Read Online The Secret of Sigma Seven by Franklin W. Dixon - Free Book Online

was waiting.
    Brian was helping Joe stand up. “Are you okay, Joe?” he asked. “It looked like he got you pretty good with that stuff.”
    â€œI think I’ll live,” Joe said, straightening up with a groan. “Long enough to get revenge on that guy with the green medallion.”
    â€œI lost him again,” Frank said, joining them. “Every time we meet that guy, he’s in a differentcostume and manages to give us the slip.” He looked at his brother and Brian. “So, what do we do next?”
    â€œWe could check out Morwood,” Joe said. “If we can find out what room he’s staying in, we can look around for the missing film.”
    â€œI hate to suggest something frivolous,” Brian said. “But Jack Gillis has been setting up an exhibit of props from the Galactic Saga movies out in the parking lot. It should be open by now.”
    â€œOh, right,” Frank said. “We saw him in his hovercar this morning.”
    â€œWell, I guess we can take a few minutes off from detective work and look at it,” Joe said. “Anyway, I need some fresh air. Let’s go.”
    The Hardys and Brian headed out to the parking lot, toward the green canvas tent. They saw a crowd of fans milling around the tent, going in and out of the open flap at one end.
    Frank stepped through the flap and into the tent. The hovercar he had seen that morning was sitting on the ground, with a second hovercar next to it. Surrounding the hovercars were a number of items Frank recognized instantly from the Galactic Saga films, including scale models of various starships.
    Suddenly a loud bellow caught Frank’s attention. A live elephant dressed in battle gear stood to the rear of the tent. A masklike helmet draped over its head made it look like some kind of alien monster.
    There was a stir of excitement from the fans. Frank looked over and saw Jack Gillis enter the tent andwalk over to the elephant. “Hello, everybody,” he said. “I see you’ve already met Bruno. He may look like an elephant, but actually he’s a Surriband, one of the giant creatures that live in the desert of the planet Regnay. It’s from the latest movie, The Secret of Sigma Seven. The one that you unfortunately didn’t get to see last night.”
    â€œIs this the elephant that actually plays the part in the film?” someone asked.
    Gillis laughed. “No, it’s not. This is an elephant we borrowed from a local zoo. We’re a little too far from Hollywood to bring the real elephant along with us. They’d probably charge us an extra fare on the airplane. But this is the actual costume that the elephant wears in the movie.”
    Frank began examining one of the scale model spaceships. It was remarkably detailed, with tiny windows that even had lights inside them and complex machinery poking out of the engines. It appeared to be made out of wood and plastic, though it had been painted to give it a metallic look.
    â€œAre these models of the ships that you use in the Galactic Saga films?” Frank asked the special-effects director.
    â€œNo,” Gillis replied. “Those are the actual ships. We use special camera techniques to make them look larger in the films.”
    â€œIncredible,” Joe said. “They look so big in the movies.”
    â€œThat’s the magic of special effects,” Gillis said, spreading his hands to indicate all the exhibits in thetent. “It’s an art that I’ve been learning all my life, ever since I was making home movies as a kid. Something can look quite ordinary off camera, but if you photograph it right, it can look as if it’s literally out of this world. A spaceship, for instance.”
    â€œOr an alien monster,” Frank suggested.
    â€œOr a whole planet,” Joe said.
    â€œAbsolutely right.” Gillis nodded his head. “I think of my job as the creation of worlds, and those