Kingdom of Cages by Sarah Zettel

a few small laughs, and Chena heard the word “fence” ripple up and down the river of people.
    Chena wrapped one arm around her sister. “Don’t worry about it, Teal,” she said, glaring at the amused bystanders. “I didn’t
     see them either.”
    Mom also gave the bystanders a hard look, which actually got them to stop chuckling and move on. While she checked Teal’s
     hand to make sure that there were no actual burns or anything, the closed-in feeling returned to cover Chena completely. Even
     so, she did not miss the frown on her mother’s face as Mom looked at the fence posts. She would have given anything to know
     what Mom was thinking, but Mom said nothing. She just started walking toward the dining hall again.
    The dining hall was a long low building with a thicket for a roof and tangled vines falling down its walls. The inside was
     dim, and the air smelled of the yellow soap and strange spices. But as Chena got into the food line with Mom and Teal, her
     stomach grumbled.
    Can’t smell all that strange,
she thought as she picked up a bowl and shuffled forward. A man who looked so bored he was almost dead slopped a dollop of
     something beige, steaming, and dotted with bits of black and red into her bowl. Chena sniffed the steam. It smelled bland,
     but her stomach growled again.
    At the end of the line, people were ladling something white into their bowls and drizzling something else brown and goopy
     on top, so Chena did too. Then she grabbed a big ceramic mug of what smelled like apple juice.
    She was not surprised to see that everybody had to sit at long tables and that no one seemed to have their own spot. Fortunately,
     three men in thick trousers and long-sleeved shirts were just getting up from the end of one of the tables. Chena slid into
     the place where they’d been sitting and waved for Teal and Mom to come join her.
    No one around them seemed interested in talking. They just dug their spoons into their bowls and ate. But they were watching.
     Chena saw the sidelong glances, as if every stranger in the room were sizing her and her family up. She wanted to yell at
     them, give them all the piss-off sign. What was the matter? They didn’t think the Trusts were good enough to eat here? These
     people weren’t so great either. Their clothes were dirty or sewn back together. She could see elbows poking through thin shirts
     and knees through thin trousers. Everyone’s skin seemed to be wrinkled and callused, even the kids’.
    And they have the nerve to stare at us. I’ll show them nerve.
    But Mom would have gone nuclear, so Chena kept her mouth shut and tried a spoonful of the… whatever it was. It probably stank.
     That was probably why everyone looked so pissed. The food was probably as bad as the bathrooms.
    The stuff touched her tongue and Chena froze. It was delicious. It was warm and creamy and sweet and strong. She had to stop
     herself from shoveling a huge helping into her mouth.
    “Nothing new wrong, Chena?” asked Mom.
    “No,” said Chena, swallowing hastily and digging her spoon into the food. “I just wasn’t expecting it to be any good.”
    Mom nodded. “Station food is processed till it screams. There’s almost nothing left inside. That’s why I used to feed you
     all those vitamin supplements. This is your first taste of the real thing, my dear.” Her eyes sparkled for the first time
     that day. “Does it make up for the bathroom?”
    Chena made a show of considering. “Well, I wouldn’t go that far.…”
    Mom laughed, and even Teal smiled. They all tucked into their breakfasts like they meant it.
    “Off the station?” asked a big, coarse man at Teal’s elbow.
    “Yes.” Mom gave him her polite, distant smile. “We just arrived last night.”
    “Well, good luck, then,” he said, getting up. “Watch your step and steer clear of anybody with an armband and you’ll be okay.”
     He picked up his bowl and left, dumping the dish in a big bin on the way