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Name: Morris Telford
Age: 33
DOB: 18/04/70
Occupation:Unemployed
Hobbies: Enlightenment, Philosophy, Bingo
Favourite
book – Ordnance Survey Map of Shropshire 1999 edition
Favourite
foods – Pickled Eggs
Favourite
film – Late For Dinner
Favourite colour – The delicate cyan of the dinnertime sky in
Moreton Say.
Favourite British County – Shropshire
Favourite Place – Moreton Say
Favourite Postal Code Area – TF9
Favourite radio
frequency - 96FM
Favourite sound – The gentle breeze rustling through the leafy
glades of Moreton Say
Favourite Clive – Clive of India
Favourite Iron Bridge - Ironbridge
Favourite adhesive note size – 75 x 75mm
Favourite Vegetable – Anything grown in the fertile soils of
Shropshire
Favourite band – *(shameless plug)
Biggest inspiration –
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Phil,
our self-appointed pilot and navigator, appears to have gone to
the same school of aviation as Icarus.
He's
under the impression that all the dials and switches and little
flashing lights that litter the cockpit are for novice pilots,
and that all he needs is a compass and a general idea of wind
speed.
I'm
a great believer in letting people fulfil their potential.
...But even in my most optimistic moments, I'd be hard pressed
to entrust my life to someone who thinks they can accurately gauge
the wind speed of 50 tons of high-tech, high-speed, winged metal...
just by licking their finger and popping it outside for a bit.
This
cavalier attitude makes me uneasy, but there's no escape from
the frivolity. The men have found some video games in one of the
rooms and are playing Space Harrier with the volume turned up
far too loud, which to be quite honest is jangling my nerves a
bit.
This
isn't helped by Phil doing barrel rolls every time someone gets
a high score.
I'm
going for a lie down.
Phil made
an announcement just now on the tannoy. He asked us to look out the
window "to see the shores of the Thames".
I had
to go up to the cockpit personally to tell him that while the UK
sports some lovely beaches, some of which are almost completely
free of radiation and sewage, none of these lovely beaches are quite
that big, or have camels on them, or indeed, pyramids.
After half an hour of arguing, Phil conceded that we probably were
over Egypt after all and stopped looking for Big Ben casting it's
shadow over the Nile.
It
was while we were arguing that Phil knocked a button on a hitherto
untouched control panel and a screen lit up with all sorts of satellite
navigation, GPS and hologramatic navigational sensors.
It was very impressive and looks to all intents and purposes like
an expensive special effect. I clicked a few icons, entered the
postcode for my house in Moreton Say and clicked the "auto-navigation"
button.
The plane banked sharply to the right and steadied. A little message
lit up in reassuring green which said "Course Locked".
Phil
wasn't very happy, but I managed to distract him by telling him
that we'd found a sea lion in one of the Jacuzzis.
By the time he realised it was just Trent having a bubble bath I'd
locked him in.
We hit
some turbulence in the night. I think a bit of the plane dropped off.
I hope it wasn't anything important, like a wing.
Phil
got loose again and tried to take control of the plane.
One of the Alaskans, a tall man called Obican Rumus (with long silver-white
hair and painted nails), thought it was a good idea to keep Phil
from the controls, so he locked the door to the cockpit and threw
the key down the toilet.
Unfortunately no one was in the cockpit at the time.
After
three hours of trying to fish the key out with some string and a
magnet, I gave up.
Although I did manage to retrieve a gold tooth, a pair of cufflinks
that were inscribed "The Gipper", a tiny, beautifully
detailed, die cast toy soldier and a coin marked "One American
Dollar" dated 2023.
The coin had the image of George W. Bush on it, but he looked much
older, had an eye patch and what looked like a mobile phone but
may have been a cybernetic ear.
So
the plane is on autopilot and we have no way of getting into the
cockpit. I'm just hoping that among the satellite navigation, GPS
and hologramatic navigational sensors, there's also something that
automatically lands the plane.
Things
are actually getting quite bad now.
Steven Watson bailed out a few minutes ago. He wailed something about
"sensing Devon" and made a break for it. He grabbed a parachute
and was out the escape hatch before we could stop him.
Trent tried to follow him but five of us managed to hold him down
while the hatch was secured. I have to admire Trent for trying to
leap out of a speeding plane wearing only a bathrobe and fluffy yellow
slippers, he must really hate the ex-Pope.
Despite
everything Steven Watson did, I hope he's OK and lands on something
relatively soft.
I must
admit, just before he jumped out of the plane, I did sense a nearby
evil... a terrible chill of foreboding, like the Shrewsbury marathon
running over my grave. So maybe we really are over Devon.
The one and only good thing about Devon is, it's relatively near
Shropshire. So I actually hope Steven was right, it means I'm nearly
home.
The
plane is juddering and some of the men are talking about jumping
out. I counted the parachutes and we are one short.
I haven't said anything to the men - It's my fault they are here,
I'll go last.
Morris
One seems to be circling, and it has been for most of the night. The
floor is constantly tilted at about 30 degrees, which makes drinking
from a glass surprisingly difficult.
I've
wedged myself between the back of a seat and some sort of storage
locker while I type this.
A few of the men are trying to break into the cockpit.
One of the Alaskans jumped out a few minutes ago, I hope he remembered
his parachute.
If
this is the last time I send an entry in from my palmtop, then goodbye
and remember - I did it all for ShropshireÂ….
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