Chapter 4
Myka and Pete turned a corner and walked out double doors onto the fourth level of the stadium. Night had fallen but the setting felt surreal. There were no sounds of traffic, no planes, even the bugs were gone.
She sat down in a chair with a heavy sigh.
"Come on, we still have one more level and the basement," Pete encouraged. "I'm dying to see what those VIP boxes look like. I've heard they're pretty posh. I bet they have lots of good food."
She smiled a little. "Thinking with your stomach again?"
"I am hungry." Pete sat down next to her, watching her. "How are you doing, Mikes?"
She smiled at him, patting his leg. "Oh, you know. I wiped out the entire population of humans, animals, apparently bugs… All in all, I've had a pretty terrific day."
Pete sat back, looking at the baseball field below them. "You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to streak across that field."
She looked at him. "What?"
"Yeah. When we get back to the first level, I'm just gonna haul off and streak across that field."
"Naked?"
"Yeah. How else do you streak?"
"Pete!"
"What?"
"Pete!"
"There's no one here to see me."
"I'm here." She waved her arms in front of his face.
"Yeah. So?"
"I do not want to see you naked." She turned in her seat.
"You've seen me naked plenty of times."
"I didn't want to see you naked those times, either."
"Hey. I take good care of my body." He patted his abdomen. "Some cardio, some weights…"
"I don't want to see you naked."
"I have a nice butt too."
She lifted her eyebrows.
"I do!"
She shook her head. "Time to find a genie."
"And I have a nice pair of—"
She pointed a finger in front of his face. "Enough!"
He smirked. "Eyes."
"What if the teapot isn't here?" Myka leaned over, put her elbows on her legs and her chin in her hands.
"We'll keep searching. We came to Seattle, so it's gotta be here somewhere."
"Without people using it to get in trouble, we can't exactly track it. And Seattle his huge! We'll be old by the time we find it."
Pete leaned into a long, hard laugh. Myka smiled, watching him. He caught his breath.
"Did you hear what you just did there?"
"What I… No. What?"
"You just put a positive twist on the un-positive, Myka. You just pulled a Pete!" He stood and she joined him. The two began strolling down the walkway.
She smiled, catching up to him. "I did, didn't I?"
"Now don't go getting all cocky."
She looked serious when he looked back her. "No. Not at all."
"You know, there's something bugging me about this genie stuff."
"We're in a world with no people or animals?"
"No. What if genies are people?"
"What if they are?"
"They're trapped in these teapots or lamps or candlesticks or whatever, forever. Hell, if I were stuck like that, I'd want to trick people into stuff just to entertain myself."
"They were criminals."
"You didn't say that earlier. You said some were tricked."
"You're assuming what I said was true. For all we know, they are demons."
"But what if they aren't, Myka. What if these are people trapped in prisons because they were tricked? And what about the ones who didn't do anything really bad? Even I know that way back when killing someone was punished the same as stealing bread. Or what if the person was just in the wrong place at the wrong time? There isn't one of these scenarios someone should be punished to life imprisoned in some teapot or lamp or whatever."
"You're thinking about this too literally."
"And you're not thinking about it literally enough."
Myka was surprised by how defensive he'd suddenly become. "This really bothers you."
"Yes! If these really are people, we're condemning them to a life in a prison with no light or human contact. That would make any human bitter and angry."
Myka looked away, trying to find a way to tell him why she thought he was wrong. Instead, memories suddenly came back.
"Pete! I remember where the tea pot is!" Myka burst into a run.
Pete was right behind her.
#
Myka ran around a corner and came to a sudden stop. Pete wasn't far behind, but he was panting harder. He stopped next to her with his hands on his knees, but also looking at the dead man sitting in the office hidden behind machinery. She started toward the dead man, pulling on gloves.
"Myka, careful," Pete warned.
"I've got it." She carefully pulled the dead man's hands away and pulled the teapot from his rigid hands. She retreated a step, smiling. "I've got it, Pete."
"Good. Now let's get it in the bag." He pulled a bag from his pocket and shook it open
Myka turned, walking toward him. But she stopped just outside of the door, staring at it.
"What? What is it Myka?"
"I could bring the genie back and put the world back in order."
"What? Wait… No. No! Myka, bag the teapot."
"It has the power to turn back time. I could fix everything!"
"Myka, no. Do not do that. Put that thing in this bag right now. We—"
Myka tore off a glove and brushed her hand along the side of the teapot. Immediately dark clouds poured from the spout onto the floor and became a giant form that looked uncomfortable in a building far too small for it. It had features of a face, burning eyes of blue fire, and other features created by shadow and light.
"You beckoned, master?" the genie asked.
It took the two a moment to grasp what was happening. The Farnsworth in Myka's pocket began ringing.
"Give me that!" Pete said, grabbing the teapot away from Myka. "Now I am mad! Answer Artie."
Myka opened the Farnsworth, telling Pete, "All I have to do is make a wish and tell the genie to put the world back."
"What?" Artie snapped.
"We have the genie, Artie. I just have to wish the world back the way it was."
