By Keith Ansell
CHAPTER FIVE
"I think we c-can help the alien craft repair itself" said Brains half an hour later from the comfort of Thunderbird 2's laboratory.
"How Brains, how?" urged Scott
"There was a lot of secret research in the 1990s into the effects of b-bombarding the ionosphere with high frequency radio waves. It w-was known as HAARP which was an a-acronym for the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Programme".
"Get to the point Brains" snapped Scott.
"W-well I could convert Jodrell 6 into a HAARP projector and heat the ionosphere directly above this region. The EM radiation released should do the trick. I will be a-able to fine tune the HAARP beam to g-generate the most effective frequency. The aliens should be able to advise me on that."
"You're a genius Brains" said Scott "I'd better go and see how Virgil is while you get to work".
Virgil lay in one of TB2's bunks resting after being released by the alien who had now withdrawn it's mind into the dying space craft along with all the others of it's kind.
Abbot and his team were all fast asleep from the sheer exhaustion created by hosting the alien minds for the length of time they had. Alan and Gordon had tucked them all up in thermal sleeping bags after carrying their collapsed bodies into the equipment pod one by one.
Luckily IR's high powered mobile radio transmitter known as Jodrell 6 had been loaded into the pod, along with the Mole and the Recovery Vehicles, because of the communication problems experienced near the magnetic poles of the Earth
It took over three days for Brains to convert Jodrell 6 - he hardly slept or ate during that time. Scott had to return to Tracy Island in Thunderbird 1 for electronic equipment not available in TB2's lab which had slowed things down.
It was going to be a very close thing. The fate of the whole world rested in the hands of International Rescue - not to mention a number of aliens and their space ship.
With only four hours to go before the deadline that would see the destruction of the human race Brains was ready. He had insisted that no one else accompany him in Jodrell 6 and now sat in the transmitter truck's control cabin snugly wrapped up in his polar gear waiting for the Tracy brothers to get into their Thunderbird machines and fly to a safe distance.
Brains could not guarantee being able to focus the electro-magnetic radiation solely on the Starfarer
...and the effects of high frequency EM radiation on the human body would be unpredictable to say the least.He watched as Virgil lowered Thunderbird 2 over the equipment pod and then fire the giant transporter's vertical take-off jets. Thunderbird 1 followed her sister ship into the air and they were soon out of sight in the perpetual blizzards of the Antarctic winter.
It's now or never thought Brains switching on the HAARP beam. The super powerful HF radio waves hit the ionosphere in a tightly focused discharge.
Nothing appeared to happen at first. Brains sat watching his detection equipment expectantly - still nothing. It was not going to work...
Why hadn't the aliens helped him ...why just sit in their ship waiting to die?
Suddenly tremendous auroral activity began to build up around the alien space craft. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed continuously.
He would never forget the spectacle of the next few hours. The atmosphere appeared to boil around the Starfarer. Brains could feel it's dread and it's fear eroding away to be replaced by joy - such joy as he had never imagined possible.
The scientist watched as the living space ship began to rise into the air still absorbing all the energy unleashed by the HAARP beam as it ascended.
The Starfarer hovered one hundred feet in the air. It pulsated in all the colours of the spectrum as it grew until it was twice it's original size. It appeared to stare at Brains - the scientist could not take his eyes off the unearthly display. He wanted to blink but could not move a muscle...
A blinding white light suddenly enveloped him for what seemed like an eternity.
"Thank you."
The words rang in his mind as the light vanished and the
Starfarer was gone forever. Brains slowly turned off the HAARP beam and
then the man who had saved the world fainted.
OTHER WORKS BY KEITH ANSELL
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