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Tales of the Insatiable Curiosity:

Cast Off

By Stephen Landis

All Rights Reserved

The_Insatiable Curiosity_ transitioned back into normal space with a barely perceptible whine from the subspace engines as I leaned back into my control chair on the bridge. The sturdy memory-plastic chair conformed to my broad ursine posterior, adjusting to my recent gains from my last adventure. I run a green gloved hand through my shaggy brown headfur as the ship's computer projected the latest navigational data to my emerald-green smart goggles. My preliminary data had been successfully transmitted and I would be at Star Crescent University in roughly an hour, plenty of time for a light snack...

With a heavy grunt, I rise to my feet and lumber off the bridge and down the hallway into the common room. Green rubbery boots plod against the polished metal floor as I walk down the hall, doors to the ship's six personal quarters to either side of my broad swaying hips as I enter the common lounge. The lounge is a comfortable little room that makes the most of the limited space available for creature comforts; equipped with soft, overstuffed memory foam furniture, entertainment and reference equipment connected to both the ship's exhaustive library and the galactic information network, and a fully-stocked kitchen built around a Comestible Mk VI Mess Replicator.

The humble Comestible was a large, yellow-painted metal box with a touch-screen display set on top of the kitchen counter. Hooked up to a database containing every recipe I've learned and a thick rubbery tube providing it with an ample supply of carbon-based feedstock, this unassuming appliance was capable of replicating almost any commonly available foodstuff I requested. Exotic ingredients and dishes required more conventional cooking but the simplicity of the Comestible's menu did not mean it wasn't exhaustive.

"Meat-lovers pizza, extra large." I order, my voice carrying a pronounced growl. The Mess Replicator replied with an electronic chirp and closing the metal lid over the materialization unit, shielding me from the burst of light and thermal energy that came from rapidly assembling an object molecule by molecule. Roughly five minutes later, the Comestible opened with a ding and the smell of cooked meats and melted cheese tickles my nose. Giving it a moment to cool, I remove my gloves and carefully place the still-hot pizza onto a large tray.

Picking up the tray and ambling back to the bridge, I let the smell continue to tease me until I'm able to sit back down in my chair. Reviewing updates on my goggles as I took a bite out of my first slice, I tried to bring myself up to date with the latest developments at Star Crescent University. The largest research institute in known space and serving dozens of sapient species in the quadrant, the orbital mega-habitat had quite a bit going on between its medical school, physical science colleges, and engineering and vocational departments. And that didn't even include the dozens of roaming explorers it sponsored such as myself. As such there was much to sort through, most of it junk that I waved away the moment I finished skimming it. An arts appreciation festival hosted by the perpetually and deliberately underfunded SCU liberal arts department, advertisements for not one but two new coffee house chains that have established themselves on multiple station levels, and the culinary arts institute was having a food festival that was likely going to have the majority of the attendance once festival-goers saw what pretentious bores the SCU liberal arts department was.

My stomach grumbled audibly as I read the last one despite having finished half of my pizza already. Food, especially meats and sweets, was my one true vice in a lifestyle otherwise devoted to science and exploration of the universe. My ursine metabolism ensured it was also a fairly pronounced vice of mine with an equally pronounced pear-shaped figure. Perhaps there will be time to visit the food festival once I finish my other business with the university....

My pizza was a receding memory on my lips by the time the Insatiable Curiosity was automatically docked with the habitat and I ambled aboard the main space of Star Crescent University. No matter how many times I've seen it, the architectural engineering of the university never fails to amaze me. The SCU orbital habitat was a giant cylinder of alloyed metal and carbon-based nanotubing, a giant can the size of a large moon set to spin fast enough to simulate one standard unit of gravity and home to a perfectly managed climate. The inside of this artificial marvel held what became the university I walked through now.

