The following chapter was powered by Sleep Deprivation, Loud Machinery, Coffee and Dubstep. You have been warned.
Seriously. Graphic Scenes. Viewer Discretion is advised.
Two minutes. Two minutes to open a door made from 1-inch thick high-impact aluminium tungsten carbide composite, six separate tumblers incorporated into a latticed in-frame lock. All he had was a handgun. Mac was being optimistic when he told Latias that it would be impossible for him to open. She didn't sound impressed.
"So your saying if we don't get in there, we die?"
Mac hung his head.
"That is the most likely outcome. And I can't see us getting in there with just this." He held up the pistol by the magazine, making it look as useless as it was given the situation.
He was expecting compassionate words from Latias. He was not expecting her to order him to move.
"Mac! Move out of the way of the door!" It wasn't a request, it wasn't an opening for debate, it was a demand. Mac did it without hesitation, stepping out of the path between Latias and the door. He looked at her quizzically.
"You can't barge it down. It's held in place with-"
"You don't have feathers on your ears. Cover them and eyes now."
Mac saw her mouth begin to glow and decided she probably knew best, then plugged his fingers into his ears. He couldn't do much to shield his eyes, and so had to content himself with burying his head in his forearm, before screwing them shut.
Latias focused on the edge of the door. If what Mac was saying was true - and she had no reason to doubt him - then the only way out involved destroying this door. Which she could do, no problem. She was slightly angry that he'd got a gun and not told her, but not very. He was only doing what he thought was right. Even if it was wrong. Guns didn't solve anything. If it wasn't for guns, she wouldn't have been kidnapped. She was going to make him ditch the gun the moment they left the plane.
Latias wasn't thinking about that when she vaporised the cockpit door. She was thinking of home. And how much she wanted to get there. The door was the perfect place to vent all the anger at her situation, in the form of a very precise hyper beam.
The beam was created just in front of Latias' mouth, flooded the entire cabin with blinding light, and slammed into the door. The door instantly began to fizzle as each molecule of aluminium was incinerated, producing even more light and making tiny bang noises as they exploded, which added up into a giant roar. In seconds, the door ceased to exist. Latias stopped firing the beam.
Even through his fingers, the roar was deafening to Mac. And even though his eyes were closed and he was looking away, the light still burned his vision a bit. Like having the world's largest camera flash imprinted on your vision even after a few seconds of having the picture taken.
"The door is gone." The words that appeared in Mac's head were exactly what he wanted to hear.
He removed his fingers from his ears and pocketed the gun. The pilots would be shell-shocked by the door being blasted away, but all it would take was one finger press to activate the A350's last hijack resort. He didn't want to give them another reason to press it.
He stole his way to the side of the door and held up three fingers to Latias. She nodded in response.
He dropped each finger one by one, until both Mac and Latias burst into the cockpit of the plane. As Latias growled - which Mac thought was a nice intimidating touch - Mac surveyed the pilots.
Both were wearing a full-face oxygen mask, though this didn't surprise him. Pilots had full-face masks ready to wear for emergencies, and they'd want to wear them if they planned on activating the last hijack defence.
The control panel for the plane looked normal, no alarms or anything. Mac glanced at the radio controls. Both were set to a frequency he was trained to avoid.
Both pilots had turned around and were looking at Latias. There was still a certain amount of vaporised aluminium in the air, which only added to the pilots dramatic situation of having a dragon in the cockpit.
Mac spoke in a low and threatening voice.
"I want both of you two to remove your masks, right now. Don't think about pushing that panic button either. Nice and slowly. That's right."
Both men started to remove their masks, still looking at Latias. Whatever will they had to resist, it went the moment a human sized dragon with big pointy teeth and what looked like an attitude problem burst into the cabin.
"Okay then. Nice and easy. Now I want your to put them back on the little shelf you got them from. Up there. Very good..."
Mac gestured to the stowage compartment where the masks were stored, and the men put them away. To Mac, it felt awkward bossing around two much older people.
