Post by sparacus on Feb 12, 2017 13:41:21 GMT -5
'Doomwatch 2010' has now been renamed 'New Doomwatch' for obvious reasons. Here is the third story:
"WHO KILLED MIKE ARNOLD?"
Part One
The bitterly cold wind blew sleet into the young man's face as he closed the car door and hurried along the street towards his home, tightly clutching a file of papers in his hand. He let himself into the house, locked the door again and threw the papers onto the sofa, wiping the sleet and rain off his glasses. He took his phone out of his pocket and called one of his contacts:
"Hi. I've got them out..... No I don't think anyone suspects... I'm booked on the 9.15 tomorrow, you're right it's best if I take them to London myself... yes to Doomwatch."
The young man wiped the wet off his forehead and threw off his jacket. He was about twenty-five and had the look of an older incarnation of Harry Potter about him. He also looked extremely frightened. He picked up the file walked through into the lounge, collapsing onto the sofa with a sigh. As he did so there was a loud knock on the door and the young man looked afraid. He quietly slipped out of the lounge and upstairs. He entered the front bedroom and kept the light off so that he could go to the window and look down at who was standing at the door. As he did so he gave a sigh of relief, yet also looked puzzled. He came downstairs and went to the front door, unlocking and opening it.
"Hey, why didn't you say you were on the way here when I was just speaking to you on the phone?"
As the young man turned to show the person into the house he felt a sharp pain in his side and then all was darkness.......
Charles Furness was leaving the Southbank Centre in London after attending the first night of a new performance of Benjamin Britten's opera 'Billy Budd'. As he collected his jacket and umbrella in the foyer area, Genna Miles came running up to him:
"Charles, why the hell haven't you been answering your phone? The boss wants us all back at Doomwatch HQ tonight. There's some kind of job on and it sounds really serious."
Charles gave her an anguished look:
"Sorry, I assumed it would be ok to switch it off during the performance. Ok I know we're supposed to be on 24 hour contact but I just wanted to see this production and was lucky to get the seat."
Genna smiled at him:
"The seat? You mean you're here on your own Charles? We assumed that you must be on a date."
Charles sighed:
"Yes well it was a case of either go on my own or not go at all. The endless dilemma of Charles".
He smiled and Genna hugged him:
"Come on, let's go and face the boss."
At Doomwatch HQ, Peter Ashton-Scott was pacing up and down in the main office. The rest of the Doomwatch team were sat waiting, Steve Allen reading a report on his tablet. Ashton-Scott looked up at the clock on the wall:
"Where the hell are they? This is completely unprofessional and the sort of thing I'd associate with that amateurish outfit centred around Adam Quist. "
He turned towards a man in his sixties who was sat at the table beside him:
"I'm so sorry about this Geoff. Normally I can account for the whereabouts of my team at all times and they all know that they need to remain in immediate contact 24-7."
As he spoke the door opened and Genna and Charles entered the room.
"Where the hell have you been?" Ashton-Scott barked at Charles:
"I'm really sorry Peter. Look I just had to turn my phone off during the opera, if it had gone off I'd have been mortified."
Ashton-Scott took off his glasses and threw them onto the table:
"Mortified? You were given clear instructions that you could by all means visit the cinema or theatre on nights off but that you must on all occasions keep your phone on, regardless of the circumstances. Do you think that this is just some ordinary job? Doomwatch is a vocation and one which requires complete commitment and moral fibre. If you're not up to that then it's time to move on."
Steve Allen looked up from his tablet:
"Hang on, don't you think that's a bit harsh....."
"Harsh? I'll tell you what's harsh. It's harsh that right now the planet is reaching a tipping point where global warning may become irreversible. It's harsh that the earth is entering the sixth mass extinction while world governments' action on global pollution remains woefully inadequate. That is what I consider harsh", Ashton-Scott barked back. Charles sat down and flicked his long hair out of his eyes:
"I'm really sorry Peter. Look please don't doubt my commitment to this organisation. I totally share your passion and your concern for these issues. I realise that I've made a bad call on this but I assure you that the impression it gives of my dedication is a false one. I can only apologise."
Steve Allen interjected:
"Look can we all just move on and get on with the briefing."
Ashton-Scott frowned:
"Well yes, we'd better. Colleagues, may I introduce to you our guest. This is Mr Geoff Hardcastle, one of the original Doomwatch team."
The man in his sixties stood up and began to speak. He wore a battered leather jacket and jeans. He had put on weight since the 1970s but his long grey hair gave him something of the look of that generation ; the look of the battered old 1970s survivor.
"Hi everyone. I'm here because I need your help in investigating something which goes beyond anything Doomwatch ever stumbled upon in the old days. Since I left the organisation in 1971 I've had a number of jobs but for the last ten years before I retired I was working at the Mersea Centre, the nuclear power research centre near to Bradwell Power Station"....
Ashton-Scott gave a visible scowl, which Hardcastle noticed:
"Your boss has made his disapproval crystal clear to me earlier, however I truly came to believe that nuclear was the only viable and immediate solution to global warming. As you may or may not know, the Mersea Centre is run as a partnership between the government and the French company L'Orleans. One of our best young scientists, Mike Arnold, came to see me with a range of concerns regarding what L'Orleans were up to and was making claims about how money for nuclear energy research was being siphoned off for some other purpose. Obviously I've been out of the loop since I retired but I'd kept in touch with Mike as he was the most brilliant young scientist I've ever worked with. Two days ago Mike was found stabbed to death in an alley in Colchester."
Geoff threw a copy of the Colchester Gazette onto the table:
NUCLEAR SCIENTIST FOUND STABBED TO DEATH
screamed the headline. The photograph showed the face of a young man who resembled an older version of Harry Potter.....
