STRAKER listened to what he was told carefully. Gorski would have simply brushed off the idea of there even being an earthquake on the Moon. He had to admit to himself that it sounded a little ludicrous but given the shaking he failed to think of any other possible explanation. "How long has this been happening?" he asked.

"Literally just now, sir," said Lieutenant Ellis. "These spikes are the first that we have seen of it."

The rumbling came again, only this time it didn't seem as strong as the first one.

"That's mighty odd," Straker said. "How far away is it?"

"About ten miles, North-East of Endeavour in Grid Reference Two-One," replied Ellis.

Straker made a decision. "Right, Lieutenant. I'd like you to take a team out there to investigate," he said. "Something is causing these tremors and I want to know what. Now I can't put a team together for you as I have yet to get to know anybody. I suggest that you do that yourself. Is that okay with you?"

"Yes, sir," said Ellis. She left her post and Harrington took her place.

Ellis entered the Medical Facility building and spoke to the lead doctor Helena Russell who agreed to lend one of her team for Ellis' mission. Together the two women entered the Mess Room where the medics were all relaxing.

"Attention please," Dr Russell said. "Lieutenant Ellis is taking an expedition team out to investigate the tremors detected. A medic will be required. Are there any volunteers?"

Every man and woman in the room raised their hands, eager to be the one picked. One person however went an extra step and stood up, hoping to be noticed.

"Very keen you are, Dr Telford," observed Dr Russell.

Sophie smiled. "I'm keen to please, Dr Russell," she replied.

"Very well," said Dr Russell. "Then go and get your equipment."

"Meet us at Airlock Three, Doctor," said Ellis. "We leave in ten minutes."

Sophie scurried from the Mess Room, full of excitement. She had only been outside the base on a few occasions and that was only within the base itself. This would be her first time actually going out on an expedition on the lunar surface. She was so excited that she didn't even notice the disappointment and resentment that her colleagues were showing her.

For transportation around the lunar surface, Base Endeavour had a small fleet of vehicles that were called Moon-Mobiles or just Mobiles for short. They had a pair of powerful hoverjets underneath their hulls and were able to glide along just above the surface for speed and efficiency. Each vehicle could carry up to twelve people. Two would be in the cockpit at the front and the remaining ten would travel in the passenger bay in the rear part.

Mobile 6 was the one chosen for the expedition to investigate the mysterious tremors and soon it was its way to the investigation zone. Lieutenant Ellis was in the cockpit observing whilst it was driven by a man by the name of Paul Metcalfe. In the back along with Sophie were nine other members of Base Endeavour. Each was armed with a pulse-rifle just in case it was needed. Their names were Adam Svenson, Serena Lewis, Elaine McGee, Iain Taggert, Mario Moro, John Roach, Ricky Nolan, Rebecca Drake and Esther Jackson. Hardly any of them spoke as they made the thirty minute journey from Endeavour towards the location where the anomalies had first been detected.

"Mobile 6 to Base," Ellis said into the radio. "We're about a mile from the initial investigation zone. Is there any update?"

"Negative, Mobile 6," answered Harrington. "We've had no more tremors detected since you left."

"We'll find out what it is," Ellis said with confidence.

Straker indicated to Harrington that he needed a word with Ellis. "Lieutenant, this is Colonel Straker. I don't want any of you to get into difficulty, is that clear?" he said. "We have no idea what could even be causing this. I would rather not lose anybody on my first day as commander here."

"Understood, sir," said Ellis. "We'll report as soon as we learn anything. Mobile 6, over and out."

"Coming up on the area now, Lieutenant," reported Metcalfe.

"Roger," said Ellis. "Remember, take it slow and steady. We don't know what we're facing."

Metcalfe complied and slowed the Mobile down to a crawl as they passed over a small crater and approached the zone. A wide open area spread across their field of view and at first, everything looked totally normal. But then Ellis noticed some chunks of rock in the middle of the area along with what looked to be the rim of another crater, about eighty metres ahead of them.

"Move to within fifty yards and then set her down," Ellis said to Metcalfe. "We'll go the rest of the way on foot."

"Roger," said Metcalfe as he guided the Mobile into position.

Inside the back, the passengers noticed that the Mobile was setting down.

"I think we're here, boys and girls," remarked Nolan.

Svenson checked his weapon. "Good," he said. "I was starting to get itchy."

