Heat Wave

**Heat Wave** is the sixth *TUGS: The Bigg City Chronicles* story.

## Plot

It is the year of the big heat wave. Many incoming boats have sickness aboard, and must fly a yellow flag to show they need to have a medical examination to determine whether or not their sickness is contagious. If their disease is infectious, they must anchor away from port and fly the checkered flag to show they are under quarantine for the compulsory 40 days, and warning everyone not to go near, for fear of being infected. Once they are checked, they are free to have a tow into port.

Burke and Blair (a pair of evil minded scrap-dealing tugs) have their eyes on O.J. whose engine has been acting up lately. They have already made Captain Star an offer for him but he refused. Meanwhile, Captain Zero has bought three new recruits for his fleet: a narcisstic ocean-going tug named Zeus, a grumpy railway tug named Zob and a nervous submarine named Zilly.

Ten Cents and Sunshine arrive at the Star Dock, late and having missed the briefing. After they explain what had happened, Captain Star apologises for getting cross with them. He then informs Ten Cents that he was supposed to collect a fire barge from the station across the harbour, and that O.J. is now taking care of it. Ten Cents is sent to help him while Sunshine has to bring in a tramper called Nantucket. If O.J. is alright, he and Ten Cents can join the others, ready to take away vessels cleared from quarantine. Captain Star also warns Ten Cents and Sunshine about Captain Zero's new recruits.

Meanwhile, O.J. (on his way to the ferry pier with the barge) is watched by Burke and Blair. The two scrap dealers delight at the sound of his choking engine. At the same time, Felicia follows an intersecting path. Zip and Zilly are nearly hit by a runaway Davy Jones and follow him. O.J. suddenly spots Davy Jones rapidly approaching him from the distant harbour entrance. Before he knows it, Davy Jones is right on top of him. O.J. reverses out of the way just in time, but his faulty engine spins him, swinging his barge into Felicia. The ferry now has a large hole in her hull, causing her to sink.

Ten Cents sees the situation and tries to save Felicia with a towline. But he is forced to cut the rope, and the ferry sinks to the bottom. Sunshine arrives (not too far behind Ten Cents) and is sent to get the emergency services. O.J. begins to lose confidence after the accident.

Burke and Blair make a second attempt to purchase O.J. at the Star Pier but again, Captain Star refuses. Back at the scene of the accident, Finbar arrives to take care of the situation and cranes are put into position to raise the sunken ferry. Zeus and Zug arrive to criticise the Star Fleet, especially O.J. and gloatingly express their delight that there will be fewer Star Tugs available for quarantine work. It's also then that Ten Cents learns that Zeus knew Hercules in the war.

When Ten Cents and O.J. arrive at the mouth of the harbour, they find Top Hat and the two Z-Stacks still waiting. Peeper Pipes informs the tugs that the schooners are quarantined, as they may carry Microbonic Plague. Ten Cents is surprised when Zeus sends Zug packing and says that he himself will go further out. Ten Cents suspects foul play and after Top Hat points that Sunshine is collecting Nantucket, Ten Cents and O.J. follow Zeus.

As usual, Warrior is busy taking Lord Stinker to the city dump, and the hot weather is making his work even more unpleasant than usual. When Captain Star calls Warrior over to the Star Dock for an urgent job at the old docks to help Scuttlebutt Pete, Warrior is thrilled with the news, knowing there will be cooler weather in the old docks, and for the fact to get away from the smelly rubbish barge. Curious, Warrior asks Captain Star where he should put Lord Stinker, and Captain Star said he should leave him out of the way.

During his travels, Warrior places Lord Stinker inside a narrow gulley behind the Zero Dock. Zob comes by and smells the stinky rubbish in the air. As Warrior was helping Scuttlebutt Pete, Zug tows Lord Stinker away from the pier. Lord Stinker is worried about what Warrior will think.

Sunshine is out of port, looking for Nantucket, when she spots the tramper flying a yellow flag; she makes sure not to go too close. Suddenly, Nantucket lowers its flag and requests a tow into port. With no customs boat in sight, Sunshine wisely hurries away, not wanting to risk being infected.

Zeus sees Sunshine on his way out and asks if there’s any cleared trampers. Sunshine refuses to tell him, but Zeus won't let her off the hook. Ten Cents and O.J. quickly come to Sunshine's aid. Sunshine explains that Nantucket's yellow flag was pulled down. Zeus thinks the tramper has been cleared, and tries to seize this "golden opportunity" by rushing out to the tramper immediately and pushes Sunshine aside. Ten Cents gives chase, determined to beat Zeus to it. O.J. follows Ten Cents doing considerable damage to his engine in the process, and manages to stop him. He is certain the tramper is waiting either for examination or to be quarantined. When Peeper Pipes arrives, Sunshine asks him if Nantucket has been cleared and is glad she did not go near him. The tramper needs another whole week on inspection. Peeper Pipes quickly goes to stop Zeus from bringing Nantucket into port. Ten Cents thanks O.J. for stopping but he and Sunshine are concerned for O.J.'s engine.

