Chapter Two
Once arriving at the shuttle, Theo was seating next to Lily, who chose to sit next to the window while on the opposite side where they were sitting RJ and Casey as the latter was sitting next to the window, were seated together.
"This is quite amazing!" Lily exclaimed.
"I would say so myself but the trip has not even started yet." RJ replied.
"I can't wait to see what a sapphire waterfall looks like." Lily stated.
"It should be interesting." Casey nodded.
The stewardess, a beautiful African American woman 5"3 with shoulder length black hair walked over to Lily and Theo 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." Theo replied, "It is a good thing that none of us are allergic to peanuts. Right, guys?"
"That's right." Casey replied.
"Anyways," the stewardess handed Casey and RJ 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." Casey stated.
The stewardess smiled, "Enjoy your trip."
"And that we shall, amiga. We cannot wait." RJ replied.
"Indeed." the stewardess replied before proceeding to the rest of the guests starting with the next two behind Lily and Theo 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 stewardess, "Not for us."
"Earplugs please." the African American woman told the stewardess, "Thank you."
The stewardess 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 Lily and Theo were listening, "but it is no such thing. Sapphire is an aluminum oxide, but the glacier is just a compound silicon with iron pigmentation."
Theo and Lily faced the middle aged man and the woman to introduce themselves. RJ and Casey followed suit.
"That is fascinating stuff!" Theo exclaimed, "I actually knew it was not actually sapphire."
"You knew?" the woman asked.
"He has a hunch." Lily 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," Theo replied, "I'm Theo Martin."
"And Im Lily Chilman," Lily added, "These are our friends RJ, short for Robert James and Casey Rhodes."
"Nice to meet you." RJ waved, greeting the duo.
"This is my fifteenth time here." Brooks told the two.
"Oh. This is our first," Casey replied, "All four of us."
"Wow," the woman replied, "I am Deann. Deann Robinson."
"Do not bother them!" Brooks chastised Deann. They were unaware of a brunette woman wearing a red blouse, white pants and brown shoes with two inch heels reading a book.
RJ and Casey eyed the stewardess 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 stewardess 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 stewardess 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 stewardess 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 stewardess announced, "The music channel will be playing music from the 1980s and the 1990s, mainly rock music and some current music as well. We also have Battlefield Earth and Catwomanplaying for movies."
Almost everyone on board groaned in response.
"Are you kidding me?" Theo scoffed.
"Two of the worst movies of all time." RJ added, "if not the worst movies of all time."
"I saw Catwoman the other day and it does give me a headache." Lily groaned.
"And for the youngsters," the stewardess continued, "a rare treat. Early episodes of the popular Nickelodeon shows Spongebob Squarepants, Fairly Odd Parents and Danny Phantom."
"Give me a break." Casey muttered.
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 stewardess informed everyone on board, "We seem to have a failure of the entertainment system."
"So what will we do?" Seth's mother asked.
"Four hours of this?" Seth's father chided, "Four hours of just sitting there?"
"Wait!" Casey exclaimed, "I got an idea! Why don't we just talk to each other."
"Casey's right." RJ added, "It does not have to be a complete snooze fest for four hours as you guys might think. We can still make this trip fun."
"You got my vote." Lily replied.
"It's unanimous." Theo added.