Delivered by the Defender (Kindred Tales)

“Now then…” The Emperor sounded more disgruntled than ever—he was probably getting hangry, just like Valen had been when she’d first met him, Selena speculated. God, had that only been several hours ago? How had they connected so quickly? It just seemed like they were meant to be…

She put a lid on that kind of thinking quickly, reminding herself that she only had a business arrangement with the big Kindred—and a temporary one at that. Before she could think much more about it, the Emperor called again for the banquet to begin.

“You—servant! Come here!” Empress the Third called over to one of the black and gold liveried servants. The man came over and bowed stiffly, presenting his ear so that she could talk to him confidentially. As she did, Selena couldn’t help noticing that the third Empress was looking to her right a lot and staring directly at her.

Is she talking about me? she wondered uneasily. What is she saying?

She had no idea but after a moment the servant nodded stiffly and left, apparently to carry out whatever instructions Empress the Third had given him.

“Ah—at last!” the Emperor roared, as rows of servants suddenly filed into the dining hall. All of them were laden with trays, which Selena would have expected. What she didn’t expect was that instead of a plate of food, each tray contained a bulky, rectangular box, about two feet high and one and a half feet wide.

The boxes were shiny silver and they seemed to be both heavy and delicate, if the way the servants handled them was any indication. Carefully, they placed a silver box in front of each diner—placing it on a shorter end so that it stood up lengthwise.

Selena examined the one in front of her as soon as the servant put it down. The front of it, she saw, was actually glass—or some other see-though material. Inside it were little compartments—six of them, in fact. And each one held an oddly-shaped present, wrapped in colorful gift wrap.

At the top of the box was a slot and several different colored buttons. It would have reminded Selena of one of those mini juke boxes you see in retro restaurants sometimes, except for the fact that it also had a wide slot at the bottom.

She was just wondering what in the world the rectangular box was holding and what it had to do with dinner, when the servant appeared at her elbow again and deposited six thick golden coins in front of her. Looking around, she saw that all the diners had been given a similar stack of coins.

“Oh good! Tasty Surprise!” the Emperor roared excitedly. He clapped his hands together like a child and stared avidly into his own silver rectangle, which was twice as large as anyone else’s at the table. “I just love Tasty Surprise!”

“Let’s see now…what do I want?” Empress the Third murmured to herself.

Selena watched from the corner of her eye as she picked up one of the golden coins the servant had given her and popped it into a slot at the top right-hand corner of her own machine. Then she pressed the red button beside it and one of the brightly wrapped boxes was pushed forward, out of its slot. A mechanical arm extended inside the box to catch it and deposited it neatly into the slot at the bottom of the rectangle. After which, the arm retracted again, leaving the box in the slot.

Empress the Third seemed to be ignoring the fact that Selena was watching her. She picked up her box and unwrapped it, revealing a luscious piece of deep purple fruit. It looked a little bit like a plum, but when she sank her teeth into it, Selena saw that the interior was bright pink. It looked wonderfully sweet and juicy, which made her own stomach growl.

“Oh—a vending machine!” she exclaimed, turning to Valen. “It’s a cute little dinner vending machine!”

He raised his eyebrows.

“A what kind of machine? Do you have Tasty Surprise vendorettes on Earth as well?”

“Well…kind of,” Selena said. “Only we call them vending machines and they’re usually much larger than this. They hold hundreds of snacks and drinks and they’re really heavy.” She frowned. “In fact, I think I read that more people are killed by vending machines than sharks in any given year.”

Valen’s eyes widened.

“So the vending machines on Earth are murderous? Why do you tolerate them? Has their technology gone bad, causing them to rebel against you?”

“Oh, no—they don’t kill people on their own!” Selena explained, laughing. “People get crushed by them because they shake them and tip them over on themselves, trying to get the snacks out when they get stuck in the machine—that’s all.”

“I see.” He frowned. “It still sounds like a less than ideal system for getting sustenance.”