JOHN Tracy gazed through Thunderbird 5's massive new telescope. Through it he laid his eyes upon the next in the line of planets from the Sun - Mars. he checked the time on his wrist controller. It was coming up to around 5pm in the evening, United Kingdom time at least. He then looked back through the viewfinder of the telescope.
EOS was nearby, also waiting with trepidation. "Do you think it'll happen again, John?" she asked.
"It's happened every night at the same time for the past week, EOS," John replied. He gazed through the telescope at the red planet. His eyes were firmly fixed on a specific area. Then, at the bottom right side of Mars, a glowing green light appeared, which then seemed to launch off the planet's surface, leaving a long trail of green mist behind it. John had tried to zoom right in on the surface of the planet, but he could not find anything there. There was no launching site. No apparatus. Nothing. And the Mars Colony was nowhere near to where these strange lights had been originating from. He had radioed Dr Travers numerous times about it and every time the answer was the same. They had not seen anything, nor picked up any unusual signals coming from the planet. "Yep, there it is again," John said. "And once again, there's nothing there."
"It's most peculiar," said EOS. "Do you have any idea what it could be?"
"If I knew that, EOS, I wouldn't be sitting here wondering," John remarked. "However, I am not going to bother with the Mars colony again. They're not providing any answers." He got down from the seat and went to the large hologram wheel that showed the icons of each of the other Thunderbirds as well as FAB1. He pressed on the pink icon of the car and waited for a response.
Within five seconds, a hologram of Lady Penelope appeared from the projector. "Hello, John," she said. "I had a feeling I'd be hearing from you. Has it happened again?"
"Yes, Lady Penelope," said John. "I was wondering if perhaps you could follow up on this in a discreet manner?"
"Of course," said Penelope. "I do love mysteries. And I know just the person to get on board with us," she finished with a smirk.
5!
4!
3!
2!
1!
"Thunderbirds Are Go!"
"WAR OF THE WORLDS" Part 1
THE gates at the end of the drive on the Creighton-Ward estate opened to allow FAB1 to drive out onto the road. The car turned right upon leaving and made its way towards another country estate situated around five miles away.
"Remind me why we h'are going 'ere, please, m'lady?" Parker asked from the driver's seat.
"To see the astronomer Dr Ogilvy, Parker," replied Penelope. "His house has got its own observatory built into it. That should allow us to hopefully see whatever John has been seeing for the past week."
"H'Are you sure that Master John is really seeing green mist coming from Mars, m'lady?" Parker said. He was rather sceptical of the whole thing.
"I will admit, it does seem a rather odd thing to be looking for," agreed Penelope. "But John is not the kind of person to make things up. He wouldn't be asking us to investigate if it wasn't genuine."
"I suppose so, m'lady," said Parker. But all the same, he was still sceptical.
FAB1 soon reached the estate of Dr Ogilvy and headed up the drive to the house on top of a hill. It was a unique house with its observatory dome dominating the Northernmost side of the building.
Dr Ogilvy, a young astronomer with big ambitions, came outside to greet them. "Lady Penelope! This is such an honour," he said, kissing Penelope's hand once she'd stepped out of FAB1. "What brings you to my house?"
"Nice to be here, Doctor," said Penelope. "I could use your help with an investigation I'm conducting."
"Oh?" said Dr Ogilvy with interest. "Are you with the Police?"
"Oh, no, my dear fellow," Penelope replied. "This is a private investigation for a friend. I shall require the use of your telescope."
Dr Ogilvy looked up at his observatory. He seemed to get rather excited. "You wish to use my telescope?!" he asked. "Oh, my! You have no idea how long I have waited for someone to come and ask me that! Please, come inside."
Penelope followed Dr Ogilvy into the house whilst Parker, who was already irritated by the excitable young astronomer, followed a short distance behind.
Ever since International Rescue had had a battle with The Cabal's mech-suit Thunderbolts, its members along with those in the GDF had been plagued by another mystery. What had been the cause of the mysterious orange electricity that had not only briefly taken over Thunderbird 2, but also managed to take over some of the Thunderbolt mechs and eventually destroy them?
The answer, as it turned out, was The Mechanic. Following The Cabal's capture of Hayley and Virgil and with Techno attempting to take Thunderbird 2 to another of their bases, The Mechanic had woken from his coma that he'd been in since his discovery in the Sidewinder's escape pod and used some unexplained power that was inside his body to break Techno's firewalls and get control back for International Rescue. But this raised more questions than answers. Just how exactly was The Mechanic able to produce this energy? And what other secrets did he have that they didn't know about?
