Chapter 01: Ms. Kim goes to school and work and then has dinner with her residential family

1: Morning

Lauren Kim looked out over the street below the balcony of her apartment as she brushed her teeth. In her left hand she held her phone to her ear to listen to the morning newscast. Despite the early time of day, cyclists were already jockeying their way through the elevated bikeways having been lured out en masse by the exceptionally good weather. In the middle of the road, a delivery tram crawled along as courier robots rolled in and out of it shuttling goods to the shops lining the streets. The occasional personal car and dedicated delivery vehicle waited patiently for the courier robots to get out of the way.

Lauren’s roommate paced back and forth between rooms, “Lauren, have you seen my phone?”

“No, did you check the charging pad?” Lauren said as best she could with a toothbrush in her mouth.

“Yes,” said her roommate, “I just see your phone.”

“Wait a minute,” mumbled Lauren. She looked at the phone in her hand and was met with an unfamiliar lock screen, “hey Lykke! I have it right here actually.”

Lauren’s roommate dashed over, “weird, what was it doing on the balcony?”

Lauren handed the phone to Lykke and prepared to apologize.

“Well it doesn’t matter,” said Lykke, “I gotta go, see you later!” Lykke disappeared through the front door. Lauren went to the charging pad on the window sill between the kitchen and the living room and picked up her phone.

Lauren passed another cyclist as she biked along the eastbound Horizon bikeway. She realized she had been deluding herself earlier on the balcony thinking that crowded bikeways would convince her to get into a standing room only Allegre train on such an excellent spring day, regardless if it was the combined galaxies’ fastest intra-city high speed rail network. As if on cue, an Allegre train surged by on her left, its noise muffled by the sound barriers curving over the tracks, and had already receded into the horizon before she realized what had happened.

“On your left.”

A courier cyclist passed her before the bikeway narrowed to one lane as they entered an elevated bicycle roundabout. As Lauren passed over the intersection, she looked south to her right to catch a glimpse, as she always did, of the docks before she crossed the bridge that led to the artificial island that was University of Daiterra, Sanmachi’s campus.

Unlike most universities in Sanmachi, of which there were many, University of Daiterra, Sanmachi, also known as UD Sanmachi, was founded before the Collaboration Era and long before Sanmachi assumed its identity as an education focused city, causing institutions and universities to multiply. While the Youmen capital city had no one flagship university, the consensus has long been that UD Sanmachi was the city’s best generalist university, with a long list of notable alumni distinguished in fields as diverse as music, law, science, literature, engineering, anthropology, medicine, and wielding science.

Lauren made good time across the bridge thanks to the embedded electromagnetic boosters and in no time reached the campus’ faculty of history. She locked up her bike at the bike racks outside the stately main building of the Human History Department and then made haste through the quiet hallways of the building. Clarions sounded in the distance. In response, doors all along the hallway opened as hundreds of undergrads flooded the hallway, almost sweeping Lauren back to the entrance. As if fording a river, Lauren made her way to a wall where she waited for the torrent of students to subside. As she waited, she occupied herself by catching bits and pieces of conversations.

“I hope the class will be curved.”

“I don’t.”

“Shut up, I don’t want to spend the summer here.”

“Do you want to get lunch at the quays?”

“Jeez, you’re thinking about lunch already? it’s only 10.”

“Yeah, so youmen people can’t read each others’ minds, they’re just really good at picking up cues.”

“Oh huh. I still feel awkward when I’m the only human in the conversation, though.”

“That’s because you still think the plural is ‘Youmens.’”

“Did you hear that we can now rent at the Governance Towers?”

“I did! They look so cool!”

“Let’s meet up at the library!”

“Which one?”

“The Social Sciences one.”

“No you see, Purians aren’t rude, they’re just really direct.”

“Oh that explains earlier then. I guess?”

“Do you want to go to the gym tonight?”

“I can’t, I have to meet with my immigration warden.”

“Me? I think humans are pretty cool. They can be a bit unpredictable though.”

“That’s sometimes a good thing though.”

“Can I have a piece of gum? Please?”

“Sure.”

After the crowd thinned, Lauren resumed her advance to her office at a more leisurely pace.

Lauren could see the top of her colleague's head over the tops of the cubicle walls and the fuzzy cat ears that adorned the top of every Purian’s head. “They’re called Purian ears,” Lauren reminded herself, recalling how offended the first Purian she met got after she called them cat ears. One of the ears twitched and turned towards Lauren.

“No one gets in here without Eider knowing it seems,” thought Lauren, “maybe someone should get her a pair of nice noise-canceling headphones.”

“Hey Eider,” said Lauren, “did you see—”

“Hey Lauren,” said Eider, “do you have time—”

“—my undergrad come in today?” continued Lauren.

“—to do a lecture this afternoon?” finished Eider, “wait what did you say?”

“Yes, but I covered for Prof. Burakgazi last time, it’s your turn now,” said Lauren, “and I asked you if you saw my undergrad come in today, or rather either of them.”

