Shadow of the Moon--part 3

"Scott!" John's voice halted him in his tracks as he prepared to go to his father's aid.

"What?!" Scott shouted angrily, turning to face his brother. He stopped when he saw how white John's face was behind the helmet's faceplate.

"We still have a victim here. Help me get this woman out to the large cavern. Then, while I'm getting her ready to lift to the base passage, you come back here and find Dad." John's voice was urgent yet calm, a testimony to the many times he had to be there vocally for his brothers during a rescue.

"NO!" Scott shouted, putting down his end of the stretcher. "I have to go to him now!"

"SCOTT!" Now John's voice was angry. "I've given you an order. Don't buck me, help me! Then you can focus your attention on Dad."

Slowly, Scott turned back towards John, his face livid. "If anything happens because I couldn't get to him right away....."

"Scott." John met his glare with a resolute gaze. "He's my father, too. But we have a responsibility here. We take care of that first. You know that's what he would say if it was one of us in there. And we're wasting time arguing! Let's go!"

Scott stared for a moment more, then he picked up his end of the stretcher and the two men hurried into the outer chamber. They placed the gurney on the floor next to the dangling ropes, and John began to build the sling necessary to pull the woman up to the other level. He shot a look at Scott.

"Go. Find him. The Hygenus Rille people should be here any minute."

Scott turned without a word and ran back to the battery cavern, his form obscured by the moon dust he kicked up in his haste.

Oh, God, let Scott find him... alive, John prayed, as he turned his attention to building the sling and contacting the base.

Alan's heart was in his throat. He listened to his brothers screaming for their father. He listened to his brothers argue about their responsibility. He listened to John's terse communication with Hygenus Rille base, telling them they had better move faster to meet him with their own stretcher, that there was one more survivor but a third explosion had caught one of his operatives in the battery chamber.

"John!" he finally called to his brother. "What's going on? Where's Dad and what's his condition?"

"No time, Alan. Scott, where are you? What's your status?" A brief pause. "Scott? Where are you? Come on, Scott! Talk to me!" John called, his voice's timbre indicating his intense concentration.

Not for the first time during this rescue, Alan wished he were there in place of his father.

When John and Scott's shouting was relayed to the lounge, Virgil came to his feet, moving quickly over to Alan's portrait.

"What's going on, Alan? What's happening?" he demanded to know.

"I-I-I'm not sure, Virge. One minute, Dad's gone back to get an equipment duffel, the next Scott and John are hollering for him. Something bad has happened, that's all I know," Alan replied.

"Now they're arguing about going back in. John is reminding Scott about his responsibility to the remaining survivor. Okay, they're taking the woman out and then Scott is going back... yes, he's gone back to try and find Father. John is talking to the people at the base, telling them to hurry. Seems the antigravity stretcher isn't working. Now he's calling for Scott again. Wants him to report." Alan gave a play-by-play of what he could hear from his brothers.

"Virgil!" He turned at the sound of Gordon's voice. Where a minute or two ago, Grandma was comforting Gordon, now Gordon was supporting a pale Grandma, his arms around her.

"I-I'll go g-get some b-brandy," Brains said as he got up and headed towards the kitchen. Virgil sat down on the couch on Grandma's other side, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. Kyrano and Tin-Tin came in from the kitchen, followed by Brains.

Kyrano had a small glass of brandy for Grandma. Virgil took the glass and encouraged his grandmother to sip some, rubbing her back as she did. Gordon got up and spoke quietly to Kyrano and Tin-Tin, bringing them up-to-date as much as he could. Kyrano's face paled, and tears sprang into Tin-Tin's eyes. They both found seats on the couch, holding each other's hands for comfort.

"What news, Alan?" Gordon asked of his younger brother.

Alan shook his head, face bleak. "Nothing new, Gords. Scott hasn't told John anything yet."

Scott ran into the battery chamber, kicking up the dust as he did so. He eyed the battery housing. The middle one went this time. Where did it blow? He looked around the chamber, dismayed to see how much more rubble was on the floor, how much brighter pulsed the red light. He came around the battery housing and found the spot of the blowout, then followed the path the energy must have taken to... there!

John's voice rang in his head. "Scott, where are you? What's your status?" Scott ignored it. "Scott? Where are you? Come on, Scott! Talk to me!"

Scott ran over to the body he saw, half buried by rubble. He began to frantically dig the figure out, throwing bits of rock and cement around willy-nilly. Come on, Dad. Don't you die on me! We need you!

He cleared the rock, exposing the white space suit with its old style boots and gauntlets. Jeff was lying face down, so Scott couldn't see inside his helmet. Where's that med scanner? Gotta find out how badly he's hurt! Scott's eyes swept over the area and saw a bit of IR blue just a few yards from his father's head. The medical pack! He virtually crawled over to get the duffel, pulling the scanner from it and crawling back, hyperventilating from sheer panic. He fumbled with the scanner's settings, cursing his clumsiness under his breath. Finally, he got it set up right and waved the scanner over the body then closed his eyes, not daring to look at the readings.

