A Sour Reward

Wasting the puncture I made earlier would have been foolish. With the foil slit open, I wedged my straightened wire into the seam and pried the tear wider until the gap allowed entry. Reaching inside, my fingers grazed a brittle, sugar-dusted chip. It was too broad to slide out intact, so I snapped off a sharp crescent. The flavor hit immediately—dense, astringent tamarind tangled with crystalline sweetness, unlike anything on the shelf. I leaned back against the warm console base, chewing slowly in the dim quiet. Worth the effort.