Thunderbirds Are Go!
The Stories Between.
Disclaimer: A collection of my early one shots set in the TAG world. All are strictly non canon.
Encounter
Virgil's personal entry number 100 - - Begin recording.
I never really believed in many things while I was growing up. Sure we'd hear the conspiracies on the news all the time, but we were all too preoccupied to even learn about them. For me, the day was as routine as you could expect. I woke up, had breakfast, showered and well you know how a standard day starts off. Whoa, I just get the shakes even thinking about it. I can't believe how hard it is to tell this story. I've tried keeping it quiet. I've tried being rational about it by debunking what it could have been. I've even got Brains to analyse Thunderbird 2's flight recorder. He couldn't find anything out of the ordinary, well so he claimed. I'm sorry Brains, but you weren't there. You didn't witness what we did. That's right I didn't have this experience alone. Alan was with me at the time it happened. Okay, I'm beating around the bush here so here's the bottom line. Alan and I came into contact with something unexplained. I'm not saying it's aliens, It certainly wasn't the Hood. I just know that whatever it was, it changed our way of thinking. Now you all know, I suppose I better tell you exactly what happened.
International Rescue has received a call to assist a mine that was on the verge of collapse. So Alan and I flew out to there to help. I remember it being a pretty simple rescue operation. All I had to do was keep the mine roof from caving in while Alan lifted the miners out one at a time. We got the job done within the hour. Now just like I said before, this day started like any other. We were making good time as we headed back to base. Visibility was good, the skies were clear. I could have sworn that we were only ones in the sky that time. Alan was chatting away to me about his latest video game tournament. I had zoned out because I wasn't interested. You see, when I fly, I don't tend to think about the people around me. My senses tune into the sound of the engines and the sky ahead of me. John called through. His slightly distorted voice broke me out of my trance. Alan took the call for me.
"Hey, bro, what's shaking?" He asked him. "We're heading back to base."
I could see John's image in the corner of my eye.
"Thunderbird Two, I'm detecting a giant unidentified craft in your area. It literally appeared above your current position for a second. Do you guys see anything?"
Alan looked around and I did too. I was puzzled at nature of my brother's call. What was he talking about?
"Negative, Thunderbird Five. It's all quiet out here." I replied. "Are you sure you saw something?"
"Virgil, my scanners never lie. I even got EOS to do a complete diagnostic check on them. They definitely read something tailing you. Report back should you get a visual."
"FAB." I sighed as I looked over at Alan who appeared to be very excited about this.
"Come on. Where is it?" He moaned. "Where are the aliens?"
"Do you realise how crazy you sound right now?" I asked him mockingly. "There's no such thing as little green men."
"Don't be so sure, Virg," he countered. "I've heard some pretty compelling stories in my time. Some accounts have even been told by ex-policemen and GDF officials."
"Wait, what do you mean you've heard stories in your time? Are you only Fourteen? You really need to cut down on the Sci-Fi stuff bro."
"Alright then wise guy, what do you think it could be?" He said as he displayed a smug look on his face.
"I think it's a faulty scanner that is clearly John's problem," I replied bluntly.
Oh boy, how wrong was I? I tell you, as soon as I said that, things began to change. I could see this bright light that kept shining in the corner of my eye. I didn't think much about it at first until Alan noticed it too.
"What is that light?" he asked with a sense of intrigued. "The sun is shining on our port wing."
"Could it be a star?"
"Can stars move?"
I raised an eyebrow. "What?"
It was then that I suddenly paid attention to this thing. A bright, perfectly spherical ball of light travelled out in front of us. I couldn't make out its size, shape or distance, but I had to make a guess quickly. My instincts told me it was a commercial plane, but this thing was travelling faster than Thunderbird Two. I knew that no airliner could out fly us. As I sat there going through a mental list of what it could be, Alan pointed out to it.
"Watch out!" He yelled.
I pulled back on controls as the ball of light shot right past my starboard wing. A distinct whooshing sound could be heard from within the cockpit. Alan jumped out of his seat as his eyes scanned the skies around us.
"Did you see where it went!?" He shouted in excitement. "What was that!?"
"I don't know! Just calm down!" I replied as I tried to think. "If it was attacking us, it might try to come around again."
"I can't see it." Alan continued. "I think it's gone."
You know, for a moment I actually thought he was right. I tried to reset my focus on the flying when something else began to happen. My ears began to pick up on a low-frequency humming sound. It was so low that it felt like it was sitting on the ear drum. The sound became very uncomfortable as Alan started to stress.
