THE replica Steamship Keewatin had left the River Clyde and was starting to make its way north towards the Hebrides on the west side of Scotland. On the outside and to the majority of the people on board, everything was normal, except for the fact that behind the scenes a major search was being carried out by members of the crew as well as a few of the passengers who were in the know looking for young Lady Beth Roystone, the daughter of Lord Lionel and Lady Debroah Roystone, the man behind the building of the ship and his wife respectively.

Lady Penelope and her parents Patrick and Patricia Creighton-Ward were amongst those helping with the search and decided to investigate the lead given to them by Beth's friend Doreen's McCloud who had claimed to have seen Beth in a maid's uniform heading down into the lower decks of the ship. Together the daughter and parent team made their way to the forward cargo hold in the bow of the Keewatin. They were surprised to find that nobody was about to prevent them from going in and the door was wide open. It wasn't at all like the upper decks of the ship which were elegant and grand. Down here it was dull and cramped. Not the kind of place you'd expect to find a family like the Creighton-Wards but for Penelope it all felt very normal.

"Beth?" Penelope called out. "Beth, are you here?"

No reply came so they started to look around, searching for clues. There were numerous crates and boxes stacked all over the place, but there was one large crate in particular that caught Patrick's eye. "Over here!" he said. He tapped the side of the crate with the end of his umbrella that he always carried around with him. "Look at this."

Penelope and Patricia came over to look. They could see a small red spot of something along a part where the lid met the front of the crate. Nobody needed to be a genius to realise what it was. It was somebody's blood.

Fearing the worst, the three of them knew they had to be sure. Patricia and Penelope stood at opposite ends of the crate and undid the catches which surprisingly had no padlocks on them. Then on the nod of three, they threw open the lid of the crate together before looking in, and then all three recoiled in alarm.

"Oh, my God!" gasped Patricia.

"Good lord!" exclaimed Patrick.

Penelope simply gasped, for inside the crate was not quite what they were expecting to find. There was a body in the crate. But it wasn't Beth. It was a man!

"It's not her!" said Patricia.

"Then who the hell is it?" asked Patrick.

5!

4!

3!

2!

1!

"Thunderbirds Are Go!"

"VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED"

HAVING alerted Lord Lionel Roystone and Captain Shaw of their find in the Cargo Bay, a small group of crew were brought down to help remove the body of the deceased male out of the crate and laid flat out on the top of a few other crates that were the same height.

Patricia, being a former medic, volunteered to give the man an examination before it was taken to the Sick Bay for a post-mortem. As she made her examination, Penelope decided to quiz Lionel some more. "Do you recognise this man?" she asked.

Lionel shook his head. "No. Never seen him before in my life," he replied.

Patricia had discovered some blood on the back of the man's shirt and after removing part of it, found a small hole in his back just behind the left shoulder.

"Gunshot?" Patrick asked.

"Not sure," Patricia replied. "Will have to get the post-mortem to confirm. I'm not sure it is though."

Lionel nudged Captain Shaw. "Nobody is to know about this," he said quietly.

Captain Shaw nodded in agreement.

Penelope had found the man's wallet inside his right trouser pocket and checked through it to see if any identification could be found. It didn't take long for her to find it. "Neville Morton," she said, looking at his ID card.

"And who is he?" asked Captain Shaw.

Penelope shrugged. "It doesn't say," she said. "Just a name. No occupation is listed. Excuse me." She quickly left everyone with the body and went to find a secluded area where nobody would find her. Despite her wearing her Edwardian outfit, she had managed to sneak her compact radio in with her without anybody seeing. After double-checking to make sure nobody was around, she took out the compact and activated it. "Lady Penelope calling Thunderbird 5. Come in, John?"

John's hologram appeared from the middle of the compact. "Go ahead, Lady P. How's the cruise?"

"Not as relaxing as we thought, I'm afraid," said Penelope. "First the owner's daughter seems to have made everyone think she's jumped overboard, then someone claims to have sighted her below decks. My parents and I went looking, only we've found a deceased man inside one of the crates."

"Oh…" said John with a cringe. "That's unfortunate. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"I have the name of the man," Penelope said. "Neville Morton. Would you be able to find anything on him, please, John?"

"Sure," said John. "Might take me a little while, but I'll see what I can find."

