Alternating Current: A Tesla Novel (11 page)

Alex Gaye spent
much of the next day at the Tesla Museum, including several minutes staring at
the golden sphere that held the inventor’s ashes. Suddenly hundreds of thoughts
flooded his mind. What would the world be like if Tesla was never born? What if
alternating current didn’t exist, or the radio, or Teleforce? Would his father
still be alive? Alex realized he was being selfish. The world had benefited
tremendously from Tesla’s inventions.

“Excuse me, Sir. You
okay?” The young woman spoke Serbian.

Alex jumped

“Sorry, I no mean
to startle you.”

“What---oh---sorry,
I don’t understand.”

The woman spoke
English. “Oh, you Americano?”

“Well, not exact---

Alex thought about
telling the truth, that he defected from Russia, but thought better of it. “Yes,
I am American, from New York.”

“I speak very good
English---it is required to work here.”

“You work here?”

“Yes, I am
attendant. I noticed you stand here for long time so I ask if you okay.”

“Oh, yes, I’m
fine.”

“Why do you look
so long at ashes when there is much to see?”

“Just thinking.”

“About what, you can
tell me, I am attendant.”

“Well, for a
second I wondered what the world would be like if Tesla had never been born.”

“Why would you
think such a thing, the world would be terrible without Nikola Tesla. He is
responsible for so much.”

“Yes, I know; alternating
current and all that jazz.”

“You do not like
Tesla?”

“Listen---I’m
sorry, I didn’t ask your name.”

“Bojana, my name
is Bojana”

“That’s very
pretty, well listen, Bojana. It’s not that I don’t like Tesla, I just don’t
like what the world has become because of his inventions.”

“Oh my God, you
are Menshevik.”

“What? No, I’m not
a Menshevik; it’s just that---

“What about
inventions that help mankind---electricity, radio, x-rays?”

“Wait, maybe I
should start over---Hi, my name is Alex.”

Bojana smiled. “You
swear you are not Menshevik?”

“I swear.”

“And you are not
SDB or KGB?”

“No, I swear.”

“Then I will trust
you, Alex. Come with me.” Bojana took Alex’s hand and led him through a narrow
opening behind the curtained rear wall of the exhibit.

“Where are you
taking me?”

“Keep quiet, we no
supposed to be here.”

“Where are we?” Alex
whispered.

The dimly lit
corridor led to a small room with filing cabinets stretched across the back wall.
“Here is where they keep the papers.”

“Papers? What
papers?”

“Tesla’s papers, anything
no on display is in cabinets.”

Alex’s eyes grew
big. Could it be that easy? Could one of those cabinets hold the documents he
desperately needed? The same documents he had already paid ten-thousand-dollars
to obtain. “Can we look inside them?”

Bojana hesitated. “We
really shouldn’t.”

“Have you ever
looked in one of those cabinets?”

Again, she
hesitated.

“Did you ever come
across anything named “Teleforce” or anything about a Death Ray, or Mars?”

“I’m not certain,
most of the papers are diagrams and equations, although I do recall a drawing
of a planet, I’m not sure it was Mars.”

“Bojana, please,
it is very important, did you see anything with the word “Teleforce.”

“I don’t recall
seeing anything, but there are so many papers. We must go now, lunchtime.”

Alex stood frozen,
he thought about resisting then abruptly changed strategy. “Bojana may I take
you to lunch?”

“Oh, that would be
nice, follow me.”

Alex glanced at
the cabinets for another second, reluctant to move, then he followed Bojana
back to the exhibits area.

***

At lunch, Alex
asked Bojana several questions about the Tesla Museum. Does the building have
an alarm or a night watchman?”

“I believe there
is an alarm.” Bojana said.

“Guard dogs?”

“I don’t think
so.”

“What about
electronic trip beams, you know, lasers?”

“No silly, nothing
like that.”

“Good---do you
have a key to the building?”

“No. Hey, you’re
not thinking about breaking in---

“Not breaking in, I’m
more concerned with getting out.”

