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gumnut-logic · 3 years ago

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Wire (Bit 9)

Bit 1 | Bit 2 | Bit 3 | Bit 4 | Bit 5 | Bit 6 | Bit 7 | Bit 8 | Bit 9

I’ve sat on this bit too long, staring at it. here, have it :D

-o-o-o-

Virgil stopped responding.

“Scott, we are running out of time.” Grandma’s voice as the scanner he had set up spat yellow over his prone brother again. There were no spinal injuries, though it all came damned close. Yet again Virgil’s heavy-duty uniform and exo-suit had saved his life. But his helmet had not been enough to protect him fully from the eighteen-storey fall, the plexiglass fractured with a massive crack as if to punctuate the damage to the man it held.

Skull and brain were far from as strong and Virgil had a head injury that was only going to get worse the longer he lay there.

His brother’s uniform had been compromised by the concrete that had dug into his belly. Rebar that had not been enough to support the building had still been enough to penetrate tough material and abdomen.

“Working on it, Grandma.” She reflected his internal panic because she was right. Virgil’s status showed all the signs of an impending crash he would not recover from. Hell, it was a miracle he had made it this far.

The little boy he had protected with his life, may not be so lucky.

But Scott did not have the time for pondering. While John, Eos and Gordon removed the pile of building from Virgil’s legs, Scott had finally been able to reach one of the two injuries of most concern and swath it up in an attempt to prevent more blood loss.

A vain attempt.

A laser cutter made a short job of cutting off his brother’s exo-suit and baldric. They had done their job.

Now Scott had good access.

Access to injury.

He muttered between his teeth as he padded the wound with more dressing. “C’mon, Virgil.”

-o-o-o-

A bird startled and lifted off pasture with a squawk.

Virgil stared as it disappeared off into the distance.

The fence was fixed and Grandpa sat beside him in the shade of one of the windbreak trees drinking from a water flask. A couple of Grandma’s biscuits sat in a lunchbox between them. Off to their right the tractor sat quiet and gleaming in the sun.

Virgil looked down at his boots, mildly surprised to find specialised blue and green rather than the gumboots he wore around the farm.

He then realised he was fully dressed in his IR uniform, but his baldric was missing.

In the distance, he could hear Scott yelling at a brother. His voice bounced across the fields from the house, rendered unintelligible by distance except for the emotion behind it. Scott was very upset.

Virgil frowned.

“You gonna have a drink? Warm out here, you need to keep hydrated.”

He turned to his grandfather and stared at his smiling, freckled face. It occurred to him that Grandpa had never seen his IR uniform, never heard of International Rescue and was one of the reasons the organisation existed.

Because he was dead.

“Grandpa?”

“You did good, squirt.”

“I did?”

“Did the Tracy name proud.”

Virgil blinked. That had never really been his intention.

“But I believe your Grandma is calling for you, and you know you can never ignore that.” He took a swig from his canteen. “Grandma knows best.”

Virgil stared at him. “Yeah, she does.”

Pale turquoise eyes smiled at him. “So, what are you waiting for? Go. Git.” He waved a hand in the direction of the homestead.

Virgil stared at him a moment before reaching over and grabbing the man in a hug. “Miss you, Grandpa.” God, the man was so small against him.

“Yeah, I miss you too, squirt. But you have business elsewhere and your grandmother will have my hide if I keep you out here any longer.” He nudged Virgil away. “Go, son. We’ll see each other again soon enough.”

“Grandpa?”

“Go, Virgil! You are needed!”

Scott was screaming.

Pushing himself to his feet, Virgil stared down at his grandfather, a man who now seemed so little yet was such a big part of his life.

“Go!”

“Yes, Grandpa.”

Virgil turned back to the farmhouse.

Scott was screaming his name.

Grass bent under his boots.

-o-o-o-

Bleeding.

Pressure on the brain.

They lost Virgil before they could dig him out.

But Scott could not accept that and fought and screamed and forced his brother to breathe, his heart to beat, for him to come back from wherever he had gone.

Because he was needed here.

That heart teased and faltered, struggled.

Scott only screamed louder.

Gordon was the breath while Scott was the heart and together they dragged their desperately injured brother out from under the building and onto his beloved ‘bird. It was Alan who flew them those few moments to the nearest major hospital. It was John who gave the hospital the sitrep as Scott and Gordon battled to keep Virgil alive.

What he needed they couldn’t give him.

So, they kept him with them until they could reach someone who could.

-o-o-o-

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds #thunderbirds fanfiction #Virgil Tracy #Scott Tracy #Gordon Tracy #nuttyfic

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markwateneymemorialcrater · 5 years ago

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I was tagged by @neilarmstrong for this quarantine qna thingy

when was the last time you left your home?

yesterday. i got groceries

what was the last thing you bought?

groceries.

is quarantine driving you insane or are you finally relaxed?

not at all. i’m able to work from home so that is keeping me busy most of the week, but i’m actually quite liking having all this time at home.

who are you spending quarantine with?

me, myself, and I

do you have pets to keep you company?

no. just me.

what are your current responsibilities?

work on weekdays. general home upkeep, video games, the odd personal project.

do you have a room to yourself?

thankfully i do. My roommate left to hole up at her parents place because she took a voluntary layoff from work to go on unemployment becasue her job wasn’t doing jack shit to protect their workers and she is at risk for covid being diabetic. So i’m liking having the place to myself.

how’s your toilet paper supply?

good. i already had enough for a few months before all this started and i’m pretty sure most of the hoarders in town are starting to run out of spare bedrooms to store it in so its starting to return to stores here, although stores are still out most of the time but

town, country, city?

Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. Things are fairly quiet here. still see the odd person driving about and wondering around town, but most stores have closed down and everyone is being really good about social distanceing.

what’s the worst thing you’ve had to cancel?

I had a road test for my full drivers licence cancelled?

what’s the best thing you’ve had to cancel?

Dentist appointment

who do you miss the most?

going to the makerspace and being able to use the woodshop and laser cutter there. that and working without lag from remote connection.

do you have any new hobbies?

not sure about any new per se. bought a minecraft realm server (let me know if you want to join) and been playing with @aerobrake. wanting to try baking bread althoug they were out of yeast at the store yesterday so i guess it will need to be flat bread.

what are you watching the most?

haven’t been watching a whole not. started rewatching the expanse last weekend. rewatched the Princess Bride yesterday.

are you still going to work?

working, yes. Going, No. using my home computer as a terminal to remote access my computer at work.

what are you out of?

so far, not really anything. a few things i wish i could have, but nothing pressing.

have you made any changes to your hair during quarantine?

I was overdue for a haircut a month ago. and now it is just goign to keep on growing. Also havent really be shaving so i am looking rather scruffy at the moment. but

I’ll tag @soshinysochrome @cybermax @aerobrake and all y’all cause I want to know how y’all are doing

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tagsecretsanta · 6 years ago

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Belated gift from @gumnut Logic to Emma on Facebook

Thank you Nutty for filling in last minute with this wonderful piece, both I and Emma truly appreciate it!

As always, Secret Santa does not own this piece, full credit goes to the author mentioned above!

Title: Happy New Year

A TAG Secret Santa fic

Author: Gumnut

27 - 30 Dec 2018

Fandom: Thunderbirds Are Go 2015/ Thunderbirds TOS

Rating: Teen

Summary: Not the average new year’s eve.

Word count: 3439

Spoilers & warnings:

Timeline: Standalone

My prompt was: How the Tracy family celebrate Christmas and new year

Author’s note: Okay, this fic is a little weird and I’m not sure it answers the prompt, but it is what happened when I started typing. I hope you enjoy it anyway. And I hope you all have a fantastic new year :D

Disclaimer: Mine? You’ve got to be kidding. Money? Don’t have any, don’t bother.

-o-o-o-

Ten...the match caught and flickered in the breeze. She caught it, wrapping it with her hands, nursing it to the candle, and letting out a breath as flared into life.

Module Four hit the surface of the North Pacific Ocean and immediately started rolling in the swell. Thunderbird Two’s heavy-duty spotlights tracked it as it was tossed about.

“Gordon, you okay?”

“Riding it out. Though I have to say, I’m glad I didn’t over indulge at dinner.” Virgil watched as all the module indicators flicked to green. “We are go for module deployment.”

“Make it fast. That swell is unpredictable.” He would have preferred to have lowered TB4 using the grapples, but the wind gusts were more problematic than the swell. As if to reassure him of his decision, TB2 was suddenly swiped sideways. He compensated hurriedly, bringing her back to stability, her lights once again training on the module. It was the better of two poor choices.

The undersea habitat didn’t have a choice, so here they were, in the pitch dark of the last hour of the year, attempting to fish more scientists out of the deep.

The weather was not cooperating.

Gordon lowered the ramp, and with a speed he would not usually deploy, shot off into the cold and turbulent water.

Virgil grunted as the wind caught his girl again.

Module retrieval was going to be a bitch.

-o-o-o-

Nine...she took the first candle from its holder and gently tilted it towards its brother. The two wicks touched and flickered. The two became one.

Space is silent, but it isn’t. There is always some kind of machinery functioning to keep life alive. Whether it be Thunderbird Three herself, or his own helmet, Alan was always accompanied by sound.

At this very moment, it was his own swearing.

“Goddamnit, move!”

But the airlock refused to obey. Likely fused shut by the explosion that had set the ship adrift, it was between him and the three remaining life signs. He had to get it open, their life support was failing.

“John, what are the chances of me cutting through this?”

“Not great. It is reinforced. Have you tried the Claw?”

The Claw, complete with a capital C, was a piece of equipment designed by Virgil based on his exo-suit. Virgil rarely made it out into space, but there was occasionally the need for heavy lifting out in the void. It used a grip attached to a thruster pack and could be deployed to create force in any direction.

“It was next on my list.”

“You’ve got nine minutes left.”

“Working on it.” He pulled in his equipment pack, tethered to his sled, and grabbed the Claw. Fastening the grip onto the airlock wheel, he deployed the thruster pack to give the correct directional push.

And the wheel refused to budge.

-o-o-o-

Eight...the first candle flickered haphazardly, once again teased by the breeze as she moved it to the second of its brethren. She smiled just slightly as it, too, caught and flared.

“How do they expect me to catch something I can’t see?!”

It was muttered at his instruments and he didn’t expect an answer. All his scanning equipment was trained ahead attempting to locate the hidden exhaust of an experimental plane deployed by the GDF. It would have been an interesting experiment, if the pilot wasn’t currently trapped inside. It was codenamed Nighthawk because the plane was designed to work best at night - apparently testing it during the day would have made Scott’s rescue attempt a little too easy. So here he was after dark, on New Year’s Eve of all nights, flying over the back end of New South Wales attempting to find an invisible plane.

Yet again, International Rescue was the only organisation with the mechanical guts to fix the GDF’s problems.

It pissed him off big time.

His sensors flickered, his arms moved, and Thunderbird One darted to starboard. For just a moment he had the craft clear as day in his sights.

Then it was gone again.

It was only a matter of time before it crashed. He could communicate with the pilot, but the signals were scrambled and misdirected and no use for locating anything. When the GDF screwed up, they screwed up big time.

“C’mon, c’mon!” He brought TB1 to a hover, every sensor combing the darkness around him.

