Hey everyone!
So I've been watching Terra Nova on Netflix after my cousin recommended it (thanks C!) and after drifting in and out of these exhausted states of mind where I can't tell if I'm dreaming or if there genuinely is a giant golden retriever sitting in my kitchen and that my best friend has seemingly turned into a red and gold butterfly, this weird AU story came to my mind. And seeing as I've only published one story in the Merlin fandom, this entire plot seems to fit a lot better in the Thunderbirds universe.
And as you may have guessed from the updated version of Imprisoned By The Shadows, I took a lot of ideas from TAG 2015 and sort of re-created them to fit my story lines. In other words I liked the idea of EOS, so I created other AI's like her. Yay! How confusing... I'm sorry guys :(
Anyway, this may be confusing at first, but it will become clearer after the next couple of chapters. I'm going to try and keep to my schedule of updating every Saturday, but no promises because I've got exams coming up but I wanted to publish a multi-chapter story because I like reading the reviews after I've no doubt embarrassed myself by falling down the stairs in front of everyone again. :)
See you at the end of the chapter :)
'Yet more people have gone missing bringing the total of supposed abductions up to a surprising figure of around fifty-two. The World Government are supposedly launching investigations, yet many rumours actually place them as the main contenders for the reasoning behind these disappearances, with several claims of some sort of secret project or experiment by the GDF requiring people…'
"You're not even listening to a word I'm saying, are you?"
"That depends on who you're talking to right now." John finally removed his earphones and discarded the tablet on the side table to watch his frustrated brother over the holographic projector.
"I'm kind of talking to all of you," Alan shot back, glaring at his brothers as best he could. The only person who seemed to mildly interested in their younger brother's supposed warnings was the white cat curled up on Virgil's ankles as the middle Tracy lay slouched over the sofa, using Scott as a pillow. Even Gordon looked exhausted, which given that they'd just gone out on a full day of rescues, John could understand.
"Alright, cut to the chase, what's happening?" Scott called over, attempting to shove Virgil away from him and failing miserably, shooting a glare at Gordon who started sniggering.
Alan narrowed his eyes at them as if attempting to assess if they were genuinely paying attention this time round. John pointedly tossed the earphones over the back of the sofa, but not without checking the cat wasn't about to wreck them again. He still hadn't forgiven Virgil for last time his brother had allowed the pet to play with any sort of technical equipment. It had, clearly, ended in disaster and a fire strewn lounge.
"You being serious this time round?"
"Yeah, we're sorry Allie," John called over, poking Gordon in the back as the red-haired man lay face down on the floor with a groan that sounded a hell of a lot like he was saying something uncomplimentary.
"Okay. Earthquake, just off the coast of Japan. Caused a hell of a lot of damage though, Magnitude 7.9 on the Richtor Scale. Buildings collapsed and there's a group of people trapped. You need to get them out, but the reason I'm warning you is because I was looking back at all this missing people cases-"
"Oh here we go," Gordon muttered, still completely motionless on the carpet. John was finding it very hard to resist throwing a cushion at him, but then again such a motion would require movement which would require energy, none of which he had. To be honest, he felt guilty for wishing someone else could rescue the people.
Even Virgil seemed like he couldn't care less. With the cat purring, it took a couple of moments for John to be certain that his brother hadn't genuinely fallen asleep. Flying when they were all this tired was going to require a lot of help from their AI's, and landing was still going to be a challenge.
"Oh shut up Gordy. Anyway, these people have always been taken at a rescue zone just after we leave, so that the disappearance could be put down to someone, you know -"
"Dying?" Gordon cut in, finally flopping over like a half dead fish to glance at the holographs, only to be met with an exasperated glare from his younger brother.
"Two things. One – I was trying to be less insensitive, but yeah, dying. Two – I swear to god, Gordon, if I wasn't on Thunderbird 5 right now then I would kick your -"
"Alright guys, break it up." Scott muttered, with a pointed look at Gordon who immediately started protesting. "Virgil, you awake?"
"Huh?"
"Virg, rescue. Duty calls, unless you want Gordon flying '2?"
"Can't Solaris do it?"
Scott grinned, shaking his brother by the shoulder. "Maybe, but you still need to be there. And, you know, maybe if you got off me then I could fly '1?"
"Wha'? Oh shit, sorry."
