Flying Burger
FLYING BURGER
Jared Martin
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2009 Jared Martin
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 1
Time : A.D. 3000
Place : Planet Earth, Metametica Space Academy
In one secluded corner of an exclusive prime housing district stood Octavia Mansion. A young man was swimming in his private pool. It was an Olympic-sized pool with an adjoining sheltered jacucci. A dining table overlaid with white cloth stood nearby. After swimming for many laps in butterfly style, Chen Wei got out of the pool. He wore a black Speedo swimming trunk. He removed his black swimming goggles and shook his head vigoriously to get rid of the water streaming down his short hair. Against the evening sunset, his fine, sculptured torso, well-defined abdominal muscles, bronze skin, lean and V-shaped body could be seen easily. As he walked, water streaming down his chest left a wet trail from the edge of the pool to the suntan couch near the dining table. A big yellow umbrella sheltered the suntan couch. He slumped onto the couch and took out the Armani sunglasses from the sports bag lying on the floor. He wore it and before long dozed off. He was awakened by someone shaking his hand.
“Young master, dinner is ready. Do you wish to be served?” the Butler asked.
“Yes, thank you.”
The Butler handed a neatly-pressed green T-shirt to his young master.
“Here’s your favourite green Polo T-shirt, you may like to put it on.”
“Thank you. You're so thoughtful.”
“Don’t mention. It's my duty to take good care of you. Over the years, I have grown to enjoy it. Dinner will be served shortly.”
Chen Wei got up slowly and walked over to the dining table and sat down on an antique chair. The Butler returned shortly with the appetiser, and put a small bowl of Ginkgo Nuts in Sweet Potato Soup neatly in front of him. Chen Wei finished eating this in no time.
The main course followed: Lobster Fra Diavolo, Abalone served with Broccoli and secret recipe sauce, Steam Carp with Shitake Mushroom, Black Pepper Beef laced with chopped onion and decorated with flower petals carved from red carrot. In addition, there were: Crab Enchiladas with Cherry Tomato Salsa, Salmon Fillet and Dill Tartare, Carolina Pork Tenderloins Pinwheels and Ravioli Di Carne. The following delicacies would appeal to the most refined oriental palate: Peking Grill Duck with Eight Treasures, Concubine Chicken with Lingzhi Mushroom, Crockpot Sweet and Sour Pork, Buddha Jump Over The Wall and Fa-cai Sashimi.
“The master chef is preparing Tender Grill Ohio Drumsticks, Grill Ginger Tenderloin Roast and Grill Curry Red Snapper. They will be ready in a minute. Please be patient,” the Butler informed. These were the meat category.
Afterwhich, came the vegetables: Vegetarian Delights - a salad of fresh vegetables picked direct from the garden, Braised Bean Curd with Kimchi, Braised Assorted Vegetables with Egg White, Vegetarian Enchilada Casserole, Pan-steam Tofu with Xiao Bai Chai and Mapor Beancurd.
Next, came the soups: steaming hot, spicy Dtom Yum Gkoong, generously cooked with small prawns and authentic spices, Winter Melon and Mixed Bean Soup, Miso Shiru and Minestrone Soup were placed on the big dining table in a neat, orderly fashion. The following grilled food were served on exquisite silver plates: Tender Grill Ohio Drumsticks, Grill Ginger Tenderloin Roast and Grill Curry Red Snapper. When a plate of Yang Zhou Fried Rice and Hawaiian Pan Pizza were placed in front of Chen Wei, he was all set for a mouth-watering, hearty meal!
Waiting patiently by the side of the table, the Butler watched as Chen Wei ate to his heart’s content.
“Do you wish for dessert to be served? Young master.”
“Please do.”
The following gourmet-style desserts were served one after another in perfect enticement to the taste-buds: Coconut Juice Pudding with Bird’s Nest, Domo - an exquisitely prepared apple tart, Soffiato - a delicious chocolate ice-cream cake, Limoncino - a lemon pudding prepared by using the freshest lemon just one day after its ripening, Blue Cheese and Hazelnut Shortbread, Wild Huckleberry Crepe and Apple Strudel.
