 Why doesn't the narrator care about having eaten in the past day and a half?
I came alongside and carefully started to lever the old man loose, one finger at a time. All my great-grandfathers have it. I told the human no, thanks, and walked Doc toward the flophouse three doors down. It had happened a few times right after I first found him, but now it was worse. You don't have any quarter, not if I say so. They told everything I needed to know to become the most powerful man in the Solar Federation. I remembered that he was somebody very important whose name and work I had once known, even if now I knew him only as Doc.
 He is preoccupied by his stronger need for coffee
 He does not actually need to eat to survive  He is an evolved human who does not actually need to eat to survive  Water is more important than food, so he needs to find that first  He is preoccupied by his stronger need for coffee