JOHN gazed down from the viewing gallery aboard Thunderbird 5 at the Earth below. Despite having done it so many times he never tired of it. It just looked so tranquil and peaceful. Was almost hard to believe so much danger could be on it.
"Admiring the view again, John?" asked a curious EOS. "You do this every morning."
John sighed happily. "It never gets old, EOS. It never gets old."
"Admiring Malaysia today I see," said EOS.
"Indeed," replied John. "Never been there. Even on occasional field missions with IR. That area has somehow managed to elude me."
"I'm sure you will one day," said EOS.
John nodded and turned to face the large hologram globe. "Anything to report?"
"Not as yet," said EOS. "Looks like your brothers may get a quiet morning at least."
"Famous last words," chuckled John.
As if on cue, EOS responded. "Hold on, I'm picking up something. That's weird. It's morse code!"
"Morse code?" asked John. "Nobody hardly ever uses that these days. Let me hear it."
EOS patched what she'd picked up to the globe so that John could hear it. Sure enough, the unmistakable beeping of binary pulse-code could be heard over the speaker.
"Can you find out where it's coming from?" John asked.
"Trying to trace it," EOS said. "I can translate it for you if you'd like in the meantime?"
"Please do," said John. "It'll save time if someone's in trouble."
The morse code appeared on the hologram screen in front of John. first with the familiar dots and dashes before it was then translated into plain English. It didn't specify who was calling or where it was being sent from, but what it did do was give John and EOS an sense of unease.
"All officers including the captain are dead. Lying in chart room and bridge. Possibly whole crew dead."
John stared at it, worried. "EOS, where is this coming from?" he asked. "This looks serious!"
"No luck so far, John," EOS replied. "Wait, there's another coming in. A very short one. Sending it to the screen."
John watched the screen again as the morse code appeared before translating. And what he saw sent a horrible shiver down his spine. Like EOS had said, the message was very short.
"I die…"
5!
4!
3!
2!
1!
"Thunderbirds Are Go!"
"SHIP OF THE DEAD"
SCOTT stared at his brother's hologram in shock. "Could you run that by me again, John?"
"What else is there to say, Scott?" asked John. "We picked up an SOS and that's all that was said."
"Well who sent it?" asked Scott.
"No idea," John replied. "They didn't give a name for themselves or what ship they were on."
"Ship?"
"Yes, definitely a ship. He said 'Captain and crew'."
"Not necessarily," Scott pointed out. "Could be an airliner."
"No, definitely a ship," said John. "I've never heard of an airliner sending a message in Morse code."
Scott pondered. "Hmm, but if they're already dead then what exactly can we do? There's nobody to save."
"Scott, we don't know why that message was sent," said John. "It could be some sickly Halloween joke or something. But if someone really is in trouble, or does need saving, then we need to act."
Scott sighed. "I guess you're right, John," he said. "Where am I headed?"
"EOS is still trying to get a fix on the location," said John. "But at an initial guesstimate it's somewhere in the Indian Ocean."
"Easy," said Scott. "I'll fly over and check it out. Can you contact Virgil and ask him to meet me there when he's done in Madagascar?"
"F-A-B," said John. "If we get a precise fix on the signal I'll let you know."
"Thanks," said Scott as he backed onto the wall panel. "See you in the sky."
Scott spun around on the wall panel before heading down the express elevator to where Thunderbird 1 was. His suit had been attached to him on the way down and he was fully kitted out by the time he'd reached the bottom. He stepped out onto the walkway which extended outwards to Thunderbird 1 where he climbed into the chair and was winched inside. Thunderbird 1 was then transported up the tunnel to the launching bay underneath the pool which opened as the craft stopped in place.
5! 4! 3! 2! 1!
The engines fired and Thunderbird 1 lifted off from the launch pad, out through the open pool and into the sky. "Thunderbird 1 is go!" said Scott.
