"Hey Bill, want to buzz the tower?"
I turned to my friend from my midday studies and gave him a look that spoke a thousand words.
"No, Jeb," I still felt obliged to say, "I do not want to buzz the tower, and neither should you."
"C'mon!" he exclaimed, putting an eager hand on my shoulder and wearing the biggest grin imaginable, "The boys down at the Spaceplane Hangar just came out with that new Aeris 3 jet. I've been dying to give her a spin!"
"Jeb!" I got really angry now, and my voice naturally raised in volume. "The last time you took one of their planes and flew by the tower you clipped the wing. And that was an older model! Do you know how much it'll cost the fix an Aeris 3?"
"Don't be so assumptive!" Somehow I hadn't phased him. "I've been attending those flying lessons the cadets have and I can guarantee I won't crash another plane. You hear?"
"You're not even allowed to fly planes after that incident!"
"So what? The security here at the space center isn't too great anyways."
"Jeb!" I realized anything I said was futile. After being friends with him for so long, why had I ever thought otherwise?
"Fine. Fine! Do what you want! Just leave me out of it!" I finally snapped back at him. And with that, he vanished. I think he said a "Thanks," but he dashed out so quickly his words seemed to fly out with him. But, of course, I didn't really care. It was his trouble, anyways, and really I had nothing to lose here. His problem, I reminded to myself, So, I turned back to the book on orbital mechanics I had been reading and didn't give his actions a second thought.
I must've really gotten into my book, because from there time seemed to trickle away like water through cotton. As I was letting the knowledge seep into me, a blaring siren asserted itself into the once-golden silence. I jumped a mile in my seat, but once I had my bearings I realized what was happening: he had really done it. Outside the library through the glass doors I could see staff running wild, and after some time one of them actually came into the room.
"Hey Bill, have you spoken to Jebediah recently?" the man asked me, a most urgent look in his eyes. I tensed up, and I did everything I could to hide the swallow I just took.
Playing it dumb, I decided to answer, "No...why?"
"That darn kid got through security at the Spaceplane Hangar and stole one of those new Aeris 3 planes. They tried catching him, but before we knew it he was on his way into the air!"
"So why are you asking me this?" I said.
"Don't you remember the last time he did this? He said you had given permission!" He came a little closer, the expression on his face changing. "Bill, did you-"
"Of course not!"
Somehow I managed to squeeze out a complete lie, and I must've done it well because he seemed to believe me. After a frantic saluting to one another, the man ran back out to the corridor and I was once more alone in the library. I tried getting myself into the book again, but my curiosity was burning a hole through me. I rose to my feet and went the path the others had taken. A few turns awaited me before opening the doors to the cool, crisp air of the space center.
Everything seemed fine to me until I heard a deafening crack in the air, and I could've sworn I had seen a jet flash just above me. I scoured the skies for Jeb and his plane, and finally I found him making sharp turns around the Vehicle Assembly Building. Then the next moment he was rolling past the Research and Development Center. It seemed that at the incredible speed he was going he was everywhere. It also seemed he was doing everything but buzzing the tower. He was swooping, rolling, and soaring like he owned the place.
Just get it over with, I urged in my mind. But Jeb flew around some more, and just watching him practically made me sick. He went around the Assembly building once more, but then he pulled off a huge turn that must've brought about several g's. His jet was aimed right at the Spaceplane Hangar's control tower. He came in close to the windows, and at the last second right as I thought he'd clip the wings on the structure again he rolled to the side. The windows exploded in a deafening shatter and fell to the ground in a raining flurry of glass shards. Jeb was right, he wasn't going to crash his plane today. Sure, he may have broken all the control tower windows and given a few workers head trauma, but at least he was alive.
Of course, there was a huge conundrum when he finally decided to come back. I don't know if I've ever seen the directors of the space program ever so mad in my entire life. They along with what seemed to be the entire Spaceplane staff were screaming at him, and their anger was echoing off the the walls of the huge room. I stood idly against one of the trucks in the Hangar as my enraged bosses escorted him into the halls. I almost wanted to laugh, but I knew if I did that I'd be an even worse friend than I already was. But I still couldn't help crack a smile as I watched Jeb hardly give a care even at the verge of losing his job in front of everyone.
But the whole dilemma didn't last as long as you'd think it would. I didn't see Jeb until late that night, and just like normal he wore the same big grin as he usually did. It was late, so we went to bed, and in the morning all seemed to be pretty normal. Our lives went on and the days began to turn in weeks. We watched some rockets take off (this was a space program, after all), chatted with friends, and overall enjoyed our indefinite stay at the space center. It was all pretty easy-going until one month I got some huge news.
