#Alaskan tapes

[inthewindtunnel]

Alaskan Tapes

The Sound of Swimming Underwater

When the Earth Yelled Back at Me

(with Moshimoss)

Wait

(with Andrew Tasselmyer)

[hellboyxx]

Every moment twisted for the sake of a stranger. Every memory twisted for the sake of a moment.

[darkwood-sleddog]

Slash working on his bike passes this morning.

September 21, 2023

[dancelikeanarchitect]

Although, as anyone who has ever lived in the far north will tell you, duct tape would NOT work on Mars.

According to the company, the minimum application temperature for best performance is 50 F (10 C)

It tends to stop sticking to things at about -10 F (-25 C).

Mars is -85 F (-65 C).

People who don’t want to read The Martian in case the science is too complicated should be informed that it contains the lines “The best way to store the ingredients of water is to make them be water”, “It is of course dangerous to set off an explosive device on a spacecraft”, and “If I cut a hole in the wall of the hab, the air won’t stay inside any more”.

[otherrascal]

Seconds - Alaskan Tapes

[meanpregcomm]

What Is Happening?

It was dark, and the man lay down next to her on her futon. She was very sleepy and warm and comfortable. He lay down behind her, spooning her, and touched her between her legs with his fingers. It didn't feel good or bad, just weird. She was too sleepy and comfortable wrapped in his arms to tell him to stop, and after a while it started to feel better. She could feel that she was slick between her legs, where the pee came out, and she start to feel a little achy. The man could tell, she thought, because he began to push his fingers inside, which made the ache stop. He'd stop, and it would start again, and she'd move against him to make him go back to pushing. Even when she felt a sudden sharp pain, she still wanted him to push, and the pain went away almost instantly. After a while he pulled his fingers out, and she was annoyed, until he put something bigger in her to push with and that felt softer and thicker than his fingers.

He only pushed inside her for a few second before he stopped, and wet sticky stuff ran out between her legs. In the dark she could hear him fumbling with his clothes, and then he got up and left, just as suddenly as he came.

Living on her own, in the remote Alaskan wilderness, after her doomsday prepper parents died in a house fire when she was seven. Alta had only met six people her entire life--her mother, father, little brother, their next-"door" neighbor, a man in his seventies living five miles away, the clerk at the county store, and a hiker who had gotten lost in a storm and stayed with them in their cabin for a few nights before setting back onto his trail. Her brother had died only weeks after her parents from his injuries, but Alta had managed to stay alive. The house had sustained only minor damage, Alta's parents had been unlucky enough to be in the only part of the house that had collapsed, the back porch, and as a child living off grid, she knew enough to keep herself fed. The goats had survived, and some of the chickens returned after their initial flight of terror, and Alta had never been to school or on a playdate, so she continued doing the only thing she knew--surviving off the land and reading the bible her father had heavily annotated.

A few times a year as a teenager she made the twenty-mile walk to the store in the county seat, picking up electrical tape, bulk oatmeal, new underwear and kerosene, and, one year, a kitten. She always left if another customer came in--years of solitude had made her very shy.

But now that she was a young woman of nineteen, when a strange man had walked onto her property, asked quietly if he could rest there, and lay down with her in the dark, she didn't feel as shy.

To her surprise, he came back a week later. He came a little earlier in the evening, and she offered him a bowl of black bean soup. He wasn't much of a talker, and she appreciated that. When the sun went down, she lay down, hoping he'd follow her. He did, and this time he got on top of her and spread her legs gently with his thigh. She could see him holding his penis, and he put it in her again, pushing gently against her as he did. Remembering the last time, she gritted her teeth at first, but as he rocked against her over and over it began to ache again in that satisfying way, and she started to feel pins and needles. But then he grunted and the white sticky stuff came out again, and dripped down between her thighs. He knelt next to her and cleaned himself off, then lay back down beside her and threw his arm over her. Soon, he was snoring. She carefully snuggled back against him and listened to his heartbeat as she drifted off to sleep.

The next morning he did it to her again, and this time she had lots of pins and needles and she started to feel like she was about to pee, but then he released inside her again and it was over. He left for good that time, thanking her for letting him stay with her and telling her he was headed back to Idaho.

