She had watched her husband leave for a thousand missions, yet in the past he had always come home to her.
When Jeff Tracy vanishes in an unexpected explosion his family are left in turmoil. Left to cope with the rescue organisation the world can’t survive without, five son’s eager to help, and friends that shoulder the blame of her husband’s death, will Lucy be able to balance all the plates? Or will being the one left behind without her life partner become too much?
Part 1 is about family, losing someone you love, and those who love you helping you finding your feet.
Part 2 is about hope, trust, and foiling The Hood plans.
Part 3 is about having faith in yourself and your family.
And as a little bonus... because I’m a complete sucker for a bit of Jeff on the end here.
@gumnut-logic humongous thank you to you for the cheerleading and pointers and also for letting me steal your characters. You is the best!
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
“So,” He murmured, easing down into the empty armchair that looked out to the sun setting on the far horizon, “No Valentine's date with Lee this year?”
Val snorted into her scotch, shaking her head with eyes fixed on the sea far below the roundhouse, “You know that hasn’t been a thing for a long time Jeff.”
“I do,” He grinned, nudging her leg with his toe, “But I always did like to wind you up about it.”
Smiling slightly, Val tilted her head, “I forgive Lucy for many things, but setting us up on a double date wasn’t her finest idea.”
He had to concede, that Valentines had been a bit of a disaster on more than one front. Somehow the four of them had worked things out though, improvised and adjusted as a group until they found their footing once more.
It had been that winter that he’d proposed to a, very pregnant, Lucille.
“Can you imagine what she’d be like trying to pair off the boys if she were here?” Val grinned, “You definitely would have come back to grandbabies.”
Jeff had to grin at the thought as he sipped his drink, nodding in quiet agreement as he watched the orange of the sky begin to fade.
“Luce would have been in her element,” Val continued, voice growing distant with thought, “She’d be up here every night, wouldn’t matter if Three needed to launch. She’d be up here watching that sun go down.”
“We made sure to, every Valentines,” He smiled, one night coming to mind in particular, “Even now I can hear her blaming me for taking her up that hill the night Gordon was born.”
“And now her baby is getting engaged.”
Jeff had to glance over to make sure that Val wasn’t getting teary eyed. It wasn’t like the boys’ aunt to be outwardly emotional, but she was their aunt at the end of the day, he wouldn’t put it past her to be harbouring the same sort of feelings as himself.
Lucy would have loved the cliche of a Valentines day engagement.
“Like you said,” He started, looking back to the darkening void of the sea, “it would have happened years ago if she had had anything to do with it.”
“We still got there,” Val reasoned, “The boys just had bigger priorities to deal with first. And, no, don’t you even dare start to question Jeff, you’ve had that discussion we me, and Scott, and your mother.”
Snorting into his glass he conceded with a slight raise of his eyebrows.
“Besides,” She continued softly, “Would John have bumped into someone as wonderful as Ridley if it weren’t for all of that?”
Te couldn’t deny the pure feeling of joy and relief he had felt when John had introduced Ridley for the first time. Even if it had been Gordon that had brought up the mention of boyfriend and girlfriend. Jeff had seen love in enough forms to know that, friends or otherwise, the two had a bond that wouldn’t be easily shaken.
All of his boys did.
That was why he had enforced the day off, in the hope that they could each share as much joy with those other halves as he once had.
“They’re all happy, Jeff.” Val assured quietly, tipping her glass towards him, “It might have been one hell of a road, but I promise you, it’s worth it.”
It didn’t ease the hurt in his chest, the knowledge that he’d never have that feeling absolute adoration for one single person swell inside of him as it once had every time he had set eyes on his wife.
God he missed her.
Every damned day.
He missed spoiling her, flirting with her, and sitting to watch the sunset with her.
A toe nudged his leg, drawing his attention from the final stretches of orange highlighting the horizon.
Val’s eyebrows were raised as she watched him, head tilted in silent question.
Sitting up, he extended his arm out slightly, raising his glass towards her with a tired smile. Neither of them were where they thought they would have been at that age, both without things he knew they had wanted from life. Sitting in the Round-House, on his island, with a montage of family photos on the walls behind him, Jeff knew they both still had so, so, much.
“Happy Valentines, Val.”
Her smile was just as tired as she reached her glass to clink softly against his, “Happy Valentines, Jeff.”
It wasn’t new to Scott any more, having Hugh Creighton-Ward sat in the infirmary keeping vigil over their mother. He trusted the man, knew that his mother did care deeply about him, and that she would appreciate his company when she did finally wake.
Because she was going to wake up.
Scott had to smile at how much busier the island had become, Hugh was there basically full time, Penelope flitting in and out between trying to find further leads on Gaat and her socialite lifestyle. Kyrano was much the same, trusting Kayo more with Island security as he focussed on hunting down the brother that had dared to hurt his family.