............to be continued.
"WHO KILLED MIKE ARNOLD?"
Part One
The bitterly cold wind blew sleet into the young man's face as he closed the car door and hurried along the street towards his home, tightly clutching a file of papers in his hand. He let himself into the house, locked the door again and threw the papers onto the sofa, wiping the sleet and rain off his glasses. He took his phone out of his pocket and called one of his contacts:
"Hi. I've got them out..... No I don't think anyone suspects... I'm booked on the 9.15 tomorrow, you're right it's best if I take them to London myself... yes to Doomwatch."
The young man wiped the wet off his forehead and threw off his jacket. He was about twenty-five and had the look of an older incarnation of Harry Potter about him. He also looked extremely frightened. He picked up the file walked through into the lounge, collapsing onto the sofa with a sigh. As he did so there was a loud knock on the door and the young man looked afraid. He quietly slipped out of the lounge and upstairs. He entered the front bedroom and kept the light off so that he could go to the window and look down at who was standing at the door. As he did so he gave a sigh of relief, yet also looked puzzled. He came downstairs and went to the front door, unlocking and opening it.
"Hey, why didn't you say you were on the way here when I was just speaking to you on the phone?"
As the young man turned to show the person into the house he felt a sharp pain in his side and then all was darkness.......
Charles Furness was leaving the Southbank Centre in London after attending the first night of a new performance of Benjamin Britten's opera 'Billy Budd'. As he collected his jacket and umbrella in the foyer area, Genna Miles came running up to him:
"Charles, why the hell haven't you been answering your phone? The boss wants us all back at Doomwatch HQ tonight. There's some kind of job on and it sounds really serious."
Charles gave her an anguished look:
"Sorry, I assumed it would be ok to switch it off during the performance. Ok I know we're supposed to be on 24 hour contact but I just wanted to see this production and was lucky to get the seat."
Genna smiled at him:
"The seat? You mean you're here on your own Charles? We assumed that you must be on a date."
Charles sighed:
"Yes well it was a case of either go on my own or not go at all. The endless dilemma of Charles".
He smiled and Genna hugged him:
"Come on, let's go and face the boss."
At Doomwatch HQ, Peter Ashton-Scott was pacing up and down in the main office. The rest of the Doomwatch team were sat waiting, Steve Allen reading a report on his tablet. Ashton-Scott looked up at the clock on the wall:
"Where the hell are they? This is completely unprofessional and the sort of thing I'd associate with that amateurish outfit centred around Adam Quist. "
He turned towards a man in his sixties who was sat at the table beside him:
"I'm so sorry about this Geoff. Normally I can account for the whereabouts of my team at all times and they all know that they need to remain in immediate contact 24-7."
As he spoke the door opened and Genna and Charles entered the room.
"Where the hell have you been?" Ashton-Scott barked at Charles:
"I'm really sorry Peter. Look I just had to turn my phone off during the opera, if it had gone off I'd have been mortified."
Ashton-Scott took off his glasses and threw them onto the table:
"Mortified? You were given clear instructions that you could by all means visit the cinema or theatre on nights off but that you must on all occasions keep your phone on, regardless of the circumstances. Do you think that this is just some ordinary job? Doomwatch is a vocation and one which requires complete commitment and moral fibre. If you're not up to that then it's time to move on."
Steve Allen looked up from his tablet:
"Hang on, don't you think that's a bit harsh....."
"Harsh? I'll tell you what's harsh. It's harsh that right now the planet is reaching a tipping point where global warning may become irreversible. It's harsh that the earth is entering the sixth mass extinction while world governments' action on global pollution remains woefully inadequate. That is what I consider harsh", Ashton-Scott barked back. Charles sat down and flicked his long hair out of his eyes:
"I'm really sorry Peter. Look please don't doubt my commitment to this organisation. I totally share your passion and your concern for these issues. I realise that I've made a bad call on this but I assure you that the impression it gives of my dedication is a false one. I can only apologise."
Steve Allen interjected:
"Look can we all just move on and get on with the briefing."
Ashton-Scott frowned:
"Well yes, we'd better. Colleagues, may I introduce to you our guest. This is Mr Geoff Hardcastle, one of the original Doomwatch team."
The man in his sixties stood up and began to speak. He wore a battered leather jacket and jeans. He had put on weight since the 1970s but his long grey hair gave him something of the look of that generation ; the look of the battered old 1970s survivor.
"Hi everyone. I'm here because I need your help in investigating something which goes beyond anything Doomwatch ever stumbled upon in the old days. Since I left the organisation in 1971 I've had a number of jobs but for the last ten years before I retired I was working at the Mersea Centre, the nuclear power research centre near to Bradwell Power Station"....
Ashton-Scott gave a visible scowl, which Hardcastle noticed:
"Your boss has made his disapproval crystal clear to me earlier, however I truly came to believe that nuclear was the only viable and immediate solution to global warming. As you may or may not know, the Mersea Centre is run as a partnership between the government and the French company L'Orleans. One of our best young scientists, Mike Arnold, came to see me with a range of concerns regarding what L'Orleans were up to and was making claims about how money for nuclear energy research was being siphoned off for some other purpose. Obviously I've been out of the loop since I retired but I'd kept in touch with Mike as he was the most brilliant young scientist I've ever worked with. Two days ago Mike was found stabbed to death in an alley in Colchester."
Geoff threw a copy of the Colchester Gazette onto the table:
NUCLEAR SCIENTIST FOUND STABBED TO DEATH
screamed the headline. The photograph showed the face of a young man who resembled an older version of Harry Potter.....
............to be continued.