Comet! by Laurence Dahners

Author:Laurence Dahners [Dahners, Laurence]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-10-12T22:00:00+00:00

***

Ell got an e-mail from “Vic Galtieri” and had to have Allan remind her that he was the Vic of the brawl at Gordon’s party and the sound engineering for Gordon’s show at the Lincoln Theater.

“Dear Belle, I am hoping that your aunt will consider partnering financially with me on the following enterprise…”

He’d actually laid out a fairly interesting idea. It involved taking over the lease on a bar in Carrboro. The bar occupied one part of a bigger building and had an adjoining large room which had been for rent for some time. He hoped to remodel the large adjoining room with extensive acoustic absorption material so that there would be little natural echo-reverberation. Then the sound engineer could add reverb to this “dead” room as desired using electronic reverberation and an extensive speaker system. Thus the engineer could produce anything from a very clean, non reverberant sound to a lush heavy reverberation that didn’t clash with the room’s natural reverb to become “muddy.” Much of the financing would be for remodeling the big room with seating, a stage, the acoustic dampening materials and the speakers. The wall between the big room and the existing bar would be mostly removed, and the original bar would function only as a place to get drinks. Well and to serve as a location where patrons could be in a somewhat quieter area. He hoped to not only charge patrons for drinks and admission to the shows but to charge bands for “live recordings” of their shows in his improved acoustics.

Ell worried a few moments over her lack of expertise to judge the merits of the business plan but then decided what the heck, she liked it and she could afford it. She crafted an acceptance to go out tomorrow so it would seem like she’d taken time to consult with her mysterious “Aunt.”

There was a knock on the door and she looked up to see Emma who said, “You ready ‘star’ girl?”

Emma and Ell put on their coats, then Ell picked up the telescope and Emma the little cart with the power supply. They opened the door and carried the equipment out to the parking lot. Emma said, “Are you excited?”

“Oh yeah! This shivering I’m doing is only partly because of it being November! The clouds these last three nights have just been killing me.”

Ell set the telescope down and extended the legs of its tripod. Then she plugged in the power for Manuel’s mirrored port window. She peered at it with a flashlight and depressed the switch that powered the linear motor Manuel had installed to pull the mirror back from the port. With a “zip” sound it pulled the mirror back. Ell closed it again and inserted a rolled up piece of paper in the chamber behind the port. She nodded to Emma. “Let’s power it up for a 1 light second distance.”

Emma nodded and adjusted the port energizer on the little rolling cart. “Ready.”

“Go ahead.” They both heard the “pop” as the port opened.

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