Mundane Messages (Left Behind)

[Originally posted at Slacktivist.]
[In canon Left Behind: "Rayford punched a few buttons to check for messages. He ran through three or four mundane ones, then..." no word on what the mundane messages were.]

"Irene, our friendship is over. What you did to Andrew is evil.

"How could you? You told a grieving child that his ...

"Andrew was sobbing!

"He's ten fucking years old, he's not even ready to be introduced to the concept of torture, much less eternal--

"What were you-- I mean, why?

"It doesn't matter. Never speak to me again."

-

"Hi. It's Mike. A pipe burst and a lot of stuff got water damaged and ... I've lost Chloe's current address and phone number. Could you help me get in contact with her again?"

Rayford deleted that message. Best friend since kindergarten? An obvious ploy to steal his daughter's virtue.

-

"Hey Irene, Marcie here. Just wanted to make sure that you got the message that the weekly meeting of the Doily Lovers' Club was rescheduled. It'll be Friday instead of Thursday. Same time, though."

-

"Mr. and Mrs. Steele, I understand that you feel very strongly about your religious beliefs and I would never think to suggest that you not share them with your son. However it is important that you impress upon Raymie that he is evaluated on what he has learned in school, not Sunday school.

"He is under no obligation to agree with what is taught in class, but if he wants good grades he must demonstrate that he has, in fact, learned what has been taught to him.

"Also, some of his remarks have been distressing the bigger dinosaur fans in his class."

-

"Ray? Jake. We still on for Tuesday?"

-

[Left Behind Index]

Skewed Slightly to the Left: After landing

[Originally posted at Slacktivist.]
[In the canonical version Rayford postures out whether or not to get a lift back to the terminal or to walk, is a jerk to his copilot Christopher Smith, is dismissive of Hattie, claims he'd volunteer for emergency service, and then walks through the emergency scene ("All around were ambulances and other emergency vehicles trying to get to ugly wreckage scenes...") without volunteering once.]

"Is there anything I--" Rayford started.

"We," Hattie said.

"We can do to help?"

"Get yourselves and the rest of your passengers off the tarmac, indoors and out of the way," the woman directing things on the ground said. "Then stay there."

Rayford nodded.

"Can you do that without me holding your hand?"

"Yes," Rayford said.

"Good," the woman said, then she immediately turned and left.

"What an asshole," one of the passengers said.

"No," Hattie said, surveying the airport, "she just has a lot of work to do."

"Yes she does," Rayford said as he tried to work out what had happened. Maybe a midair collision? At least one plane had obviously been afflicted at just the wrong time. "Let's get out of the way and let the professionals do their jobs," he said to the remaining passengers. "Chris?"

"Yeah, Ray?" Smith said.

"You want to lead, or make sure no one falls behind?"

"I'll take the front," Smith said. "Everybody, listen up," he shouted --loudly so all would be likely to hear, but without any negative emotion-- as he walked through the group toward the terminal. "I'm Christopher Smith, I was your copilot, now I'll be your tour guide. If you look to your left or right you will see utter chaos. That's bad. Right now we're in the way, that's worse," Smith was now at the front of the group and had turned so he was walking backwards. "The sooner we're out of the way, the sooner we stop being a problem; so follow me."

Smith made a "come on" gesture as he turned away from the group and toward the terminal as they started their walk.

Rayford took position at the back of the group where he could watch everyone and hopefully notice if anyone was having problems or if anything Smith couldn't see might need them to change course.

Hattie walked closer to the middle of the group, keeping conversation going to prevent people from focusing on the disaster around them.

-

[Skewed Slightly to the Left Index]

Left Behind: I want you to forgive me OR "What the Hell does, 'Sorry,' mean, anyway?"

[Originally posted at Slacktivist.]
[In many ways the context is so bad that I think this works better without context.  Just be aware that the first sentence, which is a masterpiece of assholicness, is straight from canonical Left Behind.]

"I want you to forgive me for anything I said that hurt you personally or insulted you."

Hattie tilted her head to one side and looked at Rayford for a moment. He wondered if he'd been overly mushy and taken too much responsibility for his actions. Yes, that was surely it. He should have made it more clear that he understood it was really her fault.

Clearly her under-developed and strangely feminine brain had been thrown into disarray when he insinuated that he might, possibly, need to be forgiven of something.

Then Hattie said, "And I want a unicorn."

"Wh-what!?" was Rayford's stuttered response. Where was the forgiveness and praise he had anticipated?

"You want to be forgiven; I want a unicorn. We have both stated our desires," she said.

