by R. E. Weber
13 – The Miracle of Flight 1549
The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, next to pier 86 in New York City, had proven an exceptionally good choice of day out for Wei and his young son. Although the science museum had been an interesting distraction for the pair the previous week, it hadn’t held anything like the same level of interest for his son as this. He had discovered the little-known museum a few days earlier when browsing the Internet for activities suitable for nine-year-old boys obsessed with ships and planes, and as soon as he had told his son about it, there had been no stopping the boy. Wei had even been persuaded to take a rare day off work to take him there.
They had arrived at the museum at 11:30 that morning and spent the best part of four hours exploring every exhibit, stopping only briefly to grab a sandwich and a drink, which they’d eaten on the go rather than sitting down in the cafeteria, much to Wei’s annoyance. Still, he hadn’t argued. Moving to New York City had been a huge upheaval for them both, and anything Wei could do to make his son feel at home, or at the very least distracted, had to be a good thing.
But aside from his son, Wei himself had been amazed at the variety of the museum exhibits. Not only was there the usual selection of naval vessels, submarines and aircraft, which were interesting enough in themselves, there were also a couple of real treats. The first had been a British Airways Concord, which had been the only supersonic airliner to remain in regular service over any period of time – unless you counted a Russian airliner, which had only made a small number of flights before being taken out of service due to safety concerns. They had been able to explore the entire aircraft, which had excited Wei’s young son more than anything because he’d always wanted to see where the captain sat in the cockpit.
Then there had been the Space Shuttle Pavilion, housing the Enterprise – the prototype US Space Shuttle, which had never flown in orbit but had instead been used as an atmospheric test vehicle for the orbital craft that were to follow. Indeed, Wei had been as giddy as a schoolboy as he’d stood in the cockpit and imagined himself thundering into space atop the massive fuel tank and solid-fuel boosters, pinned into his seat by the powerful G-forces of launch. Wei’s dream of flying into space had never materialised, but he had hopes that his son might one day be able to do what he had only dreamt of – a possibility that had become just a little more likely now that they had moved to the USA.
But although the day had been one of their best days out together – not least because they had begun to bond for the first time since the death of the boy’s mother the year before – Wei was so exhausted that all he could do was sit and watch his excited son run from place to place on the deck of the massive USS Intrepid, with seemingly limitless reserves of energy. And within seconds, his heavy eyes had closed.
‘You all right, Dad?’ said an excited voice in his ear.
Startled, Wei opened his eyes, aware that he had drifted off to sleep in the seating area on the ship’s flight deck.
‘Just resting, son,’ he replied.
‘Have you seen that Cougar over there, Dad? It can fold up its wings. And there’s a Russian Mig too. It can fly at Mach two. And that Harrier Jump Jet. It can take off vertically and fly…’
‘Son, we need to think about leaving soon,’ interrupted his father. ‘I’ve got to get up for work tomorrow. It’s going to be a busy day and I have to get some sleep.’
Wei looked at his son, whose face had dropped at the prospect of having to leave. Then he smiled.
‘OK, you have ten more minutes. Then we really do have to be going.’
For a moment, the boy smiled warmly at his father. Then he ran off again, this time towards the edge of the vast aircraft carrier. The boy had been having such a great day that Wei didn’t have the heart to drag him away just yet.
The next thing to wake Wei up from his brief slumber however, wasn’t his excited son. It was instead two distant, thunderous booms from the north of the city, followed by a groaning noise similar to that of aircraft engines – a noise that wasn’t uncommon given their proximity to La Guardia airport on the other side of Manhattan Island. Startled, Wei stood up and looked in the direction the noises seemed to have come from. However, there was nothing to be seen. Then he glanced to his left to see his son running towards him.
‘Dad, I think there’s been an explosion or something.’
Wei looked around. Towards the edge of the ship, overlooking the Hudson River, a group of tourists of varying nationalities were staring into the sky, talking loudly. Wei and his son made their way quickly over to where they were standing and looked up the river. At first, there was nothing to see. Then his son began pointing excitedly.
