“Khoth! C’mon, don’t read the ingredients!” Jace whined.
“Why not?” Khoth’s frown was becoming permanently etched into his face as he went down the list of chemicals in the Slim Jim.
“Because no one wants to know what’s in them!” Jace laughed.
“Why would you eat something unless you were certain of its nutrient value?” Khoth was tempted to throw this Slim Jim in the trash.
“Because it tastes good!” Jace gave him huge eyes. “And I’m hungry. Please? C’mon, throw me a Slim Jim.”
“I would not feed these to my worst enemy.” Khoth sent the Slim Jim flying to a trash receptacle that had appeared.
“No!” Jace cried as both of them watched a small robotic creature take the trash and disappear through an opening in the far wall that slid silently shut. “What have you done?”
“Saved you,” Khoth stated simply.
He was scanning the fruits--grapes and a package of blueberries--and he frowned again. These had traces of pesticides that were cancer causing agents. Jace should not be allowed to eat these either. And the bottles the water were in contained--
“Khoth, I’m starving!” More big eyes at him.
Perhaps the vomiting had been a unique reaction of Captain Parker’s so Khoth suggested, “I have an emergency supply of protein paste--”
“Don’t do it, son,” Captain Parker said as he came into the room with a plate piled high with bread, meat and other condiments that the humans called “sandwiches”. “I didn’t recover from a mouthful of that vile substance for a week. Don’t you remember when I was constantly running to the bathroom?”
Jace blinked then laughed. He pointed at his father’s chest. “Oh, my God, I do remember! And Mom said you just had a touch of the flu, but it was really alien food!”
“Some alien food is good,” Captain Parker said. “But protein paste…” He didn’t finish the sentence but just shuddered.
Captain Parker put the plate down on the cabinet. Khoth immediately began to scan the sandwiches, but Jace grabbed the whole plate and turned his back to Khoth, blocking the scanner. He then began to stuff them into his mouth.
Around meat and bread, Jace mumbled, “Not taking this away!”
“I brought some full sugar Coke as well,” Captain Parker said as he placed six red and white aluminum cans on the counter.
“Oh, God, yeah!” Jace mumbled around more sandwiches.
He was dropping bits of crust on the ground as he couldn’t quite close his mouth around his big bites. Khoth wanted to tell him to slow down, but Jace was curled protectively over the sandwiches and when Khoth went to scan the “Coke” Jace made a growling noise and curled an arm around the cans. So Khoth backed off reluctantly. He would scan the dregs later and stop Jace from having more after this meal if it was filled with the toxins and cancer causing chemicals that seemed to be in everything else.
“Has the food police been at it again?” Thammah asked as she came into the room and saw Jace hovering protectively over his meal.
Jace nodded and sent Khoth a narrow-eyed glance as if he didn’t quite trust him to let Jace eat this terrible meal.
“He threw away a Slim Jim!” Jace cried after swallowing a mouthful of sandwich.
“No!” Thammah looked stricken. “Where is it?”
“There was this little robot guy that took it away!” Jace told her.
“The Osiris must agree with me that this food--and I only call it that lightly--is filled with toxins and is not fit to eat,” Khoth stated stiffly.
Captain Parker, who had been opening a bag with the word “Fritos” printed in colorful yellow lettering, quickly dropped it back on the counter and tried to pretend he hadn’t been about to poison himself.
“It is called junk food for a reason,” Thammah agreed, which shocked him, because she had been the one to bring it.
“Junk is a very apt description of it,” Khoth said with a nod even as he watched Jace eat more of it with growing concern.
Jace purposefully stuffed another sandwich in his mouth and opened a plastic bag that had the word “Doritos” in bright red lettering on it. These junk foods all seemed to use bright, primary colors that reminded Khoth of children’s toys. It certainly attracted attention like a toy.
Thammah gestured towards the Cokes. “Can I have one or do you need them all?”