"I don't like this at all." He moaned. "Let's get out of here."
"Alan, I'm at full power as it is. What do you think I'm doing?" I replied. "Just calm down. We'll be alright."
Suddenly, the sound disappeared as quickly as it arrived. I wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but the experience was far from over. It felt like as if a dark shadow had descended over Thunderbird Two. Everything appeared to be darker. We had been immersed in shadow. Then...well then, this next part even had me jump out of my skin. Thunderbird Two was bombarded with an intense, thick bright white light. It completely flooded the cockpit. Its intense rays penetrated the UV screens. Alan screamed as it made his retinas ache. I shielded my eyes with my arms. It felt like the intense light was cutting through my body and hitting my eyes. I could remember feeling a mild burning sensation on my skin. The cabin temperature began to rise. I tried calling out to Alan, but for some reason, he couldn't hear me.
"Alan!...Al...Alan!"
"It' hurts!" He cried. "My face is burning! Just make it stop!
I kept calling out to my frightened little brother. I cried out until my throat became sore. My vision was gone. I couldn't even see my hands in front of my face. It was at this moment that frightening thoughts entered my mind. Was I going to die? Was this really the end of the world? I tried to stand but found that I couldn't. The light had completely paralysed my body. I felt completely helpless as well as responsible for my brother's well being. However, my other senses seemed to kick in. Amongst the sound of Alan's distress, I could hear a faint electronic sound. It sounded like multiple computers beeping and buzzing. It was coming from above us. Something mechanical was above us and it was responsible for the light. Then after what seemed to be an eternity, the light dissipated. It didn't gradually fade away either. It just flicked off like a light bulb. It was completely unbelievable. I fought the flashing spots in my eyes as the room began to return to normal. I remained in my seat. Completely stunned by what had just happened. My entire body throbbed as a dull aching sensation travelled the course of my body. It felt like an eternity before I could move again.
As I drifted forward towards the window, my eyes were drawn to the source of the light. I caught a glimpse of the object responsible. I couldn't quite make out the shape of the thing. Its structure was unique, though. It was black but it's hull would shimmer in front of the sun. There were three lights on its underbelly. The middle light appeared to be the largest. There was no doubt that that was the light that hit us. I looked at it frantically trying to see if I could discover any more details of this thing. Then, within seconds, it shot off at lightning speed into the distance. I tell you, this thing shot off faster than Thunderbird One ever could. It was unbelievable. I needed time to process this, but I needed to check on Alan before I could. I spun around in my chair to see him sitting there also in a daze. Tears were streaming down his cheeks. His face was red like he had caught sunburn. Distinct burn marks appeared on his neck. I knelt down in front of him to examine the burns. They looked aggressive as if he had burnt his skin on a naked flame. As I held him and reassured him, I felt his body shake. This experience had scared him half to death.
"It's going to be alright," I said calmly as I hugged him. "Look at me, Alan."
Alan's eyes shifted position as they locked with mine. "Virgil, my neck hurts."
"I know buddy. You have a sore neck but listen, I'm going to get us out of here okay?"
As I swung back around, I checked the navigation readings. Somehow, Thunderbird Two had been thrown miles off course. We were still flying, only now we were heading towards Russia. Did this thing drag us with it? I threw on the thrusters and corrected our position. It was then that I noticed a shooting pain going up my left arm. I placed the craft on Auto so I could check myself over. I took off my utility suit and examined my arm. It seemed as if Alan wasn't the only one to be marked by this thing. My left arm was covered in huge red blisters similar to the burn marks that were on Alan's neck. My god, did they ache. I went to the onboard medical kit, pulled out an anti-bacterial spray and got to work on the burns. I was able to relieve the pain just, not the swelling.
As he began to regain his senses, Alan asked all sort of questions. Questions that I didn't have the answer to. It had become the topic of conversation during the duration of our trip back to base. He would repeatedly ask me questions like; "Just what was that thing?" "Was it Aliens?" "Was it the Hood?" "Could it be GDF?" Only my blunt reply would be; "I don't know." A weird vibe lingered in the cockpit, almost as if the engines had shut down and were just flying on vapour. The sense of time and direction had gone too. Everything just seemed too quiet, unreal and with no sense of real direction. I guess I was still dazed myself. That's the only rational explanation for that really. Of course eventually, the silence was broken by the sound and appearance of a friendly face. Scott's image appeared on the holo projector in front of me.
