The Race
Based on the annual story of the same name and the Salty's Lighthouse TUGS segment of the same name
Adapted by Jonathan Downs, Rachel Raven and Zack Wanzer
It was a cool, crisp morning in Bigg City Port and I was giving the Star Fleet their orders for the day.
"We've got a very busy morning ahead of us," I said. "All the work we have scheduled has to be done by lunchtime. We have to get that tramper fully loaded with cargo as quickly as possible."
Top Hat groaned quietly. "Just what we all need – a rush job!"
The tugs chugged off in great haste to collect their barges.
"Do you think we'll be able to have a break this afternoon?" Sunshine asked Ten Cents.
"Well, it would be nice," smiled Ten Cents. "There will be some more cargo to unload in the early evening but we might have a couple of hours to spare this afternoon."
"Good," grinned Sunshine and she hurried off.
On her way, she came across a small sailboat. His name was Skiff, who belonged to Captain Zero's son, Chris. He was a good friend to both the Stars and Z-Stacks (except for Zak and Zeus, of course) due to his positive and upbeat attitude.
"Hello, Sunshine," said Skiff. "What are you up to today?"
"Hello, Skiff," said Sunshine. "We've got to take some cargo to a tramper by this afternoon. You look excited."
"Oh, I am," said Skiff. "Chris and Amber are expecting a baby."
"Wow! That's great!" said Sunshine. "Tell them Ah said congratulations. Any ideas on names?"
"If it's a boy, they'll call him John," replied Skiff. "Jane, if it's a girl."
"Well, Ah'll look forward to meeting the baby," said Sunshine as she steamed off. "Bye, Skiff."
"Oh, goodbye, Sunshine," called Skiff.
Zak was secretly watching the Star Fleet. He wondered what all the activity was for.
"Hey, what's the hurry?" he asked Big Mac, as he steamed past.
"Ah haven't git time tae talk this mornin'," replied Big Mac. "We've got a lot of urgent deliveries to make."
"Huh!" scoffed Zak. "If we Z-Stacks had the job, we'd make the deliveries in half the time."
Scorpio sidled up alongside. "Oh, come off it, Zak!" she snapped. "You tried to do that with the steel contract and look what happened – a destroyed railway bridge and Little Owl resenting you and the other Z-Stacks!"
"Aye, Scorpio is richt," agreed Big Mac, "We Stars cuid easily beat ye Z-Stacks ony day."
"You think you Stars and Salvage tugs can go faster than us Z-Stacks?" scoffed Zak. "No chance!"
"If you think you're just as good, how about proving it?" said Scorpio.
"Whit dae ye propose, lassie?" asked Big Mac.
"How about a relay race between four members of each team?" Scorpio challenged.
"Weel, we've git a tae o' hours this efternoon," said Big Mac. "Let's dae it then."
"That's fine by then," grinned Zak, a devious plan forming in his head. Zak steamed to tell the other Z-Stacks and to ask Zeus for his help.
I was just finishing up my paperwork when the telephone rang.
"Hello, Star Tug and Marine Company?" I said.
"Ah, hello, Captain Star, this is the Harbour Master," said the other voice.
"What's up?" I asked.
"I need you, Captain Zero, Captain Lucky, Captain Salvage and Mr. Lloyd to report to my office for an urgent meeting."
"I'm on my way," I said. "Thank you for letting me know."
With that, I put down my telephone and went outside. As I locked up, I heard Captain Zero's footsteps.
"I assume you too received a call from the Harbour Master?" asked Captain Zero.
"Yes," I replied. "What do you suppose the situation is?"
"Well, he did sound concerned when he called me," replied Captain Zero.
"That's strange," I said. "He sounded concerned as well." Then, a horrifying thought crossed my mind. Wall Street, I thought to myself. It must be related to that.
As we headed for our cars, I spent all that time wondering what I was going to tell the tugs when they got back that evening.
