“We’ve always done it, more or less. Being among nature has physiological benefits for most species, but Tekeri in particular. I read an article on it.” The shopkeeper beamed proudly.

“Yes, it's real grass. We’ve bred species that grow in mats for easy application to surfaces. They even have their own covered irrigation system, to stop water floating away.” The Tekeri floated to a mat about one metre by half a metre that was hanging from a hook near the ceiling. She levered it gently free, then returned with it in her hands.

“For you. It is to wipe your feet on when you step inside your ship, but can grow to cover the whole floor. Consider it a gift.”

-
 
The elder QV introduced Light to her daughter, who was also called Resplendent-In-Divine-Apostasy. It was a thoroughly awkward experience, as the younger female was actually very attractive and for some reason seemed ready to court him. But she was less than half Light’s maturity. It was absurd to even speculate as to what a potential courtship between the two of them would look like. He was reaching the end of his sexually productive lifecycle, while she was just entering hers. Light quickly steered the conversation back towards buying some gel, saying he was already late for another appointment.

Gel suits and vehicles were a huge business for the QV, and this gel shop had a [i]lot[/i] of different varieties of gel. Extra rugged gel, body obfuscating gel, vacuum-resistant gel, poison-skinned gel, gel for other species, gel that shot shards of dried gel like darts, the list was endless. He even spotted a gel technical waiting in front of a corrugated loading door. A large rectangular gel frame with a Human heavy laser repeater fixed to the top. 

The old QV shopkeeper had a particularly rambly sales pitch where she went into far too much detail and didn’t ask any questions about what Light actually wanted. So in the end he sort of tuned her out and just examined the small flashing plaques with each suit’s product specifications. After about five minutes of this he realised how much time it would take to read them all and grew exasperated. He turned to the elder who was still mumbling on and interrupted her.

“I just need something cheap, that can survive a vacuum for about five minutes and has enhanced respiratory efficiency. Got anything like that?”

“Why, yes! You should have said. Come with me.”