Tesla's Signal (18 page)

“Y-yes...Angel Lord. Lady.” Niko tried to calm himself by reviewing multiples of three, but he could not remember a single number.

Z'duun took him by the neck once more. “Here is another device for repair. Begin immediately!”

Niko's hands shook as he opened the casing. “But sir...there's nothing inside!”

V'kaan and Z'duun stood together, clacking their grasping claws. “There is an invisibility field around it. Are you too stupid and useless to detect anything so simple?” If they were human, Niko would have sworn they were laughing. Was humiliation also a part of his training?

He stared at them in helpless perplexity. “
Invisibility field?
Please, Master—at least give me time to learn the principles—”

But Niko's tormentors had no intention of allowing that. Eventually he realized that the object of this lesson was not to fix a machine. It was his mind that they wanted to adjust, by demoralizing, confusing and terrorizing him. While at the same time, filling him with abject worship of his “masters”.

“I can read your resistance, foolish creature.” V'kaan picked him up off the floor and held him by the scruff of his neck, like a limp rag doll. These aliens had tremendous strength. “Don't think that you or your fellow humans can somehow fight us. Any resistance will only cause suffering for your species. Submit to your Angel Lords, for the sake of your own kind. Humans will be so much better off...”

V'kaan kept talking in that vein, the Xeno-Mentalist's voice and presence burning their way into his brain. His perceptions became jumbled. He must have pleased his masters at some point, because he emerged from the crushing darkness to a state of floating, heavenly bliss. Whatever he had done to obtain this reward...whatever it was they wanted...he must keep on doing it...because he never wanted this feeling to stop.

***

He awoke feeling sore all over, and the back of his neck throbbed with a deep pain. But the sight of his tall, black-winged Angel Masters filled him with adoration.

He reached back and found a hard nugget under the skin of his neck. “Masters, what have you done to me?”

“You have received the Jewel implant, K'va Tes'laa. Now you can receive commands and control directly from us, and obtain our blessings and guidance at all times. That is wonderful, is it not?”

“Yes, Mistress, that is...wonderful.”

“Come with us. We will leave the
Void Stalker
and board the shuttle to Earth.”

“May I go free on Earth after I finish this task?”

“Certainly not.” V'kaan's grip closed around his shoulder. “You are the property of the noble U'jaan. See that you are worthy of the privilege!”

He hesitated for an instant and inclined his head. “As you wish, Mistress.”

Z'duun and V'kaan flanked him, each holding an arm, as they proceeded down the maze of corridors to a large docking bay. He watched mechanical arms load the Orb into a larger version of the shuttle that had taken him from the Tower.

He thought what a privilege it was, to observe machines and processes beyond the comprehension of anyone on Earth in the early twentieth century. Humans could fly with simple wooden contraptions and drive a motorcar at 25 miles an hour. Electricity was becoming widespread in industry. Niko knew this was just the start. He had spent his life trying to pull Mankind into the future. He had reached out to penetrate the aetheric mysteries, harness the cosmic fire. He dreamed of building machines that would free humanity from brute labor.

But these Angels—they had already done everything he'd dreamed, and more! They had sleek mechanical servants to do their lifting and moving, their calculating and thinking. They built machines that flew between the stars.

Were they not like gods? What could a human being do, but
worship...
 

They had also learned all the mysteries of the brain. They knew how to control minds with a tiny jewel implant, and make their servants think and feel just as they commanded. He adored them. They were...
the
Angels!

Niko's masters led him into the shuttle, and two more technicians followed. Within, he sat in a harness and watched as they pressed a series of controls. A viewing screen opened and an awesome sight greeted him: the great curve of the Earth, against the backdrop of the stars.

I am the first human being to fly in space,
he thought, and knew that should evoke a strong emotion. Yet he could feel nothing, except awe and terror of his Masters, and the compulsion to obey them.

The shuttle left the belly of the larger ship and zipped away at a crushing speed, like being shot out of a gun. He thought he would be flattened, but a moment later, the vessel came to a complete stop.

The square door opened and Niko saw that it now hovered in the air, right next to the top of Wardenclyffe Tower. A brightening in the east heralded the dawn, but the town of Shoreham still lay in darkness.

The glorious sight of Earth, and his Tower against the dawn light, brought back a fragment of his spirit. He remembered what he had once achieved, and what it had felt like to be human...before he had been made into the property
of the U'jaan Sky Voyagers.

They brought him out on an anti-grav platform that floated them all down to the cupola on top of Wardenclyffe, from whence they had taken him—how long ago? He had no idea.

“K'va Tes'laa,” V'kaan addressed him, holding a neural wand. “You will now install the Orb, so that all of Earth may receive the Angel blessings and commands, and know the joy of belonging to us. Are you ready to serve with perfect obedience?”

“Yes, Mistress.”

“Good. When you have succeeded, you'll be given all the honor you deserve.  All of humanity will bow to you!”

Niko smiled as he watched the techs float the Orb delicately into position.
There it goes. Fits right in place.
How grand it looked! A majestic crown, a castle in the sky for himself, Lord Tesla—soon to be King of Earth!

