Ruth Tracy retreated to her suite shortly after she and Kyrano had finished cleaning up in the kitchen. Now, however, she found herself lying in bed wide-awake and not having any idea why. Resigning herself to her fate for the evening, she got out of bed, donned her robe and slippers and exited her suite. To her surprise, the lights were blazing as though they were in the middle of a rescue. Wondering if she'd missed the klaxon, Ruth headed for the Lounge. But instead of seeing Scott seated behind the desk, she found the room empty.

Well, perhaps Scott himself went out on the rescue. But then wouldn't Brains or Tin-Tin be manning Base Control? She walked up to the panel behind Jeff's desk and tried to open a channel, but the computer displayed a message saying it was on Voice Interaction mode only. Now Ruth knew something big was going on. She raised her wrist to her face. "Ruth Tracy calling Brains."

"Brains here, uh, Mrs. Tracy."

"Where are you? Why is the computer set to voice command?"

"I-I'm in the hospital ward. Maybe you should, uh, come down here so I can explain."

"I'm on my way."


Virgil and Scott were silent all the way back to the tarmac. Just as the secondary hangar door opened, Virgil finally spoke. "Scott, you okay with all this?"

"No, not really. But I don't see where I really have any choice in the matter."

"You know, I'm really proud of you."

"For what? Calling off a rescue before we even determined our victim wasn't present?"

"Like you said, Scott, you didn't call off the rescue. You just...decided to change venues."

"I think I'm losing my mind. In fact, I'm convinced of it." Scott eyed his brother for a minute. "Why did you say you were proud of me?"

"Because of your willingness to look beyond the here and now. I know it's not something that comes easy to you."

"I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone. Nothing makes sense...nothing except something that shouldn't."

"We'll find Tin-Tin, Scott. We'll wake Kyrano, and he'll know what to do. He'll tell us what we have to do."

"I hope you're right, Virg," Scott replied as the Mole ground to a halt. Virgil cut the motors then made his way to the rear exit hatch, Scott right behind. "I just hope I'm not making the biggest mistake of my life. And of Tin-Tin's."


"Dad, Brains is reporting that the activity in Kyrano's frontal lobe has returned to normal. He thought he was coming around, but hasn't been able to bring him out of it yet. Scott and Virgil just returned to the hangar and are on their way to the ward now to see if they can help."

"F.A.B. We'll be there in about an hour-and-a-half. John, does Grandma know what's going on?"

"Oh. I don't know. Brains hasn't mentioned her. I guess she's been asleep this whole time."

"You'd better have the boys wake her. She'll be furious when she finds out this has all been going on without her."

"Why didn't you come and get me, Brains? For God's sake!"

Brains cringed. As mad as he'd seen some of the Tracy men get, nothing compared to the wrath of eighty-two year old Ruth Tracy, matriarch of the clan. "I-I'm sorry, Mrs., uh, Tracy, I-I guess I was so, uh, caught up in making sure A-Alan and Kyrano were o-okay that I-I-"

"Oh, hush, Brains, just tell me what's going on around here!"

Brains did his best to do so, stammering his way through as much of an explanation as he could. As he spoke, Ruth fussed over her grandson and her good friend, flitting between beds, checking monitors, holding hands, touching cheeks and arms. When at last Brains finished, she turned to face him.

"Don't you ever leave me out of the loop again, young man," she admonished.

Brains folded his hands behind his back and looked down at the floor. "I-I'm really sorry. I-I promise i-it'll never happen again."

"You just see that it doesn't," she said. Then she approached him, placing a hand on his shoulder. When she spoke again, her voice was much softer. "Thank you."

He looked up at her, surprised by her sudden change in demeanor. "For what?"

"Saving Kyrano and making sure Alan was okay," she smiled.

He just nodded. Women. No matter how old they got, they never changed...their moods blew like a nasty wind, switching direction and going just as fast as they had come on.

At that moment, Scott raced into the ward, Virgil hot on his heels. "Brains, have you seen Grand...ma..." Scott's voice trailed off when he realized the object of his inquiry was standing right in front of the engineer. "Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh is right, young man. But I'll give you hell later. Right now, Brains tells me we need to wake Kyrano." Brains nodded as she turned her attention back to him. "What do you suggest?"

"I don't know. I tried smelling salts, but they had no effect. I-I suppose I could give him a-a combination steroid and adrenaline hypo, but I-I'd rather not take the, uh, chance given that he a-almost had a stroke earlier."

"Maybe all he needs is a little TLC," Ruth commented as she pulled a chair up next to Bed 2. "You boys and your technology. Has it never occurred to you that sometimes what a body needs can't be found in a medical book?"

The young men stood exchanging glances as she seated herself, grasped Kyrano's hand in her two and began speaking softly into his ear. Not knowing what else to do, Scott and Virgil joined Brains at Alan's bedside.

"It would sure help if Alan were awake, too," Scott said quietly as he looked down upon his brother's cherubic face. "That way we'd know what led up to Tin-Tin's disappearance. You think you can rouse him, Brains?"

"I-I'll try."

John's voice broke over Brains' watch. "Thunderbird 5 calling Brains!"

"Here, uh, John."

"Brains, have Scott and Virgil returned yet?"

"Yes, they're, uh, standing right here with me."

