'Ok Al, get ready' Gordon Tracy told his younger brother, 'they're almost set.'

Alan Tracy struggled to keep from jumping up and down in excitement, 'ahh!' he exclaimed, 'this is unreal! I just love it when Dad goes to the main land.'

Gordon grinned back, 'I know.'

Alan walked towards the desk and sat in Jeff's seat, placing his feet on Jeff's desk cheekily.

'Gordon, get me some tea, and fast.' He growled impersonating his father.

Gordon laughed, 'Get your own "Dad"!'

'Alright I'm ready', the call the two youngest Tracys had been waiting for came through.

'Ok Virg' Alan answered his older brother, 'Scott are you ready?'

'Roger that Alan' the eldest Tracy brother's voice echoed from the telecom.

'Right so here go the rules,' Alan said grinning, 'First one to do a circle of the island wins, Virg gets a ten second head start as Thunderbird Two's slower, and then you go on Gordon's second wave Scott.'

'Ha!' Virgil scoffed, arrogantly, 'I could beat Scott even if we set off at the same time, and with the pod aboard.'

Gordon and Alan exchanged smiles, Gordon leaned over the desk to talk into the microphone, 'fine Virg, if that's how you want to play it, that's fine.'

'NO! No' Virgil replied suddenly less cocky, 'that's fine, i'll take the ten second head start.'

'I thought you might see it our way.' Gordon replied with a wink at Alan.

Alan picked up the microphone and followed his aubern haired brother onto the balcony.

'Right audience, the race is about to begin, the tension is mounting, the competitors are getting nervous.....'

In Thunderbird Five, John Tracy rolled his eyes, 'and the audience are getting bored, can you hurry it along please Alan.' he said into his own transmittor.

'Silence in the audience!' Alan shouted.

Gordon giggled.

Alan continued, 'in the left corner we have Scott.....'

'Scott,Scott' Gordon cupped his hands around his mouth and echoed Alan's words.

'Fast and Furious.....'

'Fast and furious' Gordon repeated.

'Tracy!'

Alan paused for effect, while John made exaggerated ooh and aah noises into the transmittor.

'And in the right corner we have Virgil.....'

'Virgil,Virgil...'

Alan flung an irritated glance at Gordon, 'ok that's getting annoying now.'

'Hey' interrupted Virgil, mutinous, 'that's not my name.'

Alan groaned, 'in the right corner we have Virgil, rapid and resiliant...'

'rapid and resilient...'

'GORDON STOP IT!'

Gordon pouted.

'Tracy!'

John yelled out, 'go get him Virg!'

Scott spoke up, 'hey, not fair, the audience isn't allowed to be biased.'

John muttered sarcastically, 'you can do it Scott!'

'Thankyou' his brother replied pointedly.

'Can we get on with this please' Virgil said in exasperation.

Alan rambled on, 'how will these two great competitors compare audience, with such major things at stake here, who will the victor be?'

'What's at stake again?' John interrupted.

Alan was annoyed that everyone was ruining his great commentator moment, he sighed, 'John, we already went over this. The winner gets all the losers portions of Grandma's pie for a week and the loser has to ask Dad if he can reveal our identities to the world.'

All of the Tracy boys knew how passionately their father felt about keeping their annonymity.

John laughed, 'ha I'd love to see dad's face when they spring that on him, you're idea was it Gordo?'

Gordon put on a hurt voice, 'me John? How could you ever think such a thing?'

Alan interrupted, 'of course it was his idea. Now, who will win the respect of his brothers and the extra portions of Grandma's pie today.....'

'Ahh, just start the race already.' Gordon said in exasperation.

Alan glared at him and then spoke, 'ok folks, this is it, Virgil, you will go on Gordon's first wave, Scott, you will go on his second.'

The Tracys fell silent, Alan and Gordon watched Thunderbird One and Two, alongside each other, from the balcony. They were both in a position to see Gordon.

Gordon raised an arm, he held a piece of red cloth in them, he held it up for a second and then threw his arm down.