At one time, each university department was its own city-sized complex built on the inside wall of the cylinder, but years of expansion and construction had seen the interior developments expand until it became one sprawling urban complex of colleges, laboratories, dormitories, and support industries. Yet despite the dense urbanization, the SCU had a relaxed atmosphere and was easily traversed even by girths even more indulgent then mine. The citizens of the Orion Commonwealth suffered no shortage of abundant foodstuffs and saw no reason to not indulge in the caloric wealth at our fingertips and the SCU orbital habitat was no exception to this norm. Inhabitants slowly waddled along with sturdy belly trucks supporting prodigious guts or mobility exoskeletons carrying immense thighs and legs. A few truly immense residents had eaten so much they were immobile without the levitating properties of their hover suits, elastic smart clothing studded with miniaturized anti-gravity generators to allow them to float from place to place.

With some time to spend before my first appointment with the university administration, I decided to visit a friend that I knew was still on the station....

The Universal Constructor Complex was one of the larger facilities in theFoundry campus and not because of the size of the equipment involved. A fabrication plant where engineering students could learn to use the various forms of nanite-based universal constructor technology available in the Orion Commonwealth and practice controlling them effectively. The Commonwealth had built itself into a utopia on the relative abundance provided by this form of manufacturing so beings proficient in various forms of material replication were always in high demand.

Subsequently the communal workshops in the Constructor Complex were always fairly busy and packed with technicians, engineers, and students working on various projects. Stationary fabricators ranging in size from small desktop models all the way to massive room-sized industrial fabricators used for assembling vehicles and large machinery hummed with activity as they turned out various sundry items molecule by molecule based off of digital blueprints fed to them remotely. And then there were the isolation chambers.

The isolation chambers were sealed areas within the UCC to allow individuals with personal-sized universal constructors to practice with them safely or conduct intimate projects in peace. While the colonies of assembly nanites within a constructor device that small were neither sufficient nor even designed to create an out-of-control self-replicating mass of gray goo, maintaining the magnetic fields keeping the assembly process stable required a fair bit of concentration and focus. While not exceptionally dangerous, losing concentration and getting distracted tended to have comically explosive side-effects.

Ambling my way through the bustling activity of students and technicians working behind design terminals or arguing over priority in the Constructor queue, I arrive at Isolation Chamber 3 and hesitate for a minute. I inhale and force the sudden flutter of my chest to still. There was no reason for me to be nervous, I decided as I slowly headed into the observation room looking into the isolation chamber.

The observation room's soft memory-plastic bench groans softly as it conforms to my broad ursine rump spreading across it. I lean back and make myself comfortable as I peer through the synthetic diamond window to watch Bertha Driver work.

Bertha Driver sat in the middle of the bland interior of Isolation Chamber 3, the only feature in an otherwise featureless room. A nearly immobile mound of over-indulgent ursine blubber clad in a gray hover suit, the black bear stared intently at a small cylindrical object forming inside a bubble of electromagnetic energy condensed between her bulky constructor gauntlets. Her green eyes shielded from the most blinding aspects of the energy by her blue smart goggles, Bertha's gaze was unwavering as her short blond hair acquired a thin sheen of sweat. So intent was her concentration on her current project that she didn't look up from her creation until the holographic wireframe finished "growing" into a fully realized object several minutes later.

As she looked up and shut down her constructor field to wave at me, I nod with a smile and glance at the timer above the door to Isolation Chamber 3. She had been in there for thirty minutes... must have involved some fairly complicated circuitry as I've previously witnessed her assemble similar-sized objects in under five minutes.

Her work done, Bertha activated her hover suit and floated out of the reinforced double-wide bulkhead doors of the isolation chamber togreet me with a warm smile and her arms spread wide. "Hello Psion, back from the Angoth System already?" She asked as she reached to hug me

I grin back and returned her embrace, sinking into her warm, doughy body. "A civil war on the primary planet made research impossible so I left almost as soon as I arrived." There was a bit more to that particular misadventure then I was telling her but that didn't matter. I was home and I needed to catch up with my friends. "I heard there are two new coffee shops on the station, would you like to join me?"

"Sure." She nodded with a smile, sending my heart a flutter a bit.

We left the UCC soon afterwards, returning outside to the sprawling campus before deciding whether to go and boarding a tram bound for theAdministrative district.

