‘Seriously man, you gotta try this! It’s delicious!’ insisted Saleek as he manoeuvred a large spoon loaded with...something...into his mouth.
The warm and friendly alien had offered to show Patrick how to get to his hotel, but first he had insisted that they have something to eat. In all fairness, Patrick was hungry and Saleek obviously knew his way around the city, so the human eagerly agreed. Plus, as Saleek bought Patrick’s story about not having much money, the spiky alien offered to pay for the human’s meal as well. However, Saleek’s idea of food was somewhat different to what Patrick was used to eating back on his home world.
‘Mmm!’ Saleek commented as he chewed.
Patrick watched as the alien gorged on the food on his plate, if “food” was the correct word. In appearance, it bore a rather unpleasant resemblance to worms and oddly-shaped flowers with long petals, all cooked in a slightly slimy, greenish sauce. The strange thing was that it smelled really appetising, and Patrick was thrown by the clash between the two. Eventually, after much poking and prodding the stuff, Patrick put a small amount on the tip of his spoon and gingerly tasted it. He was very surprised – it tasted even better than it smelled! He quickly dug in with his spoon, loading mounds of the stuff onto it and proceeded to eat heartily. However, he still tried not to look at it while he was putting it in his mouth. Instead, he chose to look around the restaurant in which they were eating. It was beginning to dawn on Patrick just how far away from home he really was. The place was vaguely similar in layout to a Japanese sushi bar from ancient Earth, however the décor was bright, garish colours that seemed to glow in the dim fluorescent lighting and various alien knick-knacks were hung on the walls, none of which the human recognised. He assumed they were supposed to be ornaments, but many resembled old engine parts. If that had some kind of significance to the locals, it was completely lost on Patrick. The entire restaurant was populated by at least fifteen different species, all engaged in eating heartily, chatting loudly and occasionally laughing uproariously.
‘That is damn good food. You wanna know something? I used to live on these back when I was an adolescent!’ said Saleek, snapping Patrick out of his wandering gaze.
‘You know, I have to admit it is delicious. I’ve never had anything quite like this before. What did you say it was called again?’ asked Patrick.
‘Trefarli. Pronounced tray-farr-lee. It’s somewhere between the really greasy junk they call fast food in this place and the slightly less greasy junk they call haute-cuisine! Ha!’
Patrick blinked a couple of times, before having another spoonful of his meal. Not only did Saleek know old American English, undoubtedly the most common of the old Earth languages, he also knew a little old French as well. It seemed odd to Patrick that he would meet someone who knew so much about humans and their cultures as soon as he stepped off the shuttle transport.
And in a place this big, with so many different people here, what are the odds that I would meet him? Patrick thought, beginning to get a little suspicious, although not so suspicious that he was going to stop eating. He did, however, decide to raise his guard a bit again.
‘Well, you certainly seem to like it! Isn’t that your second helping?’ asked Patrick.
‘Actually, it’s my third!’ admitted Saleek as he hungrily licked his plate clean. The alien’s tongue was reminiscent of a lizard’s, and it darted out of his mouth as fast as a lightning bolt strikes the ground during a storm. Within seconds the plate was so clean, you’d swear it had never had food on it.
‘You sure like your food,’ Patrick observed, using his spoon to gather the remaining puddles of sauce on his plate before eating them.
‘Well, it’s really down to my species, you see. I’m a lyan. We have very fast metabolisms and we can consume loadsa food every day. We need to eat so often ‘cause we usually move at high speeds, whether we’re talking, working, exercising, piloting – you name it! If we don’t eat enough, we get really sluggish and slow. Although maybe I do eat a little too much. My sister always said I had a big appetite when we were younger. Heh, she used to complain that when I was done with my meal, I’d try and scavenge a few more bites from hers!’
‘Do you still see your sister now?’
Saleek was suddenly quiet, and his smile disappeared. ‘It’s, um, kind of a long story. It’s personal so, er, I don’t really want to talk about it right now.’
Patrick realised he must have hit a nerve with that question, although he wasn’t to know it was a bad topic because it was Saleek who brought up his sister in conversation in the first place.
‘So, what is it that you do? You know, your job?’ inquired Patrick, attempting to change the subject.
‘Well, I’m kind of...in between jobs at the moment,’ said Saleek, taking a pause mid-sentence to choose his words carefully. He took a gulp of his drink, which had come free with the food. He set the bottle back down on the table and continued, ‘I used to work for a major transport company - logistics, cargo shipments, the whole deal. I used to pilot cargo ships from Nexus One to a dozen different planets within the core star systems, but the pay was terrible and the hours were long, so I figured, ‘hey, why not do a little of my own business on the side?’ It wasn’t like I was hurtin’ anyone or anything, but for some reason the company didn’t like it when they found out that I was using one of their ships to do some off-duty cargo runs. Imagine that, eh?’
The spiky alien grinned and slapped Patrick on the back. Patrick, somewhat uneasily, offered a ‘well, what are you gonna do?’ gesture with his palms open and his arms spread apart. Saleek just shrugged.
‘Well, to be honest, I’ve never been one for playing exactly by the rules. My bosses always used to say that I had a problem with authority or something. I just get bored easily, y’know? My species always moves fast and we can work so fast that I think it sometimes makes other species feel inadequate or whatever. As soon as something piques my interest, I’m there, I wanna learn everything there is to know about it and do it as fast as possible. Then I can move onto the next thing and do that. And then the next. And so on.’
‘Maybe you’d like it better if you were your own boss. You know, work freelance, set up your own company or something,’ suggested Patrick.
‘Yeah, that’d be awesome! But I’d only need around, oh I don’t know, say thirty thousand credits to set everything up. I don’t have that kind of money, man.’
Patrick decided not to mention his secret account, however he began to feel guilty for making the alien pay for his meal when it sounded like Saleek was worse off than he was.
‘I’ll tell you what,’ said Saleek, standing up. ‘This place is boring and it’s getting busier by the second. Must be the end of shift for some of the workers in the local businesses ‘round here. You finished?’ He indicated Patrick’s nearly empty plate.
‘Uh, yeah,’ replied the human.
‘Let’s go to this bar I know. It ain’t far from here. And it does a really good sandakk too!’
Saleek wore his familiar beaming grin on his face as he said this.
‘What’s a sandakk?’
‘Wow, you really are from the outer colonies aren’t you? It’s alcohol, similar to what you humans call "beer", I think. But, there are some subtle differences in the way it’s prepared. I think you’re gonna like it!’
The Hidden Treasure of Darfor Page 7