Chapter 17 What was Lost is Found
"Th-this isn't just f-food p-poisoning." Brains muttered half to himself. His arm was throbbing, his head felt like it had detached itself from his neck and his gut roiled constantly.
Marie tossed more wood onto the fire and peered into the gloom of predawn. "That cat is gone...Oh lord! Virgil!" For a woman negotiating on soft sand with one real leg and a makeshift crutch she found herself moving desperately fast over the ground to the stream.
Gordon was circling the island carefully, looking for signs of life or maybe even signs of death. He wasn't ready to believe that three bodies lay in the rubble of the volcanic cone. The waters were murky and disturbed showing that the implosion had its affect on the ocean ecology. The little flying probe was running out of fuel, he would have to bring it in or lose it. Father would throw a fit over him losing important equipment. Then again, maybe not. Gordon sighed and wiped at a tear that dribbled down his face. This hurt, losing Virgil, his good friend Brains, and even the unknown Miss Ryker.
A small blip of heat appeared on the probe screen. With almost numb fingers Gordon manipulated the little probe around to pinpoint what seemed to be signs of life. Three. No five heat spots. One was moving and the rest were still. He tried for another pass, but the little probe gave a gasp and flopped out of the sky. His mind analyzed the situation, someone alive. The one signal had been hot enough for a fire. His hands danced over the controls coaxing speed out of the submarine. He almost instinctively steered through coral reefs to a beach shimmering in the pre-dawn light. The sight of a fire and a primitive shelter on the beach made his heart pound and his mouth go dry. He decided to beach the craft, it wasn't standard ops, but this wasn't a standard operations, this was family!
Even though she was intent on her kill, natural caution had kept one ear cocked for other noises, so the hasty intrusion of Marie caused the cat to leap to one side rather than straight at Virgil. Marie's own momentum carried her headlong into the stream. Virgil had also leapt for the water and snagged her arm and pulled her into the middle of the stream. The cat screamed.
"Oh n-n-oo." Brains groaned as the shadowy figure approached. His mind spun helplessly. Did the cat get Virgil or Marie? Was it coming for him?
"Brains! You are alive - sort of." Gordon knelt over him, his hands running efficiently over his body, checking for injuries. He held him as spasms shook the scientist's body.
"Vir-Vir-virgil's..." Brain's eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out. Gordon laid him carefully on his side and swept his gaze around the area. Footprints and strange tracks, including that of a large cat were around the primitive site.
"C'mon Virgil. You gotta be here." Gordon felt his mouth dry and his heart beat beating in his ears. It was a miracle to find them and he would be finding them alive - he hoped. He fell back on the first rule of rescue, assess the situation. Brains seemed more ill than hurt, he had noticed the arm in a sling and the reaction to injured ribs. Leaving an unconscious victim was always risky, but finding Virgil and Marie Ryker before the predator did was also important.
As if answering his decision he heard a scream from not too far away. It was horrible and shrill and sounded as if a woman had been torn limb from limb.
The cat screamed her defiance. These creatures had disturbed her world for too long. She hesitated at the edge of the swiftly running water - her natural reluctance to enter the wet the stuff was being overridden by the need to attack.
Marie and Virgil hung on to each other in midstream eyes nailed on the jungle cat pacing the bank of the river growling and screaming. Their grips on each other tightened despite shivering and stomachs rebelling violently.
"V-virgil." Marie's teeth were chattering and she swallowed convulsively. "I-I-" Whatever she was going to say was interrupted by a shout as a blue clad young man came running towards them.
"Hey!! Get out of there! Shoo!" He yelled and the cat screamed her defiance one last blood-curdling time and shot into the jungle with her ears back and fur standing on end.
Gordon plunged into the water and pulled both of them towards the bank.
"Gords?" Virgil grinned weakly. "Shoo?" He then doubled over with a groan into a grinding stomach cramp, the thin contents of his stomach drooling out of his mouth.
"We have food poisoning." Marie tried to explain. "Ate some wild pig. Brains is at our shelter. Oh, lord, here we go again." Just as Virgil was beginning to recover some, Marie began retching.
"Take Marie first." Virgil looked far too pale and shaky, but Gordon nodded and picked up the moaning young woman carried to the little camp. He spared a moment to check on Brains who had his eyes open but was pretty much out of it. He then carried the young woman straight to Thunderbird 4 which was parked on the tideline. He then went back for his brother who had managed to crawl or stumble part of the way to meet him. "Okay big guy." Gordon hefted him into a fireman's carry to be rewarded with Virgil vomiting down his back. "Virg!"
