Chapter 14. The kitchen floor

When the headmistress announced that the teachers were responsible for the preparations, Garin volunteered to take care of the food. He didn't really have to do anything in this case – the cook would deal with that. Garin just had to find out what dishes the students wanted and pass their preferences to Luigi.

Other tasks were worse: unloading the presents passed from Earth from the stock, handing them out to hybrids; Rokko chose that. Daiga took the room decorations, and Lady Laura was choosing the music; everyone was busy.

Garin thought that this celebration was a good idea. Others could forget that their students were still just kids, but not him. Those children needed a chance to relax, they deserved it. He had to make sure everything went fine.

"Hey, lord of the kitchen, you here?" he asked, passing the main entrance to the kitchen floor.

Most work here was performed by machines, because bringing a team of cooks to Ceres would've been too expensive. But the computers were controlled by one man – Luigi Mikkolo, the chef. He was very successful back on Earth, the owner of his own restaurant and the star of many culinary shows. When he decided to leave the planet to feed the new generation of hybrids, people were shocked. And he felt no need to explain anything, he'd spent his life doing what he wanted.

Garin decided that the chef was a lot like him. Both of them didn't care about money too much, their main passion being the challenge of trying something new.

Mikkolo walked out to meet him. He was rather short, not overweight, but stout, and his face always remained flushed, as if he had just left his place by a heated oven.

"Finally!" Mikkolo took the list from the teacher and clapped his hands. "A bit late, though. I've warned you that some dishes require a lot of time to prepare! It's not feeding animals, it's art!"

"Oh come on!" Garin snorted. "Does it really matter what your magic boxes will prepare out of synthetic cubes?"

The chef simply froze on the spot in mid-motion. His face reflected a strong mix of emotions: from insulted dignity to the desire of killing someone with a frying pan.

"Synthetic cubes?" he repeated, his voice shaking. "Is that how you view my art?"

"Keep your hat on, I'm just being logical! We're not on Earth anymore, you don't have any farmers here lining up to bring you fresh milk and eggs!"

"Ignoramus! Follow me!"

"Actually, I have a class in forty minutes!" Garin nodded at his watch.

But Mikkolo refused to listen.

"Follow me! Synthetic cubes – that's what he tells me! Why am I even here? You've got a computer to cook your food for you!"

"Do you know how to chill? I didn't mean to insult you."

"I despise ignorance!"

"What does it have to do with ignorance?"

"Oh, you'll see that soon!"

Mikkolo led him through the kitchen, passing multiple ovens, steamers, grills and refrigerators along the way. They were heading for a massive metal door on the other side of the room, protected by a security code.

Garin expected to see a standard food stock, the one he'd seen on military bases. But instead, when Mikkolo opened the door, the teacher was greeted by a whole new world.

One side of the spacious hall was lined by greenhouses. Inside them the sun imitation lamps were shining on juicy vegetables, bright fruit, herbs and spices – all the treasures of Earth. Next to them there were large cages with rabbits and poultry, surrounded by powerful ventilation machines that didn't let the smell spread across the kitchen. There were also fish tanks here and even terrariums with bugs. The later were quite small though and stood by a device that Garin had never seen before.

"Nice kingdom you've got here!" the teacher whistled. "I never expected to see that on Ceres… must've cost a fortune!"

"Money is not the highest standard of value!" Mikkolo announced. "But you should know that I bought most of the equipment you see with my own money, the hybrids simply installed it here. That was my only condition for working with them. I've wanted to try space cooking for a couple of years… It's easy to become famous if you have a full set of resources! But it's a new level of proficiency to create a masterpiece on a planet that has nothing to offer – save for snow and ice. I changed it! The fruit and vegetables grow here, the soil is good enough for that after some fertilizers, the animals can be bred… Creating it is hard, but possible. And don't you tell me you haven't noticed any difference between my food and synthetic cubes!"

