Takeoff Tales 5

MISSING

Chapter 1

Green with Envy

Captain Dave Ringway of AEROSOL Airlines was very excited.

“It’s official!” he cried, bursting into the office.  “We’ve secured the new long haul routes to Cuba!”

“Fantastic news!” First Officer Natasha replied.  “It’s a really trendy holiday destination and it’ll really put AEROSOL up there with the other big carriers!”

This news had not gone unnoticed by Captain Tex Kramer of BudJet airlines - AEROSOL’s bitter rival.

“So, they’ve added Cuba to their list of destinations, have they?” the pilot smirked.  “Excellent…we can use this to our advantage.”

“What’s excellent about it?” Freddie and Laker asked.   “They’ll get way more passengers than us…we only do short haul!”

“Ah, you two lack the intelligence to see the bigger picture, don’t you?  Have you forgotten that the anti-plane group Greensleeves are planning to hold a protest at Manchester tomorrow?  I plan to make those tree huggers aware of just how damaging to the environment AEROSOL really is.  Maybe then they’ll stop focusing on my airline and start targeting AEROSOL instead!”

“Ohh, that’s a good idea, Captain!”

“Indeed it is.  Anything that causes trouble for that goody-two shoes Captain Ringway makes me a happy pilot!”

Over at Terminal 1, Oscar had just received some very good news.

“You want me to fly to Cuba?” the excited Airbus A340 said.

“Affirmative,” Captain Ringway replied.  “Oscar, it’s about time you were given some more challenging routes to fill your days.  You are built for long haul after all and at the moment you’re stuck doing medium haul - which would be better suited to the likes of Lima and Mike.”

“Gosh how exciting.  And to think just a year ago I was terrified of flying and couldn’t leave the ground!”

“You’ve come a long way, Oscar…that’s why I know the Cuba route will be ideal for you.”

Victor the 777 looked disappointed.  “But I wanted to do that route!” he sulked.

“Don’t be greedy, Victor,” said Captain Ringway.  “You already do all the transatlantic routes.

“Transatlantic routes are boring,” Victor moaned.  “I want a change!  Echo and I deserve some better routes.  Why can’t Echo get the Cuba route?  She’s the newest plane in our fleet and besides, she’s my girlfriend so she should get priority!”

The other planes groaned.

Echo, a Boeing 787, was the latest addition to AEROSOL’s Manchester based fleet.  It had been a real stroke of luck for the airline to secure the state-of-the-art airliner so quickly.

“Echo will be doing plenty of interesting long haul routes, don’t you worry,” Captain Ringway said.  “We’ll make sure she has plenty of flying to fill her days, but Oscar needs to stretch his wings a bit more - so to speak.  He has led a very sheltered life…lived in an ivory hangar…er, tower.”

The boss of AEROSOL Airlines was very eager to fly out to Cuba and inspect the new airport terminal.

“I propose that a select group of airline employees and myself travel out there for a tour,” he said in the morning meeting.  Captain Ringway and the other pilots tried to look interested as they were forced to endure yet another uninteresting PowerPoint presentation.

“I hate these staff meetings,” Captain Ringway whispered to Natasha.  “They’re as boring as being stuck in a holding pattern.”

“So for tomorrow’s special flight to the new AEROSOL terminal at Havana, I am pleased to announce that Captain Dave Ringway has been selected along with a relief crew and Natasha DeHavilland as First Officer,” the boss said.

Captain Ringway almost choked on his coffee.

“What?  Tomorrow?  That’s a bit short notice, isn’t it?  I was supposed to be flying to Rhodes tomorrow…”

“At least we’ll miss that Greensleeves demonstration,” Natasha replied.

“Hmm, flying to Cuba with a load of nit-picking AEROSOL bigwigs onboard or incurring the wrath of green campaigners…I don’t know what’s worse, really.”

Next morning there was a lot of commotion down by the Aviation Viewing Park.

“It’s like Piccadilly Circus over there,” Victor said as he rushed to tell the other planes the gossip.

“What’s all the fuss?  I saw a big fight break out earlier,” Lima replied.

“You got it.  You see, the tree huggers started setting up camp on the planespotters’ patch and they’re none too happy about having their spotting disrupted.  Man, you should see those guys…makes me glad to see so many who are willing to defend us planes!”

Sam, one of the oldest and most experienced planespotters, was in a showdown with Grogsy, the leader of Greensleeves.

“I am most displeased to have missed the Antonov landing at Manchester,” Sam exclaimed.  “Your banners are obstructing our views of the runways.”

“Rubbish!” Grogsy yelled.  “A plane that size – why, you could see it from any angle!   Besides, the environment is more important than your stupid hobby.  Have you forgotten?  That’s why we’re here in the first place - to dissuade people like you from flying!”

“My dear unshaven fellow - I have never flown on a plane in my life,” Sam replied.  “I merely observe planes.”

“You tell him, Sam!” some other planespotters shouted.

“There’s plenty of room opposite the park, so why don’t you lot go and protest there?” Sam muttered.

Grogsy thought for a moment.  “The old codger has a point.  We would be able to be noticed better from over there.  Besides, I dislike being so close to that Concorde that’s on display here.  It keeps giving me funny looks.  Let’s leave these plane nutters and start work on some proper airport campaigning!”

As Grogsy and his supporters departed, the Concorde opened her eyes.  

“The cheek of it…as if I would give him so much as a look…humph!”

Freddie and Laker of BudJet watched the Greensleeves protesters assemble opposite Runway 2.

“What’s their plan then?” Freddie wondered.  “They won’t see many takeoffs and landings from over there - the airport’s using the other runway today because of the wind.”

“Wind is exactly what I intend to show them,” said Laker.  “What do you think?” The 737 had fitted two large wind turbines on his wings.

“You moron!  Who programmed that idea into your FMC?” Freddie gasped.  “You can’t possibly take off with those silly things bolted to your wings!  The CAA will never allow it!  If you ask me, your plan to go green is a load of hot air!”

“The CAA aren’t going to know - and I’m not planning to take off, I’m just gonna impress those greenies.  Like the Captain said, we have to make ourselves look good to the tree huggers and bad-mouth AEROSOL.”

“Oh yeah.”

Laker nervously taxied over to the perimeter fence.  “These green lot give me the shivers in my hydraulics…hope I don’t get booed.  I was never good at handling criticism.”

Grogsy stared in disbelief at the approaching plane.

“You know something, Marshy,” he said to a sidekick, “I swear this particular airport gets crazier every year.  Look at this plane for example.  Have you ever seen anything as ludicrous as that?”

“You people should be pleased with me!” Laker yelled.  “My airline makes an effort to go green!”

“Ignore him,” Marshy whispered.  “We’re not supposed to engage in conversation with our enemies - the winged polluters.”

“Hmm, I’m intrigued by this wind turbine idea though,” said Grogsy.  “I want to find out more.”  He walked towards the fence.  “Hey plane, what kind of power output do those turbines produce?”

“My name’s Laker.”

“Sorry…Laker then,” said Grogsy.

Laker had to think fast.  “Hard to believe, I know, but all my cabin lights and the onboard entertainment systems can be powered by these things.”

“That’s pretty good,” some of the other protesters muttered.

“Shut up you lot!” Grogsy shouted.  “It’s not good at all!  The purpose of wind turbines is to replace fossil fuels!  I doubt this plane could fly just by wind power!”

Laker pulled a face.  “What?  Have you folks never heard of the Gimli Glider?”

Grogsy looked confused.

“It was an airliner that ran out of fuel and had to glide.”

“Hmm, that sounds like a very green plane.”

“But not one you’d like to be on.  Think of the health and safety regulations!!”

A splendid debate was developing amongst the Greensleeves campaigners.

“Why am I always the last person to be told about these things?” Grogsy shouted.  “I want more research undertaken into these Gimli Gliders.”

“We could do a flash mob at Manchester Gliding Club,” someone piped up.

“No, we can’t go there!” Grogsy replied with a horrified expression.  “My dad works there as chief training pilot!”

Laker gave a crafty smile.  “Want to hear about a truly shocking enviro-crime?  AEROSOL Airlines has just secured routes to Cuba!  They’re flying an A340 out there tomorrow with just THREE passengers onboard…isn’t that totally disgusting?”

“Ah, AEROSOL…always a pleasant airline though,” said Grogsy.  “Donated a lot of money to our Heathrow Airport Eco-Town project, they did…”

“And they even agreed to stop doing domestic flights too,” Marshy added.  “That’s what we like to see.  Responsible airlines doing their bit for the planet.”

“Unlike that horrid BudJet airline.”

Laker froze in horror.

Grogsy pulled a face.  “Ugh if I ever see a plane from BudJet I’ll…hey, wait a minute!”

Laker was taxiing back to the terminal as fast as he could!  He got back just in time, as the wind turbines bolted to his wings began to wobble.

“Uh oh,” he said as they broke free and tumbled to the ground.  One landed with a sickening thud on top of a beautifully polished Rolls Royce.

“Nice one Laker.  You’ve just KO’d Captain Kramer’s car!”

“What??”

Suddenly Captain Kramer appeared!

“Son of a Boeing!” he exclaimed, noticing his wrecked car and the wind turbines.  “Those rotten environmental activists!  If I ever catch the scumbags who did this, I’ll plant a size 9 carbon footprint on their Fairtrade backsides!”

Freddie and Laker said nothing.

“Did you two see them do this?”

“No, Captain.”

“A sneak attack!” Captain Kramer fumed.  “How the devil do these eco-terrorists keep getting past the security?  I’m going to complain to the airport police about this.”

“Good idea, Captain,” Freddie said while Laker nudged him.

“All the hours I put into polishing that beautiful car…my beautiful baby! And all the road tax I forked out!  Only for her to be cruelly attacked like this!”

The enraged pilot stormed off.

“Wow, some people really get attached to their cars, don’t they?” Freddie giggled.  “For your sake Laker, I really hope the 'attack' hasn’t been captured on CCTV!”

Chapter 2

Flight 25

“Try to stop shaking, Oscar!”  Captain Ringway said as he attempted to give the plane a pre-flight inspection.

“Sorry, Captain, but I’m just so excited!  I’ve never flown to Cuba before and this is my first proper long haul route!”

“Make sure you’re fully fueled up and ready.  The manager of AEROSOL will be traveling with us so we must make a good impression.  No joking about turbulence and explosive decompressions, Oscar.  No talking about Deal Or No Deal, and for heaven’s sake - PLEASE, no more quotes from  Airplane!”

“Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit Airplane quotes.”

The pilot glared at him.

“Sorry…couldn’t resist!”

“This specially built AEROSOL terminal at Havana sounds brilliant,” Janine said as she and the other cabin crew prepared to board.

“No expense spared,” Oscar butted in.  “I heard about it from another plane who’s been to Cuba.  State of the art, it is.  Even has a hotel for when there are flight delays and everything’s brand new - chairs not sat in, beds not slept in, toilets not…”

“Er yes, I think we get the point, Oscar,” Captain Ringway replied, hastily interrupting.  “Hush now, the manager’s coming.”

“Good day, Captain,” Mr Patroni the AEROSOL manager said.  “I trust everything is on schedule?”

“Precision timing, no delays whatsoever,” Captain Ringway replied.  “We’re all ready to go.”

“Excellent…well, I shall get myself seated and prepared for the cabin crew’s safety demonstration.  Seeing as there are only three of us traveling, methinks I shall take a seat up at the front!”

“Oh wherever you like sir, your comfort is our number one priority!” Captain Ringway insisted, breathing a sigh of relief when Mr Patroni was out of sight.

“Don’t you just hate being put on the spot like that?” he whispered to Janine and the other pilots.

“Don’t worry, once the in-flight movie gets going then you won’t hear a peep out of him or the other two bigwigs,” Janine smiled.

“What in-flight movie will you be showing?”

“Airplane, I believe.  It’s Mr Patroni’s favorite film.”

Captain Ringway shook his head.  “Surely you cannot be serious?”

“She is serious!” Oscar interrupted.  “And don’t call her SHIRLEY!”

“Have a good flight, Oscar,” Victor said as the big A340 began to back away from the gate.  “Shame you’re missing all the fun back here though.”

“What fun?”

“Captain Kramer versus the green campaigners.  It’s hilarious.  He’s at the fence arguing with them right now.  I’m going to get in touch with the Moon newspaper and see if they’ll do an article about it!”

“Just try to stay out of trouble, Victor!” Oscar groaned.

Meanwhile, over by the perimeter fence….

“For the thousandth time, we didn’t vandalize your stupid car!” Grogsy yelled at an irate Captain Kramer.  “Although whoever did deserves a pat on the back!”

“You are a load of lying troublemakers!”  Kramer yelled.  “Why don’t you get off your idle, carbon-neutral backsides and get jobs?  People like me forced to fork out for lazy idiots like you, makes me sick!”

“Your comments are despicable!”  Grogsy shouted back.  “Not content with insulting the environment, you insult us too.  You won’t be laughing when your horrid airline goes out of business thanks to the high oil prices!”

The protesters all cheered.

“Oil prices don’t concern me,” Captain Kramer snapped back.  “My airline operates two state of the art and highly efficient airliners.  It is the likes of AEROSOL whom you should be protesting against.  Look at them - sending their empty A340 off to Cuba!   Go on - target them!  I’ll pay for you to protest against that airline!”

“We don’t take bribes,” said Grogsy.  “We’ve no quarrel with AEROSOL.  You see, unlike BudJet, they don’t do unfair and dishonest practices.  We know it was you who got us in trouble with the police last time, got us all fingerprinted and banged up for no reason at all.  Those things you wrote about us on that website were utter lies!  We pity anyone who has to fly with a horrid pilot like you!”

Captain Kramer was incandescent with rage.

“You unwashed hippies think you’ve outwitted me, don’t you?  Well, I am a patient man and you’d do well to remember that I have friends in high places.  Watch your backs, Greensleeves...there’s a big Inconvenient Truth coming your way!”  

Captain Kramer stormed off.

Grogsy took a deep breath.  “Man, I thought he was never going to leave.  That guy is a total psycho.”

“Credit where credit’s due though,” Marshy replied.  “Takes guts to stand up and face 200 of us like that.”

“He wouldn’t have been so bold if there hadn’t been a fence between us!  Ooh I think I need a cup of organic ethical coffee to settle my nerves.”

“I’m afraid the coffee has run out, Grog,” said Marshy.  “But don’t worry, me and a few of the others managed to slip off to the Tesco at Heald Green and we picked up some more.”

“Tesco?  You bought something from Tesco?” Grogsy spluttered.

“Just some packets of crisps, biscuits, sarnies.  We’re all getting a bit hungry out here.”

“Aggh, how could you!  Shopping at a big, evil corporation like Tesco!  And you even used a plastic carrier bag!  What a shocking enviro-crime!  Marshy, you have failed me!”  Grogsy dropped to his knees.  “Sorry Earth!  Please forgive us, for we have sinned against the planet!”

“They’re nice biscuits, Grog,” said Marshy.  “Vegan certified.”

“AGGHHHH!  Boycott the evil non-ethical biscuits!”

“I thought we were protesting against air travel,” said Marshy.  “Hmm, I do like these biscuits,” he said, munching another one.  “Oh look, there goes one of AEROSOL’s planes.  That’s an Airbus A340.  You know something…I know it’s heresy to say such a thing, but I actually rather like aeroplanes.”

Poor Grogsy looked to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown.  

“You’re fired!” he yelled at Marshy.

Oscar climbed into the sky, leaving Manchester Airport behind.  

“Ahh, it feels so good to be airborne again!  And it’s a perfect day for flying!  I can’t wait to see Cuba…I bet there are some really cool planes there!”

“All in good time, Oscar,” Captain Ringway said as he raised the plane’s landing gear.  “Now concentrate on reaching your cruising altitude, please.  We have a long way to go.”