"NO!" Artie, Mrs. Frederic, and Leena yelled.
"Told you so," Pete whispered.
"Why? The genie has the power to change everything back.
"You do not understand how genies work, Myka," Frederic told her. "This one has already twisted dozens of wishes, including Pete's. You cannot trust it. The best we can hope for is to neutralize it and that the world will revert back."
Pete started examining the teapot. He looked up at the genie. Gears of thought began churning in his mind. There might be another way to fix the world, and more.
"But this genie could help us fix the world!" Myka argued.
Exasperated Artie told her, "Myka, do not make a wish. You will only make this worse!"
"I have a question," Pete said.
"What?" Myka and Artie snapped at him together.
"Was Myka wrong about what genies are, Artie? Are some of them demons and some of the human who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time?"
Artie sighed. "I don't know, Pete, and it doesn't matter. Put the genie back in the—"
"I think it does, Artie. I think, that maybe today, that answer really matters. What do we know about this genie?"
"We…" Artie hesitated. He looked at Frederic and Leena. Neither knew. "We don't know anything about it. Why? What do you have in mind?"
Pete looked at the teapot. "What can you tell me about the teapot?"
"It was crafted by Dom, a nomadic people of the Middle East and sometimes referred to as gypsies; they have no relation to Romanian or European gypsies. The teapot is pure gold with a diamond set inside at the bottom and predates Babylon. Why are we even talking about this?" Artie asked.
Pete nodded. "So this genie has been imprisoned in this teapot for hundreds of thousands of years."
"Yes. Peter. Why?"
"And it does have the power to fix the world, doesn't it?"
As Myka said, "Yes," Artie told him, "No," and Frederic warned him, "Lattimer, put that teapot in the sack."
"Leena told us that neutralizing doesn't work sometimes. Can any one of you promise that this time it will? That our world will return to normal this time?"
No one could, but Artie tried to reason with him again. "Pete, you cannot trust—"
Pete walked closer to the genie. "What were you before you were in this teapot?"
"You are not my master," the genie told him.
"I'm… I'm not? Who is?"
"She is." The Genie pointed at Myka. "She became my new master."
"When?"
"When she rubbed the teapot."
"Okay. How do I become your master?"
"She must put me back and you must rub the teapot."
"Myka put the genie back in the teapot."
She took the teapot and ordered, "Return to your teapot, genie."
The smoke returned to the teapot.
"Give me the teapot now," Pete told her.
"Do not give him that teapot. Bag it, Myka," Artie told her.
Myka looked at the teapot, letting the light glitter across its bruised golden surface.
"Myka, he cannot do this. He—"
"Give him the teapot, Myka," Leena told him.
Myka turned to the Farnsworth. In the screen Mrs. Frederic and Artie were staring at Leena.
"I have a feeling…" Leena told him. "I have a positive feeling about this plan, but only if Pete makes the wish."
Artie looked at Frederic. She gave a shrug.
"Give Pete the teapot, Myka."
She obeyed.
Pete rubbed his hand across the teapot.
The genie reappeared, watching him with blue burning eyes.
"When were you human?"
Silence.
"I have to see this. Turn the Farnsworth around," Artie told Myka.
She moved over to a water heater and propped the Farnsworth up so they could watch. She was glad to have her hands back so she could press them against her abdomen and hide her nervousness.
"When were you human?" Pete repeated.
"A long time ago."
"Yes. But when? What was the year?"
"We didn't have years. We had harvests. I lost count of those a long time ago."
"Fair enough. What is the first year that you do remember?"
"Why do you care?"
Pete stepped closer. "I'm human."
The genie looked at Myka and then at him.
"The first year I can recall was 1215. I heard someone say it at the funeral of my master at the time. He was burned at the stake as a witch."
"I bet he was. How did you get in that teapot?"
"That isn't important."
"How did you get in that teapot?"
"It doesn't matter."
"I can ask this question all day."
"I can out live your days of questioning."
"Then I'll ask it until I die. How did you get in that teapot?"
"I was a servant girl to a prince. He liked to hurt his servant girls and when I fought, his vizier cursed me."
Pete laughed, glancing at Myka. She offered a worried smile.
"That sounds familiar, doesn't it? What's that story from, Mikes?"
"It's one of the Arabian nights."
Pete turned back to the genie. "Let's try this again. How did you get in that teapot?"
The genie moved in on Pete, the fire in its eyes flaring. "I can lie to you forever."
"You may have time, genie, but I can be damned annoying. Ask her." He hiked his thumb over his shoulder at Myka.
The genie looked at Myka. She smiled wistfully and shrugged.
"He can be," Myka admitted.
The genie moved back. "Why all the questions? No one ever asks questions, just wishes."
"Oh, I have a couple of those, but not until we've gotten to know each other."
The genie looked like it was determined to out-stubborn Pete, but Pete clearly had patience on his side.
