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  “Not only that, she also wants to find out the ultra-warp speed. What in the world is that?” Mrs. Lin asked.

  “Oh, my darling Nikita wants to be an astronaut, huh?! Mmmm…, ultra-warp speed. Never heard of that one. I will try to find out. Even if she wants the stars in the heaven, I will pluck it for my darling Nikita!”

  “What if I also want the stars? Will you pluck them for me too?” His wife asked.

  “Of course, my sweetheart! There are so many stars in heaven. We won’t run out of stars, will we? Let me hug you, my sweetheart.” He made the gesture to pounce on his wife, but she got away in time.

  “Not now, honey. Nikita is inside her room. What if she sees us?”

  “All right, but promise me you won’t get jealous again, otherwise, I will hug you until you see stars.” His wife smiled so sweetly at him that he was sure she was seeing stars at this moment. He chuckled to himself, for he felt so happy that he had married such an adorable wife. She never failed to bring him new experiences every day, even a mundane affair could turn into a romance in her presence.

  The following day, Mr. Lin went to Metametica Space Academy to meet up with Mr. Arumugam, the Spaceship Department Manager. He had made an appointment with Mr. Arumugam at nine o’ clock in the morning. Mr. Lin walked along the corridor on the fifth floor and finally found Mr. Arumugam’s office. He knocked on the office door. Mr. Arumugam opened the door and welcomed him in.

  “Hello, nice to meet you. I'm Mr. Lin, Nikita’s dad,” Mr. Lin introduced himself and extended his right hand.

  “Nice to meet you. I'm Mr. Arumugam, the Manager of Spaceship Department,” he shook hands with Mr. Lin.

  Mr. Lin entered the office and sat down on the brown sofa beside the office table. A small coffee table was next to the sofa. Mr. Arumugam phoned the office attendant to prepare two cups of coffee. When the two gentlemen were seated comfortably, they began their conversation.

  “What can I do for you, Mr. Lin?” Mr. Arumugam asked.

  “I am here to find out what is the ultra-warp speed. You know, there is this question in one of the quizzes.”

  After a prolonged conversation, Mr. Lin could not get the answer that he wanted.

  At this moment, the office attendant walked in with two cups of steaming hot coffee. She put these two cups on the coffee table and left the room.

  “Like I said before, there are five levels in ultra-warp speed, each level representing one technological breakthrough. We are currently at the third level. Have I answered your question?” Feeling a bit exasperated at having to explain science to a layman, Mr. Arumugam went on further to make his point clear by using five books on the coffee table to represent the five levels of ultra-warp speed. He kept pointing to the third book, indicating that this was the current level of ultra-warp speed attainable by existing terrestrial star-ships.

  “I know what you mean by the third level. But, what exactly is the third level? You know, things like how many light years. That kind of thing, you know,” Mr. Lin kept making small, circular motions with his right hand, as if he was scooping imaginary ice-cream.

  “Oh…, I see what you mean. I’m afraid I can’t tell you the answer as this would be unfair to the other students. I’m sorry.”

  “Anyway, thanks a lot for your time,” Mr. Lin was visibly disappointed. He wanted very much for Nikita to go on this space excursion. He got up from the sofa, shook hands with Mr. Arumugam once again and left the office. He was comtemplating the next thing to do to help his daughter find out what is the ultra-warp speed. Ultra or no ultra, he was going to find out the answer, he made up his mind.

  Nikita was in her bedroom, sitting next to her laptop computer. She was busy searching the internet for answers to her quiz questions. She had completed three of the five questions listed on the question paper. She looked at the fourth question. “Compute one divided by zero?”

  “Mmm…, this was not taught in mathematics class. What could it be?” She thought to herself. She searched in one of the mathematics websites and finally found a clue. One mathematics professor concluded this question could be computed and went on to put forward his theory. However, another mathematics professor argued it could not be calculated. He too put forth his counter-argument.

