Chapter 6: Thunderbirds Are Go!
Scott had not let Gordon out of his sight the whole morning, becoming increasingly worried that something would happen to him. Luckily for Scott, the ever-nautical Tracy was content relaxing in the pool that morning, engaging in a game of volleyball with Virgil and Tin-Tin. Scott and Alan both sat by the poolside, each relaxing with a book.
'We'll be off in a couple of hours,' Alan said suddenly, looking at his watch. 'I guess I'd better get packing.'
'Off where?' Scott asked, taking a moment to look up from his book. 'Are you going to the mainland?'
'No, I'm relieving John today, remember?'
Scott had totally forgotten. 'I thought it was tomorrow.'
'It was, originally,' Alan said, marking his place in his book. 'But I recovered quicker than expected, so Dad let me go a day early.'
This news upset Scott's plan of keeping a watchful eye on Gordon, since he would have to spend four hours in Thunderbird Three during the exchange at Thunderbird Five. Well, he consoled himself; it would only be a few hours. Then again, he knew all too well that Gordon could find ways to get into a lot of trouble in a relatively short space of time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Scott was in the lounge waiting for Alan to finish packing when Brains hurried in. 'Uh, Mr Tracy,' he said. 'W-would it b-be, ah, possible for, ah, me to accompany Alan on the j-j-journey to Thunderbird Five? You see, there is a, ah, new piece of equipment I would l-like to install.'
Jeff, who was seated at his large desk, turned to Scott and asked, 'Do you mind not going, son?'
'Mind?' Scott said, thinking it unnecessary to be asked this question. 'I don't mind at all. I mean, I just hitch a free ride into space, Brains can quite easily to do that, plus install his new equipment.' Besides, Scott thought to himself, I can keep an eye on Gordon now.
'That's settled, then. Brains, launch will take place in about one hour, assuming you can get all of your equipment ready by then.'
'Uh, y-yes, Mr Tracy,' Brains said reassuringly. 'Thank you, sir.'
'It's not a problem. Remember, none of this would be possible without your expertise, and we need all the updates in hardware we can get, if it means more lives are saved.'
Brains blushed and left quickly to prepare his apparatus.
~~
An hour later, Alan and Brains were both almost ready for the launch of Thunderbird Three. Whilst Alan quickly gathered a few containers of Grandma's home cooking, Brains explained what he aimed the new gadget to achieve.
'It's not a n-new machine, m-more of an update. When receiving an emergency c-call, this update can pinpoint the s-source of the call faster and m-more accurately than the previous version.'
'That would save a lot of time finding the exact location of the casualty,' Virgil said. 'Nice going, Brains.'
The others in the room also put in their congratulations to Brains, before it was time for he and Alan to leave for Thunderbird Five.
'See you in a month!' Alan said goodbye to the family before some minutes later, Thunderbird Three blasted off into space.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was not two hours later that the eyes of John's portrait flashed, accompanied by the familiar beeping sound.
'Go ahead, John,' Jeff said once the microphone disguised as a paperweight had risen from his desk.
'A bomb has gone off in a shopping precinct in Milan, Italy. Everyone has been evacuated except for one shop, a hairdressing salon, where the fire is uncontrollable and spreading.'
Jeff digested the information before saying, 'All right, Scott, away you go. John can fill you in on the way.'
'FAB,' Scott said, leaving via the two silver light fixtures on one wall.
'Alan and Brains left over an hour ago,' Jeff said to himself. 'We can't wait that long for them to come back. All right, Virgil, away you go.' As Virgil disappeared into the internal part of the island via the space rocket painting on the wall, Jeff turned to Gordon. 'You will be accompanying Virgil, but don't go yet,' he added, seeing Gordon about to exit the room to take the passenger lift. 'Tin-Tin?' Jeff called into the kitchen.
'Yes, Mr Tracy?'
'I would like, if it is all right with you and your father, to man Mobile Control on this rescue.'
'Certainly, Mr Tracy,' she said, running to inform her father. Some seconds later, she returned to confirm that she would be going, and then left with Gordon.
~~
As Scott piloted his Thunderbird, he tried to sort through the thoughts and emotions about the dream, which were jumbled up inside him like toys thrown haphazardly into a toy box when your mother told to clean your room. He thought about how he could change one of the elements of his dream, which would hopefully in turn change the end result. He wondered whether perhaps if he himself was on Thunderbird Three and not at the rescue site, none of the other events leading to Gordon's possible, dare he think it, death would happen. But, on the other hand, he would much rather be present if anything did happen to Gordon, so he would be there to help him.
The thought that he might be obsessing over the dream crossed Scott's mind, but he had seen the results of the last two premonitions and he was most certainly not going to take a chance with this one.
'Thunderbird Two from Thunderbird One, what is your ETA?'
'Thirty-one minutes,' Virgil said, before adding, 'Tin-Tin is with us, to man Mobile Control. Do you know the details of the rescue yet?'
'I'm told the map reference of the site, The Lorenzo Porticato, is 492G,773L. There are twelve people trapped upstairs inside a large salon. The fire brigades are trying to stop the fire spreading to the neighbouring building, a café, but they aren't having much luck.'
'What's the structure of the section like?' Tin-Tin said, imagining that the roof of the walkway, which would probably be glass, would be fairly high.
'The arcade itself is a T-shape. The salon is on one corner, but the top end of the 'T' has been blocked off by debris. There is a gap, I'm told, which should hopefully be large enough to get the Firefly through. The walkways are under cover, and some debris from the roof is still falling, although the authorities are working to temporarily fix this.'
'Understood, Scott. How long before you arrive?'
'Seven minutes, so by the time you guys arrive, I should have Mobile Control set up.'
