T he orphanage ships had built-in matter compilers, but they could not, of 
course, be hooked up to Sources. Instead they drew their supplies of matter 
from cubical containers, rather like tanks of atoms arranged very precisely. 
These containers could be loaded on board with cranes and hooked up to the 
matter compilers in the same way that Feed lines would be if they resided on 
shore. The ships put in to Shanghai frequently, offloaded empty containers, and 
took new ones on board—their hungry populations were fed almost 
exclusively on synthetic rice produced by the matter compilers.