The three African miners quivered at the sound of the rumbling coming from overhead. They cried out to each other in their native language. Rocks were falling. They thought the end had come for them. But then the wall burst open and the drill nose of a Mole-Pod emerged. Once the dust had settled they realised that it was International Rescue and their salvation had arrived.
"This is International Rescue!" Virgil called out via a universal translator. "Climb in the container at the back and hang on tight!"
The miner's did so, and once they were safely aboard, Virgil reversed the Mole-Pod back up through the tunnel it had dug and out onto its trolley at the surface.
The rest of the miners, who had safely made it out before the mine had collapsed cheered before they helped the rescued miners out from the back of the Mole.
"Thunderbird 2, come in."
Virgil moved away from the miner's and pressed his sash. "Go ahead, Thunderbird 5."
"Virgil, how soon will you be done?" asked John.
"Just finishing up here, John," said Virgil. "Am I needed elsewhere?"
"Possibly," said John. "We've picked up a strange and somewhat disturbing SOS signal from a ship somewhere in the Indian Ocean. Scott's got to investigate but we don't really know what to expect so it's best he has some back-up."
"Understood," said Virgil. "Wait. What do you mean by disturbing?"
"It was very brief," said John. "The last two words were 'I die'."
Virgil shivered slightly. "Well, that's…unnerving."
"Thunderbird 1 is heading over the Indian Ocean now," said John. "The sooner you join Scott the better we'll all feel."
"F-A-B," said Virgil. "Tell Scott I'm on my way."
Thunderbird 1 descended from high altitude about two-hundred feet above the Indian Ocean. Scott looked at the wide-range scanners, but all he could see was a vast expanse of water all around him.
"Let's see here," Scott said out loud. "Water, water, nothing but water."
John's hologram appeared in front of him. "Not seeing anything?" he asked.
Scott frowned. "All I see is sea," he said
John now frowned. "If that was an attempt at a joke, it was poorly executed."
"And I'm not Gordon, so," said Scott. "John, can you boost my scanners? That ship must be around here somewhere."
"Unless of course we're already too late and it has sunk," said John. "Stand-by. Boosting your scanners now."
Scott watched as Thunderbird 1's scanners were boosted by those on Thunderbird 5. He expected a blip of a contact to appear. But nothing did. He sighed. "Nope. Nothing," he said.
John sighed too. "Maybe we were too late this time?" he said.
But then, something caught Scott's eye. He'd got Thunderbird 1's viewing hatches open so he could take visual looks as well. It was as he'd taken a glance to his right that a sudden streak of grey flashed briefly past. "Huh?!" he exclaimed. "What was that?" He slowed Thunderbird 1 down and turned it around. He thought perhaps he'd imagined it but he wanted to be sure.
"What is it, Scott?" John asked.
"Hang on, Thunderbird 5," said Scott. He watched closely out of the hatch. And then he saw it - a dark grey shape sat in the distance - about two miles away. "John, I see a ship," said Scott.
"You do?" asked John. "I'm still not registering anything in the area."
Scott looked at his own scanners. He frowned. The ship wasn't showing up on them, and yet when he looked out of the hatch he could see it clearly. "I'm not registering it either, John," said Scott. "But it's there, trust me."
John turned to EOS. "EOS, is this the area that the distress call was sent?"
"Affirmative," EOS replied. "I still haven't been able to get an exact fix but this is definitely the right area."
John turned back to Scott. "Scott, proceed with extreme caution," he warned. "See if you can get a better look of that vessel. I'll tell Virgil to head to your position."
"F-A-B," said Scott as he moved Thunderbird 1 closer to the mysterious ship.
