DAWN was just starting to break over the Pacific Ocean and the glowing light of the Sun began to touch the Eastern side of Tracy Island. Nobody was there to admire it though. They were all too busy. Whilst most had been resting, Brains and The Mechanic had worked through the night with assistance from Virgil to make sure that Thunderbird 3 would be ready for its long and potentially dangerous mission. The cargo bay was full of equipment and supplies for any eventuality. The Maximum MAX node had been put in place as well and its special equipment triple-checked. Jeff had wanted nothing left to chance.
By the time 7am arrived, everything was ready and a slightly emotional farewell was made between them all, except for The Mechanic who kept out of the way. He might live there now, but he still didn't class himself as a family member and knew he had no place in this.
Grandma hugged Alan, Scott, John and Kayo before finally giving Jeff one. "Make sure you all come back," she said in a low voice. "I don't wish to lose any of you. Especially you, Jefferson."
"We'll be back, Mother," Jeff promised. "You have my word on that."
As much as Grandma wanted to believe it, she had a sick feeling in her gut. But she kept it to herself as Jeff turned to face the others who'd been saying farewell to Virgil and Brains.
"Okay then," said Jeff. "Let's get going."
Alan and Jeff took the normal suit-up route to Thunderbird 3 whilst Kayo, John and Scott made their own way there, suiting up along the way. Soon they were all inside with Jeff and Alan at the controls, Kayo was sitting in a seat on the left side of the cockpit behind Jeff and Scott and John were on the right side. Once the silo door had swivelled around to seal them off from the rest of the underground hangar, they were ready to go,
5! 4! 3! 2! 1!
The three chemical rockets of Thunderbird 3 rumbled and roared as the mighty red rocket lifted upwards through the silo and out into the open from behind the roundhouse on the highest peak of the island.
"Thunderbird 3 is GO!" announced Alan as he pushed the engines to full power to reach escape velocity.
Brains, Grandma and Virgil watched from the poolside as the smoke-trail of Thunderbird 3 climbed higher and higher into the sky before eventually fading away.
The Mechanic came out to join them. "He's coming down," he said. "Just like you predicted."
"Yeah…" said Grandma bitterly. "I figured as much."
"Gordon?" asked Virgil.
Grandma's silence was what answered the question as she began to walk sternly back towards the house.
"I w-wouldn't want to be Gordon right now," Brains muttered.
"Agreed," said Virgil. "But that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve what she's gonna say to him."
Virgil was right. Moments later they heard Grandma shouting furiously inside the house. Looking across, they could just make Gordon out inside the kitchen whilst he received a vicious dressing down from her. Grandma made it very clear how ashamed of him she was and didn't forget to mention that he'd let everyone down by shutting himself away and refusing to talk to anyone. "YOU'D BETTER PULL YOUR GODDAMN WEIGHT, YOUNG MAN!" Grandma finished off. "RIGHT NOW IT'S JUST YOU AND VIRGIL WHO ARE LEFT TO ANSWER DISTRESS CALLS!"
Gordon quivered sheepishly. "Y-Yes…Grandma…" he mumbled. He clearly looked ashamed of himself.
"Now I'm sick of leaving food outside your door," Grandma said, in a lower voice but still an angry one. "I'm not cooking anything else for you until you apologise to everyone for shutting us all out. You're cooking your own food!" She then stormed off, leaving Gordon silent and sorry. He looked out of the window and saw Virgil, Brains and The Mechanic looking back in his direction. Then Virgil walked away, which made Gordon's heart sink like a stone. What have I done?
Thunderbird 3 was now in space having escaped from the Earth's atmosphere and was just setting on the course that would take it to Mars.
"Main engines deactivated," said Alan. "Firing ion-engine in three…two…one!" He pushed the lever.
Thunderbird 3 shot forwards like a bullet from a gun as the glowing white tail-fire exhaust emerged from its back-end. It soared away from the Earth, soon leaving it far behind.
"How long before we reach Mars?" John asked.
"Did you forget to go before we left?" teased Scott.
"Scott!" said Jeff whilst Alan and Kayo snickered.
"No, I did actually," said John. "Just curious. Normally it takes a regular ship several weeks to get to Mars. For Thunderbird 3 not as long I'm guessing?"
"It's a long flight, John," said Jeff. "Thunderbird 3 will do the work. All we can do is conserve our energy. We need to be ready for anything."
"What are you expecting us to find?" asked Kayo.
