"Painted Black"

“Douglas, I have some bad news.”

“Great.  So do I.  Um, you first though.”

“I seem to have gone blind.”

“-”

“It could be some kind of neurological issue or something.  I am getting a little older, as my wife keeps reminding me. 

"I mean I’m utterly blind.  I can’t see a thing.  To say that I can’t see my own hand in front of my face would be an understatement.  Complete darkness.  I might be tempted to touch my eyes to see if they’re closed but it wouldn’t be this dark if that was all it was.  Last I knew, it was around 3 in the afternoon without a cloud in the sky.  Or at least there weren’t any a few minutes ago when I could see.”

“-”

“Well aren’t you going to say anything, Douglas?  You are still there, aren't you?”

“Oh yeah, I’m still here, Franky.  I’m still here.  It’s just that your bad news has made my bad news so much worse.”

“How so?”

“I’m blind too.”

“What?!”

“Yep.  And I did touch my eyes to make sure they were opened and it feels like I knocked a contact lens out of place.  Although, I’m not sure that’s a big deal at the moment.”

“-

“Well, that is bad news, Douglas.  Do you think you could call Tess?  Tess Gibson, I mean.  I’ve moved around a bit and I’m afraid I’ve lost my bearings a bit.”

“I think I can.  Give me a sec . . .  Yep, okay, it’s ringing.”

“Tell her to come and see us but don’t make a big deal out of it.  Don’t upset her.”

“Will do, Franky.

“Tess?  Is that you?  What’s wrong?”

“What is she saying, Douglas?”

“You’re shitting me.  No.  Yeah, us too.”

“Oh no.”

“Listen, Tess, just do what you can to keep them calm.  No, we don’t have any idea what’s happening.  Me and Franky are going to talk this through and we’ll get back to you.  What’s that?  Yes . . . yes, of course there is?  Now stay by the phone.  Bye.”

“Don’t tell me, her too?”

“Yep.  And not just her, everyone, so far as she can tell.  She asked if we thought it was maybe chemical, like a terrorist attack or something.  She also asked if we have an emergency procedure for something like this.”

“Well, yeah we do.  She was it.  We could have talked her through what needed doing.”

“Yep.  

What if she’s right, Franky?  You know, the terrorist thing.  If it is something chemical smuggled in, we could still be being exposed.  Blindness may only be the first symptom.  We could start dropping like flies at any moment.”

“Okay, Douglas.  Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

“Ahead of ourselves!  What’s ahead of us is exactly what I’m worried about!”

“I know.”

“Last I knew we had something less than two hours before-”

“I KNOW, Douglas.  Calm down or we’ll never figure this out.”

“Huff, whew . . .

“You’re right, Franky, of course.  We should probably make the call before-”

“‘Something less than two hours’ you said.  What’s the last thing you remember seeing before it all went dark?  When is the last time you looked at the ETE?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure, Franky.  The last time I looked, it was reading one hour, forty, or thereabouts.  But when I first noticed I was blind was right before you told me you were, and it was kind of like I had just woken up or something.  But I’m sure I didn’t fall asleep.  Pretty sure anyway.”

“Yeah, same here.  I don’t remember feeling fatigued and it doesn’t seem like I was asleep really.  More like a trance or something.  Which sounds kind of stupid when I say it out loud.”

“Yep.  Do you want me to make the call?  You said you lost your bearings.  Can you still-”

“No, I’ve got it.  I’m still in my seat for the most part.

“Center, Flight 2-0-0-2 declaring an emergency.  I repeat: Flight 2-0-0-2 declaring an emergency.”

‘sssssssssssssss’

“Hmm.”

“Yeah.”

“I feel like if we could see right now, we would be narrowing our eyes at each other.”

“Agreed.  

“Center, Flight 2-0-0-2 declaring an emergency, over.”

‘sssssssssssssss’

“Are you sure you’re pushing the right button?”

“Douglas, I’ve been doing this for . . .  Humph.  Yeah, I’m pretty sure but you’re right.  You try, just in case mine’s not working or something.”

“Will do, Cap.

“Center, Flight 2-0-0-2 declaring an emergency, over.”

