Coffee or Tea RT Shores

"The Day They Ran Out of Coffee"

I whistled, not illegal yet, on my way to the Magnostop. It was a beautiful day, for dome life. The dome glittered as the moisture was hit by the sun and it looked like stars during the daytime.

Invariably, I was seated next to what had to be one of the last obese people planet-side. He was immense and must have weighed close to 200 pounds! He was nice and polite and made sure to hold his girth to himself. I smiled and pushed toward my side of the seat.

The train flew by, so no sightseeing was available and I had so wanted to see the new coffee plant. One of the few pleasures left was coffee, or tea, if you were of that ilk. We hoarded it. I hoarded both. I was no fool and I had invented new hiding places, so I was in good shape.

Our factory, Monsanto Unit 4, was close; I could smell it. I put on my respirator, for they were required, but the food was safe, right? I doubted that and never ate anything Monsanto grown or produced. Yuck!

We scurried out of the Mag train and it flew away. I sighed. Coffee soon!  Yes!

The queue for brew was longer today, it seemed, but that one free cup was essential, with the pricing growing higher every month and our Trade Points not increasing at all.

The Servo scanned my wrist and I saw my subdermal implant glow. I walked forward and ordered my usual: Earth coffee with milk and sugar. It was dispensed and I guarded it against my body and clung close to the wall like most of my colleagues. We drank it quickly and our moans sounded like a 20th century orgy!

Another Servo took our cups and we all smiled and walked to our stations, respirators back in place. I was to modify an Earth crop today, something called corn. It was interesting work, but I always wondered what was wrong with the original, and quite pretty, item. I always took stray kernels and other items home to my rat and he was getting healthier as others died. He would search my pockets for goodies.

I sat in the floral terrarium for lunch, all plants guaranteed 100% natural, and ate my cube lunch. Delicious! I had chosen chicken and something called stuffing and cranberry sauce. It was marvelous I would remember it and recommend it. 

The afternoon flew by and I was soon in line for the Magnocar. I heard mumbling in the crowd and wondered what the rumor for the day was. 


"Coffee! Coffee? Coffee... "

I was immediately nervous and would have to reinforce my security system with bots. I hated bots, but loved coffee. They would be useful. 

For once, the train seemed slow. I wasn't the only nervous soul on the train either. Everyone was tapping their subdermal computer access pads. There was trouble. I tapped "CY425" on my pads and he responded immediately.

"Yes." He knew to meet me at the train and to be armed as well. I let out the breath I had been holding.

He was there; all six feet of flesh colored metal. He cleared a path without any problem for no one wanted to take on a Cyman. I had been lucky and won my Cyman in a contest at work. I rarely used him for it seemed so pretentious, but now there was a need.

We walked the short block to the loft and he secured the building once we were inside. I asked him to release the bots and he actually questioned me.

"Bots are trouble." He said.

"Can you handle it all if we are invaded?" He nodded.

"If I begin to fail, I will release them as I go down." I nodded.

"Sounds fair to me! By the way, are all the, uh, locations secure?"

"Yes. Your creature would now like the organic item in your purse." He powered down to low and stationed himself by the main door.

"Ratboy!" I kissed my white rat and handed him the corn, one kernel at a time. I loved to watch him eat. He was so cute. Almost everyone had pet rats, not rats of the past, but pet rats. I had won mine in a contest at work, so he was very well trained and handsome.

Dinner was cereal and fruit, since I had splurged at lunch. My cube supply was also quite extensive; hoarding again. I figured if I wanted to save my food and coffee, I could. Some felt is wasn't fair and were trying to have a law passed.

I then checked my Trade Points balance and again, hoarding. I saved. I didn't go to pleasure bars or coffee dens, but came home and made use of Cyman and my Earth coffee stash.

Cyman was on full alert when I went to sleep and the night was uneventful. There was no work today, so I stood on my view station, a mini balcony, and looked down on the city. It looked quite busy for an off day.

I sealed the view station and turned on CNN-PS and saw a report that there were riots in the city due to the city supply of coffee being stolen. The city had run out of coffee!

I gasped and told Cyman. "The city is out of coffee!"

"Yes, Meer, I have been monitoring the situation. It is good you have a day at home today." 

"Whew! Yes... do we need to change anything?"

"No and if we did, it would be noted."

I went to my supply of coffee cubes, not my hoarders stash, and dropped it in hot water. It was soon perfection and I savored it. I wanted another, just in case, but held off.

Cyman checked the entire building remotely and then settled onto the bed. "What do you feel, Cy?"

"Tingling, Meer, tingling."

"Is it pleasant?"

He cocked his head to the side. "I assume that would be the correct word.  Do you need a hug?"

I nodded and enjoyed his only slightly stilted hug. Exterior alarms rang out and Cy stood. He pushed a button and the bots were released.

I squealed, hating to watch them and picked up my rat and then stood in the safe area. Time passed so I expanded the space and sat in a chair and petted the rat. Cy stood to the left of the door and it was a good thing, for it exploded. Cy flew and rolled, fully armored when he righted himself. 

The bots had the invaders before he could fire a shot. They were immobilized and secured to the exterior of the door frame. Cy went for the interrogation.

"Who are you?" The bots allowed them to speak.

"Just need coffee!" Cy saw they were lying and gave each a dose of truth serum. He didn't have time for games. He needed time to rebuild the door.

"Master Brad sent us to every building to get the coffee." Cy nodded and killed them quickly. He tossed them in front of the building as a warning sign to the next invaders.

Between the bots and himself the door was rehung and reinforced with metal to withstand the next blast. The bots were recalled and I came out of the safe space and collapsed on the bed.

"Thank you Cy and please thank the bots for me." I hugged my rat and looked out the window at the now dark city. If they made it through the night I would be surprised.

Attacks came all night and I just expanded the safe space to cover the bed. I would stay home today. There was no way I was leaving safety with Cy until coffee was restored to the city. No way...

The news showed my building and many others. All had piles of attackers, all human and rebuilt doors. The only deaths were to attempted invaders who achieved nothing but giving away the names of their leaders.

Breaking news alerted me. Every leader of an invasion team had been arrested and executed. The city was safe again and oh, by the way, there was  no coffee shortage, it had been a ruse to pull out the criminals.

I  looked at Cy and even he shook his head. 

"I guess I should go to work, right Cy?"

"Or you could make me tingle again." Said her cybernetic man.