Out of Touch (21 page)

Soon Sarah had the tickets, evidently fooling the palm scan well enough, or were they walking into a trap? Reggie remembered the palm lock on her mother’s house and wondered how Sarah had used it.

As they approached the security checkpoint, the other four managed to fall into line ahead of them. It was a typical crowded day at the airport. Each person passed their ticket through a machine and verified their palm or retina scan before walking forward to the metal detectors. The guard standing by the scanning machine did not seem to be paying close attention as people filed past her. Sarah had handed each of their party a ticket and told them to go through in that order. She held the other papers in her left hand. Howard and Robert went through without incident. But on Mei Mei, there was a beep as the machine asked for a rescan. Just as the guard started to look toward them, a framed poster fell off the wall.

The guard stepped toward the poster, keeping it from falling forward. Mei Mei used her left hand to steady her right, which was now shaking above the palm scan pad, and it passed her through. Next went Lisa and then Reggie. The guard was leaning the poster against the base of the wall, while watching them over her shoulder. Only Sarah was left as the guard returned full attention to her station. Reggie saw Sarah glance at her papers and fold them before the guard could see. Then she held her palm to be scanned, it passed her through, and Reggie felt himself breath again.

On the other side of the metal detectors, he heard Sarah whisper to Howard, “Thanks.” Then they walked to their gate in pairs, Mei Mei holding onto Lisa’s arm, but otherwise looking unruffled. Reggie glanced at the busy people around them. Men in gray or black suits hurried by in both directions. Over half the travelers in this section were Asian, so the Chens and Howard blended in better than Reggie and Sarah. As they passed the last snack shop, Reggie regretted not even having time for espresso before boarding, but they were timing it close on purpose.

The woman at the gate collected their boarding passes without glancing at the names. On board the 747, Mei Mei, Lisa, Sarah, and Reggie were seated in a middle section near the front. Howard and Robert sat much further back, also in a middle section. Of course, the telepaths could communicate just as well across the plane. Had Sarah wanted to spread out their resources, or was she perhaps uncomfortable around Howard?

As the plane surged toward take off Reggie watched out the window across from him. He saw sun glint off the waters of San Francisco Bay before the jaded teen with the window seat pulled down the shade to avoid the glare. Reggie had flown out of San Francisco many times, but this was quite possibly the last. As they rose into the air he wondered if he was leaving the U.S. for good.

April 14, 2025 – Over international waters

Sarah didn’t know she’d dozed off until Mei Mei nudged her awake. Her face felt pasty. Her scalp pulled where the antibiotic ointment had stiffened her hair. For a moment she imagined a jello pancake eating her brain, then remembered reality was just as weird.

“We’ve got trouble. The pilot’s been ordered to turn the plane around. They told him he had escaped criminals on board.” Mei Mei whispered very quietly in her ear. From the lack of activity around her, Sarah guessed the other passengers didn’t know.

An image of Torie teasing her from the gym door flashed through Sarah’s mind. It had been raining, the day Sarah went to get spooky and ended up rescuing O’Reeley instead. Torie had seemed worried when Sarah rushed off. How were the girls taking her disappearance now? Would using their passports bring teeps in suits to their doors?

“What time is it?” she asked Mei Mei, as Reggie moved his head and slowly opened his eyes.

“Nine A.M. in Bangkok.”

“Two more hours.”

“I’ve been studying the captain. I think I know enough to persuade him,” Mei Mei whispered. “Can you get us into the cockpit without setting off alarms or making the pilot or co-pilot attack us?”

“Let’s try.”

Sarah pulled papery pillowcases off of their airplane pillows. She’d thought through enough scenarios to know she’d want them as blindfolds. Still, her hands felt numb as she tugged.

Reggie leaned forward on her left, eyebrows raising wrinkles like McDonald’s golden arches as he silently waited for an explanation. Sarah squeezed his hand and whispered, “They’ve been ordered to take the plane back.”

“What can I do?” he asked.

