Disclaimer: See Chapter One!
Chapter Two. On the Shuttle
Once arriving at the shuttle, Rick was seating next to Jedda, who chose to sit next to the window while on the opposite side where they were sitting LJ and Kshin, holding Zuffy as they were sitting next to the window, were seated together.
"This is quite amazing!" Kshin exclaimed.
"I would say so myself but the trip has not even started yet." Rick replied.
"I cannot wait to see what a sapphire waterfall looks like." Jedda stated.
"It should be interesting." LJ nodded.
The hostess, a beautiful African American woman 5"3 with shoulder length black hair walked over to Rick and Jedda and handed them each complimentary stuff, "That is the headphones for channels one to thrity six, mobile link for videos and games, complimentary earplugs, complimentary slippers, complimentary juice pack and complimentary peanuts. I must warn you that some products may contain nuts."
"Ah, that is fine." Rick replied, "It is a good thing that none of us are allergic to peanuts. Right, Kshin?"
"That is right, Rick." Kshin replied. Zuffy exclaimed happily. The hostess was alarmed by the Zuffoid's presence, "Explain why this alien is on board?"
"I uh...I..." Kshin stammered.
"That is actually a realistic plush of alien." LJ told the stewardess covering up for Zuffy, "You know those realistic dolls that are in stores? Well, this is a realistic Zuffoid Plush."
"Oh, I see." the hostess calmed down, buying the story, "As long as the plush doesn't cause any problems, then it can stay."
Kshin sighed with relief.
"Anyways," the hostess handed Kshin and LJ each the same stuff she gave Rick and Jedda, "That is the headphones for channels one to thrity six, mobile link for videos and games, complimentary earplugs, complimentary slippers, complimentary juice pack and complimentary peanuts. I must warn you that some products may contain nuts."
"That would be the peanuts." Kshin stated.
The hostess smiled, "Enjoy your trip."
"And that we shall, ma'am. We cannot wait." Rick replied.
"Indeed." the hostess replied before proceeding to the rest of the guests starting with the next two behind Rick and Jedda which were a middle aged man that was balding, wearing glasses and a suit as if he was a professor at a college and an African American woman with her hair held back in a bun wearing glasses, a beige sweater, blue jeans and sneakers, "Headphones for channels one to thirty six..."
"No thank you." the middle aged man told the hostess, "Not for us."
"Earplugs please." the African American woman told the hostess, "Thank you."
The hostess handed the woman earplugs before moving on with everyone else on board.
"They call it the sapphire waterfall," the middle aged man told the woman as they were unaware that Rick and Jedda were listening, "but it is no such thing. Sapphire is an aluminum oxide, but the glacier is just a compound silicon with iron pigmentation."
Rick and Jedda face the middle aged man and the woman to introduce themselves.
"That is fascinating stuff!" Rick exclaimed, "I actually knew it was not actually sapphire."
"You knew?" the woman asked.
"He has a hunch." Jedda answered, "I guess his hunch was right after all."
"So I see." the middle aged man replied before introducing himself, "Brooks. I am Professor Edward Brooks at Eastern State University."
"Nice to meet you," Rick replied, "I am Rick Gordon."
"And I am Jedda Walker." Jedda added, "Hello there."
"This is my fifteenth time here." Brooks told the two.
"Oh. This is our first." Rick replied.
"Are you the son of the famous Flash Gordon?" the African American woman asked.
"Yeah. That would be me." Rick answered.
"Wow." the woman replied, "You are actually kind of cute. I gather you are like your father in the looks department. I am Deann. Deann Robinson."
"Do not bother that boy!" Brooks chastised Deann as he noticed Rick was blushing and Jedda appeared to be annoyed. They were unaware of a woman in her 30s with dishwater blonde hair held in a bun that sort of suited her, blue eyes, wearing a black blouse, gray skirt and black boots with two inch heels reading a book.
