The flight seemed perfect, but suddenly something went wrong.
Pilot Jake Morrison and co-pilot Maria Santos enjoyed a quiet conversation as they flew over the desert, the plane gliding smoothly. Sarah Chen, Elon Musk’s assistant, was fast asleep, leaning against the window, exhausted from the tireless work of the past few days. Elon, beside her, had just reviewed his notes for his upcoming meetings in Reno. The tranquility of the flight was abruptly interrupted by a screech and the illumination of the red lights on the cockpit dashboard.
“What the hell?” Jake muttered, while Maria, her voice shaking, yelled, “The left engine is overheating! The temperature is through the roof!”
Then, a huge explosion. The left engine exploded, releasing a cloud of black smoke that began to billow from the wing. The plane began to shake violently. Sarah woke with a start, Elon’s coffee splattering on her laptop, as panic spread through the cockpit.
“What’s going on?” Sarah yelled, clutching the armrests as the plane shook.
“Look outside,” Elon said calmly, watching the smoke pouring from the engine. “Engine down. Stay strapped in.”
Jake grabbed the radio microphone. “Help, help! This is Gulfstream N628TS! We’ve lost the left engine and are rapidly losing altitude!”
Maria looked at her tablet, searching for a place to land. “The closest airport is Las Vegas,” she said, “but it’s over 200 miles away. We’ll never make it.”
“Is there anything else nearby?” Jake asked, sweat dripping from his forehead.
Maria pointed to a small line on the map. “The Carson Valley airstrip. It’s old and abandoned, but it’s only 20 miles away.”
“Abandoned?” Jake frowned. “The trail could be in ruins.”
“It’s the only option we have,” Maria replied determinedly.
The plane crashed again, this time with more force. Sarah screamed as Elon, trying to remain calm, made his way to the cockpit.
“How bad is it?” Elon asked, looking at Jake.
“Seriously,” Jake replied. “The left engine is dead, and the right one is overheating. We have maybe five minutes before we lose that one, too.”
Elon looked at Maria’s map. “We’re going to Carson Valley. We have no other choice.”
—
The old airstrip loomed on the horizon, a lonely gray strip in the middle of the sun-scorched desert. Elon noticed something strange: a rusty hangar with its door ajar, and behind it, an old truck parked in the sand.
“There’s someone down there,” Elon murmured.
Maria looked at the hangar and shook her head. “It’s impossible. This place has been abandoned for decades.”
The plane descended sharply, hitting the runway hard. The wheels scraped the cracked concrete as the plane tilted dangerously toward the hangar. After a disastrous landing, the plane finally came to a stop in the sand.
A profound silence filled the air, broken only by the sound of steam escaping from the overheated engines. “Are we okay?” Elon asked, his voice trembling.
Sarah touched her forehead, where a small wound was bubbling. “I think so,” she said, trembling. Jake and Maria quickly checked themselves out: bruised, but unharmed.
“We’re not flying from here anymore,” Jake said, looking at the dead engines.
Elon stepped out of the plane into the blazing desert sun. The air smelled of burnt metal. He tried making a phone call, but there was no signal. Jake tried the plane’s radio, but it was also useless, probably damaged by the impact.
His gaze returned to the hangar. The truck had new tires and there were fresh tracks leading to the building. “There’s someone here,” he said.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Maria replied. “Why would anyone live here?”
“We’ll know soon enough,” Elon said, as he began walking toward the hangar.
—
The hangar creaked as Elon opened it. Inside, the air was fresh but stale, with a smell of dust and oil permeating the space. Sunlight filtered through cracks in the ceiling, illuminating the wreckage of abandoned aircraft scattered across the floor. But deep inside, something caught Elon’s eye: a sleek rocket engine, hidden under a tarp.
He lifted the cover, revealing an engine of unknown design, with strange etchings on its surface. It looked decades more advanced than anything SpaceX had ever developed.
“What is this?” Elon whispered.
“Hey, Elon,” said a voice behind him.
Elon turned. A man emerged from the shadows. His face was drawn, his hair gray, his clothes dusty. But his gaze was penetrating, and Elon recognized him instantly.
“Tom Bradley?” Elon gasped. “You were supposed to be dead!”
Tom smiled slightly. “He’s not dead. He’s just… gone.”
Tom Bradley had been one of SpaceX’s top engineers before disappearing in a rocket explosion five years ago. Everyone thought he’d died in the accident. But there he was, alive and standing in an abandoned hangar in the desert.
“What the hell happened to you?” Elon asked, still in shock.
Tom sighed. “The explosion didn’t kill me, but it changed everything. I was burned, shattered. When I left the hospital, I couldn’t face the world anymore. So I came here, to disappear.”
Elon pointed at the rocket engine. “What is this? What is it?”
Tom’s eyes lit up. “It’s a fusion engine. Compact, efficient, and powerful enough to take a rocket to Mars in half the time.”
Elon began to think about how such an invention would revolutionize space travel. “Why didn’t you share it with anyone?”
Tom’s eyes darkened. “Because people would use it for bad purposes. Governments, corporations—they’d weaponize it or hoard it. I couldn’t allow that.”
Before Elon could respond, Sarah’s voice echoed from outside. “Elon! Something’s wrong with Jake!”
They ran outside to where Jake was lying on the ground, pale and sweating. “Dehydration,” Tom said after a quick assessment. “He needs water and rest.”
Tom went to get some water from his lab, but when he returned, Elon saw Maria typing something on her phone. He looked at the screen: “Mission completed. Package delivered.”
“What the fuck does this mean?” Elon asked.
Maria froze, then slowly turned to look at him. Her calmness disappeared, replaced by icy coldness. “I work for the Chinese government,” she said. “They wanted your rocket plans, and now they’ll want that fusion engine too.”
Elon’s blood ran cold. “You sabotaged the plane.”
Maria smiled. “I didn’t expect anything better.”
Without anyone reacting, Maria pulled out a pistol and pointed it at Tom. “Give me the fusion device,” she ordered.
Tom hesitated for a moment, then took a compact, shiny object out of his pocket. “This is what you want,” he said.
Maria’s eyes glittered with greed. “Put it down. Slowly.”
But instead of obeying, Tom tossed the device into the air. It rolled like a coin, catching the sunlight, and then crashed to the ground and shattered.
“No!” Maria screamed, lunging forward, but it was too late. The fusion device was destroyed.
Tom turned to Elon with a mischievous smile. “Luckily, I always make backups.”
Elon looked at him and laughed. “You’re a clever genius.”
In the distance, the sound of approaching helicopters grew louder. The rescue team was already on its way, but a storm of questions, secrets, and challenges was also brewing. As the first helicopter landed, kicking up a cloud of dust, Elon looked at Tom and said, “We’re going to change the world. Together.”
Tom nodded, his eyes filled with hope for the first time in years. “Let’s get to work.”
