New Beginnings, First Missions, Old Friends
By Phoenix Sparrow
Set from the point of view of Tin-Tin Kyrano
Chapter 1: NEWS
My name is Tin-Tin Kyrano.
It was late February 2064, a few months before my twenty-first birthday, when my father came home and told me something I will never forget. Something that would change my life in ways I would not know about for quite some time to come.
"I got a call from Jeff Tracy today."
"How are his boys?" I asked, but father knew what was really on my mind.
"They are all fine. Alan was not there but Mr. Tracy knew he would want to say hello to you." Just that one comment made me feel really good, but what he told me next completely shocked me. "He asked me to go and live with him on Tracy Island."
I nearly fell out of my chair. I sat there for a while, stunned into silence and looking for a response. Was he leaving me or was I going, too? I knew what I wanted to say, but my mouth refused to co-operate. From his response, I suppose he must have known what I was thinking. "You had better go and start packing or we will miss our flight."
I smiled widely and got up to hug him, then left to go to my room.
When I got there what father had said sunk in properly. Father and I were going to live on Tracy Island. With Mr Tracy. With his sons. With Alan!
I couldn't pack my bag quick enough. It had been almost a year since I had seen Alan without the aid of a videophone.
Some time later, I stood at the airport looking at the timetable on the wall flicker as people were updated on the arrival and departure times of their flights.
I realised I was shivering, but I didn't know why. It wasn't cold at the airport. Actually, it was quite warm, for February. I decided it must have just been nerves at the prospect of living on the island.
I got onto the aircraft and sat down. This was months before Fireflash took to the skies, so it was a slow journey. Anticipating that, I'd brought something to do on the long trip. I knew I could always talk to father, but never on a plane. He usually slept through plane journeys.
We arrived at the other airport and waited. I'm afraid I can't really tell you where because we use it a lot to be picked up from by one of the Tracy boys in their private plane. Security. Not my idea, but a good one.
About half an hour of waiting later, I heard it and my heart skipped a beat. I knew that sound very well. It was their plane.
It was, most likely, being piloted by Scott, the eldest of the Tracy brothers. Being in the US Air Force, he was probably the most experienced pilot out of all five brothers. He's four years older than me and his birthday wasn't until April, so he was about 24.
As the plane landed, I got excited. I knew that Scott wouldn't be alone, because whenever any of them flew out to see us, Alan was usually with them.
I was right. As soon as the plane had finished its landing procedures, the hatch swung open and Alan, the youngest of the five brothers, jumped out. He is a year younger than me and was about 19 because he hadn't yet reached his birthday.
I ran over to him and he picked me up and spun me round. Then Scott jumped out of the plane.
As I've said, he was already a fully qualified pilot, but I'd been training at university, as well as the help I'd been getting from Scott, using their plane.
In order to conserve time and space in the small plane, we'd only picked up the things we thought we'd desperately need, intending to go back at some point to get anything else we wanted. The plane, although small, could hold us all comfortably.
Scott had asked father and I to sit in the plane while he and Alan loaded luggage into a small cargo hold. Unfortunately, either it was too small or we had too much, but either way we still had to have some luggage in the cabin with us.
As soon as they were done, they jumped back in. Alan climbed into the rear to sit with me, and Scott took up the pilot's seat next to father. He immediately started the engines and we took off for Tracy Island.
I glanced about as the journey continued. I could see Scott up front talking to father about Mr. Tracy, Virgil and John.
I noticed that every time father asked about Gordon, Scott turned away or changed the subject, while beside me Alan fidgeted uncomfortably.
"How have you been, Tin-Tin?" Alan suddenly asked. I turned to face him. "It's been, what, nearly 2 years, hasn't it?"
"One," I corrected, smiling, "I'm fine. It's good to see you again. I've missed you."
I glanced at Scott. Alan knew what I was thinking. Scott would be listening. We usually kept our major, personal conversations for when we were alone. When I first met Alan, Mr. Tracy invited me to the island for a couple of weeks during the summer holidays. I was about 18 at the time, Alan about 17, and he was very into motor racing, so whenever someone came in while we were talking, that was one of the directions we diverted our conversations to.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that father had fallen asleep, which wasn't a surprise. I rested my head on the headrest. I was tired and close to falling asleep. I rolled my head to look out the window and in all directions all I could see was clear blue sea. There were no clouds and the sky was starting to turn orange with the dusk.
I realised then, I'd missed seeing this every night from my room on Tracy Island.
I looked over at Alan. He'd fallen asleep. I moved a couple of bags and lay my head on his shoulder and fell asleep.
It was very early morning when we finally landed.
I offered to help take my luggage up to the villa, but Scott and Alan insisted that I leave it to them.
I had gotten a couple of hours sleep on the plane but they were disturbed due to the cramped condition of the cabin.
I got out of the plane and was helped to the floor by Alan. He put his hands on my waist and gently lowered me down. We stood there for a moment, his hands still on my waist and mine on his shoulders as I looked into his blue eyes.
"I'd, uh, better finish unpacking," he said.
