"This is Mike Henderson with an update on the world's biggest undersea tunnel project. The Van Dieman tunnel, connecting the city of Melbourne on mainland Australia with Launceston on the North-West Tasmanian coastline has reached the three-quarter mark - 2 months ahead of schedule. This is a great success for everybody involved, and if the tunnel boring goes at this rate, it is anticipated that the tunnel will be ready for use within two years – one year ahead of schedule.

"Much of the success comes from the advanced equipment used. The biggest time saver has been in having all three of the tunnels being dug at the same time. The two main traffic tunnels and the center service tunnel are being dug with some friendly rivalry between the teams. Coming behind the tunnel boring and surfacing machines are the teams preparing the electrical and infrastructure that will be beneath the surface of the tunnels.

"I'm now going to switch you to the tunnel known as VD1 so that you can see live progress."

Brains and Virgil were engrossed, and had pulled up schematics of the tunnels and the machines being used. "This is amazing, Brains," Virgil said, looking through detailed information. "Dammit – as much as I wished that we could have won the bid for it, I don't think that even your engineering genius could have come up with something as good as this."

"I certainly would have done it differently," Brains confirmed. "But this has been incredibly successful from all accounts." He frowned. "I'm not entirely happy about how close they are to the top of the ocean bed there though."

"They've not had any indications that they are within the danger zone though. It's all well within tolerance in the green zone."

"I know. I just – I suppose I'm probably being too cautious."

"Don't stop being cautious, Brains," Scott said entering the living area. "Your caution averted a disaster today, that's for sure."

Virgil looked up. Scott's face still bore traces of anger and he felt sorry for the people that had been on the receiving end of his ire. "Something go wrong at the South American works?"

"Just about. If it wasn't for Brains anticipating people ignoring specifications and calculating accordingly, then you would have been likely to be out at the moment rescuing me and a number of our employees." He snorted. "Idiots. Even I know that you have to have proper foundations before you start putting structures like that up. It was lucky I noticed the slippage and was able to get the place evacuated before it partially collapsed. The only reason it didn't collapse sooner was Brains' caution in his stress calculations."

Virgil raised an eyebrow. "Did you leave anybody intact?"

"Intact – but when I checked the plans and saw all the changes – changes that should not have been made – I made sure that those who initiated them and signed them off are now without jobs. I won't have Tracy Industries used by our senior project people to line their own pockets with kickbacks."

Both Brains and Virgil let out low whistles. They could both understand completely Scott's anger. "I agree," Virgil said. "And you know the others will. We'll back you up if the Board tries to cause trouble."

Scott ran his hand through his hair. "Sorry, Virgil. I guess I should have contacted you all first."

"No – you made the decision that any of us would have. And you saved lives." He grinned suddenly. "Both jobs done today. You deserve a treat."

"Good. I'll take missing on Grandma's home cooking."

"You're in luck," Brains said. "She has decided that we are all ungrateful and don't appreciate her efforts. So she's refusing to cook tonight and daring us to do better."

"Hence," Virgil put in, "Alan and Gordon currently firing up the grill for steaks. Thick juicy and not burned to a crisp steak."

Scott sank into a chair, his face starting to clear. "I'll take that as a treat!" He looked at the video playing. "Damn. That is going along fast."

"Yeah. We were just discussing that."

"You know that both AU Engineering and the Kun-Chow Corporation have contacted us about the consortium running that project."

"Oh?" Virgil leaned forward. "And when you say "us"?"

"Tracy Industries. Thankfully. But… their reasons are a little concerning." Scott frowned. "I thought I had sent it through to you and Brains, Virge. In fact I was sure I had."

"I haven't seen anything," Brains put in. "When was it?"

Scott thought quickly. "Damn – now I remember. I got it and read it and we had that unexplained communications outage. By the time we tracked that down and fixed it, it must have slipped my mind." He went to the desk in the room – their father's desk, but now used by Scott when he was conducting Tracy Industries business. "Here…" He called up the e-mail and sent the information to their holographic projector. "They are the main players in the consortium for this project. They've been pushing everything they have to get it as far ahead as they can. And want us to become part of it now. Wanna make some guesses why?"

"The e-mail seems to be a standard invitation to participate," Virgil said. "But knowing you, you haven't been satisfied with just that."

"No. I asked Derrik from our Perth office to have a look into things. He's sent me through some very interesting reports from his contacts in the Australian engineering community. Reports that the media doesn't get to see."

"If you think they're interesting, I'm interested." Virgil said seriously. "Especially considering you're not an engineer."

Brains was busy looking at the reports he had downloaded to his own tablet, frowning and muttering to himself, calling up another screen to make notes.

Scott watched him, his eyes narrowing. "You don't have to be an engineer to understand some of the things in these reports," he said. "But looks like Brains has found something."

"I think so. I'll need to look further at it," he commented absently and then looked at Virgil. "I'll mark the spot for you. I want you to see if you agree, without my comments."