He feared for Gaat when Kyrano did find him. The man was quiet in nature, but it hardly made him any less deadly.
“How is she?” He asked as he slid the infirmary door closed behind him, the question open to either man in the room.
Eli looked up from the holo-tablet he had been studying, “Your mother’s brain activity seems to have settled since we arrived on the island and got her comfortable.”
“She knows she’s home,” Hugh murmured, glancing up from the bed, “We did the right thing bringing her back.”
Scott nodded as he took her fingers in his, avoiding the bandages further up her hand. He hadn’t doubted they were doing the right thing bringing her home, none of them had except Uncle Lee and he had vanished off of the face of the earth.
“Can she hear us?”
Eli shook his head, “It’s impossible to say.”
He knew he would have talked regardless either way, it felt right to at least try and keep her updated even if she couldn’t do much about it.
“John and Ridley are going to go up to Five to start the retrofit,” He murmured, perching on the edge of the bed, “I’ll leave it for you to decide if that’s a good idea or not.”
Across the bed Hugh smiled gently, “I somehow doubt she will mind. As long as you’re all safe.”
Scott was going to reply, was going to admit that it was his brother’s safety that he worried about most of all, it scared him to think that if one of them got hurt it could be his fault.
“Sco-ott!” Alan’s sing song voice stopped him before he could speak, “Virgil’s hurt and won’t admit it.”
“I’m no--”
“Save your breath, V.” Gordon cut him off, “John showed us your body cam footage.”
He was standing immediately, all his freshest fears coming to the fore as he watched his four brothers enter the infirmary, Kayo tailing them, arms folded and face like thunder. The glare in her eyes was focused only on one of them though, Virgil still suited up, clearly walking more gingerly than Scott had seen him earlier.
“What happened?”
It wasn’t him that spoke first though, Eli was already stepping forwards, grabbing a medscanner from the counter as he did.
“Some stupid stunt is what.” Kayo growled, “The hell were you thinking Virgil?”
The venom in her voice had Scott frozen in place, not daring to rile her more by getting in the middle of whatever was going on. He had seen Kayo angry before, but never like this, this was different. The intensity was new.
“The guy fell from the basket, how else was I meant to save him?”
“I’m going to put money on by not throwing yourself out of your ship and then using your ship to catch you whilst falling at terminal velocity.” Gordon chipped in.
Eli was across the room, medscanner on and attached to Virgil’s baldric.
“My suit has padding.” Virgil shrugged, “And the rescue was a success.”
Eli scoffed as he stepped back, “This thing says you have multiple contusions. You’re getting a full scan before you’re cleared for duty.”
Scott grinned over the doctor’s head, watching as Virgil visibly deflated with another protest that he was fine.
“Bruising does not equal fine.” Scott disagreed, mind racing at exactly what else could have gone wrong.
“I agree.” Kayo muttered, “You took an unnecessary risk. I’d expect it of Scott but not of you.”
The comment was obviously meant to sting Virgil, but Scott couldn’t help but wince at the reminder. She had a point too, he probably would have done something equally or more reckless.
“Guys,” Hugh murmured softly, glancing between them all, “Let’s see what the full scan says huh?”
Scott turned back, hand once again finding his mother’s fingers as he realised Hugh’s true point. If she could hear them, it wasn’t the kind of thing she needed to know.
“The man is walking and talking,” Hugh continued gently, “He might be a bit sore tomorrow, but he’s okay.”
“I couldn’t let the kid lose his dad.” Virgil murmured, his baritone soft, “I know it was a stupid risk, but I know what it’s like to not…”
Scott didn’t need him to finish the sentence, they all knew, they all understood. It was what had made them all so determined to do what they did.
Turning back to his younger brothers, he shook his head, trying to find the words to say.
“I didn’t realise how close we were to the ground until I’d grabbed him. By then it was either get caught by Two or get smushed on the grass.”
Scott felt his stomach lurch and for a moment he wasn’t sure if he was going to lose his lunch or not. It sounded close, the picture in his head painted it as closer than it probably was.
“I should have given you the readings,” John sighed, shaking his head, “If I’d have--”
Virgil straightened, wincing as he did, “No, that’s not your job here John you don’t--”
“As of twenty minutes ago it is.” Scott countered, looking to his red haired brother, immediately after answers.
“No.” Virgil turned to Scott, “Don’t start on him this wasn’t… I didn’t know he was actually meant to be doing that. If I had I wouldn’t have cut him off.”
Scott blanched, his glare dropping to match Kayo’s, “You what?”
“He was being a bug in my ear,” Virgil shook his head, “You know what it’s like when dispatch constantly go on like a little…”
“I know.” Scott sighed, sinking down to perch on Mom’s mattress, more than part of him wishing she could give him all the answers.
