The Block
Sydney parked her car in a lay-by off the quiet road in Devon, between a small lorry and a camper van. The sun was setting on the cold evening and she pulled on a coat before stepping out to stretch her legs. A woman and two men were sitting on camping chairs on the verge side of the camper van, lit up by a camp light on a small table, drinking something hot out of thermos mugs. They waved her over.
"Fancy a cuppa?" asked the woman, getting up. "I'll fetch another chair. I'm Lucy, by the way, this is my husband Jerry and this is Stan, that's his lorry."
"That would be great thanks, I'm Sydney."
When Lucy returned with the chair Sydney sat down and accepted a steaming mug of black tea. "You all here for the night?" she asked.
"Yes" Jerry said, "if we don't get moved on by the police."
"And as long as no one tries to break into my truck again," Stan added.
"Carrying any food?" asked Lucy, without much hope.
"No, it's empty. I'm picking up my brother and his family from Exeter tomorrow, heading into Dartmoor. Safer than being in a city or town with all the looters," Stan replied.
"Speaking of food, we have two cans of beans left that we're happy to share," said Lucy.
Sydney looked at her with surprise, just as her stomach rumbled at the possibility of not going to sleep hungry. "That would be great, are you sure?"
"Of course! We couldn't eat knowing you were both going without, and a few more beans won't make much difference in the long run. Or not so long run. I'll heat them up now, should be enough propane left."
Not just food but hot food! Sydney had lucked out picking this lay-by to stop for the night.
They each tried to make their plate of beans last instead of giving in to the urge to scoff the lot at once. Savouring every mouthful, but not so long that they went cold. In the background was music from BBC Radio 4 from a solar and wind-up radio Jerry had wound up while Lucy had heated the beans.
"So where are you headed?" Lucy asked Sydney.
"To my parents near Plymouth. Hoped to make it in a day, but the motorway checkpoints took ages. And I didn't want to risk continuing after dark."
"Yeah, we've had a few hairy moments at night, not knowing if a checkpoint is a real one or a shake down," said Jerry. "And now we're almost out of petrol so we're stuck here as there's nowhere to refuel anyway."
"I can drop you off anywhere on the way to Plymouth if that helps," offered Sydney "I've got just enough for the rest of my journey but not for a detour."
"Nah, it's okay, we'll just stick around here, see what happens. It's a nice enough spot," said Jerry looking at his wife, who nodded in agreement.
"Let me know if you change your mind, least I can do for the food," said Sydney. "And if you excuse me, I need to find a suitable tree or bush before it gets too dark, and then get some sleep." She scanned the field next to the lay-by.
"How about you take that direction," Lucy said, pointing to a cluster of trees and shrubbery about 30 metres away that provided a suitable privacy screen, "we've already picked our own spots," she laughed. "The camper van's waste tank is full and there's nowhere to empty it that's not also overflowing."
After using the bushes Sydney said goodnight to the group and headed to the back of her car where she folded down the back seats to create more space. She locked the doors and curled up in a sleeping bag, feeling content. She had food in her belly, there were friendly people nearby, and tomorrow she'll see her parents. Hopefully. In a few minutes she was asleep.
Just after dawn the next morning there was a sudden shout from the direction of the camper van, "Oh my god, what is that?!" Sydney woke with a burst of adrenaline, sat up and looked through all the windows to see what was happening.
"Luce, come out, you gotta see this! Everyone! What on earth?"
Sydney exited the car at the same time as Stan came around from the rear of his lorry and they both headed to the front of the camper where they could see Jerry beckoning excitedly to them and Lucy.
At the end of the lay-by stood a tall white shiny block. About 2 metres high, with a 1 metre square base.
"A huge drone just dropped it here. It's metal." Jerry said, as he rapped on it with his knuckles.
They all looked up and were shocked to see in the distance dozens of aircraft traversing the sky with white blocks suspended from them. They didn't look like aeroplanes or helicopters, so they had to be drones. There was very little sound, despite the numbers, except when one passed 20 metres or so above them and they could hear it whoosh through the air. But it didn't look like a small plane, or a drone with rotors. It was a large smooth black disc, no obvious propulsion, with four cables attached to the white block it carried underneath, which looked larger than the one in front of them.
"Careful love, it could be dangerous," Lucy said, looking at the block with suspicion.
"A lump like this? Would have been if they'd dropped it on our van, but what's it going to do now?" Jerry replied, and then they all took a step back in surprise as the sides of the block lit up like TV screens and words appeared.
"Welcome to your nutrition and sanitation unit. Please help yourself to food, water, and other facilities and use this unit to recycle your waste."
A friendly female voice, with a hint of robot, spoke the same words. Sydney walked around the block to see the text displayed on each side.
After the voice stopped, the words on the side she was facing were replaced by buttons for Food, Water, Sanitation and Recycling. After a brief hesitation Sydney tapped Food. The next screen showed food options, though none that would appear on any menu. A quick scan through them found most were described based on their nutritional content, with options for hot, warm and cold. The first option was "Balanced individual portion - hot - <1%" and Sydney tapped that one.
The options were replaced by a 5 second countdown and when it reached zero the area below opened up to reveal a steaming bowl with a spoon next to it. Sydney couldn't see how it had opened up, there was no door to slide open. No joins, just completely seamless surface. When she took out the bowl and spoon she got a glimpse of a white interior, but no dispenser or any other sign of how they got there. Then the opening disappeared. It was like the material had flowed away and then flowed back.