"Honestly, I don't know, Kayo," Jeff replied. "But one thing is for certain…it's not going to be pleasant by any means. I fear we may already be too late to do anything."
Those words sent chills down the spines of the others. Could they really be heading out to a planet that no longer had any humans living on it?
It had been a long, dark and sleepless night for Penelope, Nathaniel and Jess hiding in the cellar of the cottage opposite the ruined church. The fighting with the Rock Snakes nearby had long since subsided but that didn't stop them from remaining inside the cellar. Eventually Penelope plucked up the courage to quietly push open the door and peer out. Everything was silent and still. She climbed out and checked around the cottage. Everything was still in place. Nothing had been touched. She looked out of the window. Some snow had fallen but not much of it had settled and the morning Sun had melted it. In the far distance across the field she could make out the charred remains of the small Army group that had attempted to take out the Rock Snake that then wiped them out. She thought about going over to see if there were any survivors, but she knew that was extremely unlikely.
"Have they gone?" Jess asked, following Penelope out.
"It would appear so," Penelope replied. "Do you have food here?"
"Of course," Jess replied. "I'll go outside and get some eggs. That's provided the chickens have laid any and not been too frightened to do so." She put on her coat and headed outside.
Nathaniel then appeared. He looked in somewhat of a daze still. In his hands he still clutched the Bible and the Cross. "Where's my wife?" he asked.
"She's gone outside to get some eggs," Penelope replied. "Could you show me how to work your stove, Vicar? I was going to heat some milk for us."
"Errr…yeah…" Nathaniel replied and he led Penelope into the kitchen.
Jess wasn't surprised to find fewer eggs than normal. The hens seemed rather edgy when she came near which they weren't normally. She could only put that down to them having been frightened the night before by the howl of the Rock Snake when it had attacked. She picked up five good eggs and put them in a basket before heading back towards the cottage. She knew in the supply shed there was some specially stored bread and meat which would be ideal for adding to breakfast. But as she approached it, she was surprised to find there was something in the yard that hadn't been there before. A huge coil of rock stood right in front of the doors that led inside the building. Confused, she walked up to it and looked around. "What the heck is this?" she asked out loud. She put the basket down and rather sillily tried pushing it to see if it would move. It didn't, much to her annoyance. So she walked over to the old vintage Tractor that sat around the other side of the shed. It had a bucket on the front which she thought might be able to push it aside like a Bulldozer. The old Tractor coughed into life as she drove it around and lowered the bucket, pushing it up against the coil. She then revved the engine and pushed hard. The Tractor's wheels spun, shooting up great chunks of dirt and muck behind it. It pushed hard until the engine began to smell funny, but still the rock coil remained in place. "Come on!" said Jess impatiently. "COME…ON!"
Hearing the sound of the Tractor's engine made Penelope come outside to see what was going on. She then froze in horror at the sight of the rock coil and was alarmed when she saw Jess backing the Tractor away to get ready to give it a hard shove. "Jess, NO!" she cried, running forwards.
"Take this!" Jess said to the rock-coil, gunning the Tractor's engine and charging forwards. She hit it hard. The arms on the bucket buckled and the Tractor's back end lifted upwards throwing Jess off. "OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she cried, flying over the rock-pile and landing in a pile of manure on the other side of the hedge.
Penelope rushed over and ignoring the stench and dirtiness of the manure, helped Jess to her feet. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"Do I look okay?" Jess snapped, looking at the state of her clothes. "I don't know what that thing is but-"
A hissing sound made both women freeze. They both slowly turned in the direction of what was causing it. Penelope trembled. She knew what it was as the top of the coil started moving to reveal the head of a sleeping Rock Snake. Its huge eye began to open and its gaze fell upon them.
"W-W-W-W-Whaaaaa….?" stammered a startled Jess.
"When I say run, run," Penelope said.
The snake clearly didn't like being disturbed from its sleep. It snarled angrily as its head rose higher and the orange glow from inside it began to appear.
"RUN!" shouted Penelope and she and Jess legged it. They split up to confuse it. But the snake had already got its target. There came the terrifying whoosh as it spat its fireball out. It hit a fuel barrel just as Jess was about to pass it. BOOM! The barrel exploded and Penelope heard Jess's scream as it did so. Stopping where she was, she looked back. Her eyes widened with horror at the sight of Jess's body lying motionless on the ground.
Nathaniel came running out, alerted by the explosion. He didn't see his wife's body but straight away saw the Rock Snake. "DEMON!" he bellowed as Penelope grabbed him and pulled him around the back of the house.