Rayford resisted the urge to shake his head. Leave it to a woman to not understand how to accept his magnanimousness and need to have it explained, probably in detail, how to respond to such simple words.

"Hattie," Rayford said as if he were speaking to a small child, "You're supposed to say, 'Apology accepted.'"

"You haven't apologized," she said. "You have to apologize for me to accept your apology."

"I have apologized," Rayford said, perhaps a little too loudly. She was difficult to work with. "I said--"

"That you wanted to be forgiven," Hattie said.

"That's an apology," Rayford said, wondering at how little this woman-thing understood of how the world worked. Did he have to explain everything?

"No, an apology is a statement that accepts responsibility and, sometimes but not always, asks to be forgiven," Hattie said. "Simply stating that you want to be forgiven is not an apology."

"But I do want to be forgiven," Rayford protested.

"Then maybe you should apologize," Hattie said with a smirk.

Rayford's brain broke.

-

[Left Behind Index]

Skewed Slightly to the Left: That sinking Feeling

[Originally posted at Slacktivist.  Fred Clark has started re-posting old Left Behind posts, and so this is back at the very beginning.  Book one, chapter one.]

People can't go missing on a plane. They can't. You can't just open the door and walk out, even if you could people would notice the sudden change in air pressure and the violent vortices caused by the air outside the plane moving up to a thousand miles per hour faster, relatively speaking, than the air in side the plane.

One person might somehow get lost between the bathroom and their seat, but this many people? It was impossible.

Hattie had to be wrong. There was no way. It just wasn't possible.

If anyone else were saying it he'd think they were setting him up. They'd heard him complain one to many times about Irene's-- no. He couldn't think about that. It couldn't be that.

Regardless, Hattie wouldn't play a trick like that. If it were a trick then she'd need to have been tricked too, and who could fool her about something like this? She knew how many people were on board at takeoff and she knew what seats they were in. And what seats they weren't in. If people had simply moved to the wrong seats she'd never mistake that for people being missing, and there wasn't standing room for people to hide.

It didn't make sense.

He had to see for himself what was going on.

Please let it be a prank.

Please let there be some hidden camera somewhere and have all of this be a sick, disgusting joke.

He prayed, please God-- and then he decided that it was best to leave God out of it. Let God be nowhere near this one. Let God be elsewhere. Please, please let this not be the work of God.

He walked toward the passenger cabins so he could see for himself. Maybe if he talked to the people who said that members of their parties were missing the truth would come out.

There were still a lot of people who wouldn't think twice about lying to a flight attendant that would never lie to a pilot.

When he entered the first class cabin, and saw the empty clothes in a seat, he became weak. He stumbled back to the bulkhead and tried to support himself with it, but his body was too heavy, and his limbs to weak. He sank to the floor.

He barely noticed as Hattie ran to his side. He didn't even hear the first thing she said.

She shouted, "Ray!" and he noticed, but didn't respond beyond turning his head to look at her. "What's wrong?"

"She was right," he mumbled.

It was impossible. It couldn't be. There was no way. And yet it was. Irene had been right.

That meant that Ray, Hattie, Chris, and everyone still aboard the plane were all damned. Perhaps even literally. Was there even any hope left? Was their any point in landing rather than letting the plane fall from the sky?

Irene was right.

At any other time he would care that his behavior had made the passenger's mood worse. Uneasy before he arrived, they were now on the verge of full blown panic.

You never showed that you were anything less than completely confident in front of the passengers. Never. No matter how bad things really were, they had to think that you were in control. If the pilot was afraid then they'd be afraid. You couldn't let anything, any tiny bit of doubt, ever show.

He'd let himself cross several lines by allowing emotion to overcome him here instead of making it back out of sight before it hit.

It didn't matter.

Irene was right. Irene was right, and that meant that missing people were the least of their worries. Those were the lucky ones. Those were the ones to be envied.

The world as he knew it--as everyone knew it--was over and the worst was yet to come. Irene had been right all along. Why hadn't he listened?

-

[Skewed Slightly to the Left Index]

Left Behind: Who's writing this, anyway?

[Originally posted at Slacktivist.  In response to the idea that the continuity is dependent on who is telling the story though it sort of got sidetracked from that and never really got into in any depth.  The plan was for an artistic piece where the style and such completely shifted based on the character telling it, the result was this.]

Rayford: And then the dashing pilot, who was sexy and manly and looked up to by all, swooped in and saved the day.

Ken: You do realize you're not the one flying this time?

Rayford: Right, forget all that stuff. The pilot was just background.

Ken: I heard that.

Rayford: Buck, you're up.

