When the meal was over, the three of them sat holding their stomachs, tipped their heads back and let out one long belch each. Isabella said with feeling:
"I never imagined grass worms could taste that good. Our whole planet is overrun with thorny weeds, so does that mean we get to eat them every day?"
Liam said at once: "They taste good, but don’t eat too many. Three meals a week is plenty. Bring the worms back, prepare them and freeze them, then take them out when you want to cook. They won’t be as good as fresh, but they’ll certainly beat nutrient fluid."
Benjamin nodded in agreement: "That’s true. After two meals of Liam’s cooking, I’ve completely lost any desire to drink nutrient fluid."
Isabella snorted: "You’ll drink it whether you want to or not. Where would we get fresh food for you every single day? Oh, the high-grade nutrient fluid and some household supplies I ordered last night have been delivered. When it cools off this afternoon, go over to the clearing on the west side and bring them back for me."
Their planet had no proper landing pad, so cargo ships delivering goods usually dropped them in the clearing on the west side, then sent word to whoever had placed the order and left it at that. Everything came in specialized containers, so there was no danger of rain seeping in or sun spoiling it.
Benjamin nodded. He got up of his own accord to take the bowls and chopsticks away to wash, and reminded Liam:
"Midday and afternoon here are very hot. Even we don’t go out before four o’clock. Stay inside and don’t wander off anywhere."
Liam nodded obediently, then said: "Eldest brother, I want to have my identity card and household registration redone. I left my old card behind at the Hall house."
Isabella and Benjamin both went still, and a bitter ache rose in both their chests. What on earth had this child been through in the Hall house, that he hadn’t even wanted to bring his identity card away with him? They moved to either side of him and gathered him into their arms.
Liam had not expected one sentence to bring on this much pity from his brother and sister. If he told them everything the original owner had endured over the past year, wouldn’t the two of them ache themselves to death?
He sighed and hugged them back: "I’m fine, I’m really fine. Honestly! It’s all in the past. All I want now is to live well."
Isabella sniffled: "Mm. Don’t you worry. The two of us will work as hard as we have to and give you a life with nothing to worry about."
The three of them held on to each other and comforted one another for a while, after which Liam was shooed off to his room for a nap.
Liam had never been in the habit of napping. He lay tossing on the bed without getting anywhere near sleep, so he opened the Interstellar Connection network to look at the news instead. The moment he logged in, a flood of notifications came through, so many that his eyes swam. He said:
"Sunflower, filter my messages for me. Cut out anything that’s just an unimportant greeting."
[Understood, master.] A sweet, girlish voice came from the smart watch, and a palm-sized holographic sprite girl appeared at once. She waved her arms and legs about for a moment, and the entire pile of notifications was swept clean. Sunflower began reading out each item she had processed for her master:
[Master, most of the messages are comments under the two posts you put up on your personal page. Would you like me to select a few representative comments and read them to you?]
Liam shook his head: "Mm, read a couple out."
[Yes.] Sunflower took hold of a holographic screen and read slowly: [The comment drawing the most attention is from a user with the ID 03856417, asking your opinion on using the picture you drew as the background image for his channel. He introduces himself as a blogger specializing in food reviews.]
Liam yawned lazily: "Answer for me. The picture is shared publicly, he can use it, as long as he credits the source."
[Answered.] Sunflower read on. [The second comment belongs to the top gifter on your channel. He says he is willing to pay a high price to buy the dishes you cooked.]
Liam tilted his head: "Hm? Didn’t I already share the recipes with everyone? Why is he still trying to buy food I’ve made?"
[Further down he replied to another user’s comment, saying that his family runs a high-end restaurant. Their chef robot has already followed the method you laid out, but the flavor was nothing like what came through in the broadcasting room last night. He wants to know whether they programmed the robot incorrectly, or whether the livestream system’s scent simulation function was exaggerating the flavor of the food.]
Liam blinked. Leave the cooking to a robot, and where exactly was the flavor of human hands supposed to come from? Even with the same recipe, a person is far more flexible about the seasoning, and pours a great deal of feeling into the dish besides. Nine out of ten people will produce a different flavor.
A robot had none of that.
"Answer him. Tell him to hire a human chef to cook it and he’ll see where the difference lies... Hold on!" Liam sat bolt upright, one corner of his mouth curling into a sly smile. He said to Sunflower:
"Send him a private message. Along with what I just said, send him this: I’ll send him the food I make for free, as long as he dares to eat it."
Sunflower worked for a moment, then reported: [Master, he has sent his contact details and a delivery address.]
Liam raised an eyebrow and let out a small laugh. He had just been worrying that grass worms wouldn’t keep, and here was the answer already. As long as this man dared to eat them and dared to sell them, Liam would hand over every grass worm on planet Cygnus for nothing.
That afternoon, the moment the heat outside began to ease, Liam hurried out to sit with his brother and sister and peel grass worms. Isabella and Benjamin had more or less taken the measure of Liam’s stubbornness by now, and no longer bothered trying to talk him out of it.
The sun set very late in this place; at seven in the evening it was still as bright as midday. With the weeds in the fields all pulled up, Isabella took the weeding machine straight out to sweep the surrounding areas, to stop them encroaching inward.
By nine o’clock it was beginning to get dark. The lighting system switched itself on at once. The sprinklers came on too, watering close to five hectares of field. The rising moisture also made the surrounding air a great deal cooler.
The three of them drank high-grade nutrient fluid and worked through until eleven before stopping.
The grass worms needed boiling, and Benjamin took that job on at once. Liam was feeling rather tired as well. He held out a while longer and then couldn’t manage any more, so once he was certain Benjamin and Isabella could handle the boiling on their own, he said goodnight and went back to his room. Washed and ready for bed, Liam lay down heavily and fell asleep.
The next morning Liam woke rather late. By the time he came downstairs, Benjamin and Isabella were already out in the fields. There was no nutrient fluid on the table, but there were two boiled eggs and a plate of boiled Sawtooth greens. Liam checked the fridge, found the egg count exactly as it should be, and knew his brother and sister had gone without for him again.
It struck Liam then that although this place was ill-suited to growing crops, it was very well suited to raising animals. If the barren stretch on the west side were converted into pasture, there would be eggs and meat every day, and nobody would have to go without for his sake.
No sooner thought than done. Liam opened his smart watch and searched for information on animal husbandry. And then he choked.
The animal husbandry systems here were highly advanced, but the industry itself was classified as grade-A hazardous work. What people raised here were not water buffalo, cattle, pigs and chickens, but star-beasts, star-birds, star-fowl and the like.
These creatures were extraordinarily ferocious, and one moment of carelessness would see a keeper sitting in a beast’s stomach. So the industry was regulated with enormous strictness, and to open a farm a household had to have at least five A-grade Alphas.
A-grade Alphas, and five of them at that. Where was he supposed to find those?