by S. R Russell
Anne stepped back to clear the door and motioned for Barnabas to enter. She was about to stick her head back outside to ask the Marine if she wanted anything when Barnabas put a hand on her arm and shook his head.
Once the door closed Barnabas greeted Jinx, and noticing the tray of refreshments, he sat down and plucked a few chips from the bowl. Once he had eaten a couple chips he looked up at Anne, who was still standing. “I know you are new to having a security detail, so what I am about to say is not a criticism. It’s just information. Two things: first, don’t open the door until your guard notifies you of a visitor.” Barnabas could tell from her expression that Anne wanted to say something, and instead of reading her mind he looked at her and asked, “You have an issue with that?”
Anne looked slightly confused. “Seshat had already informed me you were here.”
Barnabas cut in before Anne could continue. “That may be, but your guard doesn’t know that, and having a door open behind him is a distraction he doesn’t need. The second thing is—and I know you are trying to be polite—while they are on duty, don’t offer refreshments or the like.”
“Another distraction?”
“Exactly,” Barnabas confirmed. “You would be boxing them in, so to speak. They wouldn’t want to upset you by refusing, but to do their jobs correctly they need their hands free.”
“Ok, that makes sense.” Anne smiled. “Thanks, I appreciate you letting me know.”
Barnabas grabbed a few more chips and stood. “Then my work here is done.”
Anne looked flustered and started to sputter. “But…but…” She pointed at Stevie.
“She’s approved. Go ahead and hire her for whatever you need her to do,” Barnabas declared, then looked at Stevie. “Just promise me you will inform one of us if someone tries to threaten or blackmail you.”
Stevie just sat there with a shocked expression on her face, then nodded vigorously. “Yes, sir. Absolutely, sir!”
“Excellent.” Barnabas held a chip in front of his mouth. “I expect I’ll be seeing more of you, then,” he said, crunching down on the chip as he let himself out of the apartment.
—
Stevie gave a brief nod to the Marine as she left Anne’s apartment to head home. She didn’t know whether she was shell-shocked, or gobsmacked, but it seemed like her head was spinning. Just this morning she had been a normal student. Well, except for shop, where she was freaking astounding. Too bad Old Man Jerk-ins had to be such a bistok butt. She had never seen a bistok, but everything she had ever heard indicated that if you looked up “Nasty-ass gross” in the dictionary there’d be a picture of a bistok.
Stevie made sure to monitor her surroundings with extra care on her way home. She wasn’t exactly certain why her new boss had a Guardian Marine team for security, but she wasn’t going to risk being caught unaware if it had something to do with this new project.
Project! What a way to term what she had been shown after Barnabas left. Seshat had played a couple videos of Anne’s first tests, then Anne had burnt another hole in her coffee table giving a live demonstration.
Stevie pushed some loose hair behind her ear. When Anne said she wanted to weaponize her experiment, Stevie had barely managed to refrain from shaking her head. How were they going to turn something that could burn through rock into a weapon? Stevie growled under her breath. That sort of thinking was only going to result in failure. The question she should be asking was, what steps did they need to take to create a weapon that could burn through rock.
Stevie was very pleased to find that her mother had kept a plate of supper warm for her. Weres burned lots of energy and needed a lot of calories. The little snacks that Anne had set out were the type a person saw at a social event, not to satisfy a hungry stomach.
Stevie was bemused by the contradiction. Anne didn’t seem to be the sort of person who attended social events, so it made her wonder where Anne had learned that type of entertaining. Another memory nagged at Stevie as she sat down to her dinner, and her eyes widened as the memory surfaced. Peter had talked to Anne like she had killed someone. Stevie decided she should probably ignore that subject. Asking possibly offensive questions might be detrimental to her health. What was that ancient Chinese curse?
Oh yeah. “May you live in interesting times.”
—
It sure had been a busy evening. Anne was cleaning up the extra dishes she had used while entertaining her unexpected guests when Seshat spoke.
