April 13th, 2060 - 06:35 NZST
Gordon emerges from the bunkroom, rubbing sleep from his eyes. The early light of dawn paints the floorboards with a soft glow. He steps into his slippers and pads quietly down the corridor, his heart rate still sluggish from the night's rest. Tracy Island lies in an untouched silence, the kind that only exists before the world wakes up. Outside, the waves whisper gentle secrets to the shore, the only sound disturbing the serene quietude.
In the kitchen, the scent of freshly brewed coffee fills the air, a beacon of comfort in the early hour. He takes a steaming mug from the counter and peers out the window, watching the horizon. The sky is a canvas of soft blues and pinks, the sun just beginning to stretch its fingers over the sea. It is going to be another beautiful day on the island, the kind that makes you feel alive.
The quiet is so profound that even the distant hum of the island's machinery is a gentle lullaby. Gordon takes a sip of his coffee, savouring the warmth that travels down his throat. It is moments like these that makes him feel connected to the world, a silent witness to the birth of a new day.
The sudden rumble of engines and the grinding of rocks snaps him out of his tranquil reverie. He sets his mug down and strides over to the poolside, and watches as the palm trees on the runway fold backwards.
5
Virgil is heading down his chute getting suited up.
4
The lifting equipment is loaded into Module 3.
3
Sally boards Thunderbird 2 via the passenger elevator.
2
Thunderbird 2 taxis down the main runway and comes to a halt allowing the ramp to raise.
"System check complete, all lights show green," Virgil says as he prepares for launch.
1
The blast shield rises.
Thunderbirds are Go!
April 13th, 2060 - 06:52 NZST
"Thunderbird 2 to base. I'm cruising at 40,000 feet, en-route to London," Virgil informs.
"F-A-B, have a great trip." Gordon responds, "How's your precious cargo?"
"Well Gordon, we're a bit behind schedule so I'd have to say... pretty volatile," Virgil says looking over at Sally in the co-pilot seat with a raised eyebrow. Sally is stilling with an annoyed expression on her face and has her arms tightly folded in front of her.
"Can this thing go any faster?" Sally asks.
"Your wish is my command," Virgil shrugs as he pulls on the throttle and speeds up towards Thunderbird 2's maximum speed leaving Sally beam. The sudden change in g-force pushing both of them back into their seats
"This... is... more... like it!" Sally yells.
April 12th, 2060 - 20:47 BST
As Thunderbird 2 makes her approach towards the English Channel, Virgil decides to call Penelope to inform her that they're are almost with them. After a couple of beeps, Penelope's hologram appears on the holo-screen as she answers her compact communicator. It appears that she is still in FAB 1.
"We got a late start, but we're nearly there, Lady Penelope," Virgil explains to Penelope, "Making our final approach into London now."
"That's good to hear, Virgil," Penelope says, "Unfortunately, we are a bit behind schedule ourselves—" Penelope pauses a brief moment as the pair are interrupted by Parker honking FAB 1's horn in annoyance. "Parker, is that really necessary?"
"Sorry, m'lady. London Traffic," Parker complains, "Believe me, h'it took all the restraint I 'ad to press the button for the 'orn h'instead of the one for the flame-throwers."
"We'll meet you, Grandma Tracy at the tea room," Penelope sighs before ending the communication.
"F-A-B," Virgil responds as through the clouds, the lights of the British Capital appear in the viewing windows.
"I've got my map, compass and my guide book. I'm all set," Sally lists, making sure that she had everything on her.
"Why do you bother carrying that stuff? My wrist controller has got all of that on it and more," Virgil enquires.
"I'm not about to change just because Brains makes some new-fangled device," Sally scoffs with a smile.
"Sometimes new things are better, Grandma," Virgil states, "You have to have more faith in technology." However, as soon as Virgil finishes his sentence Thunderbird 2 suddenly loses all power.
"Did you forget to plug it in last night?" Sally asks.
"It's a full system shutdown," Virgil muses as he checks out for the source as to why this has occurred so unexpectantly. "Thunderbird 2 has lost all power." He then looks back up to look at London again, "Look!"
