Chapter Text
'So tell me again why I'm not filing a proper flight plan?'
'Because, Martin, the place we are going does not exist!'
Mum was making it sound very reasonable, Arthur thought. Worshipful of Martin though he might be, their pilot seemed to be having an off-day, because he just didn't seem able to grasp their situation.
'And the people we're carrying do not exist either?'
'That's right Martin. We have no passengers and they, in their eminent non-corporeality, are not going anywhere that exists.'
Martin sounded very tetchy, given that he was now a happily married man, Arthur thought.
'Martin, dear, you wouldn't like to be locked up for filing a flight plan to a place that doesn't exist, would you now?'
Arthur was still working on the non-Corporal passengers. None of them were Corporals as far as he knew. At least one of them could fly a plane for himself though? His title suggested that anyway.
'And we are going to this non-existent place via another non-existent place?'
'Yes Martin. So glad you are keeping up.'
'And we are using GERTI because?'
'Well, we wouldn't want Swiss Airways getting into trouble for entering the non-existent air space of the non-existent country that we are most certainly not flying to today, now would we?'
Martin could find no answer to that question that would allow him to retain his sanity. Mercifully it was rhetorical.
'Hello passenger and passengeress. Welcome aboard our flight to . . . I mean your flight to . . . erm, the place that we won't mention because it doesn't exist.
'I am Arthur and I will be looking after you during your . . . flight. Yes, your flight. There will be a flight . . . to nowhere that's actually on a map anywhere. Yes.” Arthur bobbed nervously, sort-of curtseying, because it seemed he should do, given who the passengers were.
'I am very happy to be of service, should any of you want that. I can now serve you the beverage of your choice, as we are in the air, and lunch will be available just as soon as it seems hot enough. Thank you.'
Seated in the co-pilot's seat on the flight deck, Douglas smiled, amused by the excitement he could hear in Arthur's voice. This was, after all, possibly THE most exciting set of passengers MJN had ever had the privilege to convey. Too, it was good to see Martin back at the helm, even though it would be for the one trip only. How Caroline had managed to get him to come this time he still wasn't too sure, though he greatly suspected blackmail had been involved somewhere along the line. Quite who the magnificent lady owner of MJN Air had blackmailed this time, and with what material, was a matter for speculation, as always.