CHAPTER 3

The earthbound members of the Tracy family all took advantage of the lack of rescues to catch up on their rest, get some work done on the 'birds that needed taking care of, or in Jeff's case, catching up on some Tracy Industries paperwork. Virgil, on several occasions, had to remind Alan to take it easy with his wrist. For his part, it only took a few twinges of pain for Alan to heed Virgil's words.

It was growing close to dinnertime, or at least that's what Scott's rumbling stomach was telling him. He knew they were planning on delaying it a bit as Tin-Tin had radioed in to tell them she would be landing within 30 minutes and all hands would be needed to unload the supplies. She relayed that she had stopped off at the family's favorite local bakery and pick up some of the pizza that the family loved so much for them to have for dinner. The brothers had discovered the pizza on a trip to the mainland. The owner, a long-time friend of the family decided to try his hand at making pizza using a special bread crust. It was an instant hit with his customers and he had a hard time keeping ahead of the demand. The Tracy boys loved it so much because it was a break from the normally healthy foods that Kyrano served.

Jeff had come down to join his boys as they lounged by the pool. He was sitting in a chair next to Scott when the unmistaken sounds of his eldest son's rumbling stomach could be heard.

"Scott, why don't you go to the kitchen and make a salad for dinner," Jeff chuckled. "You can eat some veggies while doing it and hush that stomach up a bit."

"But we're having pizza for dinner!"

Jeff raised an eyebrow as he looked at Scott. "Yes, but it's not all you're going have. A salad is a nice side dish and will help fill up that bottomless pit of yours."

"Alright. I'll go make up a salad for everyone." Scott got up to head into the kitchen when the sounds of an approaching airplane could be heard.

"Scott, why don't you turn the ovens on as well. That way, they'll be pre-heated by the time Kyrano is ready to put the pizzas in," Jeff told his son as he headed towards the office to clear Tin-Tin for landing. "Virgil, Gordon, time to head down to the runway and be ready to unload. Not you Alan!"

"Come on Gordon," Virgil called to his brother. "I'll get the supply cart and meet you there."

As they left, Scott walked up to Alan and put an arm around his shoulder. "Come on, Sprout. You can help me set the table."

"Oh joy!" Alan replied sarcastically. "I don't know, Scott. My wrist is pretty sore."

Scott grinned knowingly. "Forget it, kiddo. There is nothing wrong with your left hand."

"Oh well. Can't blame a guy for trying."

TBTBTBTBTB

Gordon walked into the kitchen just in time to see Scott placing bowls of salad at everyone's place. He stepped back out of view to watch his older brother. Scott turned to get one more bowl off the counter and placed it in front of the spot Gordon usually sits in. His eyes narrowed as he listened to the conversation between Alan and Scott.

"I'm telling you, Scott. He's not going to fall for it."

"Well what would you suggest I do then? I'm not admitting defeat!"

Gordon could hear Alan laugh. "I'm not asking you to, dummy."

Grinning to himself, Gordon headed back up the stairs to wait for everyone to come down for dinner.

It was only about a 15 minute wait before Gordon decided to head down to the dining room. When he arrived, everyone was sitting down and he slid into his spot. He eyed his salad carefully, picking up a small amount with the fork and sniffing at it.

"I assure you, the vegetables are quite fresh, Mr. Gordon," Kyrano told the young man.

"I'm sure they are Kyrano. Just enjoying the smell of fresh food," Gordon explained. He happened to glance over at Scott who quickly hid a smirk as Gordon looked ready to eat the salad. Gordon lowered his fork and as fast as he could, grabbed Alan's bowl of salad and switched it with his.

"What are you doing!" Alan exclaimed. He had just brought his fork down to stab some vegetables when Gordon pulled the bowl away, causing Alan to scrap his fork across the crystal plate beneath it.

Gordon grinned. "Sorry! Just thought you might like to have more salad since you'll be going up on Five soon and won't have any. I think my bowl had more in it."

Alan rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

Virgil and Jeff traded amused looks; Scott only shook his head at his brother's antics.

Gordon watched as Alan pierced some food and brought it up to eat it. He looked over to Scott, who happened to be looking at Alan. Half expecting Scott to shout out a warning, Gordon was poised to stop his brother from eating his salad. When Scott said nothing, Gordon frowned and looked down at his bowl. A glimmer of realization struck.

"HA!" Gordon shot at Scott, then quickly traded bowls with Alan once again.

"Gordon, just what exactly are you doing!" Jeff demanded. "Eat your own food and leave Alan's alone. Good grief. I haven't had to reprimand you for that in years."

Gordon only grinned in triumph. "Thought you could pull a fast one on me, eh Scott?"

"What are you talking about," Scott wanted to know.

"I saw you," accused Gordon. Scott traded a puzzled look with Virgil.

"Saw him do what?" Virgil wanted to know.