Reaching the ship, Thunderbird 1 began to circle around as Scott observed through the hatch. He was getting more confused by the second. The ship was stationary. No wake came from the rear meaning the engines were not on. There was no smoke coming from the old-fashioned-looking funnel. That was another thing, Scott observed. A lot of ships these days ran on renewable energy and didn't need funnels. It also had two masts, one towards the bow and one towards the stern. The superstructure was also located just behind the mid-point towards the stern with the funnel just behind the bridge. The ship was painted in two different shades of grey with black around the top of the funnel. There was also a red stripe around it separating the black cap from the grey whilst another red stripe ran around the hull. The paint was definitely not fresh as it was covered in rust streaks. Even more strange was that its cargo looked like wooden crates instead of large modern containers. In fact, Scott came to the conclusion that the ship wasn't modern by any means.
"This is surreal," Scott said. "John, if I didn't know better I'd say this is a vessel from the 20th Century. It looks very old."
John patched into one of Thunderbird 1's mini-cameras. But all he could see was the flat-calm sea. "Scott, I'm not seeing anything," he said. "Can you, EOS?"
"Not visually, no, John," EOS answered. "But I'm detecting some kind of unusual energy coming from that very spot."
Scott decided this needed a proper investigation. He grabbed his helmet and put it on. "I'm going to go over and take a look, Thunderbird 5," he said. "Patch into my suit's camera then you can see what I see."
John did so. He was feeling more anxious than Scott was. He couldn't understand why Scott was able to see the ship and yet the cameras could not. "Can I suggest you confirm that the ship is actually there before you try to land on it?" he said. "You don't want Virgil to fish you out, do you?"
"Don't worry, John. I'll be cautious," Scott promised. In the past Scott had said that many times and then not taken his own advice. But this time he really meant it. He too was baffled as to why he could only see the ship visually and it was not showing on the scanners. After prepping his jetpack and ensuring Thunderbird 1 was in a safe hovering position, he lowered the seat and hopped out before activating the jetpack and began to cautiously make his way over to the ship. Stopping about halfway, he activated the scanners in his helmet to try and scan the ship and its interior. "Huh?!" he exclaimed as the ship had vanished. Then when he switched off the scanner it appeared again.
"What is it, Thunderbird 1?" asked John over the radio.
"I don't know, John," said Scott. "But this ship is totally invisible to our scanners and cameras. And yet I can see it with my naked eyes. It doesn't make any sense!"
John noticed the growing frustration in his brother's voice. "Can you see a name?" he asked. "Perhaps it could give us a lead and track down its owners?"
Scott moved cautiously towards the starboard bow of the ship. It was covered in rust, especially around the anchor. But no name was visible. He then checked the port bow but there was nothing there either. Nor was there anything at the stern when he went to check there. "No name, John," Scott said. "Can't see anything on the superstructure either. Whoever it belongs to clearly doesn't want anyone to know what it is called."
John scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Are there any flags flying?" he asked. "Maybe that could give us a nationality?"
"Unless it's a top-secret military vessel that nobody is supposed to know about," said Scott. He looked up at the masts but no flags were flying. "No flags either. This is really strange." He took out his grapple gun and pointed it at the hull. "Let's see if you are real or not," he said and fired the grapple. The grapple hit the hull and bounced off with a dull clunk. This really surprised Scott. "Well, it's real alright, John," he said. "I'm going aboard to find the crew."
"F-A-B, Scott," said John. "Thunderbird 2 is fifteen minutes out. Are you sure you don't want to wait for Virgil?"
"Any survivors may need finding first," said Scott. "I'm going aboard to have a look."
"Be careful, brother," said John. He was feeling worried.
Scott rose up and drifted over the side of the ship before dropping back down to land on the deck. No sooner had he landed when he found himself looking at had to be the most horrific sight he'd ever seen. "No…" he gasped in a rather hoarse way. "This cannot be!"
"What do you see, Scott?" asked John.
Scott had to try and find the words before replying. "Well…I'm standing on the deck," he said. "So this ship is definitely real…"
"And?" John asked, sensing that something worse was to come. And he was right.
Scott was trying very hard not to throw up. "Looks like that distress call wasn't a joke," he said. "I've found the crew. They're dead!"
