“Here you go, ladies. Have a nice meal!” The nice lady from behind the counter set our food down in front of us. The croquettes were looking delicious, but so was Lauren’s sushi. It seemed very fresh.

“Thank you very much.” Both of us replied.

“If you need anything else, feel free to call me over.”

“Don’t forget to look up from your plate once in a while. We’ll be passing through the desert soon.” Lauren tapped the window with a smile after the lady had left. Right now we were heading through some city I didn’t know.

“I will! Don’t worry.” I cut into my croquette and once I did, the aroma of the scampi diabolique hit me with full force. It smelled so good, rather spicy, but still very good.

“Bon appétit.” Lauren winked and used her chopsticks to put some sashimi in her mouth. She softly groaned in pleasure and leant back in her seat. “Holy… that stuff hits so differently when it gets made fresh.”

“Everything does seem more intense on the surface, doesn’t it?” I took the first bite of my croquette and the rich tomato and scampi flavor just burst into my mouth.

“I think it’s because of the ingredients. You just can’t beat fresh stuff with the fabricated ingredients we get on-board.” Lauren took another bite and had almost the same reaction as before.

Meanwhile, the train had zoomed into the suburbs of the megalopolis we were passing through. The desert would probably pop up really soon.

“Maybe we should grow our food on board of the ship too.” I took yet another bite. I really need to slow down to savor the experience more, but it was just so good.

“Sadly, our ship is a little bit too small for that.” Lauren laughed and wiped her mouth with a serviette, calling that fancy piece of cloth a napkin would do a disservice to it. “But I can imagine that luxury space cruises in the future might have those kinds of facilities.”

“Oh, like the huge ones from that movie we watched!”

“Yeah, exactly.” She chuckled. “That’s indeed what I was thinking about. But sadly, us military gals will have to deal with the synthetic stuff. It’s still rather good, though.”

“I’m not saying it isn’t. But even the hamburger back at the terminal was just on another level.”

“Hmmm… I think that might have been your hunger more than the ingredients, because I’m pretty sure those burger patties were synthesized too.”

“Oh…” Just at that time, the train zoomed by a wall that marked the current end of the megalopolis’ suburbs and into the wide open area beyond. We could finally see it, the desert that had been depicted so nicely on the train we’d seen before. The sun, that was just about to set, gave the red sand an even redder glow. The skies above blue as far as you could see. Just like the food we’d been discussing, the real deal outclassed the painting by so much that I temporarily stopped eating to admire the view.

“Have you walked through a desert like that?” I asked Lauren.

“No, not really. I can’t handle desert heats as well as most. And back during the war the fighting practically skipped over areas like these so I wasn’t stationed in one of these places either.”

“So you never want to visit it? Get your boots in the sand.”

“Hmmm… if you would want to visit, I’d definitely go with you. But I’d probably take a water cooled undersuit with me.” She laughed. But what she had said, I found very romantic. Even though she didn’t like the place, she would come with me, just for me. It made me blush a little.

While the view of the desert was beautiful and stunning, it was also very short. With the speed the train was traveling at, it only took us ten minutes or so for the train to pass into the next walled off section of suburbs and into the next city. Although that did give me the opportunity to once more concentrate on the amazing food in front of me.

“Will we pass by any more stunning sights?” I asked while I scooped up the last of my scampi diabolique croquette on my fork together with the last pieces of salad that remained on my plate.

“Soon we will get on the bridge that spans the gap between the southern tip of Africa and the Antarctic region. While an impressive feat of engineering, in my opinion it’s also relatively boring to look at.” Lauren commented, she’d already finished her plate. “Especially in the dark there’s not much to see.”

“Awh, that’s a shame…” I wouldn’t have minded more sights to be seen.

“If we are really lucky we might get to see some aurora australis though.”

“Oh! The Southern lights! I’ve read about those.”

“Pictures really don’t do them justice.” Lauren smiled. “Videos are a bit better, but nothing beats seeing them for yourself.”

“I suppose you’ve seen plenty of them?”

“Yep. And let me tell you, it doesn’t get less impressive, at all.”

“You are making me jealous already.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure we will see them at least once while we are in Antarctica, it's just a matter of time. Worst case scenario, you’ll just need to be patient.”

“I’m looking forward to it.” I nodded happily.

I finally cleared my plate and not soon after that the lady from behind the counter came by our table to collect the plates. “Would you like to have a dessert?” She asked, putting the plates handily on her arm.

“Any recommendations?” Lauren asked, folding her hands on the table.

“The chef would like to recommend the apfelstrudel with vanilla sauce.” She replied.

“I’ll have that then.” Lauren then looked at me. “It’s a good dish.”

“Then I’ll have that one as well!” I replied enthusiastically.

“Would you like to have some whipped cream with that?”

“Maybe on a little dish on the side.” Lauren nodded.

“Alright, I’ll be bringing it to you in a couple of minutes.”

“Thanks.” Lauren smiled and the lady walked off. “It’s a great dish to warm you up in the cold.”

“Then we will need to eat it again later today too?”

“Perhaps.” Lauren chuckled. “You can sit by the fireplace at my house though, so you can warm up that way too?”

“You still have a fireplace?”

“Yeah.” Lauren nodded. “Many of us in the Antarctic region do. It’s more cozy than central heating is and it helps with the emotional balance in the winter months.”

“Didn’t I read there was a law against them? I’m pretty sure I did. I looked it up after we saw the movie about the little robot.”

“Ah, there are. But there are exceptions for those who have a top of the line filtration system. They are expensive, so you don’t see them a lot outside of the Antarctic and North Pole region. But especially our local government has decided to subsidize them to keep mental health up. In the matter of fact, studies have shown that the expense falls to nothing compared to the societal gains.”

“That’s very interesting.”

“It is.” Lauren agreed. “The area we live in requires some creative problem-solving. That’s just one of the many things that have been introduced.”

Once the train zoomed past a split in the tunnel when we crossed into the center of the city, the lady finally returned with two plates filled with our dessert. The scent of vanilla and apples was so strong as she put the plate down in front of me. A brown crusted pastry with white powdered sugar sprinkled on top as if it had been snowed on top of it. A bit of light yellow vanilla sauce draped on top of it like a little blanket. On the plate itself was another silver container with even more vanilla sauce, for if you wanted to drown out the entire pastry in its rich flavor. The lady also put down a silver pot in between us with a spoon stuck in rich looking whipped cream, clearly home-made.

“Wow, that looks delicious. Thank you.” Lauren smiled and nodded to the waitress.

“Enjoy your food, ladies.” The lady smiled back and bowed a little, after which she disappeared again.

“Time to dig in.” Lauren rubbed her hands before picking up her knife and fork once more, as if they were tools for war. There was one apfelstrudel that definitely wouldn’t make it till sunrise.

I did the same and decided to try my taste buds on this veritable painting of food in front of my nose, and damn… was it worth it. The flavours that shot through me of warm apples, a delicious pastry and the intense vanilla… it filled me with joy. I almost felt like I was getting high on medicine, as the taste was so overwhelmingly delectable. Then, a pang of fear flashed through my mind… what if… because of this… I just wouldn’t be able to enjoy any foods anymore… That’d be a disaster!!