---

It started with a feeling like the flu. She had had the flu once, and her mother had wiped her forehead with icy cold washcloths, and given her mullein tea and extra food. She tried that, and it helped for a few days, but soon she wasn't keeping anything down in the mornings. And then she wasn't keeping anything down in the afternoons either. She had trouble keeping the property running, but she grit her teeth and told herself for the hundredth time what her dad had always said: if you can't trust yourself to take care of yourself, who can you?

Then the dreams started. She dreamed of him coming back and putting himself inside her, and this time, not exploding until she found out what that pins and needles feeling would turn into. She would lie in her bed, stroking her suddenly hyper sensitive nipples, and one evening she found out that touching where he'd touched while touching her nipples gave her that pins and needles feeling really quickly.

The dreams were the least of her problems though when she realized what was happening to her belly and breasts. They could only be described as ballooning outward. Her breasts were much larger and heavier than they had been four months ago, and they would have hung off her body uncomfortably were it not for the drum-tight shelf of flesh where her flat tummy used to be. She was utterly confounded by her weight gain--she was so fat now and yet she hadn't changed her eating habits at all.

Her belly only continued to get bigger over the months. She began to wonder if something was horribly wrong with her. The dreams stopped, and the nausea stopped, and her breasts even stopped their alarming rate of growth, but her belly just continued growing outwards until she was as wide as the doorway to her living room--a fact she discovered when she got stuck in it for two embarrassing, painful hours, eight months after she'd met the strange man. And then her belly got so fat that she couldn't get into her house at all, through any of the doorways. Luckily it was summer, so she slept outside in a hammock, but doorways weren't her only problem. She was too fat to bend at the waist, too big to sit upright, and her belly was so hard and heavy that she couldn't work for more than a half an hour at a time. Things were getting so dire that she contemplated walking into town and asking the clerk to phone the town doctor. Her father had warned her against the evils of western medicine, but she wasn't going to be able to work at all if she kept growing like this.

Before she could decide to call the doctor, nine months after the man from Idaho had stayed with her and made her feel good between her legs, her enormous belly suddenly seized in a terrible cramp. She gasped, the wind nearly knocked out of her by the pain.

Before she could fully recover, another contraction seized her burdened belly. She dropped to her knees and held her swollen middle with both hands.

to be continued...

[deim0sdread]

Based on an headcanon @alaskan-wallflower made!!! Also Ik vhs tapes weren’t huge until the 70s and early 80s but this is for fun not accuracy so don’t @ me ALSO I TOLD YOU I COUKD FINISH A ONESHOT @izaacs-notdeadyet TAKE THAT anyway 😇

It had been years since their parents died, sure it had gotten better for all of the Curtis brothers over the years but it was still a healing wound, especially for Darry. He’d lost his chance at a future at the same time he did his parents and that still stung.

He’d dug out the old tapes they’d had “just in case” they hadn’t needed it much yet besides when Ponyboy started High School, when Sodapop turned 18, when Ponyboy turned 16 and there was also one for when Darry would turn 21. Of course it was all an emotional experience and they’d comfort each other every time and replay it if one of them wanted to.

Well June was coming around and Ponyboy was about to graduate, that’s why Darry was digging them out again. He rummaged through the box, coming across a few different ones: “Sodapop’s wedding”, “Ponyboy moving out”, “Darrell’s wedding” and a few more brought a smile to Darry’s face. He found the tape he needed at the very bottom of the box along with another one right next to it. “Darrell’s college graduation”

Darry stared at it for a moment and took it. Of course the brothers had promised each other to watch all of the tapes together well that one Darry couldn’t put back even if he had Ponyboy’s graduation tape in hand. He knew he should and even if they’d never get to watch it because he’d never get to graduate college he couldn’t let go of it.

He made his way over to the living room and put the tape in. He didn't want his brothers to worry or even know he’d watched that tape they were always on about a “What if it does end up happening!” but Darry wasn’t dumb, he knew this one was never actually about to happen. So he sat and watched as he saw his parents on the screen. He could already feel his chest tighten as he did. So he just sat and listened.

“You finally did it Darry!” He heard his mother’s voice and he felt himself tear up. “We don’t exactly know what you went and studied in or if you stayed in football at the time of recording this but we’re proud of you no matter what you chose. We’re both sure you’re going to be great no matter what field you went into.” He watched his mom smile and he just teared up and had to bring his legs to his chest. He wanted it to stop but he kept watching.

