Minds in Mines

Chapter 23: Reasons

What Moony imagined had never happened. Even though she was her father's only child who followed his footstep, their relationship was strictly between a boss and an employee. Initially, his father did not know that she went to a pilot school and just found out about it when she presented him with the best graduate certificate to apply for work in his company.

Ray had to admit that she indeed had the perk to use her father's company's planes to gather flying hours quickly. In fact, that was her only reason to apply to the company. She wanted to fly a lot and she hoped her father, even if they never really knew each other much, would allow her to fly often using his company's fleet.

It was nepotism, then again, they were never close and as a senior pilot and the company's owner, her father could not be that stupid to let his decision be clouded by a father's love that had never affected him when it came to Ray. There was no chance he would let any new pilot fly his company's precious fleet without great qualifications.

Ray proved that she was the best graduate of her flying school for a good reason. She had what it took to fly. She also worked hard on improving her knowledge and skills. So, it was never an act of love on her father's part to let her fly his fleet. It was more to the belief that as the best graduate, she could pull it off.

The closest thing to love that her father had ever done to her was when he let her choose the plane she would like to be named after her and fly it exclusively. All other pilots who wanted to fly the beauty would have to get Ray's approval since she took great care of the plane and hated it when a reckless pilot flew it.

Ray had known Rehman and Rashid for years and was well-informed of their track records. That was why she trusted them to fly Sunrays G10 on their second leg of the trip. And when AB invited her to go to Tembagapura with the team, Ray knew she could rely on Farz to watch out for the plane while it parked at Mozes Kilangin Airport.

"Ray?" Moony's call caught her attention.

"I'm sorry. What was the question again?"

"Will it be difficult for someone who doesn't come from a pilot family to be a pilot? I mean none in my family and Jennifer's is a pilot. What are the chances for Sanjana to be one?"

"A hundred per cent if she's committed to becoming a pilot. One can get the love of flying from someone; a family, a friend, or an idol, but to be a pilot, and I'm not bragging when I say this, it takes a lot of willpower. She will have to push herself to learn the methods, technicalities, regulations, and even manoeuvres, which can take so many boring ground hours, but extremely necessary to do, when all she wants is to fly in the sky."

"I see."

"When we get back home, do bring Sanjana to meet me so I can take her up the plane and we can talk about being a pilot."

"You're the best."

Moony continued chatting with AB, but Ray decided to take a nap afterwards since she felt sleepy. Her fever might have broken, but she still needed a lot of rest for recovery. A couple of hours later, AB woke her up. They were given meat and yams again for today's meal. Ray managed to put two medium-sized yams inside her stomach this time.

An hour later, though, Ray's sharp ears heard a familiar sound.

"There's a plane coming nearby. Single-engine turboprop."

She kept listening to the sound while the others stayed quiet and let her observe it.

"It landed south or southeast from here. Not too far away."

"Do you think that's the rescue team?" AB asked.

"I think a rescue team would use a helicopter. It's a more sensible choice considering they're not familiar with this area and may have to land whenever it's possible. No. This is flown by someone who is familiar with the area and knows there's a strip that can be used for landing."