THE expedition team waited anxiously for something to happen. They wanted to go back to the edge of the tunnel and look down to see if they could see anything, but they didn't dare in case more of the ground gave way. It came as a relief when the Dragonfly-Pod emerged with Alan and Sophie aboard followed by Scott with his jetpack.

"How is she?" Lieutenant Ellis asked Scott when he landed.

"Well, Lieutenant, I must congratulate whoever designed your suits," Scott replied. "They are very robust. Dr Telford has no broken bones whatsoever."

"Are you serious?" said Svenson. "Mister, she fell down a two-hundred meter drop! You can't honestly mean that?"

Scott shrugged. "Our medical scanners have never lied to us before," he remarked.

Sophie was placed inside the back of the Mobile and given a second scan in the medical bay by Lewis.

"He's not wrong, Lieutenant," Lewis said. "She's unconscious and I reckon has sustained some minor bruises, but she has no internal injuries at all."

There came another rumbling as they all felt the Moon shake a little underneath their feet again.

"There it is again!" said Nolan. "What the hell's causing it?"

"Some kind of machine," replied Scott. "Can you guys take care of Dr Telford? My brother and I have got instructions to find and stop it before any lasting damage is done."

"Of course," said Ellis. "We'll stay in the vicinity and provide you some back-up if you require it."

"Thanks," said Scott. "Let's go, Alan."

But Alan didn't move. He couldn't take his eyes off Sophie.

"Alan?!"

Alan was brought back to reality. "Huh?"

"Come on!" Scott urged.

But Alan didn't want to leave Sophie. "Scott…I can't leave her."

Just then a moaning sound caught everyone's attention. "Alan?"

Alan looked back at the voice. It was Sophie. She had started to wake up. "Sophie?"

"Don't worry about me," Sophie said as she squeezed Alan's hand. "Go."

Alan was surprised. "How long have you been-"

"Alan, come on!" Scott said impatiently.

Sophie squeezed Alan's hand tighter. "Go help your brother, Alan. Come see me at Endeavour after."

Alan was reluctant, but Sophie's words were reassuring enough for him to comply. "Coming, Scott!" he called as he let go of Sophie's hand and hurried out from the Mobile.

Alan and Scott climbed back into the Dragonfly-Pod. Alan was back in the driving seat whilst Scott got in the passenger seat.

"I don't get it, Scott," Alan said. "Sophie was unconscious. How did she know about anything?"

"Maybe she only appeared to be unconscious and could in fact sense what was going on somehow?" replied Scott. "But we can find out later - after we have stopped this Moonquake-Machine. Let's go."

"F-A-B," said Alan as he fired up the Dragonfly's engines and they headed back down into the deep, dark tunnel.

Following the scream and discovery of a straw hat in the water, the Keewatin had stopped its engines and come to a halt whilst one of the boats carried out a search for the missing Beth. But there was no sign of her anywhere. Eventually the ship had to continue on when it became apparent that there wasn't much hope of finding her. A report was made to the Coast Guard who began their own search of the area. They promised to let the ship know if anything was found.

The once happy atmosphere that had been on the Keewatin when it had first set sail from Glasgow was largely gone following Beth's mysterious disappearance. Some of the passengers had begun asking each other what they thought might have happened yet nobody seemed to know anything. Nor could anybody claim to have even seen her or anybody else for that matter even fall over the side.

Penelope and Patrick also started talking to people and their investigative pasts kicked in as they asked people to give their accounts. One of the people that Penelope spoke to was a young Indian man who worked in the engine room. His name was Anish and as it turned out, he was the one who had first raised the alarm.

"So you were on the lower decks?" Penelope asked.

"Yes," replied Anish. "I was getting some air."

"And you heard Miss Roystone's scream?"

"From above, yes."

"Did you see her go in the water?"

Anish took a moment to look over the side into the water before answering. "Yes," he said.

"And so you sounded the alarm?"

"That's right," said Anish. "It's standard procedure. For crew or passenger to say."

Penelope nodded. "Thank you," she said and walked up the stairs to join Patrick who was talking to a rather distraught Lionel.

"Can Beth swim?"

"No, she can't," Lionel replied shakily. "We've tried and tried to make her have swimming lessons, but she wouldn't have any of it. Always bunked off lessons."

Penelope joined them. "I've spoken to the person who sounded the alarm," she said.