Bojana looked
perplexed.

Alex explained
that he wanted to hide in the room with the cabinets until the museum closed. Then
he could examine Tesla’s papers.

“But how will you
get out when you’re done.”

He took a gulp of
tea and swallowed hard. “I haven’t figured out that part.”

Bojana expressed
her reservations about the idea. “What if you are caught?”

“I’ll say I was
lost and stumbled into the room by accident. I’ll play dumb.”

“I’m not sure
you’d be playing.”

“What do you mean
by that?”

“The whole idea
sounds dumb to me.” Bojana finished the last of her tea.

“I’ll stay there
all night and you can let me out in the morning.”

“Do you really
think you will get away with it?”

“I have to try,
Bojana, I have been searching for years.”

“I know, Teleforce.”

“Yes, Teleforce. Will
you help me?”

Bojana hesitated. “You
swear you are not Menshevik?”

Alex smiled. “I
swear.”

Back at the Museum,
Alex took another tour. Bojana was his personal guide. He played the typical
tourist and was amazed by things he’d been astonished by before. Once they came
to the room with Tesla’s ashes, Alex leaned over and kissed Bojana on the
cheek. “I’ll see you in the morning,” he whispered, and then he disappeared
behind the curtain.

***

It had been thirty
minutes since Alex heard any sound. The elevator music coming from the overhead
speakers throughout the museum had stopped about the same time, and although he
didn’t actually hear the main doors closed and latched, he was reasonably sure
the building was deserted. He thought for a second about venturing out to the
exhibit area just to make sure, but the anticipation of what lay in those
cabinets took priority. He tiptoed over to the first cabinet and opened the top
drawer with caution. Packed with files, the green hanging folders were thick
with nicotine yellow paper. It was obvious by the newer hanging folders that
somebody had made some semblance of order among the papers. Alex only hoped
they didn’t do more harm than good when organizing the lot. He remembered the
way his father always took painstaking precautions not to mix up notes on
different projects. His father always said that a misplaced page could set a
project back months, if not years. Alex could only hope the organizer of
Tesla’s papers held that belief. He pulled the first folder from the cabinet
and moved closer to the lamplight.

The small label on
the front of the file had the following typed on it: “pa3aH” which Alex knew
meant “miscellaneous” in Serbian. He knew this because of the English
subheading typed below the Serbian heading. “This is great.” Alex spoke aloud,
and then thought better of it, just in case there was a night watchman or someone
else in the building. Still, he couldn’t help but think that whoever had
organized Tesla’s papers had probably made his job much easier. After all, all
he needed to do at this point is thumb through the folders and find the one
labeled “Teleforce.” Alex praised the file keeper.

The top drawer held
about one-hundred folders, all labeled “Miscellaneous.” As were all the folders
in the second drawer, and the third, and the bottom drawer as well. Alex opened
the top drawer of the second cabinet. More of the same. He skipped to the
fourth cabinet, second drawer. All “miscellaneous.” Sixth cabinet, third
drawer, the same. Alex pulled drawers out at random with the same result until
he came to the bottom drawer of the last cabinet. Frustrated, he yanked hard on
the drawer and the lone file inside coughed up its contents. Papers covered the
floor, and the lone green file-folder lay twisted upon the open drawer. There
wasn’t a label on it. Alex stood over the papers cursing under his breath, the
same person he had praised earlier.

On his hands and
knees, he gathered the papers together to return them to the folder. They were
pretty much as Bojana said; diagrams, drawings, and equations. Alex recognized
many of the schematic symbols from working with his father as a boy. The
drawings were definitely electrical; one was a radio-frequency oscillator, Alex
was certain, he had built one as a teenager. Although, the one Tesla had drawn
was much larger.

