Ruby the Galactic Gumshoe

Not a place for a nice lady like me. I knew as soon as I entered they’d be crawling all over themselves to get to me. The place was filled with Android hookers, so with a few changes, I passed myself off as another Frankie. There were the usual paws giving a feel as I passed, but nothing like it would’ve been if they knew it was live flesh.

I’m sitting in a snack bar on the beach. The pink ocean is rolling up in lazy laps against the magenta sands. The sky is rose colored, the sun is starting to rise, I’m feeling blue. I dial up a soufflé with some fresh sautéed sea creatures. Sucking on a tentacle, I dial up the Tookah. He’s on the screen - wearing a smoking jacket, with one tentacle wrapped around a cigar.

I fold in my wings and settle down, like a dragonfly on a milkweed pod. It is an exquisite ship, all fluff and down, a whole other solar technology. His long fingers take my hand. He has little sensors on the tips.

I got a tip from And/Or back at the Digital Circus and decide to sail to the Utopias, a lot of little islands where crackpots put into practice their views of how a society ought to be run. I purchase a set of solar wings and catch the air currents South.

Bolts of electricity flash back and forth...tremendous arcs of electricity crackle overhead...and there he is, Tesla himself. He’s sitting there, reading a book...he’s wearing soles on his shoes that look a foot thick...bolts snap and sizzle above his head filling the dome.

I’m looking at a thing with four tentacles, three eyes, a thin blue moustache and wearing a red fez.

Returning to Summa Nulla, Ruby, Teru, And/Or and Kapoor discover two distinct Summa Nulla’s, but one is invisible to the other.  And finally, there’s a Grand Farewell as another Ruby adventure rumbles to an end.

Ruby discovers the secrets of this new Sonto Lore – where they can create buildings, landscapes, and even events, by simply thinking it.  It’s easy for a fifth dimensional being, but not so easy for a third dimensional creature like sneaky little Rodant Kapoor.

And/Or, reunited with his mentor, Nikola Tesla, completes the light machine, enabling the planet of Summa Nulla to split into two planets, in two different dimensions.  And Ruby encounters the Time Suspender, Father Mojo, who is living on this strange, Mad Moon.

Ruby, Teru, And/Or and Kapoor now find themselves on the fifth dimensional moon of Sonto Lore.  The child Rubina persuades Ruby to play a game, while Teru delves into the mysteries of this magical Mad Moon.