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.Page 55 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlHe observed the displacement of the single hand and the numeral it pointed to,then made a notation on a pad.He stepped to the next machine and did thesame.Melanie watched over his shoulder."These machines can tell you if something is going on?" she asked.She hadn'tspent much time in the lab since coming to the castle."Something is going on, all right," Jeremy replied."The question is, what isit and where is it?""Will those gizmos tell you that, too?""If I can triangulate, yeah.""Oh."All this didn't make much sense to Melanie.The room they were in looked likea science lab, not a place of magic.Correction: it resembled a sciencefiction lab, worthy of a chiller flick.Right out of Frankenstein.Jeremy stepped to the next machine.All these unusual sensing instruments weresimilar, but the faces differed.Some had single hands, some had two or three,and a few had several rotating dials and gauges.All looked antique andbrought to mind something one might have discovered in the study of a medievalalchemist.But no alchemist or magician had ever owned these odd contraptions.None but Incarnadine, that is.Melanie took a self-guided tour of the lab, noting the many strange items init, then returned.She sat at the work station of the castle's mainframe"computer." They called it a computer, but it looked like a collection of oldjuke boxes lost in an array of more Frankenstein stuff.She sat back andwatched Jeremy busy himself about the banks of gauges and verniers.Presently he came to the work station, sat down in front of a modern-lookingterminal, and began typing quickly and dexterously."You know a lot about computers?""Hm? Uh, yeah, I guess.You?""Not much," Melanie said."I use one, but mainly for word processing.Oh,sorry.You're busy.""Nab, just doing some data entry.Be done in a sec." Melanie watched him.Helooked young, barely out of his teens.Was he out of his teens? She didn'tknow.He was reputed to be something of a wizard at computers.A "hacker." Andshe gathered, from what people had casually mentioned about Jeremy, that atone point he'd been in trouble for meddling in things he shouldn't havemeddled in.But she knew nothing definite.At any rate, Jeremy was certainly awizard in his own right, and held the post of Chief of Data Processing here inthe castle.Melanie swiveled her chair around and stared off into space, thinking.She was brought out of her reverie by the sound of a door opening in the backof the lab.Two odd men came through.The tall one was Luster Gooch.Dolbert,very short and potbellied, wasLuster's brother.Both wore tattered, greasestained dungarees and equallyshabby baseball caps.They came over to the work station.Luster touched the bill of his cap."Howdy, Miss Melanie."Dolbert chittered, grinning bashfully."Hi, Luster.What have you guys been doing?""Oh, still tryin' to fix up that there space ship, or time machine, orwhatever the heck ya call it.""The Sidewise Voyager? I think it's an interdimensional spacetime ship.That'swhat everybody calls it.""Wull, whachamacallit, we're still tryin' to fix the sucker.Every timesomeone brings it back from joy-ridin' it needs tinkerin' with agin.""Any luck?""Oh, ah expect we'll get her workin' shortly.""Great.Might come in handy with all this ruckus that's going on."Page 56 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"All what ruckus, ma'am?"Melanie was surprised."You guys haven't noticed anything strange around thecastle?"Luster looked at Dolbert, who shrugged."Why no, ma'am," Luster said."We been cooped up in the gravin' dock all day.Whut's goin' on?"Just then the lab door burst open and a sword-wielding man in strange armorran in.He was followed by another man in similar attire.The first man turnedto meet the second's charge.Swords clashed.Stunned, Melanie, Luster, and Dolbert watched.Jeremy kept typing.Another pair of gladiators spilled into the room.There was much clangingabout of steel."Should have locked that damn door," Jeremy muttered.Two women came in.Atleast Melanie thought they were women
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