‘sssssssssssssss’

“Center, Flight 2-0-0-2 declaring an emergency, over.”

‘sssssssssssssss’

“Okay, Franky, I’m officially about to freak, the fuck, out now.”

“Ah, agreed.  Maybe we got off frequency somehow.  Do you think you could push the Swap button?  We might still be in range of Approach.”

“Oh, Franky, that makes me nervous. Once we start pushing the Swap button I’m worried we’ll lose track of how many times we’ve pushed it.  And that’s assuming I can push it without bumping into other things, like the frequency knob, for example.”

“Yes, Douglas, but since we aren’t getting any response from Center, I’m not sure it will matter if we don’t know which one we’re on.”

“I don’t know, Captain.  I say we keep trying for five more minutes . . . or at least what feels like five more minutes, since we can’t see any of the chronos.”

“You’re right.  You’re right.  I’ll keep trying.  You call Tess again and tell her to scour the cabin and make sure none of the passengers can see.”

“Copy that.”

“Center, Flight 2-0-0-2 declaring an emergency, over.”

“Center, Flight 2-0-0-2 we are declaring an emergency, over.”

“Tess, listen: I know it’s going to be difficult but we need you to talk to every single passenger and make sure there isn’t anyone who can still see.  I know, I know.”

“Center, Flight 2-0-0-2 declaring an emergency.”

“I understand, Tess, that was good thinking, but how about you just tell them that you need help.  Keep telling them that we can see, but that there are things you have to do that-  Yep, I know, just do your best, please.”

“Center, Flight 2-0-0-2 declaring an emergency.

“What was all that?”

“She told the passengers that we could still see and floated the idea that since we are on a separate air supply-”

“But we’re not!  And they're all going to panic thinking they’ve been gassed!”

“I know but apparently most of them are buying it and it turns out that a couple hundred blind people can only cause so much chaos when they're too disoriented to move around much.”

“Hmm.  I’m tempted to say, ‘Thank God for small favors’ but I’m finding myself too uncomfortable with rating sudden, mass disability as a positive thing.”

“Agreed, Franky.  Agreed.”

“Center, Flight 2-0-0-2 declaring an emergency.”

‘sssssssssssssss’

“Center, Flight 2-0-0-2 declaring an emergency, over.”

‘sssssssssssssss’

“Center, Flight 2-0-0-2 we are declaring an emergency, over.”

‘sssssssssssssss’

“Center, Flight 2-0-0-2 We. Are. Declaring. An. Emergency.  Please respond.”

‘sssssssssssssss’

“I think it’s been at least five minutes, Douglas.  Please try to carefully push the Swap button.  I don’t want to get any further away from Approach.”

“Will do, Captain.

“Okay, pretty sure I got it.  Ninety to ninety-nine percent sure anyway.”

“Well, here goes nothing.

“Approach, Flight 2-0-0-2 declaring an emergency.”

‘sssssssssssssss’

“Approach, Flight 2-0-0-2 declaring an emergency.”

‘sssssssssssssss’

“I’m getting a really bad feeling about this, Franky.”

“You and me both, Douglas.  You and me both.”

“So speaking of bad feelings . . .”

“Yeah?”

“This might seem like a really weird question, but-”

“Define, ‘weird’ in our current context, Douglas.”

“Yep, well, here it is: are we certain that we are still flying?”

“-”

“I mean, it still sounds like we’re flying and everything I touch is vibrating . . . but I feel kind of stationary and without seeing even the instruments . . .  You know, what we’ve experienced could be described as ‘lost time’ really.”

“I gotta tell you, Douglas, I don’t think I can handle that much more weird today, okay?

“Approach, Flight 2-0-0-2 declaring an emergency. Please respond.”

‘sssssssssssssss’

“You should probably go ahead and see if you can swap back to Center.”

“Wait!  Tess is calling.

“Tess, did you find someone?  Oh, thank God.  Bring-  What?  Okay, we can probably still-  What?!  Oh shit!  Oh my God.  What, there’s more?  Okay, did you tell her that we-  Okay.  K.  Yep.  Yep.  We’ll just have to make it work.  We’ll release the lock when you get up here.  See you in a minute, or, well, you know what I mean.  Bye.”