By early afternoon, the Star Fleet had just about finished their work and were feeling very excited about the forthcoming race. The Star Tug team consisted of Big Mac, Warrior, Ten Cents and Sunshine.
"We're bound to win," said Sunshine.
"Ah reckon we staun a guid chance," said Big Mac, modestly. "Mynd ye, th' Salvage Fleet shuid hae a formidable team themselves."
"Let's do a team cheer!" said Top Hat. "Give me an S!"
"S!"
"Give me a T!"
"T!"
"Give me an A!"
"A!"
"Give me an R!"
"R!"
"What does that spell?"
"Star!"
"Are you sure this is a good idea, Scorpio?" asked Pisces. She and Moonlight were a bit uneasy about the whole idea as they knew they shouldn't really be racing in a busy harbour.
"Aw, come on, Pisces," said Scorpio. "We work hard enough! Why not have some fun?"
"Yeah, and it will be worth it to wipe those smug grins off Zak and Zeus' faces," agreed Stormy. She, Ember and Hail were part of Scorpio's team.
"Well, as long as you guys are careful," sighed Moonlight.
"Hey, Misty," said Ember. "How's about a team cheer?"
"Okay," said Misty, "Give me an S!"
"S!"
"Give me an A!"
"A!"
"Give me an L!"
"L!"
"Give me a V!"
"V!"
"Give me an A!"
"A!"
"Give me a G!"
"G!"
"Give me an E!"
"E!"
"What does it spell?"
"Salvage!"
But while the Star and Salvage Fleets were finishing off their work, Zak and Zeus were busy doing a bit of sabotage!
"Move that over there, Zeus!" ordered Zak. "That's great. Now Big Mac and Scorpio will think it's safe to go down that channel. They'll plough straight into that old scrap iron. That'll slow them down a bit!"
"And let's not forget that old tramper we put in place," smirked Zeus. With that, they went to join the other Z-Stacks.
"Where have you two been?" snapped Zorran. "We're supposed to do the team cheer, remember?"
"Oh, we… err… had an urgent job to do," lied Zeus, but Zorran was suspicious. The Z-Stacks' team consisted of Zak, Zebedee, Zorran and Zug. But Zug hadn't been well. His engine was making spluttering noises.
"Are you sure you should be racing, Zug?" asked Zip. "You don't look well."
"I'll be fine," coughed Zug. "Let's just do the team cheer."
"Okay," said Zip, still unsure. "Give me a Z!"
"Z!"
"Give me an E!"
"E!"
"Give me an R!"
"R!"
"Give me an O!"
"O!"
"What does that spell?"
"We don't know!"
"I thought it spelt 'Zero'?" asked Zip, before noticing the wide smirks and realising they were joking. "Oh, very good," she chuckled.
Captain Zero and I arrived at the Harbour Master's office where Captain Lucky, Captain Salvage and Mr. Lloyd were waiting.
"The Harbour Master said he'll be with us shortly," said Captain Lucky.
"Do any of you think this has anything to do with Wall Street?" I asked worriedly.
"If it doesn't, I'll be surprised," sighed Mr. Lloyd.
"I'm not too worried," said Captain Zero. "My fleet and I will find ways to make it through what comes next."
"You mean through illegal means?" muttered Mr. Lloyd.
"Not now, Frederick," whispered Captain Salvage.
"Sorry, Jennifer," said Mr. Lloyd. Just then, the secretary came out of the door.
"The Harbour Master is ready for you," she said. We all entered the office where the Harbour Master was waiting.
"Thank you for coming," he said gravely. "I expect you all know I want to talk about the latest on Wall Street."
"How bad is the situation?" I asked.
The Harbour Master sighed and he presented a list of our clients who had stocks on Wall Street, and what we saw was alarming.
At last, it was time for the race. Zorran and Big Mac were waiting at the start line, out by the harbour wall whilst the other racers got to their positions. O.J. was tired after the morning's hard work and suggested he should stay behind.
