MELTDOWN
"I knew it was going to be you." Those were Scarlett's first words since she had been through surgery to extract the bullets in her chest. "I just knew it was going to be you."
"It's good to see you're awake, Scarlett" Colonel Langley responded, standing at the edge of her bed.
"Believe me" She replied, "I feel like someone's driven a train through my body. But, if you're here, it means that International Rescue survived being attacked too."
"Who says we were attacked?"
"It's standard business protocol. I came after you and then you put me in prison. They're scared I'm going to talk about them, so they send someone to kill me. Unfortunately for you, because you managed to capture me, they now see you as a credible threat to them. They're going to come for you now too."
"Scarlett" Colonel Langley said, acknowledging her comments, "I'm going to have to ask you a few questions."
"Shoot" Scarlett laughed, but then winced in pain and decided she wasn't going to do that anymore.
"Do you know who tried to kill you?"
"Yes. God I'm so stupid. I should have known when he came to bust me out that he was really there to silence me. If they'd sent anybody else to do the job, I would have known what was coming. I could have prepared myself. But because it was him, I honestly thought he was going to get me out of there."
"Who? I need a name."
"The Hood" Scarlett said quietly, but quickly added "But he didn't do it for himself. Somebody made him attack me."
"Could it have been the Galliano brothers?" Langley asked, but Scarlett shook her head.
"They're hitmen. Contractors. They would have been more likely to actually do the job."
"How about Stephanie Bordeaux?"
"Yeah, she could have done it. She's very, very good at her job. We were friends, but that doesn't really mean very much when you do what I do. But I don't think it was her. I think it came from the very top."
"Stephanie's records showed her working for Voltan, which is a part of SkyeTech. Do these names mean anything to you?"
"They mean everything to me" Scarlett said. Her eyes were wide now, like she was becoming animated. "SkyeTech is the central hub. Everything we do comes out of SkyeTech, and all the other companies, every branch that comes off them is connected. Every one of those companies is secretly financed by one of the consortium, but they're untouchable. They're all untouchable. SkyeTech International is a legitimate company, and so is everything they do. But there is an underbelly, a dark side of the companies, hidden in plain sight. Everything that happens, happens there."
"Who runs SkyeTech. Who is behind this?"
"I don't know." Before Bob could interject, she repeated "I don't know. I don't know who he is."
"He?"
"I met him. He uses a scrambler to mask his voice and light tricks to hide his face, but there's only so much you can do. Whoever he is, he's male."
"Thank you, Scarlett. I'll let you rest now."
"Colonel" Scarlett said, before he left. "I am not dead, which means they're going to come for me again. International Rescue still stands, which means they're going to come for you too. We cannot run forever. Sooner or later, we have to walk into the spotlight and face our destiny."
10 DAYS LATER
The Tayohama Nuclear powerplant and reactor complex was a secluded construct, sat on the Eastern coast of Japan, bordering a gigantic reservoir and a great deal of grassland. The location was purposeful, a remote setting to keep it out of the way of the bustling Tokyo architecture, but perfect for the water driven steam turbines that gave power to a great deal of the Chiba prefecture in which it sat, plus a lot of the other surrounding areas too. Considered Japan's most powerful nuclear reactor and run by one of the world's largest energy companies, Electric Systems inc, Tayohama had even won several awards for its efficiency and safety. For a plant over 25 years old, it showed no sign of slowing down any time soon. Of course, there were those still so against nuclear energy, but even they couldn't argue the usual cases about Toyohama. Being completely out of the way of public life, it was hardly a blight on the landscape- not for the vast majority of people anyway. Pollution was hardly a concern, with the waste water being pumped back into the reservoir to be reused, and any toxic waste was stored in a lockdown facility. When the facility became too full, everything was shot out into space. People had slowly come to accept that they needed Tayohama, as equally as Tayohama needed them.
But it is not perfect. Nothing is perfect.
However, if something was going to take down this power station, the last thing you'd expect it to be was a rat. But that's exactly what it was. Saddled within the inner working of Tayohama, this particular rat was just looking for a nice place to call a home. It was also looking to eat a few wires. That's where everything went wrong. For Danny Iannou, the 50 year old English-Cypriot head of the power station, he was only just beginning to realise the nightmare that would set foot inside his complex.
"Another day in paradise" He began, speaking to nobody in particular. He did that a lot. "At least I'm getting paid for this."
"You're lucky nobody from HQ ever decides to visit this plant when you're around" Kenji Nakamura, the head technician, replied. "If you complained around them then they'd probably fire you on the spot. This is a prestigious post."
