“Shazzan can cover his tracks every time we get close, and the kids’ tracks too,” said Jan.

“If we’re going to look for Chuck and Nancy, without arousing this Shazzan’s suspicions, then we need to blend in,” said Race, “And the only one of us who does is Hadji.”

“Questor Two’s back in our own dimension, or some of us kids could put on Hadji’s spare outfits,” said Jonny.

“In our world, Samson’s adult super hero costume and Mightor’s costume stand out. Here it’s their normal clothes that stand out. So they can change. It’ll come in handy if we do have to fight Shazzan in a hurry too.”

“Could he really be that bad, if he saved Space Ghost from the menace he was dropped in front of by the Council of Doom?” asked Jace.

“He didn’t save Chuck and Nancy. We’ve got to be objective. TWO YEARS,” said Race, “That doesn’t sound like a child safety conscious being to me.”

“Genies are only heroes in children’s fairytales,” said Benton, “Legend has it that they can be quite malevolent and self serving, even if they don’t show it.”

Race and Benton pulled their shirts out, so that they were no longer tucked in. Space Ghost asked Hadji’s help to roll his cape up into a makeshift turban.

“I still think it looks ridiculous,” said Jonny.

“Why disguise, when we needn’t be seen at all?” said Jace, and pressed his inviso-belt. Jan and Blip followed suit. Space Ghost gave his turban cape to Jonny Quest, and then turned himself invisible too.

“That’s the best we can do,” said Race, “And let Hadji do the talking whenever possible. He’ll sound like a native citizen of this ersatz Arabia.”

Benton’s sharp mind had come up with all the correct theories. In fact, since Shazzan’s pocket dimension wasn’t really ancient Arabia, it also wasn’t really nearly as large as ancient Arabia. He had managed to program his flying camel creation Kaboobie to fly just slightly, undetectably in a circle all the time, while using Shazzan’s own powers to alter the scenery they’d already flown over when they got around to it again, so that they’d meet new opponents he created for them, when they got to locations which only appeared to be new. The dimension was really just a very small circular territory. Shazzan fed off the admiration of his child ‘masters’, keeping them forever away from their family and their life on earth.

Using sleight of hand to entertain people, Hadji began to perform rope tricks and other feats in the town square of one of Shazzan’s artificial ‘kingdoms’. Using their invisibility, Jan and Jace and Space Ghost assisted the other adults in simulating similar feats, until they drew the attention of Chuck and Nancy.

“You have to come with us,” whispered Race, “We’re from your world, from Intelligence One. Have you heard of it?”

“No,” said Chuck, “But if you’re from our time, how did you get here?”

“By breaking through an illusion field that we believe Shazzan set up in the cave off the coast of Maine,” said Samson, “Doctor Quest thinks he’s been using it to keep you here.”

“And it’s not a matter of time,” said Benton, “Did he tell you that he’d taken you back to the time of the Arabian Nights?”

“Yes,” said Nancy.

“It’s not true,” said Space Ghost, turning visible, “I got there after being hit with a dimension ray. It took me to another dimension, which was a neighbouring dimension to the position of the Council of Doom’s headquarters far out in space, not earth. A dimension ray would not have taken me into the past, let alone earth’s past.”

“But what about all the good things Shazzan’s given us, like our cloak of invisibility?”

“It’s probably something he derived from an invisibility property in your rings, which Benton believes are made from the same alien power source as my power bands,” said Space Ghost.

“And as for the good things, he’s kept you here, when he could easily have sent you back home the day you got here,” said Race, “Did he tell you why?”

“He said he couldn’t return us home until we returned the rings to the Wizard of the Seventh Mountain,” said Nancy.

“That Wizard would be another of Shazzan’s constructs, like this whole dimension, like every villain you’ve fought, including the fire demon that went after Space Ghost,” said Benton, “He sensed Space Ghost had the power to leave without his help, and had to convince you and him that only he could send Space Ghost back to his own dimension. He didn’t want to give Space Ghost time to work out that he could leave all by himself and take you out of here with him.”

“Do you mean to try to tell us that for over a year, we’ve been living out a mad genie’s charade in a time and place that don’t really exist?” asked Chuck.

“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” said Samson.

“But he was opposed horribly by the Demon in the Bottle,” said Nancy, “And even Shazzan couldn’t get into the kingdom of Neverwas without knowing its secret.” (See the episodes “Demon in the Bottle”, “Demon in the Bottle returns” and “The Land Of Neverwas.”)

“So he told you,” said Benton, “I’m betting it was all just his own props and smoke and mirrors, augmented by the power of the ring. Even with that, he needs to use a lot of energy to maintain the illusion field, which we’ve just broken down today, by the way. Don’t you see that the real power is not in Shazzan, but in the rings themselves. If you renounce him and let us try to get you out of here, he’ll have no more power to keep you here.”

“Ho ho ho ho! Do you think so?” came a voice.

They looked up to see Shazzan towering in giant form.

“Shazzan! Is what they say true?” asked Nancy.

“If their theory even has any merit, then they could be the ones decieving you,” said Shazzan.

“Except for one thing,” said Chuck, “You’re here without us summoning you. That’s never happened before. At least, that’s what you led us to believe was the rule. It means you never actually left us, just hid from us to conserve your power like Benton’s been explaining. When they broke your field, you knew something was up, and you came into view without being called. Magic rope, gag him.”

“I gave you that rope, and the cloak of invisibility,” said Shazzan, “They won’t work against me. From now on, I’ll see to it that they don’t work at all, and I never really had to obey you. That was all part of the window dressing from your stories I read in your memories. I liked the one about Aladdin. That’s why I modelled Baharuum’s new master after him.” (See Shazzan 1967 episodes “Baharuum the Befuddled”  and “Quest for the Magic Lamp”).

“Of course!” said Nancy, “Why didn’t we notice that before? If we’d really gone back in time to the real ancient Arabia, then a fictional storybook character like Aladdin couldn’t possibly have existed. He must have been a construct of Shazzan, just like Doctor Quest has been saying.

Shazzan began laughing again, but now his laugh sounded different, and yet familiar. Chuck and Nancy had heard it twice before.  It was that of the Demon in the Bottle. Shazzan then shed the disguise that they had known all this time and took on his true appearance, that of the Evil Demon.

“I always was the Evil Demon,” he said, “The Evil Demon that I defeated as Shazzan was just one of my constructs. Although its ‘ancient curse of Wazir’ is one of MY own powers, which I shall now unleash on all of you.”