Flying Burger (17 page)

The other six contestants sped on in the race. At this point in time, Tango from Nutmeg Mountain was clearly in the lead followed by Bongo, Madwolf, Sian, Koen and Relag. It was competitive. Every monkey tried his best to outrun his rival.

When they reached the 200-kilometre mark, the second obstacle appeared. It was an elevated slope at an angle of forty-five degrees to the horizontal. Further away from this slope, there stood a big hoop which was covered by a thin polystyrene board. Each contestant had to penetrate his hoop and break the thin polystyrene board, failing which he would be disqualified from the race. All six monkeys finally went up the slope but only four managed to penetrate the hoop, they were Tango, Koen, Madwolf and Relag. Bongo and Sian missed the hoop by a big margin, so they could not continue with the race anymore.

Rena and Rona were watching the race on top of a tree at this spot. At first, they could see the river, but later more monkeys came and it was impossible to watch the race from ground level. So Rona suggested to Rena to climb a tree. When Rona saw Tango leading the pack, she was so excited and yelled at the top of her voice.

"Tango! Tango! Go! Go! Go!' exclaimed Rona.

"Bongo! Bongo! Go! Go! Go!' exclaimed Rena, who did not want to miss the fun of yelling.

At this time, Tango was still leading the pack by a distance. The other competitors were closing in on him. He was followed by Madwolf, Relag and Koen. As Tango sped towards the end, the winds beat strongly against his face, the cheering from the spectators was faintly audible, the sceneries on the river-banks whisked past him and he could see the finishing line coming at him! After a short while passed before Tango crossed the finish-line and emerged champion. Madwolf took the runner-up position while Koen was third. Relag came in last.

A small stage was set up at the end-point. The prize-giving ceremony was officiated by the Chief Monkey, who had flown here from the start-point on a light-weight air-craft. He had followed the entire race from the air. A docile, adult female monkey announced the winners and the Chief Monkey presented medallions to them in the order which they were called. When the last medallion was given out, the Chief received a call on his mobile communicator. He was alerted to an emergency. A space communication satellite had detected the arrival of the Horok!

Just when he was thinking about how to handle this emergency, a glaring white light appeared in the sky above. It moved steadily at a slow pace. It was the spaceship belonging to Horok. This spaceship was made up of two parts, the top part and the body. The top was made up of three boomerang-shaped structures linked together by a central rod. This central rod was joined to the body of the spaceship by two parallel rods slanted at a forward angle. The spaceship body was rod-shaped with a boomerang-shaped tail.

Before any monkey knew what happened, a trap-door opened on the spaceship body. Out flew a gigantic creature, about two hundred metres long. It looked like a flying snake with scaly body and had two huge leathery wings. Its wingspan easily reached two hundred metres. It seemed to be carrying a funny-looking pouch below its body. It flew quietly and only the sound of its flapping wings could be heard, "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh". This flying snake was searching and then it found its prey - Capuchin monkeys! There were so many of them below.

The Horok swooped down at an incredible speed towards the crowd of monkeys on the river-bank. Just when it was fast approaching its prey, its head suddenly split into six smaller heads! Six long tongues protruded from each head and caught six Capuchin monkeys within a blink of an eye. These monkeys were then dropped into the pouch which the Horok carried below its body. The six-headed serpent flapped its wings rapidly and gained altitude. It prepared for another round of attack. Every monkey ran for his dear life. Many screamed and yelled. Many took shelter in caves and thick vegetation. The Chief Monkey quickly activated his mobile communicator and called for help.

"Space Control Station, this is Commander Koron. We are invaded by aliens. Send all alpha-Hawks here. Quick!" He boomed into his communicator.

"Commander, this is Captain Lyon, red alert activated. All alpha-Hawks mobilised. Over and out," the deputy commander of Nutmeg Space Control Station reported.

Nutmeg Space Control Station was situated inside a cave in the middle of Nutmeg Mountain. Here, Capuchin monkey officers took turns to man the station. Right now, the siren sounded loud and clear. All alpha-Hawk pilots rushed to the launch-pads to await further orders.

"We are being invaded by aliens. Trouble sector, T246. Mission, search and destroy. Execution time, immediate." Captain Lyon issued orders.