"OK Brains. What did you notice Scott?"

"First their invitation to participate – they don't want us as consultants, or even to provide manpower or equipment. They want money." He pushed his hand through his hair again. "Geez, I hate dealing in consortium shit. After South America, and now with this invitation – no way are we doing it again."

"Hang on – why do they need money?"

"I think they deliberately underquoted. Plus, they're pushing to get it finished early. And guess what happens if they finish ahead of time?"

Virgil frowned trying to recall the original tendering document. "Bonuses of some sort I guess."

"Bonus is an understatement." Scott mentioned a figure that had even Brains look up in surprise. Virgil whistled.

"Some incentive. Is that a lump sum?"

"No. I'm basing that on the amount per month they get early and based on the current estimated date of commissioning."

"So it could increase."

"Yeah. But they don't get it until after the tunnel's been commissioned. Even if they go at their current rate, they will make a hell of a profit at the end – but in the meantime…"

"They're running out of operating funds. And I would say cutting a lot of corners as a result."

"Well, that plus wanting that early completion bonus. That's a bad combination."

"And if I also mention that Belah Gatt Incorporated is a major player in this consortium – they've managed to provide the Project Management for the whole thing and seem to be running much of the OHS details."

"Oh fucking hell," Virgil said, exploding off the couch and starting to pace. "AU and Kun-Chow are good outfits. How the hell did they let Belah get involved? And how the hell did any consortium involving Belah get past the selection panel?"

"The same way Belah gets involved in anything. They insist on hiding their presence, and you now that there will always be clients who value fast and cheap over quality and safety. It's how Belah has kept in business."

"Scott, I don't think it's even up for consideration. We don't want to be involved in this!"

"No. We don't. But I want us to be all over the details – as International Rescue. I have a bad feeling about this."

"So do I," Brains said looking up from his tablet. "Really bad. From the diagrams on the media, I thought that they were too close to the sea-bed. These seem to be confirming that."

"Is it too close?" Virgil tried to see the diagrams.

"No – it meets all the international guidelines for safety. But…."

"We always exceed them. By a lot. Because the minimum isn't always the safest," Scott put in.

"As we well know," Virgil said dryly. "How many times have we had to rescue people from places that were to standard and from something that the "standard" was meant to withstand what happened to it."

"Yeah. So what do you want us to do?"

"We can't do much – nothing's gone wrong. But I'm going to get John to put a priority monitor on it – and keep it on it indefinitely. If something happens, I want us to be able to move quickly. Brains – can you and Virgil put together something that might just have to cover both a sea and land mission at once? We might have to have Thunderbird 4 in action plus extra equipment on land."

"Will do, Scott," Brains said. "I can configure a POD machine in Pod 4."

"You want me to get Gordon for a briefing?"

"Can you do that, Virge? He can work with you and Brains – he knows what he can do in Four best. I'm going to get Kayo and John onto some serious hacking. I want to know everything about what we might be up against here – especially any shortcuts they might have taken. If we have to get called into this, I don't want any surprises with non-spec materials."

A Week Later

"So, what have you and John found in your hacking, Kayo?"

"We don't hack, Scott. We arrange access."

Scott quirked an eyebrow. "You've been spending far too much time with John and Penny. You hack. And note I'm not complaining about it."

Kayo looked chagrined. "Would you believe nothing more than what you got by legit means? Everything looks above board. Completely and utterly. Apart from the fact that Belah Gatt Incorporated seems to be running everything – and that there is a lot of people who aren't happy about that. But you know that."

"Suspected from the request I got."

"Which prompted all this."

"Yeah. And which now looks like a whole lot of work for a whole lot of nothing."

"Maybe not," came John's voice as his hologram appeared. "Sorry I'm late – I was trying to get thorough one of the company ownership systems in Malaysia. I've uncovered something interesting about where this tunnel is being laid." He called up a schematic. "This is Bass Strait, where the Van Dieman Tunnel is being dug." He drew a line. "This is the tunnel route. It's the closest and easiest route between Melbourne and Launceston. Which means that it's also been used for other things." Another swipe. "Like the main oil and gas lines between mainland Australia and Tasmania."

Scott stood up. "Shit! What idiot approved that route for a tunnel!"

"Panicing, Scott?"

"No, John. Just frustrated about what some people will do."

"It's all right, John," Kayo put in. "He's still ranting about South America."

"You have my sympathies. You could always come up here to escape."

"Oh ha ha ha," Scott said. "You don't have to deal with the fallout."

"No, we just have to deal with you dealing with it. Anyway, about this tunnel. It's in a bad place."

"And we haven't been able to find any proof that corners have been cut. And not even Lady Penelope's contacts can trace back any wrongdoing of the consortium involved."

"So I only have my gut feeling to go on."

"Hang onto that gut feeling, Scott," John said seriously. "You know that's sometimes all we have to go on"

"I know. I don't have to like it though."