Just as John spotted Virgil, he could hear the roar of familiar engines.
TB1!! SCOTT'S OUTSIDE! "I have to find a way to contact him, let him know
we're alive." John thought. He frantically searched about for any
communications device. He couldn't get inside the Mole in time, the Roller
was on the other side of the Mole, and the emergency kits were either
buried or on the other side of the Mole. His eyes drifted to the hole that
the Mole's auger made in the bottom of the pod. It was larger than the
auger itself. Light could be seen through the edges. John quickly shone
the flashlight at the auger-made hole. He concentrated the light all around
the edge of the hole praying that Scott would look at the bottom of TB2.
"Please Scott, please look at the pod" thought John.
Scott was lifting off in TB1. He still had his view window open and was looking at the wreck of Thunderbird 2. He hovered there for a moment, staring at the carnage. He hated leaving. He knew he would be back, but something was telling him to stay. The auger sticking out of her belly was a sickening sight.
He hovered a moment longer, let out a deep sigh, a pushed TB1 into forward mode at full speed.
Scott was leaving! "SCOTT!!!" yelled John. "COME BACK, WE'RE HERE!!" John knew that Scott would not be able to hear him, but he still had to cry out. "PLEASE COME BACK. SCOTT! SCOTT!"
But he could hear the engines fading.
"SCOTT, DON'T LEAVE US, WE'RE ALIVE, DON'T LEAVE US!!" John screamed as the sound of the powerful TB1 engines faded away.
Why did Scott leave? He never leaves the scene of a rescue. He should be setting up the Mobile Command Unit and organizing the rescue of his own brothers. John collapsed and heaved a big sigh, tears in his eyes. He felt so helpless.
Scott pushed Thunderbird 1 to her fullest speed. At one point he found that he was over the 15,000 MPH that was supposed to be her top speed. "Must be a tail wind." he thought. But he did not let up at all. He kept that throttle at full until he was within reach of Tracy Island. Only then did he slow her down.
As Jeff reached for the written list of items that Brains thought could fit onto TB1, he could hear her engines. "Gordon, Brains, let's go to TB2's hanger and go through the pods and gather all of the items on this list. I want to be loading TB1 while Scott is doing all his post and pre flight checks. I want this done in record time." Jeff said. Gordon and Brains chimed in together "You don't have to tell us twice". Brains continued "U-uh M-M-Mr. Tracy, I w-w-wanted to bring other p-p- pieces of equipment, b-b-but either it w-w-was too b-b-big for TB1 or it is in, it is in," he had a hard time saying "it is inside the pod that TB2 has right now."
"That's ok Brains. I know we won't have any heavy equipment available to use, but we were able to still rescue people before you came up with a lot of these machines. We will just have to do it again" Jeff reassured.
Jeff tore the list into three pieces and divvied it up amongst the three of them. "Ok, let's go" he said.
Scott was just bringing TB1 into her hanger when he saw Gordon standing to the side with some very manual tools. He had in his arms pick axes and shovels. There were more sophisticated pieces of equipment coming but nothing beats a good basic tool as backup.
Scott got out of TB1 and walked over to Gordon and asked, "what can I help with?". Gordon replied, "nothing, you should be doing your post flight now and then start your pre-test flight so that we can get underway. Dad, Brains and myself each have a piece of the list Brains wrote up and we are gathering all the tools that will fit on TB1."
"Sounds like you have it all set. I'll get back into TB1 and do the post and pre-flight checks now. Do you know where to put all this stuff?" Scott asked. "We will be putting it into every nook and cranny that TB1 has. She is going to be splitting at the seems by the time we're done" quipped Gordon. Scott gave a quick smile and headed back inside TB1. Gordon proceeded to open lockers, and cabinets, removing things that he didn't think would be needed for this particular rescue and stuffing items from the list in there. At one point it looked like a busy anthill with the three men going in and out of TB1 bringing items in, coming out empty and bringing more in.
