4.45am. Early for most people. For Scott it was time to get up and starting planning the day's activities. His morning ritual always began with a trip down to the kitchen for a mug of hot coffee. He'd no sooner finished pouring it out when he heard a sound behind him. He turned and found a dishevelled looking Gordon standing there. "What are you doing up?"
"Is that coffee?" Gordon asked blearily. "Gimmee a cup."
"You look like you should be in bed asleep, not trying to wake up," Scott noted as he handed out his own mug before proceeding to fill another.
"Sleep? What's that?"
"Why? What happened?" Scott asked in concern as he headed over to his seat at the dining table.
Gordon slurped noisily at his coffee before following his brother's lead, and sat down opposite. "Just the same as every other night. Except that this time it was John who woke me. Not that I was asleep." He sipped his coffee again.
"Couldn't John handle it?" Scott asked.
"He tried. He told me they had quite an amiable evening…"
"I know. I heard them laughing."
"But when the nightmare kicked in, John was stuck. Nothing he tried worked. When Virgil started trying to fend him off, like he did with Dad that first night, that's when he got me."
"And you spent the rest of the night in Virgil's room?" Scott guessed.
"Yep. Poor John felt terrible. He felt as if he were deserting Virgil. But there was no point in the two of us having a sleepless night. I told him to go back to his room and I slept in the cot… Well I tried to… Every night it's the same. I can't sleep because I'm expecting him to wake me. And then when he wakes up it takes me at least an hour to calm him down enough so I'm able to go back to bed! And then I can't get back to sleep." He sighed. "I'm telling ya, Scott. This is starting to get to me. I want to help him, but it's getting to the stage where I'm that tired I'm not able to function properly. If International Rescue is called out today, I'll be useless. You may as well stick a wetsuit on Grandma and send her in my place!"
"Go back to bed, Gordon," Scott suggested.
"Is that what I'm meant to do? Sleep during the day so I can baby-sit Virgil at night!" Gordon grimaced. "I didn't mean it like that. I told you I'm tired."
Scott looked at him sympathetically.
Gordon placed his cup down on the table. "Enough about me and my problems. So… what's the programme for today?"
Scott looked at his watch. "First thing I'll do is hit the gym…"
"Second thing, hit the gym. Third thing, hit the gym. C'mon, Scott. You can have a break from that place for one day. You're getting more muscles than the Incredible Hulk."
Scott grinned at him over his coffee. "If I turn green overnight I'll know who to blame, and I'll be after you, Gordo'."
Gordon gazing into mid air reflectively. "It'd be easy enough to do; after all I've got the sleeping habits of a vampire…"
"And if I woke and caught you?"
"You'd never be able to catch me, not with that muscle bulk you're carrying around… Relax, Scott. Give him a chance to get to know you."
Scott grunted into his coffee.
"Can I tell you something?"
"You know what happened last time you said that, Gordon."
Gordon waved his concerns away. "They're all in bed, asleep, the lucky things. No one's listening."
"You should be in bed too. Go get some sleep and if you still want to tell me when you wake up I'll listen."
"I can't sleep. I keep thinking about yesterday." Gordon rubbed his eyes.
"Sorry about that," Scott apologised. "I should've been more careful with the radio."
"It wasn't your fault. It was a prime example of what I was talking about, how Virgil's amnesia is affecting all of us."
"Yeah," Scott agreed.
Gordon managed a wry grin. "However, I do wish you'd found a less public way of proving my point. Your one mistake of the year and it has to involve me and a radio set!"
"Do you really think that's my only mistake this year?" Scott asked quietly.
"It's the only one you'll admit to."
Scott face was creased in thought. "I don't know… Maybe you're right, Gordon. Maybe if I'd helped more you wouldn't have got to the stage where you felt you needed to think those things. Maybe Virgil wouldn't be thinking that none of us like him."
"Does that mean you'll help more now?" Gordon asked eagerly.
"I don't know…" Scott repeated as he traced a pattern in the tablecloth. "Do you think he'll let me?"