Shortly after, ten alpha-Hawks arrived at the troubled spot. These were grey, metallic fighter-crafts programmed for attack. They were shaped like hawks on the attack, with spread wings and grasping talons. Each alpha-Hawk had a wingspan of twenty metres, could utter shrill cries which were deafening to the ears. Two laser guns were located at the eye region. Together with a powerful beak and sharp claws that could rip through steel, the alpha-Hawk was a lean and mean fighting machine.

A fierce battle with the Horok unfolded.

The Horok was circling the air above the river-mouth searching the ground below.

All the alpha-Hawks arrived in battle formation. They zoomed past the sky and made a thunderous sound. Once the Hawks saw the Horok, they split into two groups, one group flew to the right and the other group flew to the left. Very quickly, these two groups of fighter-crafts aimed their laser guns at the Horok and fired simultaneously. The Horok wailed.

Thereafter, one Hawk landed on the Horok's body and grasped the scaly skin with its talons. It fired lasers at close range. At this time, one of the Horok heads turned in its direction and saw the tiny Hawk. It stared at the Hawk with its only eye. Suddenly, it opened its big mouth and jabbed its long tongue at the Hawk. The tiny Hawk was quickly disengaged from the Horok's body and fell into the river below.

Furious for being attacked at close range, the Horok flew closer to the Hawks and flapped its two wings powerfully. One of the Hawks was not careful and was hit by the wings. It collided with another Hawk and both crashed onto the mountain sides. Before the fighter-crafts exploded, both pilots managed to eject safely and landed on the ground below.

At this time, the Horok was chasing one of the Hawks and was closing in. It shot out its long tongue again and managed to entwine this fighter-craft. Suddenly, it took aim and threw this fighter-craft at another approaching craft which could not dodge in time. A big explosion occurred in midair. The debris dropped onto the ground below and many monkeys ran helter-skelter to take cover.

More than three hundred Capuchin monkeys had left Nutmeg Mountain since the arrival of the Horok. Many were headed for a nearby mountain where there were many caves. In these mountainous regions, caves provided the best refuge from predators. Only five alpha-Hawks were left defending the sky. The Horok grew bolder in its attack. It lashed and jabbed its long tongues at the Hawks. Its two wings would sweep powerful air currents to upset the fighter-crafts' movements. The Hawks retaliated by increasing laser power and uttering ultra-sonic cries, which could damage the sense of hearing. The Horok was getting dizzy.

The battle for supremacy raged on.

The Chief Monkey received another signal from space satellite on his mobile communicator. The signal came from BURGER123.

"Greetings. I am Captain Baldwin, star-ship commander. Please identify," Captain Baldwin said.

"Greetings. I am Koron, commander of Nutmeg Space Control Station. We are under attack by the Horok. Please help us!" Koron pleaded.

"Don't worry. We will do our best to help," Captain Baldwin assured him.

At this moment, Horok swept down from the sky like a big nasty snake. It had caught sight of two young monkeys, Rena and Rona, perched precariously on a branch on top of a tree. It wanted to catch these delicious morsels of food. "Whoosh!" The sound of rushing wind as Horok swooped down and caught its preys by their tails. It dropped these two screaming monkeys into its captive pouch and began to fly upwards again towards the sky, flapping its huge wings powerfully. Rena and Rona found themselves in a dark and warm environment. They felt many hairy bodies around them.

Suddenly, Rona screamed "who's holding my tail?"

"It's me, Rena."

Suddenly, it was Rena's turn to scream.

"Who's holding my tail?"

"It's me, honey," a husky male voice replied.

"Get away from me, you big ape!" Rena yelled.

"Ok, ok. We're all big apes in here. You're making me deaf," the male-monkey backed off.

BURGER123 entered the planet Remon's atmosphere and flew towards Nutmeg Mountain. It was getting cloudy and the noon sun was hidden behind clouds. A small wind blew across the land. Horok was beginning to launch its third attack on the alpha-Hawks when BURGER123 arrived on the battle scene. Horok had caught one of the Hawks with its tongue. The flying serpent was using this fighter-craft to smash against the other Hawks. Two of the alpha-Hawks were badly damaged and came crashing down to the ground. The pilots ejected to safety before the fighter-crafts hit the ground and exploded. Only two alpha-Hawks were left defending the sky.

