DJINNI IN THE BOTTLE
by Anthony Durrant



Captain Steven Hoskins of the USS Reliant met his old friend, Professor Victor
Grymig, at the airlock on the bridge of his starship. Grymig was an
archaeologist who had just come back from an important excavation in the Gobi
desert; with him he had brought a satchel full of artifacts. Opening the
satchel, Grymig pulled out a round glasslike orb with the figure of a man
inside; the orb was perfectly round and the little figure was in a crouched
position with his arms splayed out to either side and his hands pressed up
against the glass. Hoskins took the orb with a mix of wonder and curiosity. He
looked in awe at the little man in the glasslike orb.

"What is this, Vic?" he asked.

"I don’t know," Grymig told him, "but I found it under a rock I blew up to
look under during my excavation. It was blocking the chisels, you see, and I
had to get it out somehow."

Steven had always admired Grymig’s somewhat cavalier methods of excavation. He
had uncovered a lost city on the planet Vulcan a few months earlier and was
regarded as a true Schliemann of the Twenty-fourth Century. Now he had come
from an expedition on Earth.

"I’m sure your science officer would love to see it," Grymig remarked, "so why
not give it to him to analyse? I’m sure he can make something of it as well as
you can."

"By George, I think you’re right!" Hoskins said. "He’d love to look at
something like this. It would keep his mind off the stress of his current
assignment, make him feel better."

Calling his science officer, Lt. John Huston, to the bridge, Hoskins handed
him the orb.

"What is it, sir?" Huston said. "It looks weird."

"That’s what I’d like to know," Hoskins said, "and I’m sure Vic would love to
know too. It appears to be an alien artifact from another time peried,
possibly centuries ago."

"It looks like an imp in a bottle," Huston said, "an imp in a centuries-old
bottle."

"That may be just what it is, John," Hoskins said, "so give it a thorough
scan. It might be something that is dangerous to us ordinary humans and to the
aliens on this ship."

"Aye, sir!" Hoskins said as he rushed into the turbolift.

"I’ll take you to your quarters myself, Vic," Hoskins said, "and then we’ll
both attend the dinner the Arcaeologists’ Union is having aboard the Reliant
this evening."

"Be glad to!" said Grymig.

* * *

While Hoskins was taking Grymig to his quarters, Huston was rushing the
mysterious orb down to his laboratory in the sciences section on Level Four of
the ship. He arrived at his laboratory and put the orb under a scanner beam,
then activated the beam. When the beam touched the surface of the orb, it
shattered and released its occupant, which suddenly appeared at its full size:
a tall, lithe, silver creature with sharp shiny claws on the end of his
fingers and fangs in his mouth; the creature immediately jumped down from the
table on which the scanner beam focussed and on which the orb had been placed,
and walked over to one of the consoles. Placing his hand on the input device
socket, the creature hesitated as his eyes turned red for a short while and he
just stood there in front of the frightened Huston. Removing his hand, the
creature turned toward him and struck him down with the back of his hand,
knocking him over. Before he could react, the creature picked up the small
items in the lab and put them in a satchel he carried.

"I’ve got to collect!" the creature muttered in Standard English. "I’ve got to
collect!"

With that, he leaped out of the lab through a ventilation shaft.

* * *

"Don’t move," said Dr. Dietrich Garbo, "and don’t say a word. That wound looks
pretty painful. You were lucky that thing didn’t decide to kill you right off
the bat."

"There was an inscription on the pieces of broken glass," said Hoskins, "and
it’s written in a language like I’ve never seen before. It’ll take some time
to translate this message."

"The creature spoke to me," Huston said, "did you hear what it said?"

"No, John," said Hoskins, "so tell me, what did it say?"

" ‘I’ve got to collect! I’ve got to collect!’"

"At least we know what it was doing," Garbo said, "but how did it get aboard
the ship?"

"In the orb," Hoskins said, "in the orb. It got aboard in the orb!"