Virgil was then left at the campsite and Brains carried to the Thunderbird. There were only two small cots in the submersible. Gordon figured his brother wouldn't even notice that his place was on the deck.
By the time he got Virgil into the now cramped quarters of Thunderbird 4 his rescued passenger had been sick several more times. He keyed in the fresh air blowers and turned on his radio.
"Thunderbird 4 to base and all Thunderbirds! I found them! They are alive, but sick and injured!" Throwing away all radio protocol he laughed. "They are alive! Brains, Virgil, and Miss Ryker!"
"Gordon! Are you sure?" Scott's voice was the one he heard first. Then John's and Alan's overlapping them in bursts of questions and exclamations of surprise and emotion.
"Settle down boys." Jeff Tracy couldn't keep the jubilation out of his voice, but his words restored order. "Now, Gordon tell me their condition."
"Alive!" Gordon couldn't help but blurt out again and then he coughed. "Brains seems to have an injured arm, maybe a dislocation. I didn't feel a break. Some ribs are busted too." He glanced at his passengers who were moaning quietly.
"Miss Ryker said they had food poisoning, some kind of pork. All three are throwing up and have severe cramps." Gordon broke off as Brains body teetered on the edge of his bunk. He dashed over just in time to catch the man and a load of vomit on his front.
"Look Gordon, you have to get as much fluids in them as possible if they are still conscious." Jeff ordered. "And get yourself to the nearest hospital. Alan?"
"Already on it Father. The nearest hospital is in Sierra Norte, but I'm afraid it is only a small village hospital, they will need to be taken to San Diego for proper treatment. Gordon can be there in six hours if he pushes it."
"Brains has already passed out once on me and doesn't look so good, matter of fact none of them do." Gordon reported as he reversed the craft off the beach and instead of throttling up quickly as he usually did, he pulled gently into the waves.
"I could rendezvous with you in about three hours and then pick up Thunderbird 4 and we could be in San Diego within an hour." Scott offered. He had already turned Thunderbird 2 around and was pushing it up to full throttle. The large engines whined in protest, but Scott continued the acceleration, his mouth set in determination.
"Th-this isn't just f-food p-poisoning." Brains muttered half to himself. His arm was throbbing, his head felt like it had detached itself from his neck and his gut roiled constantly.
Marie tossed more wood onto the fire and peered into the gloom of predawn. "That cat is gone...Oh lord! Virgil!" For a woman negotiating on soft sand with one real leg and a makeshift crutch she found herself moving desperately fast over the ground to the stream.
Gordon was circling the island carefully, looking for signs of life or maybe even signs of death. He wasn't ready to believe that three bodies lay in the rubble of the volcanic cone. The waters were murky and disturbed showing that the implosion had its affect on the ocean ecology. The little flying probe was running out of fuel, he would have to bring it in or lose it. Father would throw a fit over him losing important equipment. Then again, maybe not. Gordon sighed and wiped at a tear that dribbled down his face. This hurt, losing Virgil, his good friend Brains, and even the unknown Miss Ryker.
A small blip of heat appeared on the probe screen. With almost numb fingers Gordon manipulated the little probe around to pinpoint what seemed to be signs of life. Three. No five heat spots. One was moving and the rest were still. He tried for another pass, but the little probe gave a gasp and flopped out of the sky. His mind analyzed the situation, someone alive. The one signal had been hot enough for a fire. His hands danced over the controls coaxing speed out of the submarine. He almost instinctively steered through coral reefs to a beach shimmering in the pre-dawn light. The sight of a fire and a primitive shelter on the beach made his heart pound and his mouth go dry. He decided to beach the craft, it wasn't standard ops, but this wasn't a standard operations, this was family!
Even though she was intent on her kill, natural caution had kept one ear cocked for other noises, so the hasty intrusion of Marie caused the cat to leap to one side rather than straight at Virgil. Marie's own momentum carried her headlong into the stream. Virgil had also leapt for the water and snagged her arm and pulled her into the middle of the stream. The cat screamed.
"Oh n-n-oo." Brains groaned as the shadowy figure approached. His mind spun helplessly. Did the cat get Virgil or Marie? Was it coming for him?
"Brains! You are alive - sort of." Gordon knelt over him, his hands running efficiently over his body, checking for injuries. He held him as spasms shook the scientist's body.