"What did he have to say?" asked Patrick.

"Not much," replied Penelope. "Only that he was outside taking some air, heard Beth scream and saw her fall in the water. Said she went straight under and didn't come up again."

Lionel screwed up his eyes and tried very hard not to burst into tears. He pulled out his handkerchief and blew his nose before mopping his brow again.

Penelope took a deep breath. She really didn't want to ask Lionel this question but knew that she had to say it anyway. "Lord Roystone, please forgive me for asking this, but, is it possible that she could have committed suicide?"

Patrick and Lionel stared at her, stunned. Lionel was absolutely appalled at such a question. "Certainly NOT!" he said indignantly. "She was to be married! She had her whole life ahead of her!" He calmed himself. "Excuse me, please. I must attend to my wife." He tipped his top hat.

"Of course," said Penelope. "I'm terribly sorry."

Lionel at least could accept that and muttered his gratitude as he walked away.

Patrick turned and gave Penelope a stern look. "What kind of question is that to ask a grieving father?" he asked.

"I'm sorry," Penelope replied. "But shouldn't every possibility be considered?"

Patrick thought for a moment. "Yeah, I guess you're right," he said. "But all the same, that's a question for the Police to be asking."

Penelope nodded in agreement.

"One doesn't just fall off a ship, Penelope," Patrick went on. "She either chucked herself overboard or someone did it for her."

Penelope then noticed Owen sitting by himself and looking unhappy just behind the funnel. "Maybe he might know something about it?" she suggested, thinking back to the argument they'd partially witnessed.

Patrick nodded in agreement and together they walked over to talk to Owen.

"Yeah, we argued," Owen said after they started questioning him. "What of it?"

"What was the argument about?" asked Penelope.

"I'm afraid that's a private matter," Owen replied after a minor hesitation.

"It's not private anymore," Patrick pointed out.

"Where were you when Beth fell overboard?" asked Penelope.

"I was in my cabin," Owen said.

"Can anyone clarify that?" asked Penelope.

Owen gave her a look. "Are you suggesting that I had something to do with this?" he asked.

"Until we get the facts straight, all doors are open, Mr Matthews," said Penelope. "Also, the incident occurred shortly after an argument with you. You also made a rather hasty exit when you saw me looking down at you. Now again, what was it about?"

Owen sighed, realising they weren't going to stop until he gave them an answer. "I saw her with another man on the quayside this afternoon," he said. "I never saw his face. They broke apart when she saw me coming. I asked who it was and she simply brushed me off. That's the truth, and that's all I can say, I'm afraid."

"It's okay, Owen," said Patrick. "Thank you." He gestured for Penelope to follow him, feeling that they had interrogated Owen for long enough. They walked away, leaving Owen feeling puzzled and somewhat irritated. "I think we should go and support Lionel and Deborah," he continued. "And for heaven's sake don't bring suicide up in front of Deborah. Your mother's already got her hands full with her as it is."

"Oh, don't worry, I won't," said Penelope. "I'm already dreading the state she must be in."

Penelope was right. Deborah was in a right state after discovering that her daughter had fallen over the side of the ship. She had caused such a fuss when the ship had restarted that she'd even tried to take control of the ship from the Captain only for several people including Lionel to have to force her to leave the bridge. She and Lionel were now in their private suite along with Patricia and a couple of their own private members of staff.

Being a former pharmacist and medic, Patricia knew her medicines and had got some tablets in a cup of water for the distraught woman. "Here, take these, Deborah," she said as she handed the cup to her. "They'll help to calm your nerves."

Deborah took the cup and drank the water in one, swallowing the pills with it. She said nothing but her shakiness began to ease shortly after taking the tablets.

Penelope and Patrick then walked into the suite. "How are you doing?" Patrick asked.

"Just given Deborah something to calm her down, love," Patricia said. "Should do the trick I hope."

Although they'd not said anything to each other, both Penelope and Patrick knew that they both had a sneaky suspicion that Owen might have had something to do with Beth's disappearance. They decided to ask Lionel discreetly about him.

"I've known Owen for nearly ten years," Lionel said. "He came to work for my company, right out of college. He had nothing to do with this, I assure you."

"Is it possible that Beth had someone else?" asked Penelope. "We spoke to Owen just now on the deck and he said he saw her talking to another man."

Lionel and Deborah looked shocked.

