Dreaming of Jizzy

  “Hold on a minute. If they have already captured her, as you say they have...?”

  “They cannot destroy her until they have her bottle. They are missing the cap. You have it. They have employed me to torture and kill you, retrieve the cap, and return it to them, so they can destroy Jizabel,” Asha quickly detailed as she sheathed her sword and shoved her pistol into the holster on her hip.

  “Torture and kill me...?” Rick breathed in horror, swallowing hard and feeling a queer tinge of fear run down his spine.

  Stepping over to him then, Asha ran her gloved had over his cheek and looked down on him fondly.

  “Do not worry, my love. I cannot hurt you. My people, the Ryza, are like Moltuvian Ducks. Once we find the object of our desires, we do not give them up for anything and are forever bound to them,” Asha quietly assured him, bent down, and tenderly kissed his forehead.

  “Forever...? Well, at least we got off to a good start,” mumbled Rick.

  Giving him a skeptical flash of her glowing orbs, Asha then pressed, “That is why it is important you give me the cap. Once I hand that over to Manza-zar, he and the kull will not care about you anymore, and you will be safe.”

  “Ya, but then they'll kill Jizzy,” grumbled Rick, seeing the genie's innocent smiling face in his mind. “Wait! I still don't understand? Jizzy has been in her bottle a long, long time. I don't even think she knows or cares about this war between her people and the jann, or kull, or whatever.”

  “It doesn't matter. Individually, the kull are much weaker than the djinn, much more like humans, and just one djinn is a threat to bring back all the other djinn and return the kull back to servitude. If you were a slave for thousands of years, you wouldn't be so eager to go back to it once you earned your freedom either,” Asha concisely reasoned.

  “I thought you said the djinn were destroyed?”

  “They were, but like taking a single thread out of a fabric, that thread still exists somewhere outside the fabric. Just one djinn can wish them all back, and the kull could be made their servants in the blink of an eye and by only one simple wish. It is more than they can risk. That is why they hunt and kill all djinn throughout all planes and dimensions of the vast universe. As it is, I have no idea how a djinn appeared in this dimension, as here, they are only fables,” Asha explained.

  “I don't know either, but Jizzy... Jizzy wouldn't do them any harm...”

  “It doesn't matter. She isn't worth the risk. Honestly, Rick Hancock, I don't understand your attachment to this djinn. She has only recently become your slave...”

  “She isn't my slave,” Rick indignantly interrupted.

  “Is she not? I am sure she calls you Master, does she not? Did she not make a few of your wishes come true before the kull seers picked up on the wishes and captured her?”

  Suddenly feeling sick to his stomach, it was at that moment Rick realized that the kull would have probably never found Jizzy at all if she had never made any of his wishes come true that morning. That meant, he had some responsibility in some way for her being found and captured.

  “Master? I mean, I guess? So if she hadn't made my wishes come true...?”

  “Yes, the seers of the kull are constantly searching the universe for the signs of djinn magic. If they find it, they seek it out immediately and capture and slay the djinn before they are able to wish back their people and pose a threat to kull power in their dimension,” Asha explained.

  “I really hope they haven't hurt or killed Jizzy already...” Rick moaned, feeling terrible that he had any part in all this at all.

  “While they can certainly hurt her, they can't kill her, as I said, not without the cap to the bottle. To have the bottle means to have the djinn, but to have the cap means to be the Master of the djinn in the bottle. Once they have the cap, they will make Jizabel wish herself into oblivion or... or non-existence,” Asha struggled with the right words.

  Staring off into space, Rick honestly felt grim. Seeing his dejected expression, Asha sat down beside him on the end of the bed and put two of her arms around him, pulling him close.

  “Do not have a heavy heart, my love. If you give me the cap, I am sure the kull will forget all about you, and I will even split my reward with you and make you a very rich man. In fact, you will be so rich, you may become even more wealthy than any man on your little rock of a world,” Asha consoled him, running her hands through his hair and straightening it out.

  “Ya, but... Jizzy,” Rick mumbled, still seeing her innocent face in his mind's eye.

  “Surely, you cannot be so enamored by this djinn, who you have only just met? Do you not realize that whatever person or beast had opened that bottle, would have been her master? You are not special to her. She is little more than a whore to whoever has set her free, and once Manza-zar has the cap, he will even make her wish herself into oblivion and she will freely do this. You see, unlike you and I, she is without a will of her own,” Asha quietly told him.

  Turning and looking into Asha's glowing eyes, Rick shook his head.

  “No, she has a will, and she wouldn't wish herself into oblivion all on her own,” Rick corrected.

  “I think you should be less concerned about this whore djinn, Rick Hancock, and more worried about having kull seers hunting you down and killing you for that cap. While you are confined to this tiny little rock in space, the kull seers have the ability to search the entire universe and all planes of existence! How can you hope to hide from them here, stranded on this little world? Look how quickly they have already taken this djinn from you. It is only by chance that they did not find the cap in the first place, otherwise this djinn would already be dead and you would be none the wiser,” Asha explained to him.

