FOUR weeks was a long time for anyone that was waiting for something to happen whether it be good or bad. Despite having discovered there were at least eleven of the strange contacts over the vast distance between Earth and Mars, he had lost the signals and was unable to find them again. It was almost like they somehow knew that they'd been discovered and had now changed some settings to make sure they couldn't be seen.
For everyone else, life had gone on as normal. Virgil was fully recovered from his ordeal in Antarctica at the hands of The Cabal. Hayley too was better and was about to go back to work with the GDF after spending at least three weeks home with her parents. Jeff and the other three brothers were much the same as were Brains and Grandma. The only major change to Tracy Island was now they knew more about The Mechanic, who it turned out still needed the human part of his body to heal some more so he went back into the recovery chamber in Brains's lab for what he reckoned would be at least a few more months before he would be able to fully come out again, whilst giving Brains his full permission to carry out any further tests. Lady Penelope and Parker too were going about their regular lives as usual, having brushed the whole episode with Dr Ogilvy and Professor Howard out of their minds as much as possible. But Penelope still felt sorry for the young astronomer and was secretly a little worried about John. He seemed to confide in her about what he'd seen more than he had with Jeff, and she found that slightly unsettling.
There had been no more green eruptions of gas from Mars since that day either, meaning whoever or whatever was behind it must have completed its task, but with any free moment, John would use his telescope or scanning equipment to try and locate the mystery objects, without any success.
It was the morning of December 10th, and at Tracking Station 87 located in Canberra, Australia, the commander of the station was awoken early by one of his subordinates and requested to come to the control room as a matter of urgency.
"What is it?" the Commander asked as he entered the control room.
"Sir!" said a young Lieutenant controller. "We're getting reports from one of the Lunar Supply freighters. The pilot's reported some kind of green luminous gas in space."
The Commander stared. "Gas? In space? That's impossible. And, did you say it's green?!"
"Yes, sir."
"Get me this pilot, now!"
"Sir!" The controller then spoke into his radio. "Lunar Freighter 2 from Canberra Tracking Station 87. Do you read me?"
"Loud and clear, 87!" answered the freighter's pilot.
The Commander took over. "Freighter 2, this is Commander Trax from 87. What exactly are you seeing? Over."
"I'm not entirely sure, sir," answered the pilot. "Looks like some kind of weird gas cloud. It's bright green and heading slowly towards Earth."
"May I remind you that you're in space, and gas cannot be a thing in space?" snapped the Commander.
"Well, with all due respect, sir. Why don't you come up here and see for yourself?"
The Commander was about to berate the pilot for insubordination, but decided that he actually had a fair point so didn't. "Well, our scanners are not detecting anything so unless you can provide us with some visual proof, I'm afraid that-"
"How's that?" asked the pilot as an image taken from one of the freighter's on-board cameras.
Everyone in the control room stared in surprise at the image. It showed the Earth in the background, and in the foreground was a green gas-like cloud, very clearly visible.
"Good…God…" said the Commander. "What is causing that?"
"All the scanners are showing is the freighter, sir," said the controller. "The gas isn't showing up, nor is there anything registering that it could be emitting it."
The Commander shifted uncomfortably. "This could be serious," he said. "Get me the Space Agency, the World President and the World Astronomy Society! They're gonna want to know about this!"
Penelope sat inside the drawing room of the mansion and gazed out of the window. She had just come back inside from wishing her parents farewell on a pre-Christmas weekend away in London with a group of old friends as part of a long-running yearly tradition. This just left her, Parker and a few other members of the mansion's staff. The house seemed a lot larger and emptier whenever her parents were out, which was unusual as it was normally Penelope who was out and about. The bitter winter air had come in from the East making it very cold and despite being in the warmth of the house, the grey clouds outside made everything look bleak and miserable. Penelope was glad when Parker entered with a tray of tea.
"I thought you could use a cuppa, m'lady," Parker said.
"Thank you, Parker," replied Penelope as she took a cup and drank from it. "Mmm. That's perfect."
Just then a beeping from the nearby hologram phone caught their attention. "Could that be Mr Tracy or Master John?" Parker wondered out loud.
"It'll be one or the other I expect," replied Penelope as she leant over to take the call. To their surprise, it was neither. "Dr Ogilvy?" said Penelope. "What a surprise. You look cheerful."
