THUNDERBIRD 2 hurried away from the island as fast as the crew deemed necessary. None of them wanted to remain in an area that was potentially a radiation hazard - although they were curious to know what the cause of it was as they hadn't seen any disused power-stations or were aware of any uranium mines being in the area.
As soon as they'd gotten back to Thunderbird 2, they went through a strict decontamination shower and were given the All-Clear as not having been there long enough to have been exposed to radiation. Their suits would have given some protection as well. However they were concerned about the man they'd managed to recover from the crashed Helijet. Even though he was unconscious, they didn't take chances and put him in a special recovery chamber where any residual radiation could be safely cleaned away without any of them being at risk.
Virgil let Alan fly Thunderbird 2 as they headed towards mainland Australia to deliver the man to the nearest hospital. Sophie was monitoring the chamber the man was in whilst a depressed Hayley did what she could to help - which mostly involved standing out of the way looking remorseful.
"There's nothing else you could have done, Hayley," Virgil said, trying his best to be reassuring.
"I could have done more if I was fully trained," replied Hayley bitterly. "And actually knew what I was supposed to be doing."
John then called in. "I've been looking into where you've just been and made a scan of the area," he said. "You were right to be concerned about the radiation, Virgil. There seems to be a bit of it on that island. The rest of the area is clean, but that island in particular has been labelled a 'no-go' zone."
"Dangerous levels?" asked Virgil.
"If exposed for too long, yes," said John. "With your suits you'd have protection for a good few hours - five at most. But to anyone not wearing protective clothing - about two hours is the best survival time before bad starts to happen."
"That Helijet crash looked pretty recent," said Alan. "The fact the pilot was still alive when we got-" He trailed off, remembering how upset Hayley was feeling about it.
"What about the island itself, John?" asked Virgil. "Have you found anything that could tell us why it is even a radiation no-go zone?"
"As a matter of fact, yes," said John. "It's called Victory Day Island. It was used as a British testing site in the 1950s."
"Testing site for what?" asked Alan.
"An A-bomb, Alan," said John after a pause.
Alan and Virgil exchanged looks. Even Hayley and Sophie were unnerved by it.
"That would explain that large crater full of water in the middle of it," Virgil said.
"How's the patient?" asked John.
"Stable," said Virgil. "But the sooner we get him to hospital, the better. We had to leave the deceased behind. Hopefully someone can pick them up at a later time and return them to their families."
"I'm certainly not going back there," said Alan.
"Agreed," said Sophie. She shivered. "God, how could anyone ever use such horrible things I'll never know."
"I've alerted the hospital," said John. "They'll be waiting for you. I've also alerted the GDF and they'll be along to speak to this man once he's fit to talk."
"What for, John?" asked Alan.
"That island is a restricted area, Alan," said John. "Unauthorised landings are prohibited. I need to find out if these people were meant to be there or were trespassing. But that's for them to find out, not us. Thunderbird 5, out."
"He's conscious," Hayley said, suddenly noticing the man's eyes open.
Sophie and Virgil leaned over the chamber for a closer look. The middle-aged man was looking tired and a bit confused by his surroundings.
Virgil opened a two-way link so they could communicate. "Hey, buddy. We're International Rescue. Are you aware of what's happened?"
The man nodded slowly. He tried to sit up but the cover prevented him.
"No, no, lie still please, mate," said Sophie. She opened a small hole over the man's face and inserted a small tube where she could give him some water to try and rehydrate him. The man sipped the water and let out a soft, grateful sigh.
"Nelson," the man said in a slightly hushed voice. "Walker."
"Nelson Walker?" asked Virgil. "Is that your name?"
The man nodded. "Where are the others?"
Virgil had been dreading that question. "I'm afraid the others didn't make it, Mr Walker," he said. "I'm very sorry. You're the only survivor."
The man went white with shock. "No…" he said hoarsely. "Frank…Simon…Jessica…"
Silence fell inside the cockpit as Virgil and the two girls looked at each other. Even Alan glanced back over his shoulder.
"Jessica?" said Alan. "I didn't see a female amongst the wreckage?"
"Neither did I," said Sophie.