It had taken a little while and several calls by Jeff to get a special MRI scanner brought in sections to Tracy Island in secret and then constructed in the medical bay at Brains's request.
"So let me get this straight," Gordon was saying to Brains who was reading the instruction manual for the machine. "The Mechanic is willing to let us perform an MRI scan on him?"
"That is c-correct, Gordon," said Brains. "To be honest, I'm amazed I did not think to ask for one of these myself. It would have p-possibly answered a whole lot of questions a lot faster."
"But this is a machine that's built for scanning people's skeletons, isn't it?" remarked Scott. "How is it going to tell how The Mechanic is able to create that kind of energy?"
"I honestly d-don't know, Scott," said Brains. "The Mechanic has k-kept a lot of secrets. But it would seem he is now w-willing to share them with us."
"Because he trusts us, presumably?" said Alan.
"We saved his life, Alan," said Kayo. "And Brains kept his promise of freeing him from The Hood. I'd say we're the only people on Earth that The Mechanic would trust."
"You are right of course."
Everyone turned to see The Mechanic had entered from Brains's lab having been brought there by Jeff and Virgil. Virgil was still recovering from his ordeal as was Hayley. But Hayley had left after a week as she had wanted to see her parents. Virgil was getting restless, having not left the island since the ordeal, but Grandma was refusing to allow him to even set foot in Thunderbird 2 for at least two weeks.
The Mechanic looked at the MRI machine. "That's quite big," he remarked.
"Well you are tall," said Alan, which resulted in him getting elbowed by Kayo and glared at by Grandma and Jeff.
But The Mechanic just laughed. "It is true," he said.
Brains put the manual down. "Are you absolutely s-sure about this, Juan?" he asked.
"Yes, Brains, I am," said The Mechanic. "What you've all witnessed is something very unique. You have the right to know what I am."
This resulted in several confused looks.
Jeff broke the awkward silence. "Is everything set, Brains?" he asked.
"Y-Yes, Mr Tracy," said Brains.
"Good," said Jeff. "Okay, Mechanic. Let's see what you have to show us."
The Mechanic nodded and proceeded to lay on the conveyor that took him inside the machine. All the others could do was wait for the results to come back.
Dr Ogilvy took Penelope and Parker up to the observatory where the telescope was. It was very shiny. Ogalby made sure it was kept in tip-top condition. Whilst it wasn't quite as modern as the telescope aboard Thunderbird 5, it still had the ability to look far out into space and even had an image recorder to capture images of interest.
"So tell me, your Ladyship," said Ogilvy once they were all there. "What is it you're wanting to take a look at?"
"Mars actually," said Penelope. "A friend of mine works on a space-station. Every day for the past week he has sighted an unusual green light that seems to erupt from the surface of the planet. It happens upon each rotation of the planet. He had no idea what's causing it, only that whatever it is emits a green gas-like mist behind it as it leaves."
Ogilvy seemed to get more excited after hearing this. "Oh, my! Oh, my!" he said as he began to set up the telescope. "If this happens again today and I can capture a photo of it, then the council will have to listen to me!"
"The council?" repeated Parker.
"The council of the World Astronomy Society," said Ogilvy. "For the past three years I've found several new things beyond our solar system with my telescope. New star formations etc and have presented them to the council. But every time I am dismissed by them because these things have already been discovered, yet never revealed to the public."
Penelope scratched her chin thoughtfully. "If my memory serves, the United Kingdom branch is run by a Professor Howard?" she said.
Ogilvy suddenly spat out of the window. "Pig."
"I beg your pardon?" said Penelope.
"Oh, God, my sincerest apologies!" said Ogilvy hastily. He grabbed a handkerchief and desperately wiped his mouth with it. "I should not have said that out loud."
"Well h'I'm afraid that you did," scolded Parker. "And 'er Ladyship doesn't take kindly to-"
"That'll do, Parker," Penelope interrupted. "I have heard that Professor Howard is a bit uppity."
"That's an understatement," said Ogilvy bitterly. "The last two times I've been he's ordered for me to be thrown out of the building by security, even though I have not had a chance to talk to the council."
