They could make a “savoury” flavour that tasted of a stale pond, sometimes with added salt or chilli, or “sweet” flavours that were vaguely strawberry, vanilla, or cinnamon. Naomi had used some of the skills she’d learned back in undergrad, using vanillin or cinnamaldehyde, whose synthesis could be more or less automated in the nutriblock machine, as long as basic chemical supplies held out. They could continue synthesising more from the waste products of the algae itself once they reached Cavendish. Yet because it was still green and the wrong texture, and they had been unable to tone down the strong taste of spirulina without compromising its nutritional value, it was hard to associate the nutriblocks with any of the flavours.

Everyone was already tired of them, but it would account for seventy-five per cent of their diet. Pound for pound, algae was the most nutrient-dense food they’d found on Earth, full of protein with complete amino acids, some B vitamins, copper, iron, and omega fatty acids.

The rest of the lab was full of crops, to continue their research and provide the astronauts with some much-needed variety in their diet. Hydroponic greens—lettuce, spinach, bok choy—for crunch and texture. Small onions. A few herbs she’d tried adding to nutriblocks with quasi-disastrous results. The rosemary and peppermint ones in particular were like eating soap that had been left in stagnant water. Fruit was limited to actual strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and tomatoes.

Some of her crops required soil pillows and mats. The left side of the lab had Earth soil and light conditions, and the right had Earth soil treated to mirror the nutrient and metal levels from the Cavendish probe samples, illuminated with Cavendish-level lights. She’d already planted the tubers like potatoes, sweet potatoes, and Jerusalem artichokes. Root vegetables such as beetroot and carrots—and they could eat their green tops, as well. She was attempting some dwarf strands of genetically modified wheat and rye, which grew particularly well in colder climates.

Naomi had already proved that Earth crops would grow in “Cavendish” soil back home, but on the Atalanta she’d grow crops at the same time, in the same amounts, and compare the Earth to the Cavendish specimens.

Over the years, Naomi had soaked up anything that would make her a viable astronaut candidate, but from early on, she’d loved plants the best.