In Flight Training

Paul awoke to a thunderous roar that seemed to be engulfing him. The light was blindingly bright as he struggled to keep his eyes open. The gentle bouncing and a breeze blowing through his disheveled hair told him that he was on the cargo plane from the barn. He shifted his well-toned body to try and see who else was on the plane. He saw Agent 2 in a suit with a gun in his hand, it reminded him of his situation, he was this man’s prisoner.

He moved slowly and methodically to try and see who else was on the plane without letting anyone notice he had regained consciousness.

“I see you have awoken my dear Paul.” Madam A’s voice came softly from behind Paul. “There was a change of plans, and we are going on a mission. You will have to learn on the…. well fly.” She finished seeming pleased with her pun.

Paul sat up and instantly regretted that decision, whatever had knocked him unconscious made him feel extremely groggy and slightly sick. The side of his neck felt like he had been punched full force by a professional boxer.

“What did you do to me?” Paul croaked struggling to find his voice. “I feel like I got run over by a truck.”

“You were shot with a tranquilizer dart. You can thank Agent 2 for that nice sore neck you have.” Madam A said with a sideways glare at Agent 2. “He is a fairly new recruit to Phóteinos.”

“Phóteinos? I do not even know what that is.” Paul mumbled while rubbing his neck. “You guys have the wrong person; I don’t know what you expect me to do for you. I don’t have money, nor does anyone I know have money to pay you for my release. You say I am in the middle of some kind of war, but I live a normal boring life. Just let me go home, please, just let me go home.”

From the Shadows in the back of the plane, a deep gruff voice startled Paul. “You will see the light in this situation soon enough. Phóteinos is the name of our group of warriors, though we are less a group of warriors and more a small group of specialized agents. The name is Greek for Intense light, Our first members originated from Greece and thought the name would be fitting for the group fighting….”The voice was cut short by a sharp look from Madam A

“If you are going to talk, you need to come out of the shadows and engage in conversation face to face,” Madam A said in an almost parent like way. “We all know talking face to face helps you keep from rambling on too much.”

Paul was straining his eyes to try and see what the man, who was well hidden in the shadows looked like. He was more surprised by the person than he was with the mysterious voice as the man behind the voice stepped out into the light. His massive form was silhouetted against the dark shadows from which he just stepped. The man was by all standards a giant, standing at just over seven feet tall he must have weighed three hundred pounds. He was very muscular but had some sort of weird gadget strapped to his right arm.

“Hi, my name is Hans, and I am sorry for speaking from the shadows,” Hans said as took two steps and covered the ten-foot span that separated them. “I am still a little gun shy from my past experiences with…. people.”

Paul was almost surprised that his emotion towards this giant man was not fear. The man possessed a gentle demeanor that helped take the edge off his gigantic form. Paul looked at the gadget on the man’s arm and realized that it was a makeshift prosthetic hand. He soon realized that he was staring at this odd contraption.

“I lost my hand the day that Madam A rescued me from the clutches of the Shedim…our enemy.” Hans whispered gazing longingly at the makeshift prosthetic made from wood and what looked like nylon string.

Paul was confused on so many levels but was feeling less like a prisoner, and more like part of a weird team.

“What do you expect from me?” Paul said hoping that he could maybe accomplish something by trying to do what they asked.

“We need you to be committed to helping us fight the Shedim, and be willing to make sacrifices for the good of the world as we know it.” Madam A said with her motherly voice again. “The Shedim is an intensely evil force that is led by a single evil overlord. Some follow him out of fear, others do not even know that are doing his bidding. More on the enemy later, but for now it is time to train you how to use your adrenaline to help you.”

“Use my adrenaline?” Paul said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “Everyone has adrenaline, so why couldn’t you recruit someone else?”

Madam A stood and walked to the rear cargo door, she grabbed a mic off the wall and spoke something inaudible to the rest of the people on the plane.

“Hans, I need you back here please.” Madam A said as the rear cargo door began to open.

Hans walked to Madam A and got down to one knee so she could look him in the face to talk to him. She spoke into his ear and it looked as though they had a small argument. In the end, Madam A seemed to come out on top of the argument.

Hans walked over to Paul looking like he was really upset about something.

