Chapter 35
Ryker
The shorter man reached the sink and delved into a compartment on the side, pulling out a fancy-looking toothbrush with a silver swirl of paste affixed to its tip. He then responded, “The pleasure is all mine. We met your friend Amy after we woke up, and she told us your name. My name's Luke, and this ray of sunshine is Jeremiah.”
I gave the two of them a friendly nod and addressed Jeremiah directly, “Jeremiah, what you did at the tank was really brave. It took a lot of guts to volunteer to go first like that.”
The ghoulish-looking man peered at me through the strands of hair in his face and curtly responded, “Thanks, I just didn't want to watch anyone else die.”
After that exchange, I wasn't feeling chatty anymore and went back to finishing my shower. Once I felt sufficiently clean, I looked around the room for a towel and must have grabbed Luke's attention. He pointed at my belt and said, “If you're looking for a towel, you won't need it. I did the same thing, and it turns out your suit will take care of it as soon as you will it back on you.”
I thanked Luke for the unsolicited but welcomed advice and mentally commanded the suit to cover me again. As the fabric flowed out of the belt, a wave of steam could be seen trailing the suit's advance around my body. As soon as the material clung to a part of my body, the water was flash-boiled off me without causing any sensation of heat or discomfort.
I made my way to the sink and, following Luke's example, reached into the compartment and felt a toothbrush fall into my hand. As I pulled it out and up to my face, I took note of the strange paste on the end and thought to Ruby, “Hey Ruby, can you tell me what this is?”
A teleportation animation faded into existence on the sink, and Ruby appeared in a Trekkie-style blue uniform and said, “Like most things that you will encounter in this simulation, the paste is predominantly made of nanotech that is tailor-made and programmed to optimally clean your mouth and upper airways. Use it as you would any other earthly toothpaste, and it'll do the brunt of the work for you.”
After providing the answer, she tapped a familiar-looking communication badge on her chest and said, “Beam me up, Red!” After giving the command, Red’s voice came through the device yelling, "I'm givin' her all she's got, Captain!" then Ruby was beamed away.
I initiated my customary eye roll and finished brushing my teeth with no further fanfare. I glanced up at the corner of my vision and thought how nice it would be if a clock were there; then Ruby's face appeared there and gave me a wink and poofed away. In her wake was a digital semi-transparent clock that, when I focused on it, the numbers became clearer to read. It read 04:27.
As the clock rolled over to 04:30, a notification appeared.
----------------------------------------
*NOTIFICATION*
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
0430-0500 Nutritional intake
Proceed to the courtyard for your meal.
----------------------------------------
Red made herself known by yelling in her drill sergeant voice across an old-school intercom speaker that I didn't remember seeing in the corner of the room. “Now that you worthless turds are all cleaned up, double time it to the mess, or you will learn how to go without! MOVE MOVE MOVE!”
I was having a hard time reconciling the difference in Red's behavior from moment to moment as I ran alongside Luke and Jeremiah. Luke called out from behind me, “Where in the hell is the mess?” I turned my head slightly and said, “I think it will be outside in the courtyard.”
Luke gave me a nod of acknowledgment, and we finished our run outside. Predictably our feet were covered by our suits before they hit the ground outside the dojo. When we reached the courtyard, Amy was standing there with her arms crossed, waiting for us. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and cockily asked, “What took you girls so long?”
Luke was fast to clap back with a response. “Well, after we got done brushing each other's hair, we took the time to share our deepest fears and what we wanted to be when we grew up. Sorry to keep you waiting, Lamy.”
Amy let out an irritated huff and said, “Whatever… where is the food?”
As we looked around at the clearing, four petastools rose from out of the cobbled ground, and a 711 big gulp rested atop each. Inside the plastic containers was not the expected colorful slurry, but a colorless liquid with meatly-looking chunks. I wasn't sure how to broach the subject, but I let out a hesitant question regardless. “Red, is this the food we are supposed to…uhh, drink?”
No response came from up on high, and I guess that was as definitive an answer as I could have gotten. We all four approached our pedestals and took up our big gulps. I decided this time I would be the brave one and put the questionable-looking straw to my lips and gave it a go. As soon as the drink hit my tongue, I felt as if I had died and gone straight to heaven. It was as if a hundred different delicious explosions of taste went off in my mouth, and I made it my mission to drink every ounce of the fluid.
After the others saw my enthusiastic response, they all tucked into their own cups and let out similar sounds of pleasure. Within minutes, we all had demolished our beverages and were splayed out on the ground in a semicircle just reveling in the pure bliss we had all experienced together.
As I lay there trying to recover, I thought a question to Ruby, “Hey Ruby, will we be able to have food this good every day? Because that stuff was amazing.”
A moment later, Ruby was floating above me in my vision and gave me a happy nod. “Yes, of course, Ryker. The empire was able to procure more than enough to sustain the remainder of humanity till we arrived at the Galactic center.”
After getting that bit of good news, I felt my spirits rise and I said, “That's great to hear, Ruby! Is it some kind of super alien space vegetable or what? Must be pretty prolific to have enough for ALL of humanity.”
Ruby gave me a confused tilt of her head and scrunched up her brows before answering, “It actually all came from your planet. It is the perfect blend of your local vegetation, minerals, and proteins that were harvested during the initial culling.”
I nodded as she spoke but froze when I ran over her words… “harvested during the initial culling.”.....no surely she doesn't mean…nah no way.
I calmly asked the burning question. “What do you mean, the initial culling?”
Ruby gave me a pitying look then whispered, “You know what I meant, Ryker… That drink was mostly….human.”
I rolled over and began throwing up.