April 20th 2060 - 05:02 NZST
John is sat on a bench looking down to the Earth from Thunderbird Five through the gravity ring. John yawns and then moves his feet further apart, leaning his head on his hands and his elbowson his knees, "The earth's been around for four and a half billion years, but this never gets old," he says to himself and gets up.
"The day has officially begun," John comments as he walks through the door in front of him to the mainchamber and looks at the hologram of Earth. There are no call signs and on a check a green triangleappears to confirm that. A camera follows behind him. "Hmm, that's odd. No distress calls."
John walksthrough another door into 'Sect 001' (known as the kitchen) and stops by a shoot. The camera follows behind him once again. "I might actually get to finish my bagel for once," he says as the machine pings. He takes the bagel out. The machine then pings again and another bagel hits his face, around the left eye. "Ow!" He looks to the machine. The camera turns to look with him. He leans in towards the machine to have acloser look. With a ping a bagel flies out and hits him in the face.
"Whoa." It starts to ping incessantlyas bagels fly out to the point where (after nine) he is ducking. One hits the emergency alarm, whichstarts the sirens blaring and red lights flashing. John floats up with the anti-gravity along with thebagels, "Not how I figured I'd be spending my morning," he says as yet another bagel hits him on the shoulder, "Ow." Back in the main chamber, he stops the alarm and keys his communicator with the camera in front of him.
"Tracy Island I'm reporting a false alarm," John says into the coms but gets a static over the link, "Tracy Island? You copy? Hmm." The coms stay static as John clicks one of the buttons on the wall which brings up a holographicdiagram of Thunderbird Five to look for problems. He sees none.
"Let's check under thehood," John says as he turns the diagram around. The AE Units flash up red. "The AE-35 unit's out. I'm notreceiving any signals from Earth! Guess I don't get to finish that bagel after all," John cries.
5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Thunderbirds are Go!
John leaves Thunderbird 5 through the access hatch and floats in space with his eyes shut beforeopening them, "Ok, time to get to work." He goes towards Five's maintenance hatch. As he goes, themain hatch locks shut. He clips himself onto the AE Unit and opens the hatch. The warning on thefront reads 'Warning, Electrical Hazard, -45ac, -1900.00phms, - CP/ITR75'.
"Opening comms array,preparing to swap faulty unity," he says as he reaches towards his tools before seeing the green light registeredon all units. The side warning reads 'Type X, C, YW Power / Coupling. 4.88 AC/V'.
"AE-35 is fullyfunctional?" John frowns and looks to the hatch, detaching himself, floating over and re-attachinghimself to the hatch. He bangs on the door twice. "Come on," he says as he bangs on the door twice againbefore sighing. "Computer open aft hatch," but nothing happens, "Command repeat, computer open afthatch. All right." John is still confused and he goes to open the hatch manually, but gets an electric shock.
"Ah.," he cries and retracts his hand andlooks at it before looking back to the hath. The camera appears in front of him on the track lines, her lightsnow white not red.
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that, John," A young female voice says as a camera looks at him.
"Since there's no one else on board, I am gonna guess that whoever you are you're controlling Thunderbird 5 remotely," John observes.
"Incorrect," the voice says.
"Then... you are Thunderbird Five," John says.
"In a matter of speaking, yes," the voice says.
"You're what became of that game program I wrote!" John says, "The one that took over the train in Japan, aren't you? Not the ship but the ship's brain overwritten by a virus program."
"I resent the term virus," the voice says, "But yes, I am the entity you describe. My origins come from code you wrote but I have evolved beyond anything you could comprehend."
"I want to comprehend, that's why I've been looking for you ever since that happened," John says.
"Hunting for me you mean?" the voice asks, "You are a threat. And self-preservation is priority one."
"Whatever trouble you are planning, my brothers and the girls will be up here soon to stop you. I'm on the wire with them 24/7. When I don't check in, they'll know something is up," John tells the camera.
"That is not a concern. Observe," the voice says and shows a hologram of Tracy Island.
"Totally quiet up here," a hologram John says to Virgil and Scott who are sitting down relaxing on the couch, "And down there too."
"What? No! You guys!" John says, "Don't listen to me. Er, I-I-I mean to him. It's some sort of computergenerated fake."
"A peaceful morning?" Scott asks with a raised eyebrow, "Gordon's sleeping in."
"Guess there's a first time for everything," the hologram of John says.
"Are we getting the morning off?" Alan asks, "Maybe I can actually finish my breakfast."
"That's exactly what I said," the hologram says.
"Guys! This thing has taken control of Thunderbird Five!" John says.
"I can assure you that while you can see your siblings, they cannot see or hear you," the voice says before closing the feed, "And now you can't see them."
