Iff tells him it the news was sent by a “P2C2E” (Process Too Complicated To Explain) involving Thought Beams. He is there to turn off the Story Water from the Great Story Sea because “the gentleman no longer requires the service has discontinued narrative activities, thrown in the towel, packed it in.” Haroun is shocked at the thought that his father has shut off the Story Stream and asks how the genie knows his father is quitting. The old man tells Haroun that he is the Water Genie, Iff from the Ocean of the Streams of Story. The old man demands the wrench back, but Haroun refuses. It is a strange tool, “it had the general outline of a wrench, but it was somehow more fluid than solid.” Slowly the old man rematerializes in front of Haroun. As he leaves, he drops a wrench on the floor. Haroun accidentally steps on a creaky board and the old man looks up, spins around several times, and disappears. He is muttering about how he is being forced to uninstall something at the last minute because a subscription ran out and how he does not have time for such things. The figure is an old man wearing a purple turban and baggy silk pajamas. Haroun sneaks over to the bathroom and listens to his mutterings. He wakes to see an astonishing figure it has “an outsize onion for a head and outsize aubergines for legs.” It holds a toolbox and mumbles. Rashid is mostly worried that he will get up on stage the next day and have nothing to say but “ark.” In the new room, Haroun dozes off and then hears some commotion in his bathroom. Haroun and Rashid both find it difficult to sleep in their respective beds and so they decide to trade. Buttoo who wishes that Haroun call the boat “Super-Marvelloso, Incredibable, and wholly Fantastick.” Haroun says the accommodations are “very pleasant,” which infuriates Mr. Haroun’s room has a large turtle that does the same thing. In the middle of Rashid’s bedroom, there is an enormous wooden peacock that is removed to reveal a large bed. In the library, there are shelves of books (though most of the books are fake).

Inside there are elaborate decorations and luxurious rooms.

Buttoo’s houseboat is called Arabian Nights Plus One. Haroun now knows “that the real world is full of magic, so magical worlds could easily be real.” As soon as they do, the waters calm and the “malodorous mist” breaks. Haroun tells everyone to think of the most pleasant thoughts they know. The waters begin to rock and the oarsmen cry out that the boat is going to sink. Snooty Buttoo is so full of hot air that he has brought a boiling wind. Haroun sees that his father is so sad that it has brought the Mist of Misery. In Moody Land, the weather changes according to the mood of the people. Moody Land is a fantastical land from his father’s stories. It smells terrible and all think that someone has made a stink. There is unhappiness in the air of Dull Lake.

The sea of stories