>>You have a comm message from a Mr. Frank Kurns.<<
Wait, how did he know to call you?
>>He didn’t call me, he called your tablet. Since you were busy, I diverted the message. I can display it on my main screen when you’re ready.<<
I am not upset with you, but just for your information, normal procedure would have been to ask the person first if they were all right with you doing that, Anne explained to her newborn EI.
>> I apologize. It just seemed the most efficient way to do things.<<
It probably is. Just refer to my comment about biologicals.
>>Oh! I’ll remember to ask permission next time.<<
“Is Frank still on the line, or did he just leave a message?” Anne asked as she reentered the common room.
“He’s waiting.” Seshat copied Anne and spoke aloud.
“Okay,” Anne said as she took a seat on the couch and looked at the screen that was displaying Seshat’s avatar. “Accept the call, please.”
The screen on the wall now hosted two frames. Seshat’s avatar was in one, and a middle-aged man inhabited the other.
“Good evening, young lady. My name is Frank Kurns. Bethany Anne claims you are the angel who is going to save me from the incredible boredom I have been suffering,” the man stated theatrically.
Anne couldn’t restrain her giggle. “I find it hard to believe Bethany Anne called me an angel.”
The man looked smug. “I was raised in a much more genteel time. I may have translated Bethany Anne’s words to better suit my delicate sensibilities.”
Anne was shocked, first that the man could talk this way, and second that he could say that with a straight face. “I’ll just take your word for that.”
“Flowery language aside, Bethany Anne told me you might need someone with organizational skills,” Frank stated with an eager gleam in his eyes.
“I have a Guardian Marines security team and one employee already, with possibly more in the future. I’m still in school, and I’m not studying business. I don’t have a clue how to hire, pay, offer benefits…” Anne sputtered to a stop and shook her head, the scope of the project in front of her daunting.
Frank nodded confidently. “That’s what I’m here to do. Eventually Bethany Anne may have other work she will need me for, but right now I have the time to be like your CEO and get you started. If the Empress needs me to handle something else, I’ll make sure she gives me time to find and hire a replacement. You won’t be left high and dry.”
“Will you think less of me if I admit how wonderful that sounds?” Anne asked.
“Not at all! I wasn’t kidding with the ‘saving me from boredom’ comment. Bethany Anne has ADAM to handle the sort of tasks I used to be responsible for. I’ll admit that I had been thinking of retiring back on Earth, but a lot of that was just my old bones not handling the cold and damp as well as they used to.”
Anne carefully studied the man on the screen. “I take it you have benefited from some of the nanotech Bethany Anne controls?”
“I applaud your deductive capabilities,” Frank said, clapping his hands quietly.
“Do I need to do anything to get this up and running?”
Frank shook his head. “No, Bethany Anne provided enough details to get me started. You and I will need to meet in person one day soon so that you can bring me up-to-date on what you will need and I can explain what you need to know.”
“That sounds great,” Anne stated enthusiastically. “Seshat knows my schedule, so you can
contact her when you’re ready to get together.”
Frank’s smile made him look extremely happy. “That sounds like a plan, and as they use to say on this silly show I used to watch, ‘I love it when a plan comes together.’ I’ll contact your EI in the next few days.”
Anne shook her head violently. “You’ll contact Seshat,” she corrected emphatically.
Frank Kurns might not look his age anymore, but he had been around for a lot of years. His experience made it quite easy to recognize that he had put his foot in it. “My apologies. I will contact Seshat within the next few days to set up a meeting with you.” He smiled again to reassure the young woman who was looking at him with steely eyes that he had not been offended.
Anne’s expression softened as she nodded in agreement. “I will talk to you later, then.”
