It was supposed to be his down time. The one week in five that John Tracy spent at home. He had enjoyed himself, loving being part of the tumble of his family, but as usual, towards the end of the seven days, found himself longing for his solitude again.
But this week in particular he had found it hard to step away. In fact, if it wasn't for Scott ordering it, he would have skipped coming down this week.
Because today was the one year anniversary of the day he had failed.
He had spent most of the week checking and rechecking his search patterns, using the mainframe housed on the Island to re-set parameters. Admittedly, some of it was work he would have done anyway. Part of his week on Earth was always spent doing complete diagnostic tests of Thunderbird 5 and setting up any upgrades or patching that needed to be done on the systems.
But this time….
One by one, his brothers had sought him out, forcing him to take part in the day to day of life. In some ways he was thankful – it was stopping him from obsessing.
Now, he stood on the verandah on the upper level that joined all the sleeping areas, and led downstairs. His eyes were focussed in the far distance, almost willing a visual display to pop up before him, the proverbial "X" marking the spot that he and his brothers had tried so hard to find.
"John?" He turned his head.
"Hi Kayo. Is it your turn to hunt me down?"
"No. You didn't turn up for your training session. I want to know why."
"Sorry Kayo. I just don't feel like it." He braced himself for what he knew was to come. He was surprised, however, when he felt her hand on his shoulder and he turned to look at her.
"Nobody does today," she said, her own eyes sad. "Everybody's been off doing their own thing today. All of us blaming ourselves for what happened."
"Yes, but I'm the one who has all the information. All the tracking information. I let everybody down. Let Father down." There. It was out. "Twelve months, Kayo! A whole year, and nothing. Not one scrap of debris. Not one ping of a beacon. It's as if Father vanished from the face of the earth."
"We've all been blaming ourselves. Looking at our own specialities and decided that it was that aspect that failed." She brushed away a tear angrily. "The most important thing is that we haven't stopped looking. And we won't stop looking."
"I know. Some part of me says that I did all I could. That there is something outside my influence that happened, and that has hidden all the clues and evidence."
"Yes. Somehow, I know that The Hood is responsible. What we have to do now is find where he has your father and rescue him." John turned in surprise. Kayo sounded so miserable. He was surprised to see tears flowing freely, and that she was hunched into herself.
"Kayo! You've told me not to blame myself. Now I'm telling you the same thing." He searched her face and wondered at what he saw there. Something was wrong. Really wrong with her. "Tanusha? Sweetie? What's wrong?"
To herself she cursed. Of all the Tracy's, John had always been the one she never could hide anything from. She shook her head. "Just… today. Memories. Guilt. All sorts of things." She saw the sceptical look flash across his eyes. The lies. She hated that the most.
"Hug?" Surprised, she looked up again. John was smiling at her, arms outstretched, and, as she had done ever since she had become part of the family, she nodded and joined with him in a fierce hug.
After a few minutes she stepped back and was surprised at his reluctance to let go – normally John always broke off any physical contact with other people first. She changed her mind and stepped forward again, tightening her arms around him. John must have needed a hug as badly as she did.
This time, he loosened his arms first, but kept her tucked into his side. "Feel better?"
"Yes. You?"
"Yes. Dunno why, Kayo, but you can always hug the nasties out of me."
"Good. Now you can come down for your session. Your arse is getting flabby."
"My ass is so not flabby! It's as finely toned as the rest of me." He suddenly looked confused, blushed and stepped away from her. "I need to…." His head snapped up as a beeping sounded. "Work."
He bounded toward the stairs, and elected to slide down the banister rather than try to take the stairs and erupted into the main living area as his other brothers did. Alan appeared, looking concerned.
"There's been an explosion in the Bass Strait," Alan reported. "We've not been contacted, but I'm calling it in to monitor it."
"What happened Alan?" Scott's voice was terse, but not worried sounding.
"Tanker. There was some sort of engine malfunction and one of the engines exploded. It's happened near the oil and gas pipeline, so it's something we want to keep an eye on. The local people are coping with the tanker, and the crew all got off safely with only minor injuries."
"The biggest danger will be debris," Brains put in. "If any debris ruptures that pipeline, we could have a real problem."
"I haven't seen any reports of that," Alan said.
"Yeah, but they may not have noticed," John put in. "Alan, can you call up an underwater vision?"
"I tried, but something seemed to be blocking it. The command came back as disallowed. I saved the message – here."
"Dammit. OK – sounds like that particular satellite has had its security strengthened again. I'll have to re-crack it from up there." John looked annoyed. "Why the hell can't they just leave my doors in place. I always leave a message saying who it is."
He stood to start to gather together his gear. "You know, John," Virgil said laughing slightly "Most people don't want anybody hacking into their systems."
"I do not hack. I gain entry to systems we need to access. And I'm not just anybody. And I always let them know how I got in. Besides….Alan – I'm leaving in half an hour."
"FAB John. I'll be waiting for you." John was still frowning though as he looked at the message. "Blast. He definitely shouldn't get that message."
"Why?"
"Because it means that something he did gave them access to our system. And that definitely shouldn't have happened."
"I might tag along if I may," Kayo said firmly. "If we have a security problem on Thunderbird 5, I need to know."
"I need Alan back straight away, Kayo," Scot said. "If that pipeline blows, we're going to need all hands on deck to deal with it."
"Then I'll just stay up there until you can bring me down again. I really don't like the sound of anybody being able to hack into our systems."
"John?" Scott looked at his brother who looked surprised and Scott sighed. "Can you deal with Kayo being on Five for a couple of days?"
"What? Why?"
"To look into how that satellite managed to gain access to our systems." Scott sounded extremely patient, knowing that John had completely missed the discussion after he had said his piece.
"Oh." John blinked. "I could use another pair of hands to upload the patches and upgrades anyway."
"I'll take that as a yes," Kayo said dryly.
"Base, this is Thunderbird 5."
"Nice to hear your voice, John." Scott was amused - he and Virgil had bet on whether John would actually remember to let them know he had arrived safely.
"Just letting you know Kayo and I got here OK and Alan is on his way back. Kayo, however is not a happy woman."
"Found your stash?"
"Among other things. Keep this line open, will you. I need the broader link than I have thorugh a data only line."
"Will do, John, even though I have no idea what you are talking about. Keep me updated. Especially on that pipeline."
"Don't worry – Alan already has that as a priority monitor. And we're making headway in getting back into the satellite. They've really beefed up security on it."
"You could just ask for access."
"Tried that on the way up. And got a very definite no. Almost a rude no actually."
"Right. Send me all the details of the satellite – I want to make sure we've got a record if it all so that we can cover our asses. Government satellites aren't usually that heavily secured – especially the scientific ones we use."
"Yeah… about that…." Scott groaned and the problem finally made itself clear.
"Is this one of those things where covering our asses would cause more problems?"
"Maybe."
"Let's do it anyway. We can always call on Colonel Casey if we need backup."
"Information on its way. I need to go – this is delicate work."