Buck: We lit the barrel of gas and then I preformed a tricky maneuver that involved spinning the bus one hundred and eighty degrees and bringing it to a complete stop, at the same time, which caused the barrel to fly out of the back, hit the bad guys, and EXPLODE!

Chloe: Um, science.

Buck: Is not in effect because of my powers of manly awesome.

Tsion: (To Chloe) Do you have to deal with this all the time?

Chloe: Pretty much.

Tsion: (To God) What have I done to anger you so, and how might I atone for it and get out of this mess?

Tsion: (To Narrative) I got into the plane without incident.

Buck: And we flew to America.

Ken: The range on a Learjet doesn't actually--

Buck: TO AMERICA.

Ken: Fine, to America.

Buck: I walk into the cockpit, which I can do because I'm cool and connected and--

Ken: Chartering my plane.

Buck: and say, "Cap--"

Ken: What the hell?  Am I Steve Rodgers now?

Buck: I can say "Cap," because I'm friends with everyone and thus don't need to remember their names from one page to the next. I can just make up nicknames on the spot. I say, "How are you doing, Cap?"

Ken: Well I'm apparently in a Budweiser commercial, hence the "How ya doin'?" and my main foil is a badly done knock off of the Old Spice man in that like the Old Spice man he thinks continuity is for other people--I'm on a horse--and yet has none of the charm of the Old Spice man.

Chloe: Oh, he's way worse than that.

Buck: "How you doing, Cap?"

Ken: "Much better now that we're in American airspace," which doesn't exist anymore and is too far from our destination for us to reach, "because before..." what's the silliest thing I could say?

Chloe: "Purple elephants are flying"?

Ken: That might be too silly. (To Buck) Let me start over. “A lot better, now that we’re over American air space. I had no idea what you guys got yourselves into,” because, seriously, who expects someone to be on the run from nonexistent governments as a result of the crime of converting to Christianity without a licence? “and who knew what kind of fighter pilots might have been on my tail.”

Chloe: You do realize that--

Ken: All fighters are now part of the Global Community Air Force, which has standardized its forces such that there's only one kind of fighter left in existence? Yup. Also, my jet could never outrun them.

Chloe: Playing for absurdity points?

Ken: Something like that.

Tsion: I commend you for being able to keep your wits about you in this situation, I swear this is Vogon Poetry.

Nicolae: (From off stage) I NUKE EVERYTHING! I KNOCK OVER THE FUCKING TABLE AND SAY, "YEAH, GOD? HOW YOU GOING TO TRIBIULATE A WORLD THAT'S NOTHING BUT MOLTEN SLAG?" BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Tsion: Is he serious?

Chloe: Unfortunately.

Tsion: What kind of book have I gotten myself into?

Nicolae: An endangered species? BOOM! A historic site? BOOM! A major metropolitan area? BOOM BOOM!

Buck: You know, that reminds me, World War III is still going on.

Chloe: I thought we dropped that arc.

Buck: This is totally World War III.

Chloe: Even though it isn't a world war and ... why do I even bother?

Buck: I say to Cap--

Ken: My name is KEN.

Buck: I say to Cap, “I don’t think we were worth all that, with World War III going on.”

Chloe: I hack into a secret military death-sat using the skills I picked up in my time at university doing things I've never been at liberty to explain. I target a certain Learjet that's recently entered former-American airspace. I look for the heat signature that's in the cockpit but not flying the plane. I kill that person without harming the others.

God: Divine Right Veto. He's one of the main characters.

Chloe: Would you stay out of this?

God: No.

Chloe: Well then could you be useful?

God: No.

Chloe: I convert the entire congregation of New Hope to Christian socialism and mobilize them to do good works in the world. Also, I get myself a Coke. *pause* (Eyeing God) That ok with you?

God: No one ever notices them anyway, so sure.

Hattie: I have wanton sex and enjoy every minute of it.

Nicolae: BOOM!

Hattie: Just, you know, not with him.

Chloe: Good call.

Rayford: When do I get to fly my fully loaded--

Hattie and Chloe: Extremely phallic.

Rayford: --giant plane. I've let you guys have your fun but it's time for everything to center around me again. This book is about me, me, me.

Chloe: I cannot believe that I share half of my genetics with you. I begin to look into the possibility that I'm some sort of science experiment and thus don't have a shred of genetics in common with either of my so called parents.

-

[Left Behind Index]

Skewed Slightly to the Left: Why you will fly this plane.

[Originally posted at Slacktivist (page 10).]

[We last saw Rayford under armed guard in one of the lavish sleeping rooms aboard GC-1 curling up into a ball and wishing oblivion would take him.]
(Trigger warnings for threats of murder, torture, fridging, and the like.)

