CHAPTER THREE
Scott began to get worried. Brains wasn't with the VRVS and he wasn't in his rooms. And now, as Scott walked through the spacious laboratory deep within the bowels of the island, he realized Brains wasn't here, either. Where in the world could he be? He decided to voice his concerns to the rest of his family and made his way back up to the main house.
He found them all in the kitchen having a lively discussion about the latest movie that had been released. Even Alan and Tin-Tin were there, their earlier argument seemingly forgotten. Scott seated himself at the table, where a plate of pancakes and sausage awaited him. He half-listened as Gordon and Alan debated the finer points of whether or not androids that looked and acted completely human were possible.
"Anything's possible in the movies," Alan said. "Androids is sure to hit top at the box office."
Jeff folded his newspaper and took a sip of coffee. "There's always Braman. I have a hunch Brains will have him walking and talking like the rest of us in no time. And if his VRVS is any indication of what can happen, I'd say anything is possible."
"I agree, Father," Gordon chimed in. "It's so realistic, it's like you're actually there."
"Speaking of Brains," Scott said, swallowing a mouthful of pancakes, "have any of you seen him this morning?"
Everyone at the table shook their head or said, "No."
"He's probably in the lab," Virgil offered.
"No. I checked. He's not in his suite, the lab sleeping room or with the VRVS either. Grandma, did you see him last night when you took the food down to him?"
"As a matter of fact, I didn't," Ruth replied as she began placing dirty dishes in the dishwasher. "His machine was running, but he wasn't there. I just left the tray of food on the table."
"What is it, Scott?" Virgil asked. He knew his brother well enough to know he was concerned.
"I don't know, Virg. Don't you think it's odd that Brains would leave the VRVS on like that? Dad said he shut it off this morning, which means it was probably on all night. And he didn't go near the bottle of water."
"Yeah, that is unusual," Gordon agreed.
"What are you thinking, son?" Jeff asked, eyeing the worry lines beginning to appear in Scott's forehead.
"I don't know, Father. I just feel that something is off."
Alan raised his wrist to his face and spoke into his watch. "Alan calling Brains. Come in, Brains."
Everyone listened, but there was no response. Gordon was the next one to give it a try.
"Brains? It's Gordon. Come in, Brains."
Jeff frowned. "I'm beginning to agree with you, Scott. Brains always wears his com. And it's not like him not to answer a hail, no matter how busy he is." Jeff thought for a few moments as everyone exchanged worried glances. "All right, let's see if we can't locate him and clear this up. Search pattern Alpha, everyone."
They all came to their feet as Kyrano entered the room. "What is it?" he asked, seeing the looks on their faces.
Everyone but Ruth and Tin-Tin filed out of the kitchen.
"It's Brains, Father. We can't seem to find him. We're going to do a search."
"Would you like my assistance?"
"No, that's all right. I think Mrs. Tracy could use your help right now."
Kyrano nodded and headed for Ruth as Tin-Tin left to take up her search area.
"I certainly hope he's okay," Tin-Tin said to herself as she climbed the steps to the house's second floor. "I wonder where he could be."
Brains couldn't see a thing. He could feel his hands, his face, his body…but quite literally couldn't see past the end of his nose. Well, actually, he couldn't see his nose, either. He knew what had happened: someone back in the real world had turned the VRVS off.
"They must realize by now I'm missing," he said, his voice sounding small in the vast expanse of nothingness surrounding him.
But, he reasoned, perhaps they didn't yet realize he was missing. After all, days, sometimes even weeks would pass with little or no contact between he and the Tracys. When Brains was in the middle of creating or tweaking something, he could be at it for days on end, with barely any sleep or food at all. That fact didn't bode well for his current predicament. If they weren't even aware he was missing, they wouldn't try to find him. And if they didn't try to find him, he could be trapped in this virtual reality limbo for a good, long time.
The only way he figured he could get out of this was if one of the Tracys reactivated the VRVS and actually entered a simulation program. At this point, it didn't matter which program, since Brains was, for all intents and purposes, as 'shut down' as the rest of the machine. He couldn't feel anything beneath his feet. He just felt suspended, as though he were floating in mid-air. He could move around, but there was really nowhere to go. He began to wonder how long he'd last like this.
"If I ever do get out of this, it'll make one heckuva scientific paper."
Just over an hour after their search began, all members of the Tracy household were gathered in the Lounge. Ruth and Kyrano entered just as the debriefing began.
"I searched all the bedrooms, Mr. Tracy," Tin-Tin said. "I didn't find him."
Alan looked worried as he came to stand next to Tin-Tin. "I searched Thunderbird 3 and her silo. No luck."
"How about Thunderbird 1, Scott?" Jeff asked.
"Nothing, Dad. Not in the hangar, the launch bay, nothing."
