Space Nuggets

Once the doctor went on his way, Leslie took a couple of minutes and put the house into a power saving mode. From here on out, everything would need to be tight from a power perspective. Just the essentials. In his watt budget, he had a concerning amount of freezers running for how cold it was out. It was February, so he probably had a good couple of months of cold weather to go through the frozen goods. Those would need to be heated though. Mr. Drake had a propane stove, so for the most part this wouldn’t affect the amount of power the house needed. He had given the propane tanks a rapping to try to estimate how much fuel was in them. The two tanks sounded about two thirds full, which was pretty good.

He could also try to figure out some sort of outdoor cooking scheme, but that would require wood that could better be used to heat the house. He could cook with deadfall or scavenged wood, but that would be a lot of trouble to go to for what Mr. Drake had in his chest freezers.

He decided tonight would be the fat times. The days and weeks to come would get leaner and leaner, but this evening could be given over to excess. While they had the food, light, and heat they might as well enjoy it. Who knew how bad it would get. Things tended to get far more complicated than one originally anticipated. Knowing this viscerally was the key to wisdom and through the transitive property, survival.

“Should we throw some dinner together and come up with a game plan?” He asked after he had come back in the house and warmed himself by the fire.

“What kind of game plan?” Stephanie asked, lounging on the couch again.

“Well, a general one would be a good start,” Leslie removed his hat and ran his hand through his hair, “that was a pretty close call with the doctor. I think he believes us about Mr. Drake, but eventually he’s going to figure out that he’s not here. Gotta figure out a rescue mission for Mr. Drake. Food and stuff for here. Perimeter defense. What you two want to do. I brought you here, but you are your own people, and you don’t have to stay here. I certainly don’t mind the company, but if you have a better idea, you are welcome to it.”

“I’m stickin’ right the fuck here,” Ray said, “Kingston gives me the creeps, but I don’t think I have a shot anywhere else right now. I’m gonna hang with you Les.”

“Well,” Lagertha chimed in, “I have plans to gut Magnus like a fish and reclaim my crown.”

“Really?” Leslie managed to make that both a question and an expression of astonishment.

“Yes,” she went on, “what else am I supposed to do? Rot away on this hillside? Sit here and wait to die? That’s not my style Leslie, and you know that. I will reclaim my Yarldom and rule the valley from a high seat. I’ve had my eye on new accommodations for quite some time, as the golf course is hardly up to my standards. Magnus will be the proud bearer of the blood eagle.”

“Blood eagle?” Leslie asked.

“Yes,” she explained coolly, “I will have him bound and placed before me. I will open his back with a knife. Hack his ribs out with an axe, and pull his lungs out like a pair of wings.”

“Jesus,” Leslie and Ray said in unison.

“A little harsh,” Leslie went on, “wasn’t this dude your boyfriend?”

“It’s been a bit of a messy break up,” she admitted, “his behavior has dictated that he will become an example. He treated me quite poorly, and I cannot abide that. Shit, I’m starving. What’s for dinner?”

Leslie and Ray just kind of looked at each other. She showed all the signs of being dead serious about a plan for retribution.

“There is a bunch of stuff in the freezer that we should probably eat first,” Leslie finally broke the silence, “I’ll see what I can throw together.”

Leslie headed into the kitchen and started to rifle through the freezer. He settled on space nuggets for the main course.

Space Nuggets were an optimistic food. These were breaded processed chicken nuggets molded into space themed shapes, i.e. stars, comets and little space men. There were a number of these novelty products with various themes. The main competitor in this market was Dino Nuggets. Dinosaur shaped chicken detritus that looked toward the past, the old ways. It was a food that idolized the worship of death in a flavor blasted crater of mediocrity.

Space Nuggets on the other hand, looked toward the future and a brave new existence beyond the stars. A future that cast off the fetters of the only planet that we would live and die on, and blasted off into infinity.

“Space Nuggets cool?” Leslie called from the kitchen.

“Fuck yeah!” Ray said.

“No Dino Nuggets?” Stephanie queried.