"Lady Penelope!" said Ogilvy excitedly. "Oh, I most certainly am! I've gotten an invitation to attend a big meeting of the World Astronomy Society! Apparently something big is going on. Would you like to join me?"
Penelope looked over at Parker. "Sure," she said. "I have no other plans for today. We'll be straight over, Doctor."
"Yippee!" said Ogilvy excitedly. "See you soon. Bye!" And he signed off.
"Well 'e seems rather h'excited about something," remarked Parker.
"Indeed," said Penelope. "Better get the car out, Parker."
"Right away, m'lady."
Colonel Jennings was sitting at her desk going through some papers when there was a knock on the doors. "Come!" she called.
The doors opened and Hayley walked in. She saluted. "Good morning, Colonel."
"Madison," said Colonel Jennings, greeting her with a warm smile as she stood up. "So glad to see you again. You're looking well."
"Feeling much better, thank you, Colonel," said Hayley.
"Please, take a seat."
"Thank you."
"I also hear congratulations are in order?"
"Hmmm?"
"You and Virgil," said Colonel Jennings, pointing to the ring on Hayley's finger.
"Oh…yes!" said Hayley. "Gosh, of all the places I could have been proposed to, I never thought it would be whilst tied to a pole overhanging the Antarctic Ocean."
Colonel Jennings did a double-take. "Seriously?!" she asked.
"Well…he tried to," said Hayley. "But given all the stress we were under I forgot about it when he fell. Thank God John was able to catch us. He then asked me properly after we were back on the island. I couldn't say no."
"I'm happy for you, Hayley," said Colonel Jennings. "I really am. You deserve it."
Hayley blushed. "Thank you, Colonel. Coming from you, that means a lot."
Colonel Jennings smiled. But then her face dropped a little. "Be a shame to lose you," she said quietly.
Hayley was confused. "Lose me, Colonel? I don't plan on going anywhere."
"Maybe not at the moment," said Colonel Jennings. "But have you and Virgil discussed what you'll do once you've tied the knot?"
Hayley remained silent, still confused. "I'm sorry, Colonel. I don't quite follow."
Colonel Jennings frowned. "You do realise that once you're married you'd not be living together if you both stay in your current jobs?" she said.
It was then that Hayley realised what she meant. That wasn't even something she'd thought about. "Oh…" she said.
"I mean it's not unusual for married couples not to live together for great lengths of time," said Colonel Jennings. "Anyone in the military is fully aware of that. "I'd hate to lose you, Madison. But you need to decide between you and Virgil how you're gonna make your marriage work. With the greatest of respect, I can't see him giving up his work. I'm happy to be proven wrong though."
"He wouldn't," said Hayley. "I might now be his fiance, but Thunderbird 2 is his baby. He'll never let anyone else have her whilst he's around."
"As I said, I'd hate to lose you, Madison," said Colonel Jennings. "But at the end of the day, you and he are going to need to work that out. Sorry to have brought this up on your first day back, but it's better that you are aware of it now rather than nearer the time."
"No, it's fine, Colonel," said Hayley. "You are right of course. I guess we'll just take it one step at a time. We certainly haven't made any wedding plans yet. So you won't be rid of me anytime soon."
The two women laughed heartily but the beep from the intercom on Colonel Jennings' desk interrupted them. "Colonel Jennings."
"Colonel, we might have a situation in space," said a controller. "Can you come to the control room?"
"I'll be right there," said Colonel Jennings. She turned to Hayley. "Care to join me?"
"Of course, Colonel."
Colonel Jennings and Hayley arrived in the control room shortly before being joined by Captains Liberty and Thompson. They'd already seen and welcomed Hayley back before she'd seen the Colonel so no pleasantries were exchanged this time.
"What do we have, people?" Colonel Jennings asked.
"We've had a report from a space freighter that's recently left Earth's orbit," said a controller. "They have reported seeing a mysterious cloud of gas drifting slowly towards us."
"A cloud of gas in space?" said Captain Liberty. "Is that even possible?"
"Do we have any visuals on this cloud?" asked Colonel Jennings.
"Negative," said the controller. "The pilot was too spooked and raced away as quickly as he could."
"Unfortunate," said Colonel Jennings. "Get me Captain O'Bannon on Global-2. Ask her to go and take a look."
"Roger!"
"A gas cloud in space," Amanda whispered to Hayley. "Aliens?"
"I wouldn't have thought so," Hayley replied. "But with the universe we live in, anything's possible."
