"Robert L. Forward - Rocheworld 02 - Return to Rocheworld" - читать интересную книгу автора (Forward Robert L)

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it, it had been the stunning red-head's fast thinking, and the superb flying
ability of the handsome Jamaican that had saved the most senior member of the
crew.
Nels was glad he had managed to prefect the banana flavored algae.
Fried in small sliced-size patties along with some of the fresh trout from
Cinnamon's tanks, he had managed a platter filled with spicy West Indian
flavored delicacies as a special treat for Thomas. Most of the herbs that he
used were fresh from their beds on the hydroponics deck. Although James could
synthesize the chemicals for any spice, Nels had stockpiled supplies of such
spices such as pepper, nutmeg, and cloves for such special occasions when Nels
wanted to give the astronauts the true tastes of Earth. The varied crew on
_Prometheus_ had such eclectic tastes that alongside the sandwiches made of
dark pumpernickel-flavored algaebread spread with liverwurst made from the
tissue culture Pat LaBelle, was bratwurst made from the tissue culture Hamlet,
curried lamb from Lambchop, and catfish with hush puppies made from
cornmeal-flavored algaeflour. Nels had a bumper crop of string beans, and he
had the sense to add nothing to the freshly steamed vegetable but a little
algaebutter. The thin finger-long haricots verts were a perfect fingerfood.
One thing that Nels had to let James synthesize was the wine and other
beverages. Still the computer managed to plan ahead and there were dozens of
squeeze bulbs in evidence filled with red wine and white, champagne, various
beers, soft drinks, and mixers, and even quality gin, bourbon, scotch, and
brandy. One of the parting gifts to the astronauts from a grateful Earth had
been the sharing with James of the last truly secret recipe of the
twenty-first century, so that the crew could enjoy the true flavor of
Coca-Cola on their long journey to the stars. Richard Redwing was hardly ever
seen without a squeeze bulb of the bubbling beverage. Nels considered the
brown liquid an assault on the palate, but he had to admit that coffee cool
enough to be sipped from a floating ball of liquid in zero gee was too cold to
be satisfying.
As the party started, Nels was swept up in their gleeful enjoyment of
the delicacies. While he relished their praise, and their obvious enjoyment of
his carefully crafted meal, it always amazed him how weeks, even months of
work, could vanish so speedily down a human throat. Arielle Trudeau, the pilot
who had been a beauty queen in Quebec before the secession of Quebec from
Canada and the absorption of the rest of Canada into the Greater United States
of America, always managed to eat huge amounts without letting it affect her
figure or her appetite. Although she had a front tooth knocked out during the
crash that had damaged the _Dragonfly_'s engines, a subsection of Arielle's
imp now acted as a brace to hold her healing tooth in place. The brace-imp
glittered from between her lips as she opened her mouth to eat a mushroom
skewered on a toothpick imp and dipped in a warm pseudocream sauce spiced with
dill and thyme. Arielle sucked the imp toothpick clean and then let the tiny
robot fly its way back to the kitchen, where it washed itself off under hot
water, and then attached itself to a larger branch that was preparing the next