"But is there anybody around here as qualified as me, Kenji? The only reason I have such a prestigious post is because of my 28 years of experience with Light-Water nuclear reactors. Believe me when I say that I'm doing this more as a favour to Electric Systems than the other way round."
"Regardless, the bosses want us to run some efficiency tests today, just to back up their records."
"Well we expected that, so I'll get a team to run the tests this afternoon. For now Kenji, we just have to make sure we can deliver on the extra demand the Japanese public has placed on us. I don't think I've ever seen the control rods so high in my 3 months here."
"Public holidays" Kenji replied, shuddering. "Never cared much for them."
Danny laughed. Kenji had an interesting sense of humour to say the least, one that seemed to include contempt for public holidays. He was a damn good technician though.
"Dr Iannou!" A voice rang out. The control room could hardly be considered busy, but there were 12 people currently working away.
"Yes, Rita?" Danny replied. Rita Szali was the Hungarian technician responsible for general overseeing duties of the cooling systems. She followed the trend of there being very few Japanese people working at a Japanese power plant, with Electric Systems having poached the very best in their fields, regardless of their nationalities.
"Firstly, it's the equinox." Then, when Danny just looked funny at her, "The holiday. It's the equinox that's causing us to have to up the power input."
"I really hope that's not all you called me over to say."
"No" Rita replied, becoming more serious. "We're losing coolant volume from the main reactor."
"Seriously?" Danny said, a somewhat surprised look etched onto his face. "How bad?"
"Just 2% away from the standard level for now."
"That's alright then, we can absorb up to a 5% fluctuation in coolant levels without too much trouble."
"I thought that too, but it's still going down. This doesn't feel like a fluctuation to me."
"It could be a fault in the automatic regulator" Danny thought out loud. "Until it hits 5%, there shouldn't be much of a problem. But, just to be on the safe side, drop the control rods down a bit and invoke the manual controls on the coolant pump. If it is a regulator problem, then we'll just have to keep the levels topped up manually. Japan can wait a little bit longer for the extra power."
"Yessir" Rita replied, typing in a few numbers to the command system, then flicking the manual pump control switch into the 'on' position.
But the level kept dropping.
"It's not working" Rita said, exasperatedly. She turned it off and back on again, but still nothing.
"OK" Danny said, "Drop the control rods. I'm not risking the reactor core running away whilst we're fixing the problem."
So Rita turned to the silver dial that regulated how far in the control rods were pushed into the core, and set it to maximum.
Nothing.
"Control rods are negative sir."
"What!?" Danny replied. "Try the auxiliary coolant pump."
"That's negative too."
"Backup control rod mechanism?"
"Negative. All negative. It's as if someone, or something, has taken the entire coolant systems offline."
"That's impossible" Danny said. "The coolant pump and the control rods are separate systems. For them both to fail..."
"Not strictly true" Kenji said, having now joined them. Evidently, he'd been listening in. "The major regulation components are separate, yes, but they all feed into the same mainframe. If somebody disconnected the actual mainframe, then it could explain the total failure. Would take a lot to take down the mainframe though, there's about 16 different firewalls."
"Still, the risk is there; Nuclear power is targeted by a good few people who believe they can change the world. And it would explain what has been happening. What about the 'Emergency Core Cooling System'?"
"The ECCS is on a separate system, though housed next to the mainframe."
"Sir" Rita said, rejoining the conversation, "We've passed 5%. Which means-"
"I know what it means" Danny cut her off. "It means the core is beginning to heat up. Right, Kenji and Rita, you're staying here with me. We're going to find whatever the problem is and we are going to fix it. I'm getting everyone else out of here, just incase."
With that, Danny walked back to his desk and pressed the small button- one in a row of coloured buttons- labelled 'Amber'. A discrete siren began to sound, giving him everyone's attention.
"Ladies and gentlemen, there has been a small fault detected and traced to the coolant system which we are attempting to get under control, and hope to do shortly. However, in the instance of taking no risks, I would like you to ask you all to leave your work stations and convene at the assembly point until further notice. Thank you."
Everyone shuffled out of the room until only Danny, Kenji and Rita remained.
"So" Kenji said. "What do we do now?"
After several phone calls, Danny got back to his two companions.
"I've sent Hensen down to the server building to check things out. If this is a problem with the mainframe, then he'll know how to fix it."
"We need to hurry" Rita said. "Coolant level has dropped 12%. The reactor is beginning to race."
