Thirteen
"Hey!" Virgil stopped suddenly. "Great! A ladder!"
Scott did not share his brother's enthusiasm. "What use is a ladder to us?"
"It leads up a ventilation shaft. Maybe it's the one that the scientists used to escape." Virgil placed Scott's hands on the ladder. "At least we'd be heading upwards away from the water. Do you think you could climb it?"
Scott brightened as he felt the distance between the rungs "I should be able to. How high is it?"
"How high's Thunderbird One?"
"115 feet."
"Slightly shorter than that."
"Oh great." Scott deadpanned. "But can you climb it one handed?"
Virgil thought for a moment. 'Can I borrow your belt?"
"Yes." Scott started to undo his belt. "Are you going to tie yours and my belts together..."
"...And make a harness." Virgil was buckling the two belts together. "That's the idea. Do you want to go up first or last?"
"I think I'd prefer to follow you. That way you can help me off when we reach the top and if you need a break I can hold onto you."
"Okay!" Virgil swung the combined belts around the ladder and his waist and buckled the ends together, leaving enough room for him to slide it up. "Let's go!"
The first ten rungs were easy to negotiate, but then Virgil hit a snag. "Hold on Scott. I've reached a brace, I'm going to have to undo the harness to get it past it."
"Be careful."
"F.A.B." Virgil said automatically.
He swung around so that he was side on to the ladder and then threaded his right leg through, between the rungs, so that he had a more secure hold. Once he knew that he would not have to use his good arm to hang on, he slipped his broken arm under the belts. Now he was fairly sure that should he lose his grip on the harness, he'd be able to stop it from falling into the corridor below.
It was difficult to undo the buckle, slide the harness up above the brace and then complete the loop again one handed, but eventually he was successful.
Before swinging back into position Virgil stopped to look down. The floor of the corridor was wet and he could see waves of water flow down the hallway. Clearly their only option now was to continue climbing. He looked up. He had four more braces to negotiate before they'd reach some form of safety. "Okay down there?" he asked Scott.
"Ready when you are."
"Right! We've got another 10 rungs before we'll have to stop again."
Scott grunted an acknowledgement. If he'd gone first he could have climbed the ladder in one go, but he would have still had to hang around until Virgil reached him before he would have been able to safely get off the top rungs. He rubbed at his eyes, wanting to tear off the bandages and reassure himself that this condition wasn't permanent. He heard Virgil move up a rung, placed his hand back on the ladder and followed suit.
***
"We've lost contact with Thunderbird Two?" Through his thick glasses Brains blinked at the blank monitor.
"Try to regain contact!" Jeff ordered.
"I am!" Frantically John was pushing buttons and pulling levers, but nothing was happening. "Brains!"
"Have you entered the reset code?" Brains asked.
"I have!" John said exasperatedly. It was the first thing he'd tried. And the second. And the third.
Brains bit his lip in thought. "John!"
"Yes Brains!"
"Reboot the computer."
"Reboot the..." John tried to make sense of this.
"Quickly John, we don't have much time." Brains ordered.
John decided that Brains knew the system better than he did. "Okay. Shutting down now."
The computer screen displayed a few numbers and then went blank. John willed it to restart. The machine clicked, whirred and beeped, before row after row of numbers scrolled across the screen as the computer ran a diagnostics check. The screen blacked out again until finally John was looking through the windows of Thunderbird Two.
He gave a whoop of joy. "It worked Brains, it worked! And we've hardly lost any altitude at all!"
"T-That's good John." Now that the tension had passed, Brains' stutter had returned. "Even th-though you lost contact, Thunderbird T-Two must have continued with it's motors operating at the same level as you had last set. W-We were lucky you had it set on a horizontal f-flight path and were n-not trying to lose height."
"I'll say." John agreed as he made a slight bearing correction.
Brains got out a notebook. "That w-will teach me for taking shortcuts and using l-last centuries computer code." He muttered to himself. "Note to me - re-revise c-code."
"Are you telling me..." Jeff asked, "that that problem was caused by a computer crash?"
"I'm afraid so, M-Mr Tracy. Something may have triggered it off..."
"Thunderbird Two was hit by lightening before we lost contact." John offered.
"...such as a bolt of lightening." Brains continued on.
"That was some power surge..."