"I am sleeping. Leave me alone." Gordon announced, closing his eyes and crossing his arms as Scott poked him in the side.
"Uh huh. Nice try kiddo, but I need a co-pilot when I'm this tired and so does Virg. You're in '2. Johnny, you're with me."
"I agree with the Goldfish actually; we should just sleep."
"So, what? They're going to rescue themselves?"
"Precisely!" John whined, glaring pitifully up at Scott who was clearly trying not laugh and failing miserably at the somewhat shocked expression Alan was wearing.
"Jeez you guys, what happened to you on the last rescue?"
"You do not want to know, but there is a reason Gordon's got a new high-score on Crossy Road."
"Nope, it was Jetpack Joyride."
"We are so not discussing iPhone games right now."
The flight was mainly piloted by Solaris and Infinity - the two AI's so used to working together that they barely needed to say a word, instead letting Gordon listen to his iPod and Virgil half flick through the medical supply checklists and half sleep in his chair, despite protesting that he was awake every time Solaris made a sarcastically toned comment.
The earthquake had caused a lot of damage, despite Japan's normally well prepared defences against the worst natural disasters the world could throw at it, which was why it was one of their most rarely visited places. The rescue services certainly were capable of dealing with most of the injured victims themselves, but stabilizing the building so that the small group of scared people beneath the rubble could be released was definitely a job for Thunderbird 2's specialised equipment.
"Nice of you to finally get here," Scott commented after Virgil had landed the larger aircraft with the help of Solaris who seemed to understand that making fun of him at the moment was not the best of ideas.
"Oh don't even start," Virgil muttered as means of a reply, glancing over the slightly blurred holographic maps of the partly ruined city in front of him. Part of two skyscrapers was collapsed, and the rescue services were attempting to clear it, one young man speaking fast and frightened Japanese to John who was supposedly understanding every word, yet Virgil suspected EOS was acting as a translator.
"We don't need the Mole, it would probably just destabilise everything even more and the fires are mostly out. If anything, going in on just the hover sleds and using the laser cutters and grapple ropes would be the best plan of action."
"You're the Field Commander, tell me what you want me to do." His voice sounded unusually annoyed even to his ears, yet his brother didn't make a comment. It was probably down to the fact Scott was just as tired as the rest of them, but he was lot better at hiding it.
"Okay, what's the plan?"
Gordon sounded irritatingly awake, practically bouncing up and down, although the adrenaline rush of a rescue never had seemed to wear off for the youngest two. Virgil wondered if he could get prosecuted for murder if he shoved his brother into one of the collapsed buildings under the excuse that he was too damn alive.
"Laser cutters, go in on hover sleds for extra speed and use grapple ropes if necessary." Scott told him before becoming distracted by John's somewhat desperate muttering of help over the comms link as even EOS became unable to translate that quickly.
Gordon cast a frown over the dust covered ground, kicking casually at a loose roof tile that was shattered on the road beside his feet. "What if it collapses when we use the laser cutters?"
"Then we'll use the whatever it's called that we used on the bridge that time."
"It's that specialised foam stuff." John cut in, finally escaping from creepy Japanese guy who for some reason was wearing a thick jumper despite the heat.
Alan laughed over the comms link again, putting his feet up on the control panel as he reached for another KitKat. He was probably the most awake out of all them at the moment, Virgil thought, feeling slightly guilty for being annoyed about Alan's regular sleeping patterns. The guy was lucky he wasn't dirt-side on the busiest month of the year so far.
"I'm sure Brains will be delighted that you've forgotten the name of it already." Alan mentioned, knowing instantly that Gordon would be cursing him quietly so that Scott couldn't hear. He couldn't help being awake, and besides, he was partly hyper on the sugar from the chocolate he'd consumed as snacks throughout monitoring the rescues.
"Alright then, what is it called?" Virgil asked him and there was an awkward silence until Scott returned from speaking with the official operators of the clean-up and rescue services.
"Who was supposed to learn Japanese again?"
"Johnny." Gordon had no qualms about throwing his brother in the spotlight for the blame, looking distinctly smug as he ducked the blond's light hit, dodging the punch easily.
"I'm tired," John shrugged as means of an excuse and Scott excepted it without a word. The next rescue call they got in was definitely being handed to Alan even if it involved dragging the kid down from Thunderbird 5 early just to deal with it.
