Butler parked the Bentley and switched off the ignition. All three occupants sat there, without moving, for a few moments, until Artemis broke the silence.
"Butler, we will be flying to Morocco, where the Extinctionists are based. We'll leave in an hour."
"Yes, Artemis." With that, the young master left the car and walked into the Manor. Butler turned to look at the other occupant in the back seat.
"Sana, are you getting out?"
She looked startled. Butler realised that she had not talked or moved ever since getting into the car at the park. Such un-Sana-like behaviour. Butler was sure she was under some stress too.
She shook her head, taking out her clipboard. No, Butler. I think I'll stay here for a while. She turned her board around. Butler still could not get used to the fact that the originally chatty Sana had become someone who could not speak.
"Then could you lock the car after you?" Sana nodded, smiling.
Butler got out, hoisting the lemur's bag from the boot, walking briskly to the manor, running over lists of what-to-bring, trying to decide whether three hand grenades were enough to protect young Artemis from this adventure…
One hour later, Butler locked the manor behind him as Artemis walked briskly towards the hangar where the Learjet was located, carrying only a slim black leather laptop case. Sana ran after him, a yellow Pikachu backpack bouncing on her back as she tried to catch up.
When he reached the top of the stairs, Artemis looked back coolly and disdainfully at his adopted sister climbing the steps to the jet after him, and disappeared into the depths of the plane. Butler could practically see Sana's thoughts about Artemis and his "over-inflated head", even from the manor doors. Butler followed his young charges, climbed into the cockpit, and, easing the jet out of the hangar, flew the plane into the night sky, where the light from the stars and the moon reflected off the metal shell of the plane. Under Butler's careful manipulation, the jet levelled out six thousand metres above sea-level.
Leaning back into his seat, Butler sighed. He still could not believe what Artemis had become. Even though Artemis had a tendency to show off his intelligence at every opportunity possible, which would mean every single waking moment in his day, Butler had always believed that Artemis was essentially good, especially with Angeline's influence. Now, however, due to Artemis Senior's disappearance, here he was, selling an animal's life for money. Puzzling over the change in Artemis's personality, Butler guided the plane over the moonlit landscape.
As the sun rose over the horizon, reflecting off the distant Mediterranean Sea, Butler switched on the jet's intercom.
"All quiet up front, Artemis. Once we get out over the Mediterranean, I'm going to put her on autopilot for an hour and try to wind down."
Even though Butler was only an employee, and expected to follow his employer's instructions blindly faithfully, no questions asked, Butler wanted to confirm one thing about the events of the night before… "Today, Artemis, when you told me to shoot the lemur, you were bluffing? You were bluffing, weren't you?"
Artemis's cold tones cut through Butler's confusion. "It was no bluff. I will do whatever it takes." Butler shivered, not for the first time. Artemis had become someone a ten-year-old should never know, let alone become. Butler pushed the autopilot button, and took off his headset. Telling himself to wake up in forty-five minutes, he made himself as comfortable as possible for his powernap. Before drifting off to sleep, Butler decided to put his faith into Artemis and follow his instructions to the letter, thinking woozily, Artemis, no matter what he's doing now, has some decency in him somewhere. I'll help him do whatever he wants me to do until that decency comes back again.
In due course, the Learjet approached Morocco. Butler set the plane back to manual, turned his headset on and went to have a chat with the people in the control tower at Fez Saïss.
"Fez Saïss ground, Cessna Three One Six Zero Foxtrot on west apron, information Romeo, request taxi for L-J-58 arriving from the north-west."
No response. Butler halted the jet's progress, and, with the plane hovering in mid-air in a position only highly skilled pilots can manoeuvre, tried again.
"Fez Saïss ground, Cessna Three One Six Zero Foxtrot on west apron, information Romeo, request taxi for L-J-58 arriving from the north-west."
No response again. Butler turned the Learjet around and began to fly to the nearest international airport, the Mohammed V International in Casablanca.
Switching on the intercom, Butler spoke into his microphone. "Artemis, Fez Saïss isn't open so we're now flying to Mohammed V International."
No response either. By this time, Butler felt a little bit lonely and a tiny bit rejected by all the people ignoring him. He tried talking to the people in the plane again.
"Artemis, Sana, we'll be there soon."
No-one spoke. Butler began to feel like he was the only person on the planet. Not that he had never been in these situations before. In previous operations, he had been the only person left in the field more than once, but that was different. In those circumstances, if you couldn't save yourself, then you were definitely dead. Butler knew he could save himself, and he always tried to save his comrades' lives, but many of them still died anyway. In the present circumstances, he was flying a plane six kilometres up in the air with two passengers. Even if the interaction was minimal, Butler still expected some form of interaction between the people on board. Interaction came in the form of a small girl with a Pikachu backpack, announcing her presence with a squeaky marker and a whiteboard.
Hiya, Butler. Can I sit here?
"Sure, Sana."
Sana grinned at him, and hopped into the seat next to him.
"Sana, don't touch anything unless I tell you to."
He waited patiently for her to stop writing. I know that already. I didn't grow up around Artemis for nothing, you know. Sana wrote witheringly, continuing hopefully, but anyway, what do all these buttons do? Funny how Sana could make words take on emotions.
"They do all sorts of different things. For example, this one," Butler pointed to a relatively harmless button, "switches the lights on the plane on and off."
Sana stared fascinated at the button before realising that she had been tricked.
Butler! Tell me something more sub substank substins useful!
Butler pointed to two buttons next to each other near Sana. "These two change the plane from automatic to manual."
