Page 2

Chapter 2

Yorix

C oncord grape. This was the flavor and texture profile I was trying to enter into the food replicator database. If only it were as simple as having the food scanned and the molecular structure copied! Instead, that was part of the process, but the end result lacked finesse. And if that wasn’t enough, I had to have it match different flavor and texture profiles as jam, jelly, and juice by different manufacturers, as we had signed contracts with them at the request of several of our human residents. At the moment, I was working on ‘Goober Grape’, which was a two part product giving me twice the headache, as I not only had to get the grape jelly just so, but the peanut butter component as well. At least someone else was responsible for recreating the jarred presentation so the Space Force human contingent aboard Ichthos Station could purchase it from their Commissary without it having to travel halfway across the Galaxy.

I loved my job, I really did, but reiterations of the same basic foodstuffs quickly became tedious. Perhaps if I had not just finished recreating Skippy, Jif, and Peter Pan peanut butters in all their variations, I’d not be quite so frazzled. This Goober Grape’s peanut butter had a completely different consistency and taste from all the others, as did the grape jelly portion, which my coworker Zebulaw could attest to.

“It’s the same fruit source,” he said, “but the levels of sugar and the consistency are different from the Welch’s grape jelly on file.” His shoulders slumped. “There’s a Goober strawberry next in the queue, but at least once I have the peanut butter portion cracked, we just need to deal with the strawberry jelly portion. Okay, I’ve sent my current set of refinements to you to add your changes to.”

“You think that’s bad?” Hazzlehop called out from his own station. “I’m having to determine the minute differences between Robert’s brand bread and every other white bread we already have on file! Several of the Space Force wives are from the UK and want their favorite brand of bread. And after this, I have to figure out something called Kingsmill 50/50, which is yet another bread, only half wholemeal flour.”

Procil growled from the corner where he was hunched over a tray of samples. “Dinty Moore beef stew!” he added simply, picking up the tray. “Now, excuse me, please, while I see if human taste test consensus is that one of these matches the product exactly.”

“Good luck!” I called out to him. Poor Procil had been working on that particular project for the past two weeks. Each and every time, the humans who tried the samples found minor faults.

“Hopefully this is it,” I said, adding my file update to the one Zbulaw sent me for the peanut butter half of the food, then instructing the replicator manually to produce a set of samples in the form of Goober Grape spread on Wonder bread.

“Yeah?” Zebulaw asked, his expression brightening. “We’re ready to test again now as well?”

“As soon as we hand make a sandwich using the originals from Earth,” I confirmed just as my kunnarskyn vibrated and chirped to let me know I had an urgent message. Puzzled, I checked to see what it was. My eyes widened, and I stood up, thrusting my chair behind me so hard that it toppled, crashing loudly onto the floor.

“What is it?” Zebulaw asked, startled.

“I bet I know!” Hazzelhop called out.

“I’ve been matched!” I shouted.

“Go!” Zebulaw told me. “I’ll make the control samples. You go meet your mate!”

I gave him a terse nod before hurrying out the door of the lab. I had a mate! One that I was supposed to ride down to meet with another who had also been matched at the same time, at the same Scholarship center. Were they siblings, or perhaps best friends? I didn’t know, but I knew the attached file would soon tell me. I was halfway to the shuttle bay when I noticed that I still had on my lab coat and hair covering. Laughing at myself, I made a quick detour to my quarters. I quickly divested myself of the food lab gear and tidied my hair. I had to look my best after all, in order to give my mate the very best of first impressions. I picked up my personal data pad, wishing to use it to better read the attached information file.

“Okay, what is it Bosworth always says?” Bosworth was one of the humans in my weapons training class. “Ah, yes, keep calm and whatever.” I stood tall, squaring my shoulders. “Keep calm and go meet my destiny.” Surprisingly enough, that did help steady my nerves, at least enough that my hearts weren’t hammering against my ribs anymore. “Time to go,” I told myself, wondering if my mate would find me sometimes talking to myself out loud odd or endearing. I was about to find out, I realized, and with hearts overflowing with joy, left to go to the shuttle bay. I found my pilot waiting for me, all ready to go.

“As soon as you're strapped in, we can go,” he said.”It’s just you as it turned out the other two were already on planet.”

I nodded, striding up the ramp. I sat down in the first passenger seat I came to and began the process of buckling myself into the harness. I grinned to myself, knowing that the next time I did this, my mate would be by my side.

“Alright, looks like we’re ready to go,” my pilot said, as the door to the shuttle closed and he clicked the last of his own harness buckles together. He began conversing with Xeranos, getting final permission to lift off and the flight path we were to follow to clear the Fleet. I felt the engines come on, and the small bump from beneath our craft as the air cushion it rested on dispersed, and we achieved vertical ascension. Then we were off, flying through the open hangar doors.

“It’ll take us about an hour,” he informed me.

I swallowed. It seemed both far too soon and far too long. I turned on my data pad to read my mate’s profile. I gazed down at her face. Lynn. A melodic name for such a divine looking being. I stared at her image for several minutes before reminding myself that I needed to read the rest of the information and not simply drink her in. There'd be plenty of time for me to take in her beauty once I was there with her. I began to read her bio, wishing to know all that I could about the stunning Lynn before we met. Down on the blue and white planet with bits of green and brown, I hoped she was doing the same for me.