There was a silence as Mac considered what to say next. He pointed to the pilot.
"You. Out of that seat, I'm driving now. Latias won't hurt you as long as you do exactly as I say."
The pilot blinked twice, considering his options.
Sev was utterly dumbstruck. One moment it was a routine flight, the next the military had radio's to say that there was a serial killer was on board and that they were bringing him in. And then the serial killer bursts in with some giant, mean looking bird and orders him out of the seat.
Sev regretted not pressing the panic button when he still could. The button was supposed to release a cloud of pepper spray into the cockpit, but he couldn't deploy it while he wasn't wearing the mask, for the simple fact that he would be incapacitated and unable to fly the plane.
Mac thanked him as Sev stepped out of the seat, also trying to stay as far away from Latias as possible.
"Thanks. You can stay here to make sure I don't do anything stupid. Don't mind Latias, she's actually quite playful when there aren't people out to kill her."
Sev didn't look any less worried as Mac climbed into the pilots seat. Latias realised Mac's 'appear calm' plan and tried to ease the ex-pilot's anxiety by rubbing her forehead on his shoulder. She stopped almost immediately as his pulse skyrocketed to a dangerous level. She didn't want another person fainting.
At the controls, Mac reached for the radio headset that the pilot had put down on the centre console.
Mac had only ever flown light aircraft before, and the Airbus was not the same by a long way. To say the controls were similar was like saying a motorcycle and a yacht had similar drinks facilities.
Nonetheless, Mac strapped on the radio and tried talking.
"Mike Six Romeo Indigo Sugar. Does anyone copy?"
Latias thought that the first bit was the worst cake recipe ever, and tried calming down Sev some more. She tried lightly cooing and doing the most flamboyant aerial gestures she could given the confined space. The pilot squashed himself further against the wall.
Mac had given up on the radio and started thinking outloud.
"How do I do an announcement...oh is this thingy here? Yeah. Probably..."
Mac picked up a separate microphone, pressed a button on the side, and spoke into that.
"Good evening passengers, this is not your captain speaking..."
Well, the sound came through a speaker in the roof, so this must be an announcement thingy.
"We're about to receive some unwanted attention from the British military, so please fasten your seat belts and prepare for moderate turbulence."
There really was no other way to say it.
Mac turned to the copilot.
"Yeah...err...how do you send a radio transmission. Don't change the frequency, just transmit?"
"It's that one." The copilot pointed to a tiny switch marked TX that Mac was annoyed he'd missed earlier. "Seriously though, you should just leave it. These guys know what they're doing and-"
"I asked how to do the radio, not for your opinion. Now shut up. I have an important call to make."
Latias leaned in-between the seats and growled at the copilot, which Mac - again - thought was a nice touch. Latias really knew how to play a situation. And now she'd gotten them into the cabin, intimidation was the best thing she could do.
The copilot shut up and Mac pressed down the switch.
"This is Mikey Six Romeo Indigo Sugar, does anyone copy?"
A pause. Then, a voice, repeated not just on Mac's headset but through the speaker in the cockpit. Everyone present heard the conversation.
"Mikey Six, this is a reserved channel for international flight communication. Switch to an appropriate channel to avoid a fine, over."
"Come in. This is Romeo Indigo Sugar. That is a negative to channel switch, I am on board flight 836 to Hong Kong. Over."
The silence lasted longer this time, and when it came back, the voice was angrier.
"Romeo Indigo Sugar, confirm you are Marc Simmons of England."
"Affirmative. I have negotiation terms for the safe return of this aircraft. Over."
No silence this time, the reply was immediate. And substantially better quality. They were getting closer.
"Her Majesty's Defence does not negotiate with terrorists."
Mac didn't know where to go from there, and both pilots were giving him worried looks. Although the voice sounded familiar.
"Indigo Sugar, I am not a terrorist, I am a freedom fighter for one of your detainees. Am I communicating with Corporal Preece?"
