Chapter 3

"Man, it's cold in here!" John awoke shivering, and found himself in the cold darkness. A sheet covered his face, and he scrambled to fight it off.

"What's going on?" he asked. He felt around at the side of him, and dangled his feet over the edge of the shelf he was lying on. His feet touched a frigid, steel floor, with a pattern on it that pressed into his feet. It reminded him of stepping on Lego in bare feet. He was confused; there was nothing like this on Thunderbird 5. He felt around to survey his surroundings.

"Have I been abducted?" he said to himself. He stood up, and his legs felt strange; like he had never learned to use them properly. He staggered as he walked forward in a straight line to try and find a wall. He only walked about 3 paces before he met the wall. He turned, put his hand on the wall at waist height, and walked along the wall until he had measured the room. It was very small.

"Am I a prisoner?" he said, quite loudly, in case anyone was listening to him. He felt around some more, until he found a long handle. He pulled on it, opened the door, and found himself in Brain's lab. It was dim, but light enough to see. He was taken aback.

"How did I get here?" he wondered. John looked back into the room he had come from, realised he was wearing only boxer shorts, and panic struck him.
"Am I dead?" He knew that he had been ill. His memory was returning. There had been an incident on Thunderbird 5. He had been hurt. That was all he could remember. What if he had died? Was this really Brains' lab? Or was he in heaven? Or hell? He was distracted by a strange feeling in his hand. He held it up to his face to see it, and watched in awe as the IV line in his hand was somehow pushed out of his skin. His skin closed neatly afterwards.

"What the hell?"

He decided to test his theory. He went over to one of the cupboards, and took out a long hypodermic needle. He shut his eyes and stuck it into his thigh.

"Ouch!" he cried out. It hurt a lot more than he was expecting. He supposed, on the basis of this crude experiment, that he was alive.

"Maybe I was sleepwalking," he thought. As a child he had been wont to sleepwalk, when ill or upset. Although this had not happened for over ten years, he thought that to be the logical explanation, and headed upstairs to the main house to go to bed.

He laid in his room for several hours, but did not feel tired. He read a few books, and watched over his shoulder as the sun rose. He did a little typing on his computer, and waited for a reasonable hour to get up.

Scott emerged from his room, with still wet hair, and went to see Virgil in his.

"We should pick out something for John to wear," he said.

"What?"

"He wouldn't want to go half naked. You know how he is." Scott bit chewed at his lips as the word 'is' left them.

Virgil smiled. "Sure. I know. You go, I'll be along after I grab a shower."

"Okay, Virg."

Scott turned to leave, and headed to John's room. He was about to knock when he realised such an act was pointless. Scott opened the door and went inside, turning his back to the room as he entered.

"Hi, Scott."

Scott froze on hearing the voice. He turned slowly to see John sitting at his desk, in the very clothes Scott would have picked out for him.

"What the f-?" Scott blinked.

"Are you okay, Scott?" John leaned over to Scott. Scott trembled. John reached out and touched Scott's hand, and Scott screamed like a man running from a wild animal, before falling to the ground in a dead faint. The door swung open as Virgil ran in. He looked at John, then Scott, and then John again, and felt giddy.

"There's no such thing as ghosts!" he shrieked, before he too collapsed, on top of Scott. John tried to catch him, but was too late.

The noise brought Gordon, Brains, Grandma, and Kyrano from the kitchen.
"Sweet, merciful crap!" yelled Gordon. "John?"

"What the hell is going on?" asked John. Gordon walked over to him and grabbed his arm, while Kyrano, and Grandma stood open-mouthed. Brains ran off.

"Well, you're no ghost!" said Gordon.

"Of course I'm not a ghost!" snorted John. "Is somebody going to explain this?"

"You died, John!" said Grandma.

"What?" said John in disbelief.

"We all watched it!" said Gordon.

"You did?" replied John.

Brains reappeared. He was carrying a DNA scanner, and pressed John's hand against it.

"John Tracy," said the machine.

"It's him!" said Brains, excitedly.

"Of course it's me!" shouted John.

"I've heard of this documented, but I've never actually seen it!" Brains stammered more than usual.

"What?" asked John.

"People coming back to life after being medically dead!"

Gordon whooped in celebration and hugged John, tightly.

"But to be so well after being so ill?" said Brains.

"Huh?" said John.

"You had a high fever and a serious head injury."

"Well I feel fine now!" said John.

"Oh God! Scott! Virgil!" Gordon stooped to tend to them, and was joined by Brains. Grandma went out.

Scott gave a groan and came to. John was propping him up in a sitting position, and had loosened his collar. When Scott opened his eyes, John's smiling face completely filled his view.

"Agh!" he jumped back.

"Take it easy, Scott. Long story short, I came back from the dead."

"This is isn't a dream?"

"Nope."

Scott poked John's arm. "It's really you?"

"It's really him!" said Brains, gladly. They helped Scott up and he went with Kyrano to get a glass of water. Gordon was slapping Virgil on the face, gently.

"Virg! Wake up, will you?" Virgil slowly opened his eyes, and looked at Gordon. He tugged on Gordon to help himself to stand.

"What happened?" he asked, groggily, as he turned around.

"You-" Gordon was about to answer when Virgil clapped eyes on John again. John smiled, and Virgil's eyes once more rolled up into his head. This time, Gordon caught him, and he and John placed Virgil on John's bed.

Grandma returned with Jeff. He looked old and tired, and was still in his pyjamas.

"I don't know how, but thank you God!" cried Jeff, as he rushed to John and embraced him. "What happened, Brains?" he asked.

"I'm not sure, Mr. Tracy. But I would like to find out. This could be of great benefit to the scientific community."

"Gordon, can you tell the doctor what has happened? We still need him but in a slightly different capacity."

"Okay, Father." Gordon turned to go.

"And tell Alan and Tin-Tin."

"Right." Gordon left.

"What happened to Virgil?" asked Jeff, touching Virgil's arm but still holding one of John's.

"He fainted," said John. "Twice."

"Brains?" said Jeff.

Brains rolled Virgil into his side and felt his pulse. "He'll be okay, Mr. Tracy."

"John, we need to go to the sickroom," said Jeff.

"There's nothing wrong with me!" protested John.

"That in itself, John, may be reason for concern." Said Jeff.