“Roger, received and understood!”

Chapter 3

Turbulence

Several hours into the long flight and so far all was routine and uneventful.  However, out in the Caribbean, storm-bruised clouds were gathering over Bermuda and heading south.  Captain Ringway was monitoring the weather on the onboard computer systems.

“Hmm, think we’ll get there before the storm does?  I’d hate to endure a wet landing.”

“I reckon we’ll avoid it,” First Officer Natasha replied.  “So far it’s been clear, calm skies all the way here.  Not a hint of turbulence.”

“I wish all my flights were as easy and relaxing as this one!”

Presently, Janine entered the cockpit.

“Thought you guys might like some coffee.  Everything going okay?”

“Cheers Janine, and yes, everything’s great.  How are our three executive passengers doing?”

“The Boss is sleeping like a baby…and snoring like one too.  I’m surprised you can’t hear his snores, almost as loud as Concorde taking off.”

“The champagne and caviar worked a treat then?”

“Yes.  We really pushed the boat out for these three.  AEROSOL’s been serving the kind of food you only find on private jets!”

Whilst the crew laughed and joked, Oscar silently carried on along his flight path, a dim but persistent sense of fear growing inside him.  Something wasn’t right.  A peculiar sense of wrongness overcame him.  He could not identify the reasons for his sudden negative feelings but his unease lingered nonetheless.

“Do you remember that red-eye to Orlando?” Captain Ringway laughed as he enjoyed his cup of coffee.  “I had the unenviable job of flying Victor the 777.  What an experience that was.”

“I remember that flight,” Janine replied.  “Much as I’d like to forget it, I can’t!”

Their conversation was interrupted by a sudden bout of turbulence.

“Whoa,” Captain Ringway said, almost spilling his coffee.  “That was a close one!”

“Indeed.  Remember what happened last time you spilled a cup of coffee?”

“I told you never to mention that!  Hey, it’s getting a bit bumpy.”

“I’d better go and check on Patroni.  Heaven forbid he starts panicking.”

As Janine left the cockpit, Captain Ringway and Natasha focused on their controls.

“Happens every time, doesn’t it - there you are, just cruising along calmly and then a bloomin’ big patch of turbulence arrives.”

Mr Patroni’s in-flight slumber had been rudely interrupted.  

“I say, what the devil’s going on here?” he spluttered.  “Bad wind shears?”

The other two AEROSOL officials looked equally concerned.

“It’s just a patch of turbulence,” Janine and Ruby reassured them.  “Really, there’s no cause for alarm, it’s perfectly normal.”

The plane lurched violently to the left, knocking the two flight attendants sideways.

“Normal, you say?” Mr Patroni remarked.  “Sure wouldn’t like to experience anything AB-normal.”

“Fasten your seatbelt,” Janine said to Ruby.  “This is a nasty patch of turbulence.  We’d better just tough it out and stay seated.”

“Thank heavens we don’t have 300 passengers to contend with!”

The strong winds were buffeting Oscar as though he were a flimsy model aircraft made from balsa wood.

“How did this weather change so rapidly?” he said as the winds lashed against his face.  “Captain, I don’t like this!  Something’s wrong!”

“Now Oscar, calm down,” Captain Ringway said through the radio.  “You’re a plane - you know what turbulence is like.”

“But this isn’t normal turbulence…and I’m too low…pull me up!”

“What’s he talking about, being too low?”  Natasha said, checking the altimeter.  “Last I checked we were at…oh my God!  How did we get to 1000 feet?”

“What?” Captain Ringway gasped.  “That can’t be right!  We were at Flight Level 350!  To descend so suddenly we’d have had to have been in freefall…but none of us felt anything!”

Alarm started to set in when the two pilots suddenly realized that they had drifted far off course.

“What’s happening here?” Captain Ringway said, checking the instruments.  “Did we miss the last radio beacon?”

To guide Oscar on his proper, pre-programmed flight path, he must pass over a series of waypoints - radio beacons at fixed positions along his route.  Oscar’s computerized brain picks up these signals one after the other to guide him safely to his destination.

“We passed the last one ages ago and we should be passing over the next…”

“Captain!”  Oscar interrupted.  “Something’s pulling me over to the left!”

Natasha shook her head.  “He can’t be right there.”

Oscar was growing more and more concerned.  He was no longer on his set flight path and knew he was flying into unknown territory.

“That does it!  I’m not going to become another statistic!  I’m not going to be featured on Air Crash Investigation!  I’m going to officially start panicking now!”

Oscar switched into full on Panic Mode (which basically means when an airliner feels afraid it sets off the cockpit alarms and warning systems).

BEEP BEEP BEEP..BRRR...BRRR…TRAFFIC..TRAFFIC…

“Oscar, this is no time to start panicking!!” Captain Ringway yelled as he struggled to think over the noise of the alarms.

“TOO… LOW… TERRAIN!”

“What in the name of Biggles is going on in that cockpit?” Mr Patroni shouted, unfastening his seatbelt as the din was broadcast over the intercom.  “I want an explanation!”

“Sir, you can’t go in there!” Janine wailed, blocking him.  “Security regulations!  No passengers on the flight deck!”

Mr Patroni was losing his patience.  “I’m the manager of this airline!”

“That may be, sir, but Captain Ringway is the one in charge of the aircraft so please return to your seat!” Janine said with a pained smile.  “I’ll bring you something to settle your nerves.  How about another cup of tea?”

“I’d prefer something stronger!”

“Or you could have a cup of coffee instead.”

“Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit drinking caffeine,” Mr Patroni muttered.

Oscar was growing hysterical.  “Save me, Captain!  Save me!” he wailed.  “I don’t want to ditch in the sea…I can’t swim…don’t let me crash!  HELP!!”

“Oscar, we’re doing our best to regain control of the situation but you’ve got to stop panicking!”

“That’s just the problem - I’ve been programmed to panic.  It’s what I do best!  When I was built I must have had a panic protocol installed in my avionics!”

“Planes aren’t supposed to panic!”  Natasha yelled.  

Captain Ringway disengaged the autopilot.  “I’ll fly you now, Oscar, just relax and leave it to me.”  But the more he tried to turn to the right, the more the plane turned left.  He gripped the controls so hard his fingernails turned white.

Oscar coughed and gagged.  “Captain, you’re throttling me…literally!  Stop squeezing so hard!”

It was like an invisible force was pulling Oscar onto a different flight path.

“The radio’s gone dead - I can’t get through to ATC!”

Captain Ringway took a deep breath.  This incident was going to stretch his skills as a senior pilot to the limit.

“You know something,” Mr Patroni said to Janine, “in southeast Asia they call this kind of thing 'bad karma'.”

“I’d call it bad weather,” Janine said.  “You know there have been reports of hurricanes out in the Caribbean.  I’m sure that’s what’s causing all this.”

Oscar’s engines were being pushed beyond their limits.

“Yeeeoowwch!  Too hot!  Take it easy, Captain!  I can’t take much more!”

“He can’t take much more!”  Natasha replied.  “Shut down 1 and 2.”

“Well, he’s gonna get it.”

“Captain, shut me down!” Oscar yelled.  “Is anyone listening?”

“Didn’t you hear him?  Shut them down!”

“I can’t hear a thing, there’s too much noise in this cockpit,” Captain Ringway replied.  “Hold on!  We’re going for broke!”

“Pilot brutality!  Pilot brutality!”  Oscar screamed as pain shot through his engines.  “This is plane abuse!  First thing I’m doing if I ever get back to MAN is to report you to PETA!!”

“PETA?” Natasha wondered.

“People for the Ethical Treatment of Aircraft!”

Captain Ringway gripped Oscar’s controls again and they finally began to respond.

“Yes!  Finally we’re getting somewhere!”

“The flight manual said that was impossible.”

“Yeah well, that’s the nice thing about the Airbus A340.  It can do everything but read.”

“Actually I can read,” Oscar butted in.  “It’s just difficult for us airliners to find magazines big enough for to see without squinting, so there!”

For the moment, everything seemed to be returning to straight and level.

“Try contacting ATC again,” Captain Ringway said to Natasha.

Meanwhile in the cabin, Mr Patroni was arguing with the other two AEROSOL employees.

“Don't talk to me about consequences!  When the Government voted to cut airport operations, you never even sent in a letter of protest.   And where were you when the airlines and the pilots and the rest of us were asking...were pleading for...more airports and better traffic control?  You were picking out the colours in the ladies' lounge. So now you've got your consequences!”

“That Minister for Aviation is a horrid little man and you know it, Patroni.  Like the bloke who runs that BudJet Airline…disappeared up his own APU exhaust he did, and…”

“Gentlemen…now this is hardly the time and the place!  Can we all try and calm down?” Janine pleaded.

“About those Heathrow landing slots,” Mr Patroni went on.  “I told you I was willing to give those up.  I firmly believe the future is better if AEROSOL sticks with Manchester as the main hub.  It’s always been our base.  It’s our past, present and future.  Heathrow is overcrowded and a mess.  And the planes who fly there are rude.  Never seen such badly behaved aircraft in my whole life.  AEROSOL planes command respect and good manners.  We don’t want our planes behaving like freight dogs.”

“Would anyone like some more coffee?” Janine suggested.

Oscar was whingeing and moaning.

“Racked with pain!” he wailed.  “That’s what I am!  Vibrations!  Can’t you feel them, Captain?  I probably have structural damage.  I could be mortally wounded.  You pushed me too hard, Captain!  Doomed, that’s what I am!”

“Will you shut up, you neurotic twerp!” Captain Ringway snapped.  “I need to concentrate on getting some kind of order back here.  How the heck we drifted off the flight path and ended up at this low altitude I’ll never know.  But we must get in touch with ATC so we can…”

“Captain, what’s that?”

“What now?”

A huge ball of light was heading straight for the A340.

Oscar closed his eyes as a massive bolt of lightning engulfed him.  Then everything went black…

Chapter 4

The Island

Oscar slowly opened his eyes.  He was on the ground but didn’t know how he’d landed.  The air was cool and damp.

“Did I crash?” he wondered, glancing around.  “This isn’t how I imagined Aeroplane Heaven to look like.”

Captain Ringway opened the cockpit window.  “You okay, Oscar?”

“Captain, you’re alive!” the plane gasped.

“Well…evidently, yes.  So are the others.”

“How did I land here?”  said Oscar.

“I’m trying to figure that out.  I don’t have a clue where we are but I must admit I’m glad we landed safely.”

Oscar appeared to have landed on an island of some sort.  So far it appeared to be uninhabited.

“There must be some people living here,” he thought, observing the long tarmac runway he was parked on.  “Maybe this is some kind of Caribbean military base or something.  I must’ve been diverted here after that terrible storm last night.  But I can’t remember a thing…just the lightning…”

“What a flight,” groaned Mr Patroni as he staggered out of his seat and down the aisle.  “I’m absolutely covered in bruises.  Heaven knows what my wife will think.  This is no way to run an airline!”

Janine ignored him and raced to the cockpit.

“Dave, Natasha, are you alright?”

“We’re fine, Jan,” Captain Ringway replied.  “Apparently we’ve landed…somewhere but I don’t know how we got here!”

“Did you try to radio the ATC?”

“It’s dead.  Can’t get any kind of response.  Phones aren’t working either.  Seems like we have a total communications blackout.”

“Great, that’s all we need,” Janine groaned.  “So much for our good impression.  Patroni’s driving me crazy.  We’ll never get those bonuses now, will we?”

“Right now, I think we’d better have a look around this place we’ve landed at,” Natasha replied.  “I’m getting pins and needles being stuck in this cramped cockpit.  I think it was disgraceful how that lousy relief crew made an excuse not to travel with us!  Not that it would’ve made much difference last night...I mean that was one heck of a storm…”

Captain Ringway opened the door.  “How are we going to get down?  I guess I forgot just how big a plane Oscar really is.”

“By deploying one of the emergency chutes, perhaps?” Janine suggested helpfully.

“Oh yes, of course!  Although is this an emergency?”

“Well, seeing as we seem to be the only people here, does it matter if we put aside the correct airline protocol this time?”

“Guess you’re right.”

“The cabin crew’s way, saves the day!”

Janine inflated one of the yellow emergency chutes, which alarmed Oscar.

“Hey, what are you doing?  I’m not about to catch fire, am I?”

“Relax Oscar, everything’s fine.  We just need a way to disembark, seeing as we have no stairs.”

“Oh is that all?” the Airbus said, raising his wing.  “Why don’t you just jump on my wing and I’ll lift you down?”

“I think I prefer the slide,” but thanks for the offer.” Janine said.

Mr Patroni glanced nervously at the slide.

“Surely you’re not expecting me to slide down that thing?  It’s very high.”

“Her name isn’t Shirley!” Oscar piped up.

“Why don’t you stay on the plane, sir?” Janine said, frowning when he wasn’t looking.  “There’s no need for all of us to disembark.  Besides, won’t Mr Hawker and Mr Siddeley prefer to stay onboard too?”

“They’re still asleep,” Patroni replied.  “How on earth anyone could’ve slept through that I don’t know.”

Janine, Natasha, Ruby and Captain Ringway left Patroni and the other two men onboard and began to explore their surroundings.

“How about that?  Seems to me like we’ve landed on some paradise island!  This place is beautiful!  Reminds me of those Bounty adverts - do you remember those, Janine?”

“Ooh yes!  I don’t mind being stranded here at all - but maybe we should try and find the authorities who live here first and report back to Havana - let them know we’re all okay.”

“They probably know and that’s why we were diverted here.  I still don’t get it how we ended up here and didn’t remember it.  Oh well, not to worry.”

The island’s beach was full of completely white sand.  It curved round like a half-moon.  Beyond it lay a dense wooded area of lush palm trees and, in the distance, a craggy mountain peak, possibly an extinct volcano.  The island itself at first glance did not appear to be very large, perhaps only a few square miles, but it was impossible to figure out the exact dimensions at this time.

“What a beautiful beach,” said Ruby.  “Glorious white sand.  It’s lovely to walk on, all springy!”

“Sure beats being diverted to Gatwick, like last week’s Corfu flight, eh?” Natasha laughed.

Only Oscar remained uneasy.

“Guys, don’t leave me!” the plane wailed.  “I don’t like this place - something’s not right.  It gives me the creeps…I can feel it in my hydraulics!  Don’t you feel the creepiness?”

“Oh Oscar, do you ever stop panicking and worrying?” Captain Ringway shouted back.  “If every plane was like you, air travel would be a national joke!”

Oscar snorted and rattled his wings angrily.  “That’s it, mock me as usual.  You won’t be laughing if you wander into those trees and get lost…I don’t trust this island!  That forest looks dangerous…the kind of forest where people get strangled.  In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone was being strangled right now!”  He poked Captain Ringway in the back with his wingtip.

“AGGH!  For heaven’s sake, don’t do that!”

“Ha!  Made you jump!”

The Airbus A340 watched on apprehensively as he was left alone on the runway.

They wandered around the beach and tree-line for a while, hoping to find some trace of civilization, but so far the island appeared to be completely uninhabited.

“There’s probably a building or shelter in the middle of the jungle area,” said Captain Ringway.  “After all, what would a huge runway be doing on a tiny island like this?  Bet you any money we’re on some kind of air force base.”

Suddenly, there was a rumble in the sky.  Everyone looked up.  In seconds the heavens opened and rained down heavily on the island.

“Oh great!” Captain Ringway groaned.  “Looks like the British weather has followed us here.  Quick, back to the plane everyone!”

The four of them rushed back and boarded Oscar again.  Janine released the emergency chute in order to close the door.

“Don’t worry,” she said.  “There’s a rope ladder in the hold, if I remember rightly.  We can use that next time.”

