Cool air flowed over them as they stepped out into the night.
Roger looked around. He could honestly say that he'd never been so glad to see the sky, the grass, and the faces of other people. There were small groups of students walking on the paths nearby, but the traffic was light, probably due to the time of day. A slight breeze was blowing, rustling Jean's hair and the tree branches above them.
He couldn't keep the silly grin off his face. "I am so happy to be outside."
"Yeah, the campus is nice at night," she agreed. She probably thought he meant 'outside' as not within the building, but he meant something more. Being inside a bottle for long periods of time put a genie into something like suspended animation. (To keep them from going mad with boredom, he supposed.) He would have had no idea how much time had gone by if Jean hadn't told him what year it was.
"So what do you study, Mistress?" he asked, as they began walking towards one of the neighboring buildings.
"Archaeology. Oh, and I'm minoring in chemistry," she added, pulling what looked like a credit card or driver's license from her pocket. "I'd like to work in artifact preservation, but I want to go to grad school. I think. It's so hard to decide sometimes.there are times when I *know*, for sure, that I want to keep going in school and get a master's degree. Then there are other times that I'm certain I want to get out there and start working."
"I know what you're going through," he murmured. When he was in school, it was a choice between joining the military or trying to find an industry that would train him to fly. In the end, he'd chosen the army. He never regretted it.it had gotten him into the space program, after all.
"What do you mean?" she asked curiously. "Do you get to pick what sort of genie you want to be, or something like that?"
"Mmm.not exactly," he replied, biting his tongue. He'd let too much slip; he wasn't supposed to discuss his previous life with anyone he was serving, unless of course they specifically asked him about it. "What I meant was, there are a lot of times when things may seem very clear, but then there are other times when they're not."
Jean's brow furrowed in confusion. "Well.thank you. I think." She shook her head as if she had no idea what he was talking about. "Sometimes all I want to do is just pick one or the other, right now, and be done with it."
"But sometimes the best thing to do is to wait," he reminded her. "You're young. You have plenty of time to decide what you want to do." Then the genie-part of him kicked in. "I'm sure you'll make the right choice, when the time comes."
This made her smile. "Thanks. You really made me feel better," she said. "Is that part of your job? To cheer people up?"
"I just want you to be happy, Mistress. That's all. It's not necessarily part of the job, but I do think it would be nice if you were."
"Hey, Jeannie," called a voice from behind them. Both of them turned.
The brunette's face lit up. "Hey, Annie," she said, waving and waiting for the other girl to catch up with them. "Whatcha doin'?"
"Just finished studying for my Econ exam," replied the petite blonde. "Who's your friend?"
For an instant, Jean's face went completely blank. "Roger," she said, recovering swiftly. "This is Roger. He's-"
"-a graduate student from the University of Wisconsin," he stated firmly. He hadn't bothered to ask Jean which school this actually was, but he could tell by the position of the north star that he was somewhere in the mid- latitudes of the U.S. Far from Wisconsin. At least his appearance, since becoming a genie, had been returned to something a bit younger than he'd been before. Almost like when he'd started at NASA. He was very grateful for that right now.
"Really? What are you studying?" the girl asked.
"Aerodynamics and aeronautical engineering," he replied easily. It was the only thing he could think of, and besides, it was something he actually knew about. If he'd said anthropology or law he would never have been able to fake it. This was something he didn't have to fake. The physics behind flight couldn't have changed that much since the 20th century.could they?
"Wow, that sounds really interesting," Annie said eagerly. "So what are you doing here on the east coast? You're a long way from Wisconsin."
"He's looking into getting a research grant here, because." Jean's face contorted a bit. "Because his lab burned down. Completely. It's going to take months to rebuild, and he lost a lot of data, so he's seeing if he can work with one of our professors until it's done." Her eyes, once she'd finished her 'explanation', had lost the panicked look they'd had at the beginning of it.
"That's just what I was about to say," Roger added.
"That's a shame about what happened to your lab," the shorter girl said. "But it's really cool that you came here. You know what a great physics department we have."
