Flying Burger

by Jared Martin

  Procyon A is a medium-size star, similar to our sun, with a slightly higher surface temperature of 6000 degree Celsius. BURGER123 approached the second inner-most planet of this star-system.

  “My, my, such a beauty. DATA, which planet are we approaching?” Mrs. Andersen asked.

  ”Planet M221 from star system, Procyon A. M221 has Earth-like atmospheric conditions. In the course of its evolution, machine has triumphed over living thing. My sensor detects a massive tidal wave has just occurred on this planet. The diameter of its orbit has enlarged by four hundred kilometres. Average surface temperature is 35 degree Celsius,” DATA reported.

  Mrs. Andersen was pinning a collar-pin device, called a language-modem, on Antonio's collar. After she had finished with Antonio, she pinned one on Samuel's collar too. Nikita and Melissa helped each other with the pinning of their collar-pin devices. Only Chen Wei had some difficulty as he struggled alone with his 'language modem'. Seeing him in such a fix, Nikita took the collar-pin device from him and helped him to pin it on. He grinned at her in return. This tiny language-modem was a proprietary product of the Milky Way Federation of Stars, manufactured under strict quality control. It contained a micro-chip for alien language translation. This was a two-way language translator device. All known aliens in the Milky Way galaxy who had joined the Milky Way Federation of Stars had their languages encoded in this micro-chip. Any intelligent, living creature who possessed this micro-chip would be able to talk to another alien in their native tongue. This micro-chip was such a common thing that it had become an indispensable clothing accessory for intelligent life forms in our Milky Way galaxy.

  Another faint signal was received, a distress signal. “This is robot B1287-AT, save me. I am drowning. Save me. Quick!” An image of B1287-AT flying unsteadily appeared on the Big Screen in the command deck of BURGER123. This signal was lost rapidly.

  “DATA, locate this robot and beam it onboard,” Captain Baldwin ordered.

  “Affirmative.”

  B1287-AT lay at the bottom of the dark ocean waters all by itself. At this instant, a ray of light pierced through the dark depths of water. It shone on B1287-AT and locked onto its co-ordinates. This tractor beam lifted B1287-AT out of the waters and brought it to BURGER123, its point of origin. In the transporter room below the command deck, the humming sound of machinery could be heard. B1287-AT was brought in via conveyor belt from a trapdoor on BURGER123 after being pulled in by its tractor beam. It laid motionless on the platform. It looked a pathetic sight.

  “It’s not moving,” Samuel said.

  “It’s dead,” Antonio said.

  “Its hands are badly corroded,” Melissa said.

  “There’s water flowing out from its mouth,” Nikita said.

  “Poor robot is falling apart, look at its arm dangling by the side,” Mrs. Andersen said with pity.

  “Let me try to salvage this robot,” Chen Wei said confidently. Nikita was full of admiration for him.

  “DATA. Please do a technical scan,” Chen Wei ordered.

  “Affirmative.”

  After five minutes had elapsed.

  “Scan complete. Robot technology is highly advanced. The motherboard belongs to the Vekon Chip family eighth generation. Water is present in abundance,” DATA reported.

  “Do we have this motherboard in store?” Chen Wei asked.

  “Affirmative.”

  Chen Wei went to the storeroom quickly and got all the things he required. When he returned to the transporter room, he opened up B1287-AT using tools from his toolbox. He took out the old motherboard. There was much water inside B1287-AT. Next, he took out a power suction pump from his toolbox and sucked out all the water inside B1287-AT. He then went on to use a hair dryer to evaporate all remaining water inside the robot. Next, he fix a new motherboard inside B1287-AT and secured all the wire connections. After that, he closed up the opening on B1287-AT’s body and screwed on firmly its dangling robotic arm. He took a small tin of metal polish from his toolbox and began to polish the robot hands. The two robot hands were badly corroded.

  "Mmm...,wonder why this robot skin is not affected," Chen Wei muttered under his breath as he polished the corroded robot hand.

  "Robot must have a thick skin," Melissa blurted out.

  After fifteen minutes, Chen Wei switched on the power. B1287-AT came back to life. It opened its eyes slowly and looked at its surroundings with curiosity. It moved its robotic arms a little and then stood up slowly.

