61

“Hijacking the plane is too dangerous. One stray bullet into sensitive equipment and we all die,” you tell Emily. “Let’s wait until we land and take our chances.”

You hardly finish your sentence before the door leading to the cockpit opens. A figure emerges, the pilot, dressed in a military flight suit walks through, shouting something back into the cockpit and laughing. His smile disappears the instant he sees you. His hand reaches for the holster and the pistol in it. Emily is completely startled for a second. She raises her weapons at the same time the pilot draws his. Both the pilot and Emily fires a volley of shots as you dive to the floor. None of the shots hit the intended target. Bullets rip through the fuselage.

A window shatters, explosive decompression rips from the body of the plane, leaving a jagged wound in the side of the fuselage. A heavy fog may immediately fill the interior as the relative humidity of cabin air rapidly changes as the air cools and condenses. Air is sucked from your lungs, your vision narrows as darkness sets in, signalling that you are falling into unconsciousness. At the same time, oxygen masks drop from the ceiling, the yellow breathing apparatus swirling in the unstable air. You grab one of the masks, pulling it sharply and you suck in the air. After a few deep breaths, your vision returns to normal.

You can just about make out Emily lying on the floor, she looks unconscious. The flight engineer is also out cold. More alarmingly though, is the fact that the aircraft is tilting sharply to the right and is descending rapidly.

The loss of altitude restores some of the air pressure in the cabin. The fog disappears, but the bank angle is still increasing. With shock you see the cause of the turn. One of the right-hand engines are on fire, bright yellow flames are starting to light up the interior of the cabin. Bullets must have hit a critical component of the engine.

You no longer need the oxygen mask and stumble towards Emily. She is still unconscious, but no other injuries are visible. You move towards the cockpit, any thought of taking over the plane pushed to the back of your mind.

“Can I help? I’m a pilot!” you shout over the noise. You grab a spare headset handing next to the empty jumpseat.

“Yes! Yes! We can’t control her. Help with the throttles while we try to stop the fire! Full power left, cut power to the right engines,” the captain shouts at you.

The co-pilot is frantically pushing buttons and working through a checklist. You work the throttles as requested by the captain. He looks out the right window.

“No!” he exclaims. “Number four is on fire as well!”

Your valiant efforts are all in vein. A few minutes later, the aircraft crashes into the sea, leaving debris scattered over a wide area. The professor’s research lost forever.

The end.