Preparing For A Stay

"Here, Valentina. Take these cans of fruit," Ruby told her granddaughter.

Val grimaced, but did as she was told, piling the peaches in light sauce into a box destined for Thunderbird Five.

The youngest Tracy was blonde, a golden blonde whose long, wavy hair was a few shades darker than her older sister's and curled in tiny wisps around her face. Her face, still youthful in the cheekbones, usually held either a cocky grin that brought out her rosy cheeks or a sullen expression that, coupled with her full red lips, made her look like she was pouting. She had a strong chin, dimpled like her sister Sally's, and the same fair skin as her sister Christa. She was pretty, and knew it, and liked wearing the very latest fashions. Valentina's mood swings were legendary about the house, and she was possessed of both a stubborn streak that rivaled JC's and a temper to match her father's.

Ruby was petite, with gray hair piled high on her head and wearing a dark dress trimmed with lace and fastened at the neck with a cameo broach. She was a very old-fashioned lady, one who had prided herself on raising her daughter, Lucille, to be a lady, too. A lady that rough-around-the-edges test pilot and astronaut Jeff Tracy took, and married, and turned into a woman. Ruby always thought that Lucille bemoaned the loss of her gentility, but in reality, her daughter found the life of a wife and mother to be much more satisfying than her mother's idea of propriety had ever been. Still, her ideas of what made a "lady" kept her granddaughters on their toes finding ways to stick to them in her presence while circumventing them outside of it.

"I have prepared some bread, Miss Valentina," came a soft voice from behind them. "It is stored in the cryocooler." The family retainer, Kyrano, came up behind the two women. The mild-mannered Asian was the mainstay of the household, cooking, cleaning, lending a listening ear to Jeff, and generally making sure that the Tracy family were as comfortable as possible in their tropical paradise. He was a widower and served the family in gratitude for Jeff saving his life and the life of his only child, Tin-Tin. Ruby helped him in the kitchen, baking her famous apple pies and chocolate cake for all and sundry.

"Thank you, Kyrano," Val said as the retainer put the bulky cooler on the anti-gravity float they would use to move the food to Thunderbird Three. This was the most tedious part of preparation to go up to the station. She had to anticipate her needs for a month and pack accordingly. Not that Daddy begrudged an emergency run; when there had been a power drain and the cryostorage units had all failed, he sent Thunderbird Three up, full of foodstuffs to replace the moldy bread and ruined meals that Val was staring at. That had been the month when Val had to cook for herself. Usually, Kyrano set aside a portion of each meal eaten during the month, flash froze it, and sent it up to be easily reheated. But all of those delicious, pre-cooked lunches and dinners had thawed and spoiled. Sally and Brains had both had a hard time helping Val clean the mess up for disposal back on Earth. Brains, as it turned out, had a particularly weak stomach.

"Valentina?" Grandma Ruby's voice startled her. "I think we're ready to load this up. Kyrano, I'll get dinner started."

"Yes, Mrs. Griffith."

"Yes, Nana," Val said. She activated the anti-gravity unit and accompanied Kyrano as he took the float down to Thunderbird Three's silo for loading.

Two hours later saw the family sitting around the table, eating dinner. The meal was quieter than usual due to JC's absence.

"So, Sally. You didn't get to see this guy's face, did you?" Jeff asked, just before biting into a stalk of fresh asparagus.

"No, Dad. The impression I got was of dark skin, like he was an Arab or a Fijian, and big, bushy eyebrows. A mop of dark hair, too. He might have had a mustache, but I'm not sure. I was concentrating more on hauling JC's butt out of there."

"Sally!" Ruby protested. "That's not exactly a ladylike way to put it."

Sally blushed red and looked properly abashed. "I'm sorry, Nana. It's the Air Force talking again."

"It's always the Air Force talking when you say something uncouth," Valentina shot back.

"Please pass the vegetables," Tin-Tin asked, trying to defuse the situation.

Jeff went on as if the little altercation had never happened. "You girls have seen this guy with the eyes as a red-head, a blond, bald, dark-haired, white-haired, with and without facial hair, with any variety of skin colorations. The only common denominator seems to be bushy eyebrows and the glowing eyes. Could we be dealing with some kind of secret society? More than one person with this strange power over the mind?"

"I hope not, Dad. I'd much rather it be one or two guys with a variety of disguises than a whole group of them!" Christa commented. "That way, if we ever manage to catch one, we won't have to deal with a mob coming after us for revenge!"

