Barney said something else, but the noise of the other voices drowned it out, and then above them all, Joel shouted, “Quiet!” The voices fell away, the silence almost as full of shock as the babbling had been. Tom looked across the aisle to where Joel was also half-dangling over the drop, like they were on some particularly extreme roller coaster.

He had everyone’s attention now and Joel turned awkwardly in his seat and said, “Okay, is anyone in this section hurt? Check the people next to you. Or if you’re hurt yourself, speak up.”

There was a flurry of responses as they relayed what seemed incredible, that no one had gotten any serious injuries.

The noise seemed once again in danger of building into a barrage of conflicting voices, but Joel put his hand in the air, silencing them. “Okay, quiet again. I think we’ve crashed in the rain forest or jungle, so it could be a while before a rescue party arrives, but that means we have to stay calm and organized.”

Chloe’s voice came from behind, saying, “Where’s the rest of the plane?” It was as if she’d only just noticed it was missing.

“Gone,” said Chris, no longer sounding like much of a joker. “It just tore off.”

“So there could be other survivors.”

No one answered her. Then Joel said, “Me and Chris’ll climb down and see what the ground’s like below.”

Chris was quick to say, “Why? I think we should stay on the plane.”

Barney leaned forward to look at Joel. “We should all get down, if it’s safe.” He looked up at the dull glow of the safety lights. “There’s still electricity coming from somewhere, maybe the auxiliary power unit, which means there could be an electrical fire—until we’re absolutely sure there isn’t, we should all be out of the plane.”

Shen was sitting across the aisle from Barney and said, “It’s strange that the lights are working at all.”

Barney started to reply, but Joel cut in, saying, “Okay, you’re right. But I still want to check the ground out first.”

He released his seat belt and looked forward, like a nervous kid on the edge of a diving board, but Barney said, “Whoa, don’t even think about jumping down there.” Joel looked at him. “The cargo hold’s below us, so that’s a ten-foot drop, onto a fuselage that’s just been torn apart. There could be jagged edges, all kinds of debris.”

“So I’ll climb down,” said Joel.

“Or you could use the doors behind us. If we can get one open, we’ll be able to engage the emergency slide.”

“Okay. You come with me.” He swung out of his seat onto the safety of the aisle floor. “I’ll check outside. But everyone turn your phones on. You never know, one of us might just get a signal.”