Deborah was quick to shoot down Penelope's suggestion. "No, it is not possible," she said firmly.

There was a knock on the already open door.

"Come!" Lionel called.

Penelope moved aside to let one of the stewards into the suite. "I'm sorry, your lord and ladyship," he said. "This was all we were able to find." He was holding in his hands the straw hat which had been seen in the water.

Seeing the hat caused whatever effect the pills Patricia had given Deborah to no longer have any effect for she began to tremble once more and cry, covering her mouth with her hand. "It's hers," she said before she then whimpered loudly forcing Lionel to come and sit down with her to cuddle and comfort her. "Oh, God!"

Penelope took the hat from the steward. "Thank you," she said. The steward nodded and then left. She then began to inspect the hat closely, and almost immediately noticed something strange. "Father?" she said and nodded to him to come outside the cabin. Patrick did so whilst Patricia stayed to comfort the Roystones.

"What's up?" Patrick asked his daughter.

"The hat pin is still in place," Penelope whispered.

Patrick was puzzled. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"The force as she hit the water would have bent the pin or torn the straw," Penelope said. "But nothing is out of place. The whole thing is perfectly intact. A bit wet, yes. But it's not damaged in any way."

Patrick looked at the hat as realisation began to dawn on him. "Then she didn't fall in?"

"That I can't say for sure," Penelope replied. "But what I can say for sure is that this hat was not on her head when it hit the water."

Patrick was stunned. "My God…"

The Dragonfly-Pod made its way quickly but cautiously down the long, twisting tunnel created by the strange Moonquaker. As they got deeper, they began to feel the tremors being caused from inside the Pod despite them not being on the ground itself.

"Those tremors are getting stronger," said Alan nervously. "I hope this roof doesn't cave in and crush us like the one on Mars did."

"We can't be far behind it now," Scott answered. "Thunderbird 5, what's the distance between us?"

"You're almost there, Scott," John answered from the space-station. "Another mile and then the tunnel takes a sharp drop down. You should find it there."

Though the powerful searchlight beams, Alan could just make out where the tunnel originally looked as if it ended only to then see a drop downwards. The rumbling was very strong now. "I think we are there," he said. He slowed the Pod right down and turned it to the left before bringing them into a hover right at the edge of the drop with the right side of the Pod overlooking it. Scott and Alan peered down into the hole as the lights on the Dragonfly shone down into the dark.

"And there it is!" said Scott as they finally laid their eyes on the cause of all the trouble. It was indeed a tunnelling-machine. It was at least twice the size of a Mole-Pod but nowhere near the size of the Earthbreaker that The Mechanic had used to break The Hood out of Parkmoor Scrubs prison.

"Woah - that looks…scary…" Alan remarked.

"John, we have a visual," said Scott. "Is Brains around?"

"He is," replied John.

"Oh, m-my!" Brains's voice piped in. "What a b-bizarre-looking contraption. Is there any c-chance that you boys can get a closer look?"

"No problemo," said Alan and began to gently guide the Dragonfly-Pod down after the strange machine.

They got within twenty yards of the machine before suddenly a selection of small hatches opened in its back and some small devices appeared.

"Errr, what are those?" asked Alan.

The answer came seconds later when a number of green laser blasts began shooting out of the objects at them.

"WOAH!" Alan and Scott cried together as Alan began to take evasive action to avoid getting blasted.

"L-Laser cannons?!" exclaimed Brains.

"Boys, GET OUT OF THERE!" thundered Jeff who was also watching.

Alan quickly lifted the Pod away from the machine and went back over into the horizontal part of the tunnel and out of the line of fire.

"Okay…what just happened?" asked Alan.

"It would appear that this m-machine is armed and very dangerous," Brains observed.

"Er, yeah, I could have told you that," said Alan sarcastically.

"So it's defended against intrusion," said Jeff. "How do we get past that, Brains?"

The young engineer scratched his head. "In all honesty, M-Mr Tracy, I'm not entirely sure," he said.

"Well we have to get past it somehow," said John. "That machine is heading on a direct course for the Moon's core."

"How long do we have before it gets there?" asked Scott.

"Hard to be sure," replied John. "But if I was to make a rough estimation - I'd say fifteen minutes at the most."

Scott looked back towards the vertical drop in the tunnel. "We sure have a situation," he remarked.