"Amen to that!" Sally responded, sipping her wine.

Kyrano chose that moment to come out with a seven-layer chocolate cake with fudge icing. "Would anyone like dessert?"

"Ooh. Artifical seratonin!" Christa quipped, her eyes wide. "Hey, Val, you'd better get some while the getting's good. You won't see this for another four weeks."

"Ha, ha, ha, very funny, Christa," Val groused. Internally though, she felt smug. She knew very well that Ruby had taken the time to bake and cut up an entire cake for her and flash-freeze it for later consumption.

"Cut a piece for Jerrie and one for me, please, Kyrano. I'll take that tray down to her now," Jeff said as he wiped his mouth on his napkin and rose from the table. Kyrano cut sizable pieces and set them on plates, passing them around and saving two of the largest for Jeff and JC. He took them back into the kitchen with Jeff following close on his heels.

In the sick room, Jeff took a moment to gaze at his sleeping fourth child. He shook his head.

She is such a fighter. Always scrapping with her sisters, arguing with me. She fought her way back from that hydrofoil accident. In a way, I'm glad it was her down there today and not Christa. Christa thinks she's tough, and she tries hard, but Jerrie? Jerrie is tough.

He leaned over to brush the hair away from JC's eyes and called softly, "Jerrie, it's time for dinner. Wake up, Ducks."

JC stirred and stretched, wincing and hissing as the motion reminded her that, yes, she was injured. She rubbed the bruised shoulder lightly, then reached for the bed controls and raised herself to a sitting position.

"Hi, Dad," she said. "What's for supper?"

"London broil with rice pilaf and fresh asparagus. A garden salad, and for dessert, seven-layer chocolate cake."

"Sounds good."

Jeff set the tray on the bed table and maneuvered it over her lap. She took a sip of tea, and dug in. He remained silent as she ate and she gave him a sidewise look.

"No questions?"

"Yes. Over dessert."

Jerrie nodded and applied herself to her dinner again. Jeff retrieved an electronic notepad and began to go through the notes from his debriefing with Sally, Christa, and Mae, who had joined them via portrait communicator. Kyrano came in quietly with coffee for the two, and a cup of tea for himself.

Jeff grinned ruefully. "I knew I forgot something."

"Indeed," Kyrano said with a soft smile. He served the coffee and then pulled up a chair. "Do you mind if I listen in? I feel there is something I could contribute, but I do not know exactly what it is. Perhaps hearing Miss Jerrie's account of the rescue will prod my memory."

"Be my guest, Kyrano," Jeff replied, surprised at the retainer's request.

"Thank you," he answered simply as he sat down.

JC finished her meal, sighed with contentment, then pulled her cake towards her. She glanced over at her father. "Now, where do you want me to start?"

"Start from the arrival in Thunderbird Two."

JC succinctly recounted each detail of the rescue that she could remember from the time she went down in the rescue capsule until she was safe on Thunderbird Two.

"So, he didn't say anything to you?"

"No, Dad. Nothing. Just attacked out of the blue."

"And you say he looked Polynesian?"

"Yeah, his skin was that nice brown color, the café au lait tone."

"All of his skin? What was he wearing?"

"All that I could see. He was wearing a one-piece coverall in some grey color, I think." She gave her father a rueful smile. "I really didn't notice his clothes, Dad. That cricket bat had most of my attention."

"I understand. But why a cricket bat?"

"I dunno. Maybe it was handy?"

"I doubt it. He, or they, always seem to come prepared." Jeff sighed, then smiled at JC. "You get some rest, Ducks...." He was interrupted by the arrival of Val, Sally, and Christa.

"I wanted to say goodbye to JC, Daddy. Sally's ready to take me up to the space station," Val said.

"Good idea, girls. I'll go up to the lounge right now. Kyrano?" Jeff smiled at JC and put his hand to her face, then he and the retainer left together.

Val embraced JC, being careful of the bruised shoulder. "I'll call you later, Jayce" she told her sister.

"If I don't call you first."

Sally gave JC a jaunty wave as she and Val departed. Christa took Jeff's place in the chair.

"So, did Daddy grill you?"

"Some. How was your debriefing?"

"It went smoothly if you don't count Mae's state of mind." Christa rolled her eyes. "I'll be glad when she's back home and Nana can take her in hand."