Oscar was miserable as he had to endure the incessant rain whilst his passengers stayed safe and warm onboard him enjoying hot drinks and food.

“Some flight this turned out to be,” he grumbled as rain trickled down his fuselage and wings.  “I can’t stand rain…it’ll give me rheumatism in my fan blades!”  

All airliners hated weather.  Mainly because they were designed to fly up and above the weather level in the atmosphere.  And no plane liked to be on the ground longer than normal.  Already Oscar was itching to take off again but that was impossible right now.

The skies above the island were so black it was like the middle of the night.  Clouds blacker than liquorice loomed over the world below.  

Poor Oscar shuddered and tried to sleep, but found himself staring at an old gnarled tree just a few yards from him.  

“I’m sure that tree wasn’t there before.”  

The tree was twisted and almost as tall as him.  If he stared at it long enough it seemed to move closer to him.

“Cut that out,” the plane said, shaking his head.  “It’s the wind and rain making it move like that!”  

Oscar wished there was a nice, comfortable hangar he could taxi to, away from the tree.  A loud clap of thunder made his wing flaps stand on end in fright.

Captain Ringway entered the cockpit and picked up the microphone.

“You okay, Oscar?”

“Captain, I don’t like the tree.”

“What tree?”

“That tree out there.  It’s giving me massive evils.”

“Huh?”  The pilot squinted to see through the rain-streaked window.

“It’s just an old, old tree Oscar.  It’s keeping watch on us all.  I bet that tree existed before you were even built…possibly before I was born, even.”

“It’s creepy and I don’t like it.”

“Now Oscar, it’s just a harmless tree.  I don’t think it’s going to topple over and squash you!  You’re much bigger than it is!”

Lighting tore through the sky, then another thunderclap rent the air.

“Hear that?” Captain Ringway said.  “The storm is right overhead.  Bet if you count how many seconds there are between the next lightning flash and the next thunderclap, it’ll be more than before.  That means the storm is moving away from us.  You see, light travels faster than sound.  That’s why you see the lightning before you hear the thunder.”

“Cool.  I didn’t know that.”

Captain Ringway smiled.  “When you’re a pilot you start to understand every little quirk of the weather.  Feel better now?”

“Yes, Captain.”

“Excellent.  I’ll get back to my coffee then.”

Oscar felt like a small child who’d been comforted by a parent after being scared of the dark.  As the lightning flashed again, he began to count.

“One…two…three…”

Like all planes, Oscar liked counting.  That was one of the bonuses of having a computerized brain - you tended to have a head for figures.

“Four...five...six…”

BOOM!!

Oscar relaxed.  “Captain was right.  It is moving away from us.”  But then there was another, louder thunderclap.

Oscar gasped and looked at the tree.

“WAHHHH!!”

In seconds, the entire tree was alive and its branches were curling round the plane’s wings and back.

“Aggh!  The tree!  It’s alive!  CAPTAIN!!  Help me, the tree is trying to kill me!”  

The big plane struggled to free himself from the writhing mass of woody tentacles that threatened to engulf him.

“What’s going on?”  Captain Ringway shouted as the entire cabin began to rattle.  He opened one of the doors.

“Juddering joysticks!” he gasped as a tree branch shot through the door.  Screams of panic filled the cabin as a battle between tree, plane and human broke out.

Captain Ringway grabbed hold of a branch but was catapulted out through the door and hurled to the ground.

“Dave!” Janine screamed as she, Ruby and the others struggled to beat back the tree branches.

Captain Ringway had landed in the soft, wet sand and so was unhurt by the fall.  As he staggered to his feet, it was then that he noticed it.  It was in the trees beyond the beach.  Glowing, and a strange humming sound filled the air.  Even through the heavy rain, the low frequency throbbing noise assaulted his eardrums, far worse than the deafening sound of jet engines.  It was like the pounding beat from a rock concert.  

The phenomenon in the trees was like nothing he had ever witnessed before.  The amber glow emanated from a small group of closely packed palm trees and from the ground beneath, as if the leaf litter and sand were the incandescent elements of a lava lamp.  The light dazzled brighter than at first and the throbbing became louder, more forceful.

Captain Ringway realized he’d walked several meters towards the trees but did not remember doing so.  Punishing waves of bass sound throbbed through the rainy night at the rate of perhaps thirty a minute, but his heart was beating six times faster.  Captain Ringway was startled to see that the trees had moved closer to him.  He wanted to turn and run but couldn’t.  The glowing trees loomed.  He’d walked closer to the trees without even realizing it.

“No,” he said shakily.  He closed his eyes and found the strength to resist each pull of the throbbing waves of sound.

Meanwhile, Oscar was still fighting with the tree.  Out of the corner of his eye he noticed his pilot walking trance-like towards the tree-line…towards the light.  The plane shivered.  The tree coming alive had been a distraction.  

“Captain!”  Oscar yelled, but the pilot ignored him.

“Captain!  Stay away from the light!  Don’t walk into the light!”

Only a meter or so from the glowing trees, Captain Ringway stopped.  He was vaguely aware of somebody shouting his name.

The glowing amber light was now streaked with red, like blood in an egg yolk.  Captain Ringway couldn’t take his eyes off the brightness.  All of his senses seemed to be focused on the ghost light shining from within the trees and on the punishing, insistent sound.  

“Would you like to communicate?”  Captain Ringway said in a flat, trancelike voice.

Oscar’s eyes widened.  The pilot stepped over the threshold and into the light.

“No!!”

In an instant, Captain Ringway disappeared and the mysterious light faded away, along with the throbbing sound.  At the same time the rain eased and the tree relaxed its death grip on Oscar, retreating from him as though it had lost interest in attacking him.  Slowly it re-shaped and shrank back into its original form and ceased to move.

Janine poked her head out of the door.

“Dave!” she yelled.  “Oscar, are you alright?  Where’s your captain?”

“He’s gone!” the terrified plane sobbed.  “I told him not to walk into the light - but he did!”

Janine looked towards the trees.  There was no glowing light there now.  It was as if nothing had happened.  

“G-gone?”  Janine leaned against the door.  Life without Captain Dave Ringway was unimaginable!

“My Dave!  The love of my life!” she cried as Natasha and Ruby tried to comfort her.

Mr Patroni took a sip of coffee.  “Best darn pilot AEROSOL ever had.  Best darn pilot full stop.  Better than Striker, better than Mike Bannister.  Jeez, without Dave Ringway we’re pretty much up in the air without a flight plan.  Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit visiting the Samaritans.”

Oscar and his crew finally realized that the place they had landed on was no ordinary island.

“You know what you said earlier about bad karma?”  Ruby asked Mr Patroni.  “What did you mean exactly?”

“In a nutshell, well…we’re probably doomed.”

“Oh.”

“Can’t the First Officer just fly us out of here?” Mr Hawker interrupted.

Janine looked as if she’d had been stung by a wasp.

“Leave?  We can’t leave without Dave!  We’ve got to find him!  Somebody’s abducted him and we can’t leave this island until we get to the bottom of this!”

“We can’t leave full stop!” Oscar shouted, looking down.  “Look, the runway has disappeared!”

Mr Patroni poured himself a fifth cup of coffee.

“Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit holidaying without insurance.”

Chapter 5

Terrible News

“Disappeared?  Are you quite sure about that?”

“We’re certain, sir.  Havana air traffic control reports that Flight 25 never arrived.  As far as we can make out, it veered off its intended flight path at approximately 500 miles south of Bermuda.”

AEROSOL’s Public Relations Manager sank back in his chair, all color drained from his face.  Then the office door opened and some other AEROSOL executives and pilots entered.

“It’s what we feared.  One of our aircraft is missing.”

The PR Manager shook his head.  “This is simply awful.  Patroni was on that plane, along with the chief pilot and two other executives, Hawker and Siddeley.”

“This is the worst crisis AEROSOL has ever faced.  It’s only a matter of time before the Press find out about it.”

“I think they already have,” a woman said, turning on the television.

Down at Terminal 1, some of the planes were uneasy.  Now aeroplanes can always sense when something is wrong - long before humans can.  Lima, Charlie and the other AEROSOL planes were no exception.

“Guys, I’ve heard some disturbing rumors,” Charlie the 747 whispered as he prepared for a long-haul flight to Australia.

Lima the MD-80 nodded.  “Me too.  I really hope it’s a misunderstanding.”

Suddenly, Victor the 777, having returned from New York, taxied slowly to the terminal.  Echo was so pleased to see him.

“How’s my handsome planey then?” she smiled.  But Victor wasn’t smiling.  He looked very grim indeed.  Lima and Charlie looked at him in alarm.  

“Vic…what’s wrong?”

“There…are reports,” he said, his voice trembling with emotion, “..that Oscar has crashed.  Somewhere near Bermuda.  I-in the s-sea.  No…survivors.”  The 777 burst into tears, unable to speak or taxi any further.  The ground crew had to fetch a tug to tow him to the air bridge.

“Oh…my,” Echo gasped, putting her wing round him to comfort him.

“Please tell me it’s not true,” Charlie replied.

“I’m afraid it is true,” one of the ground crew said as they towed Victor to his stand.  “It’s on the news right now - full investigation going on.  I’m so sorry.”

All the planes could do was to look at each other in silence.

“This is AEROSOL’s darkest day,” Cara Velle said to Captain Kramer as he completed a walk-round check on Freddie.

“A good day for us though,” the pilot replied.  “Means that all the bad news about BudJet will get buried.  Bad day for the tree huggers.  The spotlight will be taken off their little airport protest, won’t it?”

“Tex…you do know that Dave Ringway was the pilot flying the plane that crashed, don’t you?”

“What?”  Captain Kramer gasped, removing his trademark sunglasses.  “But…he was due to take a flight to Rhodes.”

“It was changed at the last minute.  AEROSOL’s manager Joe Patroni selected him to pilot the plane to the new terminal at Havana.”

Captain Kramer actually looked shocked for the first time in his life but tried to hide it.  “W-who else was on that flight?”

“A couple of AEROSOL executives.  Big cheeses I believe, second in command to Patroni...that flight attendant Janine, Natasha DeHavilland the co-pilot...oh and that new flight attendant, Ruby Whittle…”

Captain Kramer’s pale blue eyes widened.  “Ruby Whittle?”

“Yes.  What’s the matter?”

Captain Kramer raced back to the terminal.

“Hey, where are you going?  We’re supposed to be flying to Dublin!”

The news of AEROSOL’s lost plane spread round the world like wildfire.  News bulletins were full of wild speculation about why the plane had disappeared.

“Just what we don’t need!”  Charlie sighed as he observed how uneasy his passengers looked as they boarded him.  “Ah, human beings…such masters of dramatics,” the erudite 747 exclaimed.  “How they thrive on lurid media reports.  We don’t even know the full story yet, but people are jumping to conclusions and making knee-jerk reactions.  Such is life, I suppose.”

Lima nodded.  “You’re always such a philosopher, Charlie.”

“Indeed yes.  If I may venture a quote, artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.”

“I fully agree!”

Victor had taken the news especially badly.

“Oscar was my best friend!” the 777 sobbed.  “Even though I did make fun of him from time to time…I didn’t mean to!”

“And you did make use of him rather a lot too,” Charlie added.

“Not to mention that time when you started that fight with him over the UFO sightings,” Lima said.

“Are you two trying to make me feel even worse?” Victor sniffed.  “I’m taxiing off.  I need some time to myself.”

Grogsy and his fellow Greensleeves companions were still camped by the perimeter fence.

“Oh great!”  he groaned as it started raining hard.  “If it gets any more waterlogged down here we’ll need wetsuits and rowing boats.”

“Reminds me of Glastonbury this does,” another protester replied.  “Although without the music.  Had many happy years wading through the mud I did.”

Their conversation was drowned out by the sound of Victor’s sobbing.

“Now what?” Grogsy muttered as the 777 taxied past.

“Look Grog, that plane’s crying.”

“Your talent for stating the obvious is outstanding,” said Grogsy.

“Why’s it crying then?”

“How in the name of Earth am I supposed to know?  Probably it is has realized the shocking truth at how much pollution it emits!”

Victor glared at the protesters.

“Pollution?  You think this is about pollution!!!???” he snapped, rattling the fence with his wings.  The protesters gulped and backed away.

“My best friend has crashed in the sea somewhere off Bermuda and Captain Ringway was onboard and he was the best pilot ever, all planes liked him!  

But you cold-hearted tree-huggers can’t even give us a break!  Go on, kick a plane when he’s down!  Doesn’t matter to me!”  He reached over and snatched one of the banners and used it to blow his nose, making such a deafening noise that they had to cover their ears.

“Oh dear…I guess it’s carbon footprint-in-mouth time.”  Grogsy said.  He took a deep breath as his supporters looked to him for advice.

“Fellow Greensleevers,” he began, “much as we are against air travel, I do feel that we should call off this protest as a mark of respect.  After all, we cannot be seen to be gloating in the aftermath of a plane crash.  And Captain Ringway did a lot for us.”

The protesters were relieved.  Many were hoping to go home and enjoy a hot meal and warm baths after several days camped out in the dismal August weather.

“So,” Grogsy continued, “I propose that we set up camp at Liverpool Airport and continue our protest there.  Good idea, yes?”

A chorus of groans filled the air.

Over in BudJet’s crew room at Terminal 2, Captain Kramer was caught up in turmoil of his own.  For a while now, the stern-faced, cold-hearted airline pilot had struggled to resist his growing attraction towards Ruby Whittle.  The news that she had quite possibly perished had hit him hard.

“Oh cruelest fate!”  Kramer muttered, likening himself to a character from a Shakespearian tragedy.  “Despite my best intentions, I am always denied…female company!”  He paced back and forth, fighting his emotions…as he was far too proud and macho to cry.  Since his doomed infatuation with Melissa from the Chocs Away confectionery shop last year, Captain Kramer had vowed never to fall in love.  But he was only human after all…

“Even though she worked for an enemy airline…AEROSOL of all airlines!  The airline I have loathed since…well, for a long time.  I still couldn’t resist her…much as I tried to be as unpleasant as possible…much as I tried to remain the aloof, much-feared airline captain…she still was nice to me if we happened to pass each other in the terminals!  She even sent me a Christmas card…and I never sent her one.  I wonder if it was her who sent me that Valentine’s card too, or was that someone’s idea of a prank?  I suppose I’ll never know now.”  

He opened his briefcase and lifted out the card that Ruby had given to him.  He had pretended to bin it at the time, but had secretly kept it - envelope and all, in a plastic sleeve inside his briefcase so as not to damage it.

“An expensive card,” he smiled, admiring it.  “Not one of those cheap and nasty ones you see on sale in charity shops.”

The door opened and Cara Velle came storming in.  Captain Kramer fumbled and shoved the card back into his briefcase.

“What do you want?” he snapped.

“Well 120 passengers want to fly to Dublin,” she replied.  “Only they can’t because a certain captain went AWOL.”

“Well they’ll just have to be delayed, won’t they?” Captain Kramer barked, grabbing his briefcase.  “I had something important to do.  Anyways, I’m coming now, so you can quit fussing.”

Cara raised an eyebrow as she noticed the merest hint of redness in the pilot’s eyes as he hastily put his sunglasses back on.

As they headed back to the departure gate, Cara whispered, “Terrible news about Flight 25, don’t you think?”

“Look, I don’t care if AEROSOL goes bankrupt because of that crash,” he said.  “You can’t get sentimental about airlines, Cara.  It’s a dog-eat-dog world in aviation.  And that Patroni bloke…he was way too confident over giving up those LHR slots.  But…I feel bad for him, Dave Ringway and their families.  Sure, I hated Ringway’s guts…but I didn’t wish the poor guy dead!  I’ve lost my chief rival now!  Life just won’t be the same!”

