Etheric Explorer

by S. R. Russell

  Anne moved to the front of Cheryl Lynn’s desk and extended her hand. “Deal!” she exclaimed. “I have enough things that need figuring out that another brain involved would be welcome.”

  Anne felt like skipping as she left Cheryl Lynn’s workplace. Not only could she help Gina, but she could also help Tina. Maybe being a business tycoon wouldn’t be too bad, after all.

  Once Anne and Jinx were settled on the tram under the watchful eye of Guardian Connors for their trip home, Anne called Gina. All three of the travelers winced at Gina’s squeal of delight when she heard the news.

  When Anne and Jinx arrived for their regular training session, she was surprised to see the training area empty except for Gabrielle. Anne came to a sudden halt when she noticed Gabrielle was holding two training swords.

  “Did I get my dates mixed up?” Anne asked the other vampire.

  Gabrielle shook her head. “Nope, you’re good. You have me for the next few lessons. Bethany Anne wants you trained with a sword.”

  Anne shrugged. “Okay. Does this mean Jinx gets some time off?”

  Gabrielle mirrored Anne’s shrug. “I wasn’t given any instructions regarding her, so I guess she can chill out and watch.”

  Anne spent the next couple of hours learning proper stances and the footwork involved in sword combat. Gabrielle then taught her how to hold and control the sword properly.

  After four hours of training, Anne was soaked with sweat. “Why do we use Japanese-style swords?”

  Gabrielle’s eyes looked past Anne as she pondered the question. “Stephen had a special katana that he gifted Bethany Anne. I imagine that is where it started. Why?”

  “Just wondered.” Anne shrugged and did some stretches in the hope she wouldn’t hurt too much the next day.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Hey, Jean,” Anne greeted Jean Dukes as she and Jinx entered the woman’s workshop.

  Jean looked up from the bench where she was working on something that looked gun-shaped.

  “Hey, Anne, Jinx,” Jean exclaimed with pleasure as she grabbed a rag to wipe her hands. “What can I do for you kids?”

  Anne’s nervousness made her fidget a little before answering. “Bethany Anne has me learning sword fighting, and, well, I don’t understand why we’re using katanas.”

  When Jean’s eyebrows went up significantly, Anne continued, “They might make sense if we were still human, with how well they cut, but I have problems getting used to the curve when I thrust, and it’s not like I don’t have the strength to wield a bigger sword. As small as I am, something like an English longsword would give me more reach.”

  Jean found a clean spot on her rag and rubbed her forehead, considering the idea. “Have you looked into the differences?”

  Anne nodded. “Yup. Seshat found lots of information. Some of the historical differences don’t apply because of our modern steelmaking techniques. And, as I just mentioned, the strength factor is not an issue for Weres or vamps. A longsword would give me two cutting edges, more reach, and superior thrusting capabilities.”

  “So, how are you going to carry this monster?” Jean asked after listening to Anne describe what she wanted.

  Anne did something with her tablet, then slid it across to Jean. “This was from a guy on Earth. His is a little crude, but as you can see in the video, it works fine. I’m hoping either you or Stevie can make something that works at least as well but is a little more elegant.”

  “I’m certain we can come up with something,” Jean agreed. “I’ll message you when I have both combat and practice weapons finished.”

  Anne spent several grueling days with Gabrielle, learning forms for attack and defense. She suspected she would have to relearn some when she switched to a longsword. Stevie had been able to mock up a replica of what her real sword would be, and Anne spent a couple of hours each evening following tutorials Seshat had found in files that had come from Earth.

  “All right, let’s put it all together,” Gabrielle informed her student. “We’ll start slow and then speed things up as you get used to using the forms in sequence to attack and defend.”

  “Now?” Anne squeaked.

  Gabrielle laughed at the expression on Anne’s face. “Yes, now. You have learned your forms well, so now it’s time to actually see them work for you.”

  Clang clang clang. Anne’s tensions eased when she was able to block each of Gabrielle’s strikes with the moves she had spent the past week sweating to learn.

