Page 24 of Kidnapped from the Paradise Resort

“Uh, what exactly is the ‘Thought-cooker’ you were talking about?” Kara interrupted. It was one thing to watch the two of them put on a show through the frosted glass of the shower stall but quite another to see it right up close and personal like this. The secondhand embarrassment was making her cringe!

“Oh, sorry sweetie! I get so distracted teasing poor Nono here.” Gaela withdrew her hand and walked over to the small table, which had the same kind of microwave-looking device that Kara had in her own suite. Gaela sat and Kara took the seat opposite her.

“So this is the Thought-cooker?” she asked, nodding at the device. “We don’t have anything like that where I’m from.”

“I believe these are exclusive to the Fem Lovely Resort,” Gaela said. “I’d love to take one home but they won’t sell them. I’ll show you how to use it but first, Nono—get us some of that delicious Joopital wine I bought the other day.”

“At once, My Lady.” He went to the cold unit and got out a large green bottle. A moment later he brought them two crystal goblets each half full of a deep blue wine.

Gaela put her glass to her nose and took a deep sniff. Then she took a sip and sighed in satisfaction.

“Mmmm! Delicious. Try it, my dear!” she urged Kara.

Kara took a cautious sip of the blue wine and found that it really was good. It didn’t taste very alcoholic at all—it was more like some kind of sweet and tart melted fruit jelly. Only the fruit was one she’d never had before.

“It’s really good, right?” Gaela asked, draining her glass and motioning Nono to pour more for both of them.

“Oh yes—yes, it is.” Kara took a bigger drink—the wine was wonderful but she really shouldn’t be drinking on an empty stomach, she thought. “You told me you were going to show me how to use the Thought-cooker,” she reminded Gaela.

“Oh yes—of course. Look, this is how you use it.”

Gaela picked up the suction cup end of the black cord and pressed it to her right temple. Then she closed her eyes and her forehead furrowed in concentration. After a moment the machine turned on with a humming sound and Kara smelled something cooking. The scent was savory and herbal and vaguely tomatoey.

Finally there was ading!and the light turned off.

“Good—it’s done.” Gaela opened her eyes and removed the suction cup from her temple. Then she reached into the microwave—no, the Thought-cooker,Kara reminded herself—and withdrew a steaming plate heaped high with something that looked like blue pasta tubes about as big as her thumb in chunky green and red sauce.

“Oh—how did you do that?” Kara couldn’t help being amazed. “Was that already in there before you started and you just heated it up?”

“Naturally not, my dear—Ithoughtit into existence,” Gaela said loftily. “This isshawlenfrowl—one of my favorite dishes from back home on Bingelow Alpha—that’s where my sweet hubby lives when he’s not traveling,” she added. “But he’s always so far away from me—that’s why he doesn’t mind me coming to have some fun here at the Fem Lovely.” She smiled fondly as though thinking of her absent husband and then handed the suction cup to Kara. “Now you try.”

“How do I do it?” Kara asked, putting the black suction cup to her right temple. “Do I just wish for whatever food I want?”

“Sort of—you need to picture it in your mind—imagine it in great detail. Think of the way it looks but not just that—imagine the way it tastes—the way it feels on your tongue and between your teeth when you bite into it,” Gaela instructed. “Think about the scent too—how does it smell? Just remember everything about it and concentrate as hard as you can—the Thought-cooker will do the rest.”

Kara closed her eyes and pressed the suction cup even harder against her temple. It would probably be better to try something simple, she thought. She decided to picture a medium rare steak cooked to perfection and a baked potato with butter and sour cream.

Having decided what to “order” she concentrated on making the image come to life in her head. She pictured the juicy meat of a New York Strip and the crispy, salty skin of the baked potato. Then she added the creamy butter and the cool sour cream mixing together in the fluffy interior of the potato and thought how good it would taste in her mouth…how she would probably have to blow on it a little because it was hot and how…

Ding!

“Oh, there it is—you’re all done,” Gaela said, interrupting her thoughts.

Kara opened her eyes and watched as the other woman pulled open the door of the Thought-cooker. Inside, sitting on a plain china plate, was a juicy New York Strip steak and a crispy baked potato.

“My that smells delicious,” Gaela remarked, smiling. “What is it?”

“It’s called a New York Strip—it’s a cut of meat from an Earth animal called a cow,” Kara explained.

Gaela’s interest turned to horror.

“My dear—are you saying that the people of your planet eatother living beings?”

“Er…well, yes—but just animals. They’re not sentient,” Kara hastily explained.

“That’s still not right.” Gaela shook her head disapprovingly. “My people eat only dishes made from fungus that we grow in our Pure-Light Gardens.”

“But this particular steakisn’tfrom a real cow, right?” Kara countered. “I mean, I’m not sure what the food the Thought-cooker makes is made it from, but?—”

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