Situation Critical! - A Gerry Anderson A21 News Report

by A21 Reporter Andy Clems

International Rescue braved exceptionally hazardous conditions in their latest mission, one which could have had dire consequences for the entire world. The alarm was raised on Friday evening, when workers at the Aurora mobile mining station in the Arctic Circle detected unusual readings on their seismographs and geological scanners. The Aurora, a relatively new construction, was drilling beneath the polar ice cap in the search for untapped mineral resources, when the scanning equipment registered a colossal increase in temperature readings. The Aurora crew had unwittingly bored right into a subterranean magma pocket and triggered the first stages of a volcanic eruption. Such was the ferocity of the reaction, that the Aurora personnel immediately sent out an emergency distress call to International Rescue. Responding rapidly, Thunderbirds 1 and 2 arrived at the disaster site without delay. Analyzing the potential hazard, International Rescue's chief scientist, Brains, advised that severing the main drill apparatus with a high intensity laser cutter would provide the beginning of a plug for the newly created magma outlet. Scott and Virgil Tracy undertook to evacuate the staff of the Aurora station to Thunderbird 2's vast cargo bay. The Laser Cutter apparatus was unloaded, along with a tracked vehicle known as the "Capper", complete with a complex looking heavy-duty valve on an extending arm. As Virgil began slicing through the main boring equipment, Scott maneuvered the Capper into position. Once the drill was separated from the Aurora station, Scott lowered the capping valve into position. Brains explained the function of the device, "The a-artificial cap acts as a controllable outlet to release any excess pressure from the m-magma field. Without this apparatus in place, the pressure in the newly discovered undersea magma field could cause an incredibly d-destructive super-eruption and the environmental consequences of such an event would be devastating." International Rescue are continuing to monitor the situation and geologists from around the world will meet next week to discuss the issue.