THUNDERBIRD ARE GO:
INSTANT HEAT
WRITTEN BY ZARIUS
(This fic contains spoilers for "Colony")
"So, how did it feel being so near Dad's old haunts then?" Alan asked as Thunderbird 3 departed the surface of Mars and headed back towards their shining blue diamond that was the Earth.
"I feel a lot more secure in that his outpost will be teeming with life again, that's what Dad always loved about any exploration he participated in, that it could take him to the most treacherous, isolated corners of creation, even places where creation may not exist, and make it a place anyone could call home" Scott explained.
"Comfortable thoughts, I just wish we could have met some aliens" Alan replied.
"You've let aliens creep into your head a lot lately, still can't get over the sight of that life form you and Gordon stumbled across out here?" asked Scott.
Alan nodded, "It's something you don't just let slide out of your eye you know?" he replied.
"I can understand that, it's a big galaxy, finding something so close to us just makes us want to expand our horizons, hoping to catch a glimpse of something different on each different world"
"Yeah, and when you can't quite get what you want, it just wets the appetite, makes me want to climb higher into the stars, I'm hoping every mission leads me further from our cosmic backyard and straight into the wilderness, the uncharted" Alan continued.
Scott beamed. Alan was a dreamer, he had ambition, and he wanted to take further risks, but he knew he had to keep his limitless gaze firmly fixated on the issues that presently mattered, the sort of thing that would compel him to make more critical life-saving decisions on the ever demanding missions.
Seeking out answers to the improbabilities of life was a noble sentiment, but solving the situations they constantly came across would do well to prepare him for the best and worst case scenarios of the former.
"That was an awfully big gamble you, I, and Captain Taylor took with the heat shield, but luckily it held up, we'll have to work a bit on factoring luck out of these bold and brash strategies, so as when we do it again, everything is fully in our control"
"I think that's the illusion we have to cast Scott" replied Alan, "The idea that, for every little thing that steps out of the line of control, we have to be prepared to convince everyone we rescue that, yes, we can step in and make it look like we can contain the situation"
"That's why children are usually the best part of our missions, they buy into that illusion all too readily" Scott replied.
"That better not be a crack at me" said Alan, recognising how he was amongst the youngest of his band of brothers and was all too aware he had an aura of naivety about himself.
"Hey, if you want to hold on to your boyhood dreams while taking the steps necessary with each risk you take to become more of a man and leader I know you 're fated to be one day, all I'm glad to be is a witness to that slow transition"
"Well you're gonna have to wait a little longer, I'm going to brag unashamedly about this to everyone when I get back, Tina included"
"Tina?" Scott inquired, raising an eyebrow slightly in curiosity
"Yeah, that's what Captain Taylor told me he called Kayo. Everyone else gets their names mixed up, me with Gordon, you with Virgil, but he let Kayo's name slip from his mind entirely"
"She could get really hot about a pet name like that" Scott pointed out.
"Eh, not the first instance I've had today experiencing instant heat" remarked Alan.
