Disclaimer: I don't own Thunderbirds in any way.
Hi everyone. It's easter break so I'm back. Sorry for the wait for chapter eleven my coursework is really getting heavy.
But never fear I have not lost interest and am still tapping away on the old keyboard :-)
Thanks for all your reviews they are much appreciated and most welcome.
CHAPTER ELEVEN – Crazy Feeling
"Son, give me a systems check"
"All systems are g-g-green dad" Fermat replied to his father.
Fermat, Tin Tin, and Brains were all sat at the computer terminals, in Thunderbird Two's silo, monitoring the tests as they went systematically through Thunderbird One's systems to see if the auto-flight program was fully operational.
John had joined Scott in observing the tests. They stood behind Brains and the others on the observation platform watching the proceedings with interest.
Meanwhile Alan sat up in Thunderbird One's cockpit, monitoring her systems internally as they were checked, relying information via radio headset to the others in the silo next door.
Scott brought his hand to his headset " Hey Alan, I don't want to go in there and find chewing gum stuck to the monitors".
Up in Thunderbird One, Alan grinned "Ha, ha. How old do you think I am, five?"
"I'm just giving you a friendly warning".
"Relax big brother. I won't hurt your precious rocket".
John chuckled at the interaction, "Scott you worry too much".
Scott smiled. John always did have a way of reading what he was thinking.
In Thunderbird One Alan continued to monitor the control panels. The auto-flight program was designed to record and translate the readings received from the external sensors on the aircraft. It would then send this data to an external transceiver (pilot) that would then be able to make the appropriate adjustments to the aircraft's course or status.
So far the program was working perfectly.
Alan sighed. 'If I knew the testing was going to be this exciting I would have waited for Scott to arrive so he could do it' he thought sarcastically.
"Ok Alan, we are r-re-rea-r go for main engine test" Brains broke in over the airwaves.
"FAB Brains. Engaging primary fuel pump, all thruster systems are green, go for main engine start". As the main rockets fired into life the floor shuddered through the silos under the immense power. The others watched the computer screens as the flight control program recorded all the data.
Brains smiled broadly looking frantically from screen to screen "Excellent. I-I think we've done it! All data has been recorded… its working better than I expected!"
Fermat looked up at his father who gave him a thumbs up, "Testing completed. Could you r-ra-r call Alan and tell him to shut her down son!"
Fermat grinned and turned back to the computer screen, "Ok we're done, shut her down Alan"
"FAB Fermat. Shutting down all systems now".
"So Brains, does this mean we can install the program into the rest of the Thunderbirds?"
"Indeed it does Tin Tin". They were all relieved that they had finally managed to install the program and even better, the program worked perfectly.
Scott came up to the happy trio "Well done Brains, lets just hope we won't have to use the program any time soon".
"I agree Scott. It is just an emergency s-sy-s precaution"
John moved up to his brother's side. "Congratulations guys. I'd say it's just about time for lunch. Lets go and tell dad the good news" John commented.
Fermat's face lit up, "Great! I'm starving!"
Scott laughed. "Scott to Alan. Hey squirt, we're heading back up to the house for lunch. We'll see you there".
"You got it! Save some for me guys!"
"Sorry Alan, I didn't catch that, too much static".
Alan scowled. "You're a regular comedian Scott"
Smiling, Scott placed the headset back on the table and the group quickly filed out of Thunderbird Two's silo Fermat leading the way.
As Alan finished shutting down Thunderbird One's systems the blue lighting of the cockpit cast eerie shadows on the walls of the cockpit and Alan suddenly felt a shiver run down his spin. Thunderbird One some how no longer felt like a safe place to be.
"This is crazy," he muttered to the empty cabin. As far as Alan was concerned he couldn't be safer. Here he was, sitting in International Rescue's scout and command plane, with his friends and brothers close by. So why did he feel like a bag full of nerves all the time? He knew why…The Hood terrified him. He had been carefully hiding this fear from his family all week, but he couldn't stop thinking about it, how the Hood had attacked him in his own dreams…and managed to cause him physical harm.
Shaking his head at the thought he got up from the left side pilot's chair to leave. Then, he heard it. That voice, the same voice that he had been hearing in his dreams, only this time, he was very much awake.
'Greetings Alan' the Hood's low voice echoed in Alan's head.
Alan whirled around in his seat even though he knew nobody was with him.
