June 19th, 2061 - 12:26 BST
5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Thunderbirds are Go!
FAB 1 speeds along through the British countryside in the warm summer sun. Penelope is talking to the Prime Minister over the com channel.
"Yes of course Madam Prime Minister, I'm happy to help. Mmm-hmm. See you then," Penelope says before hanging up the phone.
"Change of plans, m'lady?" Parker asks.
"We'll be skipping the gallery opening tonight," Penelope explains, "The Prime Minister has requested I make an appearance at her charity gala instead."
"Hoh... joy!" Parker replies and hears a noise outside to see several blue trucks appearing behind them in the side mirror, "Did the PM say h'anything about sending an harmed h'escort?"
"Erm... no," Penelope trails.
"H'I didn't think so," Parker responds and swerves FAB 1 onto the other side of the road while speeding up. Penelope looks out of the back window and recognises the vehicles.
"It's the Global Defence Force," Penelope comments
"H'I'll lose them. Don't you worry," Parker says, putting his foot down further.
"Parker, they're the good guys." Penelope says pausing, "And so are we."
"Oh," Parker says chuckling awkwardly as he slows down the car again, "Right you are. Sorry, m'lady. H'old 'abits, you know." A GDF plane appears overhead as Parker pulls the car back onto the right side of the road allowing the plane to land on the opposite side as they come to a halt. The trucks behind them catch up and halts behind them. An officer walks over to greet the pair.
"Is there a problem Officer?" Penelope asks.
"We have a bit of a situation Lady Penelope," the officer says, "A specialist is required immediately."
"Certainly. I'm always at the GDF's disposal," Penelope says, "Lead the way."
"Actually Lady Penelope, it's not you we need," a familiar voice says, "It's Parker."
"Parker?" Penelope questions.
"Me?" Parker asks turning around to see Col. Casey standing next to the car.
June 19th, 2061 - 07:31 EDT
The plane takes off with Penelope and Parker aboard with FAB 1 parked in the hold beside them. They are sitting down looking at a holo-screen when Casey approaches them.
"Okay, what you're looking at—" Casey starts.
"Dual chambers, reinforced tyrillium outer shell, biometric scanners, independent power source," Parker lists, "When it comes to this, I'm quite the h'expert, ma'am."
"I, however, am not," Penelope deadpans.
"It's a state-of-the-art containment vault," Casey explains, "Scientists at Hudson University are using one for their anti-matter research. At the moment, one of them is stuck inside."
"And what does any of this have to do with Parker?" Penelope asks.
"We need him to open it," Casey says, "Apparently, Parker is the only person to have ever successfully broken into this kind of vault."
"Parker?" Penelope asks.
"H'allegedly broken in, m'lady," Parker reassures, "There was never h'any proof."
June 19th, 2061 - 08:41 EDT
Casey, Penelope and Parker walk towards the vault with Casey leading the way. Once they make it to the vault, Casey calls the inside to get into contact with the Professor.
"Professor Lungren. I'm Colonel Casey from the GDF. I've brought an expert who will have you out of there as soon as possible," Casey explains and Parker pushes Casey out of the way so he would display on the hologram.
"'Ello. I'm the h'expert," Parker says.
"I'm so embarrassed. My colleagues will never let me hear the end of it when they get back," Professor Lungren says, whose name is Alice.
"Forgive me for asking, but isn't there a way for you to open the vault from the inside?" Penelope asks.
"As long as the containment field is compromised no one can open it," Alice explains, "Not even me."
"What is it containing?" Penelope inquires.
"Okay, do either of you have a degree in biomolecular quantum mechanics?" Alice responds.
"No," Penelope says along with Parker.
"In that case, just picture a potato in a microwave," Alice states, "Only the potato is... me."
"And if this vault gets damaged in any way?" Casey asks.
"Everything outside gets cooked as well," Penelope answers.
"The trick h'is, h'opening the vault without the vault realising it's being h'opened," Parker says.
"How long will it take?" Casey asks.
"Last time it was a hair under six 'ours," Parker says before realising his mistake so quickly adds; "H'allegedly."
"The container field's only gonna last another three... at most," Alice exacerbates.
"Nothing like a challenge," Parker replies as he opens the control panel below the video link to reveal all the various wires and switches, "One slight 'itch. I'm going to require some 'ighly specialised h'equipment to do this job."