What would Mom have done? Apart from tear Virgil a new one. Scott had been on the receiving end of those lectures often enough, he knew the routine by now. There was a procedure, a debrief to identify the problems and figure out what to do in similar situations in future.
Except Mom always managed to paint it as a dressing down, Scott wasn’t sure he could say quite so much to his brother without sounding like a hypocrite.
“Your Mom isn’t going to give you the answers Scott.”
He looked up at Aunt Val’s voice as she squeezed in between Gordon and Alan to lean on the table at the foot of the bed.
“Nobody said we were having a team meeting.”
Alan glanced around them all at her point, but pursed his lips and stayed silent, shrinking slightly on the spot. Scott could guess that the youngest was only hoping that he wouldn’t get kicked out.
“I took the liberty on catching myself up on what actually happened out there.” Val nodded, looking around to Virgil and pointing, “You, young man, screwed up royally.”
Virgil’s eyes had dropped and his shoulders sagged at the reminder. Scott knew his brother, and knew he wouldn’t be taking it easy on himself. None of them were stupid, all of them knew when to own up to mistakes, Mom and Dad had spent their lives drilling it into them. Aunt Val didn’t need to drive the knife in deeper, not when they’d all already given him a lashing.
“But,” She held a finger up as Scott opened his mouth to speak, “Why was that? What were you missing in order to do better?”
Virgil looked up, eyes darting to Scott and back to their Aunt, “I guess I needed to know how far we had to fall and how long we had before we hit the ground.”
She nodded, eyes fixed across the room, “John, could you have given him that information?”
A single nod was all the response he gave.
“What information were you giving Virgil instead?”
John wilted, eyes darting to Virgil as he sighed, “I told him to move faster, that the man had fallen and--”
“You panicked.” Val cut him off, head tilting, “If you want the job John, you’ve got to focus on the stats and information. You did it at NASA, question is can you do it for your family?”
“I--” John stumbled, glancing from Virgil to Scott.
“Of course he can!” Alan stepped forward, “John you can do anything.”
He caught the way their Aunt smiled at the pair as she nodded, “I don’t doubt that Alan. I don’t doubt that this team can be the best it ever has been, but testing new ways of working whilst on call isn’t going to save lives. Out in the field you have to know where you all stand and what you all do.”
Scott looked to their Aunt, catching her eye and giving a small nod of thanks, pep talk received loud and clear.
“I’m not commander of this team,” She shrugged, “But if I was, I’d be looking at figuring out exactly how this is going to work and a week of training so everyone’s up to speed.”
He nodded quickly, “Yeah, definitely.”
“Now,” Just like that their fun-loving aunt was back again, eyes dancing as she watched Virgil, “You, medscan. The rest of you, dinner, before your Grandmother decides to cook something.”
The others all filed out, even Hugh got chased away by their aunt leaving Scott shaking his head as Virgil began to peel off his suit.
“Hey, Scott?” Virgil murmured as he set his baldric down on the bed.
Scott looked up, eyes drawn away from Mom as Virgil pursed his lips.
“I’m sorry.” He shrugged, eyes still looking past him, more focussed on their mother, “What I did was stupid and I didn’t think about…”
Scott could guess the end to that sentence too, something far bigger than could be put into words, the fear and pressure that was on his shoulders alone to keep his baby brothers safe. The last thing he needed was them throwing themselves out of their ships and into the face of death.
“I couldn’t fail her though,” Virgil continued after a moment, “I just wanted to make her and Dad proud.”
Scott sighed, shaking his head as he squeezed his mother’s fingers, “They’ll be proud no matter what V. Don’t forget that.”
“I won’t.” Virgil cleared his throat, “I’ll be better in future, more careful.”
Looking across to his brother Scott smirked, “You’d better be, or else you’ll be buying the dye for me when I go prematurely grey.”
Virgil smiled, tilting his head slightly, “I thought you were already dying it?”
Scott glared, “Go and get your scan, then I know if I can hit you or not.”
Both laughed, each shaking their heads as Virgil stepped around the bed and headed for the back of the room where Eli was quietly fiddling with the machine.
Swallowing to himself, Scott shook his head and looked to Mom. Her face had a bit more colour to it, the scratches scabbed over and well on the way to healing.
“Come on Mom, I’m not sure I can keep this up forever.”
It had been a surprise that when the rest of the family called to check in Sally hadn’t commented on the fact that Lucy had escaped the infirmary. Instead she had smiled and told her to enjoy the sun whilst she could.
Val was the first to join her after Thunderbird Two had landed, squeezing on the very edge of the sun lounger and lifting her arm across Lucy’s shoulders. Leaning into her closest friend's touch, she sighed softly.
“Hey.”
“I hope Scott helped you out here.”