“I knew you were going to say that,” said Eider, she held up the lecture notes, “but this one’s right up your alley, see? Introductory lecture for the first colonization wave era. And yeah, I saw what’s his face come in, the youmen one, he’s at the common area table.”

Lauren took the folder from Eider’s hand and scanned the outline. “Okay, I’ll do it, but you’re taking half of my stack of final exams to grade at the end of the quarter. I’m trying to graduate here.”

“Oh that’s right you defended, congrats! Do you know where you’re going after this?”

“Thank you. And hopefully the Knowledge Corps.” said Lauren.

“You’re the only person I know who would actually do that,” said Eider.

Lauren waved as she turned to head towards the common area.

Lauren found her undergrad at one of the common area tables with several boxes arrayed in front of him containing circuit boards in various states of disassembly as well as one segmented box of components.

“Hey Amit, how’s it going?” said Lauren.

“Oh hi Lauren,” said the undergrad, putting the soldering iron back in its stand, “I actually have a few questions about some parts that I haven’t seen before specifically about how to remove them.”

Lauren inspected one of the circuit boards, immediately identifying the part in question.

“This part is a microblade configurator, it’s extremely rare compared to how many diagrams call for it,” she said, “I’m glad you waited for me since it has a spring in the base that makes it hard to remove. Leave this part and work around it, I’ll take it out myself later.”

Amit grimaced upon realizing how much trouble he dodged.

“Ok good to know,” he said, “now, next is this part.”

“That’s a burst electrolytic capacitor,” said Lauren, “it’s completely useless now. You can just leave it in there or take it out with snippers if it’s getting in the way.”

“Gotcha.”

Lauren finally sat down at her desk after half an hour answering Amit’s “quick questions”. Lauren reflected on the fact that she spends five times as much time per week guiding her Youmen undergrad than she does her very self-sufficient Purian undergrad. Clyde also made five times as many mistakes, though.

Lauren opened up her dissertation, Contextualizing Pre-colonization Unification Through a Survey of First Wave Colony Records, and began implementing changes meant to address the comments from her dissertation committee following her defense. She began filling in the new section that would analyze the contents of yet another drive, unearthed at Bizirra, just as soon as her undergrads harvested enough parts to revive it.

2: Afternoon

After about an hour of reading and writing, Lauren locked her computer and left her office. She exited the Human History Department building and walked across the campus towards its southern edge. Lauren then reached the Wielding Sciences Department main building, where the five types of wielding, thermal, electric, kinetic, material, and biological, were studied and applied with scientific rigor. She walked through the main halls, footsteps echoing through the halls as she passed a 100 kg floating stone cube, levitated by a wielding machine embedded in the floor, and went up the stairs. She into another grad student while scaling the stairs.

“Oh hey Lauren,” said the grad student, “looking for Neil?”

“Hi!,” said Lauren, “yes actually.”

“He’s in his lab,” he replied, before rounding the landing of the staircase and disappearing from view.

Lauren continued up the stairs and through the halls before stopping at a reinforced door with “Analytic Wielding and Characterization Lab” written on the plaque next to it. The words “Wielding Machine In Use, Enter With Caution” were flashing above the doorway. Lauren opened the door slightly and peeked through the crack before opening it fully. She found a series of barricades obscuring a heavy-duty wielding machine and several sets of shelves filled with various instruments and equipment. Further in the room were rows of desks and workstations. Lauren approached one of the desks to find Neil typing away.

“Hey,” said Neil without looking up, “let me just finish this up and we can go.” Neil typed a little faster for a moment before locking his computer. “Where to?”

“Let’s walk along the quays,” said Lauren.

Neil nodded and grabbed his jacket.

Cold winds whipped across the quays which overlooked the entrance to Sanmachi bay. Container ships loomed in the distance while ferries and other watercraft sailed by closer to land. Neil and Lauren walked along it as they talked.

“So how’s your day been so far?” asked Lauren.

“Good,” said Neil, “just ran a bunch of simulations that my dissertation committee wants me to talk about in my revised dissertation. How about you?”

“It was good,” said Lauren, “also did some writing for my committee, my undergrad found a super rare part, and I signed up to give a lecture this afternoon.”

“So what is this awesome job opportunity you wanted to tell me about?” asked Neil.

“Ah, yes,” said Lauren, unfolding a piece of paper from her pocket, “It’s the Knowledge Corps!” She thrust the flyer into Neil’s face, holding the paper at arm’s length. “If you pass the character assessment tests and there is a lab or group that matches your work, you’re almost guaranteed to be accepted.”

Neil took the piece of paper, “that’s because most people get turned away by the prospect of dying on a mission.”

“True,” she knew Neil was going to resist the idea at first, but she was prepared with a list of arguments. “But that’s because they don’t know that only a third of missions are to the front lines. Plus three fourths of officers that go to the front lines volunteer for it. So there’s only an eight percent chance you will be forced to go to the front lines.”

