Disclaimer: All rights belong to Carlton/ITV. Characters created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson.
Author's Note: This story came about after a discussion on a Facebook forum about the new series:
Person 1: 'You do know that Scott got married after he crash-landed on a Pacific Island, right?
Person 2: 'I wonder if he got a tribal tattoo...'
Me: 'There's a fanfic in that!'
Be careful what you wish for.
So here is the story of how Scott ended up with the tattoo, and how he got a lot more than he bargained for. I wrote it with the classic series in mind, rather than the 'new' boys, purely because I'm more familiar with 'old' Scott and co. Incidentally, both Virgil and I thought this would be a much lighter story than it turned out, but it seems Scott's a pretty responsible guy...
Scott Tracy eased himself down onto the bed, wincing as he did so. 'Geez, Virg,' he said, 'never have one of these things removed. Sure as heck hurts.'
His younger brother sat down in a chair opposite and gave him a mocking smile. 'Not as much as it hurts to get one, I'll bet,' he replied.
'Yeah, but I don't remember that part!' Scott said, rubbing his chest near his left arm.
Virgil grinned at him. 'Well, you know what they say, Scott,' he said. 'It's not a proper tattoo unless you can't remember how it got there!'
Scott rolled his eyes. 'Yeah, thanks, Virg,' he replied, sarcastically.
Virgil sat back in the chair, crossed his legs lazily, and grinned. Scott gave him a death stare, but Virgil was immune to it. His grin didn't move. Oh great, Scott thought. He's gonna milk this for all it's worth.
'At least it has an interesting story to it,' Virgil said. He waited for a response, but received only another glare. Then, with genuine curiosity, he leaned forward. 'Say, Scott,' he said, 'you never did tell me the full story of how you got it…'
Scott shrugged and looked uncomfortable. 'I don't remember that much of it. It's not that interesting anyway.'
Virgil raised an eyebrow at him. 'You mean, you don't want to tell me, right?' he asked. Scott's silence was all the answer he needed. 'Well, just remember who helped you get to the tattoo removal place, not to mention who helped you out after your crash in the first place.'
He lowered his voice. 'Of course, I might let slip over dinner later what we really got up to on the mainland…'
'Oh, for Pete's sake, Virg,' said Scott, tiredly. 'I already agreed to do all your maintenance on Thunderbird 2 for the next month. Isn't that enough?'
'Nuh-uh,' said Virgil, shaking his head. 'I want the full story. And seeing as how I got you off that island, I think I've earned it.'
Scott sighed. He really, really didn't want to discuss what had happened. But if he knew his brother, he wouldn't let it drop till he'd heard the whole tale. 'All right, you win,' he said, resigned. 'Well, I guess you know that it started with that crash-landing on that island in the Pacific…'
'After that fire in Tokyo,' Virgil interrupted.
'After the fire in Tokyo, and…'
'Just like when you crashed in the desert,' Virgil added.
Scott gave a wry smile. 'Yeah, I better ask Dad not to send me out to any more Japanese fires if he can help it,' he replied. 'Anyway, like I say, I was on my way home from the fire, when something went wrong with Thunderbird 1. One minute, she was flying like normal, sweet as a dream, and the next, all the instrumentation was going haywire. That's when I tried to call Dad, and when I couldn't get through to base, I called John. But the radio was going, too. I just about gave John some coordinates, but like I say, no instrumentation meant I was just guessing. Then John's voice disappeared.
'And then the nose started to drop.
'I tried pulling her up, hard as I could. I could hear Dad's voice in my ears from the last time, saying 'Nose up, Scott! Nose up!' But she just wouldn't respond. And I had no idea where I was headed, or whether I was gonna hit land or sea. I tried to slow the descent and glide for a bit, to lessen the impact, but nothing was responding. So I just braced myself and held on tight. After that, I don't remember anything. I guess I musta blacked out from the impact.
'I didn't come round properly for what felt like an age. I have no idea how long I was out for, Virg. I don't even know whether I dreamt half of what happened, or whether it was real… I remember a woman standing over me, and I remember some chanting, and then I think I remember some pain in my arm, although maybe I dreamt that part.
'And then I came round properly. I tried to sit up. I had no idea where I was. Next thing I know, something moved beside me. I turned round to see what it was. And that's when I found out I'd been sleeping next to a naked woman!'
'No, no, no!' Virgil cried, sitting forward. 'I don't want to hear your latest fantasy, Scott! I want to hear the real story of that tattoo!'
'And I'm trying to tell it to you, Virgil, but you keep interrupting!' cried Scott, a frown on his face. 'Sheesh!'