"Nor me," agreed Hayley.
"And me neither," finished Virgil. "Sir, how many people were aboard your Helijet?"
Nelson didn't answer vocally. Instead he lifted his left hand and held up his thumb and three fingers.
"Four…" said Sophie as the horrifying realisation sank into them all. "We missed one!"
"Which means she must still be on the island…" said Virgil. "Alan, how far are we from the hospital?"
"About ten minutes," replied Alan.
"Make it five," ordered Virgil. "In the meantime I'm going to hope Brains we have extra orange suits."
"Wait, does that mean?"
"Yes, Hayley," said Virgil grimly as he exited the rear of the cockpit. "It means we're going back."
Alan, Sophie and Hayley felt very uncomfortable at this revelation but they knew Virgil was right. The thought of leaving a potential survivor in a highly dangerous environment wasn't worth even considering. They had to go back and find Jessica - whatever it took.
Grandma brought Jeff some coffee. She could tell her son was looking troubled as he paced by the windows. "I hear Dr Telford's getting more than she bargained for on her trip out with the boys and Hayley?" she said.
"Of all the times this could have happened, Mother," replied Jeff. "I'm not comfortable with the boys in a situation like that at the best of times, even when it's their job - but Sophie and Hayley, they shouldn't be in this. They're not official members."
"As you said, it's the job," said Grandma. "And it sounds like Sophie's medical training has come in handy for that lone survivor they found."
"That it has, although the boys are just as capable," said Jeff. "All the same though, I hope they can find this poor girl quickly. Without the right protection, the human body can become very fragile in the face of a radioactive environment."
"Speaking of which, are Hayley and Sophie protected?" asked Grandma.
"In the spare suits they have some protection, yes," said Jeff. "But Alan and Virgil have their orange anti-radiation suits so they'll be able to be protected for twice as long. I'm confident in them being safe. Just as long as they can keep the ladies safe as well."
"They will," said Grandma. "They know what they're doing."
Jeff gave a smile as Grandma left him with the coffee.
Victory Day Island came back into view as Thunderbird 2 approached. Virgil and Alan had now changed into their anti-radiation suits and were ready to go out once they'd found somewhere to land.
"Thunderbird 5, we're approaching the island again," Virgil reported. "I don't suppose you can find us a life-sign where we could narrow the search?"
"That's a big negative, Thunderbird 2," answered John. "I'm having difficulty mapping the island out. I think the radiation must be interfering with the surroundings."
"Okay, thanks for trying," said Virgil. "Have you spoken to Mr Walker?"
"Not yet, I've had to help Kayo in tracing the cargo plane with the stolen cattle," said John. "Talking to Mr Walker is next on my list."
"F-A-B," said Virgil. "I think I see a clearing big enough where we can put Thunderbird 2 down. Will try and keep in touch as much as possible."
"Good luck," said John. "Let me know the moment you find our missing woman. Over and out."
Virgil brought Thunderbird 2 down over the trees and skilfully used the VTOL engines to land the ship in the clearing that he'd discovered, whilst first checking to make sure nobody was lying injured on the grass beforehand. It was a tight fit but there was just enough room to spare. Once on the ground, he powered down the goliath and they got ready to disembark.
"Are you two up for this?" Virgil asked Sophie and Hayley. "You know you're less protected in those suits than Alan and I are in these?"
"A woman's life is at stake, Virgil," said Sophie. "We'll do whatever is necessary to find her."
Virgil and Alan exchanged impressed looks. Sophie was very on the ball with search and rescue as it was.
Hayley too seemed determined to go out into the open. "I couldn't save that pilot," she said. "Maybe I can make up for that by helping Jessica."
Virgil squeezed his girlfriend's shoulder. "That's my love," he said fondly. "Better sync our watches. Four hours for Alan and I, two for you two. 12:37 in three, two, one."
"Check," said Alan.
"Check," said Sophie.
"Check," said Hayley.
"Let's go," said Virgil.
The elevator platform lowered them down from the cockpit and now they found themselves out in the open area of Victory Day Island - only this time they found themselves heading out in a sense of trepidation for they were fully aware of the invisible danger lurking all around them.