-

"Wake up fuckface," a voice said more loudly than Rayford would have liked and full of more disdain than he was accustomed to.

Rayford had to blink twice to get his eyes to focus but when he did he saw the speaker and tried to respond as cheerfully as he could because he figured that was more likely to annoy than confrontation, "Leon!"

"Mr. Fortunato," the man corrected sharply.

"What brings you to grace me with your most excellent company?"

"Do you honestly think that being chipper is going to somehow give you the upper hand?"

Rayford dropped any hint of his fake mood and said, "So spit it out asshole."

"This plane will be touching down in Baghdad soon to pick up some guests, then we'll make the last leg of our journey to New Babylon once we are certain of the security there.

"You will be flying at that time."

Rayford looked at the four armed guards, the ones he had hoped would kill him in his sleep, then back to Leon Fortunato.  Silence filled the room as the two men looked at each other. Rayford broke it, "Yeah, because that makes so much sense."

"You think you'll be able to defy Carpathia?"

"Put me back in the cockpit.  I dare you."

"He said you'd say that.  That's why I'm here.  To let you get your hopes high before He explains to you exactly why you will carry out every order He ever gives.  Let them soar, convince yourself that you can resist, but when you realize your wings are made of wax and you come crashing down into the surf, when what's left of them becomes soaked and pulls you under no matter how hard you try to keep your head above water, remember this:

"I told you so."

-

Mr. Leon Fortunato left Rayford with the four armed guards, and in spite of his words Rayford was was convinced that if he were put at the plane's controls it would mean death for all on board.  This time he wouldn't wait.  This time he would do what he should have done.  No matter the cost.  He'd sell his soul to get the blood already on his hands off of them, he'd die before he took part in anything to add to that blood with more innocents he could have saved.  That was what he told himself.

Then, Carpathia came.

"Our friend Mr. Fortunato has explained the situation to you?"

"Yes and I'm completely ready to be your faithful lapdog yet again."  Carpathia was good at reading people, he'd know if Rayford were playing along so he could crash the plane, so Rayford saw no need to make his lies compelling or his contempt anything other than transparent.

"Oh, but you are."

"If you think that I'm going to work for you-"

"You will."

"I-"

"Tell me, what do you think about your son," Nicolae let a pause rest there just long enough for Rayford to experience grief for his only son, taken in the Rapture, "in law?"

"I... uh... what?!"

"Do you think he'd place principle first?  Do you think he'd refuse to work for me no matter what?  Because if he would then you have every reason to turn me down.

"You see I plan to make him the same offer I'm about to make you, and if he doesn't take it... well... I'm sure you can work it out for yourself.

"You can come back to work for me, and be completely loyal in word and deed.  Or I can rip everything that you love out of your life, right in front of you.  Your daughter, assuming she's still alive, dead.  Your church will be burned to the ground, and then have all of the underground portions burned, with the entire congregation inside of it.  Any who manage to escape will be executed by machine guns.

"Your friends from work, your old work, will be tracked down and executed.  Your friends from this job too, and you know I know who they are because you know about my surveillance archives.  I know because you erased the part where your wife let you in on the cities to be bombed* and you warned your son in law.

"Hattie as well, even if she does please me from time to time.

"And your wife will naturally be shot in the head.  Not at first, you understand.  We'll probably shoot her in one foot, then the other, chop off her left hand, then the right, poke out her eyes, then take her nose-"

"And then her tongue, I suppose," Rayford said morbidly.

"Exactly!" Nicolae said excitedly.  "To the pain, but she will not live a long life wallowing in freakish misery because then you would have hope that, somehow, you might comfort her.  And that we can't have.  So once we've extracted as much pain as we can from her, we shoot her.

"In front of you, of course.

"After that we'll probably have to go to people you just randomly happened to meet.  How does your entire second grade class sound?  Bet you don't even know their names, but we'll make sure you get to watch their deaths.

"And you, you'll get to live.  A rich and happy life.  At least that's how it will look from the outside, every need taken care of, every amenity provided for, and so much leisure time you won't be able to help but think about all of the deaths we've made you watch.

"And when I do run out of people with some connection to you, I'll start making things up.  Say people who have the same name as your daughter.  I'll bring one in, introduce you to her, let you know about her life, her hopes and dreams, her loves and likes, the people she cares about and the people who care about her, and then I'll kill her in front of you.

"Once I run out of people with that name it'll be your second-born, Raymie I believe his name was.  Not the most common name, I think.  So I'll find people the same age he would be, or as close as I can manage, with the same interests, introduce you to the young men, let you get a good feel for them, and then kill them, slowly, in front of you.