"You won't know unless you try. You've got a better chance of getting somewhere with Virgil than anyone else has. You know what makes him tick. You know what buttons to push. You KNOW him."
"You make him sound like Braman."
"I like it," Gordon grinned. "What Brains is to Braman, you are to Virgil."
Scott stared at Gordon as he tried to reconcile this analogy. "What am I? Doctor Frankenstein? Virgil is not Braman."
"They're not dissimilar."
"You are tired if you think that," Scott told him. "There's no comparison!"
"They've both saved your life!" Gordon reminded him.
"Granted. And now Braman's been superseded. Brains has moved on to bigger and better things and Braman is locked away in a back room of the complex somewhere."
"Forget Braman," Gordon advised. "Now are you going to help Virgil?"
"Where would I start? He barely knows me."
"And we both know whose fault that is."
"Okay," Scott held up his hand resignedly. "I'll try. That's if he's forgiven me too."
"If he can forgive me, he can forgive you. You were only listening."
"I guess."
"It's not Virgil I've got to worry about," Gordon admitted. "Tin-Tin's really mad with me this time. She asked me what Alan had done. I couldn't tell her of course, and that on top of my indiscriminate thought processes of yesterday means she's not talking to me at the moment."
Scott chuckled. "Of course she's not talking to you, she's asleep. She'll wake up in a couple of hours time and have forgotten all about it."
"I'm not sure, Scott. She's seriously mad. As in Dad and Grandma both furious at the same time, mad. She was angry after the fire, and now… She gave me a look yesterday that I can only interpret as; 'It's not Virgil you should be wishing were dead'. She's madder than when I threw all her clothes into the swimming pool."
"Did you blame her for being angry with you then? Her things were ruined!"
"That wasn't my fault! I'd put them all into containers to keep them dry. If International Rescue hadn't been called out and you hadn't launched Thunderbird One…"
"Don't blame me, Gordon. I didn't know about your game. Anyway, you made it up to her by taking her shopping."
"Boy, was that a fun day," Gordon said dryly. "Have you ever been shopping with a girl? They can't just see something and take it. They have to try it on, complain about the fit, or the colour, or how it makes them look too fat, or too skinny…"
"You didn't have to go with her."
"It was my money she was spending and I wanted to keep some control over it. And remember, part of the deal was that I had to act as her friendly packhorse. I asked her 'Why didn't you buy these things off the 'net and have them delivered? It'd be much easier'."
"What did she say to that?" Scott asked.
"Nothing. Just gave me a look that said 'You men have no idea'. I'll tell ya, Scott. That girl can pack more meaning into a single look than Brains can into his entire computer database."
Scott chuckled.
"Did Dad have a talk with you about what happened in the Round House?" Gordon asked, yawning as he changed the subject.
Scott grimaced. "If you can call it a talk. He tore that many strips off me that I'm lucky I've got any skin left."
"You were lucky. I got the quiet treatment," Gordon informed him.
"Ouch," Scott visibly cringed.
"Yeah. It wasn't pleasant," Gordon's manner was more subdued.
"Amazing isn't it," Scott said reflectively. "Here we both are, both old enough to have children of our own, and yet that man can reduce us both to jelly."
"Tell me about it. I'm still quivering." Gordon had some more coffee.
"Stop drinking that and go to bed, Gordon. I'll make sure you're not disturbed. We can talk later."
"I'm thinking of quitting," Gordon announced suddenly.
Scott spluttered into his coffee. "What?"
"I'm thinking of quitting," Gordon repeated.
Gordon clearly wanted to talk rather than sleep, and now Scott was alarmed enough to let him. "Quitting? Quitting what?"
"Tracy Island… International Rescue … I'm tired, Scott."
"I know that, but quitting? That's a bit drastic isn't it?"
"I've already had one major health scare in my life. I don't want another. I'm going to burn out if I don't get away. I need to get away from Virgil."
"What would you do?"