'My boy, I need you to do something for me'
"No way" Alan breathed. He could feel the fear starting to well up from his stomach. Scrambling out of the pilot's seat he punched the key lock to open the hatch. Once outside he ran to the silo entrance door as the hatch closed behind him.
'Alan, you can't hide from me! You will do as I ask!'
Alan could hear the menace in the Hood's voice as he keyed in the access code desperate to get away from the voice.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Alan shouted to the empty silo and the door slid open.
As he entered the tunnel he stopped, a look of utter fear and shock upon his face. His breathing quickened and he clutched his hands to his head as agonizing pain suddenly laced through it. "Aaaah". Leaning against the steel wall for support he struggled to focus as the tunnel spun around him and colored spotted appeared in his line of vision. He eventually squeezed his eyes shut against the agony. Time seemed to stand still as he leant against the wall. All he could hear was his own racing heart and ragged breathing. His mind started to darken as he tried to think through the pain. Thoughts, memories, and emotions evaporated in his mind before he could even stop them, until he found himself completely isolated in his own mind. He couldn't think of a thing. No memories, no thoughts, no feelings…no control.
After a few minutes Alan calmed down, his breathing evening out. He Pushed off from the wall and stood up straight. His mind was hazed over and he stared blankly down the tunnel ahead. His face pale and void of all emotion he uttered one terrifying sentence.
"What do you want me to do…master?"
000
"Has anyone seen Alan?"
"Not since the tests dad. He said he was coming though" Scott answered placing his knife and fork back on his now empty plate.
Jeff frowned. It wasn't like Alan to not turn up to a meal.
"Did he tell anyone he was going to be late to lunch?" Jeff asked the whole group sat at the table. Everyone shook their heads in answer.
"Not like him to pass up food"
Jeff sighed, "I agree Virgil. Well, he'll just have to fix his own lunch". Jeff was beginning to get rather tired of his youngest son's attitude.
Everyone had finished with their lunch and one by one left the table to go back to what they were doing.
Onaha picked up a pile of empty plates from the table as she got up. "I will make Alan a sandwich and put it in the fridge for him".
Tin Tin smiled at her mother's caring. Even though the Tracy boys were not related to their family, she treated them as though they were her own children, even Fermat.
Fermat slumped back in his seat, "I wonder where Alan has got to".
Tin Tin turned to look at her friend, "I don't know. Maybe he had some problems in Thunderbird One?"
Scott quickly looked up at the mention of his craft. John, who was sat across from him glanced side ways at Tin Tin.
"I can't imagine what kind of trouble he would have. He has flown her before".
"Virgil, with Alan, anything is possible" Scott answered as he got up from the table. "I'm going to see what's keeping him".
Tin Tin gulped down the last of her orange juice and placed her glass back on the table, "I'll give you a hand"
"Me too!" Tin Tin and Fermat got up from the table.
Scott nodded and they all headed for the silos below the island surface.
When they reached the entrance to the walkway that led straight to Thunderbird One's cockpit, they found no sign of Alan.
"Well, he didn't have any trouble then" Fermat commented out of breath, as he looked at Thunderbird One through the window in the door.
Scott sighed heavily. "He has to be around here somewhere".
"He might be in his room?" Tin Tin supplied.
Scott, being the ever-ready field leader of International Rescue already had a plan of action forming in his mind. "Ok. Fermat, can you check his room and the rest of the house?"
"S-su-sure"
"Tin Tin, if you can search the underground levels for me?" Tin Tin nodded.
"Thanks guys" and with that they each went their separate ways.
Scott wasn't really worried, he just wanted to know why his brother hadn't shown up to lunch. But still something kept nagging at the back of his mind. Something telling him…that he should be worried. But worried about what, Scott didn't know, so he brushed the feeling aside as a figment of his imagination.
Scott took the elevator down to the ground floor as he had decided to search the silos himself. He walked through every silo calling his brother's name. He checked inside Thunderbird Two and even looked inside the firefly, but there was no sign of Alan.
Sighing heavily, he took the elevator back up to the top level, heading back to the main house.
Up in the house Fermat had also struck unlucky in his search for Alan. Going back to the living area he flopped down on the luxurious orange sofa in defeat. Folding his arms, he waited for the others to finish their search.
Meanwhile, Tin Tin had finished searching the training, simulator, and sick bay rooms. The only place left she hadn't looked yet was the laboratory rooms on the second floor.