"That’s right, Doctor!" Hoskins said. "It must have been in the orb Vic gave
me, and it must have been released when John scanned the orb as I ordered him
to do."

* * *

"Incredible!" Dr. Damone said. "And the creature is still roaming the ship?"

"Yes, doctor," Hoskins said, "and we’re still trying to find it. It was lying
dormant in the orb until Mr. Huston’s scan released it from its prison and let
it loose on board this ship."

"It’s amazing!" Grymig said. "Like a Djinni in a bottle!"

"An old Earth mythological being from the Arabian peninsula," remarked Dr
Setoth, a Vulcan archaeologist who had excavated the ruins of the Temple of
Denduur on the ancient Orion homeworld, "which was sealed in a bottle but
could be released when someone pulled out the cork. There is an ancient
folktale of a fisherman who found a bottle washed up on shore and opened it,
releasing the Djinni inside. He was able to dupe the Djinni into reentering
the bottle and then sealed the cork - trapping the Djinni inside - then only
let him out when he gave the fisherman a gift. Once he had granted the man’s
request, the Djinni was set free."

"Well, we’ve opened this bottle," First Officer Kenneth Clarkson said, "and
let the Djinni out. Now we’ve got to figure out how to capture him again and
put him in a safe place where he can’t harm anyone. ‘Djinni’ is a good name
for him, actually; he’s very powerful. Witnesses have seen him lift heavy
crates with one hand and throw it for a distance of many meters."

"Shouldn’t you say ‘them,’ Clarkson?" Setoth asked, his face Vulcan calm.

"Yes. Sorry," Clarkson said, "I haven’t been getting much sleep lately.
Witnesses have seen him lift heavy crates with one hand and throw them for a
distance of many meters."

Captain Hoskins was enjoying the Vulcan fruit goulash he was eating, prepared
especially for the dinner. Hoskins, his crew, and the scientists were seated
around the dinner table in the officers’ lounge on the second level and
discussing the mysterious creature aboard the ship.

"What does this creature want with us?" Grymig asked.

"He appears to be a collector," Hoskins said, "but what he’s trying to
collect, we haven’t figured out yet. He scooped up some of John’s instruments
and put them in a satchel."

"What are his motives?" Damone asked.

"Unknown," said Hoskins, "but we have not impeded his progress."

* * *

Ensign Karume’s door chimes went off, over and over and over again.

"Come in!" she snapped.

At that moment the door slid open and a tall figure swathed in darkness could
be seen.

"Who are you?" Karume asked.

"I’m a security officer!" the man shouted. "I’ve caught the creature."

"You’ve caught the creature?" Karume asked.

"Yes!" the man cried. "For God’s sake, give me a light!"

Karume ran to her sleeping quarters and brought the man a light. As soon as he
took it, he lifted his arms and threw back his cloak to reveal a shiny metal
body, laughing loudly. As the Ensign’s daughter Alicia screamed and scampered
away to bed, the creature rushed into the room and began scooping small
objects into his satchel, crying loudly:

"I’ve got to collect! I’ve got to collect!"

As the creature rummaged through the room, he stumbled across Alicia in her
bed. As she turned, startled, she fell out of bed and the creature kneeled
down and picked her up, then took her to the bed and gently placed her on top
of the bedsheets. Looking down at her, he saw that she was looking up at him
just as curiously. After they had looked at each other for a few minutes, the
creature stood up and left the room, running away down the hall

* * *

"And he didn’t hurt you?" Security Chief T’Ching asked.

"Not a bit," Ensign Karume said, "though he did give us a bit of a scare."

"He was a very nice creature, Mama!" Alicia said. "He put me to bed when I
fell out."

"We’ve codenamed the creature ‘Djinni,’" T’Ching said, her face Vulcan calm,
"so call me whenever he turns up again; it could be vitally important to the
ship’s safety."

