Ba Kuang kicked at the door as the plane continued its dive, but the bulkhead held. Alice moved up the aisle to see if she could help.

"Dimitri, I don't know what happened, but we can sort this out. Just open the door."

There was no response from inside the cockpit. Weizza tapped Alice from behind. "Move."

Alice stepped aside; whatever was happening she didn't know how to stop it.

"Ko Ba Kuang, give me your gun." Weizza held out her hand expectantly. Ba Kuang dutifully handed over the weapon.

Weizza closed her eyes. "Herman is concussed and losing blood. The visual isn't as clear as I'd like."

The floor tipped back up, the plane leveled, then began to overshoot.

"The fool is going to stall it." Weizza raised the gun and aimed, eyes still closed. Alice clapped her hands to her ears. The two shots still rang loud as thunder. The plane tipped back down precipitously.

"Dimitri is dead, slumped against the flight stick. You need to get the door open now," commanded Weizza.

Ba Kuang nodded and redoubled his efforts, the floor tilting enough that it was as much a stomp as a kick. Finally the wood veneer cracked and the panel buckled. The plane tipped further and the three of them tumbled into the cockpit. The scene inside was hard to decipher.

Dimitri was in the co-pilot chair, slumped forward. He wasn't moving. There were two bullet holes in the cockpit glass panel in front of him, whistling from the rushing air.

In the main pilot chair was a creature of nightmare. A shaved head was studded with implants, several of which appeared to have been recently bashed in. The eyes were missing, replaced with more hardware. And the mouth... the mouth was just gone, smooth skin where the lips should be. A pair of tubes snaked from the seat and disappeared under the creature's shirt. Alice felt ill.

Ba Kuang wrestled the inert body of Dimitri to the floor, taking control of the stick. He pulled back and Alice felt the plane begin to level. Stress cracks appeared around the holes in the windshield.

"It's going to blow!" Alice shouted.

Ba Kuang clicked in his harness. Alice and Weizza scrambled back to the jump seats on the other side of the door, accompanied by the ominous popping of the growing cracks.

A bang rang out through the cabin and the air all rushed to the cockpit. The temperature dropped rapidly. Oxygen masks fell from the ceiling, Alice secured one to her face.

The rush of air slowed, but there was still a steady breeze from the back to the front of the plane.

"Ko Ba Kuang, report," Weizza shouted.

"I have control of the plane. The pilot is not moving. Dimitri's body is stuck in the hole. We still lose air, but slower.

"I think we must land."

Weizza swore under her breath. "Steady for now Ko Ba Kuang. Take us lower." The plane dipped into a gradual descent.

"Does he know how to fly this thing?" Alice asked Weizza.

"He has spent time in a simulator," she evaded. "I hope to revive the pilot."

Weizza unbuckled and walked to the rear of the plane. She returned with another of the white cases and took it into the cockpit. Alice removed her mask and watched from the door. The air felt thin, but still breathable.

The thing in the pilot chair wasn't moving. Weizza opened her case and retrieved a set of many-lensed goggles and assorted surgical instruments.

"Are you going to operate?" Alice asked in confusion.

"I require silence. You will not speak, or you will leave." Weizza clamped some instruments to the chair's headrest, then placed a steel halo around the pilot's head, anchoring it to the chair.

Weizza hummed softly as her lenses spun into motion. A trio of tiny bots buzzed over the pilot-creature's head, shuffling from implant to implant as Weizza commanded them with her gloves.

Robert emerged to check on the situation; Alice shooed him off with a few whispers. He seemed content to let someone else handle the latest calamity.

Alice watched an hour in quiet fascination, her disgust giving way to scientific curiosity. The technology Weizza commanded was breathtaking, unlike anything Alice was aware existed. Periodically Weizza would close her eyes and mutter something incomprehensible.

At last the bots skittered back into their case, and Weizza's lenses stopped their frenetic flurry. "I am bringing Herman back online now," she intoned.

The creature jerked in its seat, though its head was still held in traction. Its arms twitched impotently, then went limp.

"Hmm. Motor function is lost. I may be able to reverse the system and reroute output."

Alice knew better than to ask questions. The pilot went limp again and Weizza returned to her humming and manipulations. A short while later she addressed the pilot.

"Okay Herman, I am going to pass you control of my arms. Please test that you are able to move them, but do not touch the controls. Try now."

Weizza's arms moved stiffly up, then formed an "OK" sign.

"Good Herman. Now try the plane controls." Weizza moved to sit on Herman's legs where she could reach the flight stick. Her arms shot up and clutched at her throat, pressing in on her windpipe with her thumbs. Weizza coughed once and the arms went limp, flopping down to her side.

"Bad decision Herman." The pilot's body twisted and writhed in the chair, though his lack of mouth prevented any scream.

"I am disappointed. Any more rebellion and I will not be as gentle. You will try again now."

The strange puppet act resumed. Weizza sat focused on the instruments as the 'Herman' creature piloted the jet through her arms.

"You will set us down at the nearest small airport. I will handle the authorities, you focus on returning us safely to ground." Her own arm gave a thumbs up.

"Alice, please rouse Oliver from the stateroom. I'd like him to be awake for the landing."

Alice nodded and left the room. She walked to the back of the plane, pausing to tell Robert they'd be landing soon. He nodded distantly.

"What was it?"

"Huh?" Alice replied.

"That thing in the chair. Was it a person?"

"I think so. The way Alice was talking to it, it must have been. Someone named 'Herman.'"

Robert shivered, but didn't say any more.

The stateroom door was closed. Alice knocked once, then pushed it open. Inside was a handsome bed and a long bench. Oliver lay on his back on the bench, arms across his chest.

Alice tapped him lightly on the shoulder and he immediately hinged up at the waste. She was reminded of old vampire movies.

"Uh, Weizza says to prepare for landing."

"Very good." Oliver replied.

Alice backed out of the room and returned to the cockpit. Weizza still concentrated on the control panels, trying to make sense of them. She was now fully sitting in the Herman-creature's lap and had buckled the harness over the both of them. Ba Kuang would occasionally reassure her that the numbers looked good.

Alice looked out the cockpit window. It was a clear night, but no city lights shone from below.

"Where are we landing?" Alice asked.

"An unattended airstrip in Northern California," Weizza replied. "Dimitri's betrayal pushed us a little off course. It is probably better this way, the condition of our plane might cause uncomfortable questions at a larger facility."

"Final descent," Ba Kuang announced over the PA.

The plane tipped again, more gradually than the dive from earlier. Light turbulence shook the plane, Alice retreated to her jump seat in the galley.

Alice looked out her window and could just make out a large mountain with a trace of snow on its peak. A thin highway was visible at its base, dotted with the faint glow of small towns. The lights grew gradually brighter, and the plane began to shake.

"Windy here," Ba Kuang stated.

The ground was close now, the plane just feet above the ground. Suddenly the gradual descent changed and the nose dipped violently toward the Earth.

"Herman no!" Weizza shouted.

The front of the plane skipped off the pavement with a heavy crack. The shriek of twisting metal filled the air behind Alice. She looked back and saw the rear of the plane separate and slide away down the tarmac. Then they began to roll.