The plane rumbled in a way that unnerved him. He was unable to explain away the crackling of this overnight transatlantic with his usual calming inner voice. There’s no way that sound could have been normal.

He tugged his necktie a little looser and peered over his seat back at the sparsely populated first class section. The two other passengers were fully reclined and sleeping soundly in the darkened cabin.

The plane then dropped what felt like a hundred feet. His stomach told him that he was suspended in zero gravity for what seemed an eternity.

The crackling became louder, and he could now identify that it was coming from the cockpit.

A dark-haired flight attendant rushed from one of the curtains at the rear of first class, heading toward the front of the plane. She had been very mild and attentive to the comfort of the passengers up to this point, but now didn’t acknowledge anyone’s presence.

She had the face of someone trying desperately to convince herself that everything would be alright.