To eat, and discover some alterations

At that moment, her body informed her that a workout fueled by coffee alone was not an option. She'd been dreading this. Give her lack of success with making coffee, she was not feeling very confident about food, but her grumbling stomach demanded she at least try. She made her way to the galley, still rolling her shoulders loose, and found the replicator waiting. Unexpectedly, though, there was something new on the screen, a typed message overlaid on the interface.

Officer Leyland,

I noticed there were a few unsuccessful attempts at using the replicator this morning. I know it can be a confusing system, so I have taken the liberty of enabling EasyEat! mode, which simplifies the selection process considerably. I hope you find your morning meal satisfactory.

— Vrax

She stared at it for a moment. Taken the liberty? She needed to figure out how to lock him out of the damn systems as soon as possible. She didn't like the idea of him being able to alter things. When she tapped on the message to clear it, she discovered the replicator's screen had indeed transformed itself into something almost aggressively simple. There were perhaps a dozen large, rounded icons, each in its own cheerful color, depicting various meals and drinks.

The whole interface had the unmistakable visual language of a children's menu.

Absolutely fucking not. She found herself annoyingly swayed towards what was almost definitely a cup of coffee. but **** herself to instead find a way to return to the previous interface. She managed it, though a luminous blue button beckoned her to return to it.

Fifteen minutes later, having produced a bowl of raw, inedible greens, something that looked like fresh concrete, and something that caught fire immediately after generation, she gave up, and hit the button, then jabbed a finger at the button that seemed to suggest breakfast.

The replicator hummed pleasantly and produced, within thirty seconds, a bowl of some kind of grain, topped with crispy bits of protein, mixed with cut green herbs, and glazed with a glistening sauce the mere smell of which had her salivating.

She dug in with a spoon, and was amply rewarded for conceding to the new menu with the best mouthful of replicated food she'd ever had. Hell, maybe the best mouthful of food she'd had, period. Salty, savory, hot, and absolutely bursting with flavors that made her nostalgic for home-cooked meals she'd never had.

She ate the first few spoonfuls standing at the counter, and then sat down because it was a meal that warranted sitting down for.

She didn't even mind that the food was salty enough that she had downed two glasses of water before she was done with it, and was still left with a lingering aftertaste that had her eyeing the replicator screen. By the time she was finished, though she was so pleasantly full that she didn't want another bite of anything. Her body felt warm and nourished, and absently, she found herself rubbing the bite mark on her side, which still felt strangely warm to the touch.

The water glass was empty again. She looked at it with mild betrayal, then stood, made her way over to the dispenser, and refilled it. Had she really had two whole glasses with the meal? The salty flavor still lingered on her tongue, tantalizing.