The newly constructed Thompson Tower has been completed, and a news crew flies over to take a look at it. The tower is massive, around 3,000 feet high, and the news reporter says that it is more than just a shopping mall -it is a self-contained city, with 350 floors. Half a mile wide and 2 miles deep, a person could live here for a whole year without having to leave from one of the hotel rooms as literally anything can be obtained in the tower.



Meanwhile, on Tracy Island, Scott and Virgil are testing out some new equipment that will let them burn through objects faster, and they try is out on a test wall. Brains invented it and it involves some kind of new gas, although he isn't sure if it will have any effects on the user. Tin-Tin reports that both Virgil and Scott's blood pressure has suddenly risen, but Brains isn't 100% sure why.



Seconds after this, Virgil and Scott collapse. Jeff has them both taken to the sickbay where they are physically fine, just unconscious. Brains takes blood samples and has tried to find out what went wrong. He thinks that the gas must have entered through pores on their skin, and it has effected them.



Scott and Virgil wake up and seem to be fine. Brains says he'll continue to research the gas and see if he can stop what happened to Scott and Virgil from happening again. Jeff tells his sons that they can get up, but should take it easy for a while.



Out on the road, a guy called Joe and his family are on the way to the Thompson Tower. Joe isn't pleased that some driver is cutting across lanes, and starts using the horn. His wife, Blanche, tells him to stop as whoever is in front is probably just a learner, but then a cop car appears and makes them pull over. Joe keeps driving on and they can soon see the tower.



They park in the underground parking lot -an expansive parking lot as it can store up to 10,000 vehicles. The family get out and see a sign that shows them the way to the underground monorail. Meanwhile, the learner driver is back on the road, having been given a ticket -she this the cops have some nerve. Her husband tells her to concentrate as they head into the entrance of the underground parking lot.



His wife approaches the gate to fast and when he tells her to brake, she accidentally slides her foot onto the accelerator and speeds up. They end up crashing into another car, and their car sets on fire. The two of them survive the crash and get out of the car, before heading through an emergency exit.



Seconds later, their car explodes, and it starts to set off more cars. Soon the parking lot is on fire. Meanwhile, Joe, Blanche and their son Tommy have gotten a bit lost and are trying to figure out which way they need to go to get to the monorail.



Meanwhile, the tower control centre finds out that they have a massive fire in the parking lot, but the sprinkler systems aren't working. The tower controller says they need to contain the fire and has his assistant start shutting doors to seal the place off.



Since the sprinklers aren't working, the emergency services are called and several fire trucks are sent out. Meanwhile, Tommy is getting bored and tells him Mom and Dad that he's going to hide. They decide to play along and tell Tommy the police are here and they're going to come in and get him. They kick open a door...



...and tell their son he's under arrest. He says he'll come quietly, but then Joe says they'd better find a way out of this maze. But when they leave the room, they see that the corridor they are in has been sealed off! Meanwhile the control center staff have sealed off the required corridors and hope the fire will burn itself out, so the emergency services are left on standby alert. However, they have yet another problem -not only did the parking lot sprinklers not work, but the vent system is also not responding.



This means the vent covers aren't working, and the flames start to go through the vents. The tower itself is going to catch fire, so the controller has the fire vehicles sent in. His assistant tries to get the vents covers on but they don't respond. The fire trucks head towards the tower.



Joe is banging on one of the sealed doors when Blanche notices smoke coming through the bottom of the door. The fire spreads into the Thompson Tower itself, but the control center staff have already gotten many people evacuated. The controller notices how the building is going up like matchwood, just as the fire chief reports that all pumps are operational...



...but they cannot get the fire under control. The evacuation is completed and the controller has the cameras checked to see how far the fire has spread on the basement level. He and his assistant are dismayed to find out that there are 3 people in one of the corridors -they don't know how they missed them, but they are there now. Getting them out looks to be impossible as there is no way they can get to the basement level now. The camera to level D-50 then breaks.



Meanwhile, on Tracy Island, Alan asks how Scott and Virgil are and they seem to be better than ever. Tin-Tin asks if Alan wants to join her in the pool, but he says he doesn't have time -he's going up into space in less than an hour to relieve John. Up in Thunderbird 5, John is ready to leave and is glad to be going home, as things can get pretty lonely up here, especially when things are quiet. But there isn't much longer to go now. Just then someone comes through on one of the frequencies saying they are calling International Rescue.



"Uh-Oh."



John guesses he spoke to soon and goes to answer the call. He finds out the full details from the Thompson Tower control center staff and reports what they told him to his father on Tracy Island.



