The flight seemed perfect, but suddenly something went wrong.

Pilot Jake Morrison and co-pilot Maria Santos were enjoying a quiet conversation as they flew over the desert, the plane flying smoothly. Sarah Chen, Elon Musk’s assistant, was fast asleep, leaning against the window, exhausted from the relentless work of the past few days. Elon, at her side, had just finished reviewing notes for his upcoming meetings in Reno. The tranquility of the flight was abruptly interrupted by a screeching sound and the turning on of red lights on the cockpit dashboard.

“What the hell?” Jake muttered, while Maria, her voice shaking, shouted, “The left engine is overheating! The temperature is off the scale!”

Then, a huge bang. The left engine exploded, releasing a cloud of black smoke that began to pour out of the wing. The plane began to shake violently. Sarah woke with a start, Elon’s coffee splashing on her laptop, as panic began to spread through the cockpit.

“What’s happening?” Sarah screamed, gripping the armrests as the plane shook.

“Look outside,” Elon said calmly, staring at the smoke pouring from the engine. “Engine broken. Stay tied up.”

Jake took the radio microphone. “Mayday, mayday! This is Gulfstream N628TS, we have lost the left engine and are losing altitude rapidly!”

Maria looked at her tablet, searching for a place to land. “The closest airport is Las Vegas,” she said, “but it’s over 200 miles. We’ll never make it.”

“Is there anything closer?” Jake asked, sweat dripping from his forehead.

Maria pointed to a small line on the map. “Carson Valley Airstrip. It’s old and abandoned, but it’s only 20 miles away.”

“Abandoned?” Jake frowned. “The trail might be in ruins.”

“It’s the only option we have,” Maria replied determinedly.

The plane crashed again, this time harder. Sarah screamed as Elon, trying to stay calm, made his way to the cockpit.

“How bad is it?” Elon asked, looking at Jake.

“Serious,” Jake replied. “The left engine is dead and the right engine is overheating. We’ve got maybe five minutes before we lose that, too.”

Elon looked at Maria’s map. “We’re going to Carson Valley. We have no choice.”

—

The old airstrip rose on the horizon, a lonely gray streak in the middle of the sun-scorched desert. Elon noticed something strange: a rusty hangar with the door ajar and behind it, an old truck parked in the sand.

“There’s someone down there,” Elon muttered.

Maria looked at the hangar and shook her head. “That’s impossible. This place has been abandoned for decades.”

The plane descended sharply, hitting the runway hard. The wheels scraped against the cracked concrete, as the plane tilted dangerously toward the hangar. After a disastrous landing, the plane finally came to rest in the sand.

A deep silence filled the air, broken only by the sound of steam rising from the overheating engines. “Are we okay?” Elon asked, his voice shaking.

Sarah touched her forehead, where a small wound was bubbling. “I think so,” she said, shaking. Jake and Maria quickly checked themselves: bruised, but unharmed.

“We’re not flying from here anymore,” Jake said, looking at the dead engines.

Elon stepped out of the plane into the hot desert sun. The air was heavy with the smell of burnt metal. He tried calling on his phone, but there was no signal. Jake tried the plane’s radio, but it was also useless, probably damaged on impact.

His gaze returned to the hangar. The truck had new tires, and there were fresh wheel tracks leading toward the building. “Someone’s here,” he said.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Maria replied. “Why would anyone live here?”

“We’ll find out soon enough,” Elon said, starting to walk toward the hangar.

—

The hangar creaked as Elon opened it. Inside, the air was cool but stale, with the smell of dust and oil filling the space. Sunlight filtered through the cracks in the roof, illuminating pieces of abandoned planes scattered across the floor. But deep down, something caught Elon’s eye: a sleek rocket engine, hidden under a canvas blanket.

He lifted the blanket, revealing an engine of unknown design, with strange etchings on its surface. It looked decades ahead of anything SpaceX had ever developed.

“What is this?” Elon whispered.

“Hi, Elon,” said a voice behind him.

Elon whirled. A man stepped out of the shadows. His face was gaunt, his hair gray, his clothes dusty. But his eyes were sharp, and Elon recognized them immediately.

“Tom Bradley?” Elon’s jaw dropped. “You were supposed to be dead!”

Tom smiled faintly. “Not dead. Just… gone.”

Tom Bradley had been one of SpaceX’s top engineers before he disappeared in a rocket explosion five years ago. Everyone thought he had died in the accident. But there he was, alive and standing in an abandoned hangar in the desert.

“What the hell happened to you?” Elon asked, still in shock.

Tom sighed. “The explosion didn’t kill me, but it changed everything. I was burned, broken. When I got out of the hospital, I couldn’t face the world anymore. So I came here, to disappear.”

Elon pointed to the rocket engine. “What is this? What is it?”

Tom’s eyes lit up. “It’s a fusion engine. Compact, efficient, and powerful enough to get a rocket to Mars in half the time.”

Elon began to think about how such an invention would revolutionize space travel. “Why didn’t you share this with anyone?”

Tom’s eyes darkened. “Because people would use it for the wrong reasons. Governments, corporations… they’d weaponize it or hoard it for themselves. I couldn’t let that happen.”

Before Elon could respond, Sarah’s voice echoed from outside. “Elon! Something’s wrong with Jake!”

They ran outside, where Jake lay on the ground, pale and sweating. “Dehydration,” Tom said after a quick assessment. “He needs water and rest.”

Tom went to get some water from his lab, but when he returned, Elon noticed Maria typing something on her phone. He looked at the screen: “Mission complete. Package delivered.”

“What the hell does this mean?” Elon asked.

Maria froze and then slowly turned to face him. Her calm demeanor disappeared, replaced by an icy coolness. “I work for the Chinese government,” she said. “They wanted your rocket plans—and now they’ll want that fusion engine, too.”

Elon’s blood ran cold. “You sabotaged the plane.”

Maria smiled. “I didn’t expect to find anything even better.”

Without anyone to react, Maria pulled out a gun and pointed it at Tom. “Give me the fusion device,” she ordered.

Tom hesitated, then took a compact, shiny object from inside his pocket. “This is what you want,” he said.

Maria’s eyes shone with greed. “Put it down. Slowly.”

But instead of obeying, Tom threw the device into the air. It rolled like a coin, catching the sunlight, then crashed to the ground and shattered into pieces.

“No!” Maria screamed, lunging forward, but it was too late. The fusion device was destroyed.

Tom turned to Elon with a sly smile. “Luckily I always do backups.”

Elon looked at him and then burst out laughing. “You’re a sneaky genius.”

In the distance, the sound of approaching helicopters grew louder. The rescue team was on its way, but a storm of questions, secrets, and challenges was also brewing. As the first helicopter landed, kicking up a cloud of dust, Elon looked at Tom and said, “We’re going to change the world. Together.”

Tom nodded, his eyes full of hope for the first time in years. “Let’s get to work.”