"Cheers, John," said Penelope before she heard voices down the corridor. "They're moving Mr Morton to the Sick Bay. mother's going to help with the post-mortem. I'd better go."

"Best of luck to her," said John. "Thunderbird 5, out."

Alan and Scott had gone to Base Endeavour following the incident with the mysterious Moonquaker machine. For the first time since they'd met, Alan and Dr Sophie Telford found themselves alone in an observation ward in the Medical Center whilst Scott spoke with Colonel Straker and Dr Russell.

"I can't lie to you, Sophie," Alan was saying. "My heart was in my mouth when I saw your face through the visor of your helmet. I thought I'd lost you before we'd gotten together properly."

Sophie smiled. She reached out and took Alan's hand. "It's okay, hun," she said lovingly. "Just goes to show that even us who are there to save lives sometimes need saving too."

"Yeah," agreed Alan. "The amount of times one of our own has needed saving from some dangerous situation. I think I've lost count."

"I'd love to meet your brothers," said Sophie. "What are they like?"

Alan had to think about that. He'd never been asked to describe his family by anybody. Not even when he had been at school did anyone seem interested in anyone in his family. He'd quite often been picked on like the others because of who their father was. School hadn't been a good time for any of the brothers and Jeff had wanted many times to home-teach them himself but got talked down every time by Grandma.

"Well Scott's here," Alan began. "He's the eldest of us, and the bossiest. When Dad was lost in space, Scott was in charge. Actually, maybe I was a bit harsh on the bossy part. He took his role very seriously and just wanted to make sure that he could make Dad proud of him. Then there's Virgil. He's a tough guy. Seriously, do not get on the wrong side of him - especially when Hayley's involved."

"Hayley?"

"Oh, Captain Hayley Madison," Alan said. "She's Virgil's girl. Currently training to be a medic like you."

Sophie pondered. "Strange, I don't recall anyone of that name in training school?"

"She's training to work with the GDF," said Alan.

"Ahhh, gotcha!" Sophie said realising.

"Next there's John. he's the quiet one, and somewhat of a loner. For some reason he prefers being all by himself in Thunderbird 5."

"Not everybody is a people person," said Sophie.

"John's definitely not one of them," agreed Alan. "Which is odd when he's the first person people see or hear when they send out a distress call. I can't understand it myself, but hey, who am I to judge?"

Sophie counted. "That's three," she said. "Although isn't there one more? None of them sound like the one who spoke to me during that video call we had?"

Alan grimaced slightly. "Yeah…Gordon," he said. "He's the one you really need to watch out for. If he ever senses a chance to cause trouble, he'll take it."

Sophie laughed. "That's all too familiar," she said. "I have siblings, too, Alan. I can totally relate."

Alan smiled. He squeezed Sophie's hand. "You know…you're the first girl who's ever taken a liking to me."

Sophie raised her eyebrows. "Really? A handsome young man such as yourself? I can't believe that."

Alan giggled nervously. "Well….it's hard to meet people when you live on a tropical island far out to sea and the only times you see anybody are when their lives need saving. Then again, with the exception of Gordon, nearly all of us have found a girl whilst performing rescues. Virgil rescued Hayley. Scott and John did seem to have someone but I guess they've moved on and-"

"And you rescued me," Sophie said. And before Alan knew what was happening, she leant forwards in her bed and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Alan went very still, his mouth open like a goldfish. Any words that he was going to say had gone.

Sophie giggled as she rubbed her hands across his cheeks. "It's alright, love," she said. "The first one is always the hardest," She moved his head round so they were looking each other directly in the eyes. "And I can promise you, it won't be our last," she said before this time kissing him on the lips.

For Alan, this was a totally different experience. He was both excited and terrified at the same time. It took a few moments before he began to realised he was enjoying what Sophie was doing.

"WHAT THE?!"

Alan and Sophie jumped back from each other and looked around. The door to the room had opened and there stood Dr Russell along with Colonel Straker and Scott. Dr Russell did not look happy at all whilst Scott and Straker both looked surprised.

"I was going to ask how our invalid was doing," Straker remarked. "But it would seem that she's not as bad as first believed."

Sophie and Alan both went red with embarrassment.

Scott broke the awkward silence with a cough. "Alan, we need to go," he said. "Dad wants us back as soon as possible."

Alan didn't answer. He and Sophie exchanged one last look before he got up and stomped out in a huff.

