I'm still setting up the storyline so fast updates for the first few chapters, I could have put the first and second together but I think they work better in segments. But do not fear, the word count gets lengthier from chapter three onwards. Chapter three is already a favourite (holding hostage until reviews are made).
Thank you to all who reviewed the first chapter. I love reading them, especially the ones bigging up my ego ;)
And thanks to those already following, that's some serious faith!
Overjoyed was an understatement, Hiram Hackenbacker was over the moon to have not just his own lab, workshop, and pretty much the run of Tracy Island for experiments and research, but that it was a safe haven for himself and his son, Fermat.
The last few years had been tough, ever since the disappearance of Fermat's mother he'd been a single father and the sole means of income to their small family. Being a scientist didn't mean he was rich, far from it, his inventions and ideas were often laughed at and his failures always bore the spotlight more than the successes. He'd been offered jobs in research facilities and laboratories but the restrictions and paperwork held him back, he needed space, support, and funding.
Hiram had the pleasure and luck of meeting Jeff Tracy at a science function a few years back, since then they had become close friends and acquaintances.
When Jeff had lost Lucille things had quickly changed, a job offer had already been on the cards but once the Tracy hierarch had purchased the island the offer became more of a life laid out on a silver platter. And when Jeff had mentioned his plans? Hiram could not have asked for more.
He was happy. To put it mildly.
Working on the new project before him Hiram reflected briefly on the past and the changes they had gone through to get them where they were. Lucille Tracy's death brought so much pain, but the work that had been done in her memory would bring relief to thousands. International Rescue had become an essential emergency service to the world and not one it would soon forget.
Tinkering with a dynamo whilst his glasses slipped down his nose he pushed them back up with a long finger only for them to make their way straight back down. He sniffed and turned to the contraption. A large silver mat standing above a foot of wiring and casing, once he screwed the dynamo in place the machine worked.
Well, worked in the sense that the science was there, it functioned, just not as required.
A teenage Scott strolled through the double doors and into the silo where Brains wanted to test his new invention, careful to watch the minefield of debris and partially constructed experiments around him. He perched on a low work bench next to Brains, perching his elbows as he leant back whilst taking in the mess which had become of the once empty space.
"Dad wanted to know how things were going, and whether you'd be up for dinner."
He couldn't really tell what Brains was doing, he himself had a knack for engineering yet the complications of Brain's work baffled him. He'd been to yard sales which looked more organized.
"W-w-want to see w-wha… it working?" Brains stammered, once more pushing his glasses up his long nose as he stood back, admiring the dynamo for a moment before retrieving an apple from the table. No doubt leftover from the lunch that had been sent down for him earlier that day.
"Sure. Do I need to stand back?" Scott asked, wary of losing not just his eyebrows.
Brains ignored him, or perhaps didn't hear him. The latter seemed more likely as he was so absorbed in balancing the apple on top of the silver mat and keying numbers into the contraption on the side of the machine that his concentration was zoned into the one task. It beeped shrilly and the whole thing seemed to vibrate with energy.
Brains quickly strode across the silo to an identical looking piece of apparatus Scott hadn't noticed, it was a good fifteen meters between the two and other scraps of metal and wired designs stood between.
Standing, the eldest Tracy son brushed down his pants and stood back anyway, putting the table before him as a barrier to any unforeseen explosions. Asking Brains if he was going to make it for dinner had quickly become known as a hazardous task.
With a blur of bright white light the apple disappeared.
The teenager frowned at where the fruit had been, trying to figure out just what Brains had invented and/or achieved. He looked over at the man who was grinning madly, intent on the identical silver mat fifteen meters away from where the fruit had vanished.
A few seconds later there was another bright flash of light followed by steam or perhaps it was smoke, it smelt a lot like apple. Stepping away from the cover of the table Scott found himself wanting a closer look.
On the opposite silver mat Brains was staring at the apple which had been transported fifteen meters across the room, only it had digressed from a solid to a liquid and looked very un-apple like.
"T-t-teleportation!" Brains beamed, rubbing his palms together as he took a closer look at the result. "Am-amaz- brilliant!"
"Erm, sure. Brilliant." In a way it was, he supposed, brilliant. "You're not going to send anything living through that are you? Only Dad said dinner was ready and I'd rather take the stairs… not that I'm not impressed of course." He added the latter quickly after receiving a hurt expression from the scientist. "It really is brilliant."
Gordon was heading off to join his brother's at boarding school and excited was an understatement to what he felt, it had seemed an eternity of watching his older brothers grow up before him and do all the things he wanted to do. They were in the sport teams, they were winning medals, racking up achievements and living the life he'd always wanted. There were girls on the mainland, Olympic sized swimming pools, fast food restaurants, and people who weren't related!
He'd always looked up to his brothers of course, admired and longed to follow in the footsteps he was quickly growing into. Being stuck behind with the baby of the family was no fun and he wouldn't be sorry to see the back of it, he was five years Alan's senior and needed to feel that those years made a difference. Boarding school was going to be something else.
Grinning like a devil he dragged his last remaining bag from his room and into the large open plan living area where his brother's and father stood waiting, they'd packed hours ago but Gordon wasn't sure what to bring so had packed pretty much everything "just in case".
