Chapter 11: Recovery
It was two hours later that Kayo and Brains made their way back to the infirmary. The room was still dark, and EOS' blue halo glowed on each of the screens behind the five beds that were occupied.
"EOS."
"Yes, Brains?"
"How are they doing?"
"I was able to connect their monitors to the house systems so I can keep track of John and Alan. Their hearts have remained steady. And they all have slept the entire time."
"Good," Brains smiled as he walked over to the supply closet and pulled out a couple of stretchers, "The other's can keep sleeping, but I want to get John and Alan down to the MRI scanner." Brains activated the hover mode on the stretcher and motioned for Kayo to follow him. They walked over to John's bed, and Kayo shook his shoulder.
"John, wake up," She called leaning down next to his head.
"Why," Came his slurred answer.
"We need to take some tests," Kayo replied shaking him again.
"I didn't study," John replied as he tried to roll over on his bad shoulder and winced at the pain that shuddered through him.
"Come on, John," Kayo shook him again. Slowly his eyes cracked open and he looked at the two shadows above him.
"Why's it dark? Is it night?"
"No, the lights are just off. The other's are s…still asleep," Brains smiled as he put down the side bar on the bed.
"Why don't they have to get up?"
"Because they didn't get as many knocks to the head as you," Kayo replied frowning at Brains, "Is it just me or does he sound like an eight-year-old?"
"I hope it's just because he's still half asleep," Brains was frowning as well, "Hold the stretcher as I get him on." Kayo did as she was told, helping to transfer John over. They pulled him down toward the door and then went to get Alan.
"A…Alan, time to w…wake up," Brains announced shaking him. Alan woke up a bit faster, but was still slow to understand what was going on.
"It's still dark," He complained as he tried to pull his comforter over his head. Kayo pulled it back down.
"It's the middle of the afternoon," She corrected him, "Come along now, you have some tests to do." Brains pulled him off of the bed and onto the stretcher with Kayo's help, and then they pushed them out of the infirmary and down the hall where the large machine was stored. By the time they arrived they were fully awake. Alan was complaining to Brains as to why he couldn't have slept longer, while John just frowned up at Kayo.
"You okay?" Kayo asked as she pushed him into the room.
"Yeah, just…. tired," John replied. His speech had improved even more which raised Kayo's hopes. "I was dreaming about something from childhood."
"Ah," Kayo smiled over at Brains who had parked Alan to the side of the room and had joined her, that was why he sounded like an eight year old, "What did you dream about?"
"When mom died," John frowned as they strapped him in. Brains went on into the control room to start the machine up while Kayo stayed behind to listen. "I had Alan up to the roof one night. He had nightmare, and I was calm him down. He wanted mom, and I was explain to him she had gone space, and was star now. She would watching over us from there," John looked over at Kayo and smiled a little, "He said, he go to space grew up he could be with again. After he was fine, no more nightmares."
"That sounds sweet," Kayo smiled glancing over to where Alan lay listening, "Lay back now, so we can get a good picture of your head." John nodded and relaxed on the platform while Kayo put in a pair of small earphones in his ears. She went to the far side of the room where Alan was and handed him a pair of earphones as well. "Do you remember that?"
"No, I was only three, but for some reason whenever I thought about mom I would always look to the stars. I never knew why…," Alan trailed off and looked over at his brother. Kayo patted him on the shoulder and then went into the control room to join Brains. The machine started up as the platform slowly entered.
Brains had pulled up previous scans and was going through them as they waited for the current scan to start compiling its data.
"See, this was taken a couple of years ago, when we first got the machine," Brains explained brining up pictures from John's file. "This was the one I did a couple of days ago after they first landed," He then swiped the first set of images to the side and brought up another.
"What are those dots," Kayo asked pointing to a few spots that appeared on the second set of images.
"Those are from the trauma," Brains explained, "Hopefully with this scan they will be gone."
"How are you doing in there John," Kayo asked over the two-way radio.
"Well, isn't helping headache," John replied in a loud voice, "Brains, when hook up this TV?"
"What, the TV's not hooked up?" Alan replied listening in on the conversation, "What am I supposed to do while it's scanning?"
