The Power of Ten Book Four: Dynamo

“Okay, we convinced the eldest Acanti mother in the universe to donate the milk. Don’t forget it. You know after the last time that You’re going to need it.

“The tomatoes are from Elysium. We had to hand-pick them, time-freeze them, then swirl them through the infusing matrix as we were making the sauce.

“The spices came from sixteen different divine or demonic realms. It took six months just to gather them up, and, uh, we had to steal some of them. There might be a few gods of cooking or kitchen demons a little mad at us, but it was all for a good cause...

“The wheat for the flour was from Asgard. Runefather Thor personally watched the fields of it grow for a year and a day before it was harvested. They are the same fields used to provide that beer you just finished.”

He stared at the great empty flagon in His hand. It had been like drinking a year of sunlight with every sip! From the Infinite Slopes...

“The meat is from Dremellian Dreamfish, fed only on visions of gourmet meals and splendid feasts. Clea Strange of the Dark Dimension took them on as a special project for you.

“The oil it was roasted in came from pressed corn from Quetzalcoatl’s domain, fed on pure divine sunlight and rainbows...

“The beans are from Kukulcan’s personal fields, fed by the hearts of volcanoes...

“The peppers are from Shennong’s private collection, and can only be harvested once a century...

“The primary use of the outer shell was the powder for the sauce. We had to mix and infuse it over the course of the month to keep everything stable. The ambergris of an Acanti elder served as the absorption agent, while we had to use the ink of a void kraken as the moderating influence on the energies...

“The yolk from the Celestial Seed was divided into its four consistencies and spread among the sauce, bread, meat, and vegetables as was appropriate...”

The subject of the words being related was seated at an extremely large table. He was over a hundred feet tall at the moment, considerably larger than normal, but the serving size of what was coming required a taller form.

Four human women approached him flying, bearing a massive plate of tempered bone from the headplate of a Negative Zone behemoth, artfully carved down to the molecular level with Runes and Symbols from His own ancient homeworld, lost when the previous Cosmos was destroyed and then reborn as this one. Memories of a mortal life left behind long ago swam up unbidden just laying His eyes upon that oversized plate.

The vibrations of Celestial life energy radiating from the glittering, glowing food upon that plate had Him staring in absolute awe and shock, all His senses exulting at so many levels at what he was Seeing, Smelling, and Sensing in so many ways.

Two more women approached, great ewers held by each of them. The potency and intensity of energies within it had Him doing something He had never done since before His rebirth in this new Cosmos.

Galactus the World-Eater drooled, like little stars falling from His lips.

The two Sauces were poured over that plate, like a crystalline waterfall and a golden-red firefall of rubies. His face, which was made up of trans-cosmic energy, somehow managed to flush brightly as He watched the streams cross and mix and accent a plateful of Food gods would have fought wars just to sample. He slowed His personal time down to a thousandth of the normal speed just to enjoy the sight and sparkling and waves of sparking and excited energy playing about the falling Sauces all the more.

At last it was all down and out there on that plate. Galactus clutched titanic dinnerware made of adamant and uru, staring at the plate as all the cooks lined up opposite Him, bowing to Him.

“The Combicha Celestia is ready to eat. You have ten minutes, and drink ALL the milk when you are done!” Chef Julia told Him.

The tuns of milk were infused with the energy and power of a Celestial Seed, just like the Combicha, so there was no way He was not drinking them all. Even He had no idea how they’d done all this.

He only knew He was going to finally eat a good, actual sit-down meal, and enjoy Himself as He had not been able to do for literally billions of years!

A fleeing moment, an instant, and yet, He knew He would never forget it for the rest of His existence. Galactus the World-Eater could do His duty... seated at a fine table, using cutlery, served by attentive cooks and servers, in a welcome atmosphere.

He had not requested this, and had only contributed a very young Celestial Seed to the meal, wondering what they would make of it. He had eaten Combicha at Ten just to disprove their claims that He would indeed be able to experience it, and if there had not indeed been milk there to drink, He would have suffered from great heartburn for... who knew how long.

But this... He could not even begin to thank them, and yet they had asked for no favors from Him for this.

Perhaps a single tear, glittering like a falling galaxy, fell from an eye renowned for how cold and harsh it could be as its owner destroyed living worlds.

Galactus lifted the oversized knife and fork, and with perfect control, yet the hesitation of being long out of practice, He began to dine.