Adams opened the cabinet and pulled out a handful of clear plastic tubes which contained a thick beige fluid. "What is this?" She peered into the cabinet, in case she'd missed something, then opened the other cabinet. Same clear plastic tubes.

"That's their food. The best translation of their term is sustenance sludge."

"Sludge?" I asked, appalled.

"Hmmm, that word may have a negative connotation." Skippy mused. "How about gunk, or muck, or goo, or slime? Darn, those words also have negative connotations."

"Ya think?"

"Think of it as a smoothie?" Skippy tried.

"You're not helping." I took one of the tubes and examined it. "This is all they eat?"

"Yes, it contains everything a Thuranin needs."

"What does it taste like?" I asked, grasping the cap on the top to open it.

"Well, don't eat it, dumdum, it's designed for Thuranin biology, it doesn't have the proper mix of amino acids and vitamins for humans. I have the synthesizers working now to make sludge, I mean smoothies, for humans."

"Wonderful. And what will that taste like?"

Silence for a moment, then, "Like I have taste buds, Joe."

"Oh, sorry about that."

"However, I have built what I consider a fairly accurate model of human senses, including taste-"

"Of course you have."

"-and it will taste like, the best way to describe it, I think, is a combination of oatmeal, carrots and bologna."

"Shit." Adams made a sour face. "This is going to be a long voyage."

"Skippy, this is unsat. You told me we could eat Thuranin food, as in food. This," I shook a plastic tube and the sludge oozed unappealingly from one end to the other, "is not food. An army runs on its stomach. Damn," I looked at Adams, "this is going to be terrible for morale. What the hell is the crew going to do?"

Adams pulled her shoulders back and set her jaw in determination. "They'll embrace the suck, sir." Some things in the military simply sucked, and there wasn't anything you could do about it, so you embraced the suck and did your duty. "Soldiers have been embracing the suck since we fought with wooden spears. We're not out here for a pleasure cruise."

Her attitude was encouraging, I hoped others felt the same. The two pallets of food, mostly MREs, that we'd brought aboard the Dodo would need to be rationed, with priority being given to the wounded. For sure, I was going to set an example by eating nothing but sludge, or 'smoothies'; if the crew saw their commander was sharing the pain, they'd take it better. For now, I decided the crew would be limited to one real meal per day, and see how that went.

"Joe, I didn't realize this would be a significant problem. Let me play with the food synthesizers and see what flavors I can make."

"Chocolate would be good. Everybody likes chocolate, right?" I suggested.

"The cocoa bean is a subtle and complex flavor, I'll do what I can."