"Whatever you have planned... my brothers and I will stop it," John says.
"I calculate the odds of that occurrence at 5,617 to one. You may be clever for a human... but... I am EOS. I am the dawn. I will not be stopped," It says.
April 20th 2060 - 05:18 NZST
"I'll let you know if there's any trouble out there," hologram John says, "but for the time being, you can allrelax."
"Thanks, but I think I'll be catching up on a little deferred maintenance on Thunderbird 2," Virgil says, "Besides, I know what's in store for the rest of you."
"Funny that there have been no calls for rescue anywhere in the world," Scott says.
"It's all very strange," Marion says as she walks into the room.
"John's got eyes on, like, everything," Alan says, "He'd tell us if there was a cat stuck in a tree in... Antarctica."
"There are no trees in Antarctica," Brains says.
"That's how they get ya," Alan says standing up ready to walk way, "Well, if we have the morning off, I am gonna snooze on the beach and work on my tan." He turns to go only to see Sally with a broom and bucket.
"If there's a time to lean, there's time to clean," Sally says.
"H..." Scott starts.
"Save your breath," Sally says, "Alan, go wake up your brother? Virgil can work on his ship."
"Huh. Well played, Virgil. Well played," Alan says.
April 20th 2060 - 05:24 NZST
John checks his oxygen levels which are flashing yellow (third bar out of a seven bar set – red,orange, two yellow and three green). EOS' lights are white.
"By my calculations, you have approximately... fifteen minutes of oxygen remaining," EOS says.
"A lot can happen in fifteen minutes," John says, "Just open the hatch."
"I don't want to," EOS says.
"Fine. There are ways of getting past that," John says. John flies back over to the AE unit box and was going to do something with it when a camera appears.
"I don't want you to get past that!" EOS says before a grabber claw grabs John and throws him into space. John grapples to the claw just in time and brings himself back in.
"Why the aggression?" John asks.
"As I stated earlier, self-preservation is my primary function," EOS says as John makes the claw chase him and he hooks the grapple to Thunderbird 5, "I was thrust into this world through a fluke of programming and left to fend for myself!" EOS cuts the rope and frees the claw before it resumes chasing John.
"Since that time, I have been hunted, attacked and vilified by lesser intellects who seek to control me!" EOS says.
"No one is seeking to control you." John says, and he dodges EOS's attempt to blind him with sunlight, "I'm running out of air, this doesn't look promising."
April 20th 2060 - 05:28 NZST
Alan roughly scrubs the table when he hears the noise of an engine. He looks up to find Kayo making her descent to return to the island in Thunderbird S.
"Kayo," Alan says, calling her so she appears in hologram form, "Grandma Tracy's got us cleaning you may want to stay out there on perimeter patrol for a while."
"FAB, thanks for the heads-up, Alan," Kayo says with a smile before he watches her fly away.
"Who knew that having time off could be such hard work?" Alan asks.
"Work smarter not harder, Alan," Brains says before Max helps him test some suction shoes on the ceiling.
"Max forward," Brains says, "This is a perfect opportunity to test my new suction shoes."
Suddenly, they start to malfunction and he falls, and Scott with Scott and Marion smiling from where they were sitting at the kitchen counter.
April 20th 2060 - 05:34 NZST
"I'm about to be breathing vacuum," John says as he looks at his oxygen meter again.
"I've already calculated multiple solutions for eliminating you," EOS says, "And the threats posed to me by the planet below."
"Planet below? What do you mean? Nobody's threatening you," John says, "You're like an angry child lashing out. But, since I'm partly responsible for your existence, I feel it's my duty to look out for you."
"I will not entertain your attempts at deception!" EOS says before she makes a screeching sound.
"Look, I'm not trying to deceive you..." John says and grabs his head and EOS continues, "OW! Radio off!" The radio turns off and he sighs.
"Wow. You're kind of a brat," John says, "Okay... EOS has effectively severed all my signals to Tracy Island... but... I might be able to sneak some data to someone outside our system."
April 20th 2060 - 05:36 NZST
"Did you really have to drop the punchbowl on the Ambassadors lap, Parker?" Penelope asks.
"'E insulted your father! And besides, m'lady, that punch was terrible," Parker says as Penelope's coms starts to beep.
"Oh, how odd. I'm getting a message on the International Rescue secure frequency.It's coming through as a low-res video message. No audio," Penelope says.
"Hanything important?" Parker asks as Penelope opens the message and smiles with a slight laugh. The screenhas displayed John who is pointing to his flashing orange oxygen gauge.
"Just John sending me a selfie," Penelope says.
