Tesla's Signal (34 page)

They glided along the ridge with the wind sweeping their hair, and the forested hills spread out below them like a glorious, rumpled carpet. “Let's see how well it can maneuver,” Clara cried, above the wind. She took the throttle and zoomed the craft down toward the valley.

“Stay away from the farms,” Niko cautioned. “We don't want anyone seeing us.”

“I wish I could fly all day.” But after about ten minutes she brought the flying craft back to hover above the clearing by their cabin. Slowly, smoothly, she floated down to earth.  

“All right, I pronounce it a success.” Niko hopped off. “Let's load up.”

“Wait, I want to examine this.” Clara stayed to touch the metal disk and several of the components. She had brought the metal sheets from the Bellefonte Foundry and they had worked on the Sky Flivver all week. “Hmm.” She closed her eyes, put her ear close to the metals, tapped their surfaces and got a feel for their strength. “It's fine for local trips, but we'll have to improve the design. It's just what I was afraid of. The metal is too heavy, and too weak.”

Niko frowned. “I know, but it's the best we could do—”

“Yes, because all our equipment and supplies are back in New York. My Uncle was going to give us several crates of Jacob's Silver.”

“We'll have him send it to us by freight. To Davidson, I mean.”

Clara walked back and forth, shaking her head. “No, no. That will take months. Listen, Niko, I need to go back to New York.”

“What? We cannot go back there!”

She hesitated. “Niko—there's so much we can't do without the proper supplies. I have to build better capacitors. I need at least 10 spools of braided copper and a crate of cubed silicon—”

“Clara, those people were going to kill us with baseball bats!”  

She turned away, picked up a piece of wire and twisted it in her hands. “I know. I'm not exactly thrilled with the idea...but how else can we build our devices? We need the steel lattice, too, and lots of other supplies. Listen, Niko, if I went back by myself, nobody would notice a thing.”

Niko folded his arms. “Impossible. I can't let you go to New York.”

“You can't stop me. You're not my husband.”

“Your friend Jake threatened that if I let anything happen to you, he would come after me.”

Clara just laughed. “Yeah, you wouldn't want to tangle with Jake—he's scarier than ten Martians. Let's get back to work.”

Now that they had a working Sky Flivver, they could finish building the transmitter array. Many of these mountain locations had no roads.

Their next flight took them to the top of Stone Mountain. Clara navigated the Sky Flivver, floating it gently down between the trees and landing it on the forest floor with whisper-smoothness. They immediately got to work: digging foundation holes, assembling a metal tripod from sections and installing the electrical components

Over the next few days they repeated the process on Highpoint Ridge, 40 miles to the west, and one on Long Mountain, 50 miles north. By the end of the month they had installed a complete circle of transmitters in the mountains of Central Pennsylvania.

Niko spread out his arms in satisfaction. “I can feel the glorious power spiraling up from this network! The only problem will be how to focus it with pinpoint accuracy.”

“Perhaps a giant crystal,” Clara said. “But where would we find that?”

They felt silent, while a jay called out and crickets trilled beneath rocks. Clara sat, leaning against a tree, and sighed with contentment. “You know, this is a nice vacation spot. Much quieter than Essex Street.”

“Once I spent a whole year in the mountains. Hiking, camping, living off the land. And hiding from the conscription officers, of course.”

“Yes, the conscription officers were a big threat in Russia, too.” It was about the first time they had ever had a chance for a real conversation that wasn't about work or Martians. She decided now was the time to ask. “Niko, what is frequency 333?”

He turned, startled. “What...how do you know about that?”

She sat on a log and patted a space for him to sit next to her. “I was playing a Theremin concert, when a pigeon flew in and sat on my antenna. It must have been your Alouette. It seemed that she spoke to me—I heard a voice in my head, telling me to tune in to
frequency 333
. What is that, Niko?”

He picked up a stick and began breaking it in smaller pieces. “I'm not sure, Clara.”

“This Alouette—perhaps she is one of the Serafim. Or is she another alien being? Is why you're afraid of her?”

Niko's hands broke the stick, and then shredded the fragments.

“Well, this pigeon seems to have communicated by thought-transference. Perhaps
frequency 333
is how she did it—a mind-wave frequency? If we used it, could she talk to us?”

“Hm.” Niko picked up another stick and traced patterns in the dirt.

“If two minds are in resonance, like two radio receivers...would it be possible to transmit thoughts?”

“Theoretically, perhaps.” Niko picked a stone out of his shoe.

“Then why don't we experiment? Oh, don't worry,” she said, “I wouldn't propose any sort of...
physical contact
that would make you uncomfortable.” The man was as brave as Zeus with a lightning bolt, but as shy as a schoolboy afraid of a kiss. “Maybe if we just looked into each other's eyes. Come on, let's try it as a scientific experiment.”

People never looked directly at each other. Everyone maintained a polite zone of isolation. But now she did look directly into Niko's deep, blue-gray eyes and he into hers. It was the oddest sensation: she did actually feel a moment of intense closeness. In some ways it was even more intimate than sexual contact, because it felt like a sharing of souls. Clara could almost feel the resonance beginning in her deepest core...

He looked away. “Sorry,” he mumbled, “it doesn't seem to be working.”

He is too afraid to open his mind,
Clara realized,
because of what those Martians did to him.

“Perhaps our brains just need to boost their signal strength. One day let's try it again. Think about you and me being two Tesla coils. With a great bolt of lightning flashing between us.”