  “But they didn't, and she isn't. And, because of that, I have found you, and you me... Why did they send you, Asha? Are you some kind of bounty hunter or something?” Rick asked, suddenly wondering how his new lover fit into the picture.

  “No. I do not hunt flesh. I had no part in their abduction of your djinn. Do you believe me?” Asha pointedly asked, her glowing irises staring into his with her hand on his face.

  “I do. But, why did they send you then? Are you one of them?”

  “No, I am no kull,” she spat out with distaste. “In my universe and among my people, the Ryza, I am a... a relic hunter. I guess you can say that I have a special knack for finding objects that are lost or objects people are trying to hide. Manza-zar had heard of my reputation and hired me to retrieve this cap for him.”

  “So you're a thief?” Rick asked with a knowing eyebrow.

  Laughing for the first time, Asha threw her head back, and as she giggled, her boobies playfully danced.

  “I am a thief, when I need to be a thief, yes,” she finally answered him.

  As she continued to chuckle, Rick couldn't help but smile too, but then Asha suddenly got very serious, and she reached out and put her hand on his face again.

  “Rick Hancock, you must give me this cap. The kull, an entire race of beings, they will all be hunting you unless you hand it over. I cannot see a hair on your head harmed, Rick Hancock. Please, I beg you. Please, give me this cap and then me and you will have no more problems from these kull and can live like kings with the wealth we will get in return. Then, we can make love all hours of the day,” Asha begged him, reaching down with one hand and playfully stroking the inside of his leg.

  Rick thought it was a little more than ironic that the object Asha sought was in the pocket of his slacks, which were laying right on the floor only a foot or two away from her feet. Rick's eyes then settled on those slacks for a moment, and then he abruptly stood up and pulled himself away from her embrace. Staring at the wall of his condominium, Rick could only see Jizzy's peerless face in his mind. She wasn't responsible for whatever her people had done, and even though he barely knew her, he couldn't hand over that cap and look himself in the eye knowing that it would spell her certain doom.

  Turning to Asha, who stared
up at him expectantly, Rick made up his mind right then and there.

  “I can't give you that cap, Asha. I will not be responsible for her blood on my hands...”

  “But...”

  “No, listen to me for a minute. Her people might have wrongly oppressed and enslaved these jann, or kull, or whatever, but Jizzy told me herself that she has been inside her bottle a long, long time. I don't even think she knew about any of this stuff.”

  “It does not matter if she knew...”

  “No, you're right, it doesn't matter from the kull's point of view, but I will not hand her over to the executioner, Asha. That is my part in this. I just won't do that. I can't. She's... She's a happy person and has made a positive impact in my life in a very short period of time... In fact... I... I want to go and rescue her... get her out of there... get her away from this Manza-bar, or whatever his name is,” Rick stuttered, suddenly excited and feeling his blood pumping a little faster in his veins.

  “What?! Rick Hancock...!” Asha blurted out in surprise, her glowing eyes bulging in shock.

  “No, I want to go and get her back. She was mine, and those... those fuckers took her from me. Ya, ya, I want to get her back. Will you help me?” Rick spoke quickly, nodding his head several times as he internally firmed his resolve by the second.

  “Rick Hancock...?!”

  “I mean, having a djinn on our side will be a pretty powerful thing, right? I mean, once we have her, these kull, this Manza-zar, will leave us alone, right? We can literally make their fears become reality with just a few words and a nod of Jizzy's head,” Rick quickly rambled, suddenly seeing it all in his mind.

  Shaking her head, Asha looked completely bewildered, and she advised, “Rick Hancock, this is not a wise course of action...”

  “Will you help me, Asha?!” Rick suddenly asked, turning to her. “Will you help me?”

  “You... You... You will excuse me, Rick Hancock, but while you might be a wonderful lover, and you are, I do not believe you are a warrior among your Earthling peoples, correct?” Asha pointedly asked, completely flabbergasted that he'd even be considering going up against Manza-zar.

  “No, but you are, and we have a saying on Earth; it is not the size of the dog, but the size of the fight in the dog,” Rick countered, nodding his head and suddenly skipping over to the other side of his bed. “These kull motherfuckers want to fuck around with Rick Hancock,... then... then those fuckers will get to eat lead! Steal my motherfucking genie, you gonna have some fucking problems!”

  As Rick rambled on, he bent down, reached under his bed, and he pulled up a gun case and dropped it onto his damp sheets. Flipping it open the next second, Rick stared down at a pump-action shotgun and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in boxes. Standing right beside him, Asha cocked a skeptical eyebrow.

  “That is a rather primitive weapon,” Asha unenthusiastically noted.

  “I've taken this baby out on the range dozens of times, Asha. Have you ever seen what a shot from this baby can do to a watermelon...? Pop!” Rick excitedly explained, flashing open his fingers suddenly like an explosion.

  “The kull are not watermelon, Rick Hancock,” Asha casually countered.

  “You know what? Fuck them! I got you, and I got good ole Betty Buckshot here! Manza-zar and his crew are finished! Are you with me? Huh, are you with me, Asha?! Let's go and get Jizzy back!” Rick encouraged, his eyes flashing as his blood rushed through his veins.

