Entertainment -- Fiction; Science fiction; Short stories
"What kind of a story?" Herschell asked excitedly.
"Ah was tellin' her the end of the feelie we saw; Ah mean Ah saw. She
didn't get to see it."
"You mean Terror From Mars?" Herschell asked.
"Ah guess that's it. Ah don't recollect the title for certain."
"Great!" Lemson said. "It often takes a week long conference to select a
feelie title and this typical American youth can't remember the name of
the feelie he lived less than a hour ago."
"How were you telling it?" Herschell asked.
"Ah jus' told it."
"He storytells fine," Robina said proudly. "He sorta acts it out with
feelin' an' really makes it seem like it's happenin' to you right then
and there."
Herschell turned to Lemson. "I'm sure he's the one, Cy. It fits. I've
got the spark of an idea and if it works then U-Live-It will be right on
top of the feelie heap."
"We're already on top," Lemson said wearily. "U-Live-It is the biggest
producer of feelies and I think you're crazy, I think they're both
insane and I will be if you don't tell me what this is all about. You
come barging into my office--"
"Sorry, Cy, but this thing happened so fast. I'm in my office right
below you. I've got Myra Shane doing a reading, trying to convince her
the part is perfect for her. But she isn't coming through on the
receptor. Instead I'm getting the climax of Terror From Mars. Zack is
receptorman and it takes him less than no time to check through and okay
our electronics. That means only one thing. Someone, somehow, is
blotting us with another projection. I call around and no one is running
a projector and no one is reading. Your girl tells me you have a couple
of kids up there so I come up to see. And I'm sure that big rebel is
the one! He has to be!"
Lemson was alert with interest. "But he's not wearing a relay. How could
the receptor pick up and record his perceptics?"
"He might have a surgical." Herschell inquired of Jason, "Did you ever
have an operation for the insertion of an encephalic booster relay! you
know, a thought relay?"
"You mean them tiny transistor things that feelie actors have stuck in
their heads?"
"That's it."
"No, Ah never had nothin' like that," Jason said, baffled.
"That's impossible," Lemson said, "no one can project with enough
natural power to imprint a receptor unless they've got a booster."
"Well it's not impossible anymore," Herschell said gleefully. "Look Cy,
you squash this silly business about the permit. I want this fella to
make a receptor test as soon as possible. When his folks show up tell
them we might want to make a feelie star out of their son but don't
build it up or they'll be back with a regiment of lawyers and
contracts."
"Bob, you're going off the deep end with this deal. So what if he can
project _au naturel_? Can he act?"
"If you had been plugged into the receptor like I was a few minutes ago
and felt him, you wouldn't even ask."
"What about that atrocious accent?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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