A few years ago our space program sent some astronauts to Duna, the next planet out from the sun than ours. A permanent settlement was built there, and recently more astronauts had been launched there to build up the base's infrastructure. Even a few of my other friends were selected, and by the end of the week they were on their way to another world. It grew a little quieter in the Astronaut Complex. It even seemed we weren't going to be selected. But one day while Jeb and I were hanging out in our dorm a knock came from the door. I was quick to open it, and to my surprise Gene, the head of the space program, was standing there. Of course, I let Gene in and shut the door behind him.
He told us the big news: we were chosen for the Duna colony. We were ecstatic, and once he had finally left we pracitically threw a party in our little room all by ourselves. With dreams of seeing the red planet ourselves, he could hardly sleep that night.
Time flew as launch day approached, and before we knew it our moment had come. Just as the sun rose on the horizon, illuminating the space center buildings in a fresh golden light, Jeb and I already were in our spacesuits and were headed down to the Spaceplane hangar. We entered the wide doors at the front, and ahead of us, lying right in the middle of the room, was our ride: an Aeris 3.
I looked over to my friend and smirked.
"Ha! You're not going to hijack this one, right?" I couldn't help but remark. Jeb only smiled back and rolled his eyes. We walked over to the plane and prepared to board it. I grabbed the rungs of the ladder and hoisted myself into the cockpit. I glanced over just as my friend was doing the same into the seat behind me. Once we were in, all I had to do was to press a button to lower the glass window over our heads.
I was given the A-Okay to start the plane up, and I did so. The machine rumbled all around us and began to move forward. I took control of the joystick and steered it wherever the ground control was guiding me: the runway.
I maneuvered the plane right into position at the end of the road, and ahead of me then lied two and a half kilometers of grey tarmac and white lines. All I paid attention to, though, was the headset over my ears. I listened closely as they ordered the runway to be cleared off and for me to start the engines. One lever-pulling later, the rumbling grew stronger, intenser. I pulled the throttle up slowly, and before we knew it we were off.
What had started at a few meters a second snowballed into dozens. The plane soared down the runway, and as it did so the buildings flashed by seconds. The monitor was reading seventy meters a second, and it was on the rise quickly. I grabbed the joystick tightly, and with the greatest of subtly I pulled it up towards me. The nose rose into the air. I felt the wheels peel off from the road. We were in the air, and I watched as it all disappeared as it expired beneath our feet.
Up, up, and up we went. The clouds came up around me, all in great clarity through the wide transparent panel over me. The water glistened like diamonds and jades down below. I even began to see the blue curvature of the planet as it fell away with an increasing rate. I have to say, it felt great. This machine was brilliant, and I flew without a single hitch or twist. Some would call this nerve-racking, but really this is why I was an astronaut, for moments like this.
Then a scrapping noise broke the utter silence.
A blinding flash seared into my unsuspecting eyes. It glowed with intensity and repetition, and then I noticed the loud blaring siren in my headset. The world began to revolve outside of the cockpit. I even heard with my sudden fear the engine sputter and gasp. Mission control even began screaming in my headset. My moment of peace was over, it was all going wrong now. I gripped the control and contorted it with every ounce of my being, but it only seemed to make the plane's head-over-heels spinning even worse. The space center was shouting orders at me left and right, but I shut them out. I tried everything I had been taught: lateral-thrusting, engine-toggling, intake-shutting, plane-rolling. None of it worked. The blaring siren continued, and the flashing wouldn't stop. It drove me mad, and then, with the sudden realization of my futility, I screamed.
"Jeb, do something!" I never thought I'd ever say those words to my crazy, half-witted friend, but I didn't care now. I put my life in his hands, waiting for him to take action, but…nothing was happening.
"Jeb?" I struggled to look over my shoulder through the pounding g-forces, but I managed, and what I saw baffled me. There he was, a smile brimming on his face like always.
"Do something, dang it!" I ordered, knowing our time was running out. Finally with some responsiveness, he nodded at me, and then he took control. Jeb then performed the most incredible maneuvers I have ever seen to this day. With every turn and twist of the plane he perfectly performed a counter-balance. Our spinning diminished to only one axis of rotation, and that too slowed into steadiness. He aligned the nose of the plane with our current direction of velocity, and miraculously we once again achieved stable flight.
Of course, after that incident we didn't have nearly enough fuel to get into orbit, so together we flew back to the space center and made a safe landing.
Back on the ground, the first thing to fly out of my mouth was, "H-how did y-you—"
Jeb laughed.
"I've been taking those classes, remember?"