Staying at the AT Center

The next 4 days passed by in the flash of an eye. In the morning, right as the lantern ferns lit up, the three of us would go out and gather ingredients. When new ingredients were introduced, I would ask about them and either Josh or Tim would answer. Although Tim seemed to be a little nervous and awkward around me.

Then after that, we would head back and part ways. I would meet with Caroline and have our cooking sessions, where she would teach me an average of 3 dishes per session. While waiting for the dishes to steam, we would converse about life in Lupos as well as the culture.

After our cooking sessions, if I had time I would go to the recreational area and converse with at least 1 or 2 people. Then I would head to the dining area to meet up with Josh and Tim to eat lunch. Other than that, all I did was just experimenting in the cooking area as well as walking around and observing the actions of the different members with their jobs.

Occasionally when I met anyone I knew, we would wave to each other and smile, then part ways to resume our tasks. In a sense, it was peaceful.

The only difference was that as the days passed, there was an obvious growing excitement from the camp members. They were going around with noticeably more energy, and were checking their personal terminals with increasing frequency. On the 4th day of waiting, the excitement reached an all time high such that people were basically running across camp to get their tasks done faster. Maybe in hopes that it would quicken time and let the next day arrive sooner.

That night, I received a message from Josh.

"Tomorrow, early in the morning, the whole camp will be moving to the safe area. We will be stopping by the AT center, which is where we will leave you for two days. There are temporary sleeping areas there so you should pack your bags for a two day two night trip."

Informing this to Sazzy, we spent the night packing enough clothes and some ingredients to research with, before sleeping,

The next morning, when I exited the house with my backpack, I saw everyone in the camp carrying their own backpacks and assembling into teams. Josh and Tim were waiting for me near my house, and when I exited, gestured for me to join them.

All the groups then split up into different directions. Probably to be more inconspicuous.

The group we were attached to had several camp members that I knew and had conversed with in the recreation area, so we all talked as we walked.

Reaching the AT center, everyone took a little break while Josh showed me the place I would be sleeping for the next 2 nights.

Behind the stores on the left of the AT center, there was a medium sized corridor that led to several guest rooms slightly larger than the houses in the camp. Josh then left me, not forgetting to pass on a wood carving of the tree I asked for.

Placing my bag down on the chair, I inspected the wood carving. With leaves so detailed you could run your fingers over them to feel their edges, Josh even remembered to add texture to its bark, making it pleasant to run your finger down its trunk.

To get a closer look at it, Sazzy climbed up the other chair in the room.

[He's really good at crafting.]

Sazzy whistled as she ran her fingers down the carving and peered at from every angle possible.

The carving was small, which made its fine detail much more impressive. It was the size of my palm, and if I had requested Josh to drill a hole through the trunk, I could probably hang it somewhere on my person and bring it around with me. However, I scratched that idea as I let myself appreciate the lines etched onto the bark.

"It's really pretty."

As I mumbled praise to the carving, I let my fingers rest on it.

It is really pretty. However, if I were to compare it to the large tree at Josh's house, there was something missing. That carving had life, it was dynamic. As if it was breathing. This carving...was just a carving. It wasn't alive.

[This tree...looks familiar.]

I turned my head to Sazzy at those words. Her eyebrows were furrowed, and she pulled up her personal terminal.

After a couple minutes, I heard her exclaim from beside me. I leaned over her shoulder to peek at her personal terminal.

This...

[Isn't this Tim's home planet?]

Sazzy enlarged opened several windows related to that planet. In the middle of that planet, there was the tree that I saw in Josh's house. It was large, towering over several mountains that were in the same photo. It was beautiful, its lush leaves raining down like holy rain onto the inhabitants. And it was tragic.

Right next to the beautiful picture of that tree, there was another photo. In this one, the tree had been cut down. It's stump wide enough to hold an entire city. However, I only felt a deep sense of sadness as the previously mesmerizing scenery had been destroyed.

[I wonder why Josh would have such a thing?]

Sazzy's mumbling pulled me back to reality as I tightened my grip on the carving. Suddenly, I had this guilty feeling in my gut.

"....I might have made a mistake."

Seeing Sazzy turn her head to me in confusion, I pushed away the feeling and pocketed the carving.

"We should go to the post office to collect our ingredients."

I pushed open the room door and left the corridor. Heading towards the boarding platform, instead of riding the escalator up, we walked past it and entered the area beneath the platform. While walking here, I had asked Josh where the post office was, and he said it was slightly behind the area where we had alighted. He described it as a blue-tinted building that was easy to spot.

[What 'mistake' did you make?]

Oblivious, Sazzy walked beside me as we entered the space below the escalator. I opened my personal terminal to tell her my suspicions.

"I think the two of them are together."

Sazzy glanced down at her personal terminal, pausing for a while, before giving me a confused look.

