We then went into their spacious dining room, where Mrs. Savona was arranging the table. "I have arranged to serve luncheon in privacy here; this room is thought transmission proof, so we can freely talk. I want you to be comfortable. Our guest room is ready for you. You can occupy it as long as you are on this planet. Mr. Savona and Xora will keep you busy showing you around. In a few days you will find your way by yourself, and you will be able to locate and visit your fellow Earth men."
Passing through the dining room, we went into the kitchen, which had all kinds of improved machines to help make kitchen work more efficient and pleasant. Walls, floors, and ceilings were of glossy white. But there was no sink. I asked about it.
"In our small homes we did away with that drudgery and servants long ago. Our dishes and silverware are cleaned at our central dishwashing department."
He led me to a closet with a continuous moving escalator dumb-waiter. "After our meal we place our dishes, silverware, and glassware, all of which have our name and number, on trays going down. When they reach the bottom, they automatically land on a conveyor belt which takes them directly to the central dishwashing and sterilizing machine; they come back, clean and sanitary, the same way."
"What do you do with your garbage and rubbish?"
He took hold of the knob of a small door in the wall beside the dumb waiter.
"Oh," I said, "that's your incinerator."
"No," he replied, "we do not burn such valuable materials. We put our garbage into paper bags, seal it, and throw it into this opening. It reaches a garbage car which takes it to a large factory where it is turned into fertilizer. Our rubbish is wrapped up and sent down the dumb-waiter. The belt conveyor takes it to the assorting room, and again by belt conveyors for long distances to our factories. Very little is wasted.
"The kitchen in our home is seldom used. Underneath the court there is a large central kitchen, where any housewife can have her dinner cooked. She either just brings her raw food to the chef, or gives him directions over the phone, telling him for how many people and the time to be served. If the chef needs raw foods, he sends to the commissary department.
"The commissary department supplies foods and beverages to all the residents of a community of five or more courts. It is also an ordering and receiving station from our main depots, which you have seen from the air. Daily supplies are shipped from the depot by our underground freight cars. Emergency shipments are made by messenger planes."