"You have to share your dorm room you know," John smirked, eyeing the last of the cases in a way which suggested he wouldn't be helping to carry it anytime soon. "That means you have to fit twopeople into one room, two people and all of your stuff."
Scott leant back against one of the large couches, aviator sunglasses obscuring his eyes but a cocky smile on his lips displayed his feelings. "Considering how empty you've left your room here, Dad will be able to rent it out."
He grinned ever wider, sure they could joke but he was with them now, he wouldn't be hearing boarding school stories from a distance and having to watch everyone else's life starting up but his own. Scott was graduating at the end of the year and would be heading to college, but for the time being it would be good to spend a bit more time with the guy before he disappeared again.
"Not sure how good the commute would be for any potential rentals," Virgil chuckled, walking across and attempting to pick up the bag which by the look which glanced his face had quite possible lengthened his arm, "Dad, you could get a snooker table in there!"
Laughing lightly Jeff tried to steer the boys from the room and out towards Tracy One, their private jet which really should have been in the air an hour ago, though once you decided to have kids you pretty much sacrificed organization. "I rather hoped that you'd visit during holidays but by the sounds of things it'll just be myself and Brains for Thanksgiving and Christmas, though I'm sure we can get through a whole turkey by ourselves…"
"You wish."
"As if!"
"Never!"
Alan lay across the large couch behind the small group of men, arms over the back cushion as he watched them and smiled.
"Can I come to the mainland and visit?" He asked, ever hopeful.
"I'm not sure Al, I'm going to join the swim team as soon as I can so that might take up a lot of my free time. You can email though! Send me photos of all the boring things I'm missing."
"To have any hope of receiving emails you're going to have to actually get to school." Jeff checked his watch for what seemed like the umpteenth time in the past hour, he gave each of Tracy One's soon to be passengers a hard look which directed their attention back to leaving the island and ending their summer vacations once and for all.
"See you later sprout! Don't get into too much trouble, and if you do - make sure it's described in detail in a lengthy email!"
"Gordon!"
"Sorry dad."
"Bye kid brother, see you in the summer. You'll be taller than me soon so I'll have to keep tabs on you."
"Bye John, don't miss me too much." Alan rolled of the sofa and came to bid farewell to them all, a hug per brother and a rather disdainful hair ruffle from Scott.
"No trouble Alan, dad doesn't need it."
"Thanks Scott, you always know the right words to say."
"And no sarcasm." Virgil chimed in, ruffling Alan's recently smoothed back down hair and causing an eye roll from the young blonde. "You need to give us reason to miss you."
With that they turned and finally made their way to the plane, the bright warm sun on the island something Gordon would quickly come to miss. The pool would be abnormally quiet until summer break.
"I call co-pilot!"
"You can't call co-pilot." Scott muttered as they made their way over to the hanger leaving the house behind them.
"I call that I can call things!" Gordon interjected with a smug grin, easily missing the swipe Scott took at the back of his head.
Alan had been glad that Brains had brought his son Fermat to live on the island, it was so quiet without his brothers and entertainment was hard to come by on your own. His father and his engineer friend spent most of their time working on their shared obsession - the Thunderbirds. Impressive machines built for a future plan which would include them all.
Alan couldn't begin to explain how proud that made him feel, knowing he had a place awaiting him when he finally followed in his brother's footsteps, to step beside them side by side with one common goal. He wished he knew more about the machines but he was reasonably content to wait, especially now he had friends on the island.
Tintin had arrived a few months after Fermat, her parents the Kyranos becoming the housekeeper and cook. Tintin was the same age as Alan, Fermat was a couple of years younger though his brains and knowledge far exceeded the other two. He was a mini version of his dad, stutter and all.
Alan did enjoy his time growing up on the island but although he'd never admit it, he deeply missed the mainland and his grandma who he never saw enough of anymore, he missed his brothers and counted down the years until he began school and finally joined them. He didn't realized until it was finally his turn to leave for boarding school that Gordon was five years his senior and was due to graduate, once again he was being left behind and the shadows of his brothers before him were long and bore shadows over his own achievements.
By that point all his brother's but Gordon were in college or full time jobs. They led different lives which were full of exciting stories he couldn't add to or relate to in the least, Scott who he had once felt close to was ten years older and when back on the island spent a great deal of time working with his father. The Thunderbirds were going to be launched in the next few months and every detail need to be analyzed, the excitement hung in the air suffocating all else.
"Sorry Alan, we have work to do but Lady P will be transporting you and Fermat to school. I'll see you in the summer. Keep your head down and grades up."
He'd bid his farewells to Tintin who he felt awful for leaving behind, she insisted she'd be fine and would busy herself with her own home schooling and working with her parents, plus they could always keep in touch via the internet and she'd visit whenever possible.
The five long years on the island without the majority of his family suddenly seemed to have flown by. He was finally following his brothers though, even if he was at such a distance behind them, one day he'd catch up and he knew they'd be there waiting and proud. If five years on the island felt quick then no doubt five years at school would be equally so.
