License Invoked by Robert Lynn Asprin & Jody Lynn Nye

Author:Robert Lynn Asprin & Jody Lynn Nye [Asprin, Robert Lynn & Nye, Jody Lynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Humour, Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780671319786
Google: 07IAAAAACAAJ
Goodreads: 565431
Publisher: Baen Pub.
Published: 2001-02-27T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

At 10:00 P.M., the SATN-TV host pointed into the camera lens.

“Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you, yes, you! You can keep your children from falling under the influence of wrong-thinking people like this woman and her ilk.” The camera pulled back from him to show the poster of Green Fire. In the amber spotlight, Fionna Kenmare's dark eye makeup looked sinister and terrifying, and the male musicians hovered like thugs. “Tonight we show you ways to combat the insidious influence of so-called white magic and rock music. We've got a lot of guests tonight I know you'll enjoy. Stay tuned!”

Augustus Kingston watched the screen with his eyes slitted like a pleased snake. This show was SATN's bread and butter. The average pollster from the FCC or either of the two big services would have been very surprised if they ever took a survey in this area of the country. Never mind your late night reruns of situation comedies. Never mind your home shopping networks. The big deal in this part of the woods was the Hate Your Neighbor show, hosted by Nick Trenton. In the last five years Trenton had shown a genius for raising hackles among his guests, half of whom had something to do with evildoing, and the other half who were the subject of their rants. It was a poor night when there wasn't one good fistfight. You could raise a contact high of black magic just sitting in the audience. The sponsors would see to it that it ran forever. They said that the evil that men did lived after them. Augustus Kingston could have thought of no better monument to himself than an everpouring fount of dark power that bore his name, although he intended to live a very long time and enjoy it.

That night's programming was setting up to be a good one. They had rounded up a handful of wiccans, a man and four women, and coaxed them to come on the show to promote their peaceful nature cult. They were on the set already, looking nervously at the black candles and the pig-shaped altar. What they didn't know was their fellow guests were unconstructed right-wing megaconservatives who didn't believe women should even be taught to read. Kingston turned down the audio monitor as he picked up the phone and punched the internal extension.

“Ed, how's that test running?”

“Pretty well, sir!” the engineer shouted over the noises in the control room. “I don't know what you've got at the other end, but the needles are showing almost fifteen percent feed coming in on the line. Wow, almost sixteen percent! . . . Sir, can I ask what kind of transmission this feed is?” he asked in a worried voice.

“No, Ed, I'd rather you didn't,” Kingston said, in a paternal voice. He pulled a Cuban cigar out of the walnut humidor on his desk.

“Well, sir, if it's radioactive . . . I don't want to make a fuss, but my wife and I want to have kids one day.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.