by TS Paul
Diane pursed her lips and frowned. “Good. You still have a couple of weeks with them. Do they have a project for you to do?”
Yana continued to answer for the group. “Yes. Marcus said we would be helping with the ten-passenger Pod project.”
“Did you get a tour of the moon?” This came from Dorene.
“We did. They allowed us to use the moon rovers and we explored a little. Marcus showed us some of the craters.” Yana smiled at the twin.
“Great. Do you think the next class to work with them will have as much fun as you did?”
The entire Alpha team froze for just a moment. Maxim spoke up for the rest. “We, uh, finished dismantling the base down there. The next group might only get a pod tour. The rovers were destroyed in a slight accident so they can’t be used anymore.”
“Really? What happened?” Both twins’ laser focused in on the kids’ expressions.
“They were crushed. Large chunks of moon rock and metal fell on them. Total accident. Bobcat and Marcus forgot they were parked there.” Nestor chuckled and nudged his cousin. Maxim turned and glared at him.
“I see. Was anyone injured?” Diane didn’t look happy.
“No, we were too far away from the event. It was just an accident.” Maxim smiled at the twin administrators.
“OK. Well, it’s getting late. You can tell us more in the morning. Get some rest.” The two ladies watched as the team split up at the top of the stairs and went to the dorms.
“They’re lying about something,” Diane said to the open air.
“Ya think? I told better lies than that to mom.” Dorene shook her head.
“Mom was smart, you needed to. Should we confront Bozo and the other two to find out the truth?”
“Heh. You called him Bozo. Let’s wait. They’re kids. Most can’t keep a secret to save their own lives. Whatever it is we will find out soon enough.” Dorene gave her sister a nudge just because.
—
The next morning it was business as usual. Many of the other teams were surprised to see the Alphas were in the dining hall and told them as much.
“When did you guys get back?” Paul was one of Ron’s old friends from Colorado.
“Last night. The moonbase is all dismantled and ready for demolition. We came back to help with one of BMWs pod projects.”
“That is so cool Ron! How was the moon?” Paul high fived Ron.
“It was pretty cool. We moon walked and got a cool tour. What has your group been doing?” Ron grinned back at his high school friend.
“We’ve been working with ADAM and the hackers under his command. Most of us in Echo Team only use computers, not program them, but we’ve been pouring over databases and matching up money and resources to countries. Really high tech stuff. I had no idea the world was as big as it is. You being you, will know more about what they do when you get there. So far it’s been really interesting.”
“That’s good. How are the other members of your team doing, is it starting to feel cohesive like a real team?” Maxim and Nestor perked up and stared at Paul.
“What do you mean by that Ron? It’s just a bunch of guys in my class. I don’t hang with them or anything if that’s what you are saying.” Maxim caught Ron’s attention and shook his head.
Ron smiled at his friend. “It was just a question. I wondered if you bonded with anyone or something. Forget it. Have you seen any of the old gang?”
Paul smiled and launched into a huge dialog about high school and friends from the tech classes. Nestor glanced at his cousin and muttered under his breath. “Not a team yet. Are we the only ones so far?”
Maxim could only shrug as an answer. He would have to ask Ron for his observations later, but it was looking as though only they were the ones to bond with each other.
“Have you guys see the confirmed and locked in assignments for the next round of classes?” Tina and Yana slid into the seat interrupting Ron’s conversation.
“They’re out already?” Ron pulled out his tablet and began scrolling. Paul looked from the girls to Ron and shook his head as he wandered off.
“Yana caught it just as they went up.” Tina leaned over and pointed at Ron’s tablet.
“Wow. Ok, we are confirmed to have Jeo and orbital engineering and construction. It’s good we know how the suits work now. I suspect we will be in them a bunch.”
“Ron, who is this Jeo?” Maxim and Nestor had their tablets out as well.
“He built the Queen's ship as well as this base. He’s brilliant. This should be fun. Delta team has him this term. Roger Cook, over there told me they learned about Earth engineering first then they moved on to space.” Ron smiled at his friend.
“Ah. I remember him now. Sounds exciting. Not a robot in sight.” Maxim tried to laugh his slip away.
Tina glared at him to stop it. They had made the deal in good faith and she at least intended to keep it. The Queen wouldn’t find out from her group for a while.
—
“Do you think we got away with it?”
“If you don’t stop talking about it, we won’t. You just can’t keep a secret can you?” William screwed the last turn on the decoration for the wall of the bar.
“What do you think?” William directed Bobcat’s eyes up at the space above the bar.
Two robotic arms were crossed under the words ‘Death before Dishonor.’
“It’s a bit obvious. What do we say if anyone asks?”
“Deny everything. Best solution there is.” William folded his arms and stared out of the window towards where Earth would be if they could see it.
“It depends upon what you deny that matters.” Both Bobcat and William turned toward the new voice behind them.
Barnabas, the leader of the Queen’s Rangers and her Judge, Jury, and Executioner sat at the bar.
“I would like a glass of your very best Tequila please.” The fact that Barnabas was an ancient vampire didn’t faze William or Bobcat at all.
His mind-reading capabilities, however, did.
William slipped behind the bar and poured him a drink. “We’ve never seen you in here before Barnabas. I didn’t know you drank.”
“I don’t. Not really. We had to take care of a problem for the Queen, and I added another judgment to my soul.” He downed the shot in one large gulp.
“Did you need another one? We were going to close up the bar and get back to work.” Bobcat’s hand was shaking just a bit. Inside he was screaming and trying to sing Christmas carols to break up his thoughts.
