Tesla Evolution Box Set

by Mark Lingane

  Everyone milled around, casually completing various tasks, but generally just shouting at each other. No one went into the abandoned buildings.

  “I’m sure he was just trying to freak you out,” Peter said. “Who believes in ghosts anyway? Look, would you at least come out of the bathroom? Other people need to use it.”

  “There are bathrooms in the other haunted buildings. They can use them,” she shouted through the door.

  “This is the only one that works.” He knocked on the door. “Come on. We’ll get a big fire going. Sing some songs. Tell some ghos—er, funny stories. It’ll be okay. I’ll protect you.”

  The silence continued.

  “There are spiders in there as well, under the seat.”

  There was a flush and Melanie emerged from the tiny cubical. She gave him a look of disdain as she passed.

  “Did you take your shoes off?” Peter asked as the odor wafted over him.

  She hit him.

  As with all teenagers, Sebastian sat down and waited for the adults to do everything. He drew abstract figures in the sand with a large stick.

  After a while, Peter sat down beside him. “How are you holding up?”

  Sebastian sighed. “My mom, she was my head and my heart. She was the space in between. I feel so lost without her in the world. Forever, it seemed like everything I did was about getting her back.”

  “You know, I lost my mom too. I think I was about the same age as you. I’ve still got my dad, but he and I don’t talk much. He’s not much of a dad to me anymore.”

  “Does the pain ever go?”

  “The pain, yes. The feeling of loss, not so much. I still remember my mom every day. Even with, you know …” he said, indicating Melanie with his stick. “She’s a revelation to me.”

  “Be careful with her. She’s my friend. She traveled with me to get my mom back, and she paid a big price for that.”

  “Don’t worry about Melanie.” Peter glanced over at where she was getting tangled in tent rope. “I have a long future planned for us. Anyway, you need to think about yourself for a while.”

  “I’m not sure how I feel. Over the years, I felt I’d lost my mom heaps of times, starting all the way back in Talinga when she got ill and the doctor came and took her away. But, there was always hope, and seeing her being lowered into the grave … it was so final. It was the shutting of the door, the finishing of the chapter, the closing of the curtain.”

  “Unless she comes back as a zombie, of course.”

  Sebastian gave a weak laugh. “I think I’d put up with that if it brought her back.”

  “Be careful what you wish for. You’re doing all right, Sebastian. Better than I did. You’re brave, not in a teenage way, but in a proper way. In here.” Peter indicated his heart beating strongly in his chest.

  He glanced back at Melanie, who was now kicking her bike. “One thing I’ve learned is to be true to who you are and what’s inside.” Again, he banged his fist against his chest. “It gets you through everything.”

  There was a commotion near the SUVs, and Peter gave Sebastian a friendly slap on the shoulder. “Let’s go help Albert,” he said. “We hid the instructions for the tent and it looks like he’s built it upside down. And inside out. If we don’t hurry, he might set it on fire.”

  They gave each other a smile and stood up to go help the physics genius with his struggle. Albert was beginning to shout at various pieces of fabric and metal poles. They were able to put out the fire before too much damage was done.

  26

  MELANIE HAD SHOT far too many rabbits and they were having a feast.

  “I think you enjoy hunting way too much,” Parker told her. “You’re deft with the old bow and arrow, though. I won’t be hungry after eating this game. We won’t need any more rabbits, either. For days, possibly months.”

  “It’s better than shooting them with a gun,” Melanie replied through a mouthful of food. She swallowed. “The bullets get stuck in your teeth. And you can spend all day chasing them with a sword and only catch half a dozen.”

  Peter coughed. “Something that’s been intriguing me since I met you, Sebastian …”

  Sebastian was caught by surprise, mid-chew. He sat there, eyes wide, not knowing what to expect.

  “I’ve seen you do some pretty amazing things with metal. Is that common for teslas?”

  Albert spoke up. “Nein. Sebastian is unique, to our knowledge. He has tesla powers stronger than all the others by a significant margin.”

  “Wait a minute,” Michael said. “Why can he only draw power from metallic objects?”

  “Ferro-electricity,” Albert replied.

  “Obviously, but what about para-electricity?”

  “What’s that?” Sebastian whispered to Albert.

  “Para-electricity is when non-iron materials become polarized under an applied electric field,” Michael said. “Polarization under ferro-electricity will always require a permanent electric dipole otherwise the polarization will return to the preexisting state, but—this is the exciting bit--not with para. And I quote: the mechanisms that cause para-electric behavior,” he said, ticking them off on his fingers, “are the distortion of individual ions, displacement of the electron cloud from the nucleus, and polarization of molecules or combinations of ions or defects.”4

  He made a grand gesture that seemed to take in the universe in general. “Everyone knows that.”

  Everyone sat in surprised silence.

  Albert was the first to speak up. “And vat good vould that do?”

  Michael shrugged. “Sebastian could freeze things. Bend light.”

  “But experimentation has demonstrated he needs a power source.”

  “And clean power at that, otherwise it hurts me,” Sebastian added quickly, looking for some sympathy, not to mention respite from all the jargon.

