Etheric Adventures Boxed Set
Books 1-3
S.R. Russell
Michael Anderle
This book is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.
Copyright © 2017-2021 LMBPN Publishing
Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing
A Michael Anderle Production
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LMBPN Publishing
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First US edition, January 2021
The Kurtherian Gambit (and what happens within / characters / situations / worlds) are copyright © 2015-2021 by Michael T. Anderle.
Contents
Introduction
Etheric Recruit
Etheric Researcher
Etheric Explorer
Introduction
Thank you for giving my books a try.
If you are familiar with The Kurtherian Gambit series, welcome, and I hope you enjoy this one.
If you have never read any of Michael Anderle’s series, I’ve included a brief summary of his storyline at the end of the boxed set. You might want to jump to that first, so hopefully this story will make sense.
ENJOY!
Etheric Recruit
Etheric Adventures: Anne and Jinx Book 1
Chapter One
Dead.
I’m so freakin’ dead, thought the girl, as she tried desperately to hold back her tears.
Crying at school would just make matters worse. She didn’t need her classmates to be on her case for being a cry baby. As it was, the D she had just received on her chemistry test would be enough for her parents to ground her for two weeks…again.
Anne had constantly been in trouble with her parents for the last couple of years now. They claimed she was acting out because they had been required to leave their old life behind when some very bad people threatened her and her mom to make her dad do what they wanted.
Her parents seemed to have forgotten that Anne was the one who had sent a letter to Bethany Anne to ask for help.
The truth of the matter was, Anne just felt so tired nowadays that it was hard for her to stay awake, let alone focus, in class. And she hurt so much her aches had aches. Not normal, she thought, for a sixteen-year-old girl.
Her parents insisted that she was only suffering growing pains, which in their minds were no excuse for bad grades. They had been very clear in stating they expected her to excel.
Failing the entrance examination for the Etheric Academy had resulted in her being grounded for a week.
To heck with it, thought Anne Jayden. Knowing she would be subject to yet another lecture and probably grounded again, Anne decided to take a detour on her way home.
She, and probably ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the people on the Meredith Reynolds, knew that Bellatrix and Ashur had had a litter of puppies. She hadn’t been able to see any of them yet.
Heck, she thought to herself, she hadn’t even seen Ashur in person for the last couple of years. As things had gotten worse on Earth and the Etheric Empire headed into Yollin space, her parents Mason and Sheila Jayden had forbidden her to go near the Queen’s quarters. This meant that not only could she not talk to Bethany Anne, but she didn’t get to play with Ashur anymore either.
Anne decided to go to Yelena’s quarters, hoping she could see Bellatrix and some of the puppies for a little while. She’d get some video of them on her tablet so she could watch it as she served the prison sentence her parents would impose as soon as she returned home.
Anne exited the tram and walked to the intersection nearest Yelena’s quarters. Leaning against the wall, she crossed her fingers and hoped that Yelena or one of the dogs would show up soon, since she wasn’t quite forward enough to knock on the door. Thirty minutes later she sighed in defeat and walked back to the tram station to head home and face the music.
Anne couldn’t help sigh as the door hadn’t opened completely before …
“Where have you been young lady?”
Jinx looked at the chew toy and sighed as she laid her head on her paws. She, her siblings and parents were the most advanced, intelligent canines known to exist, thanks to Kurtherian nanotech.
It was somewhat ironic that they still had an urge to chew.
Their dad’s human had threatened to turn them into throw rugs if anyone chewed on her shoes. They had all decided that despite the wonderful way they smelled, shoes were off limits.
It was a good thing humans were so accommodating towards their four-footed companions. People had created a myriad of items that satisfied the desire to chew.
It wasn’t the chew toy that had caused the sigh, however. Jinx was feeling a restlessness, something close to failure. It sat in her mind like an itch on the top of her back that she couldn’t scratch.
Once she and her siblings had reached an age where they could learn to understand the noises the humans made, their dad had told them the story of how he had met his human, Bethany Anne.
Their mom’s human had mentioned how the people of Earth bought and sold animals without regard for the animal’s feelings or desires. All five of the puppies decided that they didn’t think that sort of thing was in their best interest. They informed Yelena they would choose their own companion person.
After all, it was family tradition. Ashur had chosen, way back when, to help Bethany Anne fight the-stinky-like-death-but-not-dead creatures, and to share her life afterwards.
Jinx sighed again, wondering if something was wrong with her. Three of her siblings had already found their companions. Matrix and Snow had even chosen aliens to pair up with.
Jinx didn’t think she would be happy pairing with an alien. She secretly didn’t know how Snow put up with the smell of Kael-ven, because all the beings called Yollins had a slightly bitter odor to Jinx’ nose.
