Chapter Sixteen
Alan, Tin-Tin and Fermat flew down the blast ducts the massive fireball triggered by the activation of Thunderbird One's engines charging down the shaft after them. They could all feel the heat and hear the roar of the shockwave of superheated proceeding the blazing engine exhaust gases getting closer and closer. It would be on them in seconds and the fireball half a second later, when it hit they would be instantly vaporised.
Then they were out of the blast duct dropping into the calm, shallow, warm waters of the lagoon surrounding the island. The raging fireball burst out of the four blast ducts after them with a roar like an angry deity and shot skywards.
As soon as he hit the water Fermat began floundering, as he had never learned to swim unlike Alan who like all his brothers and Tin-Tin was an expert swimmer. He had been meaning to ask Gordon who was unquestionably the best swimmer on the whole island to teach him how to swim but he had never gotten around to it. He'd also been a little weary of asking Gordon Tracy for assistance in learning how to swim considering his well-known penchant for jokes. Now he wished he had asked or even asked Alan even as he coughed on water and desperately tried to keep his head above the surface.
Abruptly hands grabbed his desperately thrashing arms and held him steady in the water and his head above the surface. Having seen Fermat floundering and realising that he couldn't swim Alan and Tin-Tin had intervened and grabbed him from each side.
"Easy Fermat," Alan said softly as the roar of the discharging engine exhausted faded away leaving four smoking cave mouths in its wake. "We'll hold your head above water just kick your legs when we start moving for the shore. Can you do that?"
"Y…y…yes," Fermat replied.
"Good we'll go on three. One…two…three."
After Alan said three both he and Tin-Tin stopped treading water and began swimming for shore holding Fermat between them. As he'd been instructed Fermat began kicking his legs and soon got the idea of what he was supposed to do. Maybe learning to swim would not be that difficult.
In only a short time they reached the surf at the edge of the beach and unable to swim any further they stood up and struggled through the surf to the beach.
"Can you warn me next time you pull a stunt like that," Fermat asked Alan. "I c…c…could have d…. d…drowned."
"I'm sorry Fermat," Alan replied. "I didn't realise that you can't swim. Why did you never say anything?"
"Em…em…embarrassed," Fermat answered stammering heavily in his embarrassment even as they moved up the beach away from the breaking waves. "B…b….boys my a….a…age can u…use…ually s…s…swim."
"Not being able to swim is nothing to be ashamed of Fermat," Tin-Tin said speaking for the first time. "If you want to learn how to then when this is over we'll help you. Won't we Alan?"
"Indeed yes," Alan replied. "I can always get Gordon to help as well since he's a better swimmer than anyone else on the island. Sometimes I think he must be part fish."
Tin-Tin and Fermat both laughed at that. Gordon Tracy loved the water just as much if not more so than he liked playing practical jokes. Though qualified in the operation of all the Thunderbirds like all the Tracy brothers – save Alan since he wasn't part of International Rescue yet – Gordon was always happiest at the controls of the small but very advanced and powerful minisub Thunderbird Four. Just like he frequently went diving on the reef that surrounded the island save for a single gap creating the lagoon in his spare time.
"T…t…thanks," Fermat replied once he had stopped laughing.
"What are friends for," Alan responded grinning. "Now we need to dry off and figure out how were going to stop the Hood before he leaves the island."
"He n…not g…going anywhere for awhile," Fermat answered and withdrew a transparent card like object engraved with a delicate pattern of electronic circuitry from his pocket. Alan's eyes widened in recognition even as he gently took the component from Fermat and examined it.
"That's the guidance processor from the main navigational computer of Thunderbird Two. It can't take off without it," Alan exclaimed.
"E…exactly," Fermat replied smiling proud of himself.
Alan and Tin-Tin smiled back knowing that for now the Hood was trapped on Tracy Island. After all he couldn't use any of International Rescue's equipment to rob the banks if Thunderbird Two could not take off. The Hood would hit the roof when he found out he couldn't leave though it wouldn't take him long to figure out that they had the guidance processor. He would have to recover the component to start the launch sequence. And although it had been in water the processor wouldn't have been damaged.
