Just something inspired by yesterday's episode and incorporating parts of last weeks as well.
"Don't you ever get lonely John?"
"Lonely, with so much going on around me?"
Maybe he did but he would't admit to it.
"It's not really around you, it's more below you."
"Feels like the right distance to me."
It was, he hadn't been lying to Alan when he'd said that. Okay, it made the trips home for some 'family time' that little bit harder, but then living on a remote island made crossing to anywhere difficult, space didn't seem like that large a leap.
Space was different to Earth somehow. It was something John couldn't explain, but something he knew and knowing was good enough. As long as he understood it that was fine, no one else had to.
Alan had followed him in some respects. He's followed dad and Alan had trailed after the both of them, making Thunderbird Three the perfect pioneer for the youngest, just as Five had been for him.
Had been, still was and always would be.
Yet something pricked at the edges. Five was a great place to be and he wasn't unhappy nor bored, just lonely. Lonely was it, was all, but to it he would not admit – least of all to the youngest who had enough to think of without him contributing to it.
Yet he did miss Earth, he did miss being able to talk to someone not through a holographic system and he did miss his family. Being up on Thunderbird Five allowed him nothing to fill those voids, so loneliness had crept into his bones and gnawed at them.
So when the AI attacked, when a chance came to take one lonely entity and give it a purpose, how could he not take it? How could he not attempt to satisfy the gap in his life?
How could he not give a home to something he created, maybe something that evolved for a reason.
Because he needed it.
"I want a partner. I want a friend." It was an admission, the only one of its kind that was ever likely to be made. And if he'd seen Gordon and Virgil's high five, he may have guessed they'd been placing bets.
He'd always talked to Thunderbird Five, but it was more like talking to yourself: madness to anyone who watched from the outside. Now though, he could talk to Thunderbird Five and expect an answer, one that wouldn't mind if it received a long detailed explanation in return. Tracy Island was his home and always would be, but Thunderbird Five was a sanctuary, it was in the right place and near the right places. It was his second home effectively and one he wouldn't live without.
One he couldn't live without now that EOS lived with him.
There you go, I hope you liked it.
The next chapter of waiting out the storm should be up tomorrow I think for anyone who's reading it.
P.S. Has anyone else seen the upcoming episode trailers? Gordon is actually in them this time for those who have been missing him in this series.