hotmtlnovel Chapter 4210 A Guide to Wandering the Galaxy (7)
Chapter 4210 A Guide to Wandering the Galaxy (7)
Chapter 4210 A Guide to Wandering the Galaxy (Part Seventeen)
Fortunately, the alien engineers were somewhat self-aware and didn't venture too far, only wandering around the Southern Cross constellation. Since Centaurus was very close by, and Pikachu's tavern was located near the Morning Star and quite conspicuous, some people inevitably flew their spaceships there.
On a desolate planet, a tavern rising abruptly from the ground is quite eye-catching. The building doesn't look like some kind of den of thieves, so many aliens choose to send their spaceships over to investigate.
Schiller was wiping glasses behind the bar when he heard the buzzing sound of a spaceship landing. He looked up towards the door and saw a tall, purple-skinned alien walk in. The two men looked at each other, both stunned.
Schiller was wondering how there could be aliens here. He knew construction had started at Cross Two, but he didn't expect people to have wandered over here so quickly. The alien, on the other hand, seemed completely terrified—why didn't he think this place was a den of thieves?
"Hello, would you like something to drink?" Schiller asked, out of professional ethics.
"Uh, hello, are you human? Don't misunderstand, it's just that the race scan results from my personal terminal show that you are..."
"I am human, and also the bartender at this bar. Would you like something to drink?"
"Uh, is this a bar? A place to drink?"
"Yes. You can drink here, and if you get drunk, there are guest rooms upstairs where you can sleep. The menu is on the table, and I can show you around if you need it."
The tall alien sat down cautiously, glanced at the menu, seemingly unable to understand the colorful drinks on it, but dared not ask any questions, so he just pointed to one at random.
“Okay.” Schiller went over to get the beer mug. The other person had ordered a stout, so Schiller went to the tap, filled the mug to the brim, placed it on the table, and said, “You ordered stout. Would you like something to eat?”
The alien was indeed a bit hungry, but he said with some difficulty, "I'm not sure if I can eat what you humans eat."
"Can you eat meat? What about vegetables and fruits?"
"Uh, give me one of each," the alien said. "How much is it in total?"
"Together...22 universal coins. Just connect your personal terminal to the machine over there to make the payment."
The alien paid, and soon smelled a rich aroma coming from the kitchen. A short while later, a steak, roasted vegetables, and a fruit platter were served.
He first sniffed the thing with his nose, which was shorter than a human's, as if to confirm that he could eat it. Then, he carefully picked up the fork, which was much smaller than his hand, and put a piece of steak into his mouth. With one chew, his mouth burst with juice.
In fact, in the common language of interstellar travel, the aliens do not call Earth Earth, but rather "Water Planet," which means something more like "that planet full of water."
This name itself reveals that extraterrestrials were quite surprised by Earth's state of being entirely composed of liquid water, as such planets are rare in the universe.
Many planets are arid, at least on their surfaces, with liquid water existing underground. Some planets have no liquid water at all, consisting only of ancient, unyielding ice layers. Many planets that appear to have liquids don't actually have water, such as the liquid metallic hydrogen on Jupiter. Many giant planets only have this kind of "ocean."
Planets like Earth, where the majority of the surface is water and land only makes up a small portion, are actually rare. Because Earth has such abundant water, many things here have a high water content, such as animals and plants. Juicy steaks that burst with flavor when you bite into them, refreshing and moist vegetables, and fruits that are mostly water by weight—these are things that cannot grow on many barren and arid planets. Civilizations originating from such planets rarely have access to foods with extremely high water content. This is different from simply drinking water; the juices in any food provide a unique aroma.
For example, the gravy in a pork chop is largely the result of fat accumulation, and the aroma of fat goes without saying.
The alien took a deep breath, savoring the rich, savory aroma filling his mouth. His civilization was actually quite comfortable, and he'd eaten his fair share of meat and fish, but this steak was still incredibly tempting. Their race's bodies had undergone genetic modification, giving them far more developed taste buds than humans, allowing them to appreciate every nuance of flavor.
One bite wasn't enough, so he took another, and then finished the whole steak in a few bites. Next, he ate the grilled vegetables. Although they were a little dry, they had a slightly charred, crispy crust on the outside, while still bursting with juice inside. This alien seemed a bit sensitive to heat; he burned himself while eating a potato and cried out in pain.
He quickly gulped down a large mouthful of beer, then tasted a piece of fruit. It was a slice of watermelon, a fruit practically made of water, incredibly sweet and juicy, and chilled. The moment it entered his mouth, the aroma traveled straight to his brain through his olfactory system. He then took another sip of beer. The alien looked at the three dishes in front of him and ultimately decided that the fruit tasted the best.
He finished the fruit platter in one go, paid the bill, and then said somewhat cautiously, "Can I buy another one of these?"
