Robert Smith - The Planner

“AA Flight 11 is only at 15,000 feet but it is diverging from flight plan,” said Allen tensely. “There was some radio interference. I can’t get hold of the pilot.”

Scoggins peered hard at the screen.

Air Traffic Controller continued, “I can’t be certain… but it sounded like a hijacking.”

“No way. Surely it is still climbing,” said Scoggins in disbelief. It was unheard of for aircraft to be hijacked at such low altitudes and so soon after take-off. 138It would have still been climbing sharply.

“This guy said we have some planes but it was mixed with radio interference so I can’t be sure it was Flight 11,” 139said the ATC. “I know it sounds crazy.”

“Keep trying to contact them. I’ll escalate,” Scoggins knew instinctively that something was wrong. He pounced onto a telephone and started dialling.

* * * *

Planner looked down at his Blackberry cell phone. It said, “Message not sent. No signal”. Planner looked up with some realisation and said quietly to Bates, “Cell phones don’t work in planes. 140”

“They don’t?” said Bates surprised.

“No. Look no signal!” said Planner showing the “no service” icon on the Blackberry handset.

Ochre overheard, “Right. Not above a certain height and speed. The base stations are designed for slow moving ground changes. That’s why we have a satellite link from the E4-B, though, remember. We’ve been through this… I can set up the KneeCap’s Base Station Transceiver…”

Bates’ eyes widen. He appreciated the problem immediately; much of the back story from flights 93 and 77 relied upon communication from air to ground from passengers using cell phones. Rather than replying to Ochre, Bates said to Planner, “Airphones! Need to change the back-story to airphones 141. Indigo?”

Bates looked over to Indigo.

“Now?!” said Indigo incredulously. “But the airphones don’t work either, we asked the airlines to discontinue that service last year.”

“Just cut the cell phone references. We’ll manage the back story later,” said Planner.

Indigo bounced over to the Contact Team and interrupted them, “Cell phone calls are cut. Crew communications continue, right?” Indigo looked back at Planner.

Planner nodded uneasily.

Orange said, “Flight 175 reached rendezvous zone.”

Planner said, “Prepare to switch. Wait for my say-so. Bates, are basement explosives ready?”

Bates confirmed, “Yes, synchronised.”

Orange stuttered, “Sorry, I just let the Flight 11’s impact warning go off. I’ve suppressed it. 142”

“Keep Calm and Carry On,” reassured Planner. “No-one will notice.”

* * * *

Katherine entered the conference room on the ninety second floor looking worried. There were ten people in the room but not the CEO.

A smart suited male colleague greeted her, “Katherine, so glad you can make it. We’re just hooking up the video link.”

“Video link?” said Katherine aghast.

“The CEO. He’s conferencing in,” he said with a fixed smiled.

“You said he’d be here,” stammered Katherine.

“Well, he will be. By video,” continued the colleague jovially.

Katherine looked dazed and spun a look around the room and then ran for the door, “Sorry. Excuse me. I need to go. You need to go. Get out!”

The colleague turned to the others and shrugged, “Well, she did say she was sick.” The others nodded.

Katherine ran to the lift lobby, where an elevator door was closing. She had just missed it.

* * * *

At FAA Air Traffic Control, Colin Scoggins slammed a phone down. Another experienced ATC, Joseph Cooper, had recently arrived and joined the Scoggins and the worried looking junior ATC responsible for the rouge aircraft.

“These new procedures 143don’t work,” fumed Scoggins. “We need authorisation further up the chain. We don’t have time for that.”

“Well we said they wouldn’t work,” stated Cooper sardonically.

“We need someone who can get some fighters up there. Cooper, don’t you have a direct contact in the Air Defence Sector?

“NEADS? Yes, I’ll get right on it,” said Cooper calmly.

Scoggings tossed a folder over to Cooper, “If you need them, here’s today’s code-words…”

The ATC said to Scoggins “One of the flight attendants has called Logan Airport. It’s definitely a hijacking. Flight 11 is now heading for New York!”

“Any details? Number of hijackers? Demands?” gasped Scoggins.

“Some of the flight crew have been killed. They may have a bomb,” said ATC as professionally as he could.

Cooper, on the phone, calls to Scoggins, “They’ve patched me in.”

“Keep it cool,” says Scoggins, connecting into the call via a headset.

“Hi, this is Joseph Cooper of the FAA,” said Cooper smoothly to the NEADS commander. “This is a high priority interrupt call.”

“Go on,” said the NEADS officer officiously on the end of phone.

“We have a hijacked aircraft headed towards New York, and… we need someone to scramble some F-16s or something up there, help us out,” said Cooper.

“Is this real-world or exercise?” said the officer, knowing that they were running five major aerial exercises that day.

“No, this is not an exercise, not a test,” said Cooper.

* * * *

The cameraman on the street filming the firemen’s activities looked at his watch. “Action!” he joked.

The firemen laughed back and continued their activities. The cameraman then pans north and appeared to pick out something in the sky and trace it all the way to his clear view of the WTC towers.

* * * *

In the basement of the north tower, WTC Supervising Janitor, William Rodriguez, was shocked by a massive explosion in an adjoining room. 144Several of his staff were killed instantly; some horrifically injured, skin ripped from their flesh.

Eigthy floors above, Katherine’s colleagues were focused on the face of Lewis Paul “Jerry” Bremer III 145, their CEO, on a video link. That was the last thing they ever saw. A fireball exploded at that point, the northern face, and through several floors above and to the east side of the building. 146

The explosion blew down elevator shafts: cables snapped and some elevators fall.

Jerry, a mid-forties office worker, had just entered an elevator, when the plane hit. He felt the elevator shake and start to give way. He dived out of the open doors as the elevator fell; the top of the elevator just missing his legs as he did so.

Safety devices halted most elevators with the consequence of trapping the occupants inside. Some elevators inexplicably did not stop but fell, crashing downwards into the sky lobby 147. In one lift, flames blasted through the elevator door burning the occupant badly. 148

Knowing the building well, when she left the meeting, Katherine knew she was not far from the sky lobby and had elected to use the stairs. She had descended several flights before the explosion. She was knocked down, bruised and cut. The stair case two floors immediately above her were wrecked. She was covered by a rocky debris and a thick layer of dust.

* * * *

“Impact,” Orange stated.

“Terminate Flight 11 transmissions,” said Planner sadly.

“175 Drone ready,” said Magenta.

Planner responded deadpan, “Black out the airliner. Tag as Old-175. Start spoof 175 transmissions. Inform ground team.”

Magenta gave a thumbs up.

“Spoof 11 terminated, 175 transmissions started,” said Orange.

Bates asked, “What’s happened to 93?”

Ochre reported, “Flight 93 has just taken off!”

Bates sighed. Bad news travels fast and Flight 93 could have been grounded.

“Old-175 to follow behind Flight 93,” commanded Planner.