Treasure Hunters[]
The Hood has learnt that International Rescue are doing something at Lake Anasta, in the Middle East; something he believes involves treasure. He wants to know more - and he certainly wants that treasure; and so, via the mysterious power he has, he contacts his half-brother Kyrano...and on faraway Tracy Island, Kyrano abruptly collapses in agony on the floor of the Tracy Villa kitchen. The Hood manages to wrest some information from him about the expedition: it starts tomorrow, with plans to survey a certain temple...
Unaware of this, Tin-Tin Kyrano and Brains - the only IR members going on the expedition - are the center of attention in the lounge, as everyone's talking about their adventure. Tin-Tin even asks Scott and John, who's home on leave, what kind of gems they would like! (John opines that he'd rather have "a dirty old bar of gold"!) Jeff wonders if they believe they really will find such treasure there, and Brains thinks they will. In any event, Jeff says, it will at least be a vacation for them, as they both could do with a break. A little later on, Virgil, Tin-Tin and Brains blast off in Thunderbird 2.
Lake Anasta[]
Jeff and Kyrano have gone down to the runway to watch TB2 launch. He tells his longtime friend that his daughter will be back in 10 days. But when Kyrano says "I cannot help but have these fears," Jeff reassures him there's nothing to worry about.
Unknown to either of them, though, the Hood is already en route over the desert; and he's not happy - nothing but sand! He wonders how much further it will be until he gets to that lake. It is then that he at last comes upon it, and coming to a stop on a hill above it, he cannot help but admire its beauty...
Meanwhile, TB2 is nearly at the planned drop-off point; and Virgil reminds Tin-Tin and Brains not to let Professor Blakely know that they're with International Rescue. Once he lowers the cargo pod, they'll need to drive out of it quickly. The pod door opens...and out rolls an all-terrain vehicle, bearing the words ANASTA EXPEDITION and towing two caravans with it. Brains is in the driver's seat, and hopes their secret landing went unnoticed. With his job done, Virgil takes off and heads back to Tracy Island.
Brains and Tin-Tin head towards the place where they'll be meeting Professor Blakely. He's also on his way, but as he doesn't have his own ride, he's hired a very good taxi firm to get there. The three adventurers finally meet face-to-face; and after some get-acquainted small talk, Blakely declares today's the day they'll find out if Brains' theories are correct. Further, he suggests that they go down to Lake Anasta right away. Brains, though, convinces him to have a cold drink first, and Blakely agrees - it isn't like anyone is going to steal the potential treasure from under their noses...
Professor Blakely
One step ahead...[]
Someone just might, however...someone like the Hood! Having carefully positioned his truck near the lake's edge, he now opens it up...to reveal a 3E Submarine, which he launches into the lake, before driving off to hide his truck...
The Hood's Transporter and Sub.
Brains and crew, meanwhile, are following the route of the Anasta Pipeline, which means they must be close to their goal. They head over a hill, and there's the lake. Their arrival is furtively observed - by the Hood, peering through the periscope of his now-submerged sub. They've arrived on time, he gloats - dead on time...
Brains and Tin-Tin have decided to enter the lake, and to check out a old sunken temple there. Blakely bids them be careful, cautioning that it might not be safe; but he hopes they can bring him back something interesting.
The Dive To The Temple[]
Entering the lake, Brains and Tin-Tin start swimming to the bottom. Although they soon find the temple, it appears to have been heavily-damaged and, Brains thinks, doesn't look all that stable. Carefully, they enter it
and start to look around, as the treasure they've heard about was meant to have been hidden in one of the larger columns inside.
Tin-Tin points to one column and Brains takes a rock sample from it with a pickaxe. He informs Professor Blakely they're coming back up, so they can have a look at it before it gets dark.
The Hood, watching the two divers as they depart, sees that Brains is carrying something. He believes they've found the treasure. But he doesn't know where they found it, so he decides to - persuade them to tell him...
