Day 65
Standard Year 1118
Kinaveral
In which Mr Rumor has been doing the rounds.
I like “at sevens and eights”, which is presumably the same as “at sixes and sevens” only worse.
Mac Gold seems like an unpleasant fellow, and I wonder how much of the rumor he recounts is what Mr Rumor is actually saying and how much is him putting his own spin on it for his own purposes. (I mean, people do talk, and people who talk don’t always need encouragement to assume the worst, but based on what we’ve seen of him so far I wouldn’t put it past him.)
Why does Khat not want local veg? You’d think a spacer would crave proper plant matter.
Clearly, Mac Gold has no manners, no respect, and wants trouble. Khat is fortunately experienced and not easily cowed. Good on her!
On the other hand, a person who grew up travelling between the stars and eating crackers and ‘mite, and other foods that last a long time in storage. might never have got the taste for fresh vegetables in the first place.
Adding to the old conversation about “local veg,” she might have had some bad experience previously with what is meant by the term. Local veg in one place might mean (for example) broccoli and carrots, in another it might be yams (the real type, not the sweet potatoes that we call yams in the US), or it might be mixed greens. While I love broccoli and carrots now, when I was much younger, I detested them both, and I still can’t abide cooked “greens.” Also we must assume that spacers get all the vitamins and minerals they need from something, thus the craving for fresh plant matter might not even develop.
I do enjoy noticing how much effort the authors go through to try to suggest a food we know without giving it exactly the same name, specifically in this instance “fistful of saltpretzel.” Easy to recognize this one, but that is not always the case.