“I wonder how they define ‘volunteer,’” quipped Neil.

“The normal way, Neil,” said Lauren, “almost all missions only require a few people from a given lab or group. So if you’re in a big lab, someone else will usually volunteer.”

“So if I’m lucky it will just be a normal research job?” said Neil.

“Hardly,” said Lauren, “you get a military travel pass that allows you to go to any system for free even if it’s not for work.”

“Okay, that’s nice,” acknowledged Neil, “but I doubt I would use it much due to work.”

Lauren had one card left in her arsenal, but she wasn’t worried.

“Well,” she said, “after two or three missions you get a paid sabbatical, where you are given a small discretionary budget and several weeks to do whatever research you want, no justification necessary, provided it’s legal of course.”

“Still not—” began Neil, he stopped walking. Lauren walked a few more steps before turning to face her friend.

“You can research whatever you want for a month and a half, more freedom than a professor if you think about it,” said Lauren, “so what do you say?”

“I’ll think about it,” said Neil, scanning the flyer for more information.

“Awesome,” said Lauren. She knew Neil enough to know that he always said that he’d think about something if he’s about to change his mind about it. She walked up to the railing and looked out over the ocean. “The sea sure is beautiful isn’t it?”

“It’s alright,” said Neil.

Lauren chuckled, “so where are you thinking for lunch?”

“How about Snaptic Mart?” suggested Neil.

“Snaptic Mart is a glorified convenience store,” said Lauren, “plus we had it yesterday.”

“Exactly,” said Neil, defending the youmen chain as most youmen were wont to do, “it is most economical, the closest, and fastest food option, i.e. most convenient and practical.”

“But the food is just, okay,” said Lauren.

“How about we just go to Founder’s Hall then?” said Neil.

“That works,” said Lauren, “let’s get a move-on, before the lunch rush starts.”

* * *

Lauren sorted through her folder of lecture notes at the front of the lecture hall as some two hundred students watched expectantly.

“Okay,” said Lauren, “so I’m one of Prof. Burakgazi’s PhD students, and I’ll be covering for him today for…” Lauren read the cover of the lecture notes folder, “... for Human History Pre-Contact 100C: Super-Continentalism: Foundations for Interstellar Civilization.”

Lauren started writing on the board, chalk clacking as she talked, “so while the start year of the First Human Colonial Era is frequently debated, everyone agrees that the first colony was established in 11588 at Mendovica after the Euroafrican Government, the unmatched global powerhouse at the time, passed the Expedition Act. The Euroafrican Government went on to settle Altaria as well in 11590, which is now, as you all know, the capital of the Human Federation.” Lauren looked at the rest of her notes briefly and placed them on the desk before continuing.

“The Oceanasian Government in response sent ships to Plei and Arctura in 11597 and 11598. Finally the Americana Government sent a ship to Jezebel in 11601. Those are the big ones, but colony ships were sent to many other systems, most of which have been recolonized. Now before we continue, let’s identify the factors that made this huge step forward actually happen. There are six. Now who can tell us what one of them is?”

Lauren looked out over the silent lecture hall, “come on, giving the right answer will statistically get harder as other people answer before you.”

“Food shortages?” offered one of the students in the middle row of seats.

“Yes, that’s one of the factors,” said Lauren holding up a finger, “what else? Someone else answer now.”

“Overcrowding of Earth?” ventured another student near the back row.

“Yes, partially,” said Lauren, holding up another finger, “Earth was experiencing overcrowding long before this era. Overcrowding resulted in a new form of civil discontent as different peoples who were used to living apart from each other were forced to live in close contact as food sources became more scarce as well as because of another factor. Namely…”

“Climate change,” suggested a student near the front, who then continued to talk after Lauren prompted them to continue their train of thought. “Climate change reaching some critical threshold?”

“Yes!” said Lauren, holding up a third finger, “some would even say that it was the only factor responsible for the first wave of colonization. Climate change was already addressed with aggressive action to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. But the action was taken too late, and thus could only delay the radical ecological change that started to take place around the turn of the 116th century. This environmental change caused food and water shortages which forced people to move to ever more densely populated cities which in turn caused riots to form. The human species is an ugly thing when resources become scarce.”

Lauren held up her hand with three fingers raised.

“Now,” she said, “ so far you’ve all listed factors that you could have guessed without doing the reading for this class. What are some of the reasons more particular to this era? This was supposed to be in last week’s reading.”

Lauren was greeted with silence. She put her hands on her hips and shook her head.

“Nobody did the reading huh?” she said, “some things never change, I guess. Fine, let’s take half an hour to do the actual reading, start at Brief History: Human History on page 11.” The students chattered as they took out their books or brought up the book on their devices. Once the students had settled into the reading session, Lauren took out her phone to read her backlog of emails.

By the end of the thirty minutes, most students had finished reading and were preoccupying themselves with their phones.

