Chapter 38 - Extended Warranty

Ava started to regain some form of hearing, making communication possible again. She quickly filled in the rest of the party on what had happened to her. They were especially interested in the part about the genies.

With that out of the way, it was decided that since everyone was awake anyway, they just might make a start on cleaning up the mess that used to be the kitchen to have some proper tea. Eddy tried to shove the kitchen table aside, but it wouldn't budge, because the table legs were embedded in the floor. With the help of Caoilinn, he managed to lift the table. Dad rummaged through the debris of the kitchen drawers to produce a flashlight, which he shone into the holes left by the table legs.

'I never knew we had a cellar under this house.' he sighed. 'Look! There's something shiny down there.'

Eddy put a hand through one of the holes and pulled a large chunk of floor out without any apparent effort. 'Let's have a look then'

Just as Dad was trying to lower himself into the newly made hole, trumpets sounded and a bright light filled the remains of the kitchen.

'HELLO AGAIN! I HEARD THAT YOU WERE SUFFERING FROM A GENIE INFESTATION!?'

Covering his eyes, Eddy answered: 'We think that the infestation has solved itself. Explosively. We may now have a problem with base element supply though.'

'DON'T BELIEVE THEM WHEN THEY CLAIM TO BE THE SOLE SOURCE OF ELEMENTS LIKE HYDROGEN OR OXYGEN. THAT IS WHAT THE GRAILS ARE FOR!'

'So is it a bad thing if we broke one or two of those?'

THAT DEPENDS. DO YOU STILL HAVE THE RECEIPT? YOU MIGHT STILL BE ENTITLED TO REPLACEMENT UNDER WARRANTY. I JUST HOPE THIS DOESN'T HAMPER THOSE NOBEL PRIZE APPLICATIONS. I WAS SO MUCH HOPING FOR SOME SOLID SCIENTIFIC RECOGNITION, RATHER THAN THAT "BELIEF" STUFF EVERYONE HAS BEEN GOING ON ABOUT FOR CENTURIES.'

'I'll go and check for that receipt.' Eddy said as he ran up to his room.

In the mean time, Ava, who had let her eyes get used to the light, took a better look at the source of divine intervention. 'You are not as big as I expected.' she concluded. Why are you talking so loud?'

'CAN'T HELP IT. THIS IS WHAT THE AI MADE FOR A SKIN WHEN I ASKED FOR SOMETHING SCIENTIFIC, TO GET IN THE RIGHT MOOD FOR THOSE NOBEL PRIZES. CAN'T TRUST AI TO GET IT RIGHT. AND THIS ALREADY IS MY MOST QUIET VOICE SETTING.'

The divine entity looked relieved when Eddy returned with shards of the "grail-egg".

'THAT'LL PROBABLY DO!'

'How about the whales?' Ava asked the divine entity, quite sure that it didn't want to continue talking about itself.

'WHAT WHALES? DID I STIR TOO HARD?'

'The whales that swim around in that grail, or at least they used to. I don't see any blubber on the walls, so they must still be in there or they may have followed the genies, wherever they went.'

'INTERESTING. GOT TO GO NOW. BYE!'

The bright light vanished. The damaged grail and the grail-egg-shards had gone too.

Then they had tea.

Caiman Raptor Elk

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