The water was cool and warm on Morty’s skin all at the same time. His room was ten times the size of his old place with a couch, a huge bed, and even an entertainment center with games he could play. The bathroom itself was even bigger then his old quarters and he took the longest shower he’d ever taken in his life as though the water could magically wash away 60 years of bodily damage.
Opening his closet, he found a whole room with racks of clothes he could wear. He was overwhelmed. He chose a yellow jumpsuit with black vertical stripes not too dissimilar from his work clothes, but it was comfortable and felt familiar in this splendid but strange place. He looked at the clock on the wall, 19:45. He walked outside to find some others coming out of their rooms as well. A woman came out of the room next to his and asked him, “Don’t suppose you remember how to get back do you?”
He laughed, “I think I remember the way. Follow me.”
“Oh thank you.” She took his arm and walked with him. “Mine name’s Patty, what’s yours?”
“Morty.”
“Pleased to meet you Morty.” Patty was a shorter woman with very few teeth and a body resembling that of a pumpkin. She wasn’t attractive by any scale, but she had a sparkle in her eye. It was those tiny details that Morty had come to notice and appreciate in his old age.
“Pleased to meet you too, Patty.”
They walked to the front desk as others were funneling in. Sophie appeared and began to speak. “I think we’re all here. I’ll just do a roll call really quick to make sure.” She shouted out people’s names and they responded with, “here” or “aye” and raised their hand. “Okay then, everyone’s accounted for. Look around you folks. These are your birthmates. You’ll be spending the next month or so together helping each other recover and transition into your new lives. Many birthmates go on to be life long friends, and even lovers. Tonight, we’re going to get to know each other better over a little grub. Follow me please.” They walked down the hall to a large reception room with tables. “Take a seat wherever you like.”
The tables were adorned with nice table cloths, napkins, beautifully crafted utensils and place settings. There were candles and carnations in each table center. Everyone “oohed” and “aahed” as they sat themselves. Patty sat next to Morty and others sat around them at the circular 5 person table.
“In front of you, you’ll find menus. That’s right, you can choose whatever food you want. And don’t worry about protein intake, nutrient balancing, or calorie counting, you won’t have these bodies for too much longer so feel free to indulge in whatever you desire. Granted don’t make yourselves sick though.” Everyone chuckled. “The servo will be with you shortly.”
Morty perused the menu and didn’t recognize some of the things on it. “Filet Mignon? What the hell is that?”
“It’s a chicken filet I think,” said a man at the table behind him. “I worked at the foreign embassy and I know mignon is French for chicken.”
“Well why don’t they just write it in English?”
“Supposed to make it classy I guess.”
Morty humphed.
He saw a menu option that said Parmesan Salmon. He loved salmon and had parmesan a few times, so he decided to get that. “What are you getting?” he asked Patty.
“I don’t know. I was thinking the chocolate brownie sundae. Do you think that would be okay?”
“I don’t see why not, she said get what you want.”
“Oh this is going to be wonderful. I had a brownie a couple times many years ago when a neighbor who was a baker made some for me. Oh, they were so good.”
Sophie must’ve overheard the comment because she stood up and said, “Order what you want, but there will be a few courses. If you think you can eat it all, I recommend ordering one thing from the appetizers, one thing from the entrees, and one thing from the dessert menu.”
“One of each?” a man yelled out flabbergasted.
“Of course.”
The room was in delightful shock and they returned to their menus to look everything over more carefully. A few minutes later, a robotic cart with a screen on top began rolling from table to table. When it arrived to Morty, it said, “Please swipe your card if you are ready to order.” Morty did so and the menu popped up on the screen. “Please select the items you would like to order and press ‘Confirm’.” He chose the spinach artichoke dip, the parmesan salmon, and had agreed to split a brownie sundae with Patty. After pushing confirm, the computer said, “Thank you,” and rolled on to the next person.
As the night progressed, Morty talked with everyone at the table and other tables and found that they were all from quite different professions; everything from sewage treatment to financial management. Bob was a big man who worked in construction. Joe had been an engineer for automatic laundry servos. Patty was an analyst for the Productivity Center. Felicia worked in the law enforcement field as an exosuit operator, and later became an engineer for maintenance of the suits. They were all from different parts of the city.
“Hey, do you think there are more processing places like this around the world?” asked Bob.
“There’d have to be,” Felicia said. “They can’t all go through here, besides, we’re all from the same place. They’re probably localized.”
“There’s so much I don’t know about the world,” said Morty.
“I know, it’ll be amazing to see everything,” said Patty.
“But what if we get bored?” asked Joe, who had until then been rather quiet.
“What do you mean?” asked Patty.
“Well, I mean, we can have anything we want. What is there to work towards now?”
“Heh, engineers,” said Bob. “Always gotta have a problem to solve huh?”
“I’m sure they’ll accommodate you somehow,” said Patty.
“Yeah, I’ve actually heard of scientists who enjoy their work so much that they continue to do it even when they become One-Twos.”
“Really?”
Morty nodded. Joe seemed satisfied with this answer and eased up a little bit. Their appetizers had already come and everyone was sharing and enjoying foods most of them had never tasted.