John sipped a cup of coffee he'd just made. He glanced out of the window and was surprised to see a GDF Space Jet come past. He recognised the call sign and broke into a smile as he touched a button on the controls. "Captain O'Bannon," he said. "Haven't seen you around here for a while."
Captain Ridley O'Bannon chuckled. "Nice to hear from you again, John," she said. "Sorry it's been so long but I've been very busy with the construction of Global-2."
"I totally understand," replied John. "You wouldn't believe how crazy it's been for us either."
"Well, we can catch up properly later," said Captain O'Bannon. "I'm on an important assignment."
"Of course," said John. "I'll leave you to it. Over and-"
"Actually, John," interrupted O'Bannon. "Maybe you could help me?" She turned her craft around and headed back towards Thunderbird 5.
"I'll…try if I can," said John. "What's the mission?"
"An odd one," said O'Bannon. "I've been tasked with tracking down a cloud of green gas."
John's happiness at hearing Ridley's voice vanished like it had been sucked out by a vacuum cleaner. "G-Green g-g-gas?!" he stuttered.
"Yes, you heard me right," said O'Bannon. Then she noticed the haunted look on John's face. "John, whatever is the matter?"
"Where is this gas?" John asked urgently.
"Er, it was sighted somewhere over the Atlantic side of the planet," said O'Bannon. "Why, what do you know about it?"
John didn't answer Ridley. Instead he turned to EOS. "EOS, activate lateral thrusters. Take us over the Atlantic Ocean, now!"
"Understood," said EOS.
O'Bannon watched in confusion as Thunderbird 5's thrusters activated and it zoomed away from her. "Hey, wait for me!" she said, setting off in pursuit.
FAB1 reached the Headquarters of the British section of the World Astronomy Society and were guided to the main conference room where Ogilvy was to join a number of other British astronomers and scientists. Most did not look happy at seeing him, especially Professor Howard who was the chair of the group.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I know you're all wondering why you've been summoned here," said Professor Howard. "I too am wondering that myself. But we are about to get into a conference call with the head of the WAS as well as the World President, so I am told. This therefore must be something big."
"Could it be what I found?" asked Ogilvy.
The others except for Parker and Penelope simply glared at him. "I highly doubt that, Ogilvy," said the Professor dismissively.
Before Penelope could speak to defend Ogilvy, the screens came active revealing the World President in his office in Unity City, and Miles Buchanan - the head of the World Astronomy Society. Other screens showed the heads of branches from all the other countries including France, Italy, India, Australia and South Africa.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the WAS," began President Younger. "First of all, I would like to thank you for all attending this global meeting. We are in need of your expertise and we need it badly."
"Mr World President, when it comes to things in space, there's nothing our members can't answer," said Mr Buchanan. "What have you got for us, sir?"
"About three hours ago, a lunar supply freighter found what was described as a cloud of green gas on the approach to Earth," said The World President.
Penelope, Parker and Ogilvy exchanged startled looks whilst Professor Howard's face started to turn a little pale.
"A green gas, you say, sir?" said Mr Buchanan. "I don't suppose you have an image for us?"
"Already coming through to the screens in front of your members, Mr Buchanan," said The World President.
The image of the gas taken from the freighter was shown to every member of the World Astronomy Society. Penelope and Parker gazed over Ogilvy's shoulders at it.
"Most peculiar," remarked Mr Buchanan. "People of the WAS. Does anyone have any ideas?"
"It's from Mars!"
All eyes turned to look at Ogilvy who had decided it was time for the others to start taking him seriously. Although that had been down mostly to Penelope whispering in his ear to prompt him to stand up for himself.
"And you are?" asked The World President.
"Ogilvy, Mr World President. I have seen something like this before."
"You have?" said Mr Buchannan. "When?"
"About six weeks ago, sir," said Ogilvy. "A friend of Lady Penelope's had seen a number of these cloudbursts from the surface of Mars so she and I used the telescope in my observatory to see for ourselves. I'll admit, I was sceptical until I saw one. I have pictures to prove it as well." He then produced the images taken from the telescope.
The other members in the room passed the images around, all murmuring to themselves. Parker nudged Penelope discreetly and indicated to the far end of the table where Professor Howard was sitting. They could hear a tapping sound under the table which was his right leg twitching nervously.
"He doesn't look so smug now, does he, Parker?" Penelope whispered.