'FAB Scott, see you soon.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Scott had not let Gordon out of his sight the whole morning, becoming increasingly worried that something would happen to him. Luckily for Scott, the ever-nautical Tracy was content relaxing in the pool that morning, engaging in a game of volleyball with Virgil and Tin-Tin. Scott and Alan both sat by the poolside, each relaxing with a book.
'We'll be off in a couple of hours,' Alan said suddenly, looking at his watch. 'I guess I'd better get packing.'
'Off where?' Scott asked, taking a moment to look up from his book. 'Are you going to the mainland?'
'No, I'm relieving John today, remember?'
Scott had totally forgotten. 'I thought it was tomorrow.'
'It was, originally,' Alan said, marking his place in his book. 'But I recovered quicker than expected, so Dad let me go a day early.'
This news upset Scott's plan of keeping a watchful eye on Gordon, since he would have to spend four hours in Thunderbird Three during the exchange at Thunderbird Five. Well, he consoled himself; it would only be a few hours. Then again, he knew all too well that Gordon could find ways to get into a lot of trouble in a relatively short space of time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Scott was in the lounge waiting for Alan to finish packing when Brains hurried in. 'Uh, Mr Tracy,' he said. 'W-would it b-be, ah, possible for, ah, me to accompany Alan on the j-j-journey to Thunderbird Five? You see, there is a, ah, new piece of equipment I would l-like to install.'
Jeff, who was seated at his large desk, turned to Scott and asked, 'Do you mind not going, son?'
'Mind?' Scott said, thinking it unnecessary to be asked this question. 'I don't mind at all. I mean, I just hitch a free ride into space, Brains can quite easily to do that, plus install his new equipment.' Besides, Scott thought to himself, I can keep an eye on Gordon now.
'That's settled, then. Brains, launch will take place in about one hour, assuming you can get all of your equipment ready by then.'
'Uh, y-yes, Mr Tracy,' Brains said reassuringly. 'Thank you, sir.'
'It's not a problem. Remember, none of this would be possible without your expertise, and we need all the updates in hardware we can get, if it means more lives are saved.'
Brains blushed and left quickly to prepare his apparatus.
~~
An hour later, Alan and Brains were both almost ready for the launch of Thunderbird Three. Whilst Alan quickly gathered a few containers of Grandma's home cooking, Brains explained what he aimed the new gadget to achieve.
'It's not a n-new machine, m-more of an update. When receiving an emergency c-call, this update can pinpoint the s-source of the call faster and m-more accurately than the previous version.'
'That would save a lot of time finding the exact location of the casualty,' Virgil said. 'Nice going, Brains.'
The others in the room also put in their congratulations to Brains, before it was time for he and Alan to leave for Thunderbird Five.
'See you in a month!' Alan said goodbye to the family before some minutes later, Thunderbird Three blasted off into space.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was not two hours later that the eyes of John's portrait flashed, accompanied by the familiar beeping sound.
'Go ahead, John,' Jeff said once the microphone disguised as a paperweight had risen from his desk.
'A bomb has gone off in a shopping precinct in Milan, Italy. Everyone has been evacuated except for one shop, a hairdressing salon, where the fire is uncontrollable and spreading.'
Jeff digested the information before saying, 'All right, Scott, away you go. John can fill you in on the way.'
'FAB,' Scott said, leaving via the two silver light fixtures on one wall.
'Alan and Brains left over an hour ago,' Jeff said to himself. 'We can't wait that long for them to come back. All right, Virgil, away you go.' As Virgil disappeared into the internal part of the island via the space rocket painting on the wall, Jeff turned to Gordon. 'You will be accompanying Virgil, but don't go yet,' he added, seeing Gordon about to exit the room to take the passenger lift. 'Tin-Tin?' Jeff called into the kitchen.
'Yes, Mr Tracy?'
'I would like, if it is all right with you and your father, to man Mobile Control on this rescue.'
'Certainly, Mr Tracy,' she said, running to inform her father. Some seconds later, she returned to confirm that she would be going, and then left with Gordon.
~~
As Scott piloted his Thunderbird, he tried to sort through the thoughts and emotions about the dream, which were jumbled up inside him like toys thrown haphazardly into a toy box when your mother told to clean your room. He thought about how he could change one of the elements of his dream, which would hopefully in turn change the end result. He wondered whether perhaps if he himself was on Thunderbird Three and not at the rescue site, none of the other events leading to Gordon's possible, dare he think it, death would happen. But, on the other hand, he would much rather be present if anything did happen to Gordon, so he would be there to help him.
The thought that he might be obsessing over the dream crossed Scott's mind, but he had seen the results of the last two premonitions and he was most certainly not going to take a chance with this one.
'Thunderbird Two from Thunderbird One, what is your ETA?'
'Thirty-one minutes,' Virgil said, before adding, 'Tin-Tin is with us, to man Mobile Control. Do you know the details of the rescue yet?'
'I'm told the map reference of the site, The Lorenzo Porticato, is 492G,773L. There are twelve people trapped upstairs inside a large salon. The fire brigades are trying to stop the fire spreading to the neighbouring building, a café, but they aren't having much luck.'
'What's the structure of the section like?' Tin-Tin said, imagining that the roof of the walkway, which would probably be glass, would be fairly high.
'The arcade itself is a T-shape. The salon is on one corner, but the top end of the 'T' has been blocked off by debris. There is a gap, I'm told, which should hopefully be large enough to get the Firefly through. The walkways are under cover, and some debris from the roof is still falling, although the authorities are working to temporarily fix this.'
'Understood, Scott. How long before you arrive?'
'Seven minutes, so by the time you guys arrive, I should have Mobile Control set up.'
'FAB Scott, see you soon.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~