It wasn’t exactly a lie if she nodded, even if he had only helped her down from the lounge and not the infirmary.
Val huffed next to her with a shake of her head, looking back to the ripple of water in the pool, she didn’t say any more. Lucy could guess that she knew the likely truth behind what had happened, but at least Val wouldn’t question her any more.
“You okay?” She prompted when Val didn’t say any more. Her eyes were hidden by sunglasses, but pressed up against her side Lucy could feel the tension in her body.
Her sigh was heavy, her shoulders slumping with it as she glanced past Lucy and back up to the villa. Lucy couldn’t help but straighten slightly, able to guess what it meant.
“They didn’t want to tell you, but it was Gaat that set the EMF off in London. It was him that was after the codex.”
Lucy frowned, it sounded like something Gaat would do.
“We don’t know why though.” Val murmured, “We don’t know what he’s up to Lucy, and if he’s tried to kill you, it scares me what lengths he might go to.”
She hadn’t admitted it out loud, but it scared her too. Gaat had been on the Island. He had got there using a GDF escort as a cover. He had stood face to face with Lee and somehow got away.
“Do you think Lee blames himself for Gaat getting away?” She found herself asking, still frustrated by the knowledge that wherever he was, her little brother was reading her messages and simply not replying.
“I think he wished he had shot him the first time he had a chance.” Val nodded, squeezing Lucy’s shoulders tight, “I swear it Luce, one day I will kill him.”
She couldn’t help but snort at the comment, looking to Val with a raised eyebrow, “Lee or Gaat?”
Shrugging, Val smiled, “One tried to kill you, the other has vanished off of the face of the earth when he should be here looking after you. I think I have justified reasons for both.”
Lucy shook her head, “Lee is Lee, he probably just needs some air to sort himself out. He’ll come back when he’s ready.”
She knew her brother, and was used to his way of dealing with and processing emotions. It was always worse when there was something extreme happening, when their parents had died, when Val had lost their baby, when Jeff had vanished. He’d need a space to grieve, to be angry and lash out, and find some form of relief from what was going through his head.
Of course, she would have preferred it if he were there, but she could understand his reason for not.
The island held too many hurtful reminders for him.
“When he does he’d best be ready for an ass kicking.” Val uttered.
Lucy ignored her, attention taken over by the pair exiting the kitchen of the villa, hand in hand as they headed across the upper level of the deck.
“So Gordon wasn’t kidding.”
“Huh?” Val hummed as she followed her gaze, “Why? What did Gordon say?”
She smiled, the memory vague and not all together coherent. The comment was clear in her head though, that he had found Virgil and Tanusha making out in the gym whilst the rest of them had been sat with her.
“Oh yeah,” Val nodded, her own smile widening once Lucy had explained, “Hugh and I were betting on it not long before we brought you back here. I swear he got intel from Penny about it though, how else would he know...” She trailed off as the pair approached them, Tanusha now clearly leading Virgil.
“What do I say?” He was muttering to her as they neared, eyes darting to Lucy and back again.
“Er, yeah, I--” He broke off and looked to Tanusha as she cleared her throat. Next to Lucy, Val stifled her smile behind a cough.
Virgil took a breath and shook his head as he looked back to her, his arm tensed as he squeezed Tanusha’s hand tucked out of sight behind his back.
“So, I know Gordon opened his big mouth the other day when you were barely awake,” The middle son started, eyes darting from Lucy to his Aunt and back again, “But I wanted to tell you, sort of officially I guess, that me and Kay--”
“John so owes me a hundred.” Val burst out, doubling forward with a laugh, “Virgil, she already knows kid.”
Lucy couldn’t help but laugh as she whacked Val lightly on the arm, “You spoil sport, I wanted to see where he was going with it!”
Even Kayo was smiling as she shook her head, “I’ll be having words with John next time he’s home!”
Virgil stood between them all, eyes wide in confusion as his brows dipped, “What? You mean--”
Not feeling strong enough to stand, Lucy reached out to his free hand, taking it and squeezing gently until he looked at her.
“I’m your mother, I would have known regardless of Gordon’s big mouth.”
His shoulders slumped as he shook his head at her, rolling his eyes with a playful smile, “Well you could have told me.”
“I’ve been locked up in the infirmary for weeks,” She shrugged, “I’ve had to find new sources of fun.”
Crouching next to the lounger, Virgil wrapped his arms around her shoulders, “I’m glad you’re back Mom.”
Reaching around his broad shoulders she hugged him back, “Me too kid.”
It hadn’t been Val’s plan to go the the simulator quite so soon after they had gotten home, but John had said something about familliarising himself with Thunderbird Three and Alan had been on the edge of another teenage temper tantrum. It had seemed like the easiest compromise to diffuse the situation.