"I t…totally forgot about it," Brains laughed, "Sorry, guys, I guess I never thought it would be needed."
"Well, I'm be needing more scans, so could get science channel I be appreciative."
"And the racing channel," Alan added.
"I'll see what I can do," Brains smiled.
Those that had been left in the infirmary slept quietly, unaware of the two that had left. Gordon was the first to wake of the brothers, and rubbed his eyes, regretting the action when he bumped his nose. He yawned and looked around him, stopping on John and Alan's empty beds.
"John," he called, sitting up on his knees and looking around, "Alan!" He jumped from his bed and ran down the room thinking that they might have tried to get out of bed and fallen, but there was no sign of his brothers anywhere. "Virgil!" Gordon ran over to his other older brother and shook him awake, "Virgil, John's gone!"
"What?" Virgil was slow to wake up, coughing lightly, and blinked blearily at Gordon, "What are you talking about?"
"John's gone, he's not here! Alan too! Where are they?"
"Gordon, settle down," Scott called over to him from his own bed, "I'm sure there is an explanation."
"But what if something's happened, and they took them away so we wouldn't find them."
"Lights on," Scott called and the lights brightened in the room. He raised his hand to his mouth and a rattling cough escaped. He calmed it down and looked back to fish, "I doubt that happened."
"W… what if it did, what if they had to air lift them out, what if…" Gordon was pacing the room swinging his arm about rambling on about all the possible things that could have happened, "What if they thought that we were all vampires and were going to eat them and they went crazy?" Scott and Virgil looked at each other a bit of concern on their faces. Gordon had been the least out of it among them, why was he freaking out all of the sudden.
"Look, Gordon, calm down for a moment."
"I can't!" Gordon exclaimed. Virgil frowned and got out of bed, walked over to his brother, and tried to hold his arms down for a moment.
"Careful, you hit your hand and the stitches might come out."
"Let go!" Gordon yelled pulling himself free of Virgil causing him to yelp when his broken hand hit the end of one of the beds.
"Gordon!" Scott yelled, suppressing yet another coughing fit and jumping out of his bed to try and contain his brother's fanatics.
"EOS!" Virgil yelled, holding onto his hand, "EOS!"
"WHAT?" EOS' annoyed voice finally answered.
"Where's John and Alan?"
"Brains has them in the MRI room," EOS replied and then disappeared to be with John again.
"Did you hear that Gordon," Virgil asked coming up behind him as he struggled in Scott's arms, "Brains has them, they're in the MRI machine. They're fine." Gordon suddenly slumped in Scott's arms, causing him to readjust his hold to keep him upright. Scott looked over Gordon's head at Virgil with a questioning look. Gordon laid his head on Scott's chest and started crying. Quickly Virgil helped Scott to get him back in his bed.
"Gordon, what is going on?" Scott asked as the two eldest hovered over their brother. It took Gordon a moment to quiet himself enough to speak.
"I woke to the sound of a flatline on the heart monitor. When I sat up and looked, both Alan and John's monitors were doing it. I looked at their beds and they were gone. You guys were still in your bed, but you were looking down, crying. I heard Kayo crying too, but I couldn't see her. I looked to the other side, toward the door and Brains was leading two stretchers out, the bodies completely covered with sheets," Gordon sobbed again, "Then I woke up again, and their beds were empty…"
"Gordon," Scott sat down and tried to clear his throat of the annoying feeling of yet another cough, and pulled his brother to him, "It's okay. They're awake and just getting some scans done. They're fine, it was just a dream." Virgil sat on his other side, leaned over and embraced both his brothers.
"Everything is going to be fine," Virgil murmured.
"It seemed so real," Gordon sobbed.
"I know," Scott murmured as he stroked Gordon's hair. He met eyes with Virgil understanding suddenly flowing between the two of them. Gordon had done something very similar in the past, only he had been unable to move when the panic had hit him. He was still recovering from his hydrofoil accident when he had had a dream where he had failed to recover, and his brothers had abandoned him because of it. He had awoken to an empty room and had started to panic. Scott and Virgil had been just in the hall, and ran to him trying to comfort him just as they were doing now. It took a few minutes, but Gordon finally calmed down.
"Promise me you won't tell Alan," Gordon asked with a thick voice.