  “One person say can compute, the other person say cannot compute, now what?” Nikita thought to herself. Suddenly she had an idea. She took out a coin from her purse. She would let the coin decide. “Head for professor one, tail for professor two,” she decided. She threw the coin into the air and let it drop. She caught it in her hand. It was a tail. “That was easy.” She was happy with herself for having solved such a complex mathematics problem. She was attempting the last question before Melissa phoned her on the internet. These days, phone calls could be made over the internet easily. 4G telephone technology had enabled the caller’s three-dimensional miniature image to be transmitted over the internet and projected exactly one metre away from the receiver end.

  “Have you finished answering all the quiz questions?” Melissa smiled mysteriously.

  “Nope. I have one last question to go. What is this ultra-warp speed?” Nikita searched frantically in all the websites that were listed on her laptop computer, beginning from the top. It was a long list of websites.

  “Tomorrow is the dead-line for the quiz , I have all the answers except the last question. Do you have any idea what is the ultra-warp speed? Help!” Nikita was getting impatient.

  “I think it is a super, super warp speed able to travel from one end of the universe to the other end using state-of-the-art, star-ship engine propulsion technology,” Melissa was very pleased with her answer.

  “Why didn’t I think of that? You’re a genius!” Nikita praised her.

  “Of course I’m a genius, don’t you know that? I’ll be offended if you don’t know this simple fact.”

  Both girls giggled helplessly.

  Two days later, a large crowd of students were waiting outside the Spaceship Department. They were waiting impatiently for the results of the astronomy quiz to be revealed. Everybody was dying to go for this space excursion. A clerk walked out of the administration office and pasted the name list of the winners on the notice-board. The students selected were Chen Wei, Nikita Lin Hui, Melissa Devi Arumugam, Samuel Kim Tae Yung and Antonio Ingenieros.

  Many students were disappointed and some even cried on the spot. As a result, many tissue papers were thrown on the floor when the students went away. The cleaner was quite angry with those students who littered, making her job more difficult. As the cleaner swept away the litter, she thought to herself, “why can’t they throw the tissue papers into the bin just next to the notice-board?” She shook her head, unable to understand youngsters nowadays.

  Mrs. Andersen stepped into her class and everybody stopped what they were doing – throwing paper aeroplanes into the air – and rushed back to their seats. Her eyes searched for the class monitor and found him.

  “Thomas, what is happening here?” Mrs. Andersen asked.

  “They were practising the perverted form of the ancient art of paper-folding,” came the reply.

  “While they are at it, I want another ten paper dinosaurs from each one of them. Thomas, give me the names of these paper-folding experts, so that I can count the number of dinosaurs I should get later,” Mrs. Andersen ordered.

  "Right away madam."

  Many “Oh shucks!” could be heard.

  A small laughter came from the back of the classroom.

  Chapter 3

  Two weeks later.

  In the ‘Perfect Fit’ tailor-shop which was situated inside the academy, Mrs. Andersen was checking to see that all her students had arrived. Everyone came on time to try out their new space uniforms. This tailor-shop was renowned far and wide for its school uniform design, the likes of which our current school uniforms paled in comparison. The tailor brought out all the space uniforms which Mrs. Andersen had ordered one week ago. These uniforms were put int
o individual boxes tied nicely with a red ribbon. The owner’s name was printed in bold and pasted securely on the cover of each box. Everybody was anxious to get his uniform and put it on.

  A short while passed before the owner of the shoe-shop next door walked into this tailor-shop. He was grinning broadly and put down the six boxes which he carried. His face was flushed and he panted with this laborious task. He told Mrs. Andersen and the kids to try on the shoes. He left after that.

  Before long, our space crew trooped out of the changing rooms. Mrs. Andersen, Chen Wei, Nikita, Melissa, Samuel and little Antonio. It was a dazzling team! Mrs. Andersen looked just like a mother guarding her kids. They were dressed in their impeccable space uniforms, which were made of the finest textiles and had the most unique design. It consisted of a white cotton, collared, long-sleeve undershirt and a V-neck, one-piece dark-blue satin body suit. Two stiff, yellow bars lined the shoulder region on this dark-blue body suit. Each bar carried the Metametica Space Academy insignia. This body suit covered the wearer’s arms from the shoulder up to ten centimetres below the elbow. The rest of the white cotton undershirt was exposed, a stark contrast, both in terms of colour and textiles. A black leather belt, together with a pair of black leather shoes completed the uniform, making the wearer stand out on all occasions.