"The GDF has access to the most sophisticated technology in the world," Casey says confidently.
"Ho no. I'm going to need my h'own technology," Parker chuckles, "But it's back at the Manor."
"Leave that to us," Casey says and runs off.
June 19th, 2061 - 09:29 EDT
A solider eventually comes back and approaches with a bag and hands it to Parker.
"Sir," the solider acknowledges and watches along with Casey as Parker opens up the bag.
"That's your technology?" Casey asks stunned at the most basic equipment that is in the bag.
"It's h'everything I need," Parker says and starts to take items out of the bag and place them on the floor, H'ice pick, chalk, chair mirror, stables, rubber band, chewing gum, magnets."
"We could have got these things anywhere!" Casey complains and watches Parker stand back up.
"First of hall, Ma'am, it's my lucky kit," Parker lists, "Second, no, you can't get these things h'anywhere." Parker grabs a packet of chewing gum and hold it up to Casey, "They don't even make this flavour of gum h'anymore."
June 19th, 2061 - 09:53 EDT
Two soldiers stand on guard at the end of the gangway where Parker is currently laying as he works on the controls, muttering as he works. To the sides of him stand Penelope and Casey who are watching him work with great interest.
"Now get h'in there! Urh," Parker grunts as an alarm begins to wail and flash above the door but quickly turns off again as Parker messes with the controls, "Ah..."
"Parker?" Penelope asks worried seeing Parker pulling himself out from underneath.
"We 'ave a slight problem, m'lady," Parker says showing a device in his hand, "Seems they fixed the defect that h'allowed me to break into this kind of vault before." Realising his mistake again, he adds; "H'allegedly."
"But can you still open it?" Casey demands.
"Oh, I can h'open it," Parker confirms, "It's closing it back h'up h'again that will be h'impossible."
"Meaning?" Casey trails as Alice appears on the hologram again.
"Meaning that if Parker opens the vault to save me, we can't reseal it to contain the antimatter implosion. That would destroy this lab, the university and half the city," Alice explains with a sigh, "Oh, what have I done?"
June 20th, 2061 - 01:57 NZST
A beeping sound signalling a call goes off in the Tracy Island lounge where Scott is sitting on the sofa with a cup of coffee and some files in his hand. He answers to call to show Parker and Colonel Casey appearing in hologram form.
"Morning Colonel Casey," Scott says, "Parker."
"Scott, we have a scientist here, trapped in a vault," Casey says.
"I have a plasma cutter on board Thunderbird One," Scott says taking a sip from his mug.
"It's hardened tyrillium, Mr Scott, Sir," Parker says, "It would take you 10 'ours minimum."
"And that'll just be to get you through the outer shell," Alice says, appearing.
"Alright, sounds like we have a situation," Scott says.
"Let's face it. I'm stuck here," Alice states.
"Unacceptable," Casey says, "We're going to get you out of there, and that's a promise."
"You know we can't damage the vault colonel," Alice says, "I'm not going to put thousands of lives at risk just to save mine."
"You won't have to. Parker will still break into the vault. International Rescue will make sure no one is hurt in the implosion," Scott says.
"And how exactly do you plan to do that?" Alice asks.
"Easy, we move the vault," Virgil says entering the room with his own cup of coffee, "There's an abandoned mine shaft south of your location which should help to contain the implosion. We'll just cut it free, drop it off and let the antimatter do its thing."
"Do you have any idea how much this vault weighs?" Alice asks, "You'd need something incredibly powerful to lift it."
"Oh, don't worry, I've got that part covered," Virgil says.
"Nice to know that Parker isn't the only 'h'expert' on the case," Scott says walking over to his launch bay.
"Did you want to get Marion?" Virgil asks.
"No time."
5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Thunderbirds are Go!
June 19th, 2061 - 10:41 EDT
Parker continues to work on the vault control unit with Penelope standing beside him. Parker takes out one of the connector devices from the control panel.
"The first step in cracking this thing is to stop the h'outer vault controls from talking to the h'inner vault controls," Parker explains.
"Because we need the outer vault to think it's business as usual," Penelope responds.
"Right you are, m'lady," Parker complements, "Now, if we could just find some kind of sonic h'amplifer to distract the signal receiver..."
"Like your communicator," Penelope suggests, kneeling beside Parker and taking the earpiece out and handing it to him.