All around as far as he could see, Scott found the deck of the ship almost covered by the corpses of the ship's crew. All laying down, some on their fronts but mostly on their backs. Scott decided to examine the young sailor down by his boot where he'd landed. He didn't need to be a doctor to know that he was dead, but it was the way the body was that he found disturbing. The man's face was fixed with a terrified expression. His arms and legs were bent and stuck in strange positions, looking like he'd been trying to fight something off. His eyes were completely white with iris or pupils visible. The man's body also appeared to be starting to decompose despite the emergency call having only been made about an hour ago.
Scott was able to hold in his lunch as he went to examine another of the bodies. To his surprise he found this one to be in the exact same state. Decomposing with the legs and arms in a fighting position and a look of terror on his face. Scott then made his way around the deck taking in the look of each sailor as he did so. It was the same story with them all. Then when he reached the stern, he also found the ship's dog which was also dead, with its teeth exposed and its lips peeled back in a vicious snarl.
"John...I've never seen anything like this," Scott said, sounding rather sick. "This is…unnatural."
John was torn. He was frustrated at not being able to see for himself the scenes that Scott was seeing. But after hearing what Scott was describing, he was kind of wishing that it wasn't. "I'm not doubting you, brother," he said. "I may not be able to see the ship but I do know from my scans of your position that you are definitely standing on something. Have you searched the whole ship?"
"Not yet," Scott replied. "Only the outer deck so far. I'm going to take a look inside."
"And I guess you won't find anything good," John said.
John of course was correct. Scott made his way into the superstructure and up to the bridge and chart room. He soon found the bodies of the officers and the Captain, sprawn across the floor. The Captain was strangely clinging onto the ship's wheel. Like the men outside, they were all carrying the same looks of terror on their faces and their limbs frozen in fighting positions. Only the Captain was not in a fighting position as his decaying hands were still holding the wheel tightly. Scott then went into the communications room where he found the radio operator, sprawn across the controls. His right hand still holding onto the Morse-code machine.
"I'm guessing it was you who sent the message," Scott said out loud. "I'm sorry, buddy."
Scott had decided it was best not to touch any of the corpses if he could help it. After finishing on the bridge he made his way down to the lower decks. There weren't as many crew down there as he expected, but in the galley, the living quarters and the engine room he found the corpses with the same signs as all the others.
He returned to the top deck and had to look over the side at the water below, just so he could see something that wasn't a dead body. Eventually he couldn't stomach it any longer. He yanked his helmet off and vomited over the side of the ship. This made him feel a little better, but not by much. It was then that he noticed something else. He put his helmet back on and looked around. It was a bright sunny day and was around 2pm local time. He checked the temperature gauge on his suit which gave him the temperature around him. "No wonder I felt it cold!" he exclaimed. "It's only four degrees centigrade!"
John, having overheard, decided to conduct his own temperature check of the area. "Are you sure, Scott?" he asked. "My scans are reading thirty-seven degrees centigrade!"
Just then Scott heard the sound of another aircraft approaching. He turned and sighed in relief at the sight of Thunderbird 2 which was approaching from the North-West.
"Bit far off the shipping lanes, aren't you, Scott?" Virgil's voice said over the radio. "Although my radar is only showing Thunderbird 1, and yet I can see the ship with my eyes quite clearly."
"Don't ask for us an explanation, Virgil," Scott said. "I'm afraid we can't give one yet."
Virgil looked down at the ship from the cockpit of Thunderbird 2. "What's the situation, Scott?" he asked. "Is there anyone left to save?"
"I'm afraid not," Scott replied. "They're all dead - just like the SOS said they were. By the way, what is your temperature gauge showing you for outside?"
Virgil checked. "Thirty-seven degrees," he said. "Why?"
"It's only four where I am," said Scott. "Unless my gauges are on the blink?"
Virgil decided to join Scott on the deck of the ship and see for himself. Within moments he wished that he hadn't. He examined one of the corpses. "No visible injuries," he remarked. "Scott, have you scanned the air for anything poisonous?"
