As usual, straight off the computer. Comments and recommendations appreciated!
Just after the shuttle landed, Nicole and Fargo walked up the ramp as it touched the ground. Jace stuck his head out of the cockpit, held up a finger, and finished the shutdown before climbing down. Nicole looked back to make sure there weren’t any Ghorka coming up the ramp and said quickly, “Is there some way you can get our…guest to Rushing River and make it look like he came in on the Hyderabad?”
Jace smiled. “I take it the treatment was successful? Yes, I can do that easily. I can fly him to the Hyderabad and let him ride it to Rushing River. What did he choose? Does he want to be a chef for you?” He glanced at Fargo. “Do you two need to go back to the camp?”
“We don’t know yet. We…haven’t seen or talked to him. Yes, we will need a ride back to camp, if you don’t mind.”
Twenty segs later, they stood with OneSvel as they cracked the Med-comp lid and brought Kuzu to consciousness. Kuzu croaked, “Waer…” He coughed and OneSvel extended a pseudopod with a bulb with a straw in it. Kuzu sucked greedily at the water, looked at his bare arms, then up at them. “Amazing! There are no scars!” He drank more water and asked shyly, “More, please? My voice…”
OneSvel extended another bulb of water and Kuzu gratefully drank from it as OneSvel chittered. Their GalTrans said, “We modified your larynx to change your voice, along with your eyes, your fingerprints, and a few strands of your DNA. Now, even if someone has your exact profile, you will not pass it. Should they get a voice print, retinal scan, and DNA, your match will be less than seventy percent.”
“Ah so desu ka. I thank you!” Kuzu looked at Fargo. “What will you have me do?”
Nicole interrupted, “Kuzu, what would you like to do? And where? You can now go anywhere in the universe without worry.”
“May I think about that?”
Fargo nodded. “Of course. We have the kids today, but we will be back soon.”
***
A week later, Fargo and Nicole managed to get back to the Enclave without the kids. While Fargo was meeting with Lal and the other Enclave leaders, Nicole met NasTess, who was sitting talking to the ‘new’ Kuzu. Nicole smiled. “You don’t look that much different!”
Kuzu chortled as he pulled up his sleeve. “No scars! Not a single scar anywhere, well, other than my hands, which would fit with being a chef.”
NasTess’ GalTrans chittered, “He is now the equivalent of ten years younger, different DNA and fingerprints, with retinas slightly shifted, so it matches his new identity. All those were fairly simple things. To leave the scars on the hands was harder to do.”
Nicole asked, “Would you like to be chef?” She smiled broadly, “Even more pointedly, would you like to work for me at my place in Rushing River?”
Kuzu cocked his head. “I believe I would like to stay on Hunter for now. What would I be cooking?”
“What would you like to cook?”
“I could do real honest sushi, if I can get quality fish.” He waved a hand. “I know it won’t be fish I’m used to, but I can work with what is available.”
Fargo walked in and Nicole bit her lip as she looked at Fargo. “Uh, I don’t know what fish we can get from White Beach.”
Fargo chuckled. “Well, we do have some contacts there. They can find out and ship some different to you. I know there are nearshrimp, but they aren’t exactly shrimp sized…”
Nicole snorted. “Langostino maybe, but not shrimp. Oh, oh, and those tuna. They survived and thrive here.”
Kuzu smiled. “Fat tuna? I can make fat tuna that is to love. Now if there is somewhere on Hunter where wasabia japonica grows, I will be famous!”
Nicole looked at him. “What is that?”
“It makes true wasabi! Star Lines imported it from Earth for their chefs, rather than use horseradish, mustard and green food coloring for a pale imitation!”
“Oh…I’ll bet if anyone knows, it would be Laxmi!”
“Do we ask her?” Fargo asked.
Nicole shook her head. “No, not until Kuzu is here.” She said with air quotes. “We need to talk to Jace.”
“He should be here in a div to take OneSvel and NasTess back to Rushing River. We can talk to him then.”
***
Jace stood at the top of the ramp as Fargo and Nicole walked up to him. Nicole said quickly, “Kuzu wants to stay on Hunter and live at Rushing River, when can you lift him to the Hyderabad?”
“I can do that tonight. If he boards while OneSvel and NasTess are saying their goodbyes there will be less people he will have to sneak by. He can ride in the cockpit with me until we clear Rushing River.” Jace smiled. “What is he going to do?”