Penelope and Patrick managed to make their way down to visit the Keewatin's engine room. They'd originally met some opposition from the Chief Engineer but he relented when they told him they only wanted to speak with Anish - the man who'd sounded the alarm.

"You said you saw a woman fall overboard?" Patrick asked Anish.

Anish rubbed his hands to try and clean them as they were covered in engine oil. "I thought I did," he said.

Penelope raised her eyebrows. "You thought?" she asked. "You told me earlier that you did."

Anish was sweating, but it wasn't possible to tell if he was nervous or whether that was just due to the engine room being a hot environment. "I saw something," he said hastily. "It was out the corner of my eye."

"Did you see her in the water?" Penelope asked, repeating a question she'd asked the first time she'd spoken to him.

Anish shook his head. "No," he said. "Sorry."

"For God's sake, then why did you shout 'Man Overboard'?!" asked Patrick in frustration.

Anish looked bewildered. "I didn't…" he replied, which caused the Creighton-Wards to look at each other with confused expressions. "Someone yelled from above. I just rang the alarm."

Lionel and Deborah were completely stunned by what Penelope had just revealed to them. "I don't understand," said Deborah. "Are you saying Beth's still alive?"

"It's possible," Penelope replied.

"Maybe that's what the Death & The Maiden postcard was about?" suggested Patricia. "Beth is the maiden?"

An awkward silence fell upon the suite for a moment before Lionel called out to a steward who was just sorting out some towels for the bathroom. "Steward! Our daughter may still be on-board. I want every part of this ship searched from stem to stern, do you hear me?"

"Yes, sir," said the steward as he hastily left the suite. "Right away, sir."

"She's been kidnapped," Lionel went on. "It's the only possible explanation for all of this."

Silence fell upon the room again as Deborah looked as though she was trying to say something. "There is one other…" she said nervously. "She could be involved in this herself."

Lionel shook his head. "Deborah, how could you even-"

"Lionel!" Deborah cut her husband off. "She's no angel, you know that."

"She wasn't. She was a fool. She got over it. She's engaged to a fine young man," Lionel said defiantly. "If she's been kidnapped for any reason at all it's for my money!"

The Roystones squeezed each others hands and looked at the Creighton-Wards. They didn't need to say anything but they could tell that they were begging for them to help find Beth.

Alan and Scott stood at the edge of the diagonal shaft and gazed down after the tunneller. "Brains, you'd better have something for us," Scott said into his radio. "How do we stop this thing?"

"Honestly, Scott, I d-don't know," Brains said. "From the initial scans created by T-Thunderbird 5, I do not recognise anything familiar with this kind of vehicle."

"You mean The Cabal has got one over us, this time?!" Alan said. "Come on, Brains, you're too smart for them!"

"Alan, I told you already," Scott sighed. "This has nothing to do with The Cabal!"

"I agree with S-Scott," said Brains. "The design appears to be f-far more advanced than anything that I have ever seen before. I'd almost go as far as to s-say…" His voice trailed off.

"Say what, Brains?" asked Jeff. "Don't leave us out of the loop."

But Brains had gone completely silent like someone had flicked an off switch.

Alan looked down at the machine. If Brains wasn't going to come up with a solution, then he was. "I'm gonna try something," he said as he ran back to the Dragonfly-Pod. He opened a small but long hatch on the side to reveal one of his Astroboards.

"Alan, where are you going?" asked Scott.

"Scott, stay here and keep an eye on our Moonquaker friend," Alan said. "I have an idea on how we can stop it. But I'm going to need Thunderbird 3." He hopped onto the Astroboard and zoomed back up the tunnel before Scott could say another word.

Alan made his way back through the tunnel to the first vertical shaft where he and Scott had first found Sophie and went straight up to the exit. He hoped that the Mobile would still be there, and to his relief it was. But it was not the need to see Sophie that made him pleased to see they hadn't left.

"Hey, guys!" Alan said as he glided over to them.

Lieutenant Ellis and her team were surprised to see Alan back.

"Where's your brother, Tracy?" asked Ellis.

"Keeping an eye on the Moonquaker," Alan replied as he hopped off the board.

Svenson raised his eyebrows. "Moonquaker? Are you seriously calling it that?"

Alan ignored him. "Lieutenant, I have a plan to stop that machine before it reaches the Moon's core. I may need your help though."

"Of course," replied Ellis. "What do you need?"

