The thoughts swimming around Mr. Choy’s head bewildered him. On the one hand, he was out of jail and heading to a new job. On the other hand, he had no idea what he was getting in to. “What kind of company is this?” he thought, as the limousine drove through an especially rough-looking neighborhood. Wilted vegetables with tattoos and scars stared out from broken windows, some holding emaciated baby vegetables.
They had been driving for hours, but only now were the tinted windows unblocked so that Mr. Choy could see the outside world. The limousine drew to a stop at a large gate, and it drew aside slowly. Mr. Choy could not see what was behind the gate.
The limousine drew inside the first gate and stopped again. The first gate closed, and a second gate opened. Mr. Choy began to become more apprehensive as he noticed a guard tower over the gated entryway. They drew up to a door and stopped.
“This is our stop,” announced the carrot.
Mr. Choy turned. He had forgotten about the presence of the carrot in the limousine, despite sitting directly across from him. They walked toward a large steel door in the wall of an even larger metal building. The carrot placed a leaf on a keypad next to the door, and they entered the building.
Mr. Choy was stunned by how bright the interior was. Spotlights shone down from the high ceiling, and men in suits walked purposefully across the floor. The floor, Mr. Choy suddenly noticed, was far below them. They were standing on a catwalk far above it. “This is the only location of our business on land,” began the carrot, as they entered an elevator.
“On land?” asked Mr. Choy. “What do you mean?”
“We keep most of our facilities on the ocean to avoid taxes and such,” answered the carrot, “however, we need this facility here so that we can produce cereal. It doesn’t lend itself to production in a floating setting.”
“But why bring me here?” asked Mr. Choy, “Why not bring me to one of your ships or islands or whatever?”
“This was the most convenient location and the only location,” began the carrot, as they stepped out of the elevator. “First, this is the closest office to the jail where you were being held. The other offices are out at sea and won’t be back for a week at the soonest. Second, the sea offices are secure locations: unauthorized persons are explicitly forbidden.”
“We still haven’t discussed the job offer,” began Mr. Choy…
“We are willing to give you an open-ended assignment in our cereal weaponry division,” stated the carrot, opening a case and extracting a slim sheaf of papers. “Our company, however, has a complicated security policy. You’ll need to pass a background check. The stunts that you pulled at the mega-mall food court earlier this week are a prime example of qualities that are of special concern to us.”
“Special concern?” asked Mr. Choy. “Does that mean…”
“No,” interrupted the carrot, “it does not mean that you will be disqualified. We have heard several eyewitness accounts of how you overcame some complicated obstacles with astounding ease. Mr. Choy, have you ever studied martial arts?”
“Uh…” began Mr. Choy, who was staring at a giant machine that seemed to be ingesting fruit and firing freeze-dried slices of fruit into a giant vat.
The carrot swung around suddenly and swung his arm toward Mr. Choy, who quickly dodged back and turned. He grabbed the carrot’s arm and pulled him around so that both of the carrot’s arms were pinned behind his back. The carrot quickly flipped forward, pitching Mr. Choy toward the floor. Mr. Choy did not hit the floor. He extended his leaves like a giant wing, lifting both of them off of the ground. Time seemed to freeze as they came apart, drifting in midair, poised to strike. Mr. Choy let loose a kick that sent the carrot across the room.
The carrot nearly caught his footing, but came to rest on a banana peel from the giant machine. He slipped and began to skid, but gained control and slid across the floor, dodging suited workers and leaping deftly onto a desk. Mr. Choy hit the ground in a crouch, reaching out and grabbing a mop that was leaning against a nearby support column.
The carrot leapt forward and upward, sailing toward the catwalk above. Mr. Choy jumped across between a pair of columns to reach an opposing catwalk. The carrot grabbed a pipe from the railing of the catwalk.
“You are very skilled,” shouted the carrot.
“How did I do that?” asked Mr. Choy.
“You seem to have instinctive fighting skills,” began the carrot. “That is the other reason that we are interested in having you as one of our employees. We believe that you may have a genetically engineered plant in your ancestry, with some mutation just now becoming apparent.”
“So I know kung fu?” asked Mr. Choy.
“No, you know something far more powerful. You know how to use each fiber in your body to its maximum potential, and you can know all of this instinctively. We want to know how you know.”
“Where do I sign?” asked Mr. Choy.
To be continued…