"Tell me what?" Alan asked as Kayo pushed him back into the room. He tried to sit up to get a better look at his brothers and Kayo had to push him back down.
"Lay still or I'll be dumping you on the floor," She warned as she pushed him back to his bed.
"Is everything okay?" John asked as he was pushed past. Scott readjusted himself so he was blocking Gordon, giving him time to wipe his eyes and compose himself.
"Yeah, everything's find. How about you? How did the scans go?"
"He's h…healing just fine," Brains smiled.
"That's good to hear," Virgil smiled, "How about Alan? Is he a lost cause?"
"Hey, I heard that," Alan called as he attempted to scoot over to his bed one handed.
"Alan is fine too. I should probably do scans of everyone who had hit their head," Brains mused.
"Ha, I think I'm the only one that didn't," Virgil laughed as he followed Brains to help him move John.
"I didn't," Gordon argued.
"Yeah you did," Scott replied lightly tapping the wound on his head.
"Oh, forgot about that," Gordon frowned.
"I didn't hit my head," Alan pointed out.
"How do we know you didn't when you were thrown across the room," Virgil asked.
"I think I would have felt it," Alan frowned, annoyed he had brought that mistake up again. They laughed as everyone settled back down in their beds.
"John," EOS called as she appeared on the monitor behind him.
"Yes, EOS?" John asked smiling.
"Will you really be okay?" She asked her halo fading to various shades.
"I thinks so," John reassured her, "Are you okay? I know you were left longer than promised."
"I was scared, and angry," She admitted to the room, "When I was let out, I was so mad at you. I could have thrown you out of the airlock again."
"Glad we weren't in space then," Brains smiled, "I'm not as b..bad as Virgil, but I'm not big on going outside."
"When I saw you, laying there, I was… I was… sad, and… and…"
"I think the word you're looking for is worried," Virgil announced.
"Yes, worried. You humans are so fragile. What if you hadn't survived. If I had noticed the hacking earlier, I could have stopped it."
"Wait, is EOS trying to blame herself?" Alan asked raising an eyebrow.
"No, EOS. This not your fault," John shook his head slightly.
"But, John."
"No," John replied, "It is easy to assign blame, but it takes too much time away from the important things."
"What are those," EOS asked.
"Fixing what went wrong," Gordon replied, remembering what Scott had said earlier.
"OH, I am fixing that," EOS' ring turned a dark red at that.
"EOS, what are you planning?"
"Oh, d…dear, I forgot to block her from the antenna," Brains frowned.
"EOS," John asked again.
"Kayo brought back a drive from the hackers. I'm using it to pinpoint their location. They are still trying to hack into Thunderbird 5."
"EOS, it's not your place to punish what they have done," John frowned.
"These are horrible humans. They hurt you on purpose, all of you," EOS argued.
"Yes, they did," Scott confirmed, "But our world is run by laws that we all have agreed on. One of those is that we cannot seek revenge on our own."
"EOS, do you have their location," John asked.
"I do. They are still in the Indian Ocean, though they seem to be making their way toward the Pacific."
"Then you need to contact the GDF. Let them know what has happened. They will arrest those men and punish them within the constraints of the law," John explained, "We would all do the same."
"But…"
"Then, we can start working on taking back Thunderbird 5. Fix what the hackers did to her, and improve her. Make it so that no one can hack her again."
"If you say so, John," EOS replied a little sadly.
"We are better than them," John smiled, "And this is how we can prove it."
"I understand," EOS' halo disappeared for a moment and then came back a moment later, "Colonel Casey would like to speak to you. Is that okay?"
"Well, we'd have to sooner or later," Scott sighed, "Patch her through." A hologram appeared at the front of the room, Colonel Casey blinked in surprise at the scene before her.
"Oh my."
"Will you be able to track the hackers down," Scott asked trying to make this a short conversation.
"Y…Yes, I have received the coordinates and will send someone out to arrest them as soon as possible," She replied frowning at the group before her, "They really did a job on you. Are you all going to be okay?"
"Yes, though we will be out of commission for a while," Scott frowned looking around at his brothers, "It's not just us, but our birds are damaged as well."
"I see, if there is anything we can do to help, just let us know," Colonel Casey frowned, "We'll also do our best to cover for you while you all heal."