Ellis came over the intercom. "We've arrived, people," she said. "Everyone get your helmets on. We are taking a walk."

As Sophie began to prepare her helmet, Moro gave her a nudge. "Don't worry, love," he said. "If you get scared, you can hold my hand."

This made Sophie feel very uncomfortable. "No, thank you," she said hastily and turned her back, which made Moro feel somewhat hurt and rejected.

"Good for you," McGee whispered to Sophie. "He's always trying to impress the ladies."

This made Sophie feel slightly better, but not by much. As she put on her helmet and secured it, she decided to make sure to keep her distance from the creepy Italian-born soldier.

Leaving the Mobile, Ellis and her squad spread out and began to scour the area. Because the Moon had no gravity, their suits all had specialised lead weights on their boots that prevented them from floating away. They approached the mysterious chunks of rock and quickly realised that they were not part of the Moon.

"These are foreign material," said Taggert as he studied one of the chunks of rock. "I'd say they have come from a meteorite."

"Could it be from the one that we blew up yesterday?" asked Ellis.

"I'd say so, yes," said Taggert. "Although given the power of the cannon I am surprised that anything substantial would even have survived getting hit by its pulse."

"Must have hit this area and then broken apart on impact," said McGee. "Looks like a sizable crater from where we're standing."

Svenson sniffed. "I still fail to see how any of this could have caused those tremors," he said.

Sophie, Nolan and Drake had gone to check on the newly-formed crater itself. They had not been expecting much of it, but all three let out gasps of shock when they reached the edge and saw what it actually was.

"Oh…my…Gosh!" Sophie said.

Drake got on her helmet radio. "Lieutenant - you need to come and look at this!" she said.

Ellis and the rest of the squad hurried over to them, and they two were given the shock of their lives as they reached the crater.

"Great stars!" exclaimed Metcalfe. "That's not a crater!"

"It's a goddamn hole!" said Svenson staring down into the small pitch-black hole that went straight down into the depths of the Moon.

The Keewatin had now reached Greenock on its transit down the Clyde. This was where the river opened up into its estuary. It also allowed the ship's escort, the vintage Paddle-Steamer Waverley to finally sail parallel with the Keewatin giving each ship's respective passengers a good view of each other. The Waverley sounded her whistle in salute three times and the Keewatin responded with her own. Several other small boats came out to escort the ship on its way as well as many crowds gathered on the shores to watch them pass. Every so often, Captain Percy Shaw would sound the whistle in salute.

Patrick and Penelope decided to take a stroll on the central promenade deck before finding a vacant position on the starboard side overlooking the bow. They marvelled at the scenery and the many boats that were sailing around them.

"Magnificent, isn't it?" Patrick remarked. "I'll never grow tired of seeing this area."

"Me neither," agreed Penelope. She shuffled slightly as she tried to adjust her dress. "Oh, dear. I hate this thing," she complained.

"Allow me," said Patrick as he helped do up the string around Penelope's waist. "How's that?"

"Better," said Penelope. "Much better, thank you, Father."

Just then some strange sirens sounded from ahead of the ship. They looked and were surprised to see a pair of small grey Navy Patrol Vessels approaching at high speed before taking up positions around the sides of the small convoy of boats.

"This is the Royal Navy!" a man's voice called out over a loud-speaker. "All vessels are to stop and hold their positions until further notice. Make way for the Valiant!"

The cause of the commotion was soon visible as the giant grey Aircraft Carrier HMS Valiant began to emerge from one of the waterways branching off from the Clyde having just been restocked with munitions at a Navy Base. She was colossal and towered over every other vessel in the area, including the Keewatin.

The Roystones had been inside when the Patrol Boats had ordered the convoy to come to a halt and had not heard the instruction. Lionel soon came to the realisation that the engines had stopped and he was livid. He stormed up to the bridge to see Captain Shaw. "Captain, why the devil have we stopped?" he asked angrily.

Captain Shaw was at least a foot taller than Lionel and stood, almost in an intimidating way over the owner. "Because, your Lordship, we have been ordered to hold our position."

"I give the orders around here!" snapped Lionel. "Get those engines going faster! We have a schedule that we must keep to!"

Captain Shaw raised his eyebrows and stepped aside. "If you want to tell them that, be my guest," he said as he pointed at the giant Aircraft Carrier that was now turning and sailing off down the Clyde towards the open sea.