“What’s the deal?  She found someone who can see?”

“Good news is, yes, she found someone who can still see.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask; and the bad news is?”

“She’s deaf.”

“Outstanding.”

“And she’s nine years old.”

“Perfect.”

“And her mother wasn’t going to let her . . . ah, out of her sight, so to speak, so we’re getting them both.  Which is fine, I suppose, since I don’t know sign language, even if I could see.”

“What a pickle.  Did Tess let her in on the fact that we can’t see?”

“Yep, said she seems to be taking it fairly well.”

“Hmm, small favors.”

“Yep, small favors.  Oh, they’re here.”

“I guess Tess found the doorbell alright.  I’ll open it.  I’m already half out of my seat anyway.  I’m going to try to crawl back there.  I don’t want to bump into anything important, like the breakers for instance.”

“Yep. Safe travels, Cap.”

“Humph.”

“Got it.  Okay, Tess, I’m down here on the floor.  I’ll back up some so the three of you can get in.  Just everyone try not to touch anything, please.”

“Captain, this is Judith and her daughter Sasha.  Judith, this is Captain Franklin and First Officer Douglas.”

“Pleased to meet you, ma’am.  I’d offer my hand but, you know.”

“So it’s true, Captain, you two are blind as well?”

“I’m afraid so, ma’am, but maybe, just maybe, with your daughter's help, we might get through this.  The plane can land itself and in fact, it usually does.  We just need to make sure some knobs get turned and some buttons get pushed at the right times.  Now can I ask you, are you able to communicate with your daughter under these circumstances?”

“Yes, yes.  She has been signing to me by making the articulations against my palm.  It’s a little clunky, but we’ve done it before, in the dark, on camping trips and once when the power was out.  But-”

“Oh that’s good news, Judith.  Very good news.  First Officer Douglas will try to point out to Sasha some information we need that’s displayed on the instruments.  The first will probably be the Fuel Remaining.  Next will be ETE.  Now that’s Estimated Time En route, and then will go on from there.  Okay?”

“Yes, Captain, but-”

“Please, ma’am, I’ll feel so much better once we have those two pieces of information.  Can you ask her to do it now, please?”

“Okay.  - Hold on.  - Okay, she’ll look.  Can you hold still?  We’re going to try to step around you.”

“Understood.  Holding still.  Try not to touch anything, please.  Douglas, can you carefully point to the fuel readouts?  Can you find them by memory?”

“Got it, Captain.  Pretty sure I’m pointing now.”

“Ouch.”

“So sorry, Captain.”

“It’s alright, Judith.  I shouldn’t have had my hand there on the floor like that really.  Is Sasha up where she can see the instrument panel?”

“Yes, hold on a sec.

“-”

“Oh, Sasha, are you sure?”

“-”

“Oh no.  Oh no no no.”

“Judith?  What is it, Judith?”

“She says that all the screens are blank.  There are no lights of any kind on the instrument panel.  The only lights in here are the overheads.

“Dear God in Heaven.”

“Could it be the breakers, Franky?”

“I don’t know, Douglas.”

“Would we be able to talk her through checking the breakers?  Where would we even start?”

“I don’t know, Douglas.”

“But Captain, there’s more.”

“More?  What do you mean, Judith?”

“I’ve been trying to tell you.  It’s the windows.  Sasha says the windows in the cockpit here are the same as all the rest.”

“What do you mean?  The same, how?  What does she see?”

“She says it’s all dark outside.  She can see all of us and everything in the plane, but there’s nothing out of the windows.”

“Nothing?”

“What?”

“Nothing?  What does she mean?  Nothing?”

“Could we have lost that much time, Franky?”

“Can't be. We would have run out of fuel before sundown.”

“No, Captain, not night time.  She says there’s nothing outside.  No moon.  No stars.  No lights on the ground.  She told me she couldn’t even see the wings.  And we were sitting right over the wings.

"-"

“Sasha says it’s as if the windows have all been painted black."

"-" 

"It’s as if the whole world outside, has been painted black.”