Read Online Super Born: Seduction of Being by kkornell - Free Book Online

understand me. The
copilot had a blank, first-year-of-calculus look on his face and
was still trying to cling to logic.
    “ Is that a passenger?” he asked,
before short-circuiting. He was reduced to SSS, slurred single
syllables, for the rest of the flight.
    I gestured, with my fingers starting out
horizontal and then tipping down slowly to vertical. I did it over
and over again, but he didn’t understand me. What did he think, I
could hold on to his heavy jet with two fingers forever?
    “ She wants me to drop the landing
gear! Christ, what kind of pilots are we? Drop the gear! Prepare
for landing!” And then finally he gave me an okay gesture and a smile. I responded
with thumbs up, and labored to climb back down the
fuselage.
    The radio crackled frantically. “One eighteen,
apply power and climb immediately! One eighteen, do you copy? Pull
up! Pull up!”
    The pilot sat smiling, and then turned off all
the alarms and began the checklist for landing. The copilot was
still frantically trying to restart the engine when the pilot
reached over and pulled his hands away from the controls. “It’s
okay, Nick, just let go. Prepare for landing.” Nick gave the pilot
a wary look from short-circuited eyes, then began preparing to shut
the plane down.
    Within thirty seconds, the plane had stopped
its forward motion and begun a short descent, as if it were a
helicopter. I set it down gently just outside the gate.
    I read that the captain then unbuckled and
leapt to the window where I had been. The copilot sat SSS-ing. Half
of the passenger cabin leapt to their collective feet and began
cheering. The other half remained in shock.
    An RFD with two flash wands stood for twenty
minutes waving the plane into the gate before realizing that the
plane wasn’t moving. Several other RFDs claimed to have seen a
flash in black run out from under the plane after it landed, but
who believes them?
    * * *
    I hid in the shadows on the concourse roof
overlooking the jet way where I had landed Flight 118, all the
while rubbing and stretching my sore arms and shoulders. They had
been in an awkward position to keep that seventy-thousand-pound jet
stable, and the idiots in the cockpit constantly trying to change
course and start the second engine hadn’t been any help. It burned
especially between my shoulder blades, where the fuselage had
rested.
    I watched until all the passengers had left the
plane—no one required assistance and no one was injured. I smiled
with satisfaction when, finally, the flight crew walked out.
Everyone looked good except the copilot, who didn’t look like he
was ready to party any time soon.
    The airline and Federal Aviation Administration
people began inspecting the mangled wing, engine, and tail section,
which was shredded with holes. I let out a small laugh as I watched
the officials rush onto the plane to retrieve the black box
recorders. I could imagine the readings and cockpit voice
recordings they would find.
    With my job done, I got ready to leave. I
caught the image of my reflection in a window and saw the tangled
mess of my hair. “Crap.” Then I was gone.
    * * *
    When I got home to my apartment, the adrenaline
from the high-speed challenge of saving flight 118 was coursing
through my veins. The sheer joy of what I had done—saving all of
those lives, seeing the passengers walking, smiling, breathing,
seeing children safe in their mothers’ arms—made me want to laugh
and dance, spin mindlessly.
    What a high I was feeling. Maybe all that was
just a day’s work for a superhero, but I was new at this, and for
me, this was a remarkable feeling. I just wanted to share it with
the world, let everyone know there was hope. No one was alone
anymore. They didn’t need to fear the random acts of man. I could
even help them defy fate itself.
    I was still giddy and gleeful when I ditched my
mask and cape in my car and headed through the front door. But
there Paige awaited me, not smiling.
    “ Mom,” she said.