"Okay, let's get this over and done with. It's a pretty easy job and if we work quickly then we get it done within the next two hours."
"If it doesn't then I am so falling asleep on my feet," Virgil told him, earning himself an exasperated grin as a response.
Gordon tucked a hover sled under his arm, watching a group of school-children in the distance hugging their parents. At least they were only dealing with adults this time around. He wasn't really in the mood to be able to cheer up kids in his usual energetic and joking manner.
"You coming or what?" Virgil called back to him, waiting by the entrance to the first building, scanning it through thermal imaging and waiting for Alan's response confirming that there were life signs.
"Yeah," He replied with a yawn, dragging the hover sled behind him and aware that he was going to be the one having to paint over the scratch marks afterwards. He honestly couldn't care less at this point though, following Virgil into the darkness, and not jumping like he usually did at the sudden snapping sound as one of his brother's weird green glow stick type things kicked into life, illuminating the passageway in front of them.
"Don't get yourself half killed this time around, right?"
He sniggered, glancing over at his sibling with a smirk. "I'll try."
"Uh-huh." The usual banter was replaced with silence, but neither of them minded. Talking took way too much effort anyway, even for Gordon.
"Hey guys, you're almost at those people, according to thermal scanning. Better get those laser cutters handy."
"Cool, thanks for the heads up Allie." Virgil responded, getting the sense that he sounded more like a robot that Solaris had when he'd first sort of met her, and that took some beating. The ground was slippery, a reminder that part of 2062 Japan involved underground business meeting rooms and water systems to try and prevent more building into the skies. Clearly many of the pipelines had been severed and were now flooding the rooms and corridors beneath the city.
"Shit. We've got less time than we thought," Gordon muttered, shaking one of his trainers indignantly as Virgil kicked some of the cold water over him. "Watch it."
"Yeah, sure. We're not even going for the movie quotes yet as far as banter's concerned, so good luck getting back at me."
Gordon just glared at him as a response, already silently plotting in his mind. Something including pink feathers and a parrot, probably, although he couldn't rule out switching the shampoo with hair dye again, which was always priceless.
"Gordy, are you okay?" Alan's voice sounded over the ear-piece he was wearing for the comms link – a temporary measure since his diving gear had flooded and wrecked his normal communication systems in his uniform in the last underwater rescue involving a cruise ship.
He yawned again, and blinked to clear his vision which was blurring slightly. No sleeping on the job, that was the rules right? "Yeah, I'm just tired."
"I figured. Good news is that Scotty and John have already cleared everyone from the other building, 'cos it was lot closer to the surface than we first thought."
"We?" Virgil asked, turning away from Gordon's watch to hide his smile from the video link as Alan paused before running a hand though his hair and admitting to his AI's assistance.
"Alpha may have helped a bit."
"I helped a lot," the AI cut in, sounding suspiciously like he was grinning as Alan shot a glare at the ceiling panels of the satellite.
"Traitor."
"Just having a conversation, Allie."
"Don't call me that, you sound like Scott and its really disturbing."
Virgil tapped the watch face to draw the youngest Tracy's attention back to them. The laser cutters were slicing through the door easily, melting the rusted metal and sending it slithering to the floor like water.
"Hi everyone, it's okay now…oh shit I forgot you don't speak English." Gordon began before trailing off and shooting Virgil a helpless look, who shrugged back at him.
"Um, Solaris, explain?"
There was a soft laugh from the radio before Virgil's AI began to speak in clear tones, and the frightened people relaxed slightly, looking a lot less freaked out by Gordon. Who wasn't freaked out by Gordon? Virgil thought to himself, struck by the thought that it was beginning to get a lot darker in the partly collapsed corridor, which meant he needed to light up another glow stick and yes, he had completely forgotten the technical term Brains called them, but oh well.
"Is it just me, or are you catching sight of someone following us?" Gordon murmured when they ended up walking next to each other at the back of the group. The most serious injury was a long gash down a middle aged man's left forearm, but it wasn't too serious and Virgil would prefer to let the first aid guys on site check it out.
He glanced over his shoulder on instinct, and frowned. "I think you're imagining it. We're all tired anyway."
