Gods and Monsters

Ep.2: Oceanic Airlines Flight 616 (No.2)

Episode 2: Oceanic Airlines Flight 616 (No.2)

Written by Danny Richards

Produced by Corey Smith, Matthew Anderson, Luca Limoncelli and Joanna Holland

Edited by Corey Smith, Matthew Anderson and Luca Limoncelli

Created and developed by Danny Richards

Oceanic Airlines Flight 616, Somewhere over Western England

Sandra hummed to herself quietly as she let her thoughts wander inside of her mind, jumping between casual topics such as the beautiful weather New York had had the morning of her departure, or the peculiar looking moustache the man beside her had. The pretty air hostess with the candy red lipstick offered another drink, but Sandra waved her half full glass of wine back to signal she was okay for now.

Eventually, as her eyes fell closed, she began to daydream about her fiancé and how splendid it would be to see him again after so long. A slight smile painted itself across her thin lips though it quickly disappeared as the plane gave a violent lurch forward.

Her eyes quickly snapped open, her gaze shifting from moustache-man to the window to her left. Below was nothing more than a blanket of clouds, their white and grey hues giving the illusion of a tranquil atmosphere despite the sudden rocking of the aircraft.

"Attention passengers, this is your pilot speaking," the male voice above announced. "We are currently heading through some heavy turbulence. We urge you to please be seated and fasten your seatbelts immediately."

Back in the cockpit, there was a frantic rush of activity as the pilot and co-pilot relayed potential possibilities for the unexplained malfunctions in the airplane equipment.

"A bird? Could a bird have hit the engine?"

The pilot rolled his eyes and shook his head. "The engines would be shot," he pointed out. "Let's just try and keep her flying. I don't really want to land this thing in the middle of nowhere. Besides, I'd actually like to get back to my wife and children once this is all over."

The two pilots continued to bicker as they fought against the giant machine, unable to explain why there were experiencing the trouble that they were. While neither of them cared to admit it, they were both terrified that the plane was going down. Both of them knew that if they didn't identify the issue soon, they would be doomed, along with the 339 passengers aboard.

The co-pilot lifted his hand-held microphone to contact air traffic control, holding it up to his mouth as he spoke into it. "This is Oceanic Airlines flight 616. We're having a problem keeping steady," he said with a shaking voice. "We can't seem to find the source of the issue, over."

Nothing.

"I repeat, this is Oceanic Airlines flight 616, there's a problem with the plane, please respond." There was not a single voice that returned his plea for help, his ears only picking up the dull roar of static. "That's odd," he frowned, his fear settling in the pit of his stomach like he had swallowed stones for breakfast that morning.

"Come on, we can land in just under 15 minutes if we can stay flying. We must be over London now." The pilot was clearly attempting to comfort the other though his voice quavered and cracked. He was just as frightened, but would never say so.

The co-pilot nodded. "I'll inform ATC. That is if they answer." There was a sarcastic note to his voice as he again lifted the hand-held device, repeating that they were nearing the airport. Just as before, there was no reply except white noise.

Air-Traffic Control Tower - Heathrow Airport, London

The ATC tower was filled with the usual smell of freshly brewed coffee and the regular sayings like, "FD2510 out of 213 down to 18 with A," or, "Thank you, Sir: cleared to land, 4R. Over and out."

However, it wasn't long before the usual daily routine was interrupted by an unscheduled plane attempting to land on the runway. The large Boeing 777 dropped its landing gear and skidded along the tarmac, narrowly avoiding another plane that was moments away from entering the runway.

"It seems that we have an unscheduled flight on the runway," the operator announced through his headset, watching as the airplane descended onto the tracks. "Unidentified."

"I can't contact them," another man said after making a total of three attempts to get in touch with the aircraft.

Mild panic filled the tower as everyone tried to organise themselves and the other planes. Events over the last few years had increased precautions to stop attacks, but when a plane came out of the sky and landed on the runway with no explanation, there was only so much that could be done. "I'll call security," the woman operating a large radio system beside the man said, lifting a phone to her ear. "We have an unidentified flight on the runway."

Oceanic Airlines Flight 616 - Heathrow Airport, London

The pilot let out a deep breath of air as the airplane's wheels touched down on the runway tracks. "Thank God," he mumbled under his breath as they managed to bring the plane to a complete stop.

"Uh, Sir?" the co-pilot said, looking out the window to find security guards making their way towards the airplane. "It looks like we've got some company."

Muttering a curse to himself, the pilot plastered a confident look on his face and strode over to the door, walking down the stairs to the asphalt of the runway as they were ejected from the side of the plane. He ignored the confused stewardess trying to grab his attention.

"Uh, hello gentlemen," he greeted the security guards with, what he hoped to be one of his charming smiles. His eyes wandered between the first two men at the front, one pristinely dressed in his uniform. The guard stood beside him appeared to be a bit more of a slob, what seemed to be the purple jam out of a doughnut smeared over the fabric of his shirt. It was as if he had wiped his grubby hands on it in a hasty attempt to clean off his palms. However, the incoming swarm of armed response vans in the distance was a much more threatening prospect. Instinctively the co-pilot raised his hands in surrender.

"Put your hand down, son. We haven't done anything wrong." The pilot said before turning to the two staff members on the tarmac. "This is Oceanic Airlines flight 616. We encountered problems in the air but our attempts to make contact were met with static. We kept the plane in the air as long as we could but needed to land and did so as scheduled. I fail to see the problem here!"

Both the airport staff members looked at each other with panicked looks before the man in the pristine uniform addressed the pilot, his voice calm but he was clearly perplexed. "Did you say Oceanic Airlines flight 616?"

"Affirmative. From JFK in NYC to Heathrow in London. By my count, we're seven minutes late, but I'll put that down to us not being able to make contact." The pilot replied sarcastically.

Again the staff members went back to speaking to each other as they tried to make sense of the situation, and the pilot began to get annoyed at this interrogation.

"I'm afraid, gentlemen, that you're going to have to remain in the plane. Oceanic Airlines flight 616 has been missing for 20 years."

Continued in Part 2