Alex gingerly
picked up the pages trying to return them to the folder all facing the same
way. He had given up on the thought of placing the pages in any kind of order. The
task grew tedious. Among the drawings and diagrams were also pages and pages of
rants. That’s the only way to describe them. Pages of commentary, ramblings, a
manifesto of sorts. Unfortunately, the pages were out of order; there was no
making any sense of it. Besides, there wasn’t enough time.

One page, however,
struck Alex as odd. Not electrical at all, the drawing was mostly molecules---clusters
of molecules---water.

Alex dropped the
folder to the floor.

Alex watched the
sheets of paper fan out around him on their way to the floor. Nonetheless, the
only one he cared about was still in his hand. For the first time in years,
Teleforce was no longer at the forefront of his mind. He thought back to his
conversation with Mika yesterday. She said that Tesla had grown to despise
electricity and that’s why he invented the water. Then she abruptly changed the
subject. Alex didn’t pay any attention to the remark at the time, but somehow
the paper in his hand made the remark resonate. He didn’t know what it was, but
he was certain it was important. He folded the page and placed it in his
pocket.

On his hands and
knees again, he placed the rest of the pages back into the folder without
regard to which way they faced. Anxious to return the folder to the drawer, he
thought he might find a way out of the museum, perhaps through a window or a
service entrance. Suddenly, he heard a loud voice shout,
“Loose pancakes in
stop shoulders
,
”
at least that’s what it sounded like. Then another
voice replied,
“go plastic to lunchbox state.”
They weren’t speaking
English. Alex picked up the remaining papers in a hurry, closed the cabinet
drawer ever so slowly, and returned to the shadowed part of the room. He stood
still, quiet, wondering. Who were these men? What were they doing here?

Alex’s imagination
ran wild. Had thieves broken into the museum? Perhaps they were Serbian Secret
Police or SDB as Bojana called them. Even worse, KGB. Either way, they would be
after Tesla’s papers and they would find him as well, and with American
credentials. Alex retrieved the gun from his coat pocket and waited.

He could hear the
men talking in another part of the museum, and then there was a loud humming
noise. It started in the distance, but grew louder as it approached. Alex knew
he had to move. He inched his way along the darkened corridor that led to the
room with Tesla’s ashes. The humming noise grew louder as he approached. His
plan was to emerge from the curtained wall and hurry to another section of the
museum where he would hide until Bojana arrived in the morning. It would be
easy enough, except for the loud humming noise fading in and out, taunting him.

Alex raised the
gun and carefully peeled back the curtain. Tesla’s ashes were still in place. Then
he saw what was making all the noise. He lowered his gun, stepped back from the
curtain and smiled. He placed the gun back in his coat pocket and then pulled
the curtain open wide, revealing himself to the short bald man vacuuming the
carpet. He had forgotten to ask Bojana about a cleaning crew.

The man nearly had
a heart attack; he dropped the vacuum and leaned over clutching his chest. Once
he had caught his breath, he started screaming something about,
“tulips in
ski modern.”
The other man came running over, feather duster in hand. He
also said something absurd,
“no do day de trespass.”

Alex just stared. He
had actually understood the last word the man said, however, he knew it would
be useless to try communicating with them.

Then the man said,
“You are Americano, no?”

Alex nodded, “Yes,
Americano---touristo, touristo.”

The man smiled. “What
you doing here? Museum closed.”

“Yes, I know. I
was in the lavatory---my stomach hurt---when I came out everyone was gone. Can
you let me out?”

The short bald man
seemed happy to oblige. He even grabbed the keys from his belt hook. “Not so
fast, Bruno. Maybe we should call police first.”

“Why would you
want to do that?” Alex placed his hand in his coat pocket. “C’mon this is all a
misunderstanding, I was sick in the lavatory.”

The taller man
glanced over to the open curtain. “Why were you behind curtain?”

“I was hiding; I
didn’t know who was out there. You could have been a burglar.”

“Burger, you are
scared of burger?” He turned to Bruno.
“Bruno, he dot see paste two
hamburger.”

Bruno chuckled.

“Not burger,
burglar---you know, robber, thief. You could have been thieves.”