Student services was perhaps a bit of a misnomer. The student services district was a self contained "town" of shops, restaurants, and other services that catered to students housed in the nearby dormitory arcologies that loomed overhead. The atmosphere was pleasant as Bertha and I waddled along and not because of the artificially controlled environment....

The new coffee shop was called "Academ", a large open air cafe with a relaxing atmosphere and automated machines preparing and serving hot coffees and teas from over a dozen different planets. Soft music played as students studied for their next examination or talked among themselves. Bertha and I found a table in a quiet corner of Academ. Bertha settled herself on a cushioned mattress while I sat on a padded bench.

As we sipped our drinks and talked, I looked around at our surroundings and briefly logged into the cafe's network. My smart goggles projected notices that were placed on the coffeehouse's wireless network. Most of it was junk, variously weekly specials and the like. But one did catch my eye, an electronic flier blasting their rival coffeehouse over in the other major residence district... where all the physical plant workers lived.

I skimmed the flier, noting key words and the general tone. I felt a frown cross my face as I began to read the article a second time, focusing on the document as a whole to make sure I was understanding it correctly.

"What's wrong?" Bertha asked from behind her coffee, noticing my scowl.

"Have you seen this flier?" I asked, linking her to the file with a wave of my hand.

The image passes over her azure smart goggles briefly before she's sharing my expression. "Oh, this. Yes, someone's been handing these out ever since they opened. Academ has one slamming the Daily Grind's customers, the Daily Grind has one slamming Academ's customers. No one knows who is doing it though."

"Are people believing this nonsense?" I ask, lowering my voice.

"Unfortunately yes, the Liberal Arts department. And there's rumors that some of the plant workers are starting to buy into the other side's." Bertha replied, looking around to see if anyone was listening to our conversation. Apparently no one was, not yet at any rate.

"Of course they would." I growl softly. The SCU Liberal Arts department was a case study in how absolutely out of touch with reality a group of individuals could get. Philosophy was one thing, but the department had been obsessed with preaching dead-end ideologies that left students less, not more, prepared to contribute to the Orion Commonwealth after they finished their studies with the university.

And yet they continued on despite repeated complaints and punishments. Even after the decision to strip them of stewardship over the Culinary Arts department, a move the culinary arts faculty themselves petitioned for, those social scientists still didn't get the hint. And now, all that philosophical rubbish has clearly rotten their brains if they couldn't see that they were getting manipulated. The only thing that wasn't obvious was who would go through the trouble of doing this and why they would bother. Two questions that weren't so easily answered.

I shook my head. This was why I worked as a field scientist, I enjoyed everything about my life except the university politics. Hopefully the administrative meeting ahead wouldn't delve too deeply into the station-side nonsense I fought to ignore.

Focusing back on the matter at hand, I spent my remaining time before my meeting chatting with Bertha about which eateries were still on the station, which ones had unfortunately closed, and which ones were moving in besides the two feuding coffee chains. As reluctant as I was to end the conversation, I said my goodbyes and left the cafe to attend my meeting. Ambling out of the coffeehouse and back towards the administration buildings, I went over what I was going to say and reviewed my reports on my goggles. By the time I sat down to speak with the field studies department, I had already planned what I was going to say.

The meeting went smoothly, I presented my findings on the three planets I had been sent to. The civil war in the Angoth System was noted and the area was marked for a follow-up survey once the fighting subsided. Then came the topic of my next survey...

While I am not particularly astute when it comes to reading body language, Administrator Zarfel was not very good at hiding her displeasure. Dismissing her holographic display, the canine administrator looked me squarely in the eyes. "The SolFederation has commissioned a survey. You and your ship have been requested."

I nod. "The humans are allied with the Orion Commonwealth."

"They have insisted on assigning one of their Nova Marines to your ship."

"If they're requesting our help to survey that anomalous wormhole that appeared over their system or the territories they won from the Bre, that might be wise."

"They call our Tech Guard forces the Laz-E-Boys, after a piece of furniture that was popular in their pre-stellar period."