“Alright, time for round 2.” Lauren turned around and started writing a list on the board, “so far we have climate change reaching a critical point, widespread food shortages creating a need for extraterrestrial arable land, and overpopulation requiring extraterrestrial housing space.” Lauren turned to face the class, “now who can name another driving factor?”

“Hardware revolution,” said a student, “to create reliable enough hardware for colonies and ships and stuff.”

Lauren continued the list on the board, chalk clacking with an upbeat tempo, “just call them out, no need to be shy.”

“Completion of the exoplanet reconnaissance project,” said another student, “which was necessary to confirm the viability of the colonization effort.”

“Reemergence of the Manifest Destiny ideology,” said a third student, “which led people to believe that humankind was entitled to claim all stars and planets that they could visit themselves.”

“A belief that humans held on to right up to their first contact with the Youmen,” added Lauren, “speaking of which, the first contact that the humans had with one of the other two species happened in this era in 11588 at Arctura with the Youmen. Now any questions?”

“What happened during this contact with the Youmen?” asked a student near the front.

“Strangely enough, not much,” said Lauren, “a youmen survey team already on the planet ran into a survey team of the Arcturan colony but the humans didn’t think much of it because youmen and humans look so similar to each other. I’m not a specialist on youmen history but I believe it was a huge deal for them. Any other questions?”

A silent classroom told Lauren to move on with the lecture.

“Now here is where the details get hazy,” said Lauren, writing on the board, “all of what happened on these fledgeling colonies is pretty much unknown. There was no equivalent to the Galactic Combined Comm Net that we have now, messages had to either be hand delivered by ship, of which there were few, or broadcast into the void while hoping the signal reaches the destination at the same time the receivers are looking in their direction. So information transfer was pretty limited back then. This meant that there weren’t many records on Old Earth of what happened on the colonies. The other reason is that this period is considered a pseudo dark age. Between the first and second waves of colonization, there was a radical shift in the hardware and software used to encode data. Due to extreme competition between competing standards, the standard that had been dominant during the first wave of colonization was completely wiped out. Very little documentation on how to use the old standard or how it was structured remains.”

Lauren put down the chalk and walked away from the board.

“Data was successfully migrated on Old Earth,” said Lauren, leaning against the desk, “but the colonies all used the old standard up until contact was lost with them which happened from 11625 to 11629. We do know a few things, however. We know that life on these colonies was nothing like life on even the roughest of colonies nowadays. Everyone had to work to maintain survival-critical systems or generate enough food to buffer against winters and droughts in the beginning. Laws were pretty much decided entirely by the expedition governor and their committee. If something really complicated, like a computer, broke then it had to be fixed rather than replaced as was normal back then as there were severely limited replacements before the next resupply which arrived with varying levels of punctuality.”

“Why did the colonies disappear?” asked a student in the middle.

“Ahh, great question,” said Lauren, “nobody knows. If you can defend an explanation backed by the scant evidence we have, you could get your doctorate right where you stand. Or sit.”

Clarions began to chime in the distance.

“That’s all for today,” said Lauren, “Prof. Burakgazi should be back next week, so do your reading!” Lauren failed to finish her sentence before her voice was drowned out by the commotion of all two hundred students packing up and leaving.

3: Evening

Lauren unlocked her bike outside Alwyn’s greengrocer’s shop (Intersyst Office of Import-Exports certified) and placed a reusable bag containing fruits and vegetables in the basket. It being a Friday, Lauren’s residential family, which in her case was herself and her roommates, was making dinner at home. Lauren’s roommate, Lykke, had given her a list of the things she was supposed to buy: 3 faerie tubers (large and on the ripe side), 1 citra-melon (we only need the rind), and a sprig of sweet leaf (make sure the tips are red!). The other members of the residential family would be getting the other components of their dinner. Lykke was an excellent cook so most of the meals were of her design.

Lauren had expected to find the stove on and the apartment smelling of cooking when she arrived home but instead found a quiet apartment occupied only by Lykke.

“Hi Lykke,” said Lauren as she stocked her purchases in the fridge, “where is everyone? I thought I was running late.”

“In Markova or on their way to Markova,” said Lykke, “a new Purian restaurant opened up in Markova, and Rozenn insisted we all go. She says this one might be the real deal in terms of authentic Hyperian cuisine.”

“Oh,” said Lauren, “then what was all this for?” Lauren held up her grocery bag.

“Ah, don’t worry about it,” said Lykke, “we can make it into snacks.”

“I wonder what all the fuss is with real Purian food,” said Lauren.

“Me too,” said Lykke, “and supposedly it is good to have a Purian with you when trying it for the first time.”

“Alrighty,” said Lauren, “let me put my stuff down and then we can be on our way.”

Lauren and Lykke dashed through the doors of the Allegre train. The two immediately grabbed onto some handles before the doors snapped shut and the rapid acceleration of the train threatened to topple them. The two students stood in the pink area labelled “Disembarking in 1-2 stops.” The scenery through the windows melted into a blur of colors and lights.