"Every day.  Day after day.  Forever."

There was silence.

"And lest you think that you can avoid this fate by coming back to work for me and then crashing the plane, rest assured that the orders have already been given out.  If anything should happen to this plane, everyone and everything you ever cared about dies.

"Slow, agonizing, deaths.

"So make sure to do your pre-flight checks completely right every time.  And if you should ever have any doubts about the plane's maintenance you get the problem solved, because the life of everyone you ever cared about hangs in the balance."

Rayford hadn't moved a single muscle, save his heart which was beating erratically, since Nicolae got to the part where he mentioned second grade.  Even if he could move it was unclear what he might do.  His eyes couldn't open any wider, the look of horror on his face couldn't be any more pronounced.

Breathing might be nice, but he'd forgotten about that though his lungs were beginning to burn.

"I expect you to be in the cockpit by the time our guests from Baghdad board."

Nicolae turned and walked toward the door.  He opened it, then he turned back to Rayford.  "Mr. Fortunato asked me to remind you: he told you so."  Nicolae addressed the guards, "You're no longer needed here.  Can I interest you in drinks in the lounge?"

Nicolae held the door open for the four guards, then closed it, leaving Rayford in the room alone.

At that point Rayford's oxygen deprived lungs finally overrode his brain, and his horror along with it, and forced a sharp intake of breath.  More gasping followed.

Rayford didn't know what the asking price would be on his soul, but he knew that Nicolae had bought it.  He would be the Antichrist's lapdog.  He would make sure the plane never crashed.

And he would pray that someone would shoot the bastard, provided they did it on the ground.

-

* Actually, he erased the part where Amanda tried to let him in on it and he told her he already knew.  Nicolae is well aware that the plane is bugged, he ordered it to be, but his lack of mind reading means that he doesn't know Rayford has access to it beyond being able to break it.  (The files are encrypted, deleting them is much easier than listening to them.  Also I'm assuming Rayford did it in a way to make it look like an accident, power surge took out the hard drives or whatever.)

-

[Skewed Slightly to the Left Index]

Skewed Slightly to the Left: Rayford has some time to think

[Originally posted at Slacktivist.]

[Previously: Ray had planned to crash the plane before Nicolae could go through with his "Nuke a bunch of cities" plan but waited for Amanda to get off first, only to have it thwarted.  He was transported by armed guards, eventually ending up in a bedroom aboard the plane, but the account of how he got from the cockpit to said room has to be regarded as apocryphal as it doesn't match the surrounding narrative, then San Francisco exploded, then he and Nicolae had a chat.  And that might be all we've seen of him recently]

[Getting the order of everything right has been difficult for me even as I've been writing it, revisions are almost certainly necessary.  For example I was thinking that the destruction of San Fransisco was most recent, and wrote it as such, until I just reread Nicolae talking to him and realized it had to come after the bomb dropped.  And this, likewise, was written assuming that the destruction of San Fransisco was the most recent Rayford scene.]

-


Rayford lay back on the bed.

"You weren't supposed to move a muscle," one of the guards said.  Rayford didn't know which one.  The four all blended together.

"That's impossible," Rayford said.

"Sit back up!"

"Tired of sitting," Rayford said lazily.

"I will fire!"  It was a small room.  There wasn't any background noise.  Rayford would have heard if the guard had whispered, yet for some reason the guard insisted on shouting.

"Do it.  Tired of living too."  Did that count as suicide, Rayford wondered.  Suicides go to Hell, don't they?  No, that was a Catholic belief.  Still, with the blood on his hands Rayford couldn't imagine going anywhere else.  He should have crashed the plane when he had the chance.

Amanda was safe, for the moment.  Small comfort when compared to the millions he could have saved, but it was all he had.  Cameron had been alive when he tried to get warning out.  Some comfort there.

The warning would give at least some people time to get to shelter, assuming anyone knew where a bomb shelter was this long after the cold war.  Maybe a handful of lives had been saved.

Rayford pulled his legs onto the bed, more shouting from the guard.  Perhaps more than one of the guards.  He didn't know.  He didn't care.

Curling up into fetal position wasn't really an intentional act.  He hoped darkness would engulf him soon.  More than that he hoped he wouldn't dream.


-

[Skewed Slightly to the Left Index]

Skewed Slightly to the Left: The first good news

[Originally posted at Slacktivist.]

Dead arm after dead arm.  No watch.

"People just don't wear them as much anymore," Jane said.

Cameron took the cell phone from his pocket and said, "This is your fault," before putting it back.

Jane said, "The up side is that digital watches have gone out of style-"

"I still think they're a pretty neat idea."

