Queen of the Elven City - I treated the characters with respect - no more ouchies - lol!
Angel Mouse 5 - what can I say - I like that line. I had to use it again somewhere!
Faith - how would you rescue the craft that does the rescuing? I'm not sure and lets just say I'm not exploring that one. Other than that you'll have to read to find out what happens.
Manders1953 - glad you're enjoying it.
I-like-chickens - I explore how Gordon's feeling a little bit in this chapter so I hope you'll enjoy that.
ladc - yeah that's the trouble with writing a 'prequel' to the movie - there's certain things that are just predictable. Oh well! Thanks for reviewing.
b8955.5 - sorry to hear you're dissapointed. Of course it would be more helpful if you told me what you didn't like about it. 'this is kind of starting to suck' isn't exactly constructive criticism.
Marblez - first I just wanted to let you know that the no-name anoymnous review for Chapter 5 of Fermat's Crush was me. Don't ask me how that happened. I swore I put a name on that review. Oh well! Here's a chapter to help your withdrawal -lol. As for another story, I did start posting another one but not here. If you want to check it outits at www.p066. ezboard . com /bfabthunderbirds ( just take the spaces out of that to get it to work)and check out the page I started there. I might eventually post the story here but not right away - sorry.
IloveSam- thanks for the review for both this story and Longest Day.I'm happy that I put enough Jeff in it for you and that you enjoyed the bit about the couch. I figured I had to make some mention of it.Glad you liked the flashback for this story. I wasn't sure how well that actually was but couldn't figure out a better way to write it. As for John going on the flight - its amazing what you can still do despite an injury if you set your mind to it ( I know I completed a night land nav course after spraining my knee earlier that day). Thanks for reviewing.
Fiona12690 - glad you both like it. Your suggestion is a good one but I don't think it will work well with this story. Always happy to hear suggestions though. Thanks for reviewing.
May Portland- another great suggestion but sorry no submarine in this chapter. Here's chapter eleven.
M.S.K. - thanks for letting me know you like this story. Appreciate the review.
AN: everyone is welcomed to check out the Thunderbirds page I started. The link is up in the response to Marblez's review if anyone is interested! Okay end of the shameless plug. Enjoy this chapter.
Gordon's POV:
"John's going to try do some rewiring and try to bypass autopilot," I heard Virgil say over the radio. "Hopefully that will give us back control of Thunderbird 2."
I was standing against the wall in the office, watching and listening to what was going on. After the night before I was trying to stay out of my Dad's way. I was pretty sure I wasn't exactly high on my Dad's list of people he could trust right about now. Or people he wanted to deal with.
Not that the thought that my Dad didn't love me had crossed my mind, because I knew he did. I knew that was the reason he was so hard on us sometimes. He loved us, and he didn't want anything to happen to us. The fact that John had gotten hurt on the mission last night did not sit well with him but that would have been the case no matter which one of us got hurt or whose fault it had been. Still I knew I need to fly low on my Dad's radar for the next day or so. New that he would be watching everything I did more than he already did.
Being the youngest member of International Rescue got hard sometimes. I didn't have as much experience as the others. When something went amiss, I didn't always know what to do and while it was true that all of us were still learning things every mission we went on, it sometimes felt like a still had so much more to learn. Evidently my Dad felt that way to, as he seemed to constantly be using things as a learning experience for me and he seemed to point out every little mistake I made.
Not that last night had been a little mistake. Last night had just been stupid. I should have been paying attention to what I was doing.
Sometimes I couldn't wait for Alan to start his training. I was more than ready to pass off the distinction of being the youngest member of International Rescue to him. Much the same way that Virgil had felt when I started my training.
"Gordon,"
"Yeah, Dad," I said pushing myself off the wall and standing up straighter. The thought of standing at attention in the military came to mind and the thought of saluting crossed my mind. I restrained myself knowing it would not go over well with Dad at all.
"You and I are going to take Thunderbird 1 out and be on stand-by. If Thunderbird 2 goes down I want us already on the scene as we won't have much time."
"F.A.B." I said as I followed him toward the portraits on the wall.
Moments later we were in the air. It seemed unnatural for me to be aboard Thunderbird 1. The last time I had been in it was when Dad had been training me to fly it.
"Brains, what's the status on Thunderbird 2?"
"Unchanged, Mr. Tracy," came the reply.
Soon, I could see Thundebird 2 in the distant, the bulky green rocket being easy to spot. Moments later we were right above it and Dad slowed Thundebird 1 down to stay with the slower rocket.
"Thundebird 1 to Thunderbird 2," Dad said beside me.
"Thunderbird 2 here," came Virgil's voice back over the radio.
"Just wanted to let you know we're right above just in case anything should go wrong."
