Thunderbirds and the Tracy Family are the creation of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson
And the rights to the show are owned by Granada Television.
Thanks as usual go to my Beta readers, Quiller and Dickonfan for their wonderful help and advice.
A Piece of the Action
John Tracy could sense something was on Gordon's mind. His usually cheerful younger brother had been very quiet lately. Even an event such as a party last night to welcome Lady Penelope to the island for the first time since International Rescue had begun had not lifted his spirits much. Though Gordon had tried to make a few funny remarks and play the odd practical joke on an unsuspecting family member, John still suspected that something was troubling him.
This was only the second of many more month-long rotations to come on Thunderbird Five. The first time John returned to Earth he'd taken a short break away from the island and hadn't noticed anything particularly wrong with Gordon when he returned. After the first few rescue call-outs things had been busy, but this last month had been very quiet, so quiet in fact that they were all wondering if the services of International Rescue were ever going to be needed again.
Knowing he had only one more day left before he returned to Thunderbird Five, John decided to approach Gordon and try to talk to him. The two brothers had a close relationship and Gordon had often confided in him in the past when he had something on his mind he needed to discuss.
Most of the family were out on the patio with Lady Penelope. They all relaxed as the warm tropical sun shone down upon them. When the subject of the recent rescues had come up as a topic of conversation, John noticed that Gordon decided to go off somewhere. After a few minutes John gave their gracious guest a smile and said he wanted to take a walk down to the beach.
After leaving them he went down to the Games Room and took out from the locker his new archery set that he'd bought on his recent trip. He intended to take it down to the beach after he'd found Gordon and invite him to a challenge with the arrows. He knew that this was something Gordon would enjoy doing as he enjoyed sharp-shooting at gun practice in the Games Room and would want to perfect his talent with a bow and arrow too.
He eventually found Gordon in the kitchen helping himself to a can of drink from the fridge and a piece of pizza left over from the party last night. "Hi, Gords, I've been looking for you. I need a partner for archery, how about it?"
"Yeah, okay as long as you are prepared to be outclassed as usual," Gordon replied.
"That was just beginners luck last time. I'll soon get up to my college championship strength again," John answered as he eyed the rest of the pizza and debated if he could manage to eat another piece or not on top of the lunch he had not long since eaten.
"Dream on, Johnny, those days are well and truly over," Gordon laughed. "I'll humour you anyway, then when you're up on Five you can think where you went wrong."
John decided that he could manage some pizza after all and grabbed a piece. Then he got a can out of the fridge to drink during the game and the two brothers left the kitchen and headed down to the beach.
No matter how he tried, John just could not match Gordon's high score, much to his red-haired brother's delight.
"Let's just face it, John, you're past it as far as archery is concerned," Gordon smiled, clearly delighted with his triumph over the one time college champion at the sport.
John picked up his drink and took a mouthful from it. "Well I got to admit, you're good. Once I get back into practice though you'll be admitting defeat then. Did you have many matches with the others while I was up on Five last time?"
"No, I played one game with Alan but he's hopeless. If it doesn't have a steering wheel and an engine he's not really interested. Besides there were some rescues that had to be dealt with and maintenance checks and vehicle cleaning so I was kept busy then. At least it gave me something to do."
John noticed how Gordon's face clouded over a little as spoke that last sentence.
"Relax, you'll get a chance to try out Four on a rescue sometime," John told him.
"Really? I'm beginning to think either International Rescue has turned into the Scott and Virgil show or Dad just doesn't trust me enough to let me go out on a call," Gordon answered.
John raised an eyebrow and realised that this was behind Gordon's quietness. "Why do you think that?" he asked him.
Gordon raised his hand and pointed to his fingers. "Why? Five call outs since we began operations. The Fireflash, Scott and Virgil go out. Okay it was our first one, and they managed it just fine and we were all proud of them."
Pointing to his next finger Gordon continued. "The Sidewinder, Scott and Virgil again and they took Brains with them that time. It was dangerous work, one or both of them could have easily have gotten hurt. Then who'd have flown one of the 'birds back if Brains had to tend their injuries? Dad said it was his decision when I asked if I could go too."
Continuing on with his finger countdown Gordon went on. "Then of course there was the Thompson Tower fire. Scott and Virgil had already suffered a set-back trying out the new gas for cutting through steel doors, yet Dad still just sent the two of them out there. So you see what I'm getting at? He kept me back on that one too. Supposing the two of them had collapsed again, what then? Dad said again that it was his decision."
"I wondered where you were when I came back from Five that time," John said. He began to understand now how frustrated Gordon must have been with his father's decisions. It did seem rather illogical after Gordon pointed things out.
"Then of course there was the Sun Probe," Gordon went on. "I thought I may have been given something to do then. I contributed to the discussion about how to go about the rescue and Dad took up my suggestion about using Two and Three at the same time but still I was kept back. I'd hoped to go out with Virgil and Brains but it seems I was the only one that was given nothing to do as usual. Of course it was a worrying time for all of us then so I couldn't complain to Dad about it."
"Yeah, that sure was one scary rescue," John agreed.
"Then the last one of course. Scott gets shot down and he's lying in the middle of the desert injured. We were all worried about him. I asked Dad if I could go out with Virgil and Brains and was refused again, yet after Tin Tin pleaded with him he let her go out with them. I'm sure I could have been just as capable as she was if Scott had been badly hurt. I tell you Dad just doesn't trust me for one reason or another."
"He sent you out with Virgil later on though when Scott was trapped in that pyramid," John reminded him.
