Work Text:
Starting backwards with the third prompt first to set the scene
Christmas morning on board Thunderbird Five and John is recapping the last 24 hours with his AI unit EOS
“Are you sitting comfortably?”
John, is this really necessary? I mean, seriously, I cannot physically ‘sit’, since I’m on a rail.
John looked askance at the AI unit
“Do you want me to continue?”
Ugh, if you insist, although I think this is pointless. What am I going to learn from a fairytale? They’re not real.
John lifted a finger, opened his mouth to speak, paused then closed it again
“Ah .. good point EOS ... but still ... can I tell it to you anyways?”
Fine
“Ahem ... now ... where were we? Oh yes, sitting comfortably.”
John ...
“Christmas is a time for magic and wonder
and of five Birds made of Thunder
where one Christmas day something special did happen ...”
“MERRY CHRISTMAS JOHN!”
He was interrupted by holograms of his brothers all whooping and cheering. He was glad he wasn’t there when they opened their presents, loose wrapping paper on the floor was surely a disaster waiting to happen.
“Do you want to build a snowman???”
“Gordon!”
“What? It’s my favourite song. You were okay with it yesterday.”
“Yeah, that was yesterday.”
“We live on an island ... with a beach. We don’t get snow.”
“Well ... we can always build sandcastles then?”
“On that small strip of land? I don’t think so.”
“Hey boys, wanna help me out with Christmas dinner?”
A collective URGH, they bid him farewell and hoped that he would manage to get his butt down from Thunderbird Five to have dinner with them. He said he would try. Besides, there was a lot to talk about, especially after last night’s adventure. He turned to EOS, her ring of green lights almost waiting expectantly for him to continue. Yes, she was an inanimate object that couldn’t possibly exude any kinds of emotion. But she was his companion, his helper on board the space station. Yeah, his brothers and sisters often sent holocalls to check on him, see if he was okay(Virgil), being well fed (Scott) when is he coming home (Alan) got a joke for you (Gordon)and Kayo’s standard security check. It was her way of checking up on him, without sounding too much like a smother hen and being girly and mushy.
“Sorry about that.”
That’s fine, but please don’t tell the tale in rhyme. It’s just .... patronizing I am not a child
John was amused at her way of expressing herself. Some days she can be so childlike, others so mature. But she was still relevantly new to International Rescue and the world in general.
“Okay ... well it all started with a call from a kindly old lady.”
Yes, I remember that.
****
Which brings me to the rest of the story
John gets a call from a kindly old lady who is the epitome of what a grandma SHOULD look like. He assumes that she’s asking someone to help her to get a cat out of a tree … on Christmas Eve of all things. Rescues were becoming less common than they used to be, thanks to Colonel Casey setting up and training a small unit of rescue support people. Still, despite this, they were still fudging things up and International Rescue had to be called. Often to clean up the GDF’s messy rescues.
It would be their first Christmas without an emergency, although they were still on standby ... you know … just in case.
It was a typical Christmas Eve family get - together. Scott armed with a fire extinguisher, because Grandma was cooking the turkey. She was busy chasing MAX out of the kitchen because she wanted to do this on her own. Virgil was on guard duty near the tree, just in case the two youngest brothers tried to sneak a peek at the pile of presents underneath. Gordon was singing ‘Do You Want To Build a Snowman?’ loudly and out of tune whilst scooping ice cream out of the tub … to everybody’s dismay. And Alan was chatting online to Brandon Berrenger, because they’d arranged to have an online gaming challenge.
Being the son of a billionaire had its perks. One of them being, that they could get advanced copies and sneaky previews of stuff before anyone else. And in this case, it was a thank you present for helping to save Brandon … again.
Brains, was fretting because Moffie hadn’t called to thank him for his ‘wonderful gift’ and was seen pacing the hangar floor waiting for her call.
Kayo was off the island, delivering a gift to her father most likely … or doing a security sweep. One minute, she’d be there, the next she was gone. That was Kayo, an enigma unto herself. Which left John who was on board Thunderbird Five with EOS. He was trying to explain to the AI unit about Christmas … and wondering just how many packets of TUMS were still available. He was not looking forward to this dinner at all. Since they were living in the Southern Hemisphere, the seasons differed to that of their other grandparents home. Gran Roca Ranch.
He and the rest of his brothers suggested a barbecue and a chill out, but they were soon overruled by the matriarch of the family. She wanted a traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings and by heck she WILL have one.
