Tesla's Signal

TESLA'S

SIGNAL

L. WOODSWALKER

TESLA'S SIGNAL is a work of fiction. While some of the characters and events portrayed in this book are based on historical fact, they have been adapted and interpreted in a fictitious manner. Other characters and events are figments of the author's imagination.

ISBN-13: 978-1505225952

ISBN: 1505225957

Copyright © 2014 by L. Woodswalker

Cover design by L. Woodswalker

All rights reserved.

Syzygy Press, 2014

Phoenixville, PA 19460

Photo credits:

Front cover
: Illustration based on a public domain image of Tesla at age 40, around 1896, by “unknown”. Wardenclyffe Tower image courtesy Fotolia
 

Table of Contents

With Thanks
 

Note to Readers
 

1: The Vision
 

2: Alternating Current
 

3: The God of Thunder
 

4: The Tower
 

5: Alouette
 

6: Destiny
 

7: The Power of the Gods
 

8: The Sky Voyagers
 

9: The Orb
 

10: The Sheriff of Shoreham
 

11: The Bridge
 

12: Signs of the Serafim
 

13: The Engineers' Club
 

14: The Opera House
 

15: Attention New York
 

16: The Special Investigator
 

17: An Army of Demons
 

18: Remote Control
 

19: Tussey Station
 

20: The Realm of Wisdom
 

21: The Pearly Round Object
 

22: Mirror Phasing
 

23: Electric Jesus
 

24: The Starry Path
 

25: Twin Dragons
 

26: The Temple of the Phoenix
 

27: The Messenger of Light
 

28: Solar Water
 

29: Blood and Diamonds
 

30: The Defense of Liberty
 

31: City Hall Station
 

32: A Banquet in Heaven
 

33: The Heretics
 

34: Grand Central Terminal
 

35: The Last Obstacle
 

36. The Vengeance of Tesla
 

37: The Triangular Passage
 

38: Cosmic Circuit
 

39: White Bird
 

Historical Notes
 

About the Author
 

With Thanks

I would like to thank Howard Lipman for introducing me to the strange and wonderful story of Nikola Tesla, and for giving me so much great publishing advice. Thanks to the following people who have read this novel in progress and provided valuable feedback: Nicola Crosskey, Debra Rossing, Mary Phalan, Susan Hodges and F. Kwan. And a special thanks to Becky Rodrigues, who proofread and edited this manuscript in a very tight timeline!

I would like to give a shoutout to my online friends on the Facebook groups Tesla's Ambassadors, Nikola-Tesla-Inventor, and similar pages, who have provided so much enthusiasm, information and inspiration.  Also I want to express my gratitude to the people at the Dragon's Rocketship Facebook group, for your comments and feedback—and to the folks at the Dragon's Drawing Board, for answering my Photoshop questions. You are all great people!

Finally, here's a thumbs-up to the folks at the Philadelphia Tesla Society for their warm welcome and extremely cool gizmos.

Spark on!

Note to Readers

The Serbian-American scientist Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) is the developer of the alternating current electrical system which the world has used for over 100 years. Thus, he can rightly be called “the father of the industrial age”. And yet until recently, his name was virtually invisible. When I first learned his story, it seemed so incredible that I said “this is a science fiction story that practically writes itself!”

Tesla's Signal
is a work of fiction. While the first few chapters are loosely based on real events in Tesla's life, my portrayal of Tesla's thoughts, character and unusual abilities is purely a fiction writer's imagination. No offense is meant to any person or group. The reader is requested to leave all preconceived notions, pet theories and prejudices aside.

Literary license has been used in the portrayal of minor characters, details, locations and the timeline of historical events. For instance, the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished in 1917, radio did not become popular until the 1920s, and Leon Theremin did not invent his eponymous musical instrument until 1920. Some of the devices and theories depicted here are loosely based on Tesla's documented work, while others are based on the more 'legendary' aspects of the Tesla story. Still others are sheer fancy.

I am not a scientist, and I beg the indulgence of those of you who are. If anyone with scientific or engineering expertise finds a really serious error, I would welcome constructive feedback so that I can correct the problem in a future edition.