He heard his father's voice next “We’re proud of you kid. It must be hard with either one or both of us gone but you still made it through college while taking care of your brothers. You’re strong, the strongest kid I’ve ever known. We love you, Sodapop and Ponyboy so much.” After that Darry couldn’t really hear what was said. He was sobbing and had rolled onto his side.

He was sobbing and gasping for air. He’d disappointed his parents, he didn’t even manage to make it to college. He wasn’t even doing a good job at taking care of his kid brothers. He couldn’t breathe and he just pulled at his own shirt, feeling imprisoned inside of it. He was a disappointment, he wasn’t good enough, he wasn’t even a good brother.

The tape had been over for a while when he ended up calming back down after Sodapop got home from work and comforted him. They never told Ponyboy. They tucked the tape back into the box, just in case…

[dandelion-network]

"Because dead things felt only love for the universe." A dreamy, doom fanmix dedicated to Jeff VanderMeer's Dead Astronauts.

i. ivixor b / phase inducer - electric wizard // ii. white stork - bossk // iii. ekpyrotic - the otolith // iv. the screen - yob // v. the shooting star - gojira // vi. souvlaki space station - slowdive // vii. moon in your mouth - goldfrapp // viii. ptolemaea - ethel cain // ix. evaporate - a.a. williams // x. feather - windhand // xi. fight like gods - chelsea wolfe // xii. marked for death - emma ruth rundle // xiii. drag me into the woods - holy fawn // xiv. the things they believe - loathe, john waug // xv. and, we disappear - alaskan tapes.

i. ivixor b / phase inducer - electric wizard : I chose an instrumental as the first song in this mix and this specific song because it emulates the feeling of traversing a desert wasteland, similar to the astronauts' odyssey heading toward the Company during the first part of the book. There are radio signals and warbbing-like sounds along with unintelligible speech in the background that remind me of the original Star Trek where there'd be random 'scifi' noises.

ii. white stork - bossk : Another instrumental track. While Ivixor B / Phase Inducer felt more passive to me, almost a song that would assist setting the vibe of the story's landscape, White Stork for me is the song of desert's active mystery and signs of hostility. It hasn't asserted itself yet, but there's a kind of danger lurking as the story progresses.

iii. ekpyrotic - the otolith : I consider this song to be the theme of all the living beings in either opposition to the Company or those separate from the dichotomy of friend and foe. The foxes are the first that came to mind when listening to this song. The subject of the song is the interconnectedness of all living beings and rebirth, along with the inherent power of being one's true self that cannot be contained. [Lyrics]

iv. the screen - yob : This song represents confrontation, violence between the astronauts and their other selves, the dark bird, the behemoth. An ancient battle forever taking place. It also makes me think of the horror Charlie X experienced during his time with the Company. It's his pain, the pain he inflicts, his need to please what he and the Company demand of him. There's almost this ancient rite he performs when constructing his creations. And of course, the violence done upon the foxes by man. [Lyrics]

v. the shooting star - gojira : This is thee theme for the astronauts - Grayson, Moss, and Chen -, the song that represents not only their mission or their struggles as they fight to succeed, but also their connection with one another. I think of the last four bars of the song: everlasting-love is ever-growing / hang on to what you have and let it grow / everlasting-love is ever-dying / it's in the past, you have to let it go. [Lyrics]

vi. souvlaki space station - slowdive : This song brings more of the dreamy, abstract imagery that I experienced when reading the book. it reflects more of the subdued moments in the story. There's a refusal in the song to confront someone. It feels like the disconnection between the astronauts and Charlie X. [Lyrics]

vii. moon in your mouth - goldfrapp : The astronauts love each other. Moss cares so much for Chen, Chen cares so much for Moss, Grayson cares so much for Moss and Chen, and they for her. I wanted to celebrate that while also moving away from the confrontational sounds and lyrics of the earlier tracks. Because of the lighter note, you can think of this song as something from the very beginning of their mission, before trials, before the violence really took hold. Maybe even when they still had Charlie X. [Lyrics]

