THE END [[#Wattys2020]]

DAY 2

Chapter 26: Russians

Jason Livingston (Continental Flight 192, 70,000 ft.)

Chris and Peter, I'm sure, continued conversing and attempting to contact control, despite the lack of connectivity, long after I went back to my seat.

To be perfectly honest, as far as flying, there really wasn't anything to worry about... piloting a perfectly functional aircraft in perfectly good weather, well, let's just say, you have more chances of dying driving your kids home from school everyday! Airplanes are designed to stay up. Plus, the sky isn't a congested cesspool of moving metal like a city. Jets aren't flying around, lined up one after another, fighting to gain 9 inches and .7 seconds over fellow commuters!

Flying is more like piloting a submarine... You can go in any direction: forward, up, down, left, right, diagonal, without worrying about getting into a wreck, running off the road, or crashing into a fence pole or a person. Look at the few times planes do make emergency landings... I mean, they've actually landed in the Hudson River and survived! Worst case scenario, we repeat history and make another water landing!

...

Aircraft and submersible facts and safety statistics continued floating around my brain another several minutes. Two hours later, I awoke from a Heineken-induced nap to Avatar 2 credits and a cricked-up neck. To my surprise, the doctor was 'still' deep in the thralls of his lead hero or heroine as he/she narrowly escaped the clutches of some madman, way down in the rain-soaked Guatemalan jungles and/or the sun-baked deserts of Morocco.

*DING*

...

The real issue here isn't flying. It'll be landing without coms or radar! In such a scenario, 'flying' then 'would' actually be more like driving in rush hour traffic. Typically, the tower, or 'ATC' makes sure you have the right of way. They're like the old timey traffic cops around a beehive, preventing everyone from bouncing into and off one another without order and control, or at least, the ability to communicate with the other bees. Well, that could get real nasty, real fast.

*DING*

...

Going to turn out to be nothing, though... always does. Or the Russians! ...Nothing, or the Russians!! Everything these days is either a false flag, fake media or the Russians.

"Hi, yes... could I please get another Heineken?!" I asked Mrs. Almost.

"Actually..." she said, again with the space invading.

"...I was on my way to come get you, Mr. Livingston. Can you head back up to the cockpit, please?"

...

I'm sure it was nothing.

...

...

Could be the Russians!

Chapter 27: Dead Silent

Bohdan and Sim Lu (Grounds Maintenance Room)

"Need to stand up... stretch my legs, you want anything? Water? Snack from the vending machine?"

She just looked at me disapprovingly, maybe disgustedly. Hard to tell with the slanted eyes. But eyes half closed, head slightly pitched downward and to the side... she definitely wasn't having it. She was dead silent.

"OMG... seriously!!! I Just need to stand up for 'one' freaking minute!"

"No!"

It's amazing how great an insulator two feet of sheer concrete is. There was no sound from the outside world, whatsoever. Made the situation that much more dire and that much more uncomfortable. I was at my wit's end.