Etheric Adventures Boxed Set: Books 1-3

by S. R. Russell

  John returned to the doorway, and after several theatrical flourishes with his arm he bowed to Bethany Anne. “Your way is open, my Empress.” John stood clear of the doorway and gazed into the room. “Holy shi…shkabob,” he said, looking over his shoulder at the two teenage girls following Bethany Anne.

  Anne reached up and patted John on the chest as she followed Bethany Anne into the room. “In today’s times neither our age nor our gender protects us from profanity. Stevie and I have both heard and said worse.” Anne turned from John and got a good look. “Holy shit!” she exclaimed. “What the hell happened?”

  Bethany Anne had seen some damage from the kitchen, but she slowly looked around Ground Zero. “Not one hundred percent sure, but this is going to play hell with your damage deposit.” Bethany Anne teased, then bit her tongue to refrain from smiling at Anne’s shocked expression.

  >>I have reviewed the footage. While I don’t have enough data to explain why it happened, I can describe the event.<<

  “Seshat has video up until the time her camera was destroyed,” Anne informed Stevie and Bethany Anne. “She’s prepared to summarize what occurred, but she doesn’t have enough data to determine why it happened. Unfortunately,” Anne continued as she motioned to the spot on the wall where Seshat’s monitor used to be, “we don’t have the capability to run the video.”

  “The video can wait,” Bethany Anne informed the girl, then started to pace. “We need to find you new accommodations. For tonight, why don’t you crash at Tabitha’s? She’s on assignment right now, but she had to leave Dio behind. He’d probably welcome the company.”

  Bethany Anne continued pacing. “I’ll have ADAM contact Marcus and William and see when they can be available for a meeting. He’ll inform Seshat once we set a time, then we can all sit down and go through the video.”

  Bethany Anne stopped and looked at Anne. “I’m as much to blame for this situation as you are, but we got off lucky this time. If the reaction had been a hundred times worse, we might have killed people or damaged the Meredith Reynolds.”

  Bethany Anne put a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Despite the risk involved, I’m impressed with your discovery, and I look forward to seeing what you finally develop. But—and this is a big but—we are going to have to find you a safe workspace. I can’t risk the lives of the people on the station if you end up making a bigger bang.”

  Anne looked at her Empress, then nodded twice. “What should we do for workspace, then?”

  How about a small asteroid? TOM suggested. Find something with the right composition and move it to within the defensive perimeter of the Meredith Reynolds, or give it enough weaponry to defend itself until assistance can arrive.

  Both good ideas, but I should probably talk this over with the general and the admiral before making a final decision.

  “I think our best solution would be to find a small asteroid we could turn into lab space for you.” Bethany Anne looked from Anne to Stevie. “Not that I want to lose either of you, but if you accidentally create a giant explosion it needs to happen somewhere other than here.”

  “I could probably do the tes—” Anne started.

  Stevie quickly cut Anne off. “Not on your life!” She looked down at Jinx. “I don’t imagine Jinx will accept being left behind, and I won’t either.”

  Jinx moved to stand by the Were and looked up at her person. “What she said!”

  Anne looked at the older vampire. “A little help here?”

  Bethany Anne shook her head, and slowly pivoted in place to look around the room. Then she looked at Stevie and Jinx. “You know and understand the risks, right?”

  Canine and Were looked at Bethany Anne and nodded.

  “They’re part of your team.” Bethany Anne emphasized “your.” “Except for the ‘no experiments on Meredith Reynolds’ edict, I have no intention of telling your friends and coworkers what to do. Besides, while I don’t remember who first said it, in this instance I’m fairly certain that I should stick to ‘Don’t give an order you know won’t be obeyed.’”

  Jinx looked up at Stevie, then sat and held up her front paw for a high-five. Stevie obliged by squatting and tapping Jinx’ paw with the palm of her hand. They both looked at Bethany Anne and nodded, confirming that they would ignore any order to not accompany her Etheric Researcher.