"I did!" Garin assured him. "I just explained it with your skill."

The praise managed to calm Mikkolo down a bit.

"Skill… Bare skill won't get you too far! It's the ingredients that truly matter. Young hybrids are still growing, they need a lot of energy. They're nice kids. I like taking care of them."

"Is that part of your care?" the teacher pointed at the terrariums with insects.

There were grasshoppers here, large, half of Garin's palm, bugs of diverse colors, spiders and ants. They were clearly healthy and active, but that didn't make them any more appetizing.

But Mikkolo had a different opinion about it.

"Of course! Insect cuisine is part of luxurious gastronomy!"

"I've heard that bugs were a good way of saving money…"

"Money again! In the poorest regions of Earth it is truly so. But we're talking art here! It's a great source of protein and other nutrients. A treasure in space! Many students love my insect dishes."

"At moments like that I see the inhuman part in them," Garin grumbled.

"I wouldn't say something that embarrassing if I were you! That's racist!"

The chef was so serious about it that Garin decided to skip any further jokes. To deal with the awkward moment he had to change the topic, so he pointed at the strange machine next to the bug cubes.

"What's that?"

"And that it something that allows me not to keep too many insects at once. If they escaped, the sanitary conditions of this place would become disastrous! It's a culinary copy lot."

Garin had heard about CCLs before, but he had never seen them. They were believed to cost more than spaceships! This device could use pieces of food waste to create new products. In terms of quality they were worse than the real thing, but better than the synthetic versions.

CCLs were used for copying mushrooms, fruit, vegetables and cereal, but Mikkolo managed to get them the natural way. The multiplication of living creatures was strictly limited – only bugs and shellfish could go through that. Doing that to mammals was against the law.

"I'll definitely cook a couple of insect dishes for this holiday!" Mikkolo proclaimed. "Just so you can appreciate their true magnificence!"

"I just hope that magnificence won't crawl off the table."

"You and your ignorance again!"

Taking care of the food part of the holiday didn't look like such a good idea anymore. He hurried to leave the kitchen before he saw something that'd make him go on a hunger strike!

Well, at least students liked that. Garin was joking about their inhuman interests. Before coming to Ceres he had believed hybrids to be mythical creatures, monsters from a parallel world. But working with them changed his attitude completely – they were just kids… Most of them. With certain exceptions.

But now he had a class with the Gray Team, and he liked them. He was in good mood; he got so lost in the thoughts about the holiday that he nearly bumped heads with Tara in the hallway.

The young doctor didn't look so good. She appeared tired and depressed. Dark circles under her eyes were a sign of sleepless nights… or tears.

"Are you okay?" Garin frowned.

"Uh… what?" Tara looked at him blankly.

"I was asking if you were alright. But your reaction is all the answer I need."

"I'm fine…"

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure," she forced herself to smile. "It's just… Living on Ceres is not for me, I guess."

"What makes you think so?"

"Many things… Hybrids rarely need my help, and they're avoiding me most of the time. As if they've already drawn a line between them and humans!"

"No offence, but that's ridiculous."

Garin expected Tara to start arguing or get offended, but she just nodded solemnly.

"If you say so. Maybe I'm the problem… I've gotten insomnia on this planet, and on the rare nights I fall asleep I see nightmares… Lack of sleep is making me see things when I'm awake too!"

"Like what?" the teacher was confused.

"Like rats," the girl shivered. "Nasty creatures… I've never liked them. And now I've started seeing them here. But it has to be an illusion!"

That statement made Garin remember about the mini-zoo in the kitchen.

"I wouldn't be so sure… Just take it easy, okay? You'll learn to love Ceres. You should watch hybrids during this holiday to understand they're not bad at all!"

"I told you, it's about me, not them," Tara reminded. "I feel that I'm not needed here as a doctor…"

"Not now. But wait until the exams begin – and then you'll be dreaming of going back to this time, when you still had some free moments!"