An average plane flight takes a turn for the worse.
[[Start]] The date was October 23, 1992. Flight 6.02 of Avogadro Airlines had just taken off. The plane in question was a small jet, not quite full. The seats were taken up by Archie Starr (a teacher), Bill Cheek (an engineer), Bob Broussard (unemployed), Desiree Sugarbaker (a pharmacist), Jimmy Newman (a baker), Norm Jackson (unemployed), and Othello Sinclair (a former athlete).
[[Next|1]] George Baron, the pilot, went through all the safety checks, making sure that all was well with the plane. He then looked over at the new flight attendant. Her name was Elizabeth Walker and this would be her first flight as an attendant. George called out to her, "Elizabeth, could you please start with the safety speech?"
Elizabeth nodded and walked away from the cockpit before going through the routine with almost no stumbling over the tongue twisting portion of the speech. By the time she had completed, George was ready to take off. He flicked on the seatbelt lights and announced to the passengers, "Avogadro's Flight 6.02 for Washington D.C. is taking off. Please buckle your seatbelts and prepare for a long ride."
[[Next|2]] Elizabeth watched from the back of the plane as the passengers went about distracting themselves from the long flight. She dug into the backpack she took with her and pulled out a piece of technology that wouldn't be made by humans for another 650 years. She grinned at her zero-point chronometer before looking up and around to make sure no one was watching her movements. Elizabeth then pointed it towards the front of the plane and waved it about in the air. The red light on the top of the device glowed dimly then flickered a vibrant green. She focused the zero-point chronometer, trying to get a solid reading.
[[Next|3]] A man stood up from a seat on the opposite side of the aisle from where the reading was coming from. Elizabeth threw her zero-point chronometer into her bag while standing up as Jimmy turned around. She watched as he walked down to the back where she, and the restroom, were. He nodded at her and slid into the bathroom and Elizabeth exhaled before grabbing a small notebook and setting off down the center of the plane.
Elizabeth looked down at the first passenger she came across, Desiree Sugarbaker, "Is there anything I could get you to eat or drink?"
[[Next|4]] Desiree gave a little jump, she glanced over at Elizabeth and softly said, "No thank you," before returning to her book on the life of William Shakespeare.
Elizabeth moved on,"Hello sir, is there anything I can get you?"
"If you would be so kind, I would like a cup of black coffee." Archie smiled at Elizabeth as she jotted down his order. "How many places have to been to, as a flight attendant?"
"This is my first flight as one, actually!" Elizabeth started to speak like words were racing to get out of her mouth, "I've always wanted to have a job on Earth, I mean, all jobs are here, it's a big place. I meant I just got here, in this city, well that city we left not too long ago, and I thought to get a job. I can see all the places now, without having to, well, I get paid money to visit the planet. That is if I don't mess it up."
[[Next|5]] Archie got lost in the words that flew out of Elizabeth's mouth and his smile faltered as he started to regret having initiated a conversation. "I should probably go back to grading these papers," he said.
Elizabeth gave a quick nod and moved on to the next seat. Before she could say a word, Bob spoke. "Get me a cup of coffee with sugar in it, and do hurry.
Jimmy moved back to his seat which was, incidentally, the one across from Bob, and the next one Elizabeth was to stop at to ask if anything was needed.
[[Next|6]] Jimmy's face had a friendly appearance and Elizabeth was quick to jump into conversation with him. "Hello, is there anything you would like to eat or drink?"
Jimmy nodded, "Can you please get me some peanuts? I forgot to eat before I got on the plane and would like something to last me until the in flight meal."
Quickly, Elizabeth wrote down his name and order before moving on to the next passenger. After the way Bob spoke to her while ordering, Elizabeth already started to see why she had never taken a job before. She went through the last three passengers much more quickly than the first three, and they responded with much less emotion. When asked what he wanted, Norm just scowled. Bill and Othello both asked for bottled waters.
[[Next|7]] With that done, Elizabeth walked to the back and dug into her bag once again. She pulled out a second device, also much more complex than anything humanity could create in 1992. The molecule indicator she held in her hands was able to store a few molecules and compare them to any samples collected. Elizabeth, being the incredibly smart and talented person she was, had managed to miraculously procure a sample from each of the people on the plane.
The molecule indicator let out a soft beep and Elizabeth looked down to see the words "match found" on the tiny screen. Her suspicions confirmed, Elizabeth grabbed a package of peanuts for Jimmy and picked up two water bottles to take to Bill and Othello. She delivered those and then started to make the coffees.
