THE camera pod of EOS moved through Thunderbird 5 and entered John's quarters. It looked at the ginger-haired Tracy brother who was sitting on his bed, looking down through the glass floor at the Earth far below. Next to his bed was a small bag with toiletries in as well as a few other items that John held close to him.
"How long will you be gone?" EOS asked.
"A week it should be, EOS," John answered as he stood up and walked over to get a drink of water. "I'm not sure I could last much longer in gravity."
"Then why go at all?" EOS asked.
John swigged the water and sighed. "Grandma's orders," he said. "She says that Dad and I haven't spent a lot of time together since we brought him back. I mean…there is a lot of truth in that. I often keep myself to myself up here. Maybe I should have made more of an effort?"
"If I may say so," EOS continued. "I'd rather you didn't go."
"You've managed without me before, EOS," John said, turning to face the camera.
"On my own, yes," said EOS. "However…I struggle to get on with others."
"Meaning like how you made things difficult for Alan and Gordon when I was a guest of Lady Penelope's?" asked John.
EOS didn't answer, but the camera eye instead looked downwards in shame.
"I know that Alan can be a bit of a handful," said John. "But he knows when to get serious. If anything I think he might find a week of being up here harder than I find down on Earth."
"Want me to keep him on his toes?" asked EOS.
John considered it. "Mmm, nah. Best let him sort himself out, EOS. What's our position?"
"We'll be over Tracy Island in about five minutes," said EOS.
John bent down and picked up his bag. "Then I'd best get to the space elevator," he said. He walked out of his room and headed for the elevator with EOS following him.
Thunderbird 5 had been in a slow orbit above the Earth, making its way on a course that would directly take it over the location of Tracy Island. A special computer lock scanned for the landing point on the island and then it would automatically hold the space-station in place whilst the elevator travelled down and up again.
As John entered the elevator, the controls beeped to tell him that they were in position. "This is where I get off," he said. "See you in a week, EOS."
"Goodbye, John…" EOS said.
John didn't fail to notice that EOS sounded sad. Guess AI systems do have feelings as well, he thought to himself. He then remembered an old movie where an Artificial Intelligence had been compromised by another and later got put into a synthetic body that the evil AI had intended for itself and became a force for good instead. I wonder if Brains could make EOS a body? John thought as the elevator started to descend. But his thoughts were soon interrupted by a sudden jolt that made the elevator stop. Surprised, he looked around. Everything looked fine until an urgent beeping sound caught his attention. He pressed a button. "EOS, what's going on?"
"John, I've detected a mechanical failure in the elevator winch mechanism," EOS answered. "I can't seem to lower it any further."
"Can you pull me back in so I can have a look?" John asked.
"I'll try," said the AI.
John felt the elevator trying to be pulled up. But it was barely doing anything.
"Show me diagnostics," said John.
EOS sent the holographic data to his screen. A red flashing light was being shown right on the winch mechanism. "Ahh…that's not good," said John. he pressed the IR icon on his sash. "Tracy Island…I, er, have a situation!"
5!
4!
3!
2!
1!
"Thunderbirds Are Go!"
"FLIGHT TO DESTRUCTION"
SCOTT walked out onto the flight of steps that led up to the platform where Thunderbird 5's elevator would land. Alan was there with his bag, waiting impatiently. "Don't tell me you're itching to get up there, Alan?" he joked.
"You gotta be kidding, right?" Alan said, turning round. "A whole week up in a space-station listening in case someone needs help? That's gotta be the most boring job in International Rescue, right?"
"Boring, maybe. But it's also the most important, Alan," said Scott. "Without Thunderbird 5, we would not get the calls for help, and then where would we all be?"
"I, er, guess," said Alan. "But all the same…I'd rather it wasn't me. At least…not on my own."
"You'll have EOS," said Scott.
Alan scoffed. "A computer? I seriously don't see how John can be best friends with a-"
"Don't let Brains hear you say that," said Scott with a grin.
Alan sighed. "I'm sorry," he said. "I just wish Dad hadn't volunteered me for this job. I don't suppose you want to go instead, do you?"
Scott opened his mouth to answer, but instead a beeping from a nearby console grabbed their attention. Next second, Jeff's hologram appeared from it. "Scott! Alan! Come up to the lounge at once!" he said sharply, and then cut off before either of them could answer.
