behind some tall boxes which original parts of the telescope had come in. It would be completely out of sight.
Dr. Cooper spoke privately with him after he'd been able to put his street clothes over the costume, and had rested in the lounge.
"I'm going to arrange it so you can have the observatory all to yourself for as long as you need it, to build your shield. I will speak to Officer McCree today, I want you to concentrate on that job alone, now. I'll keep what you'll be doing a secret so no one will pester you. It'll be a big surprise when it's finished. All right, son?"
Of course Mike agreed, and went to work at his task as soon as he had Dr. Cooper's o.k.. It seemed so odd for Mike to work alone. He'd grown so accustomed to the constant chatter in the lab, and couldn't believe how he'd grown to hate loneliness! It was easy for him to get any tools or parts he needed on the project into the building without anyone seeing. Working on this in both the day and the evening hours Mike had it fully completed in less than a week's time. Dr. Cooper was very pleased with the shield. It was shaped like a rectangle with rounded corners, the center of which protruded slightly from the rest. Of course it was large enough to block the sunlight from his entire body, curved enough, to send it directly behind him. There was a black, thin frame around the inside edge of it, made of something that looked like clear, hard, plastic. There was an inner rectangle of this material surrounding the protruding center of the shield which held six handles, and there were wires crossing the center of it, to each handle, with one through the middle and two through the side corners as support for the frames. Mike had definitely thought ahead and added a leather like harness to hold the shield to his waist. This was also attached to parts of the center frame to be used when he had to have his hands free to disarm the MLCs.
"I'll go and tell Larry and Jeanie to meet us down here," Dr. Cooper said. "Congratulations son, you've done a fabulous job!" He patted Mike's shoulder and rushed off to the nearest phone. Shortly, the others arrived with Dr. Horton in tow. When everyone saw the shield, they were extraordinarily impressed. Jeanie laughed.
"So this is what you've been spending all your time alone with! Thank goodness! I was beginning to get worried!"
She walked slowly around and around the shield touching it gingerly, inspecting it. Larry stood back with his arms folded across his chest. His first and only comment was "Wow!" He couldn't believe his idea had become such an immediate reality, and viewed it as if it was a masterpiece of great artwork. Dr. Horton was pleased.
"You've done wonderfully!" he praised Mike, bubbling over with glee. "Do you feel up to testing it now?"