Chapter 1: PROLOGUE 1

September 11th, 2001

United Airlines Flight 175

30 minutes into the flight

“Everyone stays in their seats! Anyone who moves dies!” someone ordered in a harsh voice.

 As Zoe turned around, to her horror, she saw five men spread around the plane with knives in their hands. And not one of those large knives, no, the smaller ones. Those used for utility purposes. They looked like ordinary men. They didn’t look like someone who would cause such a commotion.

“No need to be a hero”, warned one of them. He had these round glasses, more suited to a professor than a terrorist.  “Stay where you are and nobody gets hurt.”

“Call out the first officer,” one of them ordered an air hostess, “now!”

“Hey! you can’t do this!” one of the passengers said.

“Excuse me?” asked the one with the sideburns, moving towards the passenger who yelled at him. 

“I said,” his voice was scared and angry at the same time, "you can’t do this.”

“Oh really?” He frowned. “Here’s the thing, buddy. When we said don’t be a hero, we meant it!” And then he stabbed the passenger with his knife. 

 Zoe turned her head away, preferring to look at the empty seat next to her rather than at the bleeding guy in the aisle. The sound of the knife entering the unruly passenger made her wince

“Anyone else feels like telling me what I can and can’t do?”, he yelled. “No one? Good. Now call out the first officer,” He ordered the air hostess, turning away from the man bleeding on the floor.

The air hostess switched on the intercom and spoke into it. “First Officer Horrocks, Can you please come out? There’s a problem with one of the passengers,” Zoe looked, as the sideburn guy and the glasses guy placed their backs on either side of the cockpit door. As the door opened and the First Officer Horrocks stepped out, the Sideburn guy grabbed him in a chokehold, and the glasses guy entered the cockpit. 

“What-” The first officer gasped, his hand instantly coming to his neck to release the pressure blocking his oxygen supply. The sideburn guy thrust his knife into Horrocks’ belly, pulled it out, and then instantly sliced open his throat.

Zoe gasped, her hand covering her face and her green eyes squeezed shut.

As Zoe opened her eyes, she saw that only three of the hijackers were spread around the aisle, the other two presumably in the cockpit.

“Everybody calm down and stay seated. This ride will be over soon,” one of the hijackers said, waving his knife around.

And so, Zoe, like the other sixty passengers on the flight, stayed seated.

She found herself oddly relaxed for a while until a voice appeared out of nowhere beside her.

“Hello, Zoe.”

Zoe stifled a squeal, as she noticed the empty window seat next to her suddenly seated an old man. She noted that he had pale and wrinkly skin as if he had never been in the sun. and his head was balding with white hair.

“Who the hell are you?” Zoe hissed at the old man. “And why did you move to this seat? Didn’t you hear them? Stay seated or you die!”

“Oh, I’m not worried about those guys,” the old man replied, leaning towards Zoe. “No, my more pressing concern at this moment is you.”

“Me? What do you mean?”

“What’s the time right now?”

“The time? It’s 08:50 am,” Zoe replied, looking at her watch. “But what’s that got to do with me?”

“Everything! Bear with me for this. It’s been a while since I’ve had to do this. You see Zoe, in 13 minutes this plane is gonna crash.”

“What!”

“Is there a problem here?” one of the terrorists growled. “No sir, no problem at all. This young lady here is just a bit disconcerted.” placated the old man calmly.

“ Well, tell her to keep it down or she won’t like the consequences.” He turned around and walked away to the other side.

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“What do you mean this plane is gonna crash? And how do you know my name?” Zoe asked the presumably crazy, old man. 

The old man gave a calm smile as if he wasn’t sitting in a hijacked plane about to crash, but rather taking a peaceful stroll in a park.

“Why, I of course mean that at sharp 09.03 am this plane is going to hit the south tower of The World Trade Center and explode. As for knowing you,” the old man pulled out a file and opened it.,” here’s how. Zoe Jackson, age 22, was born on August 15th, 1989 in Los Angeles, California. After spending 20 years in LA, I moved to Boston, Massachusetts to study engineering. Died on Tuesday, September 11th, 2001 in the aircraft Boeing 767-200 The United Airlines Flight 175 heading from Boston to Los Angeles during the crash into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.“

He turned the file towards Zoe, and sure enough, there was her photo. Wearing a cute midriff-baring red top and low-rise sexy blue denim shorts. Her short auburn hair cut in her regular bob style, she couldn’t stop smiling at the camera. She remembered when she got that photo taken. She and her girlfriends had gone on a trek to Mount Greylock. She hadn’t even got that one developed yet. 

“How do you have that information? And that photo?” Zoe questioned, her eyes going wide in at the bombshell the old man had just dropped.

“Ah ah ah, that’s not the point of this conversation. No, the actual point of this conversation is, that you, along with the other sixty passengers on this flight, are fated to die. But, unlike them, you have a choice.”

“A choice?” Zoe asked, befuddled at the words of this old man, who looked crazier every second.

“Yes! A choice! You can either stay here and die in the explosion in” he paused and looked at his watch,” 9 minutes or, you can come work with me”

“Come with you? Where? And how?”

“To New York, of course! And as for how, that’s a whole different conversation. Suffice it to say that it’s a whole lot of science mixed with science fiction and other weird stuff” the old man explained.”I don’t really understand the technical stuff but we have a bunch of videos that explain all the ins and outs of it so maybe you’ll be able to. So, what do you say?”

Zoe looked around at the scared faces of the people. She looked at the hijackers with knives. If the old man was telling the truth, they were all gonna die. And if she had a chance to get out then was it really even a choice? After all, the answer was obvious. But she still had a question for the old man.

“Why are you rescuing me? Not why someone else? Or even more than one?”

“It must be you.” replied the old man.” you have something special. Something none of these other people have. And I’m afraid that I can take only one person with me.”

“What do you mean something special?”

“I’m afraid that’s another long conversation,” the old man answered with a wry grin.

The plane shuddered. Zoe could feel it starting to descend. She looked at her watch. 08:58 am.

5 minutes till the crash. She could feel herself starting to panic.

“You said you wanted me to work with you? What kind of work?”

“I work with a group of people who right the wrongs in the world. We live in the shadows, you see. We exist under the system. We move like ghosts. They believe all of us are dead with our bodies destroyed or under the sea or burnt to ashes.”

The plane shuddered again. The descent was getting steeper. Zoe could see that the other passengers were panicking.

“3 minutes to go Zoe. make your decision” the old man urged.

Zoe didn’t know what to do. On one hand, she was heading to certain death but on the other hand, she could go work for some weird shadow organization. But what kind of life would that be? The old man hadn’t said it outright but she suspected she would have to cut off all parts of her previous life. She wouldn’t be able to see her family or her friends. She hadn’t had a serious boyfriend yet, but even if she did she didn’t think she would be allowed to keep in contact with him either.

“2 minutes Zoe! Make the decision. I really don’t want to be here when the plane crashes!”

Zoe looked around. Passengers were screaming. She had no doubt about what’s gonna happen. The crash was imminent.

“ZOE!”

“OKAY! Okay, let’s go.” Zoe relented, accepting that the only choice was going with him.

“Wonderful!” the old man smiled. Zoe looked at her watch. 1 minute to go. Zoe looked out the window. She could see the city appearing outside.

“HURRY!” Zoe was panicking. She was so glad she hadn’t drunk any water before the flight or she might have had an embarrassing accident.

“Of course!” the old man fiddled with his watch.” hold my hand and brace yourself!”

Zoe quickly grabbed his hand and just before she thought the plane was gonna hit the building, the got encased in blinding white light.

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