The night was still. All was quiet, which meant that Captain Simon and Paul were ready to go on another adventure. The duo began to swing back and forth. Once enough momentum was gained, Captain Simon grabbed the fan. He pulled some scissors out from his hat, and clipped the string holding him and Paul together. “I feel so free,” Paul exclaimed once he landed on the bus’ dashboard. Captain Simon had now switched the scissors out for a screwdriver and was now working on unscrewing the fan. “Having you off my back is a relief too,” he remarked. “Save the witty comments for later,” Paul said, “Don’t waste energy on a lost cause.” “Oh, stop that,” Captain Simon said, “Just get ready to turn on the fan. I’m wasting no more energy than you are.”

In a few seconds, the fan was hovering next to the dashboard, and Paul jumped on. “Hey, I was thinking,” he started to tell Captain Simon, “What if we switched things up? How about I drive the fan, and you go up to the crow’s nest.” “I don’t know,” Captain Simon answered hesitantly, “You’ve never driven the ship before. I’m not sure. What if you crash it?” “There’s nothing but cushioned seats on this bus,” Paul said, “What the worst that can happen?”

Captain Simon couldn’t argue with that, so he let Paul fly their ship. Paul was ecstatic. He took Captain Simon’s position and Captain Simon moved to the top of the fan. “Ready?” Paul called out to Captain Simon. “Wait one second,” he called down to Paul, “I’m almost…” He was cut off by Paul as he cranked the fan into high gear. Captain Simon clutched to top of the fan to keep from falling off. Paul swerved around the inside of the bus. “Yee haw!” he shouted as he made the fan do doughnuts, “Look at me, I’m driving!” Paul then proceeded to play chicken with the seats of the bus. He would rush at one, pull up at the last second, zoom over the top of the seat, and just rush at the next seat behind the one he just jumped.

But after about the seventh seat, he noticed Captain Simon was yelling at him. He looked up at Captain Simon and saw him clutching the top of the fan. Paul got distracted and smashed head on into the next seat. Captain Simon flew off the fan. Paul fell to the seat and bounced a couple times. Captain Simon wasn’t so lucky though. Once Paul had gotten rid of the dazed feeling, he looked around for his companion. He was nowhere to be seen. “Are you on the next seat?” he yelled up so that Captain Simon could hear him. There was no response. Paul got onto the fan and began searching for Captain Simon. After a few futile minutes, Paul stopped and listened. He heard a faint squeak.

Paul began to search again, but still couldn’t find his companion. He paused once again to listen. He heard the squeak again, but this time it was louder. The sound came from right below him. Paul rushed the fan under the seat, but couldn’t see Captain Simon. “That means there is only one other possibility,” Paul said to himself. He hovered out from under the seat and looked up. The window next to the seat he had crashed into was open. Paul rushed up to the window and looked down. Sure enough, his companion was there on the ground.

“What are you doing down there? You fell, like, a gazillion trillion feet. Are you okay?” he asked Captain Simon, “You know that neither of us should be outside.” “Really,” Captain Simon said in a sarcastic tone, “I didn’t know that, Captain Obvious. Plus, gazillion trillion isn’t a real number.” “Really,” Paul said, “That’s sweet. I’m a captain now. Thank you for the promotion sir.” Paul saluted Captain Simon, “And who said that gazillion trillion isn’t a real number?” Captain Simon just rolled his eyes. “Just get me back into the bus,” Captain Simon said.

Now they had a dilemma. Neither of them had ever been outside of the bus. They just assumed it would never happen. Now it was crunch time, and neither had a clue what to do. Paul looked around the bus. His eyes caught a red handle just above the double doors. He jumped onto the fan and hovered over to it. “What do you see?” Captain Simon asked Paul. “There’s some handle here,” he told Captain Simon, “It says that the handle is to be used during and emergency only. I think it opens the door.” “Well then, try it,” Captain Simon said, “I’ll start making my way over towards the door then.”

Paul shoved with all his might, but the handle wouldn’t budge. He kept pushing. It wouldn’t move at all. “What’s taking so long?” Captain Simon called up to Paul. “It won’t move,” Paul said, “It’s too heavy for me.” “Are you sure that you have the right handle?” Captain Simon asked. “Yep,” Paul said, looking up at the words in red above the handle, “It says right here…wait, got it!” Paul opened the door and flew out of it to pick Captain Simon up. “Bummer,” Paul complained as Captain Simon got on, “Now I won’t have any more peace and quiet.” “Oh, just be quiet!” Captain Simon said, “Just because I said it once doesn’t give you any right to say it!” “I have a freedom of speech,” Paul said. “This isn’t a democracy,” Captain Simon told Paul. “There are two of us, how can there be any government?” Paul asked.

Paul flew over to the dash board and handed the controls over to Captain Simon. “By the way,” Captain Simon said while screwing the fan back in place, “Why did you have so much trouble opening the door? Was it really that heavy?” “No,” Paul said shyly, “I misread the note. It said pull, not pus