Flying Burger (19 page)

"Oh my god!" Chen Wei blurted out.

Nikita smiled secretly to herself. Melissa was holding the sides of her stomach to prevent from bursting in laughter.

“Melissa, why are you holding your stomach? Are you painful?” Antonio asked innocently.

"She's biting her lips. Of course it must be painful," Samuel giggled.

“Melissa, what is so ticklish? Share the joke with all of us,” Mrs. Andersen said.

Melissa just shook her head and could not utter a single word. She finally burst out laughing. She did not stop laughing even when she reached the top of the watch tower. She saw the big Rainbow Lake, mushroom houses in the distance, Cognos Volcano with a conveyor belt going up to the top. Rainbow in the horizon. It was a spectacular sight indeed! The group finally came down from the watch tower. Shela transformed her body back to her original - cherub.

"Er, excuse me, your wing," Mrs. Andersen pointed out to Shela that one of her wings was not transformed properly. It was still a butterfly wing. Shela quickly changed her molecular arrangement for that wing.

"Your feelers also," Samuel pointed out to Shela. After everything was completed, this group made their way to Rainbow Lodge. As they approached the reception counter, a friendly face greeted them.

“Welcome to Rainbow Lodge. Please make yourself at home. Could I get some refreshments for all of you?” the receptionist at the information counter asked.

“Please do, thank you,” Shela answered. She then led the group to a map hanging on the wall nearby.

“This is the Rainbow Splash and the Rainbow Pedal, and that is the Rainbow Bumper and Rainbow Rower. Oh! I almost forgot, we have the Rainbow Kite over here.” Shela pointed to a few spots on the map and introduced it to our curious visitors.

“I want to play the Rainbow Splash and the Rainbow Kite!” Antonio begged, always ready for fun.

“These are our most popular attractions. Every Aborean has tried these at least once. You will love it.” Shela brought the whole group to Rainbow Splash platform by the lake. There were many big transparent rainbow coloured balls floating near the platform. Each ball could only accommodate one person. Shela helped Antonio to get into one ball, strapped him securely using the attached safety belts inside and closed the door. She helped the rest of the group into other balls and despatched them one at a time. These balls were caught up by a conveyor belt going up towards the volcano top. When the balls reach the top, they followed a U-shape, narrow and winding path down to the bottom and right into Rainbow Lake! On the way down, each person experienced a world gone topsy-turvy amidst rainbow colours. Everybody screamed at the top of their lungs!

When Captain Jessie came out from the ball and walked down from the platform, she immediately sat down on the sandy ground to recover herself. Mrs. Andersen did the same. Only the kids were still active and made their way to the party table where Shela was standing. Much food was on the party table and the kids helped themselves to the food. Nikita was the last person to step out from the ball and the only person to fall into the lake! She screamed and yelled that she couldn’t swim! Chen Wei dashed up the platform in three steps and jumped into the waters to save her. He was a life-guard in the academy’s swimming team and well-versed in life-rescue. Before long, he had Nikita out of the lake and lying unconscious on sandy ground. Captain Jessie also rushed to help and performed first aid on her.

A few minutes passed before Nikita regained consciousness. Captain Jessie instructed Chen Wei to piggy-back Nikita back to the Lodge for a more thorough medical examination. When Nikita was gently placed on Chen Wei's broad back, she felt extremely happy to be so close to her dream guy, one who even saved her life! She felt she was tasting a big bowl of honey at this point in time.

Back at Rainbow Lodge, Captain Jessie performed a detailed medical examination using a scanner, and was relieved that Nikita was perfectly all right except for a minor shock and over-consumption of chlorinated water. Rainbow Lake contained a slightly higher percentage of chlorine.

Chen Wei walked out of the changing room dressed in a funny Aborean singlet and long pants. Shela had given these to him, seeing his space uniform was wet totally. Chen Wei's swimmer physique was apparent to all curious eyes. Nikita stared admiringly at his sun-tanned muscular arms. "Oh! my hero," she thought to herself. She quickly lowered her head when Chen Wei turned in her direction.

