IT was early morning over the South Pacific. Tracy Island's black shape slowly began to lighten as the sun rose from beyond the horizon welcoming in yet another crisp, warm day.
Inside the Tracy Mansion, everyone was still asleep - but for some of them it didn't stay that way. The hologram projectors in Daniel and Joanne's room along with those in the five Tracy sisters and Leanna's room bleeped loudly waking them up. It was Kerry calling from Thunderbird 5. "Rise and shine everyone, we've got a situation!" she said. "Thunderbirds 1 and 2 required - destination is the South of France."
"F-A-B!" Daniel answered fighting off a big yawn as he got out of the bed. He didn't bother changing into his normal clothes as that would only waste time. He gave Joanne a kiss before he left the room. Joanne moaned in slight annoyance and rolled over to go back to sleep again. As Daniel walked along the corridor towards the staircase, the girls all came out in their nightclothes as well - they looked just as sleepy as he did.
"Morning, Dad," the five sisters said.
"Morning, Daniel," yawned Leanna.
"Morning, all," Daniel finished as they hurried down the staircase to the lounge where they found Jodie was already up and waiting for them. "What's the situation, Jodie?" Daniel asked. "Have you spoken to Kerry?"
"Yes, Mr Tracy. Mine collapse in the South of France," said Jodie. "Approximately fifty miles to the North of Monte Carlo. Suspected explosion underground and there's at least four people trapped inside. You'll need the Interchangeable Pods again for bulldozing and you may need a Mole as well."
Daniel and the girls quickly drank their strawberry-flavoured energy milk created by Zoë. "Cheers, Jodie, we're on our way," he said.
The team split up with Laura hurrying over to the revolving wall panel that led to the revolving elevator that would take her down to Thunderbird 1. After having turned through the wall and standing on the elevator, robotic arms attached her uniform to her as it went down. At the same time, Katie, Beth, Adrienne, Leanna and Wizzy hurried out of the lounge to make their way down to Thunderbird 2 whilst Daniel hurried over to the large rocket painting on the wall. He leant back against it and it began to tilt backwards sending him sliding down into a harness which took him down a long green tunnel. Robotic arms worked to attach his blue uniform with green utility sash as he went down. Once all that was complete, the rail his harness was on moved from the bottom side of the tunnel to the top side. Laura was now in her uniform and being carried out on a retractable walkway to Thunderbird 1. She sat down in the seat which was then moved inside before the hatchway sealed. The trolley that Thunderbird 1 stood on began to move taking Thunderbird 1 up the diagonal tunnel towards its launching bay under the swimming pool. Daniel then reached Thunderbird 2's silo and swung down through the hatch in the top before closing the hatch behind him. He hurried to his seat and sat down before selecting Pod 2 on the computer. The pod conveyor activated moving Pod 1 underneath. Once Pod 2 was in position, the main body of Thunderbird 2 was lowered down onto it. Whilst all this had been going on, Katie, Wizzy, Leanna, Adrienne, and Beth had travelled down express elevators from the mansion to the silo and like Daniel had been changed into their uniforms on the way. They were now able to join Daniel in the cockpit and were ready to go. The rocks concealing the entrance to the hanger were lowered to allow Thunderbird 2 to taxi out onto the runway. As it came out, the palm trees were tilted back to allow it to pass. Up by the house, the swimming pool was opening up ready for Thunderbird 1 which was just coming into position on the launch pad. Thunderbird 2 was now on the launching ramp which lifted up into position. The wings folded into position and the blast shield rose into place behind the rocket engines. The two ships were ready to launch.
5…4…3…2…1!
The rocket engines of Thunderbird 1 fired and it lifted up off the launch ramp, though the gap where the swimming pool had been before climbing high into the night sky above Tracy Island. Thunderbird 2's own engines fired and it lifted up off the ramp to join its sister-ship.
"Thunderbirds are go!" said Daniel as the two ships headed North-West towards the South of France.
It took International Rescue roughly thirty to forty minutes to cross the world to where the mine was located. They had been told on the way by Kerry that it was owned by the same company as the one on Mars, although they felt sure that a Rock Snake was not the cause of this incident.
"Thunderbird 2, I have a visual on the mine," Laura said. "I'm going in."
"F-A-B, Thunderbird 1," answered Daniel. "We'll be with you in ten minutes."
"Make it five," said Laura. "This looks a lot worse than we thought. The whole entrance is blocked by a landslide."
As Thunderbird 1 moved in over the mine, Laura was oblivious to the fact that she was being watched from a distance. A dark-skinned man was hiding in a tree next to an old farmyard. As the sleek, silver rocket fired its vertical jets and began to land, he lowered his binoculars and turned on a small walkie-talkie. "Boss...Thunderbird 1 is just arriving," he said. "Thunderbird 2 shouldn't be far away."
An evil chuckle answered over the walkie-talkie. "Excellent!" the voice of The Hood said with delight. "Nothing will stop us now!"