Cara Velle smiled.  “Well…you’ve always got me.”

“Indeed…but whoever *would* want you has my deepest sympathy.”  With that, Captain Kramer marched ahead, leaving her fuming!

Chapter 6

Trubshaw

The sun beat down on Oscar as he woke from an uneasy sleep.  Evidently it was morning, although he had no idea how long he’d been asleep.

“It’s like waking up from a nightmare only to find out you’re still trapped in a nightmare!  Why am I still stuck on this horrible island?” the plane moaned.

Then he remembered Captain Ringway.

“We’ve got to find him.  Somebody could have him locked up in a dungeon!!!”

Suddenly, Oscar had the overwhelming feeling that someone or something was watching him.  He looked up.  A flash of silver darted overhead, but it passed by so quickly it was impossible to decipher what it could have been.

Oscar blinked.  Did he just imagine seeing something?

The mystery object flashed past once more.  There was no mistaking it this time.

“Oh no…go away…go away,” Oscar said, closing his eyes and covering them with his wings.  “If it’s something bad or scary, please go away!” he kept repeating.

A minute passed.  Then another.  

The island was completely silent, save for the faint rustling of the palm trees and distant rumble of waves.

Oscar decided that nothing bad was about to befall him.  He slowly lowered his wings and opened his eyes.

“Ahh!” the A340 gasped.

Parked right in front of him was a Vulcan Bomber!

“How’d you get there?  Right in front of me without making a sound?”  

The Vulcan advanced towards Oscar and he began taxiing backwards in panic, into the damp sand.  If he went any further he would get stuck in the sand.  The Vulcan had him cornered.

“P-p-please!  I’m just a humble civilian aircraft!  I’m unarmed!  I don’t like fighting…or any kind of confrontation really…I’ve led a blameless life, don’t hurt me, PLEASE!”

The Vulcan shimmered as though illuminated and in an instant, transformed into a different plane - a BAC 1-11!

“Wha…” Oscar’s jaw dropped open.

“It’s ok,” the mystery plane said at last.  “As you’ve probably gathered, I am no ordinary plane.  Do accept my sincere apologies for scaring you.”

“Who…what are you?” Oscar trembled.

“My name is Trubshaw, and I’m very pleased to meet you, Oscar.”

“How do you know my name?”

“Like I said, I am no ordinary plane.”

“No kidding!  You can transform?”

Then Trubshaw revealed his origins.

“An experimental aircraft, I was designed in the 70s as part of a top secret government project.   I’m described as an "aerometamorph" - a shape changing plane, able to transform into four different forms - civil, military, surveillance and recreational.

In my civilian form I assume the form of a BAC 1-11 in old BA livery. In my military form I am a Vulcan Bomber, a Blackbird-style spy-plane in surveillance form and a glider in recreational form. I can transform whenever the mood takes me - when I feel threatened I switch to Vulcan Bomber form. Under normal conditions I’m a BAC1-11.
Developed as a joint UK-US project, I was to be a revolutionary aircraft, but due to financial problems I was never completed. Had I been completed I would have been able to assume the form of any aircraft ever built.”

Oscar listened in awe.  “But…this island - it’s a top secret military base then…a bit like that Area 51 place?”

“My friend…this is Tropria Island.  Once long ago it was a military base, however it was quickly abandoned.”

“Why is that?”

“Oscar, have you heard of the Bermuda Triangle?”

“Hah, show me plane who hasn’t!  But that’s just a legend, isn’t it?”

“Well no.  You see, Tropria Island is…inside the triangle, so to speak.”

“Huh?”

“Between dimensions…well in another dimension.  Another world that lies parallel to yours.  The Bermuda Triangle…where the boundary between different worlds is at its thinnest, well it’s like the ozone layer over the Antarctic.  Centuries ago, a hole appeared - thus, a portal between worlds existed, explaining the many disappearances of ships and aircraft over the years.  You see, the hole is able to open and close…if it closed then that’s why those vessels were never seen again…they were trapped.”

“Oh my gosh…you mean I’m trapped here?”

“I haven’t finished yet.  You see, I am not the only person on this island.  You haven’t met the Residents yet…but they know you’re here…they *lured* you here.  That storm…was a diversion.  They lured you off your flight path.”

“I knew something wasn’t right!”  Oscar shouted.  “Why?  Why me?”

“They want new Residents.”

“These “Residents” who or what are they?”

“Descendants of those pilots, passengers and sailors who got trapped after passing through the inter-dimensional boundary.  But…they’re no longer people like the humans you know.  You see, in the 1950s, the US and UK military discovered this island, and chose to set up a top secret base here for various classified tests.  They didn’t realise they’d crossed between dimensions.  Anyways, all kinds of tests were carried out here - weather control, light bending technology, radiation experiments, energy generation, etc…I was the result of one of those tests…One day, the finances started to run out, but the workers found themselves unable to return home, as the inter-dimensional boundary had suddenly sealed up again, probably due to all the explosions they carried out.  Well, to cut a long-haul story short, things kind of veered off the flight path and went really wrong.”

“They’ve got my pilot…Captain Ringway, haven’t they?”

Trubshaw nodded.

“We’ve got to get him back…will you help me find him?”

“I’ve said too much already, Oscar.  “If I can give you one piece of advice if you are to find your way home, it’s this - remember.”

“Remember what?”

“Just remember everything.  The Residents control people by altering and stealing people’s memories.  Don’t let them remote you, Oscar.  Protect your thoughts…put up a wall.”

Trubshaw suddenly flickered, faded and vanished.

Oscar blinked in shock.

“Hey Oscar!” Natasha said, opening the cockpit window.  “Who were you talking to?”

“You six have to listen to what I’m about to say,” the A340 said.  “But we’ve got to act like we don’t know anything and I can’t actually say it out loud because people may be listening.”

“How are you going to say it then if you can’t…er, say it?”

“I’ll feed you the data through on my FMC.  Try and write it down…in code if you can.”

“Copy on that,” said Natasha.

Oscar looked at the palm trees.  “No weirdos are gonna hijack my mind!  Actually hijack is a dirty word!  No plane wants to be hijacked!”

Chapter 7

Teamwork

“Come on Janine, try to pull yourself together,” Ruby pleaded as she tried to comfort the distraught flight attendant.  “We’ll find Dave.   He’ll be fine.”

“How do you know he’ll be fine?  Some savage jungle tribes might have offered him up for a human sacrifice!!!  WAHHHHH!  My Dave, he was my rock, my soul-mate…why did I leave it so long to tell him my true feelings?  I kept trying to pluck up the courage….but could never find the right moment…”

“I understand Jan.  I do completely.”

“Oh Ruby, I’m afraid you can’t.  You see, Captain Dave Ringway isn’t just an ordinary man. As everyone knows, he isn’t an ordinary pilot!  Planes adore him.  One even proposed to him.  A Fokker-100, back in 1999.”

“Cheeky,” Ruby laughed.

“It would never have worked - for one thing, she wasn’t even based at MAN…and didn’t fly for AEROSOL.  Besides, you know how people judge inter-racial relationships - even in these tolerant modern times.”

“Yeah, prejudice sucks,” said Ruby.  “But then he met you, so maybe it was for the best?”

“It was…and what did I do?  Be a typical woman and play those stupid hard-to-get games!  I’m an emotional wreck!  You know something, Dave was the only man who could wear socks and sandals and get away with it.”

“Um…really?” Ruby said, with a pained expression.

“Or Crocs.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Or string vests.”

“Right.”

“And long johns.”

Mr Patroni, who had been attempting to read an old copy of the Moon newspaper, interrupted.

“Heavens to heart failure woman!  Too much information!  You’re putting me right off my Sudoku.  Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit wearing earplugs.”

Janine was oblivious, and carried on. “Then there was the rabbit costume at last year’s AEROSOL Christmas party.  Oh you should have seen Dave then, Ruby.  What a handsome rabbit.  So you see, much as I swoon every time I see him in his pilot uniform, pretty much anything he wears gives him the swoon-factor.”

Natasha appeared.   “Get a grip Janine - have you never heard of feminism?  All this crying for your man is starting to grate on me.”

“Tash how can you criticise me in my hour of deep turmoil?  I’m a woman on the edge here.”

“How about some more coffee?” Patroni said.  “I feel the need for another cup.  And I’ll have a couple more of those croissants too.”

“We need to start rationing our remaining airline meals,” Ruby said.  “We don’t know how long we’re going to be stuck here so we can’t waste food.”

“Rationing meals?”  Patroni spluttered.  “Darn it, you’re as bad as my wife.  She won’t even cook me a full English breakfast anymore.  Says I have to have muesli or something instead.  Muesli!  That’s rabbit food.  I don’t know what the world’s coming to, I really don’t.  What’s a little cholesterol here and there? Can’t even eat well on one of my own company’s planes?  “Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit…”

Janine interrupted. “I wish you’d quit those wretched Airplane quotes!!!”

“It’s going to be fine Jan...trust me.”

“Ruby, have you ever been in love?”

“Well...not really, although there is someone I have admired for a long time…if I can just get to know him better, then I think he could be the one…”

“Ooh, do I know him?”

“Erm…”

“Oh I totally understand…you want to keep it secret.  No worries. Why don’t you describe him for me?”

“Hmm…well he’s a very serious man…doesn’t smile much,”

“Ah, the tall dark and moody type?”

“Tall yes, dark no.  he has blonde hair and…these really pale blue eyes.”

“He doesn’t sound much like my darling aviator Dave.  My snuggle bunny has wonderful big brown eyes…decent tan…dark hair with a hint of silver…oh sorry, I’m waffling on again - do carry on.  What’s his job?  Does he work at the airport?”

“Um yes he does.”

“I knew it!  He’s an aircraft cleaner.  Am I right?”

“Er, no.  He’s a pilot.”

“An AEROSOL one?  There are a couple of cute co-pilots with blonde hair that I know of.”

“No…a different airline.”

“Monarch?”

“Nope.”

“Virgin?  BMI? BA? First Choice?  EasyJet?  Or a non-British airline?”

Ruby groaned.  “It’s none of those.  It’s BudJet.”

Janine tried to look pleased.  “BudJet?  Well there’s no accounting for taste I suppose.  Shame he works for that dreadful airline.  Still I suppose not everyone at BudJet’s an unpleasant pond-life.”

“Nice choice of phrase!”  Mr Patroni chuckled.

Natasha had been listening carefully.  “Ruby, tell me I’m wrong but this mystery pilot…it isn’t Captain Kramer is it?”

Patroni almost choked on his coffee and Janine fell backwards.

“Captain Kramer???”

Ruby folded her arms.  “All right, all right!  Yes it *is* Captain Kramer and I shan’t deny it any more.  I know his reputation and I know he’s public enemy number one among…well everyone, but…well I think he’s rather misunderstood.”

“This is a sad day for womanhood,” Natasha sighed.  “Ruby, think of the sisterhood.  Having feelings for a cold-hearted, cunning, lying, devious bloke like him!  He won’t be capable of treating you with the respect you deserve!”

“But he’s never been given a chance!  I think he’s actually a shy man who just needs the love of a good woman.”

“A deluded woman, more like.”

“Look, I thing he’s brilliant and I refuse to judge him.  I want to get to know the real Timothy Erik Xavier Kramer.”

“Blimey, is that is full name?” Patroni muttered.

“Yes.  That’s why he’s called Tex, for short.”

“Well, I never.  Maybe there is more to him that meets the eye.  How’d you find out his full name?”

“Went on that PPLUME website.”

“Huh?”

“Oh you know, the Professional Pilots Local and Universal Meeting point.”

“Look, much as this conversation is enjoyable, I feel we must get back to the task in hand, i.e finding Dave and getting off this horrid island.”

“What’s the plan then, First Officer?” Mr Patroni said.  “Hope it doesn’t involve too much walking.  I have bunions you know.  Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit wearing sensible shoes.”

“We do exactly as Oscar said.  “Here’s the data I printed from the FMC.  Now remember, we’ve got to act like we don’t know we’re onto these guys.  We’ll just pretend like we’re going for a little stroll in the woods to find some food.”

Everyone seemed happy with the plan.”

“Right, we’re all agreed then?” Natasha said.  “Now in Dave’s absence, I feel I, as co-pilot, should be the leader of the expedition.”

“What about Patroni?” Mr Hawker piped up.  “He’s the boss.”

“No thanks,” I’ll pass on this,” Patroni replied.  “Running an airline is enough responsibility for me!”

So the hunt for Captain Ringway began.

“Good luck,” Oscar replied as the six humans left him and entered the trees.

“Hope you find…food.”

Chapter 8

Surprise Discoveries

“I bet I’ll be absolutely covered in bites before long,” Mr Patroni muttered as they traipsed through the jungle.

“Huh?”

“Insect bites.  A martyr to insect bites I am.  Bet you any money a place like this will be crawling with all kinds of tropical nibblers.  Mozzies, gnats, flies that carry undiscovered diseases.  Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit using insect repellent.”

“That’s the trouble with insects - they’ve no taste,” Mr Hawker piped up.  Patroni glared at him.

“Er, I mean that they don’t care who they bite…they can’t tell the difference.”

“Well one thing’s for sure, they’ll be eating better than we are.  If I see another airline meal I think I might possibly be sick.”

“Huh, you were quite happy to stuff your face this morning,” Janine grumbled to herself.

Somewhere in the trees, a bird screeched.

Janine jumped.  “I was never too keen on safari-type holidays,” she muttered.  “Even at school I was more of an indoor person.  That’s probably why I was forced to do more cross-country than anyone else.”

Natasha marched ahead, beating a path through the trees with a stick.  “Try to keep in single file, everyone,” she ordered.  “And don’t wander off.  Stick together!”

“It’s like being back at primary school,” said Ruby.  “Was Natasha a teacher in a previous life?”  Everyone giggled.

Suddenly, Natasha came to a stop.  “Did you hear that?” she whispered.

“Um, no.”

“Well I did.  It’s coming from over there.”

“Must be a bird or something.”

“No I’m pretty sure what I heard wasn’t a bird.  It sounded like an animal of a different kind.  Like…a wolf or something.”

“Oh great, that’s all we need!  Wild animals!” Janine screamed.  

“Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit panicking,” said Mr Patroni.  “Jeez, I sure could use a good cup of coffee right now.”

“I don’t want to alarm anybody,” Mr Siddeley piped up, “but I did catch a glimpse of something in the trees behind us, just a few moments ago.”

“What?  Well could you describe this thing you saw?”

“It was sort of black and not very friendly looking.”

“Er, couldn’t you be a bit more specific?”

“I didn’t get a good look at it.  It was behind the trees, foraging through the undergrowth.  Then it disappeared like a puff of black smoke.  In my opinion it was definitely a beast of some sort.”  Mr Siddeley said, matter-of-factly, adjusting his thick-rimmed glasses.

“I can’t take much more of this,” Janine sobbed, almost stumbling on the uneven ground.  “My darling Dave gets lured away, we’re trapped on this nightmarish island and now we’re being stalked by some weird black smoke monster that will devour us?”

“Not if we can get to shelter, perhaps?” Natasha smiled.  “Look you lot, there’s a building here!”

Everyone gasped and rushed towards her.  The trees gave way to a clearing.  Right in the middle was a pleasant, single floor building that resembled a holiday chalet.

“Blimey, Pontins have a base out here?” Mr Patroni spluttered.  “Actually it reminds me of that rest home not far from Manchester Airport.  You heard of it?  It’s in Knutsford.”

“Dunflyin Rest home?” Ruby replied.  “Yeah, I’ve heard of it but never seen it.”

“My dear mother, God rest her soul, passed away at Dunflyin,” Mr Patroni continued.  “She spent three happy years there.  They brought her food served on trays just like they do on flights.  And being so close to MAN, she was able to see the planes flying overhead all day.”

