John and Alan we chatting quietly, anticipating spending some rare time
together in the next month. Of all the five brothers, these two were the
least close. But it was just because of the circumstances surrounding
their jobs. They were going to enjoy the next month. They were snapped
out of their idle chatter by a frantic call from Scott.
"John, Alan, get back to Thunderbird 5 ASAP! There as been an explosion and communications have been lost."
"An explosion." Alan said. "What could possible explode on TB5?"
John was already concentrating on turning TB3 around and racing back to the satellite. When they ferried back and forth between base and TB5, they did not use full afterburners, it was a waste of too much fuel. The average time one way was generally 2-3 hours and they have been homeward bound for about an hour. But if John kicked it up to full speed, he could be back at TB5 in about 30 minutes. He powered on full and punched it.
At base, when Scott saw Virgil's portrait go blank after seeing a fraction of the explosion, he immediately contacted TB3 to get them turned around. He then looked at Gordon. "We need to get father back here." He said. Gordon was ghost white. His father would be here right now if he hadn't planned on pulling a prank. Not that it would have prevented the explosion or really change anything other than his dad not being here. But he knew he father would be mad at not being at home during a family disaster. Gordon went to the radio that connected home base to the jet, which would be a different frequency since it was considered their 'public' life and thus open and available during Operation Cover-Up.
"Dad, come in dad, this is Gordon."
Gordon looked at Scott when he didn't get a response from his father. "Do you think they could have reached the mainland already and landed?"
Scott looked at the clock, "No, I don't think so. Maybe you just hit a pocket where radio contact is poor. Give it another try."
"Dad, come in dad, this is Gordon."
"Go ahead Gordon, what's up." Came the reply.
"Dad, you need to return immediately. There had been an explosion on TB5. We have lost contact."
Jeff asked, "Where is TB3? Was she still there? Are they on their way back there? How far away were they?"
"John and Alan were about halfway home when it happened. They already have TB3 turned around and headed back to the satellite. John is estimating that at full speed, they should be there, in." Gordon looked at his watch calculating the difference in time from when John told them ½ hour, ".about 20 minutes."
Jeff said, "I have already turned around, I will be there in little over an hour. I want an update every 15 minutes."
"Ok, dad. Gordon out."
"Thunderbird 3 from base, John, can you read me?" Scott called into the com.
"Alan here Scott, what can we do for you?"
Scott said, "I just want to know how close your are?"
"We are about 12 minutes away. We have visual on the screen but not through the viewport yet" Alan answered.
A few minutes later, Scott heard, "We can see her through the viewport, Scott. She doesn't look damaged from here."
John called to Alan, "start docking procedures, we are almost there."
"Scott, John just called for docking. I will contact you as soon as we are docked and get inside. If we have trouble getting inside, I will call first. Alan out."
The docking was fast and furious. Not something done under normal conditions. But John was very good at piloting TB3. He and Alan were almost even with the number of hours flying her. He slid her into the docking portal as precisely as William Tell shot the arrow into the apple on his son's head. Alan was the first to the door and unhatched it. When they entered, they immediately found Virgil.
Jeff's voice boomed over the radio, "Scott, Gordon, are there any updates yet? I wanted to be kept informed every 15 minutes, you're late."
Gordon got on the radio to his dad, "They are docking as we speak dad. In fact they could even be inside by now. Scott? Any news?" Gordon asked Scott while he still had Jeff on the radio.
Scott turned back to the communication link with TB3 and asked, "John, Alan, what up, what's happening? Are you inside yet, have you found Virgil? C'mon guys, let us know down here!"
Alan ran to Virgil while John used his watch com to communicate with Scott. "Scott, we found Virgil, Alan is checking him out now, call you back shortly"
Virgil was sitting with his back against the wall, knees up and arms resting on his knees. His head was back and his eyes closed. When he heard Alan call his name, then John's voice, he lifted his head up and slowly opened his eyes.
"'bout time you got back here. YOUR Thunderbird blew up in my face!" He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall.
John looked around, "What exactly blew up, Virgil?"
Without opening his eyes, he said, "I don't know. It came from the left of the console. Knocked out communications as well as me."
John walked over to the left of the communications console and found the area of trouble and began to study it. Alan who was still over Virgil noticed a small trickle of blood going down the side of his face. "Hold still Virgil, you're bleeding." Virgil sat quietly while Alan tried to find the source of the blood. "You have a hole in your head Virg." Alan said. Then John quipped, "Since when was that news?!"
Virgil opened his eyes, found what he was searching for, grabbed the baseball size piece of debris and flung it at John, getting him between the shoulders. "Hey!" John said, "Be nice or we will leave you up here alone to fix what you broke and to sew you own head up."
"well, he can't be hurt that badly if his aim was that good." Alan said. Virgil answered, "I missed, I was aiming for his head!"
Alan had already pulled down the First Aid kit and started to clean up Virgil's wound when they could hear John, "hmmm, uh huh. Mmmm. ohhhh, I see. Hmmmmm". Virgil looked over to John, "What are you 'um-humming about, John? Find out what happened?"