viii. ptolemaea - ethel cain : We're back at the Company and Charlie X surviving his father. That's really what this is, it's the section of the book where we really learn what Charlie X has done and what has been done to him by his father, by the Company: you poor thing / sweet mourning lamb / there's nothing you can do / it's already been done. The one of the scariest parts of the story. [Lyrics]

ix. evaporate - a.a. williams : It's the general sense of despair. The despair in moments of fear, violence, pain. Uncertainty really. Might seem like a throwaway because I don't have that much to say about it, but I know it feels Right to include. A lot of characters harm themselves, either by their own hand or they put themselves in harm's way. [Lyrics]

x. feather - windhand : We're returning to sounds that remind me of the wasteland again. Could be viewed as despair but I see it as acceptance of what must be done. There's something about it that reminds me most of the blue fox. The sense of knowing that is to come, what has come. [Lyrics]

xi. fight like gods - chelsea wolfe : The closest songs I can find right now that reminds me of the foxes, but the blue fox specifically. The violence upon them frightening like the violence upon Charlie X - moreso even. Turned to retribution, to revolution, to revenge. Oh did they fight like gods. [Lyrics]

xii. marked for death - emma ruth rundle : Another love song, in all the ways to define love. For Moss and Chen. For Moss and Grayson. For Charlie X and the dark bird. For the blue fox and the foxes, the blue fox and perhaps the Strange Bird; for the Strange Bird and... Who will be there when you are dying, when you are dead, when you are going to die. [Lyrics]

xiii. drag me into the woods - holy fawn : I am reminded most of the transformations and changes and alterations the characters go through. Less of a violence and more of the enviably of it? The awareness of it. The changes that happen not so much out of violence but from a place of love or the natural order of things. [Lyrics]

xiv. the things they believe - loathe, john waug : The instrumentals have returned. Some loose ends aren't so loose anymore. Some things make some sense. It's that dreamy landscape again. The dust settling in its own way. A respite from what we've been through.

xv. and, we disappear - alaskan tapes : "We will always be there. Even before we know you. Even after we've known you. Even then. And, finally, she was free."

[jellybeanium124]

A VHS tape containing ofmd season 2 has been dropped in the Alaskan wilderness. Whoever finds the tape first will win a chance to be an extra in season 3 for approximately 0.5 seconds (warning: role may be cut), should there be a season 3. You have 72 hours. Begin.

[postambientlux]

BEST AMBIENT OF 2024

BEST AMBIENT ALBUMS of 2024 curated by @holsgr

50 : Phexioenesystems - Tone Colour Garden Salmon Universe

49 : 0N4B - Somewhere, left behind 3XL

48 : Daigo Hanada & Yoko Komatsu - Where Clouds Are Born Moderna Records

47 : Ezra Feinberg - Soft Power Tonal Union

46 : Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn - Quiet in a World Full of Noise Merge Records

45 : Hans Hjelm - Into The Night Self-release

44 : Olli Ahvenlahti - Mirror Mirror We Jazz Records

43 : Sachi Kobayashi - Lamentations Phantom Limb

42 : Sarah Neufeld, Richard Reed Parry & Rebecca Foon - First Sounds Envision Records / One Little Independent

41 : nonkeen - All good? LEITER

40 : PJS - Flora Dronarivm

39 : Félicia Atkinson - Space As An Instrument Shelter Press

38 : Anthéne - Cloudburst Home Normal

37 : Bremer/McCoy - Kosmos Luaka Bop Inc

36 : Princ€ss - Princ€ss wherethetimegoes

35 : G.S. Schray - Whispered Something Good Last Resort

34 : Jasmine Myra - Rising Gondwana Records

33 : YAI - Sky Time AKP Recordings

32 : ann annie - The Wind Nettwerk Music Group Inc.

31 : Seaworthy & Matt Rösner - Deep Valley 12k

30 : Marysia Osu - harp, beats & dreams Brownswood Recordings

29 : Fennesz - Mosaic P-VINE, Inc.

28 : Mary Lattimore & Walt McClements - Rain On The Road Thrill Jockey Records

27 : Glåsbird - A Sonic Expedition Whitelabrecs

26 : Iglooghost - Tidal Memory Exo LUCKYME®

25 : Ross Christopher & City Of Dawn - Spatio Temporal Amoveo Creative

24 : Arushi Jain - Delight Leaving Records

23 : Oliver Patrice Weder - The Shoe Factory Moderna Records

22 : Laura Masotto - The Spirit of Things 7K!

