Chapter 1

Every time, and this makes that 127 times, I take my seat as captain of such a magnificent beast as this Boeing 797, I get a feeling much like an old time cavalry officer must have felt when he was to lead his troops on a charge. I have been flying cargo planes for Consolidated Freight (CF) for 9 years, and I still love my job.

Next to me as First Officer is Karen Jackson, and she has been with the company for almost three years. In the seat behind us is Jane Hall, the Load Master, who has been with CF for seven years. We are all that this super-automated plane needs in the way of a crew, and I can’t help suspecting that the Artificial Intelligence that backs us up could really do a better job of flying if we just got out of the way.

We are hauling a load of military supplies from Miami to Bermuda. Supposedly, the British Special Air Service (SAS) wants to test them out on a carefully controlled environment on another island. Bermuda is just the transfer point from our plane to a British Navy ship. It’s really none of my business, and I have not inquired further. They probably would not tell me anything if I did ask.

Actually, I wonder why the British didn’t just load their ship in the Miami area and sail directly to the test facility. Politics, I suppose. Anyway, I am happy that the company has picked up a lucrative shipping job that lets me fly the 797 on another trip.

Karen and I have gone through the extensive preflight check list and are just now getting our release from the flight controller. “CF 1014, you are clear for takeoff using runway 27L. Have a good flight.”

Karen answered, “Thank you. Runway 27L it is. We’ll see you in about three days. Goodbye.”

Of course, I have edited that conversation for this memoir, since I know you don’t really care about the details. Anyway, we took off and headed out over the Atlantic. Our flight path took us well out over the Atlantic Ocean to make sure that we were clear of the heavy passenger traffic moving up and down the coast. Once we were far enough out, we turned more or less northeast at our assigned altitude and let the AI take over the plane. “AI, I have switched the controls to you. Verify that you have control of the plane.”

“Control verified, Captain Brady. Everything is operating normally.”

“Thank you, AI. Karen, Jane, you two can nap and I’ll watch for UFOs”

That statement about UFOs was a common joke among flight crews who entered the Bermuda Triangle. The TV news had been full of UFO sightings and mysterious missing ships and planes as they passed through the Bermuda Triangle. There had not been that many UFO reports or missing ships or planes, but this had been a slow news week, so anything available was used as fillers until something important happened.

We had been inside the Bermuda triangle only a few minutes when I noticed something peculiar. “Hey, Guys, wake up and take a look off to the left. I swear that I can see something that I have never seen before, and it is damned unusual!”

There were six waterspouts on the points of a hexagon, and they were all moving together. That was just not possible. Suddenly, the waterspouts shifted the direction of travel and headed in the general direction of the plane. “What the hell! AI, there is a patch of bad weather ahead of us. Move us to the right 10°.”

“Roger that, Capt. Brady. I was about to call it to your attention. We are moving fast enough that I had better make that 12° to the east, if you agree.”

“Yes, I agree. Go ahead.”

We shifted, and damned if the waterspouts didn’t shift to follow us! Now I really wondered what the hell was going on? The waterspouts also seemed to move faster, as if they were trying to make sure that we did not escape them. Any more of this nonsense and I would start seriously looking for UFOs.

We were at 31,000 feet altitude, well above the waterspouts, but they were still bothering me. They did have the angle on us so we were forced to fly directly over their hexagon. Suddenly, at that point, we lost all electrical power and the jets stopped producing thrust! We started to dive toward the ocean, and our AI was out of commission without electricity.

Jane screamed something like, “LOOK OUT, BILL!”

Well, you can bet that I reacted to that warning, even at this altitude. I looked up out the windshield, and all I could see was what looked like the mouth of a monster tunnel. At the far end of the tunnel was a very bright light, so bright that it almost blinded me for the moment. We were now falling through the tunnel toward the bright light. Karen was fighting with the controls, but nothing was happening to change our direction of flight. My God, we were falling at a tremendous rate, and I was sure that we would hit the water at any moment. I shouted, “BRACE FOR IMPACT!” as we collided with the ball of white light. I must have blacked out at that moment because I don’t remember what happened for the next few seconds.

I came to myself as the power came back on, and the AI took over control of the plane. If I’d had time, I would have been astonished because there was no boot time. The AI was ready to go the moment it had electricity.

It didn’t make much sense that we were still at about 10,000 feet and no longer headed for a crash in the ocean. Instead, we were flying horizontally at our previous speed and were over a huge expanse of flat grassland. “AI, where are we?”

“I have no idea, Capt. Brady. The GPS (Global Positioning System) is out, so that I cannot get a reading from the satellites. I am going to climb to 15,000 feet altitude to escape some birds that are showing up on the radar. Do you authorize that?”

“Yes, go ahead, AI. I’ll trust you to keep us safe.” At that, I felt the thrust increase, and the nose came up.

“AI, I think that we had better land as soon as you can find us a suitable airport. We must get the GPS fixed and we could use some more fuel. Also, I need to report our status back to headquarters. I don’t know what happened, but I can’t believe that we will make our scheduled ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) in Bermuda.”

“Very well, Capt. Brady. I will start searching for a radio signal. Strangely enough, I can’t detect any signals at any frequency except those that we are transmitting.”

About 30 minutes later, AI said, “Capt. Brady, I have not been able to locate any radio signals of any sort; however, I have found what might be a runway about 5 minutes away on our current heading. I suggest that we land there so that I can have time to run some detailed diagnostics on the GPS and some other systems while we still have enough fuel to get airborne again.

“There we might be able to get the necessary repairs and fuel to continue our flight.”

“That is an excellent suggestion, AI. We’ll follow your idea.” Son of a bitch, that was the first time I ever heard of the AI having an original thought. Dammit, I have been taking it for granted too long!

Karen and I spotted the potential runway within a couple of minutes. AI reported that he heard no radio traffic nor could he raise any replies from his calls. Well, it looked to me like we did not have a hell of a lot of choices. We certainly could not go anywhere else without navigation equipment, and we were going to need fuel very soon. We lined up for a landing.

I took us in with Karen and AI backing me up. I let us roll a lot farther than was really necessary because I was looking for some buildings. There were simply none of those around. We finally stopped at an arbitrary spot and shut the plane’s equipment down, except for the AI. It was already running the diagnostics on the GPS.

The only item of real concern at this point was survival. At least, we thought of it that way. We had not left Miami with any plans to eat anywhere except at five-star restaurants, so the only food we had with us was some emergency rations to be used if we had to ditch in the ocean. There was enough food, nutritious, but not very tasty, to last the three of us one week. There were some plastic bottles of water and a deionizing gadget to let us get more drinking water from the ocean, but that did not seem all that attractive.