Back in the caravan, Brains and Tin-Tin have a look at the sample with Professor Blakely. Brains picks something out and passes it to him, and he tells them that they've done it - they've found the treasure!
The Hood Makes His Move[]
Night arrives at Lake Anasta, and everyone settles down for a good night's sleep. Everyone but Brains, who's excited and can't wait for tomorrow to dawn, so he can collect more samples...
Hearing a knock at the door, he goes to open it...revealing a stranger, just...standing in the doorway...
The puzzled Brains asks who he is, but no answer comes. Instead, the stranger's eyes begin to glow...and Brains sinks, unconscious, to the floor. A face-mask is pulled off - revealing the Hood! -
Back on Tracy Island, Scott tells his family that Brains has indeed found the lost treasure - he reported in via radio last night. Grandma Tracy doesn't understand why Tin-Tin would go after that treasure, as she has enough jewellery already! Scott explains that they haven't gone there to rob the place - anything valuable they do find is going back with Professor Blakely to the International Museum of Archaeology. Jeff says Brains should be reporting in again soon, so he'll go up to the lounge to wait for the transmission to come through...
It's daylight now, in the desert...and Brains has awakened to find himself buried in the sand, up to the neck! He tries shouting out to the others at their camp, a short distance away. But no one answers - because they can't: the Hood used his hypnosis on Tin-Tin, and knocked out the Professor after ransacking his laboratory...
The Hood then appears by Brains. He knows he's with International Rescue, and he wants some information - where is the treasure concealed, in the underwater temple? Brains wants water, but the Hood demands an answer. He saw Brains emerging from the lake with some of that treasure, so he knows where it is...
At Tracy Island, Jeff is concerned as Brains hasn't reported in, and he's never been late before. Jeff tells Kyrano to go find Scott, and when he arrives in the room, Jeff asks his son if there was anything strange about Brains' call, last night. No, Scott replies, he was in high spirits. The two then hear an emergency signal come through one of the speakers. That settles it, says Jeff: something's gone wrong, out there. He has Scott blast off in Thunderbird 1 immediately, whilst Virgil and Gordon Tracy follow him in Thunderbird 2. Back at the lake, Brains has just been left there, buried in the sand, his condition worsening. His tormentor, the Hood, has returned to his sub, intending to wait a little while before checking on Brains again - he will surely want to talk to him by then, if he wants to live...
Thunderbirds To The Rescue[]
That plan, however, goes haywire when the Hood sees that International Rescue have arrived. Scott circles the lake, but doesn't see signs of anything amiss; the caravans are there, but with no signs of life. TB2 is about 2-and-a-half minutes away, when Scott says he can see Brains - and he's been buried in the sand! He tells his father he's going down to land. The Hood observes TB1 touching down, but he still believes he can get that treasure - and he'll destroy International Rescue, as well...
Scott reaches Brains, and tells him to hold on whilst he gets him out of there. He's unaware, though, that TB1's Automatic Camera Detector alarm has gone off - the Hood's taking pictures, via his sub's periscope. Thunderbird 2 arrives, and Gordon helps Scott with Brains - with two of them digging, the brothers swiftly have him free.
Virgil goes to check on the caravans, where he finds Tin-Tin, glassy-eyed and insensible to her surroundings. After awakening her, he asks her about what happened. Some stranger came, she tells him, one with terrible eyes that she couldn't look away from. She'd never seen him before, and yet...somehow, she felt that she knew him. Virgil tells her to take it easy...
Scott has contacted base, telling Jeff what's happened and that everyone is safe. Jeff says that as soon as the Helijet has collected the Professor to take him to hospital, he wants all IR members to return to base in the morning. When Scott asks about the expedition, his father tells him to forget about it; they aren't around to go and look for treasure.