"No Sir, that is classified."
"I have clearance, as your records indicate. Am I communicating with Corporal Preece?"
"Your clearance has been revoked. Corporal Preece is my superior."
"Tell Corporal Preece that he owes me one."
"Her Majesty's Defence owes Marc Simmons nothing. Marc Simmons owes the Defence department one live specimen."
Mac leaned over to Latias and nudged her playfully. "He means you!"
Both pilots looked horrified. The person who'd just hijacked the plane was talking to an animal. Crazy.
Even crazier, the animal started making noises back.
"So I'm a live specimen now?"
Mac had the transmit switch down for Latias' reply, so the person on the other end could hear the cooing noises.
"Could you confirm the specimen is with you now?"
"You mean to tell me that with your fancy jet plane, you can't even tell who's standing in the cockpit?"
"Negative. We shall reach visual contact minus seventeen seconds. Are you refusing to answer?"
"Hmmm...nope. Yes, Latias is here."
"Can I clarify that 'Latias' is what you have named the live specimen?"
"Negative. She gave that name to herself." Mac was grinning as he said that last bit, and Latias giggled. The co-pilot considered pressing the panic button regardless of the fact they weren't wearing masks.
"Sir, this fighter is equipped with an array of eight peacekeepers, twelve MACMs, thirty other assorted missiles, EJTs and a mini gun. Please answer the question."
"You can't launch peacekeepers over this country. That's an act of war. Over."
"Tthe mini gun isn't."
"That is correct. The live specimen is called Latias, yes, affirmative, whatever."
Mac almost swallowed his words when the aircraft started to rumble and shake. Had they fired on them?
Seconds later, a jet fighter came into view on the right hand side of the airplane. Through the pilot's window, Mac could just about see it. A darker patch among a patch of dark, indicated by the orange glow of the gas turbine at the back of it.
It didn't look like any other fighter jet Mac had seen before, confirming Mac's suspicions of it being a prototype.
The autopilot was still on, and the aircraft stopped shuddering after a few seconds. It was just turbulence, probably from the supersonic airplane drawing along side them.
"We request you immediately hand control back to the crew so a landing can be made. You will then be taken into custody."
Mac mulled it over.
"What are the consequences of denying this action?" The posh way of saying 'what are you going to do about it?'
"To ensure the safety of the Great British population and allied forces, you will be executed."
"That's harsh. How so?" Mac was doing this just for the shits, beyond caring. It also got him more time to get on his phone and connect to his work computer. He had an idea.
"You will be shot down and the resulting crash site burned."
"We're flying over water. Can't burn water."
"You can if you spray oil and napalm over it, as per instructions."
Mac hit a button on his phone's touch screen.
Over 3000 miles away, in Mac's office, his computer logged in. Acting on commands from Mac's phone, it opened up the file for the prototype engine, and ordered it to shut down. Back on Mac's phone, a countdown appeared. 5:00 minutes. 300 Seconds.
The five minute rule was put in place as a safeguard. If no one in the office stopped the countdown, the engine would shutdown in 5 minutes from it being told to. This meant that a rouge employee wouldn't be able to do what Mac was doing, and start closing engines down for no reason.
In the UK, it was half nine at night. No one was manning the diagnostic desks, leaving the computers to alert them at home if something was wrong instead. So no one was there to stop the engine shutdown.
Mac's plan was simple. Stall the fighter jet for a few more minutes, and then it's only engine would shut down, sending it plummeting to earth. Then Mac could simply fly the plane right next to Korea, give it back to the pilots, and jump out with Latias flying him to safety.
Mac pressed down the switch again.
"Yeah, about the safe landing thing. Why have the military dispatched a prototype fighter to just escort this aircraft to a landing?"
"We do not answer to terrorists."
"You're not planning on escorting us back at all, are you? You're going to shoot us down, here and now, regardless of what we agree to."
Mac didn't believe what he just said. It was a question just to stall the pilot of the jet fighter. But if it wasn't true, said pilot was taking an alarming about of time to answer.
