Epilogue

A month later, John and Scott coaxed Alan to come with them to go rock climbing. After Alan had stuck around the island first sleeping off the effects of his adventure, he then moped around for about another week, much to the frustration of everyone else on the island. Their father, after some consideration and planning (along with a few placed incentives), convinced Scott and John to get Alan off of the island by any means necessary.

After much debate, they had taken Thunderbird One to a secluded area in the Colorado Rockies, where they had proceeded for the better part of the day to climb one of the peaks. It had taken the better part of the day to climb up the peak that they were on, and Alan was content enough to stand near the edge to check out the panoramic view, though the thoughts of how they were going to get back down left him a little nervous. "Guys, tell me again why you dragged me along?"

Grinning, Scott walked over and gave Alan a hearty pat on the back. "Alan, where is your sense of adventure? Out in the open air, there's nothing else around but nature and you, the only thing keeping you from flying off into oblivion being a rope that's tied to your waist."

John piped up with a smirk. "Don't you mean correctly tied to your waist, Scott?"

The comment earned him a death glare from Scott before he started a last check of his repelling equipment and rope while continuing his explanation. "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted: it is beautiful up here, but half the fun of climbing up a mountain after all of that hard work is going down the mountain."

Alan smiled, but was still nervous. "Down the mountain?"

In reply to his question, Scott made sure his rope was secure, then turned around and with a hearty "Yee-Haw" jumped off the side and began his descent.

As Alan looked over the side watching Scott having the time of his life repelling down, he found that John was looking over the edge himself. He laughed at Alan's wide-eyed expression. "Don't mind Scott. He is just an adrenaline junkie."

He couldn't help but laugh at the statement. "What's your excuse then?"

John looked around for a moment, and then grabbed his brother in a head lock. "Because I can."

Alan squirmed for a moment before John let him go in order to prep his own gear for the journey down the mountain.

"John, what did you do the summer before you became active in International Rescue?"

John froze where he stood when he heard Alan's question. Memories of a frenzy filled summer filled his mind. "Ah, I don't think I should reveal what I did. I mean after all, it was just one summer and all."

He tried to finish up with his equipment, but Alan stepped around, the grin on his face only widening. "Aw, come on John. I won't tell anyone. I promise."

Maybe part of the truth would suffice, so avoiding his brother's gaze, John replied simply. "I wrote a book."

Alan rolled his eyes. "That sounds absolutely positively mundane. I mean you have written articles and a book already on stars and astronomy. What's so different about this one?"

John realized that his brother wasn't quite going to let this go, so he decided to back into his answer. "You remember the 'Star Rescue' series?"

The question evoked another eye roll from Alan. "Oh man, do I? That thing started with one book and was made into an animated series and a movie, not to mention has been dubbed into a dozen languages and there's enough fan clubs on the net to-"

Making the connection, his eyes widened. "Oh man, YOU wrote that book?"

John felt a flush creep up on his face. That was one fad filled summer that he did not want to relive. He finished checking the last of his equipment and gave him a smile. "Alan my lad, ask me no questions and I will tell you no lies. Now let me help you with your gear."

--

The End

Wow, for a first adventure, it has been quite a ride. I would like to thank everyone that stayed around for the ride. It was quite a fun adventure to write and a wonderful learning experience as well. This piece probably clocks in just fewer than fifty thousand words for a reason - in order to meet the Nano goal for 2007, I branched out into a potential other story for Thunderbirds that I edited out. When I develop that second plotline, I will definitely be back.

Take care,

Time Guardian