Nicole’s face lit up. “Make sushi!” She looked at Fargo, then added, “That is, if we can come up with acceptable ingredients. Kuzu is very picky.”
Jace glanced off in the distance, then focused on her. “That should not be a problem. Hunter has adequate supplies. The only issue may be the type of rice available.”
Fargo cocked his head. “Rice?” He sighed. “Rice is…”
Jace shook his head. “No, sushi requires a specific type of what they call sticky rice. It has high amylopectin starch content and very low amylose content.”
“Rice, it’s rice!”
Jace added, “Steamed not cooked with water.” He shook his head again. “Heathens, I swear.”
Fargo threw up his hands. “I don’t care, I—”
Nicole put a hand on his arm. “Fargo, you’re wrong, just admit it. Cooking is, well, other than over an open fire, not one of your strong suits. That’s why you use the autochef all the time.”
Huffing out a breath, Fargo said, “Yes, dear.”
She looked back and said, “We’ll let Kuzu know. Launch at twenty?”
Jace nodded. “Yes, that way darkness will cover Kuzu coming aboard.”
Four divs later, Fargo slipped away from the farewells and headed for the shuttle. Jace was standing on the ramp as he walked up and nodded toward the cockpit. “Our guest is aboard.”
Fargo nodded and strode up to the ladder, climbed into the cockpit and looked at Kuzu. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Hai! Very much!” Kuzu smiled and bowed as much as he could. “You have kept your word, more than I could ever expect. I literally owe you my life.”
Waving is hand, Fargo replied, “No, I just—”
“You and the Ghorka are honorable men. You do not understand how much that means to me. I do not speak lightly of that, even coming from a dishonorable yakuza like me.” Kuzu turned away, scrubbing at his face.
Fargo started to say something when Jace projected, “Time for us to go. People are coming.”
Hopping off the ladder, Fargo sighed and walked forward to a seat. “I am ready to go. I just hope…”
“Everything will be fine. Hyderabad will land at Rushing River in three days. You and Nicole need to be there.”
“We will be, we are having supper with Mikhail, Luann, and the kids. And Nicole wants to check on the winery, and Mac, Holly and Eva.”
Nicole sat down next to Fargo. “Well?”
Fargo nodded. “Yes, we’re good to go. Jace is going to drop us at the camp on the way to Rushing River.”
She stretched and yawned. “Good! I need my sleep.” But her smile said otherwise, and Fargo arched an eyebrow.
***
Fiveday evening, everyone sat around two tables pulled together at the Copper Mug as Hank dished out the food. Ian and Inga, Mikhail and Luann’s kids, sat at the far end of the table, corralling Amy, Alan, and Eva as the adults clustered at the other end. Mac had just finished a hilarious story about his first tour in the Galactic Patrol, when the door opened and Kuzu walked tentatively in, followed by Sergeant Omar.
Sergeant Omar marched over to their table and saluted Fargo. His GalTrans squeaked, “Ho, colonel of the retired, looking for a job is this person. Chef he says he is. Knives he has, brought him here, I have.”
Fargo waved his hand vaguely in the direction of his forehead. “Sergeant of the guard, appreciated is your attention. Discuss this with this person, we will. Our thanks you have.”
Sergeant Omar dropped his salute, turned and marched out the door as everyone studied Kuzu. Nicole asked softly, “Have you eaten, sir? And may we have your name? I am Nicole Fargo and I own this establishment.”
Bowing, he replied, “My name is Kentu Musachi, but I go by Kuzu. I am…looking for a ground job. I have worked for Star Lines as a chef for the past seven years. But I would like to plant my feet on ground, enjoy breathing unfiltered air, looking at the sky without a filter and vidscreen, and be able to sleep on something other than a bunk. I can cook anything you desire.”
Nicole smiled at him. “Nice to meet you, sir.”
“Kuzu, please.”
“Kuzu. I am not sure I can afford to pay you what you deserve, if you’ve been a chef for Star Lines.”
Fargo asked, “Where are you staying?”
Kuzu shrugged. “I know not. I…the sergeant brought me directly here.”
Nicole cocked her head at Fargo, then said, “Would you be willing to take housing as part of your pay?”
“Of course. It would depend on how far from my employment it would be.”