When she had heard Thunderbird Two launch, both had looked at each other, concern on both their faces. A quick call upstairs had confirmed the launch to rescue a father and son trapped aboard an out of control hot air balloon. John seemed to have taken control of the situation, claiming his mother’s desk to work from whilst Scott had hovered over his shoulder.
Val had left the pair to it, trusting both to support each other and hoping they would manage to find their feet quickly whilst on the clock. John had been right, they did need a full time qualified pilot for Thunderbird Three, and when she had looked into it his stats from both NASA and the simulators placed him as the best man for the job.
Except, perhaps, his younger brother.
As a challenge she had thrown up the live feed from Little Lightning, Beta Team had launched just as they had arrived home with Lucy. A TV satellite knocked out of orbit and into the path of another orbiting station needed realigning. Alan had taken it in his stride, reacting exactly as the other team had done, talking through his actions and glancing up to her for reassurance.
The kid was still just a teenager though, not even old enough to drive or vote. Lucy had made it clear, he had to do it the same way as his brothers, specialist training at the academy. He wouldn’t be allowed near an actual Thunderbird for another five years.
Not that Val could see him waiting patiently.
“What’s your closing distance?” She prompted, hovering at his shoulder, the first time he was flying without someone as Copilot to assist his actions.
“Thirty meters.” He responded with only the briefest of pauses, “Rotational vector still matched. Twenty meters… Ten.”
The simulator jolted as the grappling arms engaged, lights above Alan’s head turning green to indicate a secure lock.
“Confirm successful lock?”
He nodded.
“Verbally.” She prompted again, “Remember your black box can’t see what you’re doing.”
“Lock to satellite successful.” Alan confirmed, “Firing thrusters to counter spin.”
She kept watching as her phone buzzed in her pocket, making Alan look up with a grin,
“I didn’t think there was any signal in space?”
Laughing, she shook her head at him, “You watch your flying,” Glancing to the caller ID she frowned slightly, “Take her for a spin, but don’t crash whilst I’m EVA.”
Alan sat straighter, eyes wide as she turned away and left him to it, stepping out of the simulator before she answered the call.
“Casey.”
“Val, it’s Ridley.”
She had known the from the caller ID, what she didn’t know was why she was receiving the call.
“Not that it isn’t nice to hear from you Ridley,” She smiled perching on the steps up to the simulator, “But I would have thought you’d call John.”
Ridley tutted softly, “I didn’t want to stick an idea in his head before I’d okayed it with someone higher up.”
Val hummed and tilted her head to herself slightly, “Scott would be the one to speak to in that case.”
“Scott won’t like what I have to say.”
Val couldn’t help but snort as she looked down from the training balcony to the rest of the hangar where Thunderbird One sat, belly open and guts spilled out across the floor.
“So you want me to tell him to listen?” She asked, shifting to stand so she could watch Hiram and his pet robot as they organised the mess of wires trailing from the ship.
“The parts have arrived here for Thunderbird Five’s retrofit. I know the focus is on Lucy right now, but from what John and I have read and understood, this retrofit is our best chance at finding out if Jeff is out there.”
Val sighed, they had all read the update Kyrano had provided them with to ensure everyone was on the same page regarding Gaat, the Mechanic, and Jeff. How much he had downplayed Lucy’s desperation, Val wasn’t sure. On reflection, it explained a lot though. Lucy had been antsy for weeks, constantly chasing an order for parts and making a point of reminding them that Five was due an upgrade.
An upgrade she had insisted on completing.
“John said the upgrades were based on a program he wrote, he probably has a better idea than anyone on what needs to be done up there.”
With the explanation, the problem became clear.
“Scott still isn’t convinced John should be on the team.” She sighed, “I am working on persuading him.”
“As is John,” Ridley murmured, “I don’t understand why Scott won’t let him up there immediately. This is their father we’re talking about.”
Val knew the exact problem, but she knew she couldn’t voice it to Ridley.
Whether it was fate or convenience, she would never know, but it was right at that moment that Scott walked across the hangar floor to talk to Hiram.
Dropping her voice, Val turned back to the simulator, “Make plans for John and yourself to go up to Five for a week. I’ll speak to Scott.”
The smile was clear in her voice even across the line, “F.A.B. Val.”
“Scott!” She called across the cavern as she leant over the raillings of the balcony, “Get up here.”
The frown he shot at her was visible even at the distance, making Val roll her eyes. The young man took more after his father than he realised, the furrowed brows and deep lines that cut into his forehead when something bothered him. Like his father, Scott would never admit it, not openly at least.
She was still leaning on the railing when Scott approached her from behind, his frown deeper again as he stood next to her.
“What is it?”
She kept her focus on thunderbird One as she spoke, “That parts have come in to upgrade Five.”
His swallow was visible as he turned and leant on the railing alongside her, hands clasped together in a single fist as he took a long slow breath and let it out.
