April 9th, 2065 - 19:30 NZST
It is turning out to be another busy April for International Rescue as all the Thunderbirds, apart from Thunderbird 4, had been called out on a mission. Scott will still neck deep with paper work than actual rescuing and decided to arrange a meeting with the US President and the UN Security Council to sort out a deal on how to collectively deal with the Chaos Crew. This meant that Thunderbird 1 was unavailable to be a first responder. As a result, Marion has to handle the work Thunderbird 1 and Thunderbird 7 would be required for. Kayo however was unable to meet up with Scott in Thunderbird S and remained working with MI6 in London.
While this had been going on, Thunderbird 2 had been called out to Chile and Thunderbird 8 to Zambia, resulting in Virgil having to go the long way round to Chile to drop off Thunderbird 8 from Module 2 and leaving him with only his exo-suit as the main heavy lifting equipment. The rest of the heavy lifting equipment is with Sally as she helps the local authorities in San Francisco in Thunderbird 9 after a recent earthquake.
In space, Thunderbird 3 is currently on her way to the Moon's orbit with John and Ridley to help an out of control spacecraft and Thunderbird 5 and EOS were currently diverting calls to the local services as Alan had to go EVA and head over to The Estrella Grand Hotel to help with a medical emergency.
As for Thunderbird 6, Brains had taken her to the mainland to collect some equipment for his ongoing project, which resulted in the current situation on Tracy Island where Gordon sat at his father's desk in the lounge pretending to be John as if he was calling from Thunderbird 5.
5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Thunderbirds are Go!
"International Rescue, Gordon here," Gordon states to himself normally holding a Celery Crunch bar in his hand. He pauses before adding some more authority to his voice, "International Rescue, Gordon here." However, he remains unhappy with it and says it again but with some more authority on the 'here', "International Rescue, Gordon HERE," before sighing and slumping back into the chair. Suddenly, the emergency alarm goes off as EOS transmits a call forward to Tracy Island.
"Whoa," Gordon cries jumping up in his chair and juggles with his bar, which he almost drops, "International Gordon, Rescue here."
"This is Helen Shelby," the female replies.
"Wait, Helen Shelby?" Gordon questions, "Designer of the Supreme Barrier Reef, Helen Shelby?"
"Hey, Mum," a voice calls in the background, "He knows who you are!"
"Never mind, Robbie," Helen responds and waves him off to her right, "Look, my son and I are trapped underwater..."
"And we're running out of air!" Robbie interrupts.
"Hang tight, on my way," Gordon states and ends the transmission before standing up and walking over to his elevator, "Okay, I'm gearing up." He pauses and looks back at the empty lounge and mutters jokingly, "And the crowd goes wild..."
5
Gordon descends and gets suited up.
4
Thunderbird 4 remains in her tank as the lights come on.
3
Gordon steps to the back of his elevator and it drops, like Virgil's rocket painting.
2
The drop splashes Gordon into the tank.
1
He enters Thunderbird 4 as the hidden underwater bay doors open.
Thunderbirds are Go!
April 9th, 2065 - 17:58 AEST
As Gordon approaches The Supreme Barrier Reef, he notices FAB 1 appear on his map and realises that Penelope is in the local area on board of her rig that she bought around a year and a half ago. He decides that without Virgil, he might need some help with the rescue so decides to contact the rig as see if Penelope would be able to lend a helping hand. Pressing the button on his console, the calling beeps starts going off. After waiting a couple of seconds a face appears.
"This is Gordon, do you copy?" Gordon asks.
"I sure do," Doyle replies, "I'll forward you to Lady Penelope."
"Thank you, Doyle," Gordon replies and waits again before Penelope's face appears in front of him.
"Gordon, how nice to hear from you!" Penelope smiles, causing Gordon to lightly blush.
"Lady Penelope, are you still off the coast of Australia?" Gordon asks out of politeness.
"Yes, we just finished another test of the Ocean Dawn solar panels," Penelope responds and displays a map for Gordon to see, "Who would've thought that this filthy oil rig could be transformed to generate clean energy?"
"H'actually, m'lady," Park interjects, "H'I believe 'hat was your h'idea."
"Hm," Penelope muses, "Thank you, Parker, so it was."
"Everyone else is on other rescues, so don't go too far," Gordon explains, "I'm heading over to save some divers."
"Happy to pitch in," Penelope replies, "Where are we off to?"