A flicker.

Another.

Nothing.

A godawful metallic screech as something impacted his ‘bird’s hull on the port side. She swung around, spun on her axis, and suddenly Scott was in free fall.

-o-o-o-

Seven...the third candle wouldn’t catch. She bit her lip, and prayed just a little. The breeze threatened.

John Tracy wished he had more hands. Two were not enough when he had four brothers - one in space, one underwater, and two in the air.

“Scott! You need altitude! Impact in twenty seconds.”

His brother grunted as his hologram grimaced, fighting the controls of his ‘bird.

John didn’t need a damage report, TB5 provided him with all too much detail. Damage to Thunderbird One’s port side VTOL and flight stabiliser had her in a spin.

“She’s not responding.”

“You’ve got additional weight on your port side.” John’s fingers flew across the hologram, attempting to ascertain exactly what the readings were trying to tell him. Damn. “You have a mass embedded in her superstructure, despite the fact we can’t see it.” Calculations. “You’re going to have to attempt to land vertically. Use your rear thrusters to support the imbalance.”

It wasn’t going to be easy. Thunderbird One wasn’t designed to be anywhere vertical but on her gantry, but there was no way Scott would be able to sustain a horizontal landing.

“FAB, Thunderbird Five.” It was said through gritted teeth.

He couldn’t help but think that if Thunderbird Two had been sharing the same airspace as her sister, she could have pulled her out of her dive.

But she wasn’t.

And John was left to watch.

-o-o-o-

Six...the third wick absolutely refused to light and her heart clenched. Let it rest a moment. She moved onto the fourth candle and touched the flame to the waxed cotton.

Night rescues weren’t really out of the ordinary, but they could be eerie. As he left the reach of Thunderbird Two’s powerful spots, he had to rely on the illumination his own Thunderbird could emit. And Thunderbird Four could shine a considerable wattage.

Underwater nightlife was a whole different ocean full of fish in comparison to that under daylight. Despite being in the middle of open ocean, this particular spot was above the very top of a great undersea mountain, just high enough to support the beginnings of a temperate reef system. No doubt one of the reasons the mobile observatory was in the area.

“Undersea Habitat Victor-Two-Zero-Romeo, this is Thunderbird Four, do you read me?”

The line crackled a moment, but a female voice gasped and answered. “Oh, thank god. We are down to our last module. Please hurry.”

“FAB, ma’am. I’m on approach. Can you give me any further detail on the cause of the problem?”

“It won’t go away and keeps attacking.”

Gordon frowned. “What won’t go away?”

“The whale.”

“A whale?!” And his spots lit up the damaged habitat. It looked as if it had been pummelled with a giant baseball bat. Of the five interconnected modules, only one had any sign of life. “Why would a whale attack you?”

But he didn’t get a chance to listen to her answer as his spots lit up a giant mass of flesh, an eyeball, and suddenly Thunderbird Four was rolling.

-o-o-o-

Five...when the fourth candle refused to light, she took firmer measures and turned to the iron fire pot and touched the first candle to paper. It burst into flame.

“Alan, you’ve got incoming debris!”

“What?!”

But John didn’t need to repeat himself as the first of the projectiles tore through the space in front of his helmet and ricocheted off the hull of the space freighter, narrowly missing his arm.

“Shit!”

“Take cover. Freighter’s starboard side. Now.”

Alan grabbed the Claw and flipped himself vertically to thrust in the right direction and tore around the engine compartment of the ship and hid in a crevice directly opposite the incoming stream. “Where the hell did that come from?”

“Apologies, Alan, I didn’t catch it early enough.”

Alan sighed. He knew his brother was stretched thin at the moment. Apparently dangerously thin. He should have been paying more attention himself.

“We’re down to five minutes.”

“I know.” Silent impacts thundered around him. “Is there any other way in that doesn’t require me to be swiss cheesed?”

“Only the maintenance hatch you dismissed earlier.”

“We may not have a choice.” Alan sighed. “I’ll see what I can do, but it is going to be tight. It wasn’t meant for ship access.” But he would make it work.

Grabbing the Claw and his laser cutter, Alan darted out from his crevice and along the length of the ship, hiding in its shadow. A snap of a carabiner and he was secured once again.

“Okay, you hunk of junk, I’m going to kick your ass.”

-o-o-o-

Four...The breeze was stronger and the first candle flickered out, leaving just the one burning, flickering sporadically. She added fuel to the fire pot.

The flash was blinding and Virgil swore.

Lightning wasn’t a problem, but the storm was. “Gordon, you need to make this quick, the weather is deteriorating faster than we anticipated. He swore again as a nasty downdraft attempted to shove the cargo plane into the turbulent ocean.

The module below was being thrown about like a cork. Virgil made the decision. “Thunderbird Four, I am submerging the module. You will need to dock underwater.” His fingers darted across controls as Thunderbird Two shuddered through another nasty downdraft. Below, the mechanics of Module Four started pumping water and it slipped beneath the waves to hover at a depth that would protect it from the turbulence.

“FAB, Virgil - Shit!”

“Gordon?”

“We have a pissed off whale down here!”

Virgil watched as his readouts tracked Thunderbird Four. She was darting, rolling and suddenly shoved sideways by massive lifesign. He grit his teeth, unable to do anything to help.

-o-o-o-

Three…she built up the fire pot until it was a massive towering flame.

Scott yanked the lever backwards and let off a prayer to the god of pilots.

Thunderbird One attempted to respond, and he grit his teeth. “C’mon.” Without her port thruster, getting her vertical was a challenge. “C’mon, damnit.” The extra weight dragged and she refused to stabilise.

The air was dark around him, but his instruments were screaming altitude loss and collision warnings, his cockpit lit up like a Christmas tree.

“Goddamnit, fly!”

Gordon swooped around the mass of angry whale. What the hell was his problem. And it was definitely a ‘he’, a full-on bull sperm whale, a very unhappy one.

He ran through whale behaviours in his head as he swooped and dove towards the habitat. A hand darted across his instruments, searching...

Alan hit the hatch with his fist in frustration. Grip, for crying out loud!

He was down to three minutes to get these guys out and he still hadn’t made it into the damn ship yet.

There was no sound in space, other than the scream in his own helmet as suddenly the entire side of the ship was torn away, a chunk of rock tearing through its hull.

The Claw spun off into space.

John bit through his lip, his concentration total on all four brothers. One hand played his holographic controls like Virgil played his piano, data shunted off to where it was desperately needed at the flick of a finger. The other spun between views, scans and acquired information at the full speed his highly advanced Thunderbird could manage.

“Virgil! Waterspout!” And the information was shunted directly to TB2.

“Waterspout?! What the hell!” Thunderbird Two groaned as he forced her sideways out of the path of the anomaly. The crosswinds were shit, and she dipped noseward. Damnit!

He kicked in her rear thrusters, killed the VTOL and tore across the ocean in an arc, circling around to return for pickup. She bucked like a rebellious mare.

-o-o-o-

Two...she grabbed all five doused candles in one fist.

Gordon swore again as the whale clipped him on one side. “Okay, I’ve had enough of this. Undersea Habitat Victor-Two-Zero-Romeo, I want you to kill all transmissions. All kinds. I want you silent as the grave.”

“What?”

He spun TB4 on her axis. “Now. If I think what is happening is happening this is your own fault, do what I say!”

He sighed as all transmission bands went silent. He scanned the full spectrum. No....no...ah, damn there it was. “I said all of them!” And it finally disappeared.

Another dodge of a whale fluke and Gordon peeled off in a curve.

Alan tasted blood. He had bitten clean through his cheek. He spun slowly in space, the ship in front of him sporting a jagged hole in its side.

Just big enough for an astronaut to crawl through.

Two minutes and counting...

Thunderbird One bucked like a mule, but he finally managed to get her vertical enough to fire her rear thrusters. Their plummet slowed.

The holographic ground was still coming up fast.

Virgil homed in on the module’s signal, finding once again his place in space. Lightning flashed in warning.

John held his breath. Seconds ticked by...

-o-o-o-

One...with determination she thrust all five wicks into the roaring flame of the fire pot. Burn damn you.

Scott yelled as his thrusters made contact with solid ground.

Gordon flicked a control and Thunderbird Four sung into the darkness.

Alan dove into the ship, calling out in desperation.

Virgil swore yet again as Thunderbird Two bucked.

John wished he could close his eyes.

-o-o-o-

All five candles burst into vibrant flame, the five merging into one, defying the breeze, taking on the energy of the fire pot and burning strongly.

Just as midnight passed over Tracy Island, Sally Tracy separated out the five candles and placed each of them in their holders. She smiled just slightly as each eagerly leapt up brightly, dancing.

“Grandma? Have you heard anything from John?” Kayo walked across the comms room towards the balcony where Sally had set up the fire pot. The breeze tousled her hair as it lay loose around her shoulders.

“Not in the last ten minutes.”

Kayo came up close and hugged her. “Happy New Year, Grandma.”

She kissed her granddaughter on her cheek. “Happy New Year, honey.”

-o-o-o-

Epilogue

As dawn lit up the sky on Tracy Island, the sun was witness to five very tired brothers flying home. Thunderbird Two had Thunderbird One grasped under her undercarriage, the severely damaged craft sporting a massive dent in her port side. Her pilot sat very unhappily beside Virgil in the cockpit of TB2. Gordon was asleep in the seat behind them.

The sky roared as the great red rocket of Thunderbird Three tore out of re-entry and spun in for landing.

She was followed by the ever-silent drop of the elevator from Thunderbird Five.

Virgil lowered his brother’s ‘bird to the side of TB2’s runway. He and Brains, and no doubt Scott, would be out later to assess the damage and plan repairs. As fast as possible. Scott was intolerable when his ‘bird was down.

He rolled his shoulders as he brought his own ‘bird into land. There would be no shortage of checks to be done on Thunderbird Two, either. Gordon was already complaining about the work to be done on both TB4 and Module Four, and he wasn’t even fully awake.

Thunderbird Two spun in her hanger and he powered her down.

All three brothers sighed.

“Debrief in ten?”

Scott muttered an affirmative and while Virgil ran through post flight, his brothers crawled out of their seats and headed up to the villa.

In the distance, Thunderbird Three roared as she docked in her hanger.

-o-o-o-

“The idiots were emitting random noise on a frequency that could have been designed to piss off a sperm whale. Once I had them kill it off, I dug up something that would interest, but keep that same whale calm, and I led him off. When he was gone, it was easy to grab the three idiots. We docked with the module, surfaced, and then had wonder pilot over here do his retrieval magic. I have to say, Virgil, that was some damn fine manoeuvring.”

Virgil blinked at the unexpected praise. Gordon must be seriously tired. “Thank you. I admit it wasn’t easy, but we made it in one piece. Brains, I will need to do some thorough checks on the grapple launchers and the module connectors, they were put under some serious strain.”

The engineer nodded.

Scott blinked as if he was having trouble keeping his eyes open. “Good job, Gordon, Virgil.” He turned to their youngest brother and frowned. Virgil followed his gaze and found Alan asleep in the corner of the couch.

