"Necessity is the Mother of Invention" ~ for the Short Affair Challenge

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Challenge: The Short Affair

-Prompt Word #1 - Audio

-Prompt Colour – Copper

Title: ‘Necessity is the mother of invention”

Author: mrua7

Word Count: Approx. 925

Napoleon Solo gave the portable radio a smack with his hand as it was being uncooperative and they could barely hear what was being said.

“Yes hitting it will make the audio work much better,” Illya practically growled at him. “Will you please let me be  and allow me try to fix this thing.”

“All right, but could you make it snappy partner mine, I want to get out of here as it’s hot as hell,” Solo tugged at his khaki shirt collar soaked with perspiration. That was unusual for him as he was normally cool as a cucumber in the heat of the tropics. He wasn’t feeling well, and put his sweatiness off to that.

“Do you think I am exactly comfortable here as well? Sit down and have a drink of water. You look terrible.”

“To tell you the truth I feel terr..” Napoleon never finished his sentence as he fainted.

Illya managed to catch the American, helping him to the rickety cot in the shack in which they’d hidden themselves.

He felt Solo’s forehead and found it was burning up with fever.

“Chyort,” he cursed in Russian. Quickly, he dug into his backpack, pulling out a bottle of white tablets, quinine had antipyretic properties and would help to reduce the fever even if it wasn’t related to malaria, hopefully it was not.

He gently tapped his partner on the cheek, “Wake up Napoleon. You must take these tablets.

Solo opened his eyes, looking up at Illya. “What happened?:

“You passed out my friend and are running a temperature. It may or may not be malaria. Here take these.”

“No, nooo pills,”Solo slurred.

“And no arguments.” Illya lifted the American’s head and shoved the pills into Napoleon’s mouth. Kuryakin held a canteen of water to his lips.

Solo made a face. “Bitter.”

“Never mind the taste, just swallow.” He made his partner take a few more sips of water and covered him up with a blanket.

It was even more imperative now for Illya to get the radio fixed before his partner became worse. If they only had their communicators, calling for a retrieval would be a simple thing, but no such luck.  

They’d been taken captive with all their gadgets and weaponry confiscated. It went up in a ball of flame when the satrap they had been sent to destroy exploded.  It was none of their doing, and had been perhaps a laboratory accident. There was no way to know for sure.

The agents had been lucky enough to get out with their hides intact before everything blew, sending flaming debris everywhere. It seemed they were the only survivors...

Illya sad down at the table, looking again at the old radio. The damp tropical climate had corroded some of the wires, that was what was wrong as far as he could see.

He thought for a moment, wondering what he could use to jury rig it and snapped his fingers as he looked again to his backpack.  Wrapped around the clasp to the zipper was a small piece of copper wire. It was a makeshift grip he’d wound there when the zipper had  broken.

Luckily they’d hidden their packs in the jungle before entering the satrap, though it was a shame neither of them had thought to leave one of their communicators there as well.  Lesson learned on that one.

He carefully unwound piece of copper and used it to replace the most damaged piece of the wiring in the radio. When the finished, fingers crossed, he flicked on the switch.

It lit up, with static coming loud and clear over the small speaker. He adjusted the dial to the frequency he knew UNCLE regularly monitored.

Illya speaking in Spanish held onto the microphone.

"CQ, CQ, CQ esto es Illya Kuryakin ID número 426626 estamos en necesidad de asistencia. ¿Hay alguien de U.N.C.L.E. por ahí? (CQ, CQ, CQ this is Illya Kuryakin ID number 426626 we are in need of assistance. Is anyone from U.N.C.L.E. out there?)

“Esto es U.N.C.L.E. Santiago, ¿cómo podemos ayudarte Agente Kuryakin? (This is UNCLE Santiago. How can we help you Agent Kuryakin?)

Illya explained the situation, giving their coordinates as best as he could estimate.

Two hours later, the partners were winging their way via helicopter to Santiago, and shortly after landing Napoleon was hospitalized.

Luckily it wasn’t malaria, but the Russian's quick thinking in administering the quinine may just have saved his partner’s life from a case of jungle fever brought on by a mere mosquito bite.

Illya sat dozing in the chair beside Solo’s bed. The hospital room was blessedly air conditioned and pristine. Everything was white, including the metal bed frame, unlike the blond agent who was still dressed in his dirty and disheveled khakis.

“Hey,” Napoleon called out, waking from his slumber.

“Mmmm, hello,” Illya cleared his throat.”How are you feeling?”

“A lot better. I guess you got the radio fixed?”

“Yes a little creative wiring with that piece of copper I had used to repair the zipper on my backpack before we left on our assignment.”

Napoleon chuckled. “And to think I told you to just get a new one, but you argued it was still...what did you say?

“Serviceable. I am glad I did not listen to you.”

“For once, me too chum….”

Comments

[jantojones.livejournal.com]

I wonder what the cost of confiscated equipment is to UNCLE. Excellent story as always.

Thank you for taking part.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Hmm yes, confiscated equipment, I'm sure, is a point of contention with the dreaded Accounting Department. lol!

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

Illya is just so handy to have around. What then becomes the most important aspect of his actions, giving his partner the right medicine or getting the radio to work? Each on its own is significant, but if you had to lose one of them... You don't need to answer, it just seemed an interesting scenario.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Thanks and welcome back. You've been missed.

[lindafishes8.livejournal.com]

Yay! Illya saves the day once again. So glad he was not the one that was ill this time, He seems to be our favorite to beat up. I'm interested in the ID number you gave him. Is that canon? Which episode? You gave him a ID number in 'Lost in War' also.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Ahhhhh there you are! Did you see the video I posted for you on your calendar. Giggle.

The ID number is something I've used before as it made sense to me that an agent had to have some sort of number to identify himself like numbers on a dog tag. I've used the same number in some other stories as well.

Thanks for catching up and commenting!

[lindafishes8.livejournal.com]

Calendar Girl comment from Mon.-That's so great and thank you! What a nice way to start my morning!

I wondered if the number was from the show. Thanks for clarifying. It makes sense that the agents would have one. 'Lost in War's' number was different. It was 426267. I have a file with agent info and story ideas and kept that number there for future use.

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

I don't think it was from the show, but there could have been an agent idea number. Yeah go ahead and use the number 426267 if you feel like it. It can be my little contribution to fanon. if it wasn't in the show. lol! I'll have to go check, but am pretty sure I have a number for Napoleon and for my OC Elliott as well.

[lindafishes8.livejournal.com]

Thanks for allowing me to use it!

I have Illya's addresss from another author's work and have been scouring the episodes to find it. I won't use an item unless I check authenticity first. Been finding interesting tidbits from the show. Did you know that Illya crossed his fingers in 'The Maze Affair'?

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

pm me with that as I'd be curious as to how it jives with the bio info. Illya crossing his fingers? I wouldn't have noticed things like that back then. I haven't watched the episodes in a few years now.

Am pretty sure there's no actual address given for where he lives, or UNCLE's actual address. NS and IK in the bio info (but not included in the episodes) was somewhere in the East 40's. And UNCLE HQ was near the United Nations complex from the bio on it as well as opening shots showing the UN not so far away in a glimpse out of Waverly's window.