Speaking of … a hologram popped up halfway through John and EOS’s chats. It was a lovely little old lady. Her silver hair was up in a loose bun, she had silver half moon glasses perched on her button nose and if she wasn’t worried right now, John would correctly assume that she had a kindly smile.
“International Rescue? What is your situation?”
He was already scanning her location. Nothing seemed to be amiss – so far. But … he had to deal with this call like any other ones, as if there WAS a proper rescue and people needed saving.
“Oh … oh … hello deary.”
Oh gosh, that voice was soooo sweet. He half expected her to reach through the holovideo, pat him on his shoulder and tell him that he’d been such a good boy this year, and slip a peppermint into his hand. Or offer him a nice mug of hot chocolate.
He shook his head.
No … what’s wrong with me? He wondered to himself. Blinking several times, he tried to get rid of the sudden warm and fuzzy feeling he was getting. He really needed to get his head back into this rescue.
Even EOS picked up on his sudden change of mood.
John? Are you okay? You are acting strangely. Quite unlike yourself. Shall I run some scans?
“No … no, it’s fine … I’m fine EOS.”
He was momentarily distracted by a ring of green lights that appeared in front of him. It was enough to break whatever spell he’d been put under. Flushing brightly, after being caught off guard there, he turned back to the little old lady, who was tugging at a lace handkerchief and muttering …
“Oh dear … oh dear.”
The scans still showed nothing, nothing at all. Which, was very odd indeed.
“How can I help you?”
May as well pull this Band Aid off and see what the problem is.
“I … seem to have lost my … my husband.”
And there it was … the crux of the matter.
“Have you contacted your local authorities? See if they can help?”
It wasn’t really something that they would normally deal with. But he had to go through protocol here, as some local authorities frowned upon someone muscling in on their territory. Her eyes widened with horror. At least she stopped sniffling.
“Oh, heavens no!” she exclaimed, “this is not exactly something that they could deal with.”
John narrowed his eyes suspiciously. What exactly was this old woman up to … and what devious plans was she embroiled in? He wasn’t sure if he should help or not. But … as their motto stated … no matter how good or bad, if they needed rescuing, then that’s their job – or something similar to that.
“Would you care to explain before I dispatch anyone?”
And so she told him the whole story and made him promise to be discreet. He blinked rapidly as he listened, and then patched through to Tracy Island, where everyone gathered … as per the norm.
“Guys?” John said hesitantly, he wasn’t sure himself of how to phrase this but he tried and hoped that they wouldn’t laugh or poke fun, “you’re not going to believe this.”
“Fire away John,” Scott responded, bracing himself for news of their dad.
Gordon was still singing ‘Do you want to build a snowman?’ and chasing Alan around the room, threatening to drop ice cream down the back of his tee shirt.
“It seems … that …” oh darn, this sounds so stupid “… that … Mrs Santa Claus is asking for our help. It appears that her husband has disappeared and hasn’t been seen for hours. His … erm … ‘tracker’ had been disabled.”
Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at John. Even Gordon fell silent.
“Say that again John?”
He knew they wouldn’t believe him. But he repeated himself and patched through Mrs Santa Claus herself, just to prove that he wasn’t going space crazy. When she spotted them all, she beamed brightly and clapped her hands.
“Oh … International Rescue! I am so glad to see you all. I do hope that you can help me. You see…”
“Yeah, we know,” Alan interrupted grabbing the scoop from Gordon and setting it down on the counter top, “your husband…. Santa Claus … has gone missing.”
Her cheery demeanour soon changed and she glared hard at him, folding her arms and scowling.
“Well …” she said scornfully,”… aren’t YOU a rude little boy?”
Virgil stepped forward, hands in front of him in a placating manner.
“Wait … wait …” he said quickly, “let’s not turn this into a personal fight here.”
He turned around to everyone present, raising his eyebrows as a gesture to ‘roll with this, guys’, then looked at Mrs Claus with wonder and sincerity. Maybe there was something in rescuing Father Christmas after all? Unfortunately, the hologram before them did NOT look impressed.
“I’ve seen that look before,” she chided, “so many times, it is getting old.”
“What look?”
“Oh … the old … ‘if I’m super nice to you, maybe I can get my presents early’ look. Sorry young man, I’m NOT falling for it.”
John watched from space and took note of how feisty this woman was. And wondered if her husband had just wandered off to get away from her? Because now, with her true personality showing through, she was acting more like an old dragon lady. MUCH worse than grandma ... and that was saying something. But then she changed again and started sobbing into her hankie.
“Christmas is going to be ruined! I know it. If he doesn’t deliver those presents all over the world … millions of children will be so disappointed. And that will mean a huge dip in popularity.”