"I was married to this old man when I was fourteen harvests. He was old, and… He took me to his cottage out in the woods. There was no one out there. Just him and the animals. He had all kinds of strange animals there. He made me cook and clean and sleep on the floor. I couldn't take it! When he left for town one day I ran away. I was caught by this gypsy and she took me to a cave where there were other gypsies. They were chanting around a teapot. They made me drink something and when I woke up I was in the teapot. They sold it to a trader and when he rubbed the teapot, I had to come out. When he made a wish, I had to give what he asked for. For a while he had me, then someone else rubbed the lamp and that man was dead on the floor. And that's how it started. People killed to get my teapot and me. Wars were fought. And I had to do what they asked every time"
Pete didn't speak right away. He sat the teapot down on the floor between them and then looked up.
"I am so sorry."
"For what?"
"For your life, genie. I'm sorry that's the life you've had to live. And you were so young when it started… I can't imagine what that would have been like."
The genie didn't answer.
"What did you look like when you were fourteen harvests?"
Very quietly it asked, "Why do you want to know?"
"I'm curious. I want to see what you looked like as a human. I mean, I don't get to meet many of my ancestors, and chances are you might just be one of mine. Will you show me?"
"Oh…" Myka suddenly realized what his plan was. "You are a genius!"
Slowly the genie took the form of a fourteen year old girl in a skin dress with a necklace of sinew and stones. She had long brown hair and brilliant blue eyes. Pete smiled as he crouched down to be at eye level with her.
"You are very pretty. I imagine that your husband thought he had married a jewel when he saw you."
She looked away.
"Do you remember your name?"
She tried to remember. Her face suddenly scrunched with anger. "I only grant wishes. I will not answer any more questions."
"Okay," Pete smiled. "Genie, this world is broken right now. There's supposed to be billions of people on this planet and they're all gone. So are all the other living things. We can't have that, so I have to make a wish for the world first. And then I have a wish just for you. If you grant my first wish exactly as I've asked, I promise on my life, the next wish is yours."
"And what is the second wish?"
Pete winked at her. "Not so fast there, speed racer. My wish first, then yours."
She looks him up and down, measuring what he's telling her. She nods.
Pete moved a little closer and told her his wish, "I wish that the world was just the way it was before I woke up on the floor upstairs. That every human and every creature that was removed, is put back into its life just the way it was before you removed it, him, or her."
"That will make her wish go away." The genie pointed at Myka.
"Myka made the wish?" Artie asked.
Myka pulled back a little, out of sight of the Farnsworth.
"She wished that the people she cared about would never suffer and could live in peace. Did I not do what she asked? Are not the people she cares for safe and living in peace?
Myka stormed toward the little brat. "You know damn well that is not what I meant when I made that wish! I asked for—"
Pete leaped to his feet and caught Myka by the shoulders. He pushed her back to the Farnsworth and looked her in the eye.
"I got this."
She stared at him. Slowly she nodded. Pete returned to crouching before the girl.
"I know you did as you were asked, even if it wasn't quite the way Myka wanted it. But now I need you to do what I'm asking, and it needs to be exactly as I've asked. Please. I want to help you, but not until the world is fixed."
"Even if it means people will suffer? Or die? You want that? Right now, none of you will ever suffer or die. Why would you take that away?"
Her questions made Pete beam with pride. "You're worried about other humans! You do remember what being human is like. I could hug you."
An awkward silence fell with confusion on her face. She held her arms out for the promised hug. Pete only hesitated for a heartbeat and pulled her into a hug. She threw her weight against him, pressing her face into his shoulder. Thrown off balance Pete sat down and held her as tight as he could.
"It's been a long time since anyone gave you hug, hasn't it?" Pete asked.
"I always watched but… No one. No."
Pete smiled, kissing her head. "You deserved more than that." Pete closed his eyes a moment when he felt tears soak through his shirt. He stroked her head, but held her tight. "My dad always told me that when I needed him, I just had to close my eyes and go to sleep, and he'd be there. I wish, that when we need each other, all we'll have to do is go to sleep."
In a voice muffled against his shoulder she told him, "Your wishes are granted, master.
In an instant the world returns to its old self, unaware there had ever been a change."
In an instant he heard the roar of a crowded baseball game overhead. The rings of cellphones. Water began running through the pipes. The old world had returned.
In the office the janitor woke up and climbed onto his feet. He turned, seeing Pete and the genie, and then the teapot.
"That's mine!" the man bellowed.
Pete turned his head, watching the janitor heave his body from his chair as he picked up a baseball bat. He charged toward Pete and the genie. As he came out the door, Myka punched his jaw. The baseball bat flew up and she grabbed it. He hit the floor and started to get up. Aiming precisely where she wanted, she knocked him out with his baseball bat. She looked up, finding the genie and Pete staring.
She explained, "He died the last time I stunned him. Better a headache than a heart attack."
Pete chuckled. He turned his attention back on the genie.
"Do you remember your name?"
She shook her head.
"Then let's get you one. How about, for now, can I call you Genna? We'll spell it G-e-n-n-a.
"I like that name."
Pete smiled and was reward with a faint reflection from her.
"Do you know what today is, Genna?"
She shook her head.
"Today is your birthday. And for your birthday, I wish—"
Bright white light flashed in everyone's eyes.