He smiled. “You have such an imagination, Clara.”

And you have such a lovely smile
, she thought,
when you let yourself have a feeling.
 

***

“Now Professor, allow me to introduce...my Twin Dragons!” Niko led Dr. Davidson to a large crate with brass fastenings. He opened it with an ostentatious flourish.

Within the crate, nestled in muslin padding, lay two objects about three feet in length and eight inches in diameter. They resembled portable cannons—except that the apertures were so tiny as to be almost invisible. The bodies of the weapons consisted of a cylindrical chamber, wrapped with copper windings and brass fittings. Small meters and controls had been placed around the circumference of the firing chamber.

“That's certainly an elegant toy,” said Davidson.

Niko put on a mock-severe expression. “Professor, the Teleforce beam gun is not a
toy
.
”

“No, I suppose not. What ammunition does it use?”

“A single row of charged particles―small tungsten pellets―are fired out of this aperture. They are hurled at the target at such tremendous speed that there is almost no dispersion of energy.” He picked up one of the weapons and cradled it, eyes blazing with deadly intensity.

Davidson whistled. “Dear Lord. I'd hate to have you two as enemies. What kind of propellant did you say that beast uses?”

“It uses 100 million volts, supplied by the wireless array which we have been building,” Clara said. “If it needs backup energy, it can run from my capacitors. They're small, but they pack a tremendous wallop.” She emphasized that word with a swing of her fist.

Niko's hand caressed the metal of his creation. “I calculated that this could punch a hole in almost any known material. We're hoping it can blow those Martian battleships right out of the sky.”

“Really? But how will you engage them? Issue a challenge to a duel?”

Niko scowled. “I'm sure an opportunity will present itself. Now then, professor...would you care for a demonstration? Come.”

They stepped outside. “See that tall hemlock about 500 feet away? The one that stands higher than the others? I'll take the top off of it.” He grinned like a small boy as he held the weapon to his shoulder. “Don't worry, it hardly makes any noise at all,” he added, as Davidson put his hands over his ears.

Niko pressed a switch. A faint high-pitched whine could be heard as the weapon charged up. He took aim...pressed a trigger. A momentary flash lit inside the device. A thin line of red light shot out of the front of the cannon.

Davidson cringed, probably expecting a tremendous explosion. But the only visible result was an answering flash at the top of the tree. Foliage and branches fell toward the ground.

“Here, take a look.” Niko handed him a set of binoculars.

“Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Sheared right off.” Davidson wiped his forehead with a handkerchief. “How about a drink, Nick?”

For some reason, Niko's inventions always made the Professor thirsty.

***

Void Stalker

“K'va K'viin!” said the Abode Lord. “Status report!”

“Highest Lord, all is going well.” K'viin brought a map up on the visual screen. “We are now putting the authorities of Earth under our control.”

The Lord gestured in approval. “And the human battle capability?”

“Likewise,” K'viin said. “Easier than spearing
scurfs—
not a trace of resistance. We'll soon eliminate all military capability from the planet.”

“An excellent boast,” said the highest Lord, “but why have you not found our most dangerous enemy? If this 'Tes'laa' is building a fleet against us, surely he has produced an energy signature which you can detect?”

K'viin raised his neck, hiding uncertainty behind a posture of fierceness. “Sir...we are searching every possible clue.” In reality, this area was not a strong point for his technical staff. The usual U'jaan strategy was to find a primitive world, scare them with a show of power, install a few Orbs, and savor their victory.
Curse this planet anyway!
 

K'viin decided not to mention the other problem: the Angels' own continuous transmissions to their disciples were of such high strength that they blocked out detection of other possible signals.

But never mind. “We will succeed, sir. This vermin Tes'laa is of no consequence. We're following a number of promising leads. Many subjects are being vigorously interrogated. I guarantee that we'll have him in a very short time.”

The Abode Lord's image grew more severe. “You had better be correct, K'va K'viin. The Queen Mother is becoming impatient!”

20: The Realm of Wisdom

“I'm telling you, Niko, nobody in New York is interested in me. People only notice women if they're beautiful.” Clara peered into a metal box, adjusting a contact.

“But...you
are
beautiful.”

“Why...thanks,” she said, surprised at his sentiment. “But I still have to go to New York.”

Niko scowled. “Kirk has seen you. He knows who you are.”

“Kirk has the brains of a dog turd.”

“Clara! Such crude language!” But she saw the twinkle in his eye.

“Thank you. I have worked hard to master my English.” She grinned, but refused to be sidetracked. “I still have to go to New York.”

Niko put down his pliers and stood up. “Absolutely not. I won't let you risk yourself.”

“You can't give up control, can you? You always have to be the boss!”

His lips tightened. “It's you who is overbearing. Right from the beginning you marched in and began to give me orders.”

Clara stood up and faced him squarely. “And right from the beginning you tried to avoid me—because you couldn't stand to work with anyone who had more than two brain cells. Your ego couldn't take it!”

The two of them just stared at each other.

“Perhaps you miss the Big City.” Niko turned away and began measuring a piece of wire. “You're tired of the rough life—you miss your civilized comforts!”

“Don't be an ass. Whatever comforts I had, I gave them up for
you
.
”
 

“I did not ask you to,” he snapped back. “You pursued me. I suppose you are regretting that now?”

“I regret that you think I signed up as your errand girl. You may be able to control the forces of Nature—but you can't control me!”

“No—because you are as irrational as a thunderstorm.”