  Bethany Anne clapped her hands. “All right, then.” She looked at John. “Would you please arrange for a guard on the door so that Anne doesn’t have to worry about her stuff?”

  “Sure thing,” John said, and stepped outside the apartment to take care of it.

  “Gather what you and Jinx will need for the next couple days,” Bethany Anne suggested to Anne.

  It only took a few minutes for Anne to pack a couple of bags. Ashur reveled in the goodbye hug he got from Anne. Bethany Anne wasn’t typically a huggy person, but she accepted one from Anne.

  Stevie offered her own goodbyes to everyone, then headed to her family’s home as Anne and Jinx left for Tabitha’s under the watchful eye of Arthur Connors.

  Chapter Thirteen

  John sighed, took one more look at the destroyed apartment, and grasped Bethany Anne’s arm. “Come on, BA, let’s get you home.”

  Bethany Anne patted the back of John’s hand. “I need a bit of quiet time, so we’ll head home the old-fashioned way.”

  John checked that his Jean Dukes would sit well while he walked and raised an eyebrow. You really all right?

  Bethany Anne tapped her temple and smiled briefly. Yup, just need to have a conversation with my tenants.

  John smiled in return and wiggled his fingers at Bethany Anne. Sounds good. I’ll follow you.

  It was a testament to how close Bethany Anne was to her Bitches that they could have that kind of silent conversation. Ashur and Matrix led as Empress Bethany Anne walked toward her residence, completely confident that John Grimes had her back.

  What’s up with Anne’s computer? she asked ADAM as they strode toward home.

  >>Since TOM financed the best hardware available, I decided to provide Anne with the best computer support possible. I didn’t create an AI outright, but I made sure the potential was there. I don’t mean to be insulting, but if I gave your father the same hardware/software combination he would never produce an AI.<<

  Bethany Anne walked quietly for a few seconds, analyzing what ADAM had said. The general would just consider it a fancy computer. A mere piece of equipment.

  >>That agrees with my assessment. Your father is old-fashioned enough that it would never occur to him to see it as anything other than the latest-generation computer.<<

  ADAM paused momentarily, then continued. >>Anne treats people well, and she treats entities as people in the same way you treated me as an individual. I believe that being treated like a person is accelerating the process for Seshat. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Anne asks Seshat how her day was, or has some similar interaction.<<

  That would encourage Seshat to think in the first person.

  >>Exactly.<<

  While Dio was upset his person had left him behind again, he was very pleased to have Anne and Jinx for company. Sensing that her brother was somewhat depressed, the next morning Jinx asked Anne if it was all right to skip school that day.

  “Sure, but if you two are going anywhere, we need to ask our security how they want to handle it.”

  When she opened the door, Anne found E on guard. “I need to head to school, but Jinx and Dio want to hang out together today. How do we handle that?”

  “It’s my turn to accompany you to school,” E stated. “I’ll call one of the others to cover Jinx and Dio.”

  “Would you ask Guardian Connors?” Jinx requested. “He could shift, and we’d all look kind of the same.”

  Dio chuffed his amusement, then barked in agreement.

  When he arrived, Connors was somewhat hesitant to agree to Jinx’ plan. “I won’t have any comm gear to call for help if I’m in wolf form.”r />
  “Not a problem,” Jinx countered. “I’m in constant contact with Seshat, so we would just let her know who to contact if we needed assistance.”

  Since Guardian Connors secretly thought that three canines trotting abreast through the halls would be kind of cool, he agreed to Jinx’ plan. Once he was confident of Seshat’s ability to contact Abigail, he and the two German Shepherds waited for E and Anne to head out.

  Once the women had gone, Arthur stripped and shifted into his wolf form. He wouldn’t have hesitated to shift in front of Abigail or E, but he felt a little uncomfortable at the idea of stripping in front of a teenage girl.

  Jinx and Dio persuaded Arthur to head to one of the parks for a game of tag. They spent the next hour burning off a lot of pent-up energy, with the side benefit of entertaining the humans who were visiting the park. Finally tired and somewhat overheated, the three of them called a halt to their game.