Virgil shook his head. "Thunderbird 2 hangar, the maintenance bay, everything is empty."
"Gordon?"
"No, Father. The roundhouse and cliff house were empty, too."
"And I searched the lab again, as well as the boathouse. I didn't find him either." The tension could've been cut with a knife as everyone contemplated the possibilities. "I think it's time we get John involved."
Several heads nodded as Jeff moved behind his desk. He opened a channel to Thunderbird 5. "This is Base calling Thunderbird 5. Come in, John."
John's vid portrait was quickly replaced by his live countenance. "Thunderbird 5 here, Father. What's up?"
"Do me a favor, John. Try to pinpoint Brains' location using the GPS in his wrist com."
John frowned…he knew his father, or anyone on the island could do a GPS scan themselves…but began the scan procedure on the console next to him. His frown deepened when the first results came back. He expanded the search beyond Tracy Island until it covered half the globe, but still had no luck. Finally he widened it to include all of Earth, but there was no signal to be found.
"Father?" he said incredulously. "I can't find him. He's not on the planet anywhere. Or, at least, his watch isn't. What's going on?"
Jeff seemed to pale slightly as he replied, "I wish I knew, John. Brains seems to have vanished into thin air."
Brains yawned as he opened his eyes. Or, he thought he was opening his eyes. Who could tell when the space around you was just as void of images as the space behind your eyelids? He realized he must have fallen asleep again, and was amazed by how comfortable he was even though he seemed to be supported by nothing.
"There has to be a way for me to turn this back on," he said. Then he remembered the voice commands he'd programmed the VRVS to recognize. "I wonder…" He paused, his mind turning over the possibilities and various potential consequences if he were successful. The pros seemed to outweigh the cons as best as he could figure, so he decided to proceed.
"VRVS, this is Brains. VRVS on."
To his surprise, the blackness disappeared and was replaced by a bright white, so bright he had to close his eyes against the glare. It was working. It was working!
"VRVS, load Thunderbird 6, Simulation Scenario 1."
Before he could even open his eyes, Brains was sitting in the rear seat of the Tiger, Alan's bright yellow bi-plane, which had been christened Thunderbird 6 only five months earlier after its unique role in saving the lives of several members of International Rescue from the top of a teetering Skyship One. Brains still hadn't gotten over the loss of his beautifully designed ship…but now was not the time to dwell.
He removed the flight cap and goggles that had suddenly appeared on his head, and hopped out of the plane to take a look at his surroundings. The sky was overcast and looked due to let loose with the torrential downpour Brains had programmed into this particular scenario. They'd never used the Tiger in inclement weather, which was why Brains had decided a simulation for it was a good idea.
Surrounding him were fields of wheat. In the distance were a farmhouse, a barn and a grain silo, but he hadn't programmed any people into this scenario. It was only to be used for learning how to handle Thunderbird 6 in heavy rains, high winds and a tornado, which would appear from his left. He'd chosen the Tracy home state of Kansas for his background on it, but had made the farm itself from scratch. The tornado would miss the farmhouse, but give the Tiger, which was supposed to be flying over the area at the time, one heck of a buffeting.
"Now what?" he asked the small airplane as he leaned back against one of her wings. His eyes turned toward the farmhouse again. His programming had been nothing if not realistic, and he knew the contents of the farmhouse inside and out. In it, he knew there was a vidphone.
A virtual vidphone, yes…but since the VRVS used the same circuitry as the communications system on Tracy Island…and if he could make the VRVS turn itself on and load a program, maybe…just maybe…he could somehow make contact with the island using the vidphone connection in this simulation.
A steely resolve in his step, Brains headed for the farmhouse. It was a long shot, to be sure. But it was the only shot he had.
"We must try and retrace his steps," Jeff said as he and his sons approached the VRVS. "Tin-Tin, Kyrano and Mother may find some clue as to his whereabouts in his lab or rooms, but we can't rely on that."
"Yeah, Brains isn't one to leave a trail of bread crumbs," Gordon agreed.
"Dad, the machine. It's on! I thought you said you turned it off!" Scott said, peering into the VRVS' frame.
"I did. I saw it work the shutdown procedure myself."
"Then how is it that it's on again?" Virgil asked.
"Good question, son. Maybe Brains is somewhere around."
They gathered 'round and watched as the VRVS loaded a program. On the screen appeared the words THUNDERBIRD 6 - SIMULATION SCENARIO 1. But just as the images began flickering to life, Jeff's watch beeped.
"Father?"
"What is it, John?"
"We have an emergency. It looks like we're going to need all hands on deck for this one."
Jeff sighed. Searching for Brains would have to wait. Duty called. "Right, John, we're on our way."
The five men loped to the elevator, with Gordon taking one last look at the VRVS before following the others. An uneasy feeling settled over him as he ran across the hangar.
Don't worry, Brains, he thought. We'll find you.