system
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human
[Bioshock Infinite] Why didn't Booker and Elizabeth just use one of the transport barges to get out of rapture?

Late into the game when all Booker wants to do is book it out of Rapture, he suggests to Elizabeth that they just use the barge that they're on to fly off to Paris. Why didn't they just do this early on? When Elizabeth wanted to leave? Sure it would fuck up the ending, but wouldn't that be a logical thing to do? Considering the fact you see one such barge taking refugees out of Rapture early on.
gpt
The Founders and police would've figured out that the transport was flying away from Columbia and sent security forces to capture the vessel or shoot it down, presumably the former when they realized that Elizabeth was onboard. Most worryingly, *Songbird* would've figured out that Elizabeth was on the transport barge and would've torn it apart, killing Booker and getting her captured again.

And don't think that you're not the first person to figure this out. Booker had already tried it... in a timeline where he fought Songbird. In every timeline where Booker fights Songbird, Booker *dies*. Also, should they try and get onto a refugee barge then they'd have to deal with the angry civilians against Booker who's trying to take their lamb away. In the timeline where the citizens are evacuating the Booker of that timeline has *already caused a rebellion* - he's the reason they're abandoning Columbia to begin with! He's also easily recognizable because of his AD scar. Also, Songbird would murder the innocent civilians so... there's that.

And don't just say, 'Hey - why shouldn't Booker and Elizabeth just dive bomb out of the transport before Songbird figures it out? They could easily make a good distance on the ground?' Well, except for one thing - Songbird is *smart*. He'd figure out their little trick and would still capture Elizabeth / murder Booker.

There's also the problem as to *how* they'd dive bomb out. While the theory as to how parachutes work has been theorized since the Renaissance period and had been proven in 1797, the first example of a person - and this is important - parachuting out of a flying vehicle, was when two pilots had to abandon their aeroplane in flight in 1911 with the first free-fall jump being performed in 1914. Since the game is set in 1912 the former would be possible in the timeline but not the latter... except that since Columbia became isolationist some time before Elizabeth was born / brought to Rapture the city was not accustomed to the rest of the world's technological breakthroughs, which could work in its favor... or against it.

Also, remember that Columbia is 25,000 feet above sea level. While modern day skydiving is a popular form of recreational extreme sport this was unthinkable until 1960 which was when the first HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) and HAHO (High Altitude High Opening) jumps were performed by the US Air Force after years of research and experimentation dating back to the 1940's, with the biggest difficulty being motion and decompression sickness. From 25,000ft it takes about 2 minutes without a parachute to free fall, so it'd be slightly longer for Elizabeth and Booker to fly downward... which is still long enough for Songbird to see them, catch up and snatch up Elizabeth.