Next, came the Fruit Combo consisting of ten exotic fruits served in small portions ready to be eaten: Kiwi fruits, blackcurrants, seedless Mediterranean grapes, water-melon, honeydew, starfruits, mangoes, peaches, longans and durians.
A big jug of freshly squeezed orange squash were laid nicely on the table. Next to the jug of orange squash stood a bottle of red wine, Cabernet Sauvignon. A hot steaming pot of Iron Buddha Chinese Tea, and another pot of Coffee Espresso were also brought in and put on the table.
“I have ordered ginseng chicken broth for supper, would that be all right? Young master.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Later into the night, after swimming for a few more laps in the pool and exercising in the gymnasium, situated in the main mansion building, Chen Wei was relaxing in the spacious jacuzzi bath in his master-bedroom. The warm water had a light lavender scent and felt totally refreshing. A glass of iced lemon juice stood next to the jacuzzi bath. He lifted this glass to his mouth and sipped on the ice-cold lemon juice. It was heaven! He looked around his well-renovated bathroom and was satisfied. Brown tiles decorated the floor. Green marble tiles lined the walls up to the ceiling. The toilet was in a small cubicle by the corner. A basket of toilet soaps, lotions and cleansers were placed neatly below the mirror on the washbasin top.
He paid particular attention to personal hygiene and spent half an hour in the bathroom. He was wrapped in a dark blue bath robe when he stepped out of the bathroom. The Butler got his pyjamas ready and was waiting patiently.
“Here are your pyjamas, young master. Don’t forget to finish up your ginseng chicken broth while it’s still warm. And, …, don’t stay up late,” the Butler winked at him.
“Got it.”
“Good night,” the butler walked out of the bedroom and closed the door after him.
“Good night,” Chen Wei echoed.
Chen Wei switched on the evening prime time news, something that he would do without thinking. He loved to be kept abreast of all the happenings in the solar system, even those events that happened in other star systems. He was eating his broth and watching the news at the same time.
“Good evening, this is Veronica from MegaStar News Network. Thank you for tuning in. Here are the evening headlines, the entire Bosoonian civilisation has been wiped out by three gigantic robots of mass destruction from outer space. An unusual big fire was sighted in the Black Canyon last night. Many Lexorians have died of fright, cause of death attributed to demon haunting. A large number of white-face Capuchin monkeys were fleeing Nutmeg Mountain in the Taurus star system.” The news presenter reported the evening headlines. She then went on to read the details.
Feeling very sleepy all of a sudden, Chen Wei switched off the television. He put down the empty bowl on the coffee table and changed into his pyjamas and jumped onto his cosy bed. He rested his head on the tummy of big polar bear stuff toy. This big, white bear wore a red singlet which had a heart-shape and the letter ‘U’ sewn next to it using yellow thread. It had outstretched paws. Next, Chen Wei groped for his baby polar bear stuff toy and hugged it tightly. Chen Wei had been hugging this baby polar bear stuff toy since young. He held this baby polar bear in front of him with both hands and looked at it carefully. It had a cute pointed face, its nose jutting and was smiling at him. This ba
by polar bear also wore a red singlet with a heart-shape and the letter ‘U’ sewn next to it. It also had outstretched paws. Without his polar bear stuff toys, Chen Wei would have some trouble getting to sleep. His parents gave this pair of bear stuff toys to him on his first birthday. Using the remote control, Chen Wei switched off the lights. Before long, he drifted into a deep sound sleep.
In the master-bedroom of Sunflower Villa, Mrs. Lin was awaken by some noises and woke up her husband lying beside her.
“I thought I heard some noises coming from Nikita’s room,” Mrs. Lin whispered to her husband.
Mr. Lin immediately got up and went to check on his daughter, whose room was next to the study room. Quietly opening his daughter’s room, afraid to wake her up, he peered in through the crack of the door, letting in some corridor light. He could see Nikita smiling in her sleep, and thought to himself, “my darling Nikita must be having such a sweet dream, better not wake her up.” He walked back quietly to his room on tip-toes.