Lionel stared after the large ship. He was a tough man who didn't like to accept 'No' as an answer. And yet he seemed to have no desire in having an argument with the Royal Navy. "No, that's alright, Captain," he said, sounding a little timid. "Keep up the good work." He then made a rather hasty exit from the bridge, mopping his brow with a handkerchief as he went, which the Captain and other bridge workers found somewhat amusing.

Straker couldn't quite take in what he'd just been told. "I'm sorry, what now?" he said into the radio. "Could you please clarify what you said, Lieutenant?"

"It's a tunnel, Colonel," Lieutenant Ellis replied. "And a deep one at that. The sides are perfectly smooth as well. Guess we now know what caused those tremors."

Straker nodded. "It would seem that someone has somehow managed to bring a drilling machine to the Moon without any of us detecting it and it's begun burrowing down below the lunar surface!"

"What do you want us to do, sir?" asked Ellis.

"Well first things first is we need to find out who's behind this," said Straker. "And that means sending a drone down there to find out how deep the tunnel goes and how far ahead the tunnellers are. I presume you do have a drone on your team?"

"Yes, sir, we have one on the Mobile," said Ellis.

"Good," said Straker. "It's far too risky to send anyone down there in person so use the drone. Report to me when you find something."

"Roger and out," said Ellis. "She turned to the others. "Roach, we need the drone for a recon. Go and get it from the Mobile would you, please?"

Roach nodded and hurried back to the Mobile to fetch it.

Sophie, McGee and Moro were bent down by the edge of the tunnel peering down into the uninviting darkness below.

"I wonder how far down it goes?" said McGee.

"Only one way to find out," Sophie replied as she removed a glow-stick from her medical kit box. She lit it and held it out over the side of the tunnel and then let it go. Taggert and Drake joined to watch as the stick fell down and deeper, its yellow light gradually getting dimmer as it went until finally they saw it bounce about before disappearing up in their direction of facing. "Goodness," said Sophie. "That is deep."

"That's got to be over one-hundred metres at least," said Taggert.

"I'd say more like three-hundred," added Drake.

Metcalfe then called over. "Er, guys? Is it wise to be so close to the edge there?"

Everyone began to think he might be right so they hastily began to move away from the edge of the hole. Sophie shuffled around on her knees and closed up her kit box before getting back on her feet. And then it happened. One moment Sophie was standing upright, the next she suddenly felt the ground underneath her fall away as a small section broke away from the edge. "AAAAHH!" Sophie cried as she dropped down, grabbing onto the new edge to stop her falling any further. She held on as hard as she could, but the ground seemed to be unstable and she began to feel as though her grip was weakening. "HELP!" Sophie cried. "SOMEONE HELP ME!"

Ellis and the rest of the squad heard Sophie's cries and looked back. They all gasped in horror when they realised the danger she was in.

"DOCTOR!" yelled Moro, running back to help her.

"MARIO, WAIT!" shouted Metcalfe and ran after him. Everyone else ran after them too.

Moro dived forwards onto his front and reached to grab Sophie's hands just as she lost her grip she let out a cry of panic as she felt herself begin to fall but Moro grabbed her left hand right at the last second. "I GOT YOU!" he shouted. "HOLD ON!"

Metcalfe and Svenson had grabbed hold of Moro's legs to stop him getting pulled over by Sophie.

Ellis too got down on her front and hastily crawled to the edge with McGee and Drake holding onto her. "Sophie, are you okay?" she asked over the helmet radio.

Sophie was hyperventilating out of terror. "I-gasp-think-gasp-so," she managed to say. "Please-gasp-get-gasp-me-gasp-out-gasp-of-gasp-here!"

Ellis reached out. "Grab my hand!" she ordered. "We'll pull you up!"

Sophie tried to reach up to grab Ellis's hand, but her terror was making her shake so much that she found it hard to concentrate. The fingers got within touching distance before the ground shifted again. Ellis and Moro dropped forwards slightly causing their helpers to grab hold tighter. But in the sudden jerk, Moro felt his grip on Sophie's hand begin to slip. "No-no-no, I'm LOSING HER!" he cried.

Sophie looked at Moro with wide eyes. A short while ago she'd been extremely creeped out by him by his comment in the Mobile, and now he really was holding her hand, but before she had the chance to say a word to him, the grip between their hands went completely and Sophie began to fall.

