Chapter 2: The Adamantium Chef

"So who were those guys?" Cooler asked the one who had supported him when he had gotten out. "They were your elite troop's sir." The new Cooler finally had had enough of this "sir", "sire" and "master" stuff so he decided to stop it right now. "Ok then, but what's your name good fellow." "Remora." Cooler stopped and held his hand out. "It's nice to meet you Remora." Remora hesitated then shook his hand. "Now that we've been introduced we don't need to do that sir crap anymore." The young med lab technician was very surprised by this. "But…but why don't you want to be addressed like that?" Because im not that much better than you or anybody else on this ship." "But you're in command here." Remora explained to him. "You tell everyone what to do. Not only that but you are one of the most powerful beings in the universe." His new friend just gave him a strange look. "So what? I still don't deserve to be treated with respect until I earn it. So what if im powerful and I run a ship. Im just now finding this out. Besides you know more about medicine that I do that makes you better than me in that way and I respect that. Everybody has an advantage over everybody in some way. So I treat all people as equals to me and expect the same." Remora nodded his head. Cooler and Remora then continued their journey to the cafeteria.

"You're not serious about letting this oaf use my body are you?" "I most certainly am." Ever since the new Cooler had awoken the old and true Cooler watched from either a pocket dimension of pure darkness or the depths of his own mind. He was not sure which and the voice would not answer that question. "I think he's a fool. He has power. Why does he not embraceit? Why does he not use it to fulfill his needs and wants and realize his dreams?"

"Power is not happiness." He had noticed that the voice was straight and to the point. It irked him some but there was nothing he could do. At one point out of boredom he had attempted to fire an energy blast but it had failed. Arguing would do him no good so he watched with the voice through a hole in the darkness though which they heard and saw everything he did and Cooler even felt what his false self felt. He was disgusted. He was simple and feeble minded, made weak by his emotions. He hoped that some amongst the crew would kill him. He realized it was his body but he didn't care. He was unworthy of his power.

The ship's cafeteria was loud place. At least right up to the moment their lord & master Cooler walked in. Even then it was a loud stunned silence. "Uhhhh… Hi don't mind me, really im just here to have lunch." Cooler spoke up in an attempt to break the now extremely awkward silence. Everybody slowly, carefully and quietly returned to eating and a few of the bolder ones back to their conversations. He and Remora waited in line. Cooler rambled about how messy the place was but Remora was too busy feeling like everybody was watching Cooler and him possibly by extension. He was not use to this kind of attention. It made him nervous and uncomfortable. It felt like every person in the room was looking at his every movement and twitch of his body.

Cooler finally got his tray and was very happy to receive it. He looked to see what he was enjoying this day and was quite disappointed. His plate along with everyone else's was a then slice of meat, a bowl of weak soup and an unknown (to him) fluid. "Is this what everyone here eats?" The chef gave him a critical eye and said. "Yeah. All we got." He turned to the people behind him. "Do you eat this stuff every day?" They all nodded in near unison. He gave his tray to the Remora and jumped over the counter and made a dash for the kitchen while yelling "Its time to make some soup!" Remora just shook his head and went out to find a place to sit.

The other chefs watched in utter amazement and confusion. He had first scurried about the kitchen seeing what there was to cook with and being disappointed with what he found questioned the head chef "Where do you keep the good stuff." "In the back but that's only for the officers." Coolers brow furrowed for a moment then unfurled and his eyes brightened. "Not anymore." He said as he cheerfully made his way to the back. Fresh meat, fruit, bread and vegetables were stored within. He came out with a big armful of apparently what he had been able to grab. "There's plenty for everyone in their. Now break it out and start cooking for tomorrow." He paused for a little dramatic flair. "For tomorrow my men shall eat like men!" He proclaimed while doing a (in theory) cool and dramatic pose. Then he put on an apron and began cutting vegetables. There was a brief silence until the head chef spoke up. "Well what do you want us to make?" Cooler just stood there chopping away at his veggies and without looking up replied. "I haven't thought that far ahead yet."