“I can report for Alan.” John looked as tired as Virgil felt. “All the crew of the freighter were saved. In spite of the unexpected debris storm Alan encountered. Virgil, he will need a new Claw. He might have some modification requests on that front as well. “John yawned. “Sorry, full report will be available as soon as I’ve had enough sleep.”

“Scott, your turn.” And despite himself, Virgil yawned as well.

“I’ll keep it short. Stop doing that.” And Virgil grinned as Scott caught the yawn bug. “The GDF night camouflage is pretty damn good. I had a lot of trouble locating their craft. That problem was solved by said ship colliding with Thunderbird One’s port side. You’ve seen the damage. She’s down for repairs. We’ll know for how long as soon as Brains has a chance to assess it. Pilot was a lucky bastard and survived with only minor injuries. Apparently, the camouflage works both ways and navigation from inside the ship is extremely difficult. It’s back to the drawing board for the GDF.” And he spat the acronym. “Brains, you might want to check out One’s logs on what she could detect. All I can say is that Thunderbird Shadow walks all over them.” There was no shortage of smugness in that statement either.

Accompanied by another yawn.

“Well done everyone.”

They all muttered something congratulatory, punctuated by another round of yawns.

“Oh, and Happy New Year.”

A couple of grunts followed that.

“Get some sleep and we’ll look at throwing some belated fireworks.”

More grunting.

“Dismissed.”

Virgil stood up with creaking bones and stumbled towards the stairs.

And almost collided with his grandmother.

“Oh, so sorry, Grandma.” He steadied her with one hand, suddenly aware of four brothers lining up behind him. In the corner of his eye, Alan was wobbling with Gordon holding one of his arms to keep him steady.

Grandma grabbed him in a hug. “Happy New Year, Virgil.”

He startled and immediately returned the embrace, dropping his chin onto her head and holding her tight. “Happy New Year, Grandma.” He kissed her hair. His eyes darted to his brothers, all four frozen to the spot.

She let him go, but looked up at him and smiled, before darting to Scott and repeating the process.

Virgil frowned, staring just a little as she moved from one brother to another, wishing each of them a Happy New Year and hugging intensely.

His attention was suddenly drawn away, however, as, silent as always, Kayo appeared and wrapped her arms around him. “Happy New Year, Virgil.”

His eyes widened, but he hugged her and wished her the same. She smiled up at him and then, just like Grandma, moved onto Scott and, hugging him, wished him a Happy New Year.

Virgil simply stared.

Once all the brother hugging had been completed, both women stood back and Grandma started ushering them up the stairs. “Well, off to bed with you. We can celebrate later tonight.” She smiled at all of them.

Kayo’s smile was a little smaller, but just as genuine.

Virgil decided he was too tired to work out what the hell was going on. He turned and began to tackle the stairs. He would think after he had slept.

-o-o-o-

Sally watched her boys climb the stairs wearily.

They were home safe. Tired, but safe.

So far it had been a good year.

-o-o-o-

FIN.

#thunderbirds are go #tag 2015 #tag team secret santa #secret santa 2018 #Scott Tracy #John Tracy #Virgil Tracy #Gordon Tracy #alan tracy #kayo kyrano #grandma tracy #fanfic #Gumnut logic

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wily-red-and-galeforce-gold · 7 years ago

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When Sideswipe gets back to his room-

-it’s to make a quick pitstop to deposit some stuff before he regroups with his brother. They apparently have a buggy to find. Hopefully, Bob isn’t stuck under a desk again. The last time that happened the thing was lodged on his shoulders real good. They had to get the laser cutters.

The Arm Blades of Diabla are tucked carefully under one arm so he can punch his access code in without stabbing and/or poisoning himself in the process. But the second that door slides open, out of habit, the first thing he does is drop to a knee, he flings his free arm wide open, and coos a high, “Quantaaaa~” in that silly voice reserved for beloved pets.

He waits for the inevitable patter of tiny paws. The scrabble of his doofus of a kitty trying to get purchase on slick floors in his hurry to throw himself at Sideswipe. It was always a bright spot to the day, coming off of a miserable shift or back from an adventure with the promise that he'd get to wind down with some enthusiastic kitty cuddles.

As was custom.

...Although he’s being left hanging for some reason.

“Quanta?”

But Quanta doesn’t come darting out from under a berth, or leaping from his favorite perch on the shelf for affectionate cuddles. In fact there isn’t any sign of him. There’s no glowing spot under mussed blankets, or softly lit corners. Sideswipe doesn’t even catch a glimpse of his hard-light crystal corona.

That’s....weird.

Sideswipe isn’t ignorant to the fact that his cat is, well, sort of a coward, and not always great at being a cat. Quanta was a nervous thing, cautious around unknowns, and didn’t make it a habit to wander off too far from the room. There were too many people outside, after all. Too many stomping peds. Too many going-ons that made little, soot colored kitties nervous.

Which begs the question of where is he?

It’s oddly dark in the room without his glow.

Something catches his optics though.

A little bemused, Sideswipe rolls to his peds, and wanders his way over to the little table they’d repair small arms on-

CRUNCH

-only to step on something almost immediately.

In a panic, and he’s not sure why this is where his first thought goes, his first worry is that he just crushed a piece of quanta’s halo. When he lifts his ped up, to his relief, he see bits of pink energon crystal break away, not a yellow, hard-light construct.

Hold up.

What unfortunate thing did he just pancake-?

Oh. It was one of the snacks he had made for movie night. Bob must have dropped-

Wait.

He crosses the rest of the distance, and the blades tucked in his arms are dropped unceremoniously to the ground along the way as he reaches the table.

There’s the tray. There are the snacks he had made Bob. But the note he left is gone. The geometric treats are no longer in neat little rows, but gathered in a careless pile. Cracked, broken...

Seeing them crumbled like this is a little... unnerving for reasons he can’t entirely pin point.

They look like they’re disintegrating-

He abruptly switches mental gears to mull the facts. That and to detour away from a sudden prickle of unease.

Even if Bob had knocked them over he would have taken them still. Would have eaten them. The Insecticon wasn’t one to waste tasty, edible things. What did it matter what the snack looked like as long as it was good?

‘...I made these this morning. He should have seen them....’

Bob hadn’t taken them. Maybe they had been dropped?

Did Sunstreaker pick them up then?

But then that meant his brother had missed one. The one Sideswipe had stepped on, and Sunstreaker didn’t miss fine details like that. Especially when it was for the sake of restoring order to something. Overlooking something like that would be...sloppy for him. Slap dash.

He must be distracted.

:::Bob is gone.:::

He thought back to the short message his brother sent him.

:::I need you to come back. I can’t find him.:::

And at that Sideswipe feels a caustic pit drop into his tanks. Why though? He isn’t sure, but he can feel that his confusion is changing into a new feeling.

Genuine concern is stitching itself though his lines.

Once or twice in the past Bob had gotten himself stuck or lost in the ship. Sideswipe up until this very second, hadn’t felt that this situation was any different than those other times. Those instances had been situations that needed resolving, but were never actually dire.

For the first time he’s starting to think that this is different.

Something most definitely isn’t right.

He goes to find his brother.

The room is left as dark as it had been on his arrival.

#bob is lost #the talons card #long post

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agilenano · 5 years ago

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Agilenano - News: New Part Day: The Wi-Fi Stepper Gets Ideas Working Faster

Like most of us, I sometimes indulge in buying a part for its potential or anticipated utility rather than for a specific project or purpose. That’s exactly how I ended up with the WSX100 Wi-Fi Stepper, a single board device intended to be one of the fastest and easiest ways to get a stepper motor integrated into a project. Mine came from their Crowd Supply campaign, which raised money for production and continues to accept orders. What’s It For? The WSX100 Wi-Fi Stepper Driver (with motor), by Good Robotics The main reason the Wi-Fi Stepper exists is to make getting a stepper motor up and running fast and simple, in a way that doesn’t paint a design into a corner. The device can certainly be used outside of prototyping, but I think one of its best features is the ability to help quickly turn an idea into something physical. When prototyping, it’s always better to spend less time on basic bits like driving motors. In a way, stepper motors are a bit like RGB LEDs or LCD displays were before integrated drivers and easy interfaces became common for them. Steppers require work (and suitable power supplies) to get up and running, and that effort can be a barrier to getting an idea off the ground. With the Wi-Fi Stepper, a motor can be fired up and given positional commands (or set to a speed and direction) in no time at all. By sending commands over WiFi, there isn’t even the need to wire up any control logic. Why Use Steppers? Stepper motors are great for any project that needs to do physical work in the real world with any sort of exactitude. Every 3D printer, laser cutter, and other CNC device uses them. They’re inexpensive, come in standardized shapes and sizes, can be precisely controlled, and can interface with many things directly without needing a gearbox. The downside is that steppers aren’t quite plug-and-play. They may be common, but they are also relatively complex electromechanical devices that require more than just applying power to get them to move. If you’re new to the idea of steppers, this project explains the theory and inner workings beautifully by using an oversized, 3D printed stepper as a visual aid. What the Wi-Fi Stepper Delivers All that’s really needed for the WSX100 to work is to hook up a DC power supply (input range of 9-80 V supported) and attach a stepper motor; there are convenient presets for NEMA 11, 17, 23, 34, and 42 motors. Once power is applied, the board will by default create a wireless access point named wsx100-ap with a unique id appended to the name. Easy operation consists of connecting to the device’s network, then opening a browser window to 192.168.4.1 (or wsx100.local if enabled) and using the Quickstart section of the web interface. From there, the motor can be set to either servo mode (motor moves to a position on command) or speed mode (motor is given a direction and speed), and is then ready to move. All configuration and basic movements are accessible via this web interface; simply drag the shaft position or click a direction and the motor will immediately do it. There are also Python and RESTful interfaces, so all commands and configuration can be done using HTTP GET requests, usually from python or a bash script (the latter uses curl piped to jq, a tool for command-line JSON processing.) Embedded below is a short video demonstrating Servo Mode with a NEMA17 motor attached to a simple 3D-printed assembly. First the servo is moved by dragging the handle in the web interface, then a simple bash script is run that demonstrates bouncing between two points with a one second delay between each position. The commands in the script came from copying and pasting from the Quick Code section of the web interface, one of several handy features. https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/WSX100-Wi-Fi-Stepper-Servo-Mode-Video.mp4 ‘Quick Code’ Feature There’s a particularly handy section in the web interface I want to highlight. After setting all desired configuration options (and there are presets for everything from NEMA 11 to 42 as well as stall detection, shutdown parameters, and everything else) and optionally giving a movement command, a Quick Code window provides matching sample code for both Python and Bash scripts. Therefore, after using the web interface to test things, a cut and paste will provide code to do exactly the same thing. What the Wi-Fi Stepper board doesn’t have is a hardware encoder for absolute motor position sensing. This isn’t uncommon, but don’t misunderstand “Servo Mode” as implying the presence of such an encoder. Servo Mode in this context refers to moving the motor shaft by telling it to go to a specific position, which it then does and holds that position until further notice. There’s one more feature I’d like to get into: wireless security. Let’s Celebrate That Security Wasn’t An Afterthought Something that caught my eye on this project was how seriously security was taken during development. Being mindful of security is good practice in principle, but there’s a practical consideration as well. The developers made a valid point that since the board can support large motors at high currents, there is potential for real damage to result from someone mistreating or compromising the unit and telling it to do things it shouldn’t. Security is always worth taking seriously, but as the developers put it: Security is hard. Really hard. In a world where IoT devices are notoriously bad at security, we hope [our efforts are] a step in the right direction. You can gain some insights into security design by reading the developer update that explains how exactly they approached securing a device like this. Briefly, it starts by stating some assumptions about how the device will be used and in what context, and letting the security design flow from those points. In the case of the WSX100 Wi-Fi Stepper it is assumed that the device will be provisioned and configured in a secure environment, no sensitive information will be transmitted as part of commands, and physical security (e.g. tamper protection and detection) is out of scope. Working from these assumptions, the WSX100’s security focused on ensuring that only commands from an authenticated source are considered valid (thwarting things like man-in-the-middle and replay attacks.) To do this, the WSX100 uses the ATECC508A by Microchip to provide an authentication key framework, and if enabled, implementing it is made painless by the API. Once the master key is set on the device, commands are transmitted unencrypted but with a computed signature attached. If a command’s signature is not valid, the command is not legitimate. It is not possible to deduce the master key from the signature, and by not encrypting transmissions there is minimal overhead and latency added. The team also explains possible security issues that have not been addressed or could still cause problems. For example, for a wireless device denial of service or jamming is a possibility. While not much can be done to prevent attacks of that nature, it is possible to use timeouts to ensure that motors are parked in safe positions in the case of a loss of connectivity. It’s wonderful to see security taken seriously, and not as an afterthought. How Does It Fare? The Wi-Fi Stepper is easy to get up and running, supports a wide range of motors and voltages, and security hasn’t been ignored. So far so good, but what does it do best, and are there any shortfalls? As someone who doesn’t live and breathe steppers in my usual projects, some of the best value comes from making them almost plug-and-play. Any projects that do physical work (like automatic pet feeders or automated curtains) are better to develop the easier it is to play with the motors. Also important to consider are the things it doesn’t do. The Wi-Fi Stepper absolutely does a great job of getting a motor moving, but it doesn’t have any external sensors (like limit switches) or simple ways to add them. That means it’s ridiculously easy to tell a motor “start turning” but adding “…until this switch is hit, then stop” is up to the developer. [Update: Good news! Actually there is an input for this; it’s the SW pin and GoUntil command. See also below.] Likewise, there is no built-in support for an encoder with which to track and sense the motor’s real-world position, so applications that require an encoder will need one added and managed separately. The API and web interface won’t have any knowledge of them. That all being said, position encoding isn’t necessary for using steppers effectively and the device’s Servo Mode — the ability to tell the motor to move to a certain position and stop there — can cover most bases. Still, being able to integrate a limit switch or two would have been a nice feature. [Update: The SW pin can be used to attach a zeroing or limit switch. It works with the GoUntil command, which I had embarrassingly completely missed until it was kindly pointed out to me.] The ability to get a stepper going with minimal wiring and little more than a browser window is an awfully nice tool that I’m delighted to add to my workbench. The WSX100 Wi-Fi Stepper is, of course, open source. The Github repository is here and online documentation is at wifistepper.com. It’s available directly from Crowd Supply. #Stepper #ATECC508A #WirelessHacks #CncHacks #StepperMotor

