Taste Testing
Io had seen people use them before. These tall blocky machines dispensed drinks after people filled it with their special paper and metal coins. Io had tried their hand on it with the many copper coins they had gathered up, but with very little luck. Their curiosity was more restless than usual this afternoon and they decided that they wanted to know what sort of interesting drinks the machine contained. After their previous failure with the coins, the curious robot decided to take a different route. After all, they vaguely shared similarities with it. They were both machines, albeit the vendor was more primitive, but it was a matter of knowing how to "talk" to it.
They pressed their hand to the side of the machine listening closely. Many machines they'd come across through the galaxy had a code the consisted of on and off switches. If they could figure out the language for this machine, then they would be quick on their way to trying out some of the drinks. After a lot of tinkering and listening, they felt like they'd finally had this drink dispenser figured out. After sending a signal mimicking a binary sequence, a bottle of Sprite rolled out. Io chirped in satisfaction and hurriedly snatched it up. They cracked it open and dumped the drink into their mouth. The bubbles were an odd and uncomfortable texture to witness. It sounded like something was crackling inside their head and it vaguely stung. The flavor wasn't terrible but they could do without the bubbles. It made them feel uncomfortable. They spat it out not wanting to waste energy on processing something that so thoroughly confused them.
Io tried the machine again and another Sprite came out. They tossed it to the side and tapped at another button, trying to learn the "language" for that. Eventually they got something new roll out the square slot. Diet Coke. One sip of the bitter fizzy drink and it thrown a good distance. Next up, Powerade It was blue, which was an intriguing color compared to the last one, to say the least. They sipped it with the pleasant surprise that it wasn't fizzy. The flavor wasn't wonderful, but it was decent enough to consider actually drinking.
A fair amount of time was spent taste testing what the machine had to offer. The consensus was that Io didn't like soda, due to the fizzy texture, and that such things as juice and water and Powerade were safe bets. The ground was strewn in lightly sipped bottles of drinks. The little alien concluded their experience very satisfied with what they had learned from their taste-testing session.