by Mark Lingane
“Well,” Isaac said, “will it be dangerous, involving possible disaster and bodily harm? Deep trouble that could land us in jail for the rest of our lives?”
“Probably.”
“Cool. Let’s do it.”
“We’ll meet up when it’s dark.”
The light was fading as the day drew to an end. The clouds had kept the evening cool and gloomy, and the rain had been a relief against the humidity. Nikola sat behind his large desk, still surrounded by piles of books.
“Are you feeling better?” he asked, when Sebastian walked in.
Sebastian nodded.
“Where did you go?”
“Nowhere.”
“Fair enough. It’s been a tough time. Look, with Gavin facing down the GSFB, I saw you up behind Gavin on the dish ledge. And I saw where the beast was looking, even when no one else did. And you were out by the gate when he faced down the cyborg. But, those events are a long way from floating a screw in the air.”
“Ever since the cyborgs turned up in Talinga, I’ve been able to do something, send out something, a kind of energy that seems to confuse or disable them. It got stronger when I got here.”
“Interesting. What does Albert think?”
“I can detect the flow of electrons, as most teslas should be able to do. But this is more. I can send out an electromagnetic wave, but only if there’s a nearby power source. Most of the time it’s them, the cyborgs, that are the power source.”
“So you’re using their own power against them?”
“I think so. But I need to be near another kind of power source to confirm it.”
“There’s nothing in the library that documents this. I’ve found some information explaining the same effect, but from different things, and nothing like this from an individual person.”
“So is the electromagnetic-wave thing right?”
“All I can do is make assumptions from observations. I think you’re partly correct, but you’re more than what you describe. You’re a source of power, a radioactive generator. I was able to pick up a strong reading from you when we first met with my Geiger counter. You emit a force strong enough for those who spend too long with you to become sick.”
“But I spend a lot of time with Melanie.”
“At the same time, sometimes radioactivity can cure some people of particular sicknesses. In the same way that you made your mother sick, you cured Melanie. It’s an interesting curse. How far has Albert taken you with the controlling of electrons?”
Sebastian looked around the room. Several metal bars and two swords stood resting against the corner of the room. He got up and retrieved the smaller sword. He held it in his hands and memorized its weight and the way it moved in his hands. He swung it through the air. He dropped the sword and it clattered to the ground. He stood there motionless, with his eyes closed.
After a minute, Nikola said, “Are you planning on doing anything?”
“I’ve duplicated the sword.”
“I can’t see it.”
“It’s made up of particles.”
“That’s not possible.” Nikola reached into the empty space in front of him. “Ow.” He shook his hand. Blood was dripping from his finger. “No. That’s impossible.”
“It’s possible because of those ideas Albert’s been telling me.”
“Are you saying it’s made up of electricity?”
“Something like that. I’m transmitting the electrical currents from the molecules in the sword to the air in front of me. It’s no different to the way the tesla towers transmit electricity through the air.”
“Yes, with a machine. But you are willing it. It’s teleportation.”
The sword crumbed to dust and disappeared. Nikola stared at it. “I guess if atoms aren’t being bound together by the electrons they drift apart.” He faced Sebastian. Who was still pretending to hold the sword. “You have a handful of energy.”
“What?”
“The energy you’re using to create your air sword has been taken from the real sword. The real sword no longer exists. So where will the energy go when you stop concentrating?”
Sebastian shrugged. He moved close to the metal bars in the corner and a huge spark arced from his hands, earthing on the largest of the bars. The electricity discharged with a loud clap and Sebastian was thrown across the room against the far wall. He got up, dazed. His hair was standing on end, smoking lightly.
He brushed himself down. “I planned to do that.”
“You may have to learn to control that. Are you okay?”
Sebastian was massaging his head. “It hurts when there’s electrical current around. There wasn’t much, so it’s just a minor ache.”
“What else can you do it to?”
“Screws. We haven’t actually tested it that much. More like just examined the theory.”
“There’s no fun in that. Sit and try this.” Nikola placed some paper on the table.
Sebastian took a seat and concentrated, but the paper remained untouched. Nikola placed an apple on the table. Again nothing happened.
“It only works on metal,” Sebastian said.
“No, it doesn’t. You just demonstrated the transfer to me using air.”
“No, I transferred from iron to air.”
“How can that make a difference? Everything has electrons. I think you need to get stronger at it. And that’s something I don’t know …” He was lost in thought for a moment. He snapped his fingers. “You need power. Come.”
Nikola dragged Sebastian down the stairs and into the city square. They entered the low stone building and made their way into the darkness.
“You didn’t close the door behind us,” Sebastian said.
“This is more important.” Nikola grabbed a lantern, set it alight and continued descending the stairs.
The ruins of the tunnel to the first turbine lay to the right. They took the left and went further into the depths of the city. The stairs opened out into a huge antechamber, with a roof three stories high. The sound of rushing water filled the space. Nikola pulled down on a large lever. Sebastian sniffed, smelling gas, as the chamber filled with hissing.