Agilenano - News from Agilenano from shopsnetwork (4 sites) https://agilenano.com/blogs/news/new-part-day-the-wi-fi-stepper-gets-ideas-working-faster-1

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fleetwoodmoth · 8 years ago

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Widow

Gerard Lacroix was found dead in his home, his wife gone and panic left in her wake. Everyone knows that Amelie was the culprit, but some refuse to accept it.

Everybody on base could probably tell she had something to hide, the way she walked, the way her eyes wouldn’t stay on one point for more than a few seconds, the way she kept fidgeting with the hem of her t-shirt; they were all dead giveaways in her mind. How did the undercover agents deal with this kind of pressure? Luna begged herself, keep your head high, eyes forward, step with purpose. She could see Katja, head down staring at her tablet like she always did, Luna relaxed her shoulders and put on a placid smile.

“Katja, thank god, I’m in a bit of trouble and I need your help,” she breathed smoothly.

“Oh yeah, what’s up?” Katja asked in her usual casual tone.

“I’m late for an interrogation and I never got my access code for the room, Commander Morrison is gonna be pissed, could I get them from you?”

Katja hesitated, taking Luna in. Luna was sure she could tell her palms were sweating and her heart was racing.

“Right… what room was it?” Katja started sifting through pages on her tablet.

“21,” Luna smoothed her shirt out again, the feeling of the bulge of the sidearm underneath not helping her heart rate.

“Oh… the Lacroix case?”

Luna gave a slightly wounded smile.

“I’m sorry you still have to deal with that, here, it should be on your phone now.”

Luna sighed with relief, letting go of a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“Thank you Katja, thank you.”

Katja nodded, smiling sympathetically before Luna turned and headed to the basement.

The walk there felt much longer than Luna was sure it actually was. Every sideways glance or lingering hello by a fellow agent made her gut twist. As the elevator doors opened and the hallway of doors stretched out in front of her Luna swallowed the lump in her throat and stepped out. She kept glancing at her phone every other second, making sure she had the access code memorized.

19…20…21… Two doors were labeled with the number, A and B, the latter being propped open signifying that an interrogation wasn’t currently in progress. Luna quietly approached the opening, listening for voices.

“He’s held up to all of our attempts,” Jack’s voice sounded tired.

“I could take another run at him, I’m sure I was close last time.”

Luna’s jaw clenched at Jesse’s voice. She knew he was going to be around, that he was working the interrogation, but actually hearing him made her want to turn around and not go through with this. Luna took in a deep breath, mentally apologizing to them for what she was about to do. She moved to the keypad and began punching in her access code.

“No, you talking in circles just pissed him off,” Myra sighed, leaning over the control panel, glowering at their captive on the other side of the two way mirror.

“We’re running out of time, Amelie could be so deep underground now we’ll have no chance of finding-“ “Jack?” Myra cut Gabriel off, straightening suddenly.

“What is it?” Jack paced up beside her.

“Does Luna have authorization for this interrogation?”

“No, of course not, why?”

“Shit,” Myra ran for the door to the hallway.

“Seems she’s lettin’ herself in. Jess with me,” she wrenched the door open as Jack watched with wide eyes as Luna’s agent portrait stared up at him, the words ACCESS GRANTED glowing green beneath her.

Luna heard the observation room door swing open as she stepped into the interrogation chamber.

“Luna don’t-!” Myra’s voice echoed after her as the door slid shut.

Luna drew the pistol she had brought, smashing the keypad on her side as Myra attempted to access the room.

“Fuck,” Gabriel drew a hand down his face, Jack going stiff beside him as they both watched Luna stand facing the door for a moment, gun in hand.

“My’?” he called, not taking his eyes off of Luna.

“Working on it!” She called from the hall.

“Maybe I can break it down?” Jesse asked, his breath heavy as if he had just ran a mile, Myra could see the panic already evident in his eyes as he took in the door between them and Luna.

“Sorry bud but this door is tank proof, we gotta cut through,” Myra replied.

“What’s goin’ on in there Jack?” Jesse called.

“Nothing good.”

Luna had paused in the doorway, her fingers flexing around the gun in her hand, the weapon suddenly feeling too heavy in her hand.

“Well this certainly is a surprise turn of events,” a gruff deep voice with an East Coast accent greeted her.

Luna summoned the courage to turn to the man sitting behind the silver table. He had large shoulders and slicked back brown hair, two green eyes, almost snake like were watching her, an oddly comfortable smirk on his lips. The expression lit something in her stomach, a rage bubbling up inside of her, propelling herself forward as she leveled the gun with his head.

Jack lurched forward as if he could do something from his side, leaning against the control panel in front of him.

“Lunnaea!” he called over the intercom.

“What did you do?” Luna demanded.

“You’re gonna have to be more specific than that,” the man chuckled, extremely calm with a gun to his head.

“Luna what are you doing?” Gabriel questioned, keeping his voice as level as he could.

“Getting answers,” she ground out through clenched teeth.

“Luna, come out of there, we can handle this,” Jack pleaded.

“No. Not until I get what I came for.” Luna took a step towards the table, eyes forward, all her attention on the man in front of her.

“I’m going to get some laser cutters, you stay here in case she comes out,” Myra said, sprinting off towards the stairwell.

“Shouldn’t I be in there tryin’ to talk to her?” Jesse asked.

“No, Jack and Gabe’ve got it!” Myra called as she rounded the corner.

Jesse paced, going forward to press an ear to the door, trying in vain to hear the conversation on the other side, disregarding the logic in his head that told him that it was soundproof. He wanted to bang on it, to plead with her but if she was this distraught, this upset to barge into an interrogation then it was clear she wasn’t thinking straight. What had he missed? How didn’t he see this coming? She had been distant since Gerard was found dead not even a week ago, she had just gotten Amelie back and now she was gone and her husband, their friend, was dead.

“What is it that you want then hmm?” The man hummed.

“Answers. I want to know what you did to Amelie, where you took her, why you killed Gerard.” Luna spat out the questions like accusations.

The man threw his head back and laughed, really laughed, before straightening, leaning forward to rest his forearms on the table.

“You think we…I killed that Lacroix guy? That’s not what your commanders have been asking.”

“They haven’t been asking the right questions then,” Luna said, so sure of herself, so sure of her reasoning.

“I didn’t kill him. You already know who did.”

“No!” Luna shouted, making Jack and Gabriel jump, their eyes fliting between Luna’s face and her finger on the trigger.

“He’s not restrained Jack.”

“I know Gabriel,” Jack relied quietly.

“She’s not in control of herself, hell she’s not in control of this conversation,” Gabriel cast a glance at Jack.

Jack’s shoulders were taught, his jaw set and forehead creased with anxiety.

“I know Gabriel,” Jack said through grit teeth.

“Hmm? You don’t know? Would you like me to refresh your memory?”

Luna was shaking, her lips pressed into a tight line, sweat beginning to bead on her forehead.

“She was happy to oblige us, although, happy might not be the right word. Numb? Vacant?”

“Shut up,” Luna nearly whispered.

“They say she can’t feel emotions anymore, but I swear that when we picked up the bloodstained little widow she was smiling.”

“Shut up!” Luna screamed, tears beginning to sting her eyes.

“Luna, you need to breathe,” Jack came over the intercom again, his voice strained but still gentle.

“He’s lying, they always lie,” Luna shook her head like she was shaking away stray thoughts.

“You need to come back out Luna, we can fix this if you just come and talk to us,” Gabriel tried to soothe her.

“No, we can’t. I’ve been talking but no one is listening to me, you’re not listening to me!” Luna spat.

“We’ll listen, we promise, please don’t do anything rash.”

Luna’s heart was pounding in her ears, her thoughts spiraling as she tried to refocus her rage and hurt and fear that felt like it was going to tear her apart from the inside.

“No, no if he says it, if he admits it then you’ll know.” Without warning Luna fired a warning shot just behind the man’s head. The noise in the room of the bullet ricocheting off the wall was enough to briefly deafen both of them, the bullet lodging itself in the table just beside the man’s hand.

