Chapter Four: A Night In
Tracy Island
Scott glanced over his shoulder to check that the door to his room was still securely shut before grinning at his phone screen.
-Help me. Annie and I have been cornered by Lady Wykeham. She's talking politics at us.- The text message read.
-At Oxford we were expected to be well rounded students and know about modern politics.- Scott answered. -Clearly Cambridge isn't the same calibre.-
-You wish. Besides, this is ancient history. She's still peeved that her husband isn't a life peer anymore. - Scott pulled up a Google tab to try and work out what that meant.
-They used to sit in the House of Lords, sort of our Senate. The Aristocrats were removed in favour of former politicians and business tycoons. It all happened about seventy years ago but she still thinks it's an outrage.-
-And texting at a party isn't? - Scott asked, a smirk playing on his face.
-I've escaped to take some air, there's only so long you can be in the same room as her.-
-I know a fair few people like that. Only I usually have to sit through the entire meeting and then reach a rational conclusion instead of laughing at their faces.-
-How rude! A snigger, even the smirk you probably have on now is acceptable, but laughing? Too vulgar!- That, naturally, made him laugh out loud before he bit his lip and checked the door again for eavesdroppers. Four brothers and a houseful of honorary family members made him naturally wary.
-There should be prizes for sitting still with a polite expression. - He answered.
-I thought you business types called them deals.-
-Touché.- Scott texted back.
-I'm going back in, it's chucking it down here.-
Scott snapped a quick photo of the brilliant sunshine over the jungle a few hundred yards from his window.
-All right for some. Talk later x- He sighed as the messages stopped and his only off-island communication was cut off.
Without the younger three and Tin-Tin the house was unnaturally quiet. The pool was empty, no pop music came blaring from Tin-Tin's room and the piano was silent. Scott wandered around, putting off the list of minor chores he was supposed to be doing. He felt he could leave the joys of cleaning Flight Control's windows to Alan, who had a head for heights. Soft voices came from the lounge and he went to investigate.
"Hey Scott." John was on the wall talking to their Dad in the lounge when he walked in. "S'up?"
"Nice and quiet around here without the guys." Scott smiled as he heard the faintest whisper of the jazz music Jeff had on in the background to make up for Virgil's absence.
"Nice and sane," Jeff corrected him. Scott felt his pocket buzz and glanced at the phone. Just a spam email. John gave him a smirk that their father missed as he stared down at the paper work in front of him. Responding with nothing more than an eye roll at John's mouthed question of who he was expecting to text, Scott picked up his guitar.
"You mind, Dad?"
"Go ahead." Settling down he began to play quietly as Jeff worked and John was almost but not quite present for a normal moment. He often left the portrait on just to seem like he was sitting there with them. Scott began to go through his repertoire of folk songs and random chords when he forgot half of them.
"Heavy rainfall in the Rockies, might be turning into blizzards and landslides," John called. "Nothing too serious yet."
"How's that Australian bush fire going?" Scott continued to play as his father and brother talked shop.
"Under control. I'm keeping tabs on some hikers in the Andes, they keep radioing base with problems and they're pretty much out of local reach. Scott, that's a B minor, buddy." Scott had indeed been replaying the chorus of one campfire song only to get stuck one the same chord he had forgotten.
"Yeah, thanks."
"It's been a while since it was just us," Jeff said wistfully. "Say, you boys want to do anything while we've lost the little ones?" It made them both smile. Virgil, Gordon and Alan hadn't been little for years.
"Can we get pizza?" John asked excitedly. "Know a place that delivers?"
"That line was old the first time you said it, Johnny. You've got pizza up there anyway." Frozen freeze dried pizzas that Scott had grown bored of fairly quickly in his only ever month long stint up on Five. They had been testing the four astronauts for the best fit and after Tin-Tin got claustrophobic and Scott drove them all crazy with constant calls from being lonely, Alan was confirmed as John's co-monitor.
"It's not the same..."
"Come on, John. You've got plenty of good food up there. I understand there's not much to do but we might as well make an effort." Jeff gave them both meaningful looks.
"Put a movie on, I'll watch it via proxy. I have popcorn." John disappeared in the direction of the microwave. "You guys choose something."