"NOOOOOOO!" cried several members of the squad including Ellis and especially Moro whilst the rest of the squad gasped as they saw Sophie plummet down into the hole, arms and legs flapping madly and they heard her scream over their helmet headsets as she gradually disappeared from view. They then heard a thump telling them that she'd hit the bottom far below and the screaming stopped.

"Oh, God," groaned Ellis. "Straker is going to blow his top over this."

Straker was fuming when he heard the news. "God DAMNIT!" he said, slamming his fists on the desk. "DID I NOT MENTION THE PART ABOUT BEING CAREFUL, LIEUTENANT?!" he thundered.

"You did, sir, I'm sorry," apologised Ellis.

"SORRY ISN'T ENOUGH, LIEUTENANT!" Straker shouted. "NOW WE HAVE A MEMBER OF THIS BASE LOST DOWN A BIG HOLE THAT NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT! I DID NOT WANT TO BE MAKING FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS ON MY VISIT HERE!"

"Sir, with all due respect, we don't know that she's dead," Ellis said. "These suits are very robust. She might have-"

"Ellis, be realistic!" snapped Straker. "How deep is that tunnel?"

"I have no idea, sir."

"Exactly. That hole could be hundreds if not thousands of feet deep!" Straker went on. "The chances of Dr Telford surviving and next to none!"

"Colonel, we have to be sure," Ellis said. "We'll send the drone down there and see if we can find her."

Straker went round to the desk and sat down in his chair. "You do that, Lieutenant," he said. "And whilst you are doing that, I will call up an old friend. If and when you do find her, dead or alive, you're going to need some special help to recover the body. Now get to it!"

"Roger," said Ellis and she signed off.

Kayo entered the lounge in a wheelchair being pushed by Virgil. "Morning all," she said cheerfully.

Everyone gave a cheerful greeting in return.

"Kayo!" said Grandma as she gave the young woman a hug. "It's wonderful to see you out of your room."

"How do you feel?" asked Alan.

"Sore," said Kayo. "Still very sore to be honest. But the painkillers are doing their work. I feel happy at least."

"Excellent," said Jeff. "Keep this up and you'll be back on your feet before you know it."

"All the same," Kayo said. "I will definitely think twice before attempting to take on The Cabal. Even I admit they're more than a match for me."

"Wow, is Kayo admitting defeat?" Gordon exclaimed. "The world's gone mad!"

Scott opened his mouth to tell Gordon off, but before he or anyone else could say a word, a beeping sound announced that John was calling which distracted everyone.

"Here we go again," said Jeff. "Go ahead, Thunderbird 5."

John's hologram appeared. "Dad, I have someone who needs to talk to you urgently," John said.

"Who is it?" asked Jeff.

"He didn't say," John replied. "But he's calling from Base Endeavour and he looks rather flustered."

"Ugh," groaned Alan, rolling his eyes. "This better not be Gorski again!"

"It's not Gorski, Alan," John said.

"Put him through, John," said Jeff. He was eager to find out who this person was.

The hologram projector in the table activated at John's command and the figure of a man in a smart light coloured coat appeared from it. "Hello there, Jeff."

Jeff was surprised. "Ed Straker?! Good grief!" he exclaimed. "Long time, no see! How the devil are you?"

"I'm afraid, Jeff, I must get straight to the point," Straker said abruptly. "I need your organisation's help and I need it fast."

"Sure, Ed," said Jeff. "What's the situation?"

"I'll give you full details," Straker said. "But can I ask that you send your spaceship out to the Moon immediately? Time really is of the essence here."

Scott stood up and spoke up. "With respect, sir. We need to know what we're dealing with so we can bring the right equipment."

Straker sighed, trying to hide his frustration. "Fine," he said. "Short answer, we have a worker who has fallen down a very deep hole and we don't have the equipment to get to them. We don't even know if they are even alive or not."

The Tracy's and Kayo exchanged worried looks.

"In that case, Ed, we'll be on our way," said Jeff. Alan, launch Thunderbird 3 immediately. Take Scott with you."

"F-A-B!" said Alan as he and Scott went to the lifting chairs that would take them to Thunderbird 3.

