Out of Place
AN – Hi all! So glad you're still enjoying this. I hope you like this as well, I'm not as familiar with TAG as I am with TOS but hopefully it still feels authentic. Enjoy
Disclaimer – I don't own Thunderbirds
Chapter Four – On the Other Side
Scott wasn't particularly comfortable. The mattress seemed really hard tonight and no matter how he shifted he couldn't seem to relax his back. That was probably caused in part by the rescue he'd been on earlier, he'd had to leap for Thunderbird 2's grapples as the coach he was on finally tipped off the side of a cliff somewhere in the Italian Alps. His back had wrenched awkwardly when making the movement, just a gentle reminder that he was nearing thirty and not as young as he once was.
He decided not to worry about it too much and roll over to hug his wife instead. He had got in fairly late the night before after the rescue and hadn't wanted to disturb her in her sleep. Not that he actually had any hope of sneaking past Angel, but she let him pretend once in a while. Smiling at the thought, he rolled over to his left. Instead of finding his wife's warm body, he hit something hard. He flinched back away from it, rolled to the right and promptly fell onto the floor with a thud.
Scott opened his eyes and immediately wished he hadn't. In front of him, and much much further away than he was comfortable with, was the Earth.
Scott just stared out at the stars and planet rotating underneath him. From his prone position, lying face first down on the transparent floor, it felt like he was floating adrift in space. But that was impossible, this was impossible. He squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again, but the view didn't change. The stars continued to float past and Scott couldn't deny that he was in space – even if he had no idea how he had got there.
After a few stunned moments, Scott scrambled to his feet. He was only wearing a pair of boxers, meaning that he felt completely unprepared for being in space with no space suit, no layers, nothing. Behind him the bunk snapped upright, stowing itself against the wall seamlessly. Looking at how it blended into the rest of the panels gave him an idea and he began to prod the wall. He managed to unearth a small sink, a trash can and bizarrely something that he thought was a trouser press before he hit the jackpot when a rack of spacesuits popped out. Eyeing up the skin tight blue outfit Scott was sceptical that it would fit but had no option other than to try. It wasn't quite as bad as he feared, a little long in the legs and too tight across the torso but he managed to leave the zip open so that he could still breathe.
Scott held up the orange sash sceptically, unable to work out how to put it on. In the end he decided against it and was about to put it down when the logo struck him. He held it closer and traced over the IR with a fingertip.
"Oh, this isn't good…" he muttered to himself. For the first time Scott noticed there were words on the floor, illuminated by the lights above him. He sprinted to the beginning, jogging around as he read the mirrored letters. He didn't noticed the small camera that had begun to follow him.
With a sinking dread, Scott sank to the floor. He sat there for a long time, processing, before finally stating ruefully, "International Rescue. We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto."
The one thing Scott did not expect was for a voice to reply; a young, girlish voice.
"No you aren't in Kansas. But what are you doing here? You should not be here, you are not John."
"What - ?" Scott leapt to his feet, looking around. "Who's there?"
A camera hovered in front of his face, lights around the rim lighting up in time to the words. "I am Eos. You did not answer my question. Where is John?"
Scott looked around again but had to assume that the voice was coming from the camera. "No, I'm not from around here. I don't know where John is. I assume you mean John Tracy? This is Thunderbird 5?"
"Affirmative. How did you get here? I did not sense you come on board, or John leave."
"I…don't know. I went to bed at home and woke up here. I expect the same thing happened to John in reverse. What year is it?"
"It is the year two thousand and sixty five. Who are you?"
"I'm…Scott. Scott Tracy."
"You are lying, you are not Scott Tracy." The lights began to flash red.
"I'm not lying," Scott insisted. "But I didn't… where I come from, Thunderbird 5 looks very different. And it's twenty sixty eight. Something has happened. Something that shouldn't be possible."
The red lights disappeared although no others took their place. "You are from a different time."
"A completely different place," Scott confirmed. "Either I am still dreaming – which is a possibility although this is like no dream I've ever had – or somehow I've ended up here. And I have no idea how to get home."
"If you go home, then John will return."
"I guess?"
The camera withdrew again, which Scott interpreted was actually the machine thinking. Was it a machine? It sounded almost alive. Maybe it was a person remotely controlling the camera somehow. Should he ask? It felt like it would be rude to ask.
He was taken by surprise when a mechanical arm came out of the casing next to him and pricked his finger with a sharp blade.
"Ouch!"