Hmmm, Penelope thought to herself. She then whispered to Parker as Ogilvy continued to set up the telescope. "I think perhaps we might have to pay Professor Howard a visit with Dr Ogilvy on this one."
"If there's anything to see, m'lady," Parker whispered back.
"There! Set up!" said Ogilvy. "Take a look, Lady Penelope.
Penelope came over to the telescope and peered through. There was Mars, big, round and red, clearly visible as if it was just outside a window. To most people, being able to see Mars this close would be exciting. But for Penelope, it did no such thing. Although she wasn't going to say it, seeing the planet immediately began to make her think back to when she'd visited Mars with International Rescue the previous year with Thunderbirds 3 and 4 to rescue Dr Travers and Captain Taylor from an underground cavern. Being on another planet had felt strange, but it was the sinister Rock Snakes that had attacked them that were causing her to have some bad flashbacks. "Very beautiful," she said, trying to remain calm. She then looked at her watch. "This light is meant to be seen around 5pm local time to us so we should be on the lookout."
Ogilvy checked his own watch. "Twenty minutes," he said before looking into the telescope. "I'll start the camera in the telescope and link it to the monitor screen. If anything happens, we'll see it."
Whilst Ogilvy hadn't noticed Penelope tense up when she'd been looking through the telescope, Parker had. "Are you going to mention your h'experience there, m'lady?" he asked in a low voice.
"Certainly not, Parker," Penelope whispered back. "Do you really think that a lady like myself would have visited Mars?"
Parker didn't have an answer for that, so he didn't bother to come up with one.
The Tracy family, Kayo and Brains could not believe what they were looking at.
"Good…God…" Jeff said in a disbelieving hushed voice.
The MRI scan of The Mechanic was unlike anything they'd ever seen. Instead of a regular human skeleton, what it showed instead was a metallic skeleton with electronic gizmos and servos. There were several cybernetics as well. There were wires to his heart, brain and lungs. In fact, those seemed to be the only main human organs left. His eyes as it turned out were cybernetic as well, like the one that The Hood had used inside his head.
"That is…disturbing," remarked Gordon.
"Terrifying even," agreed Alan.
"Brains, you went inside The Mechanic's head to free him from The Hood," said Scott. "How did you not see any of this?"
"Because I d-didn't look, Scott," Brains replied. "My g-goal was to free him from The Hood and that was all. I would n-never have thought to have even looked at the rest of the body."
The Mechanic was now out of the scanner and sitting on the table watching their expressions. He hung his head, feeling somewhat guilty at having kept this from them.
Kayo turned to The Mechanic. "Did you do this to yourself?" she asked.
"No," The Mechanic replied. "The Hood did this to me. He told me that I would be the ultimate in human technology. There would be nothing that I couldn't do. What he didn't mention was he intended for me to do his dirty work for him."
"So he basically turned you into a robot," said Alan.
"I'd say he's more of a cyborg," said Virgil.
"I'd agree with that," said The Mechanic. "However I wasn't originally going to be the one to get this put inside them. He had someone else in mind."
"Who was that?" asked Jeff. "Or didn't he say?"
"He didn't give a name," said The Mechanic. "But…I do have a recollection he said he wanted to do it to his own brother?"
Kayo went white. Then suddenly everything went strange. Like when she'd been in Amanda Thompson's Cheetah in Los Angeles, weird images started flashing in her vision. Images of a temple in the jungle. People in strange black ninja suits - and very briefly, a figure inside a large tank of liquid with glowing yellow eyes. "AAAAH!" Kayo exclaimed and ran out of the medical room, almost knocking Grandma over.
"WOAH!" exclaimed several of them as Gordon and Virgil managed to catch Grandma before she hit the floor.
"KAYO?!" Scott and Jeff both shouted and hurried out to try and find where she went.
The Mechanic was now looking concerned and confused. "Errrr…was it something I said?" he asked.
"Well…you did just mention her dad," said Alan.
"Kyrano B-Belargent," said Brains. "That's someone I haven't thought about in a v-very long time."
Virgil and Gordon got Grandma back upright again. "Are you okay, Grandma?" Gordon asked, worried.
"Yeah, I'm fine," said Grandma, dusting off her onesie. "Damn, I've never seen Kayo move so fast."
"Is the mention of her father a touchy subject?" asked The Mechanic.
"Unfortunately, yes," said Virgil. "Nobody's seen or heard from Kyrano for years."
