It wasn't until later that day that Lana was able to have time to fully explore her new kitchen. It was lunch time and her sparring time with Raten was over. They had agreed Monday, Wednesday and Saturday pending any issues that came up and she would work with Kattie on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday with Friday to spend as much time working with Dr. Hayley as possible to gain experience. After he, as Vorden, left to return to his friends, Lana decided to pull out her new contraption.
She felt, in a way, she was the best person to test such a thing out. As much as technology hated her, if she could effectively use this, it could potentially make her life a lot easier in the long run.
First, she inspected the outside of the bag. There were 2 pockets on each side at the base of the bag which currently held her four pots with dirt. On the back side were other pockets which currently held bottles of water. Inside the secure top, which held out any rain, there were pockets which held seasonings. The instructions she was given by Logan were not to store anything inside the kitchen as it would not fold up. Only the parts he made would do so. Adding anything would prevent the folding process. There was open space in the middle to store other things. Cold items were able to be stored in there as it also had insulation. If someone were planning on being gone for a day or two, meat could be placed in there and consumed within that time, longer if ice was included.
Next she tried to take out the kitchen and noticed she had to remove all the seasonings she had placed in the pockets. This was a negative in her book. She did as she needed to do then she pulled out the kitchen. There was an arrow pointing up. She placed it on the ground in accordance with the arrow and pressed the button. She watched as the kitchen built itself. She thought she could see little spiders moving around and forming different aspects of the kitchen. She even noticed the kitchen was self-leveling on this dirt ground. She smiled at how cleanly and efficiently it built up. She decided to hit the button to see how long it would take to reform into a cube. She watched as the kitchen once again became spiders and formed into a solid cube.
She smiled widely. "Now to try it out," she said to herself. Just as she hit the button again, her friends arrived fresh from the store with their weekly food purchases.
Everyone gawked at what she was standing in front of. She grinned at everyone. "I've never cooked on anything so pristine before. Since you're here Alto, do you mind filling the tank there with water? Are you able to?"
"Easy," he smiled.
"Where did you get this," Almin said in wonder. Dobin appeared to be speechless.
"A classmate invented it and asked me to test out this prototype. So, let's test it out," she smiled. She opened all the cabinets and drawers to see if she had everything she needed and where it was all stored. She assumed everything had to go back where she found it for the folding process to work. She would need to ask this question if she thought of it. Everything she had in her bag was incorporated in. She turned the oven and stove on, first one then the other then both to see if they worked and if she could use them both at the same time. She turned on the cold water then the hot, and again, both together. All seemed to work properly. The real test was to actually use it.
She did her normal thing of growing food but instead of forming a circle around her cooking area, she simply formed an arc from one corner around to the other. This enabled her to have all the ingredients she needed at her finger tips. If anything exterior was needed, they were able to be handed to her over some of the plants. This worked well for her as she worked out the new process with this gadget. The cutting board and knives were quite efficient. The stove heated evenly and cooked far quicker than she was used to. She wondered if this was a special kind of metal that conducted better? Was it the heating method? She didn't know. What she did know was faster cooking was better, especially in a field-type situation. She made up a salad and soup and even used the oven to make a very hearty bread. She made extra bread as she had become accustomed to doing just in case. She also noticed a "clean" button" but she decided to wait on that because she wanted to try a few recipes.
At the 3-month mark, they were allowed to have a market stall on campus and she wanted to be the first to sign up amongst her fellow club-members. This meant not only fresh produce to her but she wanted to sell pies, jams, and tarts. If this kitchen worked well enough, maybe she could expand to making them fresh right there in the stall. Even with the game, the boys were making slow progress and had not learned anything new. She needed to make the money to buy those ability books. Maybe even have them help her so they would feel they earned them through their own work.
She decided to try that now. She made each person a blueberry pie and a strawberry tart, with an extra that she made for Vorden as a thank you. Once she was done cooking, she hit the "clean" button" and watched as little spiders formed arms that came down from the bottom of the upper cabinets and scrubbed down the surfaces using the water that Alto put in the tank. She then sat down with everyone and they enjoyed the dishes she made. "I'll cook that meat up for dinner. In the mean time, the kitchen has a mini-fridge."
The friends hung out until dinner time talking, sparring and just enjoying the company. She prepared a meal which included the steaks for them then repeated the cleaning process, emptied the fridge, and hit the button to pack the kitchen. She smiled broadly then sat down to eat with the others.
"What do you guys think? Any feedback on it?" Lana asked.
Dobin said, "I think you made friends with a very interesting person!"
Lana laughed. "I'd say more acquaintance. He's going to help me with some food research. He's a man of science so of course there is a level to connect on there."
She looked at the others. "Well, you are the one who used it but the function seems efficient and it packs up compact enough to carry." Kattie responded.
"I love the fact it is an actual kitchen with all the appliances you need. Did you see that blender in the cabinet?"
Lana nodded with a smile. "He incorporated everything I had and the grain grinder he put in there is way better than that little thing I was using before. I do need to get a sauce maker for making jams, though. I have enough credits easily. I saw a nice one for 5 but wasn't sure it was compact enough. I think it would fit in the top part of the bag that he provided."
"Do you need to give it back?" Almin asked.
"No. In fact he took all my old equipment to ensure the new one had everything I needed in it." Lana laughed. "I just realized I folded up the kitchen without the dishes we just used to eat. Which also means it was out of water after the second cleaning and the test of the plumbing. I guess that's a good thing to know."
She opened the kitchen back up and placed all the dirty dishes in the sink. "Alto, can you do the honors with water again?"
Alto did as asked. She then pressed the button to initiate the cleaning process once more. The arms came out and washed everything that was in the sink and used hot air to dry them then placed them all in their proper places. With a huge smile on her face, she hit the button to reshape it into a cube once more and she packed it up in the bag, then packed the rest as she was able. The spare meat mostly fit in the top which means the sauce maker would fit. The issue would then be that she could not store any food in there.
The friends all went back to the dorms together. On the way there, she messaged Logan that she had some feedback which she provided. He asked her to bring it by.
On the way there, she stopped by a particular room. As she had her hand up to knock, the door opened and there stood Quinn a tad stunned as he did not expect anyone to be there.
"Hi Quinn, is Vord..." as the door swung open more and Vorden was at this side. She fidgeted a little but then she presented the pie and tart to Vorden. "Thank you for your help. This is a blueberry pie and a strawberry tart. I'm hoping to open a market stall in 8 weeks so I will be making more of this type of stuff to perfect my recipes." She waited for Vorden to take them, smiled at Quinn then ran off.
Quinn looked at Vorden, "Why was she so uncomfortable and why does she keep running off like that? Is it me?"
Vorden sighed, "She doesn't think she is worthy to be in either of our presence." He looked sad. He placed his treats by his bed to make sure Peter didn't eat them when he returned from wherever he was. "Let's just go."
On the top floor, Logan made the adjustments which incorporated the sauce maker which strains the seeds and skins from fruit. He altered the bag so it was in sections. Since the sauce maker was now in the kitchen, she didn't need to buy one but he did make the bag longer so she could carry more food in the top portion of the bag.
Lana then spent the next 8 weeks perfecting recipes in preparation and anticipation for opening her own stall.