Virgil sat back in his chair. 'OK,' he said, unconvinced. 'Carry on, Casanova…'
'Geez,' Scott muttered. 'Anyway. So this lady sat up next to me. She looked Asian, maybe mid-20s, and she was beautiful. But I was freaking out! I had no memory of anything. All I knew was I'd crash-landed – and how the heck did I end up waking up next to someone after that?!
'She cried out in some strange language, and I kept backing away. I pulled the sheet around me to preserve my dignity –
'You were naked?' Virgil said.
'Sure was, as the day I was born. She sat up, holding the sheet to her, and she kept shouting at me. So I kept backing away, and shouting, "I don't understand! Whatever you're telling me, I don't understand!" And she stopped panicking, and she said to me, "It's OK, I speak English! There is no need to panic!" So I said, "Listen, lady, I don't know where I am, and I don't know who you are, and I need to get back to my ship and my buddies, OK? They're gonna wonder where I am and I need to tell them I'm OK! So please, let me go!"
'And did she?' Virgil asked, leaning forward.
'No!' Scott replied. 'She started moving towards me, and then she said, "I think you don't understand," and I said, "I sure don't understand! I don't know what's going on here – I don't remember a thing! All I know is that I need to leave, right now!"
'Anyway, I was looking at her, wondering what the heck she was trying to pull, and that's when she dropped the bombshell,' Scott continued. Then he paused. 'And this is the bit that I am absolutely swearing you to secrecy on, because if any of the other fellas find out about this, and if a single word of this gets to Dad, then so help me God, Virgil, I will kill you. Understand?'
Virgil was used to Scott's threats. He'd had him as an older brother for the best part of thirty years. But he'd never seen him this agitated before.
'Sure thing, Scott,' he replied. 'But what happened?'
Scott sighed. 'Uhhh… Well, then she kind of looked at me, as if she was confused. And then she said, "But I am your wife!"
'She said WHAT?!' Virgil exploded. 'You got married?! But surely you must remember that!'
Scott shook his head. 'Not a thing, Virgil. So of course I asked her for some proof, I mean we weren't wearing rings or anything –'
'Wait, did you consummate it?!'
'How the heck do I know, Virgil? Like I said, I don't remember a thing,' Scott replied, wearily. 'If I did, I sure as heck don't know how I did it…
'Anyway, here's the part you're gonna wanna hear. I said "How can we be married? I'm not wearing a ring!" And she said, 'Your arm! You have the mark we give on wedding ceremony! Proof that you're now part of the tribe! And when I looked down at my arm, I saw…'
'The tattoo,' Virgil breathed. 'Wow.'
'Yeah,' Scott replied. He paused, and almost unconsciously rubbed the bulge under his shirt where cotton wool now covered his raw skin. 'Then she came over and put her arm round me while I was still staring at my arm, and she said, "You see? You are my husband! I belong with you now!" And I just didn't know what the heck to say, Virgil. I just…'
He trailed off, and looked straight ahead, as if staring into the distance. Virgil could hear the emotion in his brother's voice. Man, he thought, he sure has been through a heck of a time. Now I see why he didn't want to discuss it... 'Scott, you don't have to talk about this if you don't want,' he said, the teasing tone gone from his voice.
Scott shook his head. 'Nah, it's OK, Virg. Now I've started, I guess I'm gonna feel better for getting it off my chest.' He smiled weakly at his brother. 'Besides, I can't think of anyone else better to tell, seeing as you already know a pretty big part of the story!' he said, pointing to the place where the tattoo had been. 'And like you said, I owe you one for getting me off that island.'
Virgil smiled back. 'Thanks, Scott,' he said.
'No worries, Virgil,' Scott said in reply. He paused before he continued. 'When she told me, I felt really guilty. At that point, I wasn't sure if what she was saying was true or not. I didn't want to believe it. But what if I had married her? That's all I could think of. I mean, I'd never set eyes on this woman before in my life. I didn't even know her name. I sure as heck didn't remember meeting her, let alone marrying her – hell, I didn't even remember getting the tattoo! But if we were married, wasn't she my responsibility? And what was I gonna do about that? Bring her to the island? Introduce her to Dad? It's not like he's keen on any of us going on dates, let alone getting married…'
He sighed, then ran a hand along his jaw. 'So all I could think of was to get her to tell me the whole story. I was thinking, y'know, seeing as I didn't remember it, that maybe I was unconscious, and I could get out of it that way. But the way she made it sound, I was awake the whole time. I figure they must have drugged me somehow. Apparently I didn't even flinch when I got the tattoo! And I know I'm pretty stoical, but I reckon I would've flinched at that.'