"I'm sorry about that," Scott said as he followed Alan. Straker followed, with Dr Russell staring down at Sophie with her hands on her hips and a look of disapproval on her face.

"Well, Doctor Telford," Dr Russell said. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Sophie didn't say a word.

Patricia wiped her hands clean after helping the Keewatin's doctor with the post-mortem on Neville Morton. "The core body temperature has dropped less than two degrees," she said to Penelope. "I'd estimate he's been dead for about an hour."

This made Penelope feel more uncomfortable as she looked at the clock on the wall. "Six o'clock," she said. "And the murder weapon?"

Patricia showed her a rough sketch she'd made of what looked like some kind of workman's tool with a head like she'd never seen before. "It was definitely not a bullet," she said. "It was an implement that I estimate at being a quarter inch wide and at least five inches long. It pierced the left ventricle."

"How peculiar,," said Penelope, looking at Neville's body lying front-down on the operating table. "Poor man. But good work, Mother."

Patricia gave a smile. "Nice to know I haven't lost my touch," she said.

Penelope took the piece of paper with the drawing of the implement on and returned to the Cargo Bay with Patrick. Patrick looked at the drawing with interest. "What is it?" he asked.

"Some kind of tool would be my guess," Penelope replied. She then began shifting boxes, small crates and equally small trunks around trying to find any clues. It didn't take long for her to find one.

"You got something?" asked Patrick.

"It would seem so," Penelope said. She bent down and picked up a white but bloodied handkerchief from behind one of the crates. It appeared to be wrapped around something. She opened the handkerchief up and there they saw a murder weapon - with a head almost exactly matching that in Patricia's drawing.

"It's a screwdriver," said Patrick. "Although I have to say that's not a kind I've ever seen before."

"If only Parker were here," Penelope agreed. "He might have an idea about what it could be for." It was then that she noticed Patrick had gone slightly pale. "Father?"

Patrick reached out and opened up a corner of the handkerchief. There was insignia printed on it that both of them instantly recognised as being their family's Coat of Arms. "That's one of my handkerchiefs!" he said. "It's the one I gave to Beth before she disappeared!"

Lionel almost dropped his cup of now drunk coffee back on the saucer. "I don't understand," he said. "Are you saying my daughter is a murderer?" He and Deborah had been in the dining room with Patricia whilst Penelope and Patrick had been searching the Cargo Bay.

"No, I am not saying that at all, Lionel," Patrick said. "But the handkerchief I gave her was used to wipe blood from the murder weapon."

"One of the other passengers said she saw her heading down towards the lower decks after the Man Overboard alarm was sounded," added Penelope.

Deborah shook her head, refusing to believe what she was being told. "No! Not my Beth," she said.

Lionel couldn't seem to find any words at all.

"Look, we do not have any proof that she is the killer," Penelope continued. "But clearly she is involved somehow."

"The very fact that we are unable to locate her would indicate that she's in hiding."

Lionel finally found his voice. "Well if she's in hiding it's from whoever killed this Morton bloke," he said.

Penelope then felt a buzzing and vibration inside her dress pocket. "Excuse me a moment, please?" she said and scurried out of the dining room. She had set her compact not to make the usual beeping noise so as not to draw attention to herself. As she'd hoped, it was John calling. "Go ahead, John?"

"Sorry it's taken so long, Lady Penelope," John said. "Been jumping between researching and keeping tabs on Alan and Scott on the Moon. However I have managed to get the information you requested."

Penelope listened with intrigued. "Go on?"

Virgil was composing a new piece of music, or at least he was trying to. His mind kept getting distracted by Gordon who seemed to be pacing around the lounge in circles. "Gordon, will you sit down?" he eventually asked. "It's getting on my nerves!"

Gordon stopped by the piano and sighed. "Sorry, Virg," he said. "I haven't heard from Lady P in a while. I worry that something's happened to her."

Virgil rolled his eyes. "Gordon, Lady Penelope is one of the most resourceful people we know," he said. "She has a nose for danger. If there was any, she'd call us immediately."

Gordon didn't answer for a moment. "Yeah. I guess you're right. Sorry, Virgil. I'll go do laps of the pool instead." He walked away. Virgil smiled and gave his eyes another roll before he continued playing. He couldn't blame Gordon for being concerned about the woman he loved. He worried about Hayley, even though he knew she was in a safe place whilst she did her medical training for the GDF. But they always had daily calls to update each other. He quickly put it out of his mind and carried on.