"FAB, Dad," Virgil replied. I could here the relief in his voice.
"How's that bypass coming along?" Dad asked.
There wasn't a quick reply. The radio was silent. I started worrying. Thinking of possible things that could have gone wrong. Things that would explain the radio silence. Suddenly I was glad that we were out here. Out where I could see Thunderbird 2 for myself. Know that it was still in the air and hadn't crashed.
'What's going on down there?' I thought to myself keeping an eye on Thunderbird 2 through the cockpit. Times like this, it would be nice to have x-ray vision like Superman.
"Virgil?" Dad said beside me. Evidently he was getting worried about the silence himself.
"Sorry Dad," Virgil said. I let out the breath I had been holding. "I was helping John. He thinks he just about has autopilot bypassed.
John's POV:
I was only half listening to the radio conversation Virgil was having. I had been paying attention enough to know that Dad had launched Thunderbird 1. Exactly what they would be able to do from Thunderbird 1 I wasn't sure, but still it was nice to know we weren't alone out here anymore.
"Autopilot disengaged."
"Did it actually work?" I called out not moving from my spot on the floor of the rocket, my head underneath one of the consoles. I wasn't moving until I knew I wouldn't need to do some more work. My arm hurt enough as it was. Getting up and then having to get back down here was not exactly high on my list of things to do.
"F.A.B. I've got control back," Virgil called back to me. "I don't think sensors came back online though," he told me as I stood up.
"Why do you say that?"
"Because Thundebird 1 isn't showing up on sensors."
Yeah, that was a pretty good indication. If that was case though, the bypass I had just done had circumvented autopilot control but not the test program that had been running. I wasn't sure what to do about that.
"You're a good pilot. You shouldn't need sensors to fly this 'bird' home," I told Virgil jokingly. Looking over at him, I could tell he wasn't amused. "Thunderbird 2 to Command."
"Brains here, go ahead John."
"I've been able to bypass autopilot, but we don't have sensors. Are you still running the test program?"
Could it really be that simple?
"Negative, the test program is showing up as aborted on my end," Brains replied.
So much for the easy solution.
"Thunderbird 2 to Thundebird 5."
"Go ahead John," Scott replied. I could hear the anticipation in his voice. My older brother was use to being in charge. Of taking action. Not sitting and watching.
"We're going to link Thunderbird 5's sensors with Thunderbird 2's so we can get this 'bird' home."
"And just how do you plan on doing that."
"Don't worry, I'll talk you through it," I told him wishing I was up there. If I was, I could have the modifications done in no time. Talking Scott through it was going to take a little longer.
Alan's POV:
"Alan, Fermat, are you coming down for lunch?" I heard Tintin call out as she knocked on the door.
I looked at my alarm clock, which read twelve thirty. I couldn't believe I had actually lost track of the time doing school work.
"We'll be right there," I called back to her standing up and closing the math book.
"You're ma-ma-making progress Alan," Fermat told me as we headed out of my room.
"Thanks Fermat, but do you think I'll be ready in time for finals."
"Anything is possible," he told me as we made our way down the stairs and toward the kitchen.
The rest of my family was already sitting at the table, talking and eating.
"Look who finally decided to grace us with his presence," Virgil said as we walked into the room.
"Give me a few hours, Mr. Tracy and I'll be able to tell you exactly what went wrong," I heard Brains saying to my Dad. "I'm still convinced the software will work, its just a matter of a few modifications."
"I trust you Brains," Dad told him. "However, analysis of what happened is going to have to wait as our first priority needs to be getting Thunderbird 2 back to operational status."
"Of course," Brains told him. " I already have the data downloading from the guidance processor. After lunch Virgil, Gordon and I are going to start on the repairs."
"What happened?" I asked as I sat down at the table with my lunch next to Virgil. Fermat sat down next to me. Everyone at the table looked in my directions.
"Where have you been, squirt?" Virgil asked me, sounding surprised. I couldn't blame him. Even when I had to resort to news broadcasts I tried to keep track of what my family was up to. Here I was in the house, and I was completely lost.
"Probably plotting his next explosion," Gordon chimed in from across the table before I could answer.
"I was actually doing homework," I said shooting a look at Gordon, who started laughing at my answer.
"And the world didn't come to an end," he said.
I wadded up my napkin and tossed it across the table at him. The napkin hit him and fell to the floor.
"Hey!" Gordon exclaimed.
"Okay, you two cool it," Dad said before Gordon had a chance to throw anything else back at me.
"Yes sir," we both said.
The others went back to there conversation and by putting bits of the conversation together actually manage to figure out an answer to my question which no one in my family had bothered to ask. Sometimes it sucked being the baby of the family.