21 : Grand River & Abul Mogard - In uno spazio immenso light-years

20 : William Basinski - September 23rd Temporary Residence Ltd.

19 : Pub - Process The Wise ampoule records

18 : Altus - Ultraviolet Altus Music

17 : Seabuckthorn - This Warm, This Late quiet details

16 : Catherine Christer Hennix - Further Selections from The Electric Harpsichord Blank Forms Editions

15 : Antonina Nowacka - Sylphine Soporifera Mondoj

14 : Lori Goldston & Stefan Christoff - A Radical Horizon Beacon Sound

13 : Sam Wilkes - iiyo iiyo iiyo Self-release

12 : Slow Dancing Society - Do We Become Sky? Past Inside the Present

11 : Svaneborg Kardyb - Superkilen Gondwana Records

10 : Fergus McCreadie - Stream Edition Records

9 : Fabiano do Nascimento & Sam Gendel - The Room Real World Records

8 : Robert Rich & Luca Formentini - Cloud Ornament Self-release

7 : Ludwig Wandinger - Is Peace Wild? light-years

6 : Aidan Baker & Stefan Christoff - Januar Time Released Sound

5 : Hatti Vatti - Zeit R&S Records

4 : Larum - The Music of Hildegard von Bingen | Live at Public Records Puremagnetik

3 : Florian T M Zeisig - Planet Inc STROOM.tv

2 : Alva Noto - Xerrox, Vol.5 NOTON

1 : Lorenzo Montanà - VION n5MD

• BEST EP's 10 : Logic Moon & Henrik Meierkord - Ewiger Wald Dronarivm 9 : Roman Nagel - Home Bigo & Twigetti 8 : Snorri Hallgrímsson - Longer shadows, softer stones Deutsche Grammophon GmbH 7 : Oliver Patrice Weder - Grand Piano Works - Vol. II Moderna Records 6 : Wil Bolton - Quiet Sunlight Dronarivm 5 : Thaddeus - Orbiting Dreams Shimmering Moods Records 4 : PHI-PSONICS - Morning Sun / Arrival Gondwana Records 3 : Jeroen Dirrix - Feel Moderna Records 2 : Max Ananyev - Wings & Winds Self-release 1 : Arborra - Arborra 7K!

• HONORABLE MENTIONS Nicolas Jaar - Archivos de Radio Piedras Rafael Toral - Spectral Evolution Horacio Vaggione - Schall / Rechant Laura Misch - Sample The Earth Oliver Coates - Throb, shiver, arrow of time Nils Frahm - Paris Nala Sinephro - Endlessness Adaa - …img… Lau Andersson - The Weeping Siege MatC - Utoscapes Olivia Belli - Intermundia Alaskan Tapes - Something Ephemeral Mike Nigro - Leaving/Returning Michael Scott Dawson - The Tinnitus Chorus Bill Laurance & The Untold Orchestra - Bloom Bill Laurance & Michael League - Keeping Company Vegyn - The Road to Hell Is Paved with Good Intentions Shay Hazan - Wusul وصول Sam Gendel & Sam Wilkes - The Doober Blake Lee - No Sound In Space T.R. Jordan - Dwell Time II Perila - Intrinsic Rhythm Tristan Arp - a pool, a portal Lynn Avery & Cole Pulice - Phantasy & Reality Matthew Ottignon - Volant Holy Tongue & Shackleton - The Tumbling Psychic Joy of Now

• BEST REISSUES Fennesz - Venice 20 Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Volume II [Expanded Edition]

[hebuiltfive]

Meanwhile, on Skybase...: Debrief

Series: Part 2 of The Long Game

Colonel White is growing increasingly concerned, and Scarlet seems to be keeping secrets.

Words: 1,657

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Additional Tags: Dark themes, violence, mentions of injuries, implied mentions of suicide, heavy angst, blue and scarlet being bffs, cross between ocs and ncs, black is very machiavellian, Swearing

Notes: Earlier drafts had me word vomiting the relationship between the GDF and Spectrum, so I'm hoping that I managed to fix it enough for it to flow better. One thing I underestimated as I went into writing this series is that timelines are horrendous and difficult to manage.

