Thank you very much for reading and reviewing, guys. :) I hope that this Thanksgiving Day was filled with peace and plenty.
24
The Yamato Spaceport Tower, Kyoto, Japan-
Kayo had taken a running leap, launching herself through that windy, glass-dropping hole in the wall, and back onto Thunderbird Shadow. She'd left the Bird semi-cloaked and hovering, just outside. Retreated there, now, while Captain Rigby remained behind to deal with Dr. Reeves and the GDF. His job, because regulations depressed her, and because Kayo wanted to find Scott, now. He wasn't answering anyone; not her, not Grandma, not Dad... and that was deeply worrisome.
Out in the open air, she performed a gymnastic flip; landing with perfect balance and control on the sweet spot beside Shadow's starboard engine nacelle. Came down with a slight, ringing spong, to stand poised in the rising light of dawn.
The partly-cloaked aircraft dipped a bit, visible only to Kayo… and anyone else who could see in ultraviolet light. She could feel its smooth metal vibrating under her boot soles; a combination of idling engines, busy impellers and razor-sharp wind.
Turning slightly, the girl triggered canopy-open with a touch to her wrist comm. Didn't climb in, though. Just waited for Wayne, who was far better at dealing with red tape and sticky protocol than any Tracy. Took him a handful of minutes to appear in that ragged opening, many stories above street level. He stood there looking out, one hand braced on a twisted girder. Kayo could see him skeptically measuring the distance across with his eyes.
"Oh, come on!" she urged. "It isn't that far, Captain."
Her brothers would simply have vaulted the gap without thinking… except maybe Virgil, who liked to work with a harness. Raising his voice to be heard over buffeting winds, engine-rumble and distant loudspeakers, Rigby called,
"I can half-see what you're standing on, Miss Tracy… it flickers in and out of my sight." (No doubt thanks to his dormant guest.) "But I'm not sure that this jetpack still has enough go to… Never mind. Look out, I'm coming across!"
Blue eyes narrowed with sudden resolve, the Marine captain backed away from that opening and gave himself a sort of all-over shake. Next, he dropped into a racer's crouch, and burst into action. Running as hard as he could with just re-formed muscles, Wayne Rigby crossed that glass-littered floor like a shot, reached the edge and then sprang for Kayo's position. Triggered his sputtering jetpack at the last minute, hoping for power enough to make it across.
Wayne-before would not have made that leap. Wayne-now, boosted by the Survivor and a death-rattle spurt from his jetpack, sailed clear over the gusty void. He landed with a solid CLANG, flailing for balance on the dipping and swaying wing. Smiling, Kayo put forth a hand to steady him, looking like… like he'd just passed a critical test.
"Congratulations," she joked, taking his hand to lead him over the wing and across to Shadow's waiting cockpit. Then, frowning, "Will Dr. Reeves be all right? And, what did you mean, about Scott departing unwillingly? You really think someone's kidnapped him? Seems more likely to me that he's off chasing the Chaos Crew."
Scott was far from the wildest of her brothers, but Kayo could see him doing something like that… barely. They were still holding hands by the time they'd got to that popped-open canopy. Said Wayne,
"I've left Dr. Reeves with a GDF Med-unit. He's in guarded condition, but they've promised to send frequent updates. As for your brother, a Yamato security-bot said that he suspected 'misfortune'. Those devices are operated by the tower, itself, Miss Tracy. Their understanding of human interactions… their vocabulary… is pitifully limited. They can greet, guide and warn. This one was trying to tell me something important, before GDF-Local showed up."
Tanusha stepped down into her seat. The agile young woman twisted in place as she did this, so that Rigby could get into his, without letting go of her hand.
"Right… watch that first step… Did the robot tell you anything else?" she asked him. The Marine scowled, saying,
"I'm not sure, Miss Tracy. It performed a sort of… squiggly dance, like it was sketching some kind of diagram on the floor. Sounds pretty far-fetched, I know."
Kayo shook her head, sending that silken black ponytail swishing across her slim shoulders.
"I live on Tracy Island, Wayne. The Colonel is my father." Because he was, dammit! "Meanwhile, you're playing host to an alien lifeform, and Reeves' device is punching holes in reality. One dancing robot isn't that hard to accept. Can you reproduce what he drew?"
Their hands squeezed tight, briefly, making the unspoken sign to let go. Naturally, as Captain Rigby recalled what he'd witnessed, Kayo peeked at his thoughts. Just a little. What she saw (besides herself) was a complex double matrix of lines and boxes, caused by the way that the robot's main wheel had touched down and lifted, scraping clean streaks through the rubble. Unaware of her eavesdropping, Wayne had pulled out his phone. He muttered imprecations as he struggled to reproduce the two shapes with his finger on the device screen.