The taller man
chuckled, too. “Maybe you are thief; I still think we call police.”

“Wait a minute, I
have a friend who will vouch for me, she works here; her name is Bojana?”

“You know Bojana?”
The taller man asked.

“Yes, I know
Bojana, we’re good friends. We had lunch together yesterday. Come to think of
it, that’s what made me sick.”

“We are talking
about same Bojana---tall blonde girl, big tits.

“Yes, the same
girl.”

“Why didn’t you
say so? Bruno, open door for this good man, he is friend of Bojana.”

Alex let go of the
pistol in his pocket and shook the tall man’s hand. He thanked him and then
followed Bruno to the exit.

***

The ten-minute
walk to Sava’s apartment was creepy in the early morning darkness. Alex walked
with both hands in his coat pockets, one on his gun, the other holding Tesla’s
paper.

The apartment door
was ajar and the lights were on. Alex doubted whether he had locked the door
before he left, but he was certain he hadn’t left any lights on. It was
mid-morning when he left and he hadn’t turned on any lights to leave on. He
drew the pistol from his coat pocket and nudged the door open. Three days ago,
when he opened that door a beautiful woman stood there, shortly thereafter, he
felt the butt end of a lamp against his head. He entered with caution.

The living room
was empty. Alex hugged the wall as he made his way to the kitchen, but stopped
before entering. He heard the shower running in the bathroom.

According to her
note, Mika wouldn’t return until noon. So who was taking a shower? Had that
nobody
who Mika said would never come looking for Sava finally shown up? Or perhaps
someone stumbled upon the unlocked apartment and decided to make himself at
home.

Alex entered the
bathroom with gun in hand. The steam made it hard to see, but noticeably
present on the floor was a neon pink thong. He moved closer to the shower until
he saw a woman’s silhouette behind the frosted glass door. He called out,
“Mika?”

“Alex, where have
you been, I’ve been worried sick.” She opened the shower door.

“Where have I
been? Where have you---

Alex stopped in midsentence.
Even with all the steam from the shower, the image was breathtaking.

“It doesn’t
matter. We can talk about it later. Would you mind washing my back?” Mika held
up a Loofah.

Alex placed the
gun down on the vanity, and then, still fully clothed with Loofah in hand, began
to wash Mika’s backside.

“It might be
easier if you got in the shower.” Mika smiled. “Unless you’re shy.”

“No, not shy, but
this is all kind of sudden. What happened to the rule about no back-washing?”

“That’s funny,
Alex. If you don’t hurry, there won’t be any sex, either.”

Alex dropped the
Loofah and ripped off his clothes.

***

Still breathing
hard, Alex lay in bed wondering, Mika still naked by his side.

“Where did you
go?” He finally asked.

“Assignment---I
can’t talk about it.”

“But your note
said you wanted to talk to me about something.”

“We just did.”

“What do you mean
we just did?” Alex propped up his pillow for a more serious discussion.

“We just had sex. I
didn’t want you to leave before we had sex. That’s why I put that in the note, is
that so bad?”

“You mean you made
me stay in town while you were off halfway around the world doing only God
knows what just so you could get laid?”

“Well, yes.”

“I guess I should
be flattered.”

“Nah, you weren’t
that good.” Mika smiled.

“Oh, really. Well,
I’ll try harder.”

***

Once again
breathing hard and staring at the ceiling, Alex didn’t dare speak.

Mika broke the
silence. “So, where were you all night?”

Alex was somewhat
caught off guard by her question. He had expected another critique of his
lovemaking skills. “I just hung out at that pub we went to the other day.” His
answer wasn’t very convincing; therefore, he decided to ask a few questions of
his own. “How come you’re back early? I thought you’re flight returned at
noon?”

“I finished my
assignment early and took an earlier flight.”

“The assignment
that you can’t tell me about?”

“Right.”

“Do you work for
the SDB?”

“Now, Alex, where
did you hear about the SDB?”

“It doesn’t
matter, is that who you work for?”

