felt suddenly very worried for his beloved Angel, and his
heart missed a beat. “Is Rhapsody…”
“Rhapsody is all right,” Magenta added quickly, noticing the sudden alarmed
expression on his colleague’s face, but apparently not noting the extent of his
concern. “There were two Gremlins onboard her
craft and she put it into a dive herself to get rid of them, before ejecting.
She touched down safely and is now waiting for someone to go and pick her up.”
Scarlet
let out a deep sigh of relief.
Magenta continued:
“If you
ask me, she’s the lucky one among all of us. All levels of Cloudbase have been
invaded by these Gremlins.
Maintenance can barely repair one system – temporarily – before another one fails. At this rate, we’ll be in deep trouble –
really deep trouble – very soon.”
“So we
have to find a way to get rid of these Gremlins,” Scarlet reflected.
Magenta
slowly nodded his head, grimly.
“Yeah. And we got to do this fast.”
“Killing a fly with a cannon? (Maybe not…)”
“Mysteron tests on the Mogwai proved negative, Colonel.
The little guy really is Gizmo.”
Despite
the increased problems imposed by the Gremlins tampering with the communication
system, Lieutenant Green was able to set up a three-way audio-visual conference
between the Control Room, Sickbay and the Amber Room on the emergency channel.
The three groups of officers from Cloudbase senior staff had now been able to
exchange full information about the ‘invasion’, and were hoping to come up with
an effective strategy to get rid of the Gremlins.
Needless to say that nearly everyone who already didn’t know about it had been
shocked to learn that the Gremlins’ presence on board was obviously part of a
threat from the Mysterons to damage Cloudbase’s activities and ultimately
destroy the base and kill everyone onboard.
“That’s a good thing to know,” Colonel
White answered to Captain Scarlet’s report.
“That little Mogwai must live as charmed a life as yourself, Captain. Any idea how he can possibly have
escaped death?”
“Apparently, Colonel,” Doctor Fawn explained from behind Scarlet, “we all made a
mistake in assuming it was Gizmo’s burned remains we found in the auxiliary Room
of Sleep. I made further analysis
just now. The genetic encoding is very similar, of
course… but there are tiny differences that suggest that ‘the victim’ was a
second generation Mogwai. The first
batch to come from Gizmo. And
amongst which was Midget.”
“Midget,” Gizmo, seated on
Doctor Fawn’s desk in front of the radio, confirmed. Harmony hushed him gently, but Colonel White didn’t seem to
mind the interruption that much.
“Midget
was always with Gizmo,” Fawn continued, looking at the small animal. “It’s possible he simply followed him
into the air vent and through to the Room of Sleep.
Then, when there was that short-circuit that overloaded the lighting
systems… Gizmo was able to get out…
probably through the same vent… but
not Midget.”
“He
would be one of the Mogwai unaccounted for when they started their pupal phase,”
Magenta reflected.
A faint
sneeze coming from behind him nearly interrupted the conversation. Destiny had tried to be discreet, but
had obviously failed; she smiled in an embarrassed way when Harmony offered her
a whole box of Kleenex.
“Sorry,
allergies are coming back,” she said, sniffing into one handkerchief.
“Remind
me to give you stronger medication,” Fawn informed her.
“I’m very glad that Gizmo is clean and that
the mystery of his ‘death’ has been solved,” the voice of
Captain Blue then said from the Amber Room.
“But, I’m sorry to say, that
doesn’t help us much with our present problem. We have a whole bunch of his congeners – who’ve grown
claws and fangs – running around on all levels of Cloudbase.”
“We must get rid of them before they cause
untold damage,” White agreed.
“They don’t seem to have reached
the engine controls so far, but it’s only a question of time.”
“And
when they do, and tamper with the engines… we’ll be in even DEEPER trouble,”
Scarlet reflected.
“We have not been able to contact the
Engine room control centre,” White continued. “Nor the wheelhouse. I fear the Gremlins might be on their way there as
we speak. ”
“How
can we get rid of those pests, before it’s too late?” Scarlet questioned. He
turned to Magenta, whom he now knew had found some information on Worldnet. “What did that book tell you about
Gremlins’ weaknesses?”
“The
Gremlins have the same weaknesses as Mogwai,” Magenta explained. “Bright light will hurt them, sunlight
will even kill them, but ambient light won’t. Maybe the carapace now covering
their bodies offers them better protection, because they don’t seem to be as
vulnerable to it as the Mogwai.
Yet, it will slow them down – their eyes are still sensitive to the light – and
maybe weaken them. Depending of the
intensity and the time of exposure, it might melt their armour, skin and bones –
making them more vulnerable to blows.”
“They’re vulnerable to electricity too,”
Blue piped up at that moment. “I’ve been using an electron gun against a
number of them.”
“And
fire and explosions will also destroy them,” Magenta added.
“We
can’t run around Cloudbase with Mysteron guns, lamps and clubs to kill them one
by one,” Scarlet retorted grimly.
“We’ll be at it for ages…”
“Not to mention that they might multiply
again any time they wish by simply finding water,” White added.
“They
seem to be having too much… fun… at the moment to be considering that
possibility,” Captain Magenta then said.
“That’s the Gremlins’ main aim in their existence: having fun, by tampering with things –
and making others’ lives miserable.”
“Would they consider not tampering with the
engines if they know that if Cloudbase crashes, it would kill them too?”
“They
might be very intelligent, but they’re too self-centred in their ‘fun’ and too
unimaginative to be concerned for their own well-being, Colonel. I’m afraid they won’t care.”
“Damn.”
“Beside, they might not realise Cloudbase’s
capacity as a hovering craft,” Captain Ochre
pointed out.
“Even if they do, that might not make a
difference, Captain,” the voice of Symphony noted.
“If they’re anything like the Gremlins of World War II…”
Scarlet
frowned. “We’re dealing with
reality here, not with legends, Symphony…”
“Captain, how are we to know that there
really weren’t any of those creatures at the time? Apparently, Mogwai and Gremlins have been around for
centuries, if we are to believe Captain Magenta’s findings.”
“I think we’d better concentrate on our own
problems right now,” Colonel White retorted at that moment.
“Captain Scarlet is right. We
can’t go chasing them around Cloudbase to kill them one by one. We need to destroy them in one single
blow.”
“How about we cut the air system and
asphyxiate them?” suggested Ochre.
“If all personnel onboard equipped themselves with oxygen masks… we’ll be safe
and they’ll die.”
“No,”
Magenta said, shaking his head.
“Mogwai and Gremlins can live a certain amount of time without air. Remember how Gizmo came on-base, in a
box with no ventilation holes?
Beside, there’s always the risk that we won’t be able to reach every single
member of the crew to instruct them about the breathing apparatus… The communication system is still not
fully operational.”
“Neither is the lighting,” Blue
reflected. “And besides, it’s not bright enough, even at full intensity, to kill
them all. So that’s another solution out.”
“Sunlight may kill them, right?” Scarlet noted.
“Maybe if we can gather them to a place where sunlight will touch them…
a room with a lot of windows… Like the Amber Room or the Promenade
Deck?”
“That’s an idea,” White
approved. “The Promenade Deck would be large enough for them all. But how to get
them there would be difficult. How
could we herd them all in the same direction?
That seems impossible.”
“Is
there something that might serve as bait for the Gremlins?” Scarlet asked,
turning to Magenta.
The
Irish captain shrugged, apparently not being able to present a very helpful
answer to this question. Everyone
looked a little deterred by his silence.
“They like to eat anything,”
grumbled Melody. “Maybe we can leave a long trail of food from everywhere in Cloudbase,
leading to the Promenade Deck…”
“Right,” answered Ochre
doubtfully. “Like M&Ms candies?”
“M&Ms?” Fawn said with a
frown.
“Or Smarties,” Blue
answered. “Chocolate pastilles, covered with a coloured candy shell…All different
colours…”
“You mean, we’d do like in that old movie,
with that cute, kind little alien?” Symphony asked.
“The people who made that movie certainly
never imagined that the ‘aliens’ we would meet would be anything BUT kind,” Melody
retorted. “Neither are those Gremlins ‘cute’.”
“Let’s
try to be serious,” Scarlet said in annoyance, about a second before Colonel
White could call his troops to order.
“There’s certainly something that might interest those Gremlins enough for them
to follow the trail without getting
distracted.”
“Gizmo.” That answer was followed by a loud sneeze and a sniff. Everyone turned their attention to
Destiny, standing a little behind – even Gizmo, who, at the mention of his name,
was raising attentive ears. The
French pilot wiped her nose delicately, and pointed to the Mogwai, addressing
Scarlet. “Those three Gremlins that chased us
when I found you – they were after him.”
“Maybe
they were after both of you,” Fawn retorted.
“We all seemed to have become their prey.”
“No,
she might be right,” Magenta said.