  Clang clang CLANG-clang. Gabrielle was pleased; her student had been working hard, and it showed. Now let’s see what you really can do, she thought to herself as she ramped up her speed. Clang clangclangclang.

  GV, Anne shortened one of the Guardian Marines’ favorite curses. She had been feeling rather proud of how well she was doing against Gabrielle, then her mentor had slowly and inexorably begun to speed up.

  >>Your pattern is falling behind.<<

  I know. Even Anne’s mental voice showed her strain. What I don’t know is how she’s doing this.

  Anne, I get a sense that Gabrielle is somehow channeling Etheric energy, which I think is allowing her to speed up, Jinx declared.

  Oh, really? Anne was still backpedaling like crazy in an attempt to mitigate the damage she was taking from Gabrielle. Can you help me figure out how she’s doing her super-speed thing?

  Possibly, but not in time to help you now. Jinx sounded ashamed because her person found herself backed into a corner with Gabrielle’s sword at her throat.

  “Oh, Jean, it’s beautiful!” Anne gushed when Jean Dukes handed her the longsword that had been made for her.

  “Well, since you had already decided to go against traditional convention, I didn’t see any reason to hold back on the build,” Jean explained as she held up the matching practice sword. “I was able to take the formula I make our armor from and adjust it to give you something with an incredible yet durable edge, plus an extremely tough spine. Don’t practice with that,” Jean nodded to the weapon in Anne’s hand, “against a traditionally-made katana. You’ll slice the katana in two, and someone will be unhappy with you. Also, if you give it a shake,” Jean demonstrated by waving the blade on its flat axis, “you’ll see it has enough flex to help it withstand blows against solid objects like heavy armor.”

  Anne stepped back to give herself room to work and went through some of the forms she had been studying at home.

  Jean watched in amazement, working hard to keep her eyes from bugging out as Anne whipped her sword through several complicated forms. She marveled because there was no flash or unnecessary flourishes to Anne’s movements, just a blade being moved with deadly precision at a speed that made it a shimmering blur.

  As Anne entered the training room, Gabrielle had to refrain from giggling. The girl had a hilt that looked to be at least ten inches long sticking above her shoulder, and it looked like the blade was protruding beyond her left leg so as to not impede Anne as she moved.

  “Compensating much?” Gabrielle couldn’t help but tease. Gabrielle had to take a quick step backward when with a speed she had just come to recognize the girl was capable of, Anne had forty some-odd inches of shimmering practice sword in front of her.

  “That’s not possible!” Gabrielle protested in shock.

  Anne smirked and spun to put her back to Gabrielle. “Anything’s possible with the right innovation,” she informed her instructor as she returned the blade to a custom-made device that allowed a five-foot-four girl to carry and use a four-foot four-inch sword.

  “How did you come up with that idea?” Gabrielle asked, very impressed.

  “Truthfully, I didn’t,” Anne confessed. “When I was discussing wanting to use a longsword-type blade, Seshat did a search of all the files from Earth and found a man who had designed something like this to prove it was a viable concept. If you take a viable idea to Jean Dukes, you can just stand back and watch the magic happen,” Anne declared with a smile. “I believe you were arou
nd when these were the weapon de jour, so I’m hoping you can provide proper instruction.”

  “My father is much more proficient than I am, but I can show you the basics once we find a practice sword for me,” Gabrielle assured Anne, then watched in amazement as Anne’s hand reached up and disappeared.

  “Fudge!” Anne proclaimed with disgust, and the rest of her body went the way of her hand.

  Noticing Jinx didn’t look alarmed. Gabrielle asked, “What’s going on?”

  Jinx snorted in a way that Gabrielle’s implant translated as laughter. “Anne is trying to convince a small section of the Etheric to follow her so she can store things like swords there and always have them at hand. So far, the Etheric has been reluctant to comply.”

  “Found it,” Anne exclaimed as she reappeared with an extra practice blade in her hand.

  “How far was it, and how badly are you drained?” Jinx asked with concern.

  “Just a couple of feet away this time, and not bad since it was such a short distance,” Anne promptly answered her friend.

