Opposites Attract

Stars And Moon Part Two

"I'm here!"

The relief on his brother's face was obvious. "Can you start over there?" he nodded across the hall where the sounds of shouting and falling bricks came loud and clear.

He nodded and took off, climbing over a mound of concrete, wood and steel that had likely been part of the roof.

Five men, each in varying degrees of hurt, were digging into a pile of rubble and snow where a wall had previously stood. He got to work, lifting off the heavier wooden beams and chunks of brickwork.

"I've found someone!"

Virgil tossed aside part of a door frame and moved to help the man who had called out. There was a hand sticking out of the snow.

***

"Alan, be careful, there is a life sign two meters to the left of your plow." John was frantically scanning the surrounding area, trying to locate any survivors and direct the boys in the best way to go about moving the snow from the outside as safely as possible.

"Got it," Alan's reply was terse as the image of his pod stopped on their map and remained that way for several minutes. "Secured."

The life sign began to move. "Removed from scene, suspected broken collarbone and confirmed ankle fracture. I've left her with the staff that are helping."

"Well done, now you should be clear for another sixteen meters. Gordon?"

"Yeah, John?"

"A life sign just blinked out, three meters in front of you."

"On it!" again they saw a pod stop and held their breath until Gordon's voice spoke up.

"One confirmed dead, massive head trauma."

Selene squeezed her eyes shut, wishing she could be there for them all. It was always hard to hear her boys when they were delivering that kind of news, they had to stay as detached as possible to be able to get on with the job, but when it was Gordon, her sweet, adorable joker, it was the hardest to bear. His voice never quite sounded like his own, not the one she was used to, not the one that always seemed to hold that undertone of cheekiness, and it ripped at her heart.

"Well done, darlings, you're both doing brilliantly." She knew she was breaking protocol, knew that she wasn't being professional, but she didn't care, they needed to hear it and she would be the one to provide.

"Life sign detected, eight meters southeast of your current location, Gordon."

Again the pod stopped. "Secured, one male, undamaged as far as we can tell."

They breathed a sigh of relief for him, hearing the change in his tone.

Another icon beeped into existence, displaying the number 1. John's touch brought it to life.

"Thunderbird 5? We have a problem down here!"

***

"It hurts!"

Scott winced as the lady squeezed his hand hard enough to crack bone. He knew the feeling, if he got out of this without permanent nerve damage it would be a miracle.

"Breathe, keep breathing."

"It's too soon! It's too soon!"

"Shock can trigger an early labour, you need to try to stay calm."

"Easy for you to say, you aren't trying to hold in a fucking child!"

Scott eased away, turning his head to appeal for help, any help at all.