“Okay.” Nina gathered a handful of the cubes and sat on the floor across from him. She began showing him cubes, and Reddix named the foods contained and explained what each one was with remarkable patience. Still, Nina knew he was hungry, and she was getting really ravenous herself—it had been a long, crazy time since the chocolate milk shake she’d had for lunch. She was just about to give up and try one of the alien meals—as long as it didn’t contain worms—when Reddix looked at one of the cubes she was holding and said,
“Hamburger and French fries.”
“What?” Nina looked at the tiny cube. “Are you sure?”
He shrugged. “That’s what it says. Is that an Earth food?”
“Better than that—it’s junk food. Comfort food.” And I could use a little comfort right now. Nina jumped up excitedly and put the rest of the cubes back. “Okay, how do I cook them? Do we need to boil some water or what?”
Reddix shook his head. “Just put them in the rehydrator—that machine up there.” He nodded to the thing Nina had taken for a very large microwave. “Press the button, wait for the tone, and then take it out. Be careful though—it’s going to be hot.”
“Got it.” Nina frowned. “But…don’t I need a plate?”
“Everything you need is contained in the cube—even utensils.” He frowned. “Except something to drink. Why don’t you search for a bottle of something in the cabinets while you rehydrate the first one?”
Nina didn’t think she’d seen anything but the meal cubes, but she put the first cube—the Pshaolin pie—in the rehydrator and began looking again anyway. After a moment, she came up with some little green glass bottles that had been stacked behind the cubes.
“Well, I found…something.” Nina held them up doubtfully. They were tiny—not even as big as the bottles of liquor you got on an airplane. But Reddix nodded approvingly.
“Perfect. But one should be enough—you can put the rest back.”
“So this goes in the rehydrator too?” Nina asked looking at the little thumb-sized bottle in her hand. It looked like a bottle of champagne for a Barbie doll to celebrate with.
“Exactly. But wait until after the food is done—you don’t want the flavors to mix.”
“All right.” Just then the rehydrator dinged, and Nina opened the door to release a cloud of delicious steam.
“Mmm.” Reddix’s stomach rumbled again. “Smells just like the kind my mother makes.”
“Okay…” Nina said, unable to keep the uncertainty out of her voice. The little cube had somehow unfolded, and now it was a large portion of food sitting on what looked like a square white paper plate. There was a black thing like a spork sitting beside it, but it was the food itself that held her attention. Reddix had said it was a layered dish, and it certainly did have a lot of layers—fifteen or so from what she could see. It smelled spicy and exotic, but it looked like…
“It looks like blue lasagna,” she said as she pulled the plate out of the rehydrator. “With green and purple layers and red cheese.”
“It looks exactly like Pshaolin pie is supposed to look,” Reddix rumbled approvingly.
“Well, I’m glad you like it. It smells good,” Nina said. How it tasted would be a different matter, but Reddix seemed happy enough with it. She shrugged as she put the second cube in the rehydrator. In another minute or so, there was a ding, and she was rewarded with a juicy looking hamburger complete with ripe red tomato, crisp green lettuce and a slice of pickle. Beside the hamburger was a heaping serving of crispy brown fries sprinkled liberally with salt. There were no eating utensils—apparently whoever had packed the meal knew it was finger food—but there were several packets of mustard and ketchup on the side, much to Nina’s delight.
“Is it how you like it?” Reddix was looking at her quizzically again. “You’re smiling so…”
“Oh, yes.” Nina nodded. “I know it’s silly to get all excited about dinner, but I’m so hungry, and it’s been ages since I let myself have this kind of food. I always get Meehoo Jimmy her favorite burger, but I usually get a salad for myself.”
He frowned. “Why?”
“Well, because. This stuff—” She gestured to the hamburger and fries. “—isn’t exactly health food. It’s really fattening, and it always goes straight to my hips and butt.”
“What’s wrong with that?” Nina was standing sideways to him, and to her discomfort, she saw that the big Kindred was eyeing her too large hips and ass with some interest.