“Brand my rocket scooter, what’s so all-fired funny?” Chow demanded, suspicious that Tom might have been playing a joke on him.
“Relax, old-timer,” Tom said. “I think I know what’s causing it. Just wait here a second.”
The chef looked none too comfortable at the prospect of being left alone with such ghostly goings-on. But he waited obediently while Tom dashed back to his laboratory. When the young inventor returned a few moments later, the spectral fireworks had vanished!
SPECTRAL FIREWORKS 41
Chow looked mystified. “What in tarnation did you do, Tom?”
“Just turned off my new anti-inverse-square-wave generator.” As Chow’s jaw dropped open, Tom grinned. “It’s part of the new space telescope I’m working on.
It generates a special type of radio waves. But I’m not using it right now.”
Tom went on to explain that the radio beam had been passing straight through Chow’s galley. A pulse of tremendous energy was sent out every few seconds. At the nodal points of the waves, intense heat was produced. This caused the water vapor in the air to expand tremendously, each pulse producing a set of small but noisy explosions. Tom pointed out that water vapor was high in the kitchen and only water, not the dry air, absorbed the radio waves.
Chow mopped his forehead with a huge red bandanna. “Jest plain ole steam, eh? Brand my loco weed, I’m sure glad to hear it! Had me flippin’ for a while there!”
The cook brightened as a new thought struck him. “Say, them lil spook fireworks was kinda cute, at that. How about turnin’ ‘em on again, boss, so’s I can enjoy lookin’ at “em?”