Nikita was indeed having the most romantic dream of her life. She dreamt that she was roaming the starry night sky with her Prince Charming. Each was riding on a unicorn. At the moment, she was far ahead of her Prince Charming. When she stopped and turned her head to look back, a shining knight in white uniform caught up with her. A most handsome guy was looking at her with dark, intelligent eyes , a tiny smile was evident at the corners of his mouth. She smiled at him sweetly. He smiled back and looked at her with dreamy eyes.
Inside the school dormitory, two small boys were fiddling with a telescope.
"Turn the knob like that, ya?' Antonio asked with a questioning look on his big eyes.
"Ya, like that," Samuel replied.
When this telescope was ready, eight-year old Samuel put his head close to the lens and stared intently into the telescope. This amateur telescope was aimed at the clear night sky. Beside him, little Antonio was getting very impatient.
“Quick, it’s my turn,” Antonio said. He tried to push Samuel aside.
“Wait, wow, this star is so big!” Samuel exclaimed and refused to budge an inch.
“Can you see alien?” Antonio asked excitedly.
“No.”
"Why not? I just saw alien on television yesterday. It was a big black monster!"
"But here cannot see," Samuel insisted.
On the topmost floor of the Far View Condominium, inside her penthouse apartment, Mrs. Andersen was inside her kitchen toilet facing the big bathroom mirror. She gently tapped both sides of her face several times. She had just cleansed her face thoroughly with self-prepared tomato facial cleanser. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and was rather pleased to see a marked improvement in her complexion. She felt a tingling sensation when she applied the tomato cleanser to her skin just now. This was part of the total skincare formula, which her friend recommended to her. She had tried many types of face masks before but found no one to her liking. She decided to try this skincare formula, which she found to be rather interesting.
In essence, this skincare formula consisted of three steps. The first step was to wash one’s face thoroughly with a mild cleanser. Some pre-peeling renewing lotion should be applied to the face. The second step would be to apply avocado face mask, the preparation of which was quite tedious. The third step was to use a special honey moisturiser. This moisturiser’s other ingredients could be varied to suit one’s skin type. As an optional refinement step, one should also apply regenerating eye cream, to get rid of baggy eyes.
Mrs. Andersen came out of the toilet and walked towards the kitchen table where her husband was sitting. She had got ready all the ingredients for the face mask. She started her face mask preparation. She had to use fresh avocado fruit pulp, a small quantity of egg white, aloe vera, flour and green tea to make a sticky paste. Once this was ready, it had to be applied to the skin immediately. After this application, it would be best to keep it that way and no more facial movements recommended.
Mr. Andersen looked at his wife busily pounding the ingredients in the small mortar with a pestle. He was quite touched to see the pain his wife went through to make herself beautiful.
“Darling, you are the most beautiful woman in my eyes, no matter what happens, no matter how old you get, how many wrinkles you have on your face. I will love you always.”
“You know, we have already sent these kids to all the planets in our solar system, but now they want to go further into deep space. No telling what we will find out there. I’m a bit worried,” his wife said.
“Don’t worry, the new star-ship they have built should be able to fly you around safely.”
“I’m not so sure about that! The last time we almost crashed on Mars, have you forgotten?”
“Oh! Is that so? I guess I have clean forgotten about it. In that case, could you ask to be excused from taking charge of this space excursion?”
“I don’t think so. All of our teachers are already involved in one activity or another. Besides, I do not want to disappoint our kids and deprive them of this unique experience to venture into deep space. It will be their dreams come true.”
“But I will be worried sick, my dear!”
“I guess this can’t be helped. I will take the necessary precautions and hope for the best. You could call me on the Speedy Transmission Network if you miss me. All right, don’t talk, I want to apply this face mask now.”
In the spacious tenth floor Melrose Apartment, Melissa was eating her favourite Tandoori chicken and watching television at the same time. Her mother, Mrs. Arumugam, yelled from the kitchen.
“Melissa! Go and finish up your homework first before you go to bed, you hear me?”
