“Nothing to it, Chow,” Tom assured him. “We’ll do the job up nice and fancy with a display of electricity. But first let’s get Exman over to the lab.”
The three loaded the energy container into the pickup truck which had brought it to the hillside spot. Then Tom drove back to Enterprises and they took Exman into his private laboratory.
Here Tom attached an electrode to each side of the star head. One electrode was safely grounded, the other connected to a Tesla coil. Then, with all lights turned off in the laboratory, Tom threw a switch.
Instantly a dazzling arc of electricity sputtered through the darkness across the creature’s head! The eerie display lit up the room with such impressive effect that both Bud and Chow felt their spines tingle.
“I christen you Exman!” Tom intoned.
For several moments he allowed the fiery arc to continue playing about the star head. Then he opened the power switch and turned the room lights back on.
“Wow! Quite a ceremony!” Bud murmured.
“After a send-off like that, I’ll be expectin’ the ciitter to do great things here on this HI ole planet Earth!” Chow declared fervently.
“You could be right,” Tom said.
Worn out by the long wait for their visitor from Planet X and the excitement following his ar-96 THE VISITOR FROM PLANET X
rival, Chow finally went off to his own quarters at Enterprises for a well-earned sleep.
“Guess you and I had better get some shut-eye too, pal,” Tom told Bud. “And I think I won’t tell Dad until morning.”
The two boys decided to bunk on cots in the small apartment adjoining Tom’s laboratory. Ex-man, meanwhile, was left locked in the laboratory with a tiny “night light” showing on him.