'And there goes Thunderbird two' Alan said excitedly, as Virgil shot upwards and then evened out, ' and he's keeping an even course, he's going all out today, he's gaining momentum as he moves, but will this be enough to gain him a definitive lead over thunderbird one?'

Gordon raised his arm again and then flung it down, 'well now we'll find out' Alan continued, 'here goes Thunderbird One.'

Gordon leaned over the balcony to see where Virgil was as Thunderbird one shot into the air.

'She's climbing fast, and now she's leveling off, Thunderbird Two is making his bank around the island, thunderbird one is gaining on him fast.'

Gordon and Alan ran through the lounge, out the back door and onto the opposite balcony as their elder brothers and their crafts disappeared from sight.

They peered over the balcony, 'and here they come, thunderbird one is right on thunderbird two's tale, this is going to be close, folks.'

Gordon and Alan covered their eyes as the crafts blew air into their faces and their hair stood on end,as a green blur followed by a silver one shot past.

They dashed back through the dining room and back into the lounge to get back onto the front balcony.

'And they're on the last straight now.' Alan shouted excited, 'they're nose to nose.'

'Get out of my way Scott!' Virgil's voice spoke up.

'No, you get out of my way little brother.' Scott replied.

'Oooooh fight!' Gordon said, his eyes alive with excitement.

'They're almost touching now' Alan yelled, 'this is it, it's thunderbird one, no two, no one, no two....'

Their was a silence, 'and thunderbird two wins!'

Gordon and Alan jumped up and down, thrilled that for once, Scott had lost.

John laughed up in Thunderbird Five.

Virgil performed a lap of honour, 'wahoooo!' he shouted, 'victory is mine.'

Scott growled, 'well he did have a ten second head start!'

Gordon and Alan smirked at each other, 'now now, don't be a bad loser Scott' Gordon said sarcastically.

Scott lapsed into silence, he never could handle losing, at anything!

Alan caught sight of what his brother was holding, 'hey what is that?' he asked indicating the red material in Gordon's hand.

'Oh these.' Gordon grinned evily, 'They're a pair of Tin-Tin's pants!'

Alan went bright red, 'WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH TIN-TIN'S PANTS?'

Gordon smirked, 'they were in the clean washing, we needed something to start the race with.'

Alan growled, 'god, they're Tin-Tin's personal property, give them here.' he held his hand out.

Gordon rolled his eyes and handed them over. He failed to see his younger brother slip the pants into his pocket as he left the balcony.

_______________________________________

Later that night, the family were sitting in the lounge, Alan and Gordon were playing chess while Virgil was polihing off his extra large portion of pie, looking like the cat who got the cream.

Jeff was seated at his desk, finishing some paper work.

This was how Scott found them.

He walked into the room swallowing hard, 'um Dad?'

'Yes Scott.'

The others ignored him and carried on doing their own thing.

'Um...I was just thinking, well, I um....'

'Spit it out Scott.' Jeff ordered with a frown.

'Um, I think we should disclose our identities to the world.'

Scott's comment hung in the air, Alan and Gordon looked up from the chess board.

A piece of pie fell from Virgil's fork as he stared mouth hanging open at his elder brother.

Jeff glared at Scott, 'Scott Tracy, you can not be serious! Of all the times we've spoken about this, I thought by now I'd made it clear to you, we do not need the world to know who we are!'

Alan and Gordon's eyes were creased in laughter, Virgil was shaking silently.

'I can see we need a long talk about this.' Jeff growled.

Scott hung his head, 'yes father.'

'Really Scott, I expected better from you.'

'Yes father.'

'Come on, let's go to my study and we'll discuss this further, I think there are a few home truths you need to learn young man,' he looked over at Virgil, 'Virgil, we may be a while, could you lock up before you all go to bed please.'

'Sure Dad.' Virgil said struggling to contain himself.

'Scott, come along'.

'Yes father' Scott replied throwing a murderous glance at his younger brothers as he left the room.

For a moment after they left , the room was silent, and then the lounge errupted in loud, uncontrollable laughter.