"DATA, take aim and fire ultra-sonic gun!" Captain Baldwin ordered.

"Affirmative."

A small gun ejected from an opening on the topsides of BURGER123. It took up position quickly and aimed at the Horok. A high-frequency sound wave was directed at the flying serpent. Very soon, two of its heads shut its eyes and began to swirl as if in pain. The two remaining alpha-Hawks continued to fire laser at this monster. Suddenly, the flying serpent let loose its tongue and freed the captive Hawk. This fighter-craft was damaged beyond recognition and dropped to the ground in a wasted heap of metal. At this juncture, one of the Hawks was lucky to shoot its laser gun at the strapping mechanism of the captive pouch. The pouch dropped safely into the river below. All the monkeys got out of the pouch and swam to safety. Rena and Rona managed to swim safely to shore and went to hide in a nearby cave.

"DATA, fire freezer gun," Captain Baldwin ordered.

"Affirmative."

Another small gun ejected from an opening on the topsides of BURGER123. It took up position quickly and aimed at the Horok. A powerful jet of liquid-nitrogen was directed at the flying serpent. It took about ten minutes before the Horok turned into solid ice. Unable to flap its wings anymore, the monster crashed onto the ground below. It broke into many fragments. All the monkeys cheered loudly. They streamed out of the caves from where they were hiding. Many descended from tall trees and many came out from underground holes. They jumped and gibbered. Many danced in sheer joy.

 "Captain Baldwin, I, Koron, like to represent all our people to say 'thank you' to you and your crew for helping us. We would like to invite you to stay for a few days to show our hospitality, if you could afford the time," Koron invited.

"Thank you for your invitation. I'm afraid we cannot afford the time as we have another mission to accomplish," Captain Baldwin declined. They communicated through the air. BURGER123 ascended the atmosphere and soon left planet Remon behind.

The remaining two alpha-Hawks in the sky fired tractor beams at the Horok spaceship and towed the spacecraft back to Nutmeg Space Control Station for scientific investigation. All Capuchin monkeys returned happily to Nutmeg Mountain.

Two months' time elapsed.

A grand wedding was held for Rona and Tango. This wedding took place on a wide, open ground near the waterfall. Many monkeys were gathered there. Rows of long wooden tables were arranged neatly, in front of the couple's wedding table. Dressed in splendid Remon wedding costumes, Tango and Rona sat at their table. Exotic fruits of all kinds were placed on each table. The guests were either gibbering or eating the fruits happily.

A musical band entered the scene. This group of monkeys brought with them drums, cymbals and tambourines. They began playing their musical instruments once they settled down at a table near the newly-wed couple. A lively music filled the air.

Behind Tango and Rona's table, there stood a decorative piece of painting, mounted on a tripod. While enjoying the fruits and music, Tango's tail went in search of Rona's. He finally touched her tail, but Rona pushed him back. He did not give up and tried again, but encountered rejection. Rona glared at him, but Tango ignored her. He kept trying hard until his tail knocked against the tripod and the painting behind him collapsed! The two monkey tails darted back and forth. Tango tried one last time and Rona finally allowed him to twine his tail around her's. Tango was so happy that he threw back his head and laughed heartily.

Tango and Rona lived happily ever after in a tree-house on top of an Angsana tree. They did quarrel occasionally, but most of the time they were happy together.

Chapter 13

When stars several times bigger than the sun reach the end of their lives, they flare up in a violent explosion called a supernova. The outer regions of the star are thrown off in a supernova, but a core of densely packed material remains. This may form a pulsar. However, if there is enough material in the tight-packed core, its gravity becomes so strong that it keeps on getting denser and denser. As the core’s density increases, its pull of gravity becomes even stronger. Eventually, the gravity becomes so strong that light cannot escape from the star. It then becomes invisible. Astronomers call this remarkable state of affairs a black hole. Besides imprisoning light, a black hole has even more bizarre effects - its gravity distorts space and time and the laws of physics break down at its centre. No one can look inside a black hole, but mathematicians can explore them using Einstein’s theory of general relativity. This shows strange effects at the edge of the black-hole and deep inside it, where its matter has collapsed into a singularity - a point of zero volume and infinite density. Some mathematical calculations suggest that black holes could be gateways to other universes!