"Yes," he replied, hoping he wasn't going to be asked how he'd chosen this particular school, when he had no idea which one of the hundreds of American colleges and universities it was.
"Well, I hope you like it here. Gotta get going -- I've got an Urban Planning project to work on. Bye, guys."
"Bye, don't work too hard," said Jean.sagging in relief once the other girl had turned and left.
"Bye, hope to see you again soon," Roger called after her. Come to think of it, she was kind of cute too. Not as attractive as his Mistress, of course, but who could be?
He rolled his eyes at that thought. The part of himself that had been changed by Hadji was apparently working in overdrive. Why else would he even consider confining himself to one girl?
"Jeez, that was close," the brunette whispered, once her fellow student was out of hearing distance. "How'd you come up with that great story about engineering and aerodynamics and stuff?"
He shrugged. "Oh, well.it just sort of popped into my head."
"I'm glad it did," she declared. "But now we're going to have to stick with it. I dunno, I hadn't exactly thought about you walking around campus."
Roger hurried to reassure her. There was so much he needed to catch up on, and he didn't want to be stuck in his bottle while he was trying to do it. "I promise there won't be any problems, Mistress -- I'll be very, very careful not to do anything suspicious or out of the ordinary when anyone else is around. You can count on me." He deliberately ignored how familiar that statement sounded.because it sounded exactly like what Jeannie used to say to Tony. Of course, there were big differences between himself and Jeannie. Jeannie looked better in a little bikini top, for one thing. And Jeannie was born a few thousand years ago. *He* was from the twentieth century, just a stone's throw away (relatively) from where he was now. Or when he was now. So he wasn't going to make the same mistakes Jeannie had, because he was too clever and too experienced to get his Mistress into all those crazy situations that had been so common with Jeannie. The situation was well in hand and under control. Right? Right.
"That's good," sighed Jean. "I was a little worried there, for a minute."
"I just need to know one more thing, something that will make everything much easier," he said.
"What's that?"
He paused for a moment, looking around at the buildings again. "Could you please tell me just where exactly we are?"
Roger looked around. He could honestly say that he'd never been so glad to see the sky, the grass, and the faces of other people. There were small groups of students walking on the paths nearby, but the traffic was light, probably due to the time of day. A slight breeze was blowing, rustling Jean's hair and the tree branches above them.
He couldn't keep the silly grin off his face. "I am so happy to be outside."
"Yeah, the campus is nice at night," she agreed. She probably thought he meant 'outside' as not within the building, but he meant something more. Being inside a bottle for long periods of time put a genie into something like suspended animation. (To keep them from going mad with boredom, he supposed.) He would have had no idea how much time had gone by if Jean hadn't told him what year it was.
"So what do you study, Mistress?" he asked, as they began walking towards one of the neighboring buildings.
"Archaeology. Oh, and I'm minoring in chemistry," she added, pulling what looked like a credit card or driver's license from her pocket. "I'd like to work in artifact preservation, but I want to go to grad school. I think. It's so hard to decide sometimes.there are times when I *know*, for sure, that I want to keep going in school and get a master's degree. Then there are other times that I'm certain I want to get out there and start working."
"I know what you're going through," he murmured. When he was in school, it was a choice between joining the military or trying to find an industry that would train him to fly. In the end, he'd chosen the army. He never regretted it.it had gotten him into the space program, after all.
"What do you mean?" she asked curiously. "Do you get to pick what sort of genie you want to be, or something like that?"
"Mmm.not exactly," he replied, biting his tongue. He'd let too much slip; he wasn't supposed to discuss his previous life with anyone he was serving, unless of course they specifically asked him about it. "What I meant was, there are a lot of times when things may seem very clear, but then there are other times when they're not."
Jean's brow furrowed in confusion. "Well.thank you. I think." She shook her head as if she had no idea what he was talking about. "Sometimes all I want to do is just pick one or the other, right now, and be done with it."
"But sometimes the best thing to do is to wait," he reminded her. "You're young. You have plenty of time to decide what you want to do." Then the genie-part of him kicked in. "I'm sure you'll make the right choice, when the time comes."