Gordon didn't look convinced, subconsciously shifting closer to his brother as though they were kids in Kansas again. Virgil didn't say a word, but lit up a second glow stick and handed it to his brother, figuring that the extra light would make the darkened corridor seem a lot less intimidating.
Stepping out into the light, he blinked, and then found himself staring at a pure white ceiling.
So, totally unlike him but what the actual hell was going on, because he was most certainly not in Japan anymore – he freaked out.
"Put your hands up and stop trying to punch my colleague!" A loud voice full of authority snapped through the air sharply, and he froze catching sight of the gun pointed directly at him. Taking a few steps backwards, he hit the wall and found himself completely trapped until a familiar blond figure stepped into view in the doorway.
"Leave him alone, he's with me. He just woke up, he's one of the newbies."
Guy with a freaking gun shoved Virgil towards the doorway with a distinct frown. "Take your friend home Tracy before he causes anymore damage."
"Will do."
"Johnny, what the actual-"
"Wait," John instructed him, reaching out to scan his pass over a keypad which triggered the glass door to hiss open. The bright sunlight outside was blinding for a moment and it took a moment for his eyesight to adjust until John pushed him down onto a bench firmly and then half jumped down next to him.
"What's going on?" He murmured, half terrified. "One minute I was with Gordon in Japan, and then I'm waking up here."
"Yeah, it's the same for all of us," John confirmed, waving at a young woman dressed in a camouflaged jumpsuit as she walked past to a jeep of some kind. "All those missing people who disappeared, are here."
"And we just joined the list," Virgil realised aloud, staring around at his surroundings only to jump as a loud noise broke through the air. No one seemed concerned at the steady thuds in the distance, and he jumped up only to trip over and catch sight of the large creature in the distance, watching them from over a fence.
"John. What the hell is that?"
John winced, brushing his hair out of his eyes as he stood up and glanced at the massive creature without seeming at all concerned. "Virg, don't freak out, okay? I saved the most important thing until last. That animal is an abydosaurus."
"So it's a dinosaur?"
"Yes. Somehow we've all travelled back in time to some sort of different dimension, to the Jurassic period of a different universe, with the same planet earth though."
"We're in the age of the dinosaurs?" Virgil stared at him, fighting the rising flood of panic.
John nodded slowly. "Yes."
"Okay." And then he blacked out.
"Welcome to our camp. What do you remember?" The young woman sat on the end of the bed he'd woken up from, her hand briefly drifting through his hair in a silent act of comfort. She had red paint on her face, like a cave woman yet the technology in the room revealed that they were not by any means ignorant of the revelations in the world of science.
He sat up, rubbing a finger along his arm and finding more of the orange and red patterns inked along his skin. "Not much."
"You remember your name though?"
"Yeah." He frowned, running a hand through his hair and finding scraps of leaves like he'd been crawling through a forest. It was incredibly hot, and he could hear bugs whirring in distance, and tropical bird song. There was a loud thudding every now and then.
"Don't mind the dinosaurs. They only attack when it gets closer to night fall and even then we always make sure every one of our team mates has their own gun." The woman smiled, holding out a welcoming hand which he accepted. Her palms seemed unnaturally warm like she was recovering from some kind of illness.
"Our camp is amongst the tree tops, a bit like tree houses as you would know them." He took in the dappled sunlight filtering over the floorboards like a carpet, acknowledging the offering of a bottle of water which she offered him. "I am called Maria and I am our healer. Our leader is Anna and she says that our mission is to take out the other settlement. She can somehow speak to the future, to 2062."
"2062?" He asked curiously, sitting down with his back to the wall as he felt a wave of dizziness wash over him slightly. "That seems familiar."
"That is your world. We're not sure exactly how the portal works yet." Maria glanced down at an electronic device in her hands, sweeping with her finger to the left along the glass screen until she came to his file, and her gaze swept over the names of relatives.
"What's the problem?"
"Nothing, just a couple of questions." She replied smoothly, her tanned skin illuminated by the sunlight. "Name?"
"Scott," He answered instantly. At least that was one thing he could remember.
"And do you know someone called Alan, or someone called Gordon?"
He frowned, but the names didn't spark any recognition. "No."
So, leave a review if you want, tell me what you thought, and I will see you soon as long as I don't lose internet at my job tomorrow. WiFi here in the UK is awful in places!
Kat x.