“So as I was saying,” said Lykke, “you might be able to find these rare electronic parts in the R3 district.”

“The R3 district?” said Lauren, “also I’m not sure that they will have the parts I’m looking for because they’re, like, 600 years old.”

“Remaking, repurposing, and repair,” explained Lykke, “you can find lots of things that aren’t in production anymore: shoes, TV’s, even cars. Sometimes they make these things from scratch too. I went there with my lab one time to get an automatic titrator repaired because our PI is too stubborn to upgrade.”

“Could they recreate an electronic component if they have a single working component and a bunch of not working components?”

“It depends. If the broken components aren’t too damaged such that they are missing all the materials needed to make a new one, definitely. Otherwise they still might be able to but they will have to damage the working component to determine which materials they need to make in house.”

“Interesting. Where is it?” Lauren gripped the handle tighter as the train decelerated.

“It’s in the part of Materia that is just west of Musea. Just take the Horizon line west from our place. You should check it out, it’s like a farmer’s market but for manufacturing. All of the shops there are family owned and generations old.”

The train intercom sounded: “Next stop, SISTEM station. Exit here for Daiterra Institute of Technology, Sanmachi Pan-Technic University, the Common Quad, and other universities. Connect here with the Harbor Line on the platform above and other transportation options on the platforms below.”

“That’s us,” said Lykke.

Lykke and Lauren weaved through a river of people, moving from pillar to pillar to wait and make sure one didn’t lose the other to the crowd. They made their way up the stairs. The heavy stream of people going down the stairs served as a comforting sign that the train the two were trying to catch had only just arrived.

The station intercom sounded: “Attention: Allegre train 9104, southbound on the Harbor line towards Enora Wharf, with service to Sanmachi Central Station, is now boarding on Allegre platform 3.”

“Lots of suits all of the sudden,” remarked Lauren as she followed Lykke through the crowded interior of the train.

“That’s how you know we’re going to Markova,” said Lykke, taking a seat in the green “Disembarking in 3-5 stops” area near the middle of the train car, “the tiny subcity that is home to all of Sanmachi’s finance and politics.”

Lykke leaned over as Lauren sat down, “to be honest, I’m not really a fan of Markova, I’d rather spend my time in Materia or one of the burbs.”

“I like it,” said Lauren.

“I know you do,” said Lykke, “you like anything novel.”

Lauren conceded with a nod that she had been seen through, “I do. I just want to try everything. By the way, what is the name of the restaurant we’re going to?”

Palace Amezial was in a regal building, nestled among several other buildings that formed a small town centered on a park, facing a small street that ran across the roof of a multistorey warehouse. Atop one of these islands, one could get away from the constant stream of lights, holographic signs, sirens, and general noise of the two ground levels of Markova. Lauren and Lykke disembarked from a spacious but full funicular and made their way to the restaurant.

“Is anyone else in the family there yet?” asked Lauren as they walked across the quaint brick road towards the restaurant.

“Yeah, Rozenn is holding a space in line for us,” said Lykke, opening the door to the restaurant.

“The place doesn’t take reservations?” asked Lauren, checking her phone for the whereabouts of the rest of the residential family.

“Nope,” said Lykke, “apparently that is typical for establishments in the Purian Confederation.”

The two walked up the line looking for their friend.

“Over here!”

Lauren and Lykke looked behind them to find Rozenn.

“Rozenn,” said Lykke, “I hope you haven’t been waiting too long for us.”

“The wait was moderate but it will likely be worth it,” said Rozenn, “where are T and Z?”

“I think Tadala and Zifa are actually behind us because they made a detour to do some shopping,” said Lauren.

“Ah,” said Rozenn, “well as long as we don’t hit the front of the line before they get here it will be fine.”

“So you want to tell us what the big deal with this place is?” asked Lauren.

“Oh sure! What you need to understand first is that Purian food served within the Confederation is noticeably different from the same served outside the Confederation.”

“Couldn’t you say the same of the other two species?” asked Lykke.

“Not to the same degree,” replied Rozenn, taking a step as the line moved forward, “first off Purian-made artificial meat is still better than human or Youmen.”

“Hence imports,” said Lykke.

“Ah but then there is freshness and freezing,” replied Rozenn with the speed of someone who had prepared for the question.

“Does freshness even matter for artificial meat?” asked Lauren. Lykke laughed.

“Why wouldn’t it?” cried Rozenn, “get your fringe system hoity toity-ness out of here, Ms. I-grew-up-on-a-planet-where-animal-husbandry-is-still-a-thing.”

“Dr. I-grew-up-on-a-planet-where-animal-husbandry-is-still-a-thing,” corrected Lykke. She took a step to the front of the queue.

“Oh shoot, I totally forgot,” said Rozenn, “congratulations!”

“Thanks,” said Lauren, “I’m not a doctor yet though. I still have to do some revisions before I’m out.”

“Sorry we’re late!”

“Tadala, Zifa!” said Lykke, “just in time, we’re up next.”

