LAST YEAR
"There are, uh, two people t-trapped in the corridor to the left," Brains radioed to Scott Tracy from his position at Mobile Control. "They're...both conscious, so you should g-give your top priority to the, uh, people further d-down."
"F.A.B.," Scott replied.
Normally Scott would be the one sitting at Mobile Control, while one or more of this younger brothers went into the danger zone. However, with Alan in the space station and John and Gordon out of service with the flu and a sprained knee respectively, that left only Scott and Virgil the strongest available for especially large emergencies. An earthquake in this small village outside Kyoto, Japan, had turned out to be just such an emergency, and with both of the eldest Tracy boys out pulling people from the rubble, Brains had been chosen to man Mobile Control while his physically stronger peers did the dirty work.
A low rumble followed by terrified cries brought Brains' attention to a severely damaged building just a few yards away. Little was left intact, save one or two outer walls and a few floors in the lower stories. The rest had collapsed into a pile of dirt and concrete chunks at its shaky base.
But also at the building's base were two people, a man and a woman, huddling in a tiny hovel made of a large, tilting slab of broken concrete and the space between the banks of dirt that had gathered up behind it. Both dug frantically at the ground, anxious to get at something Brains couldn't quite see. The huge concrete slab had started to lean even farther, proclaiming its inevitable fall onto the hapless people at its proverbial feet.
[What are they doing?] the bespectacled scientist wondered. [Can't they see it's about to fall on top of them?] As he was under strict orders not to move from Mobile Control, Brains leaned a bit over the console and yelled at the couple in broken Japanese:
"Hey! Y-you there! Get o-out of there! It-it's going to fall!" They ignored him. Puzzled, Brains stood up to try and see better. He caught a glimpse of filthy white cloth wrapped around a swarthy wrist, and felt his heart go cold with dread. There were not two people, as he had presumed, but three.
[Someone's under there!] he realized. [I've got to tell the guys!] He grabbed the communicator, and called Scott.
"Sorry fella, but we're a little busy here," Scott apologized when Brains told him about the people under the concrete slab. The sound of a crying infant accompanied his words. "There's a whole bunch of injured people down here, some of them are in a pretty bad way. Just hang on, okay?"
"U-Understood. M-Mobile Control out," Brains replied. He glanced back up toward the trapped family.
The third person--a teenaged boy--had been pulled free of his concrete prison, but was having trouble standing up. His right leg was badly twisted, and he and his parents floundered through the deep mud. The slab started to sink forward even faster, and Brains could tell that they weren't going to make it even if Scott were on his way back right now. He radioed his friends anyway.
"Mobile Control to, uh, Scott and V-Virgil, how's the situation?"
"Improved, actually," Virgil replied this time. "We're in the process of getting everyone in the Mole right now. We should be on our way in about three to five minutes."
[The people under the slab aren't going to last that long,] the scientist thought glumly as he signed off. [I wish we'd brought more people along.] As acting field commander, Brains was under strict orders not to leave his post. But that would mean just standing by and watching that family get crushed to death by the falling concrete slab. He had a job to do, after all....
[And that job is saving lives,] Brains concluded. [Whether it means building the machinery, operating it or...] He looked back up at the unfortunate individuals. [...or taking action!]
With that, the scientist leapt from his post at Mobile Control and sprinted towards the three victims. Scott's voice was shouting something over the communications frequency, but Brains neither heard nor cared. He raced towards his goal just as the concrete slab began its final fall.
The hapless family could only look upward in terror as death descended upon them in the form of thick concrete from the remains of their apartment building. They hunched down, bracing themselves for that final crushing blow.
A blow which never came.
Confused, the victims looked up to see what had happened. To their astonishment, the slab was being braced by one man clad in the blue uniform of International Rescue, complete with double-peaked cap and brown sash, as well as a pair of thick blue-rimmed glasses. And it was clear that he didn't have the strength to hold up the concrete slab for more than a few seconds.
"Go!" he commanded. "Hurry!" The amazed and very grateful family of three shuffled out of harm's way as quickly as they could, just as Brains lost his grip and fell back. The slab collapsed with bone-shattering force, spraying mud and debris everywhere, but nobody was harmed. Brains stood just a foot away, gasping for breath.
[I...I did it!] Brains thought in amazement. [I didn't think I had the strength to do such a thing, but I'm fairly certain that most of it was adrenaline and willpower anyway....]
Then Scott and Virgil were standing around him, shouting excitedly while the rescued family was loaded into an ambulance.
"My God, Brains! Are you all right? What happened? I saw what was happening toward the end, there's no way you could have been holding that slab up by yourself! It must have weighed several tons! Are you okay? You weren't supposed to leave Mobile Control! These guys are alive thanks to you! Geez, you could have been killed!"
"J-Just doing...my job...aarrghh!!!" Brains' explanation was interrupted by a flare of excruciating pain tearing through his back, and he sank to the ground.
"I'm getting the stretcher," Scott barked. "Man, Brains, you must've really torn yourself up!"
The young scientist was in too much pain to do more than moan softly in reply.
