Disclaimer

Thunderbirds and all the characters etc. belong to Gerry Anderson and Working Title films, I'm just borrowing them.

Accidents

Chapter 7 – Attempting Repairs

– Start Flashback –

"OK boys. Are we ready?" Jeff asked, looking at four of his sons while they stood just inside the door, sheltering from the rain. Each of them, including Jeff, had a torch and a walkie-talkie each, so no one else would get lost. "Scott, Virgil, you two head east, but don't go on the rocks unless you have to, they could be slippery. Gordon, Alan, you go west and check out the forest area. I'll go towards the shore and check there. If you find anything, or anything goes wrong, I want you to call me immediately. Got it?" Everyone nodded, before pulling their hoods up over their faces and heading out into the rain.

"Boys, found anything?" Jeff's voice came through the walkie-talkies. The rain was gradually slowing but they were still all rather wet, even with their coats on.

"Nothing." Scott answered, exhausted. "Dad, we've been out here for over an hour, I think there is only two possibilities of what's happened." Jeff's silence urged Scott to continue. "One, John is hiding from us and doesn't want to be found, or two, he can't hear us for whatever reason."

"I know. Just keep looking."

"Guys, what colour shirt was John wearing this morning?" Virgil asked everyone through the walkie-talkie.

"Blue, I think." Gordon answered

"That's odd, because I thought I just saw something up on the hill, and it looked blue."

"You and Scott check it out. Tell us if you find anything" A few minutes later, Virgil's voice was heard again.

"Dad, I've found a torn piece of fabric caught between two rocks, it could be off a shirt sleeve or something…"

"Search the area. We'll be right there." Jeff said, finally having some good news.

Meanwhile, the rain and the family's voices had brought John back to consciousness again. He didn't think he could get up, but he did try to get their attention.

"Scott, Virgil, anyone. I'm down here." he called out as loudly as he could, but the rain drowned it out mostly.

"Virgil, is that you?" Scott called. He moved around the rocks to where the sound was coming from, and quickly ran over when he saw John lying there.

"John, are you alright? Can you walk?" Scott asked, John nodded weakly, though he knew he wasn't. Scott could see that he was soaked through. "Dad, I've found him. We're on our way down." He almost shouted into the walkie-talkie. There were several sighs of relief from the other end. He turned back to John, who was trying to pull himself up. "Come on, let's get back. Everyone's been really worried."

"I'm sorry I ran off and…" John started, and they slowly climbed down again

"No, we're the ones who should be sorry. We shouldn't have shouted at you like that." Scott apologised "Can you forgive us?"

"I already have."

– End flashback –

"Was John alright?" Brains asked once Scott had finished

"Yeah, he was lucky. Mild concussion, sprained ankle, a few bruises and a touch of hypothermia." Alan said, "But it was a while before he was back to normal."

"I just wish everything could have a happy ending this time too." Gordon muttered quietly

"Don't we all. Talking of that, how much time have we got left, Brains, before…?" Scott trailed off.

"Just under an hour, Scott. But what do we do then?"

"Considering the state of this place, I think I got off rather lightly" John murmured, while putting a bandage around the cut on his forehead and not really noticing that he was actually talking out loud. He had grabbed a crutch from the store room, and although it wasn't going to be easy to get around, it was better than nothing. "I don't know if it's just me, but it's really beginning to get cold in here." he threw a jacket around his shoulders and limped back towards the secondary control room. "Environmental control is the first thing I'll check."

"I've been out for nearly 4 days!?" John exclaimed, comparing the now useless watch on his wrist to the computer's chronometer. "I don't believe it!" He slowly tried to calm himself down and figure out what to do next. He keyed the computer for a systems check to see how bad the damage really was.

"Right, the computers in this control room are still completely operational" John said quickly "But the main antenna's been smashed and the antenna for transmissions down to base is badly damaged." He then noticed what he had actually been looking for, and paled even more. "An overload in the environmental systems. No wonder it's getting so cold in here."

