A/N: Thank you for the positive reviews. You guys are wonderful.
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Chapter 4: Third String
They didn't have to wait for three months, though. In fact, they didn't have to wait three hours. Tin-Tin had been dutifully relaying information to Scott, first that the team had reached the Danger Zone, and then later that it looked like a very tricky and complicated rescue. Now, though, she appeared in the doorway looking distraught.
"What's wrong, Tin-Tin?" Scott asked, concerned.
"International Rescue has received another call," she said, coming to stand at the foot of Scott's bed. Her arrival woke Virgil, who had been dozing.
"What's happened?" Virgil asked.
"Another call," Tin-Tin repeated. John just received it in Thunderbird 5.
Scott was at a momentary loss. Disasters that required International Rescue-caliber relief were relatively rare, and they had only had to deal with three times they were called for two calls at once. On the first it required different vehicles (one emergency in space, one on land), in the second one wasn't very urgent (they had three hours before the trapped nuns ran out of air), and in the third, the two sites were close enough together that they could drop Thunderbird 4 off at one and get the other vehicles to the other in time.
This situation, however, was even more dire than usual in light of their understaffing problem. "What is it they need us to do, Tin-Tin?" he asked.
"It's the Saturn team," she said, referring to a recent project that involved studying the gas composition of the surface of Saturn. "They radioed for help. They have lost a booster, and are in a decaying orbit. Their remaining booster is not powerful enough to maintain an orbit or to break out of the planet's gravitational pull. They will be deep in the atmosphere within twenty-four hours. No one can get there in time except—"
"Thunderbird 3," Scott finished.
"Yes," Tin-Tin agreed.
"Can you fly Thunderbird 3?" Scott asked. To his knowledge, only Alan, John, his father and himself could fly the rocket, although it was possible that Brains knew how, since he had built it. However, for that one even Brains deferred to someone else for post-repair test flights.
"I have never been trained," Tin-Tin said unhappily, confirming his fears. "Brains and I can set up the rescue equipment, but as for flying…I do not believe he can fly that one either."
"Then I'd better go," Scott said, trying not to sound to happy about it. He threw off his blanket and swung his legs over the side of the bed. At least, that was what he tried to do. What happened instead is the sudden disturbance caused pain to shoot up his leg, momentarily blinding him.
"New plan," Virgil said after Scott's pain subsided somewhat. "Why don't you fly Thunderbird 3 to Thunderbird 5, and switch places with John? It's more than likely that this rescue is going to be tricky, and everyone aboard being able to walk will be a definite plus."
Scott shot Virgil a dirty look, but he couldn't tell whether he was totally serious or picking on him a little bit. Either way Virgil was right, as much as Scott hated to admit it. "Ok," he conceded. "Tin-Tin, you and Brains pack what equipment you'll need and get it aboard Thunderbird 3. I'll try to contact Father and let him know what we're doing. Virgil—" He looked over at his brother uncertainly, not sure how to go about trying to order him to stay in bed.
"Someone is going to need to man the command center," Virgil said, giving Scott a hard look.
It was on the tip of Scott's tongue to suggest Kyrano, but Virgil's look stopped him. There was a healthy dose of Tracy pride there. Scott wondered how detrimental the effect would be on his brother if he told him to stay in bed while he himself went out on a rescue. He wondered if it would be worse than the physical effects of getting up for a few hours. "Can you even sit up?" he asked instead.
Virgil struggled weakly into a sitting position, looking pale. "Good to go, Scott," he said after he had caught his breath.
Scott was unconvinced. He was pretty sure that being up, even just sitting in the command center, was going to set Virgil's recovery back by a lot. However, he was equally sure that he was going to have to tie him to the bed to keep him from doing it anyway, as soon as Scott had left. He nodded reluctantly. There was only one choice. "Good, I was hoping you'd say that," he lied. "Get Kyrano to get you set up in the command center. But Virgil—" here he fixed him with his best Big Brother Glare— "Take it easy, ok? Kyrano can do any fetch-and-carry you need."
