One Good Meal Every Few Years

by Webster Wade

"Hey Gordon," I said.

I noticed the subtle stir in air pressure and it was too late for one of my human coworkers to stop by.

"Alright, Arthur. I've got a treat for you. It's from that exoplanet you like."

"GJ 180b?"

"There's loads of aquatic things there. Pretty sure this is some sort of fish. I found edible vegetation, too. It's all been particle scanned. There were some unique bacteria in the meat, but nothing harmful."

I retrieved a hot plate, pan, olive oil, two plates, and two forks from their hiding spot in my desk and plugged the hot plate into an outlet on the conference table. I'd assembled a full kitchen in the room below the observatory for times when I wanted to really cook, but I preferred cooking one pan meals here because it was forbidden.

"Let's see this fish thing. Do you think we have to filet it?"

"Sorry, Arthur. I kind of prepared it already. It was going to stink up my pod, so I gut and grilled it as soon as I caught it. We can sautee these veggies if you like."

Gordon unzipped the insulated carrybag I'd given him. Blood clot purple filets rested atop a bundle of yellow tangled vegetation and plump cerulean berries. Gordon ran his finger along fat marbling in the filets and broke off a morsel to demonstrate the muscle grain. He handed me the morsel, which I examined and ate. It was an interesting mix of chewy and flaky, dense and light, bitter and buttery.

"Delightful," I said.

Gordon smiled. He appeared human when he visited me. I had seen his naked form once. I asked him never to show me again. He wasn't frightening, but the strangeness of his limbs and lack of an apparent face stunned me. I couldn't relate to him when he looked like that.

I tasted a shred of the vegetation.

"What do you want to call that, Arthur?"

"It tastes like nutty parsley. Much like a baked potato with sour cream and chives."

"Yes, it does."

"Golden potato vine, then?"

"I want to name the berries 'bubblegum bursts'. Try one and you'll agree."

I popped one in my mouth. It was sickly sweet, juicy as a berry, and like a grape in texture.

I said, "Oh, yes. Quite sweet. I have some ice cream saved. Do you want me to make a sauce later?"

"I've got time. Sautee the potato vine. It might wilt like spinach."

Gordon grabbed a chair for each of us while I watched the golden potato vine shrivel into a soggy, limp heap. He plated the filets and I transferred equal portions of the potato vine. We savored the morsels and shared silence for a few moments.

I said, "Oh, I forgot. I have a wine for us, too."

I retrieved it from a hiding spot behind the monitors. I realized that I didn't have any glasses and felt the inflammed tinge of forgetfullness.

"Oh, I, uh, don't think I have any glasses."

Gordon chewed a bite. "That's alright. We'll just drink from the bottle."

I offered him the bottle and he sipped a mouthful.

"Have you ever had human, Arthur?"

"Never tried it."

"Haven't you been curious?"

"It leads to disease, mutates DNA with one bite. There's a tremendous amount of taboo around it, laws and such."

"I've thought about it."

"But you're not human."

"Valid point."

We ate in silence again. It was sort of an unusual topic, but we often talked about what we had and hadn't yet eaten.

"So I shouldn't bring you any human meat to try?"

"I could be tempted. Maybe in a few years when I'm more adventurous."

"I'll keep it in mind." He paused to eat some of the fish thing. "You know, these unnamed fish are twice as intelligent as humans according to the bioscan I did."

"Really? Maybe you should bring a live one next time. I need someone to chat with on a nightly basis."

"I wish I could, but it's sort of taboo for us to do. Laws and such."

His plate was empty and I savored my last bites.

"Let's go to kitchen below for dessert," I said, grabbing the wine bottle.

In the kitchen, I heated the berries, added sugar and water. Gordon peered through the exit door's porthole window.

"Is your work as lonely as mine, Arthur?"

I couldn't tell if he was musing or really asking, so I kept silent.

"My travels are so lonely. You must be often alone here, too."

"I am alone most of the time as you well know. That hasn't changed for me. When I'm home, I'm totally alone, and I rarely see anyone here. They fired my assistant and the new supervisor only checks up on the facility. Sometimes she doesn't even say 'hello'."

"Oh, Arthur." He looked at me briefly, and the blankness in his eyes morphed into a microcosm of emotions. "Perhaps, you are more alone than I am."

I scooped four lumps of vanilla ice cream into a bowl and poured the burst sauce over it. Gordon walked to the counter to eat it with me, disregarding the dining set in the corner.

He said, "These are even better as a sauce."

"I'd love to have this on Earth. Definitely one of your best fruit finds."

"Sadly, it may be a few years before I can visit GJ 180b again."

As I savored the last spoon lick, I wondered what sort of place produced such wonderful fruit. Was it like the fields of Northern California or the volcanic plains not far from here? If Gordon could explain a place, he did, so it was likely that GJ 180b wasn't very much like Earth.

"Do you want to look at the stars, Gordon?"

"Sure."

He grabbed two chairs, and I held the door open with one hand and took the wine from the counter with the other. He set the chairs on the walkway between the facility's dual domes. We were quiet, rhythmically passing the wine between each other.

"Arthur... You know, I..."

"Don't say it, please. Let's finish the bottle and watch the stars."