Chapter Seven
When Scott and Brains arrived at the station for the monorail – which ran beneath most of the island connecting different facilities in different parts of the tropical paradise to each other – they found Peter and Gear waiting for them. Normally upon seeing his uncle Scott would have rushed up to give him a hug. All the Tracy boys were close to Peter but at the moment he couldn't the situation was too important for emotion to get in the way. At this moment in time Scott was in business mode as he would be if he were out on a rescue.
Fortunately Peter seemed to notice and indeed seemed to be in a similar mode at least at the moment. Once the beacon signal had been located and shut down then they could greet each other properly.
"Hello Brains. Have you brought the scanners," Peter asked Brains.
"Y…y…yes," Brains replied stammering like his son did in an urgent situation. "I br…br…brought three."
"That should be enough," Gear replied. "I don't need a scanner I've got backpack," he silently commanded backpack to raise a tendril tipped with a scan unit. The little robot on his back did so and a mechanical tendril rose to just above the level of his shoulder and began moving back and forth in a scanning motion.
"Handy little robot," Scott commented even as Brains handed out the scanners.
"Believe me tracking down a covert homing signal will hardly scratch the surface of backpacks abilities," Gear replied. "How do we get down to the hanger floor from here?"
"Here," Peter replied pointing to a lift in the wall.
They all piled into the lift it was a bit of a tight squeeze as the lift was only really meant for three people at a time and was rarely used by more than one person at a time. Normally when being deployed on a mission the Tracy's accessed their Thunderbirds through specialised shoots in the control room. Despite the tight squeeze they managed to get into the lift as it automatically began to lower down to the hanger floor.
The lift reached the ground in moment and they piled out and using their scanners and backpack began to trace the beacon signal to its source.
"It's definitely coming from Thunderbird One," Peter said as all their readings showed it was coming from Thunderbird One's launch silo.
"Then lets find the blasted beacon and shut it off," Scott said as he input the security code the opened the heavy blast proof doors. They walked into a space beneath the engine block a darkish room lit by blue lights lining the silo. The floor wasn't quiet even either; as it was split up into a series of ducts that when opened during the launch sequence would take the exhaust from TB1's thrusters and channel it away from the underground complex. All in all the space under the engines was not a comfortable place to be.
Looking up the sides they could see the sleek graceful rocket looming over them held steady in place by massive docking clamps extending from the wall.
As soon as they entered the space though the scanners and backpack went crazy. The beacon signal was unbelievably strong here. It only took a moment to determine that the beacon signal wasn't coming from one specific point on or in Thunderbird One but from the entire hull of the rocket.
"How can it be coming from the whole of the hull," Peter wondered aloud as he shut off his scanner the beeping was getting to him.
"I d…d…don't know," Brains stuttered out frowning up at the gleaming silver and blue outer skin of the thunderbird.
"Well the tracker cannot be liquid based," Gear commented. "The slipstream created during flight would get rid of it before it could seep through the paint work. There is only one way that I can think of that a tracer beacon could be introduced to the whole hull."
Brains looked over at Gear wondering what the metahuman genius was thinking about when he said that. And then the realisation dawned.
"Nanobots," he said looking at the younger man impressed.
"Precisely," Gear confirmed. "Whoever planted this thing must have known that all they'd need do was somehow get nanobots onto the hull in a localised area. The nanobots would then spread making more of themselves from materials taken from the hull itself until they reached a number powerful enough to generate the beacon signal."
"If that's the case then how do we get the blasted things off," Scott asked inwardly miffed that someone had used his 'baby' for this purpose. "Any idea's Brains."
"I'm a…afraid not," Brains admitted. Though he knew quiet a bit about nanotechnology, as the field was interesting he'd never dealt with it directly. The closest he got to it was reading papers and going to conferences being given on the subject.
"It's actually quiet easy," Gear broke in. "There is only one way to really get rid of nanobots and it's with more nanobots programmed to seek and destroy the other nanobots. I could easily modify a zap cap to deliver a nanobot charge to the hull it will only take a few minutes."
"You have nanobots with you," Peter asked.
"Of a sort. Backpack has some for self-repair purposes, taking some from backpack and modifying them will not take long. But I would need the proper tools."
"My lab," Brains said. "I m…m… most likely have the tools."
"Then we should go."
"This way," Brains said leading Gear back out to the main hanger.
Peter turned to look at Scott.
"I think you better let Jeff know what's going on I'll keep an eye on them. We don't want them getting sidetracked by other things. You know what scientists can be like," he said. Scott chuckled.
"Yeah I know. I'll let dad know what's going on."
"But first," Peter said moving closer and pulling Scott into a hug. Although startled Scott returned the loving hug and for a moment forgot about everything that was going on with Alan, the beacon signal, everything. He was just happy to be with his uncle again.
Then Peter pulled pack and Scott went back into IR mode and raised his wristcom to call his father and update him on what was going on.
Jeff Tracy's Office
A Few Minutes Earlier
Jeff walked into his office the lights turning on automatically when he walked into the spacious room. Moving over to his desk he sat down and switched on his terminal that connected to the islands main computer system. The terminal lit up immediately and he skimmed through the functions until he found the place where he could input a specialised access code.
Immediately the screen changed from business information that it had been tracking to be replaced with the same style of display you would see on one of the thunderbirds. The stylised T.I symbol of Tracy Inc also vanished to be replaced by the insignia of International Rescue. Now that he was in to the right system he accessed the satellite communications array and hailed Thunderbird Five.
John appeared on the screen immediately looking a little surprised, as the nightly check in wasn't due for another half-hour.
"Hi dad," John said from the screen.
"John. How are things going up there."