"Which they largely stopped doing after they saw the firepower the Tech Guard has at its fingertips."

"Why are you so blase to those techno-barbarians?"

"They were introduced to the galactic community by being invaded four times."

"They made one of their enemies extinct and they also tried to pick a fight with us."

"While extinction of an entire species is not something you simply sweep away, it's worth remembering these were the parasitic Mind Worms of Rylith II. And that Otter corporation was warned against trying to build a resort on an uncharted planet before the Commonwealth could perform a proper survey. If they had been intelligent and not blindly raced off to claim a planet with almost as much ocean as their homeworld, it would have been three, not four, wars the humans fought in."

Zarfel looked at me and shook her head, this was an argument neither of us was going to gain any ground upon. While she had a point in that the humans were... excitable, to put it lightly, they also had a valid reason for the way they were and it wasn't like they contributed valuable services in exchange for our scientific and technological expertise. The Tech Guard was unfortunately insufficient for some of the dangers the Commonwealth faced and the humans had been at war with one group of invaders or another for nearly a century. And despite being a martial species, the humans I had met proved to be decent enough people. A little stodgy when it came to hugs but decent beings nonetheless.

"Did they say exactly what they needed help surveying?"

"Some arboreal jungle world. The coordinates have been sent to your ship's computer already."

"Sounds like an interesting world to explore... did they say who they're assigning to my ship?"

"Yes. Her name is Anna Grimm, call sign 'Goldilocks'. Specialist in ship boarding, hardlightmanipulation, and something called... CQC? Apparently she's already been sent and should arrive at the university later today. Her itinerary has already been sent to your pocket computer."

I nod. The conversation continued for a little while longer, mostly discussing the known information on the planet I was being sent to and reviewing a few details from my previous survey that the university needed clarification on. Soon the meeting was adjourned and I left the Field Studies department. Ambling along the warm,sunnystreets of the heart of the SCU, I checked the information I had been given about Anna Grimm. Corporal of the Nova Marines and actually due to be arriving at the university within the hour. It did not surprise me that Zarfel would have omitted that detail, mildly inconveniencing human visitors was something she would do; that blasted passive-aggressive Liberal Arts bigot...

Shaking my head and silently remarking that it didn't because I caught it in time, I reviewed the rest of the survey briefing a second time as I made my way to the university's main space port. Human colony that lost contact with the rest of the Sol Federation during their war with the Bre, very close to that anomalous wormhole that appeared recently over our arm of the galaxy. The humans wanted help resurveying the planet and figuring out the best way to set up basic infrastructure. Sounded easy enough, I already thought of a couple friends to bring along if they were interested. It also explained the presence of Corporal Grimm. Speaking of her though....

The university space port was a large, cavernous space set aside formoving large volumes of students, scientists, and visitors to and from the university. Holographic terminals announced arrival and departure times, robotic suitcases carried luggage and followed behind travelers, and passengers went through the process of embarking or disembarking. It was a busy place and one that made me glad I had my own ship and had to interact with the main port buildings relatively little.

While there were certainly more then a few humans on SCU, their Hospitaller organization maintained a small medical research laboratory on university grounds for a variety of projects, there was no mistaking Corporal Anna Grimm even without having seen her image attached to her service file. Human female, pale complexion, blond hair, blue eyes, average height for her species, and a dour, humorless expression. Compared to the happy and relaxed people around her, she stood out in the crowd even without her Nova Marine uniform.

An overstuffed duffle bag slung over her shoulder, she looked around before glancing down at the digital assistant on her wrist. I saw no reason to delay this any longer. "Corporal Grimm?" I greeted as I moved up behind her.

She turned to face me like her boots were frictionless. "Hello are you Psion, the captain of the Insatiable Curiosity?" She asked calmly.

"I am, welcome to Stellar Crescent University. How was your trip?"

"Boring, I arrived on a Hospitaller cruiser running a personnel exchange for the lab here." She replied, looking around at her surroundings. "So what's next captain?"