"H'Indeed 'e does not, m'lady," Parker whispered back, clearly satisfied with the Professor's discomfort.
"Why are we only hearing about this now, Ogilvy?" asked Mr Buchanan sharply. "How many of these cloudbursts were there?"
"Our sighting was the last of eleven I believe, Mr Buchanan," explained Ogilvy. "As for why you have not heard of this sooner…well…erm…"
Penelope decided to chip in. "I'm sure Professor Howard can answer that question, Mr Buchanan," she said innocently.
All eyes then turned to Professor Howard, who was now mopping his brow with a handkerchief and looking very uncomfortable indeed.
"Well, Professor Howard?" said The World President.
But the Professor's voice seemed to have abandoned him.
Thunderbird 5 and O'Bannon's space-jet soon reached the area above the Atlantic Ocean to where the cloud was reported to have been sighted. No sooner had Thunderbird 5 finished its manoeuvres when John caught sight of it. "Well, would you look at that?" he said.
O'Bannon could hardly believe her eyes. "My word…" she said. "You know, John, if I couldn't see that, I wouldn't believe it."
John looked nervously at the position of the cloud and how close it was to Earth. "I fear we may be too late to prevent it from entering the Earth's atmosphere," he said.
"Is it poisonous?" asked O'Bannon. "Hadn't you better get Thunderbird 3 up here to dispose of it?"
"It's not the cloud I'm worried about," said John as he adjusted some of Thunderbird 5's instruments. "EOS, can you activate the anti-jammers so we can see the cylinder?"
"Of course, John," said EOS. "Activating anti-jammer."
"Cylinder?" asked O'Bannon. Then she let out a gasp as the large metallic cylinder appeared in their view. It was starting to pick up speed as it was beginning to dive down towards the Earth. "What on Earth?!"
"Ridley, you'd better warn Colonel Jennings so she can alert The World President," said John. "there's another ten of these things coming and if they contain anything hostile, the others will need to be destroyed before they get here."
"Understood!" said O'Bannon. "But what do we do about that one?"
"It's too close to entering the atmosphere to be destroyed," said John. "Leave tracking it to me. You get Jennings and The World President informed."
"Roger that!"
John swiftly contacted Tracy Island. "International Rescue…we have a situation!"
In the lounge, Jeff, Scott, Gordon, Alan and Virgil looked up as John's message came through. "Go ahead, John," said Jeff. "What's the situation?"
"That cylinder that Alan discovered has arrived," said John. "It's literally visible from Thunderbird 5 as I speak and is about to enter the Earth's atmosphere."
"On my way to Thunderbird 3!" said Alan as he hurried towards the sofa. "I'll intercept it before-"
"Negative, Alan!" interrupted John. "It's gonna hit the atmosphere imminently. You wouldn't get up here in time."
"Where's it headed, John?" asked Scott.
"That I don't know as it's still not properly registering on my scanners," said John. "It'd be a help if there was someone able to intercept and track it through the air once it has entered the atmosphere."
"Sounds like a job for you, Scott," said Virgil.
"Agreed," said Jeff. "On your way, son."
"F-A-B," said Jeff as he hurried towards the revolving wall panel.
Alan looked disappointed. "Awh, I knew I should have destroyed that thing when I found it."
"Yeah, could it not be a bomb or missile of some kind?" said Gordon.
"Best we know what it is first before we deal with the others, Gordon," said Jeff.
"What do we do once it is through?" asked Virgil. "It's gonna end up somewhere and we'll need to make sure only the right people get their hands on it."
Jeff nodded. "Right now there's no telling where it could end up," he said. "However, there's a strong chance that at least Thunderbird 2 could be required. So you go down to your ship, Virgil. Gordon, you go as well. Then have either Modules 3 or 4 ready for immediate collection. Once Scott can give us a definite on if it's going to hit land or sea, then you can select the correct module and launch."
"F-A-B," said Virgil as he headed for the rocket painting. "See you down there, Gordo."
"On my way," said Gordon as he headed for his own express elevator.
"Is there anything I can do?" asked Alan.
"Not at the moment, but if the other objects do need tracking, we may well need Thunderbird 3 for that," said Jeff.
Alan nodded in agreement.
Scott was now aboard Thunderbird 1 and being taken to the launch bay underneath the swimming pool which was opening as the craft entered the launch bay. Once the trolley had stopped in the correct place, he was ready to go.