Two divs later, Kuzu served tea to everyone as Hank stood watching in awe as the kids politely sipped their teas. “I seen it, but I never thought…” He shook his head and glanced at Nicole. “This mean I’m out of a job, ma’am?”
Nicole shook her head. “No, Hank. You will still be the manager and bartender, and if you want to cook, you still can.” She turned to Holly. “Fargo and I will move over to the winery tonight.”
Holly chuckled. “I guess there was a reason you never let me convert your room, wasn’t there mama?”
Everyone laughed, and Luann, ever practical said, “And this is why Ethan has his own place, and not a room with us.”
Fargo sniffed. “Well, I paid for that myself, if you remember.”
Mikhail snorted. “And convinced us to come out here based on your word!” He immediately held up his hands. “Not that I’ve ever regretted it!” He hugged Luann and smiled at Ian and Inga. “Our family has prospered here, more than I ever would have on Earth.”
Holly cocked her head. “Umm…mom, I know we talked about winery tours…”
Mac added, “If Kuzu could do a dim sum kinda buffet, we could actually set it up and charge people!”
Kuzu said, “Dim sum is Chinese tradition, but it all depends on what I can get here for raw ingredients. Without that,” he shrugged.
Fargo replied, “I will check that tomorrow. I know some folks at White Beach that have a restaurant and will have an idea of what is available, if you will give me what ingredients you’re interested in.”
“Hank can give you a list of what we currently get,” Nicole said.
***
Two weeks later, Fargo and Nicole came into the Copper Mug late Fiveday evening to see a full house, and some changes. A waist high second bar now extended halfway across the end of the restaurant, with people sitting at it. Nicole smiled. “Oh, sushi bar!”
“What?”
She pointed as Kuzu walked around the original bar carrying a stack of platters. “Kuzu must have gotten some of the ingredients he was looking for. And I’m guessing he’s making sushi in front of the customers.”
Fargo dug back through his memories. “Oh, I haven’t seen that in…I guess sixty years. I wonder if we can even get any?”
Nicole snorted. “I’m pretty sure we can, since I own the place.” Walking behind the bar, she spoke to Hank, “Busy tonight. Is Kuzu putting on a show?”
Hank shook his head. “Not really, he’s pretty low key about it. But a lot of folks are curious, and have been since the new bar went in. This is only the second night he’s done anything.”
“What about the regular menu?” A young lady walked by with a platter full of plates headed for a table at the back of the Copper Mug.
“Oh, it’s getting hit pretty hard. I’ve been busy, and we ended up hiring Holly’s friend to come in and waitress for a couple of hours a night.”
Fargo asked, “Holly’s friend?”
Hank nodded. “Audrey. She apparently helps out at the winery too.”
Nicole smiled. “Yes, she’s a hard worker. I remember she was looking for more work, since Holly didn’t have more than a regular shift for her, but she loved working there.”
Hank smiled. “Yep, she’s a worker! Comes in and helps with the salad preps, and I think Kuzu is teaching her how to do the rice thing…”
“Rice thing?” Fargo asked.
“Well, Kuzu found some different rice and he steams it, not boiling it.”
“Sticky rice,” Nicole added.
A div later, Nicole and Fargo finally got to sit at the sushi bar and Kuzu smiled at them. “So sorry it has taken so long, but…” he shrugged, “I have to have list of people in order to prevent problems.”
Fargo laughed. “Not a problem. I’m used to hurry up and wait.” Nicole elbowed him in the ribs and he said, “Now what the hell was that for?”
“Stop being an asshole!”
Kuzu handed them each a flimsy. “What would you like?”
Fargo looked at the flimsy and said, “Why don’t you surprise me?”
Nicole laughed. “Kuzu, he has no idea what he’s doing. On the other hand, I would like…”
Thiry segs later, Nicole said, “That was fantastic, Kuzu! Even better than what I had on Earth. You are an amazing chef!”
He bowed to her and turned to Fargo. “And you, Colonel?”
Fargo cocked an eyebrow. “Whatever it was, it was good, but that green sauce is a bit strong!”
Kuzu smiled. “It is actual wasabi. I was able to find the plants here and made it myself. It is not the fake stuff you probably had before.”
A div later, Nicole walked back into the library at the winery. “The kids are asleep. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for bed.”
“Are you that tired?”
“I said bed, not tired. Are you that tired?”
Fargo smiled. “Not yet.”
(C) JL Curtis 2026 All Rights Reserved
