Friday morning brought a cloudy day to the people at the temporary NEST base, making it even more miserable. Everyone carried out their tasks in a half-hearted fashion, dragging their feet and taking their time, in no rush to reach the end of their time with NEST.
Ruby helped the soldiers prep the autobots for transport, buckling their wheels down for flight.
Major Lennox strode up to her, biting his lip to stop his smile. Ruby narrowed her eyes.
"Good news," he whispered in her ear, steering her away from the others, "The kid phoned,"
"Sam?" said Ruby.
"Yeah, he thinks he has something to bring Optimus back."
"That's awesome!" exclaimed Ruby.
"Shh!" Major Lennox looked around, worried attention had been drawn to them. When he was sure no one had noticed, he continued: "Galloway would never let us try, so, during our flight, the pilot is going to give us some kind of signal, feign an emergency, then we can air drop into the location, and Galloway won't be able to do anything about it."
"Oh, OK. Do you know where we have to go?" she asked.
"Egypt. So you might want to put on cooler clothes."
He strode away, leaving Ruby to wonder what secret Sam had discovered, and get real nervous about jumping out of a plane.
The only cool clothes Ruby could find were a pair of camouflage shorts, and a strange-styled khaki top, with twisted straps that met at the back round a large steel ring. As far as footwear went, she'd have to do with her sneakers.
At midday, all personal were air bound, sitting on benches inside a huge cargo plane, with the body of Optimus in the middle. Ruby had managed to wedge herself between Tyrese and Major Lennox, who was then unlucky enough to be next to Galloway. The autobots were being transported in another plane; their pilot would be signaled to drop its cargo shortly after the soldiers had landed.
The flight was long and boring. Ruby cursed herself for leaving her iPod back at main base after she exhausted conversation with Tyrese. Major Lennox stayed quiet, unable to say much with Galloway close by.
Ruby drifted in and out of sleep until the sound of the pilot's voice aroused her:
'Engine malfunction, cargo must be discarded, repeat: Malfunction, prepare for airdrop.'
Major Lennox put on an exaggerated show of being completely surprised and annoyed before standing up and taking charge. He ordered everybody to strap on their parachutes. Tyrese helped Ruby into hers, and then they sniggered at Galloway, who was being subjected to Major Lennox's well planned revenge.
He strapped a parachute onto Galloway in a rough manner, tightening it until he looked like he might burst. Major Lennox's expression was brilliantly (and entirely fake) sympathetic. He raised his voice over Galloway's protests: "We have to secure the VIPs first!"
The door at the rear of the plane began to lower, filling the inside with the roaring sound of air rushing past. Major Lennox steered Galloway to the very edge, and began shouting instructions incredibly fast, inaudible over the wind anyway.
"I-need-you-to-listen-very-carefully-and-followeverythingIsay!" shouted the Major.
"What!?" said Galloway,
Galloway was entering a state of panic, screaming over the Major. Their voices were lost to the wind. Major Lennox imitated the pulling of a cord, the veins in his face standing out. Galloway copied him, releasing his parachute.
"No, not now!" she heard Lennox cry sarcastically.
The parachute sucked outside of the plane, and a short second later, Galloway was whipped off his feet and vanished outside the plane. Major Lennox retreated back to Tyrese and Ruby, a look of triumph on his face. She slapped her palm to his, grinning.
"Did he say goodbye?" Tyrese asked,
"Nah, he didn't say goodbye." Major Lennox replied as he pulled on his own parachute.
Optimus' limp form was pushed out of the plane first, with four parachutes attached to it. All the soldiers jumped out after him, with Ruby among them. At first she was terrified. The wind tore at her hair, her skin. she couldn't tell which was was up as she rolled, but she released her parachute, the Egyptian view was incredible. Red sands for miles, and a glimmer of the ocean in the far distance. She glanced around at the soldiers, seeing that they all mirrored her ecstatic smile. But the fun didn't last long.