Scott had finished all the flight checks, Gordon and Brains were just finishing packing the last of their goodies somewhere on the ship and Jeff was in the lounge talking to Alan. "We're off, son. We will be communicating with you from TB1 or the Mobile Command Unit. How are you doing? Jeff said. Alan responded, not knowing if his dad meant "how was he doing with his assignments or how he was doing emotionally", so he answered both "Emotionally, I'm holding it at bay. I located Tin-tin and Grandma and asked them to come home. I told them that there was some bad news, but I didn't want to tell them how bad. So they are worried, but they will make it back home more easily than if they knew just how bad the situation was. I haven't gotten any leads yet on the call that sent Virg and John to that site, but I am working on that. I am pouring my heart and soul into that". "Good boy, son. It was a good idea to let Grandma and Tin-tin know that there is a bad situation. And I know with your tenacity that you will find the origin of that call. Base out" closed Jeff.
Jeff checked the radar for any planes in the immediate area, but truthfully, he really didn't care at this point if anyone found out about International Rescue. He couldn't think beyond just getting to the downed Thunderbird 2. He looked around the lounge, checked his desk, felt like he was missing something as he as never left Base during a rescue, then left.
Jeff was the last to strap in. The pool was still open; it had never been closed after Scott landed. "Everybody strapped in?" Scott asked? Three affirmative answers were returned. Scott set the sleek ship back into the air, and pushed her back up to full throttle to get to the crash site as fast as possible. He wondered how the others were going to react when they first see Thunderbird 2. It is one thing to say what it looked like; it is another story to actually see her. He was worried about his dad. He knows that he felt a sharp pain in his own chest when he watched the scene unfold before him. And even though Jeff does not have a history of health problems, he was still worried.
Tin-tin and Grandma landed minutes after TB1 departed. Tin-tin ran into the lounge as Grandma walked as fast as she could. By the time Grandma entered the lounge, Tin-tin had Alan on the com. "Grandma, Tin-tin, please sit down" Alan solemnly said. They both sat down on the TB3 sofa, holding hands. They feared it was very bad. Alan continued, "There was an explosion". The women gasped, holding on to each other tighter. "Thunderbird 2 was involved. The explosion apparently sent her spiraling uncontrollably for about a mile. She is heavily damaged. We have no contact with either Virgil or John. We don't know if they are alive or not." Both women were crying now, holding each other in each other's arms. "Dad, Gordon and Brains figured out what rescue equipment would fit on TB1 and they left just minutes ago. They should be back at the crash site in less than an hour." His heart was breaking watching his grandmother crying so hard. He wished he could be there to comfort her. But he did not want to tell her the news that the explosion was probably done on purpose. He couldn't, not yet. Alan said "Grandma, I wish I could be down there with you. I love you". She looked up at the screen, her eyes soaked with tears, unable to speak, and just nodded a 'yes'. Tin-tin let go of Mrs. Tracy and got up. She has some special teas that were especially soothing. Something to take the edge off of this terrible news. So she went into the kitchen to make some for the two of them.
"Hey Jerry, did you hear that?" said Walt as he sat in the chair in front of his hardware store. Jerry, owner of the farm store next door replied, "Yeah, felt it too. It shook the ground something fierce". Hogs Hollow was a sleepy little town 30 miles away from the terrible explosion. Its Main Street was about 3 blocks long, and had a population of 514 people. Well 515 if you count the brand new baby born to Mrs. Southern this morning. Jerry and Walt were just sitting in front of their stores watching the world go by. They have done countless inventories, gone over their books a dozen times, but business just wasn't booming enough for them to have to work any harder. So this afternoon they were just killing time with chat.
"Jer, you expecting any customers, today?" asked Walt.
"Nope" came the reply. "What about you?
Walt's answer was the same,"Nope". "Feel like taking a ride over yonder to see if we can see what blew up?"
