By Victoria Gao

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In a futuristic society, ImaginEater is a gadget that conjures food for people to consume without adverse health impacts, but Quasara discovers that unanticipated uses of ImaginEater can have serious repercussions.

Quasara slumps onto her couch with a thud, the fatigue of hours spent on her feet and flashes of the frowning faces of department store customers washing over her. The interactive screen on the wall in front of her flickers to life, abruptly interrupted by a 30-second ad. An exasperated groan escapes her lips as she watches, her eyes narrowing at the sleek figure of a fitness coach.       

“Hello, health enthusiasts! I’m Bliss Wellspring, your guide to tackling your healthy eating goals. Introducing the ImaginEater!”
       

A circular wireless sensor drifts up from the table and hovers in the air around Bliss’ head.
       

“With just a thought, you can summon delicious food to a table in front of you, allowing you to savor every flavor without the guilt or weight gain. I’m imagining a buttermilk crispy chicken sandwich paired with corn on the cob and a strawberry banana smoothie.”
       

A chicken sandwich and the corn appear on the plate in front of her and her glass fills. She takes a quick sip and bite of tender, juicy chicken. “Mmmm,” she murmurs. 
       

She flashes a smile at the audience and announces, “Now, the ImaginEater is available for a limited time offer of $49.99!”
       

Quasara pauses the ad and sits straight up. She notices the empty cold meat cans, their centers dented by her bare hands, and jagged edges of family-size popcorn bags on the floor. Hand-to-mouth motion has become a habitual response, closing the distance between her life as a new college graduate barely making ends meet and her dream life as the owner of a sustainable business. She purchases the ImaginEater with a few quick taps and hopes its arrival in two weeks will be the game-changer that helps her gain more control over her life.
       

For the next week, Quasara commutes to work at the department store with a spring in her step. But one morning, she encounters a male customer on crutches who repeatedly screeches, “Excuse me, is anyone working here today?” at a checkout counter. 
       

When Quasara walks over, he says, “I’m here to return this product.” Quasara’s heart sinks when he puts the ImaginEater box on the counter.
       

“May I ask what’s wrong with the product?” 
     

 “After using the ImaginEater to fill a glass with water, I thought I could make it fill a 12-feet-deep swimming pool. I saw the pool fill, dipped my toes into the pool and felt the cool water. But after jumping in, I hit the bottom of the pool and twisted my ankle.”
       

“So the ImaginEater only simulates water? What did you see when you were in the pool?”
       

“I saw water surrounding me and the water level was above my head. I thought I was drowning and couldn’t float to the surface.”
       

“I’m really sorry about your bad experience with this product. Let me process the return.”
     

 The point-of-sale system suddenly beeps. Quasara’s manager arrives and opens the product’s box. She turns on the ImaginEater and attaches a device to read its data.
       

“Unfortunately, you can’t return this product because you still have an active session associated with this device,” the manager says. “I can’t erase the ImaginEater’s data because you didn’t finish all the food conjured by the ImaginEater.” 
       

“What? I have to finish drinking up all the water in my pool before returning this  gadget?” The man narrows his eyes.
       

“Maybe you can reach out to the manufacturer for help with the product defect?” Quasara’s manager suggests.
       

“I already filed a complaint about my incident and got no response. What a waste of money.” The man sighs and marches away from the counter, leaving behind his ImaginEater. 
       

Quasara brings the ImaginEater home and uses its barcode to connect with a customer service representative from ImaginEater in an online live chat. She asks, “Why won’t the ImaginEater let me conjure up more food after it simulated gallons of water? Is my ImaginEater defective?”
       

“The sustainability feature of the ImaginEater forces users to finish their food after they generate a large quantity of food,” the representative types back.
       

“But I didn’t expect the pool to fill with that much water. Is there a feature to get rid of the food that I generate?”
       

“Why would you simulate water to fill a swimming pool in the first place? There is no undo feature. You can just drink up all the water gradually (the condition of simulated food remains fresh, like the state it was in when it was first simulated) or in one sitting (you won’t feel full from drinking simulated water that isn’t actually entering your physical body).”
     

Right after sending that message, the representative ends the chat session. Quasara decides to cancel her ImaginEater order. She tries to restart a live session to chat with another representative, but the reloaded page says, “You have already chatted with a representative and your issue is resolved.”

Process

When plotting short stories, I typically start by considering the problems the main character faces and ultimately solves. However, adhering to this plot structure led many of the sci-fi stories I wrote to be set in dystopian societies. I aimed to write a story presenting a more optimistic future, centered around technology aiding people, but its plot stagnated after introducing the technology.

During one of our meetings, Tracy introduced me to the clustering brainstorming technique. We created visual maps centered on a word, jotted down words related to that word without erasing and drew lines or arrows between words that seem to connect. I chose the word “system” as the key word of my map, viewing technology as a collection of interconnected components that collaborate to fulfill specific tasks. While expanding my map, I realized that all the people using, developing, and distributing technology are integral components of a broader system and impacted by the technology. This story delves into how novel technology impacts people and also underscores that consumers have agency in promoting ethical business practices.