Tesla's Signal (65 page)

The tiny beeping continued. The hand pulled more debris off and Niko caught a flash of light. Some sort of headlight.
Machine!

A surface of burnished gold, a brass-plated cylinder, jointed cable limbs. He stared in astonishment as a huge golden head appeared.

“Ahh...G...Golem.”

Somehow, amid all this chaos and destruction, the Guardian of Life had found him.

Smiling, he closed his eyes.

***

“Conductor,” Clara signaled. “Calling Conductor.”

Over 40 blocks away, at the old Clinton Street station, a slender canister with a brain of electrical circuits waited at the controls of the Saucer. When it picked up Clara's summons, its ball-joint arms moved into place, pushing a pre-set series of switches.

Slowly, the Saucer rose up and floated above the dark city, wobbling a bit, as its robotic pilot lacked the finesse to compensate for its abrupt ascent. Observers may have mistaken it for a Martian scoutship. Or the Martians may have had their attention on other things. With a steady pulse-sweep, Conductor homed in on the location of the summons and headed straight toward 42nd Street. There it began to descend, skimming low over the mansions of Park Row and breaking a few of the ornate stone carvings in its clumsy flight. Finally the Saucer came to rest in the middle of the street, causing people to flee in every direction.

“Conductor,” Clara cried, running for the Saucer and making a leap for the cabin. Pushing the robot aside, she took the controls. At that moment another signal beeped, demanding her attention.

It's Golem!
The robot Guardian was very close......just down the street. She looked down, saw a  crowd of Angel disciples milling about, shouting. They suddenly parted as a large metallic Tele-man pushed through, carrying a human in his arms.

“It's evil,” they shouted, “a machine of the devil!”

“It's Golem!” Clara fired the induction gun, clearing them away. “Get away from him or I'll show you evil,” she cried. “Golem, come here! What's—oh, thank God...” she saw Niko in the robot's arms and began to weep. “What's happened...is he dead? Hurry—bring him to the Saucer.”

Once there, she placed Niko on the passenger seat. “Niko...?” Her  heart constricted with fear as she noted his waxen color; the bluish tinge of his lips. She put an ear to his chest and heard a gurgling, fluid-filled breath. “Still alive! Thank the Holy One!”

He coughed, bringing up a froth of blood. “C-Clara?” His eyelids fluttered open. “Clara? Jake?”

“Jake's...gone. Shh...don't try to talk. We're getting out of here.”

She floated the Saucer away from the scene of chaos.
Now what?
Niko needed medical attention. But she couldn't leave New York to the Martians' tender mercies. She studied the scene below: they seemed to have gone berserk. A crowd of Angels had disembarked from their ships. They, and their human Enforcers, appeared to be chasing and killing humans at random. No more 'heavenly blessings' now!

“What are they doing? The filthy
schmucks,”
Clara cried. Enraged, she leaned through the doorway of the Saucer and set her sonic gun to wide maximum. The humans, both Enforcers and victims, fell down stunned in the street. Unfortunately the sonic had no effect on the Angels who strode about down there, grabbing people, using wands on them, and...she wasn't sure what else they were doing with their captives, but it sure looked nasty. “Damn! Sonic doesn't work on them.”

“Try...low frequency,” Niko whispered.

“What? You sure? Well, all right.” She adjusted the frequency and fired another wide blast. “Ready for a nap,
shmendriks?”
 

The Martians fell down and curled up as though in agony. “Ah, that's it,” she cried. “ULF—ultra low frequency. That's what affects them!”

Niko coughed again. “Their voices...below human hearing.”

“Great. Sleepy time for everyone.”

“C...clara,” Niko gasped, and pointed. A Martian scoutship had lifted from the Terminal area and was headed in their direction. “Light Bender.”

“What?
Light Bender?
But we didn't figure out how to work—”

“Found the answer. Control board...help me up,” he managed to croak. She started to argue but he fixed her with such an intense look that her objections melted away. Instead, she helped him sit up and held a panel up in front of him.

His hands shook as he tried to adjust the settings. “B-blend in. S-scatter...particles. Dive when I say.” He pressed the final switch. “Now.”

Clara saw the world shiver around her and then they dove through a translucent curtain, leaving the Martian scoutship far behind. “Are we invisible? Niko, you did it,” she cried out. “How did you find the answer?

“Get...get the Orbs. Quickly.”

“First I'm taking you to my uncle's for medical help.”

“No. D...destroy...
destroy Orbs.”
  He grabbed her wrist and fixed her with a fiery look that could melt iron. “Destroy Orbs
now!
In God's name!” Spent, he collapsed against the seat. Blood ran down his chin.

“Damn,” she muttered. But he was right. Cursing in Yiddish, she turned and headed toward the Woolworth Building. Pointing the wave rifle through the Saucer door, she fired a million volts of current at the Orb that had enslaved her city. The hated thing exploded in a most gratifying shower of sparks.  

“Got it, Niko!”

A Martian battle cruiser came after her, firing its rays at random. “It knows we're there, but it can't find us,” she cried. “Your Light Bender is working!”

She checked the panel for the rest of the locations. “All right, let's get them all! There's Orb Number Two—eat sparks!” Enemy ships buzzed about, firing, but their salvos passed harmlessly by. “Now for number three...” She headed for the Flatiron Building; aimed at the Orb atop the triangular structure and blew it to smithereens. “Bye,
schmuck!”

