Flight 684

By Michael Eskin

Synopsis
Jonathan Sheppard, a pilot and aeronautical specialist with Boeing Inc. in Seattle is invited to Washington by the Department of National Defense to present his work on new alloys developed in his laboratory. He arrives several hours early at the airport and is able to change to an earlier plane, flight 684, leaving almost immediately. Once on board, he checks his e-mail and finds an urgent message from the Department of National Defense. He contacts Gerald, at National Defense Headquarters, who is surprised and concerned that Jonathan took an alternative flight to the one they arranged for him. Their concerns appear to be related to the incidents of earthquakes occurring with increasing regularity around the globe. Jonathan dozes off and is rudely awoken to witness the devastation occurring in Minneapolis.
He is contacted by the National Defense that informs him that the earth is undergoing considerable unrest as a result of nuclear tests combined with the depletion of resource basins of oil and water. This destabilized the planet causing a shift in the earths orbit with considerable activity in the inner core. The plane that he was originally scheduled to take was specially designed to take him and other scientists to space platforms located sixty thousand feet above the earth. As a result, flight 684 will have to rendezvous with one of these planes in Winnipeg, Canada. The plane changes course to Winnipeg, but the pilot is informed en route that the very heavy demands worldwide wont make a plane available for some time. National Defense suggests they refuel in Winnipeg and then fly on to Whitehorse in the Yukon to rendezvous with one of their planes. During the flight, Jonathan befriends Karen Grace, an attractive stewardess, who is very distressed as her family lived in the now devastated city of Minneapolis. During refueling, a major earthquake hits Winnipeg which necessitates the plane leaving only partially refueled. The remainder of the book deals with a series of adventures in which flight 684 makes a number of unscheduled stops before making its way to Whitehorse.
Jonathan and Karen become very close and soon learn about government plans, going as far back as the early sixties, designed to develop strategies for saving the human race should a cataclysmic event occur. These include the development of Cities of Refuge, as well as space stations and space platforms. On the final flight to Whitehorse, flight 684 suddenly finds itself in the middle of a terrible storm. One of the engines catches fire resulting in it crashing some thirty miles from Whitehorse. The final section deals with the trials and tribulations of surviving in the frozen wilderness, including being attacked by wolves, until they finally board the specially designed plane which takes them to one of the space platforms.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 19, 2012
• ISBN: 9781469162829

Michael Eskin

MICHAEL ESKIN was educated at Concordia College, the University of Munich and Rutgers University. A former fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, he has taught at the University of Cambridge and at Columbia University. He has given workshops, lectured and published widely on literary, philosophical, ethical and cultural subjects, including: "Ethics and Dialogue in the Works of Lev⁠inas, Bakhtin, Mandel’shtam, and Celan"; "Poetic Affairs – Celan, Grünbein, Brodsky"; "17 Prejudices That We Germans Hold Against America and Americans and That Can’t Quite Be True" (published in German under the pseudonym ‘Misha Waiman’); "Philosophical Fragments of a Contemporary Life" (under the pseudonym ‘Julien David’); and "The DNA of Prejudice – On the One and the Many" (winner of the 2010 Next Generation Indie Book Award for Social Change); and "Yoga for the Mind: A New Ethic for Thinking and Being & Meridians of Thought" (with Kathrin Stengel). A frequent guest on radio programs throughout the US, Michael Eskin is a member of the Academy of American Poets and the PEN Center for German-Speaking Authors Abroad. He lives in New York City and is the cofounder of Upper West Side Philosophers, Inc.

Book preview

Chapter 1

I’m booked on Northwest Airlines Flight Number 741 for Washington, DC. Could I change it to an earlier flight?

I’ll see what I can do, but you know 741 is a special VIP flight arranged by the Department of National Defense? the ticket agent replied.

I know, but my meeting finished early, and I don’t want to sit around the airport for another two hours when I could be on my way to Washington.

I can get you on Flight 684 leaving in thirty minutes from boarding gate 8B, but you will have to hurry if you want to catch it.

No problem, I’m carrying all my luggage with me.

Well, have a good trip, and thank you for flying Northwest Airlines.

I ran to the security gate, went through without incident, and then walked quickly toward Gate 8B. I had taken this flight many times before, so I knew my way around Seattle airport well. On arriving at the gate, I presented my boarding pass to the ticket clerk and proceeded to enter the aircraft with the other passengers. I took my seat in the executive section as it provides the extra space, comfort, and privacy for completing any work that needed to be done. Perhaps I should introduce myself. My name is Jonathan Sheppard, a pilot and an aeronautical specialist with Boeing Inc. of Seattle. My expertise is in the area of metal fatigue, and I have become somewhat of a world expert on new alloy materials for use in aircrafts and spacecrafts. I had been contacted by the Department of Defense to make a presentation on some of the new materials that have great potential in future aircraft manufacture. I was looking forward to this meeting as several new materials developed in my laboratory at Boeing were found to have extraordinary properties, both in strength and resistance to fatigue.

My name’s Jeff Callaway, the elderly man sitting next to me said as he shook my hand. I’m going to Washington to see my son, John Callaway, the senator for Massachusetts.

That’s nice, I replied. Isn’t he the chairman of the Environmental Committee?

Sure is. With all the earth tremors going on around the globe, he is busy reading hundreds of reports as well as consulting with the leading scientists around the world.

Pretty scary, isn’t it? I remarked. It was only yesterday that there was another tremor in Seattle.