“Remember what I said about minority Mogwai? How they’re hated by the majority Mogwai? Well, Gremlins hate them just the same. And even more. Because they would consider a minority Mogwai a threat to
their existence.” He looked at
Gizmo intently. “They will try to
kill him. Because they know that a minority Mogwai will try to destroy the
monstrosities they have become, at all costs.”
“Our cute, gentle, little Gizmo?” Symphony
retorted with a dubious tone. “He wouldn’t stand a chance against those
vicious beasts!”
“Oh, I
think there’s more than meets the eye concerning our ‘cute, gentle, little
Gizmo’,” Magenta said with a smile, reaching to scratch the Mogwai behind the
ears.
Scarlet
scowled, before turning to address Magenta.
“So you suggest we use Gizmo as bait, to attract the Gremlins to where we
want them?”
“I’m
pretty sure they will go after him,” Magenta confirmed with a nod.
Scarlet
seemed reluctant; he looked down at the Mogwai. “I don’t know… That might put him at risk…”
“He
already took a similar risk in the past, Scarlet.”
Scarlet
frowned. “What do you mean?”
“According to Peltzer’s book, he played a
vital role in the destruction of the Gremlins, in Kingston Falls… as well as on
another occasion, apparently. You
were quite the little trooper, weren’t you, Gizmo?”
“Gizmo Rambo,” the
Mogwai answered, with a proud tone in his small voice. That caused everyone to laugh.
“Scarlet, I believe you have found a kindred spirit,” Doctor Fawn remarked,
chuckling. “No wonder the two of
you get along so well.”
“You
want to do that, Giz?” Scarlet asked uncertainly. “You want to help us get rid
of the Gremlins?”
Gizmo
seemed to consider the question; there was no doubt in anybody’s mind that he
understood most of what was been said to him.
“Gremlins bad,” he
declared solemnly. “Gizmo good boy.” And he continued in a rapid foreign language, so
quickly that it was practically impossible to follow him. All heads turned to Harmony, wondering
if she could make out what he was saying.
She shook her head.
“It is
not completely clear, but it sounds like he’s saying that it is his
responsibility to help us against the Gremlins.”
“Brave
little chap,” Scarlet said. He gave a sigh and looked pensively at the Mogwai.
“I could take him with me. And walk the corridors to attract the
Gremlins’ attention… And then when
they chase me, I can lead them to the Promenade Deck.”
“But we only have ONE Mogwai,” Captain
Blue then noted. “And there’s still dozens of Gremlins spread all over Cloudbase… You can’t be everywhere, Scarlet.”
“We can make a recording of Gizmo’s singing,”
Harmony suggested. “And distribute
copies via radio to any available Cloudbase personnel… With the recordings playing in strategic
places all over the base, the Gremlins will think that there’s a Mogwai nearby
and will try to find him…”
“Through the speakers?”
Lieutenant Green asked, sounding dubious that it would work. If we’re just broadcasting a recording, how
will the Gremlins know that Gizmo is going to the Promenade Deck? They will just
go nuts trying to find him wherever they hear his voice…”
“No, I mean… we could have
people in the corridors, carrying a recording device and playing the song.”
“They’ll be chasing the recording,” Scarlet approved.
“And that will lead them right to me and Gizmo.”
“Hope we’ve got some Olympic sprinters on
board,” muttered Captain Ochre. “Our people will have to be quick on their feet to keep their distance
from the Gremlins.”
“We could set up a relay between personnel – so to keep out of reach of
the Gremlins,” Harmony continued.
“You mean – like passing the baton?” Destiny asked, sniffing into her
handkerchief.
“Something like that, yes.”
“Yes… a ‘relay race’ could give us the
shadow of a chance,” Colonel White agreed.
“Let’s make this more convincing,”
suggested Captain Blue. “Let’s put the players into sports bags, and stuff the bag to make
believe Gizmo is hiding inside. So
if the Gremlins actually see our runners, they’ll really believe they have
Gizmo. They won’t think anything of
him being carried in a sports bag.”
“Astute idea,” Colonel
White admitted. “We’ll have to choose our
runners carefully. The end of the
race should bring all the Gremlins to where Captain Scarlet will be positioned.”
“Then I’ll be able to lead them to the
Promenade Deck and we’ll be able to trap them all there.”
“Right,” Captain Blue
declared. “What if they arrive after sunrise? They might see the light and not enter.”
“The
Promenade Deck is equipped with sun-shields that are lowered during the day when
ultraviolet rays are dangerous,” Scarlet remarked. “We could lower them just
while our friends are going in…
And then raise the shields and let the sunlight do its stuff.”
“The
panels take an awful long time to raise,” Captain Blue pointed out. “Some of those Gremlins might have time to
escape, find water AGAIN, and we’ll be right back where we started.”
“Except
that this time, full grown GREMLINS would be born,” Magenta corrected. “Not
Mogwai.”
“We
have water on the Promenade Deck,” Fawn pointed out. “Remember the misting system over the plants? And the fountains?”
“We’ll
have to ask Maintenance to cut water to the Promenade Deck,” Scarlet suggested.
“If
it’s possible. And praying the
Gremlins won’t be able to work out how
to get the water running again before we destroy them.”
“And we’re still a few hours from dawn,” said
Colonel White with a sigh. “Getting them
there might not do us any good then.
And time is against us.”
“Perhaps there’s another way to get rid of them once they’re on the Promenade
Deck,” Scarlet murmured, pensively.
“But… that might be risky.”
“At this point, I think we don’t have much
choice, Captain.”
“It
might mean damaging the Promenade Deck,” Scarlet added carefully.
Colonel
White took a deep intake of air.
His face on the videoscreen displayed curiosity, suspicion – and worry.
“What do you have in mind, exactly?”
* * *
“Scarlet’s plan is not only risky… It’s downright crazy!”
“Do you
have a BETTER IDEA for us to get out of this mess, Ochre?”
Captain
Ochre scowled under Blue’s admonition.
Keeping himself from grumbling, he continued to follow his fellow captain
and Symphony Angel, as they were making their way toward the Engine Room control
centre. Less than half an hour earlier – after the last details of Scarlet’s
plan had been carefully polished, they had left the Amber Room, armed with hand
guns and a Mysteron gun, and Ochre carrying a small sports bag.
“There
doesn’t seem to be any other way to get rid of those pests,” Symphony remarked
in turn. “I don't think we have any
choice…”
“Yeah,
but… do we really have to go as far as
to actually plan an Angel attack on the Promenade Deck?”
Blue
sighed. That did sound rather rash,
of course, but as Symphony had pointed out, they didn’t have much of a choice.
Cloudbase was being destroyed little by little, and people were being hurt.
So White had reluctantly agreed to Scarlet’s plan. Time was against them, and the Gremlins
could at any moment reach a vital part of Cloudbase. They might already have done so, they had realised, when,
trying to contact the Engine Room control centre, they found that nobody was
answering – even though they were certain that radio-communication had been
re-established.
That
was an inconvenient setback, because it was crucial that someone was at the
helm, in order for the operation to succeed.
The
plan was indeed ‘downright crazy’, to use Ochre’s words. The herding of all the Gremlins up to
the Promenade Deck was already hazardous in itself. Blowing out the Promenade Deck windows with an Angel strike
to cause a depressurisation so that the creatures would be sucked out… well,
that might put all of Cloudbase in deadly peril.
The sudden decompression could send a violent shockwave throughout the
base, that would shake it, send it out of control, or into a dive and cause it
to break up. In order to
avoid all those dangers, various steps needed to be taken. Pressure would have to be lowered inside the Promenade Deck,
and it would have to be completely sealed, once the Gremlins were inside – since
they needed little air to breathe, it was likely they wouldn’t notice any
difference in their environment.
The missiles the Angels would use had to detonate outside the windows, at a
pre-calculated distance, with a very precisely-calibrated charge, so to shatter
the windows but not cause any damage to the structure. That sector of the Tower would
have to be evacuated, and all the other windows on that side would need to be
protected by the anti-blast security shields, sliding in front of them. Lieutenant Green and a team of
technicians had already worked to find a way to override the security system on
the Promenade Deck – so the sun-shields would open once the Gremlins were
inside, even though the other windows would still be covered.
To
minimise the damage, Cloudbase needed to be brought down at least a good twenty
thousand feet below its present position, and the helmsmen would have to
expertly operate the helm when the Promenade Deck windows were blasted away and
the decompression made the base unstable.
And since there was no way to be sure if there was indeed someone inside the Engine Room control centre, or if
they’d be in any state to man the helm, then someone else would have to go –
someone who would be able to operate the helm if the two on-duty helmsmen were
not able to.
Those
‘someones’ were Captain Blue and Symphony Angel.
