Page 56 of Pets in Space 10

“Yes,” Gaerynx said as he pulled on his boots and grabbed his vest. “We’ll have three full transit days to relax.”

The deck was eerily quiet. Motion-sensor lights turned on as they walked down the hall.

At least the corporate monotone pastel and minimalist decor made it easy to look for stray audio devices.

To her dismay, they found one next to the lift doors, this one colored to coordinate with the brushed copper bezel of the control panel.

The first door they came to beyond it revealed a large formal conference room.

It had a polished modular table featuring twenty built-in displays for meeting attendees, and a large holodisplay screen that put their luxe room flat-screen viewports to shame.

A wide console along the far wall held an elegant beverage station and an artfully arranged grouping of mugs with the RyoGenomica logo.

She skirted around the table to take a closer look at the tech panel next to the large display.

“Do they really hold executive meetings on a starship?”

“Apparently so, or they probably wouldn’t have sprung for the cost of a holopresence system.

” An abstract mural on the closer wall caught Gaerynx’s attention.

After a moment, he moved closer, then pointed to one swirl just above his head.

Another little oval audio device sat coyly in the center, tinted to blend in with the bright yellow explosion of color.

Leaning closer to the tech grouping, she saw a gray oval dome hiding in plain sight. She waved to Gaerynx and pointed.

Trying to remember what the loquacious installer had said about coverage, she figured there had to be a third device somewhere above the table in the airy, high-ceilinged room to catch all conversations.

Or maybe it was somewhere near the beverage dispenser.

But what did it matter? They already knew the room was monitored.

Next door, the full-featured media room was similarly adorned with two small devices. Back out in the hall, she sighed as she looked north and counted seven more doors. Would the public fresher be monitored, too?

She motioned Gaerynx closer to the smooth white wall. “I need some downtime,” she told him quietly. “I don’t like any of this.”

“Me, either. How about we meet at the lift in ninety minutes and head down to the kitchen to see about dinner?” He frowned as he looked up.

“Good idea.” She hadn’t even thought to check the ceiling for more devices. “I’ll probably feel better after I eat something. Lunch was a nutridrink and a package of bad things.”

His eyebrows twitched with amusement. “Bad things?”

“Impulse buys that I hid in the pantry behind Merix’s food so I wouldn’t see them and find myself eating them at two in the morning.”

“Ah, the shopping-while-hungry problem. I know it well.”

He really had the nicest smile. Only shoving her hands in her pockets kept her from patting his chest and telling him so. Exhaustion and the jacked situation were eroding her better judgment.

Back in her room, Amalena saw Merix had climbed back into his carrier.

It was a sad day when the carrier that took him to the vet’s office now seemed like a safe haven.

Her poor cat needed to decompress as much as she did.

She set an alarm on her wristcomp, then kicked off her half-boots and stretched out on the bed, fully clothed.

A few moments later, a soft weight landed beside her.

Merix kneaded the puffy covers once, twice, then curled into a tight ball, his purr a low, rumbling anchor in the quiet but definitely not private gilded cage.

***

The main kitchen, located at the south end of Deck Four, was a sprawling, well-appointed space clearly designed for multiple people to work in.

Little pops of bright color on the backsplash and ornate hexagonal designs on the built-in cabinets suggested the kitchen had been remodeled rather than gutted and rebuilt.

It currently smelled delicious, or so Amalena’s stomach informed her. She stirred the aromatic vegetables she’d chopped and begun sautéing in a well-balanced frying pan.

“No little ears, so far,” Gaerynx murmured.

He’d offered to flash-cook the fresh fish filets he’d found in the walk-in-sized cold box.

Those would cook last, since they would only take a minute in the professional-grade appliance that she’d like to have but definitely couldn’t afford.

On the narrow counter between them, he was thinly slicing a lemon.

He had changed into loose gray athletic pants and a thick knit sweater in a brilliant blue that hugged his torso in all the right places and brought out the blue in his eyes. The ship was definitely chilly.

“I haven’t seen any, either,” she agreed, keeping her own voice low. “I think so many powered appliances and noisy activities interfere. At least, that’s what the security installer at RyoGenomica said last year during the big upgrade.”

“That’s a relief.” He was still speaking softly, which she thought was prudent.