"I could become a WASP again."
"Would they let you? After what you did to that Commander…"
"He deserved it! The stuck up, officious, moron. And besides my Commander thought it was funny."
"I'll bet," Scott said dryly.
"He did!" Gordon protested. "He was trying not to laugh as he was telling me off. He said he was sorry that I was leaving."
"Do you really want to become a WASP again?" Scott asked.
"Dunno," Gordon shrugged. "Would you ever consider joining the Air Force again?"
"Me? I've never thought about it... The camaraderie was great. So were the constant challenges… and being able to fly so many different types of planes…"
"And the girls."
"Oh, yes," Scott laughed, "that was definitely one advantage the Air Force had over International Rescue." He stopped in thought, a smile playing about his lips; then became serious again. "But, getting back to the 'important' things, no plane the Air Force has can compare with the speed and manoeuvrability… or sheer fun… of Thunderbird One. Even Thunderbird Two's more enjoyable to fly than Air Force jets. There's also the fact that further up the ranks I'd go the less flying I'd get to do."
"You'd get more command," Gordon noted.
"Yeah. But in International Rescue I get to fly an amazing plane, and I can boss you guys around as much as I like. And there's another thing that never sat quite right with me about the Air Force. For all it's good points, and the skills I learnt, and friends I made, I could never forget that we were being trained to kill… and that never sat well with me. I tried to ignore it, but it was always there, the knowledge that someday I might actually have to take a life."
"Oh," Gordon said quietly.
"You can't tell me that you were happy with that aspect of your training either."
"No," Gordon said quietly. "But I'm sick of this."
"You're tired that's all," Scott reminded him.
"That's me. I'm sick and tired. I'm sick of being tired all the time. I'm sick and tired of doing the supportive brother act. I'm sick and tired of having Virgil follow me about like a shadow. Do you know what I'd really like to do sometimes?"
"What?"
"Tell him to get lost. To leave me alone! To stop bugging me! To go annoy someone else!"
Scott looked at his brother.
"I'd love to utilise his amnesia and play a practical joke on him. I've even got a beauty worked out…"
"Gordon…" Scott said warningly.
"Or I could take him to the far side of the island and leave him there. By the time he'd found his way back I could have spent a relaxing afternoon doing what I want to do."
"Gordon…" The tone was threatening.
"I know…" Gordon was almost whining. "I can't do that. It 'wouldn't be fair'. But is it fair what we have to go through?"
"Hang in there…"
"Hang in there? Is that the best advice anyone has for me? You realise he's useless to the organisation too."
"He'll learn. Give him time."
"How much time have we got? With only four operatives we haven't got the numbers to operate effectively. He's a liability and he's making me a liability." Gordon was starting to get really uptight.
"Gordon…"
"How much longer do we have to wait before Dad decides to do something about him?"
"It won't be much longer." Scott tried to be reassuring.
"When? You realise we're going to have to start thinking about getting outside help. We should get someone else, someone who can do what we want!"
"Gordon, you know why we can't."
"Because we'd break our cover. But, Scott, we're getting nowhere with him. Sooner or later we're going to have to make the decision to do something. Something drastic. And in the meantime I've got to pretend that I don't mind being woken at all hours of the night. We've all got to continue pretending to play happy families."
"It's for the best."
"We're all living a lie," Gordon said bitterly. "You can't tell me that we're not. I hate this…"
"Gordon…" Scott began again and then stopped abruptly when he saw his brother's face slacken and turn ashen. He turned…
Something moved in the shadows. Virgil was standing there, fully clothed. "A lie?" he asked. "Pretending?"
"How long have you been there?"
"Long enough," Virgil took a step backwards. "He…" Virgil indicated Gordon, "just said you're living a lie. What lie? I want to know the truth! Who are you?"
"We're your brothers, Virgil," Scott insisted. "Everything we've told you is true…"
"No! I don't believe you. Either of you!"
"Virgil," Gordon exclaimed. "I haven't lied to you once!"