"Thank you, Colonel," Scott nodded another large series of coughs escaping. The hologram disappeared and they all relaxed a little, but a moment later there was the beeping of an incoming transmission, "I hope it's not the Colonel again."
"It's Lady Penelope," EOS informed them, "Would you like to speak to her?"
"Yes," Virgil nodded as Scott tried to keep another cough at bay. The hologram appeared again, but this time it was the British aristocrat that stood before them.
"Well, this is a delightful surprise," She smiled as she saw all five of them awake and sitting up.
"I'm afraid there's not much we can do for you at the moment, Penelope," Scott smiled his voice a little horse from his coughing.
"I would say not," She frowned, "I on the other hand have some news for you."
"P…p…Penny," John forced out, "Do you know… how hack my bird?"
"I know where they got the access code to get into Thunderbird 5's systems," Lady Penelope smiled, "A man by the name of Milton VanDeer. He's worked at Tracy Industries for almost five years now. I am unclear of exactly how he got his hands on the access code, but as soon as he realized that it was something he should not have, he started to think of how much he could get for it. I've already contacted the GDF. They've arranged a bit of a fib, and are working with the heads of Tracy Industries. I believe the story they are going with is that the access code was to some GDF satellite that Tracy Industries had worked on for them."
"But the company hasn't done any work for the GDF," Virgil frowned coughing a little.
"They are going to say that it was a secret project that only your father knew the truth about," Lady Penelope replied.
"That sounds legit," Alan smiled.
"Yes, well, as soon as I know more, I will let you know. For now, please get some rest and take care of yourself."
"We will Lady Penelope," Scott nodded and the hologram disappeared.
"How long do you think we'll be grounded," Alan asked looking down at his broken arm and red brace.
"W…well, it will take the bones up to three months to p…properly heal," Brains explained. Once they are, y…you'll have to start physical therapy to retain full use of them. Especially Virgil's hand, and John's shoulder."
"Add to the fact, that we can't really do much about the birds until we are well ourselves," Virgil frowned as he watched Scott try to hide more coughing.
"I…I've already been thinking about that," Brains mused as he sat down at the desk, "We c…can't really leave them out like they are. We n…need to get them back in their hangers."
"Well, we still have Thunderbird 1," Scott pointed out once his coughing fit was over.
"Yes, I do plan to use her. I think Kayo will have to pilot her if that's okay," Brains asked looking to Scott. Scott frowned and then sighed.
"I don't think we have much of a choice. Not that I don't trust you Kayo…"
"I know, I'll be gentle with her," Kayo smiled knowing how protective each man was with their machine.
"I've done a quick survey of Thunderbird 2's systems," Brains pulled up the current schematic of the big green bird, "There is quite a bit of damage to the hull, but mostly cosmetic in nature. The front right thruster is damaged beyond repair, it will be some time before she is airborne again. And it looks as though Gordon didn't lower the landing gears before crashing."
"Gordon," Virgil frowned his own cough escaping his lips.
"Hey, I was doing good to get her on the landing strip. Be grateful I didn't land her in the water."
"Like you did with my bird," Kayo smirked.
"Ah, yeah, sorry," Gordon lowered his head.
"Nah, I'm impressed you got her home. Thanks." Gordon looked up and gave her a weak smile.
"We'll have to use Thunderbird 1 to pull 2 away from the hanger door, and then we can use the winches in the hanger to pull her in. Then we can use Thunderbird 1 again to get S out of the water and onto a trailer and into the hanger as well."
"What about my bird," Alan asked.
"That is the tricky one. She is too big for Thunderbird 1 to lift on her own. We may have to find a way to cover her up until we get Thunderbird 2 fixed."
"I don't like leaving her out there like that," Alan whined.
"We don't have much of a choice," Scott frowned, "Once they're back in their silos, how long till repairs are done?"
"Well, I went ahead and ordered the parts for Thunderbird 2, but it will take a couple of weeks to arrive. Once they are here, we may be able to at least get her airborne in another week. I won't know what parts are needed for Thunderbird S or 3 until we get them into the hanger for me to inspect."
"Thunderbird S is going to be awhile," Kayo sighed, "She lost a wing and her tail."