Alan looked at the Mobile. "This machine of yours got weapons?"

"For self-defence, yes."

Alan smirked. "Good," he said. "Then if you'd care to follow my ship to where the Moonquaker is, be ready for when I ask for you." He then hopped back onto the board and set off again towards Thunderbird 3.

Metcalfe and Svenson looked at each other.

"The kid's nuts," retorted Svenson. "A Moonquaker tunnelling to the Moon's core. I've never heard such bullsh-"

"Adam, the Moon's been suffering from unexplained quakes that it's never experienced before," said Metcalfe. "I say we follow the kid's instructions."

Ellis nodded. "I agree," she said. "Get back aboard. Metcalfe, take the controls. We'll follow him to see where he takes us."

Alan was now back inside the cockpit of Thunderbird 3. He took the controls and soon Thunderbird 3 was on the move. He kept the grasping arms deployed and guided Thunderbird 3 with its nose still aimed at the ground sideways just above the lunar surface with the Mobile following a short distance behind.

"Scott from Thunderbird 3, how's the Moonquaker going?" asked Alan.

"It's getting deeper," Scott replied. "I'm beginning to lose sight of it."

"Scott, you have to keep v-visual contact with it," Brains said over the radio. "It's t-too risky to use the Pod. I recommend you use your j-jetpack and stick as close to the wall as possible."

"And stay out of whatever camera-eyes that machine has, son," added Jeff. "If you think it's gonna take another shot at you, get the hell away from it!"

"F-A-B, Dad," said Scott and he began to descend after the Moonquaker.

Straker made contact with the Mobile, having not heard anything from it for some time. "Lieutenant, give me a sit-rep," he said.

"We're on the move again, Colonel," Ellis replied. "We're following Thunderbird 3 to deal with the Moonquaker."

"The what?!" Straker asked, confused.

"International Rescue have found the cause of the quakes, sir," said Ellis. "It's some kind of tunnelling machine that appears to be making its way down to the Moon's core."

Straker's face went pale. "The Moon's core…" he said. "If that thing reaches it…My God. whoever those idiots are inside that machine could destroy the Moon! Lieutenant, I don't care what you or International Rescue have to do…but stop that machine at all costs. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal clear, Colonel," said Ellis with determination. "We'll stop it. If it's the last thing we do." She looked over at Metcalfe who nodded to say he was behind her all the way.

Scott continued his cautious descent after the Moonquaker. He wanted to save fuel by grabbing hold of the side of the tunnel and remain in position but the continuous rumbling and vibrations caused by the machine made it impossible to do so. "Thunderbird 3, whatever it is you're planning to do, I hope it's soon?" Scott asked.

"Don't worry, bro," Alan answered over the radio. "Just coming into position now." He was using the underground scan of the Moon relayed from Thunderbird 5 to his screen. Now he could observe the location of the Moonquaker so that he could carry out his plan. Once in the right place, he landed Thunderbird 3 back onto the lunar surface and prepared the drill nose.

"What exactly are you planning to do, Alan?" Jeff asked.

"I'm going to drill my own shaft down into the Moon," Alan explained. "If I've timed this right, I should be able to intercept that Moonquaker and cut it off before pulling it out."

"Alan, that's insane!" John protested. "It'll never work."

"Since when did you become a pessimist?" retorted Alan.

"He has a p-point, Alan," said Brains. "You will have only o-one chance to get this right. If you fail-"

"The Moon's had it, I know, Brains," Alan said, grimly. "But any chance is better than none at all. The fate of the world could depend on this."

There was a pause as everyone looked at Jeff who let out a sigh. "Do it, Alan," he urged.

Alan took a deep breath. "Okay then," he said as he gripped the controls. "Here goes nothing!" He set off the drill nose and it began to burrow as fast as it could through the solid rock of the Moon. Within seconds he could feel the sweat of the pressure already dripping from his brow. This is like the Solar Incident all over again, he thought to himself. If I can't stop this machine, the whole world is doomed. I cannot fail!

Early evening was starting to set in and the Keewatin continued on like nothing was even wrong. Most of the passengers had managed to distract themselves from the incident that had happened earlier. Most were either playing shuffleboard, having a meet and greet with Captain Shaw who was doing the rounds of his ship and several were admiring the tall rock island that was Ailsa Craig before the ship would make a turn to starboard to begin its journey up to the Hebrides.