Current theory of stellar evolution and observations of stellar populations in space suggests that out of a total of 100 billion stars in our Milky Way Galaxy, there could be as many as 100 million black holes formed from the collapse of giant stars. All black holes have the same basic structure. The singularity at the centre is surrounded by an invisible boundary called the event horizon: nothing can escape from inside of it. The size of the event horizon is an area of about 60 kilometres in diameter. A spinning black hole is more complex, with an ergosphere (a region like a cosmic whirlpool), an extra inner event horizon, and a singularity shaped like a ring.

Some black holes are small, called primodial black holes, created during the Big Bang. These black holes are the size of atoms but have masses up to billions of tons. They give out radiation. Others are supermassive black holes found at the centres of galaxies. These weigh in at millions or even billions of Suns. They were produced not by supernovas but by the collapse of huge gas clouds in the galaxy's past. Their immense gravity can attract dust and gas from large areas of space, forming massive accretion disks.

Black holes can be detected only if they are close to another star. The hole's powerful gravity pulls streamers of gas off its companion at high speeds. The gas pours down toward the black hole, forming a spiral vortex around it called an accretion disk. Friction makes the swirling gas so hot that it glows fiercely - the hottest parts reach up to 100 million degree Celsius and emit X-rays. A typical example of this is Cygnus X-1, a binary star system eight thousand light years away from Earth. It has a mass of sixteen suns and emit X-ray, with just the time variability and frequency distribution one would expect from a blue giant star orbiting a black-hole.

Travelling at warp speed for close to four hours, BURGER123 had left Nutmeg Mountain far behind. It was now approaching Cygnus X-1. Looking out of the window, Chen Wei exclaimed, “What a beautiful blue giant star!” Antonio was the first to rush over to the window and wanted to look outside. Standing close to Chen Wei, the little fellow tugged at Chen Wei's hand. With a sweep of his hands, Chen Wei carried Antonio in his arms. Very soon, the others also joined them. Antonio stared hard. He saw that gas was torn away from the blue giant star by the black hole's powerful gravity. This gas formed a long streamer, travelling faster the closer it got to the black hole. This streamer hit the gas orbiting the black hole and created a bright hot spot. Around this black hole, gas formed a whirling vortex around it, creating the accretion disk. This accretion disk was dark and cold around the edges, and the black hole's gravity heated the gas until it glowed near the centre. As this superheated gas fell into the black hole, it emitted large amount of X-ray. Close to the black hole, gas could be heated to 100 million degree Celsius!

BURGER123 switched to ion-drive, travelling at sub-light speed as it approached Cygnus X-1. The star-ship was careful to avoid travelling too close to this binary star system, for fear of being trapped by its strong gravitational pull and sucked into a black hole. As the star ship was pulling away from Cygnus X-1, a huge stellar wind swept across space without warning. It came from the Toby Jug Nebula. Stellar wind of this magnitude would sweep any spacecraft off course. BURGER123 was brought closer to the hungry black hole!

“Danger. Danger. Sensor detect strong gravitational pull. One thousand G. From Cygnus X-1,” DATA reported.

“Captain, we are being sucked into a black hole! Do something before we end up as spaghetti on the breakfast table,” Mrs. Andersen spoke into her wrist communicator. Before long, Captain Baldwin entered the command deck.

“DATA. Activate anti-gravity shield. Destination, Alpha Centauri B. Maximum warp speed forward!” Captain Baldwin ordered.

“Affirmative.”

"Captain, I receive a signal from Speedy Transmission Network, a private telecommunication company," DATA reported.

"Open communication channel," Captain Baldwin ordered.

"Honey! honey, are you there?" Mr. Andersen nearly shouted. Shortly after, Mr. Andersen's image appeared on the Big Screen in the command deck. He was very worried about his wife on learning that BURGER123 was approaching a black hole. He wanted to know if his wife was all right.

"Yes honey, I'm here," Mrs. Andersen was overjoyed to hear her husband's voice and see his image on the Big Screen.

"The kid's parents were very worried too and they wanted me to tell their kids not to worry, they will take the next star-ship and come for them," Mr. Andersen said.

"I know. I love you dear."

"I love you too honey."

The communication signal was interrupted at this point by random static in space.

When the star-ship came too close to Cygnus X-1, it was caught up in the whirlpool of gas falling into this black hole.