[[Next|8]] Elizabeth poured coffee into two cups, putting on aside she reached into her left pocket and emptied the white package found inside. She then placed the empty package back in her pocket and fished out a second white package from her right, emptying that one too. She picked up a straw and stirred the coffee.
Now that all the drinks were delivered, Elizabeth was done. She had completed her mission, killed the Chol'aeth. However, one thing still worried her. She might've stopped the man, but what about the bomb? All she knew was that there was a timer. None of her crew had been able to learn when Bob was supposed to start the countdown. If Elizabeth's backup plan didn't work, then she would have failed.
[[Next|9]] A commotion sounded near the center of the plane. Elizabeth rushed over to see Desiree attempt to save the life of Bob. She watched from a distance for a few minutes before stopping her. "There's nothing you can do for him now."
Desiree slowly stood up and backed away from the body. All of the passengers seemed rather perturbed. Elizabeth stepped over the corpse and strode to tell George of what happened.
"George, a passenger has passed away. I am going to move the corpse into the back so as not to bother the rest of the passengers."
[[Next|10]] George seemed just as, maybe even more, shaken than everyone else on the plane. He knew that deaths on planes happened, but the way Elizabeth delivered the news was so cold and uncaring that he had to speak up. "Elizabeth, do have some remorse, a person has died while in our care."
"Ah, yes. I shall try to do that."
George shook his head as Elizabeth walked away, still unhappy with how she went about talking in light of the tragic occurrence. Elizabeth returned to the main body of the plane and calmly announced to the remaining passengers, "I will be bringing the corpse to the back of the plane so no one has to sit near it. Please return to your seats until I complete this task."
[[Next|11]] She picked up Bob's body by the feet and dragged it down the aisle. Jimmy moved as if to help, but after seeing the way Elizabeth easily dragged the dead person away, rethought and sat in his seat.
The remains now away from sight, Elizabeth reached into her bag once more and brought out a flux communicator. She dialed up her ship, the Infineon, and waited for her communications officer to answer. After about 15 seconds, a voice came through. "Captain, I'm sorry but nothing changed. The plane still crashes. It still hits an invisible Kragi ship and war breaks out between the Chol'aeth and Kragi in this solar system. You have to do whatever you can to keep the peace brokered by the Uchail."
[[Next|12]] Elizabeth looked back down the aisle, "Tell Uchail High Command that whatever happens is my fault and my fault only." She reached down into her bag of alien technology and pulled out her backup plan. The displacement emitter was heavy in her hand. "And maybe also tell Valriya that I'll miss her,” she whispers.
Before her communications officer could respond, Elizabeth ended the call and placed the flux communicator away in her bag. The bomb on the plane was the one type that could only be stopped by the person who had set it and that person was dead.
[[Next|13]] Elizabeth walked down the aisle for the last time. She looked intensely into each face that stared at her with confusion relating to the apparent alien device in her hand. Elizabeth spoke, her voice carrying to where George piloted the plane, "I'm sorry to have to say this, but there is a bomb on this plane and it will explode rather shortly. If it explodes here, a war will start, one much bigger than any you've ever heard of. I cannot let that happen. It appears that the Chol'aeth who placed the bomb was rather smart because this plane is rather old and only has one parachute. I foolishly cut it, as a backup to removing the Chol'aeth and now we have one chance to stop a war."
Jimmy, the only one there who currently believed Elizabeth in any way about the bomb loudly asked a few of the many questions the humans on the plane were thinking, "Who are you, what is that in your hand, what is a Chol'aeth, and what makes you think there is a bomb on the plane?!"
[[Next|14]] Elizabeth looked over at him, "My name is Azariah and I am of an alien species called the Uchail. I am holding a device called a displacement emitter. A Chol'aeth is a member of one of the more prevalent warrior races and they love war. My people brokered peace to keep war from happening here, but if the bomb that was placed by the now dead Chol'aeth goes off, the war we stopped will happen. This war will decimate the Earth and it will be set back hundreds of years. I believe there to be a bomb on the plane because there is a ticking coming from the overhead bin on my left."
[[Next|15]] The plane shook and the passengers looked around. "Nothing happened," voiced Archie.
[[Next|16]] Azariah wasn't listening, she was looking down at the device in her hand, a sad smile on her face. "Welcome to 2002, and say your goodbyes."
[[Next|17]] The passengers looked at her, realization flooding their eyes as the plane exploded.
[[Next|18]] The date was October 23, 2002. Members of the U.S. government's most secret investigative services examined the recently crashed plane. They analyzed every scrap they found, and all they could conclude from the wreckage was that the missing plane from exactly 10 years ago had landed. The world wouldn't know it for another 70 years, but that was the first time the Uchail saved the Earth and it wouldn't be the last.