by S. R Russell
Anne sank back, her expression morphing from giddiness to shock as the ramifications of Jinx’ comments hit home. “Oh my God!” she exclaimed, her hands going to her cheeks. “I never thought of that.”
Jinx couldn’t refrain from shaking her head as some of the falling water trickled into her ears. “You could ask ADAM, or I could ask my dad to find out if Bethany Anne has a procedure she follows.”
“Would your dad keep quiet about it?” Anne voice dropped to a whisper. “I’m not sure I want the Empress to know how stupid I was.”
—
“I see I won’t need to contact ADAM,” Seshat’s avatar was on the monitor when they returned, arms crossed on her chest and a look of disapproval on her face. “What happened to you two?” Seshat had noticed the “drowned rat” look of both Anne and Jinx.
Anne sighed. “Just a second, let me towel Jinx down.” She followed her words with action as she took a towel from the linen closet and began to dry Jinx. “The short version is, I can port through the Etheric. We arrived at the park while the watering system was active, which explains why we are wet. Jinx then pointed out that we could have arrived during a catastrophic event, which means we were fortunate this time. I need to figure out a safer way to do this.”
Anne gave Jinx a brief hug once she got most of the water out of her coat. She headed to the bathroom to correct her own situation, hearing the voices of Jinx and Seshat in the room behind her.
CHAPTER SIX
The following morning Anne spent several more hours testing samples while she waited for All Guns Blazing to open. From their reputations, she figured that would be the best location to find William and Marcus on a Saturday afternoon. Anne flexed her shoulders, stretching out her tight muscles, and put her two containers of samples away.
Jinx jumped down from where she had been napping on the couch. “Time to go see Team BMW?” She wanted to confirm they were going out for a while.
Anne nodded. “Yes. I can only take doing this testing for so long, then I need a break. If we walk instead of taking the tram, we should get there just about the time they open.”
Jinx’ tail started to wag as they headed for the door. “Good. Since I was asleep most of the morning, the exercise will be welcome.”
Anne reached down to stroke Jinx’ ears. “Sorry it’s so boring,” she told her.
They exited the apartment and headed for the most famous bar in this sector of space.
Jinx gave Anne’s hand an affectionate lick. “No, I’m sorry. I ended up falling asleep while you were doing the testing. You’re trying to find something that will benefit me, after all. You’d think I could stay awake for it.”
“Don’t worry. If I had to watch someone do what I’m doing I’d fall asleep too,” Anne confessed.
“How do you keep doing it, then?”
“Every time I get bored or frustrated with the lack of progress I visualize you getting kicked several feet across the room. Then I imagine the possible outcome if that were to happen in a fight for our lives. The thought of you being seriously hurt or possibly killed because I got bored with testing…” Anne’s explanation came to a halt as she sniffed and brushed a tear from her eye. “Let’s just say I don’t ever want to be responsible for you getting hurt.”
Jinx leaned into Anne’s leg. “Good,” she told the girl. “Keep testing then until you find the solution. I don’t want to find out what it feels like to see you get hurt because I wasn’t there to protect your back.”
“Deal!” Anne exclaimed, then smiled down at Jinx. “We’re quite the pair, aren’t we?”
Jinx was silent for several seconds while she padded along with Anne. “We’re soul mates,” she said earnestly. “Not in the way humans like to claim their lover is a soulmate, but in the way we think, the things that are important to us. We just mesh.”
Anne stopped, and when Jinx turned back to her she knelt and hugged her tightly. After several seconds, she released Jinx and leaned back to look at her. Seeing the same sort of love and devotion she felt for Jinx reflected, she gave Jinx a quick kiss on the nose.
Anne rose and, content in each other’s company, they quietly resumed their trip.
—
All Guns Blazing was already busy by the time Anne and Jinx arrived. They were standing inside the door, not quite sure how to proceed, when a waitress hurried over to them.