Captain... going to take a while to get used to that one. Probably as long as it will take her to relax and not act like she's on a military ship. "I was going to meet with some friends of mine, other specialists I would like to accompany me if their schedules allow. I would like you to meet them if that is possible. Where are you staying in the mean time?" I reply as I turn and lead us out of the space port.

She looked at me with a blank stare. "Well sure but... shouldn't we already be ready to go?"

"Unfortunately no, I just got back here myself early today and the assignment was given to me the moment I finished reporting my findings from my previous expedition. If there were any other arrangements made, there were not in the survey briefing." I began as my pocket computer buzzed with another message. Sticking my hand into my pocket, I displayed the message on my smart goggles. "Well, looks like I was mistaken. The other members of the expedition have been selected and notified by the Field Studies department and it looks like the other slots have been filled." I replied with a smile as I recognized all the names. All of them were individuals I had worked with before and gotten along with quite well.

Anna was still unconvinced. "This... the person running that department is a political appointee aren't they?" She asked as we boarded a tram taking us to the Foundry campus where the engineering sciences and vocational technologies were taught. "And I guess I could ask the Hospitallers if they have a cot somewhere if you can't billet me on your ship yet but..." She added, shaking her head.

I sighed, the only form of agreement I could trust myself to give at this time. "When we get to the Foundry, we'll see about getting your bag sent to my ship then we'll go meet two of the expedition members." I replied. She hadn't been here more then half an hour and already Corporal Grimms proved to be quite astute at assessing the... eccentricities of life in SCU. Fortunately, I was about to show her some of the beings that allowed the university to function in spite of itself...

The Foundry campus was still the same way I left it after my visit with Bertha this morning, a small city of squat, squarish buildings that gave the school a distinctly industrial appearance. Workshops and vocational classrooms hummed and whined with the sounds of construction and artifice. Yet it was not all utilitarian, many of the buildings were adorned with sturdy sculpture and reliefs, the product of students demonstrating and practicing their finer control over the fabrication technologies they were mastering. The most impressive creation was informally known as the "Clock Tower."

The Clock Tower was a monolith roughly eight feet tall of programmable matter designed to resemble solid stone. Every hour on the hour, it changed its shape and the arrangement of the chemical symbols etched into its surface. Right now it was displaying the chemical formula for the universal adaptive polymer used in multiple industrial fabrication processes across the known galaxy. If memory served, last hour was the formula for the alloy plating on a Sundiver class deep space explorer and next would be the formula for the suspension fluid in a medical regeneration tank.

Anna seemed genuinely impressed by her surroundings, spending a fair bit of time admiring some of the metal and stone work on display, as she followed me to a porter station that took her duffle bag back to my ship while we moved on to meet with my friends. Bertha had already sent me a message that she would meet me and Anna at Marxwell's for dinner tonight, that left the other engineering specialist and our robotics expert....

On the outer edge of the Foundry, the Tech Guard that protected the Orion Commonwealth maintained a proving ground for testing new robot designs and training drone operators. As the Commonwealth member species were not fighters by nature in a universe that did not tolerate weakness, the Tech Guard were viewed as a necessary evil by some and a sad fact of life by others. And then there was the big-bellied Atlas Bear approaching us now...

Karabo was a stout Commonwealth Atlas Bear with long black hair worn in intricate braids, brown eyes, and a remarkable talent for robotic engineering and drone operation. She waved as she spotted us heading towards the testing ground, ambling closer when she saw us heading her way.

"Psion! I couldn't reply fast enough when I got the message asking if I was available for a survey mission. Especially when I heard we were going to be working with Ms. Grimm." Karabo smiled as we met up.

"Have we me-MMPH!" Anna began before she was scooped up by the much taller and wider Karabo, trapped in a bear hug that squeezed her against the drone operator's breasts and belly.

"No we haven't but it's not going to stop me from enjoying working with you." The ursine roboticist replied. "Look at her, she's so cute!"