Opening the door to the main laboratory, she stepped inside. The lights were on, and she couldn't see the back of the room because of the many pieces of equipment that littered it. 'If the lights are on then someone is in here' she thought gazing into the ominous room.
"Hello?" Her voice echoed through the large room as she walked in.
There was no response.
She continued walking across the room, being careful where she stepped so not to knock anything over. The lab seemed more like a well-packed storage room than a laboratory.
"Alan? Are you in here?" Again she was met with only here echo.
A shiver ran down her neck. The lab was creepy and she felt the sudden urge to flee from the room. Resisting that urge she pressed on reaching the back of the lab. She gazed around the sterile room, but she couldn't see anyone. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, 'another one bites the dust'.
Tin Tin hurried back across the room and out the door. As she turned to close it something landed heavily on her shoulder. "Aaaah!" she leapt out of her skin and whirled around with her arms in front of her ready to defend herself.
"Man, you're jumpy today"
"Alan! What do you think you're doing, you scared the hell out of me!" Tin Tin yelled in annoyance as she glared at Alan's smiling face.
"Ok, ok, I'm sorry. I can't help it if it's too easy"
Tin Tin's face softened. "We've been looking for you. You missed lunch"
"You're kidding! I bet no one saved me any". Alan whined, his face a picture of disappointment.
"Don't worry. My mom put a chicken sandwich in the fridge for you. Come on let's get back to the house"
Alan's face lit up again at her words as they headed towards the elevator down the corridor. Once they were in the elevator heading upwards Tin Tin looked back at her friend. "By the way Alan, what were you doing down there?"
Tin Tin watched as Alan's face slowly turned a shade paler, an array of emotions flooding his features. But as soon as the emotions had appeared they were gone again and he smiled at her. It was a few moments before he answered her; "I left my sweater in the training room after my workout yesterday. I went to get it".
"Oh…fair enough" Tin Tin replied quietly looking down. The elevator doors opened and stepping out in unison they made their way down the hallway and into the living area.
"Hey you found him!" Fermat smiled and he jumped off the sofa to greet his friends.
"What's all the fuss about? I was only in the training room"
Scott, who had returned only minutes before they arrived, got up from the kitchen stool he was perched on, "When you didn't show up for lunch we wondered where you were".
Alan strode over to the kitchen and retrieved his sandwich from the fridge. "I got held up that's all."
"Hey Alan, do you want to go for a swim once you've finished? It's hotter than the dessert outside today"
" F-ounds -ike a brirriant p-an Fer-a" Alan mumbled around a mouthful of sandwich.
"Alan, that's rude bro" Scott smirked and raised an eyebrow at his brother's lack of manners.
Swallowing the last of his sandwich he dumped the plate in the sink. "I can't help it, it's my age"
Scott laughed softly as he watched Tin Tin roll her eyes at Alan. Alan and Tin Tin followed Fermat up the curved path to the first floor and the rest of the house to get their swimwear.
Scott walked over to the open glass doors and out onto the patio. The sun was bright and high in the sky. There was a slight breeze that made the palm trees wave, casting dancing shadows on the decking next to the pool. Scott smiled 'just another beautiful day in paradise'. Walking down the steps he sat down in one of the many brightly colored chairs that littered the house and poolside.
He still couldn't shake the worried feeling he felt about his brother, about the whole summer for that matter. He kept getting the strangest sensation like someone was watching them, and that Alan was somehow a part of that feeling. Impossible yes, but the feeling was there. It was continuously distracting him from his thoughts and no mattered what he did it was always there. Scott groaned in frustration rubbing his face with his hands and then pulling a pair of sunglasses from his shirt pocket he rested them on the bridge of his nose. He leaned back and attempted to relax in the glorious sun.
000
After dinner most of the Island's occupants spent the rest of the day outside by the pool trying to cool off in the scorching summer evening. The sun was setting in the distance, casting a rich orange glow across the sky, which was slowly turning a dark blue in the East in the fading light.
Alan, Fermat and Tin Tin splashed happily around in the pool closest to the house and eventually settled on a game of water volleyball, Alan and Fermat on one side, and Tin Tin and Virgil on the other. But, boys being boys, fifteen minutes into the game Alan and Fermat had resorted to simply wrestling each other for the ball. Fermat's swimming had improved greatly over the past year and he gave Alan a good run for his money, but was eventually over powered and dunked under the water by his friend.