“All right mom! Yes! Kick that butt. Harder! You bad fellow.” Melissa was watching her favourite wrestling programme. Her interests in television programme changed from cartoons to wrestling once she reached the age of fifteen. Even she herself found it strange that she liked to watch so many wrestling shows. All her friends at school either preferred to watch romance or science fiction movies.
“What are we having for dinner? I’m hungry!” Melissa yelled and bit on her Tandoori chicken drumstick at the same time.
“Spicy Seafood Curry! Come and get it!” Mrs. Arumugam yelled back.
Chapter 2
Two months before the Metametica Space Academy Open House.
Inside the Metametica Space Academy, Mr. Arumugam the Manager of Spaceship Department, was discussing with his Deputy Manager regarding student enrolment for the next academic year. They were both seated comfortably in Mr. Arumugam’s private office. This year’s student intake was below expectation. The student calibre was also disappointing, with more than fifty percent having failed in at least one major academic subject. Mr. Arumugam wanted to find ways to attract the best students to sign up for next year’s Spaceship Course. His Deputy Manager, Roger, suggested to publicize the Spaceship Department in the upcoming Academy Open House. Roger wanted to have the most entertaining programme, the smartest person to represent the department and the most unique incentive to attract attention and enrolment. In short, he wanted everything to be the best in order to increase student enrolment next year.
“I agree with you in principle, but what is your plan?” Mr. Arumugam wanted to know more.
“Okay, the plan is this. Deep-space mission, travelling on the ultra-modern star-ship. I can’t remember the model name of the star-ship, kind of funny. Get Chen Wei ‘The Hunk’ to perform on stage. He will attract the crowd. Tell everyone that to be eligible for this space mission, he or she has to sign up for next year’s Spaceship Course. Afterwhich, set a quiz to select the top winners to go on this space mission. Simple.”
“You call this simple?” Mr. Arumugam was incredulous.
“It sounds complicated but it is simple. I will take charge of everything, don’t worry,” Roger reassured him.
“Who’s this Hunk? I didn’t know we had one.” Mr. Arumugam was curious.
“He’s a final ye
ar student. An outstanding young man.”
“You sure this going to work?” Mr. Arumugam was sceptical.
“Definitely. The Hunk received ninety-nine stalks of red roses yesterday, a giant panda stuff toy the day before that and a hand-knitted sweater two days before yesterday.”
“Is that so? You seem to have confidence in this young man. All right, I will let you handle this programme. Budget has been approved, so don’t worry about money. Just get me the students.” Mr. Arumugam gave his verbal approval. His Deputy Manager nodded and left his office. Much work needed to be done.
Two months passed by quickly.
On the day of the Academy Open House, just when the morning sun rose from the eastern skyline, a middle-aged woman alighted from a flying saucer and stood at the main gate of a school building. A large sign, ‘Metametica Space Academy’, was hung on top of the school gate. It was visible from afar. She was glad that she came early ahead of the morning rush traffic. The number of flying saucers on the road had already increased noticeably. She stood still for an instant and gazed at the magnificent building in front of her. It had a main campus with several affiliated campuses nearby. The building architecture was endorsed by the Inter-Planetary Architectural Society, for its energy-saving features and aesthetic appeal.
Melissa walked hurriedly towards the direction of the canteen. She had not eaten breakfast yet and her stomach was rumbling. She woke up late this morning, for she had stayed up all night watching her favourite wrestling videos. Inside the academy canteen, many students were already seated. Many were eating their breakfast under their parents' watchful eyes. The canteen transparent glass doors showed the interior to be fully-packed with people.
The kitchen was situated a short distance away from the canteen. Food vendors stayed out of customers' sight. They stayed inside the kitchen, preparing food according to customers' orders received. Customers' orders were received via the computerised canteen menu system, detailing the food items, the table number and seat number. The cook-in-charge of preparing that particular dish would get down to work. Once the dish was ready, it would be sent to the customer via a hidden conveyor belt and this dish would pop out of the table, right in front of the customer who placed the order. Payment for food was done beforehand by electronic means using debit card. This canteen menu system was available on every canteen table, on the right-hand panel.