Einstein Must Die! (Fate of Nations Book 1) (16 page)

“I didn’t see you at dinner.”

Tesla looked up, surprised to see Savannah, and no one else, in the lab with him. She carried a tray with a large silver dome on it.
Women seem to always be bringing me food
.

He looked around. “What time is it?”

She set the dinner down beside him, sliding aside a coil of twelve-gauge wire. “Ten o’clock. Can’t have you wasting away, can we?”

With a flourish she lifted the silver dome, revealing a large sandwich.

He lifted the top slice of bread and peered inside.
 

“Chicken, mustard, and cheese?”

She shrugged. “I never said I could cook.”

“It will be fine, thank you.” He took a bite of the sandwich to back up the words.
Interesting
. He set the sandwich back down.

“Any progress?” she asked.

He threw up his hands. “I don’t know. Sometimes I think yes. But now… I just don’t know.”

He had taken over an entire workstation, covering it with hundreds of relays. The wiring that interconnected them was a blizzard of insulated wire. When the relay network was active, it reminded him of his dream, which was not unusual. Many ideas came to him from dreams or otherwise altered states of consciousness.

“This model is eight times more complex than my first prototype. I thought it would be a more suitable sandbox to experiment within. It works well, in that it is capable of learning eight times more objects than before.”

Savannah waited for the summation.

“Which is to say, I am no closer now than before,” he admitted, his shoulders slumping.

“You’ll get it, Nikola, I know you will.”

He flashed a half grin of thanks. “This is interesting though,” he said, pointing her attention to a section of the connecting wires. They were not insulated, just bare copper wires. Now that she looked, she saw several other patches of bare wire across the table.

Tesla placed his hand on a patch of the naked wires and with his other hand, flipped the power on.
 

“Nikola!” she cried, reaching to pull his arm away.

“It’s fine. The amperage is quite small. See?” he said, holding his hand on the wires, with no distress. “What’s intriguing is how the human body can serve as a measuring device. Each differing pattern of current running through this network has a different feel.”

He pulled his hand away. “Here, try it,” he said.

Savannah looked sideways at the inventor. Live current wasn’t something to trifle with. But Tesla quite possibly knew more about electrical forces than anyone else on the planet. She placed her hand on the bare copper.

“Oh wow!” she exclaimed, feeling the prickly forces running along her skin.

“Now, wait, and notice the difference.”

Tesla slid a teapot out of the device’s field of view. The electricity flow changed, minutely. She scrunched her forehead as she leaned in, trying to identify just how it had changed.

“Try something else,” she told him.

He picked up a heavy book on the aurora borealis and placed it where the machine could see it.

Savannah smiled, delighted by the subtle shift in the electrical flow. “It’s like it changes flavor.”

“Indeed. A helpful diagnostic tool, isn’t it?”

“I can see that.” She took her hand away. “Just so long as you’re careful.”

“Yes, yes. Of course. With amperages this low, extremely high voltages are still safe.”

Savannah took in the relay network. “I love the way you play with the current. It’s like water for you, flowing here and there.”

He nodded. “That’s not a bad analogy. In some ways electricity does behave like water.” He waved his hand over the large table. “It sloshes this way, then—”

His head cocked to the side and he froze. “I—” he began, then went silent. In his mind, he pictured the liquid-like flow of current running through the network, then smashing into the end of the network. If the current really were like waves of water, they could rebound, and crash back in the opposite direction. And in that moment, the answer came.

Since childhood a curious phenomenon would visit him at unpredictable occasions. He would see a new idea for an invention, but not just roll it around in his mind like other people. He would actually see the device floating in the air before him, completely rendered in three dimensions, down to the smallest detail. And once this happened, his memory captured every aspect, as if he’d instantly sketched all the diagrams needed to recreate the idea in reality.

Savannah’s mention of water triggered such an episode, and the answer sprang into being, just inches in front of him, floating in the space above his workstation. He saw the current being bounced back and forth across the relay network, and his understanding of radio waves provided the final missing key.

“I see it,” said Tesla.

Savannah felt a chill, watching Tesla have one of his famous visions. “The answer?” she asked.

He sat still as a marble bust, only moving his lips to respond. “Yes. It’s all here. It adds an elegant layer to the existing work, so it shouldn’t take long. I know how to make this possible now.”

Savannah brought her hands to cover her mouth. The sense of elation filled her and threatened to break out. She knew her feelings about this man had been correct. The justification was warm and comforting.
 

She gave no heed to the chance of his idea not working. If he said it would solve their problem, then it would.

“What do you need?” she asked.

Tesla reached out his hand to touch the floating device. His fingers passed straight through it as if he’d dipped his hand into a pool of reflective water.
 

“Fascinating,” he said.

He blinked, and the apparition vanished.
 

Turning to her, he said, “I need quiet. Please let no one else in here until eight o’clock tomorrow morning. I think I will have your machine ready by then.”

“Eight o’clock,” she confirmed. “The lab is yours, Nikola.”

She left him alone and posted a sign forbidding anyone to enter.

Then she headed home to Madelaine and to lay in bed for a joyous, sleepless night.

***

The following morning the entire lab was abuzz with speculation. Most recognized the inventor’s genius, but the size of the task was considered impossible by many. Still, a hopeful ripple of anticipation ran through the small crowd gathering at the Rabbit Hole’s upper level.

General Houston, the colonel and Savannah were there. Thomas Edison had been cleared for the lab and was on hand. Bertram, Sophia, and a half-dozen other senior researchers were milling around, checking the time repeatedly. Madelaine was with them also, nearly lost behind the group of taller adults.