“Just wait.”

Reggie smiled, but it looked so forced Sarah’s mouth flushed bitter. She wanted to take back the words, but couldn’t change the situation. Instead, she forced her own smile and squeezed Reggie’s hand again before she followed Mei Mei through first class to the crew seating by the front bathrooms. She pulled the privacy curtain shut behind them and turned to speak to the two flight attendants who had been resting there.

One was already starting to stand up and protest as Sarah said, in her sweetest little female voice, “I’m sorry, but we’ve got a bit of a problem, a slightly embarrassing little problem.”

Mei Mei was pulling the other curtain shut as Sarah pulled a pillowcase over one flight attendant’s head using her hands. She covered the other from behind with her telekinesis and pressed an illusory gag into each mouth. She tightened and fixed imaginary ropes until the attendants couldn’t thump against walls or try to untie themselves. Her real hands pressed cold and tense against her thighs as she fixed each imaginary binding in her mind. Tearful sniffling noises came from beneath one pillowcase.

She looked at Mei Mei, whose eyes were wide, but who was waiting patiently to one side. Sarah pointed at the flight attendants’ heads and then pointed to Mei Mei’s. The older woman nodded and Sarah bent down to whisper to her captives.

“Please, don’t panic. We don’t want to hurt or upset anyone. But I need to know how you knock on the cockpit door when you want the pilot to open it.”

It wasn’t that Sarah expected them to tell her. But she knew the door was only supposed to open from inside. Tampering with it might set
off alarms, and the flight attendants had to have signals, if they’d just think clearly about them –

“No good,” Mei Mei whispered. “They call on the intercom and our voices would give us away.”

Sarah shrugged and moved toward the door. On this side, it had a regular door handle. With luck, the other side was an identical handle that automatically unlocked the door when it turned. Keeping all the imaginary ropes and gags in place, Sarah reached her mind to the far side of the door and turned the inside handle. Easing the door open, she immediately looked for the pilot’s and co-pilot’s hands to block any threatening movement. Mei Mei slid quickly inside.

“Please, give me a moment to tell you why they want this plane turned around.” Mei Mei sounded so sincere. Was she acting or not? “I know they’ve told you there are wanted criminals on board. But there aren’t. We are political refugees, victims of government policies you have not even been told about.” Mei Mei’s clipped accent and motherly calm pulled Sarah the way Peace Corps ads once had. The pilot showed no reaction, but he hadn’t reached for a panic button either. “Our only crime was to be born with certain genetic differences. For that they would keep us as lab animals for the rest of our lives. But we cannot help how we’re born. If they are allowed to imprison us, who knows what they will want to control next.”

“What differences? What are you talking about?” the pilot asked.

“If I told you, they would want to silence you, too. But if you call ahead to Thailand and ask if they are expecting us, a group of political refugees fleeing persecution of mental differences, they will confirm it.”

“And what do we say when the U.S. orders us back again?” the co-pilot asked.

“I don’t know. You could tell them we’ll blow up the plane if you want.”

“Are you threatening us?” Anger began to pull at the co-pilot’s face. Sarah’s shoulder tensed forward, and she had to focus to keep the flight attendants bound.

“Not at all. I’m doing what I can to see myself, my children, and my friends to safety and to allow you the freedom of choice we have been denied back home.”

“We have zero tolerance for terrorists—” the co-pilot began.

“They don’t sound like terrorists, Bill,” the pilot said. “Let’s call Thailand and check it out.”

The pilot called. Of course, the person in air traffic control knew nothing. But he put a call in to his superiors and a few minutes later the word came back, “Roger, we have government officials saying they will accept your refugees and that international agreements require you to bring them through from international airspace.”

“Understood,” the pilot replied. He tapped a control then turned to Mei Mei. “Your lucky day. Now, how did you get in here?”

“Thank you, sir. We’ll stay out of your way.” Mei Mei bowed her head briefly, and Sarah took the cue to back out of the cockpit doorway. Mei Mei followed, closing the door with a solid click.