Just at this time, Antonio suddenly kicked up a fuss.

"So painful! My finger is bleeding," his tears were streaming down his face.

"Where? Let me take a look," Mrs. Andersen was most anxious.

"What happened?" Captain Jessie asked.

"I pricked my finger while touching the flowers there," Antonio pointed to a pot of pretty flowers on a side-table by the window.

Captain Jessie came over and examined his thumb, which oozed a drop of blood.

"Oh, it's just a minor injury. A plaster should do the job. Mrs. Andersen, could you please get a plaster from the first-aid box?"

Mrs. Andersen walked over to Antonio with a box of plaster in her hand. She took a plaster out from the box and quickly applied it on Antonio's wound. To make the treatment more complete, she blew a little on his thumb.

"There you go, as good as new," Mrs. Andersen said softly.

She took a tissue paper and wiped away the tears on Antonio's face. The little fellow shot up both arms indicating his wish to be carried. Mrs. Andersen carried and hugged him tight. She patted him gently on his back. "It's all right now..., no more painful..., no more," she soothed him. Antonio calmed down after a while. Before long, a tiny smile appeared on his face.

Suddenly, Samuel also kicked up a fuss. He held up his right thumb which was flickering with red light! This was a toy for kids which was meant to be worn around the finger and inside it, there was an electrical circuit. Once it was switched on, the red lights inside would flicker.

"So painful," Samuel imitated Antonio with a wailing sound. Almost everyone laughed, except Mrs. Andersen. Glaring at Samuel, Mrs. Andersen ordered, "come here!" Samuel quickly hid behind Chen Wei and stuck out his head to look. He was saved by Shela who interrupted at this time.

“I have to tell you that you need to get back to your star-ship now and prepare for your return journey. I have a cloaking device here called a black-box. It will help your star-ship to enter the white hole and return to where you came from. Just push the green button to activate this device when you approach the white hole. Push the red button to stop.” Shela handed the black-box to Captain Jessie.

“Thank you so much Shela, for your hospitality. We will always remember you.” Captain Jessie thanked the amiable host.

 “Thank you Shela, for a wonderful time and experience. Come on kids, bid Shela good bye,” Mrs. Andersen told the kids.

The kids waved good bye to Shela. Before she sent them off, she handed a box of refreshments to Chen Wei. Shela then proceeded to connect with DATA onboard BURGER123 by telepathy. A short while passed before Mrs. Andersen's entire group returned safely to the spaceship. In the command deck, Chen Wei opened the refreshment box to find a wide variety of food inside. Strawberry fruit-cake, strawberry ice-cream, strawberry cocktail, strawberry candy, and strawberry tart. He handed a strawberry tart to Nikita first before distributing the rest to the other crew members. Nikita was exhilarated. Captain Baldwin was checking on everyone to make sure that all was well. His wife, Captain Jessie, handed him the black-box device.

“I’m glad everyone returned safely,” Captain Baldwin was relieved.

At this point in time, Shela appeared at the cockpit window waving to everybody. She looked a little sad this time.

“Greetings Captain Baldwin. The white hole, Kitora, will appear directly above Rainbow Lodge in twenty minutes’ time. You need to activate the black-box device now and then re-compute your travel co-ordinates. I will feed the computing parameters to DATA. It has been my pleasure to see all of you. Hope that you will come back again. Farewell, my friends!”

“Farewell. Thank you for everything!” Captain Baldwin said. Shela waved a last good bye and flew off into the distance, flapping her wings gracefully.

“DATA, perform technical scan on this black-box,” Captain Baldwin ordered.

“Affirmative.” A scanner beam shone on the black-box.

“This device is made of unknown elements. Internal architecture suggests it to be a force-field generator. Perhaps this could help us withstand the extreme external gravity inside a white hole,” DATA reported.

BURGER123’s propulsion engine came to life and ascended the sky steadily. It headed for Kitora and after a fleeting second was approaching the white hole.

