Shadow of Fear
To learn more about the Mysterons and Mars, Spectrum has conceived "Operation Sword". The objective is to place a space probe in orbit around Mars to capture detailed images of the surface. Although the Mysterons destroy a first probe, a second — Mini-Sat 5 — successfully lands on the Martian moon Phobos to carry out surveillance. When Phobos has completed one orbit of Mars, the images will be transmitted to Earth for reception at K14 Observatory in the Himalayas at 3 a.m., local time. Since K14 is beyond the range of the Spectrum Angels, Cloudbase is moved into Himalayan airspace on its horizontal jets. Captains Scarlet and Blue have been dispatched to K14 to assist scientists Carter, Breck and Angelini. From the astronomers' perspective, Mini-Sat 5 was able to touch down on Phobos thanks to the "shadow of fear": "phobos", the name of an attendant of Mars in Greek mythology, means "fear" in Greek, and the probe avoided detection by the Mysterons by approaching the moon from behind.
That night, a few hours before reception, Breck is observing Mars through a telescope when the planet begins to flash brightly. Overcome by the dazzling light, he is killed and duplicated by the Mysterons. Knowing that K14's aerial will have to be retuned to receive the images from Mini-Sat 5, his reconstruction fixes an explosive device to the rotation gear — set to detonate when caught in the machinery — and then hides among the rocks above K14. With the aid of a Spectrum helicopter piloted by Melody Angel and Captain Grey, Scarlet and Blue locate and confront the reconstruction minutes before 3 a.m. Firing on the officers, the duplicate is killed by Scarlet, but not before revealing its act of sabotage. Before Scarlet and Blue can warn Carter and Angelini, the astronomers rotate the aerial and the bomb detonates, causing the structure to crash down onto the K14 observatory. However, although Carter and Angelini are dead, and Earth has missed the reception of the images, Colonel White insists that the setback does not mark the end of Operation Sword.
murder