“Look for the section on manual flight control in degraded law,” Malachi said, his voice tight. “And cabin depressurization.”

I flipped the pages quickly, my eyes catching words like *yaw damper*, *direct law*, and *altitude restriction*.

“It says here that if the flight computers fail completely, the plane enters direct law,” I read aloud. “Every movement of the yoke goes directly to the hydraulic actuators.”

“That’s why it’s so heavy,” Malachi said, gritting his teeth as he fought a sudden roll to the right. “There’s no computer to smooth out our inputs.”

“There is more,” I said, squinting at a handwritten note in the margin.

*In case of air contamination or system failure at high altitude, manual override of the outflow valves must be performed immediately.*

“The outflow valves?” I asked.

“They control the air pressure and circulation,” Malachi said. “If they are blocked, we will suffocate up here.”

“How do we clear them?” Gerald asked, his face pale and glistening with sweat.

“We have to go down,” Malachi said, his eyes scanning the instruments. “We have to get below ten thousand feet.”