"Thunderbird One calling Thunderbird Two. Come in!" He moaned. "Come on Virgil, this isn't like you. Pick up will you?"
"Thunderbird One from Thunderbird Two. We're here, Scott. How long were we?" I asked out of curiosity.
"We lost your position two hours ago. We lost radio contact and everything." Scott explained with frustration. "Everyone was getting worried so I set out to look for you. What happened? Are you both okay?"
I didn't know what to tell him. I couldn't just say; "Oh yeah you know, we had a run in with some Aliens." My main priority was to get Alan home so we could both receive some treatment. However, my older bro was expecting an answer.
"We don't know what happened exactly. I'll try to explain it later." I said. "Could you have Brains set up the infirmary? Alan and I have received burns that need to be treated as soon as we land."
"Burns!? What happened!?"
"Like I said. I'll explain later."
Thunderbird One appeared over the horizon. Scott swung her around and together, we flew back to the island. I remember the sense of relief and comfort when we approached the island. A thousand thoughts raced through my mind as I attempted to make a mental explanation. I needed to tell everyone something.
As soon as we touched down, We helped Alan to the Infirmary. It didn't take long fro Brains to examine the burn marks on his neck and my arm. My heart sank slightly when he explained that we had been subjected to a very slight burst of radiation. See if it wasn't for Thunderbird Two's radiation screens, we would have been in serious trouble. We both were tired, thirsty and hungry as we tried to recover from our predicament. I was free to go, but Brains wanted to keep Alan in for observation. I headed up to the lounge where the family were waiting for me. Even John had come down from the station. He wanted to hear this too. Anyway, I began to explain to them what had happened.
Guess how they reacted? Go on, take a guess? No? Well, their reactions were mixed. John kept asking about Alan, Kayo thought it was The Hood. She was wrong. Gordon thought it was an experimental GDF craft. He was wrong. Scott made a decision. He called up Colonel Casey and explained to her what had happened. She reported that there no aircraft in the area at the time. I couldn't believe it. Puzzled by this, Scott sat down next to me and placed his hand on my shoulder.
"What do you think it was? He asked.
"I don't know," I replied. "I just can't think of anything to explain this. You heard Casey, they weren't flying in the area at the time. Yet, John said he picked up something right before it happened."
John's ears pricked up at the sound of his name.
"That's right." He agreed. "I picked up something big flying behind them just minutes before this encounter happened. If I could get EOS to replay the readings, I could make a hard copy and send it to Casey as evidence."
"Okay, but evidence for what?" Scott replied to a point. "The Hood is behind bars and International Rescue doesn't have any other known enemies. As far as I see it, this wasn't an attack. I certainly don't believe it was little green men."
"I just believe that Virgil and Alan deserve an explanation into what they experienced," John explained. "I mean, a giant ball of light flooding Thunderbird Two? It doesn't sound right."
Scott shot down John's point. "Of course, we know that, but just think about it. How would we look if we told our GDF associates that International Rescue came into contact with a UFO? They would quickly shut down the story and us with it. That's something that we can't afford to have happen. I'm sorry Virgil. As hard as it may seem, I'm afraid we're just going to have to forget it."
I sighed at his comment. As much as it hurt me deeply, I knew that he was right. I guess I never knew how dodgy the subject of UFO's actually was. I had no choice in the matter. I could just drop it and move on, or I could report it and risk ruining International Rescue's reputation.
It's been weeks since that incident took place. Alan eventually made a recovery and is now on training duty up in Thunderbird Five. He's a real trooper. He's tried his best to move on. Only I can tell that it's changed his life. It's certainly changed mine. As for me, I continued work as normal. I tried my hardest not to think about the event. It still gives me nightmares, but at the end of the day they are just dreams. They can't hurt you.
You know something, it's funny how one event like that can change the way you think about things. Like I said before, I never believed in Aliens or anything like that, but now, I've had to ask myself. "Are we alone in the universe?" I guess the truth is kept from us for our protection. We're not ready to handle the truth. Of course, I'm not saying I encountered Aliens. All I know is that there are things that can't always be explained. I know UFO's are real. I just hope that it is indeed a top secret GDF project that we weren't meant to see. Who knows. I'm just lucky to be alive and able to tell this story. Okay, it's time to put this story to bed. I have to finish some maintenance work on Pod 2.
End Recording.