"The Supreme Barrier Reef," Gordon states and presses a few buttons on his control panel.."
"Lovely spot," Penelope says.
"Yeah, but the biologist who built it somehow got trapped down there," Gordon informs."
"Oh, hm," Penelope mutters to herself before turning to Gordon, "We're some way off, but we'll do our best."
"FAB," Gordon smiles, "Gordon out." He watches as the Ocean Dawn appears on his screen as FAB 3 and start to move towards the reef. Once he's confident that Penelope is well on her way, he closes the map and tries to contact the divers. However, there isn't a response from the channel that contacted Tracy Island. Thinking quickly, he looks for a similar frequency and finds one. "This is Gordon Tracy of International Rescue," Gordon calls, "I'm coming up on the reef now."
"Careful," Helen breaths, unevenly, "Ocean's acidic. Could wreak your ship... like ours."
"Hmmm," Gordon sighs, "Some of those gaps are too tight for Thunderbird 4. I'm swimming over."
"Wait!" Helen cries, "Acid... ate through... scuba masks."
"I'll bring spares," Gordon informs and prepares for EVA. His chair reclines back, and he is released from Thunderbird 4. Before leaving, he opens the storage hold underneath and grabs his exo-suit. Gordon quickly attaches it to himself and heads into the reef towards where the call single is coming from.
As he enters the reef, Gordon looks around in shock, "The coral, w-what's happened to it?" All around him stood dying and dead coral, with some even floating around completely black. The water seemed to get greener the further Gordon travels into the reef. Gordon checks his acid reader and is horrified to see it in the purple, any more and he'd be dead. As it is in the purple he brings up his suits integrity and is happy to see that it's at 98%. Just then, his tracker beeps indicating for him to head upwards slightly and he is happy to see an air-pocket. It's a miracle that the pair made it this far.
When Gordon gets to the entrance of the air-pocket, he tosses he pair scuba masks up and climbs up the ladder into the small room. "Take these!" Gordon orders and is glad to get visual confirmation that the pair were in deed alive. "Better?" Gordon asks as the pair inhale the clean air deeply.
"Oh yeah," Robbie nods, "Definitely!"
"You're both going to be absolutely fine," Gordon states as he says his rehearsed line, "I do this sort of thing every day, you just have to trust m—"
"Young man," Helen interrupts, "I do not doubt your expertise, but I do question the wisdom of wasting precious air prattling on about it. Now, can we get to the rescue part?"
"Y-Yes, ma'am," Gordon stutters, very embarrassed.
"Mum's not into small talk," Robbie whispers over to Gordon. Gordon nods and beckons the pair to follow him as he dives back into the acidic water. The mother and son follow Gordon and approach to where he is, by his exo-suit.
"Our suits won't last long," Helen informs Gordon.
"Then we'll make this quick," Gordon says. Suddenly, there's a rumbling and what was once just a few small pieces of dead coral floating about, became the whole structure of the reef falling apart. The whole reef behind starts to completely cave in.
"The reef's falling apart!" Robbie exclaims.
"Grab on!" Gordon orders, indicating to his exo-suit. He fires the propeller up and goes shooting off, back out of the reef. As he does, huge chunks of the reef collapse around them and as Helen looks behind, she notices that the failing integrity of the reef behind them is quickly catching up to them.
"Can't you go any faster?" Helen questions.
"Engines conking out," Gordon informs, "Acid must've gotten to it." The engine of Gordon's exo-suit continues to sputter as they get closer and closer to the edge of the reef. In no time at all, Thunderbird 4 becomes visible in front of them. Robbie and Helen cry as a huge piece of coral collapses right next to them. Gordon growls realising that the exo-suit had failed and reaches into his utility belt with one hand and grabs onto a grapple.
"Hold onto me!" Gordon instructs and fires the grapple, making a connection with Thunderbird 4. Once Gordon is sure that Helen and Robbie have a first hold on him, he disconnects the exo-suit and pulls the grapple in. They go crashing into the side of Thunderbird 4 and turn around to see that they made it out of the reef just in time as the entrance that Gordon had used to get in had caved in. "Are you okay?" Gordon asks.
"My life's work is falling apart out there," Helen sighs, "So, no, I've had better days.
Gordon guides them into Thunderbird 4 and receives a transmission from FAB 3 that Penelope, Parker and Doyle had arrived just a few miles away from Thunderbird 4's location. He decides to take Robbie and Helen over to the rig the get them medically checked out.
