Quite obviously, Gordon has a great many concerned friends... and one quite unstoppable sister. ;) Thank you, Creative Girl, Bow Echo, Tikatu and Whirl Girl!

47

The Chaos Cruiser, beneath a bridge in London's New Town-

Dinner seen to, Havok set about doing her ruddy homework. One thing she'd learnt, over the last very wild year, was that bashing and bombs would only take you so far. A mission failed or succeeded on research. Not that Fuse cared.

As her brother turned his seat back round to watch a match on the telly, the girl cracked her armoured knuckles and set to work hacking the GDF's "secure" computer system. Tea cake with sprinkles, really, 'cause, whatever John bloody Tracy could do, so could Havok.

Looking for a d*mn Dos Santos, she was. Or, failing that, any Special prisoners. 'Course, they wouldn't simply be labeled as such. She had to look deeper; cracking the GDF firewall, first, then searching for places where prison data had been erased or re-labeled.

At first, she didn't find much, besides Jeff Tracy's hospital suite, and those of his family and visitors.

"File that 'n away for dessert," the girl muttered, as her brother bellowed and thumped the arms of his tech-station seat.

"Mank!" he roared. "Mank, up by one!"

Lovely. At the rate the big rhino was working himself up, she'd have to go out for food again, soon. Briefly considered tranking him; only, he always took so long to come off the peace-trip. Not bloody worth it. Just have to finish this job faster, was all, and toss him the odd snack.

Havok found what she was looking for when she shifted her search from "prisoners" to "patients". If Steele had kept his guests a dark secret, then the GDF wonks wouldn't hardly know how to classify 'em, nor what they was in for, eh?

And, if they was scrapies, they'd have to be bunged away in a ward, someplace. Too helpless to be turned loose with a credit-transfer and "released at His Majesty's pleasure" certificate. Maybe too dangerous to release at all, if they truly was Specials. Then, after a few minutes of searching, Havok hit paydirt.

"There you are, mate," she whispered, spotting a peculiar data trail. Four hospital orderlies had been killed, very recently. Two of them torn to bits, one dead of an unknown disease, one locked in some kind of statue-like coma. Frozen, almost… only, not cold to the touch.

Across the cabin, Man U. was winning handily, which meant that the Chaos Cruiser was going to take another beating. Not as badly as if they'd lost, though. Then, she really would have to trank her d*mn brother.

"Frozen," Havok whispered, chewing at the rubbery tip of one gloved finger. "Not in temperature… data report says th' bloke's become a statue. Frozen in time, maybe?"

Another goal was scored against Real Madrid, causing Fuse to roar like a bull and rip the arm off his sparking and squealing chair.

"Bloody h*ll," Havok grumbled. Her enormous brother had lifted the torn-away arm over his head, ready to smash it down on the console. "Can't bleedin' think in this place!"

Reaching into her armour's chest plate, she pulled out a small, electronic gun. Almost without looking, Havok pressed the muzzle to her brother's back, and then squeezed the trigger. He convulsed, then went down like a felled tree, crashing to the deck with a noise like mixed gravel and engine parts.

"Sleep it off, ya big wank," she growled, before turning back to her data screen. With a match playing on in the background, and her brother snoring like a force-5 tornado, Havok got back to work. Someone had frozen that orderly, locking him right the h*ll out of the time stream. Question was who and where?

Never occurred to her to ask how she'd spring that dangerous inmate because… with the Tracys in the area… Havok had the best kind of lockpicking tools; ready to hand and simply controlled. Bloody amazing, what a lass could accomplish with just a few hostages, eh?

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

About the same time, in the GDF hospital's VIP guest suite-

Kayo walked beside Captain Rigby, listening as he described what seemed like a perfectly wonderful, completely ordinary life. She'd run into her father and Uncle Lee… Dad was getting a bit of exercise, he'd claimed… but she'd been too taken with Wayne to pay much attention.

She felt flushed. Was quite possibly glowing, all because an earnest, handsome young man had bought her lunch, and was now walking her back to her room. The hospital corridors weren't long enough to suit Kayo, who would gladly have strolled at his side for hours. Didn't get it. Couldn't explain it. Didn't want to be with anyone else.

For the first time since early childhood (when she'd fallen in love with Speed Racer) Virgil was crowded entirely out of her thoughts. Which was strange, because blond, blue-eyed Wayne wasn't as good-looking as her bothers, or as strong, but something about him fitted perfectly into her heart.

Here in the VIP area, the hospital's loudspeakers were muted, the lighting much gentler. The floors were carpeted in soothingly patterned blue… and they'd managed to get far too close to her door.

Kayo knew, somehow, that Rigby would not go into her room with her. That he might kiss her cheek, but that was all. And, oddly, it didn't bother her. He was a complete other person, someone she hadn't grown up with, and would have to learn to solve like a puzzle.

They'd reached the gold-leafed door to her room; Captain Rigby had just brushed a soft, hesitant kiss upon her forehead, when they heard whispered voices and laughter. Gordon was coming along the hall from outside, wearing his damp yellow swimming trunks. He had one arm around… Oh, no. Scratch that. Not just no, but h*ll, no… as her brother John would say. Cavanaugh.

