You take your shoes and socks off, stretch out on the lumpy mattress, and quickly fall asleep.
You're in your capsule, but there's a fire! You have to get out! You lunge toward the hatch, but something's holding onto your feet! Grabbing them, and...rubbing them.
You wake up in a cold sweat, and then gasp when you see the blonde in the harem outfit kneeling at the end of your bed, massaging your feet. She looks up and says, "Oh, you are awake, Master Tony!"
"This has gotta still be a dream," you mutter, and pinch your arm. You feel the twinge of pain.
"I assure you, it is no dream," she says.
You sit up on the bed, pulling your feet away from her. She moves over to kneel by the side of the bed. You can't help looking down at her cleavage. "What are you doing here, Jeannie?" you ask. "I wished you were free."
"Yes, you did," she says, "but I have lived for two millennia as a genie, and I do not feel I could live any other way! But I will try pretending to be a normal human woman in public while I am your willing slave in private."
"What?!" you exclaim, sitting up straighter. "No, no, no -- and how did you get here, anyway?"
"I merely shrunk myself and hid in your bag," she says.
Something occurs to you. "My flight bag -- the one that's sitting on the chair over there? The one I had with me at the debriefing?"
"Yes!" she exclaims. "And I was so happy I was able to grant a wish for you."
"The 'Space Shuttle' thing," you groan. "I guess I should have known. Okay, so you made everyone think there was such a thing --"
She interrupts, "No, Master, the way Djinn magic works, there definitely is such a thing now, and it seems perfectly normal to everyone in the world. Well, except the person who made the wish, of course, because otherwise, how would you know when your wish was granted?"
"It's 1965, and suddenly there's a 21st-century invention in existence? How does that work without, I don't know, destroying the universe or something?"
"Oh, this is nothing," assures Jeannie. "Djinn have had Masters who wished to be emperors and pharaohs, and Djinn magic transformed their small towns into the capitals of mighty empires. There was once a man who wished his farm was the most productive in the world, and suddenly it was as if millions of square miles of Earth had always been desert."
"Okay, okay," you say. "Just -- I think it's too weird, so I wish this Space Shuttle thing didn't happen for, I don't know, another 15 years."
"Fine," says Jeannie. She crosses her arms in front of her chest and nods. You hear the "pop" noise that's starting to become a bit familiar. "So, Master," she asks, "any more wishes for now?"
You can't help but think about the idea of becoming an emperor or pharaoh. Of course, for all you know, a genie turned some guy into Julius Caesar right before he was assassinated. Or maybe worse, turned some guy into Cleopatra with his third wish.
Your thoughts are derailed, though, when you hear footsteps approaching the door to your room. Under your breath, you say, "Uh, Jeannie, do something -- I wish you would do something!"
She folds her arms again, and as the doorknob turns, you hear the "pop." |