Sixty - BF

"Mind if I watch you, Kyrano?"

Kyrano smiled. This ritual had always started with those same words. Even now that Mister Scott couldn't see him at work, he still checked if it was okay to sit nearby and talk.

"I should be pleased, Mister Scott."

"Thanks." Scott sat on the stool at the end of the kitchen counter. He'd quickly discovered that he'd got as much pleasure from the sounds and smells of cooking as he had from watching. And he still enjoyed these conversations with Kyrano. The older man always looked at the world from a different viewpoint.

"You and your brothers. What did you do today?" Kyrano asked.

It was always the same question but the answers were always varied.

"I've been helping Gordon test some of Thunderbird Four's equipment. He's been having problems with one of the grabs. I'm amazed at what I can hear that our diagnostic equipment doesn't pick up. Something was catching as the grab started opening and I heard it. I think we've got it fixed. Alan's been working in Thunderbird Three. Just cosmetic stuff mainly. And Virgil's been helping Brains and Professor Bunsen fine tune the machine."

"Only one day to go, Mister Scott."

"Yep. I'll be glad when tomorrow's over and done with. Then I'll know one way or another."

"But you are not worried?" Kyrano said perceptively.

"To tell you the truth, no I'm not. As much as I hope the operation's successful tomorrow, I won't be devastated if it's not. I've got used to being blind. I can do more than I originally believed I'd be able to and I know that I can cope. The only things I'll be really disappointed in missing out on will be seeing my family and friends." Then Scott frowned. "Can I ask you a question, Kyrano?"

"Of course, Mister Scott."

"How does everyone look? It's been a year, has anyone changed drastically?"

"We are all a year older."

"Yeah, I realise that, but is there anything major. You know... is Alan bald, has Gordon developed gills, do I look like the Phantom of the Opera?"

"The Phantom of the Opera?" Kyrano was confused.

"I've never worried about it and have never thought to ask, but the burns that I got at Regnad..." Scott felt his face, "I can't feel anything, but is there any scarring?"

"No Mister Scott."

"And my eyes. How do they look?"

"They have not changed. They will look worse tomorrow after the operation."

"I guess you're right."

"Mister Scott?" Kyrano cut some carrot sticks and placed them at Scott's elbow. "May I ask you something?"

"Sure." Scott said, surprised. He picked up a carrot stick and bit into it.

"Forgive my asking, but is all well between you and Mister Virgil?"

"Why do you ask, Kyrano?" Scott asked warily.

"I have noticed that there are times when Mister Virgil appears to... distance himself... from you."

Scott put down his snack. "So you noticed that too. I'd hoped it was my imagination."

"It is infrequent, but over the past few months it has become more frequent."

"Since we met Professor Bunsen?"

"Yes."

"That's what I thought."

"You believe you know why?"

Scott nodded slowly. "Unfortunately I think I do."

Kyrano waited, preparing the sauce as he did so.

"When I was in rehab there was one day," Scott started slowly, "that was really bad. Well at the beginning they were all bad, but this day was the worst. And I took out my frustrations on Virgil."

"It was the day you hit him?"

Scott nodded. "I'm not proud of what I did, I'm even less proud of what I said."

Once again Kyrano waited.

"I told him I was glad I couldn't see him."

This shook even the usually unshakable Kyrano. "Mister Scott?"

'You never met my mother did you, Kyrano. But you've seen photographs. You've seen how similar she and Virgil are."

"I've seen."

"Did you ever hear the story of how she died?"

"Only that it was in an avalanche."

"Yes. The whole family were going on holiday. Virgil was supposed to have travelled in the car that she and Grandpa and Gordon and Alan were in. But he'd been painting a picture for Ma and had got all covered in paint. It's that one of 'Thunderbird Two'," he mimed the quotation marks "in Father's office. So it was decided that he'd travel with us, and it would give Ma and Grandpa a chance to get to the cabin before Alan and Gordon woke up." Scott gave a wry chuckle. "Do you know I hated the idea. I was this big, tough ten-year-old and did NOT want to travel with my five-year-old kid brother. Of course I was told to make the most of it. We left nearly an hour after them, by the time Grandma had got Virg. cleaned up. They were the first vehicle through the North-West pass." He sighed. "The noise of their car caused the avalanche."

Kyrano diced a vegetable and said nothing as Scott struggled with the memories.

"Virgil's blamed himself for the accident ever since. And none of us thickheads even realised until last year. Of course it was just bad luck that it was our families car that was in the wrong place at the wrong time, it was nothing to do with him holding them up."

"Does Mister Virgil still blame himself?"

"No." Scott asserted, and then he hesitated. "Well he said he doesn't. It's one of those things we haven't discussed."

"Mister Scott. Why are you telling me this?"

"Why? Because what I said to my brother, who was trying to help me and support me in my darkest hours, what I said to him was that he reminded me so much of our mother that I hated looking at him. That every time I saw him I remembered that her death was his fault. How's that for a loving remark from a grateful big brother." Scott said bitterly.

"What did he do?" Kyrano gave the sauce a stir.

"He was out of there. I didn't see him for hours afterwards. I really cut him to the quick. And I don't think he's ever forgiven me. Not that I blame him. And despite that you know that he'd said that if anything happened to him he wanted to donate his eyes to me."