“Great,” said Tadala, “that of course was totally planned.”

“Where were you guys?” asked Rozenn.

“The Arcturan Trading Company at Sanmachi,” said Tadala, “they are the only place right now that has a particular brand of pens that I like.”

“We would have arrived earlier if we could, but there was quite a line at the shop,” said Zifa, “I know Rozenn gets anxious when waiting for the whole family to convene for events like these.”

“You worry too much,” said Rozenn, “look, the waiter’s here.”

Following the waiter, Lauren noted that the restaurant was structured differently than any she had visited before. A staircase in a narrow, warmly lit atrium provided access to seven levels of private rooms, from cozy two person cells to luxurious great halls. As Lauren ascended the staircase, she saw waitstaff congregated near dumbwaiter shafts that ferried plates and glasses from the kitchen.

“Here’s your room,” said the waiter, bringing them to a six person room, “I will be back to take your orders in a moment.”

“This is cozy,” commented Lauren.

“Are we going to be able to afford this?” asked Tadala, placing her shopping bag on the empty seat next to her.

“Of course,” said Rozenn, “the service to cost ratio has to be high in restaurants in the Purian Confederation to lure people out of their homes. So far this place is living up to the hype.”

“Is that why everything is so… decadent?” asked Lykke, looking at the menu.

“Yes, let’s see,” said Rozenn. She scanned the menu for a few seconds, occasionally nodding in approval.

“Oh wow,” said Tadala, laughing, “you can get meat on a bone that looks exactly like a cartoon.”

“Or a cylindrical drumstick,” said Lauren.

“Don’t get those,” said Rozenn, “those novelty pieces are just a gimmick, and the unnatural shapes compromise the flavor. The real art is in imitating nature.”

“I guess Lauren can be our judge of how well they do that,” said Zifa.

“I’m not an expert on natural meat,” said Lauren.

“You’re the only one from a planet where it can be bought,” said Lykke, “Zifa and I are native to Sanmachi, Tadala is from Altaria, and Rozenn is from Hyperion, none of which allow for the sale of naturally grown meat.”

“Yeah, Altaria was the last developed human system to ban natural meat, but that was still decades before I was born,” commented Tadala.

The waiter knocked on the sliding door, causing it to rattle loudly and interrupting the students’ conversation before entering. The waiter walked around the table until he was beside Rozenn, “do you know what you’d like to eat?”

“I think we need a little more—” started Lykke.

“Yes, let’s start off with the Regent’s platter,” said Rozenn.

“Would you like citra-melon juice as well?” asked the waiter.

“Yes.”

“Just for yourself or the whole table?”

Rozenn looked at her friends in a way that made Lauren feel like she was being sized up.

“Yeah, I think they can handle it,” said Rozenn finally.

“Very well,” said the waiter, “anything else?”

Rozenn flipped through the menu, “could we also get two scrag steaks?”

“How would you like that cooked?”

“With superheated steam, if you have the means,” said Rozenn.

“Of course we do.”

“That’s all for now,” said Rozenn, “I’ll hold onto this menu.”

The waiter collected the rest of the menus before leaving the room.

The students had barely started another conversation before a knock announced the return of their waiter. He entered the room carrying what Lauren figured was the Regent’s Platter. He set down a platter of various cuts of meat arranged in an ornate but unstable-looking ziggurat.

“Ooh!” Lykke and Zifa were very impressed and looked to be on the verge of applauding.

With a deliberate motion, the waiter pulled a long skewer out of the center of the ziggurat before leaving. Lykke reached around for her phone. Zifa picked up one of the pairs of tongs.

“Can I?” she asked Rozenn.

“Go ahead,” said Rozenn.

Zifa studied the structure, holding the tongs up to various parts and at different angles. On one maneuver, the tips of her tongs grazed the side of the ziggurat causing it to immediately collapse.

“What have you done?” said Lykke, still holding her phone up to take a picture.

“I barely touched it,” defended Zifa, horrified at herself.

Rozenn laughed, “don’t worry, it’s supposed to do that.”

“But why?” asked Zifa.

“To show off the skill of the kitchen and waitstaff,” explained Rozenn, “to this end, food would be presented in very elaborate but also unstable arrangements, because what better way to make patrons, back then the royalty, understand the dexterity of the waitstaff than having the arrangement collapse the moment you touch it after they’ve successfully delivered it to your table?”

Tadala took a piece of meat from the platter, “so does the skewer have something to do with it?”

“Yes, sometimes a skewer is used to stabilize the arrangement in transit, especially with newbie waitstaff,” said Rozenn, “on Hyperion, some of the top restaurants contracted engineering firms to create arrangements that were unstable, fancy, and could be stabilized with only one loosely placed skewer.”

“Purian one-upmanship knows no bounds,” remarked Lauren.

“Truly,” said Rozenn.

“I’ve never had a meal this fancy in my life,” commented Lykke.

“How do you know all this?” asked Lauren.

