Minds in Mines

Chapter 5: Sunrays

They were woken up early in the morning by Star and were told that the plane would land in another hour. It was still dark outside the window, but cabin lights were turned on to the max.

While Star was fixing their breakfast, Zee worked on turning the beds back into seats. Compared to last night when both Star and Zee had to work together to prepare the beds, it seemed easier this time since it took Zee less than twenty minutes to do it on her own.

Hot tea and coffee and a variety of warm breakfast meals were served right afterwards. The rented private jet did not disappoint by providing premium service to satisfy its passengers. Everyone gathered and sat in the middle part of the cabin for breakfast. Ray and Farz looked different since they were not wearing their pilot uniforms. AB even caught Shotty staring at Ray despite his still sleepy eyes. The man was probably too busy chatting up Zee last night to hear what Ray told them.

"I'm not built to wake up this early," Shotty grumbled as he held his hot cup of coffee with both hands.

"Neither am I, to be honest." Moony's typically jolly demeanour was on the low. He still looked sleepy, and gulping the hot tea could not make him fully awake.

"More tea, sirs, Captain?" Star offered.

"Thank you, Star." Ray handed out her cup for a refill.

"Could I get coffee? I don't think tea works at all for me," Moony said. "I don't know how you airline people can be so sprightly this early in the morning."

"We take flyagra," Ray replied with a flat face, purposefully pronouncing the "L" a bit silently.

AB chuckled but Moony just looked at her blankly. Certainly, his brain had not functioned properly yet. Long seconds later, understanding finally dawned in his eyes and he laughed.

"I honestly thought you were talking about the blue pills," Moony told Ray sheepishly.

"Hope that joke and the coffee woke you up, old boy," AB told him.

"Since the sky is clear today, let me show you what makes me love being awake in a plane early in the morning." Ray stood up from her seat and waited for Moony to follow her. "Bring your shades, Moony. You're about to witness one of the most beautiful views you've ever seen."

"Am I invited to see it, too?" AB asked.

"Everyone is invited. You, too, Mr Prasad," Ray called Shotty.

"No, thanks. I'll watch it from here," Shotty said.

"We're flying east. The sun is rising right in front of us and you can only see it from the flight deck as it breaks the horizon."

"Eh... still a no. Sunrise is sunrise anywhere."

"Shall we?" AB cut the useless conversation short, not wanting to miss the sunrise.

Ray led the way to the flight deck and knocked on the door. When she opened the door the sky in front of the flight deck window was split into three colours. The cloud below them was greyish and looked like foam while the sky above them was a pale shade of blue. In the middle, there was a narrow line of orange.

"What's the estimated time, Captain?" Ray asked.

Without asking further what Ray's question meant, Captain Rehman replied, "Any minute now, Captain."

Ray invited Moony and AB to come inside and cram the small space. A minute later, a small dazzling orb began to appear at the horizon and cracked the orange line.

"Oh, I have to record this for my daughter." Moony quickly took his phone out.

They all went silent as the orb got bigger and went higher above the horizon. When it completely detached from the horizon, and the sky was thoroughly illuminated brightly, Captain Rehman and First Officer Rashid had to put shade sheets to protect their eyes even with sunglasses. Ray put her hands together and chanted mantras for sun salutation. AB quickly followed and let out a long satisfied sigh afterwards.