Wind beneath my wings wings once more.
29 Jan 2022Creamy Goodness III
“Hmm. This one is .. cooked properly, but without creativity. The seasoning however sets it apart from the rest. How much can the chef prepare Ninette?”Now training was almost over, Creamy was readying to leave the hotel and head for Jamesons’ to put Suzis’ ship back in the configuration it was before he fitted it for passengers. As part of preparing to leave, Creamy needed to stock his galley. It had been a long time since he had enough credits to audition chefs, and he was enjoying the sampling process.
“Une semaine de votre menu est disponible dans ce restaurant monsieur” answered Ninette the Personal Assistant COVAS over the slate resting on the table in Creamys’ room.
“Well, I’ll take it, so long as the chef or chefette is happy to let us know where the seasoning is from. If I must stick to this strictly pedestrian menu, then I want it to be as tasty as ‘bland-and-good-for-me’ can be. A weeks’ worth won’t be enough, don’cha know”
To stop Creamy from judging the food by anything but taste, Ninette organised the menu parameters for health and nutrition, and contacted all the chefs willing to prepare meals a kitchen-novice could heat up without ruining. Creamy trusted his exercised pallet and computer more than his own ability to look past a good name and restaurant rating.
“Oui Monsieur. Je suis convaincu que le chef sera utile. Je vous informerai quand j'aurai une réponse”
“Thank you Ninette. If I must eat that to maintain this..” said Creamy enjoying his reflection in the rooms' full length mirror. “.. then I would like enigmatic flavour to be a factor. If not, I’ll settle for the fifths offering. Still boring, but it lost nothing being reheated. A tough feat to achieve, I’ve been told”
The flavour connected some neurons in Creamys’ brain, he had smelled something like it before. The aroma was hanging on Mrs Muirs’ clothes and in her ship. It wasn’t enough to register at the time, but Creamy had an incredibly acute sense of taste and appreciation for it. He was a much sort after sommelier on six planets. Unfortunately, they were all in the area of space he was now couldn’t enter unless he was ready to stay home and take his fathers’ title and responsibilities to the Empire.
Remembering how he had left Mrs Muirs’ company made Creamy a little sad. She was a tough woman for him to get on with, and far too eager to resort to final solutions, but she possessed a strong personality. That was an attractive feature that a lot of people lacked. Not many people would stand by their principles in the face of a stack of credits these days. Creamy often felt like he was the only one.
At the time on Mrs Muirs' ship, Creamy linked the smell to the many packs of jerky she had on board. She had a lot of flavours, including sweet’n’smoky, Creamys’ favourite; it appeared to him the woman lived off jerky. It would certainly feed her, but he did worry about her lack of vitamins and calcium. Still, if she had this sort of seasoning lying around on her ship, thought Creamy eating another fork-full of well-spiced vegetable rice, then perhaps she had real food in her galley she was unwilling to share with guests like Creamy.
A week later, the EOM Assistances–5 was stocked and ready to go. Creamy had over spent again, and Ninette had to re-evaluate his salvage timetable.
“Monsieur, je conseillerais de garder les cabines équipées si vous voulez toujours récupérer votre Anaconda dans un délai acceptable”
“Sorry old girl. While getting that ship back in the black is a priority, I want to find out what’s happened to my uncle first. Whats more, I can’t risk leaving the companies ship like this in case Suzi needs it back in a hurry. I think we’ll make enough scratch as a support response ship while I track down Uncle Two. Have you come up with any ideas on where I should start looking for him, Ninette?”
“Comme il est un membre éminent de la Société Impériale des Xénoarchéologues, je suggère que nous commencions par là. Cela nous obligera à retourner dans l'espace Impérial, monsieur, près de votre zone”
“Oh I see. Skirting the old no-go-zone again ay? Well, it does make sense, I suppose. If one wants to find a Xenoarchaeologist, then one should enquire with the Imperial Xenoarchaeologist Society”
Creamy clapped his hands once, clasped his palms and rubbed them together.
“Right o Ninette. Plot a course for Jamesons’ Memorial and contact them to be ready for my refit, please. After that, we’ll trip along to Chilton Terminal for a spicy visit. Oh, actually, get on them on the coms too if you would be so kind, my dear. Perhaps you can have their restaurants prepare some samples for me”
Taking the controls, Creamy left the pad behind upon receiving clearance.
“Once theres supplies in the pantry, we’ll head homeward and start tracking down The Goodway Beacon, and my uncles' support fleet”
With Ninette installed in a capable ship, and a plan in motion for his immediate future, Creamy finally felt like his old self again. Well, his young self was more appropriate after the heavy weeks of training he had just endured. He still lacked many of the luxuries he took for granted, but they no longer seemed out of reach. He hoped, if he couldn't talk to his uncle, he could at least find some information about what the Guardian Box was before he went back to the cold Anaconda.