5! 4! 3! 2! 1!
The engines roared into life and the sleek silver, red and blue rocket rose upwards out of the launch bay and climbed high into the sky before picking up speed and climbing towards its maximum operational height in order to try and intercept the unusual object before it had fully entered the atmosphere.
"A cylinder?!" said Colonel Jennings.
"Yes, Colonel," answered O'Bannon. "And it's about to enter the atmosphere. John's got Thunderbird 1 launched to intercept it once it has entered and track to wherever it goes. But you'd better inform The World President about this. Especially as there are potentially another ten following this one."
"Indeed, I will," said Colonel Jennings. "Thank you, Captain. Return to Global-2 and await further instructions."
"Roger and out," said O'Bannon and signed off.
Captain Liberty then spoke up. "Colonel, if that's some kind of weapon and it hits the ground-"
"Then we've got a global catastrophe on our hands, yes, Captain, I'm aware," replied Colonel Jennings as she turned to the three officers. "Get your squads ready. If this is a disaster weapon, we're gonna be in for one hell of a Christmas."
That made Hayley, Amanda and Captain Liberty feel very uneasy but they hurried out to do as they'd been instructed.
"You call that a volcanic eruption?!" Mr Buchanan said angrily to Professor Howard. "Since when are those green, Professor?!"
Professor Howard was sweating heavily. He had been unable to defend any of his insults or dismissals of Dr Ogilvy. Penelope had revealed everything to the people in the room as well as The World President and Mr Buchanan, and it was safe to say that the Professor's reputation was somewhat in tatters now.
"If that cloud is toxic to humans, Professor, I want you to know that you'll be held accountable for this negligence!" snapped Mr Buchanan.
Professor Howard's voice finally returned. "Look, sir, I may admit that I have messed up a little here!" he said. "But Ogilvy never brought anything of scientific value to any of our meetings. Anything he'd found had already been found. It wasn't easy to take him seriously!"
"I bet you wish you had now?" remarked Penelope, causing the Professor to seethe with anger.
The World President then spoke up. "Mr Buchanan, ladies and gentlemen of the WAS. I am bringing Colonel Jennings of the Global Defence Force into this meeting. Go ahead, Colonel?"
A screen showing Colonel Jennings now appeared. "Mr World President. People of the WAS. Oh, and Lady Penelope," she said, noticing the young aristocrat as well as Parker. "I am here to inform you of a development to your meeting about the green cloud of what you presume is gas floating in space. I'm afraid it is not a good one. That cloud is actually the tail-fire of an unidentified space capsule that has had its course traced back to Mars and from information I've received from International Rescue, the first of the eleven is about to enter the Earth's atmosphere."
"Where is it headed, Colonel?" asked The World President.
"Currently unknown, Mr World President," said Colonel Jennings. "But International Rescue are going to be tracking the object to wherever it ends up. Hopefully in the ocean somewhere."
"Let's hope so too," said The World President. "Colonel, I strongly suggest that wherever it does end up you have a strong GDF attendance. This could attract a lot of attention and we can't have something like this falling into the wrong hands."
"Already set that in motion, Mr World President," said Colonel Jennings. "Once we know where it's going to land, we'll be on our way."
"I'm glad to hear it," said The World President. He then addressed everyone. "Mr Buchanan, you and your people better be on stand-by. If this object lands in a country, then I want the people from whatever branch of your group to investigate it once it lands under the full supervision of the GDF."
"Yes, sir!" said Mr Buchanan.
"I 'ope it doesn't come to h'us, m'lady," Parker whispered to Penelope.
"So do I, Parker," agreed Penelope. "So do I."
Thunderbird 1 was now at maximum altitude and closing in on the location of where John predicted the cylinder was going to come through. "Thunderbird 5, I'm approaching the area now," Scott reported. "What's the latest on the contact?"
"It's literally just entering the atmosphere now, Thunderbird 1," answered John. "The orange glow is just starting. You should be able to see it any second now."
Scott used Thunderbird 1's external camera mounted on top of the aircraft to look around. Sure enough a bright orange glow of what looked like a comet appeared about twenty miles away up above him. "I see it!" he said. "I'll wait for it to pass and then pursue."
Brains then joined in. "Scott, t-try and make a scan of the object if you can," he said. "That way we'll not only be able to t-tell if it's dangerous, but also we m-might be able to track its course and make a prediction of w-where it might land."
