Zhao Wan'er took up a damp towel laid ready beside the table, wiped her hands, and lifted her bowl, about to dig in — only to find Su Lan, Xue Xiaoxiao, and the others still standing there, dumbfounded.
"Senior Su Lan, Xiaoxiao — what are you all standing around for? Sit, eat with me. Instructor Qin, Miss Chu Xuan, you too — wipe your hands with a towel first. My brother said that once we've eaten, we can head to the dormitory block next door to wash up and rest." Zhao Wan'er waved them to the table.
Xue Xiaoxiao plopped down at once, eyes sweeping the whole spread with predatory intent, and reached out—
"Hands first." Su Lan rapped her on the head.
Xue Xiaoxiao stuck out her tongue and obediently wiped her hands.
"Thank you, Wan'er." Su Lan dried hers and sat to enjoy the food. Beside Xue Xiaoxiao — who ate like a tiger loosed in the hills — Su Lan was a great deal more elegant.
"I… sitting down here… hardly seems right." Instructor Qin hesitated, glancing over the laden table, unable to keep from swallowing — then glancing at the eager eyes of the other students around her. As their teacher, she truly couldn't bring herself to sit.
"Instructor Qin, you've spent these past days protecting us. Consider this meal my treat. My brother said as much too — we should thank you properly," Zhao Wan'er said.
"No, no, no! It's we who should be thanking your brother. If he hadn't risked himself to save us, by now we might all have ended up in the bugs' bellies." Instructor Qin waved her hands.
After Zhao Wan'er pressed her a third time, Instructor Qin could only sit — though she plainly reached for the food far more slowly than the rest.
Chu Xuan thanked her and sat too. Unlike the others, she wasn't especially hungry; food like this she ate often enough in her own family. What she hadn't expected was that this ship's ordinary crew ate at the same level.
"That meat smells amazing."
"Never mind meat — right now, hand me a bone and I'd crunch it to bits."
"Stop, stop — I think I'm about to faint from hunger."
The rest of the two academies' people in the hangar were, every one of them, ravenous. Bearing it while everyone bore it together had been fine. But others feasting right in front of them was simply torture; hunger rolled through their minds in waves.
Seeing it, Instructor Qin sat restless in her seat. She looked at Zhao Wan'er, opened her mouth — but the words wouldn't quite come.
Just then a squad of crewwomen came in through the hangar door, one of them in a cook's uniform.
"Everyone — our Lord Commander, mindful that you've all gone hungry these past days, has arranged to provide meals and a food-ordering service here."
At the cook's words, the two academies' people cheered on the spot, each already dreaming of the feast to come. They didn't ask for a spread like Zhao Wan'er's table — three dishes and a soup would be plenty.
But the next second, a holographic screen appeared before them, laid out with all kinds of dishes — every one clearly price-tagged.
One portion of bread: 5 star coins
One portion of rice: 10 star coins
One portion of fried rice: 30 star coins
"This is… what's the meaning of this?" a student asked.
The cook smiled. "We offer meals for a price, clearly marked. If you'd like anything, order here and we'll prepare it. We accept payment by Imperial Bank account." Beside her, a crewwoman produced a card reader — anywhere within the Galactic Alliance with a signal, it could draw funds straight from the payer's account.
"What — we have to pay?" a student exclaimed.
"Do you not pay for your meals elsewhere?" the cook returned.
That left the disgruntled students with nothing to say. Paying for food was, after all, the way of the world — and the prices on the menu were, by and large, ordinary market rates.
Watching, Instructor Qin felt considerably more at ease. Paying to eat struck her as nothing improper; and which of these teachers and students wasn't well-off? Even the professors — who might not get natural-ingredient food at every meal — still splurged on meat now and then over a month. This was no great burden for them.
"Forget it, I'm starving — I'm ordering!" A Northstar girl was the first to break, going up and ordering three or four dishes. Many as they were, most weren't pricey; the whole order came to just 50 star coins.
"Then I'll order too… I haven't much pocket money left, so a portion of rice will do."
"Um… do you have any synthetic nutrient rations here?"
"Just bread for me…"
Someone asked whether there were nutrient rations, and was told the ship carried none — which set everyone marveling anew at its "extravagance": it stocked no rations at all, and every crew member ate at this level. What was that Commander thinking?
"Wait — why isn't my price right? Mine shows over a thousand star coins to pay! I ordered the same food she did, and I'm charged 10 times as much!" a boy protested loudly, seeing his total.
The cook regarded him with narrowed eyes. "Because a moment ago, you stood here badmouthing our Commander. So if you want to order, your price is tenfold. Count yourself lucky you're a Northstar student — otherwise…" She let the sentence break off with a cold snort.
"What kind of rule is that? Just because I grumbled a few words… it's 10 times the price? I won't stand for it!" the boy shouted.
The next instant, the laser guns in the escorting crewwomen's hands shifted, just slightly. One who looked to be their squad leader said coldly, "The Commander's exact words: My food — I price it however I damn well please. Eat it or don't. Anyone who dares run their mouth and make trouble gets thrown straight off the ship."
At that, the boy clapped a hand over his mouth. He remembered the "treatment" that Heaven's Glory student had gotten earlier, and didn't doubt for a moment the man would truly do it.
"Well? Are you ordering or not?" The cook watched him with a faint smile.
The boy looked at the "sky-high" thousand-coin figure — nearly the cost of a routine servicing for his own ship. But his rioting stomach finally hardened his resolve; he stripped the order down to a single bowl of rice and one small side, and paid. Even so, it cost him nearly 300 star coins.
"I didn't badmouth your Commander — why is my order priced at triple?" asked a student in a Heaven's Glory uniform.
The cook explained with a smile, "Because the base rate is our Northstar 'cadet price.' For students not of our academy, the order price is triple."
Su Lan, mid-meal, nearly choked.
"Wan'er, your brother's a wasted talent — he really ought to have gone into business as a swindler." Su Lan didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the whole scene.
Only now did Zhao Wan'er catch on too: her brother had let her bring food back to eat precisely in order to bait this lot. So she'd been used by her own big brother.