Disclaimer: Unsurprisingly, I don't own Thunderbirds, the characters or their machines. It all belongs to Gerry Anderson and Carlton Enterprises, because if it did belong to me I'd be elsewhere making my millions! As it is I'm just a poor student with too much time on my hands. Oh, but the new characters such as Petra and others appearing later on are mine – honest!

Chapter 1 – People Are Strange

People are strange, when you're a stranger

Faces look ugly, when you're alone

Women seem wicked, when you're unwanted

Streets surround you, when you're down When you're strange Faces come outta the rain

When you're strange

No-one remembers your name

When you're...

Strange People Are Strange – Echo and the Bunnymen

Jeff Tracy slammed his hand onto his desk, causing his audience to wince.

"What in blazes do you mean, John? He can't just've 'switched off'!"

"Dad, I'm telling you, I was just talking to him when the link cut out" Jeff's middle son was trying to figure out what had happened – and his Dad blowing a fuse wasn't helping. On seeing his other son's faces, Jeff attempted to calm down.

"Sorry son, it's just – well…"

"I know. It's not like Scott"

Jeff silently agreed. His eldest didn't usually 'hang-up' on them in the middle of a conversation.

"Did he sound like he was in trouble?" Virgil asked, concerned for his older brother.

"No, not really. Said the Fox was a little sluggish – but that could've been because he's not flown it in a while"

"Gotten too used to Thunderbird 1" Alan grinned, trying (and failing) to lighten the mood.

"Keep hailing him, John. And triangulate on his last position. If something's happened, I want to know where"

"FAB" The vid-link switched off.

"What do we do, Dad?" Gordon was on his feet, ready to take action.

"We can't go jumping off the deep end, assuming the worst"

"Yeah, could be he just fried a wire or something" Alan shrugged, exchanging a glance with Tin-Tin.

"Yes Mr. Tracy, I'm sure Scott's fine. After all, he helped design the Fox in the first place. If anything went wrong, he'd be the best person to deal with it"

  Scott's first thought as he swam up from the black of unconsciousness was 'how the hell had something gone wrong?' He'd designed the damn jet in the first place! His second was that for someone who spent most of his time in the air, he was pretty wet, and the third…

"Oww!"

"Monsieur? Monsieur, si vous puvez, ouvrez vos yeux…"

Scott groaned, and unintentionally complied as he opened his eyes. There were a lot of faces – not good. He raised his head to check he was in civilian clothing – he was, thank god - and moaned again as a fresh wave of pain assaulted his head.

"Monsieur, restez-ici, s'il-vous plait. Vous ne doivez pas…" Scott failed to catch the rest, trying to remember what had happened. Wait – hadn't he been flying over France?

"Je suis en France?" he queried, trying to dredge up his high-school French.

"Oui, c'est France" The voice belonged to a young woman – maybe only a bit younger than him – and she was kneeling next to him, looking worried. As well she might, Scott thought grimly – he'd managed to crash a jet in a foreign country some way from home, and – home!

"Monsieur, restez-ici!!" as he struggled to sit.

"Je suis…Je..aww, shoot!" The girl looked puzzled. This is gonna be fun, his throbbing head told him. He grimaced as he realised how soaking wet he was – had he crashed into the sea?

"Monsieur, vous-parlez Francais?"

"Uh…non, pas…beaucoup?" he answered, hoping that he'd managed to get the message across he couldn't speak French all that well.

"Or maybe I should switch to a different language?" the girl smiled

"Oh thank god! You speak English?"

"Just a little. I'm Petra Venkman – and you're injured. So quit struggling and sit tight 'til the paramedics get here"

"Er, okay. Hi Petra, I'm Danny – Danny Harper" The lie came easily "Where am I?"

Her grin was wide "France – Paris, to be exact. You er, crashed into the River Seine"

"I what?!?"

"The River Seine? In Paris? It's got a new feature besides running next to the Eiffel Tower and the Notre Dame – one American jet plane"

"Shit"

"Nicely put. Neat landing by the way."

"Thanks – I think"

She continued "Caused a bit of a storm when you dropped outta the sky. One of the tour boats stopped and the guides got you out of the water – you must've hit eject or something"

Scott didn't remember.

"Our boat was behind them – I'm a tour guide" she added by way of explanation.

"Right. Thanks for pulling me out of the river"

"Hey, no problem. I'll tell Jacques you said so. The guys who dragged you out are drying off elsewhere. So tell me, is it company policy for Tracy Enterprise employees to nose-dive into European waters, or are you colonials starting an invasion?"

He frowned – how did she…

"Your shirt" Petra indicated the navy blue polo Scott was wearing – complete with Tracy Enterprise logo.

"Er – right. I mean no, I'm not invading"

"That's good news. The French would lose"

Her accent sounded a bit like Penelope's, but nowhere near as refined.

"What…"

"We'll play twenty questions as soon as you stop bleeding"

"Huh? I – ow!" Scott gingerly felt his forehead, where a steadily rising bump was surrounding an oozing gash.

"Here" Petra wiped the blood away. It was then Scott noticed the crowd around him – and froze when he saw the cameras.

"No pictures – please"

"Camera shy, huh? Don't worry handsome, they're being good. Despite being Japanese"

"Look, I really need to call my – boss, and explain what happened. He'll be worried"

"We can do that at the hospital" Petra was scanning the crowds as sirens approached.

"We?"

"Unless you've gained a sudden command of French Danny, you're gonna need a translator"

"Oh yeah"

    Virgil watched his father pace for a while, stop and look up at the portraits as if willing them to signal, then resume pacing.

"Dad, I can – " he was interrupted by John's picture eyes flashing.

"Base from Thunderbird 5"

"Go ahead John"

"Good news Dad, I got a fix on Scott's last position – somewhere over Paris, France"

"Great!"

"And even better, guess what's just made French headlines? An American jet reportedly crashed into Seine River, pilot's been taken to hospital but no serious injuries"

"Thank god" Jeff breathed.

"Rumour has it he flies for Tracy Enterprises"

"And you said it was a bad idea to wear those T-shirts" Virgil grinned, relieved.

"I stand corrected. Okay John, keep an ear out for anymore news. Virgil, prep the Ladybird – I want you to fly out and pick Scott up. I'm going to put a call through to TE ops in Europe – get them to deal with the Fox"

"FAB Dad," Virgil headed for the hangers as Jeff reached for the vid-link to dial up Tracy Enterprises. However, he got no further as the main phone line beeped.

"Hello?" Gordon had got there first "Dude! hey how are you? Yeah, you made the headlines, bro! Cool huh?" he mouthed to the others 'It's Scott' unnecessarily "You wanna speak to Dad? Oh okay. Yep, Virg is on his way. Which hospital? Okay great. Just don't go crashing any more planes"

The indignant reply was muffled, but Scott was clearly unamused.

"Yeah, yeah. Okay then, be seeing you. Bye!"