The Science Geek

A Chapter by Star Catcher

This is joint-written.

"Judging by what happened to Brangol, I'd say they're going to keep coming through in crowded areas." Glide said. "Anyone know of another large city that seems like a good target?"

"Aren't there way too many large cities in the omniverse to narrow it down much?" Ambree asked, back from her visit with her parents.

Glide nodded. "I know, but it's the best we can do at the moment."

"With no powers, we can't detect where they're going to come out without physically being in the place, right?" Niqi asked. And then an idea occurred to her. "Wrong!" she answered her own question hastily, and then pulled out her cellphone. "I'll be right back." She got up with barely a glance at anything else and walked a short distance away, dialing.

Glide facepalmed. "You better be calling someone important, because if you're just ordering pizza or something, I'm gonna choke you..."

"Yeah, Glide, she's going to harness the awesome detection powers of pizza to help us save the omniverse," Ambree replied, showing her first hint of sarcasm in a long time.

"Shh," Niqi hissed. It was dialing.

Glide rolled his eyes, taking a swing at Ambree in an attempt to scare her, purposely missing the human girl.

The line picked up. "Hello, operator?"

"... You are so getting your tail tied in a knot." Glide muttered.

Ambree looked at Glide, confused.

Niqi put it on speakerphone for Ambree's sake. "Brangol, correct?"

"That's correct, ma'am."

"Connect me to Eve Blackwell."

"One moment, please." The phone cut to hold music. Niqi turned speakerphone off for Ambree's sake.

Glide blinked. "The science geek?"

Niqi nodded. "Yes, the science geek. Because when powers fail, what never does? Science."

"Uh, hi," Eve said.

"Oh, didn't realize the line had connected." Niqi turned speakerphone back on. "Yeah, hi Eve. We kind of need your help."

There was a pause. "Um. Sure. With what?"

"Demons."

There was a longer pause. "...You did mention science a moment ago, right? Because if you're looking for help with demons, it's not exactly my area of expertise."

Niqi shook her head, even though the motion was useless over the phone. "All of the gods' powers have been taken away, so we can't figure out where demons are going to crop up that way. We need an actual scanner of some sort."

"Gods? And why are demons even cropping up in the first place?" Eve responded, sounding more and more skeptical.

"Long story, and long story. Look - demons exude hell energy. Energy is detectable, right? If we can get you a sample, can you create a device that will help us detect it?"

Eve seemed more at ease with this turn of conversation. "Sure. That would be easy. How much area do you need to scan?"

Niqi paused. "Um...the entire omniverse?" she asked sheepishly.

"...Niqi," Eve complained.

"Or, you know, just the places where life exists, if you can narrow it down to that."

"Do you know how freaking huge the omniverse is?" Eve demanded.

"I could ballpark it."

"Seriously, do you think I have the equipment to…to…" Eve stopped short.

"Eve?"

"No, wait, that's it!"

"Eureka," Niqi said quietly, smirking.

"Shut up. Listen - I can do what you want me to do, Equipment is always the problem. Once you have it, you can do pretty much anything. I just need one hell of a scanner to be able to scan the omniverse, like...like the Huneke scanner," Eve said, taking on a tone of reverence.

"...You don't mean...the one that takes up an entire continent on Luoto?" Niqi asked.

"That's the one," Eve replied, sounding suddenly ecstatic.

"That's not open to the public. They wouldn't let us in. They..." Niqi paused. "Are you suggesting we break in and basically steal the scanner?"

"Well, not the scanner itself, it's too embedded into the planet - but yeah, basically, steal its function. Unfortunate that we would have to, but if you want something you can scan the omniverse with, that would be it."

"Unfortunate?" Niqi asked, breaking into a grin. "This just makes it all the more fun."

"And how the hell are we gonna do that?" Glide asked. "Just stroll through the Nexus door and murder anyone guardin' the thing?"

Niqi shrugged. "We could just knock them out and tie them up instead."

"...Am I on speakerphone?" Eve asked.

"Yeah," Niqi replied.

"Oh, my God," Eve said, sounding embarassed.

"Chill. It's just everyone you saw ready to slaughter an army of demons." Niqi grinned.

"Makes me feel real comfortable," Eve muttered.

Glide smirked. "We oughta get right to it. Same team as the Brangol job. Hey, geek, you wanna come along?"

"Uh, sure. I suppose I have nothing better to do," Eve replied. Her voice sounded like a shrug.

"Great." Glide grinned. "You can use poodlesword if you get into trouble."

"Oh, come on!" Micah growled.