"The Zoo Ship" is a Thunderbirds comic story. It was first published as a nine-part story in TV21, between issues 209 to 217 in 1969.
Synopsis[]
With the visit of a zoologist on Tracy Island and a mysterious zoo ship sailing down the Western hemisphere, International Rescue's security is in danger once again, especially when it turns out to be all another ploy orchestrated by their arch-enemy: the Hood.
Plot[]
A Strange Visitor[]
On Tracy Island, Scott and Jeff observe a ship called the Ocean Scientist II near them. Jeff immediately goes to Brains' underground research and maintenance bay for observation from the monitor. After seeing a helicopter being taken from the ship and heading towards them, Brains activates the concealment procedures to maintain secrecy and security for international Rescue. Jeff asks Scott and Gordon if these have been successful and Scott agrees saying that this was done just in time as the helicopter was approaching fast.
The helicopter lands and a elderly gentleman steps out. The man shakes hands with Jeff, apologizing for invading his privacy and introduces himself as Professor Audlyn Beresford. He then says that his zoo ship is touring the Western hemisphere to collect pairs of all manner of Wildlife for ship to their new preserve on Mars. In this particular location he is looking for a rare Polynesian Sand Vole possibly inhabiting Tracy Island. Jeff tells Beresford that he can't help him with what he wants outside as Wildlife isn't his forte but invites Beresford to dinner to talk it over, whilst the pilot, though invited too, has orders to return to the ship, but asks Jeff to contact him when Beresford makes his plans. Later Jeff agrees to help Beresford search for the Sand Vole, he's there. but the Professor requests to find it alone. After Beresford is taken to a spare bedroom to spend the night, Scott is convinced that maintaining their secrecy will be hard with the Professor nosing around. Jeff assures him that they'll cope but is still worried what will happen when the organisation receives an emergency while he's there. Everyone else turns in also...
Danger on the Zoo Ship[]
That night one of the staff on the ship goes to feed the animals but finds out to his horror that the tigers are loose, they attack the staff one by one with the controls being knocked in the process, causing the reactors to explode and devastate the ship.
The explosion hardly disturbs any of the sleeping residents on Tracy Island. The five surviving crew attempts to escape but their lifeboat systems are damaged, so they decide to go to the crew rest area and secure all the watertight hatches. This is done and the men barely make it past the tigers who are still on the loose. However when they reach the cabin there is no where else to go and they end up trapped. The ship then sinks to the bottom of the ocean....
An Emergency for International Rescue[]
As Dawn breaks, Jeff is at his desk receiving a call from John about the sunken OS II, caused by the explosion last night. Jeff sheepishly admits he heard the explosion but thought it had only been a dream. John then who mentions that the crew members and animals are still down below with little time left. Jeff agrees that IR is needed but they have to maintain their secrecy as Beresford their guest, is the one in charge of that particular ship and showing any signs of mobilisation would blow their cover.
Whilst the Professor is allowed to sleep in, Jeff calls his sons and explains the situation. Scott says that Beresford should be told as the crew's lives are even more important than their cover but Jeff insists they still stay incognito. Scott then has an idea for one of them to take the Professor to a remote area of the island to find his Sand Vole, in the empty round caves to the West which will keep him out of the way whilst they are making the rescue. Scott is chosen to do this, as Thunderbird 1 isn't likely to be needed for this operation.
Meanwhile Beresford has woken up and comes down stairs after just they finish their conversation and asks what's going on. Jeff explains about what has happened to his ship and requests the help of IR . Jeff assures him that everything will be find and encourages him to continue his search for the Vole on the west side of the island with Scott. No sooner have Scott and Beresford left, then Jeff orders Gordon to use Thunderbird 4 to set up an air feed system to the ship whilst Virgil and Brains use Thunderbird 2 to uplift the ship from the ocean.
Thunderbird 4 reaches the ship's location and Gordon sets to work on the air feed system to the ship. In Brains' underground laboratory, Brains deduces that if they restore the buoyancy of the flooded parts of the ship then TB2 would be able lift it to a beaching point.
Virgil tells Jeff his concerns of seeing to this operation without the Professor finding out. Jeff assures him that Scott will continue taking Beresford around the caves at the South point. Meanwhile Gordon has succeeded in attaching the air-feed system to the ship and goes to inspect the stern damage. After opening up one of the bulkheads, a giant squid appears in front of him, wrapping its tentacles around him. Gordon tries to reach for his knife but the tentacles seem as strong as iron, so he uses his breathing unit to startle the squid before finally being able to reach the knife and kill it.