“Paul, please understand that this is not personal at all. I really like you, and hope we can be friends.” As Hans finished talking, he grabbed Paul’s ankle and lifted him in one smooth swipe. Paul hung suspended upside down in this giant man’s hand.

“HEY! What are you doing to me?” Paul screamed as Hans walked towards the open cargo door. “I agreed to work with you, why are you throwing me out.”

Hans ignored Paul’s struggling and protests as he lumbered towards the door.

“Go ahead and do it,” Madam A said convincingly. “Give him a big toss…..”

Hans gave Paul a somewhat labored toss towards the open door.

Paul felt his adrenaline once again begin to pump through his veins as he started flying out the open cargo door. Time was moving slower than it had ever moved during one of his adrenaline rushes.

“See, you are allowing time to slow as you are flying towards your death.” Madam A’s voice broke into Paul’s slowed thoughts. “You now have to choose to move in this slowed state of time. Turn your head and look at me now.”

Paul was surprised, even through the fear that gripped his heart, that he was hearing Madam A’s voice. He began to believe in that moment that he could indeed do something that most people could not. He tried to move his head and was surprised it came as easy as when he was not in a slowed state of time.

“How is this possible?” Paul questioned, forgetting for a moment that he was still flying through the air.

“You ask too many questions; let’s get you safe first, lesson one safe first question later.” Madam A said leaving no room for discussion on the matter.

Reality returned and Paul began to panic, he spun and twisted in midair trying to stop himself from flying out the air born plane.

“WHAT DO I DO?” Paul shouted as he frantically spun this way and that way.

“Lesson 2 is never panic. Always always stay calm and find your way of escape. Reach back, and grab Hans’s arm. Your momentum will pull him forward a step, but he will remain safe and you will be back to safety.” Madam A spoke quickly but remained perfectly calm.

Paul did as she said, and found himself being pulled back into normal time as he felt like he would be safe. Then in a flash, he was hanging from Hans’s arm out the back of the plane.

He realized that he was still in extreme danger and found himself again in a slowed state of time for a second time in just a few seconds of real time. He remembered lesson 2 and did not panic. He saw the edge of the cargo door just a foot below him. He grabbed it, and pulled himself in and ran back into the plane.

Hans let out a little screech that no one thought would come from a man that size.

“Whoa…what happened?” Hans shouted in fear as he stumbled back into the plane. “Where is Paul? Please tell me he isn’t falling to his death.”

“I am right here,” Paul said completely stunned by what he had just done. “I didn’t fall.”

Madam A was on the mic again. “You can go ahead and close the cargo door, Cromwell.” She said over the dull roar of air and engines that was filling the plane.

Paul walked to a seat at the side of the plane and sat down. He was trying to process what had just happened. He mumbled to himself, trying to justify how this was possible.

“Paul, you have been given a gift.” Madam A said trying to calm Paul down a bit.

“I don’t know if I want this gift, I am not even sure any of this is real,” Paul said in utter disbelief of what had just happened.

“I reacted the same way the first time Paul.” Madam A said sitting next to him. “I thought that I had gone off the deep end. I have always liked being unique, and everyone looked at me as the weird girl. But the first time that I experienced what I call the slow state, well I thought I was making up things in my head and believing them.”

“Who tried to throw you from a plane?” Paul shot back out of anger.

“I did not have the luxury of someone helping me the first time,” Madam A said slightly irritated. “I had to choose to move, and will myself to not freak out. I was at a concert when a man walked in with a gun. He took aim at my best friend and pulled the trigger. The moment the gun fired I found myself in the slow state. I could see the bullet moving one inch at a time. I stood frozen, just watching until I realized my friend was going to die. I screamed and was surprised that my voice rang out like time was not slow. I began to look around and realized everyone else was still frozen in place. I took a step forward, then another, and then I ran to the bullet in the air. I reached up to grab it, but it was like trying to move a thousand pound rock. I freaked out, I ran to the man who shot the gun and began to hit him in the face. I hit him maybe ten times and then sunk to the ground. I turned just in time to watch the bullet penetrate my friend’s chest. It hit its mark, right into her heart, and I had to watch it happen one inch at a time. I could have saved her had I kept my cool, I could have pushed her out of the way. I could have put something in front of her to stop the bullet. When normal time returned, the gunman fell to the ground unconscious from the ten blows he received so quickly that it felt like ten punches in one. My friend lay dead, and I just sat sobbing on the ground.”

