Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 130317 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130317 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
“Looks like you’re set for breakfast,” Mia remarked. “Let’s see what I get.”
She pressed the button on the side of her tube and after a moment, a handful of small, wrinkled vegetables that bore a strong resemblance to bright blue brussel sprouts came tumbling out. These were followed by a one-inch cube of meat that seemed to be the same kind as the huge ham steak thing that Sev had received.
“Hey! Is that seriously all?” Mia demanded, pressing the button on the side of her tube again in irritation. But no matter how much she pressed it, nothing else came out. “What the hell is wrong with this thing?” she muttered. “I can’t live on a handful of blue brussel sprouts and a single ham cube!”
“Can I see?” Sev came to stand beside her and leaned down to look at the touch screen where Brother Jonash had programmed the tubes the night before. “Ah—I think I see the problem,” he said after a moment.
“What? Is the damn thing broken?” Mia demanded.
Sev shook his head.
“No—it’s just that you’re tube has been set to ‘extreme weight loss’ mode. Those fuckers,” he added in a growl.
“What?” Mia yelped. “Jonash must have done it—that asshole!”
She leaned down to look at the touch screen and sure enough—her tube was definitely set to diet mode. What the hell did Brother Jonash expect her to live on? Air sandwiches?
She punched at the screen for a minute, but it didn’t change a bit.
“Let me try?” Sev asked. “Remember, Jonash set it so it won’t let a female reprogram it.”
“That’s right, he did—the bastard!” Still fuming, Mia took a step back and watched as her partner pressed his thumbprint to the touch-screen.
There was a soft beep and a mechanical voice said,
“Presence of Y chromosome detected. You may change settings at will.”
The misogyny of not even being able to program the food tube because she was a woman was almost too much to stand for Mia, but at last Sev got it reprogrammed.
“There.” He stepped back, dusting his hands together. “I set it so you’ll get as much food as I do now.”
“Sev!” Mia protested. “I need more than a cube of ham to live but I can’t eat as much as you! You’re a giant warrior and I’m a short, curvy woman.”
He shrugged.
“So we’ll put the leftovers in the cool unit to stay fresh. In the meantime, let’s see if we can figure out this heating unit together so we can make some breakfast.”
After several attempts, they got the heating unit—or stove as Mia would have called it—going. Sev fried up the ham and eggs—which had blue yolks as well as blue shells—while Mia cut up the multicolored bananas and got out some plates.
She looked for any kind of coffee or caffeine brew to serve and she did find a small machine that looked like it could be a kind of coffee maker, but she couldn’t find any kind of coffee beans to go in it. After more searching, she found what seemed to be loose tea leaves in a tin and got a pot of hot water boiling to steep them in.
But there was something else she wanted to drink. Keeping a wary eye on Sev—who had his back to her, cooking at the stove—she tapped the cabinet and called softly for a Crème glass.
She had been expecting another golden shot glass so she was surprised to see a tall, insulated cup instead—the kind that keeps iced coffee and smoothies cool for hours.
Mia put the large, insulated cup—which was a nice bronze color—under the middle tube and pressed the button. This time what came out wasn’t the pale purple cream—it was a dark pink concoction that seemed to have a half-frozen consistency.
When Mia brought it to her nose and sniffed, she didn’t smell candied violets and nutmeg. Instead a bright, citrus aroma greeted her nose, making her feel tingly and alive all over. It reminded her a little of her favorite pink grapefruit smoothie from Jamba Juice.
Bringing it to her lips, Mia took a sip. Mmm—it was even better than her favorite smoothie, she decided. The taste was stronger and a bit more floral but still bright enough to wake up all her taste buds. She wondered if the dark pink smoothie had some kind of caffeine in it—it certainly seemed to perk her up as she sipped it.
Before she knew it, half the glass was gone. She was about to drink the other half when Sev came to the small dining table set in a corner of the kitchen with two steaming plates in his hands.
“What’s that?” he asked sharply, nodding at the cup, which Mia had raised to her lips.
“Some kind of smoothie—it’s delicious.” She took another long sip and showed him. “See?”
“Uh-huh. And where did you get it?” he demanded.