"I don't see anything," Sally responds. The once bright lights of the capital have now vanished and all is left is a sea of black below them.
"Exactly!" Virgil cries, "It's not just Thunderbird 2. All the power in London is out. It's completely dark down there. We're dropping fast. I'm gonna have to put us down now. Hold on for Emergency landing."
5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Thunderbirds are Go!
Virgil does his best to find a suitable street that could be long enough for Thunderbird 2 to crash land on, however, it being London this was quite hard to find. Up ahead, he saw Whitehall, the street that ran from Nelson's Column to Westminster and prepared for touchdown. Unfortunately, having lost all power, it is proving quite difficult to keep Thunderbird 2 under control as it continues to hurtle towards the ground.
"Hang on," Virgil grunts as he wrestles with the control. As they dip below the roofs of the buildings, Thunderbird 2 clips the hat of Nelson's Column, spinning it around. The massive aircraft ditches on the stand and slivers down the street. Due to the harsh impact of the landing, it sends Thunderbird 2 into an uncontrollable spin. Nothing Virgil did seemed to have an impact anymore as they approach the end of the street. It is a miracle they don't hit anything as the friction with the tarmac slows the large bird down just in time before crashing into some buildings.
"Oh boy," Sally breathes.
"I can't believe I actually pulled that off," Virgil pants.
"Good job," Sally smiles.
"And without a mark on Thunderbird 2," Virgil replies smugly only to jinx himself as a well placed bird shit lands on the pilot's main viewing window.
"Well, almost without a mark," Sally chuckles.
They decide to get out of Thunderbird 2 and take a look around. It is eerily quite, something that never happens on the streets of London.
"It's gotta be some kind of sustained EMF," Virgil evaluates, "An electromagnetic frequency knocking out all electrical power in the city... and over it."
"You got the last part right. Look!" Sally exclaims causing Virgil to look over to see a construction worker trapped in a crane.
"HELP!" the woman screams. Her crane swinging dangerously from side-to-side.
"I've got the best rescue equipment in the world with me and I can't even use any of it," Virgil sighs.
"Maybe you put too much faith in technology, kid," Sally comforts, "It's not the gear in there that rescues people. It's the Tracy. Now get climbing." Virgil looks at his Grandma with a smile and with a pat on the back, grabs his helmet and makes his way over to the base of the crane to start climbing. It takes a while to climb up and get to were the worker is located, seeing as the crane stands hundreds of meters above the ground. Once he reaches the window, he knocks on it to get the woman's attention.
"International Rescue calling," Virgil calls.
"International Rescue? B-But why didn't you come in a Thunderbird?" the woman queries.
"It's out of juice along with all my gear… and the whole city," Virgil explains, "But don't worry, I'm getting you out of here." He tugs ineffectively at the cab door. He quickly stops trying and looks back defeated. "Or not. Let me guess, the door is electronically controlled?"
"The door shorted out when the power failed," the woman informs. The crane's legs begin to buckle, which causes the whole structure to shake violently. Virgil, not expecting the sudden shift, is thrown off the safety platform next to the cab. If it wasn't for a conveniently paced metal bar at the front of the cab window, he'd surely be dead.
"Whoa," Virgil cries as he holds on for dear life.
"Virgil, hold on!" Sally shouts from the street.
"I'm trying," Virgil responds. He remains dangling from the cab while the crane continues to sway precariously from side to side. The fall did however, manage to get his attention drawn to a load that is attached to the end of the crane. "Can you release the load?"
"Not without the power," the woman explains, as Virgil clambers of the gantry, "It's got to be done manually. But that would mean climbing all the way out and then down to the coupling that's connecting the load to the cable."
"Awe. Got it. Want me to pick you up anything while I'm out?" Virgil jokes, and the woman laughs nervously.
After taking a deep breath and mentally preparing himself, Virgil starts making his way along the jib. His grip being extra tight to the metal work as the crane continues to sway precariously as the buckle on the mast of the crane progressively gets worse. A huge sway outwards almost throws Virgil off the edge, like it did when he was at the cab. This time it brings him to his knees and comes to a temporary stop. He feels the burning gaze of the worker behind him. Her life depending on his actions.
