Her Celestial Farm on the Scrapyard Planet novel Chapter 48

Chapter 48 Treasure in the Trash

+5 Pearls

The kid eyed her suspiciously, but an extra pair of hands was an extra pair of hands. He nodded.

And so, in a corner of Centria Planet’s freight terminal, a plainly dressed young woman and a ragged little boy dug through garbage together.

Elizabeth’s sharp senses quickly turned up several valuable metal scraps and intact components for the kid, who was over the moon.

As for Elizabeth herself, she treated every find like buried gold: a rotting apple core still studded with seeds, a handful of black watermelon seeds that had fallen from some unknown melon, and a few shriveled pits she couldn’t identify. All of it went carefully into her collection.

To her, this was worth more than stellar coins. This was hope.

In just half an hour, her haul was impressive.

But the ship’s departure was approaching, and she had to stop.

The kid looked at the neat pile of recyclables she’d helped him find and warmed to her instantly. “Thanks for helping me, lady! If I find any more rotten fruit or vegetable scraps, I’ll save them for you!”

Elizabeth’s eyes lit up.

A steady seed supply line.

She jumped on it immediately. “That’d be amazing! Tell you what–from now on, any natural food waste you find, like fruit cores, rotten fruit, bad tubers, anything–I’ll buy them from you. Deal?”

The kid stared, looking her up and down like she’d lost her mind. “Pay money… for garbage nobody wants? Lady, are you… are you serious?”

“Dead serious. You can use the botanical encyclopedia as a reference for what to collect. One variety per shipment, send it to me, and I’ll pay you 100 stellar coins. Cash on delivery–you won’t pay a coin for shipping.”

The botanical encyclopedia was an interstellar reference guide to edible plants, mainly designed to keep people from eating things they shouldn’t.

“A… a hundred stellar coins?” The kid’s eyes went saucer–wide. “You mean it?”

“If you don’t believe me, I’ll pay you 100 stellar coins right now as a deposit.”

“Deal!”

At 3 p.m. sharp, the recycling transport ship belonging to the Kingdom Universal Resource Regeneration Corporation lifted off from Centria Planet’s spaceport. Its massive hull climbed through the clouds, engines thrumming, bound for the distant reaches of Garbage Planet A001.

9:38 am Pppp

Chapter 48 Treasure in the Trash

45 Pearls

Elizabeth sat by the observation window, watching the glittering capital shrink below her with a calm gaze.

She tallied up her gains–stellar coins from the potato sales, supplies purchased, and those unexpected seeds brimming with possibility.

She felt nothing about leaving.

Down in the spaceport control tower, the supervisors watched the ship’s tail flame recede. Their faces were a mix of confusion and disbelief.

Supervisor A stroked his chin. “Seriously, what is Ms. Schofield thinking? She’s legally General Hewitt’s spouse! She could stay on Centria, live in luxury, and bask in everyone’s admiration. Why go back to that nowhere, Garbage Planet A001?”

Supervisor B shrugged. “Maybe… she’s gotten attached to the place? Or there’s something she can’t leave behind?”

Even he didn’t buy his own theory.

Supervisor A rolled his eyes. “Attached–to a planet where clean water is a luxury, and the air smells like rot? She’d have to be insane. This Ms. Schofield operates on a completely different wavelength.”

He recalled the way she’d haggled over transport fees and practically strong–armed them into giving her a ride. He shook his head. “Bizarre. Absolutely bizarre.”

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