"Not yet," Scott replied. "I'll do that now." He used one of Brains's devices to scan the atmosphere around the ship.
Virgil did a quick temperature check. "You weren't kidding when you said it was colder down here," he said. "Anything?"
"Radiation - negative," said Scott. "Toxics - negative. I don't understand. There's absolutely nothing here that could have killed them."
"Well something has," said Virgil. "Yet our equipment can't seem to tell us what though, as nothing is scannable. Not even them!"
"What about the cargo?" asked John over the radio. "Do you know what it's carrying?"
"We'll go find out," said Scott.
The two brothers went to the nearest crate they could find to investigate.
"I'm telling you, Virg, this ship is from the last century," said Scott. "It's like it's been lost to time or something. There's nothing high-tech or modern on it at all - apart from you and me."
"We'll figure it out," Virgil said. "We always do." They then reached a crate and together they managed to prize the lid off.
What they found sent chills down their spines. It contained a number of bright red drums, all with a Toxic Warning sticker on them and the words 'DANGER' written underneath. But it didn't say what the drums contained.
"This is serious, Virgil," Scott said. "Whatever is in these must be the cause of the crew's deaths!"
"All the crates look pretty well sealed," Virgil said. "As do the drums. But we'd better get this seen to or it could become an environmental hazard as well as a shipping hazard if it reaches any shipping lanes."
"What do you suggest?" asked Scott.
Virgil pondered the problem. "I don't want to disturb the corpses or any of these drums," he said. "Only qualified experts should be doing that. And we're far too far for any helicopters to bring specialists out here and there's nowhere for any planes to land. I suggest we tow the ship towards the nearest landfall and ask for some ocean-going tugs to take it from there."
Scott nodded. "Sounds like a plan," he said. "John, could you contact the closest port to our position and see if they can send us some tugs?"
"I can," John replied. "But it could take them hours to reach you."
"Exactly why we're going to tow it as far as we can so that they can then take over," Virgil said. He used his wrist controller to call Thunderbird 2. "You going to stay aboard, Scott?"
Scott activated his jetpack. "Nooo way!" he said. "I don't want to spend another second aboard this creepy old ship, thank you very much." And with that he zoomed back to Thunderbird 1.
Virgil guided Thunderbird 2 around to the front of the ship. He opened the hatch at the base of the module and used the targeting computer to try and lock onto the ship - which didn't work as the ship still wasn't registering on any of the computers. So instead he had to get Scott to guide him into the correct position so he could lower a grapple.
"Back a little, Thunderbird 2," Scott said. "Left two degrees. That should do it. Try grabbing now."
Virgil pressed a button and the clamp attached itself to the ship's bow. "Got her," he said. "Commencing towage."
Increasing power to Thunderbird 2's engines gradually, Virgil was careful to ensure that he didn't put too much tension on the bow of the ship. The last thing they wanted to do was damage it in a way that it would break apart. Once the cable was taught, Thunderbird 2 took the strain. Slowly but surely Scott saw a small bow wave appear at the front of the ship with a tiny wake appearing at the stern.
"That's it, Thunderbird 2," Scott said encouragingly. "Easy does it, Virgil. She's moving!"
Virgil gave a small sigh of relief. He knew they were several-hundred miles from the nearest point for a rendezvous with any Ocean Tugs so towing the ship was going to be a very long job. Or so he thought.
As Thunderbird 1 followed behind, Scott kept a watchful eye on the ship when he suddenly noticed something strange. Smoke was starting to emerge from the funnel as well as one of the cargo holds. At first he thought it was engine smoke, but then realised that was impossible as the engines were still off. It soon became apparent that this was much worse than engine smoke as he then noticed flames starting to emerge from the funnel as well.
"VIRGIL! BREAK OFF!" Scott cried out. "SHE'S ON FIRE!"
