Chapter Three
"Are you alright, miss?"
Sandra thought she might throw up. A moment later, she did.
"It's okay, just take it easy." The stranger patted her back, supporting her as she vomited in front of him, comforting her, calming her. When she'd stopped, she became aware of a splitting headache and that her left arm felt like it was about to fall off, and all she wanted to do was sleep. She leaned back, then straightened up again, embarrassed that she was leaning onto the stranger.
"It's okay," he said again, chortling. "What's your name?"
Sandra paused. Even in her state, she knew she shouldn't reveal her real name to a civilian. "Charity Angel, Spectrum."
"Secretary Plato, Spectrum," replied the man with a small laugh. Sandra turned to look at his face.
He was pretty good-looking, in all actual honesty. He was one of those redheads that you just couldn't call ginger, with really dark brown eyes that smiled at her warmly. Now she was embarrassed that she was in such a mess in front of this man, and the fact that he worked in Spectrum made it worse. He'd probably seen her fall out of the sky, too.
A yell drew her attention away from this increasingly fascinating man. Harmony and Rhapsody were running towards them, their planes in the field behind them. For the first time, Sandra realised she was on the edge of a road, and her Angel was scattered all over the place. Suddenly, her stomach lurched and she went cold.
"The car! Oh my God! Rhapsody, there was a car on the road! My Angel went right into it!" She felt awful. The others looked at her strangely.
"Charity…" said Harmony slowly, "there is no car there. The only wreckage in sight is that of the two planes."
Sandra looked, then looked again. She was right. There was no turquoise amongst the white, black and grey.
"But I saw it!" she exclaimed softly. Rhapsody looked concerned. She looked up at Secretary Plato.
"Thanks, Mark. We'll take care of her now. The ambulances are on their way." He nodded, and patted Sandra gently on the right shoulder before getting up.
"Hope you get better."
"Thanks."
Sandra watched him walk away to his car. It was turquoise. She felt the world go sideways, and everything went black.
CS
Doctor Fawn leaned back, exhausted, and counted down from three.
"Three… two… one…"
"Where is she?"
Captain Scarlet burst into the sickbay, and Doctor Fawn held his hands up in a tired gesture, all the while giving him a look that said, "Mess with me and you'll be needing my medical knowledge." Scarlet calmed down a little.
"Where is Sandra?" he repeated.
"In the furthest bed along. She's asleep, mind you, so don't expect any exciting conversation." Scarlet sank into a chair, suddenly drained.
"Some uncle I turned out to be," he muttered resentfully. Doctor Fawn sat beside him.
"Paul, I don't want you blaming yourself. This had nothing to do with you. Sandra was attacked whilst on a mission, that was all. She survived and is recovering."
"I know, but…" Scarlet sighed. "She decided she wanted to join Spectrum because I did. She thought it was a great idea."
"It was still her choice."
Scarlet nodded silently. "Can I see her?" he asked tentatively.
Doctor Fawn took his arm and led him to Sandra's bed. He was disturbed by Scarlet's depression and anxiety, it was so unlike the authoritative, impatient officer he usually had to deal with. Scarlet sat in the chair beside it and reached out to take her good hand. The doctor decided to go and do some paperwork.
CS
Paul felt so bad, but he wasn't even sure why. He knew perfectly well that it wasn't his fault the fighter had attacked Sandra, and he hadn't made Sandra join Spectrum, but, as he had all through his life, he felt some responsibility for what happened to his niece.
Sandra stirred a little and her eyes flickered open. She smiled slightly.
"Hi."
Paul just looked at her sadly. She sighed.
"I'll be fine, the doctor said so. I just need some sleep and give my arm a chance to mend, that's all."
Paul relaxed a little. Sandra was being as lippy as ever, and this convinced him that she actually was ok.
"What was it?" he asked.
Sandra frowned as she tried to remember. "I'm not sure. It was painted completely black, and it didn't have any distinctive markings… it actually looked a little like the Angels." She shrugged.
"Anything else?" She shook her head.
"Not really. Except…" she bit her lip, suddenly uncertain. "I remember, after ejecting, before I passed out, there was a turquoise car on the road. I'm sure I saw the plane crash into it, yet when I came to, there was no wreckage, and a turquoise car was parked behind the plane."
"You'd just had a serious accident and a lucky escape," Paul pointed out. "You were probably seeing things."
"I guess…" Sandra didn't look too certain. She yawned.
"I'll leave you in peace," said Paul, getting up. "See you later."
"Night."
CS
As Sandra recovered, she got more and more visitors. Captain Scarlet would come in almost every free moment he had until Doctor Fawn ejected him from the sickbay. Occasionally he brought Captain Blue with him. The Angels visited in pairs, the first being a very upset-looking Harmony and Rhapsody not long after she woke up for the second time. The Colonel and Lieutenant Green had been to see her, mostly to discuss what she'd seen and the eventual report she would have to write.
Now she was bored. Doctor Fawn had said he would discharge her soon, but she wasn't allowed to do any flying just yet. She wasn't exactly sure what she'd do until then. A familiar frustration swept over her. She'd just got into Spectrum, and on her first bloody mission she'd screwed up! The pillow got the full force of her good fist.
"Sandra, you have a visitor."
Sandra looked up. The others had come and gone as they pleased, with the exception of the Colonel, who'd been announced by the doctor. This time, however, it wasn't the Colonel. It was the man who had found her after the crash.
"Secretary Plato!"
Plato smiled. "I'm off duty. Plain Mark will do just fine."
"Mark…?"
"Fletcher." He sat in the chair beside the bed, and Sandra suddenly felt awkward. "I must say, you're looking a lot better than you did last time I saw you. You must forgive me for taking so long to visit you, I've been rather busy."
"That's okay," replied Sandra, a little breathless; he really was good-looking.
"Nevertheless. Doctor Fawn says you're to be let out soon."
"Yeah, but I'm not allowed to fly for ages yet," she replied rather bitterly. "I don't actually know what I'm going to do to keep myself amused."
"You could visit family."
Sandra pulled a face. "I'd love to see them, but all they'd do is mother me until I'd wish I'd stayed on Cloudbase after all." The pair lapsed into silence for a moment.
"You could always help out in my department," suggested Mark.
"Your department?"
Mark nodded. "Like you may have guessed, I'm more or less a secretary; I have to take care of all the paperwork on Cloudbase. There's only one other person, Secretary Aristotle, and he's on leave at the moment. Why don't we ask Colonel White if you can help there?"
Sandra pretended to think about it. Her instincts were screaming, "Yes! He's gorgeous!" but still she played for time. "Would I have to name myself after a philosopher?" she asked.
Mark laughed. "Not if you don't want to. You'll still be Charity Angel."
Sandra smiled. "Fair enough."
Mark laughed a little, then told her to sleep. She obeyed, allowing his soft voice to lull her away to dreamland.