"I had heard."

"That's one thing that made me think that it was my imagination. That a guy wouldn't make an offer like that if he disliked me. But now I think, that if that were how I were to regain my sight, I'd never see him again anyway."

"You are wrong, Mister Scott." Kyrano said quietly. "You would see him every time you looked in the mirror. They would be his eyes looking back at you."

"So they would." Scott said thoughtfully. "Creepy thought isn't it."

"You should talk with him."

"You're right, Kyrano. I'll do it after dinner. But where do I start?"

"Mister Scott. You should start with 'I am sorry'."

"I've apologised many..." Scott started and then he heard footsteps.

Virgil breezed into the kitchen. "How's it going, Kyrano. Is he holding you up again?"

"Mister Scott was telling me what it was like in rehabilitation, Mister Virgil."

Virgil made a face. "That's a cheerful topic. I won't take up too much of your time. I just wondered how long dinner was going to be."

"Dinner will be ready in half an hour." Kyrano informed him gravely.

"Good." Virgil said cheerfully. "To tell you the truth it was just an excuse to get out of the hospital. Brains is about ready to blow his stack."

"Has something gone wrong with the equipment?" Scott asked with concern.

"No, that's fine. We're just running some final tests and the Professor keeps on making snide remarks to Brains, as if he has doubts about Brains work. What's silly is that he only has praise for me and I'm the weak link."

"Hardly." Scott said.

"That's the way I feel. I know I'm no dunce, but alongside those two I feel positively backward." Virgil gave a little chuckle.

"Say Virgil." Scott said hesitantly. "What say after dinner you and I have a talk?"

"A talk?" Virgil frowned. "Sure... what about?"

"Um. This equipment. You can tell me how it works."

"I don't know that I understand the medical side of it..."

"I don't need to know the gruesome details. Just the basics."

"Wouldn't it be better to talk to Brains or the Professor?"

"Brains would do his best, but he'd still stutter his way through and it'd be full of scientific words that I didn't understand. And I hate to think what the nutty Professor would come out with. At least with you it'd be in plain English. I want to know something about this machine that going to help me see again."

There it was. Scott sensed a sudden tension from Virgil. It lasted only a moment.

"Okay. I'll do my best. Give me a yell when you're ready. In the meantime I'd better get back to the hothouse and make sure they haven't killed each other. We don't want any blood shed before the operation's even started." Virgil swiped one of Scott's carrot sticks and left the kitchen.

"It happened again, didn't it." Scott said soberly. "When I said about the machine helping me to see."

"Yes it did happen."

"What did you see, Kyrano?"

"Sadness, Mister Scott. The same expression you got when you spoke of your mother's death... for that one moment, Mister Virgil had."

"Why do I have the feeling I've left this talk too long? Father said a year ago I should have talked to Virg. about this."

"Mr Tracy knows?"

"Only when I mentioned it to him then. He hadn't noticed anything amiss, and he hasn't mentioned it since. He's not as perceptive as you are."

"Perhaps you should speak of this to him again."

"And have him say 'I told you so'?"

Kyrano started unwrapping a package.

"So what are we having for dinner?" Scott asked suspiciously.

"Fish. There was a new shop in the market."

"Something doesn't smell right."

"I chose this piece myself." Kyrano examined the fish closely. "It was the freshest..."

Scott heard the change in the other mans tone. "Has the fishmonger swapped it?" he asked.

"Yes." Kyrano said sadly. "I shall not be going to that shop again. Now I have nothing prepared for dinner."

The familiar sound of the klaxon was heard.

"I shouldn't worry, Kyrano." Scott said as he jumped off the stool and raced out of the kitchen. "There's not going to be anyone here to eat it anyway..."

Scott could hear John's calm voice explaining the situation as he arrived in the lounge.

"...The explosion has blocked off all exits. There's one victim trapped inside. All available rescue services are tied up at a major fire on the other side of the city. They're not prepared to release a tender to save one person when there's twenty lives at stake..."

"They don't want our help there too, do they?" Jeff asked.

"No. They've got that situation under control... they say."

"You sound unsure, son."

"It sounds suspicious to me. I've been scanning the emergency broadcasts and I can't find any other emergencies. I think that because this place is top secret they don't want the local rescue services tramping all over everything. Who better to keep your secrets than an organisation that's trying to remain secret itself."

"You could be right, John. But it doesn't mean that we won't help. Tell them we're on the way." Jeff turned back to those assembled in the room. "Alan's on his way up, Scott. Are you sure you want to go on this rescue?"

"Just try and stop me." Scott grinned as he grabbed the wall lamps. "If I'm going to be grounded for a couple of weeks, I'm going to make the most of this trip." He activated the mechanism.

He felt the rotation cease and stepped forward. He felt no compunction about stepping onto the platform that would carry him across to Thunderbird One. Brains had installed a safety mechanism that would tell him when he was getting too close to the edge. He'd never needed it. He'd always known the safety margins available to him.

He was strapped in and had got more information from John by the time Alan arrived. "About time kiddo. I was about ready to take off without you."

"Tomorrow maybe. Today I'm in the pilot's seat." Alan sat down and fastened his safety belt.

Thunderbird One started to move...