The
sports bag Ochre was carrying contained a player with Gizmo’s singing on it, and
had been stuffed to make believe the Mogwai was hiding inside. All over
Cloudbase – in the Control Tower, all the levels of the main deck, the upper
deck and the engine nacelles – numerous security guards, reached by radio over
the last few minutes, were now equipped with similar ‘bait bags’ and had started
using them with the recording of the Mogwai’s song – to herd the Gremlins –
following the already drawn plan.
Blue and Symphony were taking advantage of the fact that the Gremlins who might
be in the area they were currently passing through would be distracted and would
follow the ‘bait bag’ – with Ochre able to provide further diversion if they
should encounter Gremlins in the Engine Room control centre.
Each
team had its own work to do. Colonel White and Lieutenant Green stayed in the
Control Room, to supervise the operation and make sure all would go like
clockwork – they knew there was no room for mistakes, and they would make sure
that there weren’t any. Lieutenant
Green had rigged radiocaps and personal
radios to the emergency channel, so every team would be linked with the Control
Room, leaving the Colonel and himself in total control of every move that would
be made by each team.
Captain Grey’s team were to herd the Gremlins
who had invaded the many levels of the Control Tower; Destiny was leading
another team of security guards, assigned to sickbay and the sports centre, also
equipped with bait bags. Magenta had escorted Harmony to the Amber Room, where
Melody Angel was waiting. Having
made sure that both Angel Two and Angel Three were Gremlin-free, Magenta had
permitted the two pilots to take their places onboard their jets, and wait for
the order to take-off. Both women
were conscious they were to play one of the most vital roles in the operation –
and one of the most dangerous.
Magenta had made sure the access tubes to their craft were safely sealed before
leaving with his own team in search of Gremlins to attract with their bait bag.
Technicians all over Cloudbase were also ready
to act at a second’s notice, turning the lights on as soon as the Gremlins left
a spot to follow the bait bag – making sure that they won’t be compelled to turn
back – this way, ‘showing the way’ to the creatures.
As for
Captain Scarlet, he had left sickbay, using the main access corridor of Deck C,
with a backpack filled with equipment, and Gizmo safely stashed in a sports bag
similar to those used as bait bags, and was walking in the direction of the
starboard pylon leading to the Control Tower.
He
would be the one leading all the
Gremlins up to the Promenade Deck, and then trapping them inside.
His was
certainly a place that nobody else would want to trade with, and everybody was
aware of the risks he was taking; Blue like everyone else. He hated it when Scarlet took risks like
this. But then again, he was the
one with the best chance of surviving, once he found himself trapped inside the
Promenade Deck and the windows were blown away…
“We’re
approaching the Engine Room control centre.”
Hearing
the whisper from Symphony, Blue became instantly alert. Now wasn’t the time to daydream and make
mistakes. Carefully, the team approached the
closed doors leading into the control centre; surveillance cameras had been
rendered ineffective earlier, probably, they suspected, by a Gremlins attack –
so they didn’t quite know for sure what to expect.
Although they had a pretty good idea.
They gathered around the porthole and glanced inside the room, all the
while keeping a lookout for any incoming enemy from the corridors.
They
could see two still bodies, lying on the floor in front of the control consoles,
each wearing a bloodied Spectrum uniform; there were at least five Gremlins in
the room, playing with the dials of the huge consoles, amusing themselves with
breaking the flashing lights on the many panels – and biting into exposed wires,
efficiently cutting them in two. Fortunately, the computerised controls were self-sufficient,
and if circuits were damaged, the computer would re-route every program and
operation into auxiliary systems – many times over, until repairs were made. So far, any damage done by the Gremlins
had been countered that way; but Blue didn’t want to wait to find out how long
the controls would be able to keep on re-routing their programming.
He
lowered his cap microphone. “Captain Blue to Control,” he whispered, his eyes
fixed on the Gremlins’ antics.
“Have arrived without trouble at Point H.
Gremlin invasion as expected.”
“S.I.G., Captain Blue,” came
the voice of Lieutenant Green. “Any trace of the helmsmen?”
“Lieutenants Peach and Purple are lying on the floor.
They seemed to be wounded, but from this angle, I can’t be sure if
they’re alive.” He addressed a
glance toward Ochre who, understanding his mute question, nodded briefly. Blue returned to his mic. “Captain Ochre
will now attempt diversion manoeuvre as planned. Stay tuned for report.”
“S.I.G.”
His mic
returning to his cap, Blue turned to Ochre once more. “Give us two minutes to get into
hiding,” he demanded with a faint smile.
“Sure,”
Ochre replied. “Just be sure to
remember me if I drop the ball…”
Blue
patted his shoulder encouragingly and Symphony planted a light kiss on his
cheek; that made him smile a little, and reminded him of Melody, who was waiting
for her signal to take off in Angel Three. He watched as Blue and Symphony moved away from the door, and
went into hiding in a brightly-lit corridor, in the direction opposite to the
one Ochre would need to take. When
he was sure they were out of the way and out of view, Ochre lowered his cap
microphone and straightened up.
“Getting ready for diversion manoeuvre, Lieutenant,” he whispered. He pressed the button to open the door
of the Engine Room control centre.
At
first, the Gremlins didn’t seem to notice him standing in the doorway, so busy
were they with breaking things.
Ochre whistled loudly, to attract their attention.
“Hey,
uglies!”
They
turned around in surprise; Ochre had surreptitiously activated the player inside
the bag and now the muffled notes of
‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’ were heard from it. Ochre smiled wickedly.
“I
believe I have something you want…”
The
Gremlins snarled and Ochre punched the door control, closing it before breaking
into a run in the dark corridor. He
had barely reached the end of the corridor than the Gremlins had opened the
doors, spotted him and started chasing him.
“Operation diversion has succeeded,” Ochre breathed into his mic, for
Lieutenant Green’s attention. “Am
presently leading five angry and hungry Gremlins to the next rendezvous point!”
“S.I.G., Captain Ochre. Spare your breath.
You’re going to need it.”
Ochre
nearly rolled his eyes. Spare your breath? You’re the one who’s
safely seated in front of your controls, Green…
He
pushed the volume button of his player to the maximum, making sure that it would
keep the Gremlins’ attention. He didn’t want them to come too close, but at the
same time, he didn’t want to lose them…
God, I will grow to detest that song…
* * *
As soon
as Ochre had disappeared from view, the corridor leading to the Engine Control
Centre and the room itself became brightly lit, and Captain Blue and Symphony
Angel left their hiding place.
They entered the room, closed and locked the door behind them, and first
went to check on both Lieutenants Peach and Purple.
“Captain Blue to Control Room,” Blue announced, lowering his cap mic again. “Symphony and I are now in the Engine
Control Centre. Peach and Purple
are alive, but badly shaken. They’ll live, but they should receive medical
attention, as soon as possible.”
“S.I.G., Captain Blue. Take your position at the twin helms,
and get ready for Phase Two of operation.”
“S.I.G. Come on, Symphony,” Blue said, rising to
his feet. “They’ll be okay for now. We have a job to do.”
“You
think Ochre will be able to outrun those Gremlins?” Symphony asked as they both
moved before the twin helms. “He
took an enormous risk, coming so close to them to attract their attention.”
“I
wouldn’t worry about Ochre, if I were you,” Blue said with a faint smile. “He’s so full of wind, he could outrun a
cheetah.” She glared warningly at
him, but he pretended not to notice.
“Ready?” he asked instead, taking hold of the rudder in front of him.
Symphony’s hands took hold of hers and she breathed out a deep sigh. “This is far bigger than any plane I
ever flew…”
“Getting cold feet?”
“Me? I
wouldn’t trade my place with anyone else!”
“Me
neither. And there’s nobody else I
would rather do this with than you.”
Symphony’s smile broadened, matching her lover’s.
“That’s so nice of you, Big Blue…”
She cleared her throat. Time to get
down to business… “Ready when you are.”
Blue
pushed a button on his controls and Symphony did the same. Then he lowered his cap mic once again.
“Blue Team to Control. Phase Two
has begun. Cloudbase has engaged
descent…”
* * *
“Angels Two and Three… Immediate launch!”
“S.I.G.!” came the combined answer from Harmony and Melody following Lieutenant
Green’s order. The catapults
propelled both Angel interceptors into the sky.
They both started circling Cloudbase in dual formation.
“Maintain descent with Cloudbase within 500
metre radius,” instructed Lieutenant Green.
“We’ll be reaching 15,000 feet in approximately ten minutes. Get ready for immediate attack upon order. Harmony Angel will be Angel Leader and
will lead first attack.”
“Angel Leader to
Control. S.I.G.,” Harmony answered.
She was feeling nervous – and at the same time, honoured to be bestowed such a
task. Gizmo had been sent to her as her responsibility.
That made the Gremlins her responsibility as well.
It was only fitting that it would be for her to deal the fatal blow that
would destroy them.
But
that also meant firing on Cloudbase – and
that
was certainly making her a little uneasy.
What if she were to miss? Or
worse yet, make a direct hit that would destroy the Tower?