  “You should have taken me with you,” Jinx admonished.

  “You’re right,” Anne admitted, going over to give Jinx a scratch behind her ears. “I was just so frustrated it wasn’t where it was supposed to be that I didn’t think.”

  “I’ll be very angry with you if your not thinking gets you hurt,” Jinx advised.

  “What she said,” Gabrielle chimed in, gesturing at Jinx.

  Anne took a breath and then nodded. “You’re both right, and I apologize,” she declared. “I won’t promise not to do it again because, well, I’m me, after all. But I do promise I’ll do my best to remember not to make silly mistakes like that.”

  Jinx gave her person a quick lick on the hand. That’s the best I can hope for.

  Gabrielle started Anne on longsword basics, which the girl seemed to pick up surprisingly quickly. After switching back to a training katana, Gabrielle was not surprised that Anne was pretty much able to hold her own using the standard training combinations. Anne used the extra reach her new weapon provided to ruthless advantage.

  While they were cooling down after the lesson had ended, Gabrielle asked, “Given that performance, I’m guessing Seshat found videos from Earth?”

  Anne snickered. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Aren’t you the one who always suggests a girl’s got to have some secrets?”

  “Brat!” Gabrielle exclaimed fondly. “Same time tomorrow.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Tina felt a frisson of excitement as she left home. She had planned to extend her education after she left the Etheric Academy, but finding opportunities had been more difficult than she had expected. Or possibly her own brilliance had caused her to think she’d generate more interest. Tina smirked internally.

  “Anne has some issues that she could use help with,” her mother had informed Tina. “Be a love and see what you can do for her.”

  Tina approached the address she’d been given, surprised to see two Guardian Marines flanking the door. The sign over the door proclaimed JASS Inc. Wow, fancy, Tina thought.

  “ID, Miss?” one of the guards asked as Tina approached the door.

  The guard used his tablet to scan the identification Tina provided. “You’re on the list, Miss Grimes. Go on in.”

  Tina entered and slowed at a door that looked like it was an office. As she was debating whether to knock, Tina heard dog toenails on the hard floor. Turning away from the door, she saw a girl who seemed to be around her own age walking her way. Tina couldn’t help but stare at the dog that walked beside the girl. That should be Jinx, but she was huge! The dog’s back was even with the waist of the girl.

  “You must be Tina. Welcome! I’m Anne, and this is Jinx.” The girl seemed very upbeat, and Jinx yipped a hello at Tina.

  “I know Jinx. I just can’t get over how large she is,” Tina commented as she bent to hug the dog.

  “I was scared the first time I went into the Pod-doc, so Jinx went in with me. It started a tradition where when I need Pod-doc time, Jinx hops in also. I think each time someone’s in the Pod-doc, it finds more to optimize. Especially on the dogs, since it doesn’t have the same genetic diversity it has with us humans,” Anne explained.

  “That makes a certain amount of sense,” Tina replied after a few seconds of considering the data that had been offered.

  “Come on back.” Anne turned and headed down the hall. Jinx waited until Tina had passed and followed the two girls.

  Anne waited at the door to the room that had been set up for meetings like these.

  “Grab a soda or whatever you’d like and have a seat,” Anne invited as she pulled out a chair at the corner of the table for her guest.

  “What do you have for me?” Tina asked, her enthusiasm about starting a new project evident in her tone.

  “Just a sec,” Anne suggested. Going to the door, she looked out. “Abby, I’ll be out for a few minutes. Keep the room clear, would you?”

  Abigail frowned, then pointed up. “You mean, out out?”

  Anne giggled. “Not sure it’s up, but yes, that type of out.”

  “I don’t like it, but I’m pretty useless there, so I’ll keep your landing site clear,” Abby promised with a disgruntled look.

  “Thanks.” Anne smiled at her guard, then shut the door and walked over to Tina. Placing one hand on Jinx’ back and the other on Tina’s shoulder, she shifted the three of them into the Etheric.

  “What the fuck?” Tina shrieked when she found herself surrounded by mist.

