Tesla - Jason Walker (readict books txt) 📗

Tesla stood at a train station in Los Alamos, New Mexico, waiting for his ride. He was an old man now; he’d just turned eighty. Russia had never responded to his request to fund his project, and Tesla now feared that they would take his ideas and use them for their own research without ever paying for or even crediting him. Humiliation over the incident had crushed him, much like his humiliation and destruction at the hands of Edison, Morgan, and Westinghouse. All that business had worn him down. There were many bad apples out there who didn’t want humanity to evolve, he’d concluded.

Nikola had aged greatly in the short year since he had first started communicating with the Russians. His hair, dishevelled and suffering from poor care, contained more than a few streaks of grey; dark bags had formed under his eyes, and his eyes themselves had grown hollow. The spark of his creativity had faded. He walked slowly, as though something had drained all the energy out of him. Even his surviving friends hardly recognized the once vibrant, eccentric man.

A black 1933 Chevrolet Eagle Sedan pulled up in front of Tesla. This was usually a family vehicle, so Tesla was surprised to see only one person in the entire car: an older gentleman with greyer hair than his, wearing a nice but simple black suit. He exited the vehicle and smiled. “Nikola?” the man asked politely

“Yes?”

“Good to see you again, my friend,” the driver said in a thick German accent.

“Otto,” Tesla gasped. “I didn’t recognize you, my friend.”

“Nor I you.” Otto smiled and shook Tesla’s hand vigorously. He gestured to the single bag at Tesla’s heels. “May I help you with your luggage?

“No, I can manage,” Tesla said and picked up his bag.

Otto Schmidt waited for Tesla to load his belongings into the car’s trunk and slide into the passenger seat. “How have you been?” Schmidt asked as he started the car. They pulled away from the station.

“I’ve been better.”

“Haven’t vee all?” Otto chuckled sadly.

“Yes we . . . well I, certainly have.”

“I’m sure your luck vill turn around soon.”

Tesla’s moustache bristled as he huffed. “I’ve told myself that for a long time, Otto. It has yet to prove true.”

“Don’t lose faith.”

Tesla fell into silence, which continued for the entire drive to their hotel. Schmidt thought nothing of the man’s reverie, knowing well that Tesla preferred the company of his own thoughts to the chatter of other people. When they reached the hotel, Schmidt helped Tesla take his bag up to his room.

“Vee all meet in zee socializing area in a couple of hours, ya?” Schmidt said as Tesla set his suitcase on the bed. “Until then, relax. Get settled. You know which room is mine if you need anything.”

“Thank you, Otto,” Tesla said, and he could hear how tired he sounded.

Schmidt waited a moment, perhaps hoping that Tesla would ask him to stay and keep him company, but he did not, and the German scientist set out for his own room.

Two hours later, in the early evening, Tesla headed downstairs to the socializing area. There were several men and a few women all in suits and dresses speaking in low, thoughtful tones. There was a quiet calm to the gathering.

Across the room, Schmidt spotted Nikola and waved him over to where he sat with several other men. “Nikola,” Schmidt said jovially, causing the other men to turn to Tesla. “So glad you’re able to join us.”

Tesla gave Schmidt a closed-lip smile and nodded but didn’t say anything in return. He took a seat next to Schmidt. When he finally looked up, Tesla found himself staring directly at a very familiar face.

“Hello, Mr Tesla,” the young man smiled.

“Werner. Good to see you,” Tesla said, and he meant it.

The aerospace engineer, Werner Von Braun, only twenty-four years old, bowed his head respectfully to the eighty-year-old inventor. “You as well, Mr Tesla.”

Schmidt interjected enthusiastically, “Nikola, we were just discussing your new project for rocket propulsion and design. We were hoping that you could elaborate on it for us.”

Tesla looked at the men and women staring at him, but his gaze returned to the young and eager face of Von Braun. “Of course.”

Yet, as Tesla detailed some of his ideas and designs for the brilliant men and women gathered around him, his eyes and mind continued to find the prodigy sitting across from him. He didn’t know why, but Tesla trusted something about Von Braun, and he felt that the young man had the greatest potential of any of the next generation’s scientists whom Tesla had met so far.

