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.”
Anne and Bethany Anne spent another hour fine-tuning their control in an attempt to synchronize their efforts, but finally Anne wiped away a tear. “If we’re going to try this, we need to do it now. I’m toast.”
Bethany Anne, who was experiencing a nasty headache herself, nodded carefully in agreement. “Let me splash some water on my face while Stevie is setting up, and we’ll give it the old college try.”
She noticed a confused loo
k on Stevie’s face as she headed for the bathroom and heard Anne say, “It’s old-people talk. My dad uses several of those.” Bethany Anne was certain the extra buzzing in her head was TOM trying his hardest not to burst out laughing.
After they had all visited the bathroom, Bethany Anne sat beside Anne and they focused on Stevie’s V-shaped construct.
Chapter Twelve
Arthur Connors had been very pleased when his team had been offered the bodyguard job. He hadn’t been told what the young lady was doing to make her a possible target, but his briefing had indicated that both she and the dog Jinx could be abduction targets. Having the Empress herself show up for a meeting with the girls in the apartment had been a surprise. Whatever they were doing was obviously way above his pay grade.
He and his Marines had set up a six-hour shift rotation. One of them was always with the girl while a second was on standby. The second could grab a bite or just kick back and relax, but they had to be ready to respond if the situation required a two-person team. The third team member’s job was to sleep. As he stood guard, Arthur clenched and released muscles in his legs and arms to keep them loose without moving around enough to attract attention. He had just put his hands on the small of his back to stretch it when movement caught his eye.
“TOM says that Bethany Anne had started to wonder if she could get away with stuffing a few of the bureaucrats into the Etheric,” Matrix said, to explain why he and John were walking to Jinx’ place. “Instead of following through with the idea, she claimed she had an appointment and headed here to talk to Jinx and her person.” Both John and Matrix noticed the Guardian as they approached the target apartment.
John offered his hand as the Guardian stepped from the shadows. “Connors, right?”
“Arthur Connors. We’ve only met during training. It will be nice to shake your hand without getting tossed across the room,” he stated.
“Ready?” the Were asked the two vampires.
“Born that way,” Bethany Anne responded at the same moment Anne muttered, “As I’ll ever be.”
“Three, two, one, now!”
Their practice paid off. There wasn’t even a half-second’s difference in the two gems flaring to life. Stevie clenched her fists. It was working! When the rubies burnt through a level and dropped onto the sloped tile underneath, they shifted toward the center slightly before burning the next hole in a downward vertical path.
No one could have predicted what happened next. For the first time since they’d started experimenting, one ruby moved instead of burning into the substance it struck—Anne’s ruby bounced sideways toward Bethany Anne’s.
Bethany Anne didn’t even blink; she didn’t have enough time. She wasn’t sure what was going to occur when the energy fields generated by the rubies met, but she didn’t want to be in the same room.
Bethany Anne switched into her fastest vampire speed as she heard TOM mutter, I’ve got a bad feeling about this. A quick glance told her that Anne had her arm around Jinx’ neck.
Ashur felt his person’s emotions spike with desperation. Apparently they all needed to get out of here fast. He grabbed the female Were’s wrist in his jaws and pointed his tail toward his person.
Bethany Anne wasn’t going to place bets on whether they’d make it out alive, but seeing Ashur move toward Stevie gave her hope. She grabbed Anne, then wanted to laugh when she turned back to find Ashur’s tail within reach. Hoping Ashur had a good grip on Stevie, Bethany Anne moved them all into the Etheric.
Guardian Connors was being entertained by the stories John was telling him about the early days with Bethany Anne. Arthur had never fought the Forsaken, and he found himself surprised and impressed that four guys who had been baseline human in those days had survived the experience. John had just started to tell him about a situation Bethany Anne had dealt with in Las Vegas when an explosion in the apartment refocused everyone’s attention.
Stevie looked around at the gray nowhere place she found herself. She had been watching the test, and then Ashur had bitten down on her wrist and suddenly she was here. Stevie was glad to see Bethany Anne, Jinx, and Anne with her and Ashur.
Sorry. Ashur whined as he let go of the Were. No time to be gentle.
“It’s okay.” Stevie pulled up her sleeve to show Ashur that he hadn’t broken skin. “Just a couple of bruises that will clear up in minutes.”
“Everyone all right?” Bethany Anne asked as she checked her three passengers for damage.
“Wow, cool! We’re in the Etheric, but what happened?” Anne wondered as she looked Jinx over to ensure her friend was safe.
“No damage here, just not quite sure what happened,” Stevie informed Bethany Anne.