“Crew members, we are about to enter a white hole, something which we have never done before. Everybody, execute emergency procedure 199!” Captain Baldwin ordered.

He then pressed the green button on the black-box device. BURGER123 was immediately enveloped by an alien force-field. This force-field was able to absorb light and hence, the star-ship appeared black - a black burger!

 “Approaching white hole in thirty seconds. Three, two, one….entering white hole Kitora. External brightness, one million lumens. External gravity, one point eight million G. Radiation level, deadly. Life support system, stable,” DATA reported.

At this moment, the star-ship shook a little. Every crew member had their safety belts fastened securely. Before anyone knew it, the star-ship had reached the opening of a black hole in our universe. BURGER123 began to climb out of this black hole. It traversed the 'event horizon’ once more. The same phenomenon of ‘slow motion’ happened again.

“Nnottt…..aaggaain…..” Mrs. Andersen took thirty minutes to complete her sentence! Once the star-ship reached the outer limit of the 'event horizon', Captain Baldwin gave the order to pull away to a safe distance.

“We just exit from black hole, MGROJ-1655-40,” DATA reported.

“Look at the clock, it has just begun to move from the time when we first entered a black hole,” Melissa said.

“Time stood still when we entered black hole, Cygnus X-1. The time spent at Aborea was not recorded by our clock. This is a bizarre characteristic of black hole,” DATA explained.

“Oh gosh,” Melissa said.

“Mrs. Andersen, you still look as young as ever,” Nikita remarked.

"Oh really?" She touched her face. The mature lady was so happy and excited that she dashed out of command deck to look for a mirror! Everybody laughed.

“Well, this black-box device seems to have done a good job of getting us out of deep trouble!” Captain Baldwin pushed the red button on the black-box to deactivate it.

“The force-field generated by this device absorbs light, is anti-gravity in nature and also a radiation shield. That is why we were able to exit Aborea, travel through another tunnel, and get out at the other end from black hole, MGROJ-1655-40, to return to our galaxy,” DATA explained.

“I will give this box to Technical Department to incorporate it into future star-ship design,” Captain Baldwin decided.

“Take us home, DATA.”

“Affirmative.”

BURGER123 began its return journey home.

Back in the privacy of their sleeping quarters, Nikita and Melissa were busy talking.

“Are you sure it was Captain Jessie who did the CPR? Not Chen Wei?” Nikita asked.

"What's CPR?" Melissa asked.

"CPR stands for cardio-pulmonary resuscitation. Haven't you heard of it before?" Nikita was incredulous.

"Oh! You mean the mouth-to-mouth thing! Nope, I have not heard of it before," Melissa said.

“I remembered it was Chen Wei who saved me from the waters.”

“Chen Wei saved you from the waters at Rainbow Lake, but Captain Jessie performed CPR on you. Are you hoping Chen Wei to be the one who did it?” Melissa asked in jest.

At these words, Nikita blushed like a red tomato!

Melissa hugged her caterpillar bolster to her chest and peered at her good friend. “Oh gosh, I knew it! You were hoping Chen Wei to be the one to perform CPR on you. How could you be so naughty?” Melissa teased.

“Have you tried using your magic ring to make Chen Wei fall in love with you?” Melissa asked.

“Nope,” came the reply.

“I don’t believe you. Come on, out with it.” Melissa got up from where she was and made the action of trying to tickle her friend’s waist.

“Ok, ok. I tried once and I got a terrible headache,” Nikita admitted.

Both girls giggled helplessly.

Chapter 15

After leaving Aborea, the star-ship BURGER123 travelled through space for what seemed like eternity. It travelled at warp speed for nearly five hours. It was a peaceful, uneventful day. Nothing much happened, except.....

BURGER123 was scheduled to arrive home at 8:00 hours early tomorrow morning. The children had retired to their sleeping quarters. Melissa went into the bathroom to shower. Each quarter had its own separate bathroom. Melissa was showering half-way, when she realised she had no more shampoo left and yelled to Nikita for help. Nikita searched her belongings but couldn’t find any shampoo either, so she went to borrow from the guys next door.