Virgil wasted no time. He punched a button that released the tow-cable from Thunderbird 2. He was not a moment too soon either for as the two Thunderbirds moved away there came a thunderous explosion that completely engulfed the ship. The sky around them turned into a blinding white light forcing both the brothers to cry out and cover their faces with their hands. They also felt a horrendous shockwave that sent both their own ships spinning but they were quickly able to regain control.
Once the light had faded away and the Thunderbirds were under control again, Scott and Virgil turned them around to look at the ship. They both stared in disbelief. The cargo ship was gone. Completely vanished. There was no wreckage or corpses in the water. In fact, the water was a complete flat calm. There was nothing to suggest that a ship had even been there at all. The only thing they could see however was a cloud of black smoke hovering over the spot where the ship had been. And whilst Scott couldn't be sure, he thought he saw the top of the cloud shape upwards into what looked like some kind of spiritual wraith with clawing hands which was only there for no more than two seconds before it disappeared along with the rest of the smoke.
There was a long silence before either of them spoke. Eventually it was Virgil who broke it. "Scott…what the hell just happened?"
Scott didn't answer for a moment. He was still trying to make sense of it all himself. Without saying a word, he fired Thunderbird 1's engines and raced away from the scene.
"Wait for me!" Virgil called as he set Thunderbird 2 to follow her sistership. But as he went, a thought struck him. It was a long shot, but he wanted to be sure. "See you later, Scott," he said and peeled off leaving Thunderbird 1 to carry on alone back towards Tracy Island. Scott did not acknowledge.
John, who had been listening in and had heard the explosion over the radio decided to check on his big brother. "Scott, what happened out there?" he asked. "Scott?"
Scott did not answer. He just stared blankly back at John, like he hadn't even realised that his brother's hologram was even there.
John and EOS exchanged a look. "EOS, ran a body-scan of Scott," John said. "Something's not right."
"Scanning," said EOS. It took only a few seconds. "Physically Scott is fine. But he appears to be in some kind of trance. Like he's…lost."
"Lost?" repeated John. "Lost in what?"
"I'm no doctor," EOS said. "But I'd say lost in thought."
"Or there was something with that ship that he's seen and isn't telling us," John finished.
Gordon had been carrying out a mission off the coast of the Philippines. It had been a long job so Gordon was glad to be getting a lift back to Tracy Island. He surfaced Thunderbird 4 just as Thunderbird 4 dropped the Module. It wasn't Module 4 like normal but Gordon wasn't fussed. The Pods had been moved to make room for Thunderbird 4 so all would have to do is rest in the co-pilot seat whilst Virgil piloted them back home.
"What's shakin', bacon?" Gordon asked as he entered the cockpit.
"Trouble," Virgil said shortly. He turned Thunderbird 2 around and headed off at high speed.
"Woah, easy big brother," said Gordon. "It's home time, remember?"
"Not just yet," Virgil said. "I need you to check something out for me first."
Gordon was confused. "Okay," he said. "And what would that be?"
Virgil didn't give Gordon an answer until they reached the area where the ship had been. "I'm going to drop you here," Virgil said. "All you need to do is go down to the ocean floor and see if there's a shipwreck down there."
Gordon was more confused. "If there's a shipwreck?" he asked.
"Gordon, please just do it," Virgil asked with a sigh.
Gordon gave a sigh too as he gave in. "F-A-B," he said.
After dropping the Module, Thunderbird 4 was launched. Gordon dived down several miles to the seabed and began to scan the area. "Scanners aren't picking up anything," he reported.
"It wasn't showing up on any of ours either," Virgil replied. "On mine, Thunderbird 1's or Thunderbird 5's."
"Where is Thunderbird 1?" asked Gordon.
"Gone back to base," Virgil said. "Scott gave me the silent treatment as he left."
Gordon was getting more confused by the second but he continued to search.
Upon reaching the seabed, Thunderbird 4 searched around but there was nothing that Gordon could see but rocks and dirt.