"That's an amazingly primitive trait."

"But mostly harmless."

"Indeed.  But my point is that if we do find a watch it's likely to be analog."

"Hands frozen in place rather than blank screen."

"Exactly."

-

They did eventually find a watch, and concluded that Chloe probably took the impassible road before it became impassible, and so worked to get to the other side of the impassible section.

-

Cameron's cell phone rang.  It didn't feel safe to use an arm to talk on it while the motorcycle was in motion.  He asked Jane to stop then answered the phone, "This better be important."

"It is."

"Verna?"

"She's alive, don't know much beyond that."

"That's... that's..." the best thing he heard all day, so good he didn't know how to wrap his mind around it, incredible, exactly what he wanted to hear, and so many other things.  He wasn't able to say any of them.  Finally he did manage, "How do you know?"

"We intercepted a message.  She tried to put in a call to the office, but cut the call when she didn't recognize the voice."

"So the other side-"

"They consider her a low value target, and they want her alive if they get her.  Don't worry."  After a pause Verna added, "The other side has no idea where she is, you do.  You'll find her first."

"Ok.  Gotta go."

"Good luck."

Cameron turned off the phone and turned to Jane, "She's alive."

"Anything beyond that?" Jane asked.

"Not a jot."

"Then we better get going."

They got back on the bike and continued their search, now confident that one of their shouts of, "Chloe!" would get a response beyond their own echo.

---

Rayford sat still, armed guards watching any move he might make.

The plane shuddered as a shockwave passed.  That would be San Francisco.  A city he might have saved if he'd been willing to crash the plain while his wife was still on it, but he had been foolish enough to think he could save both.

Now it was too late for him to do anything.

He wondered how much blood was on his hands now.  Too much to ever wash off.  That was for sure.

-

[Skewed Slightly to the Left Index]

Skewed Slightly to the Left Apocrapha: Why Amanda was allowed to sit in on the meeting

[Originally posted at Slacktivist (page 3).]

Ok, I guess this goes between On the Plane with Nicolae and Before the Potentate's speech.  Um, or not, this is added after I wrote the below and then realized I duplicated things and gave different reasons for certain events.  But, um... Greek myth never matches?

-

As Rayford exited the cockpit with Nicoale four armed guards joined them.

"It was a good plan, I suppose," Nicolae said, "crash the plane before we're out of range of San Francisco and my forces can't very well bomb it until I'm accounted for and out of range.

"Your mistake was in thinking that just because I can't read your mind means I can't tell what you're going to do.  I let Amanda sit in on our plans because, well... seeing her face as we discussed them was precious.  Seeing her try to hide her astonishment, outrage, despair, and so forth was so very nice.

"Now, she was the only one in the room, which means that the sudden release of the news of which cities were  targeted is due to her, so what better than her being killed in one of the cities?"

Rayford stopped walking.  Four weapons were suddenly pointed at him.  Nicoale had also stopped and gestured for the weapons to be lowered.

"Relax, there is something better.  You did not just kill your wife.  I just wanted to see your face when you thought you did.

"I got her onto a good military transport, she left before we did.  We can deal with her later.  Dropping a bomb on her is so... quick.  She'll be safe until I decide what to do with her."

Relief and dread battled inside of Rayford.

Nicolae continued, "That list of cities was real by the way.  Why use a lie when the truth will do?

"I see your confusion, you never were the smartest, were you?  Whatever air force the resistance can muster, from museum pieces to crop dusters with guns hastily attached, will concentrate on the defense of those ten cities.  So all I need to do is defend my bombers and then I'll rule the skies over North America.

"I wish I could have done it for the whole world, but if I gave away too much information it would be clear that I was leaking it on purpose.  Talking about the region I was in made sense, revealing targets in other regions would tip my hand."

Nicolae stopped at a door, opened it, and gestured to the lavish room behind it, "After you."

-

[Skewed slightly to the Left index]

Skewed Slightly to the Left (?) - Before the Potentate's Speech

[Originally posted at Slacktivist (page 3)]
[Following, I guess, from this story in which Rayford planned to crash the plane to foil Nicolae's plans, but waited until after the stop where Amanda got off because he didn't want to kill his wife.  And then, just as he was preparing to crash, Nicolae relieved him of command.]

-

"Make no mistake about it," Nicolae said as he casually paced in the guestroom on GC One, ignoring the armed guards, their weapons trained on Rayford, "you will continue to be my pilot after this day is through, and you will never crash this plane.  You can think about it, dream about it, wish it, but you will never place this plane or its passengers in danger.
"You will do this because I wish it so.  Because it amuses me.  Because I don't need a good reason and after today you should understand more than most that I am fully prepared to retaliate with undue force at the slightest provocation.

