Chapter 300

Payne slid into the Captain's seat, of Gulfstream's marvelous 650, and began her preflight checklist, under the watchful eye of their new senior captain, Trevor Canyon. As Dycke said to her last night, 'She was a Natural.' She went through the list as she had 1000 times before, almost without referring to the manual on her lap. She called out commands for checklists items that were on his side of the flight deck, and Trevor responded to each of the items, as she called them out. When she was finished, he said to her, "Captain, it is like you have never been out of that chair."

Payne wanted to kiss him, but knew it would be inappropriate for her to do so. "It's like falling off a horse, Steve. You get up, dust yourself off, you get right back on."

"Well, you got right on, doing it perfectly, as always, Payne. Why don't you call in for clearance and do the whole thing."

She called the tower, and received her