Crying out with glee, she zipped through the sky and shattered them one by one. “We're doing it, Niko! We're freeing New York!”

It was the best moment of her life. Too bad Niko couldn't share in this moment of victory. He seemed to have passed out.

36. The Vengeance of Tesla

“Almost there, Niko. Just a little further.” Clara glanced over at him. His hands were pressed against his side, and his face showed a grayish pallor. “Keep breathing...please.” She brought the Saucer gently down to rest in front of her uncle's warehouse in Nyack.

Of all times to be injured
, she thought angrily.
Why can't people have indestructible machine bodies, like Golem?
She turned back to the Saucer with a command. “Golem: Carry.”

And so the Guardian of Life carried Niko to Abraham's warehouse. Though it was the middle of the night, Abraham quickly came to the door and let them inside.
“Oy vey.
What happened? Is he dead?”

“Chest injury, I think. Not sure how.”

“Bring him in.” There were no beds, for it was only a warehouse and it was packed with refugees. Abraham led them to a pile of blankets behind a desk. There they put Niko down, unbuttoned his tattered shirt and found a huge ugly bruise discoloring his chest.  

If they had Niko's shadowgraph camera—the invention people were now calling 'X-ray'—it would surely show fractured ribs and a leak of fluid into his lungs. But Clara didn't need the machine, because she could clearly hear the fluid rattling in there every time he breathed.

“If he's lived this long, he might survive,” Uncle said, “providing he doesn't move for several weeks.”

“Sure, what are the chances of
that,”
Clara muttered.

“Electro-stim,” Niko managed to croak.

“Yes.” Clara ran to get the violet-ray machine which had been packed in the Saucer. She attached the electrode to Niko's chest and ran a thin purple spark over his ribcage. “It stimulates healing,” she told her uncle. While the treatment progressed, she filled her uncle in on everything that had happened in New York.

“It was a miracle that we survived. The aliens...well, they mistook Jake for Nikola. He...he gave his life.” She broke off, wiping her eyes, and didn't elaborate. “The Martians must have told their soldiers that Tesla was dead, so I guess they just relaxed their guard. We were able to take them by surprise. We smashed most of the Orbs...we freed most of New York and got out with our lives.”

“Thank God.” Uncle put his arm on her shoulder. “Clara...you're saying Jake died in Nick's place?”

“Well...I don't know if that's what he
meant
to do, but...”

“He was a true hero. We'll say
kaddish
for him.”  He patted her arm. “All right then—what's next?”

“You and I are going to Wardenclyffe to deliver some more of your high-quality supplies and a few other little gifts.”

Abraham smiled. “What about your boyfriend?”

“He has other plans,” Clara said. “If he lives. Oh—Golem's coming, too.”

“Our ancestors would be proud.”

***

A deep golden pyramid took shape before his eyes. Slowly, it morphed into a pair of wings.

,> Alu called out from a great distance.

He could not assemble a coherent greeting.

A chorus of the Aon appeared around him, addressing him in the frequencies of crystals.

<
The Guardians have hindered our efforts...>
 

<...but we of the Seekers are still flying alongside you.>

Ayin said
.
 

The others echoed the sense of wonder and delight.
<—could accomplish such a feat!>
 

He listened and tried to understand while they talked of Gates, and other Aon matters. But Niko had little energy for conversation. <
This dense-matter being is about to die
,> he informed them.

A storm of protest answered him.

Connect the pathways?
That was good advice. His body was made up of electric circuits. He could tap the currents that made up the universe. <
Get your spark up!
> And so Niko grasped hold of life and fought his way back.

He awoke, and struggled to sit. Instantly Clara sprang to his side. “Niko! You're awake! How do you feel?”

He grimaced, putting a hand to his chest.
Like an elephant stepped on me,
he wanted to say. But amazingly, the violet ray treatment must have done some good. “A bit better. How long have I...?”

“Let me listen.” She put her head to his chest. “Somehow you've made a miraculous discovery. I thought you were finished for sure.”

“No time to be dead.” He put a hand to his side, ignoring the pain and forcing himself to breathe enough air to speak. “We've got to get into Wardenclyffe.”

Abraham stared in amazement. “There's just no stopping you, is there, buddy!” He set a mug of tea down. “All right, Nick—tell me: how are you going to take down this Tower of yours? Are you going to hit it with some kind of fantastic ray?”

“No, Uncle.” Clara spoke up. “We can't fly up in our Saucer and attack it. That's their central base on Earth. They expect us there, and they'll be watching the skies for us.”

“But...don't you have the Light Bender?” said Abraham.

“That's not foolproof,” Clara said. “If they know we're there, they may be able to triangulate their signals and spot us. It's too great a risk. We need to survive, so we can fight their sky fleet.”

Abraham put his hands over his face.
“Oy.”
 

“Besides,” Niko added, “we have to destroy more than just the Tower. The most important part...the Magnifying Transmitter...beneath the ground.” He still had trouble catching his breath.

Abraham stroked his beard. “Smashing the Orb...that wouldn't be enough?”

“No. They could just install another one,” Clara said. “Even if we knocked the Tower down, the underground components would still be there.”

“But what's so important about the underground circuits? I thought Wardenclyffe was a radio tower.”