Tesla's Signal (4 page)

“Who's that tall, handsome man?” the ladies whispered. “Is he a visiting Count? Royalty, maybe?”

Why yes
, Niko answered them silently.
I'm the King of Lightning.
 

***

“He did
what?”
Thomas Edison slammed the newspaper down on his cluttered desk.

Westinghouse Signs Million Dollar Contract With Nikola Tesla.

“They're going to ruin me. Well I'm not gonna take it.”

Edison made a few calls and summoned two men into his office: Mr. H. P. Brown, who had been experimenting on stray dogs...and a fellow named Kirk, whom he called upon when he needed something done.

“You remember that fellow Nick Tesla who used to work here?”

“Oh, yeah,” said Kirk. “Foreign fellow. Kind of a dandy.” Kirk mimicked an effeminate walk. “Hear you played a little joke on him, boss.”

Edison snickered. “Yeah, he may have had some engineering smarts, but he had the business sense of a flea. Never asked for a contract or a signature. Fellows like that deserve to be fleeced. All right, listen. Him and Westinghouse have teamed up. We can't let them succeed...”

***

“Ladies and gentlemen,” a man's voice called out, “I'm here to warn you about a dangerous threat to your homes and families!”

Niko caught sight of the crowd gathering in the park. He had finally broken away from the lab after a month of nonstop work. Today families were enjoying the bright Sunday afternoon: children frolicked; ladies showed off their huge, flower-topped hats. Being taller than most of the others, Niko could see over the heads of the crowd.

“Excuse me, what's happening here?” he asked a bystander.

There at the front stood two men on a low platform, with a small version of Tesla's alternating current generator nearby. A signboard proclaimed,
Electrical Demonstration Today-1:00 p.m.
 

“That there's H.P. Brown and Professor Kirk,” said the man. “They're Mr. Edison's smartest electricians!”

What? Kirk's no electrician.
Niko had seen him hanging around at Edison's plant, but he carried no tools, fixed no equipment. Yet Kirk and Edison seemed very close, the two of them conferring with their heads together, or grinning and slapping each other on the back.

Today Kirk had slicked down his blond hair with about a gallon of pomade. He had attempted to look like a man of science, with spectacles and bow tie and a clipboard under his arm.

“If that is a professor,” Niko muttered, “I'm the Emperor of Rome.”

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Kirk called out, “this here's a public service demonstration. We're here to warn you that the Westinghouse Company wants to unleash a dangerous new kind of electricity on the world. They want to get rid of our reliable Edison generators and replace them with
alternating current
—a lethal invention that will kill anyone who uses it!”

H. P. Brown came forward, grasping a small black puppy by its scruff. “Allow us to demonstrate. See this little doggie?” Brisk and businesslike, H. P. Brown attached electrodes to the puppy's legs.

“What!” Niko tried to push forward. “In the name of God! What are you—” he broke off, as Brown pulled the switch. The dog gave a yelp and collapsed and the audience gasped in horror.

“Yes, ladies and gentlemen,” Kirk said, “Alternating currents will do the same thing to your wives and children. Don't let your family be 'Westinghoused'!”

“That's a filthy lie,” Niko cried, striding to the front of the gathering. “How dare you use my invention for your murderous—”

“Ah, look who's here.” Kirk grinned. “Why it's young Nick Tesla, the maniac who invented this infernal gizmo! It's his fault that this little doggie is dead! He wants to kill your children too!”

The people recoiled, whispering their anger.

Niko's hands balled into fists. He imagined taking this liar apart, and restrained himself with difficulty. Instead he gently picked up the puppy, which had been killed by “his” currents.
Poor innocent creature...
 

“Friends, Mr. Kirk is lying.” He forced himself to speak calmly, in the perfect, slightly accented English of the urbane European. “Alternating current is perfectly safe in homes and factories, as long as you use elementary safety precautions.”

“Is that so?” Kirk hooked his thumbs into his vest pockets and looked up at Niko. He had to look far up, for Niko towered over the crowd. “You callin' me a liar?”

“Yes sir,” Niko said in an icy voice. “Is there something wrong with your hearing?”

A few people in the crowd laughed.

Kirk's hand clenched into a fist. For a moment it appeared he might actually throw a punch. Then Kirk seemed to remember where he was and turned to the crowd.

“All right, ladies and gentlemen.” He put on a snake-oil salesman's grin. “Why don't we ask this fine gentleman to put his money where his mouth is? Yeah, that's right, mister fancy-pants,” he addressed Niko.
“Prove
that your alternating currents don't kill!” Kirk beckoned to the audience, inviting them to repeat the phrase. “Prove it! Prove it! Prove it!” 

Prove it?
Those were fighting words.

Niko could not resist a challenge. As a student he had succumbed to the thrill of the gaming table. Then, Herr Professor had thrown down the gauntlet by mocking Niko in front of the class, saying that
alternating current is a fool's dream—it can never work
.

And now this two-bit thug meant to engage him in battle? “You wish to launch a duel of electric currents? Very well then. I will accept your challenge!” He turned to face the audience. “Ladies and gentlemen, by God in Heaven! I'll prove that my currents are safe—and that Mr. Kirk, and his boss Thomas Edison, are lying to you!”

The people stood aghast at the ultimate heresy. This upstart foreigner had dared to call the great Thomas Edison a liar!

“Yes, ladies and gentlemen,” Niko pushed on. “Come to my lab at 35 South Fifth Street, one week from today at this same time. I will show you something you'll never forget!”