Nelson Walker was now in hospital being treated. However he was more than willing to speak to John who called through a hologram projector.
"Mr Walker. Glad to see you're looking better," said John.
"I've felt better," replied Nelson.
"Yes, well it may take a few days for you to recover completely," said John. "Would you mind if I asked a couple of questions?"
"Sure," said Nelson. "What do you want to know?"
"Okay. Firstly, are you aware of what island you ended up on?"
Nelson shook his head. "We were heading for Papua New Guinea to make some nature documentaries. We got caught in the tail end of that storm and it must have fried our navigation. We flew for hours and then as we reached an island, we got ready to land to refuel. We brought some extra fuel cans with us, but we ran out just before we were going to land. Pilot tried to keep us in the air but it was no good. We crash-landed. However, I couldn't tell you the name of the island we landed on."
"You were lucky, Mr Walker," said John. "That was Victory Day Island you landed on. Thunderbird 2 was already nearby and witnessed your Helijet come down. You could have been exposed to radiation if you'd stayed there too long."
Although John didn't react when he saw it, he noticed Nelson twitch slightly from the moment he'd mentioned the island's name, which made him a little suspicious although he didn't bring it up himself.
"Radiation?" said Nelson, looking less alarmed than perhaps he should have done. "Oh, lord…that means Jess is missing on that island?"
"My brothers and their partners have gone back to the island to look for her, Mr Walker," John said. "If she's still alive, they'll find her."
Nelson didn't answer, and John could see he wasn't likely to get much more out of him.
"Thank you for your time, Mr Walker," said John. "I wish you a speedy recovery." And with that he signed off, leaving Nelson looking somewhat uncomfortable.
The Transporter loaded with the stolen cattle hadn't been heading for Trangan as Kayo had originally thought and was instead heading North-West in the direction of Singapore. Up until now Kayo had kept her distance and had got Thunderbird Shadow flying in stealth-mode so that the pilots of the Transporter would remain oblivious to her presence. What she was doing now was trying to decide what the best course of action would be.
"What's the plan, Thunderbird Shadow?" asked John.
"I've weighed up my options and have come to two possibilities," Kayo replied. "One - I land on top of the Transporter, break in and take out the criminals before forcing the crew to turn back to Australia. Two - I use my control-hacking discs to take over the controls of the plane and remotely fly it back. Either way we can then have the Police and GDF waiting for them as soon as they touch down."
"Hmmm. Both difficult and dangerous options," said John. "By entering the aircraft you'd be putting yourself in danger if they have overwhelming numbers. But then again we don't know if the crew are in league with the rustlers. By remotely high-jacking the aircraft we could be putting the crew in danger if the aircraft itself has been hi-jacked prior to this."
"Can you scan the aircraft and see how many are aboard?" suggested Kayo.
"Good idea," said John. "Performing scans now." The scanning took a matter of seconds. "Interesting. I count seven people aboard the aircraft," he said. "Three in the cockpit at their stations and four in the passenger area. The cattle are being housed in the rear of the plane. There's nobody with them."
"Maybe the rustlers are entrusting the pilots to not radio for help," said Kayo. Then she had another idea. "Hang on, I am going to try something." She cautiously brought Thunderbird Shadow forwards and began to fly along the starboard side of the Transporter. She was being cautious even though the craft was flying in stealth-mode. Once level with the cockpit she looked over and used the heads-up display inside her helmet to get a closer look at those in the cockpit. She could see two men and one woman inside the cockpit - all in smart clothes but none looked to be like they belonged to a company. It was like a private outfit, she thought. "They're not looking distressed, John," she said. "I'd say they're in on the plot."
"Or they just don't know about it yet," replied John. "But they'll be reaching land soon. You'll have to make a decision also as the plane may not have enough fuel to get back to Australia. We don't want that to crash into the ocean."
Kayo nodded in agreement. "I'm going with Option B," she decided and slowed Thunderbird Shadow down so that the Transporter could get in front again before slipping in directly behind its large tail section. She selected the remote-hacking discs and after locating a suitable spot to lock on, she fired the disc out onto the top of the fuselage. Due to the Transporter's thick construction, nobody inside heard the dull clunk as it magnetically attached itself to it. "Hacking disc in place," said Kayo. "Commencing hi-jacking."