In the guys’ quarters, Chen Wei was reclining on his bed and deeply engrossed in his electronic game. Both Antonio and Samuel stood by the window. Looking out of the window, they saw only long needles of white light flashing past them. They were bored and Samuel suggested playing with their robotic spiders, to see whose was the champion.

“My spider is the tarantula,” Antonio said.

“Mine is the black widow,” Samuel replied.

“See which one is the winner. Let’s begin,” Antonio begged.

“All right.”

‘Spider Combat’ originated in ancient times and live specimens were used in the beginning. Usually, the champion spider was aggressive, had bright colours and powerful fangs. Now, robotic spiders replaced live creatures. These mechanical spiders resembled the real thing, in size and form. Not only did they move equally fast but they also responded to attacks with equal ferocity. These robotic spiders were controlled by a remote control box.

Antonio and Samuel sat on the floor and took out their robotic spiders. Each boy put his combat spider carefully on the floor, facing the opponent. After which, both boys began to manipulate their remote controls with dexterity. The tarantula was bigger than its opponent and had a black body. At this moment, it had the upper hand. It caught the black widow by the head.

“Watch my tarantula fangs!” Antonio warned. He manipulated his remote controls like an expert. The black widow, smaller of the two spiders, tried to break free from the tarantula’s grasp. It pushed and twisted its body, but to no avail. Finally, it found a chance to bite one of the tarantula’s legs. It sank its metallic fangs into the leg and gave a sharp twist, breaking it free from its joint.

“This's the black widow bite!” Samuel said fiercely. He pressed his remote control with the same degree of expertise as Antonio. The bigger tarantula finally loosened its grip on the black widow’s head and lay motionless on the floor. Samuel was overjoyed that his spider had won this round of combat. He nearly shouted at the top of his voice. Antonio was unhappy that his spider had lost. He cried foul play and wanted to challenge Samuel again with another round of spider combat. He went to get more robotic spiders from his bag. He had brought along a box-set of five latest models of spiders. He took out all the spiders that he had and was testing these spiders using his remote control. All five spiders were running happily on the floor.

At this moment, Nikita stood outside the guys’ room and pressed the biometric sensor beside the door. The door signal flashed inside. Chen Wei went to answer the door. When he learnt about her intention to borrow shampoo, he went to get it in his bathroom. Nikita saw Samuel and Antonio sitting on the floor and seemed to be enjoying themselves thoroughly. Out of curiosity she walked into the room to take a closer look. Nikita screamed in panic when she saw spiders running loose on the floor. Chen Wei dashed out of the bathroom. Nikita ran towards Chen Wei and jumped into his embrace! Out of natural reflex, Chen Wei carried her in his arms just like a newly-wed couple, except that he was holding a bottle of shampoo in his hand. Antonio and Samuel were busy chasing their robotic spiders which were running wild on the floor. Both of them looked up at Chen Wei and Nikita at this very moment!

"Eeeee...," Samuel pointed his finger at the couple.

"Eeeee...," Antonio also imitated Samuel by pointing his finger.

Just then, Samuel suddenly had an idea which he must carry out! Looking at Antonio's big innoncent eyes, a mischievous gleam flashed through Samuel's eyes. He turned his head towards Nikita and pointing his finger at her he yelled.

 "There's a spider on your leg!"

Nikita was frightened out of her wits, turned her head and buried herself deep in Chen Wei's chest.

"No, Samuel bluff you," Antonio blurted out.

Nikita blushed as red as a tomato as she clung onto Chen Wei for dear life! She could hear his heart beating in his chest. His natural, distinctive scent intoxicated her. Nikita had a terrible phobia for robotic spider and now several of these were running loose under her nose. Chen Wei was embarrassed initially but composed himself quickly. Somewhere deep inside him, he felt as sweet as honey. Later, when he had time to think about this incident, he was puzzled as to why he felt this way. When all the robotic spiders were caught, only then did Nikita dared to leave Chen Wei’s embrace. She took the shampoo from him, thanked him and left in a hurry. Samuel and Antonio smiled and winked at each other. Before Chen Wei knew what happened, both boys imitated Nikita and jumped into his embrace too! Chen Wei carried the two of them in his arms, one on either side, and the three fellows laughed heartily.

