words in italics from Instrument of Destruction Part 1. Copyright Gerry Anderson. GCS is Glasgow Coma Scale, is a neurologicalscale which aims to give a reliable, objective way of recording the conscious state of a person, for initial as well as continuing assessment. A patient is assessed against the criteria of the scale, and the resulting points give a patient score between 3 (indicating deep unconsciousness) and 15 (see Wikipedia or simlar for more details.I own nothing.

As Black as Night

The Red Planet.

"This is like fishing in a desert."
"Well something has to be sending those signals."
"So we keep looking." Black's voice was resigned. As he nodded his head, the bison blurred out of view.

His head hurt.

His mouth felt like a desert.

The grey ceiling above his head spun and blurred in and out of focus, as did the voices he could hear in the distance.

Every muscle in his body ached.

He must have groaned, or made some sound, because there was a pressure against his lips, and cold water flowed down his throat.

That helped, it gave him something solid to focus on. He drank greedily.

"Easy. Easy." A voice said, from somewhere in the blurriness said. "You'll make yourself sick."

He blinked and the face slid into a focus. A woman's face, dark haired with hazel eyes gazed down at him. It was vaguely familiar, but the name escaped him.

"W...wher?"
She interrupted him.

"Lie still. You got a concussion."

A concussion. Yes that would explain all his symptoms.

"Your friend is going to kill me." The woman continued, getting to her feet and walking over to a com panel on the wall. After she spoke rapidly and softly into it, she continued. "You've been out for nearly a week. Finally I persuade him to take a break, promising nothing would happen, and you regain conscience almost with in the hour."

She shook her head.

"Murphy's Law huh?"

"Yeah." It was weak, but appeared to satisfy her, as she nodded brightly.

There was a soft rustle as the curtains surrounding the bed parted, and the woman looked up.

"Dr Fawn. He's conscious and responsive."

Dr Fawn's face swam into view, and Scarlet recognised him. He was the medic on the Spectrum base on Mars, and was supposed to be White's choice if Gold ever retired. The woman was from the Mars base too. She was Nurse…Nurse…

He couldn't remember her name. He tried to force his attention back to what Dr Fawn was saying.

"Pulse still a little higher than I'd like, but pressure is almost back to normal."
"He scores about 14 on the GCS."

"Confused?"
"understandably." he nodded, and turned his attention back to his patient.
"Captain Scarlet, do you know who I am?"
He nodded slightly, stopping because it made his head hurt.

"Do you know where you are?"
"Spectrum base. Mars." The dark haired man nodded.

"Excellent." He turned to the person standing behind him.

"As his condition seems stable, I have no objection to him departing with you on the next shuttle craft, providing Nurse Cherry accompanies you."
"you're sure doc?" that voice, he tried to sit up to see if he was right, only to feel Nurse Cherry's hands restraining him.

"Quite. Nurse Cherry is extremely well trained, and Dr Gold will be more than capable in aiding his recovery."
"If you're sure." There was slightly uncomfortable pause, before he spoke again. "Can I speak to him?"
"Not for too long." Dr Fawn's voice was firm. "I don't want you tiring him."
"I won't." the voice promised.

The curtain's rustled again, and a man walked in.

"Hey Paul." Said the soft voice of Conrad Lefton. And the world went black.

Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

"Spectrum should be grateful." Observed Nurse Cherry, tying off the thread. "You've proved that Captain Scarlet is a formidable opponent, even when semi conscious."
"Forgive me if I don't share your rather optimist view of this." Conrad observed tartly. Elizabeth Capulet forced herself to smile. She couldn't shake her dislike of this man, despite his oblivious concern for his friend.

They had both being found nearly a week ago, their wrecked bison serving as their shelter. Conrad had being conscious, but suffering from serve dehydration. The other occupant, Paul Metcalf, had being a different story. According to Conrad, they had hit a hidden ridge and the bison had over turned. This correlated with Paul's injuries of a cracked skull and stomach injury. He had also been severely dehydrated and in hypovolemia shock.

She peeled the gloves off and flung them in a mediwaste bin, saying as she did so.

"Keep the pad on for the next twenty four hours minimum. Ideally it should remain on until we reach earth, but I know you spectrum captains too well for that." She shrugged. "In terms of the bruising, I've got a cream to help."

"Thanks."

He looked so down cast, that she felt obliged to add,

"He'll be alright. At the moment he's suffering from Medical and emotional shock, which can make people behave oddly."

"Yeah." He shook his head. "Thanks." He left the infirmary.

Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

"Does he have any explanation for what happened?" Dr Gold asked.

Dr Fawn shook his head, still staring at the screen.

"No. he doesn't even seem to remember what happened. He was surprised when the sedative wore off to find him restrained."
"Hmm." Gold's Austrian accent reflected his own concerns. "The lack of memory could be a sign of something serious."

Dr Fawn shook his head.

"The test show nothing more than the concussion I had already alerted you to." He sighed. "Gut instinct tells me there's more to this than meets the eye." He glanced. "Nurse Cherry is due to join you on the next shuttle which leaves into days." He drew breath.
"If you think it advisable to keep Captain Scarlet here, I will, but…"
"With correct medical supervision," Gold interrupted. "There is no reason for him not to travel."

Dr Fawn nodded. Relieved.

TBC

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