Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 130317 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130317 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Against the back wall of the living room area was something Mia hadn’t seen in the ad. It appeared to be a kind of leather mat, a little shorter and thicker than a yoga mat. At one end there were two coils of tubing that had small metal cups attached to them. The tubing led down into the mat, which was about two inches thick.
“What’s this for?” she asked, walking over to it.
But Brother Jonash had already led Sev into the next part of the house, so there was no answer. Frowning, Mia leaned down and picked up one of the small cups. She looked inside and found that there was an opening at the end, leading down into the tubing. Were they some kind of suction cups? And if so, what the hell were they for?
“But where has your wife gotten to?” Brother Jonash’s voice, filled with disapproval, drifted from the other room. “She’s going to need to know how to work the food prep assembly since her work will be in your home.”
Sev stuck his head out of the rounded archway that led from the living area into the rest of the house.
“Mia?”
“Coming.” Swallowing down both her irritation and her curiosity, Mia put the metal suction cup and the tubing attached to it back on the leather mat and rose to join her partner.
“Ah, here you are, Sister Mia,” Brother Jonash exclaimed when she walked through the archway. “Good—I was saying to your husband that a good wife needs to know how to work the food prep assembly.”
He was standing beside a system of large, polished brass tubes as he spoke. There were three of them, Mia noted. Two were large and fat and curved around so that they rested on the counter itself with their dinner-plate-sized openings pointing outward but the one in the middle hung straight down from the ceiling and was much thinner and smaller than the other two.
“Well, I’ve never been much of a cook,” she said doubtfully. “And none of this looks remotely like what I have back home…”
“You’ll learn your duties soon enough,” Brother Jonash said shortly. “Now, see here—I’m programming in the food needs for two people.” He pointed to a touch screen on the side of the largest of the three tubes. “The instructions are simple enough—one man and one woman…” He glanced up at Sev. “I’ll be sure to make that one extra large man—you look like you have a good appetite, Brother.”
“I can eat,” Sev said mildly.
Which was an understatement—Mia had seen her partner put away three large pizzas on his own, though of course not a single bit of the food seemed to turn into anything but more muscle on his large frame. If she ate like that, her already too-big thighs and behind would be enormous. But that was just the Kindred metabolism for you—it didn’t seem to matter what they ate, they never got fat. Lucky bastards.
“Are you paying attention, Sister Mia?” Brother Jonash demanded, abruptly derailing her train of thought.
“Oh, uh, yes. Sorry,” Mia mumbled. “So you program it with the touch screen?”
“No—your husband will program it. Please come here, Brother Severith.” Jonash motioned and Sev went to look at the touch screen. “Place your thumbprint here and here,” he said. “Good—now the food prep assembly will respond to your directions.”
“I thought you said I had to learn how to use it because I’m the little woman and I’ll be doing all the cooking?” Mia couldn’t quite keep the irritation out of her voice.
“You will—you have to know how to collect the food and beverages that come from the various tubes and prepare them,” Brother Jonash snapped. “See here—this tube is for your husband’s food only.” He pointed to the large, fat tube on the right. “Press the button on the side and the ingredients your husband has chosen for whatever meal you’re making will come sliding down to the mouth of the tube so you can remove them and prepare them to his liking.”
“And the other tube is for my food?” Mia guessed, pointing to the left-hand tube, which wasn’t quite as large as the one on the right.
“Exactly.” Brother Jonash nodded.
“Why can’t we eat the same thing?” Sev asked, which was exactly what Mia was thinking. “Preparing two different meals every night seems inconvenient and wasteful.”
“Often, it will be exactly the same ingredients—just in different amounts,” Brother Jonash explained. “A large male working outside the home all day, doing heavy labor in the fields, is going to need a lot more food than his smaller wife who’s doing nothing but housework.”
Suddenly Mia remembered the promise in the ad, that the kitchen in the smart dome house would help women who needed “self-control.”
“So this is your way of putting all the women here on a diet?” she demanded, stabbing a finger at the left hand tube.