Sustenance Depot

 

Jal put her food-cred card in the front slot of the small grey box sitting outside the Sustenance Depot. It was a half block from her place of work, an insignificant factory where they 3d printed various high tensile strength parts. A moment later a door to the depot opened and a voice ushered her inside.

The room was long and narrow, mirroring the others beside it with their own doors. Along the length were shelves packed tightly with various foodstuffs. In front of each of them was a light, colour coded and numbered to indicate the approximate price. Green for basic fruit or vegetable, blue for exotic plant, yellow for basic protein, orange for premium and so on. Jal was hungry and felt like splurging, so she grabbed a three light orange dish – locking out the other protein choices. A small moment of calculation and the blue lights turned off as did some of the multi light green dishes. Weighing her remaining options, she settled for a two light pile of nutritious looking leaves.

She wasn’t quite sure what they were and it really didn’t matter. Food was food and as far as she knew she didn’t dislike anything. A few white and tan lights at the far end of the room lit up – indicating sauces and drinks that would compliment her choices so far. A small chime indicated she had used half of her decision time. She glanced back but didn’t see anyone else through the one way glass outside. It seemed unlikely the place would shut down early then, but apparently it didn’t want you to relax either. ‘Maybe they want to keep us thinking quickly’ she pondered.

Wasting no further time she strode quickly to the final section and placed her food boxes in the areas for the sauce. She picked the Zest sauce in a light amount and Refreshing label drink. With the final choices out of the way, the remaining shelf lights turned off and the exit door lit up.

She had to use her food-cred card again to exit – apparently they wanted to make sure she didn’t leave it behind. She found a comfortable bench in the sunlight and sat down. Folding the outer flaps of the boxes she broke off some reasonably functional cutlery.

The unnamed protein was moist and richly flavoured. The white speckled sauce was a bit weak comparatively though it was still a good pairing. The leaves were plain but still edible – the sauce doing extra work here. The drink was refreshing as labelled except the aftertaste was unusual.

She stood up quickly after the meal and returned the boxes and cutlery to the Sustenance Depot back entrance. A voice reminded her to insert her food-cred card, they were running a small promotion to reward those who recycled the boxes quickly.

Jal smiled and headed back to work, her mind already puzzling over the next design to print.