‘Dad, look.’
Wei looked in the direction his son was indicating, squinting in the late-afternoon sun. Then he spotted it – a small, silvery streak, flying east to west with what looked like a trail of smoke behind it.
‘Dad, I think that plane up there’s in trouble.’
Wei stared at the aircraft, which seemed to be slowly turning towards them. Then the engines spluttered and went silent.
‘What’s happening, Dad?’ said the boy, now more concerned than excited.
‘I…’ Wei paused for a moment wondering whether he should tell his son what he thought had happened. If he was right, his son was about to see something horrific. But he deserved to know the truth.
‘I think its engines have failed,’ he said trying to sound as calm as possible.
‘Is it gonna crash, Dad?’
‘No son, it’s turning back towards the airport. Look,’ said Wei, pointing as the aircraft continued its arc through the sky.
However, when the aircraft had finished turning, it wasn’t pointing back towards the airport. It was instead heading down the river towards them, its altitude dropping rapidly.
‘Dad, is it going to hit the river?’
‘I... I don’t know, son.’
The plane continued towards them in silence, dropping steadily. As it passed over a bridge further north and its shadow flicked across its surface, it was clear that the plane was only two to three hundred metres above the river. It was also obvious that it wasn’t a light aircraft with ten or twenty passengers on board, but instead an airliner with two to three hundred.
Remembering that he’d brought a pair of binoculars, Wei quickly opened his bag, unpacked the binoculars from their case, pulled off the caps, which dropped to the ground and rolled away, and put them to his eyes. Bringing the airliner into focus, he could see its flaps working frantically to adjust its angle of approach, as well as smoke trailing from its engines.
The airliner was terrifyingly close to the water now and still dropping, its nose angled upwards. Then the back of the plane grazed the river, throwing a jet of water out behind the tail, and the rest of the plane hit the river, disappearing in a shower of white spray.
Reappearing from the cloud of spray, the airliner slid to a halt in the churning waters, coming to rest with its nose pointing slightly upwards and its rear all but underwater, save for the tail fin. Somehow, despite the ferocity of the impact, the plane had remained completely intact.
‘It’s a miracle,’ said a voice nearby.
‘Oh my God, I can’t believe what just happened,’ said another.
Wei lowered his binoculars and turned to look at his son, who was staring at the river, opened-mouthed.
‘Son, are you OK?’
There was no reply.
Wei dropped to his knees and put his arms around his son.
‘It’s OK, son, they’re safe. Look,’ said Wei, pointing towards the multitude of tugs and other boats that were already heading for the plane. ‘The rescue ships are already on the way.’
‘I can’t believe it, Dad. He did it.’
‘Who did what, son?’
‘The captain, Dad. Did you see how he aimed the plane to hit the water just right?’
‘That’s what they’re trained for. They’re experts,’ said
Wei. But as he continued to explain to his son about how the crew had trained day and night in case of an emergency landing, he knew that there had been an element of luck. The chances of a plane hitting the water just right to remain intact were low.
‘Dad, that’s what I’m going to do when I grow up,’ said the boy excitedly.
‘What’s that, son?’
‘I’m gonna be captain of my own plane. And someday, I’m gonna save lives, just like him.’
Wei turned towards his young son and smiled. ‘Of course you are, son.’
The boy faced his father, stood firmly to attention and saluted.
‘Captain Weng Lim reporting for duty,’ said the boy, with a mischievous grin.
His father smiled at him before standing to attention and saluting back.
‘Welcome aboard, Captain Lim,’ he replied with a huge surge of fatherly pride. ‘Your plane is now ready for you.’
14 – The Eternal Ocean
‘Hi, Theo, it’s me, Rubes. How’s it going? Long time, no speak, as you would say. I hope you and Larissa are still enjoying your Ascent. Did you get to see the Necrolon Singularity? If you haven’t, you really should. It’s like nothing you’ll ever see. Simulations don’t do it justice. You’ve got to see it for yourself. Lara couldn’t get her head around why you didn’t come with us. I dare say Abs has tried to explain it to her, but you know what she’s like. I have to say, I was a bit surprised at first to see those two becoming friends. But you know what, I think it works. He’s really patient with her, and I think that helps. She’s chattier these days, isn’t she?
