The Feeler series is a mix of Star Trek and a classic whodunit. However, the technology is one step behind Star Trek. For example, there’s no Faster-than-Light travel, no transporters for humans or animals, and more.
There are some exceptions, though, related to how the tech works with Askovians (people with special abilities). But even this technology is based on repressing those abilities instead of expanding on them.
What is a Meal Crafter?
This device creates meals from powdered ingredients kept in a pantry. It’s not sophisticated enough to be used on live subjects like humans and animals. But it works well on small, well-defined objects. The crafter also cannot transport items long distances. The process is:
- Gather the ingredients;
- Use alythium (defined below) to alter gravity during the preparation;
- Move to an enclosed oven for cooking;
- Use eudranium (defined below) to transport food short distances.
Note that the Meal Crafter food preparation and cooking are less sophisticated than Star Trek’s food replicator. The replicator uses matter-to-energy conversion to create food on a molecular level based on stored patterns. This means it can create food from literally anything.
Which Crystals are Used in a Meal Crafter?
Two main crystals, alythium and eudranium, are used to create meals. These crystals are found on the moons of Earth, Mars, and Jupiter. The elite in The Feeler series own most of the mines, resulting in their control of most of society’s wealth and power.
Alythium decreases localized gravity. It’s used in meal crafters, antigrav lifts, hover cars, stair safeties, and more.
Eudranium is a key component for converting matter to energy and transporting it to a different location. Although the crystal is reliable for small items like food, it can only transport them short distances and can’t be used with living things.
How is Food Recycled?
After a meal, The Feeler series characters place their empty dishes in a recycler. This uses some of the same tech from the meal crafter, specifically the eudranium properties, to transport and break down used utensils, plates, and leftover food. The remains are reconstituted into new serving ware while others are transformed into fuel.
Star Trek’s food replicator inverts its function, turning the remnants into any needed items. This could include more food, fuel, serving ware, clothing, and more.
What about the quality of the food?
The characters in The Feeler series can’t tell the difference between fresh-cooked and meal crafter created food. Most of them have never tasted freshly cooked food. The lone character old enough to claim she can taste the difference isn’t very reliable.
In this future, killing animals for food is considered inhumane and unclean. Therefore, animal meat is grown in a lab. The characters purchase this meat and place it in their pantry as a raw ingredient. However, in Star Trek, none of this is necessary as grilled steaks, fried chicken, sauteed shrimp, and more can all be replicated.
What Else Can Be Crafted?
In The Feeler series, meal crafters are part of a set of devices that can also manufacture clothing. A clothes crafter uses threads as its base ingredients to create any type of desired clothing. This means if you’re traveling, you might want to bring some of your own clothes as you won’t know what’s in the hotel’s clothes crafter.
Creating Unique Meals
Occasionally, a character creates their own independent recipe and enters it into the meal crafter. Usually, these are desserts for special events. However, one time a character cooked without the meal crafter only because they wanted a challenge.
Reference
I obtained the information about Star Trek replicators from Memory Alpha: Star Trek Food Replicator.