Page 6 of Oret
“I believe you are enjoying this far too much.”
“If you mean that I love taking care of you, that's true.But I would never want you to become as run down as you allowed yourself to be.”
“Let's get started on the requirements you have so that I can get outside,” Victoria demanded.
Oret had to smile, and she did not respond well.“You can take your medication 1st and then we will go to the cafeteria to get a good meal and something to drink.”
Victoria made a terrible face as she drank down some of her nutritional shake and then popped a handful of pills.With that done, they headed outside, got on their bikes, and rode up to the cafeteria.The aroma of good food hit them as soon as they entered the large cavern leading to the cafeteria.Brenda rushed forward to meet them.
“I'm so glad to see that you are feeling better.What would you like to eat?”
“What’s good today?”Oret asked.
“We have rib eyes today with the usual fixings.There is a salad, grilled vegetables, stuffed vegetables, such as baked potatoes.I’d like to know what you two think of it.”
Oret nodded, and Brenda brought them two already fixed plates.They sat at the table in the kitchen to enjoy their feast.“You had this planned,” Victoria accused.
“Of course I did.If we don't eat quickly, we will not have any time to gather today.Did you not want to gather?”
She said nothing else, and it was clear that she realized her words would not sound convincing.All he was trying to do was take care of her, and he didn't understand why that was so difficult for her.He'd always assumed that her husband had taken care of her when she needed him, so why was it so hard for her to allow others to do anything for her?Victoria always seemed to be the one taking care of everyone else.Maybe after 10 years, she couldn't remember what it was like to have someone take care of her?She had better get used to it because he wasn't going to give up, and he wasn't going to stop.He didn't like what she had done with working herself into the ground, but it looked like it was going to work out for him.
The meal was exceptional, and many of the local fruits and vegetables used as replacements were working out well.He wasn't sure what the rib eyes were from, and as a warrior, he loved meat like this, but even Victoria seemed to enjoy it.As they were finishing up, Brenda brought them dessert, which was a sweet fruit cake.He'd guess it was local fruit, and that was wonderful that they were making things work that way.Whenever he took over the moon, they'd have to start some farming because there weren't as many plants and animals there as there were here.
It was best if he didn't think about that now because he didn't want her to know about it.That would sabotage his attempts completely.They finished their food, and it was time to go gathering.He thought she enjoyed it when they went gathering, and they always found something good to eat.Sometimes they found several things that were good.This time, they went near some of the mountains in the hopes of finding some valuable ore.It worked out because they found gold.The value wasn’t what it used to be, but it still had value for certain uses.Gold was used on spaceships as a lubricant and as a conductor on other tech.
Often, other ores, such as copper and silver, were found in close proximity to gold.The chief would be pleased.They weren't going to take the time to dig for anything, so they went ahead and moved on after they had gotten a bag worth of gold.The mountain was large, so they continued around it, finding some flowers and bushes that they sampled.This was the way the planet would be explored, a little at a time.Watching for predators or other useful animals was also part of the process when gathering.They've only seen small animals, such as lizards, snakes, and small birds, so far.
“That looks like a peacock, only the colors are a bit different, and it is much larger,” Victoria explained.
“Are they any good to eat?”
“They usually don’t have much meat on their bones.But they aren’t peacocks, and they might be better.”
“We might hunt some since otherwise their population might go crazy,” Oret observed.
“That’s the first one I’ve seen.I believe that kids will be killing plenty of them.”
“You might be right.Those feathers are catchy.They would pull in young hunters.”
“Let’s move further around the mountain and see what else we can find,” Victoria suggested.
They continued around, finding some small items like pretty rocks and a different berry bush than they’d seen before.Every new discovery was exciting, and they would find more now while everything was still new.As they spread over the planet, there will be fewer new discoveries.That was the exciting part of exploring new worlds and creating colonies.They never knew what they might find, but they always found something.When they finished their gathering, they headed to the medical center to have some items checked out and see if they had any medical purposes and if they were edible.Oret recognized the gold, and he had no doubt that it was what it was, so he didn't need to have that checked.The chief would check it out, and he was sure that he would make an offer.
That was money that Victoria could use in whatever way she preferred.He didn't really need much, and he wouldn't need much until they were on the moon and had their new quarters.That was when he planned to do everything he could to make it the way that she wanted it.