* * *

Captain’s Log: Stardate 88.10.02:

I have been receiving word of sightings all over the ship of the mysterious
creature we have codenamed "Djinni." He is immensely powerful and intelligent;
people have seen him wielding a sword with uncanny ability and have seen him
stealing things all across the ship. It appears that his mission is to collect
- but collect what? These inane thefts don’t seem to make any sense, unless he
is satisfying his own obsession by stealing things. We have yet to translate
the inscription on the remains of the orb.

"What is his mission?" Hoskins wondered. "Why is he stealing these things?"

With that, he shut off his log padd and tucked it away; perhaps a look at the
inscription would furnish the clue he still very badly needed. When he went
into the science lab he found the archaeologists poring over the inscription;
Dr. Setoth was making notes.

"Incredible!" said Dr. Grymig. "These are glyphs, but glyphs like I’ve never
seen before - yet they tell the story of the creature that is now roaming
around the ship."

"If we can decipher them," Setoth said, "we may even learn Djinni’s name."

"I hadn’t thought of that," said Hoskins, "all right, go ahead. Decipher the
inscription. I’ll even help you do it, gentlemen. May I have a look at the
inscription?"

Grymig handed the broken orb to Hoskins, who read the inscription
thoughtfully. He was the only one of the scientists who had not read the
inscription up to now.

"Why, this is Sharlian!" Hoskins cried. "Sharlian, a recently discovered
ancient dialect found on ruins in a Romulan colony. Scientists are already
working to decipher the dialect."

He stared at the orange glyphs that formed the inscription.

"I can make out the symbol for the planet Sharl itself," he said, "and a few
other symbols that have been decoded, but I can’t read the entire message;
we’ll have to work on it."

"Together?" asked Dr. Damone.

"Together," Hoskins said, "or not at all. Which means we’ll either learn
nothing about the Djinni or we’ll learn everything there is to know about him
and even his name."

He was offering them Hobson’s choice and they knew it.

"All right, Hoskins," Damone said, "we’ll work together - and I hope I’ll like
it."

With that the four men bent to work on the inscription.

* * *

Within a few hours they had translated the bulk of the inscription; it read:

"WARNING: do not pass this orb through a beam or you will release the ruuk
trapped inside. He is to be inserted into the launch vehicle for the next
[Hoskins had to make a guess as to the meaning of the last few words] space
shot. The mission of the ruuk is to gather treasure and bring it back to His
Majesty the Emperor of Sharl."

"They must have made the shot," Hoskins said, "and launched the ruuk into
space."

"Whereupon he crossed the Galaxy," Setoth said, "and landed on Earth.
Fascinating!"

"But something went wrong," Damone said, "and he didn’t wake up on time.
Possibly the launch vehicle, which may have been armed with a release beam,
fell into earth orbit and then into the atmosphere where it burned up. Now
he’s stuck on our ship and determined to carry out his ages-old mission . . .
in other words, gentlemen, he’s got to collect."

* * *

At that same moment, Chief T’Ching had the creature trapped in the shuttle bay
with several flares and a group of dedicated security officers. She had set up
a force field in the bay that prevented Djinni from leaving as her men
surrounded him; finally they got close to him and took Djinni by surprise,
cuffing his hands behind his back and taking him to the brig before he could
draw his sword. Once he was safely coralled in the brig, T’Ching interrogated
him.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I’m afraid that’s classified," he told her, "and I’m not allowed to give my
name."

"What is your mission?" T’Ching asked.

"I’ve got to collect."

"Collect what?" she asked.

"Treasure for his Most Imperial Majesty Dekian IV, Fifty-Sixth Emperor of
Sharl."

"Surely that would take years!"

"A force of over 1000 ruuks is spread out all across the galaxy, gathering
treasure for the Emperor. I am only a very small part of a much larger
treasure hunt."

"Well, your collecting days are over," T’Ching said, "and you will stay here
till your trial, at which point you will be deported to a Federation Starbase
for a preliminary hearing."

"No! No!" Djinni cried as she left, beating his hands against the force field.
"I’ve got to collect! I’ve got to collect! I’ve got to collect! I’ve got to
collect! I’ve got to collect!"

