Flight of the Phoenix Page #2

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right about now, so it'll take

'em a couple of hours to miss us.

So for right now,

everybody just sit tight.

Conserve your oxygen.

Hey, Captain? Don't think

we don't know what you did.

Not many pilots, you

know, could've done that...

so... thank you.

Yes. Thank you, Captain.

Yeah!

It's like being in an hourglass.

I'm just a chef, but even I know ain't

no way a cell phone's gonna work out here.

Well, there's no harm

in trying, is there?

You never know. You never know.

I think the company man's losing it.

What the hell are you laughing

at? This is your fault!

- Why is it his fault?

- All that stuff about jinxes.

You can't talk like that sitting

in a plane on the bloody tarmac!

- You're the one who put the jinx on us.

- Oh, shut up.

What'd I tell you?

Bunch of zeroes.

Shouldn't somebody say somethin'?

Captain?

I don't think I'm the right person.

What the hell do they expect me to say?

I don't even know those guys.

Maybe to say you're sorry.

You're looking to join

those two? Keep it up.

So what's his story?

- Who, him?

- Yeah.

He just blew in one day.

Blew in in the middle

of the Mongolian desert?

Said he was taking a year off

work, hitching around the world.

He was supposed to fly out a few

weeks ago. His ride never came.

He's been stuck with us ever since.

Not bad.

- That's the last one.

- All right.

Well, we got a decent amount of water.

We each drink a pint a day...

that gives us enough for about 30

days, if we don't exert ourselves.

Which I'm guessin' wasn't a

concern with the rest of this crew.

I don't see you breaking a sweat, stud.

- Hey, chef.

- Yo.

Chef, how are we doin' on food?

Well, the good news is that

besides the powdered eggs...

all the food's been

canned in water or juice.

The bad news is, it's all

peaches and hearts of palm.

Well, that buys us a couple extra days.

Ain't that just great news.

So how screwed are we?

Pretty screwed.

Where are we?

Somewhere around here, in the middle of the

Yol Valley, 200 miles west of our course.

- We're still in Mongolia?

- Nah.

I think we're in China.

Just over the border.

Wouldn't suppose there'd be a Four

Seasons Hotel out here, would there?

Langhu, a few hundred miles

just due south of here.

Well out of walking range.

I could make it. I could walk to Langhu.

I'm in good shape. I

ran three marathons.

In a row, I hope.

Have you walked in the desert before?

I hiked in the Mojave

with my girlfriend.

This isn't the Mojave.

This is the Gobi. And let me warn you,

July is the hottest month in the Gobi.

You will be taking a pint of

water, and you'll sweat 10.

I'll just go by night.

You'd have to. But how

would you keep your course?

A compass.

Beyond these dunes, we are

surrounded by Altai Mountains.

And they are mostly magnetic rock.

Have you ever seen a compass dance?

What about this map?

I'll just take this map.

How old is that map, Captain?

Too old, the way the sand

shifts around here all the time.

And Captain Towns's calculations

could be off by 20 percent.

- No offense. I'm not saying that they are.

- None taken.

But even if the captain

is one percent in error...

and you march 300 miles by the stars...

you'd miss Langhu, and you wouldn't

even know it was there to miss.

You'd be walking in a circle.

- You're

right-handed? - Right.

That means your right leg's more developed

than your left. You take a longer step with it.

You'd be walking in

a left-handed circle.

You know what? Forget it,

all right? Y'all win, okay?

This isn't about winning or losing.

This is about staying alive.

Hey, Rod?

Hmm?

You don't-

You don't think the suit was right...

do you?

That I jinxed us or-

Don't worry about it,John.

Just try and get some sleep.

Maybe I should save this.

God!

Oh, man.

Hello?

Help me!

Kelly. You seen Davis this morning?

Knowing him, he's still sleeping.

- Go wake his ass up.

- Davis!

Get up, you big baby!

Davis!

- Wake your ass up, man.

- Davis?

Well?

His stuff s all here.

Any of you lads seen Davis this morning?

He's not there.

- This was you...

- Davis?

- telling him he jinxed us.

- Davis!

- Oh, come on. I didn't mean that.

- Quit screwing around!

- He couldn't have gone far.

- Could he? Could he?

- How the hell could we lose someone? Davis!

- John!

We should have paired up. Someone

should have been watching him.

Hey! Not another word

from you. You hear me?

- John!

- It's coming.

He's got to be out here

somewhere. I've got to go find him!

Too late, Rodney!

Hey! Get back here!

Right. I'm not losing another friend

out here. I have to go and find him!

No! No one else dies, understand?

He's only a kid, for Christ's sake!

- Alex! Alex!

- God!Jesus!John!

Alex! Towns is right! He's right!

- You can't help him!

- John!

- You can't.

- John!

What kind of odds do you give us

a search party's gonna find us?

About five percent.

Right. Five percent.

So, based on a five-percent chance...

you're gonna choose to sit

on your ass and do nothing?

As opposed to what?

Trying to figure a way out of here.

- Look, we are in the middle of a desert...

- Yes. I know.

with no radio, very little

water, even less food.

If we try to walk out of here,

we're gonna last about two days.

The odds of crashing an airplane

so I would consider myself an optimist.

Or maybe just an a**hole.

All right.

Listen, since Davis just disappeared,

they're pretty freaked out.

- They should be.

- They're looking to you.

Lady, this is not the Girl Scouts.

I am not everybody's den mother. They

are grown men. They can deal with it.

Thanks a lot.

You're welcome.

Kelly, please, come sit with me.

I'm just curious.

The pipe jacket in the back

- what's it all worth?

Not much. It's worn or used up. Nothing.

It's the same with the tools.

Why?

Hang on a minute.

You don't think anybody's coming.

Do you?

- Well, do you?

- I don't know, Alex.

Don't be pathetic.

I'm telling you, they're coming.

I know they are.

- For who,you?

- Yes, for me.

And for you.

They have a corporate

responsibility for all of us.

They're out there right now,

searching. It's just a matter of time.

recommending our site

be closed down, right?

Yes, I did.

Don't you think they'd do the same

thing before mounting a search for us?

Add it up.

Don't kid yourself,/an.

We hitched a ride with the trash...

not the other way around.

Screw this. I'm outta here.

Yeah, I'm coming with you,

and I'm taking some water.

No one touches the water!

Hey. Whoa. What's going on here?

- What does it look like?

- Hey!

- Get back here!

- Hey!

Hey, knock it off.

- Go back!

- Let go!

It's gone, you fools!

I have an idea.

I have an idea.

I can get us out of here.

I can get us out of here.

I've been examining the plane.

You see, the-

the C-119...

is a twin-boom design...

and the starboard boom

here isn't damaged...

which is great because if-if the

starboard engine stays where it is-

at the forward end

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