Gabriel steadied Jack with a firm hand on his shoulder, he was sure he was going to pass out with how pale he had gone. Gabe wouldn’t admit it but he was terrified, of what Luna might do, what their prisoner might do, what could happen if this all spiraled out of control. Jesse all but burst into the room, face twisted in panic, eyes wide, mouth nearly gaping as his breath hitched after hearing the shot.

“They’re fine Jess,” Gabriel gave him a firm nod.

Jesse locked eyes with him, he didn’t want to turn and look, he didn’t want to see Luna in that room, he didn’t think he could stomach it. It would seem he didn’t have to as Myra’s footsteps approached.

“Jesse I need you out here!” She called as she knelt down to start cutting the lock, Jesse returning to the door.

The man had straightened after the shock had worn off, shaking his head, sticking a finger in his ear and popping his jaw.

“That’s one way to get the blood pumping,” he chuckled.

Luna was crumbling, her resolve and anger eroding away until only hurt was left. Her lips quivered as she tried to regain her composure only to find that it never came.

“She wouldn’t have killed him, she loved him, more than anything.”

“Didn’t seem like it when she blew his brains out while he slept next to her.”

Luna squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head rapidly as tears finally began to pour down her face.

“No! She wouldn’t have! You came in and killed him and took her back, that’s what happened fucking admit it!” Luna shook the gun in his face.

Jack’s hands curled into fists as he watched the man lean forward, his hands too relaxed, he could take it from her so easily.

“Luna, sweetheart, please, take a step back, take a breath,” Jack called, cursing himself for showing his cards so easily. If the guy didn’t know that she was close with any one of them he sure did now.

“I’m sorry sweetheart,” the man threw it back in Jack’s face “but I can’t admit what ain’t true.”

There was a clank and a swish sound as the seal on the door popped, Jesse and Myra wedging their fingers between it and the frame trying to pry in backwards. Luna’s heart jumped into her throat, her time was running out.

“When we first got our hands on her we didn’t know she would get this far. Sniveling, crying, asking where her husband was, so confused and asking to go home. She held out for so long, believing someone would come for her.”

“We did come, we did.” Luna said, her voice breaking.

The man laughed “Only when we let you.”

Luna shook her head again, trying to deny everything he was telling her.

“Only when she was good and ready, only after the sentiment had been zapped out of her.”

“Stop it!”

“Luna,” her name was too clear, too close as she spun around, gun now pointed at Myra and Jesse.

She dropped her arm before readjusting, the mere image of her arm outstretched, the barrel of a gun pointed at those she considered family sickening her. She pointed it behind her in the man’s direction, she wasn’t done, she couldn’t be done.

“Luna darlin’ put the gun down,” Jesse called, his voice wounded sounding, he looked so hurt, so absolutely wrecked.

Myra glanced over Luna’s shoulder, watching the man straighten in his chair. Myra’s hand was firmly on her sidearm but pulling a gun would only escalate this whole thing.

“Luna, darlin’ step towards me, it’s okay, we ain’t mad, we just wanna help.” Myra cooed gently, taking a step towards Luna.

“Listen to Myra Luna, please.” Jack chimed in from the coms.

Luna looked between Myra and the prisoner, too many thoughts going through her head at once.

“She was so lively before we got to her you know? You ever go to one of her ballets?” The man whistled “She has talent.”

“Luna stop listening to him, he’s trying to bait you,” Myra said, taking another step.

“Well… she had talent.” The man corrected himself, pulling her attention back to him.

“Shut up! Everyone just shut up! I can’t think!” Luna screamed.

All at once as Luna went to lower her arm which was still outstretched behind her and the man lunged, the chair skittering across the floor behind him as he launched himself over the table and grabbed onto Luna’s arm. Another shot went off, ringing exploding in everyone’s ears as the sound bounced around in the small metal box. Jack and Gabriel sprinted from the door, the scene a complete mess as bodies piled onto the floor.

“Where’s the gun?!” Jesse called, wrapping his arms around the man’s torso and wrenching him away from Luna. Bang. The gun fired again and Jesse cussed as the bullet grazed his cheek, the bullet ricocheting somewhere behind him. Jesse seized the man’s hand with the gun and twisted it from his grip before shoving it into his belt.

Gabriel rushed to Jesse’s side, helping him subdue the man who cackled loudly, barely resisting as he was slammed into the floor. Myra dragged Luna backwards away from them, her arms around her shoulders; Luna hyperventilated, sobbing uncontrollably as she had all but gone limp in her arms.

“Shh, it’s okay kid, it’s okay.”

“Get him the fuck out of here,” Myra demanded, her breath catching in her throat as a pain blossomed in her abdomen. She clenched her teeth and tried to gather Luna up.

“It’s okay, I’ve got ya now, it’s okay,” Myra said, her voice shaking.

Luna brought a hand up to her face, trying to wipe away the bleariness, something hot and thick smearing across her cheeks instead. Luna pulled her hand away, her fingers slick with blood. Luna took herself in, her shirt was starting to soak up blood but not from her own injuries. Her eyes traveled from herself up to Myra’s much too pale face, another new wave of panic rolling over her as she moved to take Myra’s face between her hands.

“It’s okay, it’s… it’s okay,” Myra repeated, stopping Luna by taking her hands in her own.

“Jack! Jack!” Luna screamed as Myra wavered before starting to slump forward.

Jack had been with Gabriel and Jesse in the door way, relegating the prisoner to Gabe before Luna’s scream broke his concentration on the situation. The sound made his blood run cold, complete and utter terror evident in her tone.

“Oh God Myra please, Jack!” Luna sobbed as Jack pushed past Gabriel and back into the room, Jesse following him.

Jack moved Luna to the side as gently as he could, one of Myra’s hands still loosely in Luna’s, her fingers slipping from her grasp as Jesse collected Luna up from the ground; she watched in horror as Jack pulled back Myra’s other hand to reveal blood soaking at a much too rapid speed into her top.

“My’, stay with me okay?” Jack pulled Myra from the floor, easily scooping her up.

Luna felt like she couldn’t breathe, even with Jesse’s arms around her, steadying her she was sure she was going to collapse in on herself.

“I killed her, I killed her.”

“Nah, nah, Luna look at me darlin’, please? It’s okay she’s gonna be okay,” Jesse turned Luna away from Myra, even as she struggled to watch as Jack raced out of the room and into the hallway which had begun to collect onlookers.

“Clear the halls!” Gabriel’s voice boomed as he reentered the room, the agents dissipating quickly.

“Luna?” Gabriel’s voice was suddenly soft again, she hadn’t gotten a real look at him since the commotion broke out, but he looked twice as old as he was and so very exhausted. I did this. I caused all this. Luna felt her energy wain, crumpling against Jesse as Gabriel pulled her hand into his own.

“We’re going to take you to the medbay okay?”

Luna nodded, receding in on herself as Gabriel led her out into the hall. She made a mistake, a huge, blown out of proportion mistake, all because she couldn’t accept that Amelie would kill Gerard, and even as she mindlessly followed Gabriel, one hand in his and her other in Jesse’s she still couldn’t believe that Amelie would have done such a thing.

#my writing #Lunnaea Steele #Overwatch OC #I was so dedicated to this I started writing it in a notebook because I left my laptop at home

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alaskafox220 · 4 years ago

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Sea Creaturesfree Dxf Shape Files For Cnc Cutting

Sea Creatures Free Dxf Shape Files For Cnc Cutting Tools

Autocad Shape Files Shx

Open Shape Files

Need free DXF Files for your Laser, Plasma Cutter, CNC Router, Waterjet, or Other Machine? We can help!

Need DXF File information, tips, and techniques? Scroll down, there’s a bunch below!

Free DXF File Downloads by Category:

Sea Life Cut File Collection - svg/dxf/ai/png files suitable for cricut, silhouette, laser cutting and cnc routing This collection consists of 19 single and multilayered sea life images suitable for a wide variety of papercrafts, decals, laser and other cut projects. There are 15 single colour/layer images and 4 multilayered images.

The Sea Turtle Side-View DXF file is intended to be cut from metal using a CNC cutting system. Once fabricated, this artwork can be hung in a child's room to create a deep sea theme or to show appreciation for marine turtles. The artwork can be incorporated into your own design as well. This artwork features the side profile of a sea turtle.

Oct 10, 2019 - Underwater Ocean and Sea Fishes DXF file and SVG cut ready for CNC machines and designed to be cut for plasma, laser, and water jet cutters and can be scaled to any size to fit your design needs.

More Free DXF Files coming soon: we upload new ones constantly!

DXF File Information

What is a DXF File?

DXF files (files with a .dxf file extension) are a type of CNC File called vector CAD files. Vector CAD Files contain objects such as:

Lines

Polygons

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Text

DXF stands for Drawing eXchange Format. The Drawing Exchange Format was created by Autodesk for their AutoCAD CAD software. It was originally introduced with AutoCAD 1.0 in December 1982, so it’s been around for a long time.

Most CAD and CAM software will open, create and edit DXF files. Importing a DXF file into a CAD program and then exporting it is the best way to convert DXF files to a different CAD drawing file format. Many drawing programs such as Adobe Illustrator and CorelDraw will also open, edit, and save DXF files, so this is another possibility. For artistic work, a drawing program may be easier. For creating mechanical components, CAD software is better.

We offer this collection of Free DXF Files to get you started.

Sea Creatures Free Dxf Shape Files For Cnc Cutting Tools

Why would I need Free DXF Files?

There’s a lot of fun to be had with decorative and artistic CNC projects. Such projects don’t require a lot of precision and are only 2 to 2 1/2D, so they’re easy to make with a CNC Router, Laser, Waterjet, or Vinyl Cutter. Sometimes we’re adding a design as a decorative element on top of a precision machined part, like this engraving on a bandsaw mitre gage:

Many times, the hardest part of these kinds of projects is coming up with artwork. It’s line art, which is relatively straightforward to convert to CAD and thence to CAM and finally g-code. But getting decent line art to start can be a pain. Especially for non-artists.

With this page, I’m making decent quality line art available for free to CNC’ers.

As you can see, we divide the files into Categories like Animal, Holiday, and Vehicles. I have a LARGE library of free dxf files that you’ll be able to download above. I don’t have nearly all of them up yet, but I will be steadily adding to the page until I have them all available.

Below, you’ll also find information about how to get the most out of the free dxf files, so be sure to check out the article below on optimizing your CAM for DXF Cutting Files.

I have big plans for the page, so stay tuned. If you haven’t already subscribed to our email newsletter, get hooked up right below so you don’t miss out as new developments unfold.

Optimizing Your CAM for DXF Cutting Files

To ensure you have an excellent experience with our free DXF files we would like to share with you some information that will make it easier for you to be successful with our DXF files.

The first thing you will want to do once you download a Free DXF file is to unzip the file with a file extraction program. Once you unzip the file folder you will see two files available. One of your unzipped files will end with .dxf and the other will end with .jpg (.dxf files are for cutting .jpg files are for viewing purposes only).

You will primarily be focused on either importing or opening the DXF file into your CAM or CAD based software program. If you are trying to edit the design work you can use a program like Corel Draw or Adobe Illustrator to make quick changes to the existing DXF file.

