The smoke poured from the melted lump of what was once a stew. The processed food had congealed in to a mass that was now burning and filling the small room with smoke.

“Damn, cursed stove.” Drael cursed at it.

Amn stuck his head through the door. “ Trouble with the stove, or are you just trying to poison us all? Are you tired of us already?”

“If you don’t get out of my kitchen I’m going to throw this at you. And it’s not me that’s trying to kill us all, it’s those food suppliers. They should all be thrown off Usalia Valley’s highest cliff, to fall into space.”

“Oh, we’re in a fine mood aren’t we?”

Amn just managed to duck out of the doorway as the mass, pot and all, was chucked at him. The whole congealed mass collided with the far wall and large globs of the contents rolled either way up and down the hall. He stuck his head in once more, and offered up a cheeky smile. Drael just grimaced, oh great, more stuff to clean. She shook her head and went for the mop. By the time she finished that, she had less than one block left to fix up another meal before the men stormed the mess.

She put the dishes from the counters into a square machine in the corner, set the wash cycle, and then turned to the machine beside it. After switching it off, she trudged over to the computer unit in the far wall. She pulled out the screen and opened it up, pulling at the four sides till the digital screen was the right size. Then started it by running her finger along the bottom bar, setting the signal between the base in the wall and the screen. Leaving the screen to float there momentarily Drael reached for the audio piece. She hooked it behind her ear and gave her commands to the computer.

“Computer, punch signal through to Head Miner Reed. Base sector v25, computer unit anta540.”

“Signaling…. Head Miner Reed, base v25, CUanta540, you have a signal.”

Head Miner Reed’s head appeared on screen. His hair was rumpled, as if he’d been running his hands through it. She was sympathetic towards his situation. The expedition was almost over and, thanks to equipment failures and a nasty digestive virus that had left them short handed, they weren’t where they needed to be.

“More equipment problems sir?”

“There being handled, you needed something?”

“Yei sir, that revolting issue food they gave to us is breaking down. I can barely get it from storage to a pan. What should I do?”

“There might be some real food left in my store. Take a look. I think there’s enough to get us back.”

“Sir?”

“ Those problems you asked about aren’t equipment, their Operation Command. I just got the orders, we’re next out. Tomorrow we head for the surface.”

“Yei sir. Thank you for your advice.”

The computer blinked off. Drael contracted the screen again and placed it back in the wall, along with the earpiece. Smiling to herself, she headed fro the door that lead down to the stores.

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A/N: Ah... the fresh smell of a new story. This one is a branching off for me. I'm not normally good a Science Fiction. We'll see how it goes.