"It's got to be Japanese, they have vending machines for everything. Maybe their military flew them in, to distribute emergency rations." Stan said, as he tucked into a bowl of mystery food that he had taken from his side of the block. Sydney tried hers. It was a bit like porridge, stodgy and bland, but with the exception of the beans they'd had the previous night, it was the best thing she'd eaten in days.
The original options were back on display so she tapped Water and selected a 500ml bottle option, which appeared a few seconds later in a smaller opening. The bottle was plastic with no label so gave no clue as to the block's origin. She drank deeply, it tasted normal.
"There's a 'Portaloo' option!" Jerry said with excitement. Sydney headed to the side of the block where Jerry and Lucy had been remarking on the different options within each category while Stan and Sydney were eating. "Look, there's one for a toilet, and there's another one for a toilet with cubicle, assembly needed."
"How much can fit in this thing?" wondered Stan, as Jerry tapped the cubicle option. This time the screen showed a 30 second countdown for item 1 of 20.
"Damn! I should have gotten some water before you did that", said Lucy.
"It's okay, my side still shows it," Jerry said, tapping the water option and he passed the resulting bottle to Lucy. "Though if I tap sanitation the toilet options are disabled. I guess only one toilet per block."
All the talk of toilets gave Sydney the urge to take another walk to the bushes, but before she set off she checked the Recycling section and found a "dispose general waste" option. When she tapped it an area opened up, this time empty, and she put the empty bowl, bottle, and spoon in. "Nice," said Lucy, who saw the block swallow up the items and a processing countdown start, "this thing does everything!"
It was a few minutes before Sydney returned to the lay-by, and by that point the others had started assembling the toilet cubicle at the other end, past Stan's van, on a flat bit of the grassy verge so it didn't obstruct access. They had laid out all the pieces, and Jerry was holding up a tablet and issuing instructions.
"So that piece is the left wall, it just slots into the base. This is so cool!"
Sydney took a look at what he was seeing and realised that the instructions were dynamic. As Jerry panned the tablet over the pieces an arrow would point to the next one to assemble, and then the screen switched to show an animation of how to assemble it. There didn't appear to be any screws or fixings, the items just slotted into each other, and once in place were secured automatically.
After about 20 minutes they had built a cubicle that contained a toilet and wash basin, complete with toilet paper, soap and a waste bin. The cubicle walls and interior were a similar shiny white material to the block itself and a gentle glow emanated from the ceiling. Above the basin was a water container which fed a hot and cold mixer tap and the toilet, but there was no obvious heater for the hot water produced from the tap. They checked the toilet flushed okay. It was necessary to close the lid for it to work and hardly used any water. Sounded like the vacuum-based ones on aeroplanes.
The output pipes from both the basin and the toilet led to a container under the cubicle labelled "biological waste" that could be accessed from outside, behind the cubicle. This had a display showing the percentage full and a button to disconnect it. "The Sanitation section had an option for an empty bio waste container, and Recycling has bio waste disposal, so looks like you just swap them out when full, same for the waste bin. And there's toilet paper and soap under Sanitation," explained Jerry.
"Any objections to me testing out this toilet?" asked Stan with a slightly embarrassed expression. The rest of them moved back towards the mystery block to give him privacy.
Sydney took the time to look through the other options. Sanitation also included some period, dental care and hair products, deodorant, and even a clothes cleaning option.
"Hey Jerry, how about we empty our waste tank into one of those containers?" said Lucy excitedly, "we can then use our own toilet again, as we can refill the water tank as well."
"I'm on it!" Jerry selected the bio waste container option and once it was generated carried it to the outlet side of the camper van. It took four trips to empty the waste and refill their water, but it worked smoothly and they were both very pleased.
In the meantime Stan had returned. "I was going to say 'I'd leave it a minute', but it still is as fresh as a daisy." he said disbelievingly.
"What's up?" he asked Lucy who was looking at one of the screens with a puzzled expression.
"I know this seems impossible, but I think this is generating the products on demand, not just dispensing them." she replied.
They all gathered around. "At the end of the Recycling options there's a status display that says '76% matter available'. After we had generated the toilet that was saying 60%, but when we recycled our waste tank contents it's gone back up again."
"Are you saying your waste tank is being turned directly into food?" Sydney asked feeling half disgust and half wonder. "How on earth...?"
"Maybe not Earth!" Jerry exclaimed excitedly, "Oh, the radio..." He ran into the camper van and came out with the radio, the volume loud enough to hear while he wound it up to prevent it losing power.
"...also medical supplies and power banks, from the larger units," said the news reader. "Reports say that these power banks have universal adapters, and can even recharge electric cars. Stay tuned in to hear from our reporters who will be in the field shortly with freshly charged equipment.
"For those tuning in, the Prime Minister will be making a speech at 9am and we will broadcast it live. In the meantime, the Home Office have confirmed that it is safe to use the nutrition and sanitation units that have been delivered across the country. Please look out for your neighbours and ensure the food and water is distributed to all. Toilets, hand washing units and shower cubicles can be generated for assembly and some units have first aid supplies and power banks. Some reports say that if a unit stops working due to not having matter available, it can be reactivated by recycling any type of waste.
"The origin of these units has not yet been confirmed. We have heard from other news agencies across the world via long-wave radio that the units have been delivered to all countries by what appear to be aircraft of an unknown design. Scientists from the European Space Agency have been monitoring with limited equipment, as they come back online, and have advised that the origin of the drones does not appear to be anywhere on Earth."
"Knew it!" Jerry said to his wife happily. "Finally!"
The four of them looked at each other with both amazement and trepidation, as the implication sunk in.