"You haven't lied to me? I don't believe that. If you can lie about me, you wouldn't think anything of lying to me."
"I lied ABOUT you? When?"
"Yesterday!"
"What?" Gordon frowned. Stress and exhaustion were taking their toll. He was beginning to see double. He shook his head trying to clear his vision and rubbed his eyes. "I don't understand."
"No? Well I do now. I see now that I'm just a pawn in your game. I don't know what you want with me, but I do know that I don't want to be part of it. I don't want to stay here. I want to leave! I want to leave NOW!" Virgil's voice was rising.
"Virgil…!" Gordon protested weakly.
"Please be quiet, Virgil," Scott hissed. "You'll wake everyone."
"They don't care about me so why should I worry about them?" Virgil asked loudly. "If you're not prepared to tell me the truth I'll have to leave here and find it myself."
"Virgil," Scott tried to keep the situation under control. "Be reasonable. How could you leave? This is an island."
"I don't know but I'll find a way."
"Please, sit down and we'll discuss this rationally," Scott begged. "I wanted to talk to you yesterday, but… oh, heck. I'll admit it! I chickened out. Let's talk now. Please…"
"No. I'm past talking. You've all been talking to me for this last month. Telling me all sorts of lies…"
"We haven' lied to you," Gordon slurred.
"More lies!" Virgil snapped.
"Guys, quieten down," Scott tried again. "We'll wake everyone up if we carry on like this."
Virgil glared at him. "Are you afraid that they'll find out that you've let the cat out of the bag?"
"Nothin's been let out of the bag, 'cause there's nothin' to be let out." Gordon's tired brain was struggling with the conversation.
"We don't want to worry anyone," Scott insisted. "Come and sit down and we'll talk about it." He took a step towards the coffee machine to get Virgil a cup.
"No! Keep away from me!"
"But I was only…"
"For Pete's sake!" Gordon had reached the end of his endurance. "Grab him and shake him out of it, Scott! Knock some sense into him!"
"Gordon!" Scott admonished, but it was too late. Frightened by the perceived threats of physical violence, Virgil had fled. "Virgil!" Scott yelled, forgetting his own pleas for quiet. "He didn't mean it! Come back!" He took off after his brother.
Gordon attempted to follow. He had made it as far as the hall when he stopped, the walls appearing to spin about him. "What have I done?" he moaned as his legs gave out on him and he slid down the doorjamb to the floor. "I've ruined everything…"
Two fuzzy shapes swam into view.
"What's going on?" Jeff growled.
Gordon blinked at the fuzzy shape that was his dad. "It's my fault. Virgil's run away…"
"He's what?" John asked.
"He heard us talkin'. I said… I dunno… Can't 'member."
"John! Get your brother into bed," Jeff commanded.
"Come on, Gordon," John said gently. "On your feet."
"Sorry, John," Gordon moaned again. "I've ruin' everythin'."
"No you haven't. It only seems like that because you're tired. Now come on." John hefted his brother into a standing position.
Gordon leant on John and allowed himself to be led down the hallway. "Tin-Tin's gonna hate me," he moaned. "Virgil already does."
"No he doesn't," John soothed.
When they drew level with Jeff Tracy he stopped them. "I'm sorry, Gordon. I should have done something before it got this far."
Gordon looked at his father blankly before John dragged him away.
Scott was fit, and he knew Tracy Island intimately. They were two advantages that he had over Virgil.
Virgil's advantage was that he was terrified of the fate that might befall him if he allowed himself to fall into the clutches of those people who called themselves his family. Fear and adrenaline gave him a speed that he didn't know he possessed.
They tore along a dirt track in the early morning darkness, neither gaining an advantage over the other. Scott occasionally caught glimpses of his brothers fleeing form. At these times he'd call out. "Virgil! I don't want to hurt you!"
Virgil ignored him. How could he believe him after what he'd heard?
On they ran.