Lionel sat in his suite whilst Deborah went to tidy her face in the bathroom. Owen came in and closed the door behind him. "I need a moment with you," he said.

"What is it?" asked Lionel as he stood up.

"When are we kicking her off?" Owen asked.

"Who?"

"Lady Penelope," Owen said. "I don't want her on this ship."

Lionel stared. "I beg your pardon?"

"Sir, she's going around the ship asking everybody questions like she's some private detective or something!" Owen said, frustrated. "She even had the audacity to suggest that I may have even had something to do with Beth's disappearance."

"I don't believe for a second that you're involved, Owen," Lionel said.

Owen sighed with relief. "Thank you," he said. "Now please will you make sure Lady Penelope gets off the ship at the next stop."

Lionel stared at him. "She's not leaving the ship," he said.

Owen's happy expression vanished. "What?"

"I said, she's not leaving the ship," Lionel said.

"But, sir, didn't you hear what I said?"

"Yes, I did."

"Then you know that I don't want her on board," Owen said.

"Tell me, Owen. Who does this ship belong to?" Lionel asked.

"Well, you, sir."

"That's right," said Lionel after pouring himself a drink for medicinal purposes. "I say who stays and who goes. And Lady Penelope has promised to find out what happened to Beth. and whether she really is still on board or not."

Owen stared. "What are you talking about?"

Lionel took a sip of drink. "We've established her hat wasn't on her head when it went in the water," he said. "Which means there's a chance she could still be aboard. Now, I have ordered a thorough search of this ship for her. If you want to make yourself useful, may I suggest you go and offer your assistance?" He turned and walked away, leaving Owen silent.

Alan watched the screen like a hawk as Thunderbird 3's drill nose made a perfectly vertical tunnel shaft down into the depths of the Moon. as hoped he managed to cut right across the path of the Moonquaker. He then started up a second cutting disc mounted on the drill mount. This made the shaft three times the width it already was as Alan pulled it quickly but carefully back up towards the surface. No sooner had it cleared when the Moonquaker burst out of the side of the new shaft, tried to reach the opposite side, failed, overbalanced and fell nose-first down before slamming into the bottom. The impact caused its drill to buckle and with a groan of what sounded like mechanical pain, it shut down.

Scott reached the edge of the tunnel he'd been in and peered down at the machine which was only just visible from the shaft of light coming from the opening at the top. "Nice one, Thunderbird 3," he said. "Looks as if hard knocks don't do it any favors."

Alan breathed a sigh of relief. "I knew that would work," he said, although deep down he was just as surprised as anyone else was. "Now to get our illegal mining friend out of there." He fully retracted the drill and lifted Thunderbird 3 up off the ground to hover with one of the grasping arms over the shaft. He locked onto the back of the Moonquaker and fired a grapple-line several hundred feet down before latching onto the back of the machine. He then began to reel the cable back in and hoisted the disabled machine back up towards the surface.

Scott remained where he was and watched as it was raised past him. "I'll return to the Dragonfly and bring it up," he said. "Don't attempt to enter that machine until I get there, Alan."

"F-A-B, bro," Alan replied. "And we've got back-up for when we do." He glanced over to the left as the Mobile began to approach.

Ellis and Metcalfe watched from inside the Mobile's cockpit as Thunderbird 3 hoisted the machine up and out of the tunnel before laying it down gently on the lunar surface a short distance away.

"Wow!" said Metcalfe. "That's one heck of a machine! I wonder who sent it here?"

"We'll find out soon enough," replied Ellis. She grabbed a microphone. "Look alive, people. International Rescue have captured the illegal mining machine. Have your weapons ready. The people inside may not be too pleased to see us."

Scott returned the Dragonfly-Pod to the cargo bay of Thunderbird 3 before joining Alan and the expedition team who had formed a perimeter around the Moonquaker. It certainly was a strange machine. It was painted mostly black with purple lines and a sickly green rim around where the drill nose met the rest of the machine.

"Still think this is a machine of The Cabal?" Scott asked Alan.

Alan shook his head. "Now that I've seen it up close, no," he agreed. "The color scheme is wrong for a start."

"The Cabal's Condor is a new and different livery to what we've seen before," Kayo said. She had come to the lounge to observe what was going on. "There's every chance that they could be behind this."