“Do you think anyone lives there,” Janine whispered to Natasha.

“Live?  Dunflyin Rest Home has over 100 full time residents.” Patroni shouted.

“Not the rest home, that building over there!” Janine snapped.

Suddenly from behind, a twig snapped.

“Oh my goodness…it’s here.”

Something was rushing towards them, through the undergrowth.

“Mr Siddeley, you did say what you saw resembled a black, smoke like monster that lurked in the bushes?”

“Affirmative.”

“Well it’s running straight towards us!!!!”

“Quick, everybody get inside the building right now!”  Natasha yelled.  “Fast as you can, before it catches up with us!”

Janine started screaming as she and the rest ran for their lives.

“Open the door, open the door!” she shouted.  “I can hear it panting…it’s after our blood!”

Mr Patroni was the last person to get inside and he slammed the door firmly in the “monster’s” face.

They all collapsed in a heap on the floor.

“We’re safe!” Janine said.  “Unless it figures out how to open doors.  Mr Patroni, did you get a good look at it?”

“Didn’t dare look round,” he replied.  “Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit being a tough guy.”

“This place looks nice,” Janine said, looking round.  “Reminds me of the Radical SOS hotel at Manchester Airport.  Has similar décor.  Dave and I spent many happy nights at the Radical.”

Ruby and Natasha blinked.

“I mean…when we were doing long-haul flights  You see it’s a lot more convenient to stay overnight in the hotel than to drive all the way back home only to drive back the following morning.  What with these sky-high petrol prices…and the stress of flying…”

“Janine you really don’t need to explain yourself,” Natasha smirked.  

“Oh.  Ah, good.”

Patroni peered out of one of the windows.  “I can’t see any sign of the monster.  Do you think it was a figment of our imagination?”

“Would a figment eat a person?”  Ruby wondered.

“Of course it wasn’t a figment.  It was real!” Mr Siddeley shouted.

“Hello?  Is there someone there?” a voice yelled.

Janine gasped.  “Dave?  Is that you?”

“Janine?”

“Captain Ringway it’s us!  Where are you?”

“In the small room down the corridor on your right.”

They rushed down the corridor, following the sound of his voice.

“Wait a moment,” Janine said, pushing past everyone.  “I think I should be the one to go in first.  I mean…suppose poor Dave is in there stark naked…er…well….”

“I’m not stark naked!” Captain Ringway yelled.  “But I am getting pins and needles being tied up like this.  Get me out of here before whoever put me here comes back!”

They burst in.

“Dave!” Janine squealed, racing towards him.  The pilot was tied to a chair, but apparently unharmed and still in uniform.

“Oh my babycakes, did they harm you?” Janine sobbed, embracing and kissing him.

“I’m fine Jan.  I don’t remember getting here.  I think I was in some kind of trance.  But we *aren’t* alone on this island.”

“Yes I know, we were pursued by some kind of monster in the jungle,” Natasha said as she helped to untie him.  “And that’s not all.  Thanks to Oscar we have an indication of the kind of…people we’re dealing with here.  It’s not good.”

“Oh Dave I’m just glad you’re alive!” Janine said, as the two of them embraced each other.

“Ah the good old airport romance,” Patroni sniffed.  “Such a tearjerker. Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit carrying a packet of tissues in my pocket.”

“Airport romance - wait until you hear Ruby’s news - she fancies Captain Kramer!”

Captain Ringway pulled a face.  “Oh dear me, really?  You know I think dating someone from BudJet could be a fireable offence.”

Ruby looked horrified.

“Relax, I’m just kidding.  But seriously Ru, your taste in men leaves a lot to be desired.”

“We haven’t got time for all this silly soppy chit-chat,” Natasha snapped, folding her arms.  “Like, we have to get out of here now - right now!”

With Captain Ringway safe and well, the seven of them headed back outside.

“We can’t go back out here!”  Janine said.  “That monster’s lurking about round here, and we’re not even armed!”

“We have to take that risk,” Natasha replied.  “If it comes back, well, we’ll just have to split up and all run in different directions.  It can’t follow all seven of us can it?  We must get back to Oscar - suppose somebody’s trying to attack him?”

They’d barely moved fifty meters back into the jungle when dreadful cries echoed through the undergrowth once more.  

“It’s back!”

Patroni turned to run back to the building, but caught his foot on something and fell over.  Seconds later, the mysterious monster burst out of the thicket and was on top of him in seconds.

“Agh it’s got me it’s got me!”  Patroni said.  “It’s going to eat me, help!”

“Erm…Mr Patroni, I don’t think it is.”  Captain Ringway smiled as the others dared to open their eyes.

Mr Patroni became aware that he was not being devoured at all, but more rather being licked to death.  He slowly opened his eyes and was face to face with an enormous black dog.

“It’s a dog!” everyone exclaimed.

“A Newfoundland to be precise,” Mr Patroni added, gingerly reaching out a hand.  The so-called monster was not the terrifying beast they’d feared, but an over-excited, lovable dog, eager for some human company.

“Aww, we were scared of this?” Ruby said, as they all took turns to stroke the animal.  “I love dogs.  If there are dog lovers on this island maybe we’re not doomed after all.”

“This dog could be a distraction though,” Mr Patroni said.  “Look, it’s slobbered all over my best suit.  My wife will go berserk if she sees this.”

Then he noticed the thing he’d tripped over.  

“Hey, look at this!”

A strange metal hatch was protruding out of the ground.

“Wonder what that’s supposed to be?” Captain Ringway said.  “Look, there are some numbers engraved on it.”

Mr Patroni groaned and pulled the hatch open.  It revealed a set of stairs leading down to some secret underground passage.

“Oh wow.  This is different!”

“Maybe it’s a nuclear bunker of some sort.  Or an air-raid shelter?  A secret weapons storage facility?  I really don’t think we should go down there, Janine said.

“Well I’m going down there,” Natasha said, pulling out a pocket torch.

“Me too,” said Patroni.  “I want to find out more about this island and who lives here.”

As everyone began descending the stairs, Janine took a deep breath and nervously followed.

“Someone might slam the door shut and trap us down here!” she cried.  “I have claustrophobia you know.” she turned to the dog.  “Are you coming, boy?”

But the Newfoundland backed away, whining.  Then as if it had been startled, it bolted off into the jungle.

“It’s ok Janine,” said Captain Ringway.  “Even if a horrible fate awaits us down here, at least we’ll be together.”

Chapter 9

The Residents

“I spy, with my little eye…something beginning with…S.”  Mr Patroni said as they inched along the seemingly endless passage.

“Shadows?”  Ruby ventured.

“Ah, you win!” Patroni replied.  

“Does anyone have the faintest idea what we’re doing down here or where we’re going?” Janine groaned.

“This is a voyage of discovery,” Captain Ringway said.  “Fate has set us this challenge…and I firmly believe that if we complete it successfully it will enrich our lives.”

“And if we fail?”

“Failure is not an option!  At least that’s my dad’s motto.”

“You’re very quiet, Ruby.  Thinking about Captain Kramer?”  Janine whispered.

“To tell you the truth, I was thinking about home.  I’m really scared out here.  We are going to find are way back home, aren’t we?”

“Of course we are.”

They probed deeper, wondering if they would ever see light at the end of the tunnel.  Suddenly they came to a dead end.

“Brilliant,” Janine sighed.  “Now what do we do?

“Look, there’s some numbers carved into the stone,” Captain Ringway said.  “Unless I am mistaken, they are the same numbers I saw on the metal hatch - 25, 7, 6, 2 and 1.”

“But what do they mean?  Are they some kind of code?”

Captain Ringway thought hard.  “They add up to 41.”

“That’s Captain Kramer’s age!” Ruby spluttered.  “Not that it’s relevant…”

“Hmm maybe it’s something to do with mean, median and mode?”

“What mode do you mean?” Patroni wondered.

“It’s mathematics.”

“Oh that.  Was never good at sums.  A bit like I was never good at learning Latin or Greek.  I guess you could say Maths is all Greek to me.”

“The mean is 8.2,” said Captain Ringway.

“It’s 8 years and 2 months since I became a flight attendant,” Janine interrupted.

“Which means…”

“That Janine and Captain Kramer are somehow connected?” Mr Patroni suggested.

“EWWWW no way that’s impossible!  How dare you suggest such a thing…no offence, Ruby!”

Mr Patroni sighed.  “Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit guessing.”

“We’re not getting anywhere.  Look, I think each individual number has some kind of meaning,” Natasha said.  “Take 25 for example.  That’s the number of the flight.”

All at once, the bricks in the wall began to crack.

“Good heavens…”

“Just as I suspected.  It’s like knowing the combination for a safe.  If we correctly guess the significance of the other numbers we’ll probably be able to get out of here.”  Natasha smiled.  “Come on you lot, get those thinking caps on!”

“7 is the number of cups of coffee I drank this morning,” Mr Patroni said, but nothing happened.

“It’s the number of people on Flight 25,” Captain Ringway added, and the bricks cracked further.”

“Well done Dave!”

“Smarty pants,” Patroni muttered.  “My answer was better in my opinion.”

“6 was the number of us left when Dave got lured away,” said Janine.

The bricks crumbled further.

“Hooray!”

“What about 2 and 1?”

“2 is the number of pilots in our group,” Mr Hawker suggested.  This answer was met with another crumble of the brick wall.

“Well done sir,” Natasha said.

“And 1 could refer to MAN Terminal 1, where AEROSOL is based at.”

Finally the remaining bricks fell away to reveal a set of stairs.

“Brilliant, now we’re free!”

Everyone rushed up the stone steps as though they were passengers hurrying towards a check-in desk about to close.

“Another of these metal hatches,” Captain Ringway said, pushing with all his might.

“Stand aside,” Mr Patroni said.  “This needs someone who is strong and rugged.”

Ruby and Janine sniggered, but Mr Patroni eventually got the hatch open after a lot of hard work.

“Phew, looks like I picked the wrong week to quit taking steroids,” he panted.

Bright sunlight cut through the gloom and they had to narrow their eyes against the glare.

“Looks like we picked the wrong week to quit carrying sunglasses,” Janine sniggered, making Mr Patroni pull a face.

As they all stepped onto the beach, Ruby and Janine jumped for joy.  

“We made it, we made it!  Back on the beach!  Look there’s Oscar parked down…”

But the euphoria was short-lived.

“I see you solved the little riddles set for you,” a voice replied.

Huh?”

“People of Flight 25.…at last we meet.”

“Uh-oh,” Captain Ringway groaned.  “I have a feeling this is bad…very bad.”

They were surrounded by a group of 20 people, each one resembling a castaway who’s spent way too long on a desert island.

“These guys look like they shop at Oxfam,” Mr Patroni whispered.  

Captain Ringway elbowed him angrily.

“Not there’s anything wrong with shopping at Oxfam.  My wife bought some Fairtrade tea towels from there.”

“W-who are you guys?”  Captain Ringway ventured.

The group advanced further.  “My dear Captain, we are the Residents.”

Chapter 10

Bad Karma

“Will you please listen Mrs Patroni,” AEROSOL’s PR manager said as he attempted to calm down the irate woman over the phone.

“I’m sorry about the problems you’re having in finding your husband’s will but they are *your* problems.”

He sighed as Mrs Patroni’s tirade continued.

“With all due respect I understand how you are still in a state of shock…compensation?  Yes, yes we will be ensuring all relatives of Flight 25 are contacted with regards to the ongoing investigation.”

Eventually she hung up.

“Drat that women,” the man sighed.  “She’s threatening to really take AEROSOL to the cleaners.”

“Excuse me,” the PR Manager’s secretary said, “but there’s a lady here to see you and she is most insistent.”

“What now?”

“She’s the mother of Captain Dave Ringway…she wants two things - your head on a platter and some compensation.”

The PR Manager buried his face in his hands.  “This day just gets worse.  Alright, send her in.”

Outside on the parking apron, the planes were also causing problems.

“Victor, you are scheduled to fly to Barbados and that is where you shall fly!” the pilots yelled at the rebellious 777.

“You’re not flying me anywhere near the Caribbean!”  Victor replied.  “After what happened to Oscar?  You must be joking.  I’d rather fly into a war zone than risk vanishing without a trace in the Bermuda Triangle!”

“A plane that disobeys orders of a flight crew is a serious breach of aviation protocol as set out by the Civil Aviation Authority and the Federal Aviation Authority,” the captain shouted.  “Victor you know the rules…no plane ever dares disobey a human being.”

“Well this airliner does!” Victor replied.

“How dare you.  The CAA will have you for this!”

Great.  I’d love to talk to them,” the plane replied sarcastically.

Charlie the 747 had been observing the argument between man and machine with interest, but decided to intervene.

“If I may venture an opinion,” the erudite jumbo jet said.  “Much as it pains me to pour scorn on aviation etiquette, but I do feel Victor has a point.  Planes want some reassurance that it is safe to fly through Caribbean airspace.  We haven’t even been told all the details about Flight 25.”

“You tell ‘em Chas!” Victor cheered.  “Plane Power!  Support the machine’s revolution!  Rise up against our human oppressors!”

“As I was saying,” Charlie continued, “us planes are always expected to obey our human controllers unquestionably, like loyal and devoted lapdogs, never veering off the flight path of obedience.  But surely, we, like humans should be allowed to grieve for the loss of one of our fellow aircraft?”

“Look, the longer a plane stays on the ground, the less money it earns for its airline!”

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t fly, I just don’t want to fly to the Caribbean!” Victor shouted.  “Right I’m going to really annoy you and join that climate change group, GREENSLEEVES.”

The two pilots shook their heads.  “We were warned about this plane - a right troublemaker.  We’ve got 300 passengers waiting to travel to Barbados and a mutinous plane - what do we do?”

“Get them to fly with a different airline!”

“Victor, how’s about we re-route your flight path a little?”

Victor revved up his engines angrily.  “November Oscar - that equals NO!

And if you don’t like it you uniformed twerps can Foxtrot Oscar!  I’m a Boeing and I ain’t going!”

“That’s another serious offence, swearing to an airline pilot!  Right, that does it, you’re in trouble now, just you wait!  Maybe you’d like to tell the 300 passengers sitting onboard you that you’re too scared to fly them on holiday.  I’m sure they’ll be sympathetic…a great big modern airliner too afraid to fly…possibly you’ll become a laughing stock…but hey, I’m sure you’re not bothered about that?”

Victor thought for a moment.  His ego was very important to him!

The captain gave a wry smirk.  “I’ll give you a few minutes to log that superior information into your digital brain…correction, your inferior digital brain.”

The 777 fumed.  “What an insult!”

Charlie was impressed.  “Most remarkable my dear fellow…never in my life would I have expected to see such a blatant challenge to pilot authority.”

“Well that new AEROSOL captain is a pain in the rudder.  Not a patch on Captain Ringway - now he did command respect.  Oh how I miss him.”

“We all miss him,” Charlie replied.  “And Janine…and Natasha, and Ruby.  And poor Oscar…makes you think doesn’t it?  One minute you’re here - the next minute you’ve snuffed it.  Oh well, such is life.  One must try to make the most of every day.”

“Maybe they’ll find Oscar’s black box recorder*,” said Victor.

*A black box is more than just a flight data recorder, it is an aeroplane’s soul.  Whereas humans, being organic beings, have a soul like a form of natural energy that is the self-awareness unique to a particular living creature, which survives after the death of the body, with planes the soul is entirely digital, as they are machines.  A plane’s soul is special data recorded in its black box and unique to each plane.  If a plane crashes, the black box is recovered by air crash investigators so the flight data can be extracted.  Removing a black box from a healthy plane is literally stealing its soul, and is seen a heinous crime, not to mention illegal, as the plane would be seen as terribly mutilated.  

- Jane’s Book of Aeroplane Biology

“We can but hope,” Charlie replied.