Virgil sighs as he down across. "No power suit, no pods... I don't know if I can do this."
"You can do it, kid!" Sally yells from the ground, seeing that Virgil was struggling.
"Well, I guess that answers that," Virgil smiles before continuing his way along the jib until he gets to the trolley, from which the cables to the hook block are suspended. He waits for a slowing down in the swaying of the crane before sliding down the cables of the hook block down to the coupling. "Should be a snap to uncouple with my ION wrench… if it were working," Virgil mutters to himself before looking down at Sally to see if she has any more advice, "If you've got anymore words of wisdom, I could use some! How am I supposed to open the coupling when my tools aren't working?"
"I don't know!" Sally responds, "Try giving it a good old-fashioned whack?"
"Oh, yeah, that'll work," Virgil shrugs, "Look out below!" He starts whacking at the coupling and Sally makes sure that she is well clear as Virgil starts to whack. It only takes several hits at the coupling before it gives way, releasing the load that crashes down onto the street far below. Virgil breathes a sigh of relief and gives a thumbs up in the direction of the worker, who is still stuck in her cab. However, it isn't to last. The crane's buckling mast is deteriorating and Virgil is almost thrown off the coupling, only managing to hang on by one hand. "All the stress on the crane's legs has cause them to buckle! They're gonna snap!" Virgil yells, "The crane is going to topple. With me on it."
"Virgil! You gotta get off of there!" Sally shouts as Virgil struggles.
"Yeah, I think that's probably a good idea," Virgil says. As the crane continues to collapse, Virgil manages to jump from the hook block he is on to that of one on a more stable crane that is positioned nearby. Trapped inside the cab, the crane worker plunges earthward as the crane topples down. This jib of the crane is left sprawled out on the roofs of the building on opposite sides of the street. While it breaks it's fall, it leaves it in a precarious position. Virgil then safely lowers himself down to the worker. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, but I'm still stuck!" the woman replies.
"Hang in there. I'll find a way to get you down," Virgil says and continues to lower himself back onto the street, making his way over to his Grandma. "People in 2060 aren't equipped for life without electricity," Virgil complains, "There's life support going down in hospitals, traffic jams everywhere, food spoiling and I can't stop any of it!"
"Okay, so then lets get the power back," Sally states.
"That's the challenge, but between comms and cameras, I've always had access to my brothers and any expert or piece of data I needed. I've never had to tackle something like this without any help," Virgil sighs, and Sally raises an eyebrow and shrugs, "No offense."
"And I may be a little older than your brothers, but I'm still a Tracy," Sally deadpans, "Where do we start?"
"Okay, well first we need to find out what did this," Virgil says.
"I may have found a clue," Sally informs and leads them over to a paper poster on a nearby building. It appears to be a graffiti of an 'on button' but part of the design has been substituted for a stick of dynamite.
"I don't believe it," Sally cries, "This is actually real, old fashioned paper."
"But more to the point is what's printed on it," Virgil points, "We the Luddites demand a world without technology. A world without power. We will return to the better ways of the past."
"This is better?" Sally asks as she looks around.
"Okay, so, we know that these Luddites are doing this. Now we need to find out where they've stashed their EMF generator," Virgil says, "But without any of my gear working..."
"You've still got the greatest technology ever created," Sally points out, "Your brain. Use it, think!"
"Well, the source of the EMF would be in the centre of the city that would give it the greatest area of effect. But finding the dead centre of London is going to be a challenge without a GPS," Virgil states.
"How about we try these?" Sally asks, as she gets out her map and compass. Virgil takes the map from her and scans it over.
"That's weird, the compass isn't pointing north," Sally says as she shakes it, "Never had any problem with it and a compass doesn't need power so it can't be that OMG, can it?"
"EMF," Virgil corrects her before realising something, "Which stands for electromagnetic frequency. Magnets affects compasses! Which means..."
Virgil trails off looking at Sally expecting her to finish his train of thought. "If you're waiting for me to answer, Virgil, you're going to be standing there grinning for a while."
"It means... we can follow the compass to the EMF," Virgil finish.
"Huh," Sally ponders.