***

“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.” He greeted them at the door of his lab. He had dressed impeccably for the occasion, in Prince Albert jacket, derby hat, silk vest and white gloves.

Engineers, scientists and newsmen had come, along with many average folks. They had seen animals electrocuted. Would they now see a human being fried by the mysterious new force? Some of the ladies' gazes lingered on the young foreigner, who cut an impressive figure: tall, dark and slender, with a trim mustache and not a hair out of place.

“Thank you for coming,” said Nikola. “Today I will show you that my currents are safe for a human being.”

Today was his ultimate gamble...a bigger risk than the time he'd gambled away his entire college tuition. He had rigorously tested the procedure, taking every precaution. He stood tall in insulating cork soles. But still there could always be error and mishap. He would succeed—or he would be fried to a cinder.

But either way, he would not be defeated by Edison and slink back to the ditches!

“These are my transformers, which I call Tesla coils,” he told the crowd, indicating two columns of thick coiled wire topped by shining metal toroids. “They will create high-frequency currents of around one hundred thousand volts—which I will touch, with my bare hands.”

He heard a collective gasp from the audience.

“You should treat any type of electricity with caution, but let me explain why this demonstration is perfectly safe. These devices operate at a very high frequency, at which the current does not penetrate the body. It merely slides over the skin without harm. Now... let us begin.”

With a theatrical flourish, Niko threw a switch. A low hum filled the room. An eerie glow began to climb up the copper coils as the charge built up. Lightning streamers sparked out of the top of the first device. The second coil answered with another bolt and they joined like two electrical lovers touching hands.

Little currents,
he addressed them silently,
will you take me into your dance today?
And with a quick prayer to St. Sava, he stepped directly between the two streamers of light and held out his hands. With a crackle of sparks, the current flowed into him and enveloped him in a bright blue electric glow.   

“Behold,” he cried, “one hundred thousand volts!”  

A woman screamed. “Dear God!”

His skin tingled; his body vibrated; his whole being felt like a light bulb which had been switched on. Just as the day he had stood within the lightning bolt: transcendent, immense power coursed through him. He stretched out his arms, and sparking filaments radiated outward from his fingertips. “You see, ladies and gentlemen, I'm alive,” he called out. “I have
not
been 'Westinghoused'!” 

The audience sat gaping. Scientists goggled like schoolchildren. Cameramen struggled for a closer view. “Incredible,” cried a professor from Columbia University. “Is it very painful, Mr. Tesla?”

“Not at all, sir.” Niko waved a hand, creating lovely spirals of light. “It is quite stimulating, actually.” He struck a pose like mighty Zeus, soaking up the attention, intoxicated with the power that coursed through him.

The audience burst into wild applause.

“Go back and write this in your newspapers, gentlemen,” Niko said to the reporters from the
Times.
“Be sure and send a copy to Mr. Edison!”

When he had turned his machines off, several prominent scientists flocked about, buzzing with questions. “Is there a trick? Sleight-of-hand?”

“I assure you, gentlemen, the voltage is real. Would any of you like to try it?”

There were no volunteers.

At the back of the room, two men refrained from applauding. “This ain't good,” said Kirk. “Something's gotta be done.”

***

Tesla Masters the Power of Thor!
  said the
New York Times
.
Serbian Inventor Challenges Thomas Edison,
said the
Inquirer
.

By Wednesday, all of New York knew about the incredible new wizard and his daring feats of sorcery. They wanted more! This was more exciting than Barnum's!

Shortly thereafter, a familiar face showed up at Niko's lab.

“Anton!” Forsaking his usual reserve, Niko greeted his college friend from Budapest with an enthusiastic hug. “What are you doing in America?”

“I came to try my fortune. But so far, I haven't found a job. Why don't I come and work with
you?
You want to dazzle the crowds? Then I bet you could use my help.”

And so they began a regular series of electrical shows.

Niko lit up glass globes without wires, tossed balls of lightning and stood within an electrical hailstorm unharmed.
Doesn't it hurt? No
. As the current bathed him, his cells tingled with energy. His brain connections sparkled, his senses sharpened.

“Are you super-human?” asked Charles Steinmetz.

“No, sir, I am only a channel of a great power that fills the Universe.”

“Really? What sort of power,” Professor Helms wanted to know. “You mean God?”

“Ah... perhaps you could say that.” Niko put his fingertips together. “Or you could merely call it a
Cosmic Force,
which flows through everything.”

Steinmetz blinked. “So. You're a mystic, then?”

Niko only smiled.

Sometimes after the audience left, Niko would touch his instruments and see the needles jump.
I am storing current inside my body,
he realized in wonder.

They had asked him if he was 'super human'. Of course not...but deep inside, Niko began to wonder if there was something drastically different about him.
Could
others do the things he did?
Am I a freak?
 

The
New York Times
went crazy for the new inventor.
Mr. Tesla, the incredible new electrical wizard, has probably taken about 100 million volts through his body by now,
said an article
. When asked about the effects on his health, Tesla merely smiles and taps his forehead. “It helps me think better,” he says. “My body has become a capacitor to store great cosmic energy.”
 

Hoping to attract investment capital, he invited members of New York's high society and dazzled them with wireless light bulbs in fanciful shapes, and sheets of colored light cascading from the walls. Niko soon found himself a celebrity, deluged with invitations to lecture at universities and engineering societies. Prominent people wanted to be seen with him. Magazine editor Hugo Gernsback wrote features about him. Author Mark Twain took him out for drinks and became his good friend.