"Scott?" The TV guide popped up in front of him and he began to scroll through, looking for something they might all like. Back in Kansas Jeff would take first Scott alone then John and finally Virgil as well to an old movie theatre that showed ancient classics, a special treat for the older boys. Their mom had taken them hiking as her treats.
"Anyone up for Top Gun? The Harrier?" Scott had created a special playlist of plane movies, some old some new. "High Altitude Zone? Hey, we've got the remake of the Karman Line!"
"What's that really old one with the cars and the bank robbery?" John asked between microwave bleeps.
"Put the Italian Job on, Scott." No aircraft for him he sighed and did as Jeff said. "Say, boys, do you remember when I took you down to Lawrence to see it? It was the first time we took Virgil."
"You know he spent most of it sitting under his chair untying my shoes, right?" John answered.
"I'll get popcorn too," Scott told his father and disappeared down to the kitchen. Kyrano was reorganising the cookery books on the shelves by the window. "Hey, Kyrano, we've got a film on upstairs. Want to come join?" Scott put a bag of toffee popcorn in the microwave.
"That is very kind, Scott, but it is not something you and your father are doing together?"
"Nah, it's just a film. The Italian Job, some Brits rob some Italian gold in crazy little autos." He got out some lemonades for good measure. "It's nothing special."
"I would like to very much." Scott added a glass for Kyrano and grabbed the popcorn.
Upstairs Jeff and John were discussing the plausibility of the car chase and Scott wondered what any of them would talk about if they weren't all mechanics in some respects.
"Ah, Kyrano, coming to join? All right, Scott. Get it started before something happens." With John sharing their screen over the link whilst having a call interface beside it and the rest of them piled onto the sofa, they began. Almost as soon as the title card had gone, Scott's pocket buzzed.
"Scott..." Jeff gave him a stern look.
"Sorry."
-It is midnight and I am in a haunted stately home's extremely haunted lodge. If the ghosts of disgruntled gamekeepers get me in the night, I'll come back to haunt Annie for calling shotgun on a room in the actual house.- Scott smiled to himself until Jeff gave a meaningful cough and he had to put the phone away, but not before he could type back a reply.
-Dad's decided it's family film night. About to start the Italian Job. Speak later.-
They were barely ten seconds in when his phone hummed again.
"Scott."
"Sorry."
-I'm alone in a haunted house and you're abandoning me in my time of need to watch three minis be chased by Italian police in a film made a hundred years ago? I'd have done the exact same thing. Enjoy.-
"Scott Carpent-"
"It's off! It's off, Dad." To prove it Scott shoved it onto the coffee table. From space he could hear John sniggering. Unfortunately Five was a little too far away for him to throw popcorn at his brother's head. He would have to wait another few weeks, and employ Gordon for good measure.
"Say, they could sure use us at the end," John mused over the credits. "You reckon we could have done that, Scotty?"
"It's Eddie Houseman all over again," answered Scott as he leaned back. "Only with better weather and less explosives. That would have been no trouble." Not that they'd have been called out, local emergency services would have handled the precariously balanced bus. Or maybe Charlie Crocker's idea would have worked, whatever it was.
"So, Scott. How was your vacation? I haven't had time to ask since you got back and we were so busy with Penelope and Anderbad." Scott froze and felt the blood drain from his face. Why of all the things on earth did Jeff have to ask that?
"It was good, nice and relaxing. Iceland really is a swell place to go when you're not rescuing people from volcanoes."
"Funny place to go alone..." Scott turned to the screen and gave John a death glare.
"Old Oxford friends, they had a few days free," he muttered. Sure he was a terrible liar but no one had any reason to suspect otherwise. Apart from his asshole of a kid brother.
"Well it was about time you had a break. You boys work yourselves into the ground. I'm glad you enjoyed yourself." Jeff stood, stretching out his back. Four days in Reykjavik had been a blissful escape from the world of rescues and machines, even if Scott had been on edge and glued to his phone and watch in case of an emergency. Which kind of ruined the whole exercise somewhat.
"You have been looking very tired recently, Scott. Hopefully it will have done you some good."
"Thanks, Kyrano." It had been Kyrano who had not so subtly suggested to both Tin-Tin and Virgil that Scott be made to take some shore leave. Faced with them and a relatively willing Jeff he hadn't put up much of a fight.
