Jon pointed dramatically at the machine and said, "Replomat! Two cokes please!"
The machine spoke for the first time. "Voice mode now active. Did you mean Coca-Cola®?" Its voice sounded very familiar.
Karyn said, "Hey, that's my voice!"
Jon chuckled. "I bet it's customizable. Yes, Coca-Cola please."
The Replomat(TM) still needed more. "Royalty charges for two single-servings of Coca-Cola® will be 10 cents. Do you authorize the charge?"
Karyn muttered, "Holy shit, this thing must have DRM!"
Jon asked, "Replomat, what's my current bank balance?"
"Accessing... Jon Winters, you have $287.23 in your personal account, and $30,400.21 in your college fund."
Jon shrugged at this. "Looks like I can afford a couple Cokes then."
Karyn asked, "Jon, I know it's not much, but how do you know for sure? It didn't answer you."
Jon turned to Karyn. "What do you mean? It just told me. That sounds really close to how much I have in our 'home' reality."
Karyn was getting confused. "I didn't hear it say anything."
Jon said, "I heard it say both of my balances, clear as a bell. You didn't hear that?"
Karyn shook her head.
Jon considered this. "Some kind of automatic security feature, I guess. I wonder how that works. Oh well, we'll figure that out later. Replomat, I authorize the charge!"
The light inside the "microwave" part brightened briefly, and then faded back to its earlier level. An LED to the side of that door started flashing. The Replomat(TM) said, "Enjoy Coke®! Don't forget to recycle the bottles!"
Karyn opened up the "microwave" door, and sure enough, there were now two bottles of Coca-Cola® inside. They were the old-fashioned wasp-waisted kind.
Karyn took them out and grinned. "Yes! Ice-cold!" She handed one to Jon.