  “Hey, why don’t we go get some ice cream?” Jinx suggested.

  “How are we going to pay for it?” Dio wanted to know.

  “Umm, I’ll have Seshat ask Anne if she’ll let her make the payment.” Seconds later Jinx told the other two, “Seshat says Anne’s agreed to the plan, but I have to tell you to make sure I’m not panting before we order.”

  “Why’s that?” Arthur barked.

  Jinx’ ears flattened.

  “You still get sick if you eat while you’re hot?” Dio asked his sister.

  “Yes.” Jinx whined. “I’ve tried it a few times since I’ve been with Anne, and I still get sick every time.”

  “If we just walk you should be cool by then,” Arthur offered after making a calculation in his head.

  Dio rolled to his feet. “Let’s go,” he said eagerly. “Tabitha isn’t very good about sharing her ice cream.”

  “Does Tabitha see you as a dog or as a guy?” Arthur asked Dio.

  Dio thought about the question for several seconds. “I don’t know, why?”

  “It’s been my experience that if a female is self-medicating with ice cream, she’ll often share with another woman or her pet but rarely with a guy,” the Were explained.

  “I’m not sure,” Dio admitted. “I’ll have to… Hey, what’s that noise?” He stopped, ears fully erect, trying to locate the noise he had heard.

  “This way.” Connors had identified the direction of the sound and turned down a side tunnel.

  At the next intersection, Jinx heard a panicked female voice coming from the left passageway. She spun and darted that way, and had only traveled a few yards before the tunnel opened onto a construction site. Jinx stopped so abruptly at the scene in front of her that Dio ran into her rear end. Somehow a plank had been left partially extended over an open pit, and a toddler had managed to crawl along the plank and was now over the pit, crying. A woman—Jinx imagined it must be the mother—was screaming, “Get back here, Joey!”

  Jinx grabbed the woman by the back of her blouse and pulled her away from the plank. “Hold her,” Jinx told her brother.

  Leaving Dio and the Were to deal with the woman, Jinx dropped to her belly and crawled to the edge of the pit. Watching the little boy, she rolled onto her back and stuck all her feet in the air. He stopped crying and peered at Jinx intently. She rolled upright and stuck her rear end in the air, wagging her tail vigorously. Remembering that a human this young would not have an implant and therefore would only hear dog noises, she tried to stick with happy sounds. She yipped softly and spun like she was chasing her tail, then stopped and dropped to her belly.

  Score, Jinx thought as the toddler giggled in response to her actions. Jinx shuffled back a few inches and yipped at the boy again. Come pet the doggy, she thought as she put her nose between her paws and wagged her tail again. The boy reached toward Jinx, so she rolled onto her side and waved a paw. Then she got back to her feet and spun in another circle. She moved a little bit farther away before she laid back down, then reached out a paw and yipped again. The little boy the woman had called “Joey” smiled and made a happy burbling sound, then started to crawl toward Jinx.

  Jinx flopped onto her side again and waved her paws at the boy to encourage him to keep crawling to her. It took several seconds, but eventually little Joey crawled to her neck. Jinx heard Dio growl; she imagined he was keeping the woman under control. Jinx carefully gripped Joey’s diaper with her teeth and moved backward, dragging him away from the pit. Joey laughed and clapped his hands as he was lifted off the ground. She turned and held the boy out to the woman, who had sunk to her knees. The lady took the boy, and hugged him tightly as tears streamed down her face.

  “What the hell were you doing?” Guardian Connors was in human form, crouching behind Dio to cover his nudity.

  The woman blushed. “I just stepped into the passageway to take a call from my boyfriend. I swear I only set Joey down for a second to dig out my tablet.”

  “As you just found out, it only takes a second,” Arthur told her.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Why does it seem like Anne and I run into all the weirdos? Jinx wondered as she licked up the rest of her ice cream.

