Week 21.3 – The Party Plane

Previously: Cole took Digger to the airport to board Defcon 5’s plane for the trip to China. And now…

“This isn’t a plane,” Digger said. “This is an airliner.”

The plane looked pretty much like any civilian airliner to Digger’s eyes–not a jumbo jet, more like a 707. It bore no logos, only a simple color scheme of white and royal blue.

“Well, there are five of us,” Cole said.

“Six,” Digger corrected. “And this plane is designed to carry over a hundred.”

“Yeah, but not for an extended period,” Cole said. “This plane has sleeping cabins and a nice living area. One of the stewardess stations has been converted into a small medical bay, and there’s even a mobile lab for Cortex to dick around in.”

“I see,” Digger said.

“And the twins share a cabin, so it’s five.”

“You really do need to start thinking of them as two separate people,” Digger said. “It’s just rude otherwise.”

“Cole knows all about rude, believe me,” Tiffany said as she shouldered past Digger dragging a rolling pilot’s case. She continued toward the plane, walking fast.

“Don’t pretend you don’t like it,” Cole called after her. He smiled at Digger. “We are going to have so much fun.”

[blockquote type=”blockquote_quotes” align=”right”]“What’s the hurry?” Digger asked. “The pilots haven’t even started warming up the engines.” “Who said anything about engines?”[/blockquote]“Fun never stops on the party plane,” Amanda said as she passed by in Tiffany’s wake.

“What did she mean by that?” Digger asked.

“Nothing,” Cole said. “Look, you can’t be surprised by this. I mean, you’ve been on teams before, right? That one in Arizona?”

“Yeah, but we didn’t have anything like this,” Digger said as they started to mount the rollaway staircase to the fuselage.

“Then you were doing it wrong,” Cole said. “No wonder you have such a bad attitude.”

“I don’t have a bad attitude,” Digger said as he stepped into the plane. The cabin was mostly dark except for some small emergency lights.

“Find a seat,” Cole said. “I’ll be right back.”

He headed toward the cockpit as Digger looked around. The cabin looked sort of like a narrow living room with couches and tables, except with standard airplane seats lining the walls. Amanda helped Digger stow his duffel bag in a closet, then directed him to one of the seats. “You’ll want to get buckled in,” she said as she fastened her own seat belt.

“What’s the hurry?” Digger asked. “The pilots haven’t even started warming up the engines.”

“Who said anything about engines?” Amanda looked amused as a turbine whined to life and the lights in the cabin flickered on.

“Isn’t that the engine?” Digger asked.

“No, that’s just the auxiliary power unit, for the lights,” Amanda said. “You’d know it if the engines were on.”

“Oh, no-no-no,” Digger said, but before he could stand up to go to the cockpit, the plane lurched silently under them. It stopped, and as Digger looked out the window, he saw that the plane was pivoting like a compass needle until he could see the hangar doors. They slid shut of their own accord, and the plane twisted silently in the air and shot into the sky.

And they’re off! What will happen next? Join us tomorrow for our next episode!

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