“Are you okay, Harmony?”
Harmony
was drawn out of her reverie by Melody’s deep drawl, which she could hear over
the speakers of her helmet. She
smiled faintly, almost to herself.
“I am
okay. I am just a little tense. The attack will have to be a very
precise one if the operation is to succeed.”
“You’ll be all right, Harmony. You are the best pilot amongst us.”
“You
keep telling me that,” Harmony said with a fond smile. “I often wonder if you know how good you
are, all of you.”
“OF COURSE, we’re good,” Melody
laughed. “We wouldn’t be in Spectrum if we weren’t!”
Harmony
sighed deeply, settling herself comfortably at the helm and watching Cloudbase
intently, as she was slowly losing height – both interceptors following her
descent.
“I
suppose we’ll soon have an occasion to really prove it,” she murmured to
herself.
* * *
Captain
Ochre emerged from the corridor leading out of Engineering right next to the
helicopter hangar; right behind him, the Gremlins’ numbers had enlarged
considerably. Not only had he
encountered eight more of them along the way since leaving the Engine Control
Centre, but he had also run into Lieutenant Saffron, himself chased by ten
creatures coming from the high deck.
The out-of-breath Saffron having taken refuge in the room housing the Spectrafan
hydraulic system, it fell to Ochre to attract all the Gremlins’ attention and to
continue the race.
“Jackson!” Ochre skidded to an halt at the corner of the corridor, momentarily
out of view from the Gremlins chasing him.
“Catch!” He literally threw his bag at the tall black Spectrum corporal standing
at the other end of the walkway.
Jackson caught the bag, exactly as if it had been a football, and nearly let it
go. “Don’t drop it!” Ochre said in
a half whisper, gesticulating wildly.
“Run!”
Ochre
threw himself behind the nearest door – the Bursar’s office – just in time to
avoid being seen by the approaching Gremlins.
Seeing Jackson suddenly breaking into a run, the singing bag under his
arm, they gave chase, snarling evilly, frustrated that their prey was getting
away.
As soon
as the whole group had left the corridor, the lights went on, and Ochre came out
of hiding, breathing hard, and wiping his sweating brow with his forearm.
He lowered his cap microphone.
“Ochre
to Control. Rendezvous point made. Corporal Jackson has taken up the
relay.”
“S.I.G., Captain Ochre. Proceed now to Recreation Rooms. You will be met by Captain Magenta, who
has just delivered a batch of Gremlins to Sergeant Coleman. Then await further instructions. Keep to
the lighted corridors.”
“S.I.G., Lieutenant.” Ochre sighed
deeply to get his normal breathing rate back, and set out to walk in the
direction indicated by Green.
Recreation rooms, he
reflected inwardly. He wondered if
he would find any refreshments in the vending machines there… He would kill for a lemonade.
There
was probably nothing left, considering the Gremlins had already been there…
* * *
In the
Control Room, Lieutenant Green, seated at his console, and Colonel White,
standing right next to his aide, were watching the progress of the operation on
the big screen on the wall behind the round control desk. The screen was
separated into four sections, each relaying images from the various cameras that
were still operational onboard.
Hopefully, most of the cameras needed for the operation had been repaired
by the maintenance crew and the technicians’ dedication to duty.
So far, everything was going fine…
But Colonel White wore a grim expression as he watched the various steps
of the ‘relay races’. The many bait bags had changed hands numerous
times over the last few minutes, the scene repeating itself over and over again
through the corridors of Cloudbase, as crew members relayed their precious cargo
to replacement runners... The
Gremlins were none the wiser about what was going on; if they noticed that the
carrier of their prey was regularly changing, they didn’t care. All they wanted was to catch that
bag, from where was emerging that hated singing voice, and destroy it. And with each passing minute, White
realised, the creatures were growing impatient, frustrated that their quarry was
escaping them. More enraged, and
therefore more dangerous for his people.
And also – with each passing minute, there were more Gremlins leaving all
sectors of Cloudbase and giving chase to the bags. Each area that was abandoned was then
quickly lit – and a meticulous survey from the crew informed him that all those
places were now clear of Gremlins.
“They're gaining on Coleman... Jarvis, give him a
little breathing space…”
The dispassionate voice of Lieutenant Green was giving
instructions to each team of runners when needed. White watched as Corporal Jarvis took the singing bag from
Sergeant Coleman and broke into a run, leaving his fellow security officer to
take refuge behind a nearby door. A
large number of snarling and growling Gremlins passed in front of the camera,
still giving chase to the bag.
There were too many to keep count – and they were running way too fast.
“Captain Grey reports that all Gremlins in the Control
Tower have been rounded up, sir,” Lieutenant Green reported. “His team made them do the long detour
down the escalator to the port engine nacelle, and through the main corridor on
Deck A, towards the starboard engine nacelle. All levels under the upper runway
are also clean, as well as the Amber Room area, Sickbay and the Sports Centre,
and the whole of Engineering. All
other sectors are quickly emptying themselves of the Gremlins.”
White had a perpetual frown plastered on his face.
He didn’t give any sign of satisfaction at Lieutenant Green’s news.
He didn’t want to claim victory too hurriedly. “What is Cloudbase’s
position?”
“We’ll
be reaching 15,000 feet in one minute, sir.”
“We
can’t go lower than that,” White reflected.
“We’re already in the way of commercial flights.”
There
had been no time to contact any military or civilian flight authorities about
Cloudbase’s change of altitude, so the base was now relying heavily on radar to
make sure there was no risk of collision with another craft.
“Herding teams are meeting up, sir,” Green suddenly announced to his superior. “Captain Grey is taking up the last
relay to Captain Scarlet.”
White
gave a sigh and put a hand on Green’s shoulder.
There
was no turning back now.
“Contact Captain Scarlet. Tell him
to get ready.”
* * *
Captain
Scarlet was positioned in the corridor of the starboard engine nacelle, at the
foot of the escalator in the starboard pylon – the only one functioning right
now. He had put down his backpack
and was preparing himself for the next step of the operation. Gizmo, still stashed in the sports bag,
had his head out, his ears moving quickly, on the look-out for whatever
suspicious sound they might hear, all the while watching with curious eyes as
his human friend was getting ready for the ultimate race.
Scarlet
took a respirator mask out of his bag and hung it round his neck, before
snapping the belt holding the oxygen container around his thigh and screwing the
tube of the respirator mask to it.
He would need it later on in the Promenade Deck; Gremlins and Mogwai
might not need much air to survive, but it wasn’t the case for him, if he wanted
to stay conscious and carry out his mission.
The
rest of Scarlet’s equipment consisted of a security harness, a sturdy cable line
with a line-throwing pistol, a powerful security hand lamp, a run of plastic
grenades, and a handgun – that he carefully checked was fully loaded before
pushing it into his holster. He
looked down at Gizmo, who didn’t seem quite reassured in his bag.
“This
is it, Giz. Are you ready?”
“Gizmo ready,” was the little Mogwai’s
answer. It sounded rather uneasy,
but with an effort to sound valiant.
“I
can’t blame you for being nervous,” Scarlet said with a grunt, looking up toward
the end of the red-lit corridor.
“This is not something I am really looking forward to – facing an army of ugly
little green men ready to cut us into ribbons…”
He picked up the sports bag, and put the strap over his shoulder. “Not that we have any choice…”
His
epaulette flashed white and he lowered his cap mic. “Control to Scarlet. Grey
is on his way. All the Gremlins are
hot on his heels.”
“S.I.G.,” Scarlet answered grimly.
“I’m ready. And I hope you’re ready too, Lieutenant.”
He kept
his mic down and immediately looked alert. He first heard the clamour of the approaching horde of
snarling Gremlins; then the sound of running footsteps; finally, the faint,
almost drowned sound of Gizmo’s recorded song. He narrowed his eyes when he saw
a huge and indefinable silhouette thrown on the wall, showing him what was
beyond the corner.
Then
Grey appeared, running as he had never run before. He saw Scarlet and sprinted towards him.
“They’re right behind me!” he
shouted.
His cry
nearly was drowned by the growing uproar following Grey; the Gremlins skidded as
they negotiated the corner, and Scarlet opened his eyes wide with horror.
They were so numerous that they were nearly running over one another, trying to
get to Grey, who was the only thing they had eyes for.
In the lead, there was one Gremlin who was distinctly paler than his
congeners. His scaled skin was a yellowish beige
instead of the dark green colour of the others.
It was
the one who had shot Scarlet earlier that evening.
It was
Snowball.
And he
and the other Gremlins were gaining dangerously on Grey.
“Get
into hiding!” Scarlet shouted back to his colleague. The maintenance panel leading to the hover engine had been
previously opened to receive the fleeing officer. He literally leapt into the opening, keeping the bait bag
with him, and the panel slid closed, just as the first of the Gremlins reach it.