For one brief moment Sarah was awash with relief. It felt like sudden melting through her shoulders and chest, but in her arms it couldn’t melt past the elbows. Her forearms felt icy, ready to shatter. Delayed fear pressed in at her forehead.

              “How did you do that?” she whispered to Mei Mei.

“Our pilot is gay, Jewish, and politically skeptical. A natural ally.”

Sarah tried to smile. Then she looked at the two flight attendants she’d so far kept immobile. Despite the shrouding pillowcases, their terror showed in every tense muscle, adding to the weight of her fear. What had she done to these people? In trying to save herself, had she become a monster?

Sarah knelt on the floor before them. Tears sprang to her eyes. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered from between them, not wanting anyone beyond the curtains to hear. “We would never have hurt you. I didn’t mean to frighten you. We just needed to talk to the captain. We’re
political refugees, not terrorists.”

Tears were streaming down Sarah’s face now. The woman on her right was crying too. Sarah reached out to pat her hand and the arm jerked. Sarah’s tears exploded in guilt and exhaustion. She had to free these people, but she needed to know they’d stay quiet.

“Please, I want to untie you. I just need to know you’ll stay calm. We talked to the pilot. Do you understand? It’s all worked out.”

Mei Mei came close behind her, adding her own whispers. “There’d be no point in attacking us or alerting the passengers. I’m an old woman; she’s just a girl. If you cooperate and finish the flight, the plane will land, peaceful and normal.”

Sarah looked to the telepath, seeking a sign. Mei Mei nodded.

In her mind, Sarah untied invisible ropes and pulled them away. When neither prisoner acted to remove either pillowcase, Sarah reached forward and used her hands to carefully lift one and then the other. The woman to her right continued to cry, refusing to make eye contact. The other one flashed Sarah an angry look then turned to her friend and said, “It’s all right Nora. I know how you feel, but there are people depending on us.”

“Best leave them alone,” Mei Mei whispered. “Wipe your face, and let’s go back to our seats.”

Sarah’s mind was a whirlpool, but she knew Mei Mei must be right. She would have wiped her eyes on her sleeve, but she was still wearing the batik top Reggie had given her, and it was too nice for that. So quickly, she plucked kleenex from the bathroom and cleaned up, shoving some in her pockets in case the tears came back. Then she followed Mei Mei through the curtain. Other than a few curious stares as they passed through first class, activity on the airplane was reassuringly normal.

Then she felt a squeeze on her shoulder from a place in the aisle where no one stood or could even fit. It took her brain just a moment to realize the touch must be teek, must be from Howard, and must be meant as reassurance. In that moment she almost tripped. For the first time she’d felt someone else’s teek, and she hated it. It wasn’t real, there was no warmth, and no one present to back it up.  Instead of trying to acknowledge Howard, she looked for Reggie and for her seat.

April 14, 2025 – Arriving in Bangkok, Thailand

Reggie’s mouth fell open, just a little, when he saw Sarah shuffle down the aisle, face red from crying. Lisa’s silent nods said all was well, and Mei Mei slipped into view, calm and poised as a lizard. Reggie’s flash of terror turned to concern for his girlfriend as she tensed and almost stumbled.

She slid into the seat next to him, and he put his arm around her, letting her sink limp against his side. After a moment, he felt the damp of tears soaking into his shirt. He cursed the fact they couldn’t talk, and then the fact that the others could. Lisa had nodded over silent communications throughout whatever had happened, and now she was undoubtedly hearing the whole story. But the cabin was nearly silent to him, most passengers either asleep or watching movies with headphones.

After a while he whispered to Sarah, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she whispered back. “It all worked out. I just feel like some kind of monster.”

Reggie tried not to recoil at the echoes in his own mind. He’d watched her lie, set a building on fire, steal cars, forge hand scans, and possibly hijack a plane. How well did he really know the person he’d been sleeping with for three years? Why was he even here? Why did he reject any role that took him away?