"Virg, hold still, I need to get a good look at this cut." Alan scolded.
John answered Virgil, "well, this is only a preliminary find, but oxygen tank #7 blew. I don't know why yet. But you are lucky. If it had blown towards any of the other tanks, it would have set off a chain reaction. I had better let Brains know of this weakness. We also need to find out why this tank just blew on it's own. You didn't do anything did you Virg?"
"I wasn't here long enough to do anything. I was just checking in with Scott when it blew. SCOTT?! Has anyone contacted him yet? God, he probably thinks I am floating out in space somewhere." Virgil said.
"Base from John, come in Scott."
"Scott, here. How's Virgil, is he ok. What happened, did you find out what blew?" Scott said, then turning to Gordon, "Get dad on the radio, and you can update him as we find out."
John said, "We found Virgil. He's got a gash on his scalp..uh Alan, is he hurt anywhere else?...ok,. Scott we don't know if he is hurt anywhere else, but he is conscience and awake and sitting up. In fact we found him sitting up against the wall. Looks like an oxygen tank exploded. Communications between TB5 and base has been affected. I think some wires have just been torn loose. There is not a lot of damage. All other oxygen tanks seem ok."
Jeff who had been getting the feed from Gordon asked, "What tank number is that?"
The question was relayed to John who answered, "7".
Jeff then asked Scott through Gordon, isn't tank 7 the one that was slightly damaged in that incident up there a few months ago when TB5 was hit by a meteor? Didn't it get dented or something along those lines?"
Brains had just walked in not realizing that there was a problem up at TB5, as he had been hiding in his lab (per Gordon's instructions). "U-u-uh, yes Mr. T-t-tracy, oxygen t-t-tank #7 was damaged not t-t-too long ago. Why is there s-s-something wrong with it?"
Scott answered, "It blew up Brains, taking Virgil with it."
Brains' eyes went wide, "Is V-v-virgil ok?"
"Yes, he just has a bad gash on his head. TB5 communications are out too."
Jeff then interrupted, "Alan, bring Virgil back home. His stint up in TB5 has been shortened. Brains, go up and help John fix the damage. Scott, you go up too and take over once John and Brains are finished with the repairs. I still want John to go to the office."
Alan said, "Virgil, you ready to get up yet?"
"Yeah, I'm ok."
Alan proceeded to help Virgil on his feet when Virgil turned into a limp bag of Jell-O and fell into Alan's arms. "John, help me get Virgil into TB3. He's dead weight, quick before I drop him!"
"John, Alan, get back to Thunderbird 5 ASAP! There as been an explosion and communications have been lost."
"An explosion." Alan said. "What could possible explode on TB5?"
John was already concentrating on turning TB3 around and racing back to the satellite. When they ferried back and forth between base and TB5, they did not use full afterburners, it was a waste of too much fuel. The average time one way was generally 2-3 hours and they have been homeward bound for about an hour. But if John kicked it up to full speed, he could be back at TB5 in about 30 minutes. He powered on full and punched it.
At base, when Scott saw Virgil's portrait go blank after seeing a fraction of the explosion, he immediately contacted TB3 to get them turned around. He then looked at Gordon. "We need to get father back here." He said. Gordon was ghost white. His father would be here right now if he hadn't planned on pulling a prank. Not that it would have prevented the explosion or really change anything other than his dad not being here. But he knew he father would be mad at not being at home during a family disaster. Gordon went to the radio that connected home base to the jet, which would be a different frequency since it was considered their 'public' life and thus open and available during Operation Cover-Up.
"Dad, come in dad, this is Gordon."
Gordon looked at Scott when he didn't get a response from his father. "Do you think they could have reached the mainland already and landed?"
Scott looked at the clock, "No, I don't think so. Maybe you just hit a pocket where radio contact is poor. Give it another try."
"Dad, come in dad, this is Gordon."
"Go ahead Gordon, what's up." Came the reply.
"Dad, you need to return immediately. There had been an explosion on TB5. We have lost contact."
Jeff asked, "Where is TB3? Was she still there? Are they on their way back there? How far away were they?"
"John and Alan were about halfway home when it happened. They already have TB3 turned around and headed back to the satellite. John is estimating that at full speed, they should be there, in." Gordon looked at his watch calculating the difference in time from when John told them ½ hour, ".about 20 minutes."
Jeff said, "I have already turned around, I will be there in little over an hour. I want an update every 15 minutes."
"Ok, dad. Gordon out."
"Thunderbird 3 from base, John, can you read me?" Scott called into the com.
"Alan here Scott, what can we do for you?"
Scott said, "I just want to know how close your are?"
"We are about 12 minutes away. We have visual on the screen but not through the viewport yet" Alan answered.
A few minutes later, Scott heard, "We can see her through the viewport, Scott. She doesn't look damaged from here."