Frustrated to see their prey escape them just as they were finally getting close
to putting their hands on it, the deadly creatures started to claw at the
surface of the door, growling evilly.
They were ignoring Scarlet, standing a few metres away from them.
“HEY!” he shouted forcefully.
The
first to notice his presence was Snowball.
He stopped clawing the panel instantly and turned to face Scarlet. He narrowed his eyes, and a deep growl
rolled from his throat upon recognising the hated human standing there. He compelled his peers to stop attacking
the wall. They all turned to stare
at Scarlet. The clamour had died
out suddenly, but the following silence was punctuated with low growls of anger.
Well, I have their attention, now…
Imperturbably, Scarlet raised the sports bag high in the air, showing the
trembling Gizmo to the watching multitude.
“Is
this what you’re looking for? Come and
get it.”
Snowball snarled with fury at the defiant human; that was obviously a signal and
the hideous army rushed toward Scarlet.
“NOW,
Green!” Scarlet shouted into his mic.
The
transparent emergency airlock doors in front of which Scarlet was standing
immediately closed and locked; Snowball literally smacked into them, the
following Gremlins colliding with him and pushing him further against it. When Snowball finally freed himself, he
roared with untold wrath at the grinning human on the other side. Scarlet turned on his heels and began to
run up the moving escalator, followed by the enraged eyes of the Gremlins
pressing themselves against the airlock doors and trying furiously to get
through it.
“Give
me a good start, Lieutenant,” Scarlet breathed into his mic. “When I’m halfway up, open the doors to
let them through. We don’t want
them to lose me.”
“S.I.G., Captain Scarlet.” That was the voice
of Colonel White, this time. “And good luck.”
“I’m
going to need it,” muttered Scarlet.
He ran
up the long moving stair as fast as he could; he had always been a good athlete,
but more than that, since his first encounter with the Mysterons a couple of
years ago, his stamina had increased – that was a welcome advantage, in the
present situation. Somehow, he doubted that his retrometabolism would do him any
good if the Gremlins were to catch him and tear him to pieces.
Great.
I really need that incentive…Now he felt as if
he was flying, instead of running up the steps.
He
heard the approaching clamour behind, echoing in the narrowness of the steep
corridor. Lieutenant Green
had disengaged the airlocks, and the Gremlins were coming after him. He was more
than halfway towards his objective. This is going to be close, he thought.
In the
bag bouncing on his hip, Gizmo was moaning, as much from the annoyance of being
bumped around as he was, as from fear of what might happen if the Gremlins were
to catch them.
“Don’t
worry, Gizmo,” Scarlet said between two deep breaths. “We’ll make it, you’ll see.”
He had
just passed the first level of the Tower and was approaching the landing of the
second level, when he realised the growls behind were becoming clearer and
louder. He glanced over his
shoulder; he could see the first wave of Gremlins so very close behind. At the speed they were climbing, they
would reach him soon. He drew his
gun and shot a couple of rounds at them from under his arm. He hit two of them, and they fell with cries of pain and rage
onto the moving stair. They’ll be a temporary obstruction for the
others climbing behind, Scarlet reflected grimly.
Which should give me time enough to
reach my goal.
Panting, he stepped onto the landing leading to the last level of Cloudbase. He
punched the button to open the door to the central access corridor and stepped
inside, the door closing behind him.
“Depressurisation of airlock,”
Lieutenant Green announced. Scarlet
looked up at the surveillance camera over his head, where he knew the
communication officer was watching him, and walked towards the closed door
leading to the Promenade Deck. He put his respirator mask on and powered up the
oxygen container, waiting impatiently until Green gave him the signal to enter
the Promenade Deck. Behind him, he
could hear the Gremlins scratching angrily at the door.
“We
can’t wait much longer, Lieutenant,” he said into the mic in his mask. “They might get impatient and try the
other doors on this landing. They
might invade the entire Tower, and access the Control Room…”
“Pressure equalised,” Green
informed. “You can enter the Promenade Deck.”
Giving
a sigh, Scarlet pushed the button to open the Promenade Deck door. He barely noticed the faint mist, as he
ran inside and literally jumped into the nearest, deepest bushes he could see.
“Airlock door open,”
announced Green. “Gremlins entering the main access corridor and heading toward Promenade
Deck.”
Scarlet could hear the noises made by the
Gremlins, coming from beyond the door he had left open to attract their
attention. He quickly went deeper
into the bushes in a crouched position, and finally hid himself in the thick
peony bushes, where he knew his too-vivid tunic would go nearly unnoticed
amongst the bright colour of the flowers.
He had
disappeared just in time, as the first wave of angry Gremlins rushed into the
Promenade Deck, quickly followed by many others, all of them snarling with fury,
baring fangs and showing claws, and swiftly looking around their new
surroundings, obviously searching for their prey.
Scarlet
kept as still as possible, his eyes set on the ugly troops. The first group, led by Snowball, had
walked well into the centre of the Promenade Deck, and had stopped its advance,
forcing the others behind to do the same.
The last of the Gremlins, not seeing what was going up in front, were
bumping into their congeners, who turned to snarl angrily at them. Most of the creatures were looking
around with curiosity and interest at the selection of green plants and
multicoloured flowers thriving on the Promenade Deck.
This place was very different from what they had previously seen of the
rest of Cloudbase. They hadn’t
expected to find anything like this.
The snarling and growling sounds had stopped
and the Gremlins spread around to explore the room… and started eating both
greenery and flowers. Scarlet
barely took notice; he was watching the door with attention. Gremlins were still coming in; he was hoping they would all
be inside soon.
“Lieutenant Green?” he whispered into his mic, so low that he wondered if the
communications officer would hear him.
“Three left, Captain,” the
voice of Green answered in his ear. “They’re almost all in…”
Scarlet
watched the door intently. One more Gremlin entered, looking around with obvious
curiosity. Then another one…
And a
last one, who, quite innocently, stayed right in the doorway.
Scarlet
almost swore under his breath.
“I can’t close the door if he stays there,” Green
said in alarm.
And he doesn’t appear to be wanting to go
any further, Scarlet reflected, grimly watching the Gremlin who
seemed rooted in place, looking around in complete awe.
Scarlet
quickly asserted the situation.
Normally, the airlocks sealing the main corridor should be able to
withstand a sudden decompression when the windows blew out, but there was still
the odd chance that it might not; that the decompression might tear off
the doors, and destroy the whole Tower.
The additional protection of the sealed door leading into the Promenade
Deck was a vital element for the safety of Cloudbase.
They had to close that door.
“Have
the Angels come into attack, and begin the operation,” Scarlet announced into
his mic. “I’ll try to move in and
push that Gremlin out of the way, and close that door.”
“You realise that you and Gizmo might very
well be sucked out with the rest of them?” the voice of
Colonel White then told him.
“Do we
have a choice, sir?”
“No.” There was just a short moment of
silence, as Colonel White obviously considered his decision. Not that Scarlet had any doubt what it would be. “Angel strike in sixty seconds, just in time
for the sun-shields to be fully retracted.
I’ll… see you later, Captain.”
“S.I.G.” Silent like a panther, Scarlet started
approaching his quarry.
Behind
him, the dark panels covering all of the Promenade Deck windows silently and
slowly rose.
* * *
“Angel Leader, come in to attack and
destroy! Promenade Deck windows
must be shattered when the shields are up!”
“Spectrum is Green! Let’s go,
Melody.”
This is it, Harmony Angel told
herself. The moment of truth.
She veered her craft in the direction of the top of the Tower, Melody following
her lead. Her hands gripped the helm firmly, and her eyes concentrated on the
target dead centre of her gunsight.
She had to aim well. One fraction
of a second too late, or too soon, would have untold consequences. She had to wait the exact moment to launch her
missile, which had been timed to explode two seconds before impact.
She had
to be very close so she would not miss.
She
could see the Tower getting nearer, the windows of the Promenade Deck growing
with each second, the sun-shields rising evenly to reveal the glassy surface
behind, and the greenery beyond… Her thumb hovered above the firing button.
She forced the nervousness away, cleared her mind of all consideration.
Patience…
Seconds
before impact…
“FIRE!”
She
pressed the button, knowing that Melody would do the same. Twin missiles ejected from the
interceptors, and flew toward their target.
* * *
The
last damned Gremlin had not moved from his spot in the last seconds it took
Scarlet to move amongst the bushes toward him.
He was obviously admiring the view, while the others, apparently
oblivious to the surrounding beauty he seemed to enjoy so much, were greedily
eating away all they could put their claws on.
They seemed to have forgotten all about Scarlet and Gizmo, to indulge
their enormous appetite. They were
like a flock of locusts – destroying more of the greenery as seconds went by.
Come on, you ugly mutt! Scarlet
thought, looking toward the reluctant Gremlin, as if hoping that the power of
his mind alone would be enough incentive for the creature to take the one step
needed to clear the doorway. You must be as famished as your buddies,
after that race you ran. One step
forward, that’s all I’m asking!
