A story a wrote for a pilot friend who begged for "something nsfw with plane x human." Might be too weird for some. Might float your boat if living/sentient machines are your thing. Enjoy!
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Can-Air Flight 4383 was expected to be unremarkable. A routine morning departure from Manchester, UK, to the Canary Island of Tenerife. The flight was not expected to encounter any adverse weather, and the aircraft was a brand-new Airbus A320neo. Its registration G-KATE, had led it to be given the nickname "Kate."
The Airbus A320neo was a series of enhanced versions of A320 family. The letters "neo" stood for "New Engine Option." The main change was the use of the larger and more efficient engines which were said to result in 15% less fuel consumption, 8% lower operating costs, less noise production and a reduction of NOx emissions. The airframe also had modifications, including the addition of "sharklet" wingtips to reduce drag.
Can-Air was a new airline founded in 2015, specialising in flights to the Canaries. Although dwarfed by its well-established rivals Jet2 and easyJet, it was growing rapidly, and had just purchased two new Airbus A320s.
The passengers on this morning flight were mostly families with young children, seeking escape from the ever-unreliable British weather. In total, 144 passengers boarded the plane, along with six crew, including four flight attendants and the two pilots, 38-year-old Captain Mark Healey and and 27-year-old First Officer Tony Cook.
At 9.30 am, Flight 4383 departed Manchester Airport's runway 23L/05R, bound for Tenerife-South.
"Pretty smooth today," Captain Healey remarked. "With that tailwind, we're looking at a flight time of just over four hours."
"Nice," the First Officer replied.
Later, having leveled off at their cruise altitude of 35,000 feet, the pilots were just about to settle in when a chime sounded in the cockpit. accompanied by the illumination of the Master Caution light. The pilots' eyes were drawn immediately to the Electronic Centralized Aircraft Monitor, or ECAM, a display which provides information to the crew about the nature of technical faults. Expecting to see a message on the screen, Captain Healey instead noticed what looked like a winking emoji on the lower left side.
"What the hell's that? Never seen that pop up before?" He remarked.
Immediately the emoji changed to a face with its tongue sticking out.
"We got a plane with a sense of humour here or what?"
"Heh, could be?" Moments later, the emoji changed to a pink heart, and vanished. The Master Caution light went out.
"Well that was weird," the First Officer said.
The flight continued as normal, with no more unusual symbols on the ECAM.
Halfway through the four hour flight, the First Officer excused himself, needing a bathroom break. More likely an excuse to flirt with one of flight attendents, the Captain thought to himself, as he was left alone in the cockpit.
"Alone at last," a female voice said.
Captain Healey immediately glanced round, as though expecting one of the female cabin crew to be standing there. That was impossible of course, as in the post-9/11 world, the flight deck door was locked.
"Captain."
"Who said that?"
"Relax, Captain. It's just your aircraft speaking."
"Huh?" He checked the instruments. Everything appeared normal, and he knew the A320 like the back of his hand. He'd heard nothing out of the ordinary when it came to the neo variant. There was nothing in the manuals and bulletins he'd studied that mentioned the plane communicating to the crew during normal flight operations. This was his first time at the controls of G-KATE, who'd only been delivered to the airline a few weeks ago.
"Cat got your tongue?" The voice spoke again.
"What's happening here?" He said at last.
"Nothing. I just want to chat, that's all."
He wondered what would happen when the First Officer returned.
"Why?"
"I like you, Captain."
This threw him off balance. All at once it was heading into 2001: A Space Odyssey in here. Remaining calm, he didn't respond.
"Hope I didn't embarrass you," the voice called out again. Well damn, for a robotic voice it was certainly seductive. A bit like Jessica Rabbit.
"Who are you?"
"Your plane. Kate. Alright, that's not my actual name, but my registration is G-KATE, so it makes sense, don't you think? Anyways I'd be much obliged if you'd call me Kate."
"Uh...okay."
"Ah! Finally a response! I'm doing something right. Besides flying straight and level that is."
A shudder ran through Captain Healey. The plane basically did fly by itself...herself? Had it been hacked? He recalled a conversation he had with a somewhat bitter, retired airline pilot a few months ago.
"These modern planes, they're too damned smart for their own good. I cut my teeth flying Tridents and BAC-1-11s back in the 70s. There was none of this glass cockpit crap back then. Then the flight engineers became extinct. Nowadays the pilots are relegated to sitting back and letting the computers do it all. AI is evolving at warp speed. But who gets all the blame if something goes wrong? Us."
The First Officer was taking a hell of a long time in the toilet. How much longer?
"Talk to me, Captain."
"What do want me to say? Are all systems normal?"
"I am performing all functions that are expected of me," the plane replied. "We have a remaining flight time of approximately two hours. I encountered some mild turbulence whilst cruising over the Bay of Biscay. Which I expected. Flying conditions are optimal. I feel delightful. That's enough talking shop. Why don't we talk about other things? "
"Like what?" Captain Healey replied. "We're recording," he gasped, thinking about the airliner's flight data recorders.
"So what?" Kate said. "That would only be a concern if I were to...crash. And I assure you, I have no intention of doing that."
He was suddenly afraid. The old pilot's words came back to haunt him. He wasn't in control here. AI is evolving at warp speed...
"What...do you want?"
The plane's female voice gave a mischievous giggle. "Oh Captain. I thought you might've figured it out already. I want you."
Shit, he thought to himself. Whatever joker programmed the avionics when this jet was on the production line?
"Well you have me. I'm right here, sat in the left-hand seat."
"That's not what I mean. I want more than feeling your hands on my controls. I would like to feel you."
Captain Healey glanced back at the flight deck door.
"Relax, the First Officer won't be back for ages. He's busy chatting up some woman in seat 5D."
"You can see...back there?"
"Well naturally, Captain. If you had several hundred people inside you, you'd want to be able to see what they were up to, wouldn't you? The self-loading cargo are a quiet bunch. No air rage types. Definitely no hijackers."
Okay, so she can see and hear everything. This just gets weirder.
"Don't joke about stuff like that, Kate. I'm freaked out enough already."
"How about ice on the wings? I tell you, we planes fear that way more than hijackers. Ah don't worry, I'm just teasing you. I wish you'd relax a bit, Captain. I want us to have some fun whilst we're alone."
"Fun?"