  “There you go, as good as new,” Chen Wei said with a sense of accomplishment.

  Everybody was overwhelmed with joy.

  DATA walked into the transporter room at this moment, followed by Captain Baldwin. She stood several steps away from the alien robot.

  "I have been instructed by the Captain to communicate with this robot," said DATA.

  DATA lifted her hand and directed a faintly visible communication beam at B1287-AT.

  "Communication negative. Unable to proceed," said DATA after a short while.

  "I thought we are able to talk to aliens. Let me try," volunteered Melissa. She touched her collar-pin device to make sure it was there and walked closer to robot B1287-AT.

  "Helloooo..., are you there?" asked Melissa.

  No response from B1287-AT. Melissa turned her head towards her companions and grinned sheepishly.

  "The collar-pin device is for communicating with living aliens. Robots only understand machine language. My language protocol can only go down to assembler level. I need a program to bridge the gap between assembler language and machine language. I need a compiler for assembler language," explained DATA.

  "Oh my goodness, my headache is getting serious," said Mrs. Andersen.

  "Allow me," volunteered Chen Wei. Nikita looked at Chen Wei with utmost admiration. Chen Wei went up to robot B1287-AT and using a spanner, he opened up the tiny robot. He pressed some buttons inside this robot.

  "Bee-bor, bee-bee-bor, bor-bee-bee..." B1287-AT made some noises.

  "Oh! I get it," said Chen Wei.

  "DATA, please display your communication system module," said the Hunk.

  With a wide sweep of her hand, DATA displayed her communication system module as a hologram. This holographic structure was as big as four teachers' table stacked together in midair. It showed the intricate internal network of the star-ship's computer system. Walking nearer to DATA's communication system hologram, Chen Wei pulled a nearby chair and sat down comfortably. He began to write a compiler to bridge assembler language with machine language, using the attached holographic keyboard.

  "I don't get it. DATA, what is Chen Wei doing?" Melissa was dying to know.

  "Chen Wei has decoded the alien robot's machine language, made up of two syllables, bee-bor as corresponding to one and zero in our machine language. He is writing a compiler for my assembler. Once I have the machine language code, I will be able to communicate," explained DATA.

  Nikita looked at Chen Wei typing rapidly on the keyboard. Every once in a while, the Hunk would get up from his chair, walked towards the gigantic hologram and touched a small part of it. A bigger window showing the internal codes would appear immediately, very much like a pop-up window in internet-surfing. Chen Wei stared at these codes briefly and got back to his coding task without wasting time. He worked furiously for close to two hours before he finished his coding task. He looked up at DATA. Nikita thought Chen Wei looked a bit tired.

  "DATA, try again," said Chen Wei.

  DATA lifted her hand and directed a faintly visible communication beam at B1287-AT again.

  "Affirmative. Proceed to communicate..," said DATA after a short while.

  "Bee-bor, bee-bee-bor, bor-bor-bor, bor-bee-bee..." came from B1287-AT.

  "Bee-bor-bee-bee-bee!" Samuel could not stop himself from saying.

  "Samuel, stop that. You are making me giddy," said Mrs. Andersen. The rest of the people were laughing away while Melissa was holding her stomach, she laughed so much that her stomach hurt
!

  "Bee-bee-bee," Samuel persisted.

  "Samuel, come here! I'm going to spank you," Mrs. Andersen threatened. Samuel ran to hide behind Chen Wei. He knew this big brother would protect him.

  Robot B1287-AT was linked to DATA via wireless communication protocol, very similar to present-day Bluetooth technology, except for a very big difference in data transfer rate and volume. DATA, the super-computer and B1287-AT the robot were talking to each other. They were learning from each other, two different civilisations, terrestrial and Psychon, in close encounter. After ten minutes had elapsed, DATA lowered her hand and the faintly visible communication beam disappeared. B1287-AT looked around the room, having learnt more about its new environment.

  “DATA, tell us what happened,” Captain Baldwin ordered.