Outside, John could hear the frantic breathing and the muttered curses as Scott was working. "Scott! Where are you! Scott, report! That's an order!" he shouted frantically into his mike. Damn! Why doesn't he tell me anything! I have to know what's going on! John heard another voice in his ear and looked up. Space-suited figures looked down on him from the precipice. It's about damn time! he thought, furious, as he began to pull on the rope, lifting the victim up to the arms of those from Hygenus Rille.

John's stern, worried voice once again came over the internal speakers, but this time Scott didn't even hear him. He opened his eyes and read the scanner's tell-tales. Then breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"He's alive! I've found him and he's alive!" Scott shouted into his microphone. "He's got broken ribs, a broken arm. Some internal bruising. A bad concussion. One of the ribs may have punctured the lung." He noticed the radiation tag on his father's suit; it had flipped up to show over his shoulder. "I've got to get him out now! If I don't he'll get radiation poisoning!"

"Scott, wait for me!" John called, breathless from exertion. "I'm coming with the stretcher in just a minute. The base people are here for the woman. Hang on just a minute more. Don't move him!"

"F-A-B, John," Scott answered, anxiously. "But please hurry!"

He knelt beside Jeff and put a hand on his father's back. "I'm here, Dad. John is coming. We'll get you out of here."

Alan, relieved beyond measure, relayed the conversation down to base. Virgil paced the floor of the lounge again.

"What do we do with him, Virgil? Stabilize him there at Hygenus Rille? Bring him to Thunderbird 5's medical bay? What?" Alan asked. "I need to know and soon."

What do we do? Do we risk a compromise of security and let the doctors at Hygenus Rille deal with his injuries? Do we take him on to Thunderbird 5's sick bay? If we had a way to get Brains up there, I'd say do that. But there's no way. Or do we bring Dad straight home? If we did that, and his injuries are too extensive for Brains to handle, we'd at least keep our security in place. From here, he could go to a hospital as Jefferson Tracy, billionaire recluse or whatever. Not as Jeff, International Rescue operative. But the time the trip back takes, even at emergency speed might mean the difference between life and death! Virgil paced as he thought it over. Finally, he stopped and looked at their engineer.

"Brains, what do you think we should do?" Virgil asked.

Brains, deep in thought, jumped when his name was mentioned.

"E-Excuse me, Virgil, what was your question again?"

"What should we do about Father? Where should we take him to have his injuries attended?"

"Uh, gee, that's a h-hard question, Virgil. I would say let Hygenus Rille d- decontaminate and st-stabilize him and then, uh, bring him home. If there was anything m-more to be done that c-can't be done here, we could t-take him to the, uh, mainland ourselves. But John and, uh, Scott would have to stay r-right with him, and swear anyone wh-who might recognize him to, uh, secrecy."

"Okay, Brains. We'll do it. We may catch hell for it later, but the time it would take to get him back here for treatment worries me," Virgil agreed. He sat down on the couch and asked gently, "Grandma, how are you holding up?"

"I'm better now that I know he's alive. But, land sakes! He sounds like he's in bad shape. I hope John and Scott can get him out of there soon!" Grandma exclaimed. Even though she sounded better, and had a bit of color in her face again, Gordon, who sat next to her and held her hands, could feel them tremble in his. She's scared. We're all scared. Dad might be alive right now, but that doesn't mean he'll be alive when he gets back to Earth.

Virgil walked over to Alan's portrait. "Alan, tell John and Scott to let the Hygenus Rille people work on Dad there. And once he's stabilized, bring him home."

"F-A-B, Virgil." Alan replied. As soon as Virgil's face disappeared from his screen, Alan hit the control panel with his hand, hard. Dammit! I wish I had insisted on going! It's not right that Dad's the one lying in there, possibly dying while I sit here safe as safe can be. I'm expendable; he just isn't! He got up and paced the small control room. Think, Alan! Is there anything you can do to help? What can you do to make things easier for Scott and John and Dad?

He tried to picture in his mind what was going to happen. They'll get him on the stretcher. Carry it out to that big cavern. Pull him up to the main passage. Lug him down to the base. The doctors will eval... Wait a minute. No doctor is going to touch him until he's been decontaminated. He ran back to his communications panel.

"Hygenus Rille from Thunderbird Three. Do you read?"

"Thunderbird Three from Hygenus Rille. We read you. What is your situation?"

"Now, listen and listen good. I need transport from my ship to your base. My da... my fellow operative was hurt and took a good hit of radiation as well. I need to transport fresh uniforms and space suits to replace the contaminated ones for all three of my people as soon as possible. When can you get transport to me?"

"Thunderbird Three, we are aware of the situation vis a vis your fellows. We can get transport to you in fifteen."

"Fifteen? That's great, Hygenus Rille. Many thanks!"

"Not a problem, Thunderbird Three. We owe you one."

Alan's helpless feeling dissipated. He locked the controls and went below to start assembling a duffel with fresh uniforms and spacesuits for his brothers, and a new antigravity stretcher for transporting his father. Hold on, Dad. I'm coming in to help!