With the immediate business concluded, Anne wished Frank a good evening, signed off, and headed to bed. While she still expected the nightmares, she was relieved to know that she wasn’t going to have to fumble around on her own to get her research group going.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The days that followed fell into a pattern: school, homework, and then to the apartment to do testing. One of Stevie’s first contributions was a test stand, which was five feet tall and had grooves at the top they could slide tiles into. Stevie had found a formula for silica ceramics, and Cheryl Lynn had directed them to a small company that could produce about twenty-five tiles a week. At the base of the stand was a two-foot-deep water tank. Water wouldn’t stop a ruby that was still being powered from the Etheric, but if Anne cut the power before it hit the water, the ruby cooled enough to not cause any damage by the time it sank to the bottom. Each evening Stevie and Anne placed the ruby beside other samples, trying to find a material that the ruby wouldn’t vaporize.
“Guardian Connors just commed to let you know that Bethany Anne and Ashur are outside,” Seshat’s avatar informed them.
Anne was unwrapping a new sample while Stevie replaced the top two tiles, and she put the heavily perforated tiles into the crate they were using for trash. Stevie smiled as she watched Anne head for the door.
They were not any closer to finding a solution, but even so, Stevie felt a sense of accomplishment. When they had first started using the tiles, the ruby would burn through four of them before Anne could stop it. Day by day Anne was exhibiting more control; now she only burned through two. She was proud of her friend’s progress. Friend? Stevie pondered that as she listened to Anne enthusiastically welcome Ashur. Yes, she thought, I have a friend. She hugged herself briefly, enjoying the new feeling, and turned to greet the Empress.
Bethany Anne reached down to rub Jinx’ ears as she watched Anne hug Ashur. As she stepped into the apartment and saw Stevie, she couldn’t help but chuckle at TOM’s comment.
For a Were, she looks as pale as those vampires in the old movies from Earth.
Funny, I hadn’t made that connection, but you’re correct.
“If you bow, kneel, curtsy, or any other such nonsense, I’ll kick you so hard that Anne won’t find you until Monday!” Bethany Anne pointedly informed the young Were. She suspected that it was only the fear of doing it wrong that had prevented the girl from some sort of obeisance. “As I’m sure you already know, I’m Bethany Anne.” She held out her hand.
“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry,” Anne exclaimed as she rushed to Bethany Anne’s side. “I got so caught up with saying hello to Ashur that I forgot my manners. Bethany Anne, this is Stephanie Kasyanov, although she prefers to be called Stevie. Stevie, this is Ashur’s person, Bethany Anne.”
Ashur chuffed in amused agreement as his wagging tail thumped against the couch.
As Bethany Anne shook the Were’s hand, she looked at Anne. “That was nicely done. Keep that up, and I’ll make you an ambassador.”
Anne shrugged. “I know how tired you get of all the royalty stuff you have to put up with. I just tried to find a way to introduce you without any of that crap.”
“I take it you’re not interested in an ambassadorial position?” Bethany Anne teased.
“No thanks. Being a researcher… Oh, can I get you a Coke? And to finish answering your question, being a researcher is tough enough, thanks,” Anne said with complete sincerity.
Bethany Anne flopped down on the couch, and when Ashur lay on the floor in front of her, she stretched out her legs to rest her calves on his rump. “I can’t remember the last time I turned down a Coke,” she said as she tilted her head back and thought. She shook her head briefly. “Nope, can’t remember, so yes. A Coke would be wonderful. Thanks.”
“Stevie?” Anne asked as she headed for the kitchen.
Stevie looked at her half-full bottle on the coffee table. “I’m good for now, thanks.”
Anne returned from the kitchen carrying two Cokes in one hand and a dinette chair in the other. She offered the chair to Stevie, and flopped down on the opposite end of the couch. “Here you go.” She offered one of the cold bottles to Bethany Anne, and opened her own. After taking two swallows that were large enough to cause her mother to chide her for unfeminine behavior, she set the bottle on the floor and looked at Bethany Anne. “What can we do for you?”
Bethany Anne opened her Coke and took several sips before answering. “Thanks, I needed that!” She looked at one girl and then the other. “Something was flagged to my attention the other day about how none of the samples you’ve been requisitioning are getting returned anymore. I was rapidly losing patience listening to ambassadors and trade representatives whine about why they should get preferential treatment, so claiming I had something else I needed to look into got me away before I went all ‘Queen Bitch’ on them.”