"Not since before we found out Dad was still alive," said Alan. "He just…vanished."
The Mechanic now felt guilty. He looked sadly at the floor. "I should have realised that," he said.
Brains went over to comfort his friend. "D-Don't beat yourself up," he said. "It was a slip of the tongue and n-nothing more. Kayo won't hold it against you."
The Mechanic sighed. "I sure hope not," he said.
Ogilvy, Penelope and Parker watched on the screen as the camera built into the telescope showed live footage to them. "It may not look like it, but that's a big area," Ogilvy was saying. "Did your friend say where on the planet's surface he saw the lights?"
"Somewhere around here I believe," said Penelope pointing to the bottom right area of Mars on the screen. She kept checking her watch almost every minute to make sure they were at the right time.
H'I bet this time nothing will even 'appen, Parker was thinking to himself.
Meanwhile, John was aboard Thunderbird 5 once again observing Mars with his own telescope. He and the three in Ogilvy's observatory waited anxiously. He had a similar feeling that Parker had. Please happen, he was thinking.
The minutes seemed to drag. But then, as 5pm approached, a small green light was just visible on the screen in front of Ogilvy, Penelope and Parker.
"There…THERE!" Ogilvy said, almost jumping up and down with excitement.
Then with a WHOOSH, the light shot upwards away from the planet's surface, leaving behind a great green cloud of what looked like smoke behind it.
"Crikey…!" exclaimed Parker, dumbstruck by what he'd just seen.
"So it is true," murmured Penelope.
Ogilvy was beside himself with excitement. "Oh, YES! Yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-YES! YES!" he said, bouncing up and down. "At long last! Something to show the council they've not seen before! Oh, thank you, Lady Penelope! I must, I must get some screenshots of this footage!"
"Yes, you do that," said Penelope. "And we'll come with you to make sure you get taken seriously."
That pleased the young astronomer even more and he set to work on a computer, playing back the video recording and taking screenshots that showed the green light and the mist it left behind.
Penelope snuck out of the observatory and opened her compact. "Lady Penelope calling Thunderbird 5. Come in, John?"
John's hologram appeared. "Hello, Lady P. Did you see it?"
"We certainly did," replied Penelope. "It was…quite unusual."
"That's putting it mildly," said John. "That's the eleventh explosion of green light. Something weird is going on out there."
"And your scans aren't picking anything up?" asked Penelope.
"Nothing," said John. "I mean I would put it down to some unknown natural phenomena, but…"
"Mm?"
"Mars is red and has molten lava," said John. "Nothing on that planet is green. And…it doesn't look at all natural."
"Well, Dr Ogilvy is getting some screenshots from his telescope's camera which we're going to show the British branch of the World Astronomy Society," explained Penelope. "Hopefully they'll take an interest."
"Good luck," said John. "I'll let you know if I see any more of them. Thunderbird 5, out."
Jeff was the one who found Kayo. She was hiding in the garden behind the sculpture of a Chinese Pagoda. "Kayo?"
Kayo jumped back to reality. "Oh, God! Oh, Mr Tracy, it's you!"
"Are you okay?" Jeff asked.
Kayo got to her feet. "Yeah…sorry, I just needed some air."
"What happened back there?" Jeff asked. "I've never known you to freak out like that before."
"I'm…not entirely sure, Mr Tracy," said Kayo. "I just…" She sighed. "I guess the mention of my father made me realise how much I miss him."
"Yeah…I miss him too, Kayo," said Jeff as he put his arm around her. "Maybe one day we'll get a clue as to what happened to him."
Kayo nodded. She did not explain about the strange visions that she'd had in the medical room because very simply, she'd forgotten about them.
Supply Freighter 17 was making its way along the designated route between Earth and Mars. Its pilot was sitting comfortably in the cockpit. He was chilled out. The journey had been uneventful. And he was totally expecting it to remain that way. That was until one of the ship's alarms started going on.
"The hell?" the pilot said, checking the radar screen. "Proximity alert! But there's nothing out here except for HOLY SH-!"
CRUNCH! Something had struck the freighter and knocked it off course. As it spun around, the pilot tried desperately to regain control. During a rotation, he thought he saw a mysterious green mist outside the window, but did not see what was causing it.
"Mayday! Mayday! This is Supply Freighter 17! I have been involved in a collision with an unknown object. Ship is damaged and am unable to control the spin. Requesting immediate assistance. Repeat - immediate assistance! Mayday! Mayday!"
