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“I didn’t want to forget that I need to talk to Jeremy.”
“Do you often forget things?”
“Never,” Mike and Andi said in unison.
Miranda admitted that was true but she liked to be sure and tucked the notebook away.
She set the 892 model back on the Island at exactly the angle the Handler had originally placed it. Then she looked aloft and tried to assess the damage path of both the laser and the jet’s exhaust on the deck. She corrected the angle and shifted the plane aft several centimeters. The Handler made no comment so she didn’t either.
“I’d like to see the plane now.”
The Acting Captain waved toward the debris swept up against the base of the Island. “There. And more up above. The fires have been out for a while, so it may be cool enough to inspect. Portions of it were blown out to sea, I’m sure.”
“How soon are you recovering those?”
“Probably never. It’s four thousand meters underwater, and the force of the explosion of all of its ordnance and the resulting fire probably left few pieces bigger than my hand.”
“Still, I’d like to see them.” She was glad she’d kept her flashlight out as there were no lights showing from the open hatch at the base of the Island. She needed to find the plane’s skin.
Then she spotted an ejection seat in the pile of debris.
“Was that the seat from 892?” She hurried over to it. “Where’s the pilot?”
“He’s dead.”
“I had rather assumed that based on the dents and blood on the seat. I need to see his body. And especially his helmet and flightsuit.”
Miranda had a hard time ignoring the Acting Captain’s next question, “Is she for real?”
Miranda hated that question, and she never knew what to do with it.
Then she heard Andi’s voice, barely audible despite the brief lull of activity on the Flight Deck.
“More real than you, me, or anyone else on this boat. You’d do well to remember that, Acting Captain.”
Andi was always the calm one. And it worked as it always did, Miranda felt calmer after Andi had spoken.
Miranda pulled out her personal notebook to check. She’d started a page to try and catalog voice tones. They were very hard to quantify, but she had several pictures that helped.
Andi’s tone somehow matched the picture of ice. Deep, arctic ice. But she still didn’t know what thatindicated.