Meanwhile Tin Tin and Virgil had moved to the side of the pool. Tin Tin couldn't help but laugh at the mess of water and limbs wrestling for the ball. Virgil was also chuckling at the scene as he clambered out of the pool and settled down on a lounger next to the chair Scott occupied.
John and Jeff sat at a small table ten feet away, a laptop between them, as they discussed the latest reports from Tracy Industries. All the Tracy brothers helped their father with the running of the family business from time to time. But Jeff insisted that they concentrate more on the 'other' family business before helping him in the office.
Up the stairs on the patio, Onaha was deep in discussion with Brains about the turbo oven that had broken down again. Brains had already repaired it twice that week and was starting to wonder what exactly the woman was cooking in it.
Virgil lay back on the lounger watching Scott stare at the setting sun. "Kind of makes you hope that we don't get an emergency doesn't it?"
"Mmm" Scott continued to study the view.
"Brains told me that the tests on the auto-flight system went well".
"Mmm" Scott absently nodded, still not paying attention to his brother.
"They're going to start fitting the system into Thunderbird Two tomorrow".
"Yeah".
Virgil raised an eyebrow at his brother, a smirk spread on his face. "By the way, Tin Tin painted a pink smiley face on the side of Thunderbird One, she said it might make you more popular with the public".
"Uh-huh…what?" Scott finally turned to Virgil.
Virgil folded his arms, "Alright, what's on your mind?"
"What did you say about pink paint and Thunderbird One?"
Virgil threw up his hands in mild frustration. "I was kidding! You weren't paying attention to anything I was saying".
Scott deflated slightly, "Oh, sorry Virg".
"It's ok Scott. What's up with you anyway? You've been in your own little world all afternoon".
Scott took off his sunglasses, playing with them in his hands. "I don't know". He glanced up at the pool before adding, "I've got this uneasy feeling. You know?"
Virgil smiled, "Well, actually, I don't know. I don't see what you're so worried about. It's been a great summer so far. Glorious weather, only a handful of call outs, what can be wrong?"
"That's just it! I don't know. I've had this annoying feeling all day! But I don't know what I'm uneasy about!"
Virgil thought for a minute, closing his eyes in relaxation. "Maybe you're just imagining it, might be because we haven't seen much action this summer".
"Maybe".
Virgil lowered his voice, "Is it something to do with Alan?"
Scott looked back out over the ocean, "Maybe, like I said I don't really know".
"Well he's fine now. It's like he's made a complete turn around".
Scott frowned as he watched a flock of seagulls fly across the horizon, "Yeah…funny that".
Virgil rolled his eyes and shook his head in mock annoyance. "Scott, he's fine! We're fine, you're fine, and nothing is going to happen so will you just chill out".
Scott leaned back further in his chair stifling a yawn, "Yeah, you're probably right Virg".
The sun had now set completely and the external pool lights flickered on as Alan, Tin Tin and Fermat made their way back up the steps to the house. Onaha smiled at them, "There are fresh chocolate chip cookies on the kitchen counter if you want a snack before bedtime".
"Wow, thanks Onaha" Fermat smiled.
"What would we do without you" Alan mirrored Fermat's smile as they both raced inside heading straight for the kitchen.
"Thanks mom", Tin Tin hugged her mother before following the others inside hoping they would save her some.
Jeff chuckled as he strode up the steps, "You really do spoil us all Onaha".
"Your job is to save lives, my job is a reward the gallant heroes".
Jeff laughed as he followed her and Brains into the house.
Virgil yawned widely, "I think its time for me to hit the hay". Getting stiffly up from the lounger he turned towards the steps. He was still suffering from the early morning flight to Thunderbird Five.
John closed and picked up the laptop he and his father had been working on and headed over to Virgil. "Scott, you coming?"
"Yep". Scott pushed himself out of the chair.
"I wonder if there's any cookies left".
"Well, finders keepers!" Scott laughed.
"Not if I get there first!" Virgil shot back grinning.
Neither had noticed that John had run off until he was at the top of the step "YOU'RE BOTH TOO SLOW!"
"Hey! NO FAIR!" Virgil shouted as he raced up the steps in chase of his older brother, Scott hot on his heels.
TBC...
I hope you enjoyed and please feel free to review.