April 9th, 2065 - 18:28 AEST
"You're right h'as rain, miss," Parker states as he finishes the scan of Helen.
"'Miss'," Helen blushes, "How charming."
"Now, we need to find the source of that acid," Gordon instructs, "Stop it, and put things back the way they were."
"Your brothers might say that it's your job to rescue people, not repair a reef," Penelope states as she enters the room after being with Doyle the last few minutes.
"Well, I'd say this is causing an environmental hazard that could and has been dangerous to people," Gordon argues.
"And we would agree!" Helen says.
"Then it's unanimous," Penelope sighed, when in reality she is extremely worried for Gordon's safety, "Parker, please set up the long-range scanner."
"Straight h'away, m'lady," Parker says and watches as everyone starts to exit the room, "H'once h'again, h'it's 'h'International Rescue's secret weapon, Parker, to 'he rescue."
Gordon goes into one of the spare rooms and gets into the shower to freshen up a bit while they wait for the scanners to pick anything up. It is also an excuse to smell good for Penelope. Once he gets out the shower, he changes into a clean suit that he had on Thunderbird 4 and walks out onto the rig deck and over to where Helen and Robbie are standing, overlooking the edge.
"I feel awful about what's happening to your reef," Gordon states.
"It's not just my reef, you know," Helen informs, "Robbie was the one who built it."
"You did?" Gordon asks, as he stands next to Robbie.
"W-Well," Robbie stutters, embarrassed, "Mum did the design, I'm more of the nuts and bolts guy."
"That's incredible!" Gordon compliments.
"Hey, I had a tough act to follow," Robbie chuckles, "The first Great Barrier Reef was 25 million years old."
"By the end of the 20th Century, human pollution had taken its toll," Helen explains, "Some tried to protect it, but the damage was too great."
"So, you created the Supreme Barrier Reef to replace it," Gordon summaries.
"I thought we could give the coral a second chance," Helen nods, "But if that acid keeps flowing at this rate... it'll all be gone in a week."
"Not if I can help it," Gordon says.
"I hope you can, Mr Tracy," Helen replies, "Future generations are depending on you."
"No pressure or anything," Robbie chuckles breaking the tension that had built, and lightly taps Gordon's shoulder. As it on queue, Penelope's voice comes over the loudspeaker.
"Gordon, we're ready," she informs.
The trio head back into the room that everyone was in before and in the centre, Parker has displayed a large map of the local geography, that highlighted the acidity levels of the water. It shows the Supreme Barrier Reef to the south and the affected water that is coming in from the north-east. A few miles away from the reef, a large red blob is seen that indicates the location of the acid.
"There!" Gordon states, pointing it out.
"What's 'hat, 'hen?" Parker asks, "H'a whale?"
"Whatever it is messed up our sub and out suits," Robbie states before pointing over to Gordon, "And your Aqua Scooter... I'm talking too much, aren't I."
"Guess I'd better go check it out," Gordon smiles and turns to leave but Penelope reaches out and grabs onto his left wrist, preventing him from leaving.
"After all that," Penelope worriedly says, "It sounds as if you are heading towards disaster."
"Hey, I have an idea," Robbie calls, "Surely if the current of the water is heading in a south-westerly direction, Gordon could come in from the north and approach whatever it is from behind, where the water is clean..."
"And reduce your exposure to the acid for as long as possible," Helen continues.
"Works for me," Gordon nods and Penelope gingerly releases Gordon's wrist to allow him to leave.
"Do be careful, Gordon," Penelope mutters to herself and gives Sherbet a fuss for comfort.
April 9th, 2065 - 19:46 AEST
Gordon is now back in Thunderbird 4 and in clean water. It had only taken him a few minutes to make his way safely around the acidic water and to a safe enough distance to return towards the Supreme Barrier Reef from behind the source of the acid.
"Still staying clear of the acid flow," Gordon informs FAB 3. The sonar onboard Thunderbird 4 gives off its monotonous beep as Gordon nears the source until it's in view, "And there's our polluter." He streams what he is seeing back to FAB 3 for everyone to see.
"What is it?" Penelope asks, who is too afraid to look at what's going on.
"A sunken cargo ship," Gordon informs, "And whatever's inside must have just started to leak."
"Well done, Mr Tracy," Helen says.
"Except I don't think I should take Thunderbird 4 inside," Gordon sighs, "It'll be tricky to manoeuvre in there."