  “Welcome to the Etheric,” Anne declared brightly.

  “Oh, wow! Uncle John has mentioned it, but I didn’t expect it to be quite so creepy.” Tina looked around in cautious fascination.

  Anne dug a piece of metal out of her pocket. “Watch.” Anne used her chin to motion to the metal in her hand while her other hand dug into her pocket again. “I brought you here because Bethany Anne won’t let me experiment on the Meredith Reynolds anymore.”

  Tina watched as Anne placed a small red stone on the piece of metal. Despite her experiences at the Etheric Academy, Tina couldn’t stop her mouth from gaping open when there was a red flash of light and the stone melted through the metal Anne was holding.

  “Are you all right?” Tina’s concern was evident in her voice.

  “Thanks, I’m fine,” Anne assured her as she bent down to pick up the tiny ruby she had used for the demonstration. “It heats and cuts through this so quickly, the edges don’t have time to get hot. There’s video to show you when we get back, but I thought a live demonstration would be best.”

  Tina worked hard to repress a shiver as she asked, “Can we go back, then?”

  “Sure.” Anne’s reply was cheerful as she put the metal and the ruby back in her pocket. She placed a hand on Jinx, then held out a hand to Tina. “For now, at least, it requires physical contact to move someone.”

  “For now?” Tina asked as she grasped Anne’s hand.

  “Who knows what we’ll find as we explore this dimension further?” Anne replied just before the three of them returned to the meeting room at JASS Inc.

  “We’re back, Abby.” Anne opened the door a small distance to inform her guard.

  Anne joined Tina at the table and queued the video of the experiment that had trashed her old apartment. “Here are the videos of the early experiments. You can see what we’re up against.”

  After watching the videos, Tina asked, “So what are the issues?”

  “Well, I’d like to be able to do something with the energy, like make a weapon,” Anne began her explanation. “But how can I make a weapon out of something I can’t mount in a device? It has burned through everything I’ve put it up against so far.”

  “Crap!” Tina exclaimed, nodding in understanding. “That does make it difficult to use.”

  Tina watched with some fascination as both Anne and Jinx turned toward the door, where there was a knock a few seconds late
r.

  “Come on in, Stevie,” Anne declared.

  Anne made the introductions. “Tina Grimes, this is Stephanie Kasyanov, who as you can see will give you dirty looks if you call her Stephanie since she prefers to be called ‘Stevie.’ Stevie is our mechanical genius, sort of like William on Team BMW.”

  “Stevie, Tina has offered to help me on the research side of things,” Anne finished.

  Stevie looked at the young woman and noted the family resemblance to John Grimes. “Welcome aboard,” she said, holding out her hand to the girl.

  “Thanks, nice to meet you,” Tina proclaimed, rising to shake the offered hand.

  “Well, that takes care of the introductions,” Anne stated. “Now let’s talk about what needs to be done next.”

  Bethany Anne checked her refrigerator and sighed when she observed she was out of Coke. She hadn’t been able to sleep and had gotten into the office extremely early, and she’d already downed the three Cokes that had been chilled. Figuring she could grab a twelve-pack from the supply room, then indulge in a cold one from Cheryl Lynn’s fridge, Bethany Anne stepped out of her office.

  Cheryl Lynn was very happy. As soon as Anne’s friend Gina had mentioned that there was a company producing stuffed dog toys, along with action figures of her boss and the Bitches, Cheryl Lynn had placed an order. She’d gotten the call last night that her order had arrived, so she had detoured by the store on the way to work to pick up the Ashur stuffed toy and the Scott action figure.

  Checking her tablet, she noted that she’d have at least thirty minutes before Bethany Anne showed up. She had put the one-quarter-size Ashur on her desk and was just unboxing the Scott action figure when she heard the door to Bethany Anne’s office open.

  Bethany Anne heard Cheryl Lynn’s gasped curse, along with her heartbeat rising like crazy. She watched with amused curiosity as Cheryl Lynn opened a drawer in her desk and hastily placed something in it before slamming it shut.