"F-A-B, Brains," said Scott. "I'll stand-by to do that."
Scott waited anxiously whilst the cylinder continued to make its way through the upper atmosphere. Once it was through the bit where it could possibly burn up, he adjusted Thunderbird 1's course and turned to fly parallel with the object which was diving at a minimal angle. He made sure not to get too close in case anything broke off if it had suffered damage. Matching course and speed, he began to perform a scan of the strange object which was transmitted back to both Tracy Island and Thunderbird 5.
"Scan is coming through, Thunderbird 1," said John.
"K-Keep going, Scott," said Brains. "A few more seconds is all we need."
Scott kept his cool as he made sure Thunderbird 1 didn't deviate from its course whilst the scan continued to run. "My instruments are saying 'complete'," he said at last. "Can you confirm?"
"I confirm," said John. "Scan received, Scott."
"S-Same here," said Brains who was in the lounge with Jeff and Alan. "Now, J-John. Can you t-try and predict its f-flight path whilst I run a scan for anything dangerous inside?"
"F-A-B, Brains," said John.
"How long will this take?" asked Scott.
"A few m-minutes, tops," answered Brains.
"Same here," said John. "Unless you can see where its going, Thunderbird 1?"
Scott looked ahead. "Can't see at the moment," he answered. "We're still above the clouds. No, wait! I thought I saw something. Stand-by."
Thunderbird 1 and the cylinder both passed through a cloud. Then he saw what it had been concealing. "Er, guys, not to hurry you or anything, but we're above Northern Europe. And judging by the angle, we might be headed for the UK."
Jeff turned to Brains. "Brains, please tell me that's not a weapon of some kind," he said.
Brains adjusted the holographic instruments projected from the table in the lounge. "I have completed my s-scan," he said. "It's r-relatively good news."
"Relatively?" repeated Alan.
"Yes," said Brains. "I can confirm that there is n-no warhead or any explosives detected."
"But…?" said Scott. "Why do I suspect there's something else, Brains?"
"I am p-picking up some kind of signature," Brains said. "But I am unable to identify w-what it is."
"And I have bad news," said John. "According to its current angle and rate of descent. It's not gonna end up in the ocean. It's heading straight for England. Specifically the county of Gloucestershire."
"Gloucestershire?!" exclaimed Gordon who'd been listening with Virgil in the cockpit of Thunderbird 2. "But that's where Lady Penelope lives!"
"Thunderbird 2, select Module 3 and get out to England as fast as you can!" Jeff ordered. "Scott, keep your eyes on that cylinder. John, inform Colonel Jennings immediately."
"F-A-B!" acknowledged Virgil, Scott and John in unison.
"What about Penelope?" Gordon asked anxiously.
"I'll let her know, Gordon," said Jeff. "You just focus on your job. Understand?"
"Yes, Dad…"
"Good."
Having now selected Module 3, Thunderbird 2 taxied out onto its runway and came to rest on the launch pad which rose upwards into position. The wings folded out and the blast shield was soon in place.
5! 4! 3! 2! 1!
The twin boosters roared as they pushed Thunderbird 2 up off the ramp and it climbed away from Tracy Island to start the long journey to England. "Thunderbird 2 is GO!" said Virgil.
Penelope heard her compact beeping inside her coat pocket. She turned and moved away from the loud talking of the UK Board members of the WAS, most of which were voicing their disdain towards Professor Howard for not taking Ogilvy seriously, even though in the past they had backed him in his dismissal of Ogilvy. How the tables have turned, Penelope thought to herself as she opened the contact. "Lady Penelope here. Oh, hello, Jeff. Please excuse the noise."
"Where are you, Penny?" Jeff asked.
"In the UK Branch of the World Astronomy Society, Jeff," said Penelope. "Why do I have a feeling you're going to say something about the object John found?"
"I am indeed," said Jeff grimly. "Your location is in London, right?"
"Right."
"Thank God for that. The cylinder is heading to crash-land somewhere in Gloucestershire."
Penelope's eyes widened. "Well that's very distressing," she remarked. "Do you have an exact location?"
"No, but let us all pray it's not in a populated area," said Jeff. "You might want to tell the others."
"I will," said Penelope. "Thank you, Jeff. Over and out."
Parker looked over at Penelope as she closed the compact and turned around. He noticed immediately how troubled she looked. "Bad news, m'lady?"