"He's taking a look now. If it can't be fixed, we'll scramble the ECCS and shut down the reactor."
A few seconds later, Danny's phone began to ring.
"Hensen! Just the man I wanted to hear from. Have you traced the fault?"
"I've traced the fault alright" Hensen replied. "You weren't hacked or anything, not even close. Infact, someone went much closer to the source; The wires to the mainframe have been shredded."
"Shredded?! But how?"
For a while, there was no response. But then;
"Oh you slimy little-"
"Hensen?"
"Rats! I've just found a nest of bloody rats in the server room, and the little buggers have been chewing on the goddamn wires!"
Well, that was certainly different.
"How long until you can repair the mainframe?"
"Are you kidding me?" Hensen said sarcastically. "The wires come attached to the mainframe, which means the entire unit needs replacing. This will take days, and you don't have that. Scramble the bloody ECCS and shut down the reactor."
Danny swallowed, hard. Shutting down the reactor was a big call, especially on a day like today when it was so badly needed. But the facts were not on his side, and unless he shut down the entire operation, the reactor core would be sitting in a steam bath very, very shortly.
"Rita, initiate emergency cooling protocol. Activate ECCS."
"Right away Dr Iannou" She replied, returning to her work station. There were two buttons, labelled 'ECCS 1' and 'ECCS 2'. She pushed them both in... Nothing.
BANG!
The explosion tore through the air. Sirens began to blare. The doors began to close. Danny ran for the exit, but the giant blast door closed in his face, knocking him to the ground.
"What's happening?" Danny asked, hauling himself up once the sirens had ceased.
"The automatic security system" Kenji replied. "It believes we're under attack, so seals all the major rooms to stop anybody getting in"
"But we're not under attack!" Danny said, pounding on the door. "Who the hell designed this place?" Then a thought struck him.
"This room is soundproof, yet we heard the explosion." He looked at his phone, which was still connected to Hensen. "Oh god. Hensen! Hensen, are you there?!"
"I'm OK" Hensen replied, then burst into a coughing fit. "The rats must have got to the ECCS controls too, because when you initiated it, the entire unit overloaded. That's what caused the explosion."
"Anybody hurt?"
"No, there was nobody else in there. But Danny, we've got a real problem on our hands now, because the entire building is up in flames, and that means the emergency cutoff for the water intake system is non-functional."
"But without that cutoff, we can't stop the steam process in the reactor. We can't shutdown the system."
"Right, and with the levels of coolant dropping, that steam is going to continually heat up the core fuel cells until the entire thing goes up. This plant is going into meltdown."
"We have to stop the intake" Danny said. "But without the emergency cutoff, there's no way to stop it."
"There might be" Kenji said, speaking up. "If we call International Rescue."
It was a nice day on Tracy Island. Sure, it wasn't blazing hot and the sky wasn't entirely clear of clouds, but it was warm enough to be laid out on a sun lounger beside the pool, as John was doing. There may be nothing like looking at the stars, but whilst he was on Tracy Island, he was going to enjoy it. Scott too was on the adjacent sun lounger, except he was far too busy taking to Lady Penelope to just lay there and enjoy the gentle breeze and the warm sun. If John was right, they'd been talking non-stop for the best part of 90 minutes. That ended as soon as the alert buzzer above their heads started to go off.
"Looks like we're needed" Scott said.
"Could be a rescue."
"Well, I doubt dad wants to talk to us about the latest fluctuation in the stock market" Scott replied, having a little chuckle. They made their way into the lounge, where Virgil, Gordon and Brains were already gathered.
"Rescue?" Scott asked. Jeff nodded.
"Give them the details Alan" Jeff said, indicating for Alan to start speaking. John still found it just a little bit weird to see the youngest Tracy where he would usually be stood.
"OK father" Alan said, then addressed the rest of the room. "We've had a distress call from the Tayohama nuclear power plant in southern Japan. Their coolant system has failed and the reactor is going into meltdown. 3 people are trapped inside the main control centre, and they can't shut the power plant down because the automatic security system believes they're under attack, and they'd need to shut off the water intake before they're allowed to initiate the emergency shutdown procedure."
"Well why can't they just shut down the entire plant?" Virgil asked.
"T-Tayohama is a r-radical and experimental design" Brains offered in way of reply. "The a-automatic security system locks out an emergency full system shutdown when in l-lockdown because it believes it could be an attack, to take the plant off the g-grid. They have to shut all other independent systems f-first to release the lockdown."
"And they can't shut off the water intake" Alan continued. "The emergency cutoff was situated inside a server building, but that's gone up in flames and they have no other manual shutdown controls."
