So... Is This The End?

No Time To Lose

"Mayday, mayday!" First Officer Christina screamed into her mouthpiece, "We just lost the left engine! Awaiting emergency landing instructions." She wiped the beads of sweat that had formed on her forehead. Captain Yusuf struggled with the controls, most of it rendered useless with the power failure. The massive 767 had already lost the right engine ten minutes back. It was quickly losing altitude. The aircraft was now totally devoid of fuel.

"Check the manuals," Yusuf struggled to stay calm. "Check for anything like flying with both engines out!" Oh Allah, as scary as that sounds.

"There doesn't seem to be a section like that!" Christina felt a knot in her throat, as she flipped through the logs.

"Hmm, now that's weird," Yusuf pursed his lips, trying to think hard. This doesn't just make sense. Something's odd. Something about this whole situation seemed oddly familiar to Yusuf. "Chris, it's crazy, but ever heard of something called the Gimli Glider?"

"Um... doesn't ring a bell, whoa, wait a minute! Of course I know. Yusuf, you really don't mean we're going to try something as crazy as that." Christina remembered the Gimli Glider incident. She had read about it in flight school.

"It worked then. Might save us today as well," Yusuf thought hard. "Consider this, this is also a 767 as was Air Canada Flight 143 aka The Gimli Glider. But what worries me Chris is that, neither of us has ever flown a glider! I just don't know how to maneuver this thing anymore!"

Christina shuddered as Yusuf's words sank in. Whoa, this plane's no more than an unguided, uncontrolled flying piece of metal that can crash any time! "Yusuf, there's got to be a way. I mean it just can't end like this..." Her voice trailed off. Yusuf thought he heard a muffled sob. "Chris please," he implored. "Let's try and finish this strong. We can't give up now!"

"My sister's on this plane," Christina stated blankly, looking away. "We haven't spoken in years." She sounded distant. "And I don't know if we ever will... but, I mean, it can't be over like this. I mean, we had great times together. She's the only existing family I have..." Christina sobbed.

Yusuf was a loss for words. He had always been too bad as consoling and hence chose to be quiet instead. "ATC to Flight T104," Thankfully the radio cracked to life. "Standby for emergency landing instructions..." Christina acknowledged and when she was done she looked at Yusuf. "As you said Yusuf, let's finish this strong." She was determined. "This is not something about heroism saving all passengers and blah blah. I just don't want to die or let my own sister die before reconciling." She flashed him a smile.

"Good." Yusuf gave her a thumbs up. "Let's get this thing safely on solid ground." He muttered a silent prayer to Allah to give him strength.

                                                                             ***

For Nasreen everything seemed to have come to a standstill. All the screams and panic all around didn't register in her ears. La ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah. She kept repeating in her mind and cried and cried until she couldn't cry any more. The world didn't mean anything to her anymore. All the ups and downs, all the good times, bad times were finally going to end. She felt strangely stoical. Is this what death is like? The German tourist failed to keep himself steady in between the violent random jerks. He bumped his forehead and was on the verge of losing consciousness, fear and panic getting the better of him.

Nasreen's body ached. She felt numb but chose to ignore it. Very soon my body will cease to exist. Then it will be pulled out from the crash site, half burned. Then my remains will be buried. And then... the questioning of the grave... Nasreen was shocked back to her senses. What am I thinking? Why am I losing hope? No no no, I've got so much left to do. If Allah wills, we're all going to land safely. A strange sensation of determination washed over her being. It felt funny though. Poor humans, grabbing onto the last straw! Her mind was already conspiring against itself. She carefully unclasped her seat belt and stood up, all the while grabbing onto the seat to hold herself steady. The plane lurched. Nasreen clutched onto a snub handle sticking out of the storage area above to keep herself from rolling over.

In three swift moves, Nasreen yanked out her bag, dropped back on to her seat, and fastened her seat belt. She heaved a sigh of relief as the belt clicked into place. I need to write. She pulled out her laptop, opened a new document and stared at the blank screen for a moment. No time to lose! Then her fingers flew to the keyboard and typed away furiously. It was as if they had a life of their own. Her mind was in overdrive. She kept reciting the Shahada, just in case. But then again... Allah knows best.