“No, the SDB is
defunct, has been for years.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

Alex changed the
subject. “I’m leaving in the morning.”

“Why, we’re just
starting to get along.” Mika had a puppy dog look on her face.

“Maybe, but I
can’t count on you. What happens when you leave and don’t come back and I never
see you again? I don’t think I could handle that.” Alex’s eyes welled up.

“Alex, darling, of
course you can count on me. I’ll never leave you.”

Alex’s show of
emotions obviously touched Mika. Had he fallen for her? And more importantly,
had she fallen for him? Either way, he needed reassurance. “Alex, I will tell
you something I have never told anyone before, this way you can trust me. Every
night at 1:30am Belgrade Time I get on the shortwave and call my grandfather in
Belize. It’s 7:30am there, I tell him good morning and let him know I am
alright. He waits for that call every morning. I never miss it. My handle is
Goldilocks and his is Beowulf.”

“Why are you
telling me this?”

“Because, if we
ever get separated and you don’t believe I’m coming back you can contact me on
the shortwave---your handle can be---

“I already have a
handle.”

“You do?”

“Yes, I’ve used a
shortwave radio since I was a small boy.”

“That’s great. What’s
your handle?”

“Do you promise
not to laugh?”

“I promise.”

“Spaceman, my
handle is Spaceman.”

Mika didn’t
laugh. “There it is settled. Now do you trust me?”

“Well, I guess
so.”

“Good, oh by the
way, the second time was fabulous.”

“The second time?
Oh, yeah, that’s good. So, then, what are we?”

“What are we? Alex,
I don’t understand.”

“What are we? Friends?
Lovers? What?”

“Alex, we are
friends and lovers?”

Alex sighed. “That’s
good to know. So since you’re being so open and honest you won’t mind telling
me about the water, right?”

“Water? What are
you talking about?”

“The other day we
were talking about how Tesla had grown to despise electricity. You said that’s
why he invented the water. I didn’t catch it at the time and you changed the
subject quick.”

“Alex what does
this have to do with Teleforce?”

“Probably
nothing.”

“Then why worry
about it.”

“Mika, friend,
lover, I need you to tell me about the water.”

“Alex, it won’t
help you, it has nothing to do with Teleforce.”

“I don’t care,
tell me.”

Mika hesitated. “All
I know is what Sava told me, I don’t even know if it’s true.”

“I don’t care if
it’s true or not, tell me about the water.”

Mika couldn’t
resist any longer. She told Alex everything she knew about Tesla Water. “According
to Sava, Nikola Tesla despised the way the American government and big
corporations profited from his inventions. Sava always said that Tesla was the
anti-capitalist. He envisioned a world abundant with “Bezplatna Struja.” Free
Electricity.

“With his
Wardenclyffe Project was scrapped, he was even more determined to provide the
world free energy. Wardenclyffe made him realize that the public would never go
for electricity traveling freely throughout the air. What he needed was
something the public would embrace, something as simple and as safe as a glass
of water. He experimented with D20 or heavy water and came up with a way to
charge the water, which made it combustible. According to Sava, Tesla’s
greatest invention was combustible water.”

Alex was
dumbfounded. “You mean combustible like gasoline or diesel?”

“Exactly.”

“He would put the
big oil companies out of business.”

Mika just nodded. “Sava
said that he searched his uncle’s room frantically for his notes before the OSS
arrived and seized everything.”

“But if the
Americans have the notes why haven’t they---?” Alex stopped. “I must go to the
Bahamas tomorrow.”

“No, Alex, don’t.”

“But there is
someone there who can help me, Sava told me so.”

“No Alex, there
isn’t.”

“Yes, Mika, there
is. Sava told me to find Doctor Armaly---Doctor Mike Armaly.”

“No, Alex. Doctor
Armaly can’t help you.”

“Sava said he
would.”

“He can’t”

“How do you know?”

“You wanted to
know about my assignment. He was my assignment. I killed him.”