"Patching you LIVE to urgent conference with UN security council."
Over the radio, there was a click, then a beep. Then a new voice. A woman's.
"-olen potentially catastrophic military equipment from the British. He is trying to take this equipment to Korea, a potentially unstable state. Used in the wrong way it can destroy the entirety of Western civilisation."
Latias made a 'who, me?' face. It would have been comic, except Mac realized what was about to be said. Despite the fact that he should be taking action, he was frozen into the seat.
"The British military are requesting that Marc Simmons be executed before such transfer to said unstable state can be done. This request was granted and is effective as of G. M. T 2136. In addition, the threat was seen great enough by the jury of no absentees, to warrant the 'At all costs' clause, up to a point of 130 civilian casualties. This clause is carried as of the above." There was a beeping noise again. Then silence.
Both pilots and Latias looked at Mac.
"Does this mean?"
"SHUT UP AND TURN OFF THE AUTOPILOT!"
Mac had no idea how it worked on this plane, but he'd need it off if they were going to have any hope of escaping.
The copilot lunged for a dial and turned it anticlockwise, grabbing hold of the controls as the autopilot disengaged. The entire plane dipped slightly when it switched off.
"Let ME move the plane. I want YOU to switch off the air compressor."
"If you do that we won't be able to breathe."
"Does it look like I care? Do it."
"No. It's suicide!"
"Latias?"
Latias leaned in-between the chairs and growled at the copilot. It looked like he was beyond caring about his own personal safety.
"Can that even breathe at this height? And I think you're bluffing. I bet your bird wouldn't harm a fly."
Mac was in a conundrum. On one hand, they needed the compressor off if they were going to open the airplane doors and jump out of the plane. It was physically impossible to open them with the compressed air in the cabin. On the other, he couldn't bring himself to order Latias to actually hurt the man. So perhaps he was bluffing. Perhaps Latias could judge it better.
"Latias, if the man doesn't turn off the compressor, we can't open the plane doors and we won't get you back to Latios."
Responsibility to justify hurting the copilot offloaded onto Latias, Mac was telling himself that everything that happens afterwards was under Latias' jurisdiction.
"Do as Mac says or I'll eat your arm." Latias howled at the copilot. To his credit, he only jumped about half a meter.
"No. You're risking the life of every single-"
"And having missiles fired at us isn't?" Mac retaliated, temper well and truly lost.
"You're a coward. You got yourself in a mess, you had a chance to fix it and you haven't. If we're going to die, your going to die with us."
"Well that's just selfish. Latias?"
Latias was angry at the man. Perhaps Mac was being a coward, but Latias wasn't. She just wanted to get home, and he was stopping her.
Latias lunged forward, and clamped her teeth around the co-pilot's closest arm. Instinctively, he pulled his arm back and away, but Latias' teeth were deep in his skin, and she shook her head. The action instantly tore deeper gouges in his arm, and blood immediately began to drain out of the man and into the cockpit.
"Oh my god. What...what?" The co-pilot stared at his arm for a few seconds, then Latias. Her eyes had lost what little amount of playfulness they had in them. Now they were just raw anger.
"I...I...but...?" The copilot continued to stutter.
To make matters worse, the radio flared up again, back to the fighter pilots voice.
"Marc Simmons, you have been sentenced to execution for crimes against the state. This sentence is to be carried out within the next thirty seconds. The collateral loss of the passengers and crew of the airplane you are on has been authorised. You have your remaining twenty-seven seconds for final requests, as per the Geneva convention."
The copilot fainted, the loss of blood from the wound in his arm starving his brain of oxygen. Latias released his arm and quickly licked the blood off the feathers around her mouth.
Mac's phone showed the time left until the fighter jet was shutdown. 3 minutes, 15 seconds. Not even close.
That didn't mean he was going to give up. He released the aircraft controls and instantly the plane started to pull up. He stayed on the seat though, and looked at the terrified pilot behind him.
