The Coming Thing

Now I don’t like admitting this to a lot of people, but I kind of know my way around a kitchen. I mean, I’m not as learned as some of your fancy French gourmet chefs, but I know a spatula from a... a... well something else that you can find in the kitchen and that starts with “sp”. What? Spoon? Spoon’s too easy.

Anyway, like I said, I can cook. I mean, I’ve been around a few chuck wagons in my day, so I know how hard it is to keep a lot of people fed. The absolute hardest thing is figuring out how to lug your supplies around. Feeding a bunch of hungry men is awfully tough, and heaven help you if you got some picky eaters in your party. It’ll always be some combination of salt beef, beans, and biscuits. Oh, and coffee. At the very least, you have to have coffee.

Hold on; I got a point here. Truth is, I’m grateful for these food replicators. Sure, if you try to use them too much they’ll pop out something that could be inedible and sure, if you’re aiming for whiskey it might come out with cooking sherry instead. But I’m satisfied with the convenience of it. Sometimes I think I got a knack for getting what I want out of it. It’s the same with people. You have to treat them with respect, or else they’ll come after you with pitchforks and shotguns.

Food replicators are an amazing example of the Coming Thing. If working properly, they allow you to spend less time on figuring out how to make what you want to eat and more time just eating. Hmmm, I can sorta imagine this backfiring on some sorts of folks. Like with any other machine of convenience, we have to be careful not to rely on it too much. I can imagine it having nasty consequences.

I’d be happy if it made a decent cup of coffee, though. I could get better sludge at the back of a chuck wagon to Fresno. Just what the heck is a “frappucino” anyway?

Upon arrival to the Proserpina I encountered a young man - though later I found out he's not as young as he looks - named Ozzie Isaacs. Having been stuck in the same room with him for 24 hours, we exchanged pleasantries, and I discovered that Ozzie's from what I'd call "the future".

He described all manner of technological advances, from rejuvenation treatments to something akin to the experimental moving pictures I'd heard were being exhibited in Paris. Television is like moving pictures on a broader scale, casting the images and sound out to a world-wide audience. Dramas on television are popular, carrying on with the theatrical traditions which are already thousands of years old.

Apparently that technology has advanced so much by Ozzie's time that a person's able to fully immerse themselves into a created, projected space. He calls those things sensor vids. Despite all this futuristic alchemy, however, Ozzie assures me that humans are still humans. He didn't seem much altered from any contemporary of mine, so I'll have to take him at his word.