"Hey!" Virgil stopped suddenly. "Great! A ladder!"
Scott did not share his brother's enthusiasm. "What use is a ladder to us?"
"It leads up a ventilation shaft. Maybe it's the one that the scientists used to escape." Virgil placed Scott's hands on the ladder. "At least we'd be heading upwards away from the water. Do you think you could climb it?"
Scott brightened as he felt the distance between the rungs "I should be able to. How high is it?"
"How high's Thunderbird One?"
"115 feet."
"Slightly shorter than that."
"Oh great." Scott deadpanned. "But can you climb it one handed?"
Virgil thought for a moment. 'Can I borrow your belt?"
"Yes." Scott started to undo his belt. "Are you going to tie yours and my belts together..."
"...And make a harness." Virgil was buckling the two belts together. "That's the idea. Do you want to go up first or last?"
"I think I'd prefer to follow you. That way you can help me off when we reach the top and if you need a break I can hold onto you."
"Okay!" Virgil swung the combined belts around the ladder and his waist and buckled the ends together, leaving enough room for him to slide it up. "Let's go!"
The first ten rungs were easy to negotiate, but then Virgil hit a snag. "Hold on Scott. I've reached a brace, I'm going to have to undo the harness to get it past it."
"Be careful."
"F.A.B." Virgil said automatically.
He swung around so that he was side on to the ladder and then threaded his right leg through, between the rungs, so that he had a more secure hold. Once he knew that he would not have to use his good arm to hang on, he slipped his broken arm under the belts. Now he was fairly sure that should he lose his grip on the harness, he'd be able to stop it from falling into the corridor below.
It was difficult to undo the buckle, slide the harness up above the brace and then complete the loop again one handed, but eventually he was successful.
Before swinging back into position Virgil stopped to look down. The floor of the corridor was wet and he could see waves of water flow down the hallway. Clearly their only option now was to continue climbing. He looked up. He had four more braces to negotiate before they'd reach some form of safety. "Okay down there?" he asked Scott.
"Ready when you are."
"Right! We've got another 10 rungs before we'll have to stop again."
Scott grunted an acknowledgement. If he'd gone first he could have climbed the ladder in one go, but he would have still had to hang around until Virgil reached him before he would have been able to safely get off the top rungs. He rubbed at his eyes, wanting to tear off the bandages and reassure himself that this condition wasn't permanent. He heard Virgil move up a rung, placed his hand back on the ladder and followed suit.
***
"We've lost contact with Thunderbird Two?" Through his thick glasses Brains blinked at the blank monitor.
"Try to regain contact!" Jeff ordered.
"I am!" Frantically John was pushing buttons and pulling levers, but nothing was happening. "Brains!"
"Have you entered the reset code?" Brains asked.
"I have!" John said exasperatedly. It was the first thing he'd tried. And the second. And the third.
Brains bit his lip in thought. "John!"
"Yes Brains!"
"Reboot the computer."
"Reboot the..." John tried to make sense of this.
"Quickly John, we don't have much time." Brains ordered.
John decided that Brains knew the system better than he did. "Okay. Shutting down now."
The computer screen displayed a few numbers and then went blank. John willed it to restart. The machine clicked, whirred and beeped, before row after row of numbers scrolled across the screen as the computer ran a diagnostics check. The screen blacked out again until finally John was looking through the windows of Thunderbird Two.
He gave a whoop of joy. "It worked Brains, it worked! And we've hardly lost any altitude at all!"
"T-That's good John." Now that the tension had passed, Brains' stutter had returned. "Even th-though you lost contact, Thunderbird T-Two must have continued with it's motors operating at the same level as you had last set. W-We were lucky you had it set on a horizontal f-flight path and were n-not trying to lose height."
"I'll say." John agreed as he made a slight bearing correction.
Brains got out a notebook. "That w-will teach me for taking shortcuts and using l-last centuries computer code." He muttered to himself. "Note to me - re-revise c-code."
"Are you telling me..." Jeff asked, "that that problem was caused by a computer crash?"
"I'm afraid so, M-Mr Tracy. Something may have triggered it off..."
"Thunderbird Two was hit by lightening before we lost contact." John offered.
"...such as a bolt of lightening." Brains continued on.
"That was some power surge..."