Anyway mate, I’ve got something to tell you. It’s big, really big. You see, I’ve been given a new assignment by the Paltoor Council and it’s not on Polisium Prime. I’m now living on the H’th’hka homeworld. I can’t go into detail as you can probably imagine, but suffice to say it seems that I’ve impressed them enough to request my presence. God knows how though. I don’t know for sure how long I’ll be away for. It could be a year or it could be longer. It’s such a big change for me, and to tell you the truth, I don’t know whether I’m up to it. But you know what? I’m going to do my best – my absolute best. Their people are in pain, and if I can somehow be a part of their healing process, I’d like to try.
Anyway, I’ve been here for two days now, on Ch’Dath, and one thing I can say is that it’s nothing like Polisium. For a start, you have to wear these breather things when you go outside because of the high levels of carbon dioxide. Although there’s plenty of oxygen, you would die within ten minutes without one. Although they breathe oxygen like us and can breathe our air without a problem, they prefer their own atmosphere. I’m told it helps their shell stay hard. If they breathed our atmosphere for too long, it would go all squidgy. Is there such a word as squidgy? I don’t really know. Their planet isn’t too densely populated. There are only two and a half billion of them, which is just less than half the population of Polisium. A lot of the land is covered in jungle or forest. It’s warm and humid outside, and it rains a lot. In fact, the climate reminds me a bit of Sri Lanka in the rainy season. Anyway, I digress.
Obviously, I can’t go into detail about exactly what I’m doing here, although I imagine that you could take a pretty good guess. But the point is that it’s going to be a while before I see you and the rest of the gang. And although we’ll be able to keep in touch like this, it’s not the same as being able to see and talk to each other. For a start, I’m only allowed to send and receive one message a day. But you know what? In a strange way, it might be good for me. You’ve probably noticed I haven’t been myself lately, so I’m trying to change that. I’ve now started meditating. Yes, you heard me, meditating. Look up ‘Nu Dalhi ne Coraz’ on your companion. That’ll tell you all you need to know. It may sound all weird and new age, but trust me, it’s helping. I feel calmer already. Perhaps you might benefit from it as well.
Anyway, I’m going to keep this brief as I don’t want to bore you. In fact, I think I can already hear you yawning. So look, please drop me a line. Tell me what you’re up to and let me know when you get back to Polisium Prime. All fun and no work makes Theo a dull boy. And give my regards to Larissa. I hope you two are getting on well. No really, I do. So look, don’t be a stranger and drop me a line sometime. You never know, you might enjoy being able to talk without me answering back.
Anyway, bye for now. Love Rubes.’
‘What is it, Theo?’ said Larissa as she looked into his face, which had suddenly dropped.
But Theo just stared ahead in silence.
‘Theo,’ said Larissa firmly.
Startled, Theo turned towards her. ‘S…sorry. I erm, I…’
‘Has something happened, Theo?’
‘I’ve just had a message – from Ruby.’
‘What is it? Is she OK – has she been hurt?’
‘N… no, it’s not that.’
‘Well, what is it then?’
‘She’s left,’ said Theo solemnly.
‘What do you mean, she’s left? Has she gone back to Earth? I thought that wasn’t allowed. I thought…’
‘No, I mean she’s left Polisium Prime. She’s gone to Ch’Dath.’
‘Why?’
‘I don’t know exactly. All she said was that they’d requested her presence.’
‘Well it’s her job then, isn’t it? It’s obviously some sort of diplomatic mission or conference.’
‘No, it’s more than that. She’s gone to live there.’
‘To live there? For how long?’
‘A year or more, I don’t know. It might be forever for all I know,’ said Theo, feeling sick as he spoke.
Larissa dropped her head and sighed. Then she looked back at Theo.
‘If it’s her job, then it can’t be helped, can it?’