"Oh, d…dear," Brains frowned, "I'll put in the orders for replacements right away."
"Don't worry about her too much," Kayo smiled, "We need to get the main birds up and going before you worry about mine."
"I'm afraid I have to agree with you on that," Scott nodded once again trying to suppress a cough, "Once we're clear to leave this room we can help with the repairs as much as possible."
"Scott," Virgil frowned as his brother.
"What," Scott asked, as he absently rubbed his chest, looking surprised at the accusing tone Virgil was using.
"Brains, have you listened to Scott's lungs lately?"
"N…No, I haven't," Brains looked up confused by the sudden change of topic. Virgil pulled himself out of bed, groaning a little and made his way over to the supply cabinet. He pulled out a stethoscope and returned to Scott's bed.
"Lean forward," Virgil ordered. Scott mumbled something but did as he was told. "Okay, breath in, and out." Scott followed the command of his little brother as he moved the stethoscope to various areas of his back, chest, and sides. Finally he took the instrument away and frowned at Scott.
"What?" Scott asked.
"How do you feel?"
"What? Fine."
"Really?"
"I'm a little chilly, but otherwise I'm fine."
"No your not," Virgil frowned, "I think you've got pneumonia."
"I do not," Scott argued as another, stronger, set of coughs overtook him. Once he was done, he moaned.
"Are you sure about that," Virgil asked covering his mouth and coughing a little as he looked down at his brother who had fallen back into his bed.
"Fine," Scott pouted.
"Speaking of which," Brains approached Virgil and took the stethoscope from his hands, "I've been meaning to listen to your lungs too."
"Mine? I'm not the one that breathed in an ocean," Virgil argued.
"No, but you may have breathed in some vomit or other gastro juices," Brains explained as he preformed the same exam Virgil had just given Scott.
"Well, do you hear anything," Virgil asked as he took in a large breath wheezing a little.
"N…no, but you are coughing, and that was most certainly a wheeze," Brains frowned, "I think it best we treat you for it just to be safe."
"Fine," Virgil grumbled.
"Get to bed, you," Gordon grinned pointing to Virgil's bed.
"Oh hush," Virgil complained as he passed Gordon's bed.
"We agreed didn't we, I was in charge of making sure you took care of yourself."
"Only when John is in space," Virgil argued.
"Then I order you to bed," John smiled not quite knowing what was going on, but joining the fun none the less.
"Oh, who do I get to boss around," Alan asked eagerly.
"Gordon," Virgil shot back.
"Aw, that's no fun," Alan frowned.
"So when do the rest of us get to get out of here," Gordon asked as Brains went to work re-inserting IVs into Scott and Virgil, setting them up with antibiotics and fluids.
"W..well, y..you would probably be okay to leave today," Brains announced as he finished up his work.
"Just me?" Gordon asked looking at Alan and John.
"I want to keep those two for a bit longer. Make sure there aren't any other i…issues," Brains explained.
"Aw, man," Alan complained, "It's so boring in here."
"Sorry, Bro. Tell you what, I'll bring some games in we can play," Gordon smiled at his brother, "But first, I've been away from the water much too long. I need to go for a swim."
"No diving, and I'd p…prefer if you just lounged, you don't want to use your hand just yet."
"Oh all right, but a nice dip will still be better than laying here all day," Gordon jumped out of bed again and was out the door before anyone could stop him.
"H…he's going to swim anyways, isn't he," Brains asked.
"Probably," Alan confirmed.
"We never could keep him dry for long," John smiled. Virgil and Scott didn't say anything, but they knew that Gordon had already forgotten about his earlier dream.
That night, Gordon, tired from his many laps up and down the pool, slept in his own room. The rest of the family stayed in the infirmary napping throughout the evening and night. There seemed to be someone awake at any one time trying to keep themselves busy with what little there was to do. It was probably close to two in the morning when the door to the infirmary hissed open. John was awake at the end of the room with a small light over his shoulder as he read his book. He looked up to see who had entered and found Gordon looking down at him.
"What's the matter," John asked, inserting a peace of scrap paper so he wouldn't lose his spot.
"Nothing," Gordon replied as he looked at each of the beds to make sure their occupants were still breathing.