One
glance over his shoulder informed him that the shields were almost completely
all up; in the clear, dimly-lit sky, just before daybreak, he could see the two
Angel interceptors taking their position and getting ready to attack.
No more time to waste, now or never!
He
leapt to his feet and jumped out of the bushes toward the door; the Gremlin
standing there looked at him as if in shock by his sudden appearance, and
literally froze. Scarlet, his arm
outstretched, was ready to grab him and throw him inside, when something roughly
landed on his back, stopping him in mid-movement, and unbalancing him. Driven
down, he heard a loud triumphal laugh, close to his ear, just before sharp teeth
bit into his right shoulder, going right through his thick tunic and shirt, and
deep into his flesh, drawing blood. He
let out a yelp of pain, before crashing heavily on the ground.
He
managed to turn on his back and found himself face to face with Snowball, who
snarled viciously at him, teeth dripping with Scarlet’s blood. The pallor of his face made him even
uglier up close than his peers. His
talons firmly dug into Scarlet’s chest, he raised a skeletal arm to strike a
fatal blow. The Spectrum officer
had the presence of mind to raise his flashlamp; he didn’t have time to power it
up, however. Snowball swatted it
away with the same move that was about to kill his hated human enemy.
The
short distraction was enough for Scarlet to move in turn. He kicked upwards and sent Snowball
flipping over his head, disengaging himself.
He heard the pale Gremlin growling with fury at this indignity. Scarlet’s victory was short-lived,
however; a glance toward the door informed him that if the Gremlin previously
standing in the doorway had cleared it, he was now standing in front of it, with two of his peers, roaring at the downed
Spectrum officer, blocking his way out.
Scarlet looked nervously towards the windows; the Angels were
approaching. There was no more time.
“Lieutenant Green!” he shouted in
his mic, “the do…”
A sharp
pain in his leg interrupted him and he cried out. He looked down to see at least one
Gremlin hanging to it with his teeth. He tried to shake it off. Other creatures were also coming into
attack, jumping at him, grabbing him by his legs and arms and pinning him down.
And laughing maniacally. They were going to tear him to ribbons…
Snowball leapt to land on Scarlet’s chest again.
The latter stopped his thrashing when he saw the business end of a pistol
being shoved under his nose; his pistol,
he realised when he saw the red stripe on top of it. The one he had previously lost during
the lift incident.
A deep
growl came from Snowball’s throat, and a large grin appeared on his ugly face. His finger slowly started to squeeze the
trigger.
A flash
of bright light appeared, hitting Snowball and the other Gremlins holding
Scarlet down; most of them released their prey and scattered; Snowball backed
away, snarling. Scarlet turned his
head in the direction of the light.
The
powerful security lamp he had lost just seconds earlier was lying on the floor
barely two feet away from him, fully powered-up. Behind it, away from the too-bright light, Gizmo was
standing, a stern expression on his face.
Scarlet
only glanced down at the empty bag by his side; in the last seconds during which
he had struggled with the Gremlins, he had forgotten all about the little
Mogwai, who had taken advantage of the short tussle to escape the bag, reach for
the lamp, and power it up… to direct the beam of light toward the furious
Snowball.
“Gizmo!”
snarled Snowball.
“Snowball, bye bye!”
answered the scowling Mogwai.
A
second later, a huge ball of fire exploded in the sky with a loud boom, right on
the other side of the windows. The
light was so bright that Gremlins and Mogwai squealed loudly. A rumbling was
heard as the shockwave hit the windows – which shattered into thousands of
pieces under the impact. A sudden draft of violent wind arose in the room and
everything that wasn’t attached firmly to the floor or the walls was instantly
drawn toward the void. Plants,
pieces of glass, tables, chairs, everything was sucked out…
Gremlins too.
At the
second the explosion had occurred, Scarlet was already in motion; his right hand
snatched Gizmo and pushed him into the sports bag still hanging at his side,
while his other hand grabbed the handle of his line-throwing pistol. He aimed at the still open door and
pulled the trigger. The steel
harpoon embedded itself in the corridor wall facing the doorway, just as the
sudden wind pulled Scarlet toward the windows.
The line gave a violent tug, stopping the officer.
It held.
Scarlet
got to his feet, planting them firmly on the floor and started to haul himself
towards the open door, struggling against the pull of the wind. Gremlins were flying all around him. Some of them had exploded, due to the
sudden decompression and it was in the appearance of a deformed, gooey, and
apparently lifeless mass that they flew out of the windows. Those who were still whole were screaming or still snarling,
powerless to do anything to stop themselves, legs and arms moving without
co-ordination. One even grabbed at Scarlet’s leg. The
Spectrum officer shook it loose, and didn’t even watch as it flew right through
the window, crying out loudly.
With a
supreme effort, Scarlet finally reached the door and caught the doorway; he pulled himself into the corridor,
grunting under the effort. He could
hear the walls creaking. He could feel the floor tilting under his feet. That could only mean one thing.
Cloudbase was losing altitude. And was losing it fast.
Oh no…
Come on, Adam, Karen… PULL it up! I know you can! Stabilise her!
* * *
After
having released her missile, Harmony Angel had no other choice to avoid
collision with the Control Tower than to execute a manoeuvre that had been
attempted only once before in
Spectrum’s history. Her Angel craft
dived down, and passed right between the two pylons supporting the Tower. The unfortunate but skilful pilot –
namely, Captain Brown – who had done it the first time, some years ago, had seen
Colonel White throw several chapters of the regulations book at him for his
cockeyed, yet successful attempt.
She prayed that the Spectrum commander would understand and approve of the
manoeuvre, now.
After all, it wasn’t as if she had any choice…
“Operation a success,” Harmony
heard the voice of Lieutenant Green in her ears. “Well done, Angels.”
The
Japanese girl turned her craft around to discover with horror that Cloudbase,
destabilised by the sudden decompression, was now tilting forward and had
started a rather fast descent.
Melody brought her jet into formation with Harmony and both followed the
carrier.
“Angel Pack, keep clear, until Cloudbase
has stabilised!” came Lieutenant Green’s urgent order. “I
repeat: keep clear!”
“S.I.G.,” Harmony repeated, with an obvious reluctance in her voice. But what
could she do exactly? It wasn’t as
if Melody and herself would be able to redress Cloudbase from their position!
The two
pilots followed Cloudbase at a safe distance; unable to do anything else, they
had to content themselves with watching, in morbid fascination, the scene of the
Gremlins being ejected from the now shattered windows of the Promenade Deck.
They were falling, and crashing against the multiple surfaces of Cloudbase,
being transformed into instant pulp, or plummeting to their death thousands of
feet below. The early rays of the
rising sun caught others in mid-air – burning them on touch, as if they were
vampires of legend. None of the
Gremlins would survive the operation.
That much appeared certain.
But
what about Cloudbase itself?
* * *
“The
pull is too hard!” complained Symphony between gritted teeth.
“Pull
harder!” Captain Blue shouted back,
his eyes riveted on the altimeter in front of him.
“What
do you think I’m doing? I’m nearly
pulling my arms out of my shoulders!
We have to stabilise her or we’re history!”
Both
pilots, with the same strength born of despair, pulled on their respective
helms; they could feel the resistance still opposing their exertions, but didn’t
give up. Beads of sweat glistened
on their faces, hot with their tremendous effort.
“Pull
up!” Blue growled. “Pull up!
Come on! We’re not going to
crash after all this! PULL UP, damn
you…”
As if
in answer to his invectives, the helm started to respond to his efforts. A glance at Symphony told him that the
same was happening with her. He
glanced at the altimeter. Slowly,
Cloudbase was stabilising…
“Steady,” murmured Symphony between two laboured breaths. “Steady now…”
The
descent stopped, and the twin helms were now responding smoothly. Both Blue and Symphony let out the same
sigh of relief. They were out of
breath, soaked with sweat from head to toes, and dishevelled.
They looked at each other and exchanged the same, awkward smile. Symphony gave her fiancé a mischievous
wink.
“Was it
as good for you as it was for me?” she asked.
Somehow, Blue could only chuckle at the question.
* * *
Under
his feet, Scarlet could feel that Cloudbase’s descent was getting smoother.
Then he had the impression that it stopped; there was something of a comforting
motion now, coming from the surfaces of the walls.
That probably meant that the base was stabilising itself. Scarlet let out a deep breath.
If at least he could be sure about that…
The
corridor was empty. All the Gremlins
were inside the Promenade Deck, being sucked outside by the strength of the wind
produced by the depressurisation. Close the door... I have to close the door.
Scarlet was about to punch the closing button, when an ugly face
appeared in the doorway, inches from his own, snarling. The English captain nearly gave a double
take. He was barely able to
recognise Snowball, whose already hideous face had been half burned by either
the light from the flashlamp or the flash of the explosion outside. His claws were holding on to the doorway
for dear life, not wanting to let go.