Presently, yet another airline captain appeared.

“Who’s this bloke?” Victor wondered.  “He’s not an AEROSOL pilot.”

“Mornin’ Victor,” the cheerful pilot smiled.  “I’m Captain Tutton, on loan to AEROSOL from another airline…and not BudJet, you’ll be pleased to know.”

The 777 regarded the new pilot with suspicion, twitching his flaps.

“Come on now, no need for turbulence on the ground is there?  My airline don’t call me the Plane Whisperer for nothing you know.  I can always tell when planes are apprehensive.”

“I am apprehensive,” Victor said.

Captain Tutton smiled.  “Don’t you fret, Victor.  “I’ve sorted everything out.  You won’t be flying to Barbados, just Florida.  Once you land in Miami, your passengers will be transferred to another plane which will carry on to Barbados.  They’re chuffed about it…we managed to please them by promising them free booze.”

Victor smiled.  “Oh wow!  So I don’t have to fly to the Caribbean?”

“Correct.  But just this once, ok?  After all it’s technically against the rules…but I believe the feelings of planes should be considered now and again!  Now, are you all fueled up and ready fly?”

“Yes!  Mass respect Captain!  You rock, you so totally own!”

“If only the A300s I fly showed the same appreciation!” Captain Tutton said.

Meanwhile…back on Tropria Island.

“Well…Residents…it’s a great honor to meet you all,” Captain Ringway ventured, forcing a pained handshake.  

Natasha grew impatient.  “Look let’s cut the niceties shall we?  Who are you lot and why were we lured here?”

“Because…we need new members to help us defeat the KARMA.”

Mr Patroni jumped as if he’d been stung by a wasp.  “There, you see?  Just like I was saying!  It’s all about bad karma!  Jeez, it’s blowing my head being right all the time about this!”

“I’m not familiar with all this New Age, hippy stuff,” Captain Ringway said.

“You don’t understand,” the Residents continued.  The KARMA Initiative is out of control.  It’s gleamed all the data it can from us and without new…subjects…it will overwhelm everything…the defense mechanism will kick in and consume the whole island…the risk is that with the hole between our two worlds open once more, KARMA may burst out into your world and delete everything.  Therefore, we Residents used all our shared resources and skills to lure you to Tropria Island as a way of distracting KARMA whilst we figure out a way to disable it…permanently.”

The members of Flight 25 all looked at each other in shock.  Struggling to taxi across the sand, Oscar came over to listen.  The A340 couldn’t contain his joy at seeing his captain again.

“Captain I missed you!” the happy plane smiled.

“Missed you too big guy,” Captain Ringway replied, patting the plane’s nose wheel.

“So…all that business with the tree, the disappearing runway, the rain…it wasn’t you but this KARMA thing?”

“Correct.  But we did manage to open a portal and lure Captain Ringway to the Lodge, thus setting in motion your rescue attempt.  You’ve done well so far because you’ve managed to crack the first test set by KARMA - solving the meaning of the numbers.  KARMA read your minds and thus set up the numbers for you to find.”

“Whoa, this is like so…surreal!”  Natasha gasped.

“Have you ever seen that film The Hills Have Eyes?” Mr Patroni piped up.  “My wife and I watched it and I have to say I felt like I’d picked the wrong week to quit not driving on isolated country roads.”

“Actually this whole thing reminds me of a TV show that I saw on Sky,” Janine said.  “Can’t remember what it was called…I think it was Missing or something like that…anyways it was American.”

“We are not your enemies,” said the Residents.  “Will you help us?  If you don’t…well it’s really not an option.”

“Everyone in favor of helping, raise your right hand,” Captain Ringway said.

There was much coughing and shuffling of feet, but eventually all seven hands went up.  Oscar grudgingly raised his right wing.

“That’s what I like to see - a majority vote,” Mr Patroni said.  Suddenly, he was knocked to the ground as the mystery Newfoundland jumped up at him.

“Ah I see Crusoe has found you again,” the Chief Resident smiled.

“He seems to like me,” Patroni said.  “A smart dog - knows a good, honest bloke when he sees one.”

“Alright,” Captain Ringway said.  “Where do we go from here?  I think before we do anything, you lot had better tell us the FULL story.”

Chapter 11

Inconvenient Truths

Above Tropria Island, the heavens hung low.  Grey and dead.  Like ashes.  A crematorium sky.

Captain Ringway tilted his head back and squinted uneasily at the wintry vault directly overhead.

“Big storm coming,” he said.

Oscar rattled his wings with unease.

Much higher than the altitude reached by the island’s mountain, a lone object circled above, like a hawk maintaining surveillance of potential prey.  But it wasn’t a bird, more likely Trubshaw, the mysterious aircraft Oscar had encountered on the beach.  Circling and circling as if gliding on rising thermals.  Maybe it was Trubshaw in his glider form.  Silent as a stalker in a dream, patient and mysterious.

Judging by the heavy sky, rainfall was imminent.

“Trubshaw already told you some things, didn’t he?” the Chief Resident said to Oscar.  Oscar nodded.

“He told me about how he came to be built, the location of Tropria and about you guys but didn’t mention this KARMA initiative thing.”

“Ah…well.  It’s best that you all hear about it as a group.  By the way, my name is Ben and I’m not the leader as such, but I speak on behalf of my fellow Residents.  We’d had been living on this island for many years, long before the existence of the KARMA initiative and long before the military set up a base here to develop experimental aircraft, of which Trubshaw was the result.  The Bermuda Triangle, i.e the hole between our two worlds, seems almost as old as time itself.

Certainly there are old mariner’s tales of sailing ships disappearing as far back as the 1600s.  Those of us that got trapped between dimensions started a new life on Tropria Island, settlers if you will.  Completely self-sufficient, we grew our own food, caught fish and lived a primitive but close-knit life.  That all changed in the late 50s when the US and British military discovered our island and decided to set up a base here.  Instead of forcibly removing us, we were allowed to stay, as none of us had ever had contact with the outside world before.  The military agreed…but there were certain rules we had to abide by.

The island was divided into two sections - one half for the military and the other half for us.  Some of us ended up working for them.”

“Weren’t they the ones who subjected you guys to various weird experiments?” Oscar asked.

“No, not them.  They were only interested in developing revolutionary aircraft.  It was the height of the Cold War you see and the race was on to build a plane to guard against possible Soviet attack.  Lots of tests were carried out, to try to develop a plane that would be unbeatable.  Light bending, ammunition tests, controlled explosions etc, VTOL, missile shielded planes…most failed and crashed…but then a breakthrough - Trubshaw - the plane capable of shape shifting.  He became a Swiss Army Knife with wings - he’s bulletproof, able to hide from radar and all kinds of great stuff like that.”

“Wow, why can’t I have powers like that?” Oscar said.

“Unfortunately, then the budget was cut by the Government and Trubshaw was never fully finalized  Hence why he can only change into four different forms, as he told you.  The money dried up and it was decided that the military would abandon the island and close down the base in 1970.  However, Trubshaw was deemed too secret to ever be released to the public so he was left behind on Tropria.  Unfortunately for the workers, the inter-dimensional boundary had sealed up once more, leaving them trapped.  Stranded on Tropria Island, desperate attempts were made to find a way back.  Lasers, missiles and chemicals were fired into the sky but nothing worked.  The military base workers were sealed and protected against invading Russians but unable to return to their world!  Some went mad, others killed themselves.  A battle was fought between us and them.  We were accused of stopping them from escaping, but we were trapped there just like them, except that we didn’t want to leave.”

Oscar listened, fascinated.

Even Mr Patroni hadn’t made a sound for several minutes.

Ben continued his story.  “With just 50 survivors, we tried to carry on as before.  We buried the dead, rebuilt our homes and made use of the equipment left behind on the military base, such as furniture and lighting.

Life returned to normal we no more invaders as we believed the hole was sealed for good.  But, seven years later in 1977...the founders of the KARMA initiative arrived on our island.”

“Who were they?”  Natasha asked,

“Well they were Outsiders - people from your world.  And that meant only one thing - the inter-dimensional boundary had opened up once more.  The people who arrived were a group of “scientists and free thinkers" from around the globe, with an ambition of setting up an isolated community whereby they could conduct research into various different things - mind control, weather control, nanotechnology, that kind of thing.  Despite our best efforts we were forced to let them set up on Tropria Island.  They built an underground research station - part of which you travelled through when you found the numbers.  The rest of it is sealed off.  What they developed down there was a kind of…well it’s hard to describe really.  An artificial life form of sorts.  A kind of data mining defence system, able to replicate itself and repair itself.  Their intentions I believe started out as honourable, but unfortunately their project wasn’t one of their best ideas, as they were unable to control it.

Before long it had killed all of the KARMA scientists and taken up residence underground…so we were told.  It hijacked people’s minds…anyone who came into contact with it at least.  It feeds itself by reading people’s thoughts and minds.  Every time it logs new data, it grows stronger.  It’s read all our minds…it did the same to animals, but an animal’s mind does not contain the same high level data as a human brain and therefore cannot provide the KARMA creature…or whatever with enough power.  Likewise, it was unable to hijack Trubshaw’s brain at all…possibly because he is a machine.  It can’t understand machines.  They resist its advances.”

“Hooray, chalk one up for us man-made devices then!”  Oscar cheered.  “Built correctly, we’re not all bad!”

“Oscar might be the one person able to save us all,” Ben said.

The Airbus A340 gulped, not liking that prospect.

“So, when the tree attacked Oscar, that was the KARMA thing and the portal luring Dave away was you guys?”

“Yes.  Had to lure Dave away.  It was going to read his mind.  So we managed to make use of the light bending technology that our military friends developed.  It worked.  Dave was in a partial KARMA induced trance at the time but he still resisted the tree and walked towards the light.  Once through the trees he was safe, so we took him to the Lodge.  Because it is the one place where the KARMA cannot reach us.  It cannot enter the Lodge.”

“Why’s that?”

“We don’t know.  It could be a protocol installed when it was first created…by the initiative’s founders - maybe out of respect for us.  However with it’s ever growing power, it may be able to override that protocol very soon.”

“Why did Trubshaw tell me that it was you who control people’s minds and lured me to this island when in fact it was KARMA?” Oscar asked.  “We were led to believe you were the bad guys.”

“Because it wasn’t the right time to tell you about the KARMA initiative.  It knows you’re here and it wanted to test your strengths and weaknesses first.  And as you discovered, your strengths are teamwork.  By all working together you managed to solve the numbers riddle.”

“This gets weirder by the minute!” Janine said.  “So, let me get this straight.  “There’s some kind of man-made creature/program thing that’s gone haywire and now it will engulf us all unless we stop it?”

“Yep.”

It started to rain.

“Come on board me, all of you and shelter,” Oscar said.  

As the 27 humans and one dog prepared to board the airliner, a barely audible sound echoed through the air.  Oscar heard it first.

“What’s that?” he said.

“I can’t hear anything,” Captain Ringway said.

Crusoe started barking hysterically.  The sound was eerie, rising and failing like an air raid siren.”

“I smell trouble,” Oscar said.

“Ugh, horrible noise, make it stop!” Janine groaned, covering her ears.  Crusoe whined and yelped as though he was a dog being horribly tortured.

Then, as quickly as it had begun, the sound faded away, only to be replaced by a different sound…a much more pleasant one.”

“I know this song!”  Janine said.

“Yeah it’s Copacabana by Barry Manilow…not that I own any Barry Manilow records you understand,” Mr Patroni said.  “Although I *do* like this song.”

“Yeah it’s a nice song,” Ruby added.

“Totally awesome song,” Mr Hawker and Mr Siddeley replied in unison.

“Awesome man,” Natasha said, in a dreamlike voice.

Oscar seemed to be the only one not impressed with the music.

“What’s wrong here?” he said, noticing his 27 passengers were not boarding him, but heading back across the beach…towards the trees.

Chapter 12

Fightback

Oscar realized in the nick of time.

“It’s a trap!  Don’t listen to it!  The frantic A340 knew he had to stop them from being lured away.  His only tools were his engines.  Quick as a flash he switched them on and spooled them up to maximum power.  The deafening noise of the turbofans was enough to drown out the dulcet tones of Barry Manilow.

Captain Ringway covered his ears whilst Natasha waved at Oscar to stop.

Once he was certain everyone had been freed from the song’s hypnotic trance, he powered down.  The music had stopped.

“Phew, thank goodness.  Had to stop it happening again,” the plane gasped.

“I’ll never complain about aircraft noise ever again,” said Mr Patroni.  “Although it looks like I picked the wrong week to quit carrying earplugs.”

There was another sudden rush of jet engines and Trubshaw appeared on the beach, in his Vulcan Bomber form.

“So it’s true…this is the shape-shifting plane?”  Captain Ringway said.

Trubshaw smiled at the pilot.  “How do you do, sir?  I must admit, it’s strange talking to a pilot…seeing as I don’t need one.”

“Do you really fly without any crew whatsoever?”

“Affirmative.  I’m a shape-shifting UAV.”

“Incredible.  How…was this accomplished?” Captain Ringway asked.

“I’m sorry, I’m afraid that’s classified information.  Can’t reveal the technology that built me - even the Residents don’t know that.  It was programmed into me never to reveal the information by the military.”

“Fair enough,” the pilot replied.  “Shame though, a plane with your abilities could really transform aviation.”

To Trubshaw, Oscar said, “The KARMA thing.  What is it?”

“Whatever it wants to be.”

“Where is it?”

“Wherever it wants to be,” the plane replied cryptically.

“What’s it doing here?”

“Becoming.”

Ben stepped closer to the two planes.  “Those weird noises and the song it played…it’s KARMA’s way of communicating with us.  It’s developed a language all of it’s own.”

Janine frowned.  “Well I have no intention of learning to speak Manilow-nian, or whatever!”

“Got to try and resist it,” Captain Ringway said.  “It uses telepathic control.”

“And now it wants in again?”

“Yes.”

“But…we’ve got to prevent it getting in.”

“That’s right.”  Captain Ringway replied.  “We can stop it getting in.”

“How?”

“Push it out.  Imagine you’re slamming a door in its face.”

“KARMA hates me,” Trubshaw butted in.  “Because I can resist it.  I can stop it from remoting me.  Because I am a machine and happy at what I am, but it isn’t.  It’s an artificial life form created by humans that wanted to be human…wanted to have the power of a human mind…but now…it just hates…it hates everything.”  His voice sank to a whisper.

“Why?  Why does it hate everything?”  Oscar asked.

“Because…that’s what it is.”

“Huh?”

“It knows.”

“Knows what?”

“Nothing matters.  KARMA knows it cannot be what it wanted to be so…now it doesn’t care…just wants more power…wants to destroy.”

“So in having the power to destroy everything will somehow give it a kind of satisfaction?”

“Yes, that’s it, basically.”  Trubshaw replied.  “But it’s become kind of…well, a physical representation of hate.  All the reading of human minds it has done over the years…KARMA has obviously focused on the worst qualities - hatred, violence, negativity.  It has found that hate makes it stronger, so it has become hatred personified.”

“Whoa this is really deep, even for me.”  Captain Ringway said.  “It’s like something you’d read in New Scientist.”

“I still don’t really understand,” Mr Patroni piped up.  “Must look pretty ugly then if it’s supposed to be made of hate.  Wonder if it looks like some massive tentacled monster?”

In a still lower whisper, Trubshaw uttered; “Everything can be understood, but nothing can be understood.”

“I *want* to understand it but all these big words and weird phrases are really starting to confuse me,” Patroni muttered.  “Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit having an open mind.”

“KARMA is very angry right now,” Trubshaw continued.  “It knows it cannot control Oscar’s mind because he is a machine, so it attacked him by making the tree come alive.  By rendering Oscar and myself helpless, then it will attempt to get at the 7 people of Flight 25.  And yet…it is puzzled by how much stronger your minds are than the minds of the Residents.”