Before Penelope could respond, the hologram screens of Colonel Jennings, The World President and Mr Buchanan appeared.
"Ladies and gentlemen, can I have your attention please?" said Mr Buchanan. "The unidentified object has a predicted landing area in Gloucestershire. It's heading for you, people of the UK branch. Looks like it's up to you to investigate once it lands."
"International Rescue and the GDF are on their way to assist," said Colonel Jennings. "Whatever happens, we need to ensure that as few people as possible come into contact with this object."
"Best of luck to you all," said The World President. "If this thing is dangerous, I want to be informed of it immediately. Then I can authorise the destruction of the other objects."
"I think Professor Howard should go and investigate the cylinder," said a woman on the board.
"I agree," said a man, and the others spoke in agreement.
"Wait a minute!" barked Professor Howard. "I am the leader of this branch! We're not doing this by pure suggestion."
"Why don't you vote then?" suggested Penelope. "Then it's fair."
"Very well," said Professor Howard. "All in favour of me going to investigate, raise your hands."
Everyone in the room did, except for Penelope and Parker. They were guests so they did not have a say in the matter.
Professor Howard twitched as he noted all of the raised hands, including Ogilvy's. "Okay…all against me going to investigate, raise your hands."
Only one person did, and that turned out to be Miss Winters, his secretary.
"Looks like its unanimous," remarked Penelope with a smirk whilst the Professor started fuming once again at the humiliation.
The cylinder and Thunderbird 1 were now starting to overfly the United Kingdom. From on the ground, anyone in the West Country and South Wales had their attention drawn to the mysterious ball of fire that was falling out of the sky with a sleek Thunderbird rocket close nearby. Nobody knew what was going on, and soon all of the emergency service boards began receiving urgent calls from distressed people who were afraid.
Scott could see the fields and towns of Gloucestershire getting closer, including the city of Gloucester. "I sure hope it doesn't hit the city," he said out loud to himself. "John, are you able to get a more accurate reading of where it might land?"
"Actually yes," said John. "Now you're nearer the ground, the landing sight has become more narrowed-down. It would appear to be in the middle of a field to the North of Cheltenham."
"Well, that's something," said Scott. "Let's hope the locals and press don't come looking before the GDF arrives."
"Or you'll have to keep them at bay if you can until they do," said John.
Scott didn't like the thought of that. He began to back Thunderbird 1 off. "I'm keeping my distance now," he said. "The cylinder is going to impact soon."
The cylinder overflew the city of Gloucester and then the town of Cheltenham. Closer and closer it got to the ground until finally it slammed into a large open field with an impact that shook the ground and was felt at least a-hundred miles in all directions. Several windows within a twenty mile radius shattered. Anyone standing was knocked off their feet. Cars and other road vehicles lost control and resulted in several collisions although luckily nothing major.
Scott didn't feel anything from Thunderbird 1 but the impact definitely caused him to flinch. He gazed down at the big cloud of dirt and dust along with the eighty metre long trench that had been carved into the ground by the cylinder that had spread from the field it had initially impacted through a hedge and into the next. "This is Thunderbird 1. The cylinder is on the ground. Repeat - the cylinder had landed."
As Scott had predicted, the impact had indeed stirred up attention, but luckily for him, the GDF were swift in their arrival, sealing off any roads within and creating a five mile exclusion zone around the crash site. Any houses in the area were evacuated and a group of Flyers patrolled the skies forcing a number of news helicopters to be turned away to stop them from trying to get in to film what was going on. Some people tried deploying drones into the area but they ended up getting shot down by the GDF soldiers' weapons.
Thunderbird 2 was the last to arrive on the scene. From their position in the cockpit, Gordon and Virgil observed the large number of GDF personnel forming the perimeter to keep everyone away from the scene.
"That's a lot of troops," remarked Gordon.
"Looks like the Army has been brought in as well," said Virgil. "Not all of those vehicles down there are blue."
"This is huge then," said Gordon.
"Massively," said Virgil. "That's why all this is here."
They slowed down as they approached the cylinder. Thunderbird 1 was parked a short distance away as was one of the GDF Flyers on the opposite side. FAB1 was there as well. They could just make out the figures of Scott, Penelope, Parker, Colonel Jennings, Captain Liberty and two others who they didn't recognise.
Hayley and Amanda were on the perimeter patrols. Hayley looked up and waved at Thunderbird 2 as it passed overhead. She didn't know if Virgil had seen her, but she didn't care about that. Seeing Thunderbird 2 made her feel happy inside.