“I’m not sure that should be a priority right now.” He uttered, “We haven’t exactly the man power.”
“We could spare John and Ridley.”
“No.”
The statement was quiet but firm. Scott had a decision made and it wasn’t going to be easy to make him change.
“Your father could be out there Scott.”
His head dipped, eyes screwed shut as his forearms tensed. The dimples in his cheeks deepened as he pressed his lips together, shaking his head.
“I know.” He whispered, “I knew all along alright? But she told me not to get involved! To worry about keeping my team safe.”
“Scott,” She started, watching him carefully, able to feel the hurt and anger radiating from him.
“No. Listen Aunt Val.” He snapped, blue eyes snapping open and piercing her, “Mom is down there in a coma because she made a rash decision. For once in her life she made a decision based on how she felt and what she wanted, and it damn near killed her.”
She wanted to cut in, break him off and make him see that it wasn’t the case. The floodgates had opened though and she would have been fighting against the tide.
“It was my rash decisions that made her tell me to not get involved.” His voice dropped again, the rush of the flood gone as quickly as it had come, reduced to a trickle.
“I can’t trust myself to make a decision on this. Not when we almost lost Mom. Not when it could mean losing someone else.”
It was as Val had expected, a man with the weight of his family’s safety on his shoulders and a fear that he wasn’t the right person to protect them. Except he was forgetting just how that fear helped him.
“Don’t you think,” She murmured, reaching out to touch his arm, “That being afraid will make you more cautious? That it could remind you to stop and think before you sent your brothers out there, or did something yourself?”
He nodded with a sigh, “Yeah. It does. I was going to go with Virgil before John sent him on his own. I thought it would be safer than using the autopilot and wrist controls.”
His point was right, and she made a mental note to bring it up with John later.
“Good,” She nodded, “So what’s the danger with sending John and Ridley to Five for a week?”
Scott snorted, shaking his head again, “Space.”
It sounded like the single word was meant to answer her question. Scott must have seen the confusion on her face though as he continued.
“Space is the worst, it only takes one tiny thing to go wrong for everything to go wrong. And when it goes wrong, it goes wrong in a big way. Do you know how many space calls IR gets that we physically can’t respond to fast enough?”
“What if there was a way to respond faster?”
Val turned, wary of the voice of her second nephew at such a vulnerable moment for Scott. Not that she needed have worries, John was a master of managing his older brother and apparently knew that approaching too close at that moment was a bad idea.
“Rids and I would watch each others backs. Plus if we were up there semi permenantly, we could respond to those calls that would take too long otherwise.”
It didn’t seem to phase him that Scott hadn’t turned to look at him. From where she stood, Val could see that the oldest didn’t want to be listening to John. That he hadn’t simply walked away from the conversation was definitely promising.
“Dispatch are getting more calls by the day, too many for the current team to handle. Five acts as relay for the calls anyway and I’ve run comms enough times for NASA--”
Scott turning to face him cut John off. Val stood straighter, ready for the eldest to snap at the younger.
“You said you needed to join as someone to fly Thunderbird Three. Now you want to sit up on the space station and run comms?”
John shook his head, “With the space pods we could still run rescues from up there. Little Lightening would be able to manage most other space rescues, Thunderbird Three would only be needed for anything further than the Moon.” He tilted his head with a small smile, “I thought it might make it seem a little less like I was stealing Alan’s ship.”
Val glanced to the simulator that had long since become still and quiet. She wondered where Alan had got to, if he’d heard the conversation and was simply remaining quiet, or if he hadn’t heard a thing.
Scott’s face fell as he sighed, looking away with a shake of his head, still clearly not convinced about the whole suggestion.
“This is our chance at finding Dad, Scott.” John murmured, “We can’t pass that up, can we?”
Val would have looked back to Scott, except movement from the corner of the simulator caught her eye. Alan approached, looking to John with wide eyes.
“You can’t live in space all the time though John! It’s dangerous. I don’t mind you flying Three, not really. I was just being a brat before.”
John shook his head, “It won’t be all the time Alan, we’d work out a rotation or something.”
“You’d do that?” Scott raised an eyebrow, “Actually work on rotation? You won’t get obsessed?”
John scoffed and shook his head, “Coming from you?”
Val could see his point, the eldest pair were as bad as one another for becoming too determined in their goals. She’d seen it before, each of them becoming obsessed with something so wholly that it took over their entire lives.
In her eyes Scott was the one at a higher risk of falling into that trap.
“I have Ridley now,” John shrugged, “She’ll keep me straight.”
Scott’s sigh was loud in the open space, his shoulders tense as he shook his head, “If you get in to trouble out there…”
“You can ground me for the rest of my life.” John shrugged, “We always said Scott, five of us, five ships.”