John quickly relayed the message to Tracy Island. "International Rescue - we have a situation. Space freighter in trouble. Thunderbird 3 required."
"F-A-B, John!" acknowledged Alan. "I'm on my way!"
Alan was soon suited up and being loaded aboard Thunderbird 3 by the hydraulic arm. Once inside the arm pulled away and the hatch was shut. The large metal door swivelled round to seal the red rocket off from the rest of the underground complex.
5! 4! 3! 2! 1!
Thunderbird 3's engines roared into life and it lifted off from Tracy Island, climbing high into the sky as it accelerated to escape velocity.
"Thunderbird 3 is GO!" announced Alan.
FAB1 was now on the way to London. Even though it was late in the evening Ogilvy was confident that Professor Howard and the other members of the council board would still be there as he'd visited late in the evening before. However, they were already running into a problem which involved an argument between Ogilvy and Professor Howard's personal assistant.
"I'm pretty sure that Professor Howard has forbidden you from entering our premises, Dr Ogilvy," she was saying.
"Only because he's a petty child who doesn't want to listen to me," snapped Ogilvy.
"How dare you speak ill of Professor Howard!" said the PA angrily.
"Ahem!" interrupted Penelope. "Miss Winters, was it? I will have you know that Dr Ogilvy really does have a reason to pay the council a visit this time. We really have found something that's worth their time. Now, are you going to book us in, or do we simply turn up and walk in?"
"Our security is second to none," said Miss Winters. "Nobody can get inside without special permission."
"Yours wouldn't be the first building I've gained access to even with top-notch security," said Penelope in a calm voice. "I really think you should just save yourselves any further agro and-"
"Fine! FINE!" growled Miss Winters in frustration. "I'll book you in for 7 o'clock tonight. Please do not be late. They'll be needing to go home by that point." And with that, she terminated the call.
"Hmm," said Penelope. "I see what you mean about them being difficult, Doctor."
"If you think she's bad, Professor Howard is five times worse," said Ogilvy.
"For you maybe, but he won't have much of a choice so long as Parker and I are with you," Penelope said. "Right…Parker?"
"Right, m'lady," Parker replied. The two acknowledged each other using FAB1's rear-view mirror in a way where they could discreetly understand each other even if Ogalby could not.
With the ion fusion engine's power, Thunderbird 3 made short work of the vast distance between Earth and the location of the damaged freighter which was just before the halfway point on what would be a five week one-way trip between the two planets. As he cut the engines, Alan checked the radar scope and soon located the freighter which had spun quite a way off course. "Thunderbird 3 to Freighter 17. Do you copy?"
The pilot, relieved to hear Alan's voice, took the call. "Hello? Is that International Rescue?"
"It sure is, pal," replied Alan. "What's your status?"
"Engines are dead. Hydraulic systems are damaged. I think one of the oxygen tanks might have been punctured as well!"
"Okay, got it. Are you strapped in?"
"Affirmative."
"Good. Stay in your seat," instructed Alan. "I'm going to stop your spin and get you back on course. Then I'll come over and check the damage."
"Okay. Please hurry!" said the pilot.
Alan deployed the grasping arms and moved in closer to the damaged freighter. With careful manoeuvring, he managed to grab hold of the ship and stop it from spiralling. Then he used the thrusters to bring it back level and towards the flight path of which it had moved quite a way out of in the time it had taken Thunderbird 3 to get there.
"Freighter's secure, Thunderbird 5," Alan reported. "It's quite a long way off course. I'm going to program Thunderbird 3's autopilot to get it back to the flight path whilst I check the damage."
"F-A-B, Thunderbird 3," said John. "Oh, Alan. if you're in touch with the pilot, maybe try and find out what exactly he hit if you can. If there's a space hazard out there, we might need you to take care of it."
"Space junk out here?" Alan asked. "Well I suppose anything's possible. Okay, John. I'll see what I can find out." He grabbed his helmet and put it on before setting the autopilot and leaving his seat to get onto his Astroboard. "Commencing EVA."
Alan headed out of Thunderbird 3 on the Astroboard and began to inspect the damage. As it turned out, it wasn't quite as severe as he or the pilot first thought. "Freighter 17, I see no damage to your main booster. There is some damage along your starboard side. And I can see some white gas venting, but only in small quantities."
"That'll be the oxygen!" said the pilot.