"I really cannot see what they would achieve by tunnelling down to the Moon's core though?" Virgil remarked. "There's nothing down there worth mining that I am aware of."

"M-Mining that close to the Moon's core could have destroyed it," Brains said. "I d-don't believe that even The Hood would want to destroy the Moon."

"The Hood's gotten a lot stranger lately, Brains," Gordon reminded him. "But yeah, if The Cabal did destroy the Moon, all they would succeed is messing up the world. It's theirs too, despite them being, you know, in the wrong."

"They're about to open up the Moonquaker," Scott reported. "We'll find out at any moment who is really behind this."

Lieutenant Ellis had put a sonic-amplifier device on the hull of the Moonquaker. If there was anybody inside, they wanted to try and end the matter peacefully if possible. "This is Lieutenant Ellis of Moonbase Endeavour," she said into the device. "Come out with your hands up, and you will be treated fairly."

No response came from inside the Moonquaker.

"I don't think anybody is home," Svenson muttered to Metcalfe.

"Okay then," Ellis said. "If you won't come out, we're coming in. Make sure you have your helmets on!" She set an explosive charge on the hatch door at the very rear of the Moonquaker and retreated to a safe distance before detonating it.

The blast was small but it was powerful enough to rip the door clean off. Once the dust settled, Ellis, Scott, Alan, Svenson and Metcalfe moved into position to have a look inside. It was pitch black inside with no lights on so Metcalfe and Svenson shone the lights from their pulse-rifles in through the doorway. And what they saw sent chills down their spines. There were no people inside the Moonquaker, but instead there were up to fifty strange-looking red drums all linked with wires to what looked like some kind of timing mechanism at the far end.

"What the hell?!" said Metcalfe. "That's not what I was expecting."

"What are all those drums?" asked Alan.

Svenson took out a scanning device which he used on one of the drums. The results came through quickly, and they were not good. "Holy…"

"What is it?" asked Ellis.

Svenson turned to face them. His tough, stern expression had been replaced by one that was pure white and full of fear. "These drums are explosives!"

"Explosives?" repeated Scott. "But that means-"

"Whoever sent it here had every intention to destroy the Moon," finished Metcalfe.

"These were never illegal miners," said Ellis. "They were damn terrorists!"

Scott and Ellis relayed the disturbing information to their respective bases. Both Jeff and Straker were equally as troubled by the news as everyone else was.

"And there's no clue as to who has sent this machine?" asked Straker.

"No, sir," replied Ellis. "No symbols, no company name. There's nothing at all."

Straker turned to Jeff's hologram. "Jeff, I know this is probably going to sound like a ridiculous question but I don't suppose you or any of your team have any ideas?"

Jeff shook his head. "I'm sorry, Ed. Absolutely none whatsoever," he said.

Sophie, who had been listening in from the Mobile where she'd been ordered to stay, had a sudden thought. "The meteorite!"

"What was that, Doctor?" asked Straker.

"Colonel, there were chunks of meteorite rock at where the tunnel first began!" Sophie said. "I know it sounds crazy, but could that meteorite have somehow delivered that machine to the Moon?"

"Actually, she might be onto something!" John said, who had also been listening in from Thunderbird 5. "The meteorite was originally heading towards Earth. And then a small explosion caused it to change course and head for the Moon as Thunderbird 3 tried to grab it."

Alan looked at the Moonquaker as he did his best to try and remember the meteorite. "That meteorite was certainly large enough to have housed it," he said. "It's not impossible I guess."

"But I thought it got blown up by the Endeavour's space-cannon when Gorski fired at it?" said Jeff.

Straker paced around the room. "Wait a minute. This Moonquaker, as you call it, came to the Moon in a meteorite, which was blown up by Commander Gorski?" he said. "This isn't adding up."

"The technology inside this machine is like nothing I've ever seen before either," Ellis said as she took a look through the doorway of the machine again. "You could say that it's, er, out of this world almost."

Brains let out a deep sigh. "I f-feared as much," he said.

Everyone in the room and visible on holograms looked at him.

"Brains, you were going to say something about it earlier," Jeff remembered. "What was that?"

Brains hesitated before he finally answered the question. "This will sound c-completely ludicrous," he said. "But I b-believe that the Moonquaker is of alien origin!"

An awkward silence followed this.

"Yeah, you're right, Brains," said Gordon. "That is ludicrous!"