That night, Nikita had a dream. She was in the school library and doing her science project. There were several science concepts which she could not understand. Chen Wei happened to come along and sat down beside her. He explained the concepts to her. She still could not understand the fundamentals and was stuck in her project. She was totally frustrated. At this point in time, Chen Wei began to sing ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars’ to cheer her up. Everybody in the library looked up from their books and stared at him. He held up his hands and two polar bear hand-puppets were staring at Nikita in the face. Chen Wei moved his fingers as he sang along and the little bear paws moved up and down obediently. He opened his eyes wide and looked at her. Looking at his funny expression, Nikita laughed out loud in her dream. Seeing her laugh happily, Chen Wei winked at her!

BURGER123 arrived home on the next day, and docked at the space station above Earth’s atmosphere. Our space crew finally went home and had a good rest. On the following day, it was back to school for the kids. Inside the school canteen, many parents were gathered together with their children. Many of them were eating their breakfast. Mrs. Andersen was having a conversation with Samuel's mother as they happened to meet each other by chance.

"You know, there was this time when we encountered a devil in our star-ship," Mrs. Andersen said excitedly.

"Oh dear! How frightening. What happened?" Samuel's mum asked.

"Samuel went on to frighten Antonio. He pounced on the other boy from behind. That's what happened."

"That naughty fellow! Always up to mischief. He's also like that at home. Disturbing his younger brother Nicholas all the time."

"Later, Samuel was haunted by the spirit. Fortunately, we managed to get rid of the evil spirit," Mrs. Andersen related.

"Oh, I see. Samuel! Come here," Samuel's mum yelled. Samuel came running along and stood next to his mother. The next thing he knew, his mother pulled his ear.

"Owwwl.." Samuel tilted his head as his ear was pulled. At this time,

the school bell rang signalling the start of the morning assembly. His mother let go of her hand. Samuel was saved by the bell.

"No more gameboy for you!" His mother called after him as Samuel rushed off to the assembly hall.

"Oh shucks!"

Inside the Metametica Space Academy, all the students were seated on blue chairs for the morning assembly in the hall. All the teaching staff were seated on stage. The principal addressed the assembly. He praised all the students for their hard work in this semester and encouraged them to persevere. He then went on to announce that Chen Wei had won the Annual Spaceship Design Competition organised by the Inter-Stellar Council. As a reward, he would receive monetary incentives and an offer to pursue a fully-sponsored course in Spaceship Propulsion Engine Design. He called Chen Wei to go on stage to receive the award. Every student applauded.

“Now, it is also my great pleasure to announce that the following students have travelled into deep space and returned home safely. They are, Chen Wei, Nikita, Melissa, Samuel and Antonio. They even saved a robot from drowning. Please come on stage. Bravo!” The Principal said. Another round of applause followed. All our space travellers walked smartly onto the stage. Antonio even did a catwalk when he walked on stage, drawing a round of laughter. A few screams were heard.

“The little darling!” Seeing Antonio doing catwalk, Mrs. Andersen could not help suppressing a smile. When robot Beebo came on stage, there was a commotion. Every student wanted to have a good look at it. Many were curious about it. Some even tried to touch it. Chen Wei stood smartly with the rest of his team-mates and robot Beebo for the photographer to snap their photographs. They became instant idols. The principal announced further that the academy would be closed for a week in celebration of Chen Wei’s remarkable achievement. A thunderous applause followed. Several screams were heard. Next, Mrs. Andersen walked to the front of the stage. She took the microphone in her hand.

“I am sure many of you are hungry. Breakfast is ready in the canteen. So, hurry along,” Mrs. Andersen announced.