Maybe she had promised, but the sight of that lecherous harpy with her talons in Gordon was too much for Kayo. Elbowing past Rigby, Kay cleared her throat. Loudly.

Her sandy-haired brother looked over, and then sort of shrugged. Clearly, just the sight of her standing there looking death at him wasn't going to alter Gordon's plans. Right. Time to bring out the big guns.

Tanusha Kyrano Tracy had grown up in a house filled with boys. She knew the "Bro Code". Specifically, she knew Virgil's emergency abort signal; normally used when Scott or Gordon had picked up a totally, disastrously unsuitable date. It was not much invoked, but could not be ignored, by long-standing family tradition.

Scott and John had evaded Kat's sweaty, smirking grasp. Now it was up to their sister to make certain that Gordon stayed free, as well. Whispering,

"Back me up,"

…she stepped away from Wayne, to block Gordon's path. Kat gave her a very arch, challenging look, but Tanusha ignored her. Planting herself directly in front of her older brother, fists on hips, she snapped,

"NFW," just as Virgil would have done, had he been there. An acronym, it stood for 'No f*cking way', and it meant: Abort! Wave off!

Gordon scowled. His sister had invoked bro code? Was that even legal? Then, Rigby strode over; tall, brisk and friendly. Just like an alert, sober wingmen, he said,

"Wheels up at 0600 tomorrow, Sailor. C'mon… let's go have a drink, play a few games of pool, and turn in. I'll buy the first round."

Gordon wavered. Not only had his sister crossed the lines to invoke sacred code, she'd enlisted an ally. All of which made Gordon wonder… what would Virgil have said, had he seen what the aquanaut was about to drag home to bed? The answer? NFW.

Shaking his head, Gordon shot a seething 'This isn't over' glare at his furious sister. Then, he turned to face Kat.

"Sorry, Miss Cavanaugh," he told her. "I'll have to take a rain check. Like the man says, the family business comes first."

Sometimes, it really sucked, being a Tracy.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Tracy Island, far in the future-

Having first studied, then repaired the stepping disk, Brains was ready to test it. Not with a human subject, however. Too dangerous. That's what he'd brought a dozen swift, darting Mini-Maxes for.

He, Moffy and Major Pope had worked for many hours to clean and refit the most technologically advanced piece of equipment he'd ever seen. Some of those components operated completely outside of the present three-dimensional universe.

Now, they had it up and running. Lieutenant Commander Sheffield came to the door as Brains was replacing the disk's cover. He looked grim. Behind him, wringing hands like two bundles of golden-tan sticks, was Sharl.

Brains gave them a respectful nod. To Sheffield, he said,

"W- Welcome, Lieutenant Commander. Were you s- successful in your, ah… your endeavour?"

Sheffield's blunt, square-jawed face tightened. He shook his head, no.

"I'm afraid not, Doctor. There's no answer, anywhere. Not from any of the mapped domes, from Mars, or the colonies. It's like… like this is it. There's no one else out there."

Brains would have responded, but, being very bold for one of her kind, Sharl said,

"To be pardoning my voice, Speakers. I who have waited am no longer being of need. I am knowing nothing… but there is detected machine response, in North Dome."

Brains looked from Sharl to the thick-set young officer, who rubbed at the back of his own neck like a stressed, troubled man.

"Well, yeah… sort of. Something over there detected our signal, and opened a channel, but no one picked up, or replied. Automatic system, probably."

Professor Moffat's face fell. Her earlier scans and blood tests had shown that the people of this time were dying; that some endemic, gene-altering pathogen was making them sterile, destroying their immune system and healing abilities. Down to brass tacks, their cells weren't dividing any longer. Now, given what Sheffield had told them, it seemed likely that the illness had already run its course, everywhere else.

Looking at Brains, Moffy said,

"Hiram… perhaps there are no more. Perhaps, seven-hundred years from our time, humanity has been all but wiped out."

Brains looked around the stepping-across room, with its brave technology and glowing wall map of possible jump sites. Shaking his head, he told her,

"M- Moffy, we are people of science. It is our, ah… our d- duty to seek rational solutions, whatever the d- dangers before us. Let us n- not borrow trouble, but select the N- North Dome as a jump site, and send Mini-Max through to observe it. He can, ah… can t- transmit pictures and v- video, from the other side."

Vanessa nodded. Beside her, Major Pope asked,

"Will you be able to bring the probe back, Doctor Hackenbacker, or is this a one-way trip?"

Brains spread his hands helplessly.

"I s- suppose that depends upon the, ah… the s- state of repair of the other disk. I shall do all in m- my power to bring Mini-max back through, but if it cannot, ah… cannot b- be done, then his "consciousness" will s- simply depart this body and, ah… and r- return to inhabit another Max-form."

That seemed to settle the matter, so they readied the stepping-across room for its first real run, and sent a single brave, buzzing Max inside to test pilot.

"G- Good fortune, my friend," Brains whispered. "May G- Ganesh remove all obstacles to success!"

Then, he closed the door, selected a destination, and hit send.