"Come here," John motioned with his one hand. Gordon crawled into the bed and John lifted his comforter so that Gordon could join him underneath. "Did you have a bad dream?" Gordon sat up next to John and leaned down on his good shoulder nodding in response to John's question. John wasn't surprised at Gordon's sudden appearance. While he had been off in space during most of Gordon's recovery, he had heard the worried communications from his older brothers about the nightmares that troubled the young fish, and annoyed that there had been nothing he could do to help.
"You can keep reading," Gordon whispered as he leaned forward to open the book for John.
"You want me to read to you?"
"Sure," Gordon nodded as he curled up under John's arm ready to turn the page when needed.
"Barbicane, however, lost not one moment amid all the enthusiasm of which he had become the object. His first care was to reassemble his colleagues…" Gordon fell asleep almost immediately, John looked down at his head, his hair still smelling of salt water from the pool, and smiled sadly. He knew that this wouldn't be the last night Gordon would need his brother's comfort. He looked up across the room at Alan and wondered if he too would start having nightmares. John knew that they all had experience with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Scott had taken time off after the events that had led to him receiving the medal of valor. He hadn't been sure if he wanted to get into a plane again, but their father had helped him through it, and he returned to flying with vigor. Virgil had first experienced it when they had started International Rescue. He had not been used to the action and danger in which they willing put themselves into and shadows of the first few rescues started to chase him even during the waking hours. He had turned to his music as therapy. One could usually tell if he was playing for pleasure or to drive out the sounds of the previous rescue by the type of music he played. If the music was loud and fast, he was challenging himself, working on his skill and trying to improve his methods. If the music was slow and melodic, he was trying to calm himself and convince himself that it was over and everything was okay.
Even John struggled with the disease. He had been in space and was helping a new engineer repair something on their shuttle. It was the engineer's first space flight and he had been excited, and reminded John of Alan a bit. However, the engineer had caught and tore a large hole in his suit from the damaged piece of metal they were trying to repair. John hadn't been near him, but heard the exclamation and turned to look as the engineer had forgotten his training and drew in a large breath. John had yelled for him to breath out as he worked his way over to the man, but it had been too late. Two of the other crew members, listening in, had to come out and retrieve both of them. They canceled their mission and returned to earth. John spent the next few months in therapy. He almost thought that he would never return to space again. His father and Scott had known, but he had kept it from his other siblings, thinking that they wouldn't understand.
Even Alan had experienced it, not from his own accident, though he had had quite a few on the race track, but from Gordon's. He had nightmares for months after, dreaming that his brother had died and that somehow it had been his fault. He had even refused to ride on a boat, or even go swimming. Afraid that something would happen to him if he did. Every bang or pop that happened around him made him jump and hide behind one of the others. For Alan it had taken Gordon himself to convince him that there had been nothing to be afraid of, and that everything would be okay.
John looked around the dim room at his brothers. Everything would be okay. They would make it past their injuries and sickness, they would strengthen themselves again, and their birds would be as good as new. They would reinstate the organization and start rescuing people once again. He knew there would be bumps along the way, but they were Tracy's. They had each other, and would do everything they could to make it through.
John turned back to his book and started reading again, "An observer endued with an infinite range of vision, and placed in that unknown center around which the entire world revolves, might have beheld myriads of atoms filling all space during the chaotic epoch of the universe. Little by little, as ages went on, a change took place; a general law of attraction manifested itself, to which the hitherto errant atoms became obedient: these atoms combined together chemically according to their affinities, formed themselves into molecules, and composed those nebulous masses with which the depths of the heavens are strewed. These masses became immediately endued with a rotary motion around their own central point. This center, formed of indefinite molecules, began to revolve around its own axis during its gradual condensation; then, following the immutable laws of mechanics, in proportion as its bulk diminished by condensation, its rotary motion became accelerated, and these two effects continuing, the result was the formation of one principal star, the center of the nebulous mass."
Yes, Jeff Tracy had been their star, the center of their universe. Even after his death, IR continued to be their connection to him, and IR wasn't dead, nor were they. As long as International Rescue was needed, they would survive, they would go on, and they would do what their father taught them. Save the world, one rescue at a time.