Scott and Alan looked at each other. "This can't be good, whatever it is," remarked Alan.
Scott was already heading for the door. "Come on!" he said.
Alan grabbed his bag and hurried after Scott all the way to the lounge.
Upon entering the lounge, they found Brains and Jeff looking anxious and both speaking to John's hologram.
"Are you able to g-get back inside Thunderbird 5 by exiting the elevator, John?" Brains was asking.
"I can, Brains," answered John. "Lucky I keep a spare helmet inside the elevator."
"Then head b-back inside and see if you can locate the problem," said Brains.
"F-A-B." John's hologram then disappeared.
"What's going on, Dad?" asked Scott.
"Problem with the space elevator," answered Jeff. "Something's gone wrong with the winch."
"Really?" said Alan. "Phew!"
Jeff scowled. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"That, I, er, don't have to go up there…yet?" Alan asked sheepishly.
Jeff's scowl increased a little. "I guess you don't, Alan," he replied.
Brains then spoke up. "Actually, you can," he said. "You can take Th-Thunderbird 3 up there. And then John can bring it back."
Alan's jaw dropped. But before he could protest, Jeff spoke up again. "Excellent idea, Brains. And besides, John may need a hand up there with the elevator before he comes down. If…that's okay with you, Alan?"
Alan wanted to groan loudly. But instead, he pulled himself together, remembering that he wasn't a whiny teenager anymore. "F-A-B. I'm on my way." Alan sat himself down on the chairs at the far side of the lounge. He placed his bag on the vacant one and the chairs began to descend into the floor. He then headed along through the changing rooms, except this time he was already in his uniform so went straight through instead. He was then placed on the yellow hydraulic arm which raised him up to the open hatch on the side of Thunderbird 3. Once in position, the two seats moved inside, the arm pulled away and the hatch closed behind him. Soon he was in position at the controls and the blast shield door was closed to seal the spaceship off from the rest of the underground cavern.
5! 4! 3! 2! 1!
The three massive chemical rockets roared into life as thousands of pounds of thrust pushed it upwards out through the launch tunnel behind the roundhouse on the cliff and it soared away into the clear blue sky above Tracy Island. "Thunderbird 3 is GO!"
Virgil and Gordon were in the pool playing Water Polo. Both stopped and looked up at the roar as Thunderbird 3 launched.
"I wonder where they're going?" asked Gordon.
"An emergency call must have come in before Alan could switch places with John," answered Virgil. "I haven't seen the elevator come down, have you?"
Gordon shook his head. "I haven't," said. He held up his hands and Virgil threw the ball at him. He tried to catch it but it instead bounced off his hand and out of the pool, straight into Kayo's hands.
"Hiya, boys," Kayo said. "This yours?"
"Jeez!" exclaimed Gordon. "I swear you weren't there a second ago?!"
Kayo grinned. "You know me, Gordo. I'm a secret shadow." She winked and threw the ball back. Gordon and Virgil continued playing. Neither noticed as Kayo suddenly began flinching and shuddering as strange images began to flash through her mind. But before she even had a chance to realise what was going on, the strange feeling stopped as soon as it had come. Huh. That was weird, she thought and then sat down on the end of a lounger to watch them playing.
"Do you want to join us, Kayo?" asked Virgil as he retrieved the ball from behind him.
Kayo smiled. "Who would I join?" she asked. "Two against one is hardly far."
Then Scott appeared. "Then let's make it far," he said, having just caught the end of the conversation.
Gordon and Virgil blinked in surprise. "Scott? You're here?!" asked Gordon.
"Yes…?" Scott replied. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Virgil looked up into the sky after Thunderbird 3 which was now long out of sight. "Has Alan gone on a mission alone?" he asked.
"Ah, no, he hasn't," said Scott. "He's just gone to relieve John, that's all. Thunderbird 5's space-elevator has broken down."
"Ahhh, that's problematic," said Kayo.
"Is John stuck in the elevator?" Gordon asked eagerly. "Oh, please tell me Alan's gone to rescue him?"
Scott laughed. "No, John's able to get out through the hatch," he said. "Sorry, Gordon."
Gordon groaned in disappointment.
"Anyways," said Scott. "I'll grab my swimsuit and join you. Kayo?"
Kayo thought for a moment. Then she smiled. "Sure. now it'll be a fair game and these two will have a better chance of winning fairly."
