Lucretius Angelus sat limp and motionless in the co-pilot’s seat in the cockpit of the large black helicopter, staring ahead with wide-open, blank eyes and with his mouth agape. His lower jaw was pulled down to his chest, revealing the blocky metal implants where his molars should be, glinting in the morning sun. A glob of drool slid past wires going from the implants penetrating through his gums and his upper palate, and it fell slowly from the corner of his mouth to a growing wet spot on the knee of the pants of his light-grey uniform. He was leaning forward a bit from his seat, pushing against the cross-braced seatbelts but facing directly forward in the direction of the helicopter’s travel. The pilot flying the helicopter would glance over periodically from the pilot’s seat, shuddering slightly each time. The pale young man’s arms hung limply towards the floor, his hands opened and lifeless, swinging as the helicopter swayed in its flight path low over the ocean. The sparkling waves raced under them, reflected in the dilated pupils of Lucky’s grey-blue eyes.

The pilot jerked to attention on seeing the curtain separating the cockpit from the cabin pulled aside abruptly, revealing the dark figure of Dante Valderez. Dante stretched a black-gloved hand over the co-pilot’s seat to reach Lucky’s neck, and pressed hard down on the skin between the ear lobe and back of the young man’s jaw. Lucky’s eyes immediately shut, and he started coughing violently. Dante stood coolly over the choking man, waiting for his loud paroxysms to end.

“Captain! Are we near the location where we picked up the officer?” Dante barked at the pilot grabbing Lucky’s shoulder to push him down into the seat, who was struggling to remove the straps holding him down. “Slow down as I question our young communications officer here. His Neural-Splice Radio Implant will tell us if this diversion was an unnecessary effort.”

Dante turned to Lucky, who now was no longer coughing but was still breathing heavily and raggedly. “What did you see? Did you pick up any transmissions?” Dante asked harshly, not waiting for Lucky to catch his breath. Lucky’s eyes were darting around frantically, looking shocked and bewildered by everything around him.

“Wh-… where am.. (cough) I?” Lucky gasped. His eyes narrowed as he tried to focus on Dante’s face, startled to see that the lower half was covered by a respirator and he stared fascinated at the scars on Dante’s bald head. “What-Who are you?”

Dante gave Lucky a harsh shake, shouting at him, “Pay attention! What did you just see? Was there a woman there?”

Lucky stared, frightened, at Dante. “I saw… I saw a lot of orange? I was surrounded by orange.” Lucky closed his eyes tightly, mumbling, “Yeah, orange everywhere.”

Dante offered impatiently, “Yes, yes, that would the life raft’s interior. What else did you see?”

Lucky opened his eyes again and looked through the helicopter’s windshield, calming down as he saw the choppy ocean waves stretch out uninterrupted to the horizon. “I just saw orange, and maybe… a figure in white?” Lucky offered, hesitantly, his face scrunched up like he was trying to remember a dream. “Sir, I’m going to throw up-“, he said and leaned over.

“Not in here!” the pilot shouted, but it was too late, hearing the young man retch loudly followed by the splashing noise of vomit hitting the cockpit walls and floors.

“Gawd… it’s going to reek in here to high heaven for the rest of the trip,” the pilot moaned.

“Get up and go back into the cabin. Pull yourself together!” Dante commanded the now even paler Lucretius. The pilot started coughing and clearing his throat. “I will open the side door, we should be near the life raft. Your not picking up any SOS signals?”

The pilot shook his head and slid open a small window next to him. Dante went into the passenger cabin and grabbed a blanket Lucky had covered himself with and threw it over the mess Lucky left behind in the cockpit. The older man returned to the cabin and glared at the younger man, laying on his side on the bench. He pulled open one of the side doors, letting the crisp, cool ocean air rush in, along with the loud thumping of the helicopter blades. Lucky pulled his legs up under him and curled into a ball, closing his eyes tightly and covering his ears with his arms. He started rolling and shaking, moaning quietly. Dante gave the suffering figure across from a him a look of disgust, and then rummaged through some nearby compartments to find a set of binoculars.

Dante started scanning the watery expanse, seeing nothing, one hand holding the binoculars and one hand holding onto a roof handle to steady himself. He put down the binoculars to look back at Lucky, who hadn’t moved and was now staring blankly into space. Dante sighed and went back to scanning the waves.

“Commander…” Lucky said weakly, “Commander Valderez…” Seeing that the man in black was not responding to him, he coughed loudly, shouting and talking quickly, “Commander Valderez! Yes, I did see a woman. I just didn’t know what I was looking at. I had never had to use the NSRI before, I didn’t know what was happening, if I was dreaming.”

“Was she alive?” Dante snapped back.

“I couldn’t tell… I could only see forms and colours. The details were blurry. And I also…” Lucky stumbled, now uncertain about what he was sharing.

Dante looked sharply at Lucky, “And you also what?

Lucky shook his head and then said firmly, “Yes, she was alive. And we must have been heading straight towards them because the transmission became clearer and clearer.”

“Good. I knew activating your NSRI was risky, but I had to know. You will debrief me after we return to the QuadriStar on your experience; it is a new technology that might need further refinement,” Dante said, his voice softening slightly.

Their conversation was interrupted by the pilot knocking on the cockpit wall to get Dante’s attention, “Commander! Straight ahead!”

Dante rushed into the cockpit, coughing at the stench, and then training the binoculars through the windshield ahead of them. Quickly he found what the pilot was pointing at, a conical orange life raft bobbing on the ocean waves.

“Speed up and stop over the life raft!” Dante ordered the pilot. He kept the binoculars trained on the orange cone, watching for any movement of its occupants. “The Silver Princess is still there! She won’t slip through my fingers this time!”
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*** This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. ***