A few minutes later

"This doesn't look good." John muttered to himself, looking at the environmental control panel, "I don't see how I can stop the overload, but if I don't, it could cause a chain reaction and blow the entire station…"

He just sat there, staring at the console, trying not to think of how much time he had, when a solution came to him. As he thought it over, he got more and more certain. "It's risky, but it might just work."

"Computer, activate audio readout." John said loudly into the computer's microphone "I need to know the temperature in the environmental control circuits."

"Acknowledged" replied a very mechanised voice "Temperature at 40 degrees and rising"

"Right, I'd better get working." He muttered. For the next four and half hours, he worked to try to stabilise the overload, eventually having to stop when he was so cold that he couldn't feel his fingers any more. "This…isn't going to work. I've slowed it down considerably, but the circuits are just too damaged." He complained finally. "What do I do now?"

"Tin Tin, have you seen dad?" Virgil asked, almost bumping into her in the corridor

"No, I've only just come in." Tin Tin replied. "Maybe you should try to get some sleep, Virgil. You'll get nowhere if you wear yourself out like this. I'm sure John wouldn't have wanted that."

"Well now we'll never know what he wanted!" Virgil snapped, before looking down at the floor "Sorry. I guess you're right, but I want to see how dad's doing first. I haven't seen him since…" he trailed off

"I'll come with you. None of you should have to deal with this alone." The two of them headed back the way Tin Tin had come from and stopped at Jeff's study door. Virgil knocked, and knocked again when there was no answer.

"Dad? You in there?" Virgil called through the door, but still no reply. Just as he was reaching for the door handle, Scott walked from the other end of the hallway. Virgil waited until Scott had reached them before going into the room.

Whatever the three of them had been expecting, it wasn't what they found. Jeff was sitting slumped over his desk, asleep, with several empty whisky bottles lying around him. From his breath, they could tell that he was definitely drunk.

"He is going to have such a hangover when he wakes up" Scott said quietly. "Come on, let's get him to bed." With a lot of shuffling, and Tin Tin holding the doors open for them, Scott and Virgil soon managed to get Jeff into his bed. They stiffly said goodnight to each other, before heading to their own rooms, even though they knew they probably wouldn't be able to sleep.

Scott paused at his own bedroom door once he was sure the others couldn't see him, before carrying on down the hallway to a different room. He entered hesitantly and quietly shut the door behind him.

"Of course! Why hadn't I thought of that before?" John exclaimed, almost jumping up as he knew how to solve the problem. "I'll have to start now, or I may not be around to wake up in the morning." John hobbled into the control room on the crutch and pulled open the panel of the environmental controls once more.

"Is everything arranged? We can't afford any more delays." The 'Master' demanded, taking the pad of paper out of Braddick's hand.

"Yes. Everything is going just as planned. In four days, you will have what you want."

"Good. That fool of a reporter. Does she have any idea what she is being used for?" he asked smugly

"I don't think so. She admires International Rescue as much as anyone else. She'd never even think of betraying them." the smaller man let out a silent sigh of relief as the 'Master' nodded.

"Go back out and make sure the trap is set. Nothing can go wrong this time." As the smaller man disappeared from sight, the 'Master' got up, smiling. "You will be mine, International Rescue. By the end of the week, all your secrets will be mine!"

"Finally, I've done it! And at 2 o'clock in the morning too. Now, to go get some sleep."

TBC…

A/N

There – I'm not always nasty, it's just that cliff hangers are so much fun to write. By the way, chapter 8 is going to be called 'Ashes to Ashes…', so be ready for some very unhappy Tracy's!

So that no one gets confused, I will give a little explanation about some of the story.

Brains found out about the overload through the information he already had from his link to Thunderbird 5. As he then lost the link – when the picture fizzed out, he has no way of knowing if the explosion actually happened or not. This means that everyone thinks that it did happen and that John is dead.