“Time will be slowed down very much before we enter the 'event horizon'. High temperature. Extreme external gravity expected. We will reach the 'event horizon' of this black hole in five minutes. Status - red alert,” DATA warned.

“All crew members, execute emergency procedure 199!” Captain Baldwin ordered.

Everyone took up seats and fasten their safety belts, bracing for the ride of their lives! After five minutes had passed, a strange thing happened. When Samuel accidentally knocked down a mug on his desk, it fell to the floor in slow motion! Everyone stared with his mouth wide-open. Soon after, they began to notice another stranger event, that all their actions were in super slow-motion! Blinking of eyes, mouth opening, closing and hand movements, all these actions were completed in double slow time!

“Ohhh…myyy….goodnesssss.” Mrs. Andersen’s remark was said in three minutes’ time, instead of the usual five seconds. Seeing this, Samuel started to laugh, but in slow motion. The scene was so comical that everyone followed suit. All laughed in slow motion! It was out of this world.

After a powerful tug-of-war with Cygnus X-1, BURGER123 was unable to break free from the grasp of this black hole. It was getting closer to the 'event horizon' with each passing minute and the fate of its passengers were bleak. Opposite the spaceship, the blue giant star continued to be swallowed up gradually by this black hole. Spaceship and blue giant star swirled around this black hole in a vortex.

"External temperature. Five million degree Celsius. Life-support system stable," DATA reported.

After one minute elapsed.

"External temperature rising. Fifty million degree Celsius. Life-support system stable," DATA reported.

After three minutes elapsed.

"External temperature intolerable. Ninety-nine million degree Celsius. Air-conditioner working overdrive," DATA warned.

At this moment, everyone was beginning to feel the heat. The adults were very worried. Chen Wei was deep in thoughts. Nikita was not too worried as she had Chen Wei with her. Melissa was busy watching Nikita and Chen Wei closely, to see how this couple would end up finally. Samuel sat next to Antonio. Samuel was pinching Antonio's cheek until it was red. Antonio was trying his hardest to push Samuel away.

After four minutes elapsed.

“Danger! Danger! We are approaching the opening of the black hole,” DATA raised the alarm.

“What is going to happen?” Chen Wei asked.

“External gravity exceeding one million G expected. Entering black hole now. External gravity. Five thousand G. Anti-gravity shield holding. Radiation level, high,” reported DATA. Before long, BURGER123 tilted and dropped into this black hole!

After one minute elapsed.

“External gravity. Four hundred thousand G. Anti-gravity shield holding. Radiation level, very high,” DATA sounded another alert.

At this point in time, the crackling of walls and the louder than usual humming of machines could be heard. The spacecraft began to shake uncontrollably. If not for their safety belts, everyone would have been thrown to the floor in this violent shake-up.

“External gravity. Nine hundred thousand G and building. Captain, the anti-gravity shield will not hold when external gravity exceeds one million G. Radiation level, dangerous,” DATA alerted again.

“Anyone has any idea how to get out of this crisis?” Captain Baldwin was worried. He had not encountered this type of situation before and he wanted to get everyone out of this perceived danger situation.

“Let me try using the magic ring of Azura.” Having said this, Nikita focused her concentration and her magic ring began to glow even brighter than usual. She wished for another layer of force-field to protect the spaceship. Slowly, the spacecraft was engulfed in another layer of alien force-field and it began to get more stable with the passage of time.

“External gravity. One point five million G. Radiation level, deadly. Life support system, stabilising,” DATA reported. Captain Baldwin heaved a sigh of relief.

“Where are we now?” Antonio asked.

“Inside a black hole, my dear,” Mrs. Andersen told him.

“Oooo, that’s fun,” Antonio said innocently. Everyone could not help suppressing a smile.

“Look! there’s a light at the end,” Samuel yelled.

Everyone looked out of the cockpit window and sure enough, there was a glaring expanse of white light at the far end, just like the opening of a tunnel.

“DATA, where are we headed?” Captain Baldwin asked.

“Negative. Uncharted territory.”

“Oooo, we are lost inside a black hole,” Antonio said.

“Could we get out of this black hole?” Melissa asked.

No reply was forthcoming. BURGER123 had gone where no man had gone before - inside a black hole! Black hole represented the darkest mystery of the universe where even light cannot escape.