hardyboysfansrock, MegzMcGizzle, Boleyn and montogma - glad your enjoying the story. Thanks for taking the time to review.
Shadow919 - wouldn't be Scott if he didn't blame himself now would it. Glad you're enjoying the story. Can't wait to hear what you think of this chapter.
criminallycharmed- thanks for reading the Virgil Story. glad you enjoyed it. I've got one person who wants me to write one like this for Jeff, John and Gordon too so I guess I have more story ideas once I'm done with this one.
Trinilee Greenleaf - I'm glad you like the story and are finding the added scenes believable. Making sure I don't contradict the movie and my previous story like this is proving to be difficult as for the POV's I prefer to write in the first person. Writing third person proves to be a challenge for me.
Kate Maxwell - guess I'm doing my job if I'm keeping you on edge even following the movies events. Thanks for taking the time to review!
"Oww!" I cried out as something hit me in the back of the head. As I put my hand to the back of my head, I turned my head and saw a piece of metal floating by. I looked back at Gordon. He was suppose to be watching out for floating debris for me.
"Sorry," he said sheepishly. "Guess I wasn't paying attention."
"Thanks a lot," I told him. Still rubbing the back of my head I looked back at the systems I had been working on. "This is pointless. There's no way we're getting this back on line." Not that it matters, I thought to myself, because the lack of oxygen is going to suffocate us soon. I could already tell the air was getting stale and my chest had a heavy feeling to it.
"I told you that ten minutes ago," Virgil said from beside me. I looked over at him. He met my gaze and gave me a shrug.
I looked from Virgil to Gordon. The latter had a dazed look on his face.
"Gordon, are you okay?" I asked him. I didn't get an answer. He didn't even look at me. I reached out and grabbed his forearm. "Gordon!," I said a little louder."
"What?" he asked shaking his head a little. "Sorry, guess I dazed out."
I nodded. Evidently the thin air was starting to affect Gordon already. It had already started to affect John. Dad was once again giving him oxygen. Trying to keep him awake. Evidently, Dad was still clinging to the hope of a rescue. Myself, I had moved on to trying to accept death.
"I'll be back," I told my two brothers, handing Virgil the tool I had in my hand. I pushed off the bulkhead of the station, propelling myself toward John and Dad. When I got near them, I grabbed a hold of the console to stop my momentum. "How is he?" I asked directing my question toward Dad.
"As well as can be expected. Take it you gave up?" Dad asked nodding toward where I had.
"You could say that. Our fates are in the hands of those below," I commented, trying not to sound as if I had given up.
"There's still a chance, Scott," I heard John say softly. I looked down to see that he had moved the mask away from his mouth. Like Dad, I could see that John was still clinging to the hope that we'd get through this. He hadn't given up yet, despite his injuries. Seeing that gave me a new sense of hope.
"You got that right, Blondie," I said reaching out and gently touching his forehead, even as Dad put the mask back over his mouth. "You hang in there," I told him. John nodded.
"I should go back and check on Gordon. I think the thin air might be starting to affect him," I told my Dad, who nodded. As I turned to head back to my other two brothers Dad spoke again.
"Scott," he said waiting to continue until I had looked at him. "I'm proud of you."
I nodded. It felt good to hear those words. I pushed off the console and headed back to where the other two were still floating.
"How's John?" Gordon asked softly, as I reached them. He had a tired look to him. I knew for sure the thin air was getting to him now.
"He's hanging in, still waiting for those on the ground are going to pull through for us, which is what we all need to do," I replied. Both Gordon and Virgil nodded. I saw Gordon's eyes close momentarily. "Gordon?"
"I just feel so tired," he said. I reached out and pulled him toward me. His head resting on my chest.
"It's going to be okay," I told him, as I held him close. His body was trying to conserve what oxygen use. I knew Virgil and I would both be following him before too long.
Come on Alan. You can do this, I thought to myself. I kept saying the words over and over in my mind until sleep finally overtook me . . .
. . ."We don't want him playing. He can't play," Charlie called out as John and I headed toward the ball field.
"You either let him play or I'm going home," I called back.
"Fine but whoever picks Scott gets John too and the other team gets to pick two people next, agreed."
Everyone agreed and we got the game underway. Charlie was right John really couldn't play baseball. He was scared of the ball. He ducked trying to catch it. He ducked trying to hit it. When he was up to bat he ducked. John was always an automatic out against the team when he was up. Fielding wasn't so bad as we put him out in right field where the least amount of balls went.
Despite John's terrible playing though, my team was actually doing pretty well. I struck out three of their players in a row in the seventh inning. As my team went up to bat we were only losing by two points. We had a chance to win. Up until the point where we had bases loaded, two strikes and John up to bat.
I buried my head. The last thing I wanted to do was watch my brother strike out and lose the game for us.
"Thanks a lot Scott," one of my teammates said.
"Sorry guys," I told them knowing how disappointed they were. It was a disappointment I shared. Still, I knew I would have felt worse if I hadn't let him tag along with me today . . .
. . . "Scott, where have you been?" John asked, turning on the light as I walked into our bedroom. I would've figured he'd be asleep as it was two am.
"Like its any of your business," I told him, kicking off my shoes and climbing into bed fully clothed.
"Dad thinks your hear keeping an eye on Virgil, Gordon and Alan."
"Yeah, well if Dad really cared he'd be here himself," I told him.
"Scott, I need help. I can't keep doing this alone."
