I gave my temples a quick, ten-second massage before taking the phone off hold.
“This is Matt,” I said.
“About fucking time!” said a male voice that could only be Jack Dailey.
“Kate?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’m here. Shut up, Jack!”
“What’s going on?”
Please don’t be another worldwide emergency.
“How much do you know about antimatter?”
“Antimatter? Like on Star Trek?”
“Nerd!” Jack shouted.
I pulled my ear away from the receiver and hit the button for the speakerphone.
“Kate, shut him up or I’m hanging up.”
I heard a loud slap, and another shout, but it sounded farther away.
“Yes, like on Star Trek.”
“I don’t know. It makes the ship go. Matter and antimatter annihilate each other to make energy. What else is there to know?”
“Apparently a lot. Reilly is shooting positronic lightning.”
“And you’re calling me because?”
“We’re out of science officers on the Enterprise. Why do you think? We need ideas.”
I held up my hands in surrender, then felt silly because she couldn’t see that. “All right, I’m sorry. Okay, so let’s run through the obvious supernatural stuff. Been in contact with any kind of supernatural entities?”
“No,” Reilly said.
“No,” Kate relayed.
“I can hear him. How about wizards or other practitioners?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Mystical artifacts, possibly cursed.”
“Again, no.”
“Made any bargains with the fae?”
“Who’s Faye?”
“The fae, F-A-E. The fairy folk.”
“Um, I’ve never met a fairy, so I guess not.”
“Well, unless you get more info that one of those has taken place, I’m out of ideas.”
“Is there a way to get rid of it without knowing what caused it?”
“Beats me. You should probably talk to a scientist or watch a bunch of Trek reruns to see how they solve these things. But I’m pretty sure reversing polarity doesn’t work.”