“Um, I hope you left the need to go all ‘Queen Bitch’ back there,” Stevie commented nervously.
Bethany Anne reached for her Coke again and took a couple more sips. “Yeah,” she said finally, and sighed with contentment. “It would require a monumental fuckup for the Queen Bitch to show up here. That doesn’t stop me from wondering what’s happening to the samples, however.”
“Do you wish a live demonstration, or do you just want Seshat to fast-forward through hours of video?” Anne’s face was tight as she queried Bethany Anne.
It was like Bethany Anne had just explained to the girls. She’d been having a bad day playing Empress. Her relief at escaping the bistok-shit bureaucrats and arriving someplace where she could just be herself had blinded her temporarily to the conditions of the room. It was a mess! Most of the furniture had been pushed into one corner, while the other end of the room held what looked like a dinette table, a tall contraption with a tank of water at its base, and several open crates.
“Let’s go for the live demo, and have Seshat send ADAM copies of those videos,” Bethany Anne suggested.
Anne jumped up and resumed opening the sample that Bethany Anne’s arrival had interrupted.
Stevie got up and, swallowing her nervousness, started explaining to Bethany Anne how their test tower worked while she added two new tiles. She motioned for Bethany Anne to come over, then took their ruby and the sample Anne had just unwrapped and set them side-by-side on the top tile.
“We’re trying to find a substance the energized ruby can’t destroy, but so far we haven’t had any luck,” Stevie explained, then asked, “You recording this, Seshat?”
The very pretty girl who was Seshat’s avatar crossed her arms on the monitor. “Certainly. I’ve been instructed to record all testing.”
Bethany Anne noted the acerbic tone of the avatar’s reply. ADAM?
>>She’s coming along quite nicely, don’t you think?<<
You built Anne an AI?
>>Not exactly. Are you sure you want to have this discussion now?<<
Probably not, but we will talk about it.
Bethany Anne watched as Anne powered the ruby. It flared to life, destroying the second sample while burning through the tile it rested on and the one below that.
“And
that,” Anne sighed with disgust, “sums up our present progress.”
“Have you tried it against another ruby?” Bethany Anne inquired, then had to bite the inside of her lip to keep from smiling when both teen girls rolled their eyes.
“Seshat, would you please play the footage of the two-ruby test?” Anne requested politely.
Bethany Anne watched almost identical copy of the experiment that had just been performed in front of her. The only difference was that the active ruby had burned through four tiles before it had died out.
Bethany Anne?
What you got, TOM?
Has she tried powering both rubies at the same time?
Bethany Anne rubbed the back of her neck. I’ll ask. “Have you tried powering two rubies at once?”
Watching the girls was amusing. Stevie muttered, “Oh, fuck!” and Anne grabbed two handfuls of hair, crying, “How could I be so stupid?”
“If it helps at all, TOM came up with the suggestion,” Bethany Anne confessed.
“Even so,” Stevie proclaimed, “it’s so basic it should have been the first thing I thought of.”
Anne pulled another ruby out of the samples crate. “How do we work this?”
Stevie took the rubies and set them on opposite edges of the tile stack. “First let’s see if you can power them both at the same time.”
After fifteen minutes of watching Anne fail to ignite the two gems simultaneously, Bethany Anne interrupted. “Why don’t you teach me how to power one? Then we could try powering one each.”
Thirty minutes later Bethany Anne had a headache, but that didn’t stop her from jumping to her feet and pumping her fist when she was successful. “Okay, now how do we make this work?”
Stevie started stacking tiles on the table in two overlapping columns that met at the bottom. “I’ve been thinking about that while you two have been practicing. I’m hoping that as a gem burns through a tile, it will shift toward the center when it hits the angled tile below it. If each of you can keep your ruby burning at a steady rate, the fields should meet right about here.” Stevie pointed to a spot about three inches from the bottom of her structure. “What happens then is anyone’s guess.”