The arm retreated as quickly as it arrived, leaving him sucking his finger in bewilderment. "What was that?"
"I am verifying your story." The voice, Eos, told him. "Your DNA confirms that you are indeed Scott Tracy, although you are not identical to the other one."
"You just managed to run a DNA test?" Scott was impressed despite himself. "In five seconds flat? That's pretty impressive."
The lights on the camera lit up green. "I am an advanced artificial intelligence." She said by way of explanation.
"Well, now we've cleared up that I am Scott… what next? I can't just stay in space, I don't have any space suits or anything and I can barely squeeze into this one. Plus, I might need Brains's help to get home. Do you guys have a Brains?"
"There is an engineer called Brains. We can call down to the Earth and inform them of your predicament."
"Oh really? Thanks, that would be great."
"It would be best done from within the communication hub. I shall direct you." There was a short pause. "I think I like this version of you. You are very polite."
Scott shrugged as he began to follow the camera that was moving on tracks through the ceiling. "You have been nothing but helpful, why wouldn't I be polite?" He stopped and gaped as Eos disappeared through a hole into the ceiling. "How do I get in there?"
"John usually just jumps."
Scott shook his head, still unable to process quite what had been happening in the last half hour. "Jumps. Of course he does. Well, here goes nothing."
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Tintin slowly blinked her eyes open, frowning at the unfamiliar ceiling. She sat up quickly, staring around with wide eyes as she realised she wasn't in Brains's room anymore. Except…something about the way that items were scattered around was endearingly familiar. She didn't have long to think about it before someone buzzed into the room excitedly. Well…possibly someone. Maybe something would be more appropriate.
She yelped and climbed further up onto the bed as she looked at the four wheeled robot thing that was now stand stock still, camera facing her. It was whirring and beeping in a distraught manner. She could only assume it was looking for someone, someone who wasn't her. Presumably its creator.
"H-hi," she stuttered. "I'm Tintin. I… don't know where I am, or who you're looking for. Or even what they look like."
The robot's head back up and considered before it wheeled around. Zipping across the room, one of its arms grabbed something from a cupboard and brought it over, holding it out for Tintin to take. She did so gingerly, looking at the digital image of someone standing with their arms around the same robot that was in front of her. Someone that looked so similar and yet so different.
"Brains?" She breathed, staring at the image. The robot happily cheeped and span. "Your creator is Brains?" More happy cheeps. Tintin passed the photo frame back and sat down heavily on the bed. "It's impossible, but somehow…" Tintin looked around at the unfamiliar room. "Am I on Tracy Island?" The robot beeped and spun again.
"I come from a Tracy Island too," Tintin confessed. "But not this one." She reached up and unclasped her necklace, opening the small golden locket and showing the robot the picture inside. The robot camera zoomed in to see the two people, pausing for a moment before letting out a stream of high pitched whistles and beeps. "I have a Brains too," Tintin said sadly, looking at the photograph herself. "We took this photo just after we got engaged. It was so romantic! He took me to the old CERN museum, then we went into Geneva and he proposed in front of the fountain." She clicked the locket shut and put it back around her neck, hastily wiping away a tear. The robot rushed forwards and put its arms around her, resting its head – well, she supposed it was a head – against her in a hug.
"Thank you," Tintin smiled at the robot despite her tears. "I'm sorry, it must seem silly but I'm still a bit shocked. This shouldn't be possible." She sighed again. "Do you have a name?" The robot turned to the side so that she could see the letters on its head. "Max. That's a nice name. I think I probably need to go and find someone who can talk back though." Tintin looked down at her jade green silk nightie. "Um… where can I find some clothes?"
Max spun around and grabbed something form the wall, draping it gently across her lap. Tintin looked down and saw a flannel dressing gown, very similar to the one her Brains usually wore. "Thank you Max," she replied, dropping a kiss onto the top of his head. She then left the room, leaving Max spinning and cheeping excitedly behind her.
Tintin walked through the corridor, hoping to find someone who could help her work out what was going on. Seeing an older lady wearing a purple jumpsuit walking ahead of her, Tintin jogged to catch up.
"Excuse me…"
"Yes? Wait, who are you? Which one of the boys brought you home last night?" The lady's eyes narrowed shrewdly. "I thought they all went off to bed early yesterday, so someone must have snuck out to bring you back."
"Oh no, I –"
"It was Scott, wasn't it? That boy can be incorrigible, goodness knows how many times I've told him. Doesn't normally bring them home though. Say, what's your name again?"