"What else can you do?" Robbie asks.
"Strap on my spare exo-suit and take a look," Gordon responds.
"Gordon!" Penelope exclaims and walks over to the table to talk to him properly, "That's right where the acid is strongest. The exo-suit won't be able to protect you."
"I'll be in and out fast," Gordon states, turning off his coms and prepares for EVA, "At least, I hope I will." His chair reclines back and he is released from Thunderbird 4. Before leaving, he opens the storage hold underneath and grabs his exo-suit. Gordon quickly attaches it to himself and heads towards the ship.
Unlike the water at the Supreme Barrier Reef, which was green, the water inside the ship is a red mist — a mixture of rust and acid. Despite having an airtight suit, Gordon could swear that he could taste the horrible smell that is being emitted from within the ship. "Eurgh!" he mutters to himself. He searches several corridors of the ship as he tries and navigates his way to the main cargo hold that would be located in the centre of the ship. Eventually, he goes through a large steel door and into the central cargo hold and immediately contacts FAB 3.
"Okay, here's the situation," Gordon explains, "We've got big tanks, a big leak... and big trouble."
"Say again?" Penelope questions, not believing what she's hearing.
"Er, the thing is," Gordon starts, "If we try to pull those tanks, they'll break."
"Not good," Robbie comments as Sherbet whimpers from his arms.
"It'll kill the rest of the coral on the reef, "Helen wirily says.
"If only we could bring the ship to the surface," Gordon sighs, "Then I could freeze the chemicals and they'd be harmless."
"Now, that gives me an idea," Penelope states, determined to get Gordon out of the ship as soon as possible, "Brains has upgraded the on-board lift bags, they should be able to raise a ship this size."
"Nice one," Gordon says, "How soon can you get them down here?"
"Plotting coordinates now, Gordon," Penelope informs as she turns around and walks over to the control panel off to the side, pressing several buttons that would release the lift bags.
Gordon checks his suits integrity and sees it has dropped to 71% and decides to head out of the ship and wait for the bags to arrive in clean water. This would allow him to spend more time if needed in the ship later. After only a couple of minutes, Gordon sees the bags arrive at his location and watches as they attach to the ship and start to inflate. With some creaking and groaning, the large ship starts to lift from the seabed. Gordon watches from the safety of Thunderbird 4 and is alarmed to hear a crash and the tear in the ship's hull that sent it to the ocean floor widen. In the process half of the ship starts to slide back to the bottom.
"Stop the lift bags!" Gordon cries in alarm. There's another crash a part of what was the ship's bridge breaks away and heads directly for Thunderbird 4. He tries to start his submarine but in the process stalls the engines and the bridge makes contact with him. "Argh!" Gordon exclaims as he's thrown back in his seat, "Urgh!"
"Gordon!" Penelope yells.
"Urgh, I'm okay!" Gordon grunts as he looks up again at the ship, which is now fully on the seabed again, "Though my equipment, not so much." He makes his way out of Thunderbird 4 and pulls up his suit's integrity, seeing it drop to 50%. "If I want to raise the boat, I need to patch it together first," Gordon comments, "And fast."
April 9th, 2065 - 20:07 AEST
"How much longer, Gordon?" Penelope worriedly asks. For the past few minutes, Gordon had been welding the two halves of the ship together the best he could. This would enable the lift bags to safely get the ship to the surface without the risk of it coming apart again.
"Just a few more minutes," Gordon informs and watches as the 25% warning on his suit goes off, not realising that he hadn't disconnected from his coms yet.
"Gordon," Penelope says, in a protective tone, "What was that?"
"Oh, nothing... much," Gordon brushes off innocently.
"Parker, tap into the telemetry from Gordon's suit," Penelope orders. Parker does as ordered and recoils in shock as what he sees.
"H'oh," Parker stutters, "'Hat's not good. His seal h'integrity 'his at 20% and dropping."
"Gordon!" Penelope whines, scared and annoyed that Gordon hadn't informed her of the complete situation.
"Yeah..." Gordon trails, "Turns out the acid is doing a number on my gear too."
"H'if 'hit reaches zero, 'is 'h'air will leak h'out and h'at'll be 'hat," Parker states.
"No sweat, I'm almost done," Gordon responds.
"Gordon," Penelope scolds, "Under the circumstances, almost will have to do."
"'Here h'it h'is again!" Parker cries as the beeping of Gordon's suit increases, "Make 'hat 15%."