The first that the crew of the Transporter knew of anything wrong was when alarms began sounding on the control consoles in the cockpit.
"What the hell is that?" asked the female Co-Pilot.
The Pilot tried adjusting his joystick. "What the?! The controls have locked up! What's going on?"
The Flight-Engineer tried to get the on-board computer to tell them what was going on. "Someone's trying to hack into our controls!" he exclaimed.
"Well block them out!" shouted the Co-Pilot. "We can't let them take control!"
Just then the Transporter began to bank a little to the right and turn in a wide loop to starboard.
"She's turning!" cried the Pilot. "I can't correct it!"
The head of the rustlers suddenly burst into the cockpit. "What's going on?" he demanded. "Why are we turning?"
"Someone's hacked into the controls!" said the Pilot. "They're trying to turn us back."
"Well don't just sit there!" said the head Rustler. "DO SOMETHING!"
"WHAT DO YOU THINK WE'RE TRYING TO DO?!" bellowed the Flight-Engineer.
"Hello there," Kayo's voice suddenly rang out over the radio and the passenger bay tannoy. "Welcome to Shadow Flight 107. What's the matter, people? Being hi-jacked? Well, now you know how the Olympus crew felt when you took over their ship and stole their cargo. I'm here to return it to its rightful owners. Now I invite you all to have a nap and I'll see you when the authorities take you into custody. Nighty-night."
As Kayo had been speaking, she'd activated the plane's actual hi-jacking countermeasure which was a release of sleeping gas throughout the cockpit and passenger. As none of them were wearing oxygen masks they soon found themselves being overcome and one by one they began to pass out.
"Was that really necessary?" John asked Kayo, having overheard everything.
"No. But I enjoyed it," Kayo replied with a satisfied smile. "Now to get these cows back to where they belong. Although a stop via the island where they left from is in order first."
"What for?" asked John.
"Oh, they left a calf behind," said Kayo. "I feel it's only right to reunite it with its mother."
"I see," said John. "Well take it steady, Kayo. try not to give those cows too much of a rough ride."
"Don't worry, John. I'll see that they're comfortable," said Kayo as she continued to fly the Transporter back in the direction they'd come from.
"JESSICA?!" Virgil called out. His voice echoed off the trees.
"JESSICA?!" shouted Hayley.
The crew of Thunderbird 2 had split into two groups knowing they had a better chance of finding Jessica if they covered different areas instead of being in one group. Hayley and Virgil had gone up the Eastern side whilst Alan and Sophie had headed west. Alan and Virgil were using the radiation gauges on their wrists to monitor how much radiation was around them. Strangely it continued to stay mostly in the green and lower yellow on the outer parts of the island but as they got further inland it began to just into higher yellow.
"Levels are up a little," Virgil remarked. "But it's still relatively safe for now."
"How come the radiation has stayed with the island and not blown out to the other islands?" Hayley asked.
"Could have been attempts to clean up the area after the testing," Virgil said. "A blast like that would have sent a radioactive cloud out to the other islands for sure. Maybe even further. Hard to know for sure."
They had been walking out in another clearing, calling Jessica's name at intervals but each time they'd gotten no response. They were really starting to get concerned for her more than themselves.
Alan and Sophie weren't having much luck either. They too would call out Jessica's name but got no response. Alan was also feeling bad for Sophie. "I'm sorry. This isn't what I'd had planned for your first visit to our home, let alone my birthday," he said.
"It's okay, love," Sophie replied. "If anything I'm glad this has happened. I've always wanted to fly in a Thunderbird."
"Yeah. Kind of wish it had been mine though," said Alan.
"Oh, Alan. The chance will come," said Sophie as she put her arm around him. "Maybe if you ask your dad nicely he might let us go for an orbit around the Earth after dinner tonight?"
Alan perked up at the thought. "Yeah. I'm sure he wouldn't refuse that idea," he said. "Whoops!" he then exclaimed as his right foot caught onto something and he tripped, falling flat on his face.