"She probably feels the same way," JC quipped and the two young women giggled together.

Jeff made his way back to the lounge and sat down behind his desk. Kyrano joined him in the room, sitting in one of the chairs close to the command center. Sally came up, and sat down on the green couch that would take her and Val down into the bowels of the Island and out to Thunderbird Three's silo. Jeff frowned.

"Where's Val?"

Sally rolled her eyes. "Saying her 'goodbyes' to Tin-Tin."

With a long-suffering sigh, Jeff activated his telecomm watch. "Valentina Tereshkova Tracy, get your ass up here!" He was gratified to hear a yelp of surprise and seconds later, Val entered the room, rearranging her clothes as she did. Sally shook her head when she saw her sister's state of dishevelment. Jeff got up to embrace his daughters one after the other, then the younger joined the elder on the couch and Jeff pressed a button. As the sofa and its occupants sank out of sight, he called, "Be careful, girls. Let me know when you arrive."

"F-A-B, Dad!" Sally's promise echoed up from the long vertical tunnel.

The lift took them down to the railroad car, which brought them to the rocket ship's silo where another hydraulic arm pushed them up into the lounge of the spacecraft, locking into place.

"I'm flying on the way up!" Val insisted loudly.

Sally shrugged. "Fine with me. I have to pilot on the way back anyway."

The two women took the small elevator to the control center, and Val expertly powered up the huge Thunderbird. Sally retrieved her uniform from the small storage closet.

"I am not wearing the hat. Not on this trip," she declared, and she went into the lift to change into her uniform. By the time she was finished and had hung up her civvies, Val was ready to ask for a countdown. Sally sat down and strapped herself in.

"Thunderbird Three to base. All systems are green. T minus ten seconds and counting."

"F-A-B, Thunderbird Three. T minus seven seconds and counting. Minus five... four... three... two... one."

The trio of engines beneath Thunderbird Three's fuselage roared into life. The round interior hatch on the ceiling of the silo irised open. The exterior doors slid apart. Slowly, but gaining speed with each passing nanosecond, Thunderbird Three pushed upwards and out of its hangar, through the center of the Round House, and finally burst into the open sky. Within moments, the red rocket ship was a tiny speck to the two men who stood on the balcony watching the launch.

"That never ceases to send chills up my spine," Jeff said with a grin. "One of these days, I'm going to take Val or Mae up to Thunderbird Five myself and get back into space."

Kyrano smiled. "You will surprise your daughters with your skill."

The two men stood silent for a moment, then Jeff turned to Kyrano, a serious expression on his face.

"So, did our session with Jerrie give you any clues about who might be attacking us?"

Kyrano shook his head. "No. Other than the fact that I am sure I know something. But it is buried. There is a key to unlock it, but I have yet to find that key." He paused. "I will say one thing. The bushy eyebrows seem to be a common denominator. Every one of these people has had them. They seem to be a lure to the eye."

"Good point, Kyrano. I'll make sure that the girls keep it in mind as an identifying marker for suspicious people." Jeff sighed. "I wish we knew more about this character or these characters. He, or they, keep turning up at rescues, either attacking our personnel or trying to photograph our craft. We've been able to stop him so far, but how much more will it take to stop him for good? How many times will my girls be hurt before we can catch him or them? The business of rescue is dangerous enough as it is."

"Do you regret making this dream of yours a reality, Mr. Tracy?" Kyrano asked seriously. "Do you regret involving your daughters?"

"Sometimes I do, Kyrano. But they seemed so eager to sign aboard. Even Mae seemed to be thrilled by the scope of it all." Jeff shook his head. "Sometimes I do regret bringing them into my dream. And sometimes I wonder what like would be like if I'd had five sons."

"Did you bring enough toilet paper?"

"Yes, Sal."

"Enough tissues?"

"Yes, Sal."

"Enough...."

"YES, SAL!" Valentina's exasperated shout brought a bored Sally's teasing session to an end.

"I went through the whole check list. I'm not an idiot, you know."

Sally's right eyebrow climbed, and one side of her mouth quirked upwards as if to say, "Really?" though she said nothing. Val did not miss the expression, and glowered at her older sister, eyes narrowing. Having had her fun, Sally sat back and stretched langorously.

"I'm glad you have enough of everything. I don't care to make an emergency run to Thunderbird Five simply because you forgot to pack trash bags."