She sighed heavily, dramatically and blew her nose … loudly.
“Oh well,” she said, smiling weakly, “guess it had to happen sooner or later. With all the climate changes … wars and conflicts and consumerism at its highest peak, people are losing faith in the spirit of Christmas. It’s all about grabbing bargains … and selling stuff in the middle of the year.”
They listened to her rambling.
It was true. Or, at least some of it was anyways.
“And … using us, to traumatize children. Scaring them into being good all the time, or we won’t give them their presents. That’s not what we started out to achieve.”
She sniffled again, wiped some tears from her face and looked up hopefully at them.
“Please … give this elderly couple some help? Even if this could be our last proper Christmas?”
The shriek of the smoke alarms and some unsavoury language coming from the kitchen area, was enough to convince everyone that THIS … whatever it was … was an emergency. They all turned to Mrs Claus, backs straightened and hopeful smiles …
And unanimously agreed …
“We’ll do it!”
John started delegating everyone to Thunderbird Two and said he’d stay behind to get the coordinates and track their whereabouts. That’s when Mrs Claus butted in with a wag of her finger.
“Nuh uh uh,” she chided, “I need ALL of you for this one.”
“Well … Kayo’s off the island,” Scott explained.
Her response was a death glare and he quickly corrected himself.
“But … maybe we can fill her in as we go along. John? You’ll have to get your bu …. *cough* Come down from Thunderbird Five. Hand everything over to EOS.”
“Already on it.”
As they dashed through the living area, Grandma Tracy appeared, a whisk clogged with … some charred food on it.
“Where are you boys going? Dinner’s almost ready.”
Alan wheeled around, his eyes were bright.
“We’re off to save Santa!” he exclaimed.
Grandma just nodded and returned to whisking what was supposed to be mashed potatoes, muttering …
“Hmph, any excuse to get out of dinner. What will they think of next?”
MAX, wheeled around whistling and beeping. It was the only sound in the place. Nothing new really, she was used to them going off for hours. But … it was their first Christmas spent together as a family.
****
As soon as the hologram of John vanished, ‘Mrs Claus’ spun around in her chair and faced the hologram of her ‘husband’ with a grin.
“That’s stage one complete. Now for stage two.”
She was rewarded with a thumbs up.
“Ready when you are.”
Fingers flashed over a keyboard, the screen scrolled a list of algorithms … and then stopped.
“Alrighty then, co-ordinates are logged in.”
She pressed the button to Thunderbird Five and was greeted by a polite, but suspicious EOS.
“Hello dearie.”
Hello Mrs Claus how can I be of assistance?
“I have managed to find some co-ordinates that may have been the last whereabouts of my husband. Or at least I think they are. This system of mine is so outdated. We are so used to using the stars for navigation.”
EOS paused, trying to pick up some telltale signs in the woman’s voice. But … nothing. She could easily ignore this message, not forward it. But John and the rest were already on their way. Besides, it would be really petty of her. And if she helped in this way, maybe … just maybe she could gain just a little bit more of their trust?
I’m patching you through.
“Why thank you dearie, oh and don’t worry about the Tracy boys … they DO trust you. Why else would they leave you to handle the calls and monitor everything, if they didn’t?”
If EOS could blink, she would. She double checked her systems to see if she’d accidentally taken her thought processors off mute, but nope, there they were, untouched.
Virgil intercepted the co-ordinates and typed them into Thunderbird Two's navigation system.
“Shouldn’t be too long Mrs Claus.”
“Oh … thank you. Thank you so much. You really are such good helpful boys.”
They all chuckled.
“It’s no problem, really.”
Gordon sat forward.
“Hey, wanna singalong whilst we travel? I know a good one.”
He opened his mouth and barely got ‘Do you wanna build a snowman’ …. Before they all shouted ..
NO!
“Aww. I like that one.”
“We know. We’ve heard it all morning.”
They were shushed by Virgil, whose dashboard lit up with a green flashing light.
“We’re here … right where she said he’d be.”
The wipers swished across the windows, revealing a small hut. Smoke was coming from the chimney. But no reindeer … or sleigh for that matter … to be seen anywhere.
“Maybe someone found him and taken him in?”
“Looks cold out there, maybe we should wrap up warm?”
As the hatch opened, flurries of snow swirled in and despite their uniforms, they shivered. And agreed. They made their way tentatively across the knee deep snow towards the cabin and Virgil knocked on the door.
“Hello? Anyone in here?”
