Welcome to this summer challenge series. Each short story will include 3 words or terms from a list provided to us. The words for this chapter are: air conditioning, benevolent, and aliens. I hope you enjoy this story.

It was a sweltering day in DC, with temperatures in the nineties and high humidity. It was definitely not the best day to be called to an outdoor crime scene wearing a suit and tie, even if that was the FBI's dress code.

However, that had been Booth's situation as he stood on the sunlit sidewalk, trying to ascertain exactly what had happened in their latest case. The ambulance had just left to take the victim, still clinging to life, to the hospital. Having had enough of the heat and humidity for a while, Booth turned to his partner. "Hey, Bones…let's me and you go have some lunch."

Squinting up at him in the bright sunlight, she nodded before giving the techs their instructions. "Alright…let's go."

A few minutes later, as they walked into the diner, Booth heaved a sigh of relief as he quickly shed his jacket. "Thank God for air conditioning!" Seeing Brennan's eyeroll as they sat down at their favorite table, he shrugged. "What?"

"Why do you always do that?" Seeing his blank expression, she continued in an irritated tone. "Thanking some imaginary being for technological advances makes absolutely no sense, Booth. You might as well be thanking benevolent space aliens for sending air conditioning to us via teleportation. It's simply ridiculous…thanking some extremely nebulous concept such as a 'god' for a human invention…"

"So you're saying you're not glad the diner is air conditioned?" It was Booth's turn to be irritated. "Seriously?"

"I'm very glad, but I'm going to thank the appropriate person: Willis Carrier. He was an engineer with an excellent grasp of thermodynamics. He realized he could pass warm air over a cold fluid and cool the air down considerably."

Booth nodded in understanding. "Oh, I get it…kinda how Pops used to cool off after a hot day on the beat. He'd sit next to a block of ice with a fan blowing on it."

"Exactly. However, Mr. Carrier used a refrigerant called freon which could be compressed and recooled, so the unit was far more efficient than using a block of ice to chill the air."

Booth rolled his eyes at her explanation. Jesus…is there anything she doesn't know about? I'm gonna have to work on that. Someday, this Pinkie is gonna stump that Brain.

Taking a sip of his tea, Booth shrugged. "Fine. I'll thank God that he made Mr. Carrier so smart. Is that better?"

Brennan groaned in frustration. "Not really!" She was about to launch into another tirade on how absurd organized religion was when she was interrupted by Booth's phone.

"Booth. Hey, that's great. Thanks for calling." Ending the call, he smiled. "Looks like Mr. Harvey's gonna pull through."

"Thank goodness…"

Booth grinned slightly. "Actually, Bones, I don't think it's appropriate for you to say that."

She was confused. "What? Why not?"

"Because 'goodness' is an extremely nebulous concept. I mean, who's to say what's really 'good'? Of course, my understanding of good versus evil comes from my understanding of the Bible and my faith in God, but what are you basing your understanding on? The behavior of benevolent space aliens? Did they teleport an instruction manual to Earth and leave lying around somewhere to teach us that stuff? Because if they did, I'd like to read it."

"Don't be asinine, Booth! I don't need a 'manual'. I know what makes something or someone 'good'. Recovering from a serious injury is a good thing…"

He gave her a cheeky grin. "Right…so you can thank goodness for the guy's recovery, and I'll thank God. That way we've got all the bases covered, okay?"

"Fine." Frowning slightly, she paused as the server brought their meal. "Can we just eat now?"

"Okay by me." He chuckled to himself as poured some ketchup on his french fries. He didn't often win an argument with Bones, but since she'd given up without any further discussion, he was going to chalk that one up as a victory.

So maybe Pinkie finally wins a round. It's about time…she's ahead by about a million to one…but sooner or later, I'm gonna win again…

Thanks for reading. If you have time to review, I'd appreciate it.