"Anything, Thunderbird 4?"
"Negative, Thunderbird 2," Gordon replied. "There's no shipwrecks down here."
That was all Virgil needed to hear. "Fine. Come back up, Gordon. We need to get home."
Having recovered Thunderbird 4 and the Module, Thunderbird 2 began to make its journey back to Tracy Island at a much faster speed than normal.
Gordon had finally had enough of being left in the dark. "Virgil? What is going on here? You're acting strange. That's not like you."
"It's…complicated," Virgil said. "I doubt you'd believe me if I told you."
"Come on, Virg!" Gordon said, annoyed. "You wouldn't have done this if not for a very good reason. I'm not gonna laugh at something in a potential situation unless you handled a ghost ship or something?"
Virgil was silent for a moment. "That's just it," he said. "I have a feeling what Scott and I encountered was a ghost ship."
Gordon blinked. "Wait, what?!"
"The ship was real enough for me and Scott to stand on," Virgil explained. "The entire crew was dead and its cargo was some kind of dangerous chemical. We couldn't figure out what. It also didn't register on any of our scanning equipment. Then when we tried to tow it away it suddenly exploded. When we turned back it had completely gone except for some smoke. And now you have confirmed that there was no shipwreck. How do you explain any of that?"
Gordon had to admit that he could not. Part of him wanted to laugh and say to Virgil that he was being silly, but to see the look in Virgil's eyes and to hear the tone of his voice, he got the impression that what he was saying had a strong element of truth in it.
After landing back on Tracy Island, Virgil and Gordon went to the lounge where they found a rather concerned-looking Jeff along with Grandma, Brains, Kayo and Alan. John was there as well having come down from Thunderbird 5.
"Boys," said Jeff, rising from his desk seat. He then walked over and put his hands on Virgil's shoulders. "Virgil, what exactly happened out there?"
"I presume John has filled you in?" Virgil asked.
"On that he picked up a strange Morse code distress call and then sent you to provide back-up for Scott?" Jeff asked. "Yes. and it's not escaped my attention that it's taken you a lot longer to bring Gordon and Thunderbird 4 back here than it should have done. What were you doing?"
Virgil sighed. "We went back to the site where the ship had been," Virgil said. "I sent Gordon down to see if there was any wreck on the ocean floor."
"But there wasn't," Gordon said. "Nothing at all."
Virgil then noticed someone was absent. "Where's Scott?" he asked.
"In his room," said Kayo.
"He went straight there as soon as he got back," added Alan. "He hasn't said a word or come out since."
"And by the look on his face, something's very wrong with him," finished Grandma.
Virgil's stomach churned. "I thought something was up after that ship exploded," he said. "The last thing he said was to warn me to detach from the vessel. It was then that it blew up."
"We need to talk to him," said Jeff. "He needs to tell us what happened out there."
"Good luck with that," said Alan. "He's not answered any of our attempts to get him to even open his door."
"Then that changes now," said Jeff sternly.
Jeff led the way up to the bedrooms in the villa. They reached Scott's and Virgil knocked on the door. "Scott? It's Virgil. Are you in there, bro?" There was no response.
Jeff now spoke up. "Scott, it's your Dad. Open up. We need to talk, son." There was still no response. "Brains?"
Brains didn't like to do this, but he knew there was no other way. He used a special key-card to unlock the door and then he pushed it open. Scott was indeed in the room. He was sat on his bed with his back facing them. He was still in his uniform which was very unusual. Normally the first thing any of them did when getting back from a mission was to remove their uniform and take a shower. Scott hadn't, which told them something was very wrong.
Jeff cautiously walked in and around the bed followed by Virgil. As they looked round at Scott's face, they could see he was still staring blankly out towards the window and at the open sea. He looked disturbed.
"Scott?" Jeff asked. "Are you okay, son?" Scott still did not respond. So Jeff bent down and placed a hand on his eldest son's shoulder. "Scott. Do you hear me, my boy?"
