Just a little tag on to today's episode which I really enjoyed. Spoilers ahead, but no other warnings.
Enjoy!
Why did no one want to ever own up to their own mistakes?
Why did they have to both with arguing? And fiercely at that.
"Of all the strange human behaviors, I've never understood arguing."
He couldn't blame her.
"Me neither."
Really, he just didn't get it: there was nothing peaceful or calm in it.
He much preferred it on mute;
"Maybe we don't have to turn the volume back on?"
It was a shame, because he didn't know how he was managing to keep so calm with those two driving him mad. They were animated even on mute.
"Yeah, EOS, I think we do."
He desperately wanted to say, 'yes', but it just wasn't an option really.
Or maybe it was.
Really, he couldn't hear himself think when people began to shout and holler at one another.
It was his job to get the facts, not to settle their disputes.
Now, his brother's disputes, he could just about bare. He'd lived with them all his life, so sorting them was of little difference or bother.
Though, he still never got the concept of arguing.
Really, most things just went over his head.
Most.
He would have been mad at 'Movie Time' being interrupted if there'd actually been a family to watch it with.
Yes, he could laugh and joke - it meant he got to pick the movie, the best viewing spot and eat all the popcorn, but really none of that mattered when there wasn't anyone to share it with.
He briefly wondered if John was going to join him, but the tone was wrong for that situation from the word 'go'. Or the first word, you could get what he meant.
"Anything else?"
"They won't stop fighting."
He really couldn't see how that would be a bother. Yes, he may be the youngest. Yes, he was usually a part of the arguments as opposed to the referee (that was definitely John), however his life had given him enough experience in that area that he was sure he could act like a defuse switch for a bomb.
"I live with four brothers, I think I can handle refereeing a little bickering."
"Yeah, well good luck with that."
Or maybe not…
"Oh wow, John wasn't joking."
Maybe this really wasn't going to be so easy after all."
Arguing.
She didn't think she'd ever come to understand it. Or why humans had so many names for it;
Bickering, fighting, quarrelling, disagreeing, rowing, squabbling, feuding, bandying words, locking horns, at each other's throats - and her favourite, 'discussing'. John said it was what parents always said, a traditional: 'We're not arguing, we're having a discussion.'
It had required explanation after Scott used it, leaving her baffled – a new favourite descriptive word of hers, which she aimed not to need to use on a regular basis, because she was an AI made by one of the smartest people alive and she didn't get baffled.
She didn't get baffled, but it seemed that arguing could side-track her.
Uh-Oh.
In fact, double Uh-Oh.
That did not look good.
"John, we have to stop!"
It was EOS.
He trusted her more than anything, and though he had no details on whatever had caused the sudden outburst, he still trusted her. He'd chose her to lead him blindfolded through Thunderbird Five over any of his brother's in a millisecond.
And yes, EOS may have a struggling still-forging relationship with his brothers (due to an obvious lack of trust in places – which went both ways - and an overly present sense of humour for an AI), but he knew that she would never let them get hurt.
Because they were something he cared about.
And that was a notion EOS now understood to the letter.
So he didn't doubt it. He just followed it through.
"Alan, stop. The cargo's may explode."
EOS quickly gave him the explanation and he could have done many things in response. Instead, he went to his go to form, and stayed entirely calm. Externally.
See, this is why he hated arguments.
"What? You said they were harmless?"
With a passion.
"On their own, yes. But EOS just ran a simulation and if those two cargos are mixed together in the right conditions they'll explode."
They caused nothing but trouble.
Right… a new plan was necessary before gravity won out.
"That's a lot of mass to pull with just reverse thrusters."
He knew John didn't doubt him, just the idea, but it really was the only one he had.
"No other choice."
And he had to at least believe in it, or he knew he'd fail before he even began.
"Careful Alan, you're burning up all your fuel."
"I know, I know."
But he would, and could, do this. At least, do it enough to buy them some time.
And that was the last thing they needed. The absolute last.
"Your area of space has just been declared a hazard zone."
"Oh what? Because of the debris from the collision?"
"Yep, and it's coming back around."
Oh no. The look of the images on the holoscreen was just dooming. It was barely even giving him time or notice to voice the warning.
"Alan, it's going to crash right into you!"
Don't tell him to stay calm now.
Because there was nothing Alan could do, nothing that would be able to get all of them out of the way in time, nothing that would drastically change the situation.
They were like sitting ducks.
Waiting to see if something hit them.
Except this time, they wouldn't be winning any prizes.
Oh damn.
She could do nothing.
Yes, she could give John some calculations, but they were all becoming increasingly worse than the last.
Bad news followed by bad news followed by worse news followed by more bad news, more bad news, more and more bad news and then terrible news.
For once, she actually knew what helplessness felt like.
And she hated it.
No, she despised it.
And she would make sure to never feel it again.
Oh… well, that changed the playing field.
They needed to move,
They had debris in coming,
They had someone they needed to rescue imminently,
And a rocket which needed fuel.
Yeah, like that wasn't and a half.
He did not need Thunderbird Five coming to the minefield, and potentially adding to the list of problems and issues which was becoming today.
"You're not bringing Thunderbird Five into the path of that debris, it's a no-fly zone."
"Don't worry, Thunderbird Three, I have another way to get there."
Yeah, and that didn't exactly fill him with confidence either.
Bye John, come back safely.
It was her prayer every time he left her space.
Because her space was theirs, she could guard it, always, and they'd be safe.
She hated to think that John wasn't safe.
That any of them weren't.
Because they were family, even if not by blood.