"I let your wife remain in the room while we discussed our plans because I wanted you to know.  I wanted - yes.  That.  Right there.  That moment of recognition that you had your chance to stop this and you didn't take it.  You were too concerned about your own loved ones, too concerned about getting Amanda off the plane, to save millions.

"You know what's coming, don't you?"  Nicolae knelt before the seated Rayford, bringing them eye to eye.  He watched as Rayford considered trying to lunge forward and kill him, and as Rayford realized the guards would kill him before he did any real damage to Nicolae.

Nicolae took a moment to reflect that sometimes miracles weren't breaking the laws of physics sometimes they were as simple as the frangible bullet.  A simple innovation that allowed guns and airplanes mix safely.

Nicolae returned his attention to Rayford, who had averted his eyes.  "I would say I hate cliches, but the truth is I don't.  Some cliches yes, of course, but others I love.  I revel in them.  And this one is so sweet, it's written on your face that you've already come to realize it.  And yet, somehow, still the words will sting more when you hear them spoken than they do right now: You and I are very much alike.  We're not so different.

"You could have crashed this plane when you learned of my plan.  I gave you ample time, but your wife was on the plane then.  So you waited.  You traded one life for millions.  They were nothing but an abstraction to you, not real people.  Who cares if their odds of survival are severely diminished if it can make your loved one, and thus your mind, a little safer?

"Certainly not you.  All this blood is on your hands too.  I say this not to absolve myself, understand.  My hands are soaked in it.  But there is blame to go around.  You could have stopped it, you didn't, and now innocents have died.  Amanda may have warned some, I'm sure she did, but that is nothing compared to the lives you could have saved if you'd simply crashed the plane when you had the chance.

"Millions have died so that you could get what you wanted: Amanda safe.  Millions have died in the service of your desires and that makes us the same.

"I don't know what's more beautiful, the recognition on your face, the shame, or the disgust.  But I do so enjoy having you as my pilot, and so my pilot you will remain.  This will happen.  It will happen of your own choosing.  At the appropriate time I'll explain to you exactly why you will choose this, but now," Nicolae looked at his watch, "Look at the time.

"If you'll excuse me, I have to go convince the world that most of the blood shed was the fault of your side, not mine, and I only very reluctantly retaliated, and only then to defend the innocent and minimize the casualties."

Nicolae allowed himself a smirk.  "When I said that ten percent of the world's weapons would be kept as a deterrent I never actually expected that deterrent would have to actually" deep disingenuous emphasis on the second 'actually', driving home the falsehood of the claim in case, somehow, Rayford had missed it, "be used, and it was with a heavy heart and for the greater good that I did these things to end the war and keep the peace.

"They'll eat it up - the unwashed masses.  You know they will.  So afraid, so confused, so ready for someone to extend them a hand and lead them out of fear and darkness.  They'll be mine by the end of the hour, no matter what your son in law may try to do to sway them.

"And as the masses go, so go the rest.  Those who don't believe will be shouted down, or shunned, or thought dim.  They'll be marginalized if they speak up, so most won't.

"Your religion compares people to sheep, and sheep they are.  They'll follow any shepherd.  My rod and my staff, they comfort them, but my voice is what will win the day today.

"So, ta-ta, I have a broadcast to make."

Nicolae stood and turned in a smooth motion, and was halfway to the door when he stopped, as if something had just occurred to him, "Just how bad was the education system in your former country?  Have you ever read Omelas?" Rayford didn't answer, though Nicolae gave him ample time.  "Stay or walk away?" Nicolae asked.

"Neither," Rayford said, barely above a mumble.

Nicolae's head turned, ever so slightly, back toward Rayford.

Rayford raised his head, raised his eyes, and though he was only looking at the back of Nicolae's head, the guards at least could feel the intensity of his gaze, "I save that fucking child."

Nicolae shrugged.  "Well, I suppose you did today.  Amanda is safe, after all.  One life for millions.  You chose to get her to safety and in that day and hour, all the prosperity and beauty and delight of not one but instead ten cities was destroyed.  While I address the world, ask yourself if it was worth it."  Nicolae left the room.

Minutes later an aide to Nicolae walked in, "The potentate wanted me to assure you that, once the casualties are determined, you will be provided with the names of every individual confirmed to have died in each of the ten targeted North American cities."

The aide turned to one of the guards, "I'm taping the speech for you Mike, from what I've seen it's his finest yet."

"Thanks," Mike said.

