Neo-Odyssey

Chapter Three

He left without another word, walking smartly out of sight, leaving the other staff to gossip with one another about what in the hell was going on.

"Honestly Clarice, I don't know how to feel about this..." Blake admitted as the duo returned to the cockpit. "He said there wouldn't be anything wrong, sure. But, I mean, I've seen enough movies to know how that old song and dance usually goes..."

"You're definitely being paranoid now." Clarice reassured him as they began hitting buttons and flicking switches. "There hasn't been a major airline incident in years Blake, just trust the Marshal to do his job, and do yours without screwing up."

"Yeah, I guess you're right..." 

"...It's just, well, I dunno? Feels like we're about to run into some real scary stuff. You feel me?"

Clarice would be lying if she said she wasn't also rattled by whatever nonsense was going on behind the scenes. She just didn't care enough to let it get to her. There was only one thing she needed to do, her job. After that, she'd sleep. After that, she'd wake up. After that, she'd eat. After that, she'd do her job again, so on and so forth till she had enough saved up to finally climb out of the unending purgatory that was her financial situation.

"Today is just like any other day Blake. We pilot the plane, we take it up and off the runway, we fly it through the air, we land, and we punch out for the day... or night... whenever it is that we get to stop working. You get me?"

"Yeah, I get you, loud and clear."

 Blake took a deep breath before slapping his cheeks to inject that extra bit of wakefulness into his fatigued body. She felt bad that either of them had to fly, haggard as they were. Still, a job's a job, and if they wanted to keep eating, they'd just have to suck it up and get it done.

"Alright Clarice, you ready to do this?"

"Ready when you are, Blake." Clarice shot back, as she strained her ears, waiting for that final announcement till the show began in earnest.

"North Pacific Ocean Flight 119, now boarding..."

***

Four hours later, high above the sky, amidst a crimson red sunset, Clarice felt absolutely knackered. Which, somehow, was still far better off than Blake, who looked like he was about to face plant into the plane's controls and take the whole flying machine down with him.

"Oi, Blake, mind rousing yourself?" Clarice asked, shaking his shoulder gingerly, to which the man groggily shook himself back to a higher level of wakefulness.

"What is it Clarice? Need to use the washroom?" He asked, and she nodded. "Alright. Just don't be too long, would rather not doom five hundred or so souls because the higher ups decided to slash our break time. Not superhuman, y'know."

"No more than I am," added Clarice as she started to get up and out of her seat. "Probably going to run into a spot of turbulence with how the weather's brewing outside. If things get choppy, give me a holler, and I'll be right back!"

"Reliable to a fault. Don't worry yourself Clarice, I got things for now. Just do what you need to do."

She didn't waste another valuable second on idle chitchat. She simply walked as briskly as she could to the lavatory while still maintaining an air of decorum. Just because airliners nowadays lost all respect for their pilots didn't mean she wanted passengers to lose the mythical image of the well paid, dignified, and generally dashing plane pilot. Most still assumed that to be the case for those in her profession, and she'd prefer not to spoil their flight by reminding them of the dreary realities of modern capitalistic society.