Sophie couldn't help herself but giggle as she helped the rather startled and embarrassed Alan back up to his feet. "Are you okay?" she asked, brushing him down.
"Er, yeah, sorry," said Alan, whose face had gone as red as Thunderbird 3. "Didn't see the tree branch."
Sophie's eyes then fell upon what Alan had tripped over and she stopped grinning. "Er, Alan? That's not a tree branch."
Alan looked down and he too blinked in surprise. Lying on the ground in the long grass was a piece of broken, twisted and ripped up metal. It looked as though it had been there for quite a long time. "Oh…" said Alan. "I wonder what that's from?"
Momentarily forgetting that they were looking for a missing woman, they began to look around the clearing they were in trying to see if there were any more pieces of metal lying around. Then as they reached the trees at the edge, Sophie saw something that made her gasp. "Oh, my God! Alan, look at this!"
Alan hurried over and then stopped dead in disbelief as he saw what Sophie had discovered. "Woah!" he said as he gazed at the burnt-out and heavily collapsed wreckage of an old aircraft lying forgotten about in the trees. It was very hard to identify what kind of aircraft it was, but they could tell that it was ancient because a look through the wreckage revealed an old-fashioned propeller under one of the skeletal remains of a wing. "This is a plane from the last century!" Alan said.
"Looks like it's been here for over a century too," said Sophie. "Say, you don't suppose this has anything to do with the nuclear tests, do you?"
"I have no idea," Alan replied. "But we could always get Dad, John or Brains to see if they can find anything out about it."
Jeff and Brains listened with interest as Alan told them what he and Sophie had discovered. "An old aircraft, you say?" said Jeff. "Could it be something to do with the tests?"
"That's what we thought," said Alan. "Maybe it's the one that dropped the bomb?"
"Very p-plausible, Alan," agreed Brains. "Maybe it d-dropped the bomb and then got caught in the blast?"
Gordon shivered at the thought. "What a way to go if so," he said.
"Either that or it c-crashed sometime afterwards once the blast had subsided," said Brains. "I h-highly doubt that anyone would have dropped the bomb on the island had it crashed prior to the test."
Jeff turned back to Alan. "We'll do some investigating, Alan," he said. "In the meantime you need to get back into finding this missing woman. Virgil and Hayley haven't found her yet either."
"F-A-B," said Alan and he signed off.
Virgil and Hayley had checked the Eastern-side of the island and had now found themselves in the vast open area in the middle where the bomb crater was. They couldn't help but stop for a moment to gaze at the sheer size of it.
"Looks just like an ordinary lake, doesn't it?" Hayley remarked.
"Hard to believe it was caused by something so terrible," added Virgil. They then looked around to see if there was any sign of Jessica, but still there was nothing.
Virgil activated his radio. "Virgil to Alan. What's your location?"
"Heading inland from the North-West, Virgil," replied Alan. "No sign of Jessica, I'm afraid."
"Well we've pretty checked the outer perimeter of the island and there's no sign of her," said Virgil. "That leaves only three possibilities left. One - she jumped out of Helijet before it reached the island and landed in the sea."
"Of which case she'll be lost for good I reckon," said Alan feeling unsettled at the thought.
"Two - she jumped out again but over the island and is in a tree somewhere," said Virgil.
"Meaning she could be out of sight with us unable to locate her," said Sophie.
"Or three," Virgil said.
"She could be round by the crater," Hayley finished his sentence for him. "Or worse…down in it."
"We're on our way to the crater now," said Alan. "We'll check the West side."
"And we'll check the East," said Virgil. "We'll meet you at the Southern tip."
"F-A-B," said Alan. "By the way, Virg, have you noted the time?"
Virgil checked his wrist-controller. "Yes. We only have twenty minutes before Hayley and Sophie will need to be back inside Thunderbird 2."
"But she's a long way from where we are now," said Hayley. "How could-"
"I'll fly her here remotely so you two can be winched back aboard," said Virgil.
Hayley nodded. "Ah, of course," she said.
They said no more as they began to head round the Eastern side of the crater to continue the search.