LJ and Kshin eyed the hostess handing juice packs to a couple who were also on board. A middle aged man with dark brown hair, a mustache and beard, wearing a red shirt, beige pants and white shoes and a middle aged woman with wavy red hair, green eyes, wearing a red blouse, red skirt and red heels. They looked like a middle class couple.
"Juice packs?" the hostess offered the couple.
"Oh thank you." the woman replied as the couple got their juice packs.
"Seth, come on son, take a seat here with us." the man shouted at an emo boy that was assumed to be their son as he was sitting on the opposite side of the seat his parents were sitting at.
"No." Seth shook his head.
"Do not be silly." the woman kindly told her son, "Come and sit with us. Look, we get slippers."
"Seth, listen to your mother." the man urged the emo boy.
"I am sitting here." Seth told his parents.
"Oh he is ashamed of us," the man scoffed in annoyance, "but he does not mind us paying, does he?"
"Don't you two start." the woman replied, "Should I save the juice pack or have it now? Look, it is peach and clementine."
"Ladies and gentlemen," the hostess told everyone on board, "welcome on board the Midnight Express. If you would fasten your seat belts, we will be leaving at any moment. Doors."
The doors of the shuttle closed which caused the system to beep.
"Shields down."
More noise ensued as the blinds of the windows closed.
"I am afraid the view is shielded until we reach the Waterfall Palace." the hostess announced, "Also a reminder: Midnight has no air, so please do not touch the exterior door seals. Fire exit at the rear and should we need to use it, you first. Now, I shall hand you over to Driver Bill."
"Driver Bill to wheel." a man's voice spoke through the intercom, "There has been a diamond fall at the Winter Witch canyon, so we will be taking a slight detour as you will see on the map. The journey will last four hours to the multifaceted coast and will get us to our destination on time. Thank you for traveling with us and as they used to say in the olden days, Wagons Roll."
With that out of the way, the shuttle took off.
"For your entertainment," the hostess announced, "The music channel will be playing music from the 1980s and the 1990s, mainly rock music and some early 2000s music as well. We also have Battlefield Earth and Dark Phoenix playing for movies."
Almost everyone on board groaned in response.
"Are you kidding me?" Rick scoffed.
"Two of the worst movies of all time." LJ added, "if not the worst movies of all time."
"It is on Netflix and it does give me a headache." Jedda groaned.
"And for the youngsters," the hostess continued, "a rare treat. Early episodes of the popular Nickelodeon shows Spongebob Squarepants, Fairly Odd Parents and Danny Phantom."
"Give me a break." Rick muttered.
"At least it is not too bad." Kshin stated.
All the stuff was blaring in full blast all at once which caused everyone to get their earplugs as they were not happy about this. Suddenly, all the entertainment stopped playing. This caused pretty much everyone on board to give out a sigh of relief but the stewardess was surprised by this.
"That is a mercy." Brooks stated.
"I do apologize ladies and gentlemen." the hostess informed everyone on board, "We seem to have a failure of the entertainment system."
"Oh man." Kshin stated, disappointed on not seeing his Nickelodeon shows.
"So what will we do?" Seth's mother asked.
"Four hours of this?" Seth's father chided, "Four hours of just sitting there?"
"Wait!" Jedda exclaimed, "I got an idea! Why don't we just talk to each other."
"Jedda is right." Rick added, "It does not have to be a complete snooze fest for four hours. We can make this trip fun."
"You got my vote." LJ replied.
"It is unanimous." Kshin added. Zuffy exclaimed happily.
A/N: The passengers are not the same names as they were in the NuWho episode "Midnight" but the passengers on board will have similar personalities as those who were on board in the aforementioned Doctor Who story. If you have seen it, you will know what I mean. Now for the Easter Eggs in this chapters, I randomly picked out some Nickelodeon shows. Just pure random. The movies were random too. I never been on an airplane before but I trust they play movies that are not really all that great that is why those two movies in particular were picked. See you on the next chapter. Cheers!