That's how Malcolm always ran his life. She knew only what he wanted her to know. Regardless of her own thirst for knowledge.
So the next time Proteus entered the building, she launched up from where she had been leaning against her pod. "Proteus!"
He flinched, and then seemingly lunged far across the room. Like he was afraid.
But that couldn't have been right. The god-like creature of the sea had no reason to fear her, or realistically, anything in the ocean. He was strong and large and had more weapons dotting his body than even the greatest ships of Tau. Why would he be afraid of her?
"I brought food," he said, eyeing her as if she were going to jump at him. "I realized I have not been providing any sort of sustenance for you while you were here."
"I have food," she replied.
Pilot interrupted them from his position on the console. "No, she doesn't. She's running out of those nutrient packets. It's a good thing you brought whatever it was you brought. Hopefully, it's edible."
Proteus scowled at the both of them and then lifted his hand. In it, he clutched a good handful of what looked like dead squid. "I have seen humans eating these before. I know they will not make you sick."
"Squid?" she breathed. "I have seen Malcolm eating these. I don't know how to cook them down here without ventilation, but I can make something work. I'm certain."
"Cook?" The furrows between Proteus's nude brows grew deeper. "I had forgotten humans do not eat their food raw."
"I don't know if you can eat squid raw..." She supposed she could give it a try? There were likely bacterial infections or parasites to worry about, but then again, the pod should be able to fix all those issues as well. Ellie didn't enjoy the thought of intestinal distress when she'd already been trying to be as discreet about that as possible.
Pilot didn't care if she relieved herself through the porthole, but Proteus might not like swimming through her refuse to get inside of this room.
The sound of a disappointed droid interrupted her thoughts. "If you're going to eat them, you better do it quickly. That won'tbe fresh forever, and that's when it'll likely hurt you. So eat up, princess."
Princess?
She stepped forward to take the squid from Proteus, only to have him rear back from her once again. He set the fresh squid on the floor and then backed away from it quickly, bunching himself up in the corner so he wouldn't disturb her.
"Why are you acting like that?" she asked, grabbing the squid and swishing them in the cold seawater one last time. She walked on this floor. He shouldn't put raw food on it and then expect her to eat it.
Proteus just stared, as he tended to do when he was trying to figure her out.
She looked at the squid instead, then. If he was going to be odd—as if he wasn't ever not odd—then she would focus on the task at hand. Eating these would likely not be a very pleasant experience, but she did need the calories.
Like Pilot had said, her food supply was running shockingly low for how short of a time she'd been here.
There wasn't any way to make the food taste better. Lifting it up a little higher, she stared at the pale, translucent body and muttered, "Down the hatch, I suppose."
Swallowing it whole felt like she had somehow done something wrong. One moment, she was fine, and the next, a gag reflex nearly had her spewing the dead squid and the rest of her nutrient packet onto the floor.
It wasn't necessarily the taste. There was an undeniably fresh quality to the squid that she knew was the correct flavor. But the texture was shocking. It was so smooth, not quite slimy, but certainly not dry. It slid down her throat and then seemed to get stuck so she couldn't keep swallowing.
It did go down, though. She managed to swallow the entirety of the disgusting creature and then tried very hard to smile through the nausea. "Delicious."
Proteus stared at her as if she'd lost her mind. Then Pilot made a clanking noise and turned his attention back to the screens. "At the very least, you should have cut it up. Swallowing it like Proteus is only going to choke you. Humans."
Right. She could have sliced the little squid into more manageable bites. That would have been a much more reasonable choice.
Ellie bit her lip. "I haven't ever had real food. Nutrient packets were all I've ever been given, so I don't really know how to eat this. It seems that there is a right and a wrong way."
The monster in the shadows held out his massive hand. The claws at the tips were still intimidating, but Ellie found it easier to hand over the other four squid he had hunted her. At least he would be able to cut it with those claws, and maybe she could slurp down smaller pieces a little easier.
Still, he remained so far from her. It was hard to even reach across the hatch to give him the squid.
"Why are you way over there?" she asked again.
He sliced a clean piece off the squid and held the strip out to her. It was much easier to manage, but still it was hard to swallow down. Almost like it was too big for her throat, even though it was such a tiny piece.