Scott came to a fork in the track. He stopped, unsure which way to go. Broken branches pointed left, but his gut instinct told him to head to the right. A welcome voice came out of his watch. "Go right, Scott." Scott didn't acknowledge his father's call, but obeyed the command.
Virgil was congratulating himself on tricking his pursuer by cutting across from one track to the other, when he heard the now familiar footsteps behind him. He took flight again.
Jeff ignored the fact that his dressing gown was still behind the door to his room, and that his pyjama top hung open. Satellites tracked his sons' watches and traced their movements on a computerised map of Tracy Island.
His full concentration was on this computer screen and the way the yellow dot was drawing closer and closer to the edge of the island…
The land here was exposed to the oceanic storms. Trees and bushes were stunted and scrubby, leaning away from the prevailing wind. The track was overgrown and in places nearly impassable. Virgil didn't stop though, pushing through branches that tore at his clothing and scratched at his skin.
Scott's heart was in his mouth. He knew where they were. He knew that dangerous bluffs were waiting to catch the unwary. He also knew that Virgil hadn't been to this part of the island since his accident, and in the dark... "Virgil! Stop!" he yelled again through gasping breaths. A branch ripped at his face but he ignored the stinging trail it left. He pushed himself harder, willing Virgil to stop before he reached the hidden cliffs.
He turned the corner and found himself at the end of the path. It was a clearing not much bigger than his bedroom, bordered to the left by vertical cliffs rising upwards, and in front and to the right by a sheer drop falling downwards.
There was no sign of Virgil.
Dread filled Scott's system. Had his brother gone crashing down into the sea below? He took a breath to steady his nerves and, with real trepidation, walked to the edge of the cliff…
"There you are," John aided Gordon to the side of his bed.
"I can't go to sleep now," Gordon babbled. "I need to apologise to Virgil. Need to set things straight. I can't sleep knowing that he hates me. Tin-Tin will really hate me now. She'll want to kill me. The swimming pool will seem like a harmless tiff. I should apologise!" He tried to stand.
John gave him a gentle push and he sat down again. "You can apologise later, when you're both feeling better." John removed his brother's slippers. "Now lie down and sleep."
"But I won't be able to sleep. Not now. He doesn't believe us, John."
"Doesn't believe what?"
Gordon looked at his brother and John could clearly see the exhaustion in his face. Gordon looked to be about ninety years old. "He doesn't believe that we're his family. He doesn't believe that we're his brothers."
John gave what he hoped was a reassuring chuckle. "You definitely need to catch up on your sleep, Gordon. That just doesn't make sense."
"It's true. Ask any of them. Ask Dad. Ask Tin-Tin. Ask Grandma. Ask Kyrano. Ask Al…"
"Okay, Gordon, I've got the picture. Now lie down."
"But I have to apologise," Gordon protested as John grabbed him by the shoulders and eased him into the bed.
"Okay. You'll be able to apologise later… Where's your pillow?"
"In Virgil's room."
"I'll go get it. You lie there and try to sleep."
"I won't be able to, John," Gordon attempted to sit up again. "All I can think about is what I've said. You heard what I said didn't you? I said I wished Virgil had died. How could I?"
"I heard, Gordon. But you don't feel like that now do you?"
"No… No, of course not. I love him. He's my brother. I should tell him…" Gordon swung his legs out of the bed.
John grabbed them before they could touch the floor and swung them back, pulling the bedclothes up hurriedly. "Now lie there quietly and try to sleep while I go get your pillow."
"I won't be able to sleep," Gordon insisted as John walked out the door.
When John returned to the room carrying the pillow, Gordon was dead to the world. John smiled to himself as he gently placed the pillow under his brother's head. Now that Gordon was relaxed, the years he'd aged had dropped away. His face held the peaceful countenance of a sleeping child.
Gordon didn't stir as John pulled the bedclothes up and tucked them around his shoulders. Then the older Tracy checked that the blinds were tightly drawn and the alarm was turned off. He stopped to check on the sleeping form one more time before leaving the room.
"Pleasant dreams, Gordon."