The chairs were lowered down into the tunnel underneath the lounge. The conveyor took them sideways to the turntable before they were turned and the chairs headed off down two separate tunnels. Passing through the changing rooms, the eldest and youngest brothers were given their uniforms before meeting up again at the other end of the changing rooms and heading backwards along the rails. They came out onto the end of the yellow hydraulic arm which lifted them up to the entrance of Thunderbird 3's cockpit which was already open and waiting for them. Once the rails connected to the arm, the chairs moved forwards into the cockpit before switching them to the correct angle to man the controls. The arm retracted and the hatch closed before the blast door moved to seal Thunderbird 3 off from the rest of the silo and the door at the top of the launch tube slid back for the launch to take place.

5! 4! 3! 2! 1!

The engines of Thunderbird 3 rumbled as they came to life and the colossus red rocket rose upwards out through the Tracy Island Roundhouse and soared away into the sky as it headed towards space.

"Thunderbird 3 is GO!" said Alan as the rocket accelerated to escape velocity speed.

As soon as they'd left the atmosphere, Alan set Thunderbird 3 on a course for the Moon. It was now that Jeff could give them the full briefing of the situation they were heading towards.

"I'm sorry, Dad, but did you say there was an earthquake on the Moon?" Scott asked.

"Not a full one, just tremors were detected," said Jeff. "The expedition team went to the spot and found two things. One - chunks of rock which they believe came from the meteorite that you tried to stop yesterday, Alan."

"And the second?" Alan asked.

"The second is very strange," said Jeff. "They found a deep shaft that has been dug. It drops down for quite a distance as well."

"Any idea what caused it?" asked Scott.

"No, but Colonel Straker reckons it has to be some kind of machine due to how precise it had been dug," said Jeff. "And it's down that hole that the expedition member has fallen down."

"Understood," said Scott. "Could you send us the location so we can find them as soon as we get there?"

"John's sorting that out now, Scott," said Jeff. "He'll have it for you soon. Be careful, boys. There is something mighty strange about this one."

"We will, Dad," promised Scott as Jeff signed off. He then looked over at Alan. "Sounds like we got us a mystery to solve, little brother."

"Ah, no big deal," replied Alan. "You took them on alone last time and came away unharmed. We'll be fine dealing with them this time."

Scott was confused. "Alan…what are you talking about?" he asked.

"I'm talking about your encounter with The Cabal of course," said Alan. "We've beaten them once, we'll do it again."

"Alan, what makes you think this incident is The Cabal's doing?" asked Scott.

"Oh, come on, Scott. An unidentified machine digging under the surface of the Moon spells bad guys all over. Who else is it gonna be?" asked Alan.

"I have no idea," Scott replied. "But I'll bet my helmet that this has nothing to do with The Cabal."

Alan saw a chance for mischief. "How much?" he asked.

But Scott saw through his scheme. "No!" he said firmly. "I am not falling for that one again."

Alan grunted in annoyance as he continued to steer Thunderbird 3 on its course towards the Moon.

With the Valiant now sailing off down the Clyde, the Patrol Boats allowed the convoy to continue. Most of the little boats soon began to leave the Keewatin to it and headed back to their respective homes whilst some along with the Waverley continued on down the river.

From their position on the promenade just under the starboard bridge wing, Penelope and Patrick gazed out after the Aircraft Carrier which still looked massive despite it now sailing at least a mile in front of them. "A pleasant surprise if I may say so," said Patrick. "When I retired from the Navy I never thought I'd actually get to see her sailing again. This is the highlight of the trip so far."

"I figured as much," replied Penelope with a chuckle.

The peacefulness was then broken by two raised voices coming from the below. Looking behind them, Patrick and Penelope noticed a flight of steps that lead down away from them to the next deck. To their surprise it was Beth and Owen, and it looked like Beth was trying to get away from him.

"Who were you talking to earlier?" Owen demanded.

"I told you, it's none of your business!" Beth replied and stormed up the steps away from him. When she reached the top she walked straight ahead, not paying attention to where she was going and almost collided with Penelope. "Oh, my God!" she gasped, clutching her chest. "Oh, gosh. I'm so sorry."

"Hey, there, Beth, it's alright," said Patrick warmingly as he took hold of Beth's arms. "There's no harm done, is there?"

Penelope glanced around the side of Beth and down the stairs at Owen who had begun to come up after his fiance. But he had come to a stop after realising that Penelope and Patrick were there and he backed down to the deck they'd already been on before disappearing from view, which Penelope thought was rather strange.

Beth was red in the face and rather flustered. "I'm sorry," she apologised. "I am making a complete fool of myself."

