The Differents | ✓

S I X T E E N

The bright sunlight hit our faces sharply as we emerged outside. The jet gradually picked up speed, rolling faster and faster down the long stretch of concrete outside the hangar meant for landings and takeoffs. I could see the other ones next to and in front of us doing the same, and the one leading the group starting to leave the ground. After a few seconds, our jet left the ground as well, and suddenly I was slammed into my seat, watching the tops of the trees disappear under the dashboard. We straightened out slowly, the land coming back into view, and I let out a small gasp. Never had the Core, which normally looked so big and grand, looked so small. I could see the layout better now, the way the paths stuck out from the middle, all heading different ways. The way the trees, which finally had blossoms, lined the pathway in a fluffy-looking explosion of bright colour. Even the hangar and all the buildings looked small.

I looked over at Sniper, who was looking a little green. He had this hand on the dashboard, steadying himself, and his eyes closed. "You okay?" I asked him.

"I don't think my stomach likes taking off very much," he replied, sounding a little sick.

The planes started circling the Core. I waited until Sniper looked ready to talk before asking him, "So, you decided to come with me because...?"

He processed the question for a moment. "I was scared that once they found out you had gone, they would turn on me. I didn't want to be left behind to face whatever they do to people who run away. And, well, I never really completely wanted to stay. When I told you we shouldn't talk about it anymore, I was kind of hoping you'd talk me out of it and convince me it was better to go. But I had to figure that out on my own."

"Well, I'm glad you finally came to your senses." I smiled and turned to the front of the jet again. We were heading toward the Barrier. "So, how are we going to do this then?"

Sniper rose from his seat and headed to the back of the plane. After rummaging around for a bit, he came back with two backpacks. "Well, if everything goes wrong, we jump out of the plane and use these." He handed me one. I examined it and realized it held a parachute inside it. We had had a couple of classes on things like parachuting during physical education classes should we ever need to jump out of a plane, so I knew how to use it.

"And if things don't go wrong?"

"Then we will be out of here with a good head start. Now, let's see what we can do about the directions." Sniper sat down again and looked at the dashboard. A significant portion of it held a screen that when he touched, lit up with a soft blue glow. The rest of the dashboard held dials and buttons and levers and things I didn't know how to identify. Sniper reached over and flipped open a compartment in front of me that I hadn't noticed was there. He rummaged around and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. "The basic instructions. Look at those and you will know generally what to do in case you have to fly the plane for some reason."

I took the paper and unfolded it. A drawing of the jet with its parts named spanned one side of the paper and directions spanned the other. A large list of warnings was printed on the back. "This looks like gibberish to me. Can anyone even read all that?"

He grabbed the paper with a frown and examined it. Folding it back up, he said, "Alright. I guess if I drop dead right now then you won't know how to fly the plane and you'll get caught within two seconds of touching anything."

"Fine, you win." I snatched the paper back from him and tried to focus on it. Sniper examined the dashboard and lightly ran his fingers over everything, but never touched it. Once he had seen the whole thing and had gotten used to the layout, he brought his attention to the screen. I put down the paper, too interested in what he was doing to pay attention to it. "What are you doing?"