Geekomancy (Ree Reyes, #1)

by Michael R. Underwood

“I have to pose as an android detective? Will the ID say Deckard?” “Are you capable of ever not being snarky?” Eastwood asked. “Only if I try really hard. Plus, this situation is so preposterous, this is the only way I can keep from freaking out.”

Ree took a breath, then said, “I’m going home now for that shower. Call me.” She hung up and just focused on her breathing, trying to calm down. Then she walked out of McDonald’s as if having claw gashes in your shirt and no shoes were the most fashionable thing one could possibly do.

“How many antennae on an Imperial probe droid?” a voice asked. “Two,” Eastwood said without missing a beat. “First appearance of Ambush Bug?” the voice asked. Eastwood cocked his head to the side, thinking. “DC Comics Presents #52.” “How many times does Inigo Montoya repeat his mantra in the duel with Count Rugen?” Eastwood scrunched his eyebrows and looked somewhat lost. He turned to Ree, who smiled. “Five,” she said. “Wrong,” the man said. “It was four.” Eastwood’s face dropped. Ree leaned in at the slot and said, “Bullshit. He says it once in the hall, then four times in the basement after he takes the knife to the belly. I can recite the whole scene, if you’d like.”

Not super stoked at the vibe of these geek spaces a) being wildly male-dominated, and b) running on a currency of “who knows more nerd minutia”.

Up a flight of stairs, they found the waiting room, filled with hundreds of seats of varying sizes and shapes. There was something for all of Spirit’s creatures. There were seats for spirits whose lower halves kind of faded out, seats for spirits who had octopi for tails, for those that were ten feet tall, and for many more configurations of bodies. At the center was a terminal with a team of busy spirits that checked the travelers’ shimmering-energy boarding passes and calibrated their machines accordingly, switching out the various icons and repeating rituals that activated a portal a few feet away.