General Robert Hogan, retired, was sitting in his house in Los Angeles one day, looking at the calendar on the wall that was across from him. Today was the day—July 2nd, 1980 to be precise. He slowly stood up, rubbing his sore joints that his arthritis was pestering him with again. He had been diagnosed several years ago, but today he wanted to forget all that. He picked up his suitcase, jacket, and cane, and slowly walked out to the taxi that was waiting for him to take him to the airport.
The taxi driver, a young man with dark brown hair, appeared to be rather agitated and nervous about something. However, Hogan's mind was too preoccupied to pay much attention. He knew that in two days it was going to be one of his men's birthday, Carter's, and he knew that he wouldn't miss the party at his house in Chicago for the world. His wife, Julie Hays, was going to be there also. He had met her when she had walked into his pharmacy one day after the war. All of his friends would be present as well—Newkirk, Kinch, and LeBeau. Fortunately, time had been rather kind to them, since even though they were getting up there in age, none of them had any serious illnesses.
Suddenly, the taxi driver spoke up, "My name is Ted, by the way….It's just that I've been having problems with my girlfriend recently."
Sensing that the man wanted to make small talk, Hogan replied, "What is it?"
"It's a woman who you love, but you're not married to. But that's not important at the moment," Ted absentmindedly replied.
Arriving at the airport, Ted parked the car and helped Hogan to get out from the backseat. Hogan began walking towards the airport, but was rather surprised to see that the taxi driver had gotten out also.
Once inside, the first person that Hogan was greeted by was a woman giving out flowers, and asking something about a donation to the Church of Religious Consciousness. Hogan reached inside his jacket and pulled out five dollars. Time has certainly changed he thought to himself. I remember when $5 could buy you a LOT of things.
At first, certain things didn't seem to make sense to Hogan as he walked through the airport, but he just figured it was due to a change in the times. He overheard a conversation concerning a "red and white zone," saw a man remove a metallic arm and leg, and had to pick up his pace to avoid being hit by an airplane that had run into the airport itself. He had to stop and wonder if Klink was piloting that particular plane. The strangest thing, however, was that his smoking ticket seemed to actually be smoking.
As he boarded the plane, he found his seat and sat down for what he expected to be a comfortable flight. It was then that he noticed the taxi driver, Ted, had become one of the passengers on the flight as well. Though he didn't mean to be overly nosy, Hogan found that his previous nature as a spy, both during and after the war against the Soviet Union, had been a hard habit to shake. He noticed that Ted was staring at a beautiful woman, a stewardess, who also had dark brown hair who wore it rather long. Looking around the plane, the one thing that caught his eye was a young girl in a bed, who was hooked up to an IV. I hope everything's all right with her. Where's Wilson when you need him? he thought to himself.
At first, the flight was rather comfortable, though he did seem to notice a disturbing trend among the passengers. The first person that Ted sat down next to was an old lady, who seemed pleasant enough. Overhearing bits and pieces of the conversation, Hogan began to learn about Ted's back story, and that he was a pilot during the war, same as he. Apparently, the stewardess' name was Elaine, and he had met her during the war at a bar. The way Ted described their story, it was love at first sight. Immediately, Hogan's mind flashed back to his relationship with the love of his life, Tiger. Though they had never married, Hogan had kept in constant contact with her throughout the years. She, too, would be at Carter's birthday party, and Hogan was looking forward to seeing her again.
Hogan had done some soul-searching the week before the flight. He knew that their relationship had always been a quick and brief one, and that they hardly saw each other when they weren't performing missions together. However, Hogan had always dreamed of one day making her his wife, and he knew that neither of them was getting any younger. He patted his shirt pocket, which contained a ring. He was looking forward to finally asking her the question at the party.
Lost in his own thoughts, Hogan smiled to himself, the familiar twinkle in his eye shining as brightly as ever. Thus, he had no idea how the woman had found some rope, or managed to hang herself. He was completely shocked at this turn of events. Little did he know that this would be only the first of several strange circumstances on board Flight 209.
About forty-five minutes into the flight, another stewardess stopped by and asked him what he wanted to eat for dinner: fish or steak. To him, it was a no-brainer, since he knew that LeBeau was planning on serving fish at the party. "Steak," he replied.
To him, the dinner was both excellent and delicious, and he was surprised that for airline food, it came very close to the quality of food that his corporal was well known for, having recently retired from owning his own restaurant in Paris after the war. Meanwhile, Hogan thought about Kinch, who had also just recently retired from his job as a radio DJ in Detroit. Newkirk, meanwhile, was still performing his magic act in London twice a week.