[Together? What does that mean?]

Rolling my eyes, I gave up trying to be gentle about it.

"I mean I think they are dating."

Seeing my explanation, Sazzy gave a thoughtful look.

[Really? I didn't notice at all.]

Giving her a side eye, I thought back to all the obvious signs. Josh and Tim entering into the same house, Josh's glance to the side during his stream, as well as Tim having so many details about the camp. Although initially I thought it was because he joined the camp after relocating, thinking back, it might be because Josh and Tim were together. He was already counted as a camp member since he was together with a camp member!

[If they really are dating, as you suspect, then why did you say you made a mistake?]

Clueless Sazzy asked as the both of us stopped right underneath the escalator to talk.

"I originally chose the tree because I saw how pretty and well carved it was, but also because Josh seemed to stare at it with a sort of worship. I thought it was because that work was his best masterpiece, so I chose it. But I really shouldn't have chosen it! The tree is definitely something that Tim treasures, and that's why so much hard work was put into it! Because it was for his boyfriend! What sort of vixen am I to want a pie of such a personal gift!"

The more I typed my thoughts to Sazzy, the deeper I sunk into guilt. Like quicksand, the feeling seemed to press at me from all sides.

"What's more! He glanced to the side during the stream! Tim was there! In! The! Room!"

What sort of person asks for someone's boyfriend to carve them something from their home planet in front of them! No wonder Tim was so awkward!

Wishing I could go back in time and shut my big mouth, I felt mortified. However, my embarrassment was cut short when I felt someone pull my sleeve. Looking to my left, Sazzy was looking at me with comforting eyes.

[It's ok. We can return the carving to Tim and explain that you didn't mean it.]

Seeing Sazzy comfort me, I took a deep breath and tried to push down all the nest of complicated feelings. Hopefully Tim will accept my apology.

We reached the post office and collected all the ingredients we ordered for our 2 day stay here. The night before we leave, I plan to order a couple more ingredients to take back to the camp with me.

Dropping the ingredients off in the room, we headed off to the shops to see if there was anything useful we could buy.

Heading into the same shop we visited first when we initially arrived, I greeted the short girl who was sitting down behind the counter. This time she was munching on some fairy wings.

Seeing us enter, she jumped up from her seat again and rushed over at neck-breaking speed.

"Welcome back Chef! Did you enjoy your trip outside the barrier?"

I waited for her to stop in front of me before giving a rough recount of the several days I spent at the camp.

"That's so nice! I wish I could go outside the barrier too instead of staying here to man the shop all the time! There are usually no customers so it's so boring!"

Laughing at her complaint, I asked her to show me around once more.

"I would like to see if this store has anything I can use to cook? Or use as an ingredient?"

Striking a thinking pose, the young girl then led us to one of the shelves that had a mini stove that was powered by batteries.

"Even though this product is not allowed outside the barrier, we still sell these for any travelers that want to stock up before going to other planets. That and to cook some international food here since fire is allowed inside the barrier."

Passing me a red colored stove, she then led me to another shelf that had a line-up of cooking utensils like forks, spoons and whisks.

"We also have these! Although since you are a cook you must have brought along your own set."

"...No. I didn't"

Placing several pairs of utensils into my shopping basket, she led us around the store again before checking out. I had put the stove back though, since we already bought a portable cooking station.

Saying farewell to her, I exited the store and went to the next one. And the next. Until I had visited all of the stores and brought back my many bags of purchases.

Taking them out of the bags and laying them on the table, Sazzy and I first opened the portable cooking station to give us more space to look over and organize our things. The portable cooking station was a multipurpose machine that could expand into a decently sized square. The top of the square could function as a stove, while the area within could become an oven or microwave, depending on which you preferred. The gas cans were sold separately though.

Beside the station was the newly bought travel bag. At one of the shops, the shop clerk had recommended to us a traveling bag with many pockets and compartments to place a variety of objects. He even suggested that we create our own traveling kitchen bag to bring about all the necessary equipment

After giving it some thought, I agreed to buy the travel bag, and we had spent quite a lot of money purchasing the components that would go into this bag. Unfortunately, most of them were banned from leaving the barrier. We would have to use them next time.

We spilled the contents of all the bags on top of the table and cooking station. Then, one by one, we packed them into the bags we retrieved from the lockers. At the same time, we also filled the traveling bag to the brim. Once we were finished organizing our gains, we cleared the table before laying out the international ingredients onto it.

I had always had the idea to create a hybrid dish anyway, since it was one of the easiest ways to get the public to try exotic dishes from these infamous ethnic groups. So I had gotten a list of acceptable ingredients to bring outside the barrier from Josh and Tim, and had ordered them to test out for the two days I would be staying in the AT center.

Looking at the many ingredients, I smiled as I rolled up my sleeves to prepare for the day's work ahead.

It was experiment time!