The Space Spoon novel Chapter 26

The journey to Erchpri would last three days at the Space Spoon’s current max speed. Tejeda got bored long before the first day ended. So, he called another team meeting. Presence mandatory, except for Jackeye, who couldn’t be bothered with such trivial encounters.

Tejeda had contacted him through a console. Jackeye’s response appeared crystal clear on the screen. [ I barely got in time for the tomato harvest. Now, my garden needs plowing. You said weekly meetings. Fuck off! ]

The chosen meeting spot was one of the smaller cargo holds. Tejeda entered the room and looked around at the three women who were waiting for him. Shayla, Cato, and C1313 were all so different that he couldn't help but wonder who would be the best chef. A day with the girls would certainly be fun.

“A heretical being invented the air nutrition process, forsaking the god-given pleasure of oral nourishment.” Tejeda smirked seeing that they didn’t have a clue about what he had in store for them. “On this day, we will right this wrongdoing, at least on this ship. I have closed the system dispersing the nutrients through the air.” He raised a finger, shaking it through the air. “Well, it is still up solely for Jackeye’s room. Or else we will discover a skeleton there instead of a vegetable.” A grin showed his perfect teeth before he continued. “This cargo hold is repurposed to be our new kitchen. I have brought all the needed utensils and ingredients. Here we will cook and have our team-building sessions. What do you think?”

“We know nothing about food and shit like that,” Shayla responded, eyeing the weird things scattered across the room.

Tejeda gave a dismissive gesture with his hand. “You will all learn. Believe me when I say that the fruits of our labor will greatly please you all. None of you will want to deny themselves actual meals ever again.” He rubbed his hands impatiently. “Everyone opens one of the tablets on the tables and picks up a recipe. I will help each of you till you learn the ropes.”

They were all grimacing when they opened the tablets and scanned through the recipes as directed. This might prove more difficult than he expected.

“What is a spoon?” Cato asked, raising her big brown eyes from her tablet.

Touching Carmen hung at his neck, Tejeda responded. “A spoon looks like this. You will find some on the second drawer to your right.”

"I discovered a recipe that I would like to try," C1313 remarked. "It has a pleasant repetitiveness that my algorithms like. 8 tablespoons flour, 8 tablespoons sugar, 8 tablespoons..."

“You can skip this one,” Cato interrupted her while gazing at the spoons in the drawer. Her finger moved over them as if she counted them. “We don’t have so many spoons available.”

"I found an easy one," Shayla stated as she pointed to her work table. "I found the beans, put them in a pot with water, and now I am just waiting for them to boil on the heater."

"That is great, my dear Shayla. I knew you could do it." Tejeda applauded. This was truly magnificent. Came right before a looming headache.

C1313 lowered her tablet and gazed at him. “What is the level of your cooking skills?”

“Oh, my dishes are to die for.”