Sounds Great

When the boom came, some passengers applauded and cheered, others grasped and clutched their chests. The power of the aircraft breaking the sound barrier was more than witnessing the height of a slam dunk from the foul line. The sight of seeing a human being soar through the air related to an air vessel sailing through the skies. This was a definite comparison…and extra.

Thirty-six-year-old Davante “Penny” Copper invited his passengers onto his plane in hopes that they would enjoy the flight. He was fair skinned with wavy hair and stood at six feet three inches. At random, he selected three different people to record their experiences.

As the boom allowed them to see what they had studied a few weeks about supersonic air travel, they knew they had to speak the truth.

Copper looked at one businesswoman. She was a divercée. Her name was Sadie. About five feet four inches tall, she was thirty-years-old. Her skin was the color of white rice. She wore a powder blue suit and a matching pillbox hat. She enjoyed the boom. It sent a surge through her body like thunder.

“I liked that. It was expressive! Explosive! I can’t believe I had the chance to be a part of this excursion in the air. Excellent work, sir!” She jotted this all down on her tablet with her metadata and sent it to Air Up There Supersonic.

Copper continued to his next passenger. He was a sixty-three-year-old electrician who knew the stock market. He had retired at the age of forty-four. He had deep brown skin and a goatee with flecks of gray. Round cheeks made him look like a black Santa Claus.

“What was that experience like?” Copper asked.

Smith Logan rolled his eyes. “Tuh, how do you even get a license to fly this thing? The electrical system may not be up to standard, either.” Copper took the comment without a sting.

“Thank you, sir,” Copper replied.

He placed his hand on the sides of the inner part of the aircraft. He felt the vibration of the jetliner. The supersonic jet was his skyscraper, his house by a lake. The sound of the engines drove his mind. The wondrous hum allowed him to recall his many nights preparing this shining craft for the sky.

He moved onto his last passenger who would describe the boom.

“It was wonderful! I felt my heart quicken and the hairs on my skin bristle. I knew this would be a profound moment in my life.” She had brown skin but more than just brown but red, too. Her hair was coiffed. The woman was thirty-five-years-old. A physics professor at New Sweden University, she especially could appreciate what just took place.

“How did you enjoy that experience?” Copper asked.

“I felt the rumble and knew the mind behind it. That you, sir, have launched a vessel that rules the skies is deep. This newness will surpass the previous aircraft. You will be the one who will impact the world of air travel,” Benevolence Boyce expressed.

“Thank you,” Copper mentioned. He took the two positive responses and the negative one and configured in his head that he could appreciate all of them.

The plane trip from Los Angeles to Wilmington, Delaware left him with another few minutes remaining out of the three hours at over 1,300 miles per hour. He observed the cloud hopping aircraft. The responses continued to swirl in his head. He went to the cockpit.

“How’s everything lady and gentleman?”

Captain Fabiola Heath and First Officer Roman Dee saluted Copper. He smiled and said, “Carry on.”

Dee looked at the captain. “You know, our jobs are in trouble. There’s going to be an AI that Penny’s going to implement and get rid of us.” He was fair skinned as well with a short Caesar haircut.

“False talk. We shouldn’t be afraid of AI. Technology is going to provide more jobs than we can even imagine. It’s not even just about maintenance, it will give us new chances to advance human life.”

“Okay,” Dee said unfazed.

Copper ventured to his private quarters in the rear of the plane. He took into consideration the ideas of Sadie, Benevolence, and Logan who provided their accounts. He sat back in his chair and looked outside the window. Again. He remembered every boom he had lived through in his life. The strong responses from all of them propelled him to provide greater creature comforts.

He designed new seats that absorbed the fullness of the breakage of the sound barrier. He implemented new systems to shield the plane from the impact of the boom. But that was all he could do. He had to contend with nature and he would have to continue to be supersonic if he wanted to possess a jet worth fighting to keep up in the air. He balanced a pen between his fingers and thought.

He was like a ruler, but not of men but of the natural world. He could surpass the sound barrier based on mathematics and science.

He looked over at the cases of champagne and how he had to figure out the weight of each chair, the components of the engine, and yes, the champagne for the plane to fly.

He summoned Sophie, Smith, and Benevolence via video chat. They met in his office.

Smith stuffed his hands in his pants pockets. He leaned slightly forward. Sophie stood straight up and pushed back her glasses. Benevolence stood with her hands in front of her waist.

“You all have provided great feedback which in this case is rational. I appreciate everything you all said—”

“Is it going to take some time? I’ve got to hit the head,” Logan remarked.

“If I have you just for a moment—”

“I’ve gotta go!” Smith scampered off to the restroom.

Sadie and Benevolence shook hands. Logan returned and sounded almost out of breath.

“Now, before the indication to take your seat sounds, I wanted to thank you all for your honesty. I will be making adjustments that I think are necessary according to my own specifications.”

“Your ‘specifications’?” Benevolence asked. “I thought this was about us.”

“It is. You’ll all get lifetime trips for your time and energy,” Copper enticed.

“What if we don’t want your lifetime trips?”

“You can decline.”

“Can we exchange them for dollars?”

“No,” Copper said.

“Are your specifications based solely on our estimations?” Benevolence asked.

“I had to take a course provided by the government. They said in order for my birds to fly, I had to conduct interviews and surveys at random.”

“So we’re just guinea pigs?” Smith asked.

“No, you’re selected passengers who have the benefit of flying with us again as much as you want,” Copper replied. “The US government is riding my back so I had to come up with a strategy to fly.”

“At first I enjoyed the flight and especially the boom, but now I’m not so sure. It was detrimental I can see, now,” Sophie admitted.

Benevolence looked at the two of them and then to Copper.

“You whined while this man had to fight against the federal government to get us up here. So take your free tickets for the rest of your lives and enjoy the rest of the flight, okay?” She turned them around and pushed them out of the door. She smiled back at Copper. The passengers found their seats again. Except for Benevolence. Copper held open the door.

“Miss Boyce. Please come here,” Copper suggested.

“You were the real one out of that bunch. Thanks for being thorough. I choose you to be the lead physicist on all of our future projects. And if you’re not too busy, we could go out to brunch at the Mercier.”

“Sounds great.” Benevolence said.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we’re about to make our descent into Wilmington Airport. Please fasten your seatbelts and stow away all gear and place all electronics on airplane mode or switch off such devices. Your cooperation is much appreciated.”

While still in flight, Benevolence and Copper held hands in his office while seated. He reached over and kissed her hand. She giggled and peered out the window as the scene seemed larger and larger.