She was just contemplating heading to bed for a nap when she heard the door to their den open.
She snorted at the thought. It wasn’t a den, but she had learned that others of the canine genus on Earth lived in dens, so that’s how she thought of Yelena’s apartment.
A sharp bark followed by a higher pitched bark announced the arrival of her dad, coming to visit her mom.
“Here.” Anne forwarded her chemistry test results to her mother’s tablet. “I knew I was going to get yelled at again, so do you blame me for not being in a hurry to get home?”
Anne flinched and took a step backwards at the look of anger that crossed her mother’s face.
“Go. To. Your. Room. Now!” Her mother spat the words one at a time.
Anne spun silently on her toes and headed for her room, her mother’s voice following her down the short hallway.
“With that attitude, you can go without supper too! It’ll give you time to think about your behavior.”
Anne sighed to herself, being very careful not to let anything show in her posture as she turned to enter her bedroom.
Just yesterday she hadn’t felt well enough to want to eat supper, yet her mother had forced her to sit and eat at the family t
able.
Her mother, as usual, hadn’t noticed her being sick an hour later when the unwanted meal refused to remain in her stomach. Not wanting to risk getting into more trouble, she followed the rules and left her bedroom door open behind her as she headed for her desk.
She couldn’t risk lying on her bed right now, because if she happened to fall asleep when she was supposed to be studying, it was just going to make matters that much worse.
Anne settled into the chair and pulled out her tablet in an attempt to complete the history assignment that was due in two days. She was doing her best to get through it, making sure to look focused so that when her mother came by to check on her she wouldn’t be subjected to further disciplinary actions.
Jinx got up and made her way into the main room to find Ashur and Bellatrix rubbing noses. “Oh, gross. What is it humans say? Get a room, you two!”
“Lighten up, Jinx.” Yelena laughed as she entered the room from the kitchen. “If we’re comparing dogs to humans, that’s the equivalent of a hello kiss, not some sort of make-out session.”
Ashur took the time to rub his cheek against Bellatrix, then turned to his daughter. “You seem to be in a bad mood today. What is wrong?”
Jinx sat and looked at Yelena, Bellatrix, and Ashur. “Humans call it ‘feeling sorry for yourself’. Everyone except Dio and me has found their partners. Heck, Matrix and Snow have partnered with aliens. One of them is a being who lives in your person’s head,” Jinx replied, looking at Ashur.
“I wonder if something is wrong with me, that I can’t find someone I feel right about.” Jinx’ head drooped a little as she expressed one of her fears.
“Well, you won’t find someone if you sit in here all day,” Ashur told her with a faint growl. “Let’s go for a walk and we can talk over ideas to help you meet more people.”
“Are you guys good, or do you need me for anything?” Yelena asked the assembled canines.
After a moment, the dogs told her that they would be fine without Yelena’s presence.
Yelena smiled and announced she was going to go see what kind of trouble Bobcat was getting into.
All the canines had become accustomed to certain human behaviors. Take human smiles, for instance. They had needed to learn that the showing of teeth was not a sign of aggression.
They just shook their heads when Yelena disappeared into her bedroom, muttering about needing to change into something nicer.
Bellatrix, Ashur, and Jinx left the apartment. As they headed for the tram station, Jinx was distracted by an enticing smell on the wall at the first intersection. Ashur and Bellatrix had turned the corner and were several paces away before they realized Jinx was no longer with them.
“What did you find?” Ashur asked Jinx as the two adults returned to their offspring.
“The smell of this person is really different. I wonder who it is?” Jinx answered, still sniffing the wall.
Ashur inhaled the scent that had intrigued Jinx, and realized with a shock that he was familiar with it.
It belonged to the young girl he and his human had rescued. He remembered chasing a ball for her after they moved her and her family to safety on the other ship. “That smells like Anne,” Ashur informed Jinx. “We rescued her from some bad people once.”
“Do you know where to find her?” Jinx asked, almost quivering with excitement.
“No,” Ashur watched his daughter’s tail droop at his answer, “but I see Yelena coming and we can get her to ask Bethany Anne for you.”
Now wearing a pair of black slacks that weren’t decorated with dog hair and a robin’s-egg blue blouse, Yelena was surprised to see the three dogs stopped just down the hallway from her apartment.
“Don’t you guys get any hair on my clean pants!” She told them as she approached the corner. Desiring her assistance, all three dogs sat along the wall and looked at her expectantly. “What?” Yelena asked, wondering about the strange behavior.
“Would you please ask Bethany Anne where the girl we rescued—Anne—now lives?” Ashur requested.
“Okay …” Yelena replied, somewhat confused. “Meredith, would you please see if her Most Exalted Empress Bethany Anne has a moment to talk with me?”
