Chemistry Department

Sazzy skipped happily ahead of me, babbling on about how tasty the previous meal we had was and which meal in the vending machine she was looking forward to next.

However, in the middle of talking, her smile suddenly disappeared and was replaced with a frown. She crossed her arms and grumbled in a dissatisfied tone.

[Look who decided to show up?]

In front of us, talking to several people dressed in blue full body suits, was Kyle. Through the transparent face area, we could see Kyle's serious frown as he pointed to his personal terminal, lecturing the blue suited people. Then once he was done with his lecture, he pointed to each of them, giving them a task, and then dismissed them.

Keeping his personal terminal, we saw him give a tired sigh before turning around and meeting us eye to eye.

Kyle walked past us with his business-only face which had a little bit of disapproval mixed in.

[He's so annoying! Like, if you have anything you want to say, say it to our faces!]

Sazzy screamed to his back, stomping her feet angrily on the ground.

Calming her down once more, we then slowly walked over to the canteen. I looked at the variety of dishes offered by the vending machine and pressed a random one.

Taking my dish, I then sat down at a table 'alone' and pulled out my personal terminal. Searching 'Colonizer cuisine' on chick, the results proved to be quite disappointing.

[In the current era, the Colonizers have become more of a 'group' than a species. They were originally a species of people from a certain planet that was more advanced in technology and civilization then the rest. Then when they set out to space, they started trying to colonize less civilized planets. Since it was easier to take them over and basically occupy them. Some of the species and races in these colonized planets joined the Colonizers, while some rejected them. But regardless of whichever planet, the Colonizers had a direct or indirect hand in influencing their culture. As a result, the Colonizer's own 'culture' has been lost to time. After all, the rapid colonization led to a very fast backlash, also known as the Loser's War, before anyone could pay attention to the culture of these Colonizers. It may be better to look at the cultures of the first few colonized planets instead.]

Sazzy saw my personal terminal and explained through a mouthful of food. Then she typed in the name of a planet on my personal terminal. Hostia.

According to the encyclopedia page, Hostia used to be a part of the Colonizer's territory until around 140 years ago, when resource mining had bled it dry, killing many inhabitants and driving out those who remained alive.

[It was the most popular example of those who refused to allow the Colonizers to take control of their planet. It was also one of the first of its kind to fall into such a state. Vastum is another example.]

Scrolling further down the encyclopedia page, I stopped at the cuisine section, which was only a mere 5 paragraphs long. And the first sentence stated this.

'Most of the information is unable to be obtained due to the scattering of the inhabitants before the creation of chick.'

Pointing out this line to Sazzy, she frowned in thought before suggesting another name.

Down the list of colony planets we went, with most of them having this one line as their first sentence. Soon, even Sazzy ran out of names to give and we weren't any further then we started.

But glancing at what information we did have, most of the cooking methods seemed a little too simple for such a highly civilized species. The only thing I did confirm though, was that boiling and frying were indeed the most common cooking methods used.

Speaking of which, since the preservative was made using 'international' ingredients, the key to our solution may lie there.

International ingredients, as per their name, were ingredients that could be sourced internationally due to their easy growing conditions. The most important point was that they originated from all sorts of planets.

So the Colonizers probably discovered this recipe, instead of it being a specialty of theirs. Another possible lead is gone.

All the ingredients used also had different origins so having a possible reference was impossible.

"I guess this is the limit of what we can do for now."

Finishing up my food, I went to my messages and texted Liz that I had recreated a closer version of the preservative. With the help of 'confidential information'. But I also told her of our current problem.

"Thank you Chef for finding out such an important thing so fast. For your issue, I think telling this information to Kyle would be good. He used to major in chemistry and also has contacts in the chemical department that could maybe help."

[Ask him? Do we really have to?]

Sazzy scrunched up her face at the side while I thanked Liz for her suggestion.

"It's not like we have that many options. Besides, maybe if we talk with him he will change his attitude towards us."

