Black Box Cassette 7: MSY to HOU

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## Black Box Cassette 7: MSY to HOU

### Air Date

23/09/2019

> *"There's two whole generations of people who didn't experience the Reckoning, and every year, it feels more and more abstract. Just a historical touchstone, I guess. A thing to teach."*
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This cassette is the recording of the Pilot's flight from New Orleans to Houston, done by the automatic black box recording system.

The Pilot begins by formally informing his passenger that she should let him know if she needs anything, and explains his less-than-ideal intercom system, a two-way radio. They say that they will be in Houston in under 45 minutes, and compares their plane to the high-class service she is probably used to. They speculate that she is in a hurry, based on her urgency to get on a cargo plane rather than wait for her private jet to arrive. They assure her that there will be a car waiting to pick her up and drive her to the office when they arrive in Houston.

They say (again) that it's an honour to have her aboard, given her work in building the Society, particularly along the Gulf, in Washington, and in Chicago, as well as her new projects in Toronto. The Pilot credits the historical status of the Reckoning as a thing of the past to her efforts. They personally attest to seeing a positive change in neighbourhoods because of KR Development.

They tell the story of a friend of theirs named Belle, who was one of the first to move in to one of KR's Washington developments during the early 60s. They signed up to the work skills programme available through the complex and became a certified aviation mechanic, and became, in the Pilot's opinion, the best in the business. They start to apologise for saying thank you in a way Roberts has already been thanked a thousand times, but then takes that back, refusing to regret sincere gratitude because human beings all need to feel supported. They go on a short tangent about why people choose career paths that put them in the spotlight, supposing that they must be predisposed to the attention. Getting back to Belle, they say that they are an excellent instructor and role model, and stuck with the company through good times and bad (though there weren't many bad) even to this day. They express to Karen that they hope she knows her privilege to be so praised and admired for her work, before realising they might be lecturing their boss and deciding to shut up.

Just before they began their descent, the Pilot asked Karen if she might be able to put them in touch with somebody who could help them. While in Little Rock, Arkansas, they were scheduled a delivery of crates into the Ouachita Mountains with no recipient address and almost no other information except greensheets with special delivery instructions that required a driver. The incident made them recall that before their wife left for the Cradle, they saw the name Ouachita in her planner by accident. They wanted to know whether anybody in KR Development could help them find Coleen's settlement, so that they could reunite with her and their kid. They suppose that if Karen told them, she'd have to kill them, and then goes back to flying their plane. They plan to contact Karen's assistant, Emma, tomorrow, just to "check" that everything is okay, and receive any messages she might have for them. They thank her one last time.