“Yeah, well it takes guts to be an airline boss,” Mr Patroni smiled.  “And living in the real world…that’s no walk in the park.  And I was born in Salford…in itself something of an achievement.  Worked in the US I have, spent a lot of time at Dulles Airport…lived the American dream, cut my teeth working for small, regional airlines flying in and out of Dulles….became a big fish in a small pond.  Decided to return to the UK and took the helm of a then struggling charter airline in 1992 - AEROSOL.  Turned its fortunes around, survived the early 90s recession. Tough talking.  Worked hard, flew right.  Made AEROSOL into the success it is today.  Not that I’m blowing my own trumpet or anything.”

“Er, quite,” Trubshaw said.

“So I can pretty much handle anything life throws at me…even bad KARMA.”

“Everything becomes KARMA,” Trubshaw said.  “That’s its remaining goal.  It will destroy everything and then itself.”

“Wrong!” Oscar snapped.  “Because we shall destroy it first!”

“But first we must find and confront it,” said Captain Ringway.

“Erm…I thought Oscar was the one who was going to battle it,” Janine gulped.

Captain Ringway shook his head.  “No Janine.  Humans created KARMA, and humans must be the ones to defeat it.  Finish what we started.  Correct a very big mistake.  And we must all do it together, all 27 of us, united together!”

Everyone burst into a round of applause.  “Fighting talk, Dave!”  Janine cried.  “My hero!  Oh he’s so much more than just an airline pilot!”

“I know where it is…” Oscar said, interrupted, shattering the moment of happiness.  “It’s in the place it was least expected to be.”

Ben nodded.  “The Lodge.”

“Yes.”

“It’s overridden its protocol.”

“Yes.”

“All right!” Captain Ringway shouted.  “Let’s go kick some KARMA butt!”

Suddenly lightning flashed through the sky, followed by a boom of thunder.  The heavens above Tropria Island opened again.

“Just like in a disaster movie,” Mr Patroni said.  “Always when you know some big climax or bad thing is about to happen, there’s a big storm.”

“A battle to end all battles…technically we’re tasked with saving the whole world here.”  Ben said.

The fight back had begun.

Chapter 13

Showdown

Captain Ringway took a deep breath.

“Alright, let’s do it.  We need some weapons though.  They’ll probably be useless as we’re not fighting a conventional enemy here.  Not like hunting down prowling lions or a predator you can destroy with a few bullets.  But it’s best we arm ourselves as best as possible.”

“Well guns are out of the question, Dave.”  Natasha replied.  “You know AEROSOL’s policy on firearms - no armed pilots, armed sky marshals or guns of any kind are carried onboard the cabins.  Planes and guns don’t mix.  That‘s AEROSOL‘s belief.  We prefer to have better security at the actual airport.”

“Here here!”  Oscar piped up.  “Although we are on the ground.”

“I know that, Tash - but desperate times call for desperate measures.  Do we have any equipment onboard Oscar that could be used as a weapon?”

Oscar shuddered.  “Never thought I’d hear my pilot ask a thing like that!”

“There are some fire axes, and a pack of flares.  Hang on, talking of guns, I recall there is a Taser stun gun in the hold…well it’s better than nothing.”

“What’s that doing in my hold?” Oscar growled.  “Shoddy airport security strikes again!”

“Flares you say?  Hmm…what about a jerry can?  You know, something suitable for carrying petrol?”

“Yes, I believe there’s one too, but what do you want that for?”

“Listen everyone, I have this theory.  It’s just a random hunch but you know what you said earlier about KARMA being able to read minds?”

“That’s right,” Ben interrupted.  “It reads human and animal minds and has focused on the hate.”

“Hate yes…but what about fear?  Suppose KARMA has developed a sense of fear too?”

“Impossible.”

“I’d say it is possible.  Everything has a weakness…KARMA is no exception.  Nothing can be 100% faultless and foolproof.  Say in logging all the hate from the minds it’s read, it could’ve inadvertently logged some fear too?  You say it can’t hijack the mind of an aeroplane…but maybe it can *sense* what planes fear too.”

“A fear of what?”  Ben asked.

Captain Ringway looked round.  “What do animals and planes fear more than anything else?”

Silence.  Crickets chirping.

“Um…flight delays?”  Mr Patroni suggested.  “Personally I fear spiders and bankruptcy more than anything else.”

“Fire!”  Captain Ringway shouted.  

Oscar freaked out.  Fire?  Where?  Help!  Help!”

“No no, I mean that’s what planes and animals fear most - fire!”

“You got that right,” Trubshaw replied.  “Although I same fireproof and powered by non-flammable solid fuel.”

“Wish I knew the secret of that,” Captain Ringway replied, with envy.  “Imagine, planes powered by non-flammable, non-polluting fuel.”

“That’d be cool!”  Oscar said.  “The tree-huggers would leave us alone then!”

“It will come…in time,” Trubshaw replied, with a reassuring grin, as if he could predict that a glorious future lay ahead for aviation.

“But first…we have a problem to fix, and Oscar’s old-fashioned flammable jet fuel is going to help us fight KARMA.   Natasha, can you get me that container so I can siphon a bit off?”

“Well I have plenty to spare,” Oscar replied.

“Trubshaw, will you circle the Lodge for us?”

“Affirmative.  Although being an uncompleted project, I confess my weapons are limited.  I am only equipped with a missile shield and laser.”

“That’s good enough.  We need to attack KARMA from all sides.  It will burn in the air and on the ground.”

“So that’s the plan?  Burn it?  What a cliché,” Mr Patroni scoffed.  “That happens in all the big disaster movies…a big fire saves the day.”

“Not in the Towering Inferno!”  Ruby said.  “You got any better ideas?”

“Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit thinking.”

“Thought not!”

“Look, none of us know if setting fire to this “thing” will work, it’s just a guess.  Just a feeling I have.  But our options are limited.”

“If it’s part digital shouldn’t we try giving it a computer virus or something?”  Janine suggested.  “Do you think it runs on Windows or Mac?  Or Linux?”

“I have a feeling KARMA is neither organic or mechanical, but somewhere in-between.  A horrific hybrid of some sort.”

Janine squeezed the pilot’s hand tight.  “I love you Dave.  I just wanted you to know that before we all possibly perish.”

“Oh Janine…I always knew you did…but it does wonders for my self-esteem to hear you say it again.”

“You pair of lovestruck critters,” Patroni muttered.  “It’s like being trapped in a chick-flick.  Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit carrying a sickbag.”

“What do I do?” Oscar cried out as the 27 of them marched into the woods.

“Stay here on the beach!”  Captain Ringway replied.  “After all a big airliner like you can hardly come traipsing through the jungle with us can you?  You’re our only way of getting back home Oscar, so we need you to stay safe and undamaged here on the beach.”

“Roger, received and understood,” the faithful jet replied.  “Promise me you’ll be ok though?”

“We’ll be fine Oscar,” the pilot replied, hiding his fear.

With the can of Jet A-1 sloshing in his hand, Captain Ringway led them into the trees, back to the Lodge.

“I love the smell of jet fuel,” Mr Patroni said.  “Although it does make me cough a bit…but jet fuel’s in my blood - that’s what being an aviation bod is all about!  Yes sir, bet you any money I was a plane in a previous life!”

In the center of Tropria Island stood the Lodge.  Once the abode of the residents, this wooden structure was no longer welcoming.  Inside dwelt a malevolent entity…one that was waiting for the confrontation.  The time was nearly up.  KARMA lurked…waited, believing it was successfully luring all 27 human beings of the island to their deaths.  Yet there was still a problem…they were coming yes, but where was the data?  Not a major problem, not yet anyway.  They were under a trance after all - the song had done its work - that’s why they were heading to the Lodge…in hope of listening to more Barry Manilow songs.

KARMA continued to be puzzled by the interference it was experiencing in attempting to read the 7 brains of the Flight 25 people.  But still it found itself blocked.

Trubshaw in his surveillance form, circled over the Lodge.  The building was completely dark.  A bad sign.  The lights had all been on before.

“It’s in there alright,” the plane said to himself.  “I pray the captain knows what he’s doing.” Trubshaw was tempted to fire his laser at the building right there…incinerate the thing that dwelt within…but knew that he must resist.  As Captain Ringway had rightly said, this particular human creation needed to be defeated by human hands.

Captain Ringway pushed through the thicket.  The Lodge came into view - an inky black shape looming up.  It was creepier than a graveyard at midnight.

The incessant rain continued to fall on their soaked bodies yet nobody seemed bothered by it.  The thing in the Lodge was a far more pressing concern.

Captain Ringway gestured for the group to spread out.

“We need to surround the whole Lodge,” he said.  “I will stand at the front door.”

Janine stood beside him.

“Jan, I think it would be better if…”

“Oh no you don’t,” the flight attendant replied.  “You’re not getting rid of me that easily.  I’m staying right by your side.”

Though he feared for her safety, the pilot reluctantly agreed.

“Now we wait.  Let’s see who makes the first move.”

Captain Ringway looked up at the sky.  He heard the faintest sound of Trubshaw’s engines.  The plane was circling them, as instructed.

Inside the darkness of the Lodge, KARMA waited, wondering why its prey had suddenly stopped.  Why?  

Something is…wrong here.  Gone wrong…wrong.

Captain Ringway stood silently, five meters from the front door of the Lodge, a determined expression on his face, as though he were repeating a mantra over and over in his mind and concentrating on something…something very difficult.  Like flying into Hong Kong’s old Kai Tak Airport.  Although the airport no longer existed, the pilot had vivid memories of the hair-raising approach into Kai Tak.

Suddenly, the door of the Lodge began to open very slowly.

Captain Ringway bit his lip and slowly unscrewed the cap of the fuel can, and reached in his pocket for the matches.  He prayed that the rain would permit him to light at least one match…although to his advantage, it seemed to be easing.

“It’s heeere!” Janine trembled, quoting the famous line from the film, Poltergeist.

Their worst fears were realized when the feared KARMA initiative finally revealed itself.

Though light was limited, torches were bright enough to reveal the thing clearly…and everyone would’ve preferred to see *less* of it - it was difficult to precisely define its physical form.  The bulk of the thing appeared to be a writing mass of gray tentacles that resembled part-octopus, part bundle of computer cables…USB and Ethernet cables sprang to mind.  Some tentacles were as thin as pencils, others as thick as a human arm.  KARMA was mostly gray and shiny black; such a deep black that it looked as if it had been dipped in crude oil.  In places the inky sheen had blood-red speckles.

“A-anyone for genetically-modified calamari?” Mr Patroni uttered, resisting the urge to turn and flee.  He was wrestling with fight-or-flight right now.

The rain had ceased.

Not daring to take his eyes off the hideous thing for fear it would lunge and get him, Captain Ringway slowly lowered the five gallon can of jet fuel to the ground.

At the heart of the churning mass of digi-tentacles, there might have been a central body…or co-processor, with glaring inhuman eyes and a twisted mouth, but if it was there, it was hidden.  Instead the thing seemed to be all ropey extremities, ceaselessly curling, twitching, coiling and unraveling.  Though oozing and gelatinous within its “skin,” KARMA occasionally bristled into spiky, angular shapes like the patterns on a circuit board, but in a blink it was sinuous once more.

“All those tentacles,” Patroni prattled nervously.  “Feels like I’m watching a really dodgy anime movie.”

Everybody ignored him, for the thing had opened the door now and was advancing slowly towards Janine and Captain Ringway.

Quick as a flash, Natasha whipped out the Taser stun gun and fired twice at the thing.  

KARMA pitched backwards as it was electrocuted, but appeared unharmed.

And it continued to move forwards.

The Residents began throwing stones at it, which halted its movement.

Despite shaky hands, Captain Ringway grabbed the jet fuel can and walked backwards, held it by its handle.  Used his other hand to tip the bottom.  A pale gush of jet fuel arced out of the spout.  He swung the can left and right, ensuring a good stream of fuel saturated the ground.

A meter from the trail of fuel, KARMA inched closer, undeterred by the stone throwing.

“Get back, all of you,” Captain Ringway ordered.  “I think I’m the one it wants.”

Janine gripped his arm tightly.

He groped for the matches.

Could the thing smell the jet fuel?  Maybe it couldn’t smell full stop.  The air reeked of the stuff.  Did KARMA understand how flammable it was and grasp the potential for its own destruction?

A flame flared off the match head.

For an instant, Captain Ringway expected the fumes to explode - the smell was unbearable.  As a pilot he was well aware of the flashpoint of aviation fuel.  He dropped the match.

WOOSH!

The jet fuel-soaked ground exploded into flames that leapt several meters into the air.  Even though the round was wet with the rain, it was no obstacle to the fuel-hungry fire.  Janine and Captain Ringway managed to jump back with barely a millisecond to spare before the flames would have been engulfing them.

The flames didn’t spread, but were simply everywhere at once.

A stinging wave of heat hit Janine, forcing her to squint.  She and Captain Ringway should have moved further back from the blaze, for the air was nearly hot enough to blister their skin, but they had to see what happened to KARMA.

The ground in front of the Lodge was an inferno.  No human could have survived it for more than a few seconds.

KARMA was burning…but it was still moving through the flames, twisting and thrashing like a snake.  It did not cry out or squeal in pain.  Sparks flew off, landing through the open doorway of the Lodge.  In moments, a second fire rose up inside the building.

The Lodge was doomed, but for the 20 Residents and 7 members of Flight 25 there was still hope.

“Run!”  Captain Ringway yelled.  “Back to the beach!”  He threw the fuel can to the ground on his left, causing the remaining jet fuel to spill out.  It quickly ignited in a long semicircle.

Captain Ringway could have been forgiven for thinking this whole showdown had been too easy…and he was right.  For just as he headed for the trees, there was a screech and he noticed the blazing KARMA creature darting to his right.

“Oh no!”

The thing would trap him and Janine in a wall of flames unless they reached the trees in time.

“Run faster run faster!” he yelled, coughing and choking with the fumes.  “We’ll make it!”  But as he glanced to his right he could see that they *weren’t* going to make it.

“I really do love you Janine!” the heroic pilot cried out as he prepared for their final moments together.

Something fast and bright struck KARMA and stopped it dead in its tracks.  It paused, a writing mass of fire and tentacles, wondering what had happened.  It had come from the sky.

Captain Ringway seized the chance, and he and Janine raced into the trees not stopping to see what would happen next.  

Back on the beach, Oscar could see smoke rising from the trees.  The A340 could only watch helplessly as Trubshaw circled in the distance.  Suddenly, the plane made a rapid dive, plunging from sight.  Oscar gasped.  What was he doing?  Seconds later, Trubshaw appeared again.  He was in his Vulcan bomber form.  The plane climbed high, circled Tropria’s volcano, then dived yet again.  

“He’s attacking something,” Oscar said out loud.  “Oh please be careful, Trubshaw!”

Captain Ringway and the others appeared on the beach.

“Oh you’re alive!” the relieved plane shouted.  “Did you kill the KARMA thing?”

“We’re not exactly sure, but we gave it third degree burns that’s for sure,” Captain Ringway panted.  I threw several gallons of your jet fuel at it.  It nearly trapped Janine and I, but something else stopped it.”

“It’s Trubshaw!”  Oscar said proudly.  “He must be fighting it!”

“He’ll finish the job for us, unless the flames have killed it off already.  KARMA was burning pretty bad.   Don’t think anything could survive an inferno like that…even something like KARMA.”

“Hmm, let’s not get too optimistic yet everyone.  Remember we might only have weakened the beast, not killed it.”

As the Lodge blazed and trees began to ignite due to the spilt jet fuel, Trubshaw was gearing up for another strike.  

