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Chapter Thirty Three: After The Storm Part One

John's Room

Next Morning

John groaned softly as he came out of the deep slumber he had sunken into the night before. Slowly he awoke to near total silence, the only sound being the soft sound of the air conditioning system slowly circulating air throughout the villa complex. The roar of wind and rain battering the villa, the sound he had gone to sleep to, had vanished. Opening his eyes and blinking he waited until the nanites had adjusted his vision to compensate for the sunlight filtering in. John yawned. The storm's /passed,/ John thought, realising from the lack of sound that the storm must have broken sometime in the early hours of the morning.

He yawned again and stretched to loosen muscles that had slightly cramped up during eight hours of immobility, then he sat up in bed. Might as well get this day started, he thought, now that the storm has passed we are going to have quite a lot of work to do. He knew that from past experience, whenever a tropical storm or a full force cyclone slammed into the island they always had a lot of cleaning up to do afterwards. Plus they would also have to check for any additional signs of erosion to the island. The powerful storm tides had been known to make some of the cliff faces unstable and before now, had washed away completely parts of the beach. Being a lonely volcanic island surrounded by the vast South Pacific, Tracy Island always took a battering from storms.

Throwing off the bedclothes John got up and slipped out of the sleeping shorts that were the only thing he wore in the way of night clothing. At least when he was on planet side, when up on Thunderbird Five he always wore pyjamas as one never knew when a distress call was going to come in. Now completely naked, John headed into the on suite bathroom for his normal morning shower, he hardly needed it to wake him up anymore, but he still liked having a shower to start the day. First shower, then get dressed and go to breakfast, John thought stepping into the shower cubicle and turning on the jets of warm water, then I'll find out what work Dad want's me to do today.

***

Ten Minutes Later

Freshly showered and dressed in good working clothes, John stepped out of his bedroom into the hallway. Immediately he encountered a groggy looking Scott coming out of his own room.



"Morning, Scott," he said cheerfully.

"Morning, John," Scott replied. Though he was dressed, his slightly slurred voice told John that Scott was still half asleep. "What a wild night that was. Did you have any trouble getting to sleep, John?"

John couldn't help but smile. Typical Scott, even though he was not really awake yet he was still concerned about his younger siblings. John could understand why Scott thought he would have trouble getting to sleep with the sound of the storm raging outside. Scott was thinking that his enhanced hearing would make if difficult to go to sleep. The reality was very different however; John was used to sleeping with background noise.

"Not really, Scott," he replied, with a smile. "I had no trouble getting to sleep. Going to sleep with the storm raging was really not that different to going to sleep up on Thunderbird Five. Even when nothing is going on, Thunderbird Five is never quiet, there's always a constant background noise be it from the speakers in the control room or from the stations power core."

"I see," Scott replied, yawning as he spoke. "I'm glad to hear that, John. Come on let's get down to the kitchen and have a cup of coffee, before everyone descends on the kitchen for the breakfast madness."

John chuckled softly. "Sounds good, Scott," he replied, the tone of his voice amused. "Lead on then."

Scott grinned and led the way down the hallway with John following a short distance behind him. They both moved with companionable silence, neither feeling the need to talk about anything. Both instead focused their attention on their mutual goal, getting a much needed first cup of coffee.

***

Dining Room

Fifteen Minutes Later

Scott looked up from nursing a second cup of strong black coffee as he heard the sound of someone coming into the dining room. He smiled softly when he saw that it was his father and Virgil, both looking awake though Virgil more so than Jeff. Almost everyone was here now, Gordon had appeared a few minutes ago though he hadn't spoken to anyone yet, the copper haired aquanaut was not yet awake enough for that. Tin-Tin and Grandma had also arrived but disappeared immediately into the kitchen to help Kyrano prepare a very hearty breakfast. Everyone would need it given the work they would have to do today.

"Morning, Dad, morning, Virgil," Scott said in greeting.

"Morning, Scott," Virgil replied.

"Morning, Scott," Jeff added then looked at John and was surprised to see that John looked completely rested. Given the fact that the nanites boosted his hearing Jeff would have expected John to have some difficulty sleeping through the storm last night.

"Morning, Dad," John said. "Before you ask, I had no trouble sleeping at all last night; seems like everyone keeps forgetting that I'm used to sleeping with background noise."

"Oh right, John sorry," Jeff said sitting down in his normal seat and missing his morning paper, there hadn't been a delivery today yet. "I guess we've been thinking that your enhanced hearing would cause you problems."

John nodded in understanding; he could easily see how everyone could think that way. No one but him really had an understanding how great his subconscious control of his nanotech abilities was becoming. Though if I agree to try that treatment of Brains then I won't have these powers to control anymore, he thought with a mental sigh. He still had no idea what he wanted to do about that, though he knew he couldn't agonise over it forever. Sooner or later he would have to make the choice about what he wanted to do.