"HEY!" exclaimed Gordon indignantly whilst Virgil and Scott howled with laughter.
Jeff stood by the table and Brains examined the holographic intel that he'd gotten from Thunderbird 5. "How bad is it, Brains?"
"There's a f-fault with one of the gears, Mr Tracy," answered Brains. "It's n-not serious, but I'm afraid that the elevator won't be usable for a short t-time. I will need to get the part we need brought in before we can m-make a repair."
"I see," said Jeff. "This will in no way affect Thunderbird 5's role of space-monitor then?"
"C-Certainly not, Mr Tracy," said Brains reassuringly. "The space-station is still f-fully operational. International Rescue will n-not be affected by this small hiccup."
"Well, I'm sure glad to hear that, Brains," said Jeff. "The thought of Thunderbird 5 being out of action doesn't sit well with me at all, especially if a global disaster were to take place and we'd be unable to do anything to help."
"With the g-greatest of respect, Mr Tracy," Brains said uneasily. "But I sometimes feel that m-maybe you worry a little t-too much?"
Jeff looked at him. Then at the table. "Hmmm. Perhaps you're right, Brains," he said. "Maybe I do need to control my worries a bit more. I mean, it's not like the boys can't take care of themselves during rescue operations. Hell, you all managed fine without me for eight years."
"Yes, well, if you were to ask the b-boys, I wouldn't say it was easy for them," Brains remarked.
Jeff nodded as he sat down. "Yeah…of course," he said understandingly.
Thunderbird 3 had by now left the Earth's atmosphere and was approaching Thunderbird 5. Alan could see the elevator still hanging out beneath the space-station like a ship's anchor that had gotten stuck. "Thunderbird 5, this is Thunderbird 3. Do you read me, John?"
"Loud and clear, Alan."
"Where are you, bro?"
"Inside the winch room. I only just got here having used the emergency elevator hatch to exit," said John. "I'm gonna need your help here."
"F-A-B," said Alan. "Deploying grasping arms for docking procedure."
The three grasping arms of Thunderbird 3 swiftly deployed and Alan expertly guided his ship closer to the space-station before docking it into place with the ends of the arms locked into the gravity ring.
"Locked in," said Alan before suddenly letting out a yawn. "Woah. Strange, I'm not tired."
Leaving his ship and dropping his bag by the outer door of the airlock, made his way down to the room where the elevator winch was located. He found John looking at the large gears in the mechanism and immediately noticed a strong smell. "Sheesh!" Alan exclaimed. "Was that you or me?"
"Neither, Alan," replied John, "although you could say Thunderbird 5 sh-, no I'll keep it clean."
Alan looked at the gears. "Dayum, that's not good," he said. "I thought Brains was so on top with all the maintenance of the ships?"
"He usually is," replied John. "But then again, he has been busy rebuilding both Thunderbird 4s. I'm guessing Thunderbird 5 slipped off his radar."
"But it can be fixed right?"
"Knowing Brains, I have no doubt," said John. "Now let's get out of here before we get overwhelmed, shall we?"
Both men left the room and Alan closed the door behind them. The fresh oxygen soon made them feel better.
"What was it you needed my help with?" Alan asked.
"Oh, that doesn't matter now," John replied. "I was going to ask if you could help me hand-crank the elevator back up to its docking position. But I daren't try the winch in case it damages it even more."
"I get that," said Alan.
"Coffee before I go?" asked John.
"Hmm. don't mind if I do," grinned Alan.
Scott and Kayo had gotten into their swimsuits and joined Gordon and Virgil in the pool. Kayo joined Virgil's side of the net whilst Scott joined Gordon's. They were soon having a great time, throwing the ball back and forth. But it quickly became clear that Kayo wasn't quite as good with the ball as she'd made out to be. Neither was Scott as it turned out and soon Virgil and Gordon were getting a lot more catches and throws of the ball than they were.
"Maybe we need to swap sides?" Scott asked.
"Nah, bro, we got this!" said Gordon. "Catch, Kayo!"
"Eee-YAH!" Kayo squealed, falling backwards and getting a mouthful of water which she spat out as soon as she could. "Scott, this is YOUR fault!"
"W-What?!" spluttered Scott. "How's this GAAH!" Kayo had splashed him with water.
"WATER FIGHT!" she shouted and within seconds the polo was forgotten about as all four began splashing the pool water at each other.