And his
eyes, still filled with rage and hate, were set on Scarlet.
“Oh no,
you horrible beast!” Scarlet shouted over the whistling wind. “You’re going – just like the others!”
He
viciously hit the hands holding the side of the doorway; the claws broke, and
they let go – and Snowball, roaring wildly, flew out the window, under the
dispassionate gaze of Scarlet.
The
captain punched the closing button.
The door slid slowly, and snapped shut.
The pulling wind stopped.
Panting, Scarlet let himself slip to the floor, and sat down, leaning against
the wall, his legs outstretched, clutching the sports bag containing Gizmo
between his hands. “Lieutenant
Green,” he croaked into his mic.
“Promenade Deck closed…”
“About time!” the voice of Colonel White answered then, with an
obvious impatient edge to his voice. “Equalising
pressure in the main corridor now…”
“How’s…
Cloudbase?” Scarlet asked with a
tone of worry.
“I believe Cloudbase will be fine,” Colonel
White answered. “For a minute or two there, it went into a dive. But Captain Blue and Symphony Angel
managed to compensate for the loss of pressure and stabilised her at…” There was a pause, as White was
checking the information. “… 10,000 feet. We’d better get her up fast to her
regular position, before we risk a collision with a commercial flight.” He marked another pause.
“Surveillance cameras and scanners indicate that there are no life signs nor
movement on the Promenade Deck. The
Gremlins are gone… as are almost all the plants and the furniture, I believe… I shall not take any risks. As soon as
Cloudbase has stabilised at her regular altitude, I’ll have the Promenade Deck
thoroughly checked.”
“A wise
move,” agreed Scarlet, a faint smile on his pale and sweaty face. “We did it…”
He
heard the hissing sound of air being pumped back into the corridor and didn’t
wait to hear the word that pressure had been restored before removing his
respirator. He gasped greedily, closing his eyes, and sighing with satisfaction.
His body felt sore all over, and his shoulder and leg felt as if they were
burning, but he could already sense all his wounds healing.
He would only have to rest an hour or two to be completely alert again.
Feeling
a nudge against his arm, he opened his eyes and looked down to look at the open
sports bag, with the small Mogwai standing inside it, looking directly at him
with big, wide, happy eyes.
“We did it,” Gizmo repeated
with a jovial tone. “Gremlins gone!”
“They
sure are, partner,” Scarlet smiled again.
“You saved my life in there, Gizmo…
How can I ever repay you?”
Gizmo
seemed pensive for a short instant.
Scarlet didn’t have to wait very long for the Mogwai to produce his
answer. Gizmo looked up at him with
his big eyes shining with excitement, and a large smile on his cute little face:
“Wanna see Wizard!”
Scarlet
laughed out loud. Somehow, it was a
request that didn’t come as any surprise to him.
“You
certainly earned it, old chap!” he said, playfully and gently punching the
Mogwai’s shoulder. “And we’ll have plenty of popcorn to go with it… But not
after midnight!”
“Here we go again…”
Under the expert hands of Captain Blue and Symphony
Angel, Cloudbase returned and stabilised at its regular position of 40,000 feet
above sea level. Not only did
Colonel White, as he had announced, send a few teams up to check the Promenade
Deck, but he also delegated all free personnel, civilian, technician and
military, to check on all levels of
Cloudbase – to make sure that the whole base was finally devoid of all Gremlins – and that no surprise would present itself at the turn
of a corridor. The searches went on
for two days, and it was only after a full week of no incidents that White was
truly satisfied that his base was Gremlin-free. After all, he reflected, if there had been a single one of those horrid creatures left onboard, it would have
manifested itself by now… for, if
they were to believe Captain Magenta’s findings, Gremlins were incapable of
keeping quiet for long.
According to all reports and appearances, the Gremlins
who had been ejected into the void by the sudden depressurisation of the
Promenade Deck had all been killed.
Either by the brightness of the explosion, the decompression itself, the
sunlight or through vertiginous fall, the result was the same. There was no more Gremlin menace.
Another Mysteron threat had been thwarted successfully.
Immediately after the operation, Captain Scarlet had
been taken down to sickbay where he had rested for almost the whole of the
following day. The wounds he had
sustained from his last encounter with the Gremlins had of course healed as
quickly as ever, but Doctor Fawn wanted to check if the bites and scratches he
had suffered had left any foreign substances in his blood. In normal circumstances, Captain
Scarlet’s retrometabolism took care of such ‘trivialities’ but Fawn had made the
point that the Gremlins were anything but
normal. So he didn’t want to take any risks with
his most unique patient. Nor with
any of the other personnel who had had suffered similar injuries from the
creatures. It was one of the few
times that sickbay found itself particularly busy…
Rhapsody Angel was repatriated to Cloudbase shortly
after the operation and, like all the others who had had a close encounter with
the Gremlins, she was treated by Doctor Fawn for her injuries and kept off duty
and under observation for a couple of days.
Normally, she would probably have minded being taken off duty like that –
but since it meant that she would be able to see a little more of Captain
Scarlet during this short sick leave, she didn’t object at all. The same couldn’t be said of Destiny
Angel who, still under treatment with antibiotics for her allergies, saw herself
grounded for another few days. A
couple of flying lieutenants were assigned as standby pilots, to replace the two
absent Angels.
The repairs to the Promenade Deck had started as soon
as Cloudbase had reintegrated her regular orbit in Earth atmosphere. It was going rather well, and it was
expected that final repairs would be finished in a month. Most of the furniture would have to be
replaced afterwards, of course, as well as many of the plants – although some of
them were expected to revive all by themselves, given the chance. In the meantime, except for the
repair crews, the Promenade Deck would be off-limits – with the security shield
permanently in place until all the broken windows were replaced and checked.
The investigation ordered by Colonel White, to find out
how the security at the Spectrum Airstrip at London International Airport could
have been so lax that it had permitted Gizmo to get onboard Cloudbase, gave some
results the day after the destruction of the Gremlins. A car, owned by a Spectrum employee at
the airstrip, was found burned to a crisp at the bottom a deep ditch over the
side of the road, beyond the limits of the airport.
Not only was the body of James Cummings found inside, but also that of
his Mysteron duplicate, who was at the wheel.
According to autopsy, Cummings had been dead since before the accident,
but it was the accident that killed the Mysteron. After a check of records, it had been discovered that
Cummings had not come to work since the day after Gizmo had boarded the courier
plane. He had called in sick and
had taken a week’s leave. Since
then, no-one had seen him. The car
had only been found recently, quite accidentally, by a civilian walking his dog
by the road.
For his actions on the Promenade Deck, Gizmo was
treated as a real hero. The little
Mogwai didn’t seem to care that much about honours and congratulations. He was simply content that the threat
was finished and that the Gremlins were all gone.
The Mogwai’s now carefree attitude was for Colonel White an additional
indication that the evil creatures were all destroyed. In truth, all the time the other Mogwai
and the Gremlins had been around, Gizmo had seemed nervous, apprehensive,
worried… That was no longer the
case. It was probable that the Mogwai’s
instinct was telling him, more distinctly than any search would, that the threat
had totally disappeared. White
could see no reason to doubt that.
Seeing how close the Mogwai had grown to Captain
Scarlet, White had agreed that the latter would be his keeper for the time
being, with the certainty that Scarlet would be careful, now that he knew what
breaking one of the three rules of caring for a Mogwai would imply. Besides, Gizmo had earned his reward,
and the colonel knew that Scarlet would gladly offer it to him – though the
Spectrum commander wondered how long
Scarlet would be able to bear watching
‘The Wizard of Oz’ over and over again…
He had a feeling his young compatriot’s patience would be put to the test
rather quickly.
If Colonel White had known that Captain Scarlet and
Gizmo had reached an agreement – satisfying for both of them – after only two
viewings of the movie, he would have been rather surprised. Fawn was not. He knew that Gizmo also loved action movies. Particularly ‘Rambo’…
Gizmo had been on Cloudbase for fifteen days since his
arrival, and despite the few details concerning the day-to-day attention his
presence demanded – and the three rules that had to be followed at all times –
he had not been a bother at all.
Quite the contrary, personnel had grown fond of him and liked taking care of
him. They were starting to regard
him as a mascot. That made Colonel
White’s announcement that day all the more difficult for him. He knew that people would be unhappy at the news.
But there was no other choice.
When he entered the dimly-lit Officers’ Lounge with
Harmony Angel, Colonel White knew he would find Captain Scarlet there, with
Gizmo of course, watching yet another film on the television. They had been joined by Captain Blue and
Symphony Angel, seated together, as well as by Captain Grey, who seemed
particularly absorbed by the film.
White glanced at the screen, but didn’t recognise the show. Just then, they seem to notice his
presence and moved to stand up, but with a gesture, he invited them to stay
seated.
