The flight had been a disaster from pretty much the get-go. Joris wasn’t the one who organized this trip, taking twenty hatchies between the ages of 5 and 12 to the Ultrapark, a massive theme park on the edge of Thantai 26. But here he was, making sure that every single hatchie remained strapped in and playing with their onboard “kiddie distractors”. As his girlfriend Tizzi had called them. She was somewhere on this flight as well, at the back with one of the mums of one of the hatchies.
There had been so many problems though. The hatchies were like wild beasts, nigh impossible to keep in check and get on the aircraft. They’d nearly left half their luggage behind when the taxibus that brought them to the airport nearly drove off without checking. Speaking of checking, the check-in queues were the worst, massive long lines made unbearable by bored hatchies.
Then there was the waiting. The flight had been delayed by two hours. The port food and drinks were insanely expensive and Joris had to make sure none of the hatchies had stolen anything from the duty-free toy store. Duty-free was a lie anyway. Everything there was more expensive than normal, duty-included items.
It wasn’t until they’d actually boarded that things started to turn around. Take off and turbulence had caused several hatchies to start wailing, but once that had all passed and all the activity sets had been handed out, things were beginning to calm down.
Until the two sudden thumps.
No one on the flight knew what was going on, but the air-hostesses had all suddenly become very quiet and whispery. Joris had tried to ask if something was wrong, but they’d all immediately smile at him and ask him if he wanted another drink.
There were another two thumps.
And a third.
Suddenly, the seatbelt button lit up.
“WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?” someone immaturely shouted from one of the seats near the front.
“Turbulence…” an air-hostess hissed.
“You sure?”
“Yes. Please put your seatbelt on.” The air-hostess wandered off to the little area at the front where most of the air-hostesses were now gathered. They pulled a curtain shut, to give themselves some privacy.
Things were quiet for a while. Joris kept an eye on the kids. None of them were screaming. No crying or anything either. Most of them were oddly distracted or trying to look out the windows. It was cloudy, so there was very little to see, but it was almost as if they were looking for something.
Something crackled. The announcement system from the front of the ship.
“Good evening, everyone! This is your new captain speaking! Sorry about the little bumps, seems that we had several different types of pretty nasty turbulence up here! Anyway, I recommend you all try and get a little sleep while we straighten things out! Speak to y’all in a bit!”
The voice seemed to soothe many of the adults, but a lot of the kids were now getting fidgety, trying to see what was at the front of the aircraft. The air-hostesses did not seem comfortable at all. A knocking sound could be heard on the door of the cockpit.
“Can we get up yet?” someone asked a lone air-hostess as she made her way to the back of the aircraft.
“Please remain seated…” she sighed. “We’ll… let you know what’s going on in a bit.”
Everyone in earshot of that brief conversation knew that was a lie, but before anyone could say anything, the announcement system started crackling again.
“Hello again! Got back to y’all sooner than I expected! Alright, I got some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that your pilots had heart attacks. The good news is that Arkay, the Little Lord of Luck, is now flying your ship! We should be touching down in about fifteen minutes, so please keep your seatbelts on and remain seated and calm! Thank you!”
No one said anything at first. Everyone just looked around awkwardly. A few people muttered some confused swear words, but there wasn’t anything to say. Not even the kids were talking. They had all gone back to playing with their activity sets. The hatchies were at least reasonably calm.
Ten minutes passed. No one said anything, not until the announcement system burst back into life.
“Sorry, I should clarify to you all, you’re all going to get off this plane safely. As is one of these pilots. We’ll be landing in a few minutes.”
The voice disappeared again. Creaking could be heard as the aircraft slowly began to descend. It was all rather bumpy. Lights from the city and airport could be seen, steadily getting closer as the winds and clouds drifted away.
Suddenly, the aircraft began to slow dramatically. They had touched down and no one had even noticed. One of the hatchies randomly cheered as they spotted the lights of the Ultrapark in the distance.
The announcement system crackled and the voice came back. “Hello, everyone! It is now 0206 local time, cloudy with a hint of rain. We’ve landed at Thantai 26 airport and are now taxi-ing to the terminal where you’ll all be able to get off safely. Please remain seated until we have completely stopped moving!”
After a brief silence, the aircraft erupted into a mixture of applause and blessed relief. For the first time in ages though, everyone did as they were told, remaining in their seats. They were still sitting when the aircraft came to a slow stop, where a ladder on wheels, several buses and two ambulances were waiting. They immediately hooked up to the craft. The air-hostesses ferried people off the back of the ship, while response workers climbed into the front to try and pry the cockpit door open.
One last time, the announcement system came to life. “Thank you for flying with Thantai Space and Airlines! This landing was made possible thanks to today’s miracle, courtesy of Arkay, the Lord of Luck. We hope you have a great time here in Thantai 26 and stay safe!!”
As the voice faded away, the door to the cockpit opened up. Inside was one dead pilot and one unconscious pilot. Apart from that, the cockpit was empty.