Virgil nodded reluctantly. "F.A.B., Scott."
Scott was technically still bed-ridden, particularly after what Doctor Lowry had told him earlier, but they had taken pity on him the day before and provided him with crutches so he could use the bathroom without help. Prior to that he was anyway, although it involved a slow and painful crawl, much to his little brothers' amusement. He was under strict orders to ONLY use them for this purpose, and to stay in bed the rest of the time. Disregarding this completely, he hooked the crutches under his arms awkwardly and set off in search of Kyrano.
He found him easily, as he was on his way to the infirmary, probably sent by his daughter to help Scott get dressed or some such nonsense. Scott tersely filled him in on the details, cautioning him to keep a close eye on Virgil, then headed to the command center to talk to his father. Brains nodded to him and immediately vacated his post to go help Tin-Tin pack. "Mobile Control from International Rescue," Scott hailed.
He had to repeat the hail several times before his father came on. "Scott, is that you? What are you doing out of bed?" He sounded out of breath.
"How's the rescue going?"
His father sighed heavily. "Slowly. The submarine's very deep, almost at the upper pressure limit for Thunderbird 4. In addition, we're having to cut through the hull, and the equipment keeps glitching. Please tell me you didn't get out of bed for a progress report."
Scott gritted his teeth. "No, Father. There was another call." He briefly outlined the situation, and their plan. "I don't see any other choice," he concluded.
His father was silent for a minute. Finally he said, "I agree. Except that I don't think that Virgil is up to manning the command center. Get Kyrano to do that. This is going to take a long time, and it's tricky. We won't be done for several more hours at least, and you need to leave right away. Any delay and that rocket could get sucked down into the fluid layer of Saturn's atmosphere. Just take it easy, Scott, and keep in contact. If anything happens to you out there…"
"I know, Father," Scott said. "I'll be all alone on Thunderbird 5, and isolated with Thunderbird 3 busy. I'll be careful. But look…about Virgil. I don't think we're going to be able to talk him into staying in bed, Father. You know as well as I do that as soon as I leave he's going to come in here anyway. I think it would be better if we gave him permission from the outset."
His father was quiet for a while. Finally he said, "Ok, Scott. I see your point. Just make sure Kyrano and Mother keep an eye on him."
"F.A.B., Dad," Scott said.
"And take care."
"I'll be careful, Dad," Scott reiterated, trying not to feel too smothered by the fatherly concern.
"I know you will, Son." With that his father signed off to go back to coordinating the submarine rescue.
"I heard," John said into the silence. "I'll get ready and expect you here soon."
"Thanks," Scott said, not sure if he was thanking his brother for being efficient, or for not trying to convince him he was still to injured to help.
Scott was just clearing out of the command center and trying to figure out how to board Thunderbird 3 on crutches when Kyrano wheeled in Virgil. He looked tired and pale, but determined. "See you in a couple of days," Virgil commented lightly.
Looking at his brother, Scott realized suddenly that Virgil was at least as worried about him as he was about Virgil. He grinned at the realization that he wasn't the only protective Tracy brother. "F.A.B., Virg. We'll keep in touch." With that he hobbled awkwardly to the passenger elevator for Thunderbird 3. Tin-Tin was already there, suited up in her uniform, which made Scott realize he didn't have his. It would still be on Thunderbird 1. In fact, he was still in a robe and pajamas. That was a really wonderful way to conduct a rescue.
Tin-Tin caught his look. "We have already loaded a spare uniform aboard for you, Scott," she said kindly. "Are you ready to go?"
"Yeah," he said, relieved. "Thanks, Tin-Tin."
She smiled at him, but her eyes were worried. "I wish you did not have to go. And I wish that Virgil would stay in bed."
"Me too," Scott admitted as the elevator took them to Thunderbird 3. "But you know how stubborn Virgil can be. If I hadn't let him do this, not only would he have gotten up as soon as we'd left, but he would resent me as well. At least this way he still feels like—" he broke off abruptly, but Tin-Tin had already caught where he was going.