"I'll be the look-out," he said. "I don't think either of our captains or the Coast Guard team would be happy if either of them knew we were racing each other." Of course, I was eventually told about this race – heh, how else would I be telling you this story?
"Good idea," replied Zip as she and the other tugs went to join Big Mac, Zak and Scorpio at the finish line. Sally Seaplane, who was to start the race, was getting very excited.
"Oh, I can't stop bobbing about," she said. "I'm so proud you chose me to start the race."
"Prepare tae lose, Zak," said Big Mac.
"I'm prepared to see it happen to you," sneered Zak.
"Enough!" snapped Scorpio. "Talk is cheap! Let's do this!"
"One, two, three, GO!" cried Sally.
The three tugs charged off, neck and neck, thundering through the water. As they passed Grampus, Zilly and Skiff, Big Mac was slightly in front with Scorpio a close second. But Zak wasn't worried. He knew what lay ahead. As Big Mac and Scorpio reached the buoy, they swung left, straight into the scrap iron lying beneath the water.
"Aaah!" gasped Big Mac. "Whit's happening?"
"Hey! Get off me!" cried Scorpio. A look of anguish crossed their faces as Zak steamed smugly by. Big Mac and Scorpio pushed and pushed, their engines getting hotter and hotter, but they couldn't get through the scrap iron.
Grampus, who had been following the racers, sidled up to Big Mac. "Hey, you two!" he said. "Somebody is playing tricks on you. This whole area is an obstacle course."
"Ah micht hae kent Zak wouldn't play fair," sighed Big Mac.
"Guess we'll just have to accept defeat," groaned Scorpio.
"Oh no, you won't," said Grampus. "I can go first to guide you through the obstacles that are under the water. And then I'll take you to a short-cut I know."
Meanwhile, Zak was taking it easy. He was confident that the Z-Stacks were going to win, as he cruised slowly towards Zebedee to tag him. Suddenly, two loud hoots shook into action, but it was too late. Big Mac and Scorpio tagged Warrior and Ember, respectively.
"We'll get you, Ember!" laughed Warrior.
"In your dreams maybe, Warrior!"
"Hey, where's… oh, Zak, there you are!" sighed Zebedee. "What took you?"
"Er… I dunno."
Despite Zak's mistake, Zebedee was able to catch up to Ember and Warrior. Ultimately, the three tagged Ten Cents, Zorran and Stormy.
Ten Cents, Zorran and Stormy were neck-and-neck, but Zeus had placed another buoy in the way, sending Ten Cents and Stormy the wrong way.
"Hey, you two!" called Zorran. "The race is that way!"
"Huh?" Ten Cents blinked in surprise. "Stormy, watch out!"
Both tugs skidded to a halt and nearly collided with a tramper.
"What was that all about?!" fumed Stormy.
"This has Zak and Zeus written all over it!" huffed Ten Cents.
"When I get those two, they're going to get it!" growled Stormy as they reserved back and went the right way this time.
By this time, Zorran had tagged Zug. Soon, Ten Cents and Stormy caught up to Sunshine and Hail.
"Oh, thank goodness you two made it," said Hail. "The Z-Stacks have taken the lead again!"
"Well, get your boilers burning and catch up!" ordered Stormy.
"We're on our way!" said Sunshine.
Zug was approaching the finish line, but his engine was getting worse. Then, with a loud bang, Zug stopped meters from the finish line and in a cloud of black smoke. Sunshine saw what had happened and stopped.
"Hail!" she called. "You go and finish the race. Ah'll help Zug!"
"Err… okay," said Hail, a little surprised. With that, Hail crossed the finish line first and the Salvage Fleet won the race. Sunshine threw a towline to Zug.
"What are you doing?" asked Zug.
"Ah'm not going to let you end with a DNF," replied Sunshine.
With that, the two tugs crossed the line together. Everyone (except for Zeus) cheered.
"Well done, Sunshine and Hail!" they said. Then Ten Cents, Big Mac, Warrior, Zorran, Zebedee and Zak came up.