When it finished, Nikola placed the lantern in a small alcove by the entrance. The flame flickered then grew in size, highlighting a narrow channel that wound around the cavern. It bathed everything in the cavern in a dull golden glow.
“Turbine B,” Nikola said above the roar of the water.
The river roared past at an impressive pace. The huge blades groaned under the unrelenting battering of the turbulent waves. Fixed further along the river in a large metal cage was a series of small gray boxes. The occasional small spark of electricity could be seen jumping from several gray batteries onto the cage structure.
Nikola signaled for them to go over. Mounted on the front of the metal bars that secured the batteries in place was a series of large dials. All were pointing to the right.
“They’re at maximum capacity. Can you feel the power? I certainly can and I’m not a tesla.”
Sebastian nodded.
Nikola withdrew the apple from his pocket. “This is living material. Theoretically it should be the hardest to alter. But it’s small. See if you can move the electron pattern into my other hand.” He held out his hand with the palm open.
Sebastian could feel the power. It lifted him, filled him with a sense of joy and wonder, and renewed him from moment to moment. He felt anything was possible and he was invincible. He focused his mind.
Behind him was the blazing inferno of extreme light that was the battery store. In front, he could see the outline of everything, near and far. He focused on the apple. Its weight was immeasurable. It was so heavy and so concentrated he felt like his body was being pushed into the ground.
Nikola’s expression changed from expectation to amazement. He wrapped his hand around the invisible apple. He could feel it, its firmness. He held it to his nose and sniffed.
“No smell,” he said. He
held it to his mouth and slowly bit into it. Something crunched.
He looked back at the test apple. It was still there, whole.
He spat the piece out of his mouth. “I assume that shows that it doesn’t matter where the electrons go. You could, in essence, convert the electron apple into any shape you wanted as long as you used the same number of electrons.”
The test apple dissolved into dust. A look of panic spread over Nikola’s face as he realized he was the one with a handful of energy. He threw it in the air just as Sebastian stopped concentrating. There was a loud zap as the electrons earthed into both of them.
“That may be something you can work on,” Nikola said. “See if you can absorb the power or something.”
“Why didn’t that hurt? Why is this electricity different?”
“I have no idea, but the power in the batteries is being generated by the turbine. It’s renewable energy. The cyborgs use radioactivity, sort of in the same way that you do, but it decays.”
Nikola suddenly pulled himself up, looking worried. “Think of it this way. This is positive,” he said, placing his hand on the cage. Electricity jumped from it onto his hand. “Ow!” He looked at Sebastian. “And you are negative. It’s like opposing magnets. You attract each other and the power flows, making you stronger. With the radioactivity, it’s like two positives or negatives. It’s conflict, a death match, where one of you will be repelled.”
“Let’s go.” Sebastian took a step forward, but his foot failed to meet the ground. He toppled forward into Nikola’s arms, revealing the dials behind him. They had dropped to nearly half.
Nikola fetched the lantern out of the alcove and the cavern went dark. He pulled the lever, and the vague smell of gas filled the air.
They made their way up the stairs until they emerged into the early night. The remains of the buildings surrounding the square had their lights on, making it look like a fairyland.
“You’ve given me a lot to think about,” Nikola told Sebastian. He ran his palm over his stubble. After a thoughtful moment he said, “Best if you don’t tell anyone you can do that. Not yet, anyway.”
And you’ve given me much to think about, too, Sebastian thought.
A soldier ran over and handed a silver disk to Nikola. He saluted and ran off. Sebastian craned to see what the disk was.
“I’ve been summoned,” Nikola said. “Number Two’s granted me a meeting.” He slipped the disk into his pocket.
“Has anyone ever met Number Two?” Sebastian asked.
“You have to be very special to have that honor.”
“Are you?”
Nikola smiled. “Everybody’s special,” he said as he strode across the square.
Sebastian watched him go, closely observing where he went. Nikola disappeared into the administration building. Sebastian watched and waited. On the fourth floor, one of the lights went dark as a curtain was drawn in front of it.
Fourth floor, thought Sebastian. Maybe that’s where Number Two is. So what’s on five and six?
@redFive shied away from the explosion of sparks in the Tinto steel facility. They rained in a continual waterfall of light, scattering out once they hit the floor. The teams were working around the clock to complete the construction. Every level of the five-story facility was alive with industry as each machine was driven to its breaking point. Molten steel poured from the furnaces down the channels into the fabrication area. The pounding of giant hammers against the cooling metal was deafening.
“Is it go?” @redFive said.
“Not yet,” replied the foreman cyborg.
“Make it fast.fast. Iris waits.”
His eyes followed the structure high into the air. The scale of the machine dwarfed the surrounding steelworks, each enormous black panel taking the considerable strength of a dozen cyborgs to lift it into place.
“Does it have name?”
“Iris say Behemoth.”
@redFive nodded. “Good name.”
“When is it ready?”
“Soon.”
“I need it now.”
The foreman cyborg smiled. “Not.not. But I got something else.”