* * *

"Specifically, he would be collecting metals and crystals that could be used
to power their attempts to create a warp drive," Setoth told T’Ching, "and the
metals he is collecting would be very rare on the Sharls’ homeworld. That is
why he was probably sent out."

"The only thing he won’t tell me is his name," she told him, "which he says is
classified. It is as if we are dealing not only with a Djinni but a
Rumpelstiltskin as well."

"Would you like me to talk with him?" Setoth asked.

"If you think that would help."

"Certainly."

* * *

"I told you," Djinni snapped, "that my name is classified - I can’t tell you
what it is."

"Not even for an archaeologist such as I?" Setoth asked.

"However," he said with a smile, "I will let you guess my name."

"That is . . . satisfactory." Setoth said as he turned to leave. "Farewell."

* * *

"That is not satisfactory!" T’Ching said. "In order to proceed against him,
Starfleet

must know his name. Otherwise any trial or proceeding will be null and void."

"He is willing to let us have a sporting chance," Setoth admitted, "and that
is all we deserve for misunderstanding his people’s customs. At least he is
not annoyed with us."

"He is a ruthless, cunning -"

"Treasure hunter?" Setoth asked.

"How did you know?" T’Ching asked.

"We translated the inscription on his orb. Farewell, T’Ching. I am going to my
quarters to meditate until this ship reaches the Carumba system. Then I will
join the others."

"Farewell, Setoth!" T’Ching said as he left the room.

* * *

While examining the shards of the orb, Hoskins discovered another, smaller
inscription on the back and was able to translate it using his new knowledge
of Sharlian. It read:

"The first ruuk was designed and built by Dr. Kaminri, who transferred the
living consciousness of his dying son Shakuru into the creature’s brain.
Shakuru is the ruuk contained within this sphere and set to the yellow-sun
system."

Meanwhile, First Officer Clarkson was interrogating the Djinni.

"Is your name Ralph?" he asked.

"No," Djinni said, "that’s not me."

"Sidney?"

"No."

"Edgar?"

"No!" Djinni said, then broke into a laugh. "It’s not my fault if you’re a bad
guesser."

Enraged, Clarkson stomped out of the brig and had the force field closed
behind him as Djinni chuckled softly behind him. That night, as Djinni slept
(muttering "I’ve got to collect!" over and over again in his sleep), someone
knocked out the duty officer, then shut off the force field to the brig.
Awakened by the noise of the falling body, he ran out of the brig and down the
hall to freedom and escape. His only desire was to continue the mission for
the long-dead Emperor. He did not even notice the figure of the guard’s
assailant lurking in the shadows of the brig . . . waiting for his dream to
come true.

* * *

The next morning the body of Dr. Xavier Carlson was found stuffed into the
deflector dish with five distinct clawmarks on his throat that were clearly
from the Djinni’s hand.

"He’s turned from a thief to a murderer, Doctor!" Hoskins told Dr. Garbo.

"And he’s still on board the Reliant!" the doctor cried. "Still running around
free!"

"What is he, anyway?" Dr. Damone asked.

"He’s a ruuk," the captain said, "an awesomely powerful retrieving creature
sent to Earth by the inhabitants of the planet Sharl as part of an
intergalactic treasure hunt millennia ago, but never awakened as the Sharlians
intended. His name is Shakuru and he’s bright as blazes."

"Papa?" a voice asked.

Startled, Hoskins whirled around and saw his daughter Poppaea standing behind
him.

"What is it, pumpkin?" he asked.

"I was able to sense Djinni’s feelings," she said, "and there’s nothing to
suggest he genuinely wishes to harm anyone. He’s simply carrying out his
mission for the Emperor."

"Nothing except this!" Hoskins snapped, gesturing toward the body. "I will not
allow the laws of the Federation to be broken aboard this ship. Do I make
myself clear?"

"Crystal!" Poppaea said.