Fifteen minutes after he had finished his meal, Hogan noticed another disturbing trend among the passengers. During and after the meal, Ted had moved next to another man, where he had continued telling his story about Elaine. His suicide by stabbing was no less shocking than the elderly woman's had been. However, this was not the problem that Hogan saw. He noticed that several passengers seemed to be profusely sweating, and that they were holding their hands to their heads, as though they were feverous. Hogan noticed that the same stewardess who had served him dinner was asking around to see if there was a doctor on board.
Glancing to his left, he was glad that she had indeed found one. The man, who appeared to be in his sixties and was wearing a stethoscope, got up and followed the stewardess to the cockpit. A short time later, Hogan watched as she and Elaine carried out the co-pilot and the navigator, who seemed to be rather sick indeed. At first, Hogan couldn't understand why everybody was getting sick, but he knew that it was probably contagious. Due to his advanced age, he could only hope that he wouldn't catch whatever the other passengers had.
However, a sudden idea came to his mind, and he hoped that it was the right one. Two of the passengers next to him who had gotten sick had ordered fish for dinner, as he had overheard them. He could only hope that was what it was, which helped to lessen his anxiety. This is the worst case of food poisoning I've ever seen. Things never happened like this back at camp.
"Things" quickly took a turn for the worse. A short time after the co-pilot and navigator had become seriously sick, a voice came on over the loudspeaker. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your stewardess speaking. By the way, is there anybody on board who knows how to fly a plane?"
It was then that the passengers, both the sick and healthy, flew into a state of complete pandemonium. People were running around, some were choking each other, and one lady flew into complete hysterics, muttering over and over again how she had to get out of there.
The doctor, while trying to take care of the sick passengers and maintain some level of calm in the airplane, was helping the other stewardess look for anybody who had any degree of flying capability. By this time, Ted had sat down next to Hogan, and he turned to look at his new acquaintance.
"If you were a pilot during the war, it's your responsibility to speak up. If the pilots are sick, you've got to land this plane," Hogan said, trying to stay calm though he found that he, too, was quickly becoming panic-stricken at the thought of both pilots being deathly sick.
"I can't fly this plane. You see, I have this war record…" Ted began.
"I don't care if you were working with Hochstetter himself," Hogan said, temporarily forgetting what war and era the man must be referring to. "I, myself, used to be a pilot. But I haven't flown in years, not since the Korean War. Your experience must be more up-to-date than mine is."
Ted could only look at him, slightly quizzical. "Who's Hochstetter?" he asked.
"He's a Gestapo Major who gave me and my men a lot of trouble during the war. But that's not important right now. The important thing is that you have to land this plane!" Hogan raised his voice, wondering why a fellow soldier wouldn't rise to his call of duty.
"Do you want to know the truth?" Ted asked. "Haven't you noticed that everybody who's eaten fish for dinner has become ill?...That's what I had for dinner also. I already don't feel well."
Hogan inwardly gasped to himself, knowing that Ted must be feeling feverous. Raising his hand to Ted's forehead, Hogan found that it was indeed extremely warm. He also seemed to be suffering from gastrointestinal pains, due to the way that he was holding his hands over his stomach. It was then that a realization came to his mind, and he would have to accept it.
He was the only one on board who could fly and land Flight 209.
Slowly getting up from his seat, Hogan approached the doctor. "Doctor, I'm General Robert Hogan, retired. I flew during both the Korean War and World War Two. I know a man who flew more recently, during the Vietnam War. Unfortunately, he, too, had fish for dinner. I'm ready to help in any way I can."
"My name is Doctor Rumack," the doctor said, shaking Hogan's hand. "Please, come with me to the cockpit."
Doing as he was instructed, Hogan was surprised to learn that the only people flying the plane were Elaine, and an inflatable co-pilot. As he quickly introduce himself to Elaine, and she to him, he removed the co-pilot and took his seat in the pilot's seat, while Elaine moved over to work the radio.
At first, Hogan experienced a brief moment of panic as he noticed that things had indeed changed since the last time he had sat in a cockpit. There were buttons, and switches that he had never seen before in his entire life. Fortunately, a voice came on over the radio. "This is Captain Rex Kramer. I thought I would be working with Ted Striker, but Doctor Rumack informed me that he had fish for dinner. Please, whoever you are, what in the world did you eat?"
"Steak," Hogan calmly informed the captain. "My name is Robert Hogan."
"Retired," Elaine and Doctor Rumack added simultaneously.
"Thank goodness for that at least. Now, I'm going to talk you down to the ground. Since you're retired, I'm assuming you haven't flown in a while. What is your flying experience?"
"I flew during World War Two and the Korean War."
Even though Kramer held his hand over the microphone, Hogan heard every word that Kramer had to say. "What is a man that old doing flying the plane, McCrosky? He has to be at least in his seventies!"
Unbeknownst to Kramer, McCrosky and Hogan shared a special relationship with each other. McCrosky had barely been twenty-one, indeed a very young private, when Hogan had helped him to get out of Germany after his own plane had been shot down. McCrosky knew that if anybody could pull off the impossible, it had to be Hogan.