"God, Scott...can you hear me?"

"Switch to the ward monitor, John," Scott called out.

Ruth stopped whispering to her friend and turned to face the monitor on the opposite wall. They all watched as John's live feed appeared before them.

"My God...Scott, Virg...the calls...the airwaves are jammed!"

"What? Whaddya mean?" Scott asked, his brain switching to high alert.

"I-I don't know, we're getting calls for help...there's rioting, looting...every major city...everywhere around the world...it just started a couple minutes ago...it's like...like the whole planet's gone crazy!"

"The whole planet?" Virgil repeated.

"Yeah, it's..." John's voice trailed off as he flipped switches and checked monitors. Everyone in the ward could hear the melee surrounding their brother on Thunderbird 5. It was as though millions of voices were screaming in their collective ear, clamoring to be heard, crying out for help. "I can't get a handle on it, Scott! I can't tell where one call ends and the next one starts! It's like 5's array is on overload! She can't seem to distinguish between channels."

"Run Filter 27-A, John," Brains said, stepping toward the monitor.

Scott frowned. "27-A? What's that?"

"Something I uploaded last night," Brains replied, not realizing that his stutter had, once again, disappeared. "It hasn't been properly tested yet."

"Well, now's as good a time as any to test it," John said as his fingers flew across the keyboard in front of him. They all listened as the majority of the chatter ceased. "Okay," John breathed, "it seems to be working. I'm just getting the worst of the worst now."

"What kind of calls are they, John?" Virgil asked.

"Fires...buildings collapsing...bombs...murder...God...it's like it's the end of the world."

Scott moved to Bed 2 and looked down at Kyrano's still form. "I'm sorry, Grandma, but we don't have time for TLC right now. Something big's going down, and I'll bet it's got something to do with Tin-Tin's disappearance."

"How could it, Scott?" Ruth asked.

"I don't have a clue," he replied. "Brains, we've gotta take a chance here. We need Kyrano awake!"

Brains nodded and crossed to the mini-fridge.

"What about the rescue calls?"

Scott turned to his brother. "Virg, I...we can't possibly stop what's happening out there. Not with the Thunderbirds. We might be able to save a life or two, but thousands more are going to die. Whatever's going on, this is where we need to be."

Virgil nodded silently then turned to look at John. When their eyes met, Virgil could tell John was beginning to have his doubts about Scott's state of mind. "John."

"Virgil, Scott...the people...we have to try and help them. We have to."

"Look, John, I can't wrap my brain around this any more than you can. But my instincts tell me not to leave this island!"

John stared at his eldest brother for a moment before nodding.

"I'm sorry, John. I know it can't be easy sitting up there listening to it happen."

"S'okay, Scott. I agree with you. I think you guys are doing the right thing."

Regardless how he ever came off to his brothers, their opinions mattered very much to him. More than they'd ever know. It lifted a bit of weight from his shoulders that both Virgil and John seemed to be behind him on this. If asked, he never could've explained why he was refusing to go out on call, especially considering the gravity of what seemed to be happening in the world outside International Rescue's headquarters. Somehow, in some way, he just felt they had to be there with Kyrano and Alan. He hoped that when his father returned, he would understand as well.


Just over an hour later, Jeff made a perfect three-point landing on the tarmac and taxied Tracy One into Thunderbird 2's hangar through the secondary door. Setting the computer to run the post-flight check, he and Gordon leapt out of the cockpit and raced to the elevator. Worry lines creased both faces as the interminably long ascent continued. On impulse, Gordon reached out and squeezed his father's arm. Jeff turned to him and smiled, nodding his head ever-so-slightly.

Finally the elevator reached the main level. Gordon and Jeff were tearing down the hall before the elevator door had even opened all the way. When they burst into the hospital ward, they were not the least bit surprised to find half its occupants crowded around Kyrano and the other half around Alan. They were surprised to discover that both patients were sitting upright in bed and seemed to be completely alert.

"Kyrano!" Jeff said as he approached Bed 2.

"Alan!" Gordon cried as he raced to Bed 1.

Kyrano grasped Jeff's hands and held tightly to them. Brown eyes locked with blue-gray ones, and for a moment something seemed to pass between them, silent acknowledgement of something that Ruth and Brains could never hope to understand. Jeff began to nod slowly as he squeezed Kyrano's hands in return.

"Jeff," Kyrano whispered. "Jeff, so many things...so many things I understand now. So much to tell..."

"How do we help Tin-Tin, Kyrano? Where is she?"

"She is with them. She is with the Masters. So far above our existence. So far..."

They could see how difficult it was for him to focus, but Jeff knew he had to keep him on track. He sat on the edge of the bed, his eyes never leaving his friend's. "Kyrano, listen to me. You have to help us. Please."

"Gordo!" Alan cried, wrapping his arms around his brother. "God, Gordo, Tin-Tin! I lost her! I lost her!"

Jeff rose from Kyrano's bed and looked over to where his two youngest sons clung to one another. "Alan!" he said, his voice firm. The boys broke their hug as everyone turned to face Jeff. "Alan, tell us exactly what happened. Everything."

Alan nodded and took a deep breath. Jeff helped Kyrano to his feet and they all gathered around Alan as he began his tale.