“What is it, this time?” he asked in a conversational
tone.
“‘Die Hard’,
Colonel,” Captain Grey informed him, nearly forgetting to turn to his commander. But White barely noticed. On the screen, he had just seen a
shattering explosion happening at the top of a high public building – with a
half-naked man jumping into the void attached to a line to escape the blast. He heard Gizmo’s approving chatter, and
looked down to notice that the Mogwai was applauding, and was watching the show
with a glitter in his eyes similar to Grey’s.
The colonel nearly rolled his eyes.
“Put it on hold, please. I need to talk to you all.”
Scarlet obeyed instantly, and the freezing of the image
raised protests from Gizmo. It
didn’t last very long, as everyone ignored it, to turn to Colonel White. They all noticed his stern-looking
expression; as well as Harmony’s presence next to him.
“We were able to reach Harmony’s cousin,” White
announced.
He had the feeling they already knew what he was going
to say. They all exchanged
miserable glances. That was the
same kind of look he had seen on Harmony’s face a few minutes earlier. The young woman walked forward to sit down right next to the
Mogwai; Grey had to move up to give her a place.
White kept himself from sighing – and scowling. “You all knew it was going to happen,”
he stated. “You know we can’t keep
Gizmo here. Cloudbase is a military
base. It is not a place for a pet. Especially not one that demands as
much attention as a Mogwai.”
“We know, sir,” Scarlet said with a sigh. “But…”
“I know you have all grown attached to him, but it’s
better this way. We wouldn’t want
what happened last time to happen again.
And on this base, considering our duties – and our fight against the Mysterons –
we can’t risk that.”
“That… wouldn’t be very fair to him either,” Symphony
then said, with an approving nod.
She sounded as if she was trying to convince herself. Not very successfully.
“No, it wouldn’t,” Blue agreed, gently squeezing his
fiancée’s arm as if to give her comfort.
“My cousin is a very wise, responsible and gentle man,”
Harmony said softly, her hand distractedly playing with the cooing Gizmo.
“He’ll take good care of Gizmo…”
Scarlet kept silent.
He looked down at the small brown and white furry animal who was snuggled
close to him on the sofa, playing with Harmony’s hand, apparently unaware of the
change about to happen in his life. The English captain raised his blue eyes to Harmony’s. “Do they have televisions in Shaolin
Temples?”
She smiled.
“I’ll make sure to tell Huang to accommodate Gizmo.”
Scarlet sighed again and gave a nod of approval. He reached for his little furry friend’s
hand.
“Giz?”
The Mogwai looked up at him, ears moving attentively,
eyes big and bright.
“You’ll be a good boy while you’re there, won’t you,
little mate?”
Perhaps Gizmo felt the sadness in his big friend’s
expression and voice; perhaps he understood that he was going to leave. Scarlet, and everyone else, had that
distinct impression. But the little
Mogwai, whose lifespan they knew was far longer than it would appear, had
probably already lost numerous ‘families’ in the past and knew how to cope with
it far better than they did. There
was, however, a certain sadness when next he spoke, in his gentle little voice:
“Gizmo will miss
Paul…” Then he gave an
affirmative, albeit brief, nod, and took on a brave façade: “Gizmo will be good boy…”
* * *
“Brother Huang… the mail has just arrived.”
Because of its rather remote situation in the
mountains, the Shaolin Temple didn’t often receive mail for the monks who lived
within its walls. About once a
month, news from family and loved ones would come, and the monks would take the
letters to their personal quarters and read them privately. Packages were even less frequently
received. Especially not ones as
large as this wooden box, that Huang knew came from his cousin Chan. She had previously contacted him by
telephone, and had informed him of the box’s arrival, and of its contents. He knew he had accepted a great
honour, and a great responsibility, by accepting Uncle Shen’s legacy – but he
was still unaware of the extent of this responsibility.
Chan had been unable to tell him everything. While allowed, phone calls were to be used sparingly. Chan had assured him she would explain
it all in a very precise letter.
Huang had informed the superiors of the Temple of it,
and they had agreed to his request.
The brother was honouring the last appeal of an important deceased member of his
family. They could not refuse him. It was the honourable thing to do.
Brother Ming was with Huang when the latter uncovered
the carefully black-covered wooden chest and, after asking to dim the light
according to Chan’s instructions, had opened the lid.
Ming was in awe at the discovery of the cute, little, and gentle-looking
animal seated at the bottom of the box.
The creature had big, intelligent eyes that he turned first to Huang,
then to Ming, and saluted them timidly with his paw, offering a smile. It was cooing with a melodious, charming
little voice.
“Welcome to your new home, Mogwai,” Huang said gently,
bowing in front of the box.
“Gizmo,” the
creature protested gently. That
almost took Ming by surprise, and he turned to Huang, with wide eyes.
“Is it talking?”
“Mogwai are unique creatures,” Huang explained, with a
broad smile that matched Gizmo’s.
In his hand, he was holding the letter that Chan had sent with the box, and in
which he knew he would find all the details concerning the Mogwai. It was too dark in the room to read it
properly, so he turned to Ming. “I will fetch a lamp to read this letter. Would you care to stay with the Mogwai
for a minute, Brother Ming? I won’t
be long.”
Ming gave only the faintest of nods to acknowledge the
request and his brother monk quickly left the room. All of Ming’s interest was taken by the cooing little
creature that was making him smile with fondness.
“Poor little Mogwai,” he said with a sigh. “You have travelled a long way to arrive
here. That must have been a harsh
trip… That box must have been
uncomfortably hot… You must be terribly thirsty…”
A thought flashed into his mind and he turned around. He was still smiling, only too happy to do a good deed. “I’m going to get you a big glass of
water… That’ll do you a world of good.”
THE END…?
“Gremlins” always was a
favorite film of mine (movies are another of my passions). I always had a soft spot for Gizmo, the
small, cuddly Mogwai hero of the film. If Mogwai existed, I would want one (but
of course, I could do without the metamorphosis to Gremlin…).
“Trouble with Mogwai”
came as a sudden idea – and admittedly, it was a ratter silly one. I will admit, quite frankly, that there
was nothing to link “Gremlins”
to the Captain Scarlet universe.
After all, the action of the movie
was set in Christmas 1985, while the Captain Scarlet universe was from the later
part of the Twenty-first Century.
That’s why when I wrote the first scene of the story (where the Angels receive
the box containing Gizmo), it was more like for my personal pleasure instead of
a real project. It developed to a
real story later on, when I found I couldn’t chase the Angels and Mogwai scene
from my mind.
I
found invaluable information about Mogwai and Gremlins on the Internet (thank
you God, for that miraculous invention…) rather much in the way Captain Magenta
found his info on the Worldnet (For those who are wondering – Wordnet is the
late 21rst Century Internet in my stories).
On Mogwai and Gremlins
gave most of the ‘technical information’ I needed to write about both creatures
– information I vaguely remembered having read a few years ago, in the novel
adaptation by George Gipe of the movie Gremlins (from the script by Chris
Columbus). I only created a
few more details the purpose of the story – which I integrated to the original
concept, without digressing too much from it. Gizmo and the Gremlins also provided
with other interesting information – as well as beautiful photos. The title, “Trouble with Mogwai”, has
been chosen as a respectful tribute
to one of my all-times favorites Star Trek episode “Trouble with Tribbles”
– in which, fans of the classic series surely remember – the Enterprise crew was
confronted with a problem slightly similar – but not that much – to the one
faced by the Cloudbase crew.
For
those who had never seen it – or for those who would like to see it again – the
movie “Gremlins” is
available at
Amazon.com
(Region 1 for North American) and Amazon.co.uk (Region 2 for Europe). The follow-up “Gremlins 2: the New Batch” however, is only
available in Region 1, both at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
As
always, my thanks go to Hazel
Köhler and Mary J. Rudy for their talent
as beta-readers for this story and their immeasurable patience – a patience
shared by Marion Woods and Sue Stanhope, who with Hazel and Mary read the story
as it progressed and were witnesses of its multiple changes, and continued to
provide me with valuable encouragement.
I also have to thank Mary for helping me out through the ‘getting rid of
Gremlins’ operation, as well as credit her for the reference to the pilot who
flew between the Tower pylons – which was her idea (first mentioned in her story Room of Amber),
and involved dearly departed Captain Brown.
“Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons” ©, is still the creation of Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson, and the rights of the classic series, once owned by Century 21, ITC/Polygram and now by Carlton International. “Gremlins” © was the creation of Chris Columbus, a movie directed by Joe Dante for Amblin Entertainment in 1984, © owned by Warner Bros. I do not own any of those rights, and simply had borrowed the characters for a fraction of time in order to write this story.
I
hope you enjoyed reading it, as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Chris
Bishop,
Halloween 2004.
Any comments? Send an E-MAIL to the
SPECTRUM HEADQUARTERS site