  DATA related all that had happened at planet M221 recently. Everybody listened with attentive ears. It told of B1287-AT executing anti-viral programs and dancing at the same time. Without warning, DATA played a repertoire of hot Psychon space music, as if to prove its point. Vibrant futuristic music filled the air. Melissa could not help getting on her feet and dancing. Soon, everybody got up on their feet and danced, although not all could do it well. After a while of solid dancing and shaking of bodies, everyone was happy and relaxed. Everybody was glad they had saved B1287-AT.

  When DATA came to the part where B1287-AT was drowning, everybody was very sympathetic.

  “Captain, could we keep this robot? It had no place to go,” Antonio begged.

  “Well, I guess we can’t send it away, could we?” Captain Baldwin asked.

  Antonio was all smiles. He had taken a liking to B1287-AT. It was a cute robot resembling a kingpin. Antonio went up close to this robot.

  "I will call you Beebo," Antonio told the alien robot secretly.

  "Bee-bor, bee-bor," B1287-AT replied softly, as if it had understood.

  “DATA, take us out of here,” Captain Baldwin ordered.

  “Affirmative.”

  Back in their sleeping quarters, Nikita and Melissa were talking about their dream idols.

  "Did you see Chen Wei just now, the way he repaired the robot? It was wonderful," Nikita was full of admiration.

  "Oh, that was a simple thing to do. Many guys in school could do it," Melissa argued.

  "Did you see the way he wrote the compiler? It was brilliant," Nikita was mesmerised totally.

  "Oh, I guess some guys in school could do it," Melissa argued.

  "Some?" Nikita stared at her friend.

  "Well, maybe one or two."

  Nikita continued to stare at her friend.

  "Ok, ok, he's the one and only guy who could do it," Melissa finally gave in.

  "He's so good-looking, so sunshine," Nikita blushed terribly.

  “Oh gosh! I find him just an average-looking guy,” Melissa teased her good friend.

  “I’m not joking.”

  "How shocking," Melissa teased further.

  “He’s so tall and has flawless complexion,” Nikita went on to disclose her impression of her dream idol.

  “You forgot to mention short spiky hair, dark eyebrows and intelligent eyes,” Melissa added.

  “He has a dimple when he smile,” Nikita said with a smile on her face, relishing the image she had in her mind of her dream idol.

  “He seldom smile. When did you see that tiny, little dimple?”

  Both girls giggled helplessly.

  “Who is your dream idol?” Nikita evaded her friend's question.

  Now it was Melissa’s turn to blush, but Nikita could not see it as the former had dark complexion.

  Tonight, Nikita was weaving another romantic dream. 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. He smiled at her and a tiny dimple was evident at the corner of his mouth. It was Chen Wei! Nikita smiled at him sweetly and looked at him with dreamy eyes.

  Chapter 5

  BURGER123 drew close to a shimmering golden planet and hovered above it, staying out of its gravitational pull. Everyone was looking out of the window, admiring a brownish looking planet from the Pegasus star-system.

  "DATA, tell us more about this planet which we are approaching," Mrs. Andersen said.

  "Planet Fontasia is the third innermost planet from the Pegasus star. It has Earth-like atmospheric conditions. Gravity equals one point five G. Aquatic life-forms, non-existent. Civilisation is predominated by the supernatural. Inhabitants have achieved a remarkable mastery of magic, the level at which other civilisations could only dream of. Fontasians worship the Epsilon Phoenix, a sacred legendary bird that builds its own funeral pyre and is reborn from its own ashes. It had beautiful red and gold plumage and was believed to live for five hundred years or longer. Scientific study and development on this planet is comparatively primitive."

  "Mmmm.., supernatural predominance, interesting," Mrs. Andersen remarked.

  "I am getting a signal," DATA reported.

  "Greetings from Fontasia. This is Zorak, supreme military commander. We will be holding a Robot Competition soon, for the mission of advancing scientific research. We extend an invitation to you and wish for your participation in this competition."

  Mrs. Andersen pondered for a moment and called the Captain. She pressed a button on her left wrist communicator and spoke. The Captain agreed to let robot Beebo take part in this competition. Little Antonio was begging to be able to go along as he was dying to see a real alien.