"Unless we destroy the actual intake system inside the reservoir" Gordon offered.
"If they can't use the regular measures because the server building is bust, what makes the emergency shutdown work?" John asked.
"T-That runs off an auxiliary generator unit away from the main complex that's dialled into all of the s-systems. It's a once or b-bust measure."
"OK I've heard enough" Jeff said. "We can discuss it more on the way to Japan. Right now there's a nuclear power plant about to go critical and not a moment to lose. Virgil, take Gordon and pod 4. We have to stop the water intake and Gordon's idea may just be the only way of doing it. Scott, take John with you in Thunderbird 1, and get those people out of the control room. Is that understood?"
"Yeah, I understand" Scott said.
"Understood father" Gordon echoed.
Without needing any further words, the group dispersed. Virgil and Gordon down to Thunderbird 2, Scott and John up to Thunderbird 1. Jeff just hoped they weren't too late.
A Short While Later
"Thunderbird 1 calling International Rescue, am approaching danger zone. I can see a large column of black smoke rising from inside the power plant's complex, please advise."
"That's from the server building fire" Alan responded. "That's the reason we're having to do this in the first place. If the building hadn't caught fire, they could have shut off the intake and stopped the core meltdown themselves."
"So it's OK to land?"
"There's no radiation hazard from that fire, if that's what you're wondering Scott."
"Good to know" Scott replied, "I'm setting down now. How far back is Virgil?"
"About 15 minutes."
"Wonderful, the sooner this is over the better."
"Is that the main control centre over there?" John asked, pointing out the large building attached to the side of the reactor.
"Looks like it" Scott replied. "The thing is built like a fortress."
"They really didn't want us getting in" John mused as Scott finally set down. They hauled the cutting gear out of Thunderbird 1 and made their way over to the building's entrance. They were met by a giant steel door.
"Right then" Scott said. "Let's get to work."
Danny was pacing the control room, up and down and up and down.
"Will you cut that out?" Kenji, who was spending his time laying on top of a table and staring at the ceiling, a good 50 metres above them, said. "It's driving me crazy."
"I hate waiting" Danny said as a means of excuse, but stopped anyway. "Rita, how's the reactor looking?"
"No better" She responded. "Now that there's zero coolant left in the reactor, and the entire unit is bathed in steam, it's beginning to race even faster now. The reactor is now increasing in temperature at a rate of 0.96 Kelvin per second and is rapidly approaching the critical point. The fuel rods are stripping themselves to pieces."
"Come on International Rescue" Danny said under his breath. "Where are you?"
Suddenly, the communication control panel burst into life.
"Tayohama, this is International Rescue."
"Oh thank god!" Danny shouted in relief.
"We've managed to gain entry to the command building but need guidance to get down to your control centre."
"There should be a corridor on your left" Kenji called out. "Big corridor, lit with blue neon lights. Follow it all the way to the end, and here we are. There's still a blast door to get through though once you're here."
"Leave the blast doors to us" Scott said. "We'll get you out soon."
"Getting us out is not the problem" Danny said. "Because we need to be here to shut down the entire system once the water intake is cut off."
"Our specialised equipment is 5 minutes away. Then we can stop the intake."
"If you don't mind me asking" Danny said, "How exactly are you going to cut off the water intake."
"Most permanent way possible; We're going to destroy the water inlets inside the reservoir."
Danny cocked his head in appreciation. "Well, that could certainly work."
It was fairly easy to follow Kenji's instructions, meaning they found the control room in less than a minute. Like the shield door that had tried to stop them entering the building, this one was also solid steel. Scott and John both started at opposite ends of the door, forming an arc with their plasma torch, the aim to meet in the middle and save half the time taking the door apart.
"Thunderbird 2 calling Thunderbird 1" Scott's radio burst into life. "We're approaching the danger zone now. How are things going on your end?"
"We're almost through the door" Scott replied, "But the situation seems desperate. We need to stop that water intake at all costs."
"You hear that Gordon?" Scott could hear Virgil say in the background, then "FAB Scott. Good luck."
There was a loud, piercing sound as the door began to buckle, then a crash as it fell to the floor. It had gone faster than they had anticipated.
"International Rescue, thank god you're here" Danny said. Kenji got off the table.
"How's the situation?" John asked, though he knew it was bad. He just wanted to be kept in the loop about just how bad it was.
"We passed the critical point 30 seconds ago" Rita offered as an answer.
"What's the critical point?"
