Fears

**Fears** is the thirty-second story of *TUGS: The Bigg City Chronicles* and the second story of the Wartime trilogy.

## Plot

A few months after the horrific attack on Bigg City Port and Zug's murder, everyone is still recovering from the scrap. Peeper Pipes and his team are keeping their eyes out for any trouble and Burke, Blair and Mr. Broke have gone missing due to being suspects in Zug's murder.

Captain Lucy is giving counseling sessions for everyone who was affected, even Captain Star, Captain Zero and Mr. Lloyd. Because of the loss of her parents, Captain Lucky seeks her own therapy sessions with Finbar, who has recently taken lessons in counseling himself.

Following the destruction of Captain Zero's announcing house, he and the Z-Stacks relocated to the Star Dock until the announcing house is rebuilt. Zak and Zeus are acting unusually quiet about the whole affair, which makes both Zorran and Captain Zero suspicious.

In regards of the vacancies bought on by Top Hat, Zug, Zilly and Kirke's deaths, Captain Lucky finds someone to do with Top Hat's work but keeps it a secret from Captain Star and the other Star Tugs as she feels it would cheer them up immensely. Mr. Lloyd loans an engine from the Indian Valley Railroad in Wisconsin. As for Zug and Zilly's replacements, well, Captain Zero doesn’t find any replacements – rather, the replacements find him…

Zorran is heading back to the Star Dock. Captain Star and Captain Zero had both finished their counseling sessions and are heading back with him. Then Zorran notices another tug approaching the Star Dock and asks if Captain Star had got another railway tug already. Captain Star replies that he didn't so they go to check this out and are amazed to see that Ariel has come back. The rest of Stars and the rests of the Z-Stacks arrived back and, with the exception of Zak and Zeus, are delighted to see her again, especially, Ten Cents. Ariel then explains that she was working in Atlantic City when Captain Lucky came up on business and told her what had happened and she arranged her return to Bigg City. She also promises to do her best to help, despite not being designed for the work Top Hat did.

The happiness is cut short when Sunshine whimpers in terror. The other tugs and the two captains look and are shocked and angered to see Corona and Hans approached them. They both say that they had heard the horrible news about Top Hat, Zug and Zilly and decided to come as quickly as they could. Everyone is suspicious given their past encounters with Hans and Corona. Hans then says that he had to come realise how awful Hitler is and defected from Germany. Corona also claims that she regrets trying to murder Sunshine and points out that it would be difficult trying to get another switcher and submarine in war conditions. The tugs admit that is a good point and Captain Zero reluctantly lets them stay. Captain Star sends Sunshine, who is terrified at the thought of Nightshade, Oleander and Foxglove coming back with Corona's return, to Lucky's for counseling. Zob then leaves to collect the engine from the Indian Valley Railroad and Ariel comes too so Zob can show her the ropes. O.J. goes to alert the Salvage Team about Hans and Corona's return. Ten Cents asks Captain Star if he can arrange for him to see Captain Lucky to discuss his fears about the explosion that almost killed him.

Later that afternoon, the engines are overjoyed to see Ariel return as she arrives with Zob and the engine from the IVVR; who is none other than Top Hat's old friend, Tillie. Whilst she is sad that she couldn't meet Kirke or see Top Hat again, she admits that at least they both died as heroes. After Placido reveals his theory about a connection but Zug's death and the attack, Zob then warns Mr. Lloyd and the engines that Hans and Corona have returned.

Sunshine finishes her counseling session with Captain Lucky before getting back to work.

A few minutes after Sunshine leaves, Ten Cents arrives and thanks Captain Lucky for arranging Ariel's return, but also states his concern for Sunshine. Captain Lucky assures him that she's feeling a bit better now and commends Ten Cents for deciding to talk about his trauma. She even states how the Dunkirk-Flanders disaster affected Zob, 5027 and Francis. Zip overhears and is deep in thought. Zob was quite brave to open up about his past, so she decides to ask him to help her become a braver tug.

Captain Star arranges for Sunshine to work with the Salvage Fleet for a few days to help her recover from her shock. Needless to say, they're not pleased with the news O.J. had given them and promise to keep Sunshine safe. Billy Shoepack arrives and, after learning about Corona's return, promises to help Sunshine if she needs it.

At the waterworks, Zob gives Zip useful advice, saying that bravery is not the lack of fear, it’s the facing of it. That means feeling the fear, the doubt, the insecurity and deciding that something else is more important.

For the next few days, Ten Cents goes to see Captain Lucky to get some advice on conquering his fear of explosions. Ten Cents begins to feel better for it. He concentrates his breathing whenever he feels stressed and talks to the others about his fears.

Ariel does a good job with the car floats, despite not being built for railway tug work. She hits it off with Frank and Eddie and the three have a discussion about a company called Disney who rolled out the first animated movie in 1937, which was about seven dwarfs. Ariel then states that if there was a Disney movies with characters named her and her sisters, it would more likely be about mermaids.

On the Dockside Railway, Tillie helps Henney with her freight cars by banking her. Henney states it's no wonder they call Tillie "The Little Engine That Could" and states that Kirke would have loved to have met her.

As for Hans and Corona, they are surprisingly well-behaved, but the other tugs still don't trust them. Zob keeps giving Zip useful tips for being braver and she takes note of that.