He started to release me, but where I'd been sat cramped up, my knees gave out and I was suddenly kneeling on the runway.
He helped me back up. "Maybe I should carry you up, not the luggage," he said smiling.
As soon as he was sure I had regained my balance, he continued pulling bags from the plane.
I looked around at the vista, noting it had changed slightly from my last visit. There were palm trees lining the cliff end of the runway and there was a large building in the cliff face ahead of me, but I thought nothing of it, concluding it must have just been typical renovations and home improvements.
I waited for father and the others, and then we headed up the long flight of steps to the villa. I'd forgotten just how many stairs there were, or were there more?
I got into the lounge to see all the others, and someone I didn't recognise. It was about half three in the morning, yet they were up with huge smiles across their faces. Though something didn't seem quite right.
"So glad you could make it, Kyrano, and so soon," Jeff Tracy said in a cheerful voice, "Nice to see you again, Tin-Tin."
I jumped at the mention of my name, being still very tired. "Hello, Mr. Tracy. It's good to see you."
He smiled and stepped back to introduce a shy looking man with brown hair and blue-rimmed glasses. "This is Brains. He's a close friend, but he's a bit nervous."
Brains stepped forward and shook father's hand. "I-I-It's a pleasure t-to meet you, Mr. Kyrano."
Father bowed his head slightly the way he does when being introduced to someone new.
"Nice to meet you, ah, Miss Kyrano," he said, offering a slightly shaking hand.
I did my best to seem friendly rather than ratty due to fatigue. "It's nice to meet you, too, Mr. Brains."
"O-O-Oh, it's just Brains."
"Then you must call me just Tin-Tin," I responded with a smile, which he returned.
He is about the same age as John, and his birthday, I later found out, is in November, so he must have been about 23.
I looked around the room and saw Scott slouching on a chair below the row of pictures of the five boys. His eyes were shut and his arms draped across the back of his seat. Virgil was talking to him, but I could see that Scott wasn't paying attention.
Alan was stood in the corner, leaning on the piano just inside the balcony, talking to Brains. John, father and Mr. Tracy were talking by the desk in the corner, opposite the pictures.
I looked around again, realizing something was missing, someone. Gordon wasn't there.
Gordon is about the same age as me, though his birthday was at the beginning of the month, so he was already 21.
He and I are good friends because we have a shared interest of water sports. Last time I visited, we spent a lot of time water-skiing, diving and swimming together, which made Alan a little jealous. He wasn't so much after he came diving with us. I don't know what changed his mind, possibly that he saw that we were just friends having fun in a common hobby.
Unfortunately, he still wasn't best of company afterwards, because he managed to lose us in the underwater caves and didn't get back up to the villa until two hours after us.
I was a little worried at not seeing Gordon. I'd thought he would have been there to greet me. I looked around again and saw that Virgil had given up talking to Scott and had wandered off to talk to Brains and Alan, leaving Scott sat in the chair, pretending not to sleep.
I sat down quietly in the seat next to him. He must have noticed me arrive, as he opened his eyes and let his head roll to one side to look at me. He had a slight grin on his face, like he was trying hard to keep a secret. "What's wrong? Homesick?" He asked me in his teasing way, trying to make me feel better.
I shook my head and looked back round the lounge. "No, there's nothing wrong with me. There's something wrong with this picture. There's someone missing."
His smile faded. He walked to the balcony and leaned on the railing. I followed him. From his reaction, I knew for sure something was wrong.
"What's wrong with Gordon?" I asked his back when I caught up with him. He didn't move. I walked closer. He had his head hung low and his elbows resting on the railing, his hands clasped together in front of him. I put a hand on his and he looked over at me. His cheeks were slightly damp, as though…
"Scott? Oh, Scott, have you been… crying?" I asked compassionately.
He touched his cheek with his hand and brought it down. He looked at the glistening wetness of his fingertips before wiping his face. I knew then it was serious. Scott never, ever cries. He glanced about, then answered me. "He's, uh, in his room asleep."
"Is that all? Why did you seem so…?"
"It's more than that," he interrupted, shaking his head. "He was involved in a speedboat crash a couple of months back. He only came out of the coma a couple of weeks ago." His voice seemed to crack, but after taking a deep breath, he continued. "The doctors said he'd be fine to come home, but he spends a lot of time sleeping.
"We know he's alright, but it was a shock. He should be up and about soon, but you know Gordon, he's lazy unless it involves water. He'll be lying in that bed for a while yet." He smiled weakly, but I could see how upset he was by the tear rolling down his cheek. I'd been trying not to cry, but as soon as I saw the tear, all my welled up emotion was suddenly released and I leaned against Scott and cried.
I rested my head on him and put my hands on his chest, but he didn't seem to mind. He rested his head on mine and gently stroked my hair.
Gordon is a very close friend so to hear that he'd been involved in such an accident overwhelmed me.
When I lifted my head again, he looked down at me, then through the balcony doors. I could see what he was looking at. Alan was stood there. I knew he'd be jealous that Scott was holding me, but he'd be so until he knew why. They may like to play jokes on each other, but they care for one another deeply.