"YOU. COMPRESSOR OFF. NOW."
Sev raised his hand, and Mac dived to the side. In Sev's hand was a stun gun, presumably hidden in some off-plans compartment. And he wasn't about to turn the compressor off.
Before Mac could react, he ploughed the stun gun into Latias' rump, just behind her wing, and clicked it on.
There was a zapping noise as 40,000 volts discharged themselves through Latias. The majority went on scorching her feathers, but a few thousand passed through her nervous system, causing a terrifying amount of pain.
Latias yelped and her muscles contracted, pulling her into the foetal position and making her drop to the floor.
A second later, the stun gun clicked off, the battery exhausted. But it appeared to have done its job. Latias was on the floor, quivering, head under wing. Dragon down and immobile, Sev started to shout at Mac.
"RIGHT! THAT'S IT! WE'RE ALL DEAD. BECAUSE OF YOU! WHY? WHY DID YOU...YOU..."
His voice turned more sinister and Mac swivelled around totally in his seat.
"They said they wanted YOU executed. If I kill you, they won't need to..."
Mac realised Sev's plot, and ducked. Just in time.
The cabin of every airliner contains a backup CO2 fire extinguisher, as well as the automated system. Sev had just taken said extinguisher and piledrived it into where Mac's skull would have been half a second ago. Instead, it totalled the weather radar.
"Fuck...hold still. I can still save us!"
Mac was in an awkward situation for fighting back. His feet were on the chair's backrest, his back against the control panel, arms splayed out. There was nowhere to dodge to for the next strike, which Mac could already see Sev starting swing for.
Almost without thinking, Mac pushed his bottom against the steering control. This moved it away from the console, forcing the plane to pitch even further upwards. Fast.
"Fifteen seconds."
Just as the fire extinguisher was about to hit him, Sev lost his grip against the floor of the tilting aircraft, and the blow glanced harmlessly against the seat of the chair. With the plane almost vertical, Sev started falling against the back of the cockpit. Latias also started to slide, would have slid out of the doorway but for her wings. With a painful 'THWACK!', they hit the doorframe. Latias awoke.
She saw Sev. Then his aura. Then remembered that he had shocked her, prompting the micro nap. And no one hurt her like that.
With a roar, Latias flew up and bit into the pilots shoulder, the protrusion closest to her and best suited for biting. What surface wasn't already coated with blood from the co-pilot, soon got one from the pilot. Unlike the co-pilot though, the pilot started screaming as Latias treated him as she would any other pray. From Mac's viewpoint a meter above, he could see it all, first hand. And it wasn't pretty. It shocked him into immobility, and at the worst time.
"Five seconds."
Latias started to shake the soon-to-be-ex-pilot's shoulder, rapidly, like Latios had taught her. Many times, the shaking movement itself would kill the pray. But not for this one. It was bigger than most, and so she bit harder and tried again. There was a crunch as Sev's collar bone snapped, and another scream, but nothing.
Latias had lifted him off the floor slightly, but let go and allowed him to drop a foot, where he landed with a sickening splat. The scream had turned into a gurgle. But it was not any less sickening. Sev was still alive. Barely.
Latias didn't give up though. She picked him up again, this time biting down on the man's neck. This time, there was a snap and the screaming stopped all together. Latias shook him through her jaws one more time, before jumping backwards like Latios had told her, just in case it made a post-humorous attack. Some did that. Koffing, she had been told, released a toxic gas after they were killed, as a revenge mechanism.
But this was a human. There was no return attack. Just a silence.
Latias didn't really feel guilty - the human had attacked her, and stopped her from getting to Latios, and could have killed her. And now she'd killed him, he'd be a useful source of much needed protein. But before she could start eating, a beep filled the cockpit. Then the voice.
"ONE MACM DISPATCHED"
Latias turned to look up at Mac. He looked petrified. Then again, Latias supposed he had a right to. She had just hunted - and was about to eat - one of his own species.