Carrying my empty dishes to the dishwasher, we then left the canteen and headed to the security room. Surely the head of security would be in the security room?

Knocking on its door, a deadpan Kyle answered.

'What do you want?"

I pulled up my personal terminal and showed him Liz's message. Reading it, Kyle raised an eyebrow in disbelief and scoffed.

"Wait here."

He then closed the door.

[Talk about rude!]

Sazzy gave a sarcastic look at him, which made me chuckle. The door then opened once more and Kyle stepped out of the room with a toolbox in his hands.

"Lead the way."

Walking back to my research counter, Kyle then set his toolbox on the counter and opened it. Inside were many instruments that I had never seen before. Taking one of them, he took the preservative I recreated and poured it into the machine. After a few minutes, several numbers appeared on the screen.

Squinting his eyes, he placed the preservative in the dark and waited for a couple of minutes. He then repeated his steps.

"...It seems you are telling the truth."

With a mix of surprise and disbelief, Kyle's hands seemed to be shaking as he washed the machine using the indents on the counter.

"We need to head to the Chemistry Department. I don't have the appropriate equipment to analyze this."

With a softer attitude, Kyle led us through another maze of corridors until the large sign 'Chemistry Department' hung over a set of metal double doors.

Pushing open the double doors, we entered a corridor that was exactly the same as the one we left. Heading straight, we then came to the front of another set of metal double doors.

Entering this set, a large space with countless enormous machinery greeted us. Walking past all of them, I could see people wearing yellow colored full body suits carefully observing the machinery or taking down notes on their personal terminal.

And passing all that, we came to a comparatively smaller machine that looked like a closet. The yellow suited person standing in front of this machine greeted Kyle with a wave. Kyle then said he needed to borrow the machine, to which the guy then agreed easily with a smile. He then left.

I stood at the side, slightly away from the machine in order not to disturb Kyle. He reached his hand to a small table beside the machine, taking a sort of syringe looking apparatus and taking a little of the preservative. Then putting down the preservative, he opened a valve and injected the preservative into a net looking area of the machine.

Closing the valve, Kyle moved to the computer that was beside the machine and typed on it a couple times. Soon, not even 10 minutes later, he took a wire on the computer and hooked it up to his personal terminal. He then gestured to me to come over.

"Due to the private server that the personal terminals of the employees here use, I cannot send you the results. However, I can connect you to the computer and transfer a copy of it to you from the main server."

Unplugging his own personal terminal, Kyle then helped connect my personal terminal to the computer. Clicking a couple of times, I saw a pop up appear.

Opening the pop up showed a bunch of data that I couldn't read or comprehend.

Kyle then unplugged me from the computer and pressed a couple of buttons on the machine. He then retrieved the preservative that he had put down.

"I'll send you a detailed explanation of what these numbers mean later today, once the work day is over. But for now, the gist of it is that this preservative contains a complicated cocktail of chemicals that are harmless alone, but together are known to interfere with the brain signals in the body by changing the body's carefully controlled internal environment. This causes the body to essentially 'freeze', stopping the heart, the lungs and the brain at the same time."

While walking out of the Chemistry Department, Kyle tried his best to explain to a layman like me the complicated subject of this world's chemistry, and also a little bit of biology.

But seeing all the information essentially passing through one ear and out the next, he sighed.

"Forget what I just said. Tomorrow, I'll send people who are majors in this sort of field to aid you."

Handing the preservative back to me, the three of us stood at the crossway leading back to my room. Kyle was showing an uncomfortable face, a slight red blush forming onto his cheeks as he lowered his head.

"Sorry for being so hostile to you. It was wrong of me to judge you."

Giving a deep bow, Kyle apologized.

Accepting his apology, I told him to straighten his back. The two of us then shook hands.

"Then, I'll see you tomorrow."

Waving goodbye to him, we parted ways as I headed back to my room.

[...At least he apologized.]

Acting reluctant, Sazzy 'accepted' Kyle's apology with a pout as she opened the room door. I chuckled at her antics.

"See, he's not as bad as you think he is."