Einstein Must Die! (Fate of Nations Book 1) (18 page)

“You said you could save him!” cried Madelaine. She was standing behind Tesla, and he turned to her, his arms outstretched.
 

“Maddy, I’m so sorry. Come here,” he said, but she backed away. Her face was tight, and her fists clenched by her sides. She turned and ran away from him.

The heavy sense of dread in the room was broken, replaced by a grim realization they’d lost the colonel. Tesla stood by his table, but everyone else began filing out.

As they stepped onto the elevator, Edison’s voice could be heard.

“We gave Tesla his chance. Now let’s move on.”

COMFORTABLE BITTERNESS

NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT

“If any harm comes to them, even a small amount, I’ll have you hanging out there with the Americans. Am I understood?” asked Major Thomas.

Lieutenant Danvers stood at attention. His blond locks and gray eyes had made him a favorite with the ladies, but he rarely had time for such distractions, preferring to focus on gaining his commission. “Extremely, sir. My men will take the base, but Savannah and Madelaine Browning will be brought safely to you.”

The major nodded. “All right then. At ease. Let’s go over the approach.”

Danvers relaxed and joined his commanding officer at the desk. A large map of the area was spread out.
 

“The base is about forty miles southwest. I want you to stay away from the coastline. Head to Trumbull first, then on to New Canaan. From there, make your assault on the base. Reports say there’s a research lab of some kind there, but your primary goal is to secure the prisoners and return them to me unharmed.”

Lieutenant Danvers nodded agreement. “We should not explore this lab?”

“Not yet. I want these prisoners as soon as possible. We can send another detachment later. But really, what level of technology could they possess?”

The major’s mocking smile gave the lieutenant permission to laugh along. “Quite right, sir.”

“I’m giving you the Second Infantry Company, lieutenant. Two hundred men is your largest command to date, yes?”

He nodded. “It is, sir.”

“I knew your father well, Danvers, and I was very sorry to hear of his passing. The army misses him.”

“Granite Danvers,” they’d called his father. Made major in short order and racked up a string of victories, leading men into the battles other commanders shied away from.

“Thank you, sir. I appreciate that. And the trust you’re placing in me.”

The field radio buzzed, but the major ignored it for the moment.

“I’d be going with you, but our reinforcements arrive tomorrow and I have to meet with their commander,” said the major, standing up. “But I think you’re up to it. All right. See it done.”

The lieutenant snapped into attention and saluted smartly. “Yes, sir.”

Major Thomas returned the salute, then answered the radio. “This is Major Thomas.”

The lieutenant spun and left the office. He had a lot to do and less than an hour to get the men headed south.

The major listened to the report from field headquarters. The zeppelins were en route from England, loaded with Einstein’s bombs.
 

As one of five officers in the field given authorization to order a bombardment, the required command codes were given and verified twice. A thin smile appeared as he was told they’d be over American soil within twelve hours.

He signed off and sat back, thinking of what the following days might bring.

Alone now, the major catalogued the emotions he was feeling. Anticipation, certainly. For years he’d imagined seeing Savannah again and asking her how she was capable of such betrayal.
 

There was a gloomy bitterness too. They had begun a life together, made a daughter together. When she left that night, running away with their girl, his life took a sudden departure from the future he’d always assumed. She’d deprived him of that, and when word spread, her actions had chipped away at his career also. He’d done well to make major, but he knew he’d be further along by now, if not for the whispered stories and muted laughter at his gullibility.

The knowledge he’d be seeing her again had made him melancholy. He walked to the mirror hanging on the wall and studied himself. He was an attractive man, even handsome in an intense way. He’d given her and Madelaine a good life. They’d never wanted for food or security. Every few months there was even the pomp of the military balls, where Savannah could wear her flowing dresses and dance until her legs ached.

He missed her body too. The memories of her nakedness still visited him in the night. He’d dream of her pressed against him, her long blonde hair falling upon him as she closed for a kiss.
 

He blinked and remembered where he was.
 

And where she was.
 

The bitterness grew, rising up inside him, assuming a larger shape. He hated the sight of his face then and punched the reflection. His Academy ring caught the glass, and the mirror shattered, falling to the floor in shards.
 

In the vicinity of his heart, the bitterness settled in and made itself comfortable.

ONE-SIDED CONVERSATION

Tesla sat alone in the lab, kept company only by the body of Colonel Browning. The room was huge, but it felt doubly so when empty of life. He thought of the tons of stone and earth above him and felt the weight of it, threatening to collapse upon him. Claustrophobia had never been an issue for him, but he began to sympathize with those so afflicted.

Deep underground, it was easy to lose track of the time. He checked his watch. Ten minutes after nine. He’d forgotten dinner, and no one had brought him anything. There was no appetite anyway, but the absence made him wonder and worry about Savannah. His presence would be a painful reminder, not a comfort, so he stayed away.