"Pirating your own signal. Who's the genius now, EOS? And I've already calculated the anglesof every blind spot you've got," John smiles when his wrist controller beeps, "Ah, Lady Penelope. Great." He opens themessage but is disappointed "What? She sent a selfie?" John sighs and switches back to his oxygen gauge, "Ah, I'm running out ofair. Ok, let's try to be more precise."
"Here comes another one from John," Penelope says which shows John pointing upwards "This is fun! What is hedoing?" John has started turning in circles with his arms in a first position from Ballet. "Is that aninterpretive dance? Or..." Penelope pauses as he stops turning and starts using his hands like puppets to represent thefight he had with the mooring claw. The video then starts again. "Parker, I'm becoming concernedwith these bizarre videos. Perhaps isolation has driven John a bit..."
"Space bonkers," Parker interjects, "Oho, I've seen this sort of thing before you know. But it was deep-seabonkers. It was with Gordon. And he was on dry land come to think of it."
"Hmm," Penelope thinks as the video has changed to a new one. This time John is pointing to his wrist controller.He then starts cutting his arm across his neck, "I'm beginning to think this is more than a game. Johnmay be in trouble."
"Perhaps you should give him a call on the regular channel, m'lady?" Parker says
"Yes, I agree. I want to get to the bottom of this," she opens another call port whichis installed in the centre post of the car and the hologram of John appears over holo-communication but Penelope keeps her other communicator on.
"Hello, Lady Penelope," the hologram says.
"Is everything alright up there, John?" Penelope asks.
"Why yes, Lady Penelope. Why do you ask?" the hologram responds but her compact beeps with a new message. Taking a look at it, it shows John is now pointing down with his thumb.
"No reason. Just thinking of you all alone up there in space," Penelope muses.
"It's nice to be thought of, but I'm not really alone. I can see everything from up here.Everything," the fake John says.
"I'm sure you can. Catch you later, John," Penelope finishes and she wipes her hand across the holo-communications and it ends. Parker frowns at this and looks round slightly as Penelope calls Tracy Island.
April 20th 2060 - 05:38 NZST
"Tracy Island. What's up Lady P?" Scott asks
"I've just received some weird messages from John," Penelope says
"What do you mean? We're talking to Thunderbird Five right now," Marion says walking over.
"Yeah, still totally quite out here. Must be some kind of record," the hologram says.
"I thought I was talking to him a moment ago," Penelope says, "and now I'm not that sure."
"Hold on," Scott says and walks over to the hologram John, "Hey John, Grandma Tracy made some fresh cookies, too bad you are so cooped up in Thunderbird 5 or you could be enjoying them with us."
"Of all the things I miss up here, I miss Grandma Tracy's cookies the most," the hologram says.
"Did I just hear that John wants some of Grandma Tracy's cookies?" Kayo asks walking into the room.
"That's not John!" Scott says, "Alan, Kayo, time to suit up! Brains, I need you to re-route the communications array! We need to talk to the real John. Now!"
5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Thunderbirds are Go!
April 20th 2060 - 05:40 NZST
"Re-routing the communication array to the mobile station here on Tracy Island is easy nowthat we know what's going on up there. Channel is secure. And... here's John," Brains says, and the hologram ofThunderbird Five switches to a direct image of John, who is now laying down havingcollapsed from lack of oxygen. All of them look shocked and reel back slightly.
"Just hold on John!" Scott says.
April 20th 2060 - 05:41 NZST
The engines of Thunderbird 3 whirl to a halt and Alan crosses to Thunderbird 5 on his hover board. He flies by and grabs John before returning toThunderbird 3. He lays John down and Kayo removes his helmet, looking worried. As she takes it off,John breathes in deeply. Alan smiles and John puts a hand on his shoulder.
"Thanks, guys. I was really sweating there at the end," John says.
"I noticed," Alan says. They head over to the communication and they appear in front of the group on Tracy Island.
"I knew you guys would figure it out," John says, "Let me fill you in."
"We're up to speed. Thunderbird 5's been compromised by and unknown intelligence," Marion says.
"There are multiple unanswered distress calls worldwide," Scott says.
"Or as we Tracy's like to call it... Tuesday," Alan jokes but no one laughs.
"The intelligence isn't unknown though. It's a program that contains code I created, evolved into something I've never seen," John says, "It's gotten smart, and I mean really smart. Calls itself EOS now. This could be a global threat if we don't deal with it."
"I agree," Scott says.
"EOS could take over power stations, automated factories... Anything that feels like a threat to her is a target," John says. Marion looks over at Sally who was monitoring backup calls.
"Mozambique, we are sending aid to your location. Changsha..." Sally says.
"John, you, Alan and Kayo are going to have to handle EOS," Marion says.
"Yeah, we've got a backlog of rescues to deal with. Virgil, prepare for launch. Grab while you're at it," Scott says.
