It was an early morning. By the time Nai had the plane out on the runway, the sun had just finished breaking over the horizon. It really was an amazing machine. Yellow, cracking, rusting, but it soars like the wind. If she had gone with her owner, Alpha would never have seen such a sight. And now, she will experience something that possibly very few will ever experience.
Light footsteps shuffled up behind Alpha as she stared blankly at the plane, catching her attention. It was Nai, he was about to take a picture. Alpha’s eyes widened, his camera was like hers, the one her owner gave her. It was little connections like this that always excited her so. She ruffled through her jacket for her camera. It did look the same.
“Nai!” She ran over to him, “Look, I have one too. The same kind.”
Nai looked at it, thinking for a few seconds, “Huh, so you do. How unusual.”
“Somehow,” Alpha blushed, “it’s become my most prized treasure.”
It really wasn’t somehow. Of all the things her owner had given her in those couple years after her birth, the camera was the one thing that she couldn’t think about going without. After he left, Alpha stayed at the café. A bit frightened about what she was supposed to do, but eager to do it all the same. When she got the camera from him, along with his ominous message, it got her wondering. What is out there? What is there for me to see? And though it too the café’s destruction in the hurricane to get her to leave, this journey helped her understand her owner’s message.
“Ah, huh?” Nai held out his hand, “Let me see it for a second.” He turned it over in his hands, “Wow… This isn’t any ordinary camera.”
“Huh?” Aren’t all cameras the same?
“I think this really is a treasure. I’m impressed.” For the first time, Nai showed a bit of excitement. Not much, but a little.
“Really?” There it was, that warm feeling. She always felt it when she thought about her owner, “It was given to me.”
“Hmm, that’s a pretty nice present.”
“Yes.” She was quite glad that someone else shared her thoughts.
Nai looked at the plane’s cockpit, “I have a friend who always wants new pictures.”
A bit of a tangent. Alpha followed his line of sight, “I see…”
With a shrug, Nai climbed onto the wing and helped Alpha up. She could feel her body tingling all over. She was going to become a bird. Nai handed her a pair of goggles as she climbed into the passenger seat, which sat a bit low. A rush of sound and air flowed back from the propeller.
“Nai!” Alpha shouted over the sound, “IU can’t really see ahead!”
“Ah!” Nai stood up, cushion in hand, “Here, have a cushion. Don’t really know how much it will help, though.”
Alpha reached up, grabbing the cushion, “Thanks!” She slid it under herself, much better.
The air and noise raged as the plane began moving forward, “Here we go.” Nai called over the now active intercom.
“Okay!” Alpha was shaking more than the plane as it picked up speed.
Faster and faster is rolled down the empty field until there was a lurch and a slight falling sensation as it left the ground. It was a weird feeling that only accented her fear of looking down. And then the plane leaned into a turn, giving Alpha a good view of the land below. It streamed buy in a array of greens and browns. The plane curved around again, rising higher, above the lower clouds.
Alpha was breathless. The air was cool and moist, rushing by faster that the land below. “We’re really flying.” Even now, it seemed so much like a dream.
“Oh, that’s right,” Nai’s voice came clear over the intercom, “Alpha, do you have your camera cord with you?”
“Yes.” She fumbled in her belt’s pouch for it.
“Put it in your mouth and plug it into the board in front of you.” Nai paused, “It’s interesting.”
“Eh?” Alpha looked at the dashboard, “Okay… Here?” She plugged it in and put the transmitter in her mouth. It tasted metallic, but she was used to… Now there’s a sensation she wasn’t used to. “OH!!”
“Can you feel the wind with your tongue?” Nai asked, “With practice you can tell the wind speed.”
“My tongue…” Alpha moved her tongue around the tip of the transmitter.
Everything disappeared. The plane, Nai, her body, everything. And then it returned. Well, not all of it. “There’s no airplane!!!” Alpha blurted out in surprise.
“Eh?” Nai stared back at Alpha for a second.
The air rushed around her, as though she had been thrown naked from the plane, giving lift to her arms… no, her wings. She was the plane, and it was her. Only one other time had Alpha experienced something even remotely close to this. It was out on the docks near her home. A doctor friend of hers wanted Alpha to take out an old prototype skipper for its maiden and last voyage, to put it to rest. Not only could she control the skipper, but could feel everything it could, and more.
But the plane, the sky, it all felt so different. Her body was the plane, its engine her heart and the power her blood. The wings spread like arms, the flaps like fingers delicately directing the movement. Neither Nai nor Alpha understood how or why. But somehow, even just a little, they shared a common understanding
“Alpha, you…” For just a moment it seemed like Nai might have known but…
“Ahh…” Alpha interrupted, “It’s like being under water.”
Nai sighed quietly, “Water?”
“Yes,” Alpha squirmed. As weird as the sensation as, she couldn’t get enough.
The actual purpose of the flight was a mail drop and Alpha realized this as soon as she noticed Nai toss out a cylinder with a small parachute. It passed out of her body and continued to float down below her. She took the transmitter out of her mouth; the cockpit rushed back to surround her. She moved around her body to make sure she was back in it. Neither said anything more. What was there to say?
Soon the flight ended and it was time to say goodbye. Nai had taken her picture as she stood by the plane. Said it was for his friend. The receptionist gave her some snacks and water for the road. She also pointed Alpha in the right direction towards Route 16. For some reason it was a much sadder goodbye than the others she’s had during her journey. If she hadn’t gotten lost, hadn’t found this ‘out of the way’ airport, she never would’ve learned something more about this strange and new world that continues to grow around her.
Maybe getting lost is a good thing.
