Father’s jet looms above us, the boxy robot from the SynTech logo smiling down at us from its side. A warm breeze blows in from the vast tracts of sand around our private airstrip.
“Have any of you ever flown on this?” I whisper to my favorite brother.
“No,” Evan replies. “We’ve never flown on anything before.”
The tail lights of the cars that brought us out here fade out then disappear off in the distance toward the campus. I wander over next to Louise and hear her breathing, deep and slow. She’s keeping herself together. Marc continues his monologue about how excited he is to no one in particular. Finally, the door of the jet swings open and Father emerges.
“All aboard!” he calls.
He didn’t need to say a word. As soon as he appeared, we all started rushing upwards. Even Jeff takes the stairs two at a time. Inside, the plane looks nothing like the commercial jets I’ve flown in before. The main cabin with its cushy reclining chairs surrounding a long thin table reminds me more of a corporate boardroom than anything.
“Welcome to my Airbus A318 Elite,” Father says in his most gracious voice. “It was my first real splurge once SynTech took off. Even buying it used, I paid a small fortune for her. She’s also the only all-electric jet of its kind, thanks to some modifications of my own design, which cost another fortune to get approved. But a man needs a few vices.” He smiles his crooked smile.
I wonder if it’s less impressive for my siblings who have never known the joy of packing like sardines into the coach section of commercial flights. For me, this embodies a life of luxury I’ve only seen in movies. I grab one of the empty seats and settle in.
“I love this jet,” Father says wistfully. “Back when I worked for a living, not long after I took my company public, I used to fly my company’s board to retreats on her. We’d discuss strategy right here at this table. We would always end up getting as much work done here on the way there as we did the rest of the trip. Please, go ahead and get comfortable. This is going to be a long flight. It will be almost twenty-four hours before we land in Djibouti.”
A trim blonde woman emerges from the back of the jet. “All set back here, Tom,” she announces. “We can go whenever you’re ready.”
“My children,” Father says, directing an open hand in her direction, “this is Cindy. She’s been taking care of me while I travel for years now, and she’ll take good care of all of you as well. Cindy, I’d like you to meet Evan, Noah, Louise, Andrea, Jeff, Marc, and Chad.” He points to each of us as he names us off.
“Well it’s just so nice to meet y’all! Tom’s been bragging on you for as long as I can remember.” She puts a hand on his arm and gives it a squeeze. “Now, some announcements: Bob and Brian will be our flight crew today. They’re up front, but unless you bump into one of them coming to or from the restroom you probably won’t see much of them. There is a bedroom with a set of bunks in the back if you need to lie down. Did everyone have a good dinner before you came on board?”
We all nod, even though I know most of us were too nervous to take more than a few bites in the cafeteria.
“Good,” she says, flashing white teeth behind her bright red lips. “Then the next meal will be breakfast, but if any of you want any snacks or drinks, you just let me know.”
“They’re fine for now, Cindy,” Father answers for us. “Thank you.”
“Then let me take care of the bit that I have to say. The seatbelts on your seats should be buckled while we take off and land. If the weather gets choppy, the pilots will let us know and you can buckle in for safety. The exits are the way you came in or the two emergency exits, that one there or the one in the back there. Any questions?”
She flashes her ruby-red smile again and looks around at us.
“I don’t have any questions, but you sure are pretty,” Marc says.
Thanks Marc, now she thinks we’re freaks.
“Oh, aren’t you sweet!” she laughs, handling his awkwardness amazingly well. “Tom, you didn’t tell me you had a little charmer in training. I can see you’ve been raising these boys well.”
”Thank you,” Father says as he shakes his head in obvious embarrassment. I’m glad I’m not the only one mortified.
Cindy disappears into the back of the jet and Father turns to address us. “You’ll all need to put your clouds into sleep mode if you haven’t yet. I know, I know. The frequencies we use don’t affect the controls, but they still insist on it. Once your bots are asleep, please hand me your phones and I’ll power them down. Even the minimal signals they use to communicate with the implants aren’t allowed. They’ll have to stay off the whole trip. I’ll return them to you when we get there.”
SLEEP-MODE