Jerry answered "Ain't nothing out that way. No buildings, no mining, nuthin."
"Well, you got anything better to do than go for a drive on a nice day?" quipped Walt.
"Ah you got me there. Who's drivin"
Walt dug into his pocket and brought out his car keys "my Jeeps all gassed up"
The two men jumped into the Jeep and headed in the general direction of the blast. Little did they know what they would find.
Scott was lifting off in TB1. He still had his view window open and was looking at the wreck of Thunderbird 2. He hovered there for a moment, staring at the carnage. He hated leaving. He knew he would be back, but something was telling him to stay. The auger sticking out of her belly was a sickening sight.
He hovered a moment longer, let out a deep sigh, a pushed TB1 into forward mode at full speed.
Scott was leaving! "SCOTT!!!" yelled John. "COME BACK, WE'RE HERE!!" John knew that Scott would not be able to hear him, but he still had to cry out. "PLEASE COME BACK. SCOTT! SCOTT!"
But he could hear the engines fading.
"SCOTT, DON'T LEAVE US, WE'RE ALIVE, DON'T LEAVE US!!" John screamed as the sound of the powerful TB1 engines faded away.
Why did Scott leave? He never leaves the scene of a rescue. He should be setting up the Mobile Command Unit and organizing the rescue of his own brothers. John collapsed and heaved a big sigh, tears in his eyes. He felt so helpless.
Scott pushed Thunderbird 1 to her fullest speed. At one point he found that he was over the 15,000 MPH that was supposed to be her top speed. "Must be a tail wind." he thought. But he did not let up at all. He kept that throttle at full until he was within reach of Tracy Island. Only then did he slow her down.
As Jeff reached for the written list of items that Brains thought could fit onto TB1, he could hear her engines. "Gordon, Brains, let's go to TB2's hanger and go through the pods and gather all of the items on this list. I want to be loading TB1 while Scott is doing all his post and pre flight checks. I want this done in record time." Jeff said. Gordon and Brains chimed in together "You don't have to tell us twice". Brains continued "U-uh M-M-Mr. Tracy, I w-w-wanted to bring other p-p- pieces of equipment, b-b-but either it w-w-was too b-b-big for TB1 or it is in, it is in," he had a hard time saying "it is inside the pod that TB2 has right now."
"That's ok Brains. I know we won't have any heavy equipment available to use, but we were able to still rescue people before you came up with a lot of these machines. We will just have to do it again" Jeff reassured.
Jeff tore the list into three pieces and divvied it up amongst the three of them. "Ok, let's go" he said.
Scott was just bringing TB1 into her hanger when he saw Gordon standing to the side with some very manual tools. He had in his arms pick axes and shovels. There were more sophisticated pieces of equipment coming but nothing beats a good basic tool as backup.
Scott got out of TB1 and walked over to Gordon and asked, "what can I help with?". Gordon replied, "nothing, you should be doing your post flight now and then start your pre-test flight so that we can get underway. Dad, Brains and myself each have a piece of the list Brains wrote up and we are gathering all the tools that will fit on TB1."
"Sounds like you have it all set. I'll get back into TB1 and do the post and pre-flight checks now. Do you know where to put all this stuff?" Scott asked. "We will be putting it into every nook and cranny that TB1 has. She is going to be splitting at the seems by the time we're done" quipped Gordon. Scott gave a quick smile and headed back inside TB1. Gordon proceeded to open lockers, and cabinets, removing things that he didn't think would be needed for this particular rescue and stuffing items from the list in there. At one point it looked like a busy anthill with the three men going in and out of TB1 bringing items in, coming out empty and bringing more in.
