Tesla's Signal (60 page)

A torrent of fire seared his throat.
Poison gas!
 

Panicked, he turned back and clawed at the door. It had no knob, no handle.  
A trap...stupid Nikola! Who...?
 

Three silhouetted figures approached. He tensed for a fight...but the induction gun fell from his numbed hand. He tried to hold his breath but finally had to suck in a tremendous gasp, drawing the burning chemical into his lungs. The world spun around him...dizziness pulled him down.

His captors bent over him: they appeared to be faceless, nightmarish monsters. With his heart pounding and his brain screaming for oxygen, Niko tried to identify them.
U'jaan? Too short. They are humans.
 

Humans in  full-body suits, their faces covered by gas masks.  

They ripped off his face covering. “Hello there, Nick. Glad you could stop by.”

That voice—the mask distorted the sound somewhat, but still it was familiar.

They wrenched his arms behind his back and clamped handcuffs on his wrists. “Not so smart after all, are you.” The speaker laughed. “Such a sucker. Knew you couldn't resist being a hero.”

Oh yes, Niko knew that mocking laugh.  
You don't understand our American sense of humor.
 

“You like my little joke, Nick?” said Thomas Edison.

“Can we finish him now?” said one of the other men.

As the poison paralyzed Niko's brain, everything seemed to happen in slow motion. “Sorry, Kirk...old buddy...” Edison  seemed to take forever to form the words. “...the Masters don't like wasting...a good resource...”

Niko strained his trapped wrists against the cuffs. If he could just make one finger work.
Hurry.
Z'duun and V'kaan were probably on their way this very minute.

“...the Masters want to finish him themselves,” Edison went on. “You know... like we'd finish...a good steak dinner.” His laugh echoed in Niko's head. “If we beg them...they might let us watch.”

Niko twisted against the cuffs until his wrists bled. Had to move that one finger...! Using the last molecules of oxygen...the last bit of strength... he moved it just a few millimeters more, to reach the signal band on his left arm.
Yes. There it is. Press...the...button.
 

“But we can make sure...he doesn't cause any more trouble,” he heard Edison's voice from far away. “Break...both...his legs...”

 No air left. Darkness pulled him under.

***

Clara fought her way through the pile of rubble. “Jake? Niko? Omigod, where'd they go?” A beeping interrupted her. Immediately she understood: it was Niko's Emergency Signal.

“Golem,” she shouted into her signal watch.
“Rescue One! Smash!”
 

The Guardian of Life picked up the command codes and obeyed. With    fists out in front, like two sledgehammers, the robot powered right through the library walls. Detecting Niko's telenite chip, he followed its signal into the chamber below. The massive feet kicked through the masonry and burst in. The resulting hole allowed oxygen to enter the room and let the poisonous gas dissipate.

Golem wasted no time in knocking aside the figures surrounding his objective, which his electro-mechanical brain called 'One.'  At the sight of the massive robot, with feet the size of manhole covers, Niko's captors forgot about their victim.

“Jesus motherin' Christ!” Screaming, Edison fired bullets at the thing, which had no effect. “Run,” he cried.

“I can't move, Boss,” Kirk said. “That thing stomped on me. Right on my nuts, goddamn it!”

But Edison had already abandoned his old buddy Kirk, making a hasty exit before the infernal machine could pulverize him as it had done with the stone wall.

Jake and Clara burst in a moment later. “What have they done?” She wrinkled her nose, identifying the chemical.
Chlorine gas.
“Oh, Jake, what have they done to Niko? Golem,” Clara said, her voice breaking. “Golem: carry and return.
Run
.”

***

“What? You called us here and now you dare to tell me that our prey has
escaped?”
 

The Martian had arrived quickly in response to Edison's message. Z'duun had already taken his mask off, and his skin was slick with anticipation. And now—

“Say again, Ed'saan. Exactly what has happened?”

Edison still wore his protective gear; the gas mask hung at his throat. Seeing his Master's anger, he thought it prudent to drop to his knees. The Martians liked to see their servants grovel. “M-masters, we succeeded in trapping Tesla. We were securing him for you. And then...” he shuddered, remembering. “A huge machine-creature came and rescued him.”

Z'duun nudged him with a foot, not gently. “What? A
machine creature?
Have you gone insane?”

“Please, Master, it was...a creation of his. Never seen the like. Bullets bounced right off—”

“Silence! Enough excuses!” Z'duun's claws crept toward the control at his waist belt. Edison knew what that meant, and tensed with dread.

“Master, please listen, I beg you.” Edison was sweating all over, and not just because of the heavy coverall. “It looks like Tesla has invented machines that can walk, fight, and take orders like a man. But...if
he
can invent it, why can't
I?”
He spoke quickly. “I can figure out anything that piss-ant can. Just give me a chance, Master. I promise I'll make good and you'll get lots of prey—lots of
rewards
.”

Z'duun picked Edison up by his shirt front. “You're lying, human. You're not as smart as you claim. Perhaps we need to find a replacement for you.”

“Please, Master,” Edison gasped. “Th-there are no other scientists on Earth with my inventive genius. Give me another chance.” Edison thought fast, hoping to save his skin. “Master, let me present an idea to you. You've seen that I can produce poison gas. You know there are a lot of heretics living in the subway tunnels—Tesla's probably hiding there with them. Why not use a larger quantity of this chemical and smoke out all those tunnel rats who skulk down there, plotting rebellion. I have lots of chemical stockpiles on hand.”