Alan and Sophie also broke through the trees and found themselves by the crater. Like Virgil and Hayley they too were taken aback by the size of it.
"Woah…that's big," remarked Alan.
"I hope to God poor Jess isn't down there," said Sophie.
Alan checked the radiation gauge and his heart skipped a beat. The level was flashing in the high orange now which was only one off the red. "This is the strongest it's been so far," he said. "That means down there is where it's strongest."
"In other words, no going down there," said Sophie. "Got it."
They then fell silent as they too began to make their way around to search for Jessica.
Gordon had taken up the task of trying to research whatever he could about Victory Day Island. It turned out there was very little about it, even after a century since the test bomb had been dropped. He did however find an article that made him very intrigued indeed. "Say, Dad. Come take a look at this," he said, beckoning Jeff to come over to him.
"What have you got, son?" asked Jeff. He looked at the hologram computer image on his desk. It showed a photo of an old B-25 Mitchell bomber that was flown by mainly the United States Air Force but had also been used by other Allied forces during the Second World War.
"This article talks about the plane and crew that went missing on the same day as the test happened," said Gordon. "However there's a lot of mystery around it. The official version is that it went down in the sea with the loss of all hands."
"And I'm guessing there's an unofficial version which the conspiracy theorist in you is leaning towards?" asked Jeff.
Gordon tried his best not to nod in agreement. "The conspiracy theorists say it went down on the island itself," said Gordon. "Given what Alan described the aircraft as being like, it seems like there's been a cover up."
Jeff thought about it. "It's quite a story, Gordon," he said. "You can tell Alan about it when they get home later. I'm sure he'll be most interested."
"And I'm guessing it's of no use to their mission right now?" asked Gordon.
"Not at all," said Jeff as he began to walk away. But then he stopped as a thought suddenly struck him. He turned back to look at the article again. "On second thoughts," he said. He then pressed a button on the desk. "Thunderbird 5 from base."
With a beep, John's hologram reappeared. "Go ahead, Dad?"
"John, I'm forwarding to you something that Gordon's found out about Victory Day Island," said Jeff. "Then I want you to make a call to the man they found in the Helijet again. Only this time I want to question him myself."
"Er, of course, Dad," said John. "Just received Gordon's find." He paused momentarily as he read the article. "Hmmm. Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Dad?"
"If we are, son, then the man's got some explaining to do," said Jeff sternly.
"I'll get in touch with the hospital at once," said John. "Will bring you in when it's done." He then signed off.
Gordon looked at Jeff. "You think there's a connection?" he asked.
Jeff nodded. "When it comes to things like government cover-ups, you'd be amazed at the things some people would do to be the ones to reveal the truth," he said.
Due to wearing helmets, it wasn't that ideal for Virgil, Alan, Hayley and Sophie to simply shout out Jessica's name. Luckily Brains had built in voice-amplifiers so they could still call normally but their voices could be made to be louder than they actually were.
"JESSICA?!" Virgil yelled for what seemed like the umpteenth time. "JESSICA, CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"
"JESSICA?! ARE YOU NEAR?!" shouted Hayley. She then sighed. "Oh, Virgil. This is hopeless. We can't find her anywhere."
"We cannot give up, Hayley," Virgil reminded her. "We have to-" He broke off as something had just caught his eye. "Hang on a second! Look! Behind those trees!"
Hayley looked and her eyes widened a little. "Smoke?"
They looked at each other for a second then Virgil began to run towards the smoke with Hayley right behind him. They hurried around a small clump of trees where they discovered what looked like some kind of old campfire.
"This has recently been relit," said Virgil. "Or at least someone's tried to relight it."
"She has to be close then," said Hayley as she looked around.
"JESSICA?!" Virgil shouted once more.
"JESSICA?!" yelled Hayley. "WHERE ARE YOU?!"
"HELP! HELP, I'M OVER HERE!"
Virgil and Hayley froze and exchanged a glance before running in the direction of the cry. Behind some rocks close to the campfire they saw a body lying on its back on the ground. It was a young woman with bright orange hair and a torn dress. She was sobbing.