Scott had finished all the flight checks, Gordon and Brains were just finishing packing the last of their goodies somewhere on the ship and Jeff was in the lounge talking to Alan. "We're off, son. We will be communicating with you from TB1 or the Mobile Command Unit. How are you doing? Jeff said. Alan responded, not knowing if his dad meant "how was he doing with his assignments or how he was doing emotionally", so he answered both "Emotionally, I'm holding it at bay. I located Tin-tin and Grandma and asked them to come home. I told them that there was some bad news, but I didn't want to tell them how bad. So they are worried, but they will make it back home more easily than if they knew just how bad the situation was. I haven't gotten any leads yet on the call that sent Virg and John to that site, but I am working on that. I am pouring my heart and soul into that". "Good boy, son. It was a good idea to let Grandma and Tin-tin know that there is a bad situation. And I know with your tenacity that you will find the origin of that call. Base out" closed Jeff.
Jeff checked the radar for any planes in the immediate area, but truthfully, he really didn't care at this point if anyone found out about International Rescue. He couldn't think beyond just getting to the downed Thunderbird 2. He looked around the lounge, checked his desk, felt like he was missing something as he as never left Base during a rescue, then left.
Jeff was the last to strap in. The pool was still open; it had never been closed after Scott landed. "Everybody strapped in?" Scott asked? Three affirmative answers were returned. Scott set the sleek ship back into the air, and pushed her back up to full throttle to get to the crash site as fast as possible. He wondered how the others were going to react when they first see Thunderbird 2. It is one thing to say what it looked like; it is another story to actually see her. He was worried about his dad. He knows that he felt a sharp pain in his own chest when he watched the scene unfold before him. And even though Jeff does not have a history of health problems, he was still worried.
Tin-tin and Grandma landed minutes after TB1 departed. Tin-tin ran into the lounge as Grandma walked as fast as she could. By the time Grandma entered the lounge, Tin-tin had Alan on the com. "Grandma, Tin-tin, please sit down" Alan solemnly said. They both sat down on the TB3 sofa, holding hands. They feared it was very bad. Alan continued, "There was an explosion". The women gasped, holding on to each other tighter. "Thunderbird 2 was involved. The explosion apparently sent her spiraling uncontrollably for about a mile. She is heavily damaged. We have no contact with either Virgil or John. We don't know if they are alive or not." Both women were crying now, holding each other in each other's arms. "Dad, Gordon and Brains figured out what rescue equipment would fit on TB1 and they left just minutes ago. They should be back at the crash site in less than an hour." His heart was breaking watching his grandmother crying so hard. He wished he could be there to comfort her. But he did not want to tell her the news that the explosion was probably done on purpose. He couldn't, not yet. Alan said "Grandma, I wish I could be down there with you. I love you". She looked up at the screen, her eyes soaked with tears, unable to speak, and just nodded a 'yes'. Tin-tin let go of Mrs. Tracy and got up. She has some special teas that were especially soothing. Something to take the edge off of this terrible news. So she went into the kitchen to make some for the two of them.
"Hey Jerry, did you hear that?" said Walt as he sat in the chair in front of his hardware store. Jerry, owner of the farm store next door replied, "Yeah, felt it too. It shook the ground something fierce". Hogs Hollow was a sleepy little town 30 miles away from the terrible explosion. Its Main Street was about 3 blocks long, and had a population of 514 people. Well 515 if you count the brand new baby born to Mrs. Southern this morning. Jerry and Walt were just sitting in front of their stores watching the world go by. They have done countless inventories, gone over their books a dozen times, but business just wasn't booming enough for them to have to work any harder. So this afternoon they were just killing time with chat.
"Jer, you expecting any customers, today?" asked Walt.
"Nope" came the reply. "What about you?
Walt's answer was the same,"Nope". "Feel like taking a ride over yonder to see if we can see what blew up?"
Jerry answered "Ain't nothing out that way. No buildings, no mining, nuthin."
"Well, you got anything better to do than go for a drive on a nice day?" quipped Walt.
"Ah you got me there. Who's drivin"
Walt dug into his pocket and brought out his car keys "my Jeeps all gassed up"
The two men jumped into the Jeep and headed in the general direction of the blast. Little did they know what they would find.