Tesla - Jason Walker (readict books txt) 📗
- Author: Jason Walker
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This was all game-changing stuff!
Already, Darren knew that there were other interdimensional beings throughout the solar system. He knew that the galaxy was far larger than the general public was led to believe too. And yet, for some reason, Earth was a hotspot for them. Something about this planet was exceptionally special. Anna had told him that they often came down to do business. They wanted things from the United States government, but she wasn’t sure exactly what those things were.
And here Tesla was, attempting to assist humanity into becoming an active participant in intergalactic commerce and interplanetary relations. But the powers at be had stopped his information from getting out, and it had been taken away from the public under national security orders the day after he had died.
Eventually, Darren reached a point of oversaturation and decided it was time to rest his weary eyes. It wasn’t an easy thing to do in such a creepy place. The facility was massive and he was the only person in there. It didn’t feel safe enough for him to risk getting some rest, but he had to if he was going to be able to continue reading the next morning. Even so, he couldn’t resist checking out one last file before falling asleep, and what he read from the false security of his sleeping bag tested the limits of imagination. The data concerned Galen Hieronymus and the greatest invention humankind had never heard of—a machine that could draw on energy from the fourth dimension and power all manner of earthly devices. Naturally, this tech had, too, been hidden away from the world . . .
By the end of the fourth day though, Darren knew that something needed to be done about the stinking body. It was a struggle, but he managed to move it down the corridor to a staircase where he left it. Holding the railing, he made his way down the staircase and looked at all of the steps, looking for any lights hidden underneath the steps. He lit a cigarette and blew the smoke onto the floor to see if it would reveal any laser beams that might trigger a silent alarm. There were none, though.
Satisfied that he wasn’t at risk of being discovered, he went back up to the top of the stairs and pulled the body bag down them. When he got down to level three, he looked for a spot where he could leave it for the time being. The stink was quite repulsive and he hoped that moving it out of the storage room would make breathing a little bit more pleasant.
While he was down there, Darren realized that his time in the silo was running out. He had to make the most of it and make sure he covered as much of the facility as he could before leaving. Could there be other things the whistleblower had wanted him to find?
The only way to do that, of course, was to get the real exploration started. He couldn’t stay in the storage room reading files and notebooks forever. There were surely just as many secrets to uncover and expose out in the rest of the tower.
Level three had several locked doors that had blocked out windows in the top third of them. He tested several handles first, not forcing anything that was locked. But the silo was dark and haunting. It wasn’t long before he began to get uneasy. There might be sensors in other places too. It was eating away at his mind because he didn’t want to miss one and trip an alarm. That’s what got him caught back in Pine Gap, after all.
Suddenly, exploring seemed like a bad idea. He would have to be more careful about where he went and what he explored. After all, if Darren accidentally alerted someone to his presence, there would no doubt be teams of security who would come in and capture him. He would never see Anna again. They would kill him for sure, and he would lose the love of his life. That would suck, so he decided not to try to bust the doors open. Instead, he walked up the stairs and started looking around a different corridor to see what else was there waiting to be found.
1896 Niagara Falls, USA
November 16, 1896
George Westinghouse Junior was an American entrepreneur and engineer based in Pennsylvania. He invented the railway air brake and was a pioneer of the electrical industry, gaining his first patent at the age of nineteen. Westinghouse saw the potential of using alternating currents in an electricity distribution system in the early 1880s and put all his resources into developing and marketing it, a move that put his business in direct competition with Edison’s direct current system.
In 1885, Westinghouse’s company had already installed dozens of alternating current lighting systems, and by the end of 1887, it had sixty-eight alternating current power stations compared to Edison’s 121 direct current stations. This competition in the late 1880s led to what has been called the War of Currents, with Thomas Edison and his company convincing the public that the high voltages used in AC distribution were unsafe. Edison even suggested a Westinghouse AC generator be used in the State of New York’s new electric chair.
And while Edison attacked from one side, Westinghouse also had to deal with an AC rival, the Thomson-Houston Electric Company, which bought out another competitor, the Brush Electric Company. Thomson-Houston was expanding its business while trying to avoid patent conflicts with Westinghouse, coming to agreements over lighting company territory, paying a royalty to use the Stanley transformer patent, and allowing Westinghouse to use their Sawyer-Man incandescent bulb patent. The war fizzled between Westinghouse and Houston, but Edison wasn’t so easily assuaged.
In 1890, the Edison company managed to arrange that the first electric chair was powered with a Westinghouse AC generator, forcing Westinghouse to try to block this move by hiring the best lawyer of the day to unsuccessfully defend William Kemmler, the first man scheduled to die in the chair. It was a bold move by the bitter and dangerous Edison but ultimately a failure. His gangster methods soon ostracized him from all his contemporaries, including Houston.