I know a lot of individuals that are new to the CNC industry like to try Inkscape but I have not had very good success with importing and opening my DXF files into that particular program. I believe it is due to how Inkscape was developed based off older versions of the DXF file format.

If you are importing the DXF file or opening it into your CAM software you will want to be sure to disable your offset tooling function. If you are unable to disable the offset function altogether then you will want to reduce your offset value as small as it will go (.001″). This function may also be referred to as “Tool Compensation.”

The reason to do this is you want the cut to go right down the centerline of the vectors in these files. Anything else can lead to poor results or errors that prevent your CAM package from generating g-cdoe.

Autocad Shape Files Shx

Here is an example of what a DXF file looks like when it is imported without any offsets:

This is what a DXF file looks like with a medium offset:

Notice there is not much visible difference, however this medium offset has created over 100 unwanted intersections in the geometry.

This is what a DXF file looks like with a large offset:

The difference is dramatic and alarming. Don’t be fooled by seeing something like this, clearly the issue is due to improper tool path offsetting.

If your CAM system is detecting overlapping lines or giving you error codes the primary reason for this is that your auto offset feature is toggled on and your CAM system is literally redrawing the design work to accommodate an unnecessary offset. If you import the DXF file and you are seeing thousands of little lines very close to each other you import options may be configured incorrectly for lines and arcs when they should be set for polylines.

Once you are able to import the DXF file into your CAM software you will notice that most of our CNC DXF files come with two images of the same design.

For example, here’s a Camaro DXF File:

If you zoom in on the DXF file you have imported you will see one design includes single lines like you see in this example (single lines are referred to as open cut paths):

Open Shape Files

If you zoom in on the other image included in the DXF file you imported you will see that it does not contain any single lines. (In this design all the cut paths are referred to as closed cut paths):

Now that you are familiar with some of the basics of importing your DXF file you will want to either delete the closed path or open cut path version of the design. As a rule of thumb all Plasma and Router based CNC cutting systems will utilize the open cut path version of the design (if you are using a plasma or router based CNC cutting system you can delete the closed path version of the DXF file design) Remember to save the file under a separate name so that you do not lose access to both versions of the design.

Now if you are operating a laser or waterjet based CNC cutting system you will want to utilize the closed cut path version of the design. ( If you are using a laser or waterjet based cutting system you can delete the open cut path version of the DXF file design) Remember to save the file under a separate name so that you do not lose access to both versions of the design.

If you plan to cut the our DXF files with a CNC plasma cutting system it is recommended that you use a plasma cutting system capable of cutting at or below 40 amps. Fine tip consumables between 20 and 40 amps will yield excellent to very good results. Amperage is directly tied to the size of your plasma stream cut width.

For the very best results make sure to do several straight line test cuts to minimize the cut width in the material that you will be cutting. Stand off distance, cut speed and air pressure all have an impact on the cut width and quality of your cut. Every plasma cutting system is different and the only true way to get truly amazing results is through trial and error. With a little time and practice you will minimize your cut width and improve your cut quality that will result in achieving great detail and minimal clean up.

4.7/5(6 votes )

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imaixlab · 6 years ago

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Syllabus Spring 18

Syllabus Version: 1.7 Number: INTM-SHU 101 Class Hours per Week: 2.5 Credits: 4 Semester: Spring 2018 Room Number: 823 Website: http://ima.nyu.sh/interaction-lab/ Documentation Blog: http://ima.nyu.sh/documentation/

Instructor: Marcela Godoy Email: [email protected]

Instructor: Rodolfo Cossovich Email: [email protected]

Instructor: Sean Clute Email: [email protected]

Instructor: Antonius Wiriadjaja Email: [email protected]

Description

In this course students will be asked to think beyond the conventional forms of human computer interaction (i.e. the keyboard and mouse) to develop interfaces that consider the entire body, the body’s capacity for gesture, as well as the relationship between the body and it’s environment. Students will learn the fundamentals of electronics and programming as they build projects using the Arduino microcontroller platform. Arduino is a small computer based on open source hardware and software. When used in conjunction with various sensors and actuators, Arduino is capable of gathering information about and acting upon the physical world. In addition to these physical computing techniques, students will also learn to harness the methods of traditional computation. The fundamentals of programming: variables, conditionals, iteration, functions and objects, will be explored through the use of the Processing programming language. Students will gain a deeper appreciation of the expressive possibilities of computation as they learn to author their own software, and not simply use that which has been provided to them. Additional topics will include digital modeling and fabrication using 3D printers and laser cutters, the manipulation, presentation, and exchange of data, algorithmic drawing and animation techniques, as well as control of images, video, and audio. Structured weekly exercises are aimed at building specific skills, however students are free to pursue their own diverse interests in their midterm and final projects.

Classroom Conduct

Classes begin promptly at the scheduled start time. Please arrive early so as not to be late. This class will be highly participatory with lectures being very conversational. You are invited and expected to contribute to in-class discussions.

Recreational use of phones, music players, video game systems and other portable electronic devices is forbidden. Laptops are allowed for note taking, in class work, as well as relevant research only. Activities not related to the class, such as recreational browsing of the internet, including all social media websites, email and instant messaging, game playing, and work for other classes, will not be permitted. Such activities are disrespectful to the instructor and distracting to others. Your laptop should always be closed whenever a fellow student is presenting.

Learning Objectives

At the completion of this course students will be able to demonstrate a basic understanding of:

electricity and electrical components

analog and digital inputs and outputs on microcontrollers

fundamental programming concepts: variables, conditionals and iteration

programmatic methods for drawing and animation

code organization techniques: functions and objects

screen based and physical interaction design principles

programmatic methods for the manipulation of images, audio and video

data formats, data manipulation and data visualization

serial communication

Grading

Below you will see a breakdown that determines the grades. When grading, instructors will use the rubric described in this document.

20% Attendance and Participation

20% Exercises

10% Stupid Pet Trick

20% Midterm Project

30% Final Project

Attendance & Participation

Attendance in all class sessions is mandatory. Unexcused absences or lateness will adversely affect your grade. NYU policy does permit members of any religious group to absent themselves from classes without penalty when required for compliance with their religious obligations. If you are going to miss a class, it is your responsibility to make up the material you miss. Please let the instructor know ahead of time so that he/she can help you determine how to make up the material.

Your participation in this class is essential. Not only does it allow the instructor to gauge your interests and get to know you as an individual, but it also allows the instructor to asses your understanding of important concepts. It also provides the instructor with an opportunity to learn from your work. As a result, attendance and participation make up a meaningful percentage of your grade. Unexcused absence in more than three classes and / or labs will result in a failing grade.

Exercises & Documentation

Exercises are defined in the weekly schedule and vary weekly depending on the topics covered in class. All exercises are required, and should be documented on the documentation blog. Undocumented work will not be considered complete.

Stupid Pet Trick Project

Make a simple physically interactive device that uses the skills you’ve learned in class. It must respond to a physical action or series of actions a person takes, and it must be amusing, surprising, or otherwise engaging. It doesn’t have to be practical, or complex, as long it shows that you understand the basics of digital and analog I/O and how to use them. If you’re unfamiliar with the term “stupid pet trick,” Googling the term may provide you inspiration for the tone of this project. Due February 23, 2018.

Midterm Project

Explore Processing and / or Arduino by creating a small project that does something useful, interesting, or entertaining. Try to illustrate your understanding of the fundamental concepts covered in class. Be sure to document your work thoroughly on the documentation blog. You may work alone or with a single partner from your lecture section. Both of you should document the work individually and know about the work done in the project. Midterm projects and documentation are due the week of March 19-23, 2018.

Final Project

Create an interactive system of your choice using Processing and Arduino. Focus on careful and timely sensing of the relevant actions of the audience that you’re designing for and on prompt, clear and effective response. Any interactive project is going to involve listening, thinking and communicating. Whether it involves one cycle or many, the interaction should be engaging for your audience.

Begin the process by writing an approximately 500 word essay in which you provide a definition of interaction in your own words, propose what you would like to do for your Final Project, and critique an established form of interaction or specific interactive experience that relates to your final project. Your essay should match the grading criteria posted in this rubric. Post it to the documentation blog by April 12, 2018. Also, create a Concept Presentation for your Final Project and prepare to present.

Be sure to document your project thoroughly on the documentation blog. Include details about all phases of development, both successes and failures. You may work alone or in groups. Final projects are due May 10, 2018.

Readings

Title: Getting Started with Arduino Author: Massimo Banzi ISBN: 1449309879 Publisher: Make Publication Date: December, 2014 Edition: 3rd

Title: Getting Started with Processing Author: Casey Reas and Ben Fry ISBN: 144937980X Publisher: Make Publication Date: September, 2015 Edition: 2nd

Title: Learning Processing: A Beginner’s Guide to Programming Images, Animation, and Interaction Author: Daniel Shiffman ISBN: 0123736021 Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann Publication Date: September 2, 2008 Edition: 1st

Additional required readings will be supplied in the coursepack, online, or as electronic documents.

Notes on equipment

In order to have access to IMA equipment, you MUST attend IMA orientation at the beginning of each semester. The IMA Equip website lists equipment that is available for checkout and can be found here:

http://ima.nyu.sh/equip/

Activate your account by entering your NYU ID Card Number (located under the barcode on the back of your NYU ID card) into your IMA WordPress profile located here:

http://ima.nyu.sh/documentation/wp-admin/profile.php

Equipment can only be checked out by or returned to the studio managers. Most physical computing equipment (microcontrollers, sensors, etc. from Equipment Room A) can be checked out until you finish your project, or the end of the semester, whichever comes first.

Software

Arduino

Processing

Weekly Schedule

Week 1: Introduction + Electricity, Circuits & Electrical Components

Week 2: Microcontrollers & Arduino + Digital & Analog Inputs & Outputs

Week 3: Conditionals, Iteration & Functions

Week 4: Project Planning + Stupid Pet Trick

Week 5: Processing & Drawing + Animation & Variables

Week 6: Serial Communication + Mouse & Keyboard Interaction

Week 7: Arrays, Functions and Loops + Interaction Design & User Testing

Week 8: Midterms

Week 9: Objects & ArrayLists + Motors

Week 10: Sound in Processing

Week 11: Digital Modeling & Fabrication

Week 12: Final Project Concept Presentations

Week 13: Images and Video + Pixel Manipulation

Week 14: Final Project Presentations

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its-steadydreamcollector-blog · 7 years ago

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Monster Laboratory Meeting.