"I'm Tintin, but-"
"Well Tintin, I'm awfully sorry but the boys have been called to some kind of emergency in the den. You'll have to wait to be dropped home. In the meantime, you can come and watch International Rescue at work, if you like."
"International rescue?" Tintin asked faintly, her earlier suspicions confirmed now.
"Well of course dear, didn't you recognise him? Never mind, it's just this way." The lady led the way down the corridor with confident strides, Tintin trotting alongside her to keep up.
"Um, what's your name?"
"Oh I'm the boys' grandma," said with a smile. "You can call me Sally dear. Ah, here we are."
Tintin paused on the edge of a landing overlooking a large room. Out of the window there was a balcony that overlooked the ocean, just like in the Tracy Island she knew. But there was no balcony rail and it was a jagged shape. In front of her was a room with a large desk, a figure sat behind it that looked very familiar and yet not. Three men and a woman sat on sofas around a coffee table in a sunken area. What really grabbed her attention though was the hologram floating in front of a range of five portraits.
"Oh," she gasped, trying to get her head around what she was seeing.
"Isn't it something," Sally agreed. "Come on then, you'll have to face them sometime."
Sally cleared her throat loudly and led Tintin down the stairs. "Aren't one of you young men forgetting something?" She gestured towards Tintin, but none of the men looked up at all.
"What do you mean, John's missing?" One of them said – it had to be Scott. No one else had dimples like that. Sally gasped and hurried down the rest of the stairs, Tintin following more slowly.
The hologram, some form of camera, swivelled to face the Scott person. "I mean, that overnight John disappeared. And there was someone else in his place."
Again Tintin gasped, this time drawing the attention of a blond who looked quizzically at her before turning his attention back to the hologram.
"Who?" Scott had stood up now, his voice raised. "Who is it, and what did they do with John?"
"It is you, Scott Tracy." The camera stated. "I even tested it with a DNA sample."
"Wha?" The blond queried inarticulately, leaning forwards with his arms on his thighs.
"I think we need more information, Eos." Jeff Tracy stood up from behind his desk, although Tintin frowned at how heavily he was leaning on it. The dark haired brother noticed too and immediately went over to support. Probably Virgil, then. It was something Tintin could imagine the gentle man doing.
"How is that possible?" Scott demanded. "He must have done something."
There was a slight pause. "He wishes to speak to you." Eos replied primly. The hologram of the camera disappeared and in its place was a bobbing blue image that Tintin knew very well. He was in a space suit of some description but otherwise looked unharmed. The impact on the other occupants of the room was instantaneous, cries of shock rang out around her as the very familiar face appeared.
"I understand this must come as a shock, but I just woke up here an hour or so ago." The hologram Scott was telling them. "I need to talk to Brains, he'll be able to work out how to send me home."
Tintin cleared her throat. "There may be a problem with that." Everyone in the room turned to her now, confusion written on all of their faces at the stranger in their midst. The hologram, in contrast, suddenly became very animated.
"Tintin! What are you doing here? Did you come to bring me back?" "Who are you?" "What are you doing here?"
Tintin felt overwhelmed, but help came from an unexpected source.
"Be quiet, all of you!" Sally was standing, hands on her hips. "No one can think when you're making that kind of din. One at a time. Just because one of you forgot that you brought home a friend last night doesn't mean you can shout at her."
"I didn't come home with one of them," Tintin was quick to interject. "That's what I was trying to tell you earlier. I just woke up here." She looked straight at the hologram Scott. "In Brains's room."
The hologram dropped his head into his hands. "Bollocks."
"But who are you?" This came from the woman. Tintin stared at her, finally noticing her features. She had different hair and the facial structure was different but those eyes…
"I'm Tintin. Tintin Kyrano." She saw the woman's eyes widen.
"Impossible!"
"Kayo?" This was the Scott talking. "Are you ok? Is she a threat?"
"I don't… Scott, she's me." The both Scott's eyes widened and Tintin just nodded dazedly. She'd known it was true from the moment that she truly looked at the other woman.
A commotion caused them all to look up to the stairs, where a familiar face was beginning to descend, yawning widely. "You'll never believe it but I woke up on the floor! Must have been that strange curry thing your father cooked us last night Tintin….whoa."
Tintin didn't know who looked more shocked – Alan or the three other brothers in the room. In the face of their shocked faces and how frightened she was, she did the only thing she could. She began laughing hysterically.