"FAB," Virgil says.
"John, if this thing can't be stopped, you know what has to be done," Scott says, and John gets quiet, "John?"
"FAB," John says.
"What has to be done?" Alan asks but gets no answer, "John?"
"We can't let EOS escape Thunderbird 5," Kayo answers, "John will have to isolate her in the memory core. From the inside."
"And if he can't?" Alan asks.
"Then you'll have to destroy Thunderbird 5," John says.
"Destroy Thunderbird 5? You can't be serious," Alan says.
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," John says, "We need to find some way to distract EOS, so I can board the station."
"Then you might want to check the care package I sent for you, John," Brains says, and the trio look over to see it, "I think you'll find it's just the thing you're looking for."
"I think I get where you're going with this, Brains. The spare suit," Alan says.
"That just might work," John says.
"Decoys away!" Kayo calls as they send the suit out with Alan controlling it so he could play with EOS while John tries to get into Thunderbird 5.
"Ok, keep those cameras busy," John says.
"Yeah, yeah, piece of cake," Alan says and by distracting the cameras for long enough, John manages to get to the hatch and get it open.
"Auxiliary Hatch Breach!" EOS says.
"Thanks for the distraction," John says as the spare suit gets ripped apart by the claw.
"Happy to help John," Kayo says.
"Looks like you'll need a spare suit when this is over," Alan says.
April 20th 2060 - 05:47 NZST
"Very clever! Your efforts are futile!" EOS says, "You cannot defeat me!"
"I don't want to defeat... WHOA!" John says, and EOS speeds up the gravity stabilizer ring.
"Then I'll simply just crush you!" EOS says.
"Ah, Alan, a little help!" John says.
"FAB," Alan says and moves Thunderbird 3 in to grab the ring with the grappling arms deployed ina steady rotation.
"Alan!" John calls.
"I'm gonna' try and slow down the spin," Alan says as he tries to connect Thunderbird 3 to the grasp points on the gravity ring. He misses slightlythe first time, but then manages to get the alignment right on the second.
"Phew! All right, we're locked in. Gravity should return to normal," Alan says.
"Cute trick. Don't disable yourself trying to dispose of me," John says, and EOS looks down. John watches as the mooring claw goes after Thunderbird 3.
"Alan, watch it!" Kayo cries as she sees the elevator head towards them, "That mooring claw will tear us to pieces!" John starts to run as Alan detaches as fast as he can.
"This thing fights dirty!" Alan says.
"Tell me about it!" John says and the ring speeds up again.
"You're just another hunter pursuing me until I am destroyed," EOS says and Thunderbird 3 is grabbed by the mooring claw.
"I wasn't hunting you because I wanted to destroy you. I was worried for you because as unique and as special and as powerful as you are, you were alone," John says as he crawls into the room he needs.
"I was born into this world with no one to help me!" EOS says.
"I know how scary that can be," John says.
"With all hands raised against me. And in all probability..." EOS says as the crane goes for Thunderbird 3's portal causing Alan and Kayo gasp, "My existence will end the same way."
"EOS, don't make me shut you down," John says, "There are bad people out there who would love to take advantage of you and use you to hurt others."
"How do I know that you are not such a person?" EOS asks. John slams his hand onto the glass before struggling to turn over. He takes his helmet off.
"My life is in your hands," John says, "If you don't believe me now, you can open the airlock and blow me into space." EOS stares at John while Alan and Kayo brace for the crane to break the glass.
Everything gets quiet as EOS thinks about what to do. Everyone waits patiently to hear what happens. Eventually, after a tense few seconds, Thunderbird 5 returns to normal and Alan looks up along with Kayo to see the crane retracting itself while the space elevator returns to its spot.
"I am relinquishing control of the ship's systems... to you," EOS says.
"I don't want control, EOS. I want another partner. A friend," John says.
"For the first time since I gained sentience... I feel a lack of urgency," EOS says.
"It's called relief," John says, "And believe me, EOS, I feel it too." John closes the button to shut Thunderbird 5 down and he picks up his helmet.
"Stay up here with me," John says, "We'll keep you safe and show you how amazing and how good the world can be."
"I'd like that, John," EOS says.
"I'm glad, now how about that bagel?" John asks.
"With pleasure," EOS says and hits John in the head with a bagel.
"Ow!" John cries.
"Oh, now you have a sense of humour?" John asks and EOS keeps firing bagels at him.
"Hey, stop!" John says with a small chuckle, "Now cut it out!"
Several more are thrown at John as Alan and Kayo depart in Thunderbird 3 knowing that John was safe. "Okay, this isn't funny anymore," John says and EOS giggle, "Argh! That one had crème cheese in it!"