Following our encounter with the Martian Mauler, we returned to the Professor's time machine. I was feeling pretty good about what we had accomplished. We now thought we knew who was behind the zombie army and what their intentions were. Of course, we still had no idea how to stop them.

The next morning, I was awakened by the gentle voice of the time machine, "It's a new day and time to start a new adventure." Did every day for the Professor begin with a new adventure I wondered. The bedroom the Professor had given me was complete with an ensuite bathroom and a suitable wardrobe. This was convenient since all I had were the few items that had been placed in the cryopod with me. I cleaned up and got dressed and went to the control room where the Professor was sitting enjoying a cup of tea.

"What now, Professor?" I asked.

"I'm not sure. The fact is, I didn't come to this time and place just to stop the zombie apocalypse. There is actually a major discovery about to be made here that could also cause some significant ripples in time. I think we need to get there first and head off that discovery.

"Do we know what will be discovered or where it will be discovered?"

"Of course not," He laughed. "Are you up for a little exploring?"

Did I have a choice?

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Exploring a large crime-ridden megacity even in daylight seemed like a rather dangerous exercise in futility to me, but the Professor is incredibly optimistic and very lucky. I realize now, those are the superpowers we have in common. Yeah, the Professor also has a time machine, but for now, he is without it. So, aside from the Professor's knowledge of the future, we were somewhat on an equal footing.

Not many people were walking the streets that early in the morning. This city was clearly all about nightlife. We did discover a small team of workers digging in an abandoned lot near one of the casinos. The Professor started a conversation with the foreman.

"Digging for buried treasures?" The Professor joked.

The foreman was a young guy that really didn't come across as a construction worker. He looked at me and then back at The Professor. I think he thought I must be the Professor's daughter and that it might be worth getting on his good side. He grinned and said, "Actually, it's a school project."

"Really. What sort of school project has you digging in a vacant lot?"

"Your first guess was actually right. We are sort of looking for buried treasures. I came across an old document when I was doing some research for my archeology class. The document talked about a magical relic that was hidden in the basement of one of the old casinos around here. I convinced my professor to let some of us go on a dig to see what we could find."

"Your professor must really like you or you must be really persuasive."

"The professor is my dad and I think he just wanted to get rid of me for a while," the young man laughed.

"What do you know about the relic?" I asked.

"You know, the usual it grants wishes or bestows powers. It probably looks like Aladdin's lamp or a genie's bottle. I'll call it a success if we find anything over a thousand years old."

"I'd love to know if you find anything," I said giving him my best come-hither smile. He was rather cute and seemed interested in me.

"Give me your number and I certainly will," he answered.

That was easy, I thought and then I realized I didn't have a phone. Fortunately, The Professor did, and it had appropriate numbers for every time period he visited. The Professor handed the man a card saying, "You can reach her at my number."

The young man nodded and took the card a little disappointed he was going to have to go through The Professor to get to me. He turned back to me saying, "I'm Joel by the way."

"I'm Ethereal," I replied.

"You certainly are," he grinned.

Like I've never heard that line before. Still, I like it; so, I smiled back at him and blushed.

The Professor and I left and continued to look around but didn't find anything more promising.

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Two days later we got a call from Joel. He had found something. The Professor made arrangements for us to come look at it.

What Joel showed us was clearly ancient. Made of a strange metallic-like material that looked like stone. It was cracked and weathered from age. It resembled a spherical Rubik's cube, but instead of colors, the segments were marked with runes.

He handed it to the Professor asking, "Have you ever seen anything like it?"

"No, I can't say I have." The Professor may not have been able to say he'd seen it, but as he examined the object, the look on his face said he clearly recognized it. "May I?" The Professor asked as he began to rotate the segments.

"Wow! Sure, go ahead. I didn't know it could do that. Sort of like an ancient Rubik's cube."

The Professor lined up the runes to his satisfaction and handed the sphere to me. "No magical properties I assume," The Professor said to Joel.

"Not that we've discovered." Joel turned to me and asked," What would you wish for if it were magical?"

I thought for a second and said, "Ever since I heard about New Life Labs buying and selling memories, I wish I had the power to steal other people's memories."

The sphere began to glow. The Professor quickly grabbed it out of my hands saying, "And I wish that it would no longer bestow wishes. It began to glow again and then stopped. As he handed it back to Joel, he inconspicuously re-scrambled the arrangement of the runes.

"What was that?" Joel asked referring to the glowing.

"It looked dangerous; so, I wanted to get it out of her hands."

"I think you did the right thing. It stopped glowing. I wonder if it started to glow because she was holding it or because she made a wish. Do you mind if we try an experiment?"

The Professor and I looked at each other and we both shrugged. Joel took this as consent. He handed the sphere back to me and we all waited to see if it would glow. It didn't.

"Now make a wish," Joel suggested.

"I wish the zombie army was no more," I tried. Still no glowing.

Joel took the spere back and said, "I wish you'd go out with me tonight."

The sphere didn't glow, but I told him I'd grant his wish anyway. "We have to leave now. I'll see you tonight."

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After we were out of earshot, I asked, "You want to tell me what that was all about?" The Professor clearly knew something.

"Okay, but only because you need to know. That was the sphere of destiny. When the runes are aligned correctly it really can grant wishes."

"Are you saying I now have the power to steal memories?"

"Possibly. I don't know if I got it away from you in time."

"Would you mind if I tried to steal one of yours? As an experiment."

"I have lots of memories I'd be glad to be rid of, but I don't think you'd want any of them."

"I'll just take a small one," I said. I focused on the Professor looked into his eyes and Oh God! So many memories. It was overwhelming. I quickly grabbed one and got out of there."

"Oh my God Professor! It is so awful." I began to cry uncontrollably. I was completely miserable.

The Professor looked at me sympathetically. "I take it your wish was granted. You are now a memory thief. And now you know that for every granted wish, there is a price to pay. Which memory did you get by the way?" he asked.

I just shook my head. I wasn't going to tell him I now had the memory of the tragic death of his one true love.