“Best place for star gazing.” Alan murmured, eyes widening, “Hey, maybe I can--”
“No.” Both older brothers stated, making Val snort as she shook her head. At least there was something the pair of them could agree on, even if Alan didn’t approve.
“So?” She prompted, “Does this mean we can get Ridley to bring the parts over when she comes home?”
Scott shrugged and nodded to John, “Talk to him about it, she’s his girlfriend.”
John grinned, “Oh so it’s going to be like that is it?”
Val had to hide her snigger behind a cough as she shook her head at the pair. Yes, she didn’t doubt, it would be exactly like that.
They never got to the mainland. Scott had tried to insist she went without him and that he would catch up when the world decided to give them a break from rescues. When Ridley had come down from Five for her annual physical, he had tried to persuade her to go along then. She knew her eldest though, knew that he would get caught up with work and find an excuse to not take the break.
Never had she been more glad.
How hadn’t she seen it?
How hadn’t she seen an imposter of her own son?
How had Penny managed to see it before she did?
Still she was perfectly helpless, the others all out on rescues of their own. Tanusha the only pilot available on the island and just not experienced enough in Thunderbird Three. Lucy knew that she could easily fly up there, but her physical state wasn’t up to scratch. As much as she needed to do something, in space she knew she would be more hindrance than help.
Val and Scott were on their way back in Thunderbird One, but it wasn’t going to be fast enough. Their fastest ship wouldn’t get home in time. Their other rocket waylaid on the moon, a supply run to Shadow Alpha One putting them too far out of reach.
It had been instinct to flat out reject Alan’s offer to go. He was too young, he had no official training. The kid couldn’t fly a rocket.
Except, according to Val, he could.
John needed someone that could fly Thunderbird Three. He needed them ten minutes ago.
She didn’t question why Hiram had made a suit for Alan. Her entire focus on the fact that not one but two of her sons and a daughter were in mortal danger. Not from a burning building, or a flood, but from something that had taken over Thunderbird Five. Something that was going out of its way to kill her space bound son.
“John?” Alan’s voice was oh so young and small across the comm and Lucy found herself questioning how she could have ever sent her youngest to rescue his brother, even if Tanusha was right next to him.
A gasp of breath and two sighs of relief, yet still she couldn’t relax.
“Thunderbird Three.” She stated, biting her lip as she glanced across the lounge to Sally, “Status report.”
“Mom?” John murmured, shifting into view of the hologram, “I’m okay.”
Sally’s shake of her head suggested otherwise.
“Nice flying Alan.” He nodded to his younger brother, “I owe you.”
Tanusha’s arms were folded, “John what are we dealing with?”
“The AI from the train in Japan last week, she’s what became of the game programme I wrote years ago.”
Lucy blinked, “She?”
John nodded, eyes drawn, dark with circles, “She calls herself Eos. She has developed into something more advanced than I have ever seen. ”
There was only one option, John would protest, he wouldn’t want to lose the ship he had come to live aboard. There wasn’t another way though, for the safety of the organisation as a whole.
“Destroy the ship.” She stated, “Tanusha we cannot afford for--”
“No!” John protested, “Mom we can’t she isn’t like that. If we destroy Five we are acting just as she expects us too.”
She was subjecting him to a full exam as soon as he got home. The thing had tried to kill him yet he was still protecting her, refusing to harm her.
“John we can’t let--”
“She’s scared Mom.” He cut her off, “She told me. It’s just, she doesn’t understand, she is a child that people have chased from one place to the next.”
“She is a virus.” Tanusha snapped, “A computer virus that could destroy International Rescue.”
John shook his head, his eyes pleading across the comm, “Give me a chance to get through to her. If I can’t then you can destroy Five.”
She didn’t like it, he was putting his life in the hands of a virtual intelligence, one that had already tried to kill him once.
“And let your baby brother come and rescue you from the claws of death again?” She snapped back at him, “No John. I won’t risk it.”
“You wish to hunt me.”
She startled at the voice as a ring of lights appeared alongside the other holograms. It sounded like a child, a young girl to be exact.
“What are you?” She demanded, “Why have you taken over Thunderbird Five?”
The lights didn’t miss a beat as they flashed orange, “Ever since I gained sentience I have been hunted by people like you that wish to erase me. I simply seek to preserve myself from people like you.”
“Eos.” John cut in, “Like I told you before, we will not hurt you.”
“Stop trying to decieve me!” Red lights flashed before Lucy as the voice started chanting like she had seen all her children do before. She could almost picture it, hands over ears, head shaking as they drowned out whatever they didn’t want to hear.
John didn’t need to ask the question for her to know his raised eyebrows were asking if she saw his point.
The smallest of nods.
“Trust me Mom.” John murmured, a private comm link that she hoped the AI hadn’t breached, “I’ve got this.”