The still-glowing lightbulb held a tether on him also. If the RCA was fully loaded, there was still a chance the colonel was in there somewhere, his consciousness racing along copper wires and silver-coated relays. Was he conscious in there, perhaps in shock and unable to speak? Was he dreaming? Or had the electrical impulses been lost, scrambled in the transfer, so all that remained was garbage data, no more resembling a mind than a vast collection of gibberish?

The coroner had come for the body hours ago, but Tesla had run the man off, threatening to strike him if that was required. In truth, the physical body was no longer part of the experiment. But releasing the remains felt like an admission of failure, and he couldn’t do that yet.

He looked at the old soldier, lying peacefully on the gurney.

“I do wish you’d say something, old boy,” he said to the corpse.

The colonel’s face was calm and unmoving.
 

Tesla felt the room’s high ceiling pushing down on his shoulders. “Fine then. To work.”

He spent a half hour rechecking all the primary connections, looking for the mundane answers first, like loose wires or blown fuses.
 

When they all checked out fine, he realized he wanted someone to talk to. He pressed the transmit bar of the microphone and locked it place.

“Maybe you’re in there, maybe not. Either way, you’re keeping me company tonight, Colonel.”

He spent the next six hours meticulously touching every connection in the RCA cube, closing his eyes and focusing on the subtle patterns and flavors of current he detected. In the sections where capacitors evened out the flow of power, he felt the expected smoothness to the flow of electrons. The diodes were serving their function well too. On one side of them, the current felt full and complete, while on the other, it had been whittled down to the frequency range the diode permitted to pass through.

In fact, over the next hours, everything he checked seemed right and proper. He spoke to the colonel frequently throughout the night, like a loved one talking to a coma patient, unsure if he was being heard, but taking comfort in the possibility.

“I wish Dane could be here, Colonel. He may have had an answer. He was truly the gifted one of the family.”

Tesla paused, remembering playing with his older brother back in Serbia. The day was gorgeous, full of sunshine and warm breezes. At twelve, Dane was already comfortable on horseback and cut a gallant young figure leading his horse in a gallop. The boys were romping in an open field when five-year-old Nikola spooked the horse.

“The horse bucked and threw him,” Tesla said. “I… he didn’t survive the fall. That day my parents lost their brightest child.”

Melancholy gripped him then, but he shook it off, remembering the task at hand and that the newly dead took precedence over the old dead.

“Any sign of life, Colonel. Give me something.”

The teletype sat still.

Tesla had forgotten anyone else belonged in the lab when the elevator ground to life. The cleaning crew came in and went about their duties, emptying trash cans and sweeping the floor. Having movement and life around him seemed odd after the long night. While the quiet and stillness were at first unsettling, he’d soon found the solitude relaxing and conducive to good thinking.

Tesla scrubbed at his face and rubbed his tired eyes.
 

“I don’t know what to try next, Colonel. Your connections are good, the current feels right, and the boards are fully loaded. You should be talking to me, you stubborn goat.”

A cleaning woman frowned, watching the scientist talking to himself.

“So perhaps it isn’t the mechanicals at fault here. Maybe the issue lies in the math. What do you think, Colonel, shall we revisit the formulas?”

Tesla wheeled over a large blackboard, filled with formulas. He wiped the board clean and took up a stick of chalk.

“Let’s go through it all, Colonel. Step by step, together.”

A NEW DAY OF FAILURE

A few hours later, Tesla had reworked every formula that had gone into the RCA. The board had been filled, then wiped clean, then refilled several times over. His legs were fatigued, as were his shoulders, neck, and eyes. His right hand had cramped a few times, but he set the chalk down and rubbed the pain away, then continued.

He sat, slumped forward, staring at the chalkboard. Everything seemed as correct now as it did days ago. Whatever had caused the colonel to be lost to them, Tesla had to admit he couldn’t find it.

“He died, Nikola. You didn’t kill him.”

He’d never heard anyone enter. He jumped to his feet and turned around. Savannah was there and looked like she’d had a rough night as well. Her eyes were still red and puffy, but she held herself together well. Better than Tesla felt in that moment.

Madelaine stood beside her. He couldn’t determine the expression on her face.

“I can’t find the problem,” he said. “I’ve gone over everything, I swear.”

She looked down at her father’s body, still lying on the gurney. During the night Tesla had pulled a sheet over his face.
 

“I know, Nikola, I know.”

She pulled the sheet back, looking at her father’s face one last time. She let Madelaine see, then pulled it back up.

Bertram and Edison were there too, along with the coroner. Tesla realized he must have arrived with them purposefully, knowing he’d get no interference this time. He and his assistant rolled the gurney away, and Tesla never saw the colonel’s body again.