As Sana gazed in rapture at the two buttons, Butler spotted the airport. Adjusting his headset, he prepared to speak. He opened his mouth…
Sana tapped him on the shoulder with her whiteboard, holding it at a comfortable reading distance from his face. Hey Butler, do you have any more of those headphone thingies?
Sana was twisted, leaning precariously over the gap between his seat and hers. Her hand in danger of squashing a set of buttons and her knee was in danger of kicking the joystick. Butler grabbed the board with one hand, grasped her by the elbow with the other and flipped her around so that she was facing the front once more, plonking her whiteboard on to her lap. He leaned over to a drawer-like compartment and grabbed a spare headset.
"Here you go. Don't talk or wriggle about. If you talk or move around too much, there will be dire consequences." Sana nodded gravely and put the headset on, copying Butler's example. Butler opened his mouth to speak once more.
"Mohammed V International tower, Cessna Three One Six Zero Foxtrot on west apron, information Romeo, request taxi for L-J-58 arriving from the west northwest."
This time, there was a response. "Mohammed V International tower, Cessna Three One Six Zero Foxtrot cleared to land runway one four right." With that, a click could be heard, and Butler switched off his headset. Sana, still copying, did the same.
Five minutes later, the jet landed safely on the runway. Butler parked it into a special hangar just for private planes and got up out of his seat just to be pushed back by an overexcited Sana running out of the cockpit. Butler stared after her, and the Pikachu on her back seemed to grin evilly back at him. Butler blinked, and all he could see was an empty aisle.
Artemis was woken up rudely by a punch on his shoulder. He blinked, bleary-eyed, until his eyes focused on a whiteboard dancing up and down in front of him, saying Arty! I just helped land a plane! That was so cool! Butler let me push a blue square button on the ceiling, a yellow round button on the front, an orange-y looking one on the front and heaps more!
How could a whiteboard dance? He rubbed his eyes and looked around. Sana was holding the whiteboard in front of him, dancing out of excitement. He glared at the girl, cutting through her excitement. "So? I've been flying planes for ages." He got out of his seat and exited the plane, nearly wilting from the intense heat. Sana following him, writing hastily.
The whiteboard reappeared in his vision. Artemis stopped and read the text scrawled all over it. Yeah, Arty, but that's just you. Other ten-year-olds don't fly planes in their spare time. They do other things with other people. It's called 'playing with friends'. Ever heard of the term? Actually, probably not, since the only other person your age you talk to is me. That's pretty depressing actually. This holidays, I'm going to learn how to fly a plane AND find you another friend.
Butler, descending the stairs, was just in time to see the horror in Artemis's face at the suggestion.
Artemis leaned against the Land Rover that Butler had just hired. In front of him, Butler was finalising the details of the care for the jet as well as the Land Rover's hire. The sun glared down from a brilliant blue arch that no cloud dared to mar. Artemis felt like he was about to melt into a puddle and die. The heat was so intense, the air came off in waves from the ground. As he slowly drooped and slid deeper down the side of the vehicle, he looked, glassy eyed, at Sana, who was did not seem affected by the heat at all. Finally, finally, Butler walked over to the car and started the engine up. Artemis desperately twisted and opened the car, only to feel billows of hot air rushing out of the car. How long has this been in the sun? It feels like an oven!
Butler turned on the air-con. For a few minutes, hot air continued to bellow out into open air, until, at last, cold air began to gently caress Artemis's skin, slick with sweat. Artemis hurried into the interior of the car and relaxed. Sana, out of nowhere, hopped into the car too. However, even though she too was covered with sweat, she looked more comfortable than her adoptive brother.
Sana took her marker out. Arty, heat too much for you? Damn, she had realised what Artemis felt like.
"No. I am just merely not acclimatised to the present conditions."
Right. Sana looked sceptically at the boy. Could you say that again in English?
"I am speaking in English."
What I mean is… Bah. Never mind.
Butler drove the vehicle off the smooth tar roads of the airport onto the unsealed roads of rural Morocco. Immediately, the ultra-thin padding of the seats became noticeably thinner, and Artemis, used to super-thick, luxurious, leather holstered seats, began to prepare for his death by excess vibration.
"Butler, were there any better Land Rovers for hire?"
"No, Artemis. This was the best they had to offer."
Artemis fell into an uncomfortable silence. He looked over at Sana, who seemed to be braving every rut and rock better than he was. Sana just sat there, hugging that ridiculous yellow furry monstrosity that was her backpack. She didn't even jolt when the car drove past an especially deep hole. It must be the dance training coming into use, or she didn't notice how uncomfortable her surroundings were. Something hit Artemis on the shoulder, bouncing off and landing onto the seat. Picking it up, it looked uncannily like a part of the ceiling. He looked up. Sure enough, a small hole was now located on the ceiling directly on top of his shoulder. Soon, holes, blocked by bits of clay coloured the same as the bit of car they were supposed to fill, began to appear everywhere in the car. After a while, the car floor was littered by small blocks of clay. To top it off, around an hour after leaving the airport, the air-con died, spluttering its last as the small party of three drove past the same monotonous landscape from Casablanca to Fez. The further they went, the bigger the puddle around Artemis. Besides the irregular jolting he went through, he could literally feel his suit melting around him, losing its shape and form as time went by. Occasionally, long, black fingers would poke out of the box next to him, but apart from that, there was no movement in the backseat at all.
The action's coming up, so people, please bear with me as I try to make the boring bits in between interesting. Actually this chapter's more like an in-between thing. The next chapter's the important one. So yeah. Have a nice day! X]
Oh, and I've been thinking of changing the title of this story. Any suggestions? Or should I keep this one?