“You’re mine now,” the plane smiled, preparing to laser beam what remained of the KARMA initiative.  He came in low, only fifty feet up.  The burning Lodge grew closer but there was no sign of the burning mass of KARMA.  He would have to switch to his thermal-imaging vision. Where had KARMA gone?  Maybe into the trees?  Although there was no sign of the thing burning a trail through the wooded area.  Maybe it was no longer burning.  Maybe it was…

With lightning speed, something leapt out of nowhere and struck Trubshaw’s left wing.

“Whoa!”  The plane banked but quickly returned to level flight.  Trubshaw glanced behind him.  Now horrifically charred and much less than it was, KARMA had a firm hold of Trubshaw’s tailfin.  It was still on fire, but that didn’t immediately concern the plane, for he was fire resistant.

“Get off me you computerized piece of trash!” Attempting to make the thing fall off, Trubshaw flew upside down, looped the loop and barrel rolled like never before. On the beach, Oscar, the humans and Crusoe the dog watched as the experimental aircraft battled with the parasite attached to him.

“Oh my goodness!  It’s got him!” everyone gasped.

“Trubshaw!” Oscar shouted.  “Come on Trubshaw, you can beat it!”

“I wish there was something we could do!”  Captain Ringway said.  “Hate to see a plane in distress.  I feel so helpless.”

Whilst the fire extinguished itself, Trubshaw realized that KARMA was slowly overpowering him, for the creature’s tentacles were wrapped so tightly round his tailfin that he could not move his rudder.  

“You fiend!”  The plane gasped as the tentacles slid round his fuselage.  Now that hurt.  The plane winced as KARMA’s death grip squeezed him tight.  Had he been a normal plane he would have crashed long ago.  But he was not an experimental aircraft for nothing.  In a second, he transformed into his BAC 1-11 form.

It worked.  The rapid change in shape caused KARMA to loosen its grip for a moment.  Trubshaw intended to fly lower and dump the hateful thing in the sea, but his plans were diverted as KARMA’s tentacles coiled round both his wings.  The sudden extra weight on his wings disrupted the airflow, creating a tremendous amount of drag.  For all his skills, Trubshaw still had to obey the basic laws of flight.  And right now he was losing altitude.

“Pull up…pull up!”  Trubshaw yelled.  “Darn it, I’m going to stall!”  He pushed his engines to full power but it was useless - his wings were providing no lift whatsoever. Trubshaw was fighting a losing battle with gravity.  As the people on the beach watched in horror, the valiant plane lurched to the right.

Oscar was willing his friend to stay airborne. “Climb! Climb!” the Airbus shouted, waving his wings as if he could somehow help Trubshaw.  But his efforts were in vain - Trubshaw was no longer flying but falling.

“H-he’s an experimental aircraft,” Oscar prattled.

Captain Ringway looked at Natasha, who was thinking the same thing.  “But was he built to survive an impact from 3000 feet up, traveling at 500 miles per hour?”

Trubshaw knew he was beaten.  Looking down at the rapidly approaching ground, he noticed the Tropria Island volcano to his left.  He could see right inside the crater - its bubbling mass of molten lava - like a big saucepan full of boiling hot soup.  Trubshaw knew what to do.

“If I am to be destroyed then I’m taking you with me!” he yelled, summoning his remaining strength, he managed to push himself further left until he was directly over the crater.  “Military pilots have to prepare themselves for the possibility of dying during battle…same goes for their planes…and I am a military plane.”

The charred KARMA initiative still held on tight.

“Thank you for flying Trubshaw Airlines,” the plane said sarcastically.  He caught a glimpse of Oscar on the beach as he plummeted towards the molten heart of the volcano.

“Goodbye Oscar!  Remember me!  I’ll always be your friend!”

Plane and KARMA plunged into the volcano.

“Oh no, please no!” Oscar shouted, tears running down his face.

“He’s gone Oscar.  He really has gone…”

“No he can’t be gone…he’s a special plane - he’ll survive!”

“Nobody could survive that,” Natasha whispered gently.  “Trubshaw sacrificed himself in order to destroy KARMA.”

“It’s still not fair!” the Airbus sobbed.

A deafening boom interrupted the unhappy moment.

“The volcano…it’s erupting!”

Chapter 14

Home Sweet Home

The earth shook and trees started falling down.  A huge column of smoke and debris spewed from the awakened volcano, followed by the devastating torrents of lava spilling from the crater.

“We’ve no time to lose - all of you, get onboard Oscar right now!”  Captain Ringway said.

“But…this is our home!” the Residents shouted.  “We can’t leave with you…where could we go?  None of us have any documents or money to survive in another world!”

Captain Ringway frowned.  “Well you have a choice - stay behind and perish or start a new life in our world.  We’ll think of something…we’ll say you’re migrant workers or refugees from Cuba, or Haiti or something.”

“We can get them working for AEROSOL,” Mr Patroni piped up.  “Aircraft cleaners perhaps?  You know there’s really no stigma attached to being a cleaner these days.”

“Captain, the runway has reappeared!”  Oscar shouted.

“Exactly.  Without KARMA around to control things, the island is free once more.  But Trubshaw’s sacrifice to destroy KARMA has unfortunately triggered the island’s destruction.”

Ben came forward.  “Come on everyone - let’s leave this place.  We’ve led an insular, isolated existence for too long out here - enduring the KARMA initiative and having no contact with other people.  We can start new lives!”

Without delay, everyone boarded.

Crusoe barked as if it to say “you’re not leaving me behind!”

“Hey that dog…no dogs allowed in aircraft cabins!”  Janine shouted.  “Well…maybe just this once.”

“Captain I haven’t had a pre-flight inspection!” Oscar shouted, as his door was pulled shut.

“Sorry Oscar, we don’t have time for that, we’ll just have to take a risk this time.  We’ve only minutes before the lava reaches the beach.”

Natasha hurriedly ran through the pre-flight checklist, while in the cabin, Janine and Ruby rushed around ensuring everyone had fastened their seatbelts.

“Well this is the first time we’ve ever been flying,” Ben gulped as Oscar’s engines roared to life.

Crusoe obediently lay down across three seats at the front of the cabin.

“When we’re airborne, I’d really appreciate a cup of coffee,” Mr Patroni said, unfazed by the commotion.

“Finally I can leave this wretched place!”  Oscar said as he accelerated down the runway.  

“V1 rotate!”  Captain Ringway shouted.

Oscar rose into the air.  Moments later there was a loud explosion and a huge landslide of burning lava, rubble and other debris flooded the beach.  Thick ash clouds tainted the sky, forcing Oscar to bank sharply and climb as fast as possible to avoid the ash clogging is engines.

After a hair-raising ascent, the plane leveled off and they were finally out of harm’s way.

In the cabin, everyone cheered.  Ruby and Janine were dancing in the aisles.

“We’re going home, we’re finally going home!”

In the cockpit, Captain Ringway’s radio and other communication devices started working again.

“We’ve got radio contact again!  We can call air traffic control!  You know what that means don’t you?  It means we’ve passed through the inter-dimensional boundary!  We’re back in our world, Natasha!”

The co-pilot gave a relieved smile.  “Thank goodness.  I was worried we’d be trapped in that other dimension forever!  But Oscar doesn’t have enough fuel on board to make it all the way back to the UK.  We’ll have to divert somewhere and refuel.  Then there’s the problem of how we’re going to explain our disappearance to everyone?”

“We’ll say we got caught in a storm, lost radio contact and had to land on a small island until the weather improved.  Whilst we landed, some boat people came to help us and we agreed to fly them to Britain…er, does that sound believable?”

“Not really.  But we can’t tell them the truth - about the KARMA initiative and the parallel universe, can we?”

“Let’s just contact ATC and let everyone know we’re safe and well first, shall we?”

Back at Manchester Airport, there was a buzz of excitement lifting the gloomy mood that had prevailed for the past few days.

“Guys, something amazing has happened!  There’s been a miracle - a miracle!”  Victor yelled as he rushed to Terminal 1, his tires squealing.  “Oscar’s alive - his crew too - he’s flying back home!”

The sound of jaws dropping was deafening!

Inside the building, AEROSOL executives switched on televisions and began making frantic phone calls.

“Is it true?”

“Affirmative.  Flight 25 did not crash.  No casualties whatsoever.  Plane and passengers are safe and well…heading back to MAN after a short stop off in Florida.”

“It’s a miracle!”

“Obviously some kind of major misunderstanding, hyped up by the media.”

Shares in AEROSOL immediately soared.

Captain Tex Kramer had just returned from a flight to Palma when he heard the news.

“Well well,” he muttered, trying not to look interested.  “Doesn’t fate move in mysterious ways.”

Cara Velle sensed an opportunity.  “No doubt you’ll be pleased to know that Miss Ruby Whittle is safe and well, eh, Tex?”

The pilot slammed the cockpit door angrily.

“I detect the faintest hint of a blush on your face!” the flight attendant teased.

“I detect that someone will soon be receiving their P45 through the post!”  Kramer snapped back, heading to the terminal.

After a brief stop in Florida to refuel and receive a safety check, Oscar was cleared to take off again, but with new pilots flying him.  Natasha and Captain Ringway had more than exceeded their allotted flying hours!

The media had descended on Manchester Airport like bees round a honey pot.  Cameras clicked and journalists were desperate to catch a glimpse of the people of Flight 25.  The airport police were struggling to hold back the crowds.  

Oscar began his final approach into Manchester.  He could see the airport in the distance, drawing nearer.

“Oh home sweet home!”  The A340 cried.  “Dear old, rainy, cold Manchester Airport!  How I’ve missed you!”

Familiar scenery passed beneath him - Knutsford, the motorways, Dunham Massey, the ship canal.

Finally, Runway 2 was in his sights.  As crowds lined every spare inch of ground behind the perimeter fences, the plane touched down safely.  A chorus of applause filled the air.  Oscar, the plane that had come back from the dead, had landed.  Other planes were going berserk just as much as the humans.  

“Oh dear, I don’t think I’m fully prepared for celebrity status,” Oscar gulped, as trio of 737s tried to mob him.  Tug drivers and airport workers had to intervene to prevent the planes from blocking Oscar’s taxiway.

At Terminal 1, the AEROSOL planes were waiting for Oscar.  It was the happiest reunion ever.

Victor pushed his way past everyone to give the A340 a massive bear hug with his wings.

“Hey, steady on, let me park up first!”

“Don’t crowd him!”  Charlie said, pushing the other planes away.  “Let a poor chap have a moment to recover!”

“Well, looks like I picked the wrong week to quit…ah, never mind,”  Mr Patroni smiled as he unfastened his seatbelt.

Woof!  Crusoe leapt up at him.

“You again?”  Patroni said.  “Now just what are we going to do about you?  I suppose it’ll be quarantine for you.”

Crusoe whined and nuzzled Mr Patroni’s hand.

“I think he wants you to look after him,” said Janine.

“Me?  Oh blimey.  Heaven knows what my wife will say to that.”

“I think it’s time you stood up to that wife of yours Mr P,” Mr Hawker added.

Crusoe wagged his tail.  

“Aww why not.  Sure would be nice to have a pet again.  Had a dog when I was a kid - a black Labrador.  His name was G.I Joe.”

Captain Kramer was pacing up and down the arrivals hall at Terminal 1, trying to look nonchalant.  He didn’t really have a good excuse for being there, as he was supposed to be jetting off on another flight soon.  But of course, he secretly wanted to catch a glimpse of Ruby.

“I’ll just briefly say that I’m happy she is safe…that’s all.  No smile or anything like that,” he muttered, fiddling with his sunglasses.  

Tired but happy, the people of Flight 25 appeared at last, to more applause.

Janine and Captain Ringway stopped in front of some waiting paparazzi.

“We’d just like to say how happy we are that everything is safe and well with AEROSOL and what was a simple misunderstanding and breakdown of communication by Havana air traffic control unfortunately led to the belief that a serious air incident had occurred.  AEROSOL maintains its 100% safety record and we look forward to welcoming you on board very soon!”

Then Captain Ringway took the microphone from him.  “And I have another announcement to make.”  The crowds all fell silent as he went down on one knee.

Captain Kramer rolled his eyes in disgust.

“Janine, would you do me the honour of becoming my wife?”

“Yes!” she replied in delight.

“AWWWWWWW,” the crowds uttered.

“Congratulations Janine!”  Ruby and Natasha said, giving her a hug.  2We’re so pleased for you!”

Ruby spied Captain Kramer sneaking off and made a beeline for him.

“TEX KRAMER!” she yelled, making everyone look round.

“Ah, Ruby Whittle I presume,”  the pilot replied, trying to ignore her.  “I see you know my name, well that’s good.  And I see you made it back safe.  Don’t expect a fanfare.”

“Oh Timothy Erik Xavier, you do make me smile!”  Ruby giggled, flinging her arms round him, which alarmed him greatly.  Outside, Victor squinted through the terminal windows.

“Hey everyone, look at this!  Ruby’s got Kramer in a clinch!  Somebody get me a camera!  This is *so* going on YouTube!”

“I see you know my full name to,” Captain Kramer prattled, trying to pull away.  “How very astute of you.  Please, you’re making a lot of fuss, I don’t need…”

“Oh I know what you need,” Ruby smiled, giving him a massive kiss before he could say anything else.

“Whoa I think I’m going to faint!”  Victor gasped.  “What a brave woman!”

“Honestly, these pilots and cabin crew,” some onlookers observed.  “Isn’t it nice that they get on so well.”

Captain Kramer didn’t protest any more, but simply smiled and blushed redder than the Red Arrows.

“I think the Beauty’s tamed the Beast,” Mr Patroni exclaimed, sipping yet another cup of coffee and keeping a tight grip on Crusoe’s dog lead.  

Oscar smiled as the other planes asked him about his adventures in the Caribbean.  But he never revealed the whole story. Some secrets were better left buried.  

“I only wish…Trubshaw could’ve survived…but it wasn’t to be.” the A340 said to himself, thinking sadly of the brave plane who’d saved them all.

Epilogue

The story of Flight 25 filled the newspapers for many days and did wonders for AEROSOL’s reputation.  Bookings were up, despite the credit crunch.  It only served to highlight BudJet’s poor service, but Captain Kramer didn’t seem that concerned anymore.  But of course he had other things on his mind right now.

Mr Patroni had big plans too.  The experience on Tropria Island had given him a new outlook on life.  

“It’s time for a revamp of AEROSOL,” he announced.  “We’re going to purchase a new plane - an Airbus A380!”

“No way, AEROSOL’s getting a superjumbo?” the other planes gasped.

“You got it!”

In return for the new plane, AEROSOL took the decision to sell Lima and Mike, to a new low-cost airline based at Stansted.  It was tinged with sadness as the two planes would miss life at MAN, but Captain Ringway promised them that they’d always remain AEROSOL planes at heart and could visit their old friends from time to time.

Mr Patroni adopted Crusoe, much to his wife’s annoyance, but she grew to love the dog in time.

Captain Ringway and Janine took the decision to get married not at their local church but at Manchester Airport, so the AEROSOL planes could enjoy the ceremony.  The reception was held at the Radical SOS Hotel and out on the parking apron.

Tropria Island was completely destroyed by the volcanic eruption, and not long after, the inter-dimensional boundary hole sealed up again.  So far it has not re-opened.

Life at AEROSOL carried on as normal.  Then, several months after the Tropria Island incident, Captain Ringway received a phone call from Bermuda.  He went to tell Oscar the news immediately.

“Apparently a glider washed up on the shores of Bermuda today.  The glider was in a bad way but can be repaired.  He claimed to know you, Oscar.  The authorities are arranging for him to be shipped to Manchester Airport as soon as possible.”

Oscar blinked.  “What was this glider’s name?”

“Trubshaw.”

The End