The images he came up with looked halfway familiar, thanks to something that John had once shown her, on Thunderbird 5.
"That's ancient picture-writing," she said, watching him clean up and shift those black lines. "You know, from before Unity. It's the way Japan used to write and speak."
Rigby looked up from his work, clearly uncomfortable.
"Let's not jump to conclusions, Miss Tracy," he told her, hurriedly clearing the picture. "There's no need to invoke illegal, outmoded thought patterns, here. I would, uh… would like to get a translation, though. If, hypothetically speaking, the diagram did represent a previous, divided language."
Kayo pressed him lightly to sit down and strap in, thinking hard. John was her go-to for ancient languages. He'd been saving old songs, videos and writings, for years. Only, John was out of reach at the moment. Also… anything she told their WorldGov liaison might be passed up the food chain to unfriendly ears.
"There might be something in a government database," she lied vaguely, meaning: I'll run it through to Thunderbird 5. "One thing's for sure," Kay added, sliding down into her own seat, and putting her helmet back on, "anyone who's kidnapped Scott Tracy is getting more than they bargained for. My brothers are tough, Captain Rigby. Chances are, we'll catch up with Scott just as he's broken free and subdued them all."
Wayne nodded, sending the picture he'd retrieved from his phone to Thunderbird Shadow.
"I'm certain you're right, Miss Tracy. Also, whoever they are, they can't have got far. Scott was in the stairwell, last I saw him. After the bomb went off, I may have lost consciousness for awhile, but it wasn't very long. The robot indicated that Scott was no longer on the premises, so he was either removed, or well-shielded."
Kayo pondered momentarily. She'd made a show of flying south before cloaking her Bird completely, and then doubling back to the Tower.
"Makes more sense that they've found a way to hide him nearby," she mused, drumming her fingers on the steering yoke.
"I agree. Can you scan the building and immediate surroundings?" asked Rigby. "You'll have better resolution than a factory-model security drone."
Inside the helmet, Kayo shook her head, no.
"Not while cloaked, I can't. To send or receive signals, I've got to drop stealth mode."
Wayne ran a hand through his ash-blond hair. His own helmet was gone, lost in the set-to with Havok and Fuse.
"Right. Let's try a scan from high altitude," he suggested. "All of those stacked-up freighters and blaring comm chatter should provide decent cover."
Kayo half-turned to look at him, smiling a little.
"Turning crafty, Captain?" she teased. "We might make a stealth operative out of you, yet!"
Or something. As Wayne smiled back, he wondered… was he becoming compromised by a genuine liking for the Tracys? By his growing attachment to Kayo? And if so… if push came to shove… which mattered more? His mission, or the family he'd been sent to report on? At the moment, Rigby honestly couldn't say. Was maybe afraid to find out.
His left wrist had begun to tingle and burn, meaning that the Survivor was fast recovering. Wayne rubbed absently at the baggy green cloth of his uniform sleeve, thinking: 'Not sure they'll be ready for this, back home… any of it.'
Well, he still had time to make a decision, the Marine figured. Nothing was set in stone. He had to quit wool-gathering a moment later, because Kayo had blasted her Bird directly upward, punching straight out of the atmosphere to join that chaos of massed, waiting space traffic… and it took everything the captain had, not to stain her upholstery.
But the diagram? Those ancient, illegal symbols turned out to mean 'fortress'.
XXXXXXXXXX
Somewhere else, struggling to fight off a constant barrage of invasive questions-
Might have been just a trick of his yearning mind… but he thought he could see a greyish smudge in the darkness, like the sky, just before dawn. Something like sound, too; a sometimes-present whisper of noise. Mechanical, possibly? Whatever, he clung hard to these first weak signs of returning sensation.
-Why does the Hood despise Colonel Tracy? –
He couldn't move at all. No physical feedback. No hot or cold or sense of touch… nothing. Not even the feel of his own breathing and swallowing. No memory of how he'd wound up here, even. Just question after constant, machine-like question.
-What are Dr. Hackenbacker's computer access codes? –
Didn't react. Didn't respond, not even when,
-Are you able to summon the Mechanic? – flashed into his mind. Just saw Kane burning another big scar in the living room floor, as he jetpacked out to the pool deck. Grandma… face-palming. Fighting hard not to yell at their unwelcome guest.
These images sent a wave of grief and crippling loneliness surging through him, because Tracys were never alone. In response, he clung to that patch of shimmering grey, off to his right. Focused on the very faint hum of machinery. That was the key. Returning sensation held the way out.
-What do you know of your family's past? –
His family… Suddenly, the terrible thought occurred: what if they couldn't come, because they were already here? Dad, Grandma, his brothers and sister… they might be imprisoned, too. Needing his help.
That was the moment he stopped waiting for rescue, and started making things happen.