Inside the school canteen, many students were helping themselves to the wide variety of food on the table. It was truly international buffet style. Many of these students were eating and talking at the same time. A small crowd gathered around our space travellers asking endless questions. Chen Wei was surrounded by Evon, Grace and her friends. Evon was doing all she could to get Chen Wei's attention, including asking for his autograph. At this moment, Thomas came up to them and informed Chen Wei that Mrs. Andersen wanted to see him in her office. Chen Wei left the canteen and proceeded to Mrs. Andersen's office.

“Chen Wei, you have done the academy proud by winning such a prestigious award. Others may not be aware, but I know how difficult it is to put together all the systems and engines in a star-ship and make it run the way you wanted it to. I am very proud of you."

"Thanks," Chen Wei did not know what to say, but he felt good.

"The principal wants you to write a ten-thousand word account on our space travel. Do you have any problem?” Mrs. Andersen asked.

“Oh my god!” Chen Wei exclaimed.

She chuckled.

“Don’t worry, I suggest you approach Nikita for help. She’s a nice girl and I’m sure she will be happy to help you. Melissa will be away for this coming vacation. Samuel and Antonio are too young to be of much help,” Mrs. Andersen said.

“All right,” he grinned sheepishly.

“I want the report in a week’s time. Now run along, young man,” Mrs. Andersen said and patted Chen Wei gently on his shoulder. Chen Wei turned around and walked towards the door and left Mrs. Andersen's office. Looking at her student's departing form, Mrs. Andersen thought to herself, “what a fine young man.”

When Chen Wei reached home that evening, his mum hugged him just as he stepped into the front door.

"Mrs. Andersen called just now. I'm so proud of you," his mother said.

"Mum! I'm a big boy already," Chen Wei was shy.

"Nonsense. You're always my little bambino," his mum chided him.

The next morning, the Butler knocked on Chen Wei's door. He came to call his young master to go downstairs for breakfast. There was no response. After knocking on the door several times, there was still no answer. He turned the door knob. The door was not locked. He pushed open the door and went in. He saw Chen Wei hugging his baby polar bear and sleeping soundly. "How adorable," the Butler could not help suppressing a smile.

"Young master, time to wake up," the Butler called.

No answer.

He went closer to Chen Wei to check on him. He found that Chen Wei was having a fever. He rushed downstairs to inform Mrs. Chen immediately. Later, when the doctor arrived and performed some medical examinations, he advised Mrs. Chen to send her son to hospital.

"This is no ordinary fever. Better send him to hospital," the doctor said. Mrs. Chen called her husband to inform him of Chen Wei's condition. She was at the hospital registration counter when she made her call. She was writing on a form and talking into her cell phone at the same time.

"Honey, you better come back fast. Our little darling is sick with dengue fever," Mrs. Chen was very worried.

"But, I'm in the middle of negotiating a multi-billion dollar deal, my dear," Mr. Chen spoke at the other end of the line. He was slightly annoyed.

"Aren't you coming back to take a look at your son? Honey, our little bambino misses you," Mrs. Chen raised her voice.

"Oh, all right."

"When is your earliest return flight?"

"Let me see...this evening."

At one of the big hospitals, Mr. Chen and his wife were waiting patiently outside their son's ward. A while later, a mechanical android walked out of the ward, accompanied by a nurse. This android represented the 'brain' of a top medical doctor in this hospital. The human doctor sat in his office while his android did all the menial tasks of checking on his patients.

"Follow my instructions on patient care. You can get the drugs from the pharmacy now," the android told the nurse in an expressionless voice.

"All right."

"I am Mr. Chen and this is my wife. How's my son doing?" Mr. Chen asked the android.

"Hi. I'm doctor Menon, the medical director. We have conducted medical tests on the patient. I'm afraid your son is suffering from dengue fever. Not to worry, I have ordered the medicines for this illness. Your son should recover pretty soon."

"Thank you. Could we see our son now?" Mr. Chen asked.

"Yes, but he is sleeping now."

"It's all right. We just want to look at him."

Inside Chen Wei's ward, Mr. Chen and his wife stood beside their son's bed looking at him.