"Well, well," said Zorran. "Not a bad job, Sunshine."
"Yes, well done, Sunshine," said Zebedee. "And you too, Hail."
"Thanks, Zebedee," the two switchers replied.
"Thank you, Sunshine," replied Zug, gratefully.
"Zug!" snapped Zak. "You've cost us the race!"
"And after that trouble of me and Zak sabotaging the Stars and Salvage Fleet as well!" growled Zeus.
"What was that?" asked Zorran. He and the other tugs glared at Zak and Zeus.
"So you did sabotage us!" snapped Stormy. "Ten Cents and I nearly crashed into an old tramper."
"They did the same to me and Big Mac!" shouted Scorpio. "We'd have still been stuck in that scrap iron if it wasn't for Grampus."
"When will you learn to keep your big mouth shut, Zeus?!" Zak said angrily. But Zorran just glared at them both, making them feel scared.
"You two! Come with me!" he ordered.
"That wull teach they twa," chuckled Big Mac. "Thir's mair than yin wey tae win a race."
"You two will spend the rest of the afternoon clearing up this mess!" ordered Zorran. "What if another vessel had come along and had an accident?"
"Err… yes, Zorran," said Zak nervously.
"Sorry, Zorran, but…" began Zeus.
"Just get it on with it, you idiots!" snapped Zorran. "Or Captain Zero will have more angry tears." With that, Zak and Zeus got to work.
"I swear, if this bad behaviour of theirs keeps up," growled Zorran, "I'm going to personally request that Captain Zero fires them! If it means getting tugs whose names don't begin with 'Z', so be it!"
As Zorran turned back for the Zero Dock, he heard raised voices with a mixture of fear and anger.
"What's going on?" he said to no one in particular. Then, as he passed by a dock, he looked at a nearby newspaper and gasped in shock.
It was early in the evening that Hercules towed the tramper out to sea. On the way, he could have sworn he saw people by the dockside looking worried and upset.
I hope this is nothing too serious, he thought to himself.
Ten Cents and Sunshine were out delivering fuel to Lillie Lightship.
"Thanks for the fuel," she said.
"No problem," said Ten Cents.
"We'd better get back to the Star Dock," said Sunshine. "Bye, Lillie."
On their way back, they saw a lot of people looking worried.
"What's going on?" asked Sunshine.
"I'm not sure," said Ten Cents. "I hope President Hoover hasn't died suddenly."
Of course, President Hoover hadn't died, but the news that had worried all these people was far worse, as the tugs were about to find out.
It was late evening when the Star Tugs returned to their dock. I was there waiting with some serious news.
"Star Fleet," I said gravely, "as you might know, there has been a massive financial crash on Wall Street and I have just learnt the severity of the situation."
The tugs were shocked by this.
"How bad is it?" asked Ten Cents, worriedly.
"Many of our clients have lost their stocks," I replied, "and some of them have gone bankrupt." The tugs' faces fell as they realised that the boom experienced from the Roaring Twenties had come to an abrupt end, and what would become known as the Great Depression had begun. This would become the biggest financial crisis of the twentieth century, and the effects were felt across the globe, particularly in Europe where, I'm sorry to say, the seeds would be sown for the deadliest conflict in human history.
The End
Arthur's notes: Yet another one of the Annual stories - The Race. This one is mashed up with elements of the Salty's Lighthouse episode of the same name. This one is pretty fun - having the tugs going racing around the harbour. Among changes are Big Mac, Warrior, Ten Cents and Sunshine racing instead of O.J. taking part. Zorran, Zak, Zug and Zebedee race for the Z-Stacks team instead of Zorran racing twice. We also see Skiff in this time period, and we learn more of Captain Zero's family - he has a son, daughter-in-law and a future grandkid on the way. And finally, this is the last story of the Roaring '20s. The next five stories will be detailing the Great Depression.
And to kick that one off, join us next time as the Tugs are on a Treasure Hunt.