Hey there, I understand Illusive Interactive has been missing for the the past few months, and also We regards Apologies for it. I (The C.E.) started to boost my musical abilities and left the task behind. Welding is an incredibly dangerous career, with the USA Department of Labor approximating that four out of every thousand employees will be fatally hurt over the course of their profession. If the wood wrinkles along the inner edge, it could have steamed as well long, or there could be too much compression. Among all these types of artistic collaborate with metals, the fabricated sculptures might be the hardest ones to work with. Picture welding metals just so you could develop a comprehensive sculpture that will certainly need more thinking as well as planning of the procedure to get the preferred results. The procedure starts with effectively fitting and also safeguarding the work pieces, or metal to be bonded, with each other. For container welding, Light weight aluminum Welding Rod is the most effective choice and it offers good quantity of advantages. Previous aluminium batteries have actually suffered from bad life, stopping working after 100 recharge cycles. The press offers the pressure required for the die to create the shape preferred in steel pressings/pressed steel. Laser welding is likewise preferred in the jewellery sector, for the welding of rare-earth elements and also for great cable development, which is made use of in numerous industries. Aluminium fabricators are a fundamental part of construction sector considering that many contemporary building as well as structures use aluminium items such as aluminium doors, home windows, structures, furniture and other points. AC power products are seldom used with GMAW; a lot of power supplies use a DC continuous voltage power supply. Despite the fact that MIG welding is very simple, if you do not have fundamental welding skills the device set up can very irritating. Look into http://buyit-direct.vn/hammer-thor-la-gi-hieu-ung-danh-gia-mua-o-dau-tren-website-cua-nha-san-xuat-hoac-tren-amazon/ , such as MIG (steel, inert gas) with flux-core and strong cable, or TIG (tungsten, inert gas) as well as oxyacetylene. . Ruler: You have to have a right angle ruler because obtaining your angles exactly on your tasks will certainly prove to be necessary. That's right: the best rock guitarist worldwide is in component in charge of the best steel amp on the planet. When a crater is not appropriately loaded before the welding arc is broken, Crater crack develops. Sadly, I can't inform you exactly the length of time it will take for your wood to become adaptable. There will certainly be a percentage of springback after you release the wood with this approach. To help with welding upright up it always a great idea to grind a small grove where you will certainly be welding. At the least, you must eliminate any type of paint, oil, corrosion, or various other pollutants so you are working with a clean pool of liquified metal as you bond. There have actually been very few reports of this occurring as well as tens of thousands of Air Conditioning welding machines have been offered. Welding should be performed in one continuous run along the length of the area to be welded. Ground Nos is a positive game for the certain player - the one who sees the playground hiding under Metal Equipment's tankers and also army bases. When a pressure is applied to it, the lots cell is made of a very meticulously shaped block of steel that flexes in a foreseeable means. A number of strain determines, resistors that are made up of flat steel wire that is folded up many times, are put in numerous put on the load cell. As welding modern technology has enhanced, welding as come to be extra durable as well as could now be executed by hand or automated by devices as well as robots. The stimulates and steel pieces which are released during the process can severely harm you. Usually, these metal roofing panels are readily available in 29, 26, 24, and 22 scale with 26 gauge being the most usual. Do you find molting and also paint contributing the edges of your metal parts as a result of inadequate steel pretreatment prior to paint. In fact, today, hip surgery done using DePuy Pinnacle system is now being very closely linked to steel toxicity. As soon as you're the size of a Google or Facebook, it's reasonable to take much more liberties around just how complicated your gear comes to be, since the expense financial savings can significantly outweigh labor financial investments. So, if you wish to tell whether a metal is ferrous, leave it outside in the climate for some time or try as well as choose it up with a magnet. Combination welding is widely used in industry, farming, construction as well as other locations. Simply realize that when your roofing should be replaced, the Professional roofer you might have to change a few of your wood Roofing Deck on an as required basis. The welding procedure plays a huge role in metallurgy with a continuous initiative underway to discover more recent and more weld pleasant alloys. The name of the game below is experience, when you're welding you require an excellent sight of the weld puddle. Weather-proof: Doors made from aluminium supply the best defense and also durability in doors. That is why welding is generally referred to as 'arc welding' of more especially Steel Inert Gas welding or MIG welding. Naturally, as long as we strictly regulate the quality of the rolls, which take welding phenomenon can be gotten over. The following number reveal one approach of holding the pieces together for tack welding. Bend Smaller Sizes of Sheet Metal: If 2 or three sides of the steel have actually been curved in forming a box or frying pan, it might be challenging to fit the last few sides into the machine. The aluminium finishing need to secure the Burj Al Arab from corrosion for around 15 to Twenty Years, even in the harsh, coastal atmosphere where it's situated. With greater than 33 million units sold to date, the METAL EQUIPMENT series has actually come to be an international sensation. A structural welding career will likely contain working with commercial tasks doing tasks such as structural welding, MIG welding, flux core welding, suitable and steel fabricating. Jonathan Miller's steel constructions and paper collections go on program at the Limit Gallery, 98 Boundary Roadway, London NW8 on September 26. Tel: 020-7624 1126. Because welding is a sort of sculptural or manufacture process that can involve extreme heat applied to thermoplastics and steels, it is required to leave such a task to experts. We're mosting likely to cover the steel choice, as this has come to be an increasingly strong, prominent choice amongst homeowner and builders. Laser-cutting, CNC punch (multi-tool), Computer Numerical Control or CNC are some of one of the most modern sheet metal reducing treatments. Roof-only buildings and also stores calling for constant access are restricted by X-braces. Walking figure while flexing is a great strategy to make use of to instruct flexing and also separate the uniformity of walking the field. . Both soldering as well as brazing make use of a filler steel that is melted by warm and made use of to join a base metal( light weight aluminum alloy) that is not to be melted. Notice in the initial photograph exactly how the grain mixes well into the steel without a lot of accumulation of steel. Use a soft flame, heat gun, or blowpipe to heat up the parent steel beside the fixing area, or on the opposite side of the joint. Steel makers cut the steel by shearing or sawing or chiseling making use of devices like plasma lanterns, laser cutters or water jets.

Place the plate with the wood veneer in the microwave for 25-35 seconds, operating in 5 second increments as well as examining the towels as you most likely to ensure they are still wet. Regardless of the extent of welding materials you need or desire, from an easy welder's pencil, to safety equipment as well as clothing, headgears, welding devices and also a lot more, regardless of your welding requires or desires, you could discover every little thing you desire as well as require all on one website, with a guarantee economical rates and unsurpassed client service. When I tossed my back out, exactly what I had actually simply done was twisting and also bending, more than likely from the waist.

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gumnut-logic · 4 years ago

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Callisto (Part Seven - Investigation)

Here we are again with the next three thousand odd words of this fic.

Many thanks as always to @vegetacide @tsarinatorment @scribbles97 @janetm74 and my wonderful science officer @onereyofstarlight (who spent yet more time tackling my odd questions in the last week :D). You guys are amazing and I can’t thank you enough for all your amazing readthroughs and support.

You guys totally spoilt me last week so I hope this week delivers some entertainment. ::hugs you all so much:: Thank you so much for your amazing support.

Warnings: minor whump, far too much indulgence in scenery on my part because I’m having too much fun.

I hope you enjoy this.

-o-o-o-

Alan was sent back with Gordon and one of the dragonflies, while Virgil and Scott scouted back along the tunnel for a high enough point that either a molepod or Thunderbird Three could drill down deep enough to give them easy access for Thunderbird Four.

They found it in one of the larger caverns about a kilometre back from the Crystal Cave as they had come to call it.

Having seen so much crystal in one spot, Virgil now found himself spotting more and more of it along the tunnels. On first glance he had assumed most of the sparkles in the walls were patches of ice – there was certainly enough of the stuff around to cater to the concept. But on closer examination, there were crystals of all sizes and colours dotted along their return path.

In the dry cavern there were even more. Not anywhere near as many as in the crystal cave, but enough that Virgil pulled over, climbed out and collected a couple of specimens for later examination. John definitely wanted in on that analysis. He was still hunting for the source of the interference and was at this point reaching for every straw he could grab.

But first they had lives to save.

The roof of the Dry Cavern, as it was dubbed for convenience’s sake, had a number of large crystalline formations and there was a plea from the Base’s scientific staff to avoid as much damage as possible.

As if Virgil needed that reminder. He wasn’t one for blatant destruction of anything, but in this case as he planted the homing beacon for Three, he realised they were going to lose at least one beautiful structure in the process. So, it was with some sadness, he flipped the dragonfly and attached it to the rock ceiling of Dry Cavern and attempted to uproot a crystal tree as tall and as wide as himself to take back to the base.

With the application of a laser cutter, it came away surprisingly easily and with minimal damage. The dragonfly’s two front claws held it as delicately as they could. Carefully flipping the pod back upright, Virgil lowered it down to land and clambered out to secure the crystal.

Halfway out of the pod his vision doubled and he slipped.

Callisto’s gravity was almost nothing in comparison to Earth’s but the laws of physics still held strong and without atmospheric density to slow him down in any way, his momentum threw him at the rocky floor with enough force to cause him to bounce with a painful squawk. Previously obtained bruises complained and his head throbbed enough to turn his stomach over.

He ended up on the ground, on his side, doing his best not to puke all over the inside of his helmet, his only thought being how bad things would be if he failed.

“Virgil!” Scott was suddenly beside him, hand on his arm and the ever so familiar worry in his eyes.

Virgil swallowed and attempted to keep his stomach under control while his head screamed at him.

God.

But as before, it dissipated suddenly and Virgil was left panting and wondering what the hell was going on.

What the hell had the T- Drive done to him?

“Talk to me, Virgil. What happened?”

“Was dizzy for a second. Sorry.” He waved Scott’s hand away and sat up slowly. Everything stayed stable and sane.

God, he was tired. “I’m good. Just need some rack time.”

Scott glared at him. “I’ve seen you tired. You’ve never fallen off a pod before.”

“It’s the gravity, or the lack of it. It’s throwing me off.” He pushed himself to his feet.

But he knew what was coming next.

“I’m flying. Get in the back.”

“Scott-“

“Now.”

Virgil growled at him. “I’m going to secure the crystals first. We need to get these back to base in one piece.�� And he did, Scott at his elbow the entire time. The man knew how to hover.

Once that was complete, Scott marched him to the backseat and made sure he climbed in safely…like he was a little kid or something.

Damnit.

But the moment he let himself relax, his whole body made it very clear that rest was a good thing. Scott’s flying skills kept the dragonfly consistently level and despite himself, Virgil dozed in and out a good percentage of the way back to base.

Despite the headache.

Of course, all of it resulted in a blowout with both Scott and his father.

“I’m fine!”

“You fell!”

“I slipped. It happens you know. I’ve rested. I’m fine. Now can we get moving? I need to be out there to assist with Four.”

Scott opened his mouth to no doubt confine him to the base with their father and Uncle Lee.

“Virgil, you will undergo an examination by the Base medics before you do anything.” Dad’s voice held that strength of command that Scott had so inherited.

He opened his mouth to rebut.

“Now, Virgil, or I will send Lee out in your stead. You don’t mess around out here. You know that.”

Virgil flicked his glance to the engineer his father had relied on for years, who had actually worked with International Rescue early on.

Goddamnit!

“Fine! But there is nothing wrong with me.”

“Then prove it.” Scott was glaring at him, blue eyes on fire and standing strong beside their father.

Well, at least they were working together, even if it was a combined front against him.

Three had already left, so they had to rely on a Base medic. Fortunately, she agreed with Virgil. Tension headache, the voyage out there and lack of sleep was all they could come up with and since he had snoozed in the pod and his skill set was seriously needed, Scott grudgingly gave him clearance.

Virgil so did not have time for this.

-o-o-o-

Alan slipped into Three’s pilot seat with a sigh. There was something about his ‘bird that was just comforting. Familiarity, probably, but also the knowledge that he had the power to get home under his very fingertips. Pods were great and all, but Alan preferred the power of ion engines and the strength of his ‘bird’s hull.