"Now we need to dry off and figure out our next move," Tin-Tin said.
Alan nodded in agreement as he put the guidance processor in one of the deep pockets of his jeans they had just escaped the Hood now they had to really think about what to do next. And they really had to dry off. It's a pity I can't just dry us off, Alan thought then inwardly smiled to himself as he realised what he was thinking. Here he was someone who hadn't wanted metahuman powers yet he was now using them quiet a bit. It was ironic.
"What are you smiling at," Tin-Tin asked.
"Nothing important," Alan answered absently as he was suddenly remembering what Gear had told him last night about his powers. Was it only last night? It felt a bit longer than that though it wasn't. He was remembering what Gear had said about manipulating water and ice as well as generating it. If he could manipulate water then could he like make the seawater that had soaked them leave there bodies and clothes leaving them dry. Might as well have a go, he thought.
Concentrating he tried to imagine the water flowing off his body. Nothing happened the power within him remained static and quiet. Not one to be put off so easily he tried again, trying a different tack this time. Instead of imagining the water leaving he imagined himself dry. And felt his powers flare, a single pulse of energy passing down the length of his whole body leaving dryness in its wake.
Fermat and Tin-Tin were both surprised when Alan's eyes began glowing again blue this time. The blue glow filled his eyes just like the silver glow did but strangely it was harder to spot than the silver glow. Only the fact that they were right up close enabling them to see it. A pulse of blue energy abruptly ran down the whole length of Alan's body from the tips of his hair right to the soles of his trainers. And abruptly he was dry the water that had been on his body turning the sand beneath him wet and soaking away into it. The energy glow disappeared from Alan's eyes and he looked down at himself seemingly surprised that he was dry.
"Well what do you know it worked," he commented looking back up. At the shocked looks that Fermat and Tin-Tin gave him he explained. "I remembered what Gear said last night about me being able to manipulate water as well as generate it. I decided to have a go at doing that to dry myself and it worked."
"C…Cool," Fermat said.
"Indeed," Tin-Tin agreed surprised yet again by the level of Alan's powers. She got the distinct impression that even among metahumans he was something of an oddity. A metahuman with two elemental powers as opposed to the normal one and the ability to phase, and a metahuman who had changed very slowly over a period of ten years. Which could account for the fact that he had three main powers as opposed to one and why they were so strong. "If you dried yourself could you like dry us off as well," she asked.
"I could try," Alan said thoughtfully. "There is certainly nothing to loose you cannot get wetter than you already are."
"True," Fermat answered. "T…try on m…me first."
"Very well." Reaching out Alan put a hand on the top of Fermat's head and imagined him dry. Again his powers flared and his eyes glowed blue. A pulse of blue energy travelled down his arm to his hand and then onto Fermat where it raced down to the ground drying him as it went. "Now you Tin-Tin," Alan said taking his hand off Fermat.
Tin-Tin held still as Alan put his hand on her and felt a tingle as the wave of power from Alan raced down her body drying her as it went.
"There you go," Alan said withdrawing his hand and making the power within stop doing anything. Immediately he felt the energy level within drop more than normal and he stumbled with the surprise of it. "That took a bit out of me," he commented.
"You've used your abilities quiet a bit in the last half hour. I mean you phased your leg to escape Mullion when he grabbed you, you froze Mullion and two of his men in ice, frosted up the door to the service tunnel in Thunderbird One's silo, hit the Hood with snowballs and now this. You're bound to feel a bit weaker after all that," Tin-Tin reasoned.
"You're right," Alan agreed. "Okay no more powers for a little while. You know for someone who didn't want to be a metahuman I'm really starting to like having these powers." Tin-Tin laughed understanding what he meant perfectly.
"I've h…ha…had an idea," Fermat said. "Data to Thunderbird Five from Tracy Island is sent via satellite yes?"
"Yes," Alan said cautiously as both he and Tin-Tin looked at Fermat waiting for him to continue.
"If we can r…reach the c…communications a…array we c…can hack into the m…main computer and re..restore power and control to Thunderbird Five."