Zeus triumphantly reaches Nantucket and pulls right alongside, but just as he prepares to tow Nantucket into port, Peeper Pipes arrives and immediately places an arrest warrant on the tramper since he’s actually carrying disease without having quarantine flags up. Despite Zeus protesting that he had no idea Nantucket was still quarantined, Peeper Pipes orders both him and the villainous tramper to put up quarantine flags. Zeus ends up quarantined alongside Nantucket for forty days.

Ten Cents and Sunshine tow O.J. back to the Star Pier. Ten Cents tells Captain Star what led to O.J.'s engine failure. Captain Star tries to persuade O.J. not to go through with being scrapped. Burke and Blair arrive yet again and make their final offer for O.J. Ten Cents then tells O.J. that he shouldn't give up and after Captain Star asks him if it's what he wants, O.J. replies no, realising that Ten Cents is right, much to Burke and Blair's dismay. After sending the two scrap dealers away, Captain Star tells Ten Cents to take O.J. to Lucky's Yard for a new engine. He also sends Sunshine to collect fuel for Sally Seaplane.

When Warrior finishes his work with Scuttlebutt Pete, he goes to find Lord Stinker, but it is not at the back of the Zero Pier. Darkness falls, and Warrior is searching all over the harbour looking for the rubbish barge. Giving up, he heads back to the Star Pier. As Ten Cents and Sunshine are wondering where Warrior could have gone, Grampus surfaces above the water, asking if any of them lost a barge. It turns out the barge is near the harbour mouth. Grampus also notes the barge is full of rubbish, just as Warrior steams in. Ten Cents and Sunshine start joking when Warrior asks where his barge is, and both switchers jokingly suggest he should just follow his nose to the barge. Grampus then leads Warrior to Lord Stinker, much to the harbour tug's relief.

O.J. returns from his overhaul and is as good as new. The weather cools down, decreasing the risk of infectious disease. Zeus returns from his quarantine period where Zorran and Captain Zero are angrily waiting for him. After furiously threatening to sell him for scrap, Captain Zero informs Zeus that he will on menial jobs until he can be trusted again. To add insult to injury, Burke and Blair pass Zeus and snicker at his dilemma.

## Differences between the episode, the annual stories and this version.

* Captain Star doesn't threaten Ten Cents and Sunshine with scrap like in the original. Instead, he listens to their explanation for being late and apologises for being cross with them.
* Also, instead of Captain Star considering selling O.J. for scrap, it's O.J. who considers giving himself up for scrap, much to Captain Star's horror. Thankfully, Ten Cents sways O.J.'s mind and gets him to keep going.
* Captain Zero is the one to threaten Zeus with scrap instead after he served quarintine.
* Instead of Zorran getting quarantined, it's Zeus.
* Instead of a mad speedboat (which happened to use Davy Jones' model in the original), it was confirmed to be a runaway Davy Jones.
* Instead of Zug taking the garbage barge away, it's Zob who takes Lord Stinker away. Lord Stinker himself also appears instead of a nameless non-sentient garbage barge.
* Zeus, Zob and Zilly are all purchased by Captain Zero. The former two are concept characters who were intinally supposed to be a harbour tug and a switcher (but in this canon, they are an ocean going tug and a railway tug), while Zilly is an OC submarine. This is shown in a Z-Stacks briefing that wasn't in the original story.
* Hercules is mentioned to be "up the coast".
* Big Mac has a speaking role in the story, but not the episode. Same with Warrior, who only speaks because of the aunnual story being adapted.
* Big Mac is said to have won the steel contract from High Tide, which was ripped out of the story "Munitions". He also takes Mighty Mo home, which was Sunshine's job in that episode.
* The Star Tugs briefing is also showcased in detail.
* Sunshine collects fuel for Sally Seaplane instead of doing garbage runs when Ten Cents takes O.J. to Lucky's.
* The Fire Tug is named Finbar and the Coast Guard is named Peeper Pipes. Burke and Blair's full names are Jacob Burke and Ebenezer Blair.

## Characters

* Captain Star
* Ten Cents
* Big Mac
* O.J.
* Top Hat
* Warrior
* Sunshine
* Grampus
* Captain Zero
* Zorran
* Zebedee (does not speak)
* Zak
* Zug
* Zip
* Zeus
* Zob
* Zilly
* Jacob Burke and Ebenezer Blair
* Finbar
* Peeper Pipes
* Davy Jones
* Mighty Mo
* Nantucket
* Lord Stinker
* Felicia
* Hercules (mentioned)

## Voices

### Official

* Simon Nash as Ten Cents
* Sean Barrett as Big Mac, Blair and Finbar
* Ian James Corlett as O.J.
* John Baddeley as Top Hat
* Chris Tulloch as Zorran
* Shaun Prendergrast as Zak
* Nigel Anthony as Zug, Burke and Davy Jones
* Lee Cornes as Grampus and Peeper Pipes

### Fan chosen

* Peter Dickson as Captain Star
* Jeff Bennett as Warrior
* Michelle Creber as Sunshine
* Tara Strong as Zip
* Richard White as Zeus
* Christian Bale as Zob
* Matt Frewer as Zilly
* David Humphrey as Nantucket

## Trivia

* This marks the first appearances of Zeus, Zob, Zilly, Finbar, Peeper Pipes, Jacob Burke, Ebenezer Blair, Felicia and Nantucket.