"Still part of the team?" She said, and placed a hand gently on Scott's arm. "Oh, Scott, of course he's still part of the team! He mustn't ever feel like that, or you either!"
Scott opened his mouth to deny similar feelings, but she was right. He had been feeling pretty useless ever since waking up trapped underground, with no idea how they would get out, little hope left, and a complete feeling of helplessness. He hated feeling that way. He had been completely unable to do anything to help his brother or himself. And Virgil was being so brave, despite extensive injuries. He had known Virgil was scared—hell, he had been pretty scared himself—but he had kept it together.
They met Brains in the cockpit, and were underway in moments. Since all the controls were hand-controlled, Scott's broken leg didn't slow him down, although the constant throb made him wish he had taken a painkiller before leaving. "Thunderbird 3 to International Rescue and Thunderbird 5," he radioed, "We're underway."
"Good luck, Thunderbird 3," Virgil said immediately. Over the comm., he almost sounded normal. Scott decided that worrying at this point would be useless, so he should just stop it. Virgil had Kyrano and Grandma, and in a few hours their father, Alan, and Gordon would be back, and then Virgil would go back to bed where he belonged.
"Standing by," John chimed in from Thunderbird 5.
They didn't talk much on the trip to the satellite. Scott, for his part, was too busy flying the unfamiliar craft. He had put in some hours in Thunderbird 3, but had never really thought that skill would be needed. Space calls were rare enough that it was almost unthinkable that both Alan and John would be unavailable to fly. Well, he reflected, the unthinkable had happened. Perhaps they should reevaluate their decision to have to few people involved. It would be really handy right now to have more pilots.
In addition to having to concentrate on flying, Scott was also really starting to hurt. In addition to his leg—a triple fracture, just in case the pain would let him forget that—he also had myriad bruises that were being slow to heal. And his leg muscles were starting to spasm from the activity. He was trying to hide it, but Tin-Tin and Brains kept giving him worried glances, which told him he wasn't completely successful. By the time they reached the satellite all the could think about was lying down, perhaps with a nice tall glass of painkillers. Of course he wouldn't have that luxury. He would have to keep alert and make sure nothing else happened that required International Rescue.
They docked, and with Tin-Tin's assistance he navigated the airlock, meeting John halfway through. "What's the latest?" he asked.
"They're still fighting to save the submarine crew," John reported. "Looks like another few hours. They can't hoist it up, its doors are jammed shut, and Gordon's having trouble cutting through the skin. Also, they're helping evacuate the cruise ship passengers. There's a storm, and the local rescue crews had to be grounded."
"Jeez," Scott said. "When it rains is pours." He grimaced. "No pun intended."
"How are you doing?" John asked, unable to keep the brotherly concern out of his voice.
"I'm fine," Scott said, trying to sound convincing. "I've got it covered here."
"I'm off, then," John said. "We'll let you know when we get there."
With that John left, and Scott made his way to the control room just as Thunderbird 3 uncoupled and took off. So. Alone on the satellite. He eased himself down into the chair, splinted leg sticking out awkwardly in front of him. He pulled the bottle of painkillers that Doctor Lowry had left for him out of his pocket and took a one of them. He couldn't take as many as he would have liked, since it was important to stay clear-headed. But if he didn't take any, he would be too distracted by the pain to be useful. He wondered for the thousandth time how Virgil was doing.
oOo
Virgil wasn't doing well. It was all well and good that they needed him in the command center. If Scott hadn't agreed, Virgil would have sneaked in after his brother had left anyway. He knew Scott knew that. Kyrano and Grandma just weren't trained to coordinate the communications, keep alert for danger to their security, and so forth. Scott was a good brother to have agreed—even making it seem like he wanted Virgil out of bed even though he knew that wasn't true. But it really hurt to sit up.
If indeed what he was doing could be called sitting. He was slouched in a wheelchair, broken arm splinted and in a sling. Even leaning back as far as he could, he was still putting too much pressure on his abdomen. It had been days since his surgery, but he wasn't healing as fast as he would have liked. Probably getting more sleep would help, but he kept having dark dreams of being trapped. Dreams of being out-of-control. He woke in a cold sweat numerous times every night. From the fact that Scott was usually awake those times as well, Virgil suspected his brother's sleep was no more restful.
