Two minutes later the plane had dropped 5000 feet and was still dropping. Cartman was rolling up and down the aisle with the shaking of the plane. Unfortunately the pilot made a bad discovery:
"The steering stick has locked! I have no power over the plane! ARGH!" At this point he fainted.
"My God!" said Jimmy, running into the cockpit and noticing that the main pilot had fainted and the third half-trained pilot was in the corner hyperventilating. Jess and Hannah stood behind Jimmy. "OK, guys, do you know how to fly?"
Jess and Hannah shook their heads in a dazed fashion.
"Well, you're gonna take a crash course in training. Jess, jump in the co-pilot seat and you..." He turned and faced Hannah: "...get me some coffee."
"I don't know how to use the machine!" Hannah sobbed, holding onto the doorframe for support.
"Right, well, I can't fly without coffee," Jimmy said, wringing his hands. "Where are the parachutes, let's get out of here." He walked over to a cupboard and opened the doors. "Oh, God, there are only four parachutes."
"FOUR?" Jess squeaked.
"That's fine, you, me, Jess and Cartman!" Hannah yelled above the noise. "Come on, Jimmy," she cooed, wrapping her arms around his waist, "we could be together."
"In the middle of the sea?" Jimmy asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, where are those inflatable dinghies that they always have in rescue movies?"
"This isn't Hollywood you know," Jess started, "and now's not the time to talk about dingoes."
"FINE!" Hannah exploded like the fuel tank. "We can just equal out the fuel amounts in both tanks to straighten out the plane by swapping the negative and positive wires in the fuel plate of the plane. Once we've switched them we can cut the autopilot wires so we can overrun the system then shut down the exploded engine therefore saving leaking fuel by transferring it to the front left engine. We can use the remaining fuel to carry out emergency landing procedures to land there..." Hannah pointed out the window and breathed for a bit.
"Jesus Christ!" Cartman gasped. "What the hell happened to you?"
"I have a better idea," said Jimmy, "all of you, put these on." He handed out the parachutes. Jess and Hannah slipped them over their shoulders, and then helped Cartman adjust his straps to make them larger. Jimmy grabbed a dinghy, which was deflated and very small, and then opened a door at the side of the cockpit. Air blew in suddenly, sending the girls' hair wild, blowing all over the place.
"Yaaaah!" Jess screamed, clutching on to Cartman.
"Jump!" Jimmy called, indicating to the door.
"Are you crazy?" Jess screamed.
"Jimmy, wha-" started Hannah.
"Just jump out and pull the cord. I'll jump out after you, inflate the dingy and we'll all get in. Then we'll be safe."
"But what about all the innocent people who will die on this plane? He can't exactly help them..."
Everyone looked around at the third half-trained pilot who was rocking back and forth with his knees pulled up underneath his chin.
"Who knows," said Jimmy, "he might pull himself together in a minute."
"I still think my idea was better," said Hannah.
"Just be quiet," said Jimmy, "pull the chord 10 seconds after jumping out." He pushed her out of the door.
Jess, Cartman and Jimmy watched her fall and her squeal got quieter.
"Right, now you." Jimmy picked up Cartman and physically threw him out of the plane. "Now you." Jimmy turned to Jess.
"What are you going to do?" Jess asked.
"I'll jump out after you with the dinghy. Go on, jump," he added reassuringly.
Jess jumped by herself. "Weeeeee!"
Jimmy took one last look at the monitors and dials, needles flying back and forth, before leaping after them.

Hannah awoke to find herself looking up at the sky. It was a deep, periwinkle blue and she couldn't see a single cloud. It suddenly struck her how quiet it was. She glanced to her right and saw Jess, lying on her back, eyes tightly shut, using a sleeping Cartman as a pillow. Jess's hair was wet, as was Cartman's yellow and blue hat. It was then Hannah remembered; the jump, the pulling of the cord, floating down towards the water, and...
"Jimmy!" she said, trying to call out but hearing her voice sounding little more than a whisper.
"Hey, I'm here," said a voice to her left.
Hannah turned her head and saw Jimmy, propped up against the back of the dingy. She also realised she was resting her head on one of his legs. "Where are we in the sea?" she croaked.
"A few miles from Australia I think."
"Oh." Hannah thought to herself that she was glad that Dad had gotten onto another plane.
"Why were you going to Australia?" Jimmy asked after a pause.
"To meet Silverchair." Hannah didn't have enough energy to explain more than that.
"As in the rock group Silverchair?" Jimmy sounded less vacant and more certain.
"Yeah... you heard of them?!" Hannah lifted her head and sounded excited.
"Yeah, I have, Chris Joannou the bass player is my cousin," he said nonchalantly.
Hannah's jaw dropped.
"I... don't suppose you're related to Steve Coogan, are you?" asked Jess, hopefully.
Jimmy looked confused. "Who?"
Jess gnashed her teeth, and kept quiet.

They had been drifting for around an hour, with Hannah bugging Jimmy for silverchair info, when Cartman suddenly shouted: "Hey, you guys, look!"
Everyone leant over to see - it was an island.
"We're saved!" Jess screamed, jumping up and down. The dinghy sank a few inches.
"Jess, stop it!" Hannah shouted. "Help me paddle us to shore."
All four of them put their hands into the water and paddled towards the island.

<< back to Book 1.1

� Jess and Hannah 2001