Thunderbirds Are Go!

The Further Adventures

By Lee Homer

Disclaimer: All rights reserved. Set in the near future of 2067, this story collects a series of one-shot adventures told by the Tracy family.

Rhino Duty

by Scott Tracy

I often sit here and wonder sometimes if we were only set up to rescue human lives? Sorry for the odd opening of this story. It's just that sometimes we've been called out to rescue animal life as well. Just a few weeks ago, The Battersea Dogs home caught on fire. Virgil and Alan were able to rescue ever worker and dog from that inferno. Sometimes I think animals show even more gratitude than we do. The reason why I'm sitting here thinking about this instead of going out for a swim is that we've just returned home from the African plains. John called through to report an SOS call which had come from the African plains. A family had broken down only to become the target of some angry Rhinos. I know what you're thinking. What happened to the rangers that were out there? Well, that's the thing, we don't know. Anyway, after talking about what we were going to do, Virgil and Alan took off in Thunderbird Two. I was going to stay behind, but my curiosity had gotten the better of me so I took Thunderbird One and followed them. Virgil called through.

"I guess you're bored then? Did Scotty-Wotty want to see the big bad Rhino's then?"

"Well.. yes I do!" I replied with a snigger. "You two always get to do the cool stuff."

I could hear Alan laughing in the background. "That's because we're the fan favourites. Haven't you checked our social media page yet?"

"If you're talking about the page with those dreadful GIF's then no." I huffed. "I'm tagging along just in case you need my help."

The two children laughed again. "FAB. If you're good we'll buy you a cuddly Rhino toy from the gift shop."

I switched off the transmitter. "I've got to cut back on Alan's E numbers."

We eventually arrived at the area of the distress call. The African plains stretched out beyond the horizon. If it wasn't for the tracer, finding these guys would be like searching for a needle in a haystack. I could see various wildlife below. Elephants, Giraffe's, Hippos. All of these marvellous animals were just living their lives, unphased by the sounds of our jets whizzing over their heads. I eventually spotted the distressed thrill seekers. They were a family of four that had taken refuge on the top of their jeep. A crash of angry Rhinos circled the jeep with a threatening stance. The mother of the family looked up and spotted my jets. I could see her assuring her kids that they were going to be alright. The problem was that I had never been in this situation before. We had to lure the Rhino's away from the family somehow.

I decided to try something as a spare of the moment thing. I set Thunderbird One down by the jeep to see if I could attract the angry Rhinos attention. I didn't even have the time to try anything else. One of the rhinos saw me and charged towards Thunderbird One. I had little time to react. I hit the thrusters and took off. The angry clipped my left landing stanchion. Fortunately, it wasn't enough to topple me over. The beast then skidded along the ground before making its turn back towards the jeep.

"Well, that was a stupid move, Scott," I said aloud. "I wonder if Virgil has any ideas. Thunderbird Two from Thunderbird One. I've made an attempt to distract the Rhinos but it didn't work."

"We've just been talking to Brains," Virgil replied. "We have an idea that we'd like to try."

I climbed to a safe hovering height and watched on as Thunderbird Two hovered over the petrified family. Carrying Pod One, Virgil and Alan activated the Ultrasound device. This thing was super cool. It was designed to generate ultrasonic and subsonic frequency bursts used to put out fires and in this case, create sound bursts enough to drive animals away. Now before I continue with this I just want to state that we did not do this to harm the Rhinos in any way. Once the sound generator was activated, Alan cranked up a low subsonic sound. The sound may sound faint to human ears, but it was actually a dull vibrating sound to the Rhinos. One by one, they dispersed, running off in all directions. I wasn't fully content though. So While Alan made his way down towards the family, I decided to tail the Rhinos just to make sure that they were out of harm's way.

All seemed to be okay until one frantic Rhino caught my attention. It broke itself away from the rest and sped frantically towards a nearby cliff face. It didn't know where it was running from. The frequency burst had spooked it to the point that it went AWOL. I couldn't' let it topple over the edge. Scaring an animal only to lead it to certain death wasn't going to happen on my watch. I flew down as low as I could and closed in on the frightened beast. Using my thrusters, I made a few passes around it in an attempt to steer it away from the edge. After the fifth pass, I was horrified to see that it was still heading for the edge. I was running out of time to act. I had no choice left but to use more extreme measures. I activated my EMP cannon and aimed it at the ground next to the Rhino's feet. I fired a medium charge. It was just enough to make it jump and change direction. It was working. I eventually skidded and headed to it's left just a few metres short of the ledge. I sighed a breath of relief as it ran back towards the crash.

Now That it was out of danger, I decided to do the right thing. I looked up a local list of Wildlife sanctuary's in the area and made a list of enquiries. I eventually found one that was looking for a crash of Rhinos. It was perfect. Keeping my airspeed low, I used Thunderbird One to herd them towards the Sanctuary. I felt like a sheepdog that was herding a cattle of sheep. It was rather quite easy and straightforward from then on. As soon as the local ranger rounded them up, I set my craft down so I could talk with him.

"Thanks for taking them is, Sir," I said. "They were scaring a family and my only guess is that they had broken loose from somewhere."

"Rhino's aren't often protected around these parts, Mister Tracy." The Ranger explained in a serious tone. "The fact is that you've saved from a possible fate that they wouldn't know about. We've set up these sanctuaries because we don't have enough men out on the plains to watch out for these hunters."

"I understand," I replied as I turned to leave. "If they should ever get loose again then give us a call. I make quite the crash herder."

I eventually caught up with Thunderbird Two which surprisingly had remained at the rescue site. I landed next to her and immediately caught up with my brothers. They had sat there with the family calmly talking to them about their ordeal.

"Where did you go?" Alan asked as I took a seat next to him. "Virgil said that you had to attend to something."

"Well, I had to herd those Rhino's to a safe place," I explained as I grabbed a cup of coffee from Alan's Thermos. "I almost lost one over the cliff edge. He was so spooked. I was able to find a sanctuary that would take them in. They shouldn't be a danger to anyone else or themselves again."

"Wow, good thinking bro." Virgil smiled as he bopped me on the shoulder. "You always were good with the wildlife."

"That explains why he was always able to convince Gordon to have a bath every fortnight." Alan sniggered.

"Or that time when he decided that dog food tasted better than one of Grandma's stews," Virgil added.

Having enough of their childishness, I grabbed my brother by the back of their collars and dragged them back towards their crafts. "Okay guys, let's go. Wouldn't want to let your dog food go to waste no do we?"

"Hey! Let go! Not in front of the family!" Alan moaned.

Returning to our crafts, we took off for home. I was very satisfied with that rescue, just knowing that we were able to save the lives of that family and the animals that were endangering them. I spent the rest of that evening having to endure more of Virgil and Alan's jokes. That was until they eventually knackered themselves out and went to bed. It just so happens that Kayo loves my sensitive side. She wouldn't stop asking me about what I did today. Let's just say that I offered to tell her over dinner tomorrow night. Which is now tonight by the way. Be good to your animals! Yeah, that will do for an ending.

END