Chapter 15 Fire and Snow
"Now then Parker, this is almost cozy." Lady Penelope fed a small stick into the little fire that was the only light in the tiny hut. The wind howled around the small building making it shiver and shake. Fine particles of snow were floating around them as the storm pile drived the flakes through any tiny crack or hole in the cabin - and there seemed to be plenty of them.
Parker's response was just a shade slow in answering and accompanied by a faint sigh drowned out by the wind. "Yes m'lady. Cozy it is."
John ignored the thin bead of sweat that rolled down the side of his face. The little cockpit was beastly hot, a side affect of the complex stealth system. But, rather over warm than detected by enemy radar. As it was, he was flying so low that his shadow seemed almost the same size as the small aircraft. This was almost like playing one of Alan's vid games that he left cluttering up Thunderbird 5. The jet dipped and bobbed over dry desert landscape scaring sheep and startling lizards.
A blast of hot air from the oven caused Granny to blink rapidly as she pulled the crusty blueberry muffins out of the oven. Of course it wasn't just the heat from the old-fashioned convection oven that Jeff had especially installed for her, it was the sorrow. Children shouldn't die before their parents, and especially before their grandparents. A pair of hands on her shoulders startled her as she put the hot muffin tin on the counter.
"Mother?" Jeff gave her a hug.
"Brains' favorite." She said softly.
"I know." Jeff Tracy said sadly. "I miss them both."
Gordon played the little camera drone around the crater of the so-called dormant volcano. There was quite a lot of dust in the air and the pictures at best were grainy and distorted. Something strange about the pictures niggled at his mind. He ignored the soft split of a cold drop of water that hit his arm. Subs leaked. It was a fact of life. Scared the heck out his brothers when they realized it Virgil had actually... Gordon took in a sharp breath. He spotted the anomoly and reached for the radio.
Scott stripped off the ice rimed mitten with his teeth, instantly numbing his lips and causing his teeth to ache. Thunderbird 2 was sitting on top of one the biggest icebergs he'd ever seen. Even the steps made to combat global warming in this century hadn't been enough to stop the gradual deterioration of the ice caps. Monsters like this one were becoming more frequent than scarce. Well, this would soon be someone else's headache and nightmare. He had put a small but efficient radar and warning beacon on the giant ice cube, necessitating a rather unpleasant and very, very cold trip outside into the biting Arctic cold. A small flashing light on the communications panel caught his eye. Maybe one of his brothers or Lady Penelope had better luck than he did...
Alan shoved the sleeve of the wooly sweater up automatically. The temperature of Thunderbird 5 was always at a constant 24 C, but he always felt a little chilled. It was also a good place to wear this particular sweater. Tintin had knit it for him two years ago. It was a labour of love in bright green with brown splotchy things that were supposed to be teddy bears. One sleeve was slightly too long and always was needing pushing up. He liked the sweater because Tin Tin knit it for him, but he didn't really want to wear it around his brothers. He got enough flack and teasing from them as it was.
He adjusted his headset and keyed in the blinking light from Thunderbird 4.
"Go ahead Gordon."
"I found something strange here. The volcano seems to have imploded rather than exploded. I'm going to do a recce around the island and look for other evidence."
"FAB Gordon. I'll let Father know."
"Roger that Alan. Thunderbird 4 out."
"Now then Parker, this is almost cozy." Lady Penelope fed a small stick into the little fire that was the only light in the tiny hut. The wind howled around the small building making it shiver and shake. Fine particles of snow were floating around them as the storm pile drived the flakes through any tiny crack or hole in the cabin - and there seemed to be plenty of them.
Parker's response was just a shade slow in answering and accompanied by a faint sigh drowned out by the wind. "Yes m'lady. Cozy it is."
John ignored the thin bead of sweat that rolled down the side of his face. The little cockpit was beastly hot, a side affect of the complex stealth system. But, rather over warm than detected by enemy radar. As it was, he was flying so low that his shadow seemed almost the same size as the small aircraft. This was almost like playing one of Alan's vid games that he left cluttering up Thunderbird 5. The jet dipped and bobbed over dry desert landscape scaring sheep and startling lizards.
A blast of hot air from the oven caused Granny to blink rapidly as she pulled the crusty blueberry muffins out of the oven. Of course it wasn't just the heat from the old-fashioned convection oven that Jeff had especially installed for her, it was the sorrow. Children shouldn't die before their parents, and especially before their grandparents. A pair of hands on her shoulders startled her as she put the hot muffin tin on the counter.
"Mother?" Jeff gave her a hug.
"Brains' favorite." She said softly.
"I know." Jeff Tracy said sadly. "I miss them both."
Gordon played the little camera drone around the crater of the so-called dormant volcano. There was quite a lot of dust in the air and the pictures at best were grainy and distorted. Something strange about the pictures niggled at his mind. He ignored the soft split of a cold drop of water that hit his arm. Subs leaked. It was a fact of life. Scared the heck out his brothers when they realized it Virgil had actually... Gordon took in a sharp breath. He spotted the anomoly and reached for the radio.
Scott stripped off the ice rimed mitten with his teeth, instantly numbing his lips and causing his teeth to ache. Thunderbird 2 was sitting on top of one the biggest icebergs he'd ever seen. Even the steps made to combat global warming in this century hadn't been enough to stop the gradual deterioration of the ice caps. Monsters like this one were becoming more frequent than scarce. Well, this would soon be someone else's headache and nightmare. He had put a small but efficient radar and warning beacon on the giant ice cube, necessitating a rather unpleasant and very, very cold trip outside into the biting Arctic cold. A small flashing light on the communications panel caught his eye. Maybe one of his brothers or Lady Penelope had better luck than he did...
Alan shoved the sleeve of the wooly sweater up automatically. The temperature of Thunderbird 5 was always at a constant 24 C, but he always felt a little chilled. It was also a good place to wear this particular sweater. Tintin had knit it for him two years ago. It was a labour of love in bright green with brown splotchy things that were supposed to be teddy bears. One sleeve was slightly too long and always was needing pushing up. He liked the sweater because Tin Tin knit it for him, but he didn't really want to wear it around his brothers. He got enough flack and teasing from them as it was.
He adjusted his headset and keyed in the blinking light from Thunderbird 4.
"Go ahead Gordon."
"I found something strange here. The volcano seems to have imploded rather than exploded. I'm going to do a recce around the island and look for other evidence."
"FAB Gordon. I'll let Father know."
"Roger that Alan. Thunderbird 4 out."