Z'duun continued to hold Edison up at eyeball level, studying him as an insect studies its prey. “Very well,” said the Martian officer at last. “I will give you one more chance to prove yourself. See to it immediately!”

34: Grand Central Terminal

He gasped and coughed like a drowning man.

“Niko? Wake up...it's all right now.” Clara spoke in his ear.

He blinked. His vision finally came clear and he saw the faces of the Station dwellers gazing down at him.

“Move away! He needs air,” Clara shouted. “Somebody get some lock cutters and take off these cuffs. And bring some water, too.”

“What the hell happened?” Hugo pushed his way through. “Where's the scientist you went to rescue?”

Niko tried to speak. Another round of coughing shook him.

“There was no scientist,” Clara said. “It was a trap. Poison gas.”

“Edison,” Niko managed to say.

“Hell's bells,” Hugo said. “I knew it sounded suspicious! I should have warned you...”

“It wouldn't have done any good,” said Clara. “Niko never listens to anybody's warning. Well, there you have it,” she told the group. “America's favorite inventor, Tom Edison, is in league with
Them
. He made a fake call for help—I don't know who made the broadcast, but it was a good actor. And then he trapped Niko with poison gas.”

“Blazes! Edison has
poison gas?
Then what's to stop him from pumping more of it into these tunnels and killing us all?”

“Dear Lord!” Katharine Johnson overheard and stood up, spilling her soup. “That's horrid! We've got to leave, immediately!”

“Ay, Holy Mother of God!” An Italian grandmother clutched her rosary.

Niko put a hand to his head, as he sensed vibrations from above. “Look out,” he cried.

The next instant they felt the impact of a huge explosion. Masonry and dust fell through the grating. The dust had barely cleared when another blast, greater than the first, shook them.

Niko curled up with his hands over his head. Full-blown panic gripped the station-dwellers. People screamed and ran for cover. Babies cried; mothers hugged their children.

More impacts shook the ground. The thunder of falling debris filled the air, as the Martian attack ships bombarded them from above.

Officer Barrow came tumbling down the stairwell, with rubble cascading all around him. “The entrance,” he gasped. “It's sealed shut!”

“We're trapped.” The Station dwellers wept, prayed, and grasped each other for comfort. “It's all over for us.”

“Are the monsters gonna eat us?” a child asked.

“It's all right. Nicky will protect us,” Katharine Johnson comforted the children. “And Miss Clara too,” she added as an afterthought.

“Attention, attention,” Councilor Townsend shouted over the chaos. “We must evacuate this station. Let us proceed in orderly fashion to the subway cars. The first car will be for the city officials, police officers—essential personnel.”

“I say mothers and children should get out first,” said a woman surrounded by little ones.

Jerome and the police officers tried to corral the Station dwellers. “Come on—hurry, everybody on the train. We'll take the Broadway line. There's got to be someplace safe.”

Clara helped Niko up. “Can you walk?”

“I'm fine.” He tried to stop shaking. “We've...we've got to get our equipment.”

Clara half dragged him to their lab area and they packed up as much as they could carry: amulets, control panels, and the new wave-rifles.

“Everyone listen,” Clara called out to the hysterical crowd. “Keep calm. Niko and I have lights and weapons. If there's trouble, we'll protect you with
these
.” She held up one of their new wave guns.

The crowd had already filled two subway cars. Niko and Clara climbed onto the third car, and, with a screech and a jerk, the wheels began to roll. Their view of the beautiful tile-covered City Hall Station receded into the darkness of the tunnel.

Niko and Jerome had restored the generators to power the trains, but still the ride was not pleasant. The train crawled through the tunnel very slowly because the crew had to watch out for track obstructions. People sat tightly packed together inside the car, and the atmosphere became stifling. It seemed like an endless ride through the dark, sooty passageway.  

A few times the lights blinked off, and the train came to a stop. Niko had a few bad moments when he imagined the Martians finding and destroying the generator, leaving them stranded.

He had some even worse moments when his over-wrought imagination thought it detected a bad smell in the air. Suppose Edison pumped chlorine gas into the tunnels? They would all choke to death underground...in the dark...like trapped rats.

The train screeched to a stop once more, but this time it did not start back up.

In the decade since the first subways, New Yorkers had already gotten used to patiently waiting for trains to start. But as the time stretched out, they began to get uneasy. “What's wrong?” people began to ask. Panic crept into their voices. “Did the Martians find us?”

“Sorry, folks.” A railroad man made his way to the car. “There's a derailed car in front of us.”

“What are we going to do?” Katharine cried.

“You'll have to get out and walk,” said the railroad man. “I think we're close to the 30th Street station. Last I heard, that was still open.” He raised a hand, forestalling complaints. “Don't worry...it will be all right. Just a little walk, is all.”

The Station dwellers climbed from the subway car, into the blackness of the tunnel. “A little walk” in a dark tunnel was not exactly “all right.” The walls dripped moisture. Rats skittered away at their approach. Dull booming sounds, of unknown origin, came to their ears. Explosions? What were the Martians destroying now?

Niko took out a small wireless lamp inside a lantern housing. It could tap the underground currents, and it received a boost from the batteries which he and Clara wore on their belts. Clara lit another lamp, and both  lights flared up, illuminating the way.

“Oh, thank God,” said Katharine.

Holding hands tightly, the people walked in single file past their train car, and the derailed train in front of them.

“Mommy, I'm scared,” one of the children wailed.

“Keep following the lights,” Katharine said, as the tunnel dwellers picked their way over the tracks. “I know, let's sing something!
We are followers of the light, followers of the light...can't take away our spirit cause we're followers of the light.
”