Rival of Atlantis

III

                                                                                         PART 2

                                                                                      Crossroads

01:19AM, March 8, 2014 (UTC+8)

South China Sea

Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370

SEE YOU AT THE CROSSROADS," the music filled the ears of a man who is playing a music wired into high fidelity earphones. The music was a hit of the hip-hop band known by the name Bone Thugs 'N Harmony. As the music played, he remembered every scene of the music video depicting unexpected and inevitable demise wherein the angel of death collects the souls of humanity. "See you at the crossroad… crossroads."

The flashing music video scenes before his memory were cut when he remembered what occurred earlier. He was called to appear to their big boss personally and the honor does not come too often, for after all, he is just a mere electronics and communication engineer who teamed up with few others for a project that should make a breakthrough when released. The big boss congratulated him for leading the team to finish the project after two years, an annum earlier than the projected timeframe. He gave him a paycheck with enormous amount in digits and a latest cellular phone from a know US brand. The phone, the boss said, was meant as a gift for her only child, a daughter aging nineteen.

He rushed to the airport to come home, a happier man than what he dreamt of two years before being signed to the project. The vacation to Paris then to Maldives is now possible with the bonus paycheck, plus, her daughter would very much love to accept the gift from their boss. The company also gratefully paid his air tickets a month before. But, the flight ahead is still long. Upon landing at Beijing from Malaysia, he will have to jump on another plane in a connecting flight that will lead him home to Manila, Philippines.

Fetching the gift phone from a jeans' pocket, he turned it on and later finished setting it up then got amazed by the new features. He would like to keep the phone for himself, but he well knew the precious smile of his sweet daughter comes foremost. He will just navigate the phone’s features and later place it back to the box. The sweet joyful smiles of his daughter filled his imagination that felt surreal as if he can extend a hand and touch her.

The smiles of his daughter were cut when a flight stewardess walked the aisle of the business class cabin. His eyes followed the female flight crew, which he guessed to be Malaysian by her built and her chubby figure, who passed by with a smart walk and it made him crave for his wife back home. The female crew, chief flight stewardess in fact, strode towards the forward end of the aisle. The flight stewardess got lost in view behind the curtain.

Away from the eyes of the passenger, she knocked on the door leading to the cockpit. She slid herself to the unlocked door as he stood behind the flight captain. The captain, settled on a seat at the left of the cockpit, just finished talking to the air traffic control and turned to see who it is was.

"It's all right back there captain," the steward said in Malaysian common tongue as the pilot turned to the left window. "I came to know if maybe you need a coffee or something."

"Wait," the flight captain seem to jump out from his seat for a moment but the seat belts held him down. He now got his face pasted on the glass of the window. "I think I saw lights."

"Where?" The flight stewardess leaned forward and looked the same direction  the flight captain is looking at. "I see nothing."

There is nothing really to be seen. The Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370, in the form of Boeing 777 airbus, is passing by a group of clouds. Not a chance that the captain saw stars. They waited for few seconds before the captain looked at his co-pilot.

"Hail traffic control," he barked a command. "Ask if there is an airplane nearby."

The co-pilot hailed Air Traffic Control as the chief flight stewardess and flight captain waited for something to materialize. A moment, one or both of them can make out some odd looking outlines of an aerial vehicle, but they quickly dismissed it as tricks of their eyes and never said a word about it to each other.

"Traffic Control is not responding," they heard the co-pilot as they remained captivated by something they are yet to see. "And captain, there are changes in the instruments!"

The stressed words of the co-pilot brought his eyes back to the panels. At first, he thought his eyes are playing a trick on him. The instruments indicated that the plane is banking a little to the left.

The pistons of the captain's mind were sent to work and it turned gears inside his head. Questions are being dissected in his mind. First, what is causing the plane to bank by itself? Is the plane banking left, or are there glitches in the system? He is beginning to blame the instruments and is almost resolved that the readings are incorrect when he felt the plane tilt some degree. The plane is not just banking; it is making a curve in the air.

First thought is to get the controls of the plane back. He tried to bank the plane to the right to get it back to its flight route but to no avail. He had switched off and on the engines but they did not cooperate. It seems the plane suddenly had a life on its own and made its own decision.

The professionalism of schooling and years of service in Malaysian Airlines drained from the flight captain as the instruments indicated they are curving sharply. He watched the instruments showed how each degree of turn rise. He had been watching the instruments for minutes before he regained his senses.

"Hail a mayday," he commanded his co-pilot then turned to the flight stewardess. "Make sure the people back there will not panic. I'll be locking the door from now on. If you need to report something, make five short raps on the door."

"Yes, captain," she said and left the cockpit.

Upon the leave of the flight stewardess, he checked the co-pilot, and he is still airing a mayday. His mind was instantly sent to aviation schooling days when they were taught of theories about troubles of airplanes. He was a dedicated student who craved to learn flying during those days and he remembered nothing about a plane flying on its own.

"No luck," the co-pilot turned to him.

"Do you ever remember encountering troubles like this at flying school?"

"Plane flying by its own will?" He shook his head. "No."

"Then don't stop the mayday, whatever is happening, I believe it only leads to one thing."

After 10 minutes, they would s***h airing the mayday as an option. It seems the world of communication has left them there in a trip to oblivion. It has been thirty minutes since the plane banked on its own and refused to cooperate to the controls. With no button working, they cannot do anything even as much as dump the fuel and crash the bird on the sea. With no communication, landing the plane on a dead stick is not an option either. Their only consolation is that they have plenty of fuel for they just went up the air an hour and a half ago.

At the back of the plane, the passengers are oblivious about what is happening. They have felt the tilt of the plane to the left and some raised a little concern about the heading but the crew came and assured them everything is all right. When the plane straightened up, they heard no more of the concerns. If only they knew that they are headed the wrong direction, they would have fought their way to confront the pilots.

All were calm and some were asleep, but not the engineer passenger who is playing a song in his earphones. It seemed a déjà vu for him that the song of Bone Thugs 'N Harmony came playing through the earphones again as the chief flight stewardess walked the aisle towards the forward end of the business class cabin.

He gave her another review and remembered again the mobile phone that is meant for her daughter. He put it on and looked for something to do on it to entertain himself more. After 30 minutes of navigating through the phone's capabilities, the screen began flickering as if a television receiving a different channel signals. His eyes went wide as the flickering went on. He decided that the phone needs a technician the very immediate time he landed his soles land back at home.

On a military radar, the last one that is tracking the flight of MH370, it finally went out of range at 2:22AM. The Malaysian Flight MH370, a Boeing 777 Airbus, along with 239 passengers and crew, is never to be seen again. Its disappearance is fated to launch countries in search for her but is meant to become one of the greatest mysteries of aviation.

Only thirty-three pieces of wreckage was gathered by the search teams, but the fuselage of the plane is yet to be recovered. Or is there something to be recovered? Did the MH370 vanish into thin air? Did it crash land on the sea? Or something else happened?