'But you can get out of it anyway, Scott!' Virgil protested. 'There's no way this is a legal marriage under US law. Or any law, for that matter!'
'Yeah, but that's not the point, Virgil! I married this girl! It doesn't matter that we didn't do it the way we do it back home! To her, we were married as good as if we'd got a certificate from a registry office. She thought of me as her husband – I couldn't just abandon her!'
'But Scott… you did leave her there, in the end…' Virgil said, softly.
Scott looked up, and Virgil could see the pain in his brother's eyes. 'I know, Virgil,' he said, 'I know. In the end, it felt like I didn't have a choice.' He stared down at his hands. 'I'm still beating myself up about it.'
Virgil couldn't think of anything to say in response. He watched his brother in silence as Scott stared at the floor, guilt clearly etched on his face. Virgil waited patiently until his brother was ready to continue.
'Anyway, I started asking her for the details of what happened, and I took the chance to try and work out where I was. We were lying on a bed with a wooden frame in a pretty basic looking hut. My uniform was in a corner on this chair, made of wood, that looked like someone had hand carved it. Pretty simple-looking, but sturdy. There was another chair next to it with what looked her clothes on it. There wasn't much else there, just an electric light hanging from the roof, and a lamp on a table next to the bed.
'She told me that I'd crashed out of nowhere. The whole island had come out to see, she said. Including their leader, and she made it sound like it was pretty unusual for him to show up. "His name is Belah Gaat," she said. "He lives in a great temple in the woods, and we do not often see him," she told me, and Virg, I could hear the fear in her voice. I asked her what was so scary about this guy, and she gave me a look I'll never forget. "He is an evil man," she said. "He is a master of black magic. We dare not cross him, and we must do as he asks."
And here's the kicker, Virg. She followed it up with something I wasn't expecting. "It was he who said I must marry you," she told me, "and it was he who said we must do it immediately!"'
'Woah,' said Virgil, softly.
'Yeah. And it gets weirder. I asked her how he made sure that I didn't remember the thing. She looked at me with wide, staring eyes, as if she was pleading for me to believe her. "You must understand," she said. "He has powers beyond those you can imagine. He can control people's minds and their bodies. He has eyes that can bore into your soul and make you forget. And that is what he did to you. You woke up after the crash, when we found you, and we took you to the village to make sure you weren't hurt. But you do not remember this. He made you forget. And then, when you had passed out from the black magic, he forced us to drug you so that you didn't remember anything that followed."
So I asked her if he drugged her too, but she looked at me as if she was frightened of me and of him all at once, and told me he hadn't. This guy's got them so scared, Virgil, that they'll just do what they ask, because of what he'll do to them.
'That's the point when I knew I had to save her, to take her with me if I could. I know it wasn't something I signed up for, and I know I didn't marry her in any voluntary way – and that there was no way we were legally married, like you said. But I knew I couldn't leave her there, not to live in fear of that guy.
'So I asked her her name, and she told me she was called Nethya. "Nethya, my name is Scott Tracy, and I'm gonna get you and me out of here," I told her. "But first of all, I need a radio so I can contact my buddies. Is there anything around here I can use?"
'But she shook her head. "I cannot," she said. "It would bring dishonour on the tribe. And it will bring punishment on us from Belah Gaat. Please. Please stay here with me. It is the only way we can be safe."
'I tried to explain to her that I couldn't do it, that I needed to get back to base, that there were people who needed me back there. But she clung on to me and wouldn't let me go. I was torn, Virgil. I knew if it came down to it, I'd have to pull her off me and get back to Thunderbird 1 somehow. And I had no idea where Thunderbird 1 was, or what state she was in after the crash. I didn't even know at this point why she had crashed, let alone if I was going to be able to fix her. And every time I tried to reason with Nethya, she kept shaking her head, and crying, and grabbing my arm, and telling me that I was her husband, that I needed to stay and to protect her from the men of her tribe.'
Scott paused, his face drawn. He looked as if he'd aged ten years. 'I don't know what she'd been through, Virg, but I've never seen fear like that outside of a rescue before.'
'So what happened?' Virgil asked. 'I know you made it to Thunderbird 1 alright but you were alone when I got there…'
'Ah, this is your cue to enter, Virgil,' said Scott, managing a smile, even as the haunted look still played on his face. 'As I was trying to convince her to leave, I heard your engines overhead. I gotta tell ya, fella, I've never been so glad to hear you arrive in my whole life. We were outta there! You could help me fix Thunderbird 1, and you could help me get Nethya back to base, and maybe even help explain things to Father. How did you even find out where I was?'