April 12th, 2060 - 21:33 BST
Virgil and Sally keep their eyes firmly on the compass as they down down several back streets of London. All have been disserted due to the power outage. They eventually find themselves on Glasshouse Street heading towards Piccadilly Circus.
"It's working! The compass is leading us right to—" Virgil pauses.
"A dead end?" Sally finishes.
"On the surface maybe. I'll bet whatever if causing the EMF is somewhere under here," Virgil states as he scrapes at the ground with his foot, "Oh, without a laser or a particle excavator, it's gonna take a while to dig our way underground."
"Ahem, Virgil?" Sally coughs, causing Virgil to turn around and seeing the entrance to Piccadilly Circus Underground Station.
They descend the stairs together, their footsteps echoing off the tiles. The air grows heavier with the scent of damp earth and the faint tang of metal. The station is eerily quiet. The ancient ticket machines sleep, their screens dark. The turnstiles stand open, unguarded, inviting them in with a silent creak. The posters on the walls, usually a cacophony of colour and advertisements, stared back at them, lifeless and fade in the dim light as the escalator takes them down into the bowels of the city, a silent ride down into the warmth below the surface.
Eventually, they walk along the deserted platform two of the southbound Bakerloo Line, the sound of their footsteps echoing through the tunnel. The lights flicker, casting shadows that dance on the curved walls. The platform grows narrower as they approach the end, until eventually they reach the end of the platform. Virgil pushes open the safety gate and helps Sally down some awkward steps onto the tracks.
"Or we can just use the Underground," Virgil finally says, admitting that Sally had been right.
"That's using your head," Sally says while Virgil cracks a glowstick light.
"Voila! Thunderbirds are glow!" Virgil beams.
"How did you do that?" Sally asks.
"I changed 'go' to 'glow'," Virgil replies nonchalantly.
"No, not that, that," Sally sighs as she grabs the glowstick from Virgil, "I thought the EKG was shutting off all the power?"
"EMF. And it's shutting down all electrical power. The light sticks in my tool belt work on a chemical reaction," Virgil explains and pauses as his stomach growls, "Like the one going on in my stomach."
" I think I brought one of my cookies," Sally says, reaching into her pocket.
"Oh, no, er... t-that's ok. I'm not, you know, actually that hungry," Virgil quickly says and decides to change the subject, taking the light stick back, "Will you look at this place? It's like we've gone back in time, you know, to the dark ages, right?"
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it," Sally shrugs, "This happens to be the oldest operating underground system in the world. Says so right here on my map."
"We'd be sunk if you hadn't brought all this old stuff," Virgil scoffs.
"Just because something is old doesn't mean it can't be useful," Sally interjects, "That compass is just about as old as I am. It belonged to your grandpa."
"Really?" Virgil questions.
"His compass was often the most high-tech piece of equipment he had," Sally explains, "Grandpa Tracy always got the job done. Not because his gear was the newest, but because of old fashion things like heroism, determination, and knowing the right thing to do. I was going to give it to your father, but I never got the chan—" Virgil grabs Sally quickly into hiding and they watch as some of the Luddites walk by. "Hey!"
"Ssh. Those must be, Luddites, which means we're on the right path," Virgil whispers trying to stay quiet pointing to two figures who enter the abandon tunnels of the Jubilee Line at Charing Cross. However, not all is silent as Virgil's stomach starts to rumble again.
"Huh?! What was that?" one of them asks.
"Probably just a rat," the another guy says, "Come on."
"Okay, let's go," Virgil whispers after the guys are gone and heads after them with Sally not far behind. They are led into a big room where a EMF generator hangs from the ceiling.
"That's got to be the EMF generator," Virgil whispers. The device being almost the same size as that stealth mine Alan and Kayo had to deal with a couple months ago. "Now all we have to do is offline it's amp impedance output and we should be home free."
"I have no idea on earth… or under it, what you just said. But I think I see a problem with your plan," Sally says.
"What?" Virgil asks.
"Them," Sally points and Virgil's gaze follows the direction of hers over to a large group of Luddites that have gathered at the entrance of the EMF generator.
April 12th, 2060 - 22:02 BST
The pair quickly formulate a plan, mainly with Sally's input. Virgil gulps as he looks across at his Grandma.