-

[Skewed Slightly to the Left Index]

Skewed Slightly to the Left (?) - On the Plane with Nicolae

[Originally posted at Slacktivist.  Not sure if it's canon Skewed Slightly to the Left or not yet.]

[The problem with Rayford being Nicolae's pilot is that it forever leaves us with the question of why he doesn't crash the damn plane.]

[For context, Rayford's wife Amanda is on the plane, and Rayford has just learned that Nicolae is planning to destroy ten major cities in North America alone.  In canon Left Behind Ray sends Amanda away for, basically, the reason that this Ray gives to Nicolae here.]

"I have family in Chicago," Rayford said, his seething rage impossible to keep out of his voice.

Nicolae pretended not to notice. "Yes, and I hope they are safe," he said as if he were discussing the weather or some other meaningless bit of trivia.

There was only one thing stopping Rayford from lunging forward and trying to kill Carpathia there and then.  He reminded himself of it, tried to keep his voice calm.  "I understand that I'm needed here with you, but I'd feel better if someone were trying to... If someone were there for them.  Do you think it would be possible for Amanda to head there after we land?"

Nicolae spoke as if considering where to eat dinner, "Well it is the middle of a world war, and tasking an aircraft on such short notice is no small feat, but then you are one of my favorite employees, and it's not as if I need whatshername here for anything, so I suppose I could arrange that for you, yes."

The casual manner with which he discussed the war made Rayford want punch the man, but he convinced himself to wait just a little bit longer.

--

[Later, after Amanda is off the plane, just after takeoff.]

Rayford worried that the copilot would notice the sweat pouring out of him, he had to remind himself to breathe.  One, last breath as he prepared to--

Suddenly a hand was on his shoulder, then he felt the presence of another next to him.  Intimately close. "You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" Nicolae whispered in his ear.

Nicolae stood straight, "Control of the aircraft has already been transferred to your colleague.  Come, join us in the lounge."

-

[Skewed Slightly to the Left Index]

Skewed Slightly to the Left - Earl tells Ray about the plane

[Originally posted at Slacktivist.]
[Follows from here.]

Earl took Rayford to the employees lunchroom, the third tier of cafeterias, below the one currently being enjoyed by the dignitaries and reserved for special guests, something that Nicolae had had installed on every base and airstrip on the off chance he might stop in.  Also less worthy than the one reserved for actual military, a force kept in line in part by being reminded that they were being treated better than the underclasses that existed to serve them.

The employees lunch room was for people who were meant to have no illusions.  They were servants.  They were fed because otherwise they would collapse, and there was no effort to make them comfortable.  The sooner they consumed their calories and got back to work the better.

It was a stark contrast to what Rayford had become accustomed to.  A reminder that he, like so many other Global Community employees, was being pandered to in hopes he wouldn't notice how the rest of the world had suffered in the last 18 months of theoretical peace.  Wage slavery was just the beginning, he knew.

Earl looked around, checked that they were alone, and made himself a sandwich.

"Right now this base is sending out gibberish in every frequency," Earl began, "which will play Mary Hobb with everything electronic within range.  Including the microwave, by the way.  The good news is that it means we can talk here safely.  The usual bugs are just as disabled as everything else."

"So what did you want to talk about?"

"You know Nicolae is evil."

"Yes."

"You work for him."

Rayford looked at his feet, "Yes."

"How's that been working out for you?"

"Like Shit."  Rayford had nearly shouted.  "He gets my services and I get nothing useful out of him."

"But you wanted to be close to him?" Earl asked.

"Yes."

"Assassin?"

"If I thought cut the head of the snake would work in this situation I'd have crashed that fucking plane ages ago."

"Spy." Earl said, beginning to smile.

"Yes!" Rayford shouted.  Then caught himself and spoke more quietly, "But it hasn't been working.  He doesn't let things slip.  No even the slightest hints."

"I was hoping you'd say that," Earl said.  "You are going to love your new plane."

"I don't care about the plane."

"You'll care about this one."  Before Ray could ask why Earl said, "Like this facility Nicolae has ordered bugs in every room."

"And that helps me how?"

"Unlike this facility, I built it.  You'd have to take apart the electronics piece by piece to find out, but the supposed master control for the bugs is nothing of the sort.  The real master is in the cockpit.  It's hidden two passwords and three arbitrary sequences of switches deep, but if you're in the pilot's chair and you know how to use it, you can hear everything from every room."

"That would mean...." Rayford never finished the thought, it would mean so many things.  Not least amoung them that taking this job might not have been the greatest mistake of his life.

"Now let me explain how it all works before they stop jamming, because if the bugs come back online we'll both be shot in the head."

-

[Skewed Slightly to the Left Index]