The World Which Is

Chapter 17

Preparing dinner gives me something else to think about; something safe. Pan on the stove, steaks in it. Steamer next to that with vegetables in it. They're so fresh they could have been picked this morning, instead of whenever they were, and put into storage within Base's inventory.

Unlike mine, and anyone else's, food in Bases' inventory doesn't go bad. The way he explains it, time basically stops in there. And no, he can't put people or anything alive. They tried it, back in the early days, when they had too many injured for the healers to deal with and a hope they could be kept alive that way, until one of them could get to them.

Since we live inside Base's walls, our fridge connects directly to his inventory, every storage in our house does. He partitioned them so I don't have to search through everything in there when I access my dresser, but it's just a shift in what I'm accessing from there to look at everything else. If I don't mind being overwhelmed with stuff.

Using the search function when dealing with Base's inventory is a must.

I can also access all his functions, if I want. What that means if that I don't have to cook food, if I don't feel like it.

Back in the early days, all he could make was bland nutrition bars that would keep you alive, but make you want to end it each time you had to eat one, according to Grandpa Louis. Now, his cooking list is wide enough I could pull a different meal out of a cupboard every meal and It would be years until I had a repeat.

But I enjoy cooking. I mean, the skill's at eleven, so I'm just okay at it. I didn't even max it out, so shows how little I do it. Dad does most of the cooking, but he taught me the basics, and I don't burn the food anymore. Most of the time.

Today's looking like this is going to be one of my better results; helps that it's basically just seared steaks and steamed vegetables. Simple dishes are harder to screw up.

The bottle of orange juice just about steams when I pull it out of the fridge, it's so cold. Any colder and it'd be frozen.

That another thing Base has that's different from personal inventory. Temperature control. It's relatively recent, something he got maybe three levels ago. Before that, he used geothermals to keep stuff cool.

Meant ice was out of the question back then. Now it means cold drinks and hot showers without having to think about it.

The door opens and closes, and I set the plates.

Dad stops in the kitchen's entrance and this is where I find out if I've made things worse. I got out of my room, but it was so he wouldn't have to worry about dinner. One costs me points, the other earns me some. The question is, how hungry is he?

He pulls his chair and sits, breathing in the food.

Not getting screamed at this evening. Good.

We eat in silence for a while. Working up the courage to tell him is harder than I expected.

"Dad, about my class."

"I'll talk with Sylvia tomorrow. She knows all the farmers and she'll be able to tell me who's the best to take you on as an apprentice."

"No, Dad, I—"

"Dennis." He sighs tiredly. "Can you not be difficult about this? I'm having a hard enough time being civil after what you and Base pulled."

I mumble a, "Sorry, Dad," and go back to eating. Hopefully, tomorrow he'll be in a more receptive.

* * * * *

Breakfast is on my own.

Being grounded comes with the 'benefit' of not having to get up early, and Base shut down my alarm. He doesn't make a habit of listening in on conversations inside houses, so it's not like he knew I wanted to try again with Dad.