“Maybe later,” George said. “First I’d like to check out the rest of the stands.”
“We are here all day today and tomorrow,” the girl said. “But now is the best selection.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” George promised.
A little farther on, past a display of African drums, they found the booth of the International Friendship Club. Nancy didn’t recognize the guy seated behind the table, but he seemed to know who she and her friends were. “Ned was here just a moment ago,” he told them, with a trace of a Spanish accent.
“Oh, thanks,” Nancy replied. She scanned the table. Next to a colorful poster of a medieval castle, there was a large stack of the brochures Lance had given them about the summer bike trip. Nancy couldn’t recall what she had done with hers, so she picked up another copy and glanced through it.
“Turning into a pedal-pusher?” Ned asked, from just behind her shoulder.
“It does look like fun,” she admitted. “The scenery’s gorgeous, and it doesn’t look too hilly. What do you think?”
“Lots of fresh air,” Ned said. “But I’d rather see the countryside from a sporty convertible. I hope it goes over. If Lance gets enough contracts by the end of the month, he goes for free. He’s here at Emerson on a big scholarship, so that’s quite an incentive.”
From nearby, there was a sudden burst of laughter. Nancy turned to look. Eight or ten grinning students were clustered in front of one of the video monitors. They let out another loud laugh.
Suddenly Vlad pushed through the group to the front. His face was red and his jaw was clenched. Placing himself directly in front of the monitor, he faced the others.
“This is a scandal!” he shouted. “A deliberate provocation!”
Nancy, George, Bess, and Ned hurried over. Attached to the monitor stand was a sign that read, Rethalstan: History and Culture. What the monitor showed, however, was a jerky black-and-white cartoon of a battle between cats and mice. From the quick glance Nancy caught of the screen, it looked as if the mice were winning.
6
A Switch in Time
“Would you please move out of the way?” a girl in a blue tank top said to Vlad. “We’re watching the cartoon.”
“Yeah, what’s your problem, fella?” a guy with long sideburns and a single earring added. “Lost your sense of humor?”
“This is not funny!” Vlad exclaimed. “As a Rethal, I must protest. This is an insult to my motherland!”
George edged past Vlad and hit Stop on the VCR.
“Hey!” the girl in the tank top said. “Turn it back on.”
“Wait a minute,” Nancy said firmly. “You don’t understand. This monitor was supposed to be showing a tape about this guy’s country, Rethalstan. Somebody put the wrong one on. You can see why he’s upset.”
“We’ll show the cartoon on another monitor,” Ned added. “Just let us straighten this out.”
Muttering, the spectators started drifting away. Nancy ejected the videocassette and studied it. The hand-printed label read, Rethalstan: Hist & Cult.
Vlad was peering over Nancy’s shoulder. “That is a crude forgery!” he blurted out. “It is not the tape I gave to Akai yesterday. Someone put this in its place. Someone who means to mock Rethalstan and the Rethal people.”
Word of the incident had apparently spread. Cyril and Akai hurried over to join them. “What now?” Cyril asked.
Nancy told them about the substituted tape.
“I don’t get it,” Akai said, worried. “I loaded that tape in the VCR myself, just fifteen minutes ago. How could somebody switch it for another one?”
“The switch must have happened earlier,” Nancy replied. “Where was the tape before you loaded it?”
Akai pointed toward the IFC booth. “Back there with the others, in a shopping bag,” he told her. “I brought them over from my room this morning.”
“Did you leave them unguarded?” Bess asked.
“Well, sure,” Akai said. The question seemed to surprise him. “Who’d want to take them? We’re talking about videotapes, not the crown jewels.”
“Besides,” Cyril pointed out, “there’s been one or two of our members at the booth the whole time since the bazaar opened.”
“Let’s take a look,” George suggested.
The IFC booth was just a few steps away. The guy they had met a few minutes earlier was deep in conversation in rapidfire Spanish with an older man wearing the black and silver costume of a Mexican cowboy. He gave them a bright smile and a wave.
J. P. was talking to a girl with a Caribbean lilt in her voice. “What is the matter, guys?” he asked the group when he noticed their expressions.
Ned told him about the switched video. “Were you here at the booth?” he added.
“In and out, like a dozen others,” J. P. told him. “Are you sure the switch took place here?”
Nancy spotted a white shopping bag in the far corner of the booth. There were still six or eight videocassettes inside.
Akai joined her. “You see? Each one is labeled. I could not make a mistake.”
“How did you decide which ones to play first?” Nancy asked.
“We made up a schedule,” he replied, showing her his clipboard. “At any time we wanted tapes from different parts of the world to be playing.”