Jeff has Scott take off in Thunderbird 1 straight away, whilst he contacts the control center to find out anything else he can. He then tells Virgil to take off in Thunderbird 2, and take the Mole with him.



The evacuation is finished, as the fire spreads more and more, getting to the point where it looks like the building will collapse. The controller isn't sure if the basement corridor's ceilings will be able to take the amount of rubble that may fall on them. Meanwhile Joe doesn't think anyone will be able to get to them now, and the smoke has gotten so thick he can hardly see. Scott approaches the danger zone and finds out Virgil is less than 10 minutes away from him. He sees the tower and realises that the situation doesn't look good.



Scott lands, but parts of the tower begin to fall away. The fire crews are told to withdraw, and they move out seconds before rubble crashes down all over the areas they were at. The tower has been completely evacuated apart from the three people in that corridor. The tower then collapses.



The family notice as there is so much noise, and then part of the ceiling crumbles. Meanwhile Scott has seen the floor plans and sees that they are going to have to cut through several doors. They won't have enough time to reach that family using lasers to get through the doors, so that experimental gas is the only choice. Virgil is wary after what happened when they used it last time, but Scott says it is the only option they've got. He lets his father know, and that if they don't use it, they may as well return home to base. Brains doesn't like it but Jeff says lives are in danger, so he lets Scott go through with his plan.



Thunderbird 2 lands and Scott tells him they will tunnel through in the Mole, getting as close as they can to level D-50. To get the Mole in position they need to clear out some rubble, so Firefly will have to be used. Meanwhile, things are getting worse in the D-50 corridor, and Tommy passes out.



The pod door opens and out rolls Firefly, International Rescue's ideal vehicle for sending straight into hot areas. Even so, the heat from the white-hot rubble means Virgil has to wear a protective suit, as he moves Firefly in and starts pushing rubble out of the way.



Some of the rubble proves to be too difficult to move, but Firefly has a cannon on it which Virgil uses to blast the debris apart and make it much easier to clear out. As he does this, Scott has left the control center and used a borrowed car to get to Thunderbird 2. He drives the Mole out of the pod.



Meanwhile Virgil finishes clearing the rubble, giving the Mole a clear path to drive down to get to the point where they need to drill. He moves Firefly back and then gets into the Mole, where he and Scott quickly get to the desired position. The Mole's drill starts to spin as the vehicle heads down into the ground. Scott says the nearest corridor they can get to is C-17. All the electronics systems have failed, so they will have to cut through the sealed fire doors. Virgil says they'll be working in the dark if the electronics are out, however, Scott says the emergency lighting is still working.



The Mole tunnels through the C-17 corridor floor. Scott and Virgil quickly get the equipment they need and then head out on their hoverjets. They reach the first door -these doors aren't as thick as the test door they used the gas on earlier, but there are more doors here to go through. Scott starts cutting through the first door.



Scott says he feels fine, but that means nothing as he felt fine the last time before he passed out. He cuts through the first door and he and Virgil move on to the next one. Scott starts cutting through it.



As he cuts through, neither he or Virgil can feel anything wrong, but it sure is getting hot down here. They cut through the second door and move onto the last one. Scott cuts through it, and Virgil says they've made it. Scott isn't sure how though -hopefully Brains will have an answer later.



They find the family and quickly get them out, just as the ceiling caves in. In the control center, the two guys watch as the danger area is rocked with several explosions, and they know that parts of the ground must have collapsed due to the rubble.



However, International Rescue have made it out and report in to them that they've saved the family. Later on, at Tracy Island...



Brains has figured out what Scott and Virgil did not pass out when using the gas for the second time -it was because of the heat in the corridors. It must be a characteristic of the gas. Normally, the gas vapor filters into a person's body via their pores, and attacks the blood cells. But when the temperature is high enough, it causes the gas to evaporate. This means the gas doesn't get a chance to enter the body. The solution for Brains is a simple one -from now on they will be using electrically heated gas cylinders. Virgil asks Tin-Tin what she is reading and she reads out the story about how a family was saved at the Thompson Tower, and are doing well. The Thompson Tower fire was started via a car crash in the parking lot -and Tin-Tin has to admit that it was a woman driver.



Out on the roads, the culprit of the crash is behind the wheel again, only this time someone cuts her up. She thinks people like that ought to be kept off the roads. Her husband thinks she's so right.


NOTES

The London Airport control tower from "Trapped in the Sky" makes a couple of sneaky appearances in this episode as a filler background building when the fire dept vehicles move out -seems the set designers didn't really want anyone to notice it, as first time round it is far in the distance, second time round it is obscured by a tree.

When the fire department are told to withdraw, one of the fire engines has actually caught fire when it rolls out. There are some small flames on the back of it when it moves.

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