High Energy, Joy, Dara [books to read this summer .txt] 📗

audience know

that either the aliens, or something to do with the aliens, or something the

aliens had done, was about to be seen. Zanita turned her focus from Tyber's

silky hair back to the screen.

The camera panned a stock shot of Carlsbad Caverns.

Something was moving inside the cavern, coming out. Several stalklike tentacles

were waving in the opening to the cave now. The music reached a deafening

crescendo.

A large carrot with giant eyeballs showed itself to the Earthlings, who ran

screaming for cover.

Zanita and Tyber burst out laughing.

Of course, the military was there to open up machine guns, cannons, and dynamite

onto the terrifying nemesis from outer space. Predictably, none of our superior

weapons worked.

"There's got to be some high-tension wires around there somewhere," Tyber

quipped, naming his favorite choice of monster death.

Zanita crunched on her popcorn. "Nope, I say it's the ever popular Torch Method

of Alien Decimation." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, a flame

thrower appeared stage left, turning the unfortunate invader into a fireball.

"Alien succotash. Now they'll be a two-minute voice-over rife with dire warnings

and schlock philosophy."

"... And so, they came from out there, eager for new worlds to conquer…"

"What did I tell you?" Zanita grinned.

Tyber chuckled. "Whoever said nature abhors a vacuum has never seen one of these

movies." The grin suddenly died on his face.

Zanita sat up, concerned. "Tyber, what is it?"

Nature abhors a vacuum. He had been thinking that very thing when he had his

private little chat with LaLeche last week. There was something here which

connected the two….

"I've been an idiot!" He stood up.

Zanita, kneeling on the couch, gazed up at him with a dimpled grin. "Yes, but

what specifically are you referring to?"

"What time is it?"

"About a quarter to eight—why?"

He was already headed to the phone. "If we're lucky, we can still catch them on

the West Coast."

"Catch who?" She went to stand beside him.

Tyber called Los Angeles information, asking for the number of Space Age

Systems, Inc. He met Zanita's eyes over the handset. "Bear with me." He dialed

the number, handing her the phone. "Ask them if they do anything else besides

manufacturing shuttle components."

She gave him a strange look over her shoulder, but did as he asked. Her eyes

widened as the woman on the other end responded. "Special effects in cinema."

She hung up the phone.

Tyber immediately picked it up again, redialing the number. "Not just shuttle

components as we thought." Someone answered the phone on the other end,

presumably the same woman. Tyber asked to speak to an engineer.

When he got through to the engineer, Tyber told the man who he was, launching

into a hokey explanation of some information he needed for a VR project he was

working on.

Zanita knew VR stood for virtual reality. She wondered if Tyber really was

working on such a project. At any rate, the man on the other end didn't seem to

hesitate, giving him all the information he needed. She guessed Tyber's name had

been enough of an introduction, especially since nothing he asked in any way

connected to virtual reality.

He hung up the phone, a huge smile breaking across his face. "We got him, baby."

"Tell me! Tell me!" She clutched his hands, just as excited as he was.

"That little healing demonstration he put on for us in Vermont—I know just how

he did it."

"How?" Her violet eyes got huge with anticipation. Tyber thought she looked

totally delectable. Without thinking, he lowered his head to give her a heated

kiss. She pushed against his shoulders.

"Not now, Doc! Tell me how he did it!"

"That's just it; he didn't. It was all a fake; he's a fake. Have you ever seen

those nylon filament lamps—they look like multicolored hedgehogs or sea

anemones? They were very popular back in the early eighties."

"You mean the stuff that sprouted on people's coffee tables in black box bases

and lit up at the tips in different colors?"

"That's the stuff. Our friend LaLeche was wearing them or something like them.

You see, light travels through those clear filaments from an end source. In this

case, LaLeche probably used a small circuit board with some light bulbs, like

the little ones they use in Christmas tree lights, connected to the filaments."

Her eyebrows rose. "That would explain the light-show we witnessed, but how

could he conceal the filament wires? You saw yourself—his sleeves were rolled up

way past his elbows. There was nothing there but bare arms."

"Not quite; there was nothing there to see but bare arms. That's the beauty of

it—he was wearing prosthetic skin."

"Prosthetic skin? Are you sure? It looked so real; his arms even had hair on

them."

"According to this engineer I spoke to, they use this stuff all the time in

motion pictures. It does look real—human hairs are individually inserted into

the skin to augment the effect."

"You don't think we would have seen something odd about it?"

"No. Don't forget, it wasn't all that bright in the cabin; LaLeche only brought

those kerosene lanterns for lighting. And he made sure he did the trick at

night."

Zanita thought about it a minute. "You shook hands with him when we left.

Wouldn't you have felt anything strange?"

"Not necessarily. Remember, it was late; it was cold as hell; the handshake was

brief; and, most importantly, I wasn't expecting to feel anything unusual.

Besides, the engineer told me the stuff feels very close to human skin in

texture."

"If memory serves me," Zanita said, "LaLeche worked at Space Age Systems for two

years, the longest he had ever stayed in one place. We even remarked on it,

remember?"

Tyber shook his head. "I bet he was learning all kinds of new tricks there. He

probably doctored up a fake resume to go along with his fake name. It also

explains why he only did the trick once. I imagine it's not a simple thing to

set up."

"So, the filaments were under the prosthetic skin?"

"Exactly. He must have had the on-off switch within easy reach. The circuit

board would have been concealed somewhere on him. My guess is inside his pants.

One flick and viola! You light up my life."

Zanita blew the curls off her forehead. "Tyber, how did you ever figure this

out? Where was the connection?"

"When I saw the veggie alien and I commented on nature abhorring a vacuum, it

reminded