The best idea, the most selfish one, was actually to hold off on overeating on all the bad things. She’d have a lot more joy for far longer if she spread out what she ate.
So, instead, she kept the food she’d taken and started taking bites out of everything. Of whatever she ate, it was the best she’d ever had.
There was no such thing as a bad berry here, or a tough, fatty piece of meat unless it was meant to be that way. Each flavor was beyond anything she’d ever had.
After a while, she noticed he was also grazing along the table, eating pieces of this and that.
“Does this have the same nutritional value for you as well?” she asked him.
“It does,” he said.
“My body requires the same fuel as your own.”
“In studying our planet, have you learned of our issues with starving countries?”
“Yes. It is heartbreaking to witness.”
“With these replication machines, does your planet suffer any kind of starvation?”
“No. They are wildly popular. The machines all function the same, much like your toasters. The only great variety are the number of dials and how much food you can produce at once. The function is fairly universal across the board.”
Gloria looked out at the spread of food on the table.
“It’s funny you should say that, because toast is the one thing missing.”
“Did I not?” he asked suddenly and scanned the top of the table.
“I shall rectify. Please wait here.”
Gloria laughed and reached out to grab his shirt.
“I was kidding, it’s fine. I don’t need any toast.”
“But you are correct. It is missing.”
“It is, but you don’t always have to have every option available. Sometimes it’s nice to just make the best of what you have. Sometimes having too many options can be daunting.”
“You are not displeased with me?”
“No, I am not displeased. I had simply been making an observation. Please, continue eating. I’m enjoying our conversation.”
He nodded, but the way he did it, she suspected he would’ve smiled if he were the type to do such a thing.
“Do your people ever laugh?”
“I’ve seen you humans do such a thing. No, we do not express our joy in such a way.”
“Never? Do you have jokes?”
“We do, but far different from what you would consider humorous.”
“Aw, I want to hear one.”
Rock shook his head. “You will not find it funny.”
“Maybe not, but I’m trying to get to know you. It might be helpful to understand the sorts of things you find funny.”
“Your logic is sound. Very well.”
Gloria grinned and clapped her hands excitedly. When he started talking, she put another piece of melon in her mouth and savored it sweetness of it.
“To put it into a formula you can understand, what do you get when a nuvarian corpuscle dissects at an inverted pace?”
Gloria swallowed the melon, bit her upper lip, and slowly shook her head.
“I have no idea.”
“Quantum dimensional teleportation.”
“You’re right,” Gloria said slowly, “I don’t get it at all.”
Rock shrugged a shoulder and moved a piece of meat around his plate with his finger.
“To explain it, I would need to educate you on a rudimentary understanding of the seventh dimensional physical shift.”
“Naturally,” she said as casually as she could manage.
Chapter 5
From there, the conversation turned less scientific and more about who Rock was as a person and his purpose here on Earth. To him, Earthlings were very emotional creatures.
Though he understood emotion, the people of Earth come across as very dramatic or, as he called it, “soft.” To his people, the fluctuation of mood due to emotions felt very unstable and unpredictable.
Gloria did her best to explain that that was the whole point, that life was an adventure, but he could not understand. He knew that this was how humans felt, but could not himself feel the same way.
For Gloria, this explained why he was so dead set on the concept of their destined lives together. For him, there was no question. They were soulmates. Period. Still, that didn’t give her a lot of confidence in the match-up.
The days stretched on. Rock learned her tastes in food, and Gloria discovered that he actually had preferences as well. No matter how he tried to preach that any of the food was acceptable, she noticed he picked at certain foods more often than others, and some he avoided outright.
When she pointed this out, he denied any meaning of it. It was as though he wanted to stay separate from her, even as he was slowly becoming more like her.
Despite their differences, conversation came easy. She didn’t have to struggle to find subjects for them to discuss. Anything was a topic, and they could talk about it at length and at ease. When the time came to switch subjects, they did so effortlessly.