Chapter Two
Bethany Anne, Queen Bitch and Empress of the Etheric Empire, was sitting with her feet up looking at some of the new designs ADAM was showing her. They were the result of a collaboration between him and the Ex-President’s oldest daughter to produce some new purses.
“Why purses?” Bethany Anne asked.
>>You have such a love of shoes that we wanted to start with something that would have less negative impact if you didn’t like the design. But it also needed to be something that would allow us to work with the new materials available here on Yoll. If we can design and manufacture purses, then the next step will be footwear.<<
“Makes sense,” Bethany Anne muttered to ADAM, then closed her eyes when Meredith’s voice came over the room’s speakers.
“Bethany Anne, Yelena has asked me to ask the Most Exalted Empress if she remembers rescuing a girl named Anne?”
“Put me through to Yelena please, Meredith.” Bethany Anne sat straight in her chair, waiting for the connection.
“You are connected with Yelena,” Meredith confirmed seconds later.
“Yelena, I wonder how your attitude might change if you had one of my exalted boots up your butt,” Bethany Anne asked her friend. “Besides yanking my chain, what did you want?”
“Ashur is with me, and he is asking if you know where the girl you rescued, Anne is her name, lives.”
ADAM, what was Anne’s last name, and do you have a residence location for her?
>>Anne Jayden. You rescued them in Las Vegas. The Jaydens live in Residential Section 5A, Apartment 17.<<
Thank you.
“Yelena, tell Furball that the family he’s looking for is the Jaydens, and they live in 5A-17,” Bethany Anne relayed.
“Thanks, Bethany Anne, will do,” replied Yelena.
“Where is that?” asked Jinx, since all the dogs had heard Bethany Anne’s reply to Yelena.
“I’m not positive,” Yelena said to an expectant Jinx. “Meredith, how would we get to 5A-17?”
“Take the tram inward for two stops. Exit at the second stop, and I’ll have a hover cart there to guide you to the apartment,” Meredith answered.
“Thanks, Yelena. Have fun with Bobcat,” Jinx told the woman as she turned toward the tram stop.
Two tram stops later, Jinx jumped on the hover cart that Meredith had waiting for them. It was only a short walk, or ride in Jinx’ case, before the three dogs were standing in front of a door with the number 17 marked on it.
Ashur was tall enough that he could nose the doorbell while keeping all four feet on the ground.
Sheila was in the kitchen, getting supper started for her husband and herself when the apartment’s EI announced that there were guests at the front door. Muttering, “Who could that be?” She washed her hands and walked to the apartment entrance.
Sheila opened the door, wondering if possibly one of her daughter’s friends had come over. “Anne is grounded and not allowed visi …” Sheila sputtered to a stop as the door opened to reveal three dogs.
“We would like to see Anne for a moment, please,” Ashur politely asked the woman who came to the door. From her looks and scent, Ashur was certain he was talking to Anne’s mother.
Since the seven dogs of the Etheric Empire were capable of speech, and with the move to Yollin space, every citizen of Bethany Anne’s Empire was entitled to a free implant that would allow them to be able to communicate with any non-humans.
If Sheila Jayden had taken advantage of this, she would have heard Ashur ask politely to see her daughter. Instead, what she heard was a series of barks and growls. Shocked and a little afraid, Sheila took a half-step back from the large white dog that was standing at the door barking at her.
Anne didn’t have an implant eithe
r, since her mother didn’t understand or acknowledge the need for such a device. Anne had just about reached the end of the required reading when a noise caught her attention. Was that…barking?
Forgetting that she was supposed to be restricted to her room, Anne dashed to the front door and slid to a stop just behind her mother. “Ashur!” Anne shouted, seeing the big white dog at the door. “Oh, puppy!” she said a second later as a smaller German Shepherd that was frantically wagging its tail caught her attention.
Jinx had been content to let her sire take the lead while meeting with these new humans. She watched as the adult human stepped backward while putting her hands to her face, but suddenly Jinx’ attention shifted to a smaller human who had slid to a stop behind the bigger one.
Jinx worked her nose to sort out all the odors. Yes! The human girl had the interesting smell that had caught her attention in the corridor near her home. Something inside Jinx seemed to shift, and she felt an overwhelming desire to be with the girl. Jinx was so focused on Anne as she started walking into the dwelling that she completely missed the mother’s reaction.
Sheila Jayden wasn’t a happy camper. In fact, she hadn’t been a happy camper for a long time.
She understood that her husband and family had to be part of the Etheric Empire for security reasons. After all, being held hostage to make your husband divulge confidential information from his work hadn’t been much fun, and she had no desire for a repeat.
Etheric Adventures Boxed Set: Books 1-3 Page 1