"[i]Mayday! Mayday! This is Yamada Airlines Flight 217! We have lost power and are swiftly losing altitude! If anyone can hear us, our coordinates are-![/i]"
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For two and a half hours the flight had gone normally. No turbulence, no weather. A clear, beautiful day above the Pacific. Bored children misbehaving and some college kids caught trying to join the mile high club, but nothing drastic. It had been business as usual. Then...

A jolt rocked the airliner, accompanied by the smell of ozone and the sensation of static in the cabin. Outside the sky had become pitch black, punctuated by the occasional jagged crack of lightning. The "fasten seatbelt" signals flashed on as oxygen masks dropped for each passenger. A voice came over the loudspeakers, sounding as calm as possible despite the circumstances.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Please remain calm, fasten your seatbelts, and put your oxygen masks on. We are attempting to make an emergency landing."

A second, harder impact hit the plane, sending bags, trays, and cups flying. Children cried, their parents trying to calm them down. Prayers in different languages to different gods could be heard in the air.

And yet, through all of it, Yoshinaga felt a kind of serenity. Like she no longer had to worry anymore. No guilt, no worry, no nothing. Soon she'd be relieved of everything. She breathed slowly, taking her glasses off and slipping them into the case in her jacket before closing her eyes. [i]Sorry, Mom. Sorry, Dad. Seems I won't meet you at the airport after all.[/i]

She felt the plane tipping backwards before something struck her in the face. The last thought that went through her head was a semblance of thankfulness that she wouldn't feel anything when the plane went down.
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When Yoshinaga came to, everything hurt. Bones, joints, muscles, everything, however nothing felt broken. Maybe a bruise or a sprain here or there, though. [i]Well that means I didn't bite it in the crash[/i], she thought. Koi opened her eyes... or, rather, eye. Her left eye refused to open, and a quick probing with her fingertips told her that it was swollen shut from whatever had hit her.

The next thing that Koi felt was the air: hot and sticky, like back in Guam, but magnified. The pilots must have managed to get land on an island or something. The odds of that happening seemed astronomically low, and yet, it had happened. Yoshinaga unbuckled herself and slowly stood up. The movement made her head throb.

Her throat was dry and scratchy but she did her best to make herself heard, speaking English as clearly as she could. "Hello? Is anyone there?"