Penelope returned to her parents and the Roystones. She confessed to having brought her compact aboard and that it was being used to communicate with someone who could get information for them. Deborah clearly did not approve that Penelope had the device but she managed to hold her tongue for once.

"Neville Morton," she said. "He spent some time in prison. He set off a bomb in a bank. And not just once either. He's a professional."

Patrick, Patricia, Lionel and Deborah were all looking rather anxious.

"So there's a bomber on board?" asked Lionel, his brow starting to produce sweat again.

Patrick then remembered the postcard that Lionel had shown him when they'd first met up on board. "It may very well be that the threat to this ship could be real," he realised. "It might be time to tell us who really has a grudge against you?"

Silence fell across the table. Deborah looked nervously at her husband who was trying to think. After a few moments he finally gave an answer. "There is one man," he said. "He's on board. Miles McTaggert. He runs the Paddle-Steamer Preservation Society who own the Waverley. He fears this ship might spell the end for trips done by her."

Penelope and Patrick went in search of Miles McTaggert. They soon found him in a surprising place - the ship's barber saloon where he was being given a shave by one of the crew. He listened as Penelope asked him questions about Lionel and what threat he saw the Keewatin as being to the Waverley. "Will this ship put me out of business? Probably," he said. "Maybe I should scuttle Waverley and claim the insurance."

"Scuttle?" asked Penelope.

"Means deliberately sunk," Patrick whispered.

"Sometimes I think an insurance claim is the best way to make money in this business," remarked McTaggert. As for this ship, it's too big for the market and Roystone spent far too much on it." He gave a small chuckle. "From what I heard he's almost bankrupted the family just to try and bribe the officials to make them not put all the modern safety equipment on board. Wanted it to be exactly like the original Keewatin."

"But he is your competition?" Penelope asked.

"I suppose," replied McTaggert. "But in all fairness, if I was going to blow up this ship, do you really think I'd be sailing on it?"

Penelope and Patrick looked at each other.

"Good point," said Patrick. "Thank you, Mr McTaggert. Have a good evening." He and Penelope then left, leaving McTaggert with a small smile on his face.

McTaggert hadn't gotten them anywhere, so Penelope decided to go and find the person who had first pointed them in the direction of the Cargo Bay - Doreen McCloud. They found her in one of the lounges and she agreed to talk to them again.

"Neville Morton?" Doreen said after they explained about the man found in the crate. "Sorry I have never heard of him." She thought for a moment as they walked up a flight of stairs from the middle deck. "Did he have dark hair?" she asked, suddenly remembering something.

"Why do you ask?" Penelope said. There was a pause as Doreen did not answer. "Doreen, if you have any information, we need to know."

Doreen shifted uncomfortably before finally answering. "I think Beth was seeing another man," she said. "I didn't know his name. I only saw him from a distance."

"She admitted this to you?" asked Penelope.

"Not exactly no," replied Doreen. "She was being very secretive about it, and I didn't want to be nosey. But I do know that she wanted to break off her engagement with Owen. She just didn't know how to tell her parents."

The journey back to Earth for Alan and Scott was awkward to say the least. At least for the majority. Alan had not said a word since he and Sophie's moment had been interrupted. He was fuming inside.

Scott, seeing his little brother was upset, was worried. He'd thought many times about speaking but had held himself back every time. "Alan?"

"What?" came the blunt reply.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine."

Scott waited a second before speaking again. "I'm sorry," he said.

Alan said nothing.

"I should have kept them talking longer," Scott went on. "You two deserved that moment."

Alan blinked, and for the first time since launching off from Base Endeavour, he turned his head to look over at his brother. "You…You mean that?"

"Of course," said Scott. "I'm happy that you and Dr Telford are getting serious, Alan. The Tracy family won't be able to continue without fresh blood. That's three out of five of us now."

Alan was confused. "Three out of five? Me and Sophie. Virgil and Hayley. Gordon and Lady Penelope. Are you and John not-"

"I can't speak for John," Scott said. "He may still have feelings for Captain O'Bannon but I honestly do not know. As for me - well, there was Marion, but we're better off as friends."

This made Alan feel a lot better. "Thanks, Scott," he said, finally breaking a smile. "That means a lot. I am sorry for being so silent and blunt."