Paul looked at Madam A and saw the tears now pouring from her eyes. He for the first time since being brought to her, felt compassion for her. He sat stunned by her story, but still struggling with his own battle of understanding. He figured now was the time to ask questions, and he had a great deal of them.

“I am sorry that you lost your friend Madam A. That must have been terrible, I can’t even imagine,” Paul said with sincere compassion in his voice. “I have lots of questions, can I please get answers?”

“I will answer the best that I can,” Madam answered now frantically drying her tears with her sleeve.

“Biggest question I have is when I can go back to my family?” Paul asked with a great deal of hope in his voice.

“As soon as this mission is over, we will discuss logistics and then take you back to your family.” Madam A said without hesitation.

Paul breathed a sigh of relief as his fear of never seeing his family again was relieved.

“What does this mission involve?” Paul said with nervousness apparent in his voice.

“There is a man that has been serving the Shedim, and he is about to be tortured and executed for failing to complete a mission. We are going to rescue him, and do our best to bring him into the light. He may have some incredible information that would be extremely helpful to us,” Madam A said as she stood. “You can ask a few more questions later, but for now, we only have a few more hours to teach you what took me years to learn.”

“No, I have more questions, so many more questions. Like, what is this war even about? Who is the leader of the other side? Why have I never heard of this war?” Paul blurted out the questions fast enough that no one could stop him.

“Paul, A man’s life hangs in the balance, and you can be a huge asset to saving him. We can talk about all of this another time. For now, we have more pressing matters to attend too.” Madam A said as she instantly moved in front of Paul. “I am going to do my best to help you control what throws you into the slow state. Stand up and walk into the middle of the cargo area.”

As Paul began to stand Madam A shoved him back into his seat. He looked at her surprised and slightly flustered at the rude gesture.

“Hey, why did you do that?” Paul said irritated.

“Why didn’t you do what I asked?” Madam A said clearly amused with the situation.

Paul slid to the side and stood quickly, but as he took a step he found his shoes were tied together as he fell flat on his face.

“You are going to have to do better than that Paul. “Madam A snickered at Paul.

Paul stood and was ready to scream at Madam A, but was not able to get words out before she was talking again.

“Now that you are furious, take all your anger and focus on forcing yourself into the slow state.” Madam A said so fast that Paul almost had to ask her to say it again.

Paul tried to force his mind into the slow state and felt it start to kick in, but it was a millisecond of changed feeling before things were back to normal.

“I tried, but I couldn’t get it to stay slow,” Paul said angrily, realizing she had played him to get an outburst of anger.

“But you got it to start?” Madam A said seemingly pleased with that fact. “Good, now try to do it without any rise of emotion.”

After about an hour of non-stop trying, Paul was able to enter into the slow state only when his heart rate was elevated. He could only remain in the slow state long enough to take three or four steps was all.

“Good I think that you will be able to do everything we need from you for this mission.” Madam A said as she again in an instant sat next to Paul. “You need to rest for the next hour or so. Rest your mind and your body, the slow state takes a toll on you at first. Your body is not used to moving this fast yet, and you will get sore muscles and some nasty headaches.”

Paul was glad to be able to rest for the first time in he didn’t know how long. He found a cot right behind the cockpit and plopped down tiredly. He pulled a picture of his wife out of his wallet and gazed longingly at it. Within just a few moments he began to drift off into a peaceful sleep.

“Paul! Wake up, wake up!” The frantic voice of Hans shook Paul quickly out of his slumber.

“Wha- what is going on?” Paul stammered as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

“Madam A just received word that our target was moved, and it is time to go now!” Hans said hurriedly “Get up and get back to Madam A, she is at the cargo door.

Paul ran to the cargo door and found it opened with Madam A standing right at the edge of the door. The ground was a few feet away and whizzing by in a fast blur.

“Grab my hand and Jump now!” Madam A shouted, “I will instruct you what to do in the slow state.” And with that Madam A grabbed Paul’s hand and forced him to Jump out of the moving plane.