"Sit tight. And now excuse me, Ben, I'm going on the air. Just keep the projections near the set, within scrambler range."
He was on. They used the conventional flatscreen cameras, and June's script was as smooth as if she'd worked all day on it ... as smooth as her satiny shoulders and not-quite-uncovered bust. It explained that due to uncontrollable circumstances scrambler-power was temporarily off.
"Our advice is, stay calm," Archy read smoothly. "The projections are not real people. They are harmless. They are merely images of people, just as in old-fashioned flat TV, except that they are projected into your home in full dimensions. Even with no scrambler to dissipate the electro-magnetic configuration of which they are composed, they will not last long.
"They are held together, energized, by the energy beamed from our studios through your set. Without that power they will vanish, probably within a few minutes."
Reassured by what he had just read, Archy took more phone calls.
The general in Hawaii told him the barracks were full of Pixie Owens projections, Bikini-clad, and military discipline was shattered.
The mayor of New York reported that Central Park was teeming with Wild West Theater projections, and armadillos in the streets had jammed all traffic.
President Conklin made a furious repeat call. The Russian consulate had sent a stiff note protesting the "degenerate practical joke" perpetrated on a Soviet diplomat attending Conklin's soiree.
The skipper of a battleship said his men proposed tossing all projections overboard, and he wanted to know if this would constitute murder.