Bryan looked at the bottle for some time...
"Should we open it?" He asked the space-girl.
Astra glanced around. "It does say to?"
Bryan groaned at the young girl. But not seeing any other options, he tried to open it. The stopper seemed to be made of a kind of plastic and with careful manipulation, it came out.
There was a strange smoke and... a 'person' was suddenly before them. A genie! However... an alien genie? It looked a lot like someone from Astra's species, with curious orange hair instead of green. She even greeted them in what could only have been Astra's language, wearing that curious silvery garment.
"What are you?" asked Bryan amazed. A real... a real alien? It was then that Bryan realised he could see through her. She was some kind of hologram? A hologram in a bottle? Or was this magic?
The alien genie looked at Bryan uncomprehendingly, frustrating the human to no end.
Astra was struggling to translate to get past this language barrier. "She says she grants wishes," she said. "She's a connection to the... I'm sorry. I don't have the... human words for it. She is... like a computer. A wish-machine."
"A... a genie? She's a genie? That's awesome!" Bryan just knew today would be his day. Finally!
Astra and the other strange ghostly woman talked a little more. Bryan was so intrigued to hear words in an alien language. He tried his best to pick out some kind of syntax to it, but it was very difficult to discern the pattern without context.
"It.. hard to explain," said Astra. "But she is not a person. Not real. She is... artificial? Like digital fairies- only really not real."
Bryan looked even more curious about that. So this civilisation, had learned the ways of magic... and could 'create' genies? In much the same way that they would create an artificial intelligence maybe? It was a little gratifying to know this was not an actual 'person' trapped to do someone's bidding... but something offering wishes by 'design'. "So... where are the people?"
Astra frowned a little. "She has been turned off for tens of thousands of years... she not know."
Bryan... gulped. "An entire... civilisation... gone? Wiped out? By what?"
Astra nodded meekly. "She says she sensed us and managed to bring the bridge closer to here using the power of the magic-sun. She is a.. a 'node' of a powerful wish-machine. One of many- but probably the only one still working."
Bryan looked at the strange ghostly genie with a hint of sadness. This was... all that was left of this world? Was it because someone made an ill-fated wish? But then as an artificial intelligence, the 'genie' probably didn't understand wishes. Or were there any safeguards? "Can we wish them back?"
The little girl and genie conversed a little more. Bryan tried his best not to feel 'left out' of it all, as he usually did... but it did look like his being here was just a weird coincidence. Astra was more then capable of handling things here and could actually talk to the genie. Bryan would have died from lack of oxygen. It was so stupid to think a mere human could have come here... still, he refused to feel any self-pity over it. Even it it was slowly creeping up on him.
"She says no," sighed Astra. "This world... they made the wish-machine in the core of the planet but the main power of this world is mostly dead an' can only do a few more wishes. So they will work slower then they aught to. The new magic sun is charging it up though. She estimates she can restore the world in.. another ten thousand years. Then anyone here can wish stuff that affects the whole universe."
Bryan felt a little staggered of that. But he was disappointed. He had no interest in such power... he just wanted to meet aliens! The aliens that built such a machine! To potentially see an alien civilisation, only to see they had just missed them by a few millennia? He felt sickened to his stomach! Sure humans were not exactly smart, but they wouldn't have done this! Was it a war? A magic war? With magic nukes? What happened to this world! The path of magic was as dangerous as science it seemed... and this could be the result of it. It might be an important warning to bring back home, if nothing else. Still... he wanted to help this world, if he could. They left behind a wish-machine for a reason... they had to!
Astra started to speak again to the genie... there was a strange glow and the genie nodded.
"W-what just happened?" asked Bryan in panic.
"I made my three wishes," said Astra.
"Kid! You can't just do that!" He looked horrified at the implications. "W-what did you wish for?"
"I just wished that my mother could read everything on Earth, an' for nobody to remember who she used to be except her family, an' that she would believe I was her daughter completely" said the child.
Bryan looked a bit worried at those wishes. They seemed innocent.. but that last wish... did Astra just force herself into beleiving she was their daughter? That felt like crossing a line.
Astra shrugged. "Sorry. No choice. I have to help her. It.. it would be better for her. I just want to make her happy. She doesn't have anyone else. I not have anyone else. Earthlings always hurts her. She always sad... I will make her happy. Be the family she wants."
Now it was Bryan who felt foolish. Anderson...well... even he sometimes tried to watch her on the satellite feeds. It never really dawned what that woman in space was really like. She was supposed to be a really nasty person but... Astra was intent on protecting her. Was he now the only one that knew the truth because he was here? "Well... we need a way out of here too. I don't want to be stranded... can she get us back to Earth?"
Astra spoke again to the genie, and nodded. "Yes, and no need to wish either. The means of returning to our world is already on its way. But she says you get three wishes too."
"Me?" Bryan looked unsure.
"Yeah... but you got to say them in my language. All three at once, or it wont work. Its how she was made."
Bryan... gave this a lot of thought. He thought he should probably wish for nothing three times... but that wasn't really in his heart. All his life he felt events over take him- others taking charge all the time, and he was just a person in the breeze. A bystander of events, but it was never... well... was it really selfish to just once have something go his way? To actually be... important? To maybe even experience what others had, but he couldn't?
"...I wish I could be special," said Bryan quietly.
Astra made a weird look. "That what you wish for? Er... there no way to translate it. Special is a human word. It not exist in my language. Could maybe- you be more specific?"
Bryan blushed. How could he convey what he wanted, if the concept didn't exist in this alien language? "Well... I don't know I mean... what if I wished I could... be like everyone else?"
"But... you are like everyone else," said Astra. "My English not too good, but isn't that the opposite of what you first said?"
"Yes- no- urgh! Damn it!" he said annoyed. "Okay... well... what I really want is to be able to help this planet and Earth too! Maybe... fix whatever went wrong here. But I need some way to do that- maybe... Maybe... yes! Let me have magic."
"Magic?"
"Yes. I don't even want two other wishes... just give me magic. I could do anything I need to do with magic."
Astra glanced a bit unsure. The word for 'magic' was a little different in their language for one. "Okay... well... Speak these words then." The child carefully gave the words for magic to Bryan. Bryan was a very good listener, but even he was nervous as hell as he slightly stuttered the phrase back.
The genie nodded and there was a flash of light... then it was gone, as was the bottle.
Astra looked a little worried. "Uh... you almost got it right," she said.
"Almost? What do you mean? And why didn't she wait to hear I didn't want the other two wishes?"
"Oh... cause the phrase I said for you is 'I wish magic three times over'- but um- you didn't say it quite right. Never mind. Maybe.. maybe nothing happen. Wish-machine is a little broken anyway."