The Rock Snake, now fully awake, began to uncoil itself and slide its way around the small yard. Its tail knocked the old Tractor over and partially demolished the hay barn. However it didn't touch the house and instead slithered out through the gate into the road.
As Penelope and Nathaniel came out once it was no longer in sight, Penelope tried to think of what to do. "We can't stay here," she said. "We have to get-"
"AAAAAAHHHH!" Nathaniel cried and ran out into the yard. Penelope tried to stop him until she saw where he was heading. He fell to his knees right next to where Jess lay. He grabbed her and held her tightly in his arms. "Jess…She's dead!" he whimpered, tears streaming from his eyes. He then looked up at the sky. "SATAN! WHY DID YOU TAKE ONE OF YOUR OWN!"
Penelope could hear noises coming from across the road. She hurried to the end of the cottage and looked around the corner. The Rock Snake was now inside the churchyard, knocking over several gravestones as it went. It didn't seem to know what it was doing, only it continued to make sinister snarling noises. She then ran back to Nathaniel cradling his deceased wife. "Nathaniel, we have to get out of here," she said. "The snake's in your churchyard. Do you have a car or anything we could take?"
Nathaniel was breathing heavily. He put Jess's body gently on the ground and made sure her eyes were closed. He then stood up. "When I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…I will fear no evil," he said. He turned to Penelope. "There's a tree down the road about half a mile from here," he said. "She told me that when she goes, she wants to be buried there. Please carry out her wishes."
"Why can't you do that?" asked Penelope.
Nathaniel had a sudden look of determination on his face. "I've had a message…from God," he said. "I have been chosen to rid the world of the terror we find ourselves in." He hurried back inside the cottage.
Penelope hurried in after him. "Nathaniel, you can't take those things on!" she said. "They're deadly. They'll kill you!"
"I've been blind, Lady Penelope," Nathaniel replied. "I thought God sent those things to destroy us. Now I realise it's just a test. A test to see who has the means of doing what needs to be done. And that is to send these monsters back to hell!" He grabbed his Bible and Cross and tried to leave the kitchen only to find Penelope blocking the doorway. "Out of the way, Lady Penelope. I need to face the devil!"
"No, Nathaniel!" said Penelope firmly. "I can't let you do this!"
But Nathaniel wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer. He turned out to be a lot stronger than Penelope realised for he lunged forwards and knocked her out of the way. She fell backwards onto the floor and banged her head on the wall on the other side. She was dazed and stunned for a few moments as she lay there groaning.
Nathaniel did the sign of the cross after doing what he'd just done. "Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned," he said before rushing towards the front door.
By the time Penelope had regained her senses, Nathaniel was out of the door. She scrambled to her feet and looked around. "Nathaniel?" she called out. "NATHANIEL?!" Seeing the front door slightly open, she hurried towards it and out into the open. The Rock Snake was still in the churchyard, having knocked down most of what remained of the building. The only part that remained intact mostly was the bell tower. It stood tall amongst the devastated graveyard. Then as it was moving away, Penelope caught sight of a figure appearing on the top of the tower. It was Nathaniel, armed with Cross and Bible. He stood right on the edge and held the Cross out in the direction of the snake.
"SAAATAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!" Nathaniel bellowed. "LISTEN TO ME!"
Incredibly, the Rock Snake seemed to hear him. It stopped moving away and turned its head around to look back at the bell tower.
Penelope began to run towards the tower, hoping there would be time to get up there and get him out of there before the snake had a chance to attack, but as she started up the path, she saw it was already advancing back towards him.
"YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE, SATAN!" Nathaniel bellowed. "I HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO BANISH YOU FROM THIS WORLD! HEAR ME NOW, SATAN! LEAVE…US…ALONE!" He held both the Bible and the Cross up in defiance.
The snake looked at him hard. Penelope had almost reached the base of the tower when seeing how close it was made her stop. It was too close. No way was she going to be able to save him now. But then the snake let out a soft hiss and turned away. Penelope therefore stopped. If it could get far enough away, maybe there was still a chance.
"DON'T TURN YOUR BACK ON ME, SATAN!" roared Nathaniel. "GET OFF OUR WORLD! BEGONE! BEGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE!"
