CHAPTER SIX
"My God!" Scott cried as Thunderbird 1 approached the island.
"What? Scott? What is it?" came Virgil's frantic voice.
Scott's mouth hung open as he took in the scene that grew closer with every passing second. His home, the beautiful villa nestled against the mountain on Tracy Island, was no more. Flames leapt from the destroyed structure as smoke billowed into the sky. When he turned his face from the left viewing port to the right, he could see a jet disappearing. His face taking on a look of steely determination, Scott changed course and headed after it.
"John?" he said, ignoring standard bandwidth protocol.
John's face appeared on the screen in front of him. "Scott, where are you? What's happened?"
"Scott, what do you see?" Virgil's voice joined in.
"The house has been destroyed. By the look of it, I'd say it was bombed. There's a jet making a fast getaway. I'm going after it."
"My God," John whispered. "When the vid went blank, I-I-"
"No," Virgil said. "Are…are they still alive?"
"I'll try to raise them," John offered.
Scott waited impatiently, stubbornly refusing to allow his mind to process the worst-case scenario he feared was true. Surely his father or Tin-Tin would've figured out the danger and escaped to safety. They couldn't be dead…them, Kyrano, Grandma. They just couldn't.
"I can't raise them, Scott," came John's uncertain voice.
"Virgil, get down there and see if you can find them!" Scott barked. "I'm almost on the jet now."
"F.A.B.!" Virgil replied.
"Scott! Heads up!" John yelled. "Four bogeys, all points, 100 miles out!"
"Dammit!" Scott growled.
"Scott, should we assist?"
"No, Virgil. You get down to Base. If John can't raise them…you have to find them. I need you to find them!"
He could hear the hesitation as Virgil replied, "Scott…"
"No arguments! Go!"
There was a moment's silence. Scott had overtaken the fleeing jet. He heard Virgil finally reply, "F.A.B.", but his mind was now on his target.
"You sonofabitch," he swore, his voice full of anger. "Whoever you are, if you've killed my father…so help me God…"
"VRVS, this is Brains. VRVS on."
He waited. The grid seemed to fade a bit, but nothing else happened. What could he do?
"Think. You're a genius. Think!" he ordered himself aloud. Not only was he trapped in God-knew-where, but everyone on the island was in danger, if Kyrano's statements and rapid departure were any indication. How he wished he were there to help them, whatever it was that was happening. "There has to be a solution."
And then it hit him.
"VRVS, this is Brains. Copy program Tracy Island Simulation Scenario One to new file, Tracy Island Simulation Scenario Two."
The grid blinked off and then on again. Brains couldn't be sure his plan would work, but he had to try something.
"VRVS, display coding, Tracy Island Simulation Scenario Two."
The red gridlines disappeared. Continuous lines of white letters, numbers and symbols, representing the hard-coded programming of the scenario, covered the walls, floor and ceiling.
Brains scanned the coding, searching for the error that wasn't allowing the scenarios to load. "It's got to be in here!" he cried out. He read fast…faster than most humans…but still felt he was going much too slowly. There were over 500,000 lines of code to get through!
"I have to find it," he mumbled. "I just have to."
"Scott, they're only fifty miles out now!"
"I know, John, I know. I have 'em on my scanners."
"What are you going to do?"
"I've got this bastard in my sights now. Anything from Virgil?"
"No, not yet. He's just landed, they're heading for the house now."
"Have you found Dad or the others yet?"
"No, I can't pick them up on GPS either."
A glimmer of hope awoke within Scott. Unless his father's watch had been completely destroyed, the only reason John wouldn't be able to pick up his signal would be…
"John! The bunker! Shelter 4! If they got inside that mountain before the bombs hit, it could be blocking Dad's signal!"
"I'll recalibrate. Scott, they're almost on you! They're readying weapons…armed to the teeth with missiles! Get outta there!"
"Shit!" Scott swore, beads of sweat breaking out on his forehead. No way did he want to let the jet out of his sight, but could he withstand an onslaught of missiles from those other aircraft? In Thunderbird 1, he could outrun them, but…
"John, keep this guy in your sights. Do what you have to do, but don't lose him!"
"F.A.B. I've almost got the sensors recalibrated."
Scott swung Thunderbird 1 around and headed directly for the four approaching craft. They were now all coming from the west, in attack formation. "Time to make your heads spin, boys," he smiled. Thunderbird 1 streaked above them so fast it took several minutes for the planes to respond. They all turned and headed after it, with the jet on their heels.
"They're all on you, Scott!"
"What type of missiles are we talkin' here?"
"Bad news, Scott. Long-range, heat sensing. Even if you outrun 'em, they're gonna stick to your tail like glue!"
"My luck," he ground out. "How about those sensors?"
"Just finished. Sweeping now."
Scott swung around again. No matter what happened, his first priority was to keep those fighters away from the island…away from his family. He just wished he knew if everyone was okay.
"Got him!" John crowed. "You're right, Scott, it's faint, but it's coming from Shelter 4! I think they made it!"
Scott almost laughed out loud in relief. "Let Virgil know. They may be injured and in need of help."
"Scott, they're firing! Four hot ones! They've picked up your trail, they're on you!"
"Don't worry, I'll get rid of 'em. Just get through to Virgil about Dad."
"F.A.B."
Scott had an idea. He'd have to handle his beloved ship like he'd never done before, but in his mind, he could do it. "All right you," he said, addressing the four small blips on his radar that represented the missiles, "let's see how good you really are."
"I found it!" Brains whooped. "I found it, I found it! VRVS! This is Brains! Create manual interface with coding!"
A panel appeared on the far wall. Brains ran to it, muttering, "Line twenty-two thousand, five hundred two."
His fingers flew across the panel. He continued looking above his head, where the line of programming rested, to check his progress. "Only a few more changes…"
Just as he finished and saved the program, he felt it again…that feeling. He turned in a circle, looking around for someone. But of course, no one was there.
"Kyrano?"
Yes, Brains, it is I. I sensed you near.
"Kyrano, what happened?"
We were attacked. The house has been destroyed.
Brains paled. "Is everyone…all right?"
I believe so, but we are not out of danger yet. Virgil, Alan and Gordon are with us now. But Thunderbird 1 is under attack in the air.
"Under attack? By whom?"
We do not know. Are you all right?
"Yes, yes, I'm okay. I think I've gotten this thing working now. Is the house completely destroyed?"
I am afraid it looks that way. John is reporting there are four planes armed with missiles, and four missiles have launched at Thunderbird 1.
Brains' hand worked his mouth and chin as his mind raced. "Kyrano, I need Tin-Tin down at the VRVS."
There were a few moments of silence before Kyrano replied, I have spoken with Mr. Tracy. We are all going to Thunderbird 2 hangar in case the fighters attack the island. Tin-Tin will be at the machine shortly.
Brains knew Thunderbird 2, the only other Thunderbird that was armed, wasn't fast enough to dodge missiles. Even if Scott could shake them, the planes could very well return to the island. The only way he could think of to save International Rescue from certain destruction was to somehow make the attacking planes think they had bigger firepower than they actually did.
Just like that, he had a solution. Brains knew he had to act fast. What he was contemplating was the most outlandish idea he'd ever had. But from his point-of-view, it was the only way out of this mess.
"Why didn't I think of this sooner?" he wondered aloud as he headed back to the Control Panel.
Think of what? came Kyrano's thoughts.
Brains had all but forgotten his presence. "Kyrano, listen to me very carefully. I need you to relay every word of what I say to Tin-Tin."
I will do my best.
"This will work," Brains said, more to convince himself than anything. "It just has to.