The door swung open and banged against the cladded wall. A scruffily dressed man stood there, an antique claymore pipe in his hand, the beard was ragged and scorched. And he was wearing some dirty grey thermals. He did NOT look anything like the Santa Claus they were used to.
“Bout time you boys showed up,” he grumbled, biting on the stem of the pipe, “I’m bloody freezing in here.”
They exchanged puzzled glances.
“Mister …. Santa .. Claus?” Gordon asked hesitantly
“Pfft … call me Nick, Kris Kringle … or whatever name they’ve given me over the years.”
He wandered back into the little shack, it didn’t look big enough to fit all five Tracy brothers so they hesitated. He stopped and turned to frown at them and grabbed Virgil, the biggest of them all by his green sash and yanked him indoors. For such a small man, he was surprisingly strong.
“Come in … come in … it’s a lot bigger on the inside. Trust me.”
He gave them a conspiratorial wink.
So, slowly, one by one, they stepped over the threshold and entered the shack. First impressions, as they glanced around, it looked cosy, and the fire crackled merrily in the hearth.
“You’ll be wondering where my sleigh and reindeers are huh?”
Yeah, they had wondered that. He tapped the side of his nose.
“I, too, have my own secrets you know. Long before Tracy Island and International Rescue were created.”
By now, they were really really curious about this odd little old man. Maybe it was the warmth from the fire … or his jovial nature … but somehow, they felt like little kids once more. Santa Claus beamed. His magic was working after all. He was so worried that it had gone stale from lack of use over the years. He closed the door behind them and grabbed the red coat from the peg.
“Sit down ... sit down, make yourself comfy. I already have a part of your team here.”
He swept his arm around to reveal Kayo sitting by the fire, a mug of hot chocolate cupped in her hands. She’d been sitting there quietly, so quiet and still that nobody noticed her.
“She sneaked up on me,” Santa chuckled, “that girl’s got some talent there. No wonder Brains gave her Shadow.”
He waited until everyone found a seat and then he explained.
“You see ... once in a while, whilst checking my lists,” he began, “there comes along a time where there is a very special award to be given to those most deserving of people. Those who are brave and heroic.”
Gordon puffed up his chest with a grin.
“That’s us!”
He was silenced with a load of shushes and sat quietly, poking at the marshmallow on the top of his chocolate drink.
“It is usually awarded to one person. But ... you all came along and that put me into quite a quandary. Since you obviously have everything you want ....”
“Except dad.”
“Ah yes ... I’ll get to that ....”
He coughed a little, and fished into his pocket, bringing out a small bottle. The contents sparkled and swirled.
“See this? This is magical dust. It usually lasts for a whole day, but since there’s a group of you. It will only last for a couple of hours at least. This ... is your reward. It gives you something that you all missed.”
“Can you bring back dad?”
“Unfortunately no ... but you are all doing a great job in looking for him. Keep up the good work.”
All their faces fell. It was their greatest desire to have their father back. But Santa was wise, if he’d given them that wish, it would have only lasted a couple of hours and it would have just been like losing him again. He wasn’t able to see into the future, but he had an inkling that they would be able to find their father ... under their own steam.
He opened the vial, tipped the contents into his hand and blew. It spread all over the room, sparkling and glittering. Everyone expected to sneeze, because ... after all ... it was just dust. And like all dust, it gets up your nose and makes you sneeze. It took a couple of minutes before the effects began. They all started giggling and pointing. Why? Because they’d all been turned into children. Instead of their uniforms, they all wore thick clothing with hats, gloves and scarfs.
Santa smiled at them.
“You don’t have to worry about rescues. I’ve managed to put them all on hold, or diverted them to other sources. Or they’ve all resolved one another. Now ... go outside and play.”
Which they all did, with barely concealed glee.
It had been a long time since they had proper fun. And they had never experienced snow together as an almost whole unit. They’d dreamed of tobogganing and found some sleds nearby. With shouts and yells ... and poor John falling over several times ... they thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
But ... as time went on, the magic soon disappeared and they had to go back to their real lives. It was the best present Santa had ever given to them. They thanked him profusely for the well deserved time off and gave him an updated tracking system to help him on his way before returning to Tracy Island. They were too tired to talk about it and immediately went to bed. John, however, was still buzzing when he took the space elevator up to Thunderbird Five.
He so wanted to share this experience with EOS
Yes, he was a practical man. He only looked at things in a scientific and sometimes abstract way ...
... but deep down, his inner child – like the rest of his brothers – still clung to the belief that Santa was real.
And for one moment.
He was
The End