HAPTER TWO
The photographer worked quickly as he inserted Walstaff's face in the place of Major Charles. And as he did so, the Centre Air Force contact worked with Walstaff to make him more acceptable to the military.
"Now, Mr. Walstaff, again. I want you to look at these carefully. Was the F-18 used in the Vietnam war?"
"I don't; know."
The sweepers behind looked rather threatening.
"Come on Mr. Walstaff. You have to concentrate. You're almost there."
Walstaff was nervous. He could not understand why these men wanted him to be someone else and why he had to learn to fly an airplane. Of course, they used a simulator, but Walstaff had never even flown. He also had to go into that other room, and stand behind a curtain so only his profile showed.
In another room, a boy about five was preparing his actions. "What do I do next?"
"Quiet," said the Centre teacher, "don't speak. Just mouth the words. He looked at the DSA again. It was in color. "Now mouth the words, 'I'm finished!'"
"How's it coming?" asked Mr. Parker as he walked in.
"Fine," said the teacher. "And the other boy is working splendidly, but I thought we were going to use a boy much younger. Jarod was four years old when he built the Empire State Building." He turned to see a light flashing. "Oh there's the technician."
Mr. Parker left the room and went to sublevel five where a man in a shabby lab tech coat was practically wringing out his hair.
"What is it?" asked the Chairman.
"We can't do it," he said, "try as I might, we can't restore the color."
"What do you mean, you can't restore the color?"
He picked up a small chip. "This only works on a small area and only for a few moments. "I tried it on the DSAs but this is what happens."
Mr. Parker watched the altered DSA with a boy about nine. The boy was in the bubble, mimicking Jarod's actions in trying to keep the plane from crashing simulation. The color seemed to waver, going from red to blue to green. The flesh tones were not right and the background appeared as several images rather than one.
"See?" asked the technician. "I tried everything. I put in filters, toned down the color. I even had an artist do each frame separately by hand, but that didn't work. It looked too artificial. I even had one done without the bubble, thinking the surface caused it, but that did not work."
"Look I didn't get you out of the Technical College for your health. Try again."
"We've been working on it all week; none of us are getting much sleep. Mr. Parker, I'm afraid it doesn't work. We'll have to go all in Black and White." He took out the color and inserted an identical one, identical except for just one thing. This one was in black and white. The scene was perfect.
"Good," said Mr. Parker as he left the room, "Let me know when you're ready." He avoided Sydney and went into Raines' office.
"To whom do I owe this pleasure?" asked Dr. Raines.
"Just a friendly chat for my," he whispered, "brother."
"It's a good thing we kept that fact under wraps, but Miss Parker is getting too interested in Sydney's ah, pet."
"Project. Possession, experiment. Jarod is more than a pet."
"We have to do something about it." Raines leered. "What do you propose?"
"Much as I hate this, we'll have to consult the Centre hypnotist. I take care of all contingencies. Miss Parker must believe that Jarod is a brown haired, light eyed gullible boy, not the dark eyed little hoodlum he actually is."
"How do you propose to do this?" asked Raines.
Mr. Parker smiled. "I have my ideas."
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