The simple domesticity of working in a kitchen was a gentle reminder of normality after the profoundly abnormal last few days. “I thought we’d be underway by now.” The clock display on the wall showed it was creeping up on her usual bedtime. “I wonder where the special cargo is.”

“I wonder what the cargo is.” He used the well-placed water dispenser behind the cookplate to fill a pot with hot water and added the dried flat, frilly pasta they’d found.

“I guess it wasn’t that much of an emergency.

” He stepped away to rummage through the cabinets until he found plates.

“That reminds me, I wanted to tell you about the meeting I had this morning—”

They were interrupted by the arrival of Pivada and the nondescript man from the security team. They were still in their gray-and-navy uniforms.

“Hiya,” said Pivada with a smile. “Smells good.” She pointed to her coworker. “This is Sypher.”

Amalena nodded as she lowered the heat for her pan. She was too hungry to risk burning their meal because she was distracted.

“We’ll be done in ten minutes,” said Gaerynx. “The cold box is well-stocked if you want to make something.”

“Hah!” Sypher looked appalled. “Cooking is not my ace.” He waved a hand between himself and Pivada. “Mealpacks are good enough for us.”

Pivada shot Sypher a brief frown, then jerked open a drawer. “Sure, but those degradable utensils are worthless. Where are the forks?” It took her several tries before she found the right one.

Sypher opened the cold box door and eyed the row of liquids. “Fruit nectars and fizzies.” He closed the door with a bang. “I hate that stupid rule about no-kicks on board. Not even ale or inhalables.”

“Water is good enough for us,” said Pivada with a hint of snark in her tone as she crossed to the serving counter to get two glasses from the stacks. Gaeryx shifted out of the way to let Pivada get to the cold-water spigot near the larger sink.

Sypher crossed to a tall pantry next to the serving counter, which turned out to be filled to the brim with mealpacks. “Pivada, what’s your poison? I’m going with the green vegetal cheese.”

Pivada gave a humorless laugh. “I don’t care. They’re all the same to me.”

Sypher shrugged, grabbed a second one, and carried them to the closest end of the long but narrow dining table. Pivada took two full glasses of water and sat across from him.

Amalena focused on stirring the softened vegetables.

Her temper, which she thought had cooled, threatened to flare again.

She’d been enjoying the easy camaraderie with Gaerynx.

To distract herself, she turned her back on the security team and focused on the fish Gaerynx was arranging on the flash-cooker’s wire rack. “Where did you learn to cook?”

“Taught myself. Self-defense from roommates who never heard of food safety.” He placed two thin lemon slices on each fillet. “Cheaper than eating out all the time, too.”

“I learned when I was a child because my mother’s idea of feeding me was mealpacks like those.” She tilted her head toward Pivada and Sypher, who appeared to have nothing to say to each other. “If I ever win the Nove Planeten Lottery, I’m hiring a meal service. Maybe even a full-time cook.”

“If you do, I hope you’ll invite me for dinner sometimes.” Gaerynx scooped out a flat noodle with a skimmer, blew on it, then popped it in his mouth. “Pretty good for quick-cook pasta.” He turned off the cookplate.

“The veggies are ready. I’ll plate them if you want to put the fish in.”

He nodded, then slid the rack into the flash-cooker and set the timer. While she divided the green and yellow vegetables onto their plates, he took the pasta to the sink, drained it, then poured it into the prepared bowl with chervil and butter and tossed it to coat it.

Amalena eyed the dining room table with reluctance. Sitting at the far end of the long table would be rude, but sitting any closer to the now-silent and overly attentive security team held no appeal.

Gaerynx apparently read her mind and took two kitchen prep stools to the serving counter next to the pantry on the far side of the kitchen, as if that had been their plan all along.

Thanks to the combination of hunger and good company, the simple food was the best she’d had in half a year.

Between bites, Gaerynx told her he’d taken Pavrel on a brief tour of the rest of Deck Five while she was napping.

“He didn’t care for the executive offices.

I don’t think he appreciates pretentious pastiche abstracts and full-featured tech.

He really liked the exercise room, though.

He seemed to think it was a play area for big cats.

There’s a smaller media room at the other end of the deck from our staterooms, and some stairs that look like they go to Deck Four.

I’ll show you after dinner if you’d like. ”