Dateline

La Flèche, T plus 23 hours

On the Rhumb Line, 166 degrees West

Alison had never seen Able look so upset. He was sat with them at the back of the plane, pale and staring into nothing, a laptop open in front of him. For half an hour, Kelly had sat opposite, both of them talking in whispers, and at times she thought that maybe Able was on the verge of breaking down. What was happening?

On the seat next to her, Aaron was asleep. As the plane was leaving Edwards, skimming low over the desert with everything aglow, she had found herself holding his arm, and he'd held her tightly in return. Later, after the revelation Kelly Yang had dropped about being able to communicate with them as long as someone died, she'd found herself holding his hand. He held it still. 

Able slowly got out of his seat and stood in the aisle. "Alison, come with me please." His voice was small and uncertain, very unlike his normal self.

She followed Able forwards, noting his bowed head; the nervous clasping and unclasping of his hands. "What's happening Able?"

Able carried on walking, entering the flight deck and squeezing himself into the co-pilot seat. She followed him in, kneeling on the floor in the small space just behind the seats. 

Ignoring Alison for the moment, he turned to Cat. "How's it looking? Will we make it?"

"Yep, just. Whoever designed and put this baby together did a bang-up job, Able. If we have no issues, we'll make Auckland in an hour and twenty minutes ... assuming that thing chasing our ass switches off when it reaches one-eighty degrees west."

"Well, we may have to alter our plan a little."

Cat gave him a hard stare, then turned to look at Alison. She shrugged back.

"Do you think you can fly La Flèche with enough finesse it can match exactly the speed of the phenomenon across the ground?"

"Well... possibly, assuming the GPS keeps working as well as it is now, and there's no turbulence, no change in engine performance, no sudden wind shear, no... you get the picture. What the hell are you thinking, Abe?"

"Kelly thinks we need to make contact with it."

"Make contact? Wait a second. Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?"

"We need to access the phenomenon, so yes, we need to have it touch the plane. Actually, it has to be inside the cabin."

"That would be madness, Abe. Highly dangerous. Why would you want to do that?"

"It might be important. Look, can it be done?"

Cat stared at the controls, thinking. "I'd have to fly it on manual. Maybe... This ain't an F-15, Abe, this has what, 5 times the mass? It'll be unresponsive as hell."

"Even so..."

"I used to fly air to air refuelling, but I had the damn plane right there infront of me. This thing will be coming up from behind. I can't see it, so someone will have to look using the 'scope and call out the numbers."

Cat turned back to the controls, getting La Flèche ready to pull off a manoeuvre it was never expected to do. Under her breath, Alison heard her mutter, "Someone better tell me what's going on when were done, cause I'm having trouble keeping up."

Able beckoned Alison to follow him out. "You got all that? Good. I need you to witness everything that happens to me from now on, you understand? I know it won't mean anything, not really, but it's important to me right now."

"I understand."

"You do?"

Alison nodded emphatically. "Yes." It was just a sham, she knew. Able, who wanted above all else to leave a legacy after he was gone, was facing a choice that not only would be his death, but would also probably erase his whole existence from history. Having Alison take forward that memory was perhaps the only thing keeping him sane.

"One other thing. I want you to have this." Able handed over his laptop and keyring. "The laptop has an encrypted file containing the designs and patents of everything I've done these last fifteen years. The pass key is on the keyring, inside the little cylinder. It's weak security, I know, but for occasions like this, it comes in handy. If ever we start to rebuild... I want you and Kelly to have it."

"I'll look after them, I promise."

Able nodded once, then turned away, tears forming in his eyes.