"I wonder what the guys are up to in Paris," John said. A series of clicks and beeps came from Five. The men in the lounge couldn't help but jump slightly, expecting a call.
"John?" asked Jeff as the beeps continued.
"Sorry, my dinosaurs are fully grown." Whilst Jeff and Kyrano stared at him in confusion, Scott could only shake his head. "It's a game... You breed dinosaurs and... Never mind."
"Good to know you're using your time well, John." Jeff rolled his eyes at his second son. "How's that Thai course coming along?" John coughed uncomfortably. There were all still supposed to be working on various languages so they didn't have to rely on local translators in a danger zone. Scott hadn't exactly planned it, but minoring in Russian at Yale had given him a head start when IR began.
"Well, we're covered if we ever need directions to the municipal library." Scott had sneaked he hand back across the coffee table as Jeff was occupied with John, slipping his phone back into his lap. A message was waiting for him and he smiled.
-If I procure a Mini Cooper can we go on the Greek job?- Scott felt himself begin to blush.
"Good news, Scott?" He gave John a death glare.
"Yeah, Alan says he's not relieving you for another year."
"Boys." Scott threw popcorn into his mouth at a record distance, laughing as John failed to do the same. "There was me thinking we had gotten rid of the little ones, hey Kyrano?"
"Ah, Mr Tracy, I think we have sent the best behaved children away." Both Scott and John turned around with hurt expressions and protests.
"There is no way you can say that the Terrible Two are better than us. Have you met Alan and Gordon?" asked John.
"You're toeing the line, son."
Scott took the opportunity to reply before John could clock it, shifting slightly out of view of the camera.
-I feel there should be a double entendre there but I can't see it.-
"Say, Scott, who has got your attention?" his Dad asked. John had managed to get Jeff on his case as well now, all of them looking at him expectantly.
"Absolutely no one," he bit back with a bit more anger than was necessary. With that Scott headed for the garden and a chance of privacy. Sure he had been a bit snappy but John wasn't letting go and he didn't need Jeff on his tail as well.
"Well what's gotten into him?" he heard his father ask just as he left.
-Don't be so vulgar, as if I would knowingly say such things.- Scott sighed and leaned against the balcony railings, looking out over the sea. It had by now gained a sort of matter-of-fact beauty, since he saw it every day he couldn't really be bothered to appreciate it anymore. It was a barrier to interaction with anyone not in his extended family.
-How long does it take for you to get tired of your folks when you're home?- he texted back, knowing with a hint of guilt that he would only worry the receiver. Sure enough the reply came quicker than usual.
-Ten minutes if they're commenting on my driving. Tough times?-
-Just John and Dad sticking their noses in.-
-Possibly a sign that too little happens?- Scott shook his head bitterly. Nothing exciting ever happened to them... Nothing at all.
"Thunderbird Five to Scott." They couldn't give him two minutes now that he was back from vacation. John's face lit up his watch. "Hey, I'm sorry for that. I went too far." Scott didn't reply, waiting for the full scale of the apology. "Scott... I'm just curious. I didn't mean Dad to start asking as well. I was just poking fun... You're not too mad, are ya?"
"No, Johnny. I guess I'm just getting back into the swing of having everyone around all the time."
"You were only gone four days!" Which had flown by and despite him having been back home for less than 48 hours it seemed as if he had been there months already.
"Yeah... They sure were peaceful though."
"I'm sorry, Scott. I've still got two weeks to go, I guess I'm just a little stir crazy."
"Sure you are, kid. Hey, you'll be down soon. Then we'll go to the mainland for a day to pick up some supplies. How does that sound?" Scott had wandered away from the lounge doors and Jeff's ears towards the pool.
"Incredibly exciting, Scott," John deadpanned. "A trip to the store. What am I, three?"
"Well if you're lucky I'll leave you there to swim home. That'll be exciting."
-If you don't hear from me by midday, send the Ghostbusters.- Scott made sure that his phone was well out of John's view.
-Will do. Night.- He hesitated, wondering if he should add something else, then decided against it.
"Gotta go, I need to lead the local services to those hikers, they've lost them. I'll call if you're needed."
"Okay see ya, Johnny." Scott flicked his watch off. The pool looked inviting and peaceful without Gordon or Tin-Tin doing laps.