I tried to not grimace at the display. From one Orion to another, this would have been relatively normal. But the humans were notoriously touchy about being touched, especially by a stranger. To say nothing about being reminded how short they were compared to the bears and kangaroos of the Commonwealth. Karabo did not care, if the average Commonwealth citizen was a "hug factory" as the humans sometimes called us, she was a planet-spanning industrial complex that did not care if the recipient did not desire such affections. Which made her role in the Tech Guard all the more ironic but I had already seen that the universe worked in very strange ways at times.

To her credit, Anna did seem to relax ever so slightly in Karabo's embrace, becoming slightly less rigid. Still, I was not in the mood to tempt fate. "Karabo, please put her down before we discover if she remembered to engage the safeties on her hardlight projectors."

The drone operator gave me a mock pout but put Anna down. The Nova Marine looked flushed as she looked up at Karabo and promptly stepped back out of arm reach. Whether her complexion was from surprise, embarrassment, or arousal, I did not know nor particularly care so long as the situation did not escalate in a violent way.

"Pleasure to meet you miss..." Anna began as the frigidness returned with a quickness that had to have been practiced.

"Starseer, Karabo Starseer. Sergeant of the Commonwealth Tech Guard. I help teach drone operation when I'm not called to defend the Commonwealth." Karabo began, offering her hand to the human to shake.

Anna looked like she had a lot she could have said in response to that but decided that none of it was appropriate at the moment. "Charmed. Corporal Anna Grimm of the Federation Nova Marines." She replied coolly instead of saying what was on her mind, she also refused to shake Karabo's hand.

Undeterred, Karabo turned to face me. "Pleasure to run into you. Marxwell invited all of us to his laboratory for dinner later, I guess I'll see you both there?"

I smiled at the mention of Marxwell Coldstone, Gastronaut. "Wouldn't miss it. Marxwell's cooking is always a treat. See you then." I nod as she ambled off to whatever errands she needed to finish before dinner.

Anna waited silently, watching the retreating figure of the drone operator grow smaller and small before she spoke again. "Surprised you didn't greet me like that back at the space port."

I chuckled. "I remembered how fussy humans can be about intimate contact. I assume it has something to do with your long history with the Bre or something similar. Trust me, if we become more familiar with each other, I will be regularly giving you a Commonwealth greeting. As for Karabo... she knows, she just doesn't care."

"A real-life teddy bear. God help me."

"Two actually, but you'll meet Bertha at dinner. Before then we have one more person free I'd like you to meet before we all meet together at dinner."

Anna briefly made a face before following after me. "Who else is joining the expedition?"

"Someone that has as much reason to be annoyed with university politics as you or I do..."

Rufuse's corner of SCU was as unique as his role in the university's overall ecosystem. While Reclaimers were largely recognized as a valid profession in the Orion Commonwealth, the Liberal Arts College always found a way to make a stink about having them onboard the SCU, the "enlightened" college calling their trade "Coon Engineering," "Junk-Engineering," and other colorful nicknames befitting of pretentious twats content to act like children. And while the Liberal Arts college had no real sway outside of their own campus, they always found ways to harass Reclaimers, especially those that were raccoon morphs like Rufuse.

I personally had no real bias against the profession. Reclaimers were merely Constructors like Bertha except they would rather repair or refurbish items rather then break them down and build anew. And sometimes that was the simply more economical option. Not to mention that the idea that "under-educated" vocational artisans were not innovative was also ludicrously untrue. Before they were accepted by the Commonwealth at large, Reclaimers had to make their own tools instead of turn to a Constructor proficient in tool-making. Even now, they still make many of their own tools as they found it easier to design precisely what they need for a particular job themselves then communicate it to someone else. To say nothing of their role in helping us understand other civilizations by quietly rummaging through their castoffs....

Rufuse was right where he said he was going to meet us, sitting on a sturdy alloy park bench in a small secluded park between a material storage building and one of the campus offices, munching on a large glazed pastry as he watched the world go by waiting for us. I was not surprised to meet him like this, Reclaimers maintained residences on the university and that was it. And with a Liberal Arts professor in the Field Studies department, Rufuse found himself constantly bumped to the front of the line for any assignments that took him off of the SCU whether he wanted them or not.