  Chen Wei looked so dashing that Nikita was a bit afraid to look at him for long. She did not want to appear rude and spoil his first impression of her. Although Nikita was also a pretty young lady, but at that moment she just did not bother to admire herself in the body-length mirrors placed outside the changing rooms.

  Antonio and Samuel were laughing away at their own reflections in the mirror, apparently satisfied with their nice uniforms. Mrs. Andersen and Melissa were seriously looking at their reflections in the mirrors, hoping to find some faults in their uniforms for the tailor to correct. They took a long time but eventually could not find a single fault. The uniforms fit them perfectly! Chen Wei was not very particular about such things. All he wanted was that the uniform felt comfortable when worn. He looked dashing in whatever clothes he wore.

  At this point in time, a few curious heads turned in the direction of this tailor-shop. Some of these faculty students even entered the shop to admire Chen Wei. They were female students and slowly the number grew until the shop was so crowded that there was no more standing room available. The tailor advised all the students to wait outside the shop but it was no use, there were just too many of them. When the news spread that The Hunk was trying out his new uniform, more students flocked here. It did not help as this happened to be the lunch-time break, many students skipped meals in order to admire The Hunk.

  In the end, all our space crew members had to contact their loved ones to fetch them from this tailor-shop. Chen Wei’s butler, Mr. Lin, Mr. Andersen came in their Luxury Gliders, the equivalent of modern day luxury cars. Samuel and Antonio took a free ride back to their hostels with Mrs. Andersen. Melissa followed Nikita in her Luxury Mercs Glider.

  One week later, Mrs. Andersen and the kids were supposed to gather at the space shuttlecraft launch-pad. As everyone turned up on the appointed time, Mrs. Andersen noticed that Antonio had not arrived. She was a bit worried. She waited with an air of expectancy. A short while passed before little Antonio appeared dragging his cute little lugguage bag behind him and wore his cute little blue Nike cap the other way round. He was half-running and half-afraid that he had missed the flight. Antonio was extremely excited as this was going to be his first time travelling on a spaceship. He tossed and turned in bed the night before and hardly slept a wink, waiting for this moment, the moment to step inside a spaceship. It would be one small step for a little boy, but one big step for little Antonio.

  The space shuttlecraft stood on top of a launchpad. It had the shape of a big brown moth, with two big, right-angled triangular wings spread horizontally. There were also two metallic feelers sticking out horizontally from the front of the spacecraft.

  “Chen Wei, you will drive this space shuttlecraft with Nikita as your co-pilot, any problem?” Mrs. Andersen asked. She decided to let them drive the space shuttlecraft since both of them were the most senior among her students.

  “No.”

  “Good. We are depending on you.”

  Everyone deposited their travel-bags into the luggage compartment behind. The group boarded the space shuttlecraft with Chen Wei and Nikita occupying the pilot and co-pilot seat respectively. Melissa and Samuel occupied the middle row. Mrs. Andersen and Antonio sat at the last row. The hangar door opened slowly.

  “Everybody, fasten your seat-belts.” Chen Wei pressed the ignition button on his navigation console. The power system was activated. Fuel exhaust began ejecting from the exhaust pipes behind. The space shuttlecraft began to gather momentum.

  “Take off!” Chen Wei said. Off the space shuttlecraft took to the air and out of the hangar door in a jiffy. When it shot out into the open air, it increased its angle of elevation and was rapidly gaining altitude. Chen Wei was busy manipulating the navigation controls. Looking out through the cockpit window, one could see the swift change in colour from navy blue to white and navy blue and then darkness as this space shuttlecraft ventured out into space.

  “Shuttle speed, 100,000 kilometres per hour. Exit Earth’s gravitational field in three minutes. Nikita, compute impulse and kinetic energy increase,” Chen Wei ordered.