“I’m good. Thank you, gentlemen.” Barnabas left the bar humming Jingle-Bells as he walked.
“Do you think he read our minds?” Bobcat looked at William.
William pursed his lips, “What do you think?”
“That we’re dead,” Bobcat nodded his head, “We are so dead…”
“He doesn’t always tell the Queen everything. That’s what the rumor mill says anyway.” William tried to calm Bobcat down.
“Maybe he won’t tell her.”
Six hours later…..
The Queen was dressed to kill, literally. John Grimes, as well as Ashur, were wakened from a dead sleep and told to get dressed by Bethany Anne.
“What’s wrong? Is there an attack?” John was up and dressed using his vampire enhanced speed.
“No. Worse.” BA stormed out of her quarters and into the hall. It was third shift, and there were very few staff and other workers around.
John stepped in front of his Queen. “BA, what’s worse than an attack?” John had his hand on his Jean Dukes Special.
“Someone has failed to explain the truth. Hold on.” She grabbed Ashur and John and went through the Etheric to just outside Team BMW’s workshop.
Not bothering to say anything, ADAM communicated with Meredith and the doors into their workshop were already opened and waiting for her to walk through. She called out in her command voice, “Bobcat get your ass out here right now!”
FINIS
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br /> Author Notes - TS (Scott) Paul
Written December 29st, 2016
My name is TS Paul and I write Science Fiction and Paranormal.
This book brings me full circle as an author. Way back at the beginning of this year, 2016, I met and befriended an author. His name was Michael Anderle. I became a Beta reader for him and helped to edit his books and I still do to this day.
But that is another story.
Michael started to bug me about writing my own series of books. His theory was that I was well read, could string two sentences together, and told good stories. Why not publish?
So he told me over and over to write and to publish. So I did.
(Edit - No I didn’t, his wife Heather told him over and over he should write stories. I actually told him a few times. I’m getting the credit when she put in the ten years of effort. I need to make this abundantly clear as I’m expecting to meet her in 2017 and I understand she can have a mean right hook…No…no… I actually don’t know anything about a right hook, but she sounds like she could be a handful so better to fess up now rather than wait for a few months and pay, then!)
I wrote a small 13,000 word book called the Forgotten Engineer and we put it up on Amazon. It sold a few books the very first day!
So Michael told me to write another one. And then yet another one. In the course of 20 days I put out three in a series.
In November, Michael approached me and asked if I would like to write a Young Adult themed spin-off series set inside his Kutherian Gambit series. I, of course, said Yes, of course I would!
The Etheric Academy was born. This is my first co-written project ever and so far the project has been an adventure.
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
Written December 30th, 2016
As always, can I say with a HUGE amount of appreciation how much it means to me that you not only read this book, but you are reading these notes as well?
This is now the …uhhhh… (The Author is counting on his fingers) Justin Sloan, Craig Martelle, Natalie Grey, mine and now Scott’s… sixth author note I’ve done in December.
D@MN!
Now, If I write the one for Paul C. Middleton tomorrow, I’ll have written seven in December… SWEEET!
The plan is this book launches tomorrow, let’s pray that happens (are you listening, Amazon gods?)
Scott is right, I did approach him to write a YA novel in the Kurtherian Universe because:
1) I wanted something that was more approachable for both younger audiences and those who, shall we say, prefer not to read the rather humorous but very coarse language used in the main series with Bethany Anne.
2) Anyone who follows me on Facebook knows I can’t write a story without s metric s#it-ton of cussing in it… <— See! Guilty right there.
3) Scott was writing YA since last February and doing very, very well.
The thing is, I didn’t expect him to say yes. Why? He has two of his own very successful series and one of them, The Federal Witch series, is blowing up HUGE. So, I figured I had better ask him, because I didn’t want him to think I hadn’t considered him but I wasn’t expecting him to agree for the reason(s) I just mentioned.
But he did, and like he mentioned in his Author Notes, life has a way of coming around full circle.
So, Welcome TS Paul into the Kurtherian Universe with The Etheric Academy Series. May it last for the 30 potential books we see and then some!
Best Regards,
Michael Anderle
Chef Van Norman’s Borscht Recipe
**How to make Salt Cabbage.
Measure out half a pint of shredded cabbage and half a pint of shredded carrot. Add a small amount of caraway seed and 1 tsp of salt. Using your hands mix it thoroughly. Allow the juices to flow out. Place it in a dish and cover with plastic. Allow to sit at room temperature for 2 days.
1. Place 2 pounds of lamb** in a soup pot. (Lamb Shoulder is best) Fill the pot halfway with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer for one hour.
2. Add five diced red potatoes and either the salt cabbage or a mixed pint of Cabbage and carrots. Simmer for 10 minutes.
3. In a separate pan Saute a large white onion in a small dice until it achieves a golden color. Add this to the soup pot.
4. Remove the Lamb and set aside
5. Shred, grate, or chop a large beet. This is for texture. The beets are to be soft. Add to pot and continue to simmer
6. Add a bay leaf. Salt and pepper to taste
7. Chop two cups of fresh parsley and put in the pot.
8. Add a half cup of fresh dill and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to the pot
9. Chop the Lamb into cubes and return to the pot along with any juices. Simmer 10 minutes
10. Serve in bowl with a dollop of sour cream in the middle topped with fresh parsley. A hearty rye or black bread make this a meal
** You can use Pork Shoulder, Ham, or Bacon (pork belly) in place of the Lamb. But Lamb is traditional. Cook times will vary if using an alternate meat.
Coming January / February 2017