39

Wow chapter 39! how did this happen?! Thank you all for following still and the amazing feedback on the last chapter, we are now heading back to the island!

Gordon dropped his bags in the lounge and whistled in appreciation "Wow; would you look at this place!" Gordon gazed around the lounge at the cutting-edge design and furniture. "I feel a bit underdressed actually." He was in a plain long-sleeved polo shirt and walking trousers. His father walked in having just finished taxing back into the hanger after picking Gordon up from Sydney airport. "I'm glad it meets your approval son. Here I'll show you your room."

"What you mean? I don't get to pick?" He grinned playfully. Jeff just scowled back at him; he knew full well Gordon had already chosen when he saw the specs for the house. He had been granted three weeks leave which was a great opportunity to test this new sub his father had commissioned. Gordon would be testing it while Virgil tested the air carrier. "Where's Virgil?" Gordon asked as they walked down the spacious corridor. "Doing his pre-flight checks, he figured you'd want to test the sub as soon as you were here." Jeff indicated Gordon should walk in first. "A double bed! Oh, how I've missed you!" Gordon swan dived straight on to it before performing a last-minute twist to lie on his back allowing the fluffy pillows and sheets to cushion him. Months on a crappy cabin bunk had been taking its toll on his back, this was simply divine in comparison. Jeff leaned on the door frame as Gordon looked across at him. "You missed me, admit it!"

"I did miss you so don't make me regret it! You've got ten minutes to freshen up and then meet me in the lounge." replied his father. Gordon saluted from his prone form on the bed causing his dad to shake his head on the way out. Gordon sighed; he supposed he could get used to this, the massive room with en-suite, the pool and he could go for a dip in the ocean any time he fancied, it was bliss really. Once his back had pleasantly realigned, he sat up and decided to go and find his dad, he really did want to see this sub.

Virgil had begun to acclimatise to the climate six months on from when he had first moved to the island. He had his reservations initially but had come to find that island life suited him. He liked the pace, the peacefulness and the privacy. He didn't miss his apartment in the city at all but he did miss the farm at times and being able to go for a drive but mostly he loved it here. Today was a big day, it was the first time he would get to fly his aircraft which he had affectionately named as two for want of a better name. They had finished the air spray paint job just a couple of days ago and she basked in all her completed glory in the hanger. He was so pleased with how it had turned out; the rest of the assembly crew had left the island yesterday. Now the main assembly was completed Brains was confident they could iron out any other issues amongst themselves. Virgil was just finishing the interior flight check when the lift docked in the cockpit.

"Permission to board the bridge captain." Gordon waited in the lift next to his dad. "Permission granted. Come here you idiot! Its great to see you!" Virgil strode across and grabbed his brother in a warm one-armed hug. He hadn't seen him since the end of September. Gordon smiled warmly before heading across to sit in the co-pilots seat. "This is really neat, you helped build this?" Virgil nodded stood leaning on the passenger chair. "Cool! Right where's mine?" he slapped his hands on his knees.

"Er; who says its yours? You're not committed yet!" Virgil reminded him.

"Not yet. Got to finish my enlistment first - then we'll see. "He winked. They all headed back to the lift and dropped down. Jeff walked them to the back of the hanger where a little yellow sub sat patiently for her aquanaut. Gordon rushed over excited. "You actually went with the yellow! She looks amazing!" Jeff smiled as he watched his son give the sub the once over finding it was designed to his initial specifications and more. Gordon found the hatch and sussed the hand reignition in seconds much to the surprise of his family. It was not something that was in the original plans. He disappeared inside and went over the inside familiarising himself with the equipment and interior. Gordon was pleased to find it was compact yet spacious. After a couple of minutes, he stepped out. "Right I'll just go and get changed then we can take these babies out and see what they can do."

"Ok meet us in Two." Jeff said to Gordon. "We will get her loaded into a pod so we can test the deployment from the air with her. Gordon nodded before bounding off. Jeff and Virgil headed back to two, they were going to co-pilot her together. She could be flown by herself but they wanted to check that all the controls worked for her maiden flight. Virgil settled himself into the main pilot's seat pulling the steering wheel towards him and flicking the switches to his left. His father took the co-pilots seat and made similar adjustments. Gordon quickly re-entered in full wetsuit gear and took a seat behind his brother, strapping in as he did so. Jeff radioed through to the control room where Brains was overseeing the communications. "Virgil to Brains requesting permission to launch, taxing now."