Val blinked, suddenly silent. Sally frowned, leaning forward to see her sister's expression. Val looked puzzled. Sally hit her forehead with the heel of her hand and groaned. "Don't tell me that you forgot trash bags!"

"Okay, I won't," Val replied with a sudden cat-like smile. "Because I didn't." She turned to Sally. "Gotcha."

Sally sat back, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. Can't believe I fell for it.

"Approaching Thunderbird Five," Valentina remarked in a professional voice. "Thunderbird Three to Thunderbird Five. ETA, five minutes."

There was no response. Now it was Val's turn to roll her eyes. "Thunderbird Three to Mae. Come in, Mae."

Still no answer. Val frowned, then looked over at Sally. "Do you suppose something's wrong?"

Sally shook her head. "I doubt it. She's probably got her music turned up too loud to hear us. Try your telecomm."

Val activated the wrist communicator and called into it. "Val to Mae. Come in, Mae." Val turned a worried look to her oldest sister. "No go."

Sally activated her own telecomm and pushed a different button, then waited. And waited. A frown creased her brow.

"Hmmm."

"What?"

"She's not responding to the vibratory alert."

"Do you suppose she could be hurt or something?"

Sally gave her youngest sister a long, searching look. "This thing with JC has really got you spooked, hasn't it?"

Val glanced down, then met her sister's eyes, blue to blue. "Well, yeah. Whoever this guy is, he keeps showing up and he's been getting more and more violent. What if it had been Christa? Or Mae? Neither of them are the combatants that you and JC are. Things could have been much worse."

Sally stood and put a comforting arm around Val's shoulders. "I know. It scares me, too. I guess that what we've got to do is find this guy or guys and put them out of business." She drew her sister's attention to the plasma screen. "Heads up. Docking in one minute."

"Thanks, Sal." Sally nodded and sat back down, strapping herself in, just in case. Val's hands flew over the controls; she was a practiced hand at docking and could do it in her sleep, but somehow this time she wanted to take special care. Sally's words had put her in an alert mode, one that made her very aware of her surroundings and the dangers that could be lurking anywhere around her, even in space.

Thunderbird Three's nose slipped into the docking area, buried to the white ring, which made a seal against the vacuum of space.

"Thunderbird Five from Thunderbird Three, we have docked. Turn on the air, Mae." Still there was silence. Val turned to Sally. "I think we should tell Daddy."

"Not yet. Let's find out what's going on inside first." Sally stepped to the console and spoke into the microphone. "Priority override on life-support systems, SRT 10101." A voice that sounded uncannily like Brains responded, "Acknowledged. Priority override initiated."

The sensors on Thunderbird Three began to detect the presence of air within the docking port. Within minutes, the indicator on the control panel went green, and Val let out a breath she wasn't aware she had been holding.

"Come on. Let's go see what's up with Miss Mae," Sally said. "Then we can unload this puppy."

They climbed into the airlock, and with the press of a button, the gravity within and without matched and the two women floated gently within. The portal was at a ninety-degree angle from what it usually was when the spaceship stood upright, so leaving the ship in zero-g was much easier on the passengers. Not to mention the fact that unloading would be much smoother with the boxes floating, weightless.

Valentina was an old hand at maneuvering around in zero-g, and Sally wasn't far behind. With a gentle push off of Thunderbird Three's hull, they both floated over to the rails that led down to the airlock and, using the rails, they propelled themselves down to the closed port. Val put her hand up to the handprint scanner, and the outer doors slid open. The two women entered the small chamber, and Sally's handprint closed the hatch. Slowly the gravity between the doors increased, lowering the women gently to the floor. When the atmosphere within and without were the same, Sally put her hand up to the scanner again and the inner entry opened. They stepped into the living quarters level of the space station where Mae, Val, Sally, and Brains had each claimed one of the six small bedrooms.

"Do you feel it?" Sally asked.

Val nodded. The thumping of the bass from the superb sound system on the command level above them could be felt in the deck plates beneath their feet.

"I'm surprised we could dock safely the way she's shaking the station," Val said in disgust as they took the lift to the upper floor. The noise was louder there, even though there was another airlock between the elevator and the main monitoring room. Sally's lip curled; she had never liked the old disco tunes that Mae considered to be high art in music.