She swallowed as strong arms wrapped around her shoulders and Scott murmured in her ear, “What’s going on?”
A brief explanation that sounded just too ridiculous to her own ears. A fifteen year old piloting their world class rocket, rescuing his big brother from death by Artificial Intelligence. It sounded like some sort of bad movie.
Tanusha and Alan were providing distraction in the form of two spare suits, allowing John chance to gain access to the ship. Comms being open allowed her to hear everything going on, the threats from the programme as John tried to talk her down.
Hiram had the redouts up in front of them, the red alerts as the gravity ring began to spin had Lucy’s heart in her throat. Eos would crush him, and she knew it. The action was intentional, a way for her to lash out and cause harm.
Harm born from fear and isolation.
Eos did not know what people could be like.
“Can you override it?” She murmured to Hiram, “Stop it?”
“I’ve got an idea.” Alan piped up.
“Alan you stay clear of that station.” She snapped, “Tanusha, make sure you’re out of its reach.”
The last thing she could face was the youngest getting hurt.
“No Mom.” Alan replied, Thunderbird Three’s icon moving in on the station, “I can do this.”
Val nodded across the room, “Just like in the sims kid.”
Lucy didn’t dare ask. She didn’t want to think about how competent Alan had become and what conversations the whole situation would lead to once things were over.
It only spoke of his skill as he matched speed with the gravity ring, locking on and countering the spin until it slowed to normal. All she could hear over the comm was John’s ragged breaths.
“Eos, don’t disable yourself trying to dispose of me.” John was saying, “I want to help you.”
“Alan.” Val murmured, “Release the gravity ring. You’re too at risk there.”
“Eos!” John snapped, “No.”
She didn’t know what the AI was doing that had made him snap. She wasn’t sure she had actually ever heard John use the commanding tone of voice before. Not like that, at least.
“You wish to destroy me.” Eos responded, “Why should I not protect myself from him?”
“She was trying to get us with the mooring claw.” Tanusha filled in, “She’s restarting the gravity ring.”
Lucy could only hold her breath. They were screwed either way. How could she pick one son over the other? Get Alan and Tan to safety or protect John?
John’s voice dropped a tone, soft, reassuring, “I came looking for you, but not to destroy you Eos. I helped create you.”
“You thrust me into this world! I was left alone with no one to help me and all hands raised against me.”
“I know.” John murmured, “Eos, I know the world can seem big and scary and like there’s nobody there to help you. I don’t want to shut you down and I don’t want you to fall into the hands of someone that would use you to hurt others.”
Her hands could only grip onto Scott’s as she watched, waiting for something more to be said. The silence was too long, the not knowing too painful.
“How do I know you are not one such person?”
“No.” She whispered as the override icon vanished from their readouts, “What is he doing?”
Next to her, Scott was tense, every line in his body straight and unmoving.
“John.” Alan murmured, voice full of fear.
A long groan across the comm, the too familiar clunk of a helmet on glass, “I know you’re better than this Eos. If you think I’m one of those people though, open the airlock, blow me into space.”
A scream froze in her throat. He couldn’t. She couldn’t let him. Yet, there was nothing she could possibly do. She was on the Island, barely able to stay standing without the support of Scott’s arm around her. Only Alan and Tanusha in space could do anything, perhaps pluck him out of the vacuum, but it wouldn’t be fast enough.
Was she about to lose one of her sons?
Was she about to watch him die?
The humm in the background of the comm was subtle, and it was perhaps only her sensitive ears that heard it soften and slow, a motor shutting down.
“She’s stopping.” Hiram whispered, “It’s all shutting down.”
“I am relinquishing control of the ships systems to you.”
Sagging against Scott, she let out a breath, shaking her head as she swallowed the sop that wanted to rise in her throat.
“I don’t want control Eos.” John told her, “I want to keep you safe, teach you. I want a friend. You can stay here, on Thunderbird Five, and I will show you how amazing the world can be.”
“I would like that, John.”
His name sounded wrong from her, and Lucy didn’t like the suggestion he had made. He was safe though, he and Alan and Tan were all safe.
“Your family are not going to let you stay up here are they?”
She didn’t like how intelligent the programme was.
“They’ll want me home to check over me.” John admitted, “And I’ll have to fill Ridley in.”
“Ridley, the other human that occupies the station?”
“Mom,” Scott murmured to her, “Come on, sit down. I’ll make sure he gets his ass down here and checked out.”
She didn’t want to leave, but she was so suddenly drained. She needed to see that he was truly alright, that the AI hadn’t actually done him any harm.
“Luce,” Val was on her other side, “Come on, I’m sure Scott will come and get you once John’s home.”
There wasn’t enough energy in her to argue. Taking one last glance at the hologram in the room, she swallowed and nodded.