“I used to work part time as a waitress in a restaurant on Hyperion,” said Rozenn, taking a piece.

“Holy moley,” said Tadala, hand covering her mouth, ”you guys have to try this.

Even before her first bite, Lauren was struck by the quality of the food. The mere act of holding a piece of meat up to her face to take a bite made her mouth water and she could sense that the food was engineered and optimized to be as delicious as possible.

Tadala held up a few shot glasses that were left by the waiter, “Rozenn, did you order shots for us?”

“No, that’s for the citra-melon juice,” said Rozenn, distributing the shot glasses around the table.

Lauren picked up a slender bottle that the waiter left in front of her and poured a bit into her glass, “you mean this stuff?”

“Yeah,” said Rozenn watching her.

“I like melon,” commented Lauren taking a sip. Her throat and nose were immediately seized by an intense burning sensation caused by the acidic liquid, forcing her to cough violently and spill the remainder of her shot glass.

“I’d like to point out that Lauren is the first in our residential family to defend her thesis,” quipped Tadala.

Lauren drank from her glass of water to assuage the burning in her throat, she noticed her eyes had teared up too but didn’t dare touch them.

“You were going to make our dinner with that?” she asked Lykke.

“I was only going to use the rind of it,” said Lykke, still smiling from Tadala’s joke, “the rind actually has a quite smooth and sweet flavor.”

“So what is this for?” asked Lauren.

“It’s a palate cleanser,” said Rozenn, “you can dilute it if you like, just make sure to put water in your shot glass before adding the juice.”

“Wait what?” interrupted Lykke, shocked, “is it really that acidic?”

Rozenn laughed. “ No, I only said that because I knew that would get a response from you.”

The service was prompt, and the food satisfied a craving Lauren forgot she had since last visiting her home system of Plei, one which the typically lightly flavored artificial meat on Daiterra managed to neglect. The waiter, although polite, was pushy and succeeded in getting the women to order more than they had originally intended. Especially popular were the paper steaks, which took no more than five minutes from when they ordered them to when they were brought into their room. Lauren found the citra-melon juice to be effective at clearing the sensation of oil in her mouth that built up from a few pieces of heavily marinated meat. Rozenn allowed the order of the unnaturally thin steaks partially due to the other’s enthusiasm and partially due to her wanting to show off one of the greater achievements of Purian, and more specifically Hyperian, cuisine and technology.

“Yeah the paper steaks are pretty good,” said Rozenn, “they are delicious, having more texture than thicker meat than has been sliced thinly, are easy and quick to cook, easy to transport, usually shipped on large reels, and easy and cheap to grow.”

“Are you a kreaponics engineer?” jested Lauren. Lykke laughed.

“No, never, they don’t make that much money. I’m a logistic scientist,” said Rozenn, “I just read the news in a lot of depth.”

“So you must know about how General Proteins recently opened their first HQ outside of the Purian Confederation in Sanmachi?”

“Oh, you don’t have to read the news to know that as a Purian,” said Rozenn, “you’re beat with that over the head.”

“It was a big deal that they chose Daiterra over Altaria,” said Zifa, “everyone thought the new branch would be in the Human Federation what with youmen and purian workstyles being so incompatible with each other.”

“Very much,” said Rozenn, “in the end, the new HQ was going to be research oriented and Sanmachi by far has the most educated workforce, not to mention a sizable Purian population. It wasn’t really a hard decision when you think about it.”

“That’s what’s been bringing in all of the major companies ever since the Daiterra Immigration plan was started 50 years ago,” said Lykke.

“You mean the biggest brain drain the combined galaxies has ever seen?” contested Tadala.

Lykke glanced at Zifa for a split second.

“Daiterra has no special right to allowing immigration to students,” said Zifa, picking up Lykke’s answer, “any system could have a process for allowing people to immigrate to their system from any other system or even colony by graduating from a higher education institution, Daiterra was just the only one brave enough to do so.”

“Mind you, Sanmachi did a lot of investing in infrastructure, schools, and development as part of their plan to become the entry city,” added Lykke.

“Well,” weighed Rozenn, “it makes the food at this place possible, so good for that.”

“It is really good,” remarked Lykke, “I think I’ll look up recipes when we get back.”

“Nycena seems to know what they are doing,” offered Tadala, “they’re the only developed system where animal husbandry is practiced.”

“Natural meat is an entirely different animal. You’ll want to look up Hyperian recipes,” said Rozenn, “honestly, Nyceans are clinging to the unrealistic notion that natural meat has any place in the future.”

“What do you think Lauren?” said Zifa, “are we missing out by not trying natural meat?”

“It’s hard to say,” said Lauren, “the animals raised on Plei are unique to it, so it’s not fair to compare them one to one.”

“Yeah but 90% of answers are an ‘it depends,’” said Rozenn, “it’s always more interesting to answer with something definitive.”

“Well,” said Lauren, “I will say that the difference between normal meat you can get in Sanmachi and what they serve here is much greater than the difference between this stuff and what I’ve had on Plei.”