Savannah paced, unable to contain her enthusiasm. If he had really cracked the mystery, this was a world-changing event. Of course, such things were the raison d’être of the lab, but this was special. This could save her father’s life, in a sense. She checked her watch.

“It’s time,” she announced to the impatient group. They all crowded together on the elevator platform, and she brought them down to Tesla’s level.

As they neared the bottom of the elevator shaft, Bertram addressed Edison.

“You’re in for a treat today, I think, Mr. Edison. Tesla will come through, I know it.”

Edison wore a slight frown for the occasion. “I hope you’re right, Bertram. There’s a lot riding on a man with impossible dreams and who dresses like a Parisian.”

The elevator had just opened into the final floor of the lab, and Edison’s words carried.

Tesla stood, waiting for the group. He was tall, dapper, and in command. In a glance Savannah knew he’d succeeded.

Tesla called up to the crowd, still descending to the lab’s floor. “The ladies seem to appreciate my stylish dress, Mr. Edison.”

Edison felt his face flush, embarrassed at having been overheard.

“As for my impossible dreams,” Tesla continued, “my imaginings have often proved equivalent to realities.”

Edison merely smiled in response.

The group reached the lab’s floor and stepped forward, milling around Tesla in a semicircle.

While often quiet and brooding, when Tesla wanted attention, he gained it easily. He stood ramrod straight, hands folded behind his back, and in a clear, strong voice, started his explanation.

“The device is complete,” he began, and the group broke into applause and hearty shouts. He waited for them to subside, then continued.

"Today's scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments, and they wander off through equation after equation, and eventually build a structure which has no relation to reality."

He pointed behind him to the relay network. It looked much as it did the night before, but now thick metal boxes sat at either end.

“For this, I began with basic mathematics and then refined the idea mechanically, through tuning the resonance the network requires. As you all know, it would be impossible to build enough connections to mimic the brain and allow for consciousness. The trick therefore was to use the existing network we have, but to use it repeatedly.”

He stepped to the table and pointed out the new metal boxes.
 

“These phased reflectors bounce the impulses back through the network, but at a slightly different frequency. The impulses reach the far side, and the process repeats. This back-and-forth reflection multiplies the effective number of connections.”

“Damned clever,” said Bertram.

“So while we only have two thousand and forty-eight wired connections here on the table, this back-and-forth action is repeated millions of times, each on its own frequency, making it complex enough to support sentience, at least in theory. It is now an empty vessel, but one with the same storage capacity of the human mind.”

Savannah couldn’t hold back anymore and grabbed Tesla in a quick bear hug. “You did it. I knew you would!”

In a mild panic at her physical intrusion, he smiled awkwardly and raised his hands up, waiting for her to release him. “I call it the Reciprocating Cascade Array,” he offered.

She broke the hug, but held him by the shoulders. “RCA,” she said. “I like it.”

“It will have many uses, both within the military and without. After the war we should form a company to market it.”

General Houston stepped forward. “So what’s the next step. Mr. Tesla?”

“The device is ready for testing. We just need to reconfigure it to fit inside Beowulf’s brain cavity. It will be tedious work, but fairly simple. I think by dinner tonight, my team and I can have the relays remounted and integrated inside Beowulf.”

“That’s fantastic news, Mr. Tesla. Well done, sir,” said the general. “Apparently, your reputation was genuine.”

Madelaine stood off to the side, with a wide grin plastered across her face. She gave him a thumbs-up sign.

Edison broke in. “Well, let’s see if it actually works first.”

Savannah turned and gave him a withering glare, then her sense of office politics returned, and she forced a smile. “Of course, Mr. Edison. Proof is in the pudding.”

Tesla clapped his hands twice loudly. “I need all Beowulf technicians now. Paulson, you take six men and remove Hollerith’s device from Beowulf, please. The rest of you, assist me in remounting the relays into a cube structure, and the rewiring. It will be a long day, but a rewarding one. Let’s begin!”

Technicians dispersed throughout the lab, all eager to dig into their tasks. Within a minute the dignitaries were forgotten as workers discussed details of the needed work.

General Houston turned to the remaining VIPs. “I suppose we are dismissed,” he said with a rueful grin.
 

While they headed back to the elevator to let the technicians do their work, Edison held back and sided up beside Tesla. He leaned in and whispered into the man’s ear.

“I don’t want to see Colonel Browning die, but this is an abomination of technology, Tesla. It is just plain wrong.”

Tesla coolly met Edison’s glare.
 

“I doubt the colonel would agree. Now get out of my lab.”

EMPIRES OF THE MIND

LONDON, ENGLAND

Churchill entered his private office, stunned by the news of the king’s death. Adrenaline had already sharpened his focus, but he wanted more. He unlatched the window and swung it open, enjoying the brisk night air. He drank in a deep lungful of the coldness and released it.

How could the king be dead? What did it mean? What did the country need to hear? What did their enemies need to hear?

With no heir, the rule of law fell to the prime minister, which placed Britain as close to a democracy as they’d ever been. Churchill had sometimes said the best argument against a democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. But those average voters were whom he needed to speak to now. They must be calmed, reassured, and then inspired.

It would be a long night, and his body would benefit from more water. He splashed a smidgen of Johnnie Walker in a tumbler, just enough to cover the bottom, then filled it with water. His time in British India had taught him the trick to “purify” bad water, and he’d learned to enjoy it. His daughter called it a Papa Cocktail.