If not Plan A or B then Maybe C

Vanessa and Michelle joined the others in the galley for a quick breakfast of something Stonegrim called Al Paka but looked like egg and bacon wraps and tasted delicious despite the Taco Bell look of the meal. They ate in companionable silence until the Freya informed them that they were coming to the end of the flight plan.

            “Where are we now?” Vanessa asked as she followed Flynt and Michelle up to the flight deck.

            “Our flight plan puts us down in Memphis, Tennessee where we will “refuel” and take on food.” Flynt said. “As soon as we can file a new flight plan, we will be flying out of these United States for our destination in the Atlantic.”

            “You mean the Ship-stone needs to recharge?” Vanessa asked as they climbed into their respective seats. Michelle was already radioing the tower asking directions to their designated runway.

            “Actually, The Freya can give us a good 5K on distance but since the Freya is not like other planes we try not to draw that much attention when we fly around this place. So we land, act normal, keep the kids in doors until we are reasonably sure that we haven’t drawn much attention then we fly for the coast and wait for a chance to slip across the international boundaries without alerting the Coast Guard or the Military.”

            “Why is that?” Vanessa asked. Flynt sighed, Michele chuckled and Quest who had just come up laughed. “What?”

            “The last time the Freya was in the US- that was a few years ago wasn’t it.” Quest said.

            “1982.” Michelle said turning back to them. “We were booking out of country to catch our ride home and we pull a wing of MD F-4 Phantom jets.”

            Flynt laughed. “What a Fravic-Storm that was.”

            “Don’t worry, Van.” Quest interrupted. “Flynt will tell you what a Kravic is another time- just think small, furry, extremely irritable and with many many claws.”

            “Anyway.” Michelle continued. “They had us surrounded just out of the Everglades and began to insist that we come back to the US with them.”

            “What did you do?” Vanessa asked

            “Well we had a quick discussion amongst the crew and decided that fighting was out of the question so we ran full speed.”

            “Full speed in this baby is 293 miles per hour.” Flynt said. “Not fast enough.”

            “Not even close when you have 6 US Airforce Jets capable of going Mach 2.23” Michelle said. “So we took option B.”

            “Option B?” Vanessa said then could feel the punch line ripple through each of them.

            “Well we did what Quest suggested.” Michelle said with a chuckle and a shrug.

            “What?” Vanessa leaned forward. “What did you have the Freya do?”

            “They told me to stop.” The Freya said, “Which I did gradually.”

            “Good thing too, because we were pushing 300 miles per hour.” Michelle said

            “I still lost all of my coffee.” Grumbled Stonegrim as he came up to sit in his chair.

            “At least you weren’t wearing it like me.” Flynt quipped back.

            “You never looked better.” Stonegrim toasted him with his mug.

            “I don’t get it.” Vanessa said looking at each of them in turn.

            “The Freya decelerated from 293 miles per hour to zero in about 5 minutes.” Quest said. “Since the Ship-stone provides lift she can float in place whereas-“

            “F-4 Phantom jets cannot stop at all in the air.” Michelle finished.

            “Well they almost can but they tend to fall out of the sky under those circumstances” Quest said.

            “By the time, the pilots had reacted they had overshot us by at least 40 miles.” Michelle said.

“And by the time they came back looking for us we had gone to plan C.”

            “I know I am expected to ask.” Vanessa said. “What is plan C?”

            “Have the wizard turn us invisible, of course, milady.” Severin said as he came up. To her incredulous stare he said. “Well not me. I didn’t join this crew until this trip.”

            “Plan C- the Wizard.” Flynt said. “Was what Quest called it. The wizard on the journey was Michelle’s old love interest.... what?” Flynt scowled at Michelle. “Well he was.”

            Michelle sighed and shook her head. “Okay maybe he was. His name was Vhurress and he was a wizard of sorts. But he could cast invisibility better than just about any wizard I have ever met.”

            “Oh.” Vanessa said trying to take this all in. Magic was real- right?

            Quest sensing her shock said. “Vhurress used a trick of magic which can be done even here by bending the light around the Freya, to make it appear that we were no longer there. By the time they had radioed it in and been informed that our blip was still on the Radar we were out in international waters and dropping out of radar range.”

            “Magic.” Vanessa said in wonder.

            “Something that is very complex and works in ways most do not understand.” Stonegrim said quietly.

            “Nor can they conceive that it is but rather judge it from its results.” Severin concluded.

            “The thing is-“ Flynt said into the new silence. “We don’t have a Plan C on board this time and the Americans have planes now that can come to a full stop in the air.”

            “Time to work on plan D.” Quest said.