text: Most of their chatter was meaningless to me—stories of day-to-day activities, how so-and-so had been seen in so-and-so's table at lunch and my wasn't that a surprise, and why hadn't the chef concocted this delectable a selection of appetizers for the dance the other night, but of course those rolled meat pastries reminded one of the pastries back on Earth, didn't they, and this was somehow an interesting fact.