In addition to that, he was hooked up to this stupid IV. Since the line was attached to his good arm, it severely limited his mobility. Forget any option of doing for himself. He would have to let Kyrano do any fetch-and-carry, should anything be required. So far, things had been fairly quiet. At this rate they would never be in good enough shape to take out the Thunderbirds again.
So despite that, Virgil was almost glad this had happened. At least it gave Scott (and himself) a chance to be useful again. Five days—four of those mostly unconscious, and he was already feeling like a fifth wheel. He was worried about Scott, though. He would be alone on the satellite for at least two days, since it was a day's flight to Saturn, even with the speeds that Thunderbird 3 was capable of. Virgil was enough of a realist to know that his own injuries were worse than his brother's. The difference, though, was that he had Kyrano and Grandma taking care of him. The most taxing thing he had to do was sit here and try not to fall over, and stay awake enough to deal with anything that arose. Scott, on the other hand, would have to feed himself, undress himself, and take care of himself. He wondered if his brother had thought of that. Probably not. Scott was great about taking care of his four younger brothers; not so good at taking care of himself.
Scott had radioed a few minutes ago to report that they had docked, and then John had come on afterwards, reporting their departure. There was no new word from Father since the last report, about an hour ago. He sad morosely listening to the wind outside. The storm seemed to be getting worse, and the clouds were darkening. It might rain after all. He sighed. There was no reason for Virgil to contact Scott, but his finger kept reaching for the button anyway. He had nothing to report and nothing to ask. He just wanted to see that Scott was ok.
As if in answer to his thoughts, the eyes of Scott's portrait began to flash. Virgil gladly flipped up the communicator. "Go ahead, Scott."
The portrait image faded to reveal Scott's actual face. Virgil was dismayed to see how pale and tired he looked. He had shadows under his eyes, too, most likely from the lack of sleep. Virgil hoped that he went to bed as soon as Thunderbirds 1 and 2 got done. He could keep track of any impending world disaster from bed just as well. "You doing ok, Virg?" Scott asked by way of greeting, and Virgil suddenly wondered if he looked as bad as his brother.
"I'm ok," he said. "You?"
"God, we're a couple of invalids, aren't we?" Scott said, grinning.
Virgil returned the smile. "Let us hereby make a pact to stop asking each other 'are you ok' all the time, shall we?"
Scott nodded. "I concur."
"What's on your mind? Or did you just call to check up on me?"
Scott looked momentarily guilty, and Virgil realized he had just called to check up on him. "I, uh, I just wanted to report that I'm settled in here," he said, covering.
Virgil decided to let him get away with it. "Good, good. No new news from Father. I assume John filled you in on how their rescue is going."
"Yeah," Scott returned. "Not so well, I hear."
"So far no casualties, though," Virgil said.
Scott smiled at that. "Good. I hear they're helping evacuate people from the sinking ship?"
"Yeah. They're apparently scooping them into Thunderbird 2."
"What's Father doing?"
"As a matter of fact, he's helping keep the ship from sinking."
"How…oh wait. I don't think I've ever tried using Thunderbird 1 as a submersible," Scott said, looking startled.
Virgil grinned. It had been a new one to him, as well. "Yeah. He's underneath the ship in Thunderbird 1 all right. Brains said it would be fine as long as he kept firing the jets so they didn't fill up with water."
"Well, I just hope it works," Scott said. Virgil wondered if his tone was from concern for their father and the Thunderbird, or jealousy at not being the one piloting that maneuver. Probably a bit of both.
"It'll work," he said.
"Yeah," Scott agreed. "Well, let me know if you hear anything."
"F.A.B.," Virgil said, and signed off. As soon as Scott's image disappeared, he squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his hand gently against his abdomen. It was really starting to hurt. He wondered if all hell would break loose of he gave up and went to bed, letting Kyrano take is place in the command center.