"I'm dreaming," Scott tried to tell himself. "Only it's a nightmare!" He looked down. All he could see in the dim light of the approaching sun was the fluorescence of the white spray as the Pacific Ocean raged against the rocks.
Virgil wouldn't have stood a chance.
All Scott could think of was how was he going to tell his family that he'd failed. That his brother had died running in fear from him. That Virgil died not knowing that his family loved him and cared for him. That Virgil had died believing that Scott wanted to cause him harm.
Scott felt sick. What would life be like without Virgil's music, without his voice, without his face… without him?
They had to organise a search now if there were to be any chance of finding Virgil's body. They'd have to get Thunderbird Four out straight away. Scott would have rather told his father the bad news face to face, but time was of the essence. The family would have to learn what had happened over the radio.
He couldn't take the scene before him any longer. He'd have to be strong to face his family; the time for grief was later. He turned away to try to get some control on his emotions, raising his arm to activate his wristwatch telecom.
He stopped.
Curled up in a foetal position in the shadows of the cliff face was Virgil.
Scott was so relieved he could have cried. He stepped forward. "Virgil! You're alright!"
"Keep away." Virgil croaked and tried to cram himself further into a crevasse, his face distorted with fear. A sprinkle of dust fell about him.
"Virgil? It's me, Scott."
"I know what you say your name is. But who are you?"
"I'm your brother…" Scott took another step forward.
"Keep back!" Virgil adjusted his position and took up a large stick to ward off Scott's advances. He looked as if he were ready to flee again. "Don't come any closer!"
"Okay, I won't." Scott halted. "But let's talk, okay?" He took a step back and swallowed. "Look, in case you're thinking of running again let me warn you that this is the end of the line for this path. Keep going in any of those directions," his arms formed an arc of about 190º, "and you'll end up in the ocean. The bluff behind you climbs straight up to the summit of the island. The only way out is back the way we came."
"I don't want to go back. Not there. Not to them. I want to get away from here. Away from all of you!"
"Please, Virgil. Don't say that. We all care for you. You're a member of our family. We want to help you."
"Gordon wants to get rid of me."
"Gordon feels terrible about what he said."
"He wants to lock me in a room and leave me there!"
"Huh?" Scott frowned. "How'd you get that idea?"
"He said that! This morning!"
"When?"
"When he was talking to you."
"No he didn't."
"He said I was like Braman. Who's Braman! Is he like me? Have you wiped his memory too?"
"Braman!"
"Maybe it's not Gordon who wants to lock me away. Maybe it's you!"
"Virgil…" Now Scott understood. "Braman is Brains' robot."
"Robot?"
Scott nodded. "That's right. Brains made him, but he hasn't had time to work on him for the last few months so he's stored him away. That's what Gordon was talking about this morning." He smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring manner.
"Robot?" Virgil repeated. "Is that what I am? Is that why I can't remember anything? Was the moment I 'woke up' the moment you switched me on? Am I supposed to be 'programmed' just like that 'Virgil 2' computer on Thunderbird Five!"
"Virgil! Calm down, you're not thinking clearly. You're human! You're as human as I am. See, you're bleeding just like me." Scott displayed his own scratched arms. "You're my brother and at the moment you could say we're blood brothers."
"Are you lying to me again?"
"I've never lied to you."
Virgil looked at him in disbelief.
"Come out from under there and we'll talk about everything," Scott offered.
Virgil shook his head and backed further into his niche. More dirt fell.
Scott looked at the area surrounding his brother. "I don't like the look of that rock face, Virgil. It doesn't look too safe." Automatically he stepped forward…
"Keep back!" Virgil waved his stick wildly. It caught a rock in the cliff, which was dislodged. He continued to brandish his weapon like a sword. A few pebbles fell, bouncing off his head and shoulders. He ducked and blinked as the dust blinded him temporarily.
"Virgil," Scott said with urgency. "Get out of there!"
"No!"
The cliff above his head collapsed…