Dateline

La Flèche, T plus 19 hours, 50 minutes

On the Rhumb Line, 130 degrees West

After the terror and excitement of the last hour, things had calmed down appreciably. He guessed they must have reached cruise altitude, the sound of engines reducing until they were almost lost in the muted roar coming from the airframe all around them.

When he looked out the small window adjacent to his seat, Aaron could make out a vast swath of sky lit up by the golden curtain thrown across the globe a little way behind them. They had edged away for a while, but no longer, the plane having slowed slightly to match speeds with the earth's rotation. He was thinking of going to find Able and ask him what was happening now, when he saw him coming down the aisle towards them. Able's face was pale, his eyes staring somewhat, but then that pretty much applied to all of them.

Able handed out a number of small bottles. Aaron was given a scotch. "Hey, not bad. You got a mini bar hidden away somewhere?"

"Yep." Able gestured around at all the electronic gadgetry and cabling running across the ceilings and walls. "Just 'cause this is a bit Heath Robinson, doesn't mean we can't have some in-flight refreshments now and then, know what I mean? Just don't tell the FAA." Able gave a small laugh, then his face returned to that of a man haunted by a real threat of death once more.

Aaron twisted the lid off the bottle and took a swig. The drink burned his throat, made him cough. Tasted good though.

"So, care to tell us where we're heading?"

"That's what I came back for. Right now, we are flying the rhumb line to Aukland in New Zealand."

Aaron looked Able in the eye. "Aukland? Really?" He couldn't help it. A small laugh escaped his lips.

"Yes. Why? What's funny about that?"

"Nothing. Nevermind."

"What's a rum line?" asked Alison. 

"Rhumb, with an 'h' and a 'b'. Shortest distance between two points on the planet. If you look at it on a globe, it'll appear curved. Being shortest, it's also the fastest, but the actual curve depends on how fast you go. Right now, we're doing Mach 1.3; just over eight hundred and fifty miles per hour."

Ellie had been staring out the window on her side for the last thirty minutes, but now she turned her attention inside. "Aukland's south. wouldn't it be better to just head west, get away from whats behind us as quickly as possible?"

"Ordinarily, yes. But we had a choice to make. If we head west, we'll reach the dateline quicker, and could easily carry on to Japan. It's a little closer than Auckland too. But it's winter in the northern hemisphere. The runway's may not be clear, and with no power, it'll be freezing cold. That would make survival hard, assuming we make it at all. It's summer in New Zealand. We can at least be warm, and grow food if we have to."

"Couldn't we just turn back, if the thing stops at the dateline?"

"Good question. Actually, we could, if we headed due west. But the same thing applies. Winter in the northern hemisphere, remember. Of course it's warmer in the southern states, but water might be a problem. Anyway, it's moot. We're heading south west, and by the time we cross the dateline, we'll be almost at New Zealand. Plenty of good farm land. No nasty diseases. Pleasant climate all year round. Everything written in English." The last was said with a laugh.

He's right though, thought Aaron. It did make sense. If they survived the next few hours and made it to safety, there may be years of lonely isolation and subsistence living ahead. That was a sobering thought. He drained the last of his scotch.

"But I'll be honest with you all. Taking off from Edwards like that, using the afterburners to get up supersonic near ground level, then climbing away hard... It used a lot of fuel. Cat's been tweaking the numbers and it looks tight. A strong headwind, or if the runway's blocked and we have to find somewhere else to land, we might not make it."

Everyone was quiet, except for Kelly, who was tapping away at her laptop keyboard, her daughter curled up against her side, fast asleep. "Able," she said. "We need to talk. Now."

Able finished off the last of his drink and smiled. "Figured out a way to save the world, Kelly?"

Aaron could tell Able regretted saying the words as soon as they came out, but Kelly didn't seem to notice the bitter resignation in them.

"No, too late for that. But we might be able to send them a message."

Everyone sat up at that. Able looked poised, focused once more. "A message? Telling them what?"

"That we're here. What we intend to do. And to ask for an explanation. They owe us that, surely?" Kelly tore her eyes away from the screen and looked at each of them in turn, then closed her eyes. "Only one problem."

"That is?" asked Able. 

"To do that, someone has to die."