He wasn't used to relying on EOS; he was used to talking to John.
But they could work quicker with two of them on the ground – or, in the space, he supposed. Bad wording. Not that now was the time to be worried about that.
"It's Juliet. You gotta' do something to help her!"
As if he didn't know that.
Today was the day of knowing everything you had to do, and yet being able to do half or none of it.
And here was something to add to that list.
"Oh, the wires are all fried!"
He knew it from the moment he saw the first sparks.
"John, I don't think I can get the lift support fixed in time."
Yeah…
"Smal problem with that, Alan. Thunderbird Three is a little tied up with the refuel."
It was a hard call, but they needed the rocket to be able to move or that debris would come back with vengeance. It had left them with one small problem, it could create a much bigger one with ease and he had a feeling their luck would run out eventually.
Sitting ducks could only survive for so long before something got them.
Alan.
John.
To Alan.
To John.
There was only so much they could do in one go.
They were after all, only human.
And yet, look at what she was supposed to be.
And all she could do was watch.
"So we're back to cutting them out?"
And listening.
"It's risky, but I don't see any other option."
And she didn't have one for them either. She was almost as stuck as them.
Sitting and watching.
He felt much better being in Thunderbird Three.
It had been a long time, but he always felt safe still in the rocket Dad had built. The rocket which took him to Thunderbird Five, which allowed them to make his Thunderbird. Everything he was, everything he could do, essentially was down to this rocket and one man's genius.
He loved everything about it, maybe more than Alan did even, for completely separate reasons.
Maybe even knew it's systems better than the younger the amounts of trips he'd made in it as Dad's co-pilot, so the question did strike him as incredibly strange.
"Are- Are you sure you put the fuel in the right port?"
"I'm positive, Alan."
Besides, he didn't forget things easily, which is why he so rarely got things wrong.
So what on Earth was the problem here?
Stuttering thrusters… Great.
Reason…
"That debris cut the fuel line. The tank has emptied out."
But it's alright, you've got John on board, he'll have a-
"We need a plan before that debris spins back around."
That wouldn't be long.
There had to be something.
There had to be something.
But she really did have nothing.
Oh…
She'd definitely known what fear felt like.
Enough to know that she hated feeling that emotion too.
Right, they just had to sound out the options, think about everything and a plan would come to them.
Logic over panic.
It had always worked for him before, and it would still work for him now.
Goodness knew how he stayed this calm.
His nerves would probably live a few extra years without being fried.
Still, not that he knew how that occurred.
Maybe it was a gene thing? Something he'd inherited from Dad more than his brothers… He'd say it was, just because Dad never let them down.
Maybe that would give them a bit of much needed luck now.
Ok, Alan don't panic – but he knew there didn't seem to be a way out, so panic!
"Can we call in the GDF? Orbital Protol? Anyone?"
He knew the answer, but he needed to hear it from the red-headed brother beside him, who he trusted to steer and guide him.
"There's no time."
He knew that.
"And they'd just get caught in the debris too."
"What if we fly the pilots out of here with your Exo-Suit and my Rocket Board?'
"No protection."
That should have been obvious. Stupid suggestion, Alan.
Panic was destroying him.
Because that left no viable options.
(Not that any of those had actually been viable!)
"Are we just supposed to sit here while the freighters and Thunderbird Three explode?"
Because, he didn't want to die, but more than that, he couldn't lose Thunderbird Three, or John. Or leave their brothers behind to live life without them. Because they all knew it wouldn't be a life worth living.
"Yes, that's exactly what we're gonna' do."
Yeah… John's gone mad!
"What?"
They were doomed.
The Earth had probably flipped on its axis.
Maybe the world was even ending.
"Well, maybe not exactly, but close. We're going to create a controlled explosion. Remember what happens if we mix the cargo of the two freighters?"
So, Alan was looking at him as though he was mad.
Maybe he was.
But hey, crazy impulsive plans seemed to run in the family gene pool too.
"Yeah, I remember. Boom!"
Yes, but it was all a matter of physics in the end. Thanks goodness he could do all of those calculations in his head after years of practise and the assistance of a high IQ.
"If we create a leak with just the right flow and set it off-"
"We've got ourselves a rocket!"
Ok, John may be mad in this moment, but a mad genius.
And he'd take that over nothing.
They didn't have long.
Come on John.
But she had faith in him.
For the man who had taught her humanity, she would always have faith.
He'd barely breathed out there. They didn't have long left, however they might just have done it.
"Ten seconds to impact."
Now to see if he'd made any errors.
He hoped not – it was unlikely – but it would just be typical.
He tried to remember how to breathe.
This was going to be so incredibly dangerous, tight for time, risky, and could possibly still end in their death. Possibly.
But he trusted John. So…
"Cable secure. Here goes nothing."
They may just have done it.
"We're picking up speed."
She could see that.
"It's gonna' be close."
She could see that one too.
"Stand by for separation."
She had no clue what else she was standing by for. Maybe a rescue team, maybe a miracle, maybe the return of John.
Maybe…
Here was the moment of truth.
It was physics. Physics in practise and maybe a little bit of luck. But it was definitely an experience.
"That was awesome."
He couldn't help it, the words were just on his tongue and waiting to be spoken,
"Yeah, I was pretty awesome."
"Well you did have a little help."
Now who was bickering, she wondered?
But really it didn't matter, because it meant she'd be getting John back, and John wouldn't be about to lose a brother.
So everyone won.
What did a bit of brotherly bickering matter now?
If she could have physically smiled, she would.