Whilst Cooler began his holy crusade of soup,Sauzer was busy thinking. (There was precious little else to do in a regen pod anyway.) He was thinking of how best to get his revenge. "That beast is too strong for me and Neizu alone to destroy, but not too strong if I were to gather allies to strike him down." As soon as he got out he would confer with Neizu to see who he could gather. His eyes floated lazily to a timer outside his pod and saw he still had about an hour and fifteen minutes left. He planned the details of his assignation plot whilst he waited to be let out.

"What the hell is he doing?" Cooler was thoroughly annoyed by his doppelganger's actions. That food was for the crews that weren't complete worms. "I can't believe he's giving the non-officers the officer's food. Its there's for a good reason." "And that is?" Cooler craned his head. His mysterious benefactor was speaking up again. Most times he rambled to himself, not entirely sure he/she/it could hear him. He assumed it could and told it exactly what he felt during those rants. "The only people I promote that far up are the ones who deserve it. The strong, the smart, they are only ones that are superior to the other crew members get that far. They get good food so that they may serve me well. If they fail too many times I knock there asses right back down." "Then serving everyone else poor food defeats your logic." "How? The good truly good ones will excel regardless of food, lodgings or whatever they receive." "If you feed and house them properly they will all work better regardless." Cooler face turned into a frown. "That may be true but in the end only those worthy of such luxuries will receive them. Or if they are truly worthy will take them by whatever means. For everyone else it's a waste of money and resources." And with that Cooler once again turned to the "view screen" as he had come to call it and watch his doppler knead some bread.

"…and we add a few shakes of salt… There!" Cooler took a few steps back and admired his handiwork. They said that he couldn't make food for everyone by himself and true, until 11 pm he had the normal food staff to assist him. But he dismissed them so they could get some sleep. It was now 4 am and Cooler had been going mostly on a delicious red striped candy. "Tomorrow the crew will eat as they should. They shall finally enjoy some decent food. Instead of that weird shit the bastard who used to run this place fed them." The irony of the statement was not lost on Cooler. During the periods which he had stuff cooking and nothing else to do he read up on the rules and policies. Many of them were unnecessarily strict and overall very draconian. He had also read of what he was like before the accident. He couldn't believe what he had readabout hwo he treated the crew. (Or how short and skinny hehad look)When hadRemora came for him at about one he asked him if he reallyhad beenlike that. After he said yes he worked double time to get the food ready ignoring Remora's attempts to make him go to bed. (Though he really needed to go to bed he had to make food. His friend was serious however. He returned a half-hour later with a bunch of big, tough looking men, but he had chased them off with a loaf of bread and a frozen mammal. They probably thought he was crazy but at least they haven't bothered him since.) Now that the massive meal was finished his thoughts turned of what to do as far as sleep for that night. He didn't know the way to his own bedroom so he was in a fix. "I know!" he spoke aloud to himself "Ill just use good old American know-how." He stopped for a second. "Wait, what's an American?" He thought it over while he made himself a place to sleep. He ran to the apron rack and took as many as he could. He cleared himself a space to sleep on part of a long bar. He used the aprons to create an improvised bed with a two-layer "mattress"; several aprons rolled up tightly became pillows while his apron and another big one became his sheet. He quickly drifted off and hoped to dream of a little elf guy with a sword running around grabbing little triangles. He giggled at the thought of it as he conked out.

"Hey where's my elf?" Cooler said as he walked through the halls of the ship. An unknown but sickening scent entered his nostrils. "God that stinks." He muttered as he went to the source of the smell in hopes of cleaning it up. He rounded the corner and saw the first of many things that would be etched in his mind for a long, long time. He saw in the hall bodies so fresh there life blood still leaked of them. And he looked further down the hall and saw arcs of lightning He ran towards the lighting and tried to find its source ignoring as best he could the pain of it until he reached its origin. "It's an engine core." He moaned aloud as his body flooded with lightning. Then he saw the core begin to split open with a deathly light. Fortune smiled on Cooler though. It only hurt for the first half-second as the explosion burned away his skin and nerves.

To Danrilor and Raven 151: Thank you for reviewing. I expected my chances of getting a review so quick were equal to being hit by a piece of a passing 747. Now I hope my chances are equal to winning the lottery so I can pay the medical bills.

See you next chapter.