Yep, sure is worrisome. Technology has really upset the balance on the planet. It seems like it was only the other day that my late wife told me that we could just blow up the whole damn planet with our foolishness. I just laughed at her and said she had a wild imagination. I hope she was wrong, I hope she was wrong, he commented as he fastened his safety belt.

I hope she was wrong, I replied as I prepared for flight takeoff.

The stewardess then went through the usual safety procedures as the airplane started to taxi toward the runway. The flight was only half full, and I was glad to be on my way to Washington. I still had a few changes to make to my presentation, and once the aircraft reached its projected altitude, I would get to work. The weather was stormy, so it took a little longer to reach cruising altitude before the seat belt signs were switched off. I opened up my new iPod and realized I hadn’t checked my e-mail. There was quite a list of messages including one from the Department of National Defense, marked urgent. The message was a little unusual and said:

Dear Jonathan:

Looking forward to seeing you, make sure you take Flight 741. Don’t take any other flight.

Gerald

Now that I was airborne on Flight 684, it was a little too late to change flights at this point. I picked up the telephone and dialed the special number to the Department of National Defense. A familiar voice answered the other end, Hello, who’s there?

It’s me, Jonathan Sheppard. Is everything all right, Gerald?

Jonathan, I’m so glad you called as we were all getting worried that you hadn’t replied to the e-mail we sent this morning.

I was so busy with meetings that I didn’t have a chance to read my e-mail until just now in the airplane.

What airplane, Jonathan? You’re supposed to be on Flight 741 which doesn’t leave Seattle for another two hours.

I just didn’t want to sit in the airport for another two hours, so I was able to get an earlier flight into Washington.

Shit! remarked Gerald. Why can’t you follow instructions? Flight 741 was specially flying in to pick you and several other scientists up.

What’s the urgency? What’s going on? I asked.

It’s very complicated, I can’t say too much but please keep in touch with me through this number. All I can say is I hope we both survive the next twenty-four hours.

You’re talking in riddles, Gerald. What the hell is going on?

I can’t say too much, Jonathan, but read your newspaper and phone me later.

Once Gerald had put the receiver down, I went into a sudden panic but forced myself to take deep breaths to calm me down.

Are you all right, Jonathan? Callaway inquired.

Sure. I’m just a little out of breath after rushing to get this flight.

I’m glad to hear that. After all, you are a pilot, so flying shouldn’t worry you, Callaway remarked.

Would you like a paper? the stewardess asked.

Yes. Do you have the Washington Post?

She handed me the paper, and my eyes immediately focused on the headline.

New Reports of Mysterious Space Stations

Several reports were received from passenger planes flying over Central Africa of huge spaceships hovering at eighty thousand feet. Because of the stormy flying conditions, the pilots were only able to see them for a few seconds. NASA commented that they were new weather monitoring stations launched last month and that there is no need to worry.

I continued reading about the awful climatic conditions experienced worldwide and that scientists were trying to understand why tremors were occurring globally with great regularity. It wasn’t too long before I started to yawn and doze off.

Mr. Sheppard! Mr. Sheppard! Please wake up, we have an emergency, cried the stewardess.

What’s the matter? Is the plane having problems?

No, look out of your window. We are just passing over Minneapolis, she replied nervously.

Why haven’t we landed?

The pilot tried to contact the airport and got absolutely no response. He picked up requests for landing by other planes desperately low on gas but with nowhere to land.

What do you mean with nowhere to land?

Look outside, Mr. Sheppard! Look outside!

I looked through the window and couldn’t believe my eyes. What was once a thriving metropolis was now a smoldering carnage. The earth seemed to have swallowed up the whole area gushing out flames.

Is this a bad dream? Will someone wake me up… ?

I’m afraid this isn’t a bad dream, the stewardess interrupted. The captain has requested you join him in the cockpit immediately.

As I rose from my seat, Jeff Callaway grabbed my hand and inquired, What the hell is going on, Jonathan? What the hell is going on?

Don’t worry, Jeff. I’m sure there is a rational explanation for this. There has to be, I replied in as calm a manner as possible.

On reaching the cockpit, the pilot introduced himself, his copilot, and navigator. We just got a message from National Defense Headquarters. They want to speak to you.

Jonathan. It’s Gerald.

Hello, Gerald. What the hell is going on here?

Jonathan, I’m afraid it’s finally happening.

What’s finally happening? I yelled. What’s finally happening? I have family, friends, and colleagues down there. How extensive is this disaster?

It’s destroying a large portion of our planet.

What’s destroying our planet? I asked in amazement.

The underground nuclear tests combined with the depletion of oil and water from various resource basins has caused a slight shift in our orbit as well as destabilization of the earth’s central core. This produced a series of mild tremors, which further weakened the inner core, resulting in major cracks on the earth’s surface. We had calculated that this should not have happened for a few years, but nuclear tests carried out by China, Iran, India, and Pakistan over the past couple of months have precipitated this crisis.

You mean we are all doomed to extinction?

No, Jonathan. We have been planning for this scenario for over a decade. In spite of entreaties by the president of the United States, countries that developed or acquired nuclear bombs continued to conduct underground tests unabated. There was little we could do to dissuade them. Nationalism unfortunately defies logic or reason.

What do you mean you have been planning for this possibility? What plans, Gerald?

"Jonathan, over the past decade, we have been building space stations in the event of such a tragedy. Many countries have cooperated in building these stations under the guise of harnessing the sun’s energy. In addition, we