This made her smile. "Thanks. You really made me feel better," she said. "Is that part of your job? To cheer people up?"
"I just want you to be happy, Mistress. That's all. It's not necessarily part of the job, but I do think it would be nice if you were."
"Hey, Jeannie," called a voice from behind them. Both of them turned.
The brunette's face lit up. "Hey, Annie," she said, waving and waiting for the other girl to catch up with them. "Whatcha doin'?"
"Just finished studying for my Econ exam," replied the petite blonde. "Who's your friend?"
For an instant, Jean's face went completely blank. "Roger," she said, recovering swiftly. "This is Roger. He's-"
"-a graduate student from the University of Wisconsin," he stated firmly. He hadn't bothered to ask Jean which school this actually was, but he could tell by the position of the north star that he was somewhere in the mid- latitudes of the U.S. Far from Wisconsin. At least his appearance, since becoming a genie, had been returned to something a bit younger than he'd been before. Almost like when he'd started at NASA. He was very grateful for that right now.
"Really? What are you studying?" the girl asked.
"Aerodynamics and aeronautical engineering," he replied easily. It was the only thing he could think of, and besides, it was something he actually knew about. If he'd said anthropology or law he would never have been able to fake it. This was something he didn't have to fake. The physics behind flight couldn't have changed that much since the 20th century.could they?
"Wow, that sounds really interesting," Annie said eagerly. "So what are you doing here on the east coast? You're a long way from Wisconsin."
"He's looking into getting a research grant here, because." Jean's face contorted a bit. "Because his lab burned down. Completely. It's going to take months to rebuild, and he lost a lot of data, so he's seeing if he can work with one of our professors until it's done." Her eyes, once she'd finished her 'explanation', had lost the panicked look they'd had at the beginning of it.
"That's just what I was about to say," Roger added.
"That's a shame about what happened to your lab," the shorter girl said. "But it's really cool that you came here. You know what a great physics department we have."
"Yes," he replied, hoping he wasn't going to be asked how he'd chosen this particular school, when he had no idea which one of the hundreds of American colleges and universities it was.
"Well, I hope you like it here. Gotta get going -- I've got an Urban Planning project to work on. Bye, guys."
"Bye, don't work too hard," said Jean.sagging in relief once the other girl had turned and left.
"Bye, hope to see you again soon," Roger called after her. Come to think of it, she was kind of cute too. Not as attractive as his Mistress, of course, but who could be?
He rolled his eyes at that thought. The part of himself that had been changed by Hadji was apparently working in overdrive. Why else would he even consider confining himself to one girl?
"Jeez, that was close," the brunette whispered, once her fellow student was out of hearing distance. "How'd you come up with that great story about engineering and aerodynamics and stuff?"
He shrugged. "Oh, well.it just sort of popped into my head."
"I'm glad it did," she declared. "But now we're going to have to stick with it. I dunno, I hadn't exactly thought about you walking around campus."
Roger hurried to reassure her. There was so much he needed to catch up on, and he didn't want to be stuck in his bottle while he was trying to do it. "I promise there won't be any problems, Mistress -- I'll be very, very careful not to do anything suspicious or out of the ordinary when anyone else is around. You can count on me." He deliberately ignored how familiar that statement sounded.because it sounded exactly like what Jeannie used to say to Tony. Of course, there were big differences between himself and Jeannie. Jeannie looked better in a little bikini top, for one thing. And Jeannie was born a few thousand years ago. *He* was from the twentieth century, just a stone's throw away (relatively) from where he was now. Or when he was now. So he wasn't going to make the same mistakes Jeannie had, because he was too clever and too experienced to get his Mistress into all those crazy situations that had been so common with Jeannie. The situation was well in hand and under control. Right? Right.
"That's good," sighed Jean. "I was a little worried there, for a minute."
"I just need to know one more thing, something that will make everything much easier," he said.
"What's that?"
He paused for a moment, looking around at the buildings again. "Could you please tell me just where exactly we are?"