"Great plan Fermat but the communications mast is on the top of the islands central peak," Alan answered. "How are we to get there."
"We'll have to go through the forest," Tin-Tin said.
"B…but t…t…that has always b…b…been off limits," Fermat objected. The jungles that dominated most of Tracy Island could be quiet a dangerous place. Filled with venomous snakes, poisonous fruit, spiders, scorpions and other various nasty insects. There weren't any large animals aside from land crabs and oceanic birds that nested in some of the higher trees but the jungle was still dangerous.
"It's going to be dangerous," Tin-Tin replied. "But we don't have much choice."
"I'm in," Alan said holding a hand out. Tin-Tin smiled and put one of her hands on his. After a moments hesitation Fermat did the same. "Now lets go."
Turning they hurried into the jungle with Tin-Tin taking the lead since she knew the jungles of Tracy Island better than anyone.
Lady Penelope's Mansion
England, That Same Time
Lady Penelope Crieghton-Ward returned home from attending one of Queen Elizabeth's regular summer garden parties and immediately headed for her private study in the huge stately home that had been the home of her family for centuries. As such it was crammed with priceless treasures and some of its décor harked back to bygone ages. The great house was the only place where she hadn't made any real changes in the décor to favour pink. Pink did appear in her private chambers mostly in bed sheets and curtains but that was all.
Upon entering her private study she settled down at the computer sitting quietly on the desk and looking out of place on a desk that had been made almost two hundred years before in the early days of Queen Victoria's glorious reign. Turning on the computer she waited patiently for it to boot up before going through the menu's into a secret section of the database. She tapped in a password and submitted a thumb scan into a scanner on the desk and waited.
In seconds the normal windows screen vanished to replaced first by the insignia of International Rescue then a communications screen set up in the same style as on the Thunderbirds. Typing quickly she put in a command to contact Tracy Island as she was worried about Alan and wanted to see how he was doing, how he was coping with being a metahuman. And she wanted to check everything was okay with Jeff as she had had the strangest uneasy feeling all day. A feeling that something was wrong somehow.
"Lady Penelope to Tracy Island respond please," she said into the microphone. There was no answer. Frowning Penelope keyed in a query to be told that incoming signals could not reach Tracy Island. Mental alarm bells starting to ring in her head she selected a new destination.
"Lady Penelope to Thunderbird Five respond please." Again there was no reply but silence. "Lady Penelope to Thunderbird Five. John if you can hear me please respond." Again silence. Mental alarm bells now ringing at full volume Penelope keyed the internal intercom.
"Yes my lady," Parker responded immediately.
"Parker prepare Fab 01. We are going to Tracy Island." Though her voice was its normal cool calm self Parker clearly heard a note of real concern in it and knew that something was up.
"As you wish my lady." Penelope signed off with Parker and shut down her computer before heading for her bedroom. She needed to get into something much more appropriate for Tracy Island than her current outfit. Something she could easily move in if it turned out that there was a real problem on Tracy Island yet something that wouldn't look wrong if there wasn't and the thunderbirds were merely having a problem with their communications systems.
Control Room
Tracy Island
"Sir," Transom reported to the Hood as he and Mullion came back into the control room from the underground complex.
"What is it Transom," the Hood asked.
"Someone just tried to contact both the island and Thunderbird Five. They didn't penetrate the communications blackout still…."
"Still it means that someone connected to International Rescue out there now knows that something is wrong," the Hood finished. "We are getting behind schedule we had been here too long. Mullion get back down to the complex and select the equipment we need to get into those banks and load it into Thunderbird Two. And Mullion no more delays."
"Yes sir."
As Mullion left the Hood sighed to himself. He hadn't anticipated it taking this long to get a hold of the Thunderbirds. Alan Tracy and his two friends had managed to delay his plans considerably. The Hood couldn't help but feel a twinge of respect for the young metahuman for doing that. And somehow he knew that despite what Mullion had done with Thunderbird One Alan Tracy was still alive somewhere. But at least he was out of the way for now at least. The Hood's plans could continue without any further delays.