Scott and the others looked up at Thunderbird 2 as it approached. "Shall we proceed, Colonel?"
"Yes, Tracy, please do," said Colonel Jennings.
Scott spoke into his helmet radio. "Thunderbird 2 from Thunderbird 1. Use your magnetic grapple to lift the cylinder out of the ground and then place it upright on its tail."
"F-A-B," acknowledged Virgil as he moved Thunderbird 2 into position above the cylinder.
The hatch underneath opened and Gordon lowered the yellow magnetic grappler down towards the cylinder. Once it was in position, the magnetic clamps locked in place.
"Contact," said Gordon.
"Okay," said Virgil. "Nice and slow." He gently applied power to Thunderbird 2 VTOL thrusters and the green goliath began to carefully lift the cylinder, the underside of which was now filthy with mud and dirt from the impact, up out of the ground then moved it over to one side before lowering the rear section down to then hoist it upright so that the nose section was pointing towards the sky.
"You're there, Thunderbird 2. Good job," said Scott.
The clamps were released and Thunderbird 2 moved away to retract the grapple.
Professor Howard and Ogilvy had both come with Penelope and Parker. They gazed at the cylinder with interest. The Professor no longer seemed angry at being forced to come out, although he did not admit it.
"Well, Doctor? Professor?" said Colonel Jennings. "What do you think?"
"It's remarkable!" said Ogilvy. "It looks like something out of the 1960s. But it's definitely been built recently. I'd love to meet the people who made it."
"This thing has come from Mars," said Professor Howard. "Yet if what your friend at International Rescue says is correct, Lady Penelope, the people at the Mars Colony have denied any knowledge of this thing's existence."
"Yes, that is rather strange," said Penelope. "One can only assume perhaps some other group has landed on Mars that hasn't been authorised to be there."
"If that's the case then they should be sending out search parties to look and find out," said Colonel Jennings. "It's very strange that a group of very few people can't have seen those green cloudbursts erupting."
"Unless they were on the other side of the planet," said Scott. "John did check the location of the colony and saw it wasn't anywhere near to where these were coming from."
"Hmm, then maybe so," said Colonel Jennings. "But they should still be-"
"CRIKEY!" exclaimed Parker, making them all jump. "IT'S H'OPENING!"
Everyone turned to look. Sure enough, the nose-cone of the cylinder was slowly opening up like a monster's mouth opening up four-ways. A small cloud of steam escaped from it like a large refrigerator being opened up. It was already cold for those not in special suits since it was December, but since it had opened, the air seemed to get even colder.
Nobody said a word. Nobody moved. They waited in silence for something to happen. Then came a low hissing sound from inside the cylinder.
"Something's in there," Scott remarked.
Everyone was now on edge. Captain Liberty readied his shield. Scott, Penelope and Colonel Jennings got their stun-guns ready. A group of soldiers forming an inner circle got their weapons ready too as did those on a few ground vehicles.
"Thunderbird 2, can you see inside?" Scott asked in a low voice.
"Negative, Scott," answered Virgil from Thunderbird 2 which was now a short distance away. "You want us to come in and look?"
"Negative, I'll…take a look," said Scott bravely.
"I don't think you'll need to," said Gordon. "Something's coming out."
As Scott turned his eyes back to the cylinder, he froze solid. So did everyone else. A series of alarmed gasps from the soldiers on the opposite side added to the realisation that this wasn't good as a strange rock-like shape slowly began to emerge from within the cylinder.
Suddenly, he felt two hands grab his arm and squeeze them very tightly. Surprised, he turned to see who it was and was even more surprised to see it was Penelope. Her skin was as white as snow and her eyes were wider than he'd ever seen anyone's before. "Penelope?"
"Scott…" Penelope said in a hushed and very scared sounding voice. "Please tell me that's not what I think it is."
Captain Liberty was slowly walking around the other side of the cylinder for a look. Then he too stopped dead and was frozen as the object turned towards him. "Holy, sh…" he began, unable to finish his sentence.
The object hadn't turned fully, but it had turned just enough for Scott to see part of the front. He did not need to be told what it was. With a shaking hand, he tapped his sash radio and broke the bad news to both those at International Rescue and the GDF personnel in attendance. "Everyone…we have one hell of a situation on our hands. It's a Rock Snake!"