It was dark. Sebastian had found black clothing that didn’t smell too bad, and had suited up for the expedition. He met Isaac by the ruins of the tesla school.
“What on earth are you wearing?”
“Camouflage clothing,” Isaac said. “A man of the city knows these things.”
“You know we’re going into a building, not hiding in a forest?”
“Yes.”
“You probably don’t need the branches or leaves. Or the owl sitting on your head.”
“It took me ages to get this disguise together.”
“I promise if we ever need to sneak into a forest somewhere, you’ll be the first person I take.”
Reluctantly, Isaac removed his supplementary disguise layers and dumped them on the ground.
They made their way through the quiet streets. Most of the street lanterns were out, leaving the alleyways dark and claustrophobic. Isaac kept closely in step behind Sebastian, trying not to look too worried.
“I’m surprised you’re still here,” Sebastian whispered, as they waited at an intersection for a slow-moving guard to wander by.
“I sent word, but the communication lines were badly damaged. I only heard that my parents were on their way yesterday. But it’s a long way to come, especially without the express train, so I’m stuck for a week or more.”
“I thought they would’ve fixed the train by now.”
“Who knows what’s been going on in the outside world? It’s been so intense here over the last few months it’s easy to forget that there is an outside. Do you think those cyborgs have been attacking other places?”
“I hope not,” Sebastian said. “That would mean there are a lot of them. Shh, there’s the building.”
As they approached the city square, the tower loomed over them. Sebastian had been in it dozens of times, but he still had little understanding of what went on inside other than on the floors he had visited. Tonight that would change. Isaac gulped nervously.
Sebastian checked to see if anyone was nearby, then they walked quickly over to the tower.
He stepped in close to Isaac and lowered his voice. “You stay out in front of the room and keep watch. If anyone comes, make some kind of noise.”
“Like an owl?”
“What’s with this forest obsession?”
“There’s no obsession. I like owls.”
“Do you see many owls?”
“It’s not the season,” Isaac replied indignantly.
“There’s no owl season. They come out at night. Have you ever been outside a city? Just cough or something.”
Isaac gasped. “I’ve never been in the Potenza tower. It’s kind of like seeing the principal, but worse. This is serious stuff.”
“There’s nothing to worry about. Just follow me.”
Sebastian opened the front door and they crept in. Heavy rain had fallen through the holes in the roof and flooded down the narrow, twisting staircase, adding slipperiness to the list of dangers. They tiptoed their way up. The first two levels were dark and quiet, with the doors shut and fastened with large locks.
A soft glow came from the third story. The door was partially open. Sebastian spied Nikola behind his desk transcribing away. Nikola took a sip from his mug and kept writing.
Isaac, distracted by the lights outside the window, bumped into Sebastian. He gasped. Sebastian held his finger to his lips, signifying that Isaac should keep quiet or risk being thrown out the window.
Nikola glanced up, but continued on with his work. They heard his pen scratching across the paper.
Sebastian continued up the next flight of stairs. A few steps before the door, he turned to Isaac. “Stay here and keep your eyes open,” he whispered.
Isaac nodded. He leaped into the position of a crouching tiger before overbalancing and knocking against the wa
ll.
“Quietly!” Sebastian hissed.
“Sorry.”
Sebastian examined the lock on the door. He cleared his mind and focused on the mechanism. He felt the weight and alignment of the cogs, and concentrated. They slowly turned, and with the most delicate of clicks, the lock opened. He eased open the door and crept in.
Inside was a room of luxury. Heavy tapestries covered the walls. The furniture was soft in both comfort and touch, and covered in deep, rich colors. A lantern was positioned on a large old desk. The chair behind it towered high and had some crazed head engraved on the back. He sat in it and was surprised to find a thick cushion, which was high enough to make his knees hit the underside of the desk. The light from the lantern increased in intensity as he twisted the small knob to the accompaniment of a barely perceptible hiss of gas.
Sebastian tried the desk drawers, but they were locked. His gaze drifted up and he noticed one of the tapestries sitting awkwardly. He went over to examine it. He pulled back the thick material and was surprised to see an alcove. Thick wooden shelves bolted to the wall supported hundreds of files.
He opened up the first file. It had an alphabetical list of people on the front page. He took an educated guess as to where he might be found among them, and picked out some of the folders. He quickly narrowed it to the spot where he should be. He wasn’t there.
He searched through the folders on either side to see if there had been a filing error. It revealed no further clues. He put the folders away. He was about to step out and go back to the desk when a red folder at the back of the alcove caught his attention. It was much slimmer than the others. On the cover was written PERSONS OF INTEREST.
He opened it up. Page one had Joshua Richards. Sebastian’s mind flicked back to the statue out in the square. They said Joshua changed everything. Everyone had been in a dream and Joshua had woken them up. He stood against the technology and created a new path for civilization. He created the Steam Academy. It was because of Joshua that humankind had survived.
Sebastian finished reading the page, but that was where the information on Joshua ended. He recognized several names from the history lessons at school as he flicked through the pages. Compared to the others, the last page was new. On the top of the page was his name.