A Golden Light
Joe woke up sweating. His recurring nightmare, mercifully receding into his unconscious, had disturbed his sleep once again. It was something about a golden light, he thought. What that meant, he was glad not to know. It scared the dickins out of him and he was only too glad to let it fade out of his mind. He looked at the clock and got out of bed. The alarm had been set to go off in thirty minutes anyway. Joe stumbled into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee that would be ready when he finished his shower.
Joseph Wickham slugged down the rest of his second cup and then pulled on his captain’s coat. He walked over to the mirror to adjust his tie and had a momentary flash of memory about his dream. The flash from his gold tie-tack brought something ugly and powerful into the back of his mind. Whatever it was, he was afraid to think about it, so he stepped away from the mirror and went to get his flight case. He was due to fly in an hour, but he had to attend a short pilot’s meeting with his union first. He stepped out of the door and entered the company car for the short drive to the airport. In three minutes, he was there.
After the brief meeting, he walked over to the scheduling board to see who his crew was today. When he saw Mara’s name on the crew list, his eyes lit up. She was a stunningly beautiful dark-haired, almond-eyed flight attendant that Joe knew intimately. Their occasional rendezvous was the very brightest spot in Joe’s life right now. He looked forward to the flight and to the date he knew they would have later. He smiled to himself and whistled his way to his security checkpoint to begin the long process of identification and baggage checking for his flight case.
Before long, he was on the tarmac going over the maintenance log with his maintenance crew. He sourly reflected that he spent more time in security than he did with his flight inspection of this big jet. But in a few short minutes, he was finished and he gave the nod to the flight attendant waiting. She notified the departure desk to begin admitting passengers. Joe settled into the cockpit with his co-pilot and flight engineer to begin their pre-flight checklist.Takeoff and climb-out was boring but Joe was ever watchful. A busy airport like this had many hazards beyond bird strikes and novice private pilots. There were three tall radio towers within five miles of the airport, so departure patterns kept all aircraft well away. Joe was vigilant but bored. This kind of flying was a far cry from the highly advanced fighter aircraft he used to fly.
Briefly, he thought back to his squadron commander’s last speech. Joe was hurt to think that he was too old for combat flying at thirty-four, but the new batch of pilots sent as replacements looked like they were just kids. His squadron commander offered to write him a glowing flight review that was certain to get him accepted into any of the major air airlines. Joe saw the writing on the wall and grabbed at the brass ring. It wasn’t as exciting or even a major challenge, but the money was so much better that he knew he wouldn’t have a problem adjusting to his new life. He resigned and became a top of the line pilot. He was surprised to find that flight crews easily accepted younger command pilots as captains. His arrival at cruising altitude snapped him back to the present. He made a note to himself to avoid daydreaming while exiting traffic at airports.Once he confirmed everything was on course and on tine, Joe relaxed a little. The cockpit chime rang and Mara entered when the door was unlocked with a tray of coffee for the flight crew. She exchanged pleasantries with the crew and then flashed a look at Joe. When he was sure no one was looking, he winked at her. Mara gave just the slightest of smiles, flashing a golden tooth and returned to help serve the rest of the passengers. None of the crew knew about Joe and Mara.
An hour later, most of the passengers had been accommodated and Mara returned to the cockpit with another tray of coffee. She knew that Joe liked cocoa instead of coffee after his first cup, so she gave him his first. The co-pilot and flight engineer gladly accepted their second cup and drank them quickly.
Mara stayed for a couple of minutes to talk to the flight crew. She was responsible for taking care of their needs so she asked if anyone needed anything. The co-pilot and flight engineer were slow to respond and Joe was getting very sleepy. Mara said nothing for a few minutes and watched as the pilot was drugged to near sleep. The co-pilot and flight engineer were already dead from the quick-acting poison. She double-checked the deadbolt on the door and went to get Joe on his feet.
The flight deck had its own bathroom. Mara steered Joe into it and kept him on his feet as she made him look deeply into the mirror. Joe was only dimly conscious from the sedative in his cocoa. He squinted ahead at something in front of him but couldn’t quite make it out. All thought of flying had left him and right now he was only barely awake. Mara held him up and started talking to him. Joe had no idea that he’d been chosen and brainwashed slowly and carefully over the last few months. Now, as he struggled to see in front of him, he was able to barely make out two faces in the mirror.
Joe’s own face was a stranger to him but the other face was an evil face with flashing eyes and a wicked smile. She ordered him to stay awake and return to his seat. When he started to ask why, Mara’s face instantly transformed into a mask of hatred. Mara was a diabetic who had to take insulin twice a day. She took a hypodermic filled with a fast-acting poison from her pocket, one that she had as a backup in the event any of the flight crew didn’t drink the coffee. She removed the needle. She stuck Joe with it on his cheekbone right under one of his eyes.
Joe yelped with pain for a moment and feebly tried to resist. She stuck him again and gave him an especially evil grin. Joe saw a flash of light as Mara’s golden tooth reflected the intensely bright light in the flight crew bathroom. He had a sick feeling that he remembered that golden light. That was the light in his nightmare. But now Joe was in no condition to struggle. He fell into the carefully conditioned frame of mind that Mara and her cohorts had worked so hard to build.Joe took his seat and turned off the auto-pilot. At Mara’s command, he turned off the entire communication console at the flight engineer’s desk All communication, radar and safety interlocks were turned off. All electrical equipment unnecessary for flight was shut off. Mara ordered him to dump all the fuel except for enough for a thirty minute flight. Joe complied. Then Mara told Joe to look out the window and stare at the golden light he saw there. He did. What he saw was a golden light that flooded his vision. He saw nothing else.
Mara then took the co-pilot’s seat and began to push the stick forward. In a matter of moments, there was a pounding at the cockpit door. Mara returned the needle to the hypodermic that she used to prod Joe. She injected Joe with it and he died in seconds, quietly. Funny he thought. Look at the beautiful, golden light.
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