He crawled up underneath the Orb, his eyebrows creased in thought.
Put it right on top of the main transformer coil and connect the leads. This is where the current will flow. 100,000 volts to start. It can increase at an exponential rate...
they had showed him where to adjust the frequency. “Wait a second, will this connection work properly? Wouldn't it be better to attach the line
here?”
 

He wondered why he was talking to himself; was he actually forgetting... or was he just stalling for time? If so...why? Why would he not want to install this device and transmit the Angels' glorious message to the whole human race?
They are so advanced...humans are like ants by comparison
. Of course humans should accept the Angels' ascendancy. Wasn't this what Niko dreamed of?
They will bring peace and harmony to this poor war-torn Earth.
 

Z'duun leaned over. “Tes'laa! Are you having trouble completing your task?”

“No, Angel Lord. I just...”

“Then why are you hesitating?” Z'duun held the wand in one appendage. “Begin working!”

“Forgive me, Master, I just forgot how to...”
Can't make my brain work!
The sight of the neural wand filled him with panic. “Trying to recall...a voltage conversion.”

“Finish quickly, before we are observed by primitive members of your species.”

Primitive members of
... Sure, that's what they were. Y
ou are the most advanced of all the humans,
that's what they told him.
You shall be their ruler. You will broadcast our messages, implement our policies
...ruler of Earth! He could stand right here on the top of Wardenclyffe Tower, like God Himself! Everyone would come and cheer him as if he were the President...
and whatever you command...they'll obey you.
 

So why was he having trouble remembering how to make the connections...why was he sweating, and his hands shaking? A sharp pain began at the back of his head. “Aggh! Hurts!” He reached back and clawed at it. Why, that was where...something had been implanted.
The Angel Jewel. So you can receive control from us at all times.
 

V'kaan pulled his hands away from his head. “It is hurting you, Tes'laa, because you are resisting your conditioning. Hurry and follow our orders, or the punishment will become a lot worse.”

“But...” How could he concentrate on his task, when his brain was fighting itself? One part liked the idea of being Ruler of Earth just fine. A lab the size of Madison Square Garden? Armies of assistants to install whatever devices he ordered, while the masses looked on with adoration?
Sure.
Another part tried to protest:
wait, I'm not like that at all...I'm not a power-hungry megalomaniac!
 

Somehow Niko had imagined an interplanetary meeting would be a bit different. More...respectful. They would welcome him like colleagues at the Engineering Society and discuss topics of interest—cosmic rays, other worlds, energy transmission. There would be no punishment wands. They would compassionately share their advanced knowledge and offer to help the human race.

But the U'jaan had not lived up to his hopes. He struggled to think clearly about these aliens, trying to recover fragments of memory from the confusion in his brain...even while the implant drove the thoughts back out with merciless jolts of agony and terror.

You and your race do not have a choice...twist every creature into a useful resource...a powerful weapon to be used against your species..
.

“What!” He picked out that phrase and understood its meaning. “What are you going to—”

As soon as Niko made that connection, the implant seized him and twisted him until he doubled over, hands clawing his temples. “No! I'm sorry! Have mercy...” the words were torn out of his throat. “I'll do everything you want!”  

But a part of him screamed
no! Don't!
 

The Martians had ripped through his mind like a predator gutting a kill...but there was a deeper level they had not plumbed. Something unique to Nikola, which could reach beyond into other dimensions and perceive things that most did not. Something on that level remained untouched by the drugs and the implant. A fragment of selfhood welled up from that deep place, struggling upward, trying to grasp a thought that kept slipping away:
not angels...monsters!
 

“Earthman! Hurry up!” Niko's captors gripped his head and neck in their vise-like claws. “Finish the job immediately!”

With trembling hands, he made a show of looking through the crate of equipment they had brought up from his laboratory below. “M-masters, I need a resonance meter,” he improvised. “Have to go down to the lab and get...” Yes, that was it...get them to take him back to the lab, and somehow break away—

“Aaah!” The torment consumed him again. He fell, holding onto his head, writhing on the surface of the platform.
Obey your Masters,
said the implant, lancing him with brain-melting jolts of fire.
No,
cried another voice.

“You're lying! I have warned you—disobedient thoughts would be punished!” The Xeno-Mentalist lifted him off his feet and fixed him with her piercing eyes. “Has your conditioning affected your intelligence? That would be a shame. If you cannot be of use to us, you will be discarded!”

V'kaan let go of him and he collapsed in a heap. As he lay there with his cheek pressed against the metal floor grating, he caught sight of a figure far below.

It's..
.he struggled to recall her name
. It's Clara.
 

She stood on the ground beneath the tower, arms outstretched toward him. Though she appeared very small, his brain perceived her with perfect clarity.
Niko,
she seemed to be calling out. It was as if she knew what was happening: she
knew
that his Martian masters were forcing him to install a device that would...that would...
enslave...
 

I could see that you were one of the Righteous,
she had once said.
The Righteous keep the world on course
. Clara's words spiraled inside him, rising higher, like the voltage climbing up center of the Tower.
Without them, the world comes crashing to ruin...crashing to ruin...
 

V'kaan picked him up and pushed him against the Orb. “What is preventing your brain from working? Could it be that human standing below? Does that one hold significance to you—a mating object, perhaps?” The Mistress dug her claws into his neck. “We will bring the creature up here and slowly dismember it. Perhaps that will help you work better—”