The weekend passed in relative uneventfulness, and in time it was time to return to AHSAE for the remainder of my examination.

When I arrived with Madam Torrens at the simulators, I got a bit of a surprise.

“This will be the final test for you.” Mr. Faire told me, before we headed inside.

He seemed a tad more serious than I’d come to know him, and I felt a sting of concern in my chest.

What was it they had in store for me?

“All the previous rules still stand, if you get nervous, let me know, et cetera. But given how you’ve preformed in the past, I have a feeling there is no need to tell you.”

He placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Well then. Shall we begin?”

The three of us entered, and the simulation began.

We were about to fly a stretch from New York’s JFK to London Heathrow, and a soft frown formed on my brow.

Interesting leg to end my examination with.

We went through out pre-flight checklists, and I took us into the air.

As we reached our cruising altitude, and levelled out, it dawned on me what the time had been set to, and my brow knotted up once more.

Was it simply a coincidence that it was the same hour in the evening as the incident flight?

I passed Mr. Faire a sidelong glance, but he paid me no mind.

As we continued on across the Atlantic, things went fairly smoothly, until we approached the coast of Ireland.

This was when the first shudder through the plane hit.

Instinctively, I checked the instruments for signs of turbulence and found none.

Nodding at myself, I returned my focus to flying the plane.

Of course.

Of course they had chosen this to be my final test.

What better way to get a read of my skills and mental faculties than to have me relive that final flight?

The only difference, of course, was that this time I was in the cockpit for the entire flight.

The shudders continued, and I continued to keep the course, discussing back and forth with Mr. Faire about what could be wrong.

“It’s hard to tell, Captain.” He replied. “None of the security systems are picking up anything amiss. If not for the instrument readings, I’d say it was only turbulence.”

“Yeah.” I muttered. “It’s really weird.”

As time went on, I felt cold shivers running down my back.

It was far from fun to be back in this scenario again. My heart was so far up my throat it felt as if I was choking on it.

However on we went, and as we crossed the strait towards Wales, the engines pattered out, just like last time.

After this my memory went rather fuzzy.

With no time to think, I simply went through the motions of responding to what was happening before me.

Any information that entered my mind, slipped away just as fast.

There was no reason to hold onto it. All I had to do was observe and react.

Piece by piece, all the horrific incidents which occurred on that night were repeated in the same fashion, and in the end we were in an uncontrolled dive towards the ground.

I had us work on the engines, and felt my heart beat faster and faster for every attempt that failed. Had it taken this long back then?

I had no idea.

The ground was approaching at an alarming speed, and I felt a lump harden in my throat.

We were not going to make it.

In the last moment before we hit the ground, I heard someone call out behind me and then the simulation ended.

The machine levelled out and settled down, and I shakily removed my headset and looked around.

Behind me, Madam Torrens was already on her feet, her face a mask of shock and horror.

“That was not supposed to happen.” She said.

I frowned, but couldn’t get any words out.

Beside me, Mr. Faire appeared equally upset.

“Wasn’t it meant to perfectly simulate that night?” he asked, his voice shaky and hoarse.

“It was! It-it did!” Madam Torrens shook her head. “I-I’ll need a word with the technicians.”

She turned and headed outside.

Sharing a stunned glance, Mr. Faire and I went to follow suit.

“Come with me, Captain. Please.” Mr. Faire told me, and I silently followed him as he led the way.

My entire body was shaking, and try as I might, I could not get myself to speak.

I had not expected an ending like that.

Was it something I’d done wrong? Maybe I’d failed to get the engine failure checklist going quick enough.

As the thought entered my mind, I paused my gate with an involuntary shudder.

Tears pressed behind my eyes, and I needed a moment to recollect myself.

Ahead of me, Mr. Faire stopped as well and turned back to fetch me.

“Come on.” He said softly, placing an arm around my shoulders and guiding me along.

“Let’s get you somewhere you can settle down. I’ll get some tea going.”

“What if that had happened back then?” I muttered. I couldn’t help it. It had just dawned on me just how much worse that flight could have ended if I had dallied for just a second.

Beside me, Mr. Faire frowned.

“What?” he said, and he seemed genuinely surprised. “What are you talking about?”

Blinking rapidly, I shook my head.

“I, I was worried, I might have initiated a life-saving procedure a moment too late.”

“I’m fairly sure you didn’t.” replied Mr. Fisher. “In fact, I am certain of it. Which is why this is so shocking. Here.”

He took me into a little breakroom and sat me down at the table while he went about putting the tea on.

For a good minute or so, neither of us spoke, as Mr. Faire went about fetching cups from a cupboard and sugar and honey from the counter.

“Here we are.” He said, taking a seat opposite me and passing me a steaming hot cup of Earl Grey.

“Thank you.”

I poured some sugar and honey in and began stirring, mind still racing about what had just happened.

Across from me, Mr. Faire simply watched on in silence.

“I’m sorry.” He said in the end, and I passed him a surprised glance.

“What?” I squeaked.

I hadn’t meant to sound so unprofessional, but his apology genuinely shocked me.

“The simulation…” he seemed to have a hard time knowing what to say. “It wasn’t supposed to end like that. I, er… Amelia and I… We’re not sure what happened. I am incredibly sorry we put you through that.”

“Oh…” I didn’t know how to respond.

“Please be assured that you did nothing wrong. This was a technical issue on our end. I don’t know what happened.”

It dawned on me just how upsetting this was for him, and my own worry melted away somewhat.

“Well…” I gave a shaky laugh, lifting the cup to my lips. “Suppose this is an experience as well.”

Mr. Faire passed me a compassionate smile.

“You handled the situation very well.” He said. “This… this incident would have been a non-survivable event. No matter what we did, it would have ended in disaster.”

I lowered my gaze and stared into my tea.

“Was it only luck, then?” I muttered. “That it didn’t happen on the actual flight?”

I looked up as Mr. Faire shook his head.

“I’m not sure it was.” He said. “There was something… off about the simulation. Something went wrong.”

At that moment, the door beside us opened, and Madam Torrens stepped in.

“So the technicians have no idea what happened.” She informed us, sitting down to my right.

Mr. Faire got up to fetch her a cup as well.

“We set it up to replicate the events of that flight exactly! I have no idea why…”

She shook her head, and looked at me. She seemed about as devastated as Mr. Faire.

“I am very sorry.” She said.

I gave a weary smile.

“Mr. Faire has already been through this.” I said. “I understand. Mistakes happen.”

“I appreciate your understanding, but this is not a matter to be taken lightly”

Madam Torrens passed me a compassionate look.

“It is very regrettable that this occurred, as it could have jeopardized the entire examination.”

She shook her head.

“I’ll be needing a word with Mr Bromwich about what happened.” she said, looking rather dejected.

“In the meantime you’re free to head home and rest, Captain.”

She looked at me again.

“I’ll be in contact regarding the results when they’re ready. Will you be needing a ride back to London?”

“Oh. Thank you ma’am, but that won’t be necessary. I’ll catch a bus.”

“Nonsense.” Madam Torrens stood up. “Peter, could you call them a cab, please?”

Mr. Faire nodded and got up as well.

“In fact, I could drive you home myself.” He said.

I almost choked on the remainder of my tea in my hurry to respond.

“Oh, please!” I half coughed. “There’s really no need to–”

But Mr Faire interrupted me.

“It’s my pleasure, really.” He smiled. “So. Shall we be off then?”

Unable to protest further, I meekly nodded and followed him to the car park.