Imperial Deserter: Decline and Fall of the Galactic Empire Book 1 by Andrew Moriarty

Author:Andrew Moriarty [Moriarty, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-05-31T16:00:00+00:00

***

Dinner was a rowdy, yet fun affair that went on for hours. Once the detritus of the trading was cleaned away, the clearing next to the ship transformed into an outdoor restaurant. There were about a hundred locals present, about twenty to a table. Dirk had insisted that one of the crew was always on the ship and swapped as necessary.

The planet’s bright primary and dull secondary crawled across the sky so that the shadows stretched over a period of hours. As they set, the stars twinkled, the three moons glowed red, and the trees emitted a pine scent. The food steamed in the cold air.

“This meat is stupendous,” Dirk said to his table as he cut into a steak. “What have I been eating?”

“The first one was beef,” said the older woman next to him. “The one on the right was pork. That one is an old earth raccoon analog.”

“Those cute, little, furry guys?”

“Cute? Little? Here they’re about a hundred kilos each, and a small pack can swarm a person and kill it. I lost my favorite dog to them when I was a kid. We shoot them on sight.”

Dirk looked at his food for a moment, then continued eating. “Tastes good, though. How do you get it so juicy?”

“Those big metal plates over the fire—we just throw the raw meat there and grill it. Add some salt to taste.”

“Can’t do that on a spaceship,” Dirk said. “Everything is processed and dehydrated to save space and keep it from spoiling. What’s this?” He held up a red vegetable.

“Radish. How do you cook on a spaceship, then?”

“We don’t. Just reheat premade trays. They don’t taste very good. What’s in this bread?”

“That’s rye. It’s like wheat but different. Put some fresh butter on it.”

Dirk did so. “Wow. That tastes amazing.”

“I think I’d give up fresh butter if I could see another planet,” the woman said.

“It would depend on the planet,” Dirk said. “I’ve been to some places, especially mining colonies, that weren’t worth seeing. You folks started as a mining colony, right?”

The crowd at the table looked at each other but didn’t answer. “Try the wine,” the woman said.

Dirk took a sip. “It’s both sweet and tart at the same time,” Dirk said. “But it must have a high acid content to pair so well with the steak.”

“High acid content? That’s the sweetest wine ever. You must not know much about wine.”

Dirk ignored that. “What’s it made out of?”

“Blueberries. You’ll have some for dessert, too.”

“Isn’t that a little tart for dessert?” Dirk asked. He frowned for a moment. “How do you get sugar here?”

“Cold hardy sugar beets,” the woman said. “You ask a lot of questions about food.”

“Wanted to be a chef,” Dirk said.

“How’d you end up as a starship pilot, then?” the woman asked.

Dirk smiled at her. “Can I have some more wine?”

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