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But staring through the thermaview as they once again retreated to the canteen, Kaia was rethinking her approach. Orion’s sudden proposal, and the rush to get off Riker 109, had frayed her last nerve. She was supposed to be the one seducing this man. Instead, she refused his food and insulted his alien package.
Everything was going to plan, except for her attitude.
So when Orion called her over to the canteen, she complied. Bretton’s elbows took up most of the tiny plastic table. He had a plate between his arms and long yellow-brown strips piled on top of it. White specks of something dotted his beard. He picked a strip between his fingers and popped it into his mouth.
Orion was extracting a box from a dispenser in the wall. Kaia wrinkled her nose as its scent wafter over, burnt and fleshy.
“Sit.” Orion nodded toward one chair, and Kaia did as instructed, maneuvering into the small space to perch on the stool closest to the door.
When he opened the steaming box and extracted its contents onto two plates, Kaia nearly retched. It had smelled like flesh because itwas. Real animal flesh. Crusty brown and crisp on the outside, reddish and wet on the inside when Orion cut into his chunk of it.
She stared at her plate, barely registering Orion and Bretton exchanging looks in her peripheral vision.
“What is it?” Orion asked as his jaw worked around the piece of fried animal muscle he’d shoved in his mouth. It looked tough. Kaia shuddered as a dab of pink blood seeped between his lips.
She’d already decided to make an effort, but she wasn't sure she could handle this. There was a non-zero chance she’d vomit.
“Well?” The annoyance in Orion’s voice made her bite back a retort.
“I’m not that hungry…”
Orion scowled. “Are you seriously turning down a steak right now?”
Kaia swallowed. Was that what it was? A “steak”?
“Do you have any nutrigel?”
Orion’s jaw was the only part of him that moved as it worked around his “steak”.
“Why do you want nutrigel when I’m giving you proper food?” he asked.
“She’s probably never had proper food,” Bretton finally spoke up. He didn’t look at her, pushing his half-full plate to the middle of the table. “We’re almost there. I’m checking in.” With that, he rose and lumbered out of the canteen.
“That true?” Orion watched her.
Kaia was trying not to talk or breathe too much, so as not to inhale the disgusting smell wafting from the plate before her. “Sort of… We ate roots when I was a kid.”
Orion tapped a forefinger against his fork, thinking. Was he deciding whether to believe her?
“You realize this stuff is a delicacy, right? Try it.”
“I can’t.” It came out whinier than she would have liked, and she cringed at herself. “I’ll be sick.”
Orion sighed and dragged her plate toward himself. “Whatever. More for me. Want a fry?”
“A fry?”
“Sliced potatoes. A root vegetable for the little root eater. They’re addictive.” She recoiled when Orion plucked one from Bretton’s plate and held it to her mouth.
When Kaia leaned back in, she decided the “fry” didn’t smell so bad. Slightly sweet, slightly tangy. It was dotted with little white particles, and Kaia began to suspect what it was she saw on Bretton’s beard earlier: wasted specks of one of the most important minerals in the universe.
“Is that salt?” She plucked the strip from Orion’s hand. He looked amused, but she paid it no mind; she was already taking an uncertain nibble. Kaia held it in her mouth, letting the salty flavor melt into her tastebuds. Holy shit, salt was delicious.
She ate the rest of the plate slowly, chewing each bite to pulp, savoring.
“It’s a start, but fries aren’t gonna fill you with what you need,” Orion complained at his plate as he finished his steak, knife ripping through the disgusting flesh.
By the time she was done, Kaia’s belly was ready to explode. But therewasa problem. One she had pushed to the back of her mind while eating the salty deliciousness before her, but could no longer ignore. Her mouth had grown excruciatingly dry. Her tongue, she was sure, would shrivel up and disappear any moment. Was this what physical food did? She didn’t remember the roots from back home making her this parched. Kaia wished she had insisted on a nutrigel packet. Nutrigel contained both a thirst suppressant and what little hydration her body needed. Whatever she just consumed seemed to do the opposite.