"P-p-permission granted Ah… Virgil."

Gordon watched with interest as his brother led the huge behemoth of a ship out of the hanger and onto the runway, she seems to glide along on her jets before coming to rest at the end. "Er? Am I missing something? I thought you needed a runway?"

Virgil turned and smiled. "You'll see." he faced forwards again. Two began to lift in the air as Gordon felt the air craft tip backwards as if it was on a steep gradient. He tentatively held on to the seat, he didn't like flying as much as the others did. He much preferred being on the ground. Suddenly there was the firing of thrusters which sent a rumble through the cockpit as two began to vibrate with the momentum. The next thing he new they were airborne. "Woah!" Gordon exclaimed. Virgil laughed and Jeff smiled. They steadily increased in height before levelling off. "Virgil to base. Launch and take off successful. No problems as of yet to report." Virgil increased to maximum speed to put the engines through their paces a little. "Very good V-Virgil."

"She flies beautifully, so smooth for such a large craft." Commented Jeff. It was nice to fly something a bit more challenging than the Tracy industries jet. Gordon marveled at the speed and agility of the thing despite its size. "How fast is she Virgil?" Asked Gordon.

"She can go at 6,000 miles and hour at top speed but she prefers to cruise at about 3,000." Virgil patted the dash affectionately. "Right well she seems to be functioning just fine so how about we practice your launch Gordon?"

"Yeah ok!" He undid his straps and headed to the back. He looked up and down and scratched his head. Just how the hell did he get out the back?

"There's a door to your left." Jeff pointed out.

"Oh yeah!" Gordon grabbed the handle and headed through. It wasn't so soundproofed in the pod; Gordon could hear the air channeling over the aerodynamic shape of the craft outside. He stepped into the sub. He had told his dad not to tell him how it launched he wanted it to be a surprise. Gordon thought Jeff would ignore his request but he hadn't. Gordon sat in the sub trying to guess how this was going to work. "Gordon are you ready?" Virgil asked.

"Er yeah I think so. I'm all strapped in and systems are fired up."

"Ok well brace for impact."

"Say, wha-AAAAAAAATTTTTT!" All of a sudden Gordon's stomach flipped as he seemed to lose gravity, he was falling! Inside the whole pod that had just detached from the middle of the carrier. This was nuts! (and he had gone some crazy stuff in W.A.S.P) He bounced and rolled with the impact as he hit what he assumed was the water. The door of the pod flipped open with a splash as he tried to catch his breath.

"That was insane!" he shouted over the comms.

"Surprise!" chuckled Jeff pleased to be able to manage to shock his daredevil son for once.

"You know what? Next time I think I want to know what's going to happen first." Virgil's melodic laugh could be heard along with his father's deeper chuckle.

"Right off you go then son, we want to see if we can grab the pod again."

"Ok... and Err, how do I do that?"

"Blue button on your right that says ramp, it will activate the ramp." Virgil supplied.

"Ah, Cool!" Gordon pressed the button before firing the thrusters. He pushed off into the water. He was impressed with the speed, she cruised nicely above the water too, cutting through the waves like a knife through butter.

While Gordon was getting to grips with the yellow sub below, Virgil was trying to grab back the pod. They had practiced a few times before dropping Gordon but it was a tricky procedure and was going to take some more practice before it was a smooth operation. Virgil had a determined look of concentration, brows furrowed as he gently lowered over the pod. He had to get close enough to line up the pod but not so close as to douse his thrusters in the ocean. He clipped the edge of the pod with Two's outer frame. "Crap!" Scowled Virgil.

"Easy Son, you've got plenty of time, just nudge her to the left 20 degrees and I reckon you've got it." Virgil shifted his position slightly and sure enough heard the whirring of the mechanism as it clicked and began the docking process. "YES!" cried Virgil in jubilation.

"See I knew you could do it Virgil, well done!"

"Thanks Father" he beamed.

They pulled up and did a lap of the island to get some more flight practice in whilst Gordon tested his craft in the sea below. "Brains come in"

"Yes Gordon, B-Brains here."

"I'm going to submerge."

"O-o-kay."