"Then see if you can't get Dad to come home from work for more than to just sleep," I told him, turning my back to him and closing my eyes. "You mind turning out the light. I'm tired . . .
. . . I was sitting at the kitchen table with my Dad. Dad was quizzing me about different flying procedures. I'd be soloing shortly and he wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing. Right now I was going through the steps of an emergency landing.
"Very good," he told me as I finished. I saw him look toward the hallway. "You need something John?" he asked. John was standing in the doorway.
"Could you start giving me flying lessons?" he asked hesitantly.
I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing. John didn't even like flying. Was scared to even be in a plane. "You do realize that you'll have to keep your eyes open in order to actually fly a plane, right." I told him.
"Scott," Dad said with a warning tone. I put a hand over my mouth and tried to stop laughing. Tried being the operative word. "I never thought you'd be one to want flying lessons, John. You would need to get over your fear of lying before you could really start lessons though."
"I know. I can do it." The confidence in his voice made me stop laughing.
"May I ask what brought this on?"
"The project. I want to do more than just help design the planes and equipment. I want to be a part of it. To do that, I'm going to have to be a pilot."
I saw Dad nod. "Tell you what. Start coming up with me. When I feel your ready, I'll start giving you lessons."
"It'll probably be five years from now before he even looks out the cockpit window," I muttered under my breath. From the look Dad shot me, I had a feeling he heard me . . .
. . ."Not again," I said hanging my head as my teammates groaned around me. Seventh inning, bases loaded, two strikes and John was up to bat. Why did I keep insisting that he be allowed to play.
"Thanks for the win, Scott," Charlie called out from the pitcher's mound. My old school had challenged Albright Academy to a baseball game. It was a fund-raiser to help the recovery effort. Hurricane Arlene had made landfall north of us a week ago causing quite a bit of damage and a few deaths in that area. Though we had gotten wind and rain from the storm, there was very little damage around here. Still, we wanted to do something to help out those the Hurricane had affected.
"Come on John! You can do it!" I turned to see Virgil and the rest of my family up in the stands cheering as John walked up to the plate.
"Well, there's a first time for everything," I said, standing up."Just keep your eye on the ball, John," I called out to him.
The pitcher threw the ball. John swing and his bat went right under the ball.
"At least he didn't duck," Alex said from beside me.
"Nice try, John. You'll get the next one," I called out, not really believing it but trying to be supportive. Our brothers and father were up in the stands doing likewise.
Charlie threw the next pitch. He wasn't even trying to do anything fancy. He didn't think he had to and he was probably right. The pitch was right over the plate and clearly in John's strike zone. John watched the ball coming toward him. He swung the bat and for the first time in his life actually made contact with the ball. The ball went flying toward the outfield. Right over the head of the center fielder who seemed to be in shock as he hesitated going after it.
"Run, John," Corey called out as he headed from third base to home plate. Evidently hitting the ball had surprised John too but he started toward first base following Corey's instructions. Jim and Larry followed Corey into home tying the score as John was reaching third base. The center fielder was just throwing the ball to the second baseman.
"Keep going!" Coach Jackson called to John.
I held my breath as John headed toward home plate. Their second baseman had thrown the ball to the catcher. Which would get there first? As John's foot hit the plate, the catcher caught the ball.
"Safe," the ump called out.
We had done it! We had won! I joined my teammates in running toward John.
"Nice job, Blondie!" I told him giving him a hug when I finally reached him.
"I can't believe I actually hit the ball!"
"To tell you the truth, neither can I!" . . .
. . . "John Tracy," the headmaster called out. I watched as John stood up and headed down the risers to the front of the stage for his highschool diploma. Dad, Virgil, Gordon, Alan and Uncle Mark were in the audience clapping. From where I was, I clapped too as John approached the headmaster and accepted his diploma.
"Scott Tracy," the headmaster called out as John continued to the other side of the stage. I stood up and headed toward the front of the stage. My family in the audience were still clapping. I had actually done it. I had graduated high school.
Last fall, when I had found out that John was going to be graduating with me, I hadn't liked the idea at all. John had always been a year behind me in school. It wasn't fair that I had to share this important day in my life with him not to mention I didn't want to have classes with him. I was sure I'd get teased about it and there had been some teasing. In other ways though, it had been beneficial having a study partner for tests and having someone who I felt comfortable going to for help. As we had gotten ready this morning, I realized that having someone to share this day with only made it more special.
"Congratulations, Scott," Headmaster Eldridge told me as I shook his hand.
"Thank-you," I told him. I could feel the goofy grin on my face. It didn't fade away even as I walked the rest of the way across the stage. I had done it!I never had to do schoolwork again! Our plans for our rescue operation could finally be put into action.
Reaching the row I had been seated in, I started down to my seat. John was waiting there, the grin on his face mirroring the one on my own. As I reached him, I threw my arms around him.
"Congratulations," he told me as he hugged me back.
"You too," I replied. "I never would have gotten here without you." . . .
. . . "We are back online!"
That's John! What's going on? I tried to open my eyes. I still felt tired but I wanted to know what was going on.
"Gravity is restored. Put Thunderbird F-F– your craft into geostational orbit immediately," I heard Brains say. Brains! That meant Alan and the others had come through for us. They were back in control of the island. What did that mean in terms of the Hood? What was he up to? Was he carrying out his plans or had they already been able to stop him?
As I opened my eyes, I saw Dad and John at the main console panels. I started to push myself up off the deck. Virgil lay nearby.
"Virgil, are you okay?" I asked him.