A Friend Comes Home

Episode 7 - Runaway

April 17th, 2060 - 17:55 JST

It is coming to the end of another busy day for John on Thunderbird 5 as the evening was starting to set in. John is currently floating in zero gravity as he scans over the world map for distress signals and diverting some of the minor incidents over to local emergency services. The alert for any major emergencies is also set, to wake John up during the night if it were necessary. Suddenly, a call comes in from Tracy Island, its Alan.

"Don't you ever get lonely up there, John?" Alan asks.

"Lonely? With so much going on around me?" John comments, as he continues to scan the map.

"But it's not really around you, it's more below you," Alan says.

"Well, it feels like the right distance to me," John says, looking down through the clear floor before looking back at Alan's hologram, "Go back to your lessons."

"Go back to your lessons," Alan mocks and is about to continue when a clear voice comes through.

"Can't slow down. Going too fast," a voice mutters. This causes a frown to cross John's face and he spins around the small Earth hologram, trying to locate the source of the signal.

"John? What is it?" Alan enquires.

"Nothing that concerns you," John decides and cuts off the call before spotting a small red warning symbol coming from Japan.

"I've tried everything. It's a runaway!" the voice continues, "There's nothing that can stop her."

John zooms in on the emergency symbol that is showing over Japan and expands to display a circle with a projection of the track represented through an orange dotted line. It shoes the train in a yellow circle and a passenger train in a red circle.

"Except the back of that passenger train it's closing in on," John mumbles to himself and presses the button on his shoulder belt, "International Rescue, this is Thunderbird Five. We have a situation."

5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Thunderbirds are Go!

April 17th, 2060 - 21:03 NZST

Scott and Marion enter the lounge and sees John's hologram waiting for them to arrive, with a projection on the train in question highlighted in the centre of the table. Scott had quickly scanned over the brief report John had sent through and knew the outline of the situation.

"It was on a test run so the engineer's the only one on board," John explains.

"That's lucky, but what about the passenger train?" Marion asks.

"Filled to capacity," John states.

"Doesn't anyone drive anymore?" Scott jokes.

"No. Mass Transit's cheaper and with magnetic levitation—" John starts but is cut off by Scott.

"Sorry, forgot to use my 'trying-to-make-a-joke' voice," Scott says with a sigh as the couple slump down on the couch, "Is there any way to divert?"

"Not easily. It's a specialised track, so there aren't a lot of spur lines and even if there were, do you know what would happen if it went off the rails at that speed? That wouldn't be a joke," John explains.

"Right," Scott says.

"What about cutting the power?" Marion interjects.

"Oh no, you couldn't do that," Brains comments as he walks into the room with Max following.

"Why not, Brains?" Scott asks.

"It would be like hitting a brick wall," Brains explains as he demonstrates by punching a fist to his hand, Max also making an attempt to copy and whirs, "The p-power has to be turned down gradually."