He started to submerge but as he did, he realised an emergency light had come on in red. Uh oh. He suddenly felt her drop at speed. "Brains! I'm sinking! There's a fault with the buoyancy systems." Gordon tried to pull the sub up but it was unresponsive. Bubbles flashed past the windscreen with a shoal of small sliver fish as the sea bed rose up to meet him. The sub nose dived straight into the sand kicking up a flurry of silt so he couldn't see anything around him. He was rocked in his seat from the impact, jarring him into the harness. He sat back "Well that was short lived!" he was a tad disappointed that his craft had fallen at the first hurdle. So much for international rescue! looked like he was going to have to rescue himself on this occasion. "Gordon! come in! Gordon do you read me?" His father's concerned tone rebounded through the cockpit.

"I do read you and don't panic, I'm fine. Reckon the subs grounded though."

"Well as long as your ok but how are we going to get her back?" Jeff was relieved his son was ok but the craft being stuck on the ocean bed was problematic when she was their only unwater craft. Gordon was already shucking on diver gear and a tank. He fixed up the comms in his mask. "I've got a tank with me, I figured I might need it. let me go out and see how bad it is before we do anything too drastic, it might be I can fix her."

"Ok son, be careful"

"I'm always careful!" he muttered indignantly to himself as he cut the communication. He went into and sealed the airlock before opening the hatch to head outside. He swum round to the service panel on the outside hull and popped it open. He began to rummage amongst the wires and components trying to trace the fault back to its cause. Hmm this might take some time he reflected.

Two banked around the island heading back to the hanger. They were most likely going to have to launch the yacht so they could go and assist Gordon. A large shadow loomed over the villa as the giant machine turned in ready to taxi back into the hanger. They had just made it past the large cladded chimney of the villa when there was the sound of metal unlatching, the clang sounded as a latch pinged open. "Father! I think the latches have failed!" Virgil quickly tried to pull away but not before the other latches gave way and the pod slipped out of the middle. It fell several feet crashing into the villa below. Virgil quickly swung her around to assess the damage. He gasped when he realised the pod had hit the side of the villa and was balancing precariously off the edge. "Shit! I'm so sorry dad" Virgil looked contrite. "Its ok son, you did the best you could. Seems we have a few issues to iron out. Let's get her landed and see how Gordon's doing. once he's back safe we'll assess this mess and get it sorted. You're all safe, that's the main thing. Machines and buildings can be replaced." Virgil nodded solemnly before heading to the runway.

Gordon called Brains. "Brains is dad back with you yet?"

"Err not yet…. S-slight c-c-complication with the aircraft, he'll be here s-s-s-oon." Brains stammered nervously. He was frustrated the latches had failed so spectacularly and was worried about Mr. Tracy's reaction to the state of the villa, from what he could see from here it didn't look good. The pod had cracked the external wall in places.

"Ok, no worries Brains. I think I found the issue here but I'm going to need you and your fancy toolkit."

Luckily Brains was competent in diving having gone on a couple of expeditions in his youth. "O-Okay I will find your father and meet you s-shortly."

"Okay"

Gordon wondered what could have gone wrong with the air craft it had seemed fine. He figured he better head to the surface so they could find him easily. He began to swim up making notes about the local fauna and flora as he did so. He'd already noticed a few rare coral species that he was keen to explore at a later date as well as a species of sea snake he'd not come across before. He swam up fluidly pushing through the relatively calm sea, it getting lighter and lighter as he neared the surface. He broke through the waves and looked around to get his bearings. The island was on his right and to the back of him. He was quite far out, the villa obscured from view as Gordon was on the far side of the island. He squinted at the coastline and was confident he could see a cave or two. That would be worth exploring at some point he thought to himself. He was definitely going to enjoy living here even if he wasn't part of international rescue.

He started to wave as he noticed a rather fine-looking yacht stream out towards him. He was going to have to ask his dad if he could borrow that sometime too. He and Glenn could have some great parties on that around the coast!

It didn't take long before they pulled up beside him. Brains was already in his gear ready to deploy. He sat on the side of the boat and flipped back, tool kit grasped in one hand, mask in the other as he plunged into the sea. Gordon waved cheerfully to his Dad and Virgil before diving under to catch up with Brains. They both consulted the panel together. "I think what happened is water leaked in here and it short circuited the system." Gordon used his flashlight to show Brains the issue. "Y-y-yes your r-r-right. Let's use this sealant for now as a t-t-temporary fix and then we can make full adjustments back on dry land." Brains set to work. "I'll head back in the sub, tell me when you ready and we can try her out."