"Are you ready?" Sally asks.
"Nope," Virgil replies.
"Oh, come on. What are you worried about?" Sally asks.
"All those Luddites for one thing," Virgil says.
"I'm worried about all the people up there in trouble. They don't have time for us to just sit here twiddling our thumbs. So, you ready?" Sally asks.
"Hmm," Virgil responds with a shrug.
"Then as you boys like to say... Thunderbirds Are Go," Sally says and walks off to go to distract the Luddites.
"Oi, who's there?" a Luddite asks.
"Hello, er... can anyone point me to Piccadilly Circus? I'd like to see the elephants," Sally says in a high pitched voice.
"It's not that kind of circus, is it?" another asks.
"Of course not, she's no sightseer. Hey!" the first one yells as Sally starts up the stairs, "Stay where you are! Don't let her get away!"
"After her!" a third one calls. Sally hurries away up a staircase that lead onto a large gantry. The Luddites give chase in several groups and cut Sally off on a narrow metal walkway. Seeing that she has been caught, Sally stops in the middle.
"Who are you?" the Luddite says, "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here because Virgil insisted someone had to draw you away, so no one got hurt," Sally responds.
"Virgil? Who's Virgil?" the second Luddite enquires.
"He's the one bringing the ceiling down on your machine right now," Sally says, and the Luddites look over to find Virgil on top of the EMF.
"One good old-fashioned whacking should do the trick," Virgil says and then hits the EMF coupling, "Maybe two." Virgil beats on the coupling holding the generator until fails, dropping the generator which crashes into the floor. The destruction of the generator causes the power to be restored across London.
April 12th, 2060 - 22:29 BST
With this Virgil and Sally quickly make their way to Thunderbird 2 where they left the woman in the crane's cab. The jib is becoming more and more unstable between two buildings.
"Help! The door's still jammed," the woman calls.
"Look, there's still time," Sally states.
"Aaargh! It's falling!" the woman yells.
Now back online, Virgil rushes over to Thunderbird 2 and remotely actives the hydraulic legs to lift the main body clear of the Module so that Virgil could get access to his exo-suit harness. Virgil hastily puts the suit on and sprints back down the ramp of the Module where Sally is standing. He is about to run over towards the building that one end of the crane is resting on when the rumble of an aircraft engine makes him stop. Virgil and Sally both turn to see a giant and strange-looking craft rising up from behind some other buildings.
"That's The Hood's ship!" Virgil exclaims, recognising it from holographic images he'd seen.
Then his radio started to beep and a familiar voice is heard. "Virgil? Are you there?"
"Lady Penelope!" Virgil cries, "Are you alright—"
"Just listen to me!" Penelope states sharply, "The Hood's getting away with the Universal Grid Codex. Uh, there's no time to explain what that means but it's bad. Very very bad — for the whole world. You've got to stop him!"
Virgil doesn't answer. He looks up as The Hood's hideous-looking ship flies away leaving a trail of filthy smoke from its four VTOL engines as it goes before turning his attention back to the reason why he's suited up. The grinding of metal and the buckling of the jib told Virgil that the arm of the crane is failing by the second. Any moment now it could break and worker would fall to her doom.
"HEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!" the worker yells in the background.
Sally looks at her second-eldest Grandson and can see he has a hard choice to make. She decides to give him a little push. "Save one life - then save the world."
As it turns out, Virgil has already made up his mind. "All day I've been worried how I can solve problems without the help of my gear," he says, "But this is one problem I don't need any help figuring out the answer to. Don't worry, Lady Penelope. Whatever The Hood tries, we'll find a way to deal with him then. But there's someone right here who needs help right now. No way I'm walking away from that."
"That's my boy," Sally beams as she watches Virgil rush off to scale the fire escape of one of the building. He then charges over the jib to get to the cab right in the centre of the street.
"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!" Nina screams again.