Dressed in the elastic gray utility jumpsuit of the engineering professions, he brushed his gray and black fur down and quickly finished his pastry before rising up to meet us. Seated and partially obscured by a low hedge, Rufuse's full enormousness was concealed from Anna until he stood up. Looking back over my shoulder at her, I saw her eyes briefly go wide before she quickly regained control of herself. I smiled, I've worked with Rufuse multiple times and the reaction of people meeting him for the first time never ceased to amuse me.

In short, Rufuse was quite round with the vast majority of his weight concentrated below his waist in a "bell-bottomed figure", a combination of a generous diet rich in starches and a fondness for cosmetic bio-modifications that were popular among some groups of Orions.

Rufuse flashed a gentle smile as he ambled over to greet us. "Psion! Glad I could run into you before we met at Marxwell's tonight." He exclaimed as he grabbed me in a quick hug before turning to Anna. "And is this Anna Grimm?" He asked, blushing as he made eye contact with the human Nova Marine.

Anna nodded silently and there was a pause as both of them looked like they were silently trying to figure out what to do next before Rufuse stuck out his hand and Anna promptly shookit, the alien warrior woman returning the Reclaimer's smile with one of her own. This was already going much better then the meeting with Karabo. Awkward formalities out of the way, the three of us soon got to talking and laughing for a few hours. Time seemed to just fly by and soon it was time to get going and head over to Marxwell's lab. I lead Anna onto the first tram bound for the Culinary Arts campus.

Grimm seemed more relaxed after meeting Rufuse, looking up at me as she sat down next to me on the tram. "I think I heard of Marxwell Coldstone, he's the traveling kangaroo food scientist right?"

"Yes, he is a Gastronaut. And a very talented one at that, I think his work has started to circulate in the Sol Federation. If there are any improvements to nutrition or food supplies we can make on that planet, he will find them."

Her face became a bit flush. "Oh... I have heard of him then. I also worked with his species before... a group of kangaroo medics were assigned to my ship when we hit a couple Bre slavers raiding the frontier. Nice people, used to think we couldn't find anyone quite as good at healing as our Hospitallers...." She began, her voice trailing off as she suddenly found something interesting about the tram car floor.

I declined to inquire further about that as I still only just met her today. Besides, we had arrived at our stop. Marxwell's laboratory was just ahead on the outskirts of the Culinary Arts campus. I was grateful Coldstone lived so close to the transit network, the less I had to look at the soulless campus architecture, the happier I was. And looking around, I see the Culinary Arts still hadn't been able to liven their school up since they broke away from the Liberal Arts college and their rectangular "modernist" style. No matter, I wouldn't be looking at the exterior for very long anyway...

I smiled as the smells wafting out of Marxwell Coldstone's laboratory kitchen tickled my ursine nose. The kangaroo Gastronaut was at it again, cooking up something wonderful with ingredients he gathered from whatever planet he visited recently. The others had already arrived ahead of us, the rest of the group greeting us in Marxwell's dining room.

Anna was quiet and gave me the impression she was doing her best to be invisible without actually turning invisible. That lasted until Bertha caught sight of her and powered up her hover suit until she floated a few inches off the floor. "Hi, I'm Bertha Driver. You must be Anna Grimm."

The blond Nova Marine blinked as she looked back at Bertha. "How... wow." She stammered, clearly trying very hard to not stare at the Constructor's immense size.

Bertha merely smiled and took advantage of the opportunity to scoop up Anna in a very squishy hug. "Too slow!" She chirped cheerfully as she held the shorter female against her, making her sink deeper into the Constructor's soft, doughy abdomen like the larger female was a particularly well-cushioned plushie.

To her credit, Anna seemed to have accepted her fate and didn't flail against the well-stuffed ursine holding her tight. Just as well as Marxwell announced that dinner was ready and began setting the table. The heavenly smells from the kitchen moved over to the dining room as we all sat down and began to sample the culinary treasures of several planets. Food and friends, the best way to start any endeavor....