'Rat Trap' by Phil Ford

When Spectrum loses contact with Elysium base on Mars, Colonel White sends Captain Scarlet, Captain Blue, Doctor Gold, Destiny and Harmony to investigate. After achieving Mars orbit, the team heads for the planet’s surface in the shuttle's excursion vehicle, only to immediately come under missile attack from the base. Destiny manages to make a crash landing, but the craft is badly damaged; the only way off the planet lies at Elysium – which is taken to now be under Mysteron control. Boarding their Bison Alien Terrain Vehicle, Scarlet and the others head for Elysium; en route the come across a Bison from Elysium, its three crewmen having died from lack of oxygen while apparently fleeing from their base. Arriving at Elysium, the Spectrum team discover that the remaining members of the base’s volunteer personnel have all been brutally murdered. Destiny and Harmony attempt to access the base’s shuttle, only to find that its systems have been sabotaged. It isn’t long before the Spectrum team discover the saboteur: a robotic Remote Acquisition Technology (RAT) probe designed for use in hostile environments, which has been taken over by the Mysterons and turned into a deadly killing machine. Using Captain Blue for bait, Scarlet manages to lure the RAT out into the open; he then jumps the robot like a cowboy riding a bronco, and destroys it with a limpet mine. However, Scarlet and Blue then learn that there is a second RAT which also under Mysteron control – and it is heading straight for Destiny…

Wayne Forester (Captain Scarlet), Robbie Stevens (Captain Blue), Mike Hayley (Colonel White), Jules de Jongh (Harmony Angel), Nigel Plaskitt (Doctor Gold), Emma Tate (Destiny Angel)

Directed by Dominic Lavery
Executive Producer Gerry Anderson

TX:
UK (CITV):
5th March, 2005 - shown in two parts within 'Ministry of Mayhem'

Notes:
*Featuring Captain Scarlet, Captain Blue, Colonel White, Doctor Gold and Harmony Angel