Mac didn't want to move. Latias had turned to look right at him. He didn't know anything about her, but he didn't want to make any sudden moments in case she was the kind of animal that targeted quick moving things.
Latias was looking up at him, hoping Mac would do something about the fighter jet.
Mac was looking down at Latias, hoping he wasn't next on her menu.
And it stayed that way, until a second later, when there was an ear-drum shattering boom. Immediately after, there was a crackle, then another explosion sound.
Seconds later, the lights went out, and the cabin went black.
This wasn't an issue for Latias, as she could see by heat signatures and didn't need light. For Mac, it posed an obvious problem. To make matters worse, the cabin had become depressurised. This meant that all the air that was in it had left, in an event known as explosive decompression.
The loss of pressure merely hurt Mac's ears. But because Latias was so dependent on her ears for balance and navigation, the sudden change meant that she became completely disorientated.
"Mac! Which way is out?" she squealed physically and telepathically.
Mac dislodged himself from the control panel and landed back on the pilot's seat, crouching on the backrest because of the aircraft's vertical position. As he did, a few instruments flickered back on. Mac turned to inspect them, reassured that Latias was still dependant on him and not deciding which leg would be tastier.
"APU, GYO, and the rudder aren't working, according to this..." Mac hummed.
"They're all in the back of the plane. The missile must have hit the back."
Mac was beginning to feel the effects from the explosive decompression, pain in his ears, shortness of breath and confusion, but was trying to ignore them.
"The engines are still running, but the power rails have short circuited, hence the loss of power. We can fly, but not turn left or right."
Latias was in the process of trying to right herself, and telepathed Mac. "I want to leave!"
"That's probably a better idea. You know which way is up yet?"
Mac pushed against the control stick and the airplane began to return to level, according to the attitude indicator. He couldn't tell by looking outside, it was totally black.
"I think I'm getting better? What was up with my ears?"
Mac himself was struggling. At this height, he'd black out in under a minute, and he knew it.
"Pressure loss. We need to go down. Below 20,000 feet. Fast."
Mac pushed the controls harder, and the plane started to go from climbing to diving. The acceleration stopped Mac from falling out of the seat.
Latias sensed this.
"Mac! We're falling! Mac!"
"I know, just...just..."
Mac forgot what he was saying. In the already dark cabin, his vision started to fade. Lack of oxygen in the atmosphere was making him black out. He needed...oxygen?"
As if drunk, Mac reached up and grabbed the mask that the pilot had stowed away. The oxygen mask. As quickly as he could, he pressed it to his face and breathed in. Instantly he felt better. Like he was breathing delicious syrup.
"Mac! Falling!"
Mac spoke back through the mask and Latias stopped pestering.
"Calm it. Okay. Listen. Right...erm..."
Mac took a second to think up a new plan. Obviously, the fighter jet was still there and...
The fighter jet!
Mac looked at his phone, which had miraculously stayed in his hand throughout the explosions. The timer on it said 2:08.
Mac glanced at the altimeter in the plane, which was thankfully still working. It said 24,000 feet, the last two numbers going too fast to count. Ten seconds later, 23,000 feet.
"New plan Latias. Jump out of the hole in the back of the plane. You can still fly right?"
"Yep. Will I have to carry you?"
"Unless you want me to fall in the sea and die?"
"Okay. What about the other plane? Won't that come after us?"
Mac started to get out of his seat, which was more difficult than it sounded, in the dark.
"Yep. But in two minutes it'll crash, I promise. All we OH MY GOD!"
Mac screamed as a crunching noise followed his foot as he put it down. The pilot that Latias had killed had rolled forwards when Mac put the plane into a dive, and Mac had just crushed the remains of his shoulder.
It was a good job it was too dark to see, otherwise he would have thrown up. He'd seen people mangled in industrial lathes and steel cutters, but this animal attack was on a whole different level to even that.
"Sorry Mac! Sorry!"
