"Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!"

Lorelei gripped the armrests like they were the keys to her life. Glancing beside her she pried the fingers of her right hand loose and yanked the seatbelt securing the humanoid toddler medical robot beside her another fraction of an inch tighter. It had to survive. There must have been something special about it when it turned up in the back seat of the limo she used to get to the airport.

Reaching between her legs, she touched the zippered document case she was sitting on. The contracts in it proved her case against the city. The tangled mess surrounding them was a future project. Lorelei knew that was a whole other can of worms, and the city planner was out for blood. Her discovery of his secret file drawer when he left the room to consult with a colleague was pure luck.

Now all she had to do was survive to get back to civilization.

"Lorelei are you belted in? And is anything that could jar loose secured?"

"You stowed my luggage, and the robot is secured. I'm sitting on the files."

"Good. Head down now. I don't want to worry about you."

Taron was the single pilot on her jet. She didn't believe in a bigger one requiring two, but at this moment, she kicked herself. Two heads were always better than one in an emergency. His conversation with air traffic control was terse. His clipped words concise as he described their predicament.

"There is an island out here. I'm not certain it is even on a map. I'm sure our emergency beacon will guide you to us. There is a long beach which should be firm enough to provide me with a good surface to land on."

"How many souls aboard?" ATC's emotionless question made Lorelei wince.

"Two. Lorelei Engel is aboard."

The pause before ATC responded told her she wasn't going to be able to disappear like she planned.

"Fuel?"

"None."

The silence was deafening. Whistling air was all Lorelei heard as they flew in a descending circle toward the speck of land in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. Taron guided the jet toward safety. At least she hoped his skill would save their skins. Gus0013's eyes flipped open and the robot began to wail. This was the third time it happened even though she found the off button and shut it down twice already. What was going on with it?

The impossible turquoise of the ocean changed on approach to the island with the jet dropping through turbulence. Tiny white caps marching toward the beach became more apparent the lower they got.

"Brace, Lorelei, we're going to hit the sand."

A bodyless voice called out fifty, thirty, ten, five, and Lorelei bumped forward into the leather back of the seat in front of her. Her neck wrenched and the screech of folding metal drowned out her last thought. The seat back slammed down, squeezing into a tight vee. Her vision greyed before black took over.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Fuck, the sand is soft. I thought the wet stuff would be a bit more solid. And landing down wind wasn't smart. Damn it, no choice. The rocky ridge at the other end made the approach impossible.

The front wheel buried itself and the jet came to an abrupt stop as one wing clipped a massive palm tree. The nose slammed down onto the beach, and Taron gasped as his harness tightened down.

Those bruises are going to be impressive. Damn robot. It's screaming again. I hope Lorelei is okay. What was she thinking, bringing it with us? Should have left it in the limo, it's lost property and now she's doubly a thief. That woman is going to be the death of me.

There was no smoke from the broken wing. Not even the slightest scent of fuel either. Taron went through the shut down process, even though the silent engines were obviously not running. The computer system still deserved the respect. Besides, his muscle memory was hard to ignore.

He braced his long arms against the instrument panel to counter the extreme angle of the floor. There was a twisted slant to the right where the wing pulled them around before the front wheel dug into the sand. The last outside temperature before the screens went black was twenty-seven degrees Celsius. At least they didn't have to worry about freezing temperatures.

"Taron?"

"Lore? Are you okay?"

"Can't move!" Her comment came with a grunt, like she was trying to push something.

"Give me a minute. I've got to get myself out of the cockpit. I'm surprised the door didn't slam shut on us."

"No, my seat collapsed instead."

"Are you hurting anywhere?" He hauled himself up the slanted passage, grabbing the edges of the doorway to pull his aching body toward the passenger cabin.

"Nothing too bad except my neck. Wrenched it pretty hard when the wing hit." Lorelei's voice sounded a bit strained. He couldn't blame her. At least she wasn't a sobbing mess. The woman was tough as nails. "I was out for a bit, I think."

"Don't remove your seatbelt. I almost slammed my head on the glass screens when I released mine. The footing is bad." Taron warned.

"No kidding." Sarcasm was Lore's best thing.

There's nothing wrong with her brain. At least I hope not. Concussions can happen from whiplash too.