by Dane Bagley
***
“Let me smell the spices.” Aspiria took a whiff of the various spices. She was familiar with milk, eggs, flour (though she said it tasted off) and sugar. She really liked the sugar; it was the best sweetener that she had ever tasted. She inspected the various vegetables, and turned her nose up on most of them. “What you grow in your world is very different from what we grow on mine.” It was clearly not a complement, but she was trying to be polite.
“What spices do you like?”
“I’ve put a few out; I guess I’ll have to see how it turns out.” She selected veal and potatoes for the main course. “You make a vegetable salad, Bob. I don’t think that I can choose what everyone will like.”
Bob raised his eyebrows a few times as she selected her spices and preparations, but he was really interested in what she would do. “It smells good,” he said as she began to dish out the servings. “It looks good, too; you are quite the chef.”
“Wait until everyone tastes it. I’m not so convinced about it yet.”
Tammy, Danny, James, Kenny and Mike soon joined Aspiria and Bob in the dining area. “Aspiria’s our chef tonight,” said Bob with excitement.
Aspiria blushed. “I am sorry, if it is not good. I don’t know what you like, and I’m not very familiar with your food, yet.” Aspiria, herself, was not very impressed with the meal, but she appreciated the complements that were coming from all sides. Bob was over the top in his praise.
Kenny, who appreciated a good meal, was shoveling it down like never before. “It’s good; real good!” he said impolitely with his mouth full and still chewing. He tried to cover this impropriety by covering his mouth, but it was only partially effective. Still Aspiria appreciated the sentiment. She was accustomed to impressing men with a good meal, and she never grew tired of seeing a man scarf down one of her meals without being able to stop.
“It’s different; I like it, though,” said Mike.
“Yeah, Aspiria, it is different, but I like it a lot,” said James. “I wonder what it would be like with all of your own stuff.”
“I’d love to show you.”
James realized his error, felt embarrassed, and became instantly quiet after that. Tammy was quiet also. She had not been herself all day, and she was mostly just playing with the food. She ended up finishing about half the plate, and then took it to the wash area and left the room without saying a word. Aspiria was a little hurt that she hadn’t said anything, but she knew that something was wrong with her that day.
“Do you enjoy cooking?” asked Kenny.
“I do. I was a little nervous today, though. I hope that it was alright for all of you.”
“It was great. If you enjoy it, then you can join me in here whenever you want to,” said Danny. He was actually more interested in having further conversations with Aspiria, than he was in getting help in the kitchen.
“That sounds nice; it has been nice being in a different part of the ship this afternoon. I might get better at cooking here, with some practice.”
Tammy’s voice was heard over the intercom. “Get Steve to the lab!” The familiarity of hearing Captain Jenners referred to as ‘Steve,’ was a bit stunning to the crew.
“What’s the matter, Tammy?” asked Kenny getting up to go and get Steve.
“Hurry, I’m sick…” They could hear the sound of her starting to throw up.
“Danny, you get Captain Jenners. James, Mike—Aspiria, you come with me to the lab,” ordered Kenny.
Chapter 34