"I saw him place my salad bowl down last, don't deny it. I saw you do it."

Scott chuckled. "Of course I won't deny it. I can't hold all the salad bowls at once you know."

"Yeah. But I saw it, you made sure to put mine down last, and you had to know I saw it. So you put the bad salad on my plate, knowing I'd see it and switch with Alan. But when Alan got ready to it eat and you didn't warn him, then I knew. I KNEW. You actually put the bad salad on Alan's plate, so when I switched the first time, I had it, but by not warning him about it, you made me think it was right the first time and I switched it back. So THERE!"

Scott, Virgil and Alan all traded puzzled looks with each other. "I'm not even going to try and figure out that convoluted logic," Jeff said, shaking his head.

"Gordon, there is nothing wrong with the salad," Scott declared. "No one has anything different than anyone else. What is your problem?"

Gordon only shook his head. "Nope. Not buying it. You put something in my salad. Pepper maybe. Or vinegar instead of salad dressing. You can't fool me. Nope. I'm not eating it."

Alan finally sighed. "Gordon, there's only one problem with your logic. Scott didn't make the salad. I DID. And I'm the one that put them in the bowls. Not Scott. He just set them on the table. Can we get back to eating now?"

"Sure Al. Go ahead." Gordon sat back and smugly crossed his arm. "Day one is just about over and its Scott 0 Gordon 1. I caught you trying to prank me."

Scott opened his mouth to protest when Jeff shot him a warning glance. Well versed in what his father's glances meant, Scott shut up and quickly went back to eating. 'Okay, let Gordon think he won this time. I'll get him good. I just have to figure out how.'

TBTBTBTBTB

It was early the next morning when Scott jogged up the steps towards the swimming pool. He had just completed his morning run and was enjoying the peace of this time of day. He heard the sound of a motorboat leaving the island. Frowning, he ran to the top of the path that leads down to the docks and saw a boat pulling away. He was about to run to try and see if he could recognize it when he saw Kyrano coming up the path, carrying a box.

"It is alright, Mr. Scott," Kyrano assured him. "That was Mr. Barun. I had ordered some meats but they were not ready for pickup when Tin-Tin was there yesterday. He brought them out as he was making other deliveries in the area."

Scott moved to help Kyrano bring the crate up near the pool. "That's quite a distance to travel with meat, Kyrano. Won't some of it be spoiled by now?"

As Kyrano began to answer, he slipped on a wet tile by the pool. He dropped his end of the crate, causing it break open. Both men watched as a few bricks of ice dropped into the pool. "Oops," Scott said.

"It is only dry ice," Kyrano told him. "It will melt in the pool and should be safe as long as no one swims near it."

Scott glanced at his watch. He nodded. "Gordon isn't due for his morning swim for about another 30 minutes. It should be melted by then."

Kyrano had been picking up the wrapped meat from the broken crate. Scott stooped down to help him. "Kyrano, you get this meat inside. I'll clean up the crate and throw it away."

Kyrano bowed as he stood up. "Thank you, Mr. Scott."

Scott had just gotten the last pieces of splintered wood picked up and headed towards the garbage area when Gordon walked out of the house. By now, the dry ice had started filling the pool with a fog-like substance. Gordon walked up to the pool and tried to peer into the water. Scott came back at that moment and Gordon pounced.

"HA! Caught you again, big brother!" he exclaimed gleefully.

"What are you talking about now?"

Gordon waved his hand at the pool. "Okay, so what would have happened if I jumped in? Will my skin turn purple?"

Scott looked at the pool and saw the fog from the dry ice. "No Gordon. Nothing will happen if you jump in. Just avoid the shallow end for a bit, we dropped some dry ice in it. "

Gordon sidled up next to his brother and grinned. "Why don't you just admit it Scott? I caught you before your prank could go off because I came down earlier than I normally do."

Scott moved past his brother, shaking his head. "Whatever, Gordon."

Gordon just continued to grin, thinking that his plan to be more aware of Scott's movements was paying off.

TBTBTBTBTB

The sun was starting its final descent across the sky when Jeff Tracy decided it was time to take a break from the never ending paperwork he had to deal with. If he was honest to himself, it was the peacefulness of the household that was pulling him away. It was too quiet and Jeff found himself chuckling, thinking that for most people, that would be a godsend. In his household, it usually meant big trouble.

The only interruption to his day had been shortly after lunch when Scott stormed into his office and slumped down on the sofa.

Startled slightly by the heavy footfalls of someone walking into his office, Jeff turned just in time to see his eldest son drop onto the sofa and sigh heavily. He eyed his son critically. The first thing he noticed was that Scott's hair was no longer green, although if the light hit it just right a slight green tinge could still be spotted on some of the strands.

"Something wrong son?"

Scott, who had laid his head down against the back of the sofa, shook his head. "Not exactly."

