Autumn on Mars

A science fiction novelette by Matthew Crane.

Ingredients:

How to cook:

Pick one of your sister’s ready meals. In this case a Chicken Tikka Masala was at the top of the pack
Realise that neither of you have brought rice.
Spend ten to fifteen minutes calmly telling Trip that we cannot just eat cereal for every meal of the day. Remind her about the 6 food groups.
Ignore your sister’s sulking and start cooking.
Pour pasta and water into bowl. Program microwave for 5 minutes and place in microwave.
Turn microwave off and on again. Try to program microwave again.
Listen to Trip and cook Pasta in 5 one minute bursts as it “is the only way that works”.
Cook pasta for 2 and a half more minutes. This sadly means pulling it out of microwave half way through a burst
Stab curry lid with fork and slide it into the microwave next to bowl of pasta.
Start microwave again to cook both parts of the meal at the same time.
Stop microwave again to move around curry and bowl so that it still spins
Microwave for another minute and 30 seconds.
Peel back curry lid and stir. Lick fork clean and remember that this one is yours.
Cook again for one final minute. Take curry out to cool.
Try Pasta. Despite Trip saying that it is “Fine” put it back in microwave for 30 seconds to soften more.
Drain foggy pasta grey water into water recycler.
Scrape sticky pasta from bowl into two plate-bowls. Pour what you are hungry for then put other two thirds onto trip’s plate-bowl.
Dollop a spoon of cream cheese on both as it is closest thing to yoghurt you have.
Enjoy

People’s thoughts on “Chicken Tikka Masala”:

“It’s kind of weird with pasta but it kind of also works because it’s tomatoey”

-Dorothy Madeline Clarke, Intrepid Reporter

“OK Fine. It was better than cereal. I’m not happy we had to go 5 minutes over break time for that. But I needed that”

-Phillipa Lewis, Big Sister and Space Explorer.

Severalfighters