‘Whatever,’ said Theo, irritably.
‘Theo, what’s wrong with you? Why are you so angry? She’s got an important job and she…’
‘My friend’s leaving me, don’t you get it?’
‘To be honest, no I don’t. I mean, yeah of course you’ll miss her and so will I. But she’s got to do her own thing, just like you have.’
‘But the Paltoor Council is on Polisium. Why does she have to leave?’
‘Theo, she…’
‘I mean, they wouldn’t have forced her, would they? I’m sure she had a choice. Why couldn’t she just stay?’
Larissa put her hand calmly on his shoulder. ‘Let her go, Theo.’
‘I don’t want to let her go,’ said Theo, yanking his shoulder away from Larissa. ‘She’s my best mate.’
Larissa clenched her fists together – her arms shaking with barely suppressed anger.
‘What the hell is it with you two?’ she yelled finally, startling Theo.
Theo looked back at her, open-mouthed. It was the first time he had ever heard her raise her voice.
‘No Larissa, I…’
‘I mean, I thought we were, you know, close now,’ she continued, still angry. ‘But every time we’re alone, I feel like she’s there as well.’
Theo put his hands to his temples, squeezed his eyes shut and yelled angrily – a wordless wail of frustration. Then he sat down on the edge of his fold out bed and sighed.
Larissa just stood and stared at him silently – sternly.
Finally, he looked back up and smiled weakly.
‘Sorry, Lari,’ he said, tears welling up in his eyes.
Larissa sat down beside him and looked at the floor. ‘Me too,’ she replied quietly. ‘I’m sorry I shouted.’
‘It’s just that everybody I care about leaves me.’
‘Don’t take this the wrong way, but are you sure that’s all it is?’
Theo stared forwards in silence, deep in thought. Then he looked back at her.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, I mean, if you two want to, you know, be together, I won’t stand in the way. You know that, don’t you?’
Theo’s eyes wi
dened as he looked into Larissa’s beautifully proportioned face.
‘No, no, it’s not like that. It’s just that she’s always been there for me, looking out for me – watching my back. Now she’s off and I feel like I’ve lost her.’
‘Well I’m sure they’ll let you keep in touch.’
‘I suppose.’
‘And in the meantime, you’ll just have to make do with me,’ said Larissa nudging him in the shoulder.
Theo looked back at her, and a faint glimmer of a smile curled around his lips. Then he leant over and kissed her on the cheek. ‘You’ll do, I suppose.’
Larissa put her arm around him and squeezed tightly. ‘Was that our first row, Theo?’
Theo sighed and looked at the floor. ‘Yeah, I suppose it was.’
‘Don’t let it happen too often.’
‘No chance. I’m not losing you.’
Larissa turned and looked deep into his eyes, her mouth open slightly as if she was about to lean over and kiss him. For a moment, Theo held her gaze, readying himself for what might be coming next – his stomach rolling in nervous excitement. But instead, Larissa sighed, rose from the bed and walked away towards the viewing window at the front of the ship. Had she been waiting for him to kiss her?
*
The transport ship arrived thirty minutes later at the massive wheel-like space station, suspended above the vast ocean planet of Antalothis, which Theo and Larissa had decided would be the final stop on their Ascent. Both had agreed that although they had enjoyed their time together exploring the Universe and had seen things the like of which they had never imagined in their wildest dreams, they had begun to miss their homes and even their jobs, not to mention a decent meal; the free pre-packed supplies that had been available to them at their various stop off points, although nutritionally balanced, were really rather dull.
Theo had explained to Larissa that the world they were visiting was a world like no other. It was almost twice the diameter of Polisium, yet the gravity at its surface was only twenty percent higher. A giant ocean completely covered the planet and was anything between sixty and seventy kilometres deep. Although there were no visible land masses, colonies of plants, knotted together with thick roots and buoyant with air filled floatation bags, formed vast, floating, living islands, in some cases several kilometres across. Some were even visible from orbit. The colonies were also home to a huge variety of aquatic animal life forms, which nested, bred and hunted within the underwater roots.