"Ah, forget it," replied Scott. "I just hope Dr Russell doesn't give Sophie a hard time over it."

"So do I, bro," agreed Alan. "But even if she does, it won't stop me and Sophie. I won't let it happen if she doesn't either."

Scott smiled. "From what I've seen she's a young and strong young woman," he said. "I am certain that it'll all work out, Alan."

Alan smiled back. At last he could feel at ease.

The Creighton-Wards regrouped in the main atrium of the ship with Patricia having finally managed to get away from the Roystones. She was soon filled in by Patrick and Penelope. "So is that what this is all about?" she asked. "A fake drowning so that she could run off with Neville Morton?"

"It seems like a reasonable theory," said Penelope.

"I still find it hard that she'd make her parents grieve for her death rather than disappoint them over her choice of marriage," said Patrick.

"Well he wasn't any kind of bloke," Penelope said. "He was an ex-convict after all. I mean it does seem a bit drastic, but it would go a long way in explaining her behaviour."

"He cares about her behaviour though?" asked Patrick. "The question we need to be answering is how her lover-boy ended up in that crate?"

"Let me handle the Roystones," Patricia said. "They seem to listen to me. Especially Deborah."

Patricia returned to the dining room and told Lionel and Deborah what Penelope and Patrick had learned. Both were in complete shock.

"It's just not possible," Deborah said. "To have us think that she was dead?"

"He had spent some time in prison," Patricia reminded her.

"I don't care!" said Deborah. "She's our daughter and she loves us!"

"She knows that we'd forgive her," added Lionel. The two looked at each other dead in the eyes, nodded in agreement and reached out to grip their hands tightly, knowing that they were in this together.

Patricia remained silent and although she was pleased that the husband and wife were there to support one another, she couldn't help but feel that there was more going on than what they knew already.

Patrick and Penelope went to see Owen Matthews in his cabin. "She was seeing another man?" Owen said, sounding very bitter. "I know nothing about it."

"But you said you saw her with a man earlier today?" said Penelope.

Owen turned to face her. "I saw her talking to another man," he said. "I only became suspicious when she wouldn't tell me who it was."

"Where were you around five o'clock?" asked Penelope.

"In my cabin," replied Owen. "I came straight here after we spoke on the deck and haven't left since." That wasn't entirely true as he'd gone to see Lionel to demand that Penelope be removed but he wasn't going to admit that.

"The man you saw her with," Penelope went on. "Did he have dark hair?"

Owen nodded. "Yes," he said. "So was his skin."

Penelope and Patrick frowned at each other.

Just then there was a knock at the door. They all turned to see one of the stewards walk in. He was carrying a small white and black piece of fabric in his hands which he gave to Penelope. "Lady Penelope, we've found this maid's hat in the forward Cargo Bay," he said. "I thought it was odd."

"How so?" asked Penelope.

"Maid's don't go to the lower deck," replied the Steward.

This new piece of information told Penelope and Patrick that maybe Beth was indeed hiding somewhere around the Cargo Bay or one of the other areas below deck and that they'd completely missed her due to the discovery of Neville Morton's body. They decided to return to the Cargo Bay for another look.

"Did you take note of what Owen said about the man he saw with Beth?" Penelope asked.

"Yes, I did," replied Patrick. "A man with dark skin as well as dark hair? That most certainly doesn't at all match Neville Morton."

"Meaning there's someone else involved in this," said Penelope as they walked through the bulkhead and into the Cargo Bay. "Hold up." She raised her hand to stop Patrick in his tracks.

"What is it?" Patrick asked.

Penelope pointed over to the starboard side of the Cargo Bay. Behind the support beam was where they had found Morton's body, and from where they were, they could see that someone was over there, moving some of the crates around. "Hey you!" Penelope called. "Hold it right there!"

The man started, panicked and began running about as he tried to find a way out. Penelope and Patrick tried to cut him off but he managed to nimbly nip around them and escape through the bulkhead.

"Go get him!" Patrick said as Penelope was much younger and fitter than he was so she sprinted off after the escaping man.

Penelope chased the man up a flight of steps towards the mooring deck and managed to grab his right ankle just as he reached the top. He stumbled and fell over allowing her to pin him down. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she finally caught a glimpse of the struggling man's face. She was shocked as she recognised him immediately. "You?!" she exclaimed.