The sound of approaching footsteps caught his attention and John looked at the doorway. They all watched as a rumpled looking Brains came into the dining room. Brains ignored everyone and went and sat in his usual place before pouring himself a coffee from the pot on the table. No one bothered to speak to Brains; they knew the genius behind the Thunderbirds was not a morning person. He wouldn't really talk to anyone until he had the caffeine from at least one cup of coffee flowing through his veins, waking him up. Talk of the devil and he shall appear, John thought with a smile.

The door to the kitchen opened bringing the tantalising aroma of cooking food into the dining room. Tin-Tin poked her head around the door and smiled when she saw everyone was present, then she ducked back into the room the door swinging closed again. The twin doors between the dining room and the kitchen were the only doors in the whole villa that were old fashioned manual doors. A moment after Tin-Tin disappeared, the doors opened again and she was back. This time with a plate in each arm; a plate piled high with all the items that made up a full English breakfast. They'd all had it many times on visits to Lady Penelope's mansion and it was exactly the kind of filling breakfast that everyone needed for the day ahead.

Without speaking Tin-Tin laid the two plates down in front of Scott and John, even as Grandma and Kyrano came in there own arms loaded with full plates. In no time at all everyone had a plate of steaming hot, delicious smelling food in front of them. In silence they all tucked into their large freshly cooked breakfasts with the speed and suddenness of starving people, not the well fed individuals that they all were.

***

A Short Time Later

Breakfast had been finished, the dishes cleared away and everyone made their way to the main living room. Jeff settled down in his usual place of power behind the desk and looked carefully at his four earthbound sons who had lined up facing him. Brains and Tin-Tin were also standing with them, waiting to be given their instructions on what needed to be done today.

"Okay, boys, as I am sure you are aware we have a considerable amount of work to do today," Jeff said. "One, we need to determine if any part of the villa has sustained damage from yesterdays storm; two we need to survey the whole island to make sure there are no new instabilities in the rock, and three we need to clean up outside."

"That is quite a lot of work to do, Dad," Gordon pointed out. "It might go faster if we split up to do different tasks."

"That's precisely what I was going to suggest, Gordon," Jeff answered with a smile. "Brains, I would like you and Virgil to get started on surveying the villa complex itself for any damage; Gordon I would like you and Tin-Tin to get started outside - I will give you a hand with that task. Scott, you and John begin surveying the perimeter of the island for signs of additional weathering, make sure to check the communications array for any damage as well."

Jeff paused and looked around at everyone who was assembled in front of him. "Any questions?" he asked. One by one everyone shook their heads, they were all perfectly clear on what their assignments entailed. "Then I would suggest we all get into working clothes and get to it."

"F-A-B, Dad," Scott said for all of them, right before they all made their way out of the room to get into appropriate work clothing. Jeff stood up himself and followed them; he would enjoy getting his hands dirty for a change. With his commitments to Tracy Industries it wasn't often that he really got chance to do something around the island. He had already decided that Tracy Industries could wait for today - as much as he hated to admit it, the company could run without him constantly watching over its shoulder. Today he would get down and dirty and help put his island home back together.

***

John's Room

A Few Minutes Later

John grunted as he finally managed to do up the front zip on his coveralls. They were the set he had had for awhile, so they were a little small for him now. Instead of hanging loosely over his body, they clung quite tightly to it. Looking in the mirror, John could clearly see the outline of his chest muscles pressing against the material. One downside of suddenly having bigger muscles, he thought, need to get a pack of new clothes.

"I'll have to make a shopping run to the mainland one of these days," he muttered to himself. Australia was the closest large landmass to Tracy Island, especially the north east coast of the country. He would have to make a rare expedition there to get some new clothes, especially if he decided to keep the nanites.

With a soft sigh, pushing any thoughts of the nanites out of his head for the time being, John headed to his bedroom door. Since it was unlocked the door automatically slid open on his approach and John stepped out in the hallway. Immediately he noticed that Scott was coming out of his own bedroom, like him dressed in coveralls.

"Ready to go, Scott," John asked his oldest brother.

"As ready as I can be, John," Scott replied joining the older of his two blond haired younger brothers. "So, any ideas where on the island we should start, John?"

John considered for a moment. "Well Dad said we had to check the communications array and that's quite hard to get to since it's on the other side of the airstrip from the villa," he said. "We could start at the jetty on the end of the airstrip and make our way around to the communications mast."

"Sound's like a plan," Scott replied with a smile. "Let's do it then. The sooner we get started on this, the sooner we finish."

John laughed. "Lead on then, Scott," he said, with a grin on his face. Scott grinned back and the two of them started walking, heading for the closest exit out of the main villa house. Both of them more than ready to tackle the task that their father had assigned to them.