"Vir-Vir-virgil's..." Brain's eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out. Gordon laid him carefully on his side and swept his gaze around the area. Footprints and strange tracks, including that of a large cat were around the primitive site.
"C'mon Virgil. You gotta be here." Gordon felt his mouth dry and his heart beat beating in his ears. It was a miracle to find them and he would be finding them alive - he hoped. He fell back on the first rule of rescue, assess the situation. Brains seemed more ill than hurt, he had noticed the arm in a sling and the reaction to injured ribs. Leaving an unconscious victim was always risky, but finding Virgil and Marie Ryker before the predator did was also important.
As if answering his decision he heard a scream from not too far away. It was horrible and shrill and sounded as if a woman had been torn limb from limb.
The cat screamed her defiance. These creatures had disturbed her world for too long. She hesitated at the edge of the swiftly running water - her natural reluctance to enter the wet the stuff was being overridden by the need to attack.
Marie and Virgil hung on to each other in midstream eyes nailed on the jungle cat pacing the bank of the river growling and screaming. Their grips on each other tightened despite shivering and stomachs rebelling violently.
"V-virgil." Marie's teeth were chattering and she swallowed convulsively. "I-I-" Whatever she was going to say was interrupted by a shout as a blue clad young man came running towards them.
"Hey!! Get out of there! Shoo!" He yelled and the cat screamed her defiance one last blood-curdling time and shot into the jungle with her ears back and fur standing on end.
Gordon plunged into the water and pulled both of them towards the bank.
"Gords?" Virgil grinned weakly. "Shoo?" He then doubled over with a groan into a grinding stomach cramp, the thin contents of his stomach drooling out of his mouth.
"We have food poisoning." Marie tried to explain. "Ate some wild pig. Brains is at our shelter. Oh, lord, here we go again." Just as Virgil was beginning to recover some, Marie began retching.
"Take Marie first." Virgil looked far too pale and shaky, but Gordon nodded and picked up the moaning young woman carried to the little camp. He spared a moment to check on Brains who had his eyes open but was pretty much out of it. He then carried the young woman straight to Thunderbird 4 which was parked on the tideline. He then went back for his brother who had managed to crawl or stumble part of the way to meet him. "Okay big guy." Gordon hefted him into a fireman's carry to be rewarded with Virgil vomiting down his back. "Virg!"
Virgil was then left at the campsite and Brains carried to the Thunderbird. There were only two small cots in the submersible. Gordon figured his brother wouldn't even notice that his place was on the deck.
By the time he got Virgil into the now cramped quarters of Thunderbird 4 his rescued passenger had been sick several more times. He keyed in the fresh air blowers and turned on his radio.
"Thunderbird 4 to base and all Thunderbirds! I found them! They are alive, but sick and injured!" Throwing away all radio protocol he laughed. "They are alive! Brains, Virgil, and Miss Ryker!"
"Gordon! Are you sure?" Scott's voice was the one he heard first. Then John's and Alan's overlapping them in bursts of questions and exclamations of surprise and emotion.
"Settle down boys." Jeff Tracy couldn't keep the jubilation out of his voice, but his words restored order. "Now, Gordon tell me their condition."
"Alive!" Gordon couldn't help but blurt out again and then he coughed. "Brains seems to have an injured arm, maybe a dislocation. I didn't feel a break. Some ribs are busted too." He glanced at his passengers who were moaning quietly.
"Miss Ryker said they had food poisoning, some kind of pork. All three are throwing up and have severe cramps." Gordon broke off as Brains body teetered on the edge of his bunk. He dashed over just in time to catch the man and a load of vomit on his front.
"Look Gordon, you have to get as much fluids in them as possible if they are still conscious." Jeff ordered. "And get yourself to the nearest hospital. Alan?"
"Already on it Father. The nearest hospital is in Sierra Norte, but I'm afraid it is only a small village hospital, they will need to be taken to San Diego for proper treatment. Gordon can be there in six hours if he pushes it."
"Brains has already passed out once on me and doesn't look so good, matter of fact none of them do." Gordon reported as he reversed the craft off the beach and instead of throttling up quickly as he usually did, he pulled gently into the waves.
"I could rendezvous with you in about three hours and then pick up Thunderbird 4 and we could be in San Diego within an hour." Scott offered. He had already turned Thunderbird 2 around and was pushing it up to full throttle. The large engines whined in protest, but Scott continued the acceleration, his mouth set in determination.