"I suppose it was only because Alan had gone up to relieve you, and you had only just got back here. Besides, I never got to do anything, Scott told us to beat it back home again before that pyramid blew up," Gordon said with a hint of dejection in his voice. "I tell you again, John, Dad just doesn't trust me. He's made that plain enough now. I guess my uniform won't get dirty the way the others do and give Grandma a reason to complain."
"I'm sure he does, Gordon. Why shouldn't he?" John reassured him. "You've been trained just as well as everyone else. We all know how capable you are."
"Well if he refuses to let me go out on the next rescue I'm going to ask him outright whether he does or not," Gordon told him. "I'm either part of this team or not."
"Perhaps he thinks you may just want to be involved with using Four on a water rescue," John suggested. He looked up and saw Scott and Virgil walking towards them. "Look, forget it for now, how about another shoot out with the arrows? Now we can have two teams."
"Okay, John, but don't mention what I said to anybody," Gordon replied. Then he quickly broke into a huge grin and added, "I'll have Scott on my team and then I'll be sure of being on the winning side."
"We wondered where you'd gone," Virgil said. "Good thing you got this archery set, John. It will give us something else to do now while we wait in between rescues."
"So who won between the two or you?" Scott asked.
"Me of course," Gordon told his eldest brother. "Golden boy is in serious decline."
"I'm just out of practice, that's all," John protested.
"Yeah, sure, John," Scott laughed and said. "Okay let's form two teams. You and Virg on one team and me and Gordo on the other."
"Sounds good to me," Gordon said as he smiled at John. "John's good at some things but not archery."
John said nothing as he got up to join the others. He knew just what Gordon meant and was pleased that he'd been there for him to pour out his feelings to and at least Gordon appreciated him for that.
The game ended with victory for Scott and Gordon as predicted before they went back up to the villa to rejoin their father and their guest. John noticed that Gordon seemed a little happier now that he'd told John his problems.
John wondered now just what would happen if and when the next rescue call came in.
He didn't have to wait long. Just after arriving back on Thunderbird Five, relieving a bored Alan who hadn't received one rescue call during the whole month he'd spent on the space station, a call came through. He quickly took the details and then contacted the island base. "An atomic station in the Sahara Desert has been sabotaged, Father. If it explodes the radioactivity will do unthinkable damage."
John listened in as his father discussed with Brains what needed to be done on this particular rescue. After hearing Brains mentioning that the sea-water intake would need to be stopped he knew that this was one rescue that Gordon was going to be very much involved in. He pulled up his chair to sit back and listen in to the transmissions from his brothers as they went out on the rescue. Lady Penelope, who wanted to be in on the action, too, had joined them.
After they had gone, Brains went to collect some diagrams from his laboratory that he'd been discussing with Jeff before the rescue call came in. Jeff was handed a mug of coffee by his mother. "Well I hope Lady Penelope enjoys her trip, though I can't imagine why on earth she would want to go in the first place, a well brought up lady like that."
"She wants to feel part of the team, Mom," Jeff said as he smiled at her. "It's Gordon's first mission in Thunderbird Four, too.
"You still worried about him, Jeff?" She asked him.
"Of course, but he's needed on this one with Four," Jeff replied. "It's what he's been trained for and besides I was getting the feeling he was beginning to resent me not sending him out with the others. He's fully recovered now I guess but I can't help thinking of that accident and the scare he gave me. Guess he'll never be able to understand that though."
"Maybe he will if he has children of his own one day," Ruth Tracy answered.
They were interrupted by an almighty crash coming from the kitchen. Ruth sighed and said, "Looks like I'd better go back in there and see what those two are arguing about now before I have no dishes left at all to serve meals on. They've already smashed my best glasses that I use to serve cool drinks. I wish Mr. Parker would just go and relax out on the patio or something until Lady Penelope comes back."
Jeff smiled to himself at the rivalry going on between the two servants and drank his coffee while he waited for news of the rescue.
Gordon was sitting in the cockpit of Thunderbird Four waiting anxiously for the signal from Scott to fire the missiles into the sea water intake valve that supplied the atomic station. He knew he had to act quickly or the whole station would go up in one big explosion. Nervously he tapped his hand on the arm rest of his seat and checked his watch while he waited. Any mistake and it would cost his brothers their lives and those who worked at the station as well as sending a huge atomic cloud drifting across the desert.
John reported to his father on the latest developments at the rescue site. Jeff had been joined in the lounge by his mother, Brains and Tin Tin as they waited for news.
Finally Gordon's waiting was over and Scott ordered him to fire the missiles. He did that without any hesitation, his accuracy was excellent and the sea water intake valve was destroyed.
When it was all over and Gordon was waiting for Virgil to come back to collect the pod to go home, John had a quiet word with Gordon over the radio.
"Well done, Gords, you did just great, I bet you've got nothing else to worry about now as far as Dad's concerned," he told him.
"Thanks, John, I guess not. Thunderbird Four has done me proud, too," Gordon answered happily. "Firing those missiles was almost the same as shooting arrows, just a different target to hit."
"Well don't forget to get some dirt on your uniform so Grandma will know you've been out on a rescue," John laughed before ending the transmission.
When they'd all returned to base Jeff held the usual de-briefing, and after going through all of the technical issues, he brought things to a conclusion. "Well, boys, it's been a while since we had a rescue but you still did a great job. Congratulations Gordon on your first mission with Thunderbird Four, and well done, son, for the part you played. I hope you enjoyed your first rescue trip, too, Penny, and it was exciting enough for you."
"Oh it certainly was, Dad, the excitement was almost too much for her," Virgil laughed but was quickly silenced by a stony glare from their elegant house guest.
"Well now I think we can have a celebration drink before dinner," Jeff said.
No sooner had the words left his lips then the sound of broken glass came once more from the kitchen.
"Well perhaps not, we'll just have coffee instead," Jeff said.