"Figures," said Alan. "Luckily, I have just the thing to fix that." He took out from his toolbelt what looked like a large plaster. It was kind of that, but made of adhesive rubber created by Brains. He placed it across the tear in the hull of the freighter and it created an airtight seal that stopped any more oxygen from leaking out. "How's that?" he asked.
The pilot checked the gauge. "The level has stabilised!" he said with relief. "It worked. Thank you, International Rescue!"
"Anytime," said Alan with a smile. He was about to return to Thunderbird 3 when he remembered what John had asked. "Oh, by the way. I don't suppose you saw what it was you hit, did you?"
"Not exactly, no," said the pilot. "I thought I saw something. It looked like smoke…but it appeared to be green. But given how fast it all happened, I was probably seeing things."
"Green smoke?" Alan said quietly to himself. "No matter. Just curious. Try rebooting your systems and see if that brings back your propulsion etc?"
The pilot did just that, and sure enough all the systems started up again. "Yes! They're working!" he said happily.
Alan remotely released Thunderbird 3's grasping arms. "You're free to go then, Freighter 17," he said. "Good luck."
"Thanks!" said the pilot. "Goodbye, International Rescue!"
Alan kept clear as the freighter's main boosters fired and it started away to continue its journey towards Mars.
After returning into Thunderbird 3 and removing his helmet, Alan contacted Thunderbird 5. "Say, John, about those weird cloudbursts you said you saw on Mars. Didn't you say they were green?"
"They were, Alan," replied John. "Why do you ask?"
"The pilot didn't see what hit him," said Alan. "But he thinks he saw something like green smoke. Then again, he said the ship was spinning fast and that he could have imagined it."
John was looking rather uncomfortable. "This is concerning, Alan," he said. "Head back to Earth, and keep your eyes open in case you see anything."
"F-A-B," said Alan, turning Thunderbird 3 around to start the journey home.
Professor Howard stared at the images taken from Ogilvy's telescope camera. There was a long, awkward silence before he eventually spoke. "Volcanic eruption," he said.
"I'm sorry?" said Penelope.
"It's a volcanic eruption, Lady Penelope," said Professor Howard. "That's the only thing it can be."
"That's not a volcano erupting!" protested Ogilvy. "An explosion that big would have destroyed half of the planet. And since when are volcanic eruptions green?"
"That's not really green, Ogilvy," said Professor Howard. "That faulty telescope of yours is clearly not up to the job."
Penelope and Parker looked at each other. They'd heard from Ogilvy that the Professor was a very dismissive person, but they hadn't quite expected him to be like this. "Now, look here, Professor," said Penelope sharply. "I was with Dr Ogilvy when these images were taken. Also a friend of mine in a space-station, who by the way was the first to see it so-"
"And there we have it!" said Professor Howard. "Once again, Ogilvy you have failed to find anything new. This friend of Lady Penelope's found it first."
Ogilvy opened his mouth to argue but Penelope continued by cutting him off. "Furthermore, he too says the smoke seen launching from the planet's surface was bright green. Every single time!"
"So if there is more than one person seeing this, then it can't be false now, can h'it?" asked Parker.
Professor Howard was silent for a moment. "And where's his proof?" he asked.
As Thunderbird 3 made its way back towards Earth, Alan kept a close eye on both the radar screen and outside as well. There was nothing on the screen, but a quick glance outside caused him to see something. Ahead and off to the left was something green and smoke-like. He slowed Thunderbird 3 down for a closer look. "Thunderbird 5, I think I have found something. Sending video footage to you now."
John watched the live footage coming from Thunderbird 3. "Green gas…" he said. "Just like what I saw launching from Mars."
"Yeah, but what's it coming out of?" Alan asked. "There's no ship or anything there."
"That we can see anyway," said John. "That freighter had to have collided with something."
Alan pondered. "Maybe whatever it is in stealth-mode?"
"Hmmm. You might just be onto something there," said John. "Try using the stealth jammer that Brains installed a while back. See if it reveals anything."
"F-A-B," said Alan. "Activating stealth-jammer."
The two brothers waited in anticipation for what might happen as Alan activated the jammer. At first there was nothing but the green gas, but then something started to appear. A long, metallic silver cylinder appeared with three large stabilising fins towards the front. The green gas was coming out of the back like it was the thrust pushing it along.
"Woah…" said Alan once he'd found his voice. "What the heck is that?"