"There are, uh, two people t-trapped in the corridor to the left," Brains radioed to Scott Tracy from his position at Mobile Control. "They're...both conscious, so you should g-give your top priority to the, uh, people further d-down."
"F.A.B.," Scott replied.
Normally Scott would be the one sitting at Mobile Control, while one or more of this younger brothers went into the danger zone. However, with Alan in the space station and John and Gordon out of service with the flu and a sprained knee respectively, that left only Scott and Virgil the strongest available for especially large emergencies. An earthquake in this small village outside Kyoto, Japan, had turned out to be just such an emergency, and with both of the eldest Tracy boys out pulling people from the rubble, Brains had been chosen to man Mobile Control while his physically stronger peers did the dirty work.
A low rumble followed by terrified cries brought Brains' attention to a severely damaged building just a few yards away. Little was left intact, save one or two outer walls and a few floors in the lower stories. The rest had collapsed into a pile of dirt and concrete chunks at its shaky base.
But also at the building's base were two people, a man and a woman, huddling in a tiny hovel made of a large, tilting slab of broken concrete and the space between the banks of dirt that had gathered up behind it. Both dug frantically at the ground, anxious to get at something Brains couldn't quite see. The huge concrete slab had started to lean even farther, proclaiming its inevitable fall onto the hapless people at its proverbial feet.
[What are they doing?] the bespectacled scientist wondered. [Can't they see it's about to fall on top of them?] As he was under strict orders not to move from Mobile Control, Brains leaned a bit over the console and yelled at the couple in broken Japanese:
"Hey! Y-you there! Get o-out of there! It-it's going to fall!" They ignored him. Puzzled, Brains stood up to try and see better. He caught a glimpse of filthy white cloth wrapped around a swarthy wrist, and felt his heart go cold with dread. There were not two people, as he had presumed, but three.
[Someone's under there!] he realized. [I've got to tell the guys!] He grabbed the communicator, and called Scott.
"Sorry fella, but we're a little busy here," Scott apologized when Brains told him about the people under the concrete slab. The sound of a crying infant accompanied his words. "There's a whole bunch of injured people down here, some of them are in a pretty bad way. Just hang on, okay?"
"U-Understood. M-Mobile Control out," Brains replied. He glanced back up toward the trapped family.
The third person--a teenaged boy--had been pulled free of his concrete prison, but was having trouble standing up. His right leg was badly twisted, and he and his parents floundered through the deep mud. The slab started to sink forward even faster, and Brains could tell that they weren't going to make it even if Scott were on his way back right now. He radioed his friends anyway.
"Mobile Control to, uh, Scott and V-Virgil, how's the situation?"
"Improved, actually," Virgil replied this time. "We're in the process of getting everyone in the Mole right now. We should be on our way in about three to five minutes."
[The people under the slab aren't going to last that long,] the scientist thought glumly as he signed off. [I wish we'd brought more people along.] As acting field commander, Brains was under strict orders not to leave his post. But that would mean just standing by and watching that family get crushed to death by the falling concrete slab. He had a job to do, after all....
[And that job is saving lives,] Brains concluded. [Whether it means building the machinery, operating it or...] He looked back up at the unfortunate individuals. [...or taking action!]
With that, the scientist leapt from his post at Mobile Control and sprinted towards the three victims. Scott's voice was shouting something over the communications frequency, but Brains neither heard nor cared. He raced towards his goal just as the concrete slab began its final fall.
The hapless family could only look upward in terror as death descended upon them in the form of thick concrete from the remains of their apartment building. They hunched down, bracing themselves for that final crushing blow.
A blow which never came.
Confused, the victims looked up to see what had happened. To their astonishment, the slab was being braced by one man clad in the blue uniform of International Rescue, complete with double-peaked cap and brown sash, as well as a pair of thick blue-rimmed glasses. And it was clear that he didn't have the strength to hold up the concrete slab for more than a few seconds.
"Go!" he commanded. "Hurry!" The amazed and very grateful family of three shuffled out of harm's way as quickly as they could, just as Brains lost his grip and fell back. The slab collapsed with bone-shattering force, spraying mud and debris everywhere, but nobody was harmed. Brains stood just a foot away, gasping for breath.
[I...I did it!] Brains thought in amazement. [I didn't think I had the strength to do such a thing, but I'm fairly certain that most of it was adrenaline and willpower anyway....]
Then Scott and Virgil were standing around him, shouting excitedly while the rescued family was loaded into an ambulance.
"My God, Brains! Are you all right? What happened? I saw what was happening toward the end, there's no way you could have been holding that slab up by yourself! It must have weighed several tons! Are you okay? You weren't supposed to leave Mobile Control! These guys are alive thanks to you! Geez, you could have been killed!"
"J-Just doing...my job...aarrghh!!!" Brains' explanation was interrupted by a flare of excruciating pain tearing through his back, and he sank to the ground.
"I'm getting the stretcher," Scott barked. "Man, Brains, you must've really torn yourself up!"
The young scientist was in too much pain to do more than moan softly in reply.