8
BY THE TIME Melati came into the canteen, dinnertime was already so far gone that the late dinner shift had finished cleaning up and had gone to their dorms. The new shift was just arriving and preparing to cook breakfast for the next round. A construct man was wheeling a giant vat of what appeared to be dough through the kitchen aisle. From deeper within the kitchen came the sound of laughter and the clanging of pots.
Melati drew a packaged meal from the dispenser against the wall at the back of the servery. She should really stop forgetting to go to dinner because the main meals were free and these were not. It was bland and boring fare, too. She took her tray into the mostly empty canteen and found a spot at the hard metal seats.
She ate quickly, burning her mouth a couple of times