  "No, if any accident were to happen to you, your mother will come after me, even if I were to hide inside a black-hole," Mrs. Andersen objected. Being told that he won't be allowed to go along, tears started to well from the corners of Antonio's eyes. Suddenly, little Antonio cupped his face with both hands and sobbed. When nobody came to comfort him, he sobbed even louder and with greater intensity.

  Chen Wei whispered something to Samuel and the latter dashed out of the room. Before long, Samuel returned with a food trolley. This type of trolley can be easily seen in many present-day film shows. Suddenly, a pair of hands lifted Antonio from behind and threw him up into midair. He shrieked. He was caught and thrown up again by Chen Wei. A few more shrieks were heard, after which Antonio was put on top of the trolley and wheeled around the room at break-neck speed. Antonio was enjoying himself thoroughly at this moment. Chen Wei was panting when he stopped pushing the trolley. Samuel took the chance to tickle Antonio's waist until finally Antonio was chasing Samuel all over the room. These two little fellows stopped to catch their breaths after running around for twenty minutes.

  "Antonio, let me carry you," Chen Wei said.

  "I dou want, you bully me, I tell my mother."

  Chen Wei could not help suppressing a smile. Nikita saw his left dimple.

  "Antonio, you should say 'I do not want'. How many times have I got to remind you?" Mrs. Andersen corrected him. Antonio grinned sheepishly at her.

  "I want Nikita to carry me," Antonio begged. He stretched out both hands towards Nikita's direction. Looking at Antonio's chubby face, how Nikita wished she was in his shoes, to be carried by Chen Wei! Carrying Antonio close to her, he whispered into her ears, "I want Cornetto ice-cream."

  "Samuel, please go and get Cornetto ice-cream for Antonio," Nikita said. Antonio broke into a smile. A small crisis was finally over.

  In the transporter room, robot Beebo moved into position standing outside the decompression chamber. The door to the decompression chamber opened wide and Beebo entered it. The door closed rapidly. A few minutes later, after all the oxygen was pumped out of the decompression chamber, the exit door opened and Beebo flew out of BURGER123. It descended on the surface of planet Fontasia after passing through the atmosphere. It stood on wide, open ground, close to a funny-looking building.

 
Onboard BURGER123, Antonio kept pestering Mrs. Andersen for a chance to see aliens until she lost her patience.

  "DATA, could you transmit the happenings on Fontasia back here? Antonio is driving me crazy," Mrs. Andersen asked.

  "Affirmative."

  "Oh really?" Mrs. Andersen could not believe her ears.

  "I can send out a sweeping radar beam to Fontasia. The reflected signal would be picked up by our detector and displayed on our Big Screen," DATA explained.

  "That's good, let's do it," Mrs. Andersen said happily.

  "Affirmative."

  "I do not want the Big Screen. I wanna go to Fontasia," Antonio insisted. He pronounced 'Fontasia' with emphasis on the syllable 'Fon'. It sounded quite odd, but pleasant to the ears. He was getting to be difficult to handle. He was used to having things in his own ways, and the situation now was no exception. He wanted to join in the fun on planet Fontasia.

  "Oh really? In that case, I will leave you on Fontasia. You can stay there for as long as you want. Do you want that?" Mrs. Andersen threatened Antonio. She was at her wit's end in dealing with this adorable boy. Antonio began to sob, sensing the harsh tone in Mrs. Andersen's voice. Chen Wei lifted up Antonio with both of his hands. He carried him and galloped round the command deck like a wild horse. After running a few rounds, Chen Wei was panting heavily. Antonio was smiling.

  "DATA, could you do something about this? Antonio is driving me up the wall," Mrs. Andersen asked helplessly.

  "Affirmative. Enter the Simulator Room. I will replicate Fontasia inside there."

  "Really? What's this Simulator Room all about? Is it a real room?" Mrs. Andersen was incredulous, curious and sceptical all at the same time.

  "Simulator Room is just below the command deck. There is a machine inside which could reflect the happenings on Fontasia using Virtual Reality(VR) technology. VR technology is a simple technology using mathematics concept of Matrices taught in elementary school. It uses direct mapping of real-world co-ordinates of atoms and recreate its images in another part of space. The only limitation is that an object in the parallel universe will be created with a fuzzy image," DATA explained.