The snake didn't turn back to spit a fireball. Nor did it let out its sonic shriek. Instead, it was its tail that struck the deadly blow. Penelope cried out in alarm as the snake's tail smashed through the base of the bell tower. The tower teetered, crumbled and then began to fall. Penelope ran for her life back towards the cottage. She did not look back but could just about hear the screams of Nathaniel as he fell down with the remains of the tower. The collapse of the tower made the ground shake as she dived inside the house and slammed the door behind her before almost jumping back down to hide in the cellar. Scurrying into a corner, she curled up into a ball and began to cry…partly out of fear, but also for the latest two victims of the Rock Snakes' rampage.
Mars was now in sight for those aboard Thunderbird 3. The red planet looked magnificent as ever. But as they approached, Jeff, Kayo and the brothers couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive not knowing what they were going to find.
"How are the stealth shields looking, Alan?" Jeff asked.
"Stealth-shields at 100%," replied Alan. "We should be invisible to any radar."
Kayo had noticed John was looking at Mars in awe. "Dream come true for you?" she said.
"You could say that," John answered. "Although…I wish it were in better circumstances."
"Oh, yeah. I keep forgetting you've never been here before," said Scott.
"Despite the hostility of its environment, it is very beautiful," Jeff said.
"Any unusual signals, Alan?" Kayo asked.
Alan ran a full scan of the area below them on the planet. "Negative," he said. "I'm picking up the location of the colony but not a lot else."
"Any signs of life?" asked Scott.
Alan adjusted the controls. "No. None," he said. This made everyone feel uneasy again.
"Could we really be too late this time?" Scott asked anxiously.
"Never assume the worst, son," said Jeff. "Let's get down there and take a look."
Thunderbird 3 entered the Mars atmosphere and began to descend towards Colony-1.
Gordon sat alone outside looking over at the beach. Nobody had said a word to him since Grandma had yelled at him and he felt miserable. He was hoping they wouldn't get any distress calls until the others got back. He could not be sure that Virgil could trust him for he seemed to be mad at him as well. He thought back to when he had cursed his own father for forcing them to leave London and not be able to find Penelope. Not a day had gone by when he hadn't thought or cried for her. Was she alive? He refused to believe that she wasn't. All he could do was pray.
"They said you'd be here."
Gordon jumped and turned around to see The Mechanic standing nearby. "Jeez…" he said. "Could you give a little warning next time?"
"Sorry," said The Mechanic. "Your Grandma said food is ready for you to make. Just wanted you to be aware of it."
"Not hungry," Gordon replied. "But…thanks anyway."
The Mechanic nodded. Then turned to walk away. Then he stopped and turned back. "You have regret, don't you?"
"How can you tell?" Gordon asked.
"I recognise the look you have," said The Mechanic. "The way you're sat. The expression on your face. It's exactly how I was the whole time I was in The Hex. I know how you feel."
"No, you don't," Gordon said, getting quickly to his feet. "I've lost my girl in a country that's full of horrific alien rock creatures from another planet! I have no idea whether she's alive or not! We found her! I had her in my arms! She was SAFE! AND THEN ONE OF THOSE GODDAMN SNAKES FIRES AT US AND I DROP HER!" He stopped for a moment as tears began flooding out of his eyes again. "AND THEN I THREATEN TO HOLD MY OWN DAD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING THAT HAPPENS TO HER OUT THERE! I SHUT MYSELF AWAY AND REFUSED TO SEE ANYONE!" He paused again. "I pushed everyone away. Everyone I love and care about. All because of ONE PERSON! You can't know what that is like."
An awkward pause followed for a few moments before The Mechanic spoke again. "At least you have a family," he said. "Unlike me." He then turned and walked away leaving Gordon in a stunned silence.
In an undamaged barn, Penelope found the Land Rover that she'd taken from the previous place where she'd been staying. After finding some spare fuel that would have been originally for the Tractor, she topped up the tank and loaded all the food and drink supplies that she could into the back before covering it over. She also placed the bodies of both Jess and Nathaniel, who she'd managed to dig out of the remains of the collapsed bell tower and drove to the tree that Nathaniel had mentioned to her. She dug two graves and placed them both carefully inside before burying them. It wasn't the proper way, she told herself, but she knew it was the kindest thing to do. To just leave them out in the open to rot wasn't right.
"I'm sorry I couldn't save you both," Penelope said out loud to the two graves and the makeshift wooden crosses she'd planted at the ends where the heads were. "I'm so sorry." She shed another couple of tears before feeling something land on her nose. It was cold. Very cold. She looked up at the sky. The Sun was gone and the clouds had returned. And with them came snow. Penelope respectfully left the graves and climbed back into the Land Rover before heading off down the road. She knew it wouldn't be long before she would need to find somewhere else to stay. But would that place be free of the Rock Snakes? It was impossible to know for sure.
