here about seven o'clock. I came early because I wanted to make some modifications to your television set. I'll explain why in a minute.
'The people in the hotel wouldn't give me a key to your room so I came down here and fooled the card reader.' He smiled. 'It's no problem for someone who knows how these things work. Anyway, as soon as the green light came on and the guard bolt released, I heard the garden door slam. Someone had been in the room while I was opening the door. I caught a fleeting glimpse of him as he hightailed it around the corner of the building. He was a big man, not someone I recognized immediately. He was moving with difficulty, as if he were carrying something heavy.'
'Part of the ocean telescope,' Carol said.
'Go on,' added Nick. 'What happened next? I want to hear why you were in Carol's room working in the dark. I bet you'll come up with a good story for that too.'
'That's easy,' Troy said to Nick. 'I was afraid the thief or thieves might come back. I didn't want them to see me.'
'You're amazing, Jefferson,' Nick responded. 'You're the kind of person who would tell a cop that you were exceeding the speed limit because you wanted to get to a filling station before you ran out of gas.'
'And the cop would believe him,' Carol remarked. They all laughed. The tension in the room was diffusing.
'All right,' said Nick. 'Now tell us what you've done to the television. Incidentally, how did you get inside it? I thought these hotel sets were all alarmed.'
'They are,' Troy replied, 'but it's very simple to disable the alarm system. It always cracks me up. Somebody sells the hotel the idea that they can protect their property with these alarms. But the burglars can easily find out what system has been installed, buy the circuit data sheets, and completely disable the protection.'
Troy glanced around the room. He then checked his watch carefully. 'Let's see,' he said. 'Why don't you two move over here in these chairs. I think you'll be able to see better.' Nick and Carol exchanged puzzled looks and arranged themselves as Troy had requested. 'Now,' he continued in a surprisingly serious tone, 'you will see what I believe is incontrovertible proof that my story about the aliens is true. They have told me, through this bracelet, that they are going to televise a short program from inside the vehicle at exactly seven-thirty. If I have translated their directions properly and made the correct modifications, this television should now be able to receive their transmission.'
He turned on the set and put it on channel 44. There was nothing but snow and static. 'This is great, Troy,' Nick commented. 'It will probably steal rating points from soap operas and music videos. Watching this requires even less intelligence — '
A picture suddenly appeared on the screen. The lighting was poor, but Carol immediately recognized herself in the scene. She was standing with her back to the cameras, her fingers moving around on top of what appeared to be a table.
An orchestral version of 'Silent Night,' featuring an instrument not unlike an organ, accompanied the picture.
'That's the music room I told you about,' Carol said to Nick. 'I guess that warden thing had a video camera in all his paraphernalia.'
The television scene switched immediately to a close-up of Carol's eyes. For five seconds her marvelous, frightened eyes filled almost the entire screen. She blinked twice before the camera pulled back and revealed her in front view. terrified, standing and shaking in her bathing suit. Carol shuddered as she recalled the horror of those seconds when the warden's appendages intruded upon her person. It was all shown in the video, some parts even in slow motion. One of the featured scenes was the deliberate movement of the bristles across her chest, including both her erect nipples. Oh my God, she thought. I hadn't realized they were erect. Maybe fear does that. Carol squirmed. She felt surprisingly embarrassed in front of Nick.
There was a jump discontinuity in the program. In the next scene the three of them were looking at Troy, lying on his back on the floor somewhere, with enough wires and cords attached to him that he could have been Gulliver bound by the Lilliputians. The camera panned around the room. Two wardens were in one of the corners. Their upper body attachments were not even similar, but they