"I have no idea, Alan," said John. "But I'm taking a screenshot before it disappears again."
"It will?" asked Alan.
"It will when you leave," said John.
"Don't you want me to investigate it?"
"Negative. We don't know what it is. It could be dangerous. I'll pass the image on to the right people and warn them that some things are on their way from Mars."
"Some things?!" repeated Alan.
"Yes," said John. "I've counted eleven of these mysterious launches. There could easily be more that we might have missed, unless by some miracle I was able to catch the first one."
"I…see…I think," said Alan uneasily.
"Okay, I have the image," said John. "Deactivate the jammer and head back to base."
"F-A-B."
Alan deactivated the scrambler and the cylinder disappeared from view, leaving only the gas visible once again. He then fired Thunderbird 3's thrusters and the giant red rockets raced away, heading back to Earth.
Professor Howard was bringing to an end the heated discussion between him, Penelope, Parker and Ogalby. "I am very sorry that your evening has been wasted, Lady Penelope on the supposed findings of this crackpot."
"I AM NOT A-" Ogilvy began to shout but he was cut off again.
"Professor Howard, I am disgusted at your attitude!" said Penelope sternly. "Not only have you shunned this poor man more times than he can care to say, but you deliberately come up with false answers as to what is very clearly shown in these images! I would strongly advise you to change your opinion of what is being shown in those pictures and take Dr Ogilvy very seriously."
Professor Howard sighed as he got up from his seat and grabbed his coat and hat. "Once again, I must apologise if my attitude seems a little rough, Lady Penelope," he said. "But when you have dealt with Dr Ogilvy as often as we have here at the World Astronomy Society, it's very hard to take him seriously. And as for the possibility that those supposed green flares are somehow man-made or even alien is laughable. We have had a colony on Mars for a good few years now. They are the only ones who have the ability to travel back and forth between the two planets. The chances of anything alien coming from Mars are a million to one. Now, if you'll excuse me. My wife will be waiting. Goodnight." And with that, he left the office without a word, leaving a very cross Penelope, annoyed Parker and a depressed Ogalby behind him.
Now that he'd got the image, John felt it wasn't going to be enough if he was to warn the people of Earth of the strange object coming. "EOS, feed this image into the computer, then make a massive scan of the area between us and Mars with our own stealth-jamming equipment. I want to see if we can detect these things."
"Understood, John," said EOS. "Downloading image. Okay, done. Commencing scan."
John watched as a big sweep was carried out of the massive vastness of space that lay between Earth and Mars. It showed several ships. Freighters mostly and one being Thunderbird 3. But then eleven unidentified objects appeared on the screen. "Jeez…I was right," John said out loud. "There's several of these things. All at an equal distance apart. I must tell Lady Penelope so she can tell the Space Council."
After dropping Ogilvy home, Parker drove FAB1 back towards the Creighton Estate. Not a lot had been said on the journey back from London, in fact hardly anything at all. Penelope had tried her best to comfort Ogilvy, but he was very clearly upset at once again being rebuffed by Professor Howard, despite very clear evidence of there being something out of the ordinary occurring on Mars.
"So what do we do now, m'lady?" asked Parker.
"Not a lot we can do, I'm afraid, Parker," replied Penelope. "Professor Howard clearly has content for poor Dr Ogilvy. If I'm honest, I should have gotten John to get some images for us to share as well. That was a mistake on my part. But unless something very drastic like someone else can report it, then I very much doubt there's anything we can do to make Professor Howard change his tune." A beeping sound from the hologram projector then caught her attention. "Oh, hello, John," she said.
"Lady Penelope, I've got a development," said John. "Please tell me you're still at the-"
"I'm afraid we're not, John," sighed Penelope. "We left quite a while ago actually. I'm afraid Professor Howard refused to believe anything that was told."
"Refused to believe?" repeated John. "In what way?"
"He put down the green clouds as a volcanic eruption and that Dr Ogilvy has a faulty camera in his telescope hence why the clouds appear to be green," said Penelope in a disgruntled voice.
"Oh…" said John, feeling somewhat stunned by this. "But did you explain that it could be-"
"Oh, he swiftly rebuffed any possibility that it couldn't be anything man-made or even alien," Penelope said. "The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one, he said."
Those words made John feel sick in his stomach as he turned back to look at the image of the cylinder. "Yet still…they come."