* * *

"Dr. Xavier Carlson was one of my old friends," Grymig admitted, "and he came
with the other archaeologists to pay tribute to me at the awards ceremony on
Babel. He wasn’t feeling well, though, so he was spending most of his time in
his quarters where he’d be safe."

"Not safe enough," T’Ching said, "since he was murdered by Djinni."

"Djinni!" Grymig cried. "You mean the creature on board this ship? How I wish
I’d never heard of the name. He is dangerous, T’Ching, very dangerous - be
careful!"

* * *

The ruuk Shakuru was wandering the halls looking for things to collect.

"Bring me treasure!" the Emperor had cried, and Shakuru had been faithful to
that.

He had sworn an oath of loyalty to the Emperor as a child and would serve him
now by gathering the treasure the Emperor had ordered him to bring to Sharl.
Yet he had now idea how long he had been dormant or even if the Emperor was
still alive; nevertheless, he was determined to carry out his orders to the
letter. He began to sing as he walked by a security guard:

"Today I collect, tomorrow I leave,

And the Empire’s praise I’ll reave!

Nobody guessed my little game

Because Shakuru is my name!"

The security guard tapped his combadge.

"Michaels to T’Ching!" he said.

"T’Ching here!" T’Ching called back.

"I know Djinni’s name."

* * *

"His name is Shakuru?" T’Ching asked Michaels when he met her in her office.

"That’s right," he told her, "and I wouldn’t have known it if he hadn’t broken
into that silly song-and-dance routine of his."

He repeated Shakuru’s song.

"Intriguing!" she said. "He was so pleased nobody could guess his name that he
was careless enough to give himself away. Illogical, but profoundly possible."

"His subconscious must be bugging him right about now, since he violated
protcol."

"Yes," said T’Ching, "it must be ‘bugging’ him, and soon we’ll have him for
murder."

* * *

"Finally!" Shakuru said as he stuffed some tools from the shuttle bay into his
pouch. "It is time for me to leave, as my mission for Emperor Dekian is now
complete."

He headed toward a small shuttle, his mind on the thought of leaving and going
home by any means possible, as his programmed orders stated. As he reached the
shuttle and opened the door, a voice from above cried out:

"SHAKURU!"

"WHO CALLS MY NAME?" Shakuru shouted back.

"Captain Steven Hoskins of the Federation starship Reliant!" the voice said.

Looking up, Shakuru could see several men and women in the booth above his
head; the cat-man had been the one who had called down to him, shouting his
name.

"Look, Shakuru!" Hoskins cried. "Look and see your homeworld!"

As Hoskins spoke, the vehicle bay doors slid open, revealing a barren planet
totally devoid of any life - the very planet Shakuru had once come from, in
the same system as Babel but in a different orbit. Shakuru couldn’t believe
his eyes.

"My homeworld - dead!" he cried. "My people - dead! My Emperor - dead!"

He let out a scream and fell to the ground, sobbing bitterly.

"Dead two million years ago," Hoskins said more softly, "so your mission is
defunct."

Shakuru pulled off his satchel and handed it to the security officers who came
running in.

* * *

"Do you realize you will be charged with the murder of Dr. Xavier Carlson?"
T’Ching asked Shakuru. "His body was found in the back of the deflector dish,
where it had been stuffed by his murderer - yourself, Shakuru of Sharl."

"What?" Shakuru cried. "Me, a murderer? No, that’s impossible - my claws are
bloodless. I have never had the cause to kill a man in my life."

And he showed her his claws - which were indeed bloodless, as he had said.

* * *

"He passed a fluoroscope scan," T’Ching told Hopkins, "which showed that his
claws have never had any blood on them. Captain, he couldn’t possibly be our
man."

"Of course!" Hopkins said. "That’s why he kept turning up and scaring people.
He was carrying out his mission under the cover of being a roving, feral
monster. Avoid unneccessary violence and you can carry out your mission more
safely. He was trying to be stealthy, not crude or violent. If nobody caught
him in the act - and you did - he would be home free."

"And another unknown monster would have been on the books."

"Yes, T’Ching. Another question mark for our species to answer."