Gordon completes his examination of the ship and reports back to Tracy Island, saying that it is possible to rig a flowplast shield over the stern and pump it dry, but it will take time.
Jeff replies that Brains will be working on it and asks if the crew have been set up okay. Gordon affirms this and says he will connect secondary feeds to he animal compartments. Back in TB2's hangar, Brains has the equipment set up in Pod 4 and is ready to leave for the destination. Virgil then takes off and reaches the target zone made by a marker buoy left by Gordon.
TB4 drops Pod 4 in the ocean and returns to base. Pod 4 opens to reveal a machine with multiple extrusion tubes that manufacture liquid plastic. They are lowered into the water for Gordon to attach to strategic points of the stern. After getting Gordon's signal to start, Brains gets busy and soon the flowblast shield covers the ship. Watching Brains' progress in TB4, Gordon thinks that this operation will take about half an hour and hopes that Scott is succeeding in keeping Beresford out of the way...
An Old Enemy Returns[]
Meanwhile on the South side of Tracy Island, Scott and Beresford are still examining the caves, Scott continues to keep up the pretense of seeing the Vole and Beresford agrees saying that they favour darkness and requests to go deeper into a cavern, much to Scott's relief.
However as Scott goes in before Beresford, he doesn't notice a silenced gun in the Professor's hand and had lured him into a trap, seeming to know that IR have tried to deceive him but now he was deceiving them. Scott turns around just to see Beresford aim his gun at him and dodges to miss the shot.
Beresford then savagely attacks him with his hands and leaves him unconscious. The Professor then walks out of the cavern and removes a mask from his face revealing himself to be none other than IR's greatest enemy, the Hood!
The villain then decides to put his plan into action of stealing IR's secrets and destroying Tracy Island.
Meanwhile, Gordon and Brains are completing Phase 1 of their rescue. The flowblast shield is a success and Brains then sends the exhaust nozzle to extract the water from the areas of the sunken ship. Brains deduces that the procedure will take about an hour and reports back to Jeff. Jeff then tells Brains that Virgil is on standby in TB2 awaiting further orders.
Inside TB2's hangar, Virgil is continuing the circuit checks he had started before the emergency and is so absorbed in his work, he doesn't notice the Hood creeping up behind him and knocking him unconscious.
Camera in hand, the Hood begins his plan by photographing everything he sees.
Off-shore Gordon and Brains have almost completed their job of maintaining the buoyancy of the ship. Brains then decides to call up TB2 with the grapple gear to get the ship out of the ocean.
Gordon then goes under and attaches a suction radio link to the hull. He assures the crew that they will be now raising the ship, bringing it back to the shore. Inside the ship, the men are relieved and grateful to IR. Some are concerned about the animals, but others are confident that will be sedated whilst they are being brought back to the surface.
Back on Tracy Island, Jeff receives Brains' request and calls TB2 for immediate launch. Inside TB2's hangar, the Hood hears Jeff's call from the main speaker and is furious as he hasn't finished his photography yet. He deduces that suspicions will arise if TB2 doesn't take off and his scheme will be exposed so he craftily goes inside of TB2 and sets the controls to automatic launch before jumping clear to create a distraction whilst he finishes his work.
Fortunately Alan has seen that TB2's grapple gear is still in the reserve pen and has not been taken. He reports this to Jeff and he activates video contact with TB2 and sees the cockpit completely empty. Knowing that the unmanned craft will cause significant damage, Jeff races to TB2's hangar and runs straight into the armed Hood.
The Hood sneers that Jeff may be onto him but nothing will spoil his plans this time. He fires at Jeff, knocking him to ground. Just then an enraged Alan emerges behind and delivers a savage punch which knocks the villain to the ground, and presumably losing his camera in the process.
Alan then scrambles into TB2 to prevent the take-off but is too late as the machine then crashes to the ground in flames. Alan then attends to his father, who is luckily only wounded and they proceed to put out the fire.
During the commotion, the Hood, having failed again, makes his escape in one of the helijets. Jeff and Alan watch him go, but Jeff is certain that the Hood's luck would run out... one day...