"Have to agree with you there," said Straker. "Sorry, Mr Hackenbacker, but there are no such things as aliens."

"Yes, there are!" said Alan indignantly. "What about the Rock Snakes and those weird robot things that we encountered on Mars last year?"

Scott elbowed him. "Alan, those things aren't public knowledge."

"Yes, well, er, pardon us, Ed," said Jeff hastily, having seen the confused expression on Straker's face. "Do forgive my son. He has a wild imagination."

"So I can tell," remarked Straker.

Suddenly, a computer-like screen above the timer came to life. Ellis, her men and the two brothers saw to their alarm that a countdown had begun. As it started from sixty seconds, some form of green energy began to emit from the wires attached to the drums.

"What the hell?!" exclaimed Svenson.

"What's happening?" asked Ellis.

Alan quickly realised. "Oh, no!" he exclaimed. "EVERYONE GET BACK! IT'S GONNA BLOW!"

Everyone began to rush away from the Moonquaker, but Alan then realised that even if they did all get clear in the space of a minute, the shockwave and potential crater that the explosion would cause could still be a devastating one for all concerned. He stopped running with Scott and activated his wrist controller which fired up Thunderbird 3 once more.

"ALAN!" bellowed Scott. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

Alan didn't reply. He quickly remote-guided Thunderbird 3 over to the Moonquaker for the grapple that had been used to hoist it out from the ground was still attached. Increasing power to full, he lifted it up off of the ground and turned Thunderbird 3 around to point space-wards. Keeping the grasping arm with the grapple cable deployed but putting the other two back in place before firing the main boosters and sending it rocketing away from the Moon, towing the Moonquaker behind it.

Everyone else stopped running and watched as the glow of Thunderbird 3's engines faded away into the distance. As it did, a sinister green glow began to emit from the Moonquaker.

Alan watched the mini-radar on his wrist that showed him a predicted blast radius. The split second that it was clear of the Moon he fired Thunderbird 3's retros and brought the ship to a sudden stop whilst he also detached the cable. The Moonquaker was now going at an immense speed of its own. It soared past the now stationary Thunderbird and spiralled off away. Alan then fired the engines again and turned Thunderbird 3 around to bring back to the Moon. no sooner had it cleared the blast radius when the explosives inside the tunnelling-machine detonated. A massive explosion could be seen as clear as day from the Moon. Normally it would be a bright white light, but this was bright green which was equally as blinding and forced everyone to cover their eyes for protection.

"ALAN! SCOTT!" Jeff's frantic voice said over the radio. "WHAT HAPPENED?!"

"It's okay, Dad," Alan said. "Whoever is behind this just set the Moonquaker to self-destruct. I had to get it away from the Moon before it blew an enormous hole in it."

Jeff and everyone else breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God for that," he said. "Well done, Alan."

Alan smiled as Scott placed a hand on his shoulder. "Ah, no big deal," he said. "Just another day in the life of International Rescue."

The Creighton-Wards had been out on the deck for some fresh air, especially for Patricia's benefit to get her away from the Roystones for a bit, but it didn't stop them from discussing the situation.

"Do you really think Beth is involved?" Patricia asked Penelope.

"How could someone have secreted her away from the top deck of a crowded ship without anybody else seeing?" Penelope said.

"Well it wouldn't be the first time that someone's arranged their own kidnapping," said Patrick.

"Hmm," agreed Patricia. "But it's hard to imagine that she'd put her parents through this ordeal."

They at that moment reached the bottom of the stairs that brought them down from the top deck to the grand staircase located in the middle of the ship. Another set of stairs was in front of them, but before they could decide what next move to make, another young dark-haired woman, about the same age as Penelope and Beth and wearing a dark green dress walked up and stopped in front of them. "Excuse me?" she said.

"Hello?" said Patrick. "Can we help you?"

"My name's Doreen McCloud," the woman said. "I am a friend of Beth's. I think I may have seen her."

The Creighton-Wards exchanged looks. "Where?" asked Penelope.

"She was headed down to the lower decks," said Doreen. "And for some reason she was wearing a maid's uniform."

"Which way did she go?" asked Patrick.

"It appeared she was going to the cargo hold," Doreen said. "The one right at the front."

"What time was this?" asked Penelope.

"About 4:30," said Doreen.

This was most intriguing. "That was after the man-overboard alarm!" Penelope realised. "Then she IS still on board!"