The War of Currents ended with financiers, such as J. P. Morgan, pushing Edison Electric toward AC and pushing out Thomas Edison. Publicly, the Current War ended in 1892 when the Edison Company was merged with the Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric, a conglomerate with the board of Thomson-Houston in control. But behind closed doors, the war raged on.
During this period after the public end of the War of Currents, Westinghouse continued to pour funds and engineering resources into the goal of building a completely integrated AC system, obtaining the Sawyer-Man lamp by buying Consolidated Electric Light, developing components such as an induction meter, and working with none other than Nikola Tesla.
“Are you sure this will work?” George Westinghouse asked.
“Yes,” Nikola Tesla replied for the twentieth time. He was growing impatient with the old man. He understood that George was in dire straits financially. The inventor wouldn’t yield success or failure. It would merely slow down the process.
“It’s just that the investors are worried about whether your ideas can translate into reality,” Westinghouse said.
“George, I don’t care what investors think,” Nikola said as he tightened the bolts on the lower braces of his device.
Westinghouse scoffed in surprise. “But they—”
“It will work,” Tesla said with finality.
“Morgan and the others—”
Tesla’s snort cut Westinghouse off. “Morgan can just sit back on his haunches and let the real innovators invent,” Tesla said bluntly, still incredibly bitter about the destruction of his lab over a year ago.
Westinghouse stopped pacing. “I’d be careful how I speak about Morgan if I were you.”
“I’m sure you would.”
Westinghouse momentarily gawked at Tesla, surprised that the man would dare speak about J. P. Morgan in such a calloused manner. He shook himself from his shock and sighed. “Is it ready yet?”
Tesla stood and wiped his hands on his trousers. He nodded. “Yes.”
“It is?” Westinghouse sounded shocked, and his face showed it.
“Shall I flip the switch?” Tesla asked with a grin.
“Yes, do it. We need to know if we’ve wasted our time and my money.”
Tesla shook his head. How could men like Westinghouse place a price on science and innovation? This was history in the making. He had hoped the old man would strike a more respectful tone, but alas, Tesla knew Westinghouse’s days of giddy excitement over the inventions of brilliant minds was long gone. He was a businessman through and through. The joy of creation was left to Nikola.
“Very well,” the inventor said and put his hand on the switch. “Three . . . Two . . . One . . .” He flipped it, completing the circuit.
Electricity exploded from the devices all around them. Bolts of energy whipped through the air, and Nikola’s hair shifted as though he were standing in the wind. He didn’t blink. He didn’t dare to, for fear of missing a single moment of his triumph. He hurried to the window of the shelter, threw it open, and leaned out to look at the falls.
Westinghouse joined him at his side and shouted over both the storm of electricity all around them and the torrent of water from the mighty Niagara River. “Is it working?”
“Wait for it!” Nikola hollered in return.
And then it happened. The turbines powered by Tesla’s machines whirred and chugged, and suddenly, as if it had always been like this, Niagara Falls began to flow uphill.
The two men cheered with loud and boyish glee. Victory was theirs. They had achieved the impossible. At midnight on November 16, 1896, the first power from the Niagara Falls generator reached Buffalo, New York.
Several days after the successful test of Tesla’s generator, Westinghouse invited the inventor over to his offices for a drink. He poured a cup of coffee and handed it to the man with a hearty proclamation. “Tesla, you’re a genius!” He clinked his glass against Tesla’s. “Everyone is abuzz with praise for your work at Niagara.”
Tesla raised his cup in a silent toast with a slight bow before sipping at the drink. “Thank you, George. This smells wonderful,” he said humbly.
Westinghouse chortled, “You’ve really sold people on alternating current. I dare say, you might have just settled the War of the Currents once and for all. If anyone doubts it after this, they’re either morons, stubborn, or getting their pockets lined by Tommy-boy.”
“Those aren’t mutually exclusive,” Tesla said, not intending to be humorous.
Westinghouse snickered. “No. No, they are not.”
Tesla stared into the dark, still steaming liquid in his cup as though waiting for it to reveal some hidden truth about his future. “Edison isn’t going to give up so easily,” he remarked.
“He already has!” Westinghouse boomed. “The War ended years ago. He’s been hiding with his tail tucked between his legs ever since. He’s attempted his subterfuge and bribery and even sent his gangster friends to rough up my people here and there, but he’s lost, Nikola! And this is the final nail in his coffin.”
Tesla stared into his drink a moment longer before sighing and finishing it. He knew Thomas better than anyone. He knew the man would never be deterred.
Westinghouse paused for an enjoyable drink of whiskey. “I have a proposal for you,” he said and sat beside Nikola.
Tesla sat up straighter in his armchair, curious. “What might that be?”
“I want
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