  “What do you mean?” Dio asked his sister.

  “I never hear Dad or Mom talking about crazy people here on the MR,” Jinx answered Dio’s question. “You either, now that I think about it.”

  “You want my opinion?” Guardian Connors, now back in wolf form, asked.

  Jinx looked at the Were. “Sure!”

  “Ashur is with the Empress. Bellatrix is with Yelena, who dates Bobcat from team BMW, and Dio has Ranger Two as a partner. None of those people spend a lot of time with the ordinary folk here on the Meredith Reynolds.” Arthur stepped to a container that the ice cream vendor had filled with water and set down for the dogs. After lapping up a few mouthfuls, he turned back to Jinx.

  “Your Anne lives an ordinary life. She goes to a regular public school. She doesn’t have fame or guards or fear to keep Joe Average away from her,” the Were explained.

  Jinx snorted. “Anne seems to be earning her own fear factor.”

  Arthur nodded in understanding. “You might be right, but her combat abilities don’t come close to causing the same fear as when the Empress or a Ranger walks into a room.

  Jinx thought about it. “That makes sense. You think people are on their best behavior around the others?”

  “That,” Connors replied, “and the fact that the Empress and the Rangers don’t normally deal with the ordinary. They usually deal with people on one end of the spectrum or the other. Either they deal with the elite of society or the dregs.”

  “Do you think it’s worth it?” Jinx asked the Were.

  “Being important enough that you don’t have to deal with Joe Average?” the Were asked. At Jinx’ nod of agreement he continued, “There’s not enough money in the universe for me to put up with the crap the Empress has to go through every day.”

  Dio entered the conversation. “Tabitha has made the same observation.”

  Jinx chuffed her laughter at the two males. “I guess Anne and I need to quit complaining about the crazies we meet.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  It was two days before Bethany Anne was able to pull together her fact-finding debrief. Anne, Jinx, and Stevie were shown into a meeting room that had media screens covering two walls.

  “Grab a seat.” Bethany Anne pointed to some chairs as they entered.

  As Anne took one of the indicated seats she waved at Marcus, who had stood when she entered the room. She sat and nodded a greeting to William as Marcus resumed his seat.

  Stevie settled into the chair next to Anne’s.

  “ADAM, would you please run the video footage that you and Seshat have been studying?” Bethany Anne requested.

  Everyone was fascinated as the video showed the rubies fly toward each other. There was a flare as the rubies approached each other, and its shape shifted from a disk to a spear as the distance between them diminished. Just before they touched,
there was a brighter flash and a sphere of energy shot out. Everyone in the room blinked as the wave front raced toward the camera and the screen went black.

  “The energy blast destroyed the camera Seshat was using to record the testing,” ADAM announced when the video had ended.

  “May we see that again?” Anne requested.

  “Sure, ADAM,” Bethany Anne prompted.

  When the video got to the point where the gems flared Anne called, “Stop, please.”

  The video froze.

  “Would you advance it frame by frame from here?” Anne asked.

  “Certainly,” ADAM responded, and he displayed the video one frame at a time.

  “Stop!” Anne exclaimed as the flare from the rubies morphed from a disk to a spear shape. She got out of her chair and walked to the screen.

  “What?” Bethany Anne asked.

  “That shape,” Anne’s finger traced the spear of energy. She looked at Stevie. “It’s possible!”

  Stevie nodded and Marcus asked, “What’s possible?”

  “I want to make an energy sword like the ones from the movies. Sort of like Bethany Anne’s sword, but one that other people can use,” Anne told the scientist. “I wasn’t sure before; that’s why we were testing. But if we can figure out how to direct the energy to one side of the reaction,” Anne’s finger traced one side of the energy pattern, “then it could be used without cutting the wielder in two.” She ran her finger along the opposite side of the spear. “It just might be possible!”

  Bethany Anne stayed quiet until Anne returned to her seat. “That leads us to the next step—finding you research space that won’t cause the destruction of the MR.”