Schiller didn't know why he was being so cautious, so he nodded and said, "Sure. Do you want it packed to go? It'll cost 10 cents. But be careful, this stuff is very fragile and can't be kept overnight, otherwise it'll go stale..."
The alien nodded vigorously. Schiller then packed him another box of fruit platters. As they walked out, the alien was clearly pleased, though it didn't seem to be entirely due to his enjoyment of the food.
Schiller did do some online research when pricing all the products, and actually, his prices were already quite high. For civilizations that can participate in interstellar society, basically all races have no survival pressure, and the necessities for sustaining life are kept at very low prices. As long as one doesn't mind the taste and is willing to drink nutrient solutions, then there is no one who cannot survive.
Most of the food that requires cooking isn't expensive. In fact, carbon-based life forms only need a few nutrients. Rice, flour, cooking oil, and the like are produced on special planets. Although the quality varies, even the best ones don't cost much.
Fruit is indeed more expensive, so the fruit platter was the most pricey of the three dishes. However, the value of interstellar currency is already quite high; a full-feeling set meal at a typical restaurant costs only a little over one dollar. A fruit platter costing over ten dollars is already exorbitant, especially considering the small portion—just three or four slices of watermelon, a few pieces of cantaloupe, and some pineapple and bananas. Even on Earth, in any country, a fruit platter costing over ten dollars is quite outrageous.
However, the customer's reaction today was a bit strange, so Schiller went online to do some more research. He then discovered that in many civilizations with distinct class divisions, money alone cannot buy fruit.
For example, the Shia Empire was an aristocratic society. Although all citizens could eat fruit, they were only allowed to consume three types, while the other dozen or so were reserved for the nobility. This was similar to the medieval system, where all wild animals were the property of the nobility, and poaching was a capital offense.
In this kind of civilization, the fruits eaten by the lower classes are those that don't taste very good but are produced in large quantities, such as the Portobello fruit from the Shia Empire. Schiller had never eaten it, but judging from the picture, it looked a bit like an underdeveloped primitive watermelon, and it didn't look very appetizing.
However, nobles could eat honeydew melons, a fruit that, when cut open, oozes a nectar-like substance and looks delicious. There were also purple bulbous fruits, somewhat resembling dragon fruit on Earth, which were also juicy and high in sugar.
There were even some fruits reserved for royalty, such as a fruit that grew in the center of a strange, large flower and looked somewhat like a lychee, and a green fruit similar to a watermelon on Earth. These were things that even nobles might not be able to afford, let alone commoners; if one were to obtain even one, it would be enough to throw a banquet.
Schiller now understood why the alien was so happy. Extraterrestrial fruits were scarce, and with class monopolies, even if commoners could afford them, they were mostly not rare or particularly delicious varieties.
Now Schiller understood why, despite their advanced civilization, they didn't build large-scale greenhouses to produce more fruit. Simply put, fruit wasn't just food; it was a status symbol. If everyone could afford it, wouldn't the nobles lose face?
If there's anything that makes electronic life better than emotional life, it's probably the absence of class distinctions. Almost all civilizations with emotional life are clearly divided into classes, and class distinctions hinder the progress of productivity. Even if a civilization has developed to the point of interstellar travel, it can still secretly enjoy eating fruit.
Schiller sighed, hoping that Pamela would get to work soon and quickly establish an orchard, ideally exporting fruit to interstellar space.
Just as I was thinking this, Pamela walked in, sat down at the bar, sighed, and said, "The soil we got from Earth isn't good enough. Under the radiation of this star, the seeds can hardly germinate."
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm going back to Gotham to get some dirt."
"what?"
"Besides, our Gotham won't do; the pollution there has been mostly cleaned up. To be precise, I need to steal some soil from the main universe; their energy is stronger, so it should be able to withstand the radiation."
Schiller gave her a big question mark with his expression. Pamela waved her hand and said, "You know how Gotham's soil is. It's all-encompassing. Whether it's acid rain, heavy metal pollution, chemical pollution, nuclear radiation, or any other kind of radiation, it seems to have polluted it, but these pollutants have reached a strange balance, allowing it to still retain the basic properties of soil."
"Are you sure?"
“Really, I’ve tried it,” Pamela said. “And the main universe’s power isn’t even the strongest. If it doesn’t work after I get it, I’ll have to look in the dark universe. Batwoman’s universe should be able to get the ancient silt from under Atlantis, that might be even better.”
"What I mean is, are you sure the fruit grown in this soil is safe to eat? I'm not trying to poison all the aliens!"
“Don’t worry, you’ll develop antibodies if you eat too much.” Pamela didn’t take it seriously at all. She said, “But the Gothamites eat it every day and they’re fine, aren’t they?”
Schiller was speechless. You can't treat aliens like Gothamites!