"I could do with a pizza you know any place that delivers," John responded smiling. It was how their opening exchange always went. Jeff would ask how things were going up on Thunderbird Five and John would ask for a pizza.
"Thirty minutes or free right," Jeff replied humour in his tone. John took up with the proper status report from there.
"There's a forest fire in Russia, a typhoon is bearing down on Singapore but other than that everything is quiet," John replied. "So what's happening down there on planet Tracy?"
"Alan's home for the holidays. In fact Alan's the reason I called early."
"What's he done now," John asked a note of fond exasperation in his voice his youngest brother could really be a troublemaker when he wanted. Especially when he and Gordon got together to plan one of their infamous pranks on everyone else.
"He hasn't done anything," Jeff said. "But something has happened with him that's going to affect all of us." A look of concern appeared on John's face he had caught the tone of his father's voice and knew that something major had happened with Alan.
"What happened? Is Alan alright?" John asked.
"He's fine its just… there is no easy way to say this so I'll just say it. He's a metahuman."
John's eyes went wide and a look of total shock appeared on his face. For a few moments John found that he was not able to speak he was so shocked.
"A metahuman," he repeated at last. "How on Earth could Alan be a metahuman. Never mind it's not important to know how. Is he all right? Does he even…"
"He looks just the same as he always has," Jeff broke in. "He hasn't changed form or anything like that."
"Then how."
"Do we know he's a metahuman. That's easy." Jeff explained what had happened at the poolside when Alan's powers had come so suddenly and so painfully to the surface, and what happened later in the living room.
"So how has Alan taken all this," John asked looking very concerned.
"Not well," Jeff admitted. "As you would imagine. He's shocked and frightened. I think I've eased his fear a little bit he was scared that we'd reject him. That he'd be outcast."
"How could he even think that," John exclaimed. "Did you tell him otherwise dad."
"Yeah I think I got it through to him. Though with Alan you never know sometimes things seem to go in one ear and come out the other one. Teenagers."
"We all went through that phase dad," John reminded him.
"Don't remind me," Jeff replied internally wincing at how much mayhem there had been having a pack of teenagers in the house all at once. To say war zone would have been to underestimate it sometimes. "As I said though I think I've convinced Alan otherwise. And if I haven't then I know Gordon will. I'm hoping Gear can allay the rest of Alan's fears. And give some pointers on how to control his powers."
"Gear? The Gear."
"Yes. I've had Peter bring him here. And he's just uncovered another problem. Someone has somehow managed to put some kind of homing device on Thunderbird One."
"How on earth," John started to say.
"I don't know. I'm hoping Brains and Scott can provide some answers. I've had Virgil put the perimeter scanners on full alert. What I want you do to as well is keep an eye open from up there as well. If you see anything suspicious coming towards the island then let me know."
"Will do dad. I'll keep an eye on that typhoon and forest fire as well if helps needed I'll give you a call."
"Thanks John."
"Give my best wishes to Alan will you dad."
"Certainly." Jeff's wristcom started to bleep for attention. Not again, Jeff thought, what's with my wristcom and awkward timing tonight. John clearly heard the wristcom bleeping for on the screen Jeff could see John's shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter. It was eerily like how Alan had reacted when his wristcom went off earlier.
"You better answer that," John said as the wristcom chirped again. At least its not my mobile, Jeff thought thinking about the irritating ring tone that he kept meaning to change but never got round to doing.
"Yeah I'll check in with you again in the morning," Jeff replied.
"FAB dad," John replied then disappeared from the screen.
Jeff raised his offending wristcom and acknowledged the persistent hail. Scott appeared on the screen.
"What have you found Scott."
"I'm afraid Gear's right dad. Someone did manage to attach a tracking device to Thunderbird One. A nanobot based tracking device." Nanobot trackers, Jeff thought, now that is devious and ingenious. We never anticipated that kind of tracking system.
"Nanobots. Does Brains have any idea how to neutralise them."
"No father but Gear has. There modifying something called a zap cap with nanobots taken from his robot which he calls backpack of all things." Jeff couldn't help but chuckle at that. "There in Brains lab at the moment. Uncle Peter has gone to keep an eye on them."
"Keep me appraised Scott," Jeff ordered.
"Yes sir." Scott disappeared from the screen and Jeff stood up from his desk and went to head back to the living room to see how Alan was doing.
Thunderbird Five
John Tracy broke off the communications link with his father and for a moment leaned back in his chair before the main control console in the control room for the advanced and secret space station built by his father. His mind still trying to really process everything his father had told him.
He could barely believe what had happened to Alan especially. Alan turning out to be a metahuman was nothing he – or anyone else – would have really expected certainly not Alan himself. The fact that Alan didn't seem to be taking it well worried him. How he wished he was back on Tracy Island now so he could put his arms around his baby brother and let him know that everything was going to be alright. That it didn't matter to him that he was a metahuman.
But he was stuck up here in Thunderbird Five and would be for another week. After a moment John sighed he was just going to have to put with it. But he silently promised himself to change priorities when he got back down to Earth. Normally when he got back the first thing he did was head to the US mainland for a week to enjoy himself, but this time he promised he would spend some time with Alan and let him know in his own way that everything was okay. That what had happened was perfectly fine with him, that as far he was concerned Alan was still his brother and always would be. That being a metahuman was irrelevant.
After a moment though he sat back up properly turning his attention to the other problem currently facing International Rescue. Increasing power to sensors he turned the on the ocean around Tracy Island. The station would only be in sensor range for another twenty minutes before its orbit took it over the horizon but he would monitor as best as he could until he was out of range. It was all he could do.
For now at least.