"Oh brilliant! Why didn't h'I think of that?" Parker says to Penelope as he puts it around one of the wires making it go green from red. This causes music to start playing from the communicator. "My driving music."
"Well, it certainly is distracting," Penelope says.
June 19th, 2061 - 10:49 EDT
"Okay, give me the rundown," Virgil says.
"This is a schematic of the facility," Casey says, "The containment vault is located dead centre."
"We'll have to peel back the large section of the roof first," Virgil states, showing it on the hologram, "But a hole of that size could make it unstable."
"Removing the vault is our priority, Virgil. Not the structural integrity of the building," Casey says.
"Understood Colonel. If we cut here, here and here at the base," Virgil explains marking the spots on the holographic diagram, "We'll be able to lift the whole thing out."
"I'll let you know when the GDF has successfully evacuated the entire facility," Casey says, "Good luck."
"Evacuate the area. This is not a drill," a tannoy announces as Thunderbirds 1 and 2 arrive on scene. "Evacuate the area. This is not a drill. Evacuate the area. This is not a drill." While Thunderbird 2 hovers over the roof of the university as Scott jet packs up.
"I hope I haven't kept you waiting," Virgil says.
"No time to lose Thunderbird 2. I'll jet down and take a look at that roof," Scott says as he lands on the roof.
June 19th, 2061 - 10:52 EDT
"I always thought cracking vaults involved, you know, I don't know, a vault?" Penelope asks as Parker continues his work on the vault by rummaging through the various cupboards.
"First things first, m'lady. A-ha!" Parker says holding up a bottle of water.
"A bottle of water," Penelope trails.
"It's not what's hi'n it. It's what's h'on it," Parker says and holds it up to the light so she can see some fingerprints on the bottle.
"Professor Lungren's fingerprints!" Penelope realises, "Of course. Well done."
"'Old that thought. We 'aven't pulled it h'off quite yet," Parker says as he holds out a packet of chewing gum to her, "Chew, m'lady?"
"Chew, Parker?" Penelope questions.
June 19th, 2061 - 11:17 EDT
"Thunderbird 2, facility evacuation is complete," Casey says over the coms, "You have official mission clearance. Remove the roof."
"FAB. Scott?" Virgil asks as Scott is still cutting through the roof.
"Almost there. Just a few more cuts," Scott says.
June 19th, 2061 - 11:18 EDT
Parker had returned to the vault and placed four dots of chewing gum on the hand recognition panel.
"I'm still amazed you were able to lift Professor Lungren's fingerprints with chewing gum," Penelope states, watching Parker remove the last piece of gum from the bottle.
"H'I used this trick at a bank in Kowloon once," Parker says before adding, "H'allegedly," again as he places the piece down causing the recognition pad to beep.
"Identification verified. Professor Alice Lundgren," the computer says, and Alice appears on the holo-screen in front of them.
"Quick. Enter the code and get me out of here," Alice says, "Three-zero-zero-nine-one-nine-six-five." Parker reaches out to do so, but Penelope prevents him from doing so.
"Wait," she says, "The touch pad is biometrically keyed," and takes a piece of chewing gum from the pad and taps in the code.
"Authorised entry code. Professor Alice Lungren," the computer says, and the door opens.
"H'Are you sure you've never been in the safe-cracking business, m'lady?" Parker asks amused as the pair enter the vault with Parker taking his bag with him
"Colonel Casey, we're through the outer vault," Penelope says.
June 19th, 2061 - 11:25 EDT
"There," Scott says making one final cut, "Thunderbird 2, where's that grapple?"
"Coming down now," Virgil says lowering the grapple. Scott jet packs up to meet it and lowers it onto the roof segment he has cut.
"Grapple secure, take her away," Scott says. Virgil uses Thunderbird 2 to start removing but gets caught.
"Scott, the crossbeam is jammed," Virgil says.
"I see it. It's gotta be recut," Scott says.
"The roof is like a loaded spring. Be careful Scott," Virgil says. Scott cuts through the beam which suddenly comes lose and lifts up with the grapple. Scott manages to dive out of the way of a falling piece which falls down and hits the vault causing it to shake. Parker and Penelope were now working on the control panel for the second door, but the shaking has caused Parker's communicator to be dislodged. The pair quickly get up and run towards the door, but it shuts before they could reach it.
"Did what I think just happened actually happen?" Penelope asks.
