<div class="floatleft">(http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/f/fa/Mars_test.jpg)</div><table class="bbc_table"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Character name:</strong></td><td>Lt Colonel Louise Cotter</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Location:</strong> </td><td>On the aircraft</td></tr><tr><td><strong>With:</strong> </td><td>Alone for the moment</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Doing:</strong> </td><td>Preflight checks</td></tr></tbody></table><br/><hr/><br/>Louise ran through the pre-flight check list on her implant quickly. The craft used the standard US Airforce pilot-interface that had been adopted by air forces and airlines across the world, and now, she chuckled softly at the thought, across two worlds.<br/><br/>Being jacked in to the plane's on-board computer meant she could communicate with it just by thinking. There were manual controls to fly the old fashioned way, but no-one ever used them any more. To a civilian, it was a scary sight - it looked for all the world that the plane was flying itself while the pilot and co-pilot were asleep!<br/><br/>Louise contacted the base AI and requested public address in the suiting up room only.<br/><br/><strong>"Your attention please, ladies and gentlemen. Martian Airways flight zero zero one to Olympus Mons is now ready for boarding. Would all passengers in seat rows one and two - that's everyone, by the way - please make your way to the hanger, where the flight attendant will direct you to your seats. Thank you."</strong>The flight attendant had literally just that second reported his presence on the aircraft.