Read it below or on AO3 here.

Part 1: The Alaskan Train Crash

Chapter 1 found here on Tumblr, or here on AO3.

Chapter 2 found here on Tumblr, or here on AO3.

Chapter 3 found here on Tumblr, or here on A03.

Chapter 4 found here on Tumblr, or here on AO3.

Part 2: Meanwhile, on Skybase...

Chapter 1 found here on Tumblr, or here on AO3.

Skybase was abuzz with activity.

On the bridge of the vast aircraft carrier base, Colonel White sat at his desk. His brows were pulled into a concerned frown. Scarlet had yet to report in and, whilst he knew had no need to be so worried over his virtually indestructible officer, White found himself troubled more often than not when Scarlet failed to get in touch whilst on mission. Couple that with his call from the Global Defence Force, and Colonel White found himself teetering on the edge of a very colossal ‘worry’ cliff. He didn’t acknowledge it however. After all, he didn’t reach the rank of Colonel by being an anxious mess. He quickly pulled himself straight. He would have to take things as they came and, for now, the only thing he could do was assess the GDF’s situation whilst he waited for Scarlet to report in.

The call had been as pleasant as Colonel White could have expected. The GDF’s long standing reputation and legacy was naturally always going to be in contrast to that of the newly created Spectrum. Occasionally, White often wondered whether Colonel Casey felt the same way as her operatives clearly did. More than once his officers had reported their GDF counterparts were less than welcoming and claimed that Spectrum were stepping on the toes of the organisation. It had been three years now, almost to the day, since the Spectrum Organisation had been signed into existence, and still the squabbles between the teams seemed daily. White couldn’t have cared less, and he hoped Casey didn’t let the petty rivalry between certain officers taint her own view of the set-up they both had to deal with.

Set up by the World Council after a series of GDF failures, Spectrum were originally created specifically to aid the former organisation in duties they found more challenging. Spectrum were created to be more elite compared to the GDF’s more mundane, and were developed to deal with any manner of issue in a more succinct manner than the GDF could have ever dreamed. Answerable only to the World President, the red tape that had been cut was beneficial not only for Spectrum but also for the Council itself.

Spectrum’s role had grown beyond it’s original conception, however. In the months following the expedition to Mars, and Captain Black’s rash attack on the formally peaceful race of beings known as the Mysterons, the earth had been catapulted into a War of Nerves. Vowing revenge on Black’s attempt at decimating their Martian city complex, the Mysterons had repeatedly tried to attack and destroy the planet. Spectrum, and only Spectrum, had been given clearance by the World Council to deal with the threat.

“Imagine the state of the world if word got out about this mess.” World President Younger had exclaimed to Colonel White in their private meeting on the matter, and White found himself agreeing with the man. Better for the world to continue unaware of the threat that was now posed to them than to send the planet into turmoil, though he was sure the Mysterons would have benefited from that greatly.

And so, the war remained classified. Only those who worked for Spectrum were privy to that knowledge, and even then, only those with higher clearances were allowed to know the specifics. They were the only thing standing between the Mysterons and the earth being completely decimated.

But, as only Spectrum knew of the threat, the world continued life as normal, including the GDF. Hence the call from Colonel Casey earlier. Protocols demanded than any case that the GDF were unable to handle were to be handed over to the more capable outfit of Spectrum. At first, White was going to decline her call. He had far more pressing matters nowadays than a bizarre train wreck in North Alaska, and was about to ask his right-hand, Lieutenant Green, to come up with an excuse when the initial details came through. Three workers who were seemingly uninjured in a crash where all evidence suggested it should have left no survivors.

With Scarlet still silent, White began to develop a hunch. He hated hunches. Matters were best worked out logically, not emotionally, and yet he couldn’t shake this one.

Of course, he had left out any information about the beings from Mars on his call, but they were in the forefront of his mind. As Black had found out, the Mysterons had the remarkable ability of retrometabolism; the ability to recreate any object or being. From their Martian city complex, to the murdered bodies of Black and Scarlet, the Mysterons were able to recreate almost anything.

He had not long signed off the call when Scarlet finally buzzed in. After relaying his report on his skirmish with Captain Black, who had now turned traitor against his will and was being used as a pawn by the Mysterons in their War of Nerves, White ordered Scarlet back to Skybase with immediate effect.

