Read Genie and Engineer 1: The Engineer Wizard for Free Online

corner of
Paul’s mind noted that the metal frame appeared to be Arabic in design, with tiny
etched swirls and lines that matched those on the outside of the wooden box.
Otherwise, the object was featureless.
    He tried to set it down on the workbench, next to the wooden
box, but it refused to stay in place. Instead, the glass/plastic/metal object
floated a full three inches above the bench in a perfectly vertical position.
Startled, Paul gently pushed it down into contact with the wood, but it snapped
back up into a hover as soon as he pulled his hand away.
    He studied it, again pushing his eyeglasses up his nose.
“Some sort of magnetic field, perhaps? But the table is made of wood!
Interesting. There doesn’t seem to be a way to open it,” he muttered to himself.
    “It doesn’t open,” announced a confident baritone voice
behind him.
    Paul froze in surprise and fear for several seconds, his
eyes opened wide. Gradually, he forced himself to turn and face the genie,
which stood tall, perhaps eight feet, not counting the white turban with the
large red ruby in the center. He was a much smaller figure here in the garage
than he had been in the church.
    But it was the same image, dressed in the same clothes. The
sight of him was still enough to make Paul’s chin drop and his eyes bug out.
The genie chuckled at the expression on Paul’s face.
    Mentally, for several seconds, Paul flailed wildly for
control, wedged between indecision and incomprehension, while the giant in
front of him waited patiently, even cheerfully, for him to recover his wits.
    He eventually did, at least partly.
    “How do I know you’re really a genie?” he whispered, a part
of him still thinking that this was some sort of trick. How could it possibly
be real?
    The genie laughed, his voice booming in the room. “But of
course, Paul! What else would I be, wearing clothes such as these and having an
appearance like this? Perhaps you were expecting someone or something else?
Hmm?”
    The image of the genie morphed, stretching in some
directions, contracting in others, and now appeared as a brawny man dressed in
a tight tunic, baggy pants, and leather boots, with a conical felt hat on his
head. A short sword was sheathed at his waist, a crescent shield in one hand
and a long spear in the other.
    “Perhaps Xerxes the Great is who you wanted?”
    The image transformed a second time. The new figure was
incredibly stout, with bulging muscles on top of muscles. Bare-chested, he wore
a short skirt-like garment. Long black hair and a heavy black beard framed a
manly face that was sporting a wide grin.
    “Or Hercules himself?” the figure asked. “Or do your tastes
run more to mythical beings?”
    Yet another transmutation. In front of Paul was now a
large...creature of some kind. It possessed the body of a lion, red in color,
and a head that appeared almost human, but with large, dagger-like teeth. And
was that a dragon’s tail?
    The sight of the strange beast unnerved Paul. He edged away
from it slowly.
    “How about a manticore?” the monster said, showing far more
of the razor-sharp teeth than Paul cared to see.
    “Or,” and there was a fourth morphing of the genie’s appearance,
“a peri, perhaps?”
    In front of Paul now stood...a very voluptuous feminine
figure in a provocative pose. A dark-haired beauty, wearing a thin facial veil
and a skimpy, lacy garment of silk that barely covered the essentials.
    Paul felt his face heat up in embarrassment, and he turned
away.
    “Ah, no!” he barked. “I believe you! You’re a genie!”
    There was another metamorphosis, and the image of the
original genie was restored. “And what do you wish for? Wine, women, and song?
Riches without end? To live forever? Power? Fame?” He leaned forward a little.
“Maybe a full head of hair and some decent clothes to wear instead of those
rags? Whatever you want. Wish for it and it is yours!”
    Various synapses began to fire again in Paul’s brain, like
old