"You mean did the h'outer doors just slam shut trapping us h'inside?" Parker responds, "I'm h'afraid so, m'lady."
"Well, that's rather distressing," Penelope states before walking back over to the panel for the second door, "Well Parker?"
"It will be close, m'lady," Parker says as he gets to work again, "But we can do it."
"Only the inner vault can contain the implosion," Alice says appearing on the screen, "Once you open it no one will be safe."
"One problem at a time, Professor," Penelope says as Parker takes out his ice pick from his bag and walks towards the door. He slings it at the door, wedging it in the gap, before beginning to tap the door with his ear up against it to listen.
"When they built these vaults, they h'always h'assumed h'anyone who tried to break in would take the attack h'approach," Parker explains, "Never counted on a good h'old-fashioned bump and twist." He draws an X on the door with a piece of chalk, "X marks the spot, m'lady."
"I see," Penelope says and swings around with a roundhouse kick right at the centre of the spot with her heel which causes the door to open, revealing Alice.
"I sure hope you're as good at breaking out of vaults as you are at breaking in," Alice breathes.
"So do I, Professor," Parker responds.
June 19th, 2061 - 11:31 EDT
"We're almost there, Thunderbird 2," Scott says, "Standby for lift off."
"FAB." Virgil says.
"12 minutes Virgil," Penelope says.
"All right. Hold on. We're lifting off," Virgil says.
"FAB," Penelope says as Thunderbird 2 starts to lift the vault up. Scott jet packs down to the side ladder and clips himself to it and watches the bottom of the vault as Virgil tries to lift it clear.
"Easy Thunderbird 2. Easy," Scott says as the vault connects with the edge of the cut roof surface, "Ah!"
"Hold on. Stabilising," Virgil says and clears the section of the roof completely.
"You're clear. Keep going," Scott says.
June 19th, 2061 - 11:42 EDT
"I'm right outside, Lady Penelope," Scott says.
"Good. I need you to enter some numbers into the keypad. And use the gum," Penelope explains and Scott climbs over to the control panel and uses the gum to enter the code which causes the door to open.
"What's our time, Professor?" Scott asks.
"We have less than a minute before this thing implodes," Alice exclaims.
"Virgil, set her down! We have less than a minute!" Scott says.
"Hold on. We're almost at the mine shaft." Virgil says, and they appear over the shaft.
"There's the ledge, jump!" Scott says. Alice, Penelope and Parker jump onto the ledge. The antimatter begins to fizz rapidly, causing two magnets to pull lose.
"Scott!" cries Parker as Scott gets knocked backwards into the vault.
"I've lost two magnets. The reaction must have polarised them!" Virgil yells as the vault begins to fall from Thunderbird 2, "Get out of there Scott!"
Virgil picks the three you from the edge of the shaft and moves away quickly as the reaction shoots up from the mine shaft, just as Scott escapes in front of it and making it aboard Thunderbird 2 with the steading help of Parker. Behind him, a beam of antimatter shoots up into the air.
"Oh no. I forgot my lucky bag," Parker groans, causing him to receive some sympathetic looks.
June 19th, 2061 - 17:10 BST
"Who's a good dog?" Virgil asks as he played with Sherbet.
"Why so gloomy Parker? Today's rescue wouldn't have been possible without you and your alleged talent," Penelope says as she walks over to Parker.
"Sorry, m'lady. Just 'aving a bit of trouble letting go, that's h'all," Parker says, "That kit saw me through thick and thin. And they really don't make that gum h'anymore."
"Well, look on the bright side. We ended up having to miss the Prime Minister's charity ball this evening," Lady Penelope says.
"Oh, I'm so disappointed," Parker says sarcastically.
"I knew you would be," Penelope says, "The PM sent her regards, and she sent this." Penelope reaching into her pocket and holds up his favourite gum.
"My favourite gum!" Parker cries.
"It's the Prime Minister's favourite too," Penelope explains, "She's got a personal stockpile. So anytime you want, you're welcome to it."
"Perhaps it's not too late to put in an h'appearance at her event tonight!" Parker says, "I'll bring the car round, m'lady."
"We'll be off as well Lady Penelope," Scott says, "It's Kayo's 18th currently in the Pacific and we want to be back when she returns from her trip with Alan."
"Quite right," Penelope says, "Send her my regards."