Whilst he may not have liked his hunches, Colonel White often found the ones he couldn’t shrug off were the ones that rarely failed him.

The capabilities of Spectrum’s jets were incomparable to anything else on the planet, except the Thunderbird machines. Within three hours, Captain Scarlet was back on base. After a brief visit to Doctor Gold in the Medibay, he appeared on the bridge for his debrief. He greeted Lieutenant Green, who was sat at her command control desk, with a nod and a smile. “How was the vacation?”

“Relaxing.” Green replied with a smile that matched his. The back of her chair bent as she stretched backwards. “Not that I feel as relaxed now I’m back.”

“Isn’t that always the case?” Scarlet offered a chuckle before jogging up the few steps to reach the desk of Colonel White. The glass sound barrier slid into place behind him and secluded White’s office from the rest of the bridge. Scarlet remained standing, hands clasped behind his back, the image of pure military professionalism. “Colonel.” He greeted his superior officer with a nod of his head.

“Injuries all healed, Captain?”

“Like new.” Scarlet replied.

Despite escaping Mysteron control, and being the only known replicant to do so, Scarlet had retained the talent of retrometabolism. Even mortal wounds that would have made the best of men fall were nothing but scratches to the now virtually indestructible Captain Scarlet. This advantage, as well as his ability to sense nearby Mysteron agents, had made him one of Spectrum’s best hopes in their war against the Mysterons. Unfortunately, the Mysterons also knew this and went out of their way to try and dispose of Scarlet whenever they had the opportunity.

“Good. Take a seat.” White extended out a hand toward one of the chairs in front of his crescent-moon shaped control desk. “We have a lot to discuss.”

Scarlet took one of the seats.

“You claimed in your call that you didn’t know why Black was in Burgas?”

“That’s correct, sir.”

“Take a look at this.”

With a simple swipe White had displayed a grainy CCTV image. Though blurry, it clearly showed a person appearing from what looked to be an abandoned warehouse.

“Black, sir? Scarlet guessed from the worn, washed-out features he’d come to equate to his former friend.

White flicked through the images until one that was slightly more clearer came into the frame. It was indeed Black. “These were captured a few hours prior to your arrival. It was a warehouse a few miles southeast to where you caught up with him.”

“Any ideas as to what he was doing there?” Scarlet’s brows furrowed. There had been no intelligence suggesting Black had been meeting anyone.

“So far, we have found no possible reasons for him even being in Burgas at all.” White swiped at the images again, this time making them disappear. “I assume Black didn’t give anything away whilst you… bumped heads?”

For a moment, Scarlet remained quiet. He hoped that White would not clue in on his hesitation and instead believe him to have been in deep thought. Pursing his lips, Scarlet shook his head. “No, sir. Nothing of note.”

“Very well.” White concluded impassively, though Scarlet was certain he saw something akin to disbelief flash across his features. “That’ll be all, Captain. I hope I can assume a report will be on my desk?”

“Tomorrow morning at the latest, sir.”

Satisfied, White offered Scarlet a single nod. He pressed a button on his desk and the glass partition doors slid open again. Scarlet then left the bridge, offering Lieutenant Green a wave as he passed her, and entered the elevator.

It was only once Scarlet had disappeared from view that Colonel White stood and made his way towards Green’s desk. “Lieutenant, see if there is any CCTV in the area Scarlet brawled with Black.”

“Sir?”

“I have the feeling Scarlet was withholding something from me, and I fear he won’t be putting it in his official report either. See if you can find out what it is.”

White had never liked nor agreed with spying on his operatives unless it was an urgent case, but the pause Scarlet had taken when he had asked about Black had the Colonel feeling uneasy. It wasn’t that he distrusted Scarlet, but the captain still had many things to learn.

“S.I.G, sir.” Green affirmed and began her search.

White returned to his office.

From the windows that curved around the outer wall, he saw Spectrum planes and heli-jets parked and landing amongst the clouds that surrounded Skybase. Hands clasped behind his back not dissimilar to Scarlet’s earlier, White stared out at the sky they floated through. He sighed. That hunch of his was starting to grow into something more tiresome. He still couldn’t shake it and he doubted it would leave him any time soon, not until this whole messy business was resolved.