  Nikita was too absorbed in her own thoughts to hear his commands. Melissa nudged her from behind, sensing her delayed response. Nikita quickly recomposed herself and using the mathematical hologram in front of her console, she computed the navigation parameters. Chen Wei grabbed the answer module and plug it into his own navigation control system. Technology at this stage of development was highly modular and used holograms as the user-interface. Hence, two holograms stood in front of the pilot and co-pilot navigation consoles. Chen Wei and Nikita had to execute multiple ‘grab and plug’ actions on their navigation consoles. These actions required concentration and speed.

  Chen Wei needed another set of parametric equations to be solved and ordered his co-pilot to do so. Nikita was once again lost in her own thoughts. She found herself admiring more and more of the pilot seated on her right. His handsome face, dark eyebrows, intelligent eyes, chiselled nose and masculine voice fit her dream idol perfectly! Melissa nudged her again from behind. Nikita computed the required parameters quickly. Chen Wei took the answer module and plug it into his own navigation module.

  “Decelerating. Exit Earth’s gravitational field in one minute. Nikita, compute impulse, kinetic energy changes, equation of Earth’s orbit and the equation of tangent to Earth’s orbit at co-ordinates (7, 3, 2),” Chen Wei ordered.

  No response from Nikita.

  “Nikita, compute solutions to these three parametric equations. Quick, I need the time factor.” Hearing no response from Nikita, Chen Wei computed the solutions himself.

  “Nikita, are you all right?” Chen Wei gave her a concerned look.

  “Yes,” Nikita answered softly and lowered her head slightly, unwilling to betray her emotions.

  Outside the cockpit windows, everybody could see the space-station in the distance. It loomed into sight as the shuttlecraft approached it. This space-station was built in the form of a sphere with diameter four hundred kilometres. This sphere appeared to be superimposed on a pentagonal-star plane at its equator. Hence, overall, it looked like a spherical structure with five triangles jutting out at its equator.

  “Mission Control. This is pilot of space shuttle SH770. Request permission to land. Over,” Chen Wei said.

  “Permission granted. Launch-pad 321 vacant,” came the reply.

  Communication was established with mission control inside this space-station. The main-door to the docking pool, on the dome, opened slowly and Chen Wei drove the space shuttlecraft into the docking pool. He headed for launch-pad 321.

  A short while elapsed.

  “Touch down,” Chen Wei inf
ormed. He opened all the doors of the space shuttlecraft for everyone to exit. After retrieving their bags from the luggage compartment, the group climbed down slowly from the launch-pad.

  A tall man in uniform approached them followed by a woman close behind. He extended his right hand towards Mrs. Andersen, and said “nice to meet you, I am Captain Baldwin and this is Captain Jessie, my wife.” Mrs. Andersen shook hands with both of them and in turn introduced her students to the couple.

  Captain Baldwin led the group to the spaceship hangar. He put his palm on the biometric sensor beside the main door of the hangar and a series of lights flickered on the panel accompanied by a soft melody. Slowly, the door slided open and everyone’s jaw nearly dropped and stared wide-eyed at the spaceship in front of them.

  “It’s a burger!” Antonio said. He was feeling very hungry for he had woke up late this morning, skipped his breakfast and rushed to catch this space flight.

  “No! It’s a flying burger,” Samuel said.

  “It’s a big flying burger,” Melissa said.

  “It’s a flying big burger,” Nikita said.

  “No! It’s a big flying big burger,” Chen Wei said.

  “Mrs. Andersen, who’s correct?” Antonio asked with a smile on his face.

  “Oh my goodness! I’m getting a headache,” Mrs. Andersen stared in shock at the spaceship in front of her. The spaceship in front of everyone looked like a big burger, except that it was puffed up many, many times. It was painted light brown at the top and bottom and in between, layers of green, orange and dark brown with patches of white!

  “Let me explain. This is a spaceship capable of travelling from galaxy to galaxy. It uses the latest technology of warp drive to accomplish this. It can reach ultra-warp speed in a matter of seconds. Travelling to the end of the Universe is not an impossibility.” Captain Baldwin was very proud to introduce this marvellous spaceship and to be its commander.

  “So nice, can fly here fly there,” Antonio was very happy.

  “Antonio, you should say, ‘It is so exciting to fly from one galaxy to another’, is that understood?” Mrs. Andersen corrected him. The little fellow nodded his head vigorously.