Episode 9: Day 2, First Meal (10g)
The next day.
“I can’t say I woke up feeling refreshed…”
After that, she decided to go to bed as soon as the sun went down. Perhaps due to accumulated mental fatigue, she felt extremely sleepy.
Immediately upon waking, she drank the water ＜Ringo＞ had prepared. She wondered where it had been procured from, but cold water was in a metal cup. Perhaps she had made it during the night.
“Good morning, Ma’am. First, regarding the food situation…”
“Ah… okay, I’m listening.”
For a moment, she considered postponing the report, but noticing ＜Ringo＞’s unusually cheerful display (emotion), she urged her to continue.
“Yes, Ma’am. Scientific analysis has found no issues with the shellfish, fish, or seaweed collected yesterday. The salt extracted from the freshwater purification plant is also usable, so we can try some kind of cooking.”
“…Well, that’s good news.”
Honestly, she was very hungry. However, she probably couldn’t eat her fill all at once, so she’d only be able to put a piece or two in her mouth. Feeling rather disappointed, she got out of bed.
“Then, let’s have the automatic cooker prepare something. Can you do that?”
“Yes, Ma’am. First, we will cook about 10g of fish muscle as a protein source.”
Nodding, she headed to the toilet to relieve herself. She had only drunk water, but she needed to excrete the ingested fluids. It was very unpleasant, but unavoidable.
◇◇◇◇
After successfully relieving herself, she returned to the Command Room, resolving to allocate a certain amount of resources to improving her living environment.
(At least I have to do something about the toilet paper…!)
The washlet cleaned her well, but she couldn’t put her clothes on without drying, which took time. The warm air function was a comfort, though.
(And towels. I need towels to take a shower. Also, I want a change of clothes by tomorrow at least.)
The air conditioning inside Fortress ＜The Tree＞ was kept comfortable, so it wasn’t an environment where she would sweat unnecessarily. However, that didn’t mean the clothes she was wearing wouldn’t get dirty. Not to mention herself.
“Hey, ＜Ringo＞, can we do something about towels and a change of clothes?”
“Yes, Ma’am, production is possible.”
At that response, she breathed a sigh of relief.
“Then, please make a few of each. I find it hard to accept this situation continuing…”
“Roger. Changing task priority. …It will be synthetic fiber instead of natural fiber, is that acceptable?”
“Yes, that’s fine. Hmm… the raw material is petroleum, I suppose?”
She looked through the component design chart displayed on the integrated console. Sewing with nylon fiber. Since the multi-printer could be used, the desired items could be created in a few tens of minutes.
“I should have made them yesterday without being stingy. I messed up.”
“Yes, Ma’am, I apologize. It was a matter I should have suggested yesterday.”
“…Well, I won’t say that, ＜Ringo＞. It was just my poor foresight, it’s not a mistake or anything.”
After comforting ＜Ringo＞, who had begun to feel slightly depressed, she took a deep breath. Now, she had to think about today’s work. If she remembered correctly, the maintenance of the Solar-Powered Reconnaissance Aircraft (Swift) should be complete. She needed to confirm its takeoff and instruct it to calculate its operational range. After that, she would eat the cooked fish and rest.
(Tasting for poison for myself… I have no choice. I’ll eat it quickly and get into the Medical Pod. I can work even inside the pod…)
Incidentally, she was entering the Medical Pod to quickly deal with any poisoning caused by toxins. The Medical Pod’s functions should be able to immediately perform stomach washes and emergency laparotomies. In the worst case, she intended to prepare for a blood replacement as well.
Because it was a completely unknown food, the risk was quite high, to be honest, as there could be toxins that couldn’t be detected no matter how much she tested. However, if she didn’t try this, she would starve to death soon. The Medical Pod was set to prioritize brain preservation above all else. As long as the brain remained, there would be ways to manage.
(I don’t really want to be a brain in a full-body machine, though…)
Her body could probably be recreated through cultivation. In her original world, it was a strictly controlled technology, but here, there was no organization to monitor it. She had confirmed that there was information corresponding to it in the library, so she had taken the worst-case insurance.
“Ma’am. Meal preparation is complete.”
“Okay, thank you. Can you take it to the medical room? I’ll head there too.”
For now, no particular problems had been found in the preliminary examination. She would eat it, observe for about 8 hours, and if there were no problems, she would judge it as OK. After that, she would eat little by little, and observe for about 3 days. If she could secure something to put in her stomach, even temporarily, she could gradually increase the variety. As the number of samples increased, the accuracy of the preliminary examination would also improve. Eventually, the day would come when she could eat without worry.
“Ma’am, here you go.”
The automatic machine operated by ＜Ringo＞ offered her a plate with sauteed white fish (salted).
“Thank you, ＜Ringo＞.”
She pierced the piece, about the size of her fingertip, with a fork, put it in her mouth, chewed it well, savored it, and swallowed it. The reaction test was already done.
“The taste is… I can’t really tell because the amount is small… Well, I think it’s not bad.”
She thought it was just the right amount of salt. She couldn’t tell the original taste of the fish, whether it was bland. It wasn’t bad.
“Thank you, Ma’am. Then, if there are no problems, I will serve you half a fish this evening.”
“Yes, please.”
Perhaps because she had put it in her mouth, her stomach moved, and she felt more hungry. However, she had to be patient here. In the evening, she should be able to eat enough to satisfy her hunger. And if there were no problems overnight, she could eat her fill.
“By the way, is it possible to continuously catch this fish?”
“Yes, Ma’am. We have already captured some alive and enclosed them in a fish tank, so I don’t think there will be any problems. Also, we are continuing to investigate the surrounding area, but they seem to be widely distributed around this reef.”
“That’s good. I would hate to have gone through all this trouble, only to not be able to catch them soon…”
However, she had instructed them to prioritize collecting such species, so it was probably a needless worry.
“Ma’am, tomorrow you will conduct an edibility test on seaweed. If you can ingest seaweed and fish, you can avoid the risk of starvation for the time being.”
“That’s right. Continuous observation is needed to see if we are getting enough essential nutrients, but well, if we can get protein and minerals, we won’t die.”
Returning the plate to the automatic machine, she laid down in the Medical Pod with a “whew.”
“Vital signs confirmed, all normal. Monitoring will continue.”
“Please do.”
“Blood sugar levels are decreasing, so I will administer a nutrient drip.”
While entrusting herself to the work arms inside the Medical Pod, she checked the information window.
“Now. The Solar-Powered Reconnaissance Aircraft (Swift) is ready for takeoff… OK. Let’s do this too.”
“Roger. Swift Units 1 and 2 will take off.”
Two aircraft were waiting on the short runway that penetrated Fortress ＜The Tree＞. They were high-altitude, long-endurance reconnaissance aircraft that could ascend to an altitude of 20km on their own and continue flying for over 500 hours. Two of these would be operated at all times to conduct wide-area patrols. A new aircraft would be rolled out in a few days, but the plan was to eventually have enough aircraft to constantly monitor a surrounding radius of about 1,000km.
Today, watching over these aircraft would be her main job.
After that, yes. She would also watch the underwater drone exploration, since the collected items would become her food, making it an important matter as well.