“Oh, this is more like it!” Imani exclaimed. “This smells absolutely…uh…”
The words died in her throat when the steam cleared and she saw what was on the large plate.
It appeared to be the head of some kind of creature—it looked a little like a wild pig or boar. But along with its long, wrinkled snout and ugly tusks, it also had a single spiral horn right in the middle of its forehead.
Ugh—it’s a pigacorn! Or maybe a hogacorn, Imani thought, feeling slightly ill. The long snout gaped open with a blackened fruit jammed between its jaws. The eyes were still intact—they gazed at her with mute reproach as she looked down at the decapitated head.
“That’s even worse!” Imani exclaimed, slamming the second lid back down. “Didn’t I order anything edible?”
As it turned out, she hadn’t.
Every single one of the dishes was disturbing either to look at or to smell. At one point Imani thought she’d found a bowl of granola she could eat, only to look closer and find it was a mass of tiny insects about the size of ladybugs with spotted yellow and brown shells that were slowly crawling all over each other.
Then there was the thick cut of meat which looked a little like a steak but was bright green. Imani didn’t love the color, but she was willing to try a bite—until she leaned closer and smelled it. The reek of rotten meat mixed with dirty socks met her nose, making her jerk her head back sharply and mutter, “Nope. No way. Uh-uh!”
There was also what appeared to be a cheese tray, with many different kinds of cheeses, all shaped into neat wedges. But when she went to use the small, ornamental knife that came with the tray to cut off a promising looking wedge, the “cheese” she was cutting emitted a high-pitched shriek and writhed away, leaving a trail of bright red slime that looked suspiciously like blood.
Imani shrieked herself and dropped the knife, which clattered onto the tray. This outburst caused J’are to look at her anxiously, as though wondering if she was all right. Imani was sorry she’d scared him, but she was scared too—scared of the crazy food the Luxx served. Was all Yonnite food this awful? If so, why hadn’t Kat warned her and packed her about two dozen protein bars for just this kind of contingency?
“I give up!” she exclaimed at last, taking a step away from the table and throwing up her hands. “I guess I’ll be fasting while I’m here.”
Which wasn’t a great idea, since extreme dieting gave her a headache that wouldn’t quit and made it hard to think. Imani knew that from hard personal experience, when she’d tried desperately to lose weight to impress a guy she liked in college. After days of headaches and dizziness with no results, she’d realized she would just have to make peace with her curves.
But right now, it seemed like maybe she was going to be losing weight the hard way—because there was nothing to eat that wasn’t disgusting or still alive or both on this freaking planet!
“You…don’t like food?” J’are, who had been watching her closely as she uncovered the various dishes asked.
“No, I don’t like the food! I don’t want to eat anything that’s staring at me or smells like rotten meat and old socks. And I especially don’t want to eat something that screams and bleeds when I cut it because it’s still alive!”
Imani sighed and ran a hand over her braids, trying to get a grip on herself. She looked up apologetically at J’are, who was watching her with wide eyes.
“Sorry—I didn’t mean to snap at you. It’s just…this isn’t the kind of thing I’m used to at all. I mean, I’m not opposed to trying new things, just not things that scream when I try to take a bite,” she added, looking mistrustfully at the “cheese” tray, where most of the wedges were now clumped together at one end as though they were trying to keep each other safe.
“You don’t like…fancy food?” J’are seemed to be struggling to get to the idea he was trying to express. Maybe he was still fighting his feral side, Imani speculated.
“No.” She sighed. “Not even back on Earth—my own planet. I’ve never been much for caviar or truffles or anything boushie like that. I like something simple, without too many ingredients.” She thought longingly of her grandma’s sweet potato pie and sighed.
“You like…fruit?” J’are asked. He lifted one of the discarded golden domes and indicated the complimentary fruit basket that Imani had forgotten about. “Simple,” he pointed out. “Not many…ingredients.”
“Oh, you’re right!” Imani exclaimed. “Thank you, J’are! I forgot all about that. Now, let me see…”
She selected a small pink fruit about the size of a kiwi with tiny blue dots and took a nibble. To her relief, it tasted normal. Well, if not exactly normal, then at least good. It was sweet and tart and had notes of watermelon, lime, and strangely, buttered toast. But somehow the flavors worked together and Imani was happy to finish the fruit right down it its three, round, bright green seeds.
After that, she tried something that looked like a large, purple banana. It had a thick, crunchy texture that reminded her more of a macadamia nut than a fruit, but since she liked macadamia nuts, that was fine with Imani. The purple banana was slightly salty as well as sweet and very filling. By the time she’d finished it, she felt satisfied.
“Ahh,” she sighed, wiping her mouth and fingers on a gold brocade napkin. “Well, I guess I’m going Vegan while I’m here—or maybe Fruitarian. But at least now I know what to order—thank you, J’are.”
The big Kindred smiled at her. He had been sampling some of the other dishes, though thankfully not the screaming, bleeding “cheese,” and he seemed satisfied as well.
Do you actually like all that?” Imani asked. “Because there’s plenty more fruit if you want