"Gordon still at it?" Jeff surmised he guessed correct when Scott grimaced.

"He's gone off the deep end, Dad. He thinks everything thing I'm doing has an ulterior motive."

Jeff chuckled. "Can you blame him, Scott? He's waiting for the shoe to drop."

"I know Dad, but honestly! I went to the bathroom a little while ago and he was convinced I put something into the septic system that would cause his a . . . ahem, his butt to turn a different color. I can't even sit and listen to Virgil playing the piano without him thinking I'm just waiting for him to walk into a prank."

"Alright son. I'll speak to him in a bit and have him back off a bit."

Scott shot a cocky grin at his father. "Of course, it is kinda fun watching him jump at just about everything he touches."

That conversation had been over 3 hours ago and Jeff hadn't heard a sound once Scott left his office. Wondering what might be up, Jeff got up and walked to the windows of his office that overlooked the pool area. From there, he could see Gordon swimming laps in the pool. Alan was laying on a lounger in the sun chatting to Tin-Tin and Virgil.

Not seeing Scott around, and realizing it was close to dinnertime, Jeff walked into the kitchen where he found Kyrano preparing the evening meal.

"Good evening, Mr. Tracy," greeted the smaller man. "Can I get you something?"

Jeff snagged some celery off the tray that Kyrano was fixing up. "No. I was just looking for Scott."

"Mr. John called him on his wristcom a short while ago and he headed down towards the lab. I believe he may be with Mr. Brains."

"Thanks Kyrano," Jeff frowned. "I'll head down there and make sure nothing is wrong."

Heading quickly down to Brain's lab, Jeff could hear the mumbled voices of two of his sons and Brains and they appeared to be discussing a problem. He made sure to knock on the door as he walked in, learning from past experience that it sometimes wasn't wise to catch Brains off-guard, lest you may end up with part of an experiment decorating your clothing.

"Something up?" Jeff asked. He looked at John's face in the monitor and could tell his middle son was slightly stressed about something. Looking then towards Scott, he could see the same concern in his eyes.

"I'm afraid so, Dad, and you're not going to like it" John admitted.

"What's wrong?"

John traded a glance with Scott, who gave him a nod of encouragement. "I decided something wasn't right with how quiet it was on the rescue front. I mean even local emergency bands were a bit too quiet. So I switched the monitoring system over to another station on Five and it was like someone turned on a Christmas tree."

Jeff's eyes narrowed at the implication. "Do you mean to tell me the system has been down for the past few days and it was never noticed!"

"I'm afraid so, Dad," John replied apologetically. "It's my fault. I ran diagnostic sweeps but the system kept coming back saying everything was fine. I should have done something more . . ."

Jeff cut him off. "Never mind that now John. Can you tell if we missed anything important and are we needed now?"

"That's the weird part of all this, Dad. The automatic recordings kicked in whenever we got a call, but for some reason the call never made it through to me. I checked the recordings and any requests that came in were minor. I probably would have called local rescue services anyway."

"Well that's good to know," Scott replied.

"And as far as I can tell, there's nothing major happening. The west coast of the US has been dealing with some minor earthquakes, but nothing above a 3.0."

"Brains, any idea of what could be the problem?" Jeff asked his resident genius. He frowned when Brains didn't reply right away and then realized that the man was totally immersed in whatever it was he was working on. It was Scott that answered for him.

"Brains said he had an idea and has had Johnny checking out various circuits, but he won't know for sure until he can get up to Five and check things out."

"Okay then," Jeff nodded. "Scott, why don't you get Thunderbird Three ready for launch? I believe Kyrano has the food supplies all ready to go."

"Yep," Scott nodded. "Already at the loading arm and ready for upload."

"Are we going to do the switch over between me and Alan?" John wanted to know.

"Yes, son. He's all packed and ready to come up. I think for once, he's actually looking forward to his shift up there."

Brains sat up straight suddenly and only then realized that Jeff had been in the room. "Oh . . . Mr. . . Mr. Tracy. . . I will need to g . . .g . . fly up to Five right away. I be . . .be . . .think I may have to re . . .rewire some of the com . . .coms systems."

"I know Brains. Scott and John told me. Three is ready for launch. Just get together whatever you will need and Scott will fly you up."

"Gre. . . Great! I'll . . . be ready in about 30 minutes . . . Sc . . .Scott." Brains moved to another part of his lab and started tossing tools into a box.

"I'll go get Alan rounded up and head on over to Three," Scott said.

Jeff nodded. "I'll be waiting to hear what's going on as soon as you arrive, son." With that said, he left and headed towards the control room.

Scott just shared a shrug with John, who was still on video feed from Five. "See you in a bit bro!"

John chuckled as Scott left the room. He deactivated the video feed and set about preparing for his switchover with Alan.

TBTBTBTBTB