Tuesday, December 19, 2006

"... we are now descending for our arrival, and once again, we remind you to turn off all electrical equipment until the plane comes to a full and compl-"

A thunderous boom shook the entire aircraft, pitching it forward as if a giant angry mule had given the kick of its life up the aircraft's posterior. Behind me, I could hear the panicked screams of passengers and crew alike as crockery crashed to the ground and bags rocked around in the overhead compartments.

"What the fuck?!" my co-pilot exhaled, struggling to regain control of the aircraft as I hurriedly pulled back on the controls, attempting to coax the jumbo jet back into stable flight.

"Control, Golf-India Two-Niner! Aborting landing, executing emergency take-off."

"Golf-India, roger that, clearing airspace. What is the matter?"

"Not sure, Control, we've just sustained some kind of severe system shock, attempting to regain..." my voice trailed off.

My co-pilot sat there numbly, gaze fixated on the aircraft status screen.

"Jesus H. Christ," I breathed.

The luminiscent display depicted four engines that should have been highlighted in green. Now, the left-most engine was blinking an angry red, and even as I looked at the it the plane began to yaw most alarmingly toward the left.

Detritch hurriedly grabbed the controls, over-steering to the right to compensate as I grabbed the microphone amid a cacophony of muffled screams. "Attention passengers, this is your captain speaking, we are experiencing minor technical prob-"

A second explosion rumbled through the aircraft, cutting me off in mid-sentence.

"Do not tell me that was turbulence," Detritch half-joked, eyes firmly on the controls.

I turned to the flight officer, Amurio. "Go help me see if you can locate any problem with the wing."

"Cap', you're forgetting we can't see the bloody engines from the portholes," Detritch deadpanned.

"Fuck," I cursed under my breath. "Alright, reduce power to engine 4, we've got to keep her steady."

Amurio was just sitting down again when a giant cloud of flame billowed out from the left wing. Alarm klaxons began to wail, and the automatic fire-fighting system kicked into full operation, spraying the angry flame with layers of foam.

"Control, we've got the left-most engine on fire, please advise. Requesting emergency services to standby on landing."

"Roger that Golf-India, EMTs are standing by. Original runway is still open for landing, suggest you proceed with original flight plan."

I gritted my teeth. "Alright, let's turn her around."



The man on the ground coolly discarded the spent battery/coolant unit, taking his time fitting a fresh one while loading a second missile. Satisfied with his preparations, he lifted the tube onto his shoulder once again.