A change of scenery!

"This is Marineville calling Thunderbird 1. Do you read me?"

Silence.

"Thunderbird 1, this is Marineville. Are you receiving me?"

Fisher frowned as the radio produced static. He sighed and looked up from his dead controls and over at his colleague who was looking more worn out than he was. Like him, Atlanta had been desperately trying to contact Stingray since the submarine's disappearance, as well as the International Rescue aircraft, but was hindered by the fact Marineville was experiencing a technological blackout. All forms of communication were down and the two lieutenants were battling hard to get the radio controls working again.

"Any news?" Atlanta asked him, a thin layer of hope reflecting in her eyes.

"I'm sorry Atlanta." he sighed. "The Stingray crew are not responding on any frequency and neither are the International Rescue aircraft, or any of the other emergency services we were in contact with. I just don't understand why."

Atlanta lowered her head. "Why does this have to happen now? It's too contrived; as if someone deliberately went out of their way to stop us from helping Stingray!"

"Could it be Titan?"

"Maybe, but why? And how? Even Marineville's back up generators have been rendered useless! It just seems like an inside job to me."

Fisher shook his head. "I wish I knew the real reason too, Atlanta."

A string of curses could be heard behind the Commander's office door. It slid open, and Shore's chair moved across the floor towards the tower controls. On seeing the worried expressions on Atlanta and Fisher's faces, he deliberately cleared his throat.

"Everything alright, father?" Atlanta asked, knowing things probably were anything but.

Shore shook his head. "I wish they were, Atlanta, I wish they were."

"Have you heard anything, sir?" Fisher asked.

"I've just had written word come from HQ. They've given orders to cease the search for Stingray and focus on the job at hand - getting Marineville up and ready to defend itself in case of an attack. We're on high alert."

"Abandon the search? We can't just leave them!" Fisher stressed, turning to face Atlanta who nodded in agreement.

"Fisher's right, father! We can't give up on Stingray! Not now! Troy and the others could be injured, or worse!"

Commander Shore frowned at his lieutenants, trying to disguise his own brewing fears. He wasn't happy about the situation either but he was completely outgunned by those on top. The whole situation was a mess. It wasn't unusual for the submarine to suddenly lose contact with base and happened quite frequently - especially since the World Aquanaut Security Patrol had been introduced to the exploits of hostile undersea races; namely King Titan, who was always causing trouble.

The fact that Marineville had been technologically compromised, however, suggested that there was more to this than first thought.

Shore exhaled deeply, "I understand your concerns, believe me, I do. But Headquarters wants International Rescue to deal with the Stingray situation and wants us to deal with the blackout back here, so that's exactly what's gonna happen. There's nothing stopping us from trying to contact Troy and the others every so often, but the communications blackout is our main priority. We need to get Marineville's power grid up and running. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir..." Atlanta felt more disheartened than ever, slowly turning back to her dead control panel.

Shore gave a sigh, "I'm sure Stingray will be found soon, honey - with or without our input. It's just a matter of time."

"Yes, but it's time they don't have..."

Shore cleared his throat. "Try to keep your mind off it for now. Get on with your work. Same goes for you, Fisher."

"Sir." Fisher acknowledged with a nod of his head. The young lieutenant turned back to his station and looked at the black screens that surrounded him, no blips in sight. Running a stressed hand through his hair, Fisher bit his tongue and tried to put on a brave face for Atlanta's sake. He glanced over at his auburn-haired colleague with a taut smile. "Wanna help me reconfigure the telescreens and fix the wiring?"

Atlanta looked up with a wry smile. "I thought you'd never ask."

Tap. Tap. Tap.

"Tap that glass again and I'm ripping your arm off."

"With your hands tied?"

"Don't get smart with me, Phones."

Things were a little tense inside the glass cylinder, and Gordon was beginning to get fed up of the WASP aquanauts' sniping at one another.

"Would you just tell me what you're planning on accomplishing by tapping the glass?" Troy scowled at his friend, who was kneeling against the side of the glass with his head resting on it.

"Just hush up will you. I'll explain in a moment."

"But the noise is infuriating!" Troy complained.

Gordon smirked from where he was sitting on the floor with his back leaning against the glass. Troy had always been notoriously short-tempered and apparently things hadn't changed.

"How's this going to help us rescue Marina? Phones, didn't you hear that guy? He wants to MARRY her! We have to stop him now!"

"I know that skipper, would you just relax?"

"RELAX he tells me!"

"Troy, just relax." Gordon rolled his eyes. "Let Phones do what he needs to do and then we'll work from there."

"But he's taking too long!" Troy growled, again nudging the glass casing with his shoulder.

"Troy! I'm trying to figure out how thick the glass is!"

"And what will that achieve?"

"It'll tell me the intensity setting I need for this tool I swiped from one of the guards."

Gordon sat up.

Troy blinked, "You... what?"

Phones grinned one of his ever-winning smiles. "Thought that might shut you up."

"Nice one Phones!" Gordon grinned, pulling himself upright.

Phones tapped the glass once more and on determining the intensity setting. "I saw one of the other guards using it earlier. It looks sorta like a flashlight but sorta acts like a laser. Perfect for helping me slice through this glass."

"Good work Phones!"

"Thanks skipper. We'll be out of here in no time."

Carefully clicking the 'on' switch on the laser cutter, Phones swiftly cut a hole into the glass, allowing the trapped men to spill out into the marble room. Phones used the laser to cut through their ropes and soon they were aimlessly wandering around in hope they'd find Marina somewhere soon.