The Eyes of the Beholder
By Phoenix Sparrow
Gifts are not always what they seem. This gift, though hard to believe, may benefit International Rescue
It's all in the eyes of the beholder
Chapter One – Something's Wrong With The TV
Virgil Tracy sat in his room listening to his music, a very rare occurrence seeing as he tended to be out on rescues more often than not. Lying back, he folded his arms behind his head and crossed his legs, tapping his foot to the beat. He closed his eyes and with a smile on his face, started to settle down to have a nice nap, another irregular occurrence.
He was just dozing off when suddenly; his calm, quiet music was replaced by loud music with a loud, "Alan-style" drumbeat. He groaned.
"Alan, what do you want? Why are you in my room?" he asked, not opening his eyes.
"How d'you know it was me?" he asked.
"Not hard to guess. You're the only person on the island who listens to that junk."
"Excuse me!" he replied, smiling.
"So," Virgil said, opening his eyes and sitting up cross-legged on his bed. He looked at his brother. "Why d'you turn my music off?"
"You looked too peaceful. Anyway, you think my music's junk, that slow, boring, classical," he shuddered, "stuff is a lot worse."
Virgil chuckled. "Everyone to their own opinion. The difference between us is that I don't try to push my likes onto other people."
"Yes you flaming well do! You sit at that damned piano of yours and play whether we like it or not," he replied, leaning forwards.
"I've never heard anyone complain, even you! Anyway, I only play things I know everyone," he looked at his youngest brother, "likes. Well, except you!"
"That's not fair!"
"Life's not fair, Al."
Alan grumbled a bit more then took his CD and left. Virgil smiled to himself then crossed the room and put his own CD back on before lying back down and shutting his eyes.
In the lounge, Scott was sitting down in front of the TV. His father, Jeff, his brother, Gordon and their friend, Tin-Tin were also there.
"This is nice," Tin-Tin said.
"Yeah, sure is," Gordon added. "We haven't seen any action for quite a while. Do you think maybe the world is learning to look after itself now?"
Jeff chuckled. "I very much doubt it, son. This is probably just the quiet before the storm."
"Now there's an optimist! Such a nice thought, that the head of International Rescue thinks..."
"Scott," Jeff said, looking over at him.
"Sorry, it just sounds like we're all tempting fate."
Jeff looked at him, thinking. "You may be right. But we can still enjoy the quiet before something happens. And before you say anything else, Scott, something will happen. The world's not perfect yet."
They laughed as Alan walked in. "What's the joke?"
"Don't worry about it," Tin-Tin said, indicating to him to sit in the empty seat next to her. He smiled.
Scott and Gordon exchanged glances and rolled their eyes.
"So, whatcha watching?" Alan asked, making himself comfortable.
"Uh, I'm not entirely sure," Gordon said, looking at the screen. "We switched it on and started talking. What channel is this?"
Scott leaned over to the desk and picked up the remote. He pressed a couple of buttons then frowned. "Maybe the batteries are dead. It won't change."
Jeff took the remote and took the back off. He pulled the batteries out of their holding and played about with them; pressing the buttons on the side to see how much power was remaining in them.
"No, not the batteries, they still say full power. Come to think of it, we only changed them over a couple of days ago and we haven't used them much."
"Weird, what's wrong with it then?" Tin-Tin asked, looking over curiously.
"I dunno, go and fetch Brains, he'll help. He's bound to know."
"Sure," Scott said, getting up.
As he left, Jeff continued trying to press the buttons to no avail. Suddenly, the screen, which had been previously blank save for the screen static, came to life and there was a face on display. "What the...? What's going on?"
On the screen, the eyes of the face, who none of the International Rescue personnel recognised, were wide with fear as the person started speaking.
"I am sending this message because I have some terrible news. Please do not think me mad, but I get visions, which have a horrible habit of coming true. I know this sounds weird and unbelievable, but you must trust me. My name is Kari and I have a message to pass on to International Rescue."
Jeff stared at the screen in shock. He hammered the button on the side of his watch. "Scott, get Brains up here now!" He switched frequencies. "Virgil, get in here pronto! This is important!"
He looked back at the screen as Virgil came running in. "What is it, father?"
His father waved a hand at him, pointed at the screen and hushed him. Virgil looked and sat down, staring intently at the face on the screen.
Kari continued as Scott and Brains ran in. "I have received a vision in which a terrible disaster would occur within the ranks of the famous rescue organisation that would cripple their forces. I am warning you now as a friend."
Jeff pressed the button on his watch again as a thought occurred to him. "John, come in, this is Jeff on Tracy Island."
He waited a moment for a reply, one eye on the screen. "Yes father, what's wrong? You sound shaken up."
"That's the least of it. Am I right in assuming you haven't heard this transmission?" He turned the volume up on the television as Kari continued.
"This is the only way I could get to you. The beginning of this message will be seen by anyone watching their television but if you wish to take notice of my warning, configure your communication devices to the frequency I am sending to your station."
"What? Uh, what's that about?" He paused as an alarm sounded and he received a frequency code.
"I'll take that as a 'no' then. Just try and locate where that signal's coming from."
"Yeah, sure. By the way, dad, I just received a frequency. I'll send it to you."
John sent the frequency down and Jeff walked to his desk and altered the comm. systems to continue picking up the message. He looked around the team, his family. "What do we do? Take notice of some girl claiming she can see the future?"
"I don't know, father," Scott said. "Maybe we should try and find out what was in the rest of the message."
Jeff nodded and finished retuning the comm. systems.
"I've got it father. It's coming from..."
"Yes?"
"That can't be right!"
"What? What is it? Where's the signal coming from?"
"I don't understand this. It's coming from the middle of Dartmoor."
"What?" Jeff exclaimed. Dartmoor was a vast expanse of grass, forests, rocks, marsh, sheep and horses in Devon. There were very few places where there were any villages or anything.
He and Lucille, his wife, had been there many times for holidays before she passed away. Since then he and the boys had been there on a few holidays too.
He brought down the map and switched it from agent mode to signal mode to pick up the position being transmitted by John from the space station. "This doesn't make any sense; the signal's being transmitted from the middle of the moors, miles from any settlements."
"John, try and contact this girl. If you succeed, notify me, I think we need to have a word with this Kari."
"Yes, father."