"It's quite alright," Patrick said reassuringly as he pulled out a clean handkerchief. "Here."

Beth took it gratefully. "Thank you," she said before wiping her eyes and blowing her nose. She then went to hand it back after she'd finished. "You're very kind."

"Keep it," urged Patrick, politely not saying that he didn't want a now dirty handkerchief back in his possession.

Beth broke a smile and tucked the handkerchief into one of her oversized dress pockets.

"Is everything okay, Beth?" asked Penelope, nodding down the stairs where Owen had been.

Beth glanced back down momentarily. "Yes, Penny, of course," she said. "Just a minor disagreement, that is all." She then gave the two a curtsy before walking rapidly away around the front of the promenade and disappearing along the port-side.

Patrick and Penelope watched her go. Patrick leant back against the wooden rail whilst Penelope turned back to the view.

"Penelope…I know that you are an undercover agent of International Rescue," Patrick said in a low voice so that nobody could hear him. "But that doesn't mean you have to stick your nose into everybody's business now, does it?"

Penelope felt a bit ashamed of herself. "No, Father. I guess not," she said. "Force of habit."

Patrick smiled and patted her arm warmly. "That's my girl," he said proudly.

The sound of the Waverley's whistle then sounded out signalling her departure to let the Keewatin sail on alone. The Keewatin sounded its whistle back in response.

"Beautiful sounds," said Patrick. "Much better than the modern ship horns."

"AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

The scream that came from the port-side of the Keewatin was heard by everybody who was out on the open decks.

"MAN OVERBOARD!" a man's voice shouted.

Penelope and Patrick ran around the front of the promenade deck to the port-side as did everybody else who heard the scream and the shout. They looked out over the water and at first saw nothing out of the ordinary. That was until they saw someone pointing at something. Then they saw it - a straw hat with some decorative flowers sat floating on the water about five metres away from the ship's hull.

Captain Shaw also heard the shout and hurried out onto the port bridge wing to see. He too saw the hat and ran back inside to sound the alarm which was several rings on the bell. "ALL STOP!" he ordered. "GET A BOAT READY!"

Patrick was looking around. "Well I see a hat but I can't see anybody in the water," he said as they felt the ship start to slow down. "I wonder whose hat that is."

Penelope looked down at the hat which was now floating some way away from the Keewatin, and it was then that she suddenly remembered where she'd seen the hat before. "Oh, my God…" she said, her face going pale.

"Pen?" Patrick said, concerned. "What is it?"

Penelope looked at him with fear in her eyes. "Father…that's Beth's hat!"

Thunderbird 3 reached the Moon and began to close in on the location where the expedition team were. "Wow!" said Alan. "What a hole!"

"We need to find out what's created that," said Scott. "The Moon is an essential part of the Earth's means to survive. We can't allow it to be compromised.

"F-A-B," said Alan. He pressed a button. "We have a visual on the team, Thunderbird 5. Are there any updates?"

"Yes, they sent their drone down to have a search for the missing member and have located her," John said. "The shaft is over two-hundred meters deep so you'll need a Dragonfly-Pod to go down and get her."

"Is she alive?" asked Scott.

"They can't tell," John replied grimly. "The drone doesn't have any body-scanning equipment aboard."

"Couldn't you scan the Moon and find her?" suggested Alan. "And maybe you'll be able to figure out where that tunnel leads to."

John looked at him for a moment. "Alan, it's not often I say this but, you're a genius! Why didn't I think of that?" he said. "Stand-by." He brought up a hologram globe of the Moon and began to run a deep scan of the entire satellite. The tunnel was quickly picked up due to the opening and it began to penetrate through the solid rock to what was underneath. Within seconds there came a small blip. "I have something," he said. "It's very weak but it looks like there's a life-sign in the tunnel."

"Phew!" said Scott. "I was rather hoping not to be using a body-bag on this trip. He pushed up his safety-bars on his seat and grabbed his helmet. "I'll go and configure it now," he said. "Get us down there, but make sure we're a good distance from that hole. We don't know how stable the ground is."

"You got it, bro," replied Alan. "I'll join you as soon as we're down."

Lieutenant Ellis and her team had been standing near to the entrance of the deep tunnel, frustrated at not being able to do anything.

"Ugh - I feel so helpless!" complained Drake. "Is there nothing we can do?"

"No, Drake, there isn't," said Svenson.