  His mind swept away on this fantasy of rescuing Jizzy, wherever she was being held, Rick picked up one of the empty bandoleers in the case and began loading shotgun shells into it as he mumbled repeatedly how he'd go and get his genie back. As Rick worked quickly, Asha took a step back from him with an expression on her face like she thought he was more than a little crazy.

  “...Steal my motherfucking genie, goddamn it... You motherfuckers got another thing coming...!”

  After throwing the bandoleer of shotgun shells over his bare chest, Rick then retrieved his shotgun out of the case and began loading it. As he did so, he continued to mumble on and on, and Asha stood a few feet away, a pair of hands on her hips while her eyes wandered around in her head.

  “... We'll show them, goddamn it! There! Let's go get her!” Rick suddenly blurted out, standing with only a bandoleer of shotgun shells over his naked chest and his shotgun in hand.

  Looking at him, Asha couldn't help but burst out in laughter.

  “Perhaps, Rick Hancock, some clothes would be nice, first?” Asha managed between her laughs.

  Being so swept away in his frenzy, Rick was suddenly embarrassed, as he then realized he was only wearing a bandoleer of shotgun shells but was otherwise completely naked.

  “Oh ya, right! My mom always said I get a tad bit carried away at times,” Rick nervously told her, shedding the bandoleer of bullets.

  As Rick picked out a pair of boxer shorts, bluejeans, and a black shirt with a skull and crossbones on it and put them on, Asha's face got sober and then very serious.

  “Are you sure this is what you want to do, Rick Hancock? This is very dangerous, my love. Your life here on this little world is without danger and very comfortable. Most would not exchange this comfort, security, and simplicity, for what could very quickly lead to death. The kull are not foolish children. They are dangerous and deadly, and if they see you as a threat, they will stop at nothing to kill you,” Asha warned him.

  Turning to her and pointing at his shirt, Rick asked, “What do you think?”

  Staring at the shirt he wore, Asha then read the words printed over the top of the skull and crossbones out loud, “Surrender the booty.... Cute!”

  “I liked it too! I got it at a nice little resort on a Caribbean Island cruise I was on. The place used to be a pirate haven back in the seventeenth century, or something like that,” Rick explained, nodding his head.

  “In all seriousness though, Rick Hancock. You seem to be making this very serious decision quite cavalierly. Perhaps... Perhaps you should reconsider, my love?” Asha asked, stepping forward and sincerely gazing up into his eyes.

  “No! No, this is what I want. I mean, are you fucking kidding me?! You don't understand, Asha. I have felt dead inside for the last fifteen years of my life working these fucked up jobs and living this shithole spectator of a life. I know all about death! I live it every fucking day! No! No! I want to do something! I want to do something important! I want to live for once!” Rick excitedly breathed.

  “But you could die... and very soon,” Asha pleaded.

  “I can die walking to the fucking subway tomorrow morning on the way to fucking work! I'm not so concerned about death, Asha, as I am about living my fucking life. Over the last twenty-four hours... this is the only time I have really felt alive in years,... in fucking years! I don't want to die in some fucking hospital bed around a bunch of people that don't even know me and don't give a fucking shit about me. I would rather end it sooner, doing something I think is important. No, these fuckers took Jizzy from me. She doesn't deserve to die just because her people were a bunch of slave-holding shitheads... But... But... I do need your help, Asha. I... I don't know where to go, or how to find her. Will you help me? I know I probably seem a little crazy, but sometimes a little crazy is a good thing,” Rick pleaded.

  “I am afraid you do not know what you are asking,” Asha speculated, her face riddled with concern.

  “I don't fucking care!” Rick whispered, and he reached out and took two of her hands in his. “I want to do this. I want to go and rescue Jizzy, wherever she is... no matter the consequence. This life I lead is a fucking joke anyway. There is no honor in it. I... I feel like a fucking wild animal that has been tamed and neutered. I hate it! It is a... a purgatory of domesticity. I fucking hate it! Maybe... Maybe I can start a new life though with you, and Jizzy, and whatever? I really want this! I want to live!... Shit! I realize now that I've wanted this for years!”

  Looking up into his sincere eyes, Asha finally said, “Well, you
have a strong bark for a dog. We'll see about that bite.”

  “So you'll help me?!” Rick excitedly asked, his expression afire with optimism.

  “Of course, my love. I will not allow anyone to harm a hair on your head, Rick Hancock,” Asha told him, pulling his hands to her mouth and kissing the back of both his hands.

  After kissing her on the lips, Rick hurried over to his socks and shoes and quickly put them on. Then after that, he snatched up a backpack laying against the wall and threw all the bullets he could inside it, strapped on his bandoleer of bullets, and retrieved his shotgun. Finally ready, he walked over and pulled the cap to the genie bottle out of his slack's pocket on the floor, showed it to Asha, and then slid it into his jean's pocket. When he was done, he looked at Asha with a wild smile on his face.

  “All right, so where are we going, and how are we getting there? You got a cool spaceship or something?” Rick excitedly asked, his eyes alive with all the possibilities.