"Jessica?" Virgil asked as they reached her. Both immediately began to check her over.
"Oh, thank God," sobbed the woman after nodding.
"Found you at last," said Virgil. He activated his radio. "Alan, Sophie - we've found her!"
"Great, I think I can see you too," Alan replied. "We'll be right with you."
"F-A-B," said Virgil before contacting Tracy Island. "Thunderbird 2 to base. We've located Jessica."
"Excellent, Virgil," said Jeff. "Well done. How is she looking?"
"Pretty bad," said Virgil. "But we need to examine her first before deciding how to move her safely."
"Don't rush the examination, son," said Jeff. "But try and limit your time there. She's been exposed to radiation a lot worse than you have been."
"I'm going to remote call Thunderbird 2 to our location," said Virgil as he activated his wrist-controller. "Then we can lower down a stretcher to lift her up with."
"F-A-B," said Jeff. "Sorry, I have to go. Am about to have a stern talk with the man you recovered from the Helijet. Over and out."
Virgil and Hayley exchanged puzzled looks.
"What did he mean by that I wonder?" asked Hayley.
"Guess we'll find out later," said Virgil.
Just then Alan and Sophie arrived and joined them.
"How is she looking?" asked Sophie.
"Ankle looks twisted," said Hayley. "Possibly broken?"
Sophie examined it. "Jessica? My name's Sophie. Can you tell us where it hurts?"
"My ankle…" whimpered Jessica.
"Okay, I'm just going to have a feel of it," said Sophie. "Let me know if it's too much, okay?"
Jessica nodded and Sophie began her examination. Jessica cried out a couple of times prompting Sophie to ease up what she was doing.
"Yes, her right ankle is fractured," Sophie said. "We need to get her to hospital as soon as possible."
"And through the decontamination chamber," added Alan. he turned to Jessica. "How long have you been here?"
"I don't know," Jessica replied. "Our Helijet was falling out of the sky. Mr Walker told me to jump. He gave me a parachute pack. I didn't know how to open it though and landed in the trees."
"That'd explain all the cuts and scratches on your arms, legs and face," said Virgil. "Just lie still. We'll get you aboard Thunderbird 2 and you can spend the journey in the decontamination chamber whilst we take you to hospital."
"I don't understand," said Jess. "What decontamination chamber? I haven't been in anything other than where I am."
"You do know this area is radioactive, right?" asked Hayley.
Jessica looked horrified. "What…I thought the area was clear? Mr Walker said so?"
"Either he's lied to you or he didn't know either," said Alan.
Hayley and Virgil looked at each other.
"Maybe that's what Dad wants to talk to Mr Walker about," said Virgil.
Hayley nodded in agreement.
A rumble announced the arrival of Thunderbird 2 whose giant nose began to emerge from above the trees as Virgil controlled the craft remotely. "Everyone step back now," he warned. "I'm going to lower down a stretcher from the module."
Alan, Sophie and Hayley all stood up and began to walk away from Jessica to give Virgil room to lower the stretcher as well as get out of the downdraft from Thunderbird 2's VTOL engines. This should have made them all safe in the best way possible, except Sophie was too busy gazing up at the mighty green leviathan to realise the danger that was right behind her.
"SOPHIE, LOOK OUT!" screamed Hayley.
Alan and Virgil darted their heads around just in time to see Sophie's left miss the edge of the crater. She let out a shriek of terror as her leg dropped over the edge and the rest of her followed suit with Hayley diving forwards to help her. Hayley grabbed a hold of Sophie's left arm and clung on as tightly as she could.
"SOPHIE, HANG ON!" Hayley shouted down to the terrified doctor. But then realised to her horror that she didn't have anything to hold on to herself and was off-balance meaning Sophie was pulling her over as well. "HELP!" she cried back up to Alan and Virgil.
"HANG ON!" shouted Virgil, dropping Thunderbird 2's remote and rushing forwards.
"WE'RE COMING!" yelled Alan.
But they were too late to prevent what happened next. As the brothers dived to grab hold of Hayley's legs, Sophie's momentum dragged Hayley over the edge causing her to also slip out of Hayley's grip.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"