"The critical point" Danny explained, "Is when the temperature of the reactor is so high, the protective cladding for the nuclear fuel cells has completely unzipped, allowing raw, radioactive materials to seep out into the core itself. The Uranium and Plutonium is at such a temperature to catalyse a reaction with the air, creating Uranium and Plutonium Oxides. It's almost like a fine dust, but molten, which then settles at the bottom of the reactor. In addition, the reactions create a large Hydrogen gas bubble; If the reactor goes critical, the blast radius will be tenfold what it would be if the reactor was uncompromised. That, coupled with the large atomic gas cloud, would not just spread the radioactive dust over the entirety of Japan, but also mainland China, Korea and several other countries."
"Basically" Kenji said, "The critical point is where, if this place goes up, it's not just people in the complex that are going to die."
Darkness was starting to set in as Thunderbird 2 began to hover over the reservoir. It was still the middle of the day, but the black smoke that had been rising so rapidly from the server building fire was beginning to spread across the sky, creating the illusion of night. Not only that, but the large dome that housed the reactor core was also beginning to vent its own variety of white smoke.
"Are you ready Gordon?"
"I'm ready when you are Virgil. Thunderbird 4 is all set to go."
"FAB" Virgil replied, his hand hovering over the pod release switch for just a second before dropping the submersible craft into the water. The pod lid retracted, and Thunderbird 4 slid out into the crystal clear reservoir beneath it.
"OK Virgil, where is this intake supposed to be?" Gordon asked, trying to navigate in the great body of water.
"It should be embedded into the side of the reservoir" Virgil replied. "On the side closest to the main reactor."
"Yeah, I think I see it" Gordon replied. "Got it. 400 metres until it's in range. 200 metres. Almost there... Intake is in range!"
"Well then what are you waiting for?" Virgil asked pointedly.
"Patience Virgil" Gordon replied, "This intake has 3 different inlets. If any of the missiles are off target, it could cause a collapse that would obstruct the rest of the intake. I have to get this perfect."
"We don't have time to wait, that reactor is going up any minute!"
"Steady" Gordon said, though more to himself than Virgil. "Almost lined up."
"GORDON!"
"Targets locked! Firing missiles!"
The missiles shot through the water, simultaneously hitting the intake in an explosive mess of metal shards and sand, causing what was fairly clear water to turn all that more murky.
"Well?" Virgil asked impatiently.
"I can't tell, there's too much dirt in the water" Gordon replied. "Hang on, it's clearing. Yes... The intake has been disabled!"
"Thunderbird 1 from Thunderbird 2!" Virgil said, switching radio channels. "The intake has been disabled!"
Everyone inside the control centre had been on edge, waiting and waiting for the radio message to come through. Until Gordon disabled the water intake, the core would continue to heat up and the emergency shutdown would be non-functional. Then it happened.
"Thunderbird 1 from Thunderbird 2!" Virgil said, switching radio channels. "The intake has been disabled!"
Just to confirm it, the light above the water intake panel turned from green to red, and Danny leapt into action, throwing a key half way across the room to Kenji, who plunged it into a slot on the control panel. Danny followed suit, and in perfect unison they twisted the keys to the right. It reminded Scott a lot of Thunderbird 3's launch procedure.
"EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN INITIATED" A computerised voice blared out over the speaker.
"Control rods are all the way in" Rita affirmed triumphantly.
"Christ" Kenji said, in a tone the complete opposite to Rita's. "Danny, we've got a problem!"
"What's wrong?"
"ECCS has failed again. There's no coolant going into the reactor."
"What?!" Danny near burst. "But the emergency shutoff is a completely separate system. If the control rods worked..."
Kenji began typing away rapidly, until a stream of data appeared on his screen.
"Ahhhhh" Kenji yelled, exasperated. The keyboard felt the full force of his frustration, finding itself flying off the desk and into the adjacent wall. "The main valve has burst. Must have been the particles from the reactor that corroded it because coolant is going everywhere except the reactor."
"We've got to get out of here" Scott said, but everyone ignored him.
"What does that mean?" John asked, and this time he did get a response.
"The control rods have stopped the reactor from going critical through a runaway reaction" Danny said, "But without coolant the temperature in continuing to rise, and the fuel cells are still stripping themselves of hydrogen. Unless we can cool it, it's still going to explode once the Hydrogen pressure becomes too great."