John called to Alan, "start docking procedures, we are almost there."
"Scott, John just called for docking. I will contact you as soon as we are docked and get inside. If we have trouble getting inside, I will call first. Alan out."
The docking was fast and furious. Not something done under normal conditions. But John was very good at piloting TB3. He and Alan were almost even with the number of hours flying her. He slid her into the docking portal as precisely as William Tell shot the arrow into the apple on his son's head. Alan was the first to the door and unhatched it. When they entered, they immediately found Virgil.
Jeff's voice boomed over the radio, "Scott, Gordon, are there any updates yet? I wanted to be kept informed every 15 minutes, you're late."
Gordon got on the radio to his dad, "They are docking as we speak dad. In fact they could even be inside by now. Scott? Any news?" Gordon asked Scott while he still had Jeff on the radio.
Scott turned back to the communication link with TB3 and asked, "John, Alan, what up, what's happening? Are you inside yet, have you found Virgil? C'mon guys, let us know down here!"
Alan ran to Virgil while John used his watch com to communicate with Scott. "Scott, we found Virgil, Alan is checking him out now, call you back shortly"
Virgil was sitting with his back against the wall, knees up and arms resting on his knees. His head was back and his eyes closed. When he heard Alan call his name, then John's voice, he lifted his head up and slowly opened his eyes.
"'bout time you got back here. YOUR Thunderbird blew up in my face!" He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall.
John looked around, "What exactly blew up, Virgil?"
Without opening his eyes, he said, "I don't know. It came from the left of the console. Knocked out communications as well as me."
John walked over to the left of the communications console and found the area of trouble and began to study it. Alan who was still over Virgil noticed a small trickle of blood going down the side of his face. "Hold still Virgil, you're bleeding." Virgil sat quietly while Alan tried to find the source of the blood. "You have a hole in your head Virg." Alan said. Then John quipped, "Since when was that news?!"
Virgil opened his eyes, found what he was searching for, grabbed the baseball size piece of debris and flung it at John, getting him between the shoulders. "Hey!" John said, "Be nice or we will leave you up here alone to fix what you broke and to sew you own head up."
"well, he can't be hurt that badly if his aim was that good." Alan said. Virgil answered, "I missed, I was aiming for his head!"
Alan had already pulled down the First Aid kit and started to clean up Virgil's wound when they could hear John, "hmmm, uh huh. Mmmm. ohhhh, I see. Hmmmmm". Virgil looked over to John, "What are you 'um-humming about, John? Find out what happened?"
"Virg, hold still, I need to get a good look at this cut." Alan scolded.
John answered Virgil, "well, this is only a preliminary find, but oxygen tank #7 blew. I don't know why yet. But you are lucky. If it had blown towards any of the other tanks, it would have set off a chain reaction. I had better let Brains know of this weakness. We also need to find out why this tank just blew on it's own. You didn't do anything did you Virg?"
"I wasn't here long enough to do anything. I was just checking in with Scott when it blew. SCOTT?! Has anyone contacted him yet? God, he probably thinks I am floating out in space somewhere." Virgil said.
"Base from John, come in Scott."
"Scott, here. How's Virgil, is he ok. What happened, did you find out what blew?" Scott said, then turning to Gordon, "Get dad on the radio, and you can update him as we find out."
John said, "We found Virgil. He's got a gash on his scalp..uh Alan, is he hurt anywhere else?...ok,. Scott we don't know if he is hurt anywhere else, but he is conscience and awake and sitting up. In fact we found him sitting up against the wall. Looks like an oxygen tank exploded. Communications between TB5 and base has been affected. I think some wires have just been torn loose. There is not a lot of damage. All other oxygen tanks seem ok."
Jeff who had been getting the feed from Gordon asked, "What tank number is that?"
The question was relayed to John who answered, "7".
Jeff then asked Scott through Gordon, isn't tank 7 the one that was slightly damaged in that incident up there a few months ago when TB5 was hit by a meteor? Didn't it get dented or something along those lines?"
Brains had just walked in not realizing that there was a problem up at TB5, as he had been hiding in his lab (per Gordon's instructions). "U-u-uh, yes Mr. T-t-tracy, oxygen t-t-tank #7 was damaged not t-t-too long ago. Why is there s-s-something wrong with it?"
Scott answered, "It blew up Brains, taking Virgil with it."
Brains' eyes went wide, "Is V-v-virgil ok?"
"Yes, he just has a bad gash on his head. TB5 communications are out too."
Jeff then interrupted, "Alan, bring Virgil back home. His stint up in TB5 has been shortened. Brains, go up and help John fix the damage. Scott, you go up too and take over once John and Brains are finished with the repairs. I still want John to go to the office."
Alan said, "Virgil, you ready to get up yet?"
"Yeah, I'm ok."
Alan proceeded to help Virgil on his feet when Virgil turned into a limp bag of Jell-O and fell into Alan's arms. "John, help me get Virgil into TB3. He's dead weight, quick before I drop him!"