"Hogan helped me during the war. I can't exactly say how—that's still classified. But if anybody can do the impossible, this man can. But it looks as though I picked the wrong week to stop drinking," McCrosky said, sticking up for Hogan before quickly taking a drink from his flask.
The ride was rough and bumpy. There was rain, and a little ice. Kramer talked, and Hogan listened to everything the younger Captain had to tell him. He soon found that things were rapidly coming back to him, and that he was becoming familiar with the layout of the newer plane.
At the same time, he let his mind drift, if only for a second. I hope Ted is ok. He may seem a little strange, and that drinking problem I saw him with earlier is certainly interesting Hogan thought to himself, as he noticed that every time Ted tried to drink something, all he did was end up drenching himself. But he seems like an ok kid, perhaps the kind that I could have used in my traveler's aid society. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Hogan had to chuckle to himself, knowing that he was once again in a traveler's aid society, albeit a very different kind than what he was used to.
As Flight 209 came closer to Chicago, McCrosky and Kramer went to the tower, awaiting Hogan and the airplane. The last part of the flight was particularly perilous. Hogan found that his arthritis was acting up so badly, that he could barely move his hands to control the airplane. He had to concentrate with all of his might to make his body bend to his will, instead of the other way around. He had to concentrate…concentrate…concentrate…
As the airplane moved closer to the airport, Doctor Rumack momentarily appeared in the cockpit. "I just want to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you."
After he left, Hogan sounded the alarm bell, and the other stewardess then informed the passengers to assume crash positions. The landing was tricky, and Hogan found that he had trouble stopping the airplane at the gate that it was supposed to land at. Eventually, though, after a couple of tumultuous minutes, he was able to bring the airplane to a standstill.
Everybody was escorted out of the airplane by the other stewardess, who Elaine informed Hogan that her name was Randy. Those three, along with Doctor Rumack, were the last ones to leave the airplane.
At first, Hogan could only stand on the ground. When he had first gotten on the flight, he had expected it to be like all the other flights that he had taken during his lifetime. He had never expected that a simple decision over what to eat for dinner would cause him to save the life of everybody on board the flight.
"What are you going to do now?" Elaine asked him, looking at Hogan with a great deal of admiration.
"I have a party to get to," Hogan replied. Just then, he noticed that Doctor Rumack was helping Ted to get into a waiting ambulance. Walking over to him, he could see that although Ted was still quite sick, his mind seemed to be less agitated and nervous than when he had first met him.
"I knew I shouldn't have eaten fish tonight," Ted weakly informed him.
"It could have happened to anybody. By the way, what hospital are you going to?"
"I believe it could be Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, but I'm not sure." [1]
"Well, if that is the one, ask for Doctor Charles Wilson. Carter—he's a friend of mine—swears by him. If he's even half as good as his father was, then you'll be feeling better in no time." Hogan quickly wrote down the number of Carter's house on a piece of paper and handed it to Ted. "I'll be staying at this address for a week. I would like to know when you're feeling better."
"Thank you, sir," Ted said, snapping off as crisp a salute as he could in his weakened state. With that, Doctor Rumack closed the ambulance's door, which quickly drove off into the night.
Hogan turned back to Elaine, a warm smile on his face. "I couldn't help but overhearing some of your history from him. I hope you'll forgive him for whatever his 'war record' is, and give him another chance. He looked so warmly at you. I know it's none of my business…" Hogan let his voice trail off, before he picked it up again. "I hope you two realize what a beautiful thing it is, to grow old together," Hogan said, letting a rare moment of genuine feeling shine through.
"I know," Elaine replied quietly at first. "I think I will give him another chance. Hey—have fun at your party," she said.
A short time and one phone call for a taxi later, Hogan found himself standing outside of Carter's house. Walking up to it, and ringing the doorbell, he found that the door was quickly opened.
"Colonel! Glad you could come," Carter said, with his usual smile.
"Andrew, you seem to forget that I'm a retired General," Hogan replied. "Are the rest of the men here?"
"Boy, they sure are! We were getting worried for a moment," Carter said, handing his friend the newspaper, which said that the flight was doomed and that everybody aboard was destined to perish. Hogan could only pinch the bridge of his nose, wondering how in the world the newspaper had managed to get the word out so quickly.
As he walked inside, he could see that all of his friends were waiting for him, and their faces passed through simultaneous waves of relief upon seeing that their friend was completely safe.
"So, what happened on the flight?" Kinch asked. Looking around the room, Hogan could see that the rest of his friends were waiting with baited breaths for whatever news he had to tell them.
"You'll never believe what I had to do tonight. It reminded me of old times…" Hogan began.
[1] Knowledge of hospital courtesy of Google Maps
AN: Crossover with Airplane!