I made her wait while I finished chopping carrots, then I got out her food and filled her bowl. I didn’t usually give her so much at once, but we were in a strange place with a different schedule. Until we all got used to it, I would err on the side of too much.

Luna dove into her dinner with her usual gusto. I watched her for a second before going back to my prep work.

Once everything was in the pot, I began looking for the stove. I wasn’t completely ignorant of Valovian technology, but I’d never seen a kitchen this nice. Usually the stove was visible, just like in a typical human kitchen.

I found a trio of seams in the counter under what looked like it could be a vent hood. I waved my hands around, trying to trigger it to open, but nothing happened. I hoped whoever was in charge of surveillance was having a good laugh at my expense because this had to be hilarious to watch.

A flat control pad on the wall lit up when I reached for it. The labels were in Valovan, but it also included handy little pictograms. I pressed one and crossed my fingers.

The seamed section of counter sank down and split apart, with each piece sliding sideways out of view. The stove underneath rose until it was flush with the rest of the counter. It was pristine and I made a note to take more care than usual not to get soup everywhere.

I had just figured out how to get the burner on when my comm implant crackled to life.

“Tavi,” Kee said, her voice flat, “I got into the security system. You need to see this.” That tone was never a good sign from my normally bubbly systems engineer.

I turned off the stove and covered the pot. Dinner would have to wait. “Are we in danger?”

A long pause sent adrenaline flooding into my system, but eventually Kee said, “No, I don’t think so. I’ve already alerted the others. They’re on their way.”

“I’ll be right there.”

I debated taking Luna, but if we weren’t in danger, then she would be okay here. And taking her away from food was a good way to get nipped. “Stay out of trouble,” I told her as I left.

The short walk to the guest wing felt like forever. By the time I let myself into Kee’s room, I’d come up with a hundred worst-case scenarios.

Anja, Lexi, and Eli were already crowded into the room. From their expressions, they were also planning for disaster. Anja and Eli had changed out of their gym clothes at some point. I wondered if they’d joined Lexi in doing some snooping of their own.