Emerald Flight: Wildest Dreams (continued)

Thad gripped his brother’s arm.

“Why do you have to be the one to go?”

Scott stared back at his brother. There was so much he wanted to tell him, to tell him everything that he knew, everything that Jade had told him.

“Because I do.”

“That’s not a reason,” Thad snapped back.

Scott met his brother’s eyes.

“Don’t give me that ‘destiny’ crap,” Thad warned him. “You don’t believe it any more than I do.”

“How about believing that they were really here?” Scott asked him, surprising himself with his own calm. “That what Christine said was really true?”

“That you were the one who piloted the test flight?”

Scott nodded.

“What if you weren’t?” Thad countered, beginning to sound almost desperate. “What if they got that part wrong too?”

“And you piloted the ship?”

Scott stared at Thad.

“Right,” Thad answered without conviction and then looked away. His hand fell away from his brother’s arm.

Scott watched Thad, seeing the turmoil of emotions within his brother. He did not know what to say. Everything he wanted to say would either sound awkward or reveal too much.

“’Lost’ isn’t the same dead,” he finally offered.

“It might as well be.”

Scott could hear his brother’s tone now turning toward anger. He had moved past denial.

“Thad,” Scott said quietly. “Don’t you think I’m scared too?”

His brother studied him closely for a long moment. His expression clearly displayed his disbelief.

“No,” Thad said. “You’re not.”

Scott knew that Thad was right. He was nervous about the upcoming test flight. Even with the history shared with him by Christine, and the reassurances from Jade, there were countless things that could go wrong. Yet, he found that he feared none of them. Realizing that did worry him a little.

“If I don’t go . . .”

Scott let the thought hang out there unfinished.

They both knew the implications if one of them did not make the test flight. According to Christine, Scott had been the one to do it. In terms of that part of future history, it probably did not matter which of them did it, only that it did take place.