“What do you want, sweetie? You know I can’t serve you alcohol,” the waitress remarked.
“Why’s that?”
“You’re with Jinx. That means you must be Anne, and I know you’re not old enough to drink.”
Anne wasn’t here to drink, but she pouted playfully anyway.
“Oh, don’t give me that look,” the waitress said. “It is not my fault there are only seven dogs on this rock.”
“Hey, does that mean I’m famous?” Jinx wondered.
“I don’t know about famous. ‘Rare’ might be a better word.” The waitress smiled down at the sable German Shepherd dog.
Jinx’s ears drooped a bit. She’d hoped to be famous, like her parents.
Anne reached down to scratch Jinx’ neck in reassurance. “You can be rare, like a precious gem. I’m sure famous will come in time.”
“I guess it’s a good thing I wasn’t planning to order a drink.” Anne looked at the waitress. “I need to get in touch with Marcus and William. I was hoping to find them here.”
“That was a good guess,” the waitress agreed, and smiled. “Let me go check and see if they’re here yet.” She pointed to a bench inside the door. “If you will just wait here?”
Jinx waited until Anne had settled on the bench and then planted her butt on Anne’s feet. The waitress was gone for several minutes, but the two of them didn’t really notice the passage of time. Watching the constant stream of different beings entering and exiting the bar kept them entertained.
They stood as the waitress emerged from the stream of traffic. “They are all in the office arguing over who brews the best beer,” the waitress informed them.
“Oh, I wouldn’t want to interrupt them if they are busy,” Anne confessed.
“Busy!” The waitress put a hand to her face and turned away briefly when she couldn’t contain a snort. “They are not busy, this is just their pastime. The three of them have turned betting and arguing into a hobby and an art form.”
“I thought brewing beer was their hobby?”
“No, brewing is something they all take very seriously. Betting and telling bullshit stories are their hobbies,” the waitress informed her with a smile. “You two just follow me.”
The waitress led them to a door in the back area of All Guns Blazing, where she knocked and announced, “Anne and Jinx here to see you.”
“Well, let them in,” a male voice called. “They can’t see us through the door!”
Anne and Jinx looked at each other as they heard laughter from the men in the room. Did they think that was funny? Jinx wondered.
Don’t know, but we need their help so let’s be polite, Anne suggested.
Polite! Laugh at lame ass jokes, got it, Jinx commented as the waitress opened the door and waved them in.
A distinguished-looking man stood as Anne and Jinx entered the room. “Greetings! I’m Marcus. Please forgive these two reprobates their lack of manners. They don’t know any better.”
“Hey, I resemble that remark.” One of the men chortled.
“Word!” said the other, holding his hand up for a fist-bump.
“’Resemble Man’ is William, and ‘Word Man’ is Bobcat.” Marcus pointed at each as he made the introductions.
“Jinx,” Anne said, indicating her friend. “And I’m Anne,” she continued. “We appreciate your help.”
Marcus waved her to a chair, and sat back in his own seat. “Oh, I’m going to like you.”
“Why?” the man introduced as Bobcat asked.
William cleared his throat and looked sheepishly at his friend. “She said s
he appreciated our help, not that it was nice to meet us.”
“Word.” Marcus imitated Bobcat before dissolving into laughter.
Bobcat started to give Marcus the middle finger, then quickly pulled his hand into his lap when his brain caught up to the fact they had a strange young woman in their office. “Sorry,” he offered. “Working with and for Bethany Anne, you…”
“People don’t have to be polite or politically correct around Bethany Anne. Our Empress could and does give lessons in the art of swearing,” Marcus finished for Bobcat, who couldn’t figure out a polite way to complete his sentence.
Anne bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from giggling at the men, who all looked uncomfortable. “No problem,” she assured them. “Both of us have been around the Empress enough to know what she’s like. In fact, she was the one who suggested we come to you for help.”
Bobcat, William, and Marcus glanced at each other, mild concern in their expressions.