Mac grimaced and took a more careful step forward. He tried to ignore the fact that the floor was slippery with blood, as he made his way to the door in darkness. He couldn't tell if Latias was following him, and jumped when he heard the unmistakable noise of bone snapping behind him. It was like a horror movie.
"Latias? What was that?"
"Well, you've said I've got to do some flying, and I've killed him, so I might as well eat."
"Not now! They could send another missile at any moment!"
"But I haven't had proper meat in ages and it's a waste if-"
Mac couldn't believe he was about to say this.
"If you've got to, break a bit off and chew it when we get off. But not now!"
Mac stepped out of the cockpit in the hope that Latias would follow. The moment he left, it felt a lot windier. He couldn't see more than three rows, but judging by the amount of wind in the cabin, the back of the airplane had been blown right off.
Mac knew why and considered it as more bone-snapping noises came from the cockpit. The back of the plane contained the cockpit voice recorders and black boxes. They were strong, but a direct missile strike to them would render the information in them unreadable, and therefore any evidence of the sentence. It could be kept a complete secret from the public.
Which also meant that the missile that they fired for that one wasn't meant to be the killer blow. Which meant that they were going to fire one more to actually kill him. With no one at the controls, the plane started to dive steeper, and roll. Shoes coated with blood, Mac found it harder and harder to keep a grip on the floor.
"LATIAS! WE NEED TO MOVE NOW! THEY'RE SENDING ANOTHER MISSILE!"
Latias had just finish cutting away at the pilot's thigh when she heard Mac. The pilots blood was still warm, and Latias was enjoying the familiar taste, but Mac was right. They needed to leave now, and food wasn't really top of the agenda.
She grabbed the man's leg in her teeth and shook it. With a snapping, the last few muscles twanged loose and the leg was free. She could eat that in mid air.
"Coming Mac!"
Mac heard her and started walking up the slope, to the back of the plane, as quickly as he dared. Too quickly and he could step off the plane.
Latias flew through the cockpit door and saw Mac, stood in the right-hand Isle, walking slowly forward. At some point, he'd picked up his backpack. Well good for him.
"Mac! I'm ready! We can go now!"
"Err...okay...I can't see! How far away is the hole in the plane?"
Latias looked down the rows. As far as the dividing wall, she couldn't see a way out.
"No holes here! How are we going to leave?"
Mac spied a battery-powered green light on the floor. The light that meant they had an emergency exit door on the row.
"Latias! To me! We can open this door and jump out of it now there's no pressure". Mac started to shuffle down the row until he reached the end.
Eyes adjusted to the darkness, Mac could see that they'd be leaving through the wing exit.
"Are you ready?"
"Yep. Are you?"
Mac didn't answer that question, fearing that the answer would a be a no. Instead, he smashed the emergency exit panel on the door with his fist, and turned the handle inside.
Normally, the pressure of the cabin would stop the door from being opened in mid-flight. But with the giant hole in the back of the airplane, there was no resistance, and the door fell inwards, on top of Mac. He pushed it away from him and out of the plane. With it gone, Mac had a brief few seconds to see the bizzare sight of the yellow emergency slide, which had deployed when the door was opened, and then immediately been blown back by the wind.
Mac turned around and saw Latias, with the pilots leg in her mouth. He faltered when he saw it.
"You'll be right behind me? You've got to jump out of this door right after me, and fly and catch me. As soon as I jump. Okay?"
"Yep. I'll fit through the door, don't worry."
Mac decided that 'don't worry' was the best advice he would get and didn't give himself another moment to do it, jumping out of the plane without further hesitation.
Before anyone says a plane can't fly with its back end missing, I'm an aeronautical engineer, and they can, just - as put - with a loss of the black boxes, power management controls and rear pneumatic function. In fact, your normal airliner will work almost fine if you remove the top. I can't remember the exact flight where this happened. Something makes me want to say Aloha 243. Oh, it is. Seriously cool, check it out if you can :)
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