The basic ideas of this novel—that Tesla had otherworldly visions, and claimed to have received signals from Mars—are documented in all of his biographical material.

The back of this book contains a historical note with more facts and references.

For [Tesla]... the harmonies of the universe were played on a scale of electrical vibrations of a vast range in octaves. In one of the lower octaves was a single note, the 60-cycle-per-second alternating current, and in one of the higher octaves was visible light with its frequency of billions of cycles per second.

    If one note in a lower octave produced such a magnificent invention as the rotating magnetic field and the polyphase system, who could imagine the glorious possibilities that lay hidden in other notes in higher octaves?

...If there is, indeed, a Great Music from which all things have formed, it appears that Nikola Tesla had a brief opportunity to listen to it.

Prodigal Genius
, John J. O'Neill

1: The Vision

Budapest, 1882

“I can find no explanation for this curious malady,” the doctor said.
 

The patient, young Nikola Tesla, clamped his hands over his ears to block out the street noises. Dogs barked; boys shouted; a horse and carriage clattered past. The rattles, thuds and jingles echoed in his head, until he thought he would explode.

“Perhaps a dose of laudanum would help.” The doctor turned to Niko's friend Anton. “Keep him in a dark room, or the stress may cause heart failure. I'm afraid there is nothing more I can do.”

The doctor left, closing the door. Niko felt the vibrations like an earthquake, shaking him apart. He squeezed his hands more tightly over his ears.

“He thinks I'm going mad,” Niko whispered. “You think so too...don't you?”

“Come now.” Anton did not meet Niko's eyes. “Have your senses become so acute that you can hear what a fellow's thinking?”

Indeed,
thought Niko,
perhaps so.
 

“It's all because of that infernal electric device,” said Anton, “the one Herr Professor showed us. You've not been the same since you saw it.”

“Yes. The Gramme Dynamo,” Niko murmured.

“Electricity, it is a dangerous force,” said Anton. “Perhaps the currents affect the brain.”

The currents,
thought Niko
.
Anton was right: it was the electrical dynamo that was making him sick. As soon as he had seen the crude little motor that threw off all the sparks, he knew he must design something  better. And so he had obsessed over the problem day and night, refusing food and sleep. His brain worked so hard that every nerve fired at once. Lightning flashed continuously inside his head.

“I must make the currents flow as nature intended.” Niko struggled to speak, while holding onto his head. “He said...it couldn't be done.  Thinks I'm a dreamer—says I sh-should have been a
priest!”
 

“Now now...take it easy,” Anton murmured.

 “Have to show him he's wrong!”

Niko lay in bed shaking and sweating, consumed by visions: great rotating magnets and glowing coils of wire. His senses grew ever more acute: he heard a pocket watch ticking in the next room, and a fly crawling up the wall. A train rumbled across a bridge, several miles away, and the deafening vibrations threatened to shake Niko apart.

Surely if he were to rise from his bed...the movement itself would kill him.

Then again, perhaps not. Could he cheat the Reaper once more? Niko had narrowly escaped death a number of times: from the cholera, and other wasting illnesses...from the childhood accidents, near drownings, falls from high places... and of course, the lightning.

It had all started with the lightning. He saw the childhood memory,  clear as the day it happened.

***

“Mother!  Lightning is coming!”

The boy stood at the doorway, jumping up and down with excitement. The clouds flickered and a rumble of thunder echoed from the hills. “The bolt will strike right
there!”
He pointed at a huge tree across the yard.

“Nikola―come inside at once,” Mother cried. “It's dangerous!”

No―not dangerous. Wonderful!
Rain began to pelt down. Niko dashed out toward the tree. He could feel the channels of power building up in the sky and within the earth. Reaching higher, towards each other, ready to jump―now!

“Nikola,” his mother called.

Crack!
A blinding flash as the two channels of power met and exploded directly overhead. The impact sent the boy flying, every cell vibrating with the glory.

The next thing he saw was the worried faces of Mother and Father gazing down at him. Father, a priest of the Serbian Orthodox Church, murmured prayers.