“There you go,” said Rozenn, triumphant.

“Another victory for the Hyperian league of systems,” said Lykke.

“Exactly,” said Rozenn, “the Nycean league of systems always acts above their station.”

“Speaking of Nycena,” said Tadala, “Unification party members are currently split between joining the Logistics party-led government and the Sustainability party-led one.”

The two main political parties of the top-level lawmaking body, the Primary Parliament, were the Logistic party and the Sustainability party. The Logistic party’s main goal was in ensuring continued economic growth while protecting the environment of each planet and the quality of life of each citizen by colonizing and developing new planets and systems. This approach rendered resources practically limitless so the main limiter to growth was the ability of current techniques to manage the logistics of transferring goods and people between a growing list of planets. The party’s focus on improving logistic techniques inspired its name. The Sustainability party’s main goal was to slow economic growth while preserving quality of life for each citizen. The party focused on general research in order to turn the chain of production and consumption into a cycle.

“It is quite ironic,” said Lauren.

“It doesn’t matter who they join,” said Rozenn, “the Logistics party group is going to have the majority either way.”

“Are you going to vote for them?” asked Lauren.

“Never,” said Rozenn to the others’ amusement, “just because the Logistics party shares the same name as my profession and depends on us doesn’t mean I agree with them, I’m just in it for the job security and pay. Besides, Daiterra is a Sustainability/Education party stronghold.”

“It does matter though,” said Lykke, “the parties of the formed government don’t have to vote as one.”

“Are you an Archival Officer?” asked Rozenn

“No, just a chemist,” said Lykke, “although I hear someone might be very soon.”

“Oh yeah, I’ve been thinking it would be fun,” said Lauren.

“I think you’re a little crazy,” said Tadala, “Knowledge Corps Officers are still soldiers.”

Lauren meandered about her small room waiting for her interstellar call to go through. Outside, the lights danced across the pavement as a gang of robots began closing the street to do maintenance. Lauren had stayed up until midnight since that corresponded to predawn in the capital area of Plei where her parents had just woken up and when a majority of the planet was still asleep. Calling at any other time was sure to result in long wait times for short calls since Plei was a planet on the fringe of the combined galaxies where modernization of the Combined Galactic Comm Net had yet to take place. A majority of the bandwidth was taken up for essential communication like shipping schedules and strategic intelligence so even at the odd time, Lauren’s call had to be audio only.

“Hello Lauren,” said her mother, “it’s so good to hear from you.”

“Hi Lauren,” joined her father, “how have you been? What’s new?”

“Hi mom, hi dad,” said Lauren, “I’ve been good, how about you guys? Oh, I went to a real purian restaurant with my friends for the first time today.”

In the background, Lauren could hear the sound of zippers and velcro telling her that her parents were putting on their parkas for work. “We’re doing well,” said her father, “how was that like? I’ve never been to one but I know your mom has.”

“I don’t really remember the restaurant experience because it was the first business dinner with a major client of my company that I went on,” warned her mother, “I was pretty nervous then.”

“I don’t believe that,” said her father.

“It was really cool,” said Lauren, “every table was in its own private room including ours and the food was almost as good as it is on Plei.”

“How does the meat compare?” asked her father.

“Pretty much all the food was meat,” explained Lauren.

“Purians are carnivores, honey,” said her mother.

“Oh right!” said her father, “well, then it must be really good!”

“It sounds expensive,” commented her mother.

“That’s the crazy part,” said Lauren, “it was slightly below the average price of the places we go to, apparently a high service to cost ratio in restaurants is a purian thing.”

“Yeah, I—” Lauren laughed, “I drank citra-melon juice. Did you know that stuff actually tastes really bad?” Lauren heard her parents laughing on the other end of the line.

“Absolutely,” said her mother, “we’re growing some here right now actually.”

“Yeah, I had no idea when I took a sip of pure citra-melon juice,” said Lauren, “hang on, isn’t it winter over there?” Lauren looked up the planetary time of Plei on her computer.

“Mhm, citra-melons naturally bear fruit in the winter,” said her mother, “that’s how they get away with tasting so bad.”

“It’s spring over there right?” said her mother, “have they let you graduate yet?”

Lauren looked out her window to see the robots diligently carving up the street, “my committee wants me to analyze another drive, from your home system actually, mom.”

“Don’t they know how much work that is?” complained her mother even though she only had a vague idea herself.

“They’re professors,” explained Lauren, “they don’t really care about those sorts of things, especially when students are doing the work.”

“That’s just how it is I guess,” said her father, “have you decided on whether you’re going to the Knowledge Corps after this?”

“Yes actually!” said Lauren, “I talked to Neil about it today and he’s basically on board with the idea, so I’m definitely applying now.”

“That’s so exciting,” said her mother, “I’m glad you’ll be having a friend with you there. You look out for each other you hear? I read that it’s one of the most dangerous jobs that a PhD can have.”

“I will mom,” said Lauren.