Later, the Salvage Team and Sunshine are helping to clear some debris that Hans had spotted. They then wonder if more stars joined the sky on the day of the Blitz. Sunshine states that Top Hat would believe his star is the brightest in the sky. Billy then states that their lost friends will be remembered as long as everyone tells their stories.

Ten Cents is approaching the end of another session with Captain Lucky. He is unsure about her suggestion as he's not quite over his fears of explosions yet. Captain Lucky then gives the same advice Zob gave Zip: “bravery is not the absence of fear. It’s about the facing of such fears. In times of crisis, there will be fears that may arise, but we must try and decide what is more important.” Then Hercules comes up, looking alarmed and tells them an incident that had occured Up River.

The Salvage Fleet were clearing debris from a boat that sunk the night before, when they heard an explosion. They rushed over and were horrified to see that Billy Shoepack had been blown up by his own dynamite. Sunshine then rusheed over and was distraught to see her old friend dead. After all the losses that had occured, she broke down crying as did Hail, Misty and Robin. Stormy then revealed that she found a flag with a terryifing symbol: the swastika! Sea Rogue and O'Malley came up and were horrified at the sight that greets them. Pisces then called an emergency indignation meeting at the Railhead and headed back to Port to alert the others what's happened, Ember went to fetch Captain Salvage, Moonlight took Sunshine back to the pier to comfort, Sea Rogue and O'Malley left to inform Billy's owners about his death and the rest of the Salvage team and Robin stayed to clear the mess.

Ten Cents and Captain Lucky are horrified by this and they head over to the Railhead with Hercules.

Soon, everyone is gathered at the Railhead. There was a mixture of shock, horror, sadness and anger at this horrific incident. Thomas Star announces he will request to the chief that a curfew is introduced for all civilains and only police and military personnel will be allowed out after 1900 hours (7:00pm). Peeper Pipes decides to implement security checks on incoming and outgoing vessels. Ten Cents then announces he is volunteering for the navy, much to everyone's shock. Ten Cents then explains that they had lost too many lives, including Top Hat's and Captain Lucky had suggested volunteering for the navy so it would give him a sense on empowerment. Big Mac, Hercules, Zorran, Zip and Zak then announce they will do the same, although Zorran is suspicious about Zak's motives. Captain Star and Captain Zero are both touched for their fleet's decisions and announces they will arrange for other tugs to do their work whilst they're away. Grampus suggests that Penny should come back and cover for Ten Cents, which Captain Star. Pisces adjourns the meeting and Ariel then informs Captain Star about a harbour tug and an ocean-going tug that could cover for Hercules.

A funeral is held for Billy Shoepack where many memories are shared. His remains are then scrapped by Captain Lucky’s workers since, again, no one wants his death to be tainted by Burke and Blair. Little do they know for the oncoming battle to save Bigg City Port from Nazi occupation.

## Characters

* Captain Star
* Ten Cents
* Big Mac
* O.J.
* Warrior
* Hercules
* Sunshine
* Grampus
* Captain Zero
* Zorran
* Zebedee
* Zak
* Zip
* Zeus (does not speak)
* Zob
* Captain Salvage (does not speak)
* Pisces
* Misty
* Scorpio
* Ember
* Stormy
* Hail
* Moonlight
* Robin
* Ariel
* Corona
* Hans
* Sea Rogue
* O'Malley
* Billy Shoepack (death)
* Peeper Pipes
* Jimbo
* Mr. Frederick Lloyd
* Puffa
* Little Owl
* Porter
* Henney
* Lexi
* Placido
* Maeve
* Tillie
* Admiral Cardona
* Thomas Star
* Top Hat (mentioned)
* Zug (mentioned)
* Zilly (mentioned)
* Kirke (mentioned)
* Penny (mentioned)
* Zion (mentioned)
* Finbar (mentioned)
* Jacob Burke and Ebenezer Blair (mentioned)
* Mr. Jebediah Broke (mentioned)

## Voices

### Official

* Simon Nash as Ten Cents
* Sean Barrett as Big Mac, Hercules, Zebedee, Sea Rogue and Captain Zero
* Ian James Corlett as O.J.
* Chris Tulloch as Zorran
* Shaun Prendergrast as Zak
* Lee Cornes as Grampus, Peeper Pipes and Billy Shoepack
* JoAnne Good as Sally Seaplane
* John Baddeley as Puffa
* David Menkin as Porter
* Lucy Montgomery as Lexi

### Fan chosen

* Peter Dickson as Captain Star
* Jeff Bennett as Warrior
* Michelle Creber as Sunshine
* Tara Strong as Zip and Misty
* Christian Bale as Zob
* Catherine Cavadini as Pisces
* E.G. Daily as Scorpio
* Ali Milner as Ember
* Nicole Sullivan as Stormy
* Katie Leigh as Hail
* Shaun Prendergrast as Moonlight
* Julie Nathanson as Robin
* Kevin Kline as O'Malley
* Jodi Benson as Ariel
* Jennifer Hale as Corona
* Hugo Weaving as Hans
* Chris Evans as Jimbo
* Lenore Zann as Little Owl and Captain Lucky
* Phyllis Smith as Henney
* Peter New as Placido
* Cristina Pucelli as Maeve
* Kath Souice as Tillie
* Paul Dobson as Mr. Lloyd
* Javier Bardem as Admiral Cardona