The reddish-brown surface of Mars looked unforgiving as it always did. Like the Sarah Desert but only a-hundred times more deadly. John looked at it through a monitor screen by his side. "I see what you mean, Dad," he said. "Beautiful…but deadly."
"Shall we fly right up to the colony?" asked Alan.
"Let's overfly at a safe distance and get a long-view," said Jeff. "See if there is anything that poses a threat and if so, we'll find a secluded place to land."
"F-A-B."
As Thunderbird 3 got closer, the valley where the colony was located came into view, as did the many white buildings that made it. Jeff could see the hill where he and Captain Taylor had first set foot and the memories of him taking his first step came flooding back.
"There's the colony," said Kayo. "Looks deserted."
"Still no life signs?" asked Jeff.
Alan checked the instruments. "Negative," he replied. "Which makes me think-WOAH!"
An alarm started beeping on the console.
"What the hell's that?" asked Scott.
"M-Missile lock?!" Alan spluttered reading the words on the screen.
The others exchanged alarmed looks.
"What?!" exclaimed Jeff. "But the colony has no weapons!"
"Yes, it does!" gasped Kayo. "Look!"
They all looked and gasped at the sight of a sleek, deadly black and white missile that had just launched from somewhere within the colony complex. It banked out of its climb and turned to head straight towards them.
"EVASIVE ACTION! NOW!" bellowed Jeff.
Alan pushed Thunderbird 3 to full power and climbed away, but the missile had already locked onto its target and began to pursue.
"Ahhh, it's onto us!" exclaimed Alan. "This is like being chased by that stealth-mine all over again!"
"Can you outrun it?" asked Scott.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M TRYING TO DO, SCOTT!" shouted Alan.
Thunderbird 3 flew high above the Martian surface and Alan performed several slick manoeuvres in order to try and escape from the pursuing missile. But it was no use. The missile didn't lose its lock and continued to close in on its target.
"We can't keep this up!" said Jeff. "Alan, you got to do something!"
"Like what, Dad?!" cried Alan.
Then John had an idea. "Alan! Use Maximum-MAX!"
"Oh, yeah!" Alan realised. "I can use the cutting torch to-"
"Too close range!" said Kayo. "That wouldn't work."
"Isn't one of the features a claw?" asked Scott. "Maybe you can try grabbing and throwing it away?"
"I, er, um, could try that…?" Alan asked, not sounding at all sure. He looked at Jeff.
"Do it, son," Jeff ordered.
Alan gulped. "Okay…" he said, putting the special white gloves on. "Deploying Maximum-MAX!"
The grasping arms extended outwards as the head of Maximum-MAX appeared out of the node. At the ends of each arm were a grabber, a cutting disc and the flame-torch. Once deployed, Alan spun Thunderbird 3 around almost on the spot so they were now facing the oncoming missile. He extended the grabbing arm and reached out towards the missile.
Nobody said a word, but they all felt the tension. Sweat began trickling from everyone's brows, none more so than Alan. If I get this wrong…we're all dead… Alan realised. He knew he couldn't mess this up.
Closer and closer the missile came. Twenty metres. Ten metres. Five metres. Then at the exact right moment, Alan changed the direction of Thunderbird 3 to the left and allowed him to grab onto the missile. The missile's power caused them to start spinning around in circles. "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAH!" they all cried as the speed seemed to increase.
"ALAN…!" Jeff yelled over the strain of the G-force. "GET…RID…OF…IT!"
"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGH!" Alan bellowed and he let go of the missile.
The missile flew off in a different direction and away from Thunderbird 3.
Alan managed to get Thunderbird 3 to stop spinning using the thrusters and once stationary, they turned their attention back to the missile.
"Well done, son," said Jeff.
"Thanks…" panted Alan.
But Kayo had spotted trouble. "Oh, shit!" she said. "It's turning around!"
The missile was turning back. It had momentarily lost its lock on Thunderbird 3. But now it had looped around, it had regained contact and was coming back.
However, they did not need to do anything. Before they could react, a green laser blast shot up from below them and struck the missile, destroying it.
Everyone looked at each other in confusion. "Errr…what just happened?" asked Scott.
"I don't know, son," Jeff replied. He looked at where they were. Colony-1 was down below them and it was here where the laser-shot had come from. "But I have a feeling that's where we'll find the answer."