The presence of Jeff's hand seemed to break Scott out of the daze he'd been in up until now. He slowly turned his head to face his father, and Jeff saw something in his blue eyes that he'd never noticed in any of his sons before - blind terror. Scott's lip trembled. "D-D-D-D-D-D-D-Dad…" he stammered. And then he threw his arms around Jeff and burst into tears, much to the shock of everyone.
Having finally been broken out of his disturbed trance and once he'd been cleaned up and calmed down, Scott was finally able to bring himself to tell everyone about what he had seen.
"Did you see it, Virgil?" Scott asked once he'd finished. "That thing in the smoke?"
"Thing in the smoke?" Virgil asked. "No, I can't say I did. What did it look like?"
"Some kind of phantom or wraith," Scott said, trying his best not to sound too frightened. "It rose up from the cloud moments before the cloud dispersed and it went along with it."
Everyone was silent. Normally they'd have rebuked a tale such as this, but to see the way Scott was told them that he couldn't be making it up. However, they knew that without Virgil confirming that he'd seen it too, they could only take Scott's word for it.
Jeff finally spoke up. "Boys, I'm afraid I don't have any answers for you as to what this mysterious ship could be. But it's clear to me that you've encountered something that nobody has ever encountered before or could possibly have even begun to imagine. Maybe it was a ship from the past - lost and now found by you before disappearing again, perhaps forever. Maybe it was something else. I guess we'll never know."
"Do we make a report about this?" asked Alan.
Jeff shook his head. "No, Gordon," he said. "I for one don't doubt what Scott, Virgil and John have been telling us. But do you think anybody outside of this room or immediate family would believe us?"
"It's p-possible, Mr Tracy," Brains piped in. "Have any of you h-heard of the Ourang Medan?"
"The Ourang Medan?" said Gordon. "Jeepers, why didn't I think of that?!"
"I've never heard of it," said Kayo.
"The name sounds familiar," said Virgil. "But I thought it was just a myth?"
"Well it c-could be, Virgil," said Brains. "Nobody knows for s-sure about the case. But the m-more I think about it, the d-details and events of w-what you, S-Scott and John have described sound v-very similar to a report I once r-read about a ship called the Ourang M-Medan."
"What's the connection?" asked Alan.
"Well for starters the SOS that J-John picked up has the same words as w-what the Ourang Medan sent," Brains explained. "A r-rescue ship found it with all the c-crew dead and when they tried to s-salvage it, the ship exploded and sank without a t-trace."
"Also, there is serious doubt as to whether such a ship even existed," added Gordon. "Nobody could find the name Ourang Medan listed on any port manifest or was even a registered name."
"Which suggests that it was p-perhaps involved in something bad," Brains said. "The dangerous t-toxic chemicals could have been a p-part of some secret g-government project or a s-smuggling ring."
"Yet nobody other than those on the rescue ship that found it has ever reported a sighting of it since," said Gordon. "In other words, Scott, Virg, you're the first people to have seen the Ourang Medan in over a century! How cool is that?"
But Scott and Virgil didn't share Gordon's enthusiasm. Nor did anyone else for that matter.
"Regardless of what they saw out there," Jeff said sternly, "this incident will remain unreported and will not be spoken off outside this island. Understood?"
Everyone nodded in agreement, Gordon reluctantly.
Jeff then spoke to Scott. "Scott, I know this is going to be tough, but I feel it's best that you do your best to try and forget this mission ever happened. It won't be easy for you, I understand. Take a few days off to get some rest if you would like, but I'd rather you be fit and well with a focused mind before going out on another mission."
Scott silently agreed and nodded. He knew his father was right. He couldn't let this bother him and stop him from performing his duty as a member of International Rescue. But he also knew that from that day on until whenever he would reach his last days, that at some times, he would never forget the day that encountered the Ship of the Dead.
THE END