The commotion and loud laughter brought Jeff to the window. When he saw what his sons and Kayo were doing, he couldn't help but chuckle to himself. "Still kids at heart," he said to himself.
The two brothers floated side-by-side looking down at the Earth through one of the viewing ports. "So who do you reckon is gonna crack first?" Alan asked.
"What do you mean?" asked John.
"Well, you know. You're not used to being on Earth for so long and I'm not used to being off Earth for so long," Alan said. "Which one of us will decide we want to swap back?"
"I can't let that happen, Alan," said John. "As much as I prefer being up here, I really haven't spent much time with Dad. I feel awful about that. I have to put it right."
Alan hadn't realised that this was the reason why he'd been asked to come up here. He now felt bad for having grumbled about it. "Then I won't let it get to me either," he said with determination.
John smiled and placed his hands on his youngest brother's shoulders. "Just remember, you have the most important job in International Rescue," he said. "When someone down there is in trouble and calls for help, it'll be you that they'll hear say that 'Help is on the way'. Do you know how powerful those words are to someone in peril?"
Alan nodded. "I sure do," he said.
With the coffee drunk, John took his bag which he had already recovered from the space-elevator and headed towards Thunderbird 3 whilst Alan remained behind in the control room. "Look after my ship!" Alan called after him.
"Look after my station," John replied. Both shared a grin with one another before the door between them closed up.
John made his way into the cockpit of Thunderbird 3 and sat himself initially in the wrong seat. He was so used to sitting in the passenger seat that it took him a few seconds to realise he needed to be where Alan usually sat. "Huh. This'll take some getting used to," he chuckled to himself as he changed from one seat to the other. He did know how Thunderbird 3 worked though and in no time at all, the massive red spaceship had disengaged and was backing away from the space-station. To John, this felt very strange seeing his space-station moving away from him.
It was the same for Alan inside Thunderbird 5 as he watched Thunderbird 3 turn away and start heading back towards Earth.
EOS came over. "You are having uneasy thoughts, aren't you?" she said.
"How can you tell?" Alan asked.
"Last time you came to do this, your ship stayed with you," said EOS. "It must be difficult seeing it fly off without you?"
Yeah, thanks for stating the freakin' obvious, Alan thought. But he kept it to himself. "Yeah, but I'm sure John is feeling the same," he said. He then turned to the computer camera on the ceiling. "Okay, EOS. Can you give me a rundown of John's daily procedure please?"
"Of course," said EOS. "Follow me."
As Thunderbird 3 made its way back towards Earth, John went through the navigational flight plan. It was largely an automated thing, but it never hurt to double-check it. Despite Brains's brilliance, modern technology couldn't be one-hundred percent relied on. John gave a small smile of relief as he saw the holographic orange dotted line on the projector showing the pre-recorded flight path that the autopilot would take to return to Tracy Island.
"Descent course plotted and locked in," John said out loud to himself. "Good. I should be home within an…*yawn*...hour. Hmmm," he said. "Strange, I don't know where that came from?"
There were many noises to be heard within Thunderbird 3's cockpit. From the hum of the motors to the casual beeps and blips from the control panel. All were very natural to someone like Alan and John. But what he couldn't hear, and what Alan had failed to hear on his way up was a faint hissing sound coming from somewhere at the top of the cockpit. The deadly sigh of escaping gas! It was a special gas that only Brains could pronounce, and it was used as a means of keeping the cooling systems at a safe level for those travelling inside Thunderbird 3. However, it was only used within the piping system and not let out into the ship itself, for although it was harmless to humans, it could be deadly in putting someone to sleep for several hours.
John believed his thirst had been satisfied due to the cup of coffee he'd had with Alan before leaving. But now he felt his throat start to feel dry as well as letting out another yawn. "Where's this…tiredness come from?" he asked himself. "Maybe…another coffee…is in…order…" He let out yet another yawn as he pushed up the safety bars and lifted himself up to float across the cockpit in zero gravity. But he'd barely gotten halfway when he felt his eyes begin to get heavier and heavier. And within moments, his eyes closed completely and he started drifting around the cockpit totally oblivious to what had happened.
Worse still, John had only believed that the course on the projector in front of him had been locked in. He hadn't remembered that he needed to do it himself. As such, Thunderbird 3 missed its turning point and carried straight on…a runaway!