Once Bethany Anne had confirmed to her own satisfaction that no one was hurt, she looked at the Were. “As Anne observed, we’re in the Etheric. I’m not clairvoyant, but I suddenly felt it wasn’t a good idea to be in the same room when those fields met. Thankfully, with Ashur’s help,” she knelt and hugged her longtime companion, “everyone was close enough to grab, so we made a hasty exit.”
“What do we do now?” Anne wanted to know.
“Hang on a sec,” Bethany Anne said, then stuck her head back into the station to make sure it was safe to step into the hallway outside Anne’s apartment. Guardian Connors was pounding frantically on the door and demanding entry. John and Matrix were standing behind the Were, but weren’t panicking yet.
>>John is asking if you are all right.<< ADAM informed her.
Are you handling that? Bethany Anne asked hopefully.
>>I haven’t told him anything yet, but I will bring him up to date.<<
Returning to the Etheric, she took hold of Ashur. Thanks, ADAM. She held out her other arm, telling the girls to grab on tightly. Making sure Anne had a good grip on Jinx, Bethany Anne moved them all back to the Meredith Reynolds.
I told you… Ashur started to say.
Bethany Anne sighed and admitted, Yes, you did tell me. She reached down and gave the spot behind Ashur’s head a good scratch. Dogs, whether they were Kurtherian-enhanced or not, had a hard time scratching that spot themselves.
“I suppose you ratted me out?” she asked Matrix.
“Nope, no rats involved. I’m dogging your steps,” Matrix snarked as he checked his sister.
“Oh, jeez! That stinks worse than wet dog.” Bethany Anne couldn’t hide her smile. “Evening, Mr. Grimes.” Bethany Anne batted her lashes at John.
John managed to refrain from smiling. He just shook his head at Bethany Anne, doing his best to look disapproving and disappointed at the same time.
Seshat, would you open the door please? Anne requested.
>>I’ve sent the signal to the door, but it’s returning an error message. The explosion destroyed my camera, so I no longer have video of the interior of the apartment.<<
Explosion?
>>I reviewed the video. There were several changes as the rubies got closer to each other, but at a distance of zero-point-one-three millimeters they exploded.<<
“Seshat says there was an explosion and her commands to open the door are returning an error message,” Anne informed the small group outside the apartment.
“Can she see if it’s blocked, or…” Bethany Anne’s query came to a halt when Anne shook her head.
“It appears the camera we devoted to Seshat’s use is no longer functioning.”
Bethany Anne thought for a few seconds, and made a decision. “Hold on, I’ll be right back.” She spoke for the benefit of the group, but looked at John.
Bethany Anne stepped into the Etheric, then moved carefully to where she thought Anne’s kitchen should be. She cautiously stuck her head into real space, and found she had guessed correctly. Given that the door was not responding Bethany Anne had expected some damage to the interior, but what she observed shocked even her. There was a small hole right through the wall between the kitchen and common area. Peeking into the common room, she found the whole area slagged. It wa
s obvious why the door wouldn’t open: the rock of the interior surface of that wall had fused.
Bethany Anne stepped through the Etheric to her own apartment and entered her weapons room. She picked up the hilt of her Etheric sword, then went back into the realm. After taking a quick peek at the hall in front of Anne’s apartment, she emerged behind the group who were loitering around the doorway.
“Make a hole, people,” Bethany Anne commanded as she walked toward the door. Once she had a clear space, she energized her Etheric sword and cut all the way around the door. After deactivating the blade, she secured the hilt to her belt. As she turned to face the group, she mentally catalogued its makeup. Two vampires, including herself, two Weres, a heavily modified human, and three modified canines. While the dogs were impressive, none were suitable for the task at hand. Any of the humanoids were probably strong enough to move the door. To hell with it, she thought, and smiled at John. I don’t have to live with the others.
“Mr. Grimes, would you be so kind as to open the door?” Bethany Anne asked with a smile.
“Laying it on a little thick, aren’t you BA?” John asked as Bethany Anne moved aside to allow him access.
Bethany Anne glanced at the two young women, who were now giggling at the byplay between her and John. Then she looked at John and batted her eyelashes again, saying, “Why Mr. Grimes, I have nooo idea what you’re talking about.”
“Riigghhhttt.” John drew out the word as he teased back. Knowing that Bethany Anne was perfectly capable of moving the door herself, he was pleased that she had asked him to do it. John turned and put his back to the door, then crouched a little so he applied force to the middle area. He started exerting pressure, and was surprised at just how easily the door moved. Once he had pushed it inward several inches he straightened, turned, and put his hands on the edges. With that grip he simply picked it up and set it out of the way.
Etheric Adventures Boxed Set: Books 1-3 Page 22