"Parker, you're not helping," Gordon says in a tell-tell tone.
"Now, see here, Mr Tracy," Helen instructs, "Don't be foolish."
"Yeah, seriously," Robbie interjects, "Get out of there!"
"Okay, okay," Gordon sighs in defeat, "Inflate the bags."
Parker turns around to the controls but is stopped by a firm hand on his shoulder be Penelope.
"Not until you're off that ship," Penelope demands.
"I'll make it," Gordon brushes off, "Go, Parker. And have that cooler ready so we can freeze this thing!"
Parker turns to Penelope, who looks completely dejected at the situation but gives him a slight nod, allowing him to inflate the bags. Parker puts a comforting hand onto Penelope's shoulder and presses the button to inflate the bags.
From inside the ship, Gordon feels the ship start to lift as he continues to weld the two sections of the ship together, against the orders from everyone on FAB 3. As his suits integrity reaches 9%, he finishes the job. "There," he sighs and turns around to make it to the small exit that he left on the other side of the ship. However, the lifting of the ship had course loose parts of the ship to start floating around and one such barrel, hit the steel door that he'd gone through earlier, jamming it shut.
"Argh!" Gordon shouts.
"Gordon!" Penelope calls, noticing that Gordon is still inside the ship, "What are you doing?"
"Slight roadblock," Gordon grunts as he gets his cutting laser out and goes for the doors hinges, "Give me a minute." Once he'd cut through, he groans as he pulls the door to the floor, allowing him to swim through into the tight corridors of the ship once again. He quickly is hit by another object that sends him flying through the corridors out of control. As he looks up he sees a corner to another corridor and uses his momentum to regain control of his swimming path. Seeing the straight path ahead of him, he charges down it only to be thrown to the side and coming to a stop.
Undenounced to him, one side of the lift bags had failed, causing only a single set of lift bags, located at the front on the ship, active. The ship as a result, is spun 90° and Gordon strains as he looks around at now unfamiliar surroundings. He makes his way towards what he thinks in the exit and continues to duck and turn around any loose debris that floats in his way. Eventually, he feels a current that pulls him along and before he knew it, he is pulled out the side of the ship.
"Whoa! I'm out!" Gordon cries but then hears a beeping, "Uh-oh, 5%... Erm make that 3%."
"Gordon!" Penelope cries over the coms and Gordon quickly activates his exo-suit which starts to splutter from the exposure to the acid.
"I'm swimming! I'm swimming!" Gordon yells and desperately tries to reach Thunderbird 4. As his suit reaches 1%, Gordon swims into the airlock at the back of Thunderbird 4 that lead to the med-bay and charges to the front and takes a seat in his chair.
"Zero!" Gordon mutters and starts to press on several controls, "Come on, come on. Almost!" He the breathes a huge sigh of relief as his cockpit is filled with mist, "Thank you, neutralising fog. Bit... does it have to be so c-c-c-cold?"
April 9th, 2065 - 20:07 AEST
Evening approached FAB 3, and everyone head gone to their separate rooms before heading for Australia in the morning to drop both Robbie and Helen off. Well, everyone but Penelope, who remained on the rig deck and looking over at the sunset.
Inside, Gordon walked out from his third shower of the day and decided to get some fresh air before turning in for the night. As he opens the door to go on the rig deck he notices Penelope standing by herself and decides to approach her. When he gets near, Penelope turns slightly, clearly hearing him.
"Feeling better, Gordon?" she asks.
"Yeah, tons," Gordon sighs, scratching the back of his head, "And now that we've frozen the tanks inside the cargo ship, we can tow it to port safely tomorrow."
"Yes, very good," Penelope mutters and then turns to face Gordon, "But to be honest, Gordon, I'm still rather upset with you."
"With me?" Gordon asks, shocked.
"Yes, you frickin' idiot," Penelope yells, "I thought you were going to die! With your suit falling apart and all that banging about in the ship and... and then not hearing from you. Never scare me like that again!"
"I," Gordon starts surprised but then slowly smirks, "I didn't know you... cared so much."
"Hmmm," Penelope scowls, "You are just so clueless sometimes."
"With what?" Gordon inquires, completely confused by the constant change in tone from Penelope.
"Maybe you'll find out one day," Penelope sighs and walks away leaving a completely stunned Gordon left behind on the rig deck, with a bunch of questions and not knowing how to answer any of them.