Virgil doesn't waste another second as he reaches the cab and looks down to see the look of utter terror in the worker's eyes. "Get back!" he orders. The worker flattens herself against the bottom of the cab as Virgil used the three-clawed left crab to catch hold of the jammed door and rip it clean off. He then reaches in, grabs the Jaws and he effortlessly lifts her out. Together they then run along the front of the jib. They feel it lurch each time as the metal in the beams fail more and more. They soon reach the buildings on the opposite side of the street and together they jumped off onto the rooftops seconds before both ends of the crane fail simultaneously causing the cab section to fall to the ground with an almighty CRASH!
Virgil helps Nina down to ground level. "You're safe now."
Nina is shaken, but very relieved. "Oh, thank you thank you THANK YOU!" she cries as she throws herself into his arms.
Virgil freezes, taken very surprised by this. "Ah, er, you're welcome. Sorry, I didn't catch your name?"
"Oh, sorry. It's Nina," the woman states with a sheepish smile as she takes a step back to present her hand for Virgil to shake.
"Well Nina would you like to join me later for tea as compensation for leaving you there for so long," Virgil asks as he accepts the handshake.
"It would be my pleasure Virgil," Nina replies with a smile.
April 12th, 2060 - 22:41 BST
The group head back to over to where the EMF generator was but into a slightly different room where the Codex Vault is located. Penelope is on the phone to the Prime Minister as a bunch of government officials wait outside the vault to arrest those inside as well as free Parker, who got trapped when the door suddenly closed.
"Oh yes, if you could just quickly pop the doors open that would be smashing. Thank you Prime Minister," Penelope says and looks over to Virgil.
"The Hood goes through all that trouble to open the vault and all you have to do is make a phone call," Virgil chuckles as the door to the vault opens to reveal Parker inside the vault with the Luddites all tied up.
"Parker!" Penelope cries.
"Oh, 'ello, m'lady. I was just telling this lot that if they want a world without technology, they're going to love prison," Parker smirks as the Luddites groan in pain as the soldiers grab them.
"I am so relieved you're alright, but The Hood got away with the Codex," Penelope says with a sigh.
"Not so, m'lady," Parker states as he pulls out the Codex causing Penelope to laughs, "The 'ood may know the old lights out trick, but thanks to 'is little light show, 'e never saw the old switch-a-roo coming. Another trick..."
"...from your misspent youth," Penelope finishes with an affectionate smile, "You know I've never heard of anyone having done quite as much youthful misspending as you. But I'm very glad you did."
"'Ome, m'lady?" Parker asks.
"Home, Parker," Penelope confirms.
April 12th, 2060 - 23:21 BST
They head to the mansion and Virgil takes a bite of a biscuit.
"Now this is a cookie," Virgil says.
"Uh, I think you'll find it's a biscuit," Nina chuckles as she watches Parker chasing after Sherbet who had bit his pant leg.
"It seems that London has quite a bit to thank you for," Penelope states.
"I was just along for the ride. It's Virgil you should be thanking," Sally says and she puts a hand on his shoulder, "I've never been prouder of one of my boys. You showed a lot of your grandfather's old-fashioned heroism today. That's why I want you to have this." Sally reaches into her pocket and pulls out the compass. "The next time you face a hard choice, all you'll have to do is look at it and it will remind you which way to go."
"I... I don't know what to say," Virgil says with a mouth full of cookie.
"Then why don't you wait until your mouth isn't full? We're at teas with a Lady. Didn't I teach you anything? Here I was saying how proud I was and you spit cookie crumbs all over the couch," Sally exclaims causing her, Parker, Nina and Penelope to laugh, "Ah, that's my boy."
"Tea, milady?" Parker asks.
April 12th, 2060 - UNKNOWN
Inside his large temple, The Hood sits as his desk once again, his symbol shining behind him. He rubs his hands together with glee as he reaches into his pocket to get out the Codex. However, his smirk quickly disappears to a look of shock as he pulls the object out of his pocket. To his surprise, it is not the Codex after all. Instead it is Parker's torch.
The Hood's grip on the torch tightens as a a scowl forms swiftly on his face and he yells, throwing the torch across the room, smashing a small statue that is presented on a plinth in the corner of the room. He slumps back down in his seat and bangs both of his fists down harshly onto the desk.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" The Hood screams, "Noooooooo! Curse you International Rescue!"