"Father, I am over the dangerzone now."
"Ok, Scott", Jeff replied. "What do you have so far?"
Scott stated, "It's bizarre. There are no indications of a cave-in anywhere. No other emergencies vehicles, no mining equipment, no people, nothing." "Thunderbird 5 from Thunderbird 1, Alan, can you read me?"
"Go ahead, Scott", came Alan's reply. "Alan, can I have those coordinates again? I want to double check them as I do not see anything here?"
"Scott, here is the recording, you can hear for yourself" Alan played back the recording of the latest distress call to International Rescue. "Calling International Rescue, calling International Rescue. We need your help. We have had a major mine explosion and cave-in trapping 22 miners. The location is 786 dash 332, grid 10. Please hurry as another cave in can occur any second now!" "Scott, did you get that? Are you at the correct location?" Asked Alan (a little trepidation in his voice as he wonders if he gave out the wrong coordinates)
"Thanks Alan" replied Scott, "those are the coordinates that you gave me."
"Thunderbird 1 from Thunderbird 2" called Virgil.
"Go ahead Virg".
"Scott, my ETA is 3.5 minutes, do you think we have a rescue there or not? John is with me and we have pod 3 with us. It contains the Mole and the other mining tools", stated Virgil.
"Virg, I don't know. But keep on coming. I am going to do a thermal scan to see if I can spot anything underground. I have landed on a plateau above the rescue coordinates. There is a good flat area to land just below me"
Scott started scanning the hills on the other side of the field that Virgil was headed for. He could see Thunderbird 2 coming in low and slow preparing for the landing. The thermoscan picked up nothing in the hills but did pick up something starting to glow beneath the ground where Virgil was just now hovering over. The thermalscan glow was spreading rapidly and getting brighter.
"VIRG, get out of there, NOW!!" screamed Scott.
Virgil did not wait to find out why; he was in reaction mode as he slammed the throttle forward. TB2 responded instantly to the request for full forward thrust. He figured he could always ask Scott later what happened.
Suddenly behind him a massive explosion ripped from the ground through the air, rapidly overtaking TB2, sending her back end up and forward, just as she had full thrusters on. The result was an end over end death spiral, not unlike an American football bouncing on the turf after it hit the ground.
Scott sat there in shock watching TB2 somersault over and over hitting the ground again and again with either nose or tail. Pieces of fuselage flying in every direction. He watched one of the big main thrusters come flying off. He didn't realize that he was whispering "oh God, no, please, no" over and over again.
But Base heard.
The explosion that sent Thunderbird 2 on her death roll had finished as quickly as it started leaving a huge crater in it's place. TB2's last somersault speared her nose into the side of another plateau resting on her side.
Jeff sat there stunned listening to Scott. He was alone at the moment. Tin-tin and Grandma had gone shopping. Gordon was working on TB4 with Brains. Jeff just sat there at his desk, listening. All he could hear was Scott repeating "oh God, no, please, no". His right hand fisted, he was banging it on the desk, willing the speaker to spew forth the information.
"Scott, come in, what's happening?" pleaded Jeff.
No answer. "Scott, answer me, I need to know what has happened. It is Thunderbird 2?
No answer.
"Scott, COME IN NOW!"
The words that Jeff had feared hearing came through the speaker "Thunderbird 2 has crashed. She was catapulted almost a mile away by an explosion that originated underground. I am heading there now in TB1, I should be there in less than 30 seconds"
It was one of the longest 30 seconds Jeff had ever lived through. That big green transport was very important to him. Not because of it's pricetag or it's size or it's rescue capabilities, but because it contained two of his sons.
"Ok, Scott", Jeff replied. "What do you have so far?"
Scott stated, "It's bizarre. There are no indications of a cave-in anywhere. No other emergencies vehicles, no mining equipment, no people, nothing." "Thunderbird 5 from Thunderbird 1, Alan, can you read me?"
"Go ahead, Scott", came Alan's reply. "Alan, can I have those coordinates again? I want to double check them as I do not see anything here?"
"Scott, here is the recording, you can hear for yourself" Alan played back the recording of the latest distress call to International Rescue. "Calling International Rescue, calling International Rescue. We need your help. We have had a major mine explosion and cave-in trapping 22 miners. The location is 786 dash 332, grid 10. Please hurry as another cave in can occur any second now!" "Scott, did you get that? Are you at the correct location?" Asked Alan (a little trepidation in his voice as he wonders if he gave out the wrong coordinates)
"Thanks Alan" replied Scott, "those are the coordinates that you gave me."
"Thunderbird 1 from Thunderbird 2" called Virgil.
"Go ahead Virg".
"Scott, my ETA is 3.5 minutes, do you think we have a rescue there or not? John is with me and we have pod 3 with us. It contains the Mole and the other mining tools", stated Virgil.
"Virg, I don't know. But keep on coming. I am going to do a thermal scan to see if I can spot anything underground. I have landed on a plateau above the rescue coordinates. There is a good flat area to land just below me"
Scott started scanning the hills on the other side of the field that Virgil was headed for. He could see Thunderbird 2 coming in low and slow preparing for the landing. The thermoscan picked up nothing in the hills but did pick up something starting to glow beneath the ground where Virgil was just now hovering over. The thermalscan glow was spreading rapidly and getting brighter.
"VIRG, get out of there, NOW!!" screamed Scott.
Virgil did not wait to find out why; he was in reaction mode as he slammed the throttle forward. TB2 responded instantly to the request for full forward thrust. He figured he could always ask Scott later what happened.
Suddenly behind him a massive explosion ripped from the ground through the air, rapidly overtaking TB2, sending her back end up and forward, just as she had full thrusters on. The result was an end over end death spiral, not unlike an American football bouncing on the turf after it hit the ground.
Scott sat there in shock watching TB2 somersault over and over hitting the ground again and again with either nose or tail. Pieces of fuselage flying in every direction. He watched one of the big main thrusters come flying off. He didn't realize that he was whispering "oh God, no, please, no" over and over again.
But Base heard.
The explosion that sent Thunderbird 2 on her death roll had finished as quickly as it started leaving a huge crater in it's place. TB2's last somersault speared her nose into the side of another plateau resting on her side.
Jeff sat there stunned listening to Scott. He was alone at the moment. Tin-tin and Grandma had gone shopping. Gordon was working on TB4 with Brains. Jeff just sat there at his desk, listening. All he could hear was Scott repeating "oh God, no, please, no". His right hand fisted, he was banging it on the desk, willing the speaker to spew forth the information.
"Scott, come in, what's happening?" pleaded Jeff.
No answer. "Scott, answer me, I need to know what has happened. It is Thunderbird 2?
No answer.
"Scott, COME IN NOW!"
The words that Jeff had feared hearing came through the speaker "Thunderbird 2 has crashed. She was catapulted almost a mile away by an explosion that originated underground. I am heading there now in TB1, I should be there in less than 30 seconds"
It was one of the longest 30 seconds Jeff had ever lived through. That big green transport was very important to him. Not because of it's pricetag or it's size or it's rescue capabilities, but because it contained two of his sons.