Food for Thought (standard:science fiction, 988 words)
Author: pjlawton	Added: Jun 19 2003	Views/Reads: 3417/2216	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Ever wonder where the food of the future would come from and what it would contain. This little story just might tell you.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

He had been an orphan, brought up in several homes, no family and few
friends. That's what made him become a warrior in the first place. No 
unnecessary distractions had made him a very good one. 

When his turn came he answered a few questions and was given a contract
to sign. It was a pretty straightforward War contract except for one 
paragraph. Paragraph 22B said that in the event of his death, his 
remains became the sole property of the Daygru Consortium. Always a 
pessimist he figured that it meant that if you bought it, the Daygrus 
would simply let you would remain where you fell. Oh well, what did it 
matter to him; he would be dead after all. Without another thought he 
signed the contract. 

He reported to the trans-portal at the appointed time where about 50
warriors waited. One by one they stepped forward into the portal and 
disappeared. When his turn came he happened to notice the dialer. The 
portal was dialed to sector 21 division 12265. He knew from past travel 
that those particular coordinates would put them at the far reaches of 
the quadrant. That was strange; there wasn't anything out there.  He 
didn't have much time to ponder his deduction though for within seconds 
he was there. As he stepped out of the receiving trans-portal two big 
Daygrus roughly grabbed him. 

He was pushed and prodded into line with other warriors. More Daygru
soldiers moved the line forward. Something was vaguely familiar about 
the sickly sweet stench that permeated the still air.  After about 10 
minutes they were herded toward a group of warehouses. Waiting his turn 
to enter he saw to his left a loading dock covered with stacked 
pallets. Each pallet contained box after box stamped with familiar 
writing. As he moved closer he was able to read the words, WonderFare. 
There were hundreds of boxes. Why would the Daygrus need so much food? 

Something wasn't right. All his instincts said so.  As he looked above
the entrance he saw some Daygru script. He had never been good at 
Daygru either speaking or writing but normally in time he could figure 
it out. Something was nagging at the edge of his mind as he moved to 
the door. 

Large clawed hands roughly shoved him through. Utterly stunned, he
couldn't believe his eyes! Suddenly he was struck with a massive 
electro discharge. Silently he toppled onto the moving conveyer belt. 
As the conveyer moved quietly along his organs were already starting to 
shut down. Just as the blackness closed around him, his declining brain 
function analyzed one piece of remaining data. It deciphered and 
translated the Daygru writing from the entrance. Simply put, the 
writing had said Slaughterhouse #5. 

End 


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