"Dear passengers, the aircraft has landed at the airport and is taxiing. For your safety and the safety of others, please do not stand up or open the overhead bins..."
As the flight attendants announced their arrival, the plane on the runway approached the end of the runway and slowly came to a stop.
The passengers on the plane instantly relaxed.
Most people in Interstellar Spacetime have never been on an airplane.
So while the plane was in the air, everyone was on edge, fearing something might happen.
Even the Murphy family is the same.
Cooper is an astronaut, but that doesn't mean his family will have the opportunity to go to space.
Donald rose from his seat, picked up his bags and suitcases, briefly said goodbye to his friends with whom he had been chatting, and then looked at his two grandsons.
Murphy and Tom were both staring out the window, their eyes fixed on the view without blinking.
Is this the country where Dad works?
"An airport? I've heard Dad mention it. Are there a lot of planes here?"
"Yes, Murphy." Donald picked up his granddaughter. "Airports are for parking planes. If we get off now, we might see even more planes."
"Has Grandpa ever flown on an airplane before?"
"Of course I've flown on them, but I was very young then and don't remember what it felt like at all... But I do remember that the planes back then were much cleaner than they are now."
Donald stepped over a bag of luggage in the aisle; in his memory, this place was more like the Greyhound buses and cheap trains that used to run across state lines.
Murphy believed Donald because she sensed that her grandfather's legs were trembling a bit after the flight, just like everyone else's.
Carrying their luggage, the family of three disembarked from the chaotic plane and looked up at the sky, which was still gray and dusty, seemingly no different from North America.
The flight attendants did give them a disposable mask, which provided some protection for their noses.
But the situation on the ground is vastly different from that in North America.
Many planes were parked on the runways inside the airport, some preparing for takeoff, and others, like these, had just landed, with their flight attendants disembarking.
Besides modern passenger planes, Murphy also saw some propeller planes parked on the runway. Although these planes were technologically old, they didn't require much...
It doesn't have very demanding takeoff and landing conditions; all you need is a flat surface, making it very suitable for the current situation.
Outside the runway, many ground crew members were busy among the various aircraft, creating a scene that looked both professional and bustling.
"Looks very busy."
"There seem to be more people in this airport than all the people around our farm combined."
Murphy said.
Donald nodded. "You're right. There are at least several thousand people here. Even North America can have flights every two weeks. We can't do without enough manpower."
Donald has never forgotten this.
A week earlier, they were picked up from their home by members of the Mutual Aid Society in North America. They then traveled by car to an abandoned and later reopened airport, where they learned there were regular flights available every two weeks to cross the Pacific Ocean.
He was extremely surprised at that time.
No one expected that in the lifeless North America, there would be an intercontinental airport outside of official control.
Furthermore, a security force is quietly guarding the area around the airport.
That's right, it's about protecting...
"Look there!" Tom suddenly pointed in a direction.
Murphy looked up and saw a group of soldiers in neat rows, wearing strange black armor, loading cargo onto the plane. Each of them could carry a large box, and in no time they had stuffed all the cargo on the ground into the cabin.
That box looked very heavy; I don't know how those people had such strength.
Donald had figured out a bit of the trick, but he didn't know how to explain it to his two children.
Tom simply thought the exoskeleton suit looked cool.
The three of them left the airport with the crowd, where people were already waiting outside.
The people on the same flight as them were mostly family members of the core members of the North America Branch, or scholars and professors who were already very famous before the apocalypse.
Everyone is going to different places.
Donald, with his two children, found the bus they needed to take according to the number, and then continued to walk up with their large bags of luggage.
As soon as he entered, he sensed that something was wrong with the atmosphere inside.
Besides them, there were other foreign faces like them inside.
Moreover, these people's clothes were embroidered with their respective national flags...
Donald glanced at it briefly, and his heart couldn't stop pounding.
He sped up, pretending he hadn't seen anything, and quickly found a seat with his two children.
Almost all of those people were from Europe, or from South Asia or the Middle East!
In particular, a short Europe woman with two national flags embroidered on her chest put immense pressure on him with just a glance.
These people are not to be trifled with!
If they found out that these people were from North America and had robbed them before, they'd probably be torn to pieces in the car!
Fortunately, although their combination of an old man and two children was strange, it didn't catch the eye of those people, so no one tried to get information out of them.
The car started quickly.
As they drove along the road, Murphy and Tom quietly asked about their destination.
Donald told them the truth: their car was heading to a space base where their father, Cooper, was waiting for them.
After meeting once, they will be settled in cities surrounding the space center and live normal lives.
Hearing that they could see their father again, the two children were overjoyed and became noticeably more lively, constantly discussing the various sights outside along the way.
Donald was also somewhat surprised by what he saw outside.
He was surprised to see industrial zones on both sides of the road, with factories operating and workers waiting for buses every now and then.
That's right, they've even rebuilt the public transportation system here.
Even in North America cities, public transportation systems have long since collapsed, with subways buried in sand. To get around, you either have to drive, cycle, or simply rely on your own two feet.
In addition to the factory, Donald also saw essential facilities such as schools and hospitals, all of which were operating normally.
The hospital entrance was packed with people, and students could be seen running around in the school.
There were even ambulances running along the road, carrying patients who had been transported from who-knows-where...
For a fleeting moment, Donald thought he had returned to a wonderful time before all of this had happened.
Donald didn't come to his senses until the bus screeched to a halt outside the space base.
He picked up the bags and packages beside him again, looked out the window, and immediately spotted his son-in-law Cooper walking towards him with a big smile.