Hopeless
They were flying over the pacific now. They had left Peleliu about an hour ago and still had most of the flight left to go. Michael had not been spoken to by anyone since James strapped him to his chair, which brought up bad memories of being strapped to the Animus. Vidic had gone to the other side of the plane and was facing away from Michael. James was sat opposite Michael; it looked like he was paying no attention to him as he was reading a magazine but Michael knew that if he made any move to get up James would spring into action.
He resolved to stay quiet and pacified, until they reached America again at least, can't really do much while trapped in a plane. He looked outside the window of the plane and saw nothing but blue ocean, pristine and peaceful looking from this far up, the waves slowly rising and crashing against each other, the dangerous waters seemed almost inviting compared to the sterile cleanness of the jet.
Looking at the ocean was starting to depress him and he turned back towards the hulking mass of James the bodyguard, who was still reading his magazine, it looked miniature in his hands.
Akna had told him to 'save the girl'; he almost laughed aloud at that. Why on Earth would anyone think him capable of saving anyone, he was just an I.T guy who missed his family, not some kind of hero. Heroes were people who could effortlessly escape the bonds that held him now and then knock out James as if here nothing more than a bug, not a brute, then proceed to fly the plane down to an airport where they would somehow come up with a plan to 'save the girl'. Those words were becoming almost like a chant in his head, anytime he rested they just appeared in his head, over and over, I'll save the girl if you shut up about me saving the girl, the words never listened to him.
He looked at Vidic, the man was still facing away from and hunched over the box he hadn't been able to open earlier. That night in the tent it seemed, was a moment of unintentional humanity from Vidic, whom Michael had since decided was in fact a golum type creature who occasionally mimicked human interaction. A small headache started in his head, and then left as soon as unexpectedly as it had arrived.
He looked outside the window of the plane, hoping that the waves of the ocean would send him to sleep and hopefully not have any more headaches.
The waves were gone, the water was gone, he was looking down at green grassland. They couldn't have possibly reached land already. He looked around the plane, no one was moving, and the plane was not descending.
"Erm, excuse me, James is it?" said Michael. James put his magazine away and gave Michael a look that caused him to swallow. "Can you tell me what you see outside the window?"
"What?" Asked James
"Outside the window, I just wanna be sure we're seeing the same thing."
"Ain't nothing out there but water, and only water for the next 6 hours"
"What's he saying?" Vidic's voice came from the back of the plane.
"Wants me to tell him what I see outside the window, trying to be a smartass."
Vidic didn't say anything to that but instead came and sat next to Michael.
"What do you see out there Michael?" He sounded genuinely curious.
"Just water, like James said."
"Don't lie to me. What do you see?"
He took a moment to think about what to say, when no good lie came to him he decided truth was best.
"Land stretching in all directions, green grassland, it's like a whole continent just appeared" He said.
"Pangaea. Your memories have regressed further into the past than ever. This is interesting." His conversational tone made Michael frightened as hell. "We'll have to run some tests once we get to Abstergo, if you start to experience memories when you just walk around, we might not even need the Animus.
"Vidic, is there anyway what I'm seeing isn't real?"
"Perfectly possible you could just be losing your mind, but I wouldn't bet on that."
"Well then I feel I should tell I'm not only seeing land down there, I'm seeing what I can only describe as, skyships." The term sounded ridiculous to Michael, but it was the only way he could describe what he was seeing. A whole fleet of them, bigger than any ship he had ever seen and shaped more roundly than a sea ship, they moved a few thousand feet below their jet, slowly and quietly.
"You are joking I hope." Said Vidic.
"I wish I was, but it's the only thing I can think of calling what I see." James had completely forgotten about his magazine, and was now looking at Michael as one would look at a mentally unstable person whom you weren't sure wasn't dangerous.
"How long until we get back to Abstergo, James? Asked Vidic.
James slowly moved eyes away from Michael and looked at Vidic.
"About six hours sir, if weather permits." He said.
"You're not going to explain to me why I'm seeing skyships, and it's supposedly a memory of some ancestor of mine?"
"Not until we know more, right now I'm as confused as you are." Replied Vidic.
The fact that Vidic didn't know everything should have made Michael happy, but Vidic not knowing what was going on was scary and, strangely, exciting.
Six hours later they arrived at the personal landing strip of Abstergo Industries. Michael was swiftly put into a black SUV with blacked out windows and they drove for about an hour before he was taken out of the car and practically frog marched towards the Animus room and through to his bedroom. There they left him and closed the door.
Not being able to see out of any windows because of the room he was in, Michael did not know if it was still daytime when Vidic walked back into his room, accompanied by James the bodyguard.
"It seems you might be special, Mr Black." Said Vidic.
"What are you saying?" replied Michael
"The memory you tapped into, it is the oldest one we have ever heard of, and you didn't even need to use the Animus, your mind seems very open to new information."
"You're saying this will continue to happen to me?"
"Most likely. We'll have to monitor you closely so we don't have an episode like we did when you collapsed."
"Can you make it stop? Make it stop!" He was panicked, he didn't know what caused him to panic maybe it was a subconscious feeling that all these memories would change him from the person he was, to something completely different.
"Calm down Mr Black, nothing bad is going to happen to you as long as you're with us."
"Well that makes me feel much better, considering it was your fucking machine that did this to me in the first place!" James hit him then, not very hard but enough to daze him a little.
"Don't get angry at me, you have been a lot of trouble for me, and the only reason you're still alive is because I'm convinced to can help us with our mission."
"Yes, your mission to change the past, excuse me for not being as convinced as you are." Vidic ignored this remark and instead continued what he was saying.
"You will tell us if you have any more visions, I don't want to have to put you in a drug induced coma to get information out of you."
"No. We wouldn't that." Said Michael, his voice quiet but anger coming from it.
"Goodnight Mr Black."
He left then and James followed, but not before he said.
"Sorry for hitting you, just my job" Then he too left. Just your job. I think I'll kill you next. Michael's eyes widened, what had caused him to think that? But he knew, he went to bed then, he didn't sleep for the whole night for fear of dreaming of the mafia hitman in the 1920s.
His thoughts drifted, as they always seemed to nowadays, towards Chloe. He had to find a way to take her with him when he escaped from this place. He laughed then, a full hearty laugh, of a man who knew his situation was hopeless but refused to see it.