Jinx found it all very amusing, but figured she and Anne might have better success if these men weren’t more concerned with protecting their tails than helping with the situation. “It’s William and Marcus she suggested we talk to,” Jinx informed the men.
“Great!” Bobcat said, jumping up from his chair and heading for the door. “I’ll go get us all something to drink.”
“I’m a loyal subject of the Empress,” Anne commented as Bobcat opened the door.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked her, somewhat perturbed that she might imply he wasn’t loyal to Bethany Anne.
“Coke, not that other stuff.” Anne smiled at him.
“Oh, I try to avoid that conversation altogether. I drink beer!” he exclaimed proudly as he left the room.
“All the time?” Anne asked the two men she had come to talk with.
“Nope, he doesn’t drink while he’s sleeping,” William told her with a huge grin.
“Well, that’s good to know.” Anne smiled back. “He probably would have needed an intervention otherwise.”
Marcus started to laugh and pointed his finger at Anne. “I knew… (chuckle) I was… (chuckle) Going to like you!”
Anne held up her hand for a high-five with the rocket scientist, then turned to William. “Bethany Anne suggested you might know someone I could interview for a research job.”
“What kind of research?” William scratched a raised eyebrow.
“I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you,” Anne said to the man.
William’s smile slowly faded as it became clear to him that Anne wasn’t entirely joking. “Ouch,” he remarked, looking at the ceiling briefly. He let his gaze come back to Anne. “What can you tell me without going to extremes?”
Anne pursed her lips as she tried to think of a way to explain what she was doing that wouldn’t violate Bethany Anne’s edict that her work be secret. “Let’s just say that I’m working on stuff that might compare to your ESD project. I need someone really creative to help me develop it.”
William’s eyebrows rose so far they almost met his hairline. “You’re shitting…” William flushed with embarrassment and “me” came out as a whisper.
Jinx chuffed her amusement and put her muzzle on the table. She looked at William. “’We shit you not’ is the proper response, I think,” she told the shocked man.
William sat back in his chair, looked up, scratched his head, and blew out a long breath. “I’ve heard rumbles from the school’s machine shop courses. A guy named Stevie, and something in Russian that sounds like Kas-ee-an-ov. Supposed to be graduating in a couple of months and is blowing all his classmates out of the water, so to speak.”
“Sounds like a person I want to talk to,” Anne enthused, glad that it looked like she was moving in the right direction. “Please let us know if you hear of anyone else who might possibly meet our criteria.”
—
With Jinx by her side, Anne exited All Guns Blazing and headed toward their apartment. After turning into a secondary tunnel that led into the interior sections of the Meredith Reynolds, they had travelled about eighty feet when two aliens stepped from an intersection in front of them to block the passageway. A quick glance over her shoulder showed Anne that a third alien now blocked their retreat.
The one Anne assumed was the leader, because he was the one who spoke, growled, “Give us the animal, little girl, and no one gets hurt.”
Anne looked at the camera, one of the hundreds Meredith used for monitoring interior spaces, and raised an eyebrow.
“Dat’s not gonna do youse any gud!” the second alien told her, holding up a device that Anne guessed must be some sort of jammer.
We’re getting held up by the Three Stooges?
Who are they? Jinx wondered
>>The Three Stooges were a slapstick comedy team on Earth, active from 1922 until 1970. And their device isn’t blocking Meredith. I wish there was a display screen at your location so I could show them my fangs.<<
I didn’t expect it would be able to block Meredith, Anne commented. That’s part of the reason I called them the Three Stooges. And you’re absolutely correct, this would be a great situation to show off your fangs.
You need to show me these Three Stooges dudes when we get home, Jinx proclaimed.
Only if you promise you won’t go around saying “nyuk nyuk nyuk” afterward, Anne told her.
“Quit stalling and give us the animal!” the leader shouted as he pulled a rod of some sort from behind his back. It reminded Anne of the fighting sticks she had seen the Marines use in practice.
