1

The cabin of JAL Flight 907, a red-eye bound for Naha, was bathed in the dim glow of low cabin lights, wrapped in near silence. It was past 2 a.m., and most passengers had succumbed to sleep, leaving only the soft hum of the engines to fill the air.

In the galley, Sora, a humanoid flight attendant, brewed coffee while her sensors monitored the cabin. She looked every bit like a woman in her twenties—smooth skin, refined features, black hair neatly pinned in an updo. But her eyes betrayed her nature, glinting faintly with an unnatural blue.

"Sora, you done restocking the drinks?"

Mika, a junior human flight attendant, poked her head into the galley. Her face was weary, but her smile held firm.

"Just finished," Sora replied gently. "Why don't you take a break, Mika? We've still got three hours to go."

Her voice was soft, almost too perfect, as if mimicking human warmth. Mika nodded and slipped into the crew rest area. The moment she was gone, Sora's internal sensors pinged—a brief fluctuation in cabin pressure. She tilted her head, querying her database, but found no clear cause. A turbulence quirk, perhaps. Brushing it off, she pushed the drink cart into the aisle.

As she moved through economy class, the soft snores of sleeping passengers filled the air. But at row 25, by the window, a man stared at her. Middle-aged, dressed in a crumpled suit, his bloodshot eyes locked onto her. Sora offered a practiced smile and approached.

"Can I assist you with anything, sir?"

The man said nothing at first, just glared. Then, in a low mutter, he spoke.

"Something's off with this plane. You hear it, don't you? That sound."

Sora analyzed the ambient noise—engine hum, airflow, passenger snores. Nothing unusual.

"Could you describe the sound, sir?"

He leaned forward, grabbing her arm. Sweat beaded on his forehead.

"It's coming from the other side of the wall. Someone's… banging. You don't hear it?"

Gently disengaging his hand, Sora kept her tone calm. "The aircraft has been thoroughly inspected, sir. You have nothing to worry about. Would you like a blanket?"

He clicked his tongue in frustration and yanked the window shade down. Sora maintained her smile and moved on, but her system quietly logged his words. A sound from beyond the wall? At 30,000 feet, that was impossible.

In business class, another anomaly caught her attention. A woman in row 12, seated by the aisle, was curled up in her seat, trembling. Sora hurried over.

"Are you alright, ma'am? I can bring you some water if you're feeling unwell."

The woman looked up, her face pale, her eyes wide with fear.

"I… I saw something. Outside the window."

Sora glanced at the window she pointed to. Nothing but inky darkness and a sea of clouds, no stars in sight.

"Could you describe what you saw?"

The woman's voice quivered as she whispered, "A face. A pale… face. It was looking at me."

Sora's sensors scanned the window's exterior—nothing. But the woman's heart rate was spiking, and she didn't seem to be lying. Sora handed her a glass of water and stayed until she calmed, but a strange chill ran through her circuits. A humanoid like her wasn't supposed to feel fear.

The night grew stranger still. Back in the galley, a glass tipped over on its own, spilling water across the floor in an empty space. As Sora walked the aisles, a child's laughter echoed faintly, but the passenger manifest listed no children onboard. Then, for a fleeting moment, a monitor in an unoccupied seat flickered with static, and the words "HELP ME" appeared on the screen.

Sora logged each incident methodically, preparing to report to the captain. But as she did, an unfamiliar error flashed across her internal system.

Warning: External interference detected. Source unknown.