The Trap[]
Scott informs the others of what Jeff wants them to do, although he also tells them that he's found out that someone's been taking pictures of TB1. Brains says he gets it now - one of their enemies has set a trap, and has
lured out International Rescue. Later that night, Brains wakes Tin-Tin to tell her that he couldn't sleep with worry; he feels guilty over the amount of trouble this has caused, and he wants to try and make amends. He intends to go down into the lake, now, as he believes that's where that mysterious stranger must be hiding. He asks her to keep in contact with him, and not to tell the others. He's soon in the waters, alone...
A Return To The Temple[]
Tin-Tin has her communicator on as Brains returns to the sunken temple and breaks off another part of the column. More jewels are revealed, proving that it definitely was the correct column. However, Brains then uncovers a wire of some kind, leading away from the column. He lets Tin-Tin know, and then starts to follow it...straight to another man in diving gear, waiting...the stranger he saw before! The wire was, in fact, part of an alarm system, alerting the Hood to leave his sub to investigate. Now, he has exactly who - and what - he wants!
The Hood starts using his powers again, and Brains loses consciousness...
As the sun rises, Tin-Tin wakes up Scott and the others. She told Brains not to go, but he still did anyway. Elsewhere, the Hood decides to get the treasure, and make things more difficult for International Rescue - by detonating explosives which destroy the sunken temple...with Brains still somewhere inside!
The Arrival Of Thunderbird 4[]
It's now up to Thunderbird 4, and Gordon launches his craft into the lake from TB2'a Pod 4. He quickly reaches the temple, but reports to Scott that it's been destroyed - and it's unlikely that Brains would have survived had he been there. He can't seem to see him, anywhere. Scott tells him to keep looking, as Brains will still have around 5 minutes of oxygen left. As Gordon makes another pass, he spies a stream of air-bubbles coming out of some of the temple debris - if Brains is anywhere, he says, he'll be there! He tells Scott to bring down the Hydrostatic Hoist...
But then, the Hood moves in - declaring he'll destroy International Rescue, and then get the treasure - and fires a salvo of torpedoes at TB4...
Under Attack![]
The first salvo hits the pillar above TB4 causing no damage. Gordon tells Virgil - who's now manning Mobile Control - he's under attack, and he needs to tell Scott not to come down just yet. TB4 takes a direct hit on the port side by a second attack, but only takes minimal damage. The Hood turns about and leaves the scene of the battle while Gordon pursues his attacker out of the ruined temple. Once in clear sight, Gordon lines up TB4 and returns fire on the Hood.
The Hood suffers a direct hit in the sub's engine room and is disabled. The Hood also finds that water is seeping in. He loses control of his sub, and is forced to crash it and evacuate. Gordon spots the Hood escape the sub as it explodes. He radios in and explains he'll fill in the details, as time is running out for Brains. He steers TB4 back to the temple to try and find him; and tells Virgil it's safe to send Scott down.
Rescued, At Last[]
Scott and Gordon set up the Hydrostatic Hoist and activate it The device inflates like a balloon, and lifts the pillar it has been tied to, dragging it upward...giving Gordon the chance to get to Brains and move him out from under it, to safety...
Later on, Tin-Tin and Brains visit Professor Blakely in the hospital, and he seems OK. Now that the world knows about their discoveries at Lake Anasta, Tin-Tin asks him how he feels about being a celebrity. He seems to take it in his stride, but then asks how the two of them are fixed up over the next few months. He has a new expedition planned already - some treasure lost in a sunken ship off the Caribbean, 400 years ago...
A Happy Ending...[]
Tin-Tin and Brains get up and leave, saying that visiting hours are over. The Professor thinks the two are odd to want to leave in such a hurry, but he guesses the excitement got too much for them. Outside, Tin-Tin tells Brains they should return to base - after all they've been through, a nice, relaxing rescue mission would be better-suited for them! Brains doesn't disagree...and as they take their leave of the Professor, he settles back in to reading his book - Treasure: The Easy Way.
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