"Our orders are to wait for International Rescue to arrive and assist them in any way we can," said Ellis.

"Waiting we won't have to any longer," observed Metcalfe, pointing upwards. "Here they come!"

All eyes turned up to see the giant red shape of Thunderbird 3 coming down.

Alan tilted the ship's nose down to face the lunar surface and deployed the grasping arms. He then opened up the nose and produced the drill before touching down with the arms and then drilling a small hole into the surface to form an anchor. "Okay, Scott, we're down," said Alan as he left his seat and headed for the cargo bay. "How's that Pod coming along?"

"It's done, Alan," said Scott over the helmet radio. "Come on in."

Alan entered the cargo bay and saw Scott and the red-coloured Dragonfly-Pod waiting for them. "Let's hope this one doesn't get lost," he muttered to himself, remembering how Thunderbird 3's Pods had an unfortunate record of getting destroyed whilst on missions.

The cargo bay doors opened and the Dragonfly-Pod flew out to head down to the lunar surface and towards the hole. Scott was piloting with Alan in the back seat. "Dragonfly is GO!" said Scott.

They waved to the expedition team as they went past. There was no need for any discussion for they had already located where the casualty lay and began to dive straight down into the tunnel. As they weren't using the walls to descend and simply hover-engines it would only take a matter of seconds to get down it.

"Fifty meters," said Scott. "One-hundred. One-fifty. Two-hundred. Here we go." They soon reached the point where the tunnel levelled out and became horizontal. And straight away the searchlights on the front of the Pod illuminated a silver-suited body lying motionless about twenty metres in front of them. "I see her!"

Scott put the Dragonfly-Pod down and decreased the power of the engines so that they were on tick-over for when they would be needed again. The cockpit canopy opened up and the two brothers clambered out.

Alan was out first and he hurried over towards the body. "Hey, there!" he called as he dropped down next to her. "Don't worry, we're gonna get-" He broke off and froze when he saw the face behind the helmet visor. "Wha-?! Sophie?! No….No! SOPHIE! SOPHIE, WAKE UP!" He began frantically shaking Sophie to try and get her to wake up.

"Alan?!" Scott said as he reached them. "Alan, what the hell are you doing?! Stop shaking her!"

But Alan didn't seem to hear Scott's words and he continued shaking Sophie. "SOPHIE, PLEASE WAKE UP!" he wailed.

Scott had to grab Alan and pull him off. "ALAN, I SAID STOP!" he thundered. "YOU KNOW WE DO NOT SHAKE CASUALTIES WHEN THEY'RE UNCONSCIOUS! SHE MIGHT BE HURT!"

"But, but, Scott!" Alan protested, tears suddenly forming in his eyes. "It's Sophie!"

Scott looked down at the figure on the ground and saw her face. At first glance he thought he was having some kind of vision for the face that he was seeing looked very like that of their mother. And then he remembered when he and the others had first discovered Alan had made a friend at Base Endeavour who looked like Lucy Tracy had done. "Oh, man…" he said. He turned back to his upset little brother. "Alan, I know how you feel, but please pull yourself together. For Sophie's sake! We need to see what state she's in and get her out of here. Can you help me do that?"

Alan sniffed. He wanted to wipe his eyes clean but couldn't due to his helmet visor preventing him from doing so. However, he took a deep breath and calmed himself down. "Yes, Scott. I can."

Scott smiled and patted his arms. "Good man," he said. "Now, let's do a medical scan."

The scan didn't take long to complete. "Wow, she's lucky," said Scott. "No broken bones at all."

"How did she even fall?" asked Alan. "There's no gravity on the Moon so-" Scott cut him off by pointing to the metal weights in Sophie's suit. "Ah, yes…of course."

"Help me get her into the Pod," said Scott. "You can fly her up. I'll follow with my jetpack."

"F-A-B," replied Alan as they bent down to help Sophie up.

Suddenly they began to feel something strange under their feet. The ground was shaking slightly. "Wait, what is that?" asked Scott.

A radio call from John answered the question. "Guys, that tunnel goes on for eight miles and is going down towards the core of the Moon. I'm detecting a massive spike of energy coming from deep inside and its starting to cause the entire satellite to vibrate."

"It must be that Moonquaker!" Alan realised.

"And you have got to stop it," said John urgently. "If the Moon gets destroyed, we'll have a global catastrophe on our hands!"