Gordon in the co-pilot’s seat wasn’t the norm, however.

“Okay, let’s get this ‘bird off the ground.”

Alan glared at him, but poked his comms. “Callisto Base, requesting departure for local foray as filed.”

“Thunderbird Three, you have clearance. Safe journey.”

Journey? He wouldn’t call it a journey. More a nick out the back door to grab takeout, if anything.

Great, now he was hungry for pizza and the nearest pizza joint was a bazillion miles away.

So gonna have a pizza night when they got home.

“FAB, Callisto Base.”

The airlock doors above began their ponderous opening sequence like something directly out of an old sci-fi flick. All that was missing was the cinematic music.

Firing Three’s engines was like breathing again after being stifled for a long time. She lifted, rising slowly into the airlock, her length proof that everything the Base owned was smaller. He only had a handful of metres to play with at either end and he was pretty sure he was scorching their inner door.

Nonetheless, they waited and the outer doors slid open revealing Jupiter once again in all her glory.

Alan eased her out slowly making sure she was fully in the clear before tilting her towards the north and, with a twitch of a thruster, throwing her across the jagged landscape.

The moon surface was craters on craters on craters. The Asgard formation rippled outwards in all directions creating rings of hills, stark greys and silvers against the deep of the black sky. Burr Crater was a splash of bright reflected sunlight glaring enough for the filters on the windows to react and protect their eyesight.

Alan brought up the holoprojection showing exactly where Virgil wanted him to drill.

Another flick of a wrist and Three pivoted on her nose, extended her arms, and settled gently onto the surface of the moon.

“Thunderbird One, Thunderbird Three is in position.”

Comms crackled and Alan frowned.

“That doesn’t sound good.”

State the obvious, Gordon. “Thunderbird One, do you read?”

“We hear you, Thunderbird Three. Dragonfly Pod Two en route to rendezvous.” Scott’s voice cut out and Virgil’s took over. “Gordon, deploy Thunderbird Four. Crane her to the surface. Alan we will need to assemble a large gauge molepod complete with vacuum extraction, as we discussed. We’re about fifteen minutes out.”

“FAB, Dragonfly Two.” The line cut out and Alan turned to his co-pilot. “Okay, Gords, your turn.”

His brother’s face split into a grin. “See you in the sky.”

Alan groaned. “Never gonna hear the end of this, am I?”

“Nope, no time soon. Thunderbird Four is going to fly. No more being dragged around by her sisters. Gonna get her some VTOL.”

Alan clambered out of his seat and half floated, half fell to the back of the cabin. Partial gravity was always odd. “Hoverjets, Gords.”

“Tomayto, tomato, squirt. My ‘bird is gonna fly.”

“In micro-gravity.”

“I’m taking what I can get.”

Alan rolled his eyes. Insufferable.

What followed was Three craning out Four through the cargo bay doors and gently lowering her to the icy surface of the moon.

This time, instead of sleds, Brains had attached hoverjets to the body of Gordon’s submarine. Personally, Alan thought she looked like she had a really bad case of acne, her usually smooth lines interrupted by pustules that spat blue ‘fire’.

Gordon apparently couldn’t stop grinning.

Of course, that all changed once Scott and Virgil arrived on scene. Virgil was unusually curt and Scott was hovering just enough to alert Alan that something wasn’t right.

A quick check with John revealed that Virgil wasn’t feeling well and that Scott wanted him off the mission, but Virgil refused.

That just set Alan off. It was always worrisome when an older brother wasn’t right, and considering all his brothers were older, it happened far more often than Alan liked.

So it was with worried eyes that Alan watched Virgil and Scott deploy the molepod.

The plan was for Three to dig down as far as she could - which was a decent distance, if Alan could say so himself, and then lower the extra-large molepod into the hole so Virgil could complete the tunnel to break through into the cave network below.

They were far enough away from the Crystal Cave, as it was now called, to hopefully leave it unaffected by all these excavations.

Gordon was to follow them in Hoversub Number Four - apparently his fish brother was still working on the new name - navigate to the Cave and revert to Four’s original purpose of being a submarine.

Three’s drill was an oddity for a space craft, but an oddity that had saved Alan’s bacon so many times.

The thought immediately prompted hunger pangs. Bacon.

Maybe he should shove a snack down his throat.

“Alan, start drilling.” Virgil’s sharp voice on comms snapped him out of it.

If Three deployed her drill rather abruptly at that, Alan felt he wasn’t to blame.

Fortunately, she performed with her usual ease and brilliance, creating a massive hole in the side of the moon and a cloud of debris to match, rock and ice thrown up in glittering haze.

God, space was beautiful sometimes.

Once Three had gone as deep as she could, Alan shifted her to one side and acted as a crane to lower Virgil and Scott in the molepod down into the newly created tunnel.

A suspended moment and the billowing dust resumed.

“Hey, Gords, is Virgil okay?” He couldn’t help it. He was worried.

“He’s okay, Allie. Just some leftovers from the ride out here.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Don’t mention it. I don’t want to think about it.”

“Sorry.” It was raining glitter in slow motion.

“How you didn’t notice, I have no idea.”

Gordon was in Four and Alan in Three, but Alan shrugged anyway. “Dunno?” But he was distracted by the holographic image of his two eldest brothers gnawing through rock far below. Almost there. Thank goodness, Three’s grapple was almost at its full extent.

“Thunderbird Three, get ready to reel us in.” Scott’s voice was tight.

Far below the mole broke through into the cavern and began to fall in the ponderous gravity. Alan yanked a lever and pulled the cable tight, catching the pod in a pendulous dangle. “Gotcha.”

“Hold it, Thunderbird Three.” Virgil’s voice was even tighter than Scott’s and Alan wondered if the pod swinging was messing with him. A moment. “Okay, retract slightly.”

Alan did so and the pendulum slowed and eventually his brother gave the go ahead to fully haul them out of that hole.

-o-o-o-

Virgil was beginning to wonder if there was something seriously wrong with him. Digging the hole had been simple, but the moment they burst through into the cavern, his stomach tried to invert itself. It had taken everything he had to keep his insides on the inside.

But then it disappeared again! Leaving the goddamned headache that just refused to go away and was currently pounding through his head to the tune of his heartbeat.

Maybe Scott was right. Maybe there was something seriously wrong.

But he had a job to do.

Thunderbird Four was literally bouncing on the spot by the time the Mole resurfaced dangling from Three’s grapple. Virgil had piloted the pod simply because it was his speciality. Scott had accompanied him because he was worried, but he let him drive.

Such was not the case with the Dragonfly. Virgil was clearly demoted via a pair of determined eyes and exiled to the backseat.

Fine.

It gave him a chance to examine the sensor readings of the rock they had burrowed through on the way down. It was a thoroughly fascinating combination of ice and minerals, silicon in particular.

Thunderbird Four lifted smoothly off the glistening moon surface and with a very unprofessional ‘Yahoo’ slid into the entrance of their new tunnel and disappeared.

Scott was only a second behind.

Four bounced like a rubber ball off the walls, darting around the corners so nimble, Scott had to ask their fish brother to damn well slow down.

Which was just as well, because before they knew it, both Four and the Dragonfly emerged into the cavern, Four in ponderous freefall until the hoverjets could catch on the floor.

“That was awesome! Can I keep the jets, Virg? Please?” An Olympic gold medal, a WASP career and vast experience as an IR operative, and Gordon was still a kid at the candy store begging for his favourite lolly.

“Not important right now, Thunderbird Four.” Commander Tracy’s tone was sharp.

“Just asking!” But below them the bright yellow submarine had obviously latched onto the comms beacon and was moving towards the tunnel leading to the Crystal Cave.

Scott followed as closely as practical and it wasn’t long before both Four and the Dragonfly were sitting on the beach staring at the lake.

Scott and Virgil climbed out of the pod, its lights streaking twin beams across the water and lighting up the crystal walls and glass lake. Gordon hovered at the edge.

“You okay, Thunderbird Four?” Virgil was frowning.

“Pretty fine and dandy, if I may say so myself. Gonna go hover myself out into the depths I think.” His tone while flippant, was distracted. “Scans are reading a hell of a lot of that quartz and I’d rather not test Four’s hull unless I absolutely have to.” There was a grunt. “As it is, that water isn’t just water. I’m going to be cleaning my girl for week after this. It’s mineral soup.”

“Is it a concern? Did you want to abort?” Scott was predictably concerned.

“No, no. She can handle it. I may just need to rope a bro or two into maintenance.” There was a snort that no doubt would be accompanying a grin.

Virg was tired and there were people needing rescue. “Move your ass, Gordon.”

That earned him another worried set of blue eyes. But Virgil was over it and just needed to get this job done.

“FAB, Thunderbird Two.” Four started moving forward, her jets rippling the glass of the water.

Gordon hovered a fair distance out into the middle of the lake before gradually shutting down the hoverjets, letting the sub dip below the surface.

A single breath and she was gone, only circles on circles of steadily spreading ripples remained.

It was damned eerie.

Scott looked like he wanted to climb into the water after their brother.

“Wow, guys, it is amazing down here.” Typical Gordon.

Virgil would have loved to rub his temples.

“Sending visuals to Five. Johnny, you receiving?”

“Affirmative, Thunderbird Four, though I am encountering some interference. Eos, can you clear that up?”

“Guys, I’m getting some temperature variances down here.”

Scott shifted where he stood, his space suit flexing over taught muscles. “Clarify, Thunderbird Four.”

“It’s getting hotter. Not by much, but a definite increase in temperature as I go deeper.” A thoughtful mutter. “This is deeper than it appears, Scott. Readings are fluctuating. What was a hundred metres is now closer to six hundred. Damn, there’s another temperature spike!”

“Thunderbird Four, interference is increasing.” John’s voice crackled as if for emphasis. “We can’t clear it.”

Scott flicked on his wrist display, the two lifesigns pulsing under the icon of Thunderbird Four. “Do you see anything, Gordon? Any sign of what we are facing?”

Gordon muttered something that was drenched in static. “Crystal…temp..ture…rising…” The signal ended in a hiss of static that hurt Virgil’s ears.

Scott’s voice was decision sharp. “Thunderbird Four, abort mission. Return to shore.”

“Sc-“ But the signal cut out completely.

Shit!

The rock under Virgil’s feet trembled. What the-?

Ripples vibrated across the lake.

“Gordon, do you read?!”

“Thunderbird One!” John’s voice had an edge of alarm. “Registering seismic movement in your vicinity!”

“Gordon!”

“Guys! Get out of there! Now!”

“Gordon!”

Virgil grabbed Scott as a shadow grew out of the darkness and into the twin beams of light.

Oh, hell!

“Scott! Move!”

The lake had swelled into a wave, a crest rushing at the shore they were standing on.

Virgil grabbed his brother, turned and ran for the pod.

His fingertips brushed cahelium as the wave hit. Virgil was lifted off his feet, Scott was torn from his grip and he was tumbling.

A sharp pain.

And…

Nothing.

-o-o-o-

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds #thunderbirds fanfiction #Virgil Tracy #Scott Tracy #Jeff Tracy #Alan Tracy #Gordon Tracy #John Tracy #callisto

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therealsymmetra · 7 years ago