Saving the Zoo Ship[]
A serious conference is now taking place with Scott and Virgil found and recovering from the attacks with the Hood. Jeff tells his sons that with TB2 out of action and needing a repair that maybe take a week or even longer, their only hope to complete the rescue is to use Thunderbird 3, with Brains giving them the details of how to do it. Alan then takes a hoverpup to the ship's destination and informs Brains that he is now taking care of lifting the ship out of the ocean and if everything is okay.
Gordon and Brains reveal that they've heard a radio message from the crew that the elephants have bust loose and have been driven into a frenzy and without TB2 to ferry the equipment to quieten them, they're stuck in a dangerous situation.
Meanwhile below in OS II, the crew are getting restless as the elephants are battering down their bulkhead door. Realizing that things are now getting desperate, Gordon decides to use for forceful methods with his gun to rescue the crew. Below, the door is continuing to be battered with the elephants and now the loose tigers behind them.
Gordon tells Brains to contact Jeff about the current happenings and dives under to arm himself with some drug darts from TB4 before reaching the ship. As he enters he sees how busted up everything is inside which is clear that the elephants are indeed loose. He hears the elephants bellowing and sees a pack of them destroying a room and decides to change his direction to avoid serious harm. However as he turns round, a leopard jumps on him, injuring his shoulder and making him drop his gun. Fortunately one of the crew rescues him by shooting the creature dead.
the crewman introduces himself as Captain Anderson and helps Gordon to another chamber of the ship as the animals had burst through their main room. Anderson asks Gordon if they will ever survive, and Gordon replies that they're too deep to use the airlock escape without the breathing gear. Anderson says that they had some but they were destroyed in the explosion that caused the ship to sink.
Back on Tracy Island, Brains has returned and together with the others are in TB3's hanger, having now assembled the machine's assembly gantry and adding Vulcanium camps and Grade Theta super cables on the central winch.
Down below, things get worse on the OS II, as the elephants had smashed up the air feed apparatus that IR set up, giving them now little air left to breathe, so IR would need to hurry before the oxygen ran out.
Gordon reports this to Jeff, estimating only one hour left before the air runs out. Jeff assures him that he will get back in contact with him, after he informs Brains of the situation.
After receiving Jeff's message, Brains is unsure about getting TB3 ready in time, in fact he feels that it may be impossible. Jeff desperately tells him, he must succeed as Gordon's life is in danger now. Work continues but the winch isn't secure. At Jeff's urging, Brains decides to take a calculated risk, though the outcome could be fatal.
Jeff then contacts Gordon, requesting that he conserves the remaining air for two more hours. Gordon replies that it won't be easy as the loose animals are using up the oxygen around them. Anderson begins to panic and another stressed crewman lunges at Gordon blaming him and IR for the trouble they're in. Gordon knocks the crewman out, berating him for his actions costing them more of their precious oxygen, shortening their life by minutes. Anderson asks if there is anything they can do. But all Gordon can say is they can do nothing except sit still, keep quiet and hope.
Back on Tracy Island, the team keep working against the clock, putting in double their effort. They have made the winch as secure as it can be and hope for the best. Alan then takes off in TB3 and flies at a low height to the destination of the ship. He lowers the grapples and succeeds in raising the OS II out of the ocean, much to everyone's relief.
Inside Jeff and the others find Gordon, the crew and the animals all unconscious from the lack of oxygen but know they will all make a recovery after an oxygen pump is used on them.
Scott is relieved it's all over and tells Jeff he wasn't sure they were going to make it. Jeff points out that it isn't over yet as they still need to maintain their secrecy of their involvement by telling the crew that they were innocent islanders with IR leaving the ship on their beach and then disappearing...
Characters[]
(in order of appearance)
- Scott Tracy
- Jeff Tracy
- Brains
- Gordon Tracy
- The Hood ("Professor Auldyn Beresford")
- Ocean Scientist II crew
- John Tracy
- Virgil Tracy
- Alan Tracy
IR Equipment used[]
Reprint History[]
The story was translated into Dutch for TV2000 between its issues 15/1969 and 20/1969, making it the penultimate story to get the treatment.
In English, the story would next appear in Thunderbirds: The Comic between issues 28 and 30, where it would be christened The Zoo Ship.
In 2013, it would appear in volume one of Egmont's Thunderbirds: The Comic Collection, as well as making it into volume four of their smaller-size collection the following year.