Einstein Must Die! (Fate of Nations Book 1) (14 page)

BOOK: Einstein Must Die! (Fate of Nations Book 1)
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LONDON, ENGLAND

The night had been a fine, fun affair for newly appointed Prime Minister Winston Churchill. A fund-raising dinner in the country had gone long, and there’d been excellent champagne and scotch before, during, and after the meal. Despite his reputation, he rarely drank to excess, preferring instead a consistent minimal amount of alcohol in his system. Tonight was the exception to that rule, however.

His bodyguard had helped him to the car, and as ordered, brought Churchill back to the office, rather than home to bed. There were always reports on his desk of great interest, and he found it difficult to stay away, especially after such a fine evening.

Arriving at the office, he allowed his man to provide some balance as they climbed the steps together. As soon as they swung open the door to his secretary’s office, he knew something had happened. The room was filled with various officials and military officers.

“What is it? What’s happened?” he demanded.

The room was silent, each person looking to another.

“Come along!” he yelled.

General Taylor stepped forward. “Sir, there was an incident aboard the
Artemis
. The king is dead.”

“What?” he bellowed. His mind rejected the notion as simply not possible.

He scanned the room and now saw fear on faces wherever he turned. They’d lost their king in war. It would knock the wind from anyone.

He nodded acceptance of the fact. Their world had changed.

“In ten minutes I wish to see Generals Cornwallis and Taylor. Also, Home Secretary Nelson and a typist,” he told the room, then walked to his office door unsteadily, waving off offers of help.

“You’re drunk!” said Bessie Braddock, the bulldog-faced vice-chair of the Labour party. Her abrasive nature had clashed with Churchill many times before, and he was in no mood for it. The country had lost a king, and he had no plan to calm their anxiety, besides taking ten minutes to develop one. And this woman was wasting his time.

He stopped and turned to her. “Bessie, my dear, you are ugly, and what's more, you are disgustingly ugly. But tomorrow I shall be sober, and you will still be disgustingly ugly.”

Not waiting for a retort, Churchill entered his private office and slammed the door.

B-STORY

A FATHER RETURNS

“All this is for me?” Tesla asked.
 

He stood on the sidewalk outside a colonial-style house. It was white, with green shutters and comfortably set back from the street. Near the center of the wide front yard, a willow oak rose majestically seventy feet high. It predated the military base, and had given shade to the surrounding land for over two hundred years.

“Visiting dignitary housing,” said Savannah. “I’d say you qualify.”

“I’m touched. Thank you.”
 

“Come on, let’s get you settled in.” She strolled up the winding driveway and let them inside.

The home was spacious, well appointed and already furnished with anything an important guest may desire. Savannah gave him a quick tour of the main rooms, and he saw his things had already been delivered. Each room held several boxes of his belongings, waiting to be unpacked.
 

The house felt far too large for him, coming from a rented room. Mrs. Harrison had wished him well, and he knew the feelings to be genuine. While pleasantly surprised to be paid in full by the army, she was also wistful at losing her eccentric guest.

Savannah finished their tour in a small library, and Tesla was delighted when he leaned in to scan the book titles.

“Marconi… Kelvin… Einstein… even Theodor Wulf?” He looked up, beaming.

“Yeah, I took the liberty of stocking the shelves a bit. Some of your books are in there too.”

He looked at the wall of ceiling-high bookshelves, shaking his head in amazement. “This is an impressive technical library, by any standard, Mrs. Browning. And you place it in my new home?”

“I told you, Nikola. This project has to work. It just has to. So whatever you need, you’ll have.”

“I’m flattered,” he said, now beginning to feel the weight of the task expected of him.
 

He stepped to the window, overlooking the yard and the graceful old oak. “I’ve been working the problem around in my mind,” he said then grew quiet.

Savannah slid into a leather-upholstered club chair and waited.

He blinked and continued. “My previous estimation was not hyperbole. It would take billions of connected relays to simulate the structure of the human brain. Even with a government’s resources at work, it’s just not possible. Not to manufacture, nor to maintain. Not to mention the size requirements.”

“Then we must be as clever as nature.”

Tesla nodded his head once, staring out the window. The moment drew out, and she was content to be patient.

After several minutes he sighed and turned to her. “Someday, it will be practical to run street cars in California using power from Niagara Falls.”