The airlock door slid open, and there, dancing barefoot in the middle of the monitor room, dressed in her uniform top and sash over a sheer, flowing skirt, was Mae. She was the tallest and slimmest of all the Tracy girls, and her dancing just accentuated the litheness of her body. Christa's petiteness made her look fragile, and so in the same way did Mae's height and slenderness. She twirled and swayed, her eyes closed, her ears open to nothing but the rhythm of the bass.

Val put her hands over her ears and shouted Mae's name, but to no avail. Sally took a more direct approach; she hustled over to the sound system and with the flick of a switch, turned it off, catching Val in mid-call. Both blondes looked startled at the sudden silence, glancing around to see what had happened. Mae caught sight of Sally and broke into a big grin.

"Sally!" she squealed, dashing over to her older sister and nearly bowling her over with a fervent embrace. "It's so good to see you!!" She took Sally's hands and jumped up and down.

"It's good to see you, too, Mae," Sally said, smiling wryly and returning the embrace. Val cleared her throat.

"Val!" Mae screamed, running over to hug Valentina. "Oh, I'm really glad to see you! That means I get to go home!"

"Hi, Mae," Val responded with a lukewarm tone. "Weren't you expecting us?"

Mae blinked. "Well, yes, I suppose I was, but not for another day or two. Maybe three. Oh, I'm so glad you're here!!"

"Have you had dinner yet, Mae?" Sally asked. She was concerned because, to her eye, Mae looked thinner than ever.

"Oh, no. No dinner. Didn't see anything that appealed to me."

Val and Sally exchanged glances. The younger woman took off for the galley to see how many meals were left in the cryo-freezers. It wouldn't be the first time that Mae had skipped meals. Sally put a friendly arm around her taller sister.

"Well, I'm glad you haven't because Kyrano sent up some lovely London broil with rice and vegetables and a big slice of chocolate cake and you know how disappointed he'd be if you didn't eat every bite."

"Will you and Val eat with me?" Mae asked, a pleading note to her tone. "I hate eating alone."

Sally's face softened and she gave Mae a comforting smile. "Sure, Mae. We'll eat with you. Let's get that meal in here and eat then we can unload the rest of Thunderbird Three."

"Then we'll go home?"

"Yes, Mae. Then we'll go home."

Between cajoling Mae to eat, unloading Three's cargo, and helping Val deal with everything they had brought, it was four hours before Sally could sit before the controls in the red rocket, ready to leave the station, and her littlest sister, behind. During that time, Val had called base and confirmed their arrival, and Jeff had called once during the unloading process to find out how much longer it would take.

"It's going to take another hour at least, base. We brought up the fresh water tanks and are having trouble making the connections to drain the current ones," Sally informed her father. "We'll let you know when we're on our way back." Jeff nodded and closed communications.

Sally sipped hot coffee from her insulated cup. Val had made her a pot of java as they got ready to leave and they two had a few quiet words together before departure.

"Take care of JC, okay? I know you'll look out for Mae and Christa, but JC sometimes needs it more than they do," Val said fervently, suddenly sounding older than her 21 years.

"I will, Val. I always do."

"And be extra careful yourself. This guy who's been after us has an agenda that I don't like, even though I don't know exactly what it is."

Sally smiled, and hugged Val. "I will be. And I agree with you. Don't go stir crazy up here, kid, okay?"

"Don't call me 'kid'," came the predictable response. Val walked them to the lower airlock, looking bereft as she always did when she had to take her turn in Thunderbird Five. It used to tug at Sally's heart, but after awhile she had realized that it was just one way Val had of making her feel guilty about the whole situation. This time, though, Sally felt that little tug again, knowing that Val was truly worried about JC and the safety of the rest of the team.

Now Sally made the preparations for leaving Thunderbird Five. Mae was below, having taken a bunk in the crew's quarters two levels below command. She usually slept on the trip to and from the space station. Sally heard the hiss of air being withdrawn from the docking platform, the noise getting softer and softer as it was replaced with vacuum. "Thunderbird Three to Thunderbird Five and base. Releasing docking sensors and clamps. Firing reverse thrusters."

"Docking release procedures complete, Thunderbird Three. Let me know when you get home."

"F-A-B, Thunderbird Five. ETA to base, 3 hours, 45 minutes."

Sally cut the reverse thrusters, used the maneuvering thrusters to turn the nose of the red rocket and fired the main engines to direct the vessel back to earth. Back home.