Brains gave him the ok' sign before returning to the task in hand. Gordon swam up and tugged himself back in through the hatch before draining the airlock. He then took off his mask and headed back into the cockpit. He switched his comms back to the console - it was a pretty neat little feature. "O-okay Gordon try her now."

"Will do, stand back" Gordon flicked the ignition back on and engaged the turbines. The little sub lifted off the sea bed and began to float. "Perfect! Thanks Brains, I'll take her back in via the jetty!" Brains gave the ok' through the windshield again before starting to swim up. Gordon took the sub back along at a leisurely pace so as to not overload their little bodge-it job. He was impressed Brains had managed to encompass all the features he had wanted including the missiles, Radar and his laser cutter. This really was a neat little ship and would be a real asset for any underwater rescues. She was small and nimble which made her prefect for search and rescues in compact places too. If it wasn't for her little buoyancy problem, he could have quite happily stayed out here but thankfully he had three whole weeks to tinker and acquaint himself with the little yellow sub and the surrounding ocean habitat. In fact, he was quiet looking forward to it as he smiled to himself.

Virgil and Jeff were surveying the damage. Jeff conducted a quick walk around whilst Virgil looked on from a distance with an anxious Brains. It was midday and the heat was almost too hot to withstand outside on the white concrete patio. Virgil had put his sunglasses on to get a better view. Jeff delivered his verdict. "Well thankfully the villa seems to have maintained its structural integrity, most of this is superficial damage, the chimney will need repointing and the garden veranda rebuilt. There's a slight hole in the ceiling too when I looked inside in the bedroom. Gordon had got changed in the silo and made his way up. "Oh wow. What a mess." he exclaimed loudly.

"Yep you can say that again, Brains and I are going to have to rework the latch mechanisms for the pods, I think. If we're lucky this might be a one off but we're going to have to test them all to be sure." He sighed it was a lot of work again. They had been so sure they were ready to go but still, it was only a minor setback.

Kyrano had popped out onto the veranda and placed some drinks and lunch by the pool before coming to survey the damage and looking upon it like this was just normal daily life for him now. Gordon supposed in a way it was. There must have been several testing mishaps of late as dad tried out his new tech and machines although granted this was probably the largest issue.

"Ah Mister Gordon, just to let you know that I have relocated your bags to Scott's room."

"Oh, ok but why?" Realisation began to dawn on Virgil as he tactfully excused himself from the conversation for lunch.

"Well Mister Gordon your room maybe a little inaccessible at the moment." Kyrano nodded towards the green pod. Gordon not yet fully familiar with his new home had failed to realise the obvious.

Jeff had come over to greet Kyrano. Gordon strode over to Virgil who was lounging on the swing chair. "Look you, I've been home all of three hours and you've trashed my room already? What is this kindergarten?" He looked mock offended. Virgil pulled down his shades slightly.

"Gordon, I didn't do it on purpose it was an accident. Not like when you released those cockroaches in my room when you were in kindergarten just because you thought I would move out and surrender it to you. Dad had to call the exterminator out three times before we could get rid of them. I couldn't sleep in there for weeks because of the fumes!"

Gordon flopped down next to Virgil. "Ohhh yeah! Ah man that was an amazing prank! I'd totally forgotten about that." He smiled fondly at the memory, grabbing a sandwich.

"It was not amazing; you gave Alan nightmares for weeks about cockroaches eating him alive. Your mother and I ended up with him sleeping with us for another six months before we could settle him back in with you." Jeff growled. Him and Lucy used to joke that's why they stopped at five. There was certainly no chance for any promiscuous activity for him and Lucy in that year thanks to their second youngest antics. That and they'd had to move Virgil back in with John whilst his room was fumigated which caused additional arguments over space and personal belongings at all hours of the day and night.

Gordon had never apologised and it didn't look like it was going to happen now either. "Right; you two enjoy a break while I make some calls about this." he gesticulated at the mess. "Then you can both help lift the pod off and get to work adjusting the machines so they are ready for a second test run."

"Ah man. What kind of holiday is this?" Moaned Gordon as he looked wistfully at the pool.