To compound matters, the computer began to blare out again;
"WARNING. WARNING. PRESSURE BREACH"
"Get down!" Kenji shouted, but it wasn't in time. Before he could finish his sentence, the wall section closest to John blew out, the force of the blast throwing him across the room like a ragdoll until he came to rest against the opposite wall. But he wasn't the only object affected by the blast, and as soon as he had come to rest, the large computer unit crashed into his chest, crushing it.
"Help me get this off!" Scott yelled out, rushing to John's side. Rita joined him, and between them they managed to get it off.
"John, speak to me" Scott said desperately. No response. "Come on John, speak to me!"
"He's still breathing" Rita commented. Scott punched the floor, turning away. A couple of tears rolled down his cheek as he shut off the world around him. No, he thought, not now. There's still a rescue to complete. You still have a job to do.
"Virgil" Scott pulled his radio out, making his best attempt to mask any emotions. "The emergency shutdown has failed. Unless we can cool the reactor, it's going to go up. Any ideas?"
There was a deafening silence, until, finally;
"Actually, I think I do."
Virgil had been hovering above the reservoir, waiting for any word from Scott as to whether or not they had been successful.
"Virgil" Scott pulled his radio out, making his best attempt to mask any emotions. "The emergency shutdown has failed. Unless we can cool the reactor, it's going to go up. Any ideas?"
So it hadn't been successful. Virgil scanned the area, skimming over anything is the environment they could use to cool the reactor, until he realised the most obvious solution was staring him in the face.
"Actually, I think I do."
Taking the controls with both hands, Virgil moved Thunderbird 2 until it was positioned directly over the dome that housed the reactor core, which was now violently venting white smoke. He got out of the pilot's seat and moved to the back of the craft, then engaged the magnetic clamps. They grasped hold of the core and Virgil, who had rushed back into his seat, pulled the joysticks back and tore the dome clean off its supports. Working in his rhythm now, he carried the dome all the way over to the reservoir, and disengaged the clamps. A giant steam jet shot into the sky as the reactor hit the water, the temperature gradient rapidly equalising. It would still take a while, and use up the vast majority of the reservoir's water, to cool it completely, but they had done it.
"How about that for some cooling?" Virgil said, expecting a celebratory reply from Scott and the gang. Instead, he got the complete opposite.
"Virgil" Scott replied, hesitant. "There was an accident trying to shut down the reactor and John is in a bad way. We need to get him to a hospital immediately."
Virgil's face glazed over.
"FAB."
Neither Scott, Virgil nor Gordon had not wanted to leave the hospital that Virgil had airlifted John to in Tokyo, with Danny and Kenji's help. Both of the nuclear technicians had left once Thunderbirds 1 & 2 touched down outside the hospital in order to settle things down at Tayohama, but not before expressing their sincere gratification, and hope that John would make a recovery. They had been running Brains' experimental new cloaking technology, so they at least didn't have to worry about people taking pictures, but that was the last thing on any of their minds. It was only when Colonel Langley arrived a few hours later that they begrudgingly accepted his suggestion they went outside, to get some air if nothing else. That left just the Colonel inside when John finally came out of surgery, some 4 hours later.
"Jeff" Bob began, having phoned his friend. "John's out of surgery."
"How is he?" Jeff asked. For the first time since International Rescue began, Jeff Tracy actually sounded tired. Not just sleep deprived tired, but old age tired.
"He's stable" Bob replied, running his hand down his face. "He broke 6 ribs, fractured his radius in 2 places and suffered a collapsed lung. John Tracy is a lucky man that those injuries are all he sustained."
"How are the rest of the boys?"
"Worried for their brother, naturally. I sent them all outside to stop them all sitting around, so I'll tell them once they return." He stopped, giving himself time to quickly rehearse what he was going to say next. "The doctors say he's going to be out for at least 6 to 8 weeks."
"That long?" Jeff said, though it was evident in his voice that he wasn't surprised.
"Yes, which means you're now an astronaut light until John is fit enough to go back into Thunderbird 5." Jeff went to say something, but Bob cut him off.
"Don't you dare suggest recalling Alan from the satellite. Who would you send up to replace him, Scott? And John's not going to get himself back to Thunderbird 5 with a broken arm. I know the way you think Jeff, but the fact is you are a person down. I have some good contacts in NASA, we can get a temporary astronaut in until John is recovered."
"That's risky" Jeff replied. "We are a secret organisation for a reason."
"Yes, but there's no point being secret if you can't function. I can run background checks, the works. You will get the best. At least consider it for me."
Bob looked into John's room as he ended his call with Jeff. The doctors were all still milling around his bed, fitting IV drips and checking their charts.
It was going to be a long night.