Werner started talking about the Russian rocket scientist named Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, who in 1903 started a massive conversation about space travel and engineering rockets that would take them to other planets and moons around the solar system. Tesla was quite interested in talking about space travel and the problems that they might face when designing rockets according to Tsiolkovsky’s concepts.

It would be the first conversation of many yet to come.

Tesla was three months into the management of a two-year project for the Germans. He was working with several German scientists, including Werner Von Braun. He had mixed feelings about the project, considering the animosity with which the United States had portrayed the Germans back during the Great War.

However, he justified his actions by reminding himself that these technological developments he was working on for the Germans had first been offered to the Americans in 1914 and were utterly ignored. That had launched his relationship with Germany in the first place and had led to him selling propulsion technology designs to one of Germany’s naval ministries, and Tesla saw no problem with continuing this working relationship with the country that welcomed him and his ideas.

Tesla approached Werner at his workstation. The young man worked with such focus. Tesla remembered a time when he had worked with the same diamond-sharp mind.

“How is everything? Good, sir?” he asked as he looked over the young man’s work. He watched his hands move swiftly as he tightened a portion of his device.

“We’re progressing according to schedule, Mr Tesla,” Von Braun replied.

“Very good.” Tesla cleared his throat. “Mr Von Braun—Werner—if you don’t mind me picking your brain, I would like to run an idea by you.”

Werner set down his work and gave his full attention to the octogenarian. He had nothing but the utmost respect for the brilliant man. “Of course, sir.”

Tesla was struck by one of Von Braun’s rings. “Firstly, what is that?” Tesla said, admiring the ring.

“This?” Werner asked, twisting the ring on his finger. “This is a symbol of Thule, sir.”

“Ah, the secret ones.” Tesla chuckled knowingly. Once upon a time, the Thule society had attempted to recruit Nikola, but he had never wanted any part of any secret society. He had declined, and it was one of the few organizations that had attempted to recruit him that had respectfully taken no for an answer and never contacted him again. Now, he admired the golden ring on his protege’s hand.

“The founder gave me a telescope when I was young. That sort of launched my whole fascination with space. So, I wear this in honour of that.”

Tesla smiled and held up a finger, gesturing for the boy to wait a moment. He went to his desk a short distance away, retrieved his notebook, and returned with it. He flipped through its pages until he found what he was looking for. He held it out for Werner to see.

“What’s this?” Von Braun asked with a curious smile.

“It’s an idea for a new propulsion technique that doesn’t rely on rocket fuel,” Tesla began. Curiosity shone in Von Braun’s eyes and encouraged Nikola to continue. “Instead, the rocket can be powered by an energy beam directed from the ground. This beam of energy will stay on the rocket and the rocket will go wherever the energy beam takes it.”

“No hard rocket fuel at all?”

Tesla shook his head.

“Fascinating,” Werner said. “So, no need to refuel. It can just be launched and directed as needed using this energy beam?”

“Essentially, yes. And there is no negative environmental impact,” Tesla said proudly.

“So, if they could control the energy beam remotely, the operators could direct the rocket at any country in the world? Could it be used on missiles, do you think?”

Tesla blinked. He didn’t appreciate that this was the first thought the young man had. He eyed Von Braun suspiciously for a moment but eventually nodded. “Yes, I suppose so, but don’t be limited to Earth. Think about what this could do for space travel. We could push ourselves further out into space with this technology quite easily.”

The German prodigy leaned over the notebook to inspect the plans and design more closely. “This is brilliant, Mr Tesla.”

Tesla grinned, his ego having been stroked by Von Braun’s compliment. “Thank you, Werner. I was hoping you would approve. Do you have any other thoughts on it—like how it could be improved?”

Flattered, Von Braun blushed slightly. “I’m not sure. Let us take a look.”

“Okay.”

Werner looked into Tesla’s face and smiled. Nikola smiled in return. The boy had such curiosity in him. And then Nikola saw it. Werner also had