" Ignoring the snickering that followed her remark, she continued." Ignoring the snickering that followed her remark, she continued. "Next is a demonstration of a product that we hope will someday be in every beauty salon in the world." While she spoke, attendants had entered Joe's room and restrained him to the bed. They were busily attaching connections between Joe's body and a control board. Dr. van Damme spoke. "As you know women employ many methods of depilation. Few opt for electrolysis due to the time, pain, and expense. We hope this device will change all that. A process has been developed which we call batch depilation. As you know, when a person comes in contact with voltage, electrical current passes through the body, more often than not producing death by electrocution. An exception to this is electricity at high frequencies, not the radio frequencies used for some electrolysis, but rather four hundred cycles per second. This electricity passes along the skin. What we do is pass high voltage four hundred hertz power between electrodes attached to the skin, after desensitizing it. Then, as the current flows, it burns out the hair follicles. Let's watch a demonstration." Speaking into her microphone, Dr. van Damme said "You may proceed with the presentation now." Joe didn't know what was going on. He offered no resistance, lacking both the energy and the inclination for such a move. His skin had been coated with a slimy gel which tingled for a moment then stopped. Metal bands had been fitted around his body at various intervals from his feet, up his legs, around his waist, chest, arms, and even his fingers. He was fitted with a collar and then a cap, not unlike those used with the electric chair. |