'It was Brains and John, really,' Virgil replied, modestly. 'I just did the flying. John worked out the flight path you were on, and from there he narrowed down the places you could be. And when Brains looked into the area, he spotted a strange fluctuation in the earth's magnetic field, centred on one island – the kind of thing that could bring down a craft the size of Thunderbird 1, unless she had shielding.'
'Kind of like an EMP, I guess,' Scott said.
'That's right. He'd built shielding against EMPs into Thunderbird 2, but said he figured you'd usually be at a high speed and altitude, so you could get out of range if anything like that hit. He really beat himself up over it, poor guy.'
'Well, it wasn't his fault. He couldn't have seen this coming.'
'Yeah, but Father tore a strip off him… Dad was really worried about you, Scott.'
Scott looked uncomfortable. 'Yeah, I know… He was really worried the last time I crashed, too. Like I say, no more fires in Tokyo!' he said, in a weak attempt at a joke. Virgil smiled at him in sympathy.
'So I heard the engines,' Scott continued, 'and I held on to Nethya. "Listen," I said, "that's my brother here to help me out. Now he's gonna fly us back to base and take us away from here, OK? If you come with me, we can help you, and I can keep you safe." But she kept trying to pull me back down onto the bed, like she was forcing me to stay there. I had no choice but to push her away so I could get dressed and get out of there.
'She sat back and looked at me, pleading with her eyes, and I knew I had to try one last time. "I'm going out there to meet my brother," I said, "and I want to take you with me. But the choice is yours, Nethya. Now are you coming, or not?" She looked at me like she couldn't decide. I felt like I was holding my breath, like the time she took to make up her mind was an age. And I just didn't know what she was gonna do.
'Then she ran to the chair and pulled on a dress. "I will come," she said, and I smiled at her. I can't tell you how relieved I felt.
'We ran outside. I could hear you hovering somewhere overhead, but we were surrounded by trees, and I couldn't see where you were – or where Thunderbird 1 was. We'd walked into a small clearing, surrounded by what looked like jungle, with about 10 huts around us and a path into the trees. "Over here", Nethya said, and I followed her, because I didn't think we had a choice.'
'Is that when I radioed you?' Virgil asked.
Scott nodded. 'Lucky for me that the communicator was working again. I don't think I've been so happy to hear your voice in my life! I think when Nethya heard you speak, that was what convinced her to come with me. You sounded so calm and in control when I was close to panic –I owe you one for that, Virgil.' His brother nodded his acknowledgement.
'We headed towards Thunderbird 1, walking through these dense trees and bushes, and the heat was stifling. Nethya seemed pretty confident that she knew where she was, and where we were going. And she seemed pretty certain you'd be able to find the crash site once we got there –'
'She was right,' Virgil interrupted. 'I flew straight there. You left a heck of a mark when you crashed!'
'Yeah, I'm still feeling it myself,' Scott grimaced, and rubbed the ribs that were still healing from the impact.
'But why wasn't Nethya there when you got to the crash site? You got there just after me, and you looked like you were run ragged, but she wasn't with you…' Virgil asked, then immediately regretted it. The haunted look returned to Scott's face, as well as something else Virgil couldn't place, like he was trying to shake off a bad memory, but couldn't escape it.
'Here's where things get really weird, Virg,' Scott replied. 'This is the part I don't understand myself. I wouldn't have believed it, if it wasn't for what happened while we were running to meet you – and for what happened afterwards.'
There was a knock at the door. 'Come in,' Scott called.
Tin-Tin stuck her head into the room. 'Dinner's ready, boys. And Scott – we've got apple pie for dessert!'
'Apple pie?' Virgil exclaimed. 'Delicious!'
Tin-Tin smiled. 'Yes, Virgil – Scott's favourite. After the crash, and after his trip to see the doctor on the mainland, Grandma and I thought he deserved a little treat.'
Scott managed a smile. Virgil avoided meeting his eye. 'Thanks, Tin-Tin. That's swell of you. Virgil and I will be along in a minute.' Tin-Tin nodded in response, and disappeared.
Scott caught his brother's eye, and Virgil saw the haunted look return to his face. 'Reconvene here after dinner, and I'll tell you the rest?' he asked.
'Let's make it my room,' Virgil replied. 'I kept a decent bottle of Scotch in there in case of an emergency. And I guess you're gonna need it…'
All Scott could do was smile gratefully at his brother as they made their way to the dining room.