 
“I believe you.”

“Or wireless communications around the world. These are the types of challenges I have set myself to. But war interrupts progress. Today the most civilized countries of the world spend a maximum of their income on war and a minimum on education. I think the twenty-first century will reverse this order.”

She admired his optimism, but couldn’t decide if she shared it. “That would be a good world to live in.”

“It will be,” he said. “It will be more glorious to fight against ignorance than to die on the field of battle. The discovery of a new scientific truth will be more important than the squabbles of diplomats.”

She smiled, wanting to touch him. “I’m surprised you never married. That kind of talk sounds like a man wanting a better world for his children.”

“I do not think you can name many great inventions made by a married man,” he told her. “I don’t believe an inventor should marry.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because he has so intense a nature, that in giving himself to a woman he might love, he would give everything, and thus take everything from his chosen field.”

She saw the truth in his words, but they also made her sad. Being a parent was an amazing experience, one she wished everyone could enjoy. But some people were made for other things.

 
He continued. “I do, though, want that better world. And I think my inventions will in some way help bring that about. I think we have that obligation, to make things better.”

“I agree. Having Maddy meant I worked even harder for that. You just want to happily do anything for them. It’s amazing, and humbling.”
 

“I do envy you that, I admit.”

“Well, who knows? You’re still young.”

Tesla grinned. “Anything is possible, I suppose. Forgive me, but the colonel alluded to Madelaine’s father. Is he—”
 

“He’s alive. But… it’s complicated.”

“Such things often are.”

“Not like this,” she said. “I wasn’t always a liaison officer. Before that I worked in the field.”

“Not in battle,” Tesla said.

“No, certainly not. But I was behind enemy lines, so to speak. I was sent to England by the intelligence division. My Mother was English, so I fit in fairly well. My mission was to marry an English officer, and to gather what information I could.”

“My God,” said Tesla. “That’s incredible. You did that?”

“I did that. Landed in London and met an infantry captain right away. He was handsome and ambitious, everything a girl could want. We were married within six months.”

“So Madelaine is…”

“Yes. Her father is an English officer. We were together for five years before he found out I was sending intel back to Washington. He was never a kind man, but after that… I grabbed Maddy, and we ran for it. I started overseeing scientists instead.”

“Astounding. I’d have never guessed!”

“That would be the idea.”

“Yes, right. So, her father?”

“Extremely bitter, as you’d expect. I think it broke his heart, honestly. I felt badly over that, I really did. But I saved a lot of American lives with the reports I sent back. It’s just a balance I had to deal with. Still do some days.”

“Will you ever see him again?”

“Until last week I’d have said no. But now? Maybe so. He’s made major now. Archibald Thomas. And he’s recently landed in New Haven.”

X-RAYS

“Dally, I’ve told you repeatedly, those X-rays are dangerous!” Edison told his assistant.

Clarence Dally grinned and nodded. “Ya, ya. I know. But what isn’t these days?” His smile was handsome, even aristocratic, as many ladies had indicated to him over his twenty-seven years. But he’d happily settled down and had two wonderful children to show for it.

At Edison’s lab in Menlo Park, scores of men worked on a dozen projects, but one of the most bizarre involved research into the strange nature of X-rays. For months Dally had led the group and had developed a fascination with the beguiling invisible light.

“The price of opening new frontiers,” said Dally’s brother Charles, as he unsealed another canister of calcium tungstate, which they’d found to be superior to barium platinocyanide as the main emitter source.
 

He had accurately described their work. Together the brothers had greatly advanced Rontgen’s work on a X-ray focus tube.
 

They’d improved the fluoroscope, and the cone-shaped device was able to see right through solid objects, with remarkable sharpness. Doctors and surgeons were especially giddy with the possibilities.

As was his habit, Dally was holding his hand on top of the scope, allowing the invisible light to pass up through his skin, blood, and bones to then be collected and made visible through a specially coated eyepiece. He wiggled his fingers, and never tired of seeing his bones move about.

After an exposure of ten seconds, he pulled his hand back. A sore, red patch had developed along the back of his palm, but it wasn’t terribly painful. He scratched at it absently.

“A little itching is a small price to pay, eh?” asked his brother.
 

“You said it.” The brothers knew a good thing when they saw it. Once perfected this invention would make them all wealthy.

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