Taking a deep breath to center herself, Anne firmed her stance as she had been taught.
“You guys just need to go while you can,” Anne said in a quiet voice.
“The animal!” the alien with the jamming device yelled, pointing at Jinx.
“Look,” Anne spat, quickly losing patience, “you’ve got so many things wrong it’s not funny.”
“One,” she said, holding up a finger, “Jinx is a four-legged person like some of the Yollins.”
“Two,” another finger joined the first, “your jamming device isn’t working.”
“Three—”
Can I have the boss guy? Jinx’ increasing anger created an underlying growl in her communication.
Sure thing. You take the two in front of us, and I’ll take care of the guy at our backs.
“You can’t possibly think you can kidnap a citizen of the Etheric Empire and get away with it,” Anne finished.
“Annnnnd,” she stretched out the word as she extended the fourth finger, “someone’s definitely going to get hurt!”
Jinx had crouched slightly as Anne ticked off the numbers. She heard Anne’s Go in her mind at the same time she heard “Get hurt” with her ears, and she shot forward. She laughed to herself as she thought of a sign Anne had shown her. It was a German Shepherd Dog and the words, “My dog can reach the fence in 2.9 seconds. Can you?”
Three quick bounds and a coiled-spring leap later, she had the arm holding the weapon in her jaws. She shook it like a fish on a line as she bit with all the force her nano-enhanced jaws could generate. As she had planned, her attack spun the alien, which carried her away from the second one.
Then she heard Anne shout, and a sickening scream.
She had planned to release her first enemy and come back to engage the second alien. The first alien, however, was whipping his arm back and forth and she saw that if she timed it just right… Now! She let go of the first alien and her momentum took her right into the second Stooge. Chewy bones, Jinx used her canine version of OMG, her person was funny.
Anne spun toward the attacker behind them as she held up a fist glowing a sickening green color. “Five!” she shouted. “No one hurts Jinx!”
With that she flung the ball of green flames down the hallway. She had been completely serious when, after missing a ducking Gabrielle, she had remarked that she’d need to practice her attack technique. Instead of separate fire
balls, this new type held together until just before it reached its target. That was when it acted like a shaped charge penetrating a barrier. A cone of incredibly hot energy particles burst from the ball, and the alien screamed as the particles hit his center of mass.
Anne had commandeered a test dummy for her attack practice. Remembering the damage she had done to the poor dummy, she knew her target was dead—or as good as. With her target down Anne turned to support Jinx, but she wasn’t needed.
—
The wounded alien leader tried to backtrack around the corner, but came to an abrupt stop with the barrel of a Jean Dukes Special in his face.
“Going somewhere?” John Grimes asked, his nose wrinkling in disgust as the alien voided himself.
Jinx had her second alien on the ground and was standing on his chest, teeth firmly clamped on his throat. She hadn’t bitten through his skin yet, but Anne could see indents from the pressure Jinx was applying.
Should I rip his throat out? Jinx asked.
Remember what Bethany Anne said about Barnabas, or herself even? I’m guessing they need live people to read minds, Anne suggested as she walked over to pick up the fighting baton that had been dropped when Jinx had attacked.
What’s the human term? Oh, ya. “Party pooper,” Jinx groused.
Baton in one hand and another green ball of energy forming in the other, Anne looked down at the alien. “Jinx is going to release you now. Do anything stupid and you’ll wish I had let her rip your throat out!”
—
John Grimes, Queen’s Bitch, motioned with his weapon back down the hall to where Anne and Jinx were with another alien.
“I’m injured. I demand medical assistance,” the alien whined, cradling the arm Jinx had shredded against his body.
“Really?” John asked, then before the alien could register the movement John advanced and kicked him in what would be the knee joint on a human.
The alien screamed and dropped to the ground, writhing in pain and trying to grab his joint with one hand while still protecting his already injured arm.
“Did you want to demand anything else?” John asked as he stood over him.
