Delivered by the Defender (Kindred Tales)

“I’m afraid you’re right,” Selena admitted. “Most vending machines are filled with junk food—that’s food that’s just empty calories, not very good for you,” she added, in explanation.

One corner of his sensuous mouth quirked up.

“Like the foodle-smoon you had at the spaceport?”

“Exactly.” Selena nodded. “But I’ve never had anything that came out of a vending machine that tasted half as good as the foodle-smoon,” she added. “That really was amazing.”

“Well, the Ma’shorkans are known for their extraordinary culinary culture,” he remarked. “Why don’t you make a selection and find out for yourself?”

He nodded at the mini vending machine in front of Selena and the stack of golden coins as well.

“I think I will!”

Feeling almost as excited as the Emperor had been, Selena picked up a coin and popped it into the slot. She deliberated for a moment, then pressed the purple button at the top.

The rectangular slot with the purple button on it lit up and the brightly colored box inside was pressed forward. After a moment, the mechanical claw-hand unfolded itself and caught the box, lowering it carefully to the slot below.

It was like having Christmas morning for dinner, Selena thought as she picked up the box and shook it next to her ear experimentally. What could possibly be inside? The box felt heavy, as though there was something solid in there.

All around the table, she saw people unwrapping luscious fruits, like the one Empress the Third had gotten, as well as small, covered dishes that seemed to hold some kind of pudding or ice-cream. Some had little, exquisite cakes like petit fours and a few even had pieces of the jewel-like foodle-smoon, which Selena would have been happy to try again.

There were hot dishes too—Valen had gotten a box of meat-covered bones that had been braised in a delicious-smelling savory brown sauce. And the Emperor had extracted something truly huge from his extra-large vending machine. It looked a lot like a turkey leg—only it was bright green and orange instead of brown. He was holding it in one hand and ripping into the juicy meat with his bottom mouth, while he continued talking with his top mouth to Empress the First.

Selena thought it made the Ma’shorkan monarch look almost exactly like the pictures you always saw of Henry the Eighth—well, except for his blue and green skin and orange hair and eyes and the extra nose and mouth on his forehead, of course.

So she was understandably excited when she unwrapped her own box and found…a lump of raw meat. She knew it was raw because it was still bleeding—purplish-red blood was oozing from it in a most unappetizing manner.

“Hmm.” Valen was frowning as he looked at what she had unwrapped. “I believe that’s yoven var-var—it’s considered a delicacy in some parts of Ma’shorkan Centra.” Leaning forward, he sniffed at the contents of the box and frowned. “But don’t eat it—I think this particular chunk has gone off.”

“Don’t worry—I wasn’t going to,” Selena muttered. She put the box aside, feeling disappointed. But of course, she could always try again—she still had five more boxes to go.

Picking up another coin, she put it in the slot and tried the red button this time, hoping to get a luscious fruit like the one she’d seen Empress the Third consuming. The box, when she got it, rattled surprisingly—what kind of food made a sound like that?

Unwrapping the box, she found a lot of hard, dark blue, blotchy things about the size of a golf-ball, though more oval-shaped than round. Included with them was a small wooden mallet with a heavy silver head.

“What are these?” she asked, showing the odd contents to Valen, who had just gotten a dish of something creamy and cheesy that looked like some kind of vegetables and pasta au gratin.

He frowned.

“Pingu nuts, I believe. You crack them with the mallet—look.”

Taking one of the large blue nuts, he gave it a hard tap with the metal head of the mallet, cracking its shell into a lot of zig-zag pieces.

“Now you just pick the shell off and eat the nut inside,” he instructed Selena.

“Thanks.” Doubtfully, she began pulling away pieces of the shell, looking for the nut underneath. But before she could find it, she saw something long and wiggly and bright yellow poking out from between the fragmented shell.

“What in the world?” Selena poked it with the end of the mallet and the bright yellow thing moved! Gasping, she dropped the mallet on the floor and shoved the infested nut away from her.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Valen looked at her in concern.

“That nut—it had some kind of…of parasite in it!” Selena pointed a trembling finger at the yellow worm-like thing which was still poking its snout blindly out of the nut.

“Oh, no—that’s just a pingu worm,” Valen explained. “It’s actually considered a delicacy by some Ma’shorkans.” He frowned. “Though to be honest, it’s a bit of an acquired taste.”