The plane took off into the sky above the San Fernando Valley. The morning fog was already mostly gone. The day would be hot. It was funny, Jake thought to himself, that the last time he had flown was in the 23rd century when he was returning to Mt Lukens in the noiseless vacikarce over this same landscape from the towers of downtown Los Angeles. His mission to disrupt the Aye’s plans had failed and his precious Riojme was imprisoned. Now here he was traveling in a much more primitive vehicle just to get a job interview.
He tried to call his parents but there was no service.
The plane flew on and on for hours. There was no shortage of food on the plane or drinks. He had taken the glass water bottle for nothing.
It looked like they were flying north. He saw the great forests of the Pacific Northwest and he also saw what he believed to be the great crater of Mount Saint Helens. After that they ended up flying along the Pacific coast. An endless sea of blue ocean punctuated by islands was visible on the left side of the plane and an endless sea of green forest punctuated by towns was visible to the right. He concluded they were going to Alaska given that Washington State must be behind them and there was virtually nothing to see in British Columbia.
It was early afternoon and even with Jake’s limited geographical knowledge, he figured that the journey would take several hours more so he decided to take a nap. His eyes were closed and he was trying to sleep but anxiety about the interview was keeping him awake. Suddenly, the plane began to shake violently. It was the first turbulence he’d experienced on the flight; at least he was buckled in. He heard the plane’s engines shut down. Jake could see the mountains rushing up as the nose of the plane began to point downward. Terror seized his heart. For a split second he felt weightless, like this was all a dream. The treetops were approaching unimaginably quickly; they were close enough to touch.
