A private jet descended on its course toward an airstrip in the London Oxford Airport as its wing engines slightly slowed their frantic revolving. The nose of the plane angled down to descend quicker down to Earth, wing ailerons angling down as well. The usual London cloud cover obscured any visual intake from the plane, making the pilot inside blind to the world. However, his devices and instruments apprised him of the outside world. His ongoing conversation with the control tower of the airport kept him busy, while he checked over and over the different readings of his gadgets.
A stylized writing was revealed on the side of the plane as it descended out of the cloud cover. A styled concept art drawing of a sailboat in light blue tones showed the front sail made in honeycomb colors of different shades of blue. Writing underneath the sail proclaimed the boat and the company that owned the jet to be Graphene Flagship.
Two businessmen far past their primes physically, but mentally as alert as ever, sat in the main section of the plane. One of them had blonde white hair, while the other one had salt-and-pepper dark hair. Justin Hall-Tipping of Nanoholdings was making a desperate bid for the influential owner of the jet, Jari Kinaret, to invest his money into the research of more nanotechnologies than he was already. Graphene, as the element crucial to their success in life and business, played a major role in their discussions. Versafilm presentation lasted over two hours and the audience, Jari, looked very interested. A duo of laptops between them had synchronised screen presentations. The businessman was selling the idea of energy utopia.
Green energy capture was on the verge of becoming commonplace; energy transport was now practically lossless; energy storage was already available. All thanks to carbon nanotechnology. They only needed funding to make it a reality.
Just as he took a sip of water to continue his presentation, the pilot's panicked voice told them to buckle their seat belts right away. Complying with the instructions, Justin looked at Jari, fearing the worst and seeing a reflection of his emotions in the other man's eyes.
A murmuration of starlings was travelling over a great distance, turning around each other, belonging to each other, being each other. The beautiful display of animal unity was dancing just underneath the clouds as if all starlings shared a single mind, a network that would be nigh incomprehensible to the human mind.
A large object suddenly descended from the clouds right above them. Believing it to be an aggressor, the collective conscience of the murmuration did the one thing it usually did to scare away all predators and aggressors. The whole flock of starlings flew straight at the white plane.
The plane's engines whined their highest pitch as the power flowing through them rose to its maximum capacity. The experienced pilot however knew that either the birds would change course within the next fraction of a second, saving everyone, or he was going to plough through them. His descent was too steep to level out the plane and turn away effectively. He made full thrust to the left, where there were fewest birds and also pushed the plane to ascend, which made the power skyrocket in the engines.
A vast majority of starlings turned to the left, since the plane was turning to their right. However, a few always straggled in the tight turns of the murmuration. Not all of them were well attuned to the mass consciousness, creating a lag in their cohesion with the rest. Most of them flew either dangerously close to the plane or collided with its body. Two of them were unfortunate enough to enter the grinder that was the plane's engine. Feathers and bones flew about in the engine, hitting critical spots that would short out the engine. A fraction of a moment later an explosion engulfed the whole engine, crusting any leftover bits of starlings.
The passengers and staff inside the plane had their eyes wide in terror as they held on for dear life. The pilot's voice brought them back to reality quickly.
"The plane is lost. It will crash into the ground in a minute. Unbuckle and get your parachutes. Get out NOW! GO GO GO! I will do what I can with the engine, while you take the escape route."
By the time the pilot said that the side cabinets of the interior opened up to reveal backpacks with lots of straps. The denizens of the plane rushed to put on the parachutes. Quickly buckling the parachutes around their bodies, they ran to the exit door. A steward opened up the door, showing immense strength. The unsteady floor and rotating flying death machine made the feat harder still. As soon as the door opened, a squall rose in the compartment. Three of them were sucked and tumbled out immediately. The rest joined them in the mad dash outside.
Falling through the air, Justin saw the plane turn slowly around as it levelled off somewhat. With only one engine working overtime, the plane was still falling, no doubt. However, they were falling faster. He could already see and make out Oxford University in the distance. Steward and stewardesses floated up to him and Jari and explained what to do when they land. Then they pulled the latches on the two businessmen, releasing their parachutes. Immediately thereafter they pulled their own. While they all waited for the parachutes to open, Justin had the largest scare of his life. The personnel floated away from him and each other. What would he do if it didn't open? He couldn't die yet. He had so much to do!
He thanked whatever gods there might be when he felt the parachute getting out and the painful halt that the parachute forced on him. He would live! Now he had to remember what the nice stewardess told him. He had to hold on to the harnesses and land on grass. He had better bend his knees and do his best to cushion his fall.
The plane made a full circle and now headed for the empty grassland to crash land. The pilot inside was positive that his life could still be saved. He only had to lock the controls. Pushing eight buttons and flicking a few switches, he did it. He put on his parachute around his shoulders and strapped the breast clasp as he ran towards the exit. After blindly jumping out of the plane, he franticly strapped his legs. Soon he had the straps in place and pulled the latch. The parachute ended up saving his life.
Justin's parachute was the first one to open, putting him as the highest one of all the flyers. He never saw the plane that flew in behind him. The sudden whine was not registered by his brain in time to know what was happening. A wing of the plane impacted his lower back. The sudden kinetic pressure completely broke his back. His skull impacted the hard rib of the wing hard enough to crash through the bone of his skull and to splatter the grey matter.
The soul of Justin Hall-Tipping, a businessman who made his life upon funding scientific research, because he had no ability to create any of his own, left the broken body moments thereafter.
Along the way to the afterlife, it was seized by a force unlike any other. A calm, deep voice asked him one question.
"Do you seek power?"
"Yes" The soul was bewildered, but answered honestly.
"What for?" The tone turned somewhat expectant. The specks of incredible power in it increased in intensity.
"To improve the world. To save humanity from doom." The soul cried out. During the lifetime it may have enjoyed the monetary benefits of benefitting people. However, the desire to help the greater number of people had never been weak in his mind.
"Enjoy it then. Keep your promise. Remember though, it's mine to begin with."
AN Please note that I left the end race open for you to choose. Anybody is free to adopt my chapter. I am only trying to raise the plank of standard for fics in this section. If you are willing to continue with my idea, then please PM me. I am willing to help you edit and continue this story. I would be glad to read it as well, I hope.