  “Why? There’s power everywhere.” Michael waved his arms around the room. “Every single atom in the whole universe has a charge.”

  “But it hurts, like heaps,” Sebastian muttered; his plea was lost in the collective stream of consciousness. “Blood everywhere.”

  “But that vill destroy vatever he draws the power from.”

  Michael nodded. “That’s why there are some things we shouldn’t play with. That’s why I didn’t go to the Academy—that and the lack of girls. Far more girls are involved when you’re saving an injured cat. Stupid, insipid creatures, falling into the first trap they find.”

  Sebastian frowned. “Are you talking about the cats?”

  “Of course. Put them in a box with some radiation and hope for the best.”

  “You told me you could’ve gone to the Academy, when we were running away from the cyborgs. Remember that?”

  Michael rubbed his leg. “I don’t think I’ll forget anytime soon.”

  “It seems so long ago.” The firelight danced in Sebastian’s eyes. “Thinking back, the cyborgs seemed to be such an unstoppable force. But it turns out that although we were losing for centuries, in the end we won.”

  “Thanks to you, Sebastian,” Melanie said, giving him a pat on his head. “And your efforts, which were my idea.”

  Nikola looked at Melanie. “Do we blame you then for the cyborgs’ complete annihilation?”

  “If it stops you blaming Sebastian, then yes.”

  “I still remember when they came to Talinga, and you stopped them all dead,” Michael said to Sebastian. “Never seen anything like it.”

  “No wonder they wanted you dead,” Peter said. He flicked small stones on the ground. “I’ve seen you do other things, like with that giant spider. What did you do to the cyborgs?”

  “He shorted out the circuit boards on the cyborgs, and that made him a threat,” Nikola said.

  “Excuse me, but the reason he can immobilize the cyborgs is because of capacitor dielectric,” Michael said. “Nothing else. The electron transfer is simply partial electrolysis.”

  “I stand corrected by Michael, fr
om the town of Pedantria,” Nikola replied wryly.

  “How do you know all this stuff?” Sebastian asked Michael.

  “Told you I could’ve gone to the Academy.”

  27

  “I NEED TO go find a bathroom,” Sebastian said.

  “You should’ve gone before we left, when we asked,” Peter said.

  “I didn’t want to go then.”

  “You can use the one Melanie was in.”

  “How long’s it been since she left?”

  “Maybe an hour.”

  Sebastian looked hesitantly in the direction of the outside bathroom. “I think I’ll use the bushes.”

  He wandered off, looking for a suitable place, and the voices from the group floated over to him. He yawned, rubbed his eyes, and looked around. He was behind a house that had a sheltered corner. It was dark. He walked over to it.

  And continued to walk.

  A minute later, he still hadn’t got to the corner. He reached out to touch the point where the wall joined. It was just out of his reach.

  He felt amazingly tired and yawned again. He stepped forward. He still couldn’t reach the wall. He blinked the weariness out of his eyes and continued to walk. The walls wrapped around him. He looked on all sides, but he could see only walls. Above him, the stars shone brightly in the cold and cloudless night air.

  He kept walking and found himself in a field. He scratched his head and looked behind him. He faced forward again. The grassy plain stretched off to an infinite horizon. He felt so tired, even his hair felt heavy. Sebastian fought against sleep, but it weighed upon him like a lead blanket.

  He sagged to his knees and collapsed to the ground …

  … and landed on his feet on a soft and spongy surface.

  “Where am I?” he whispered. He peered around, looking for anything recognizable.

  “You’re where you’ve always been,” replied a voice on the wind.

  A figure appeared before him. It was made up of images from his memory. People, times, and places flicked by rapidly on a body that was no more than fog. The images came and went, but left an impression of an old lady.

  “Have we met before?”

  “Yes and no,” she replied. “Where we are, time doesn’t work in the way you understand it.”

  “Is that why my memories on you are appearing all out of order?”

  The memories in the shape on the old woman’s head nodded.

  “I think I remember you. I also think I’ve never met you. And that’s making my head feel very weird. Why am I here?”

  “We needed to talk. Here is the best place.”

  Sebastian looked around. He was standing on a plain so vast he felt like his eyes were being ripped out of his head just looking at it.

  “Don’t look at the horizon for too long.”

  “Why? Will I see the reflections of my own soul paraded before me, with the realization that eternal judgment is internal?”

  “No. It will make you dizzy. You might fall over and hurt your knee. This ground is deceptive.”

  “What is it?” He kicked at the ground with his foot. His foot disappeared and kicked him in the back of the head. He turned around but saw only his shadow, which kicked him in the shins. He bent over with the pain, but then realized it didn’t hurt.

  “It’s many things, majorly uncomfortable being one of them,” she said.

  “You’re not being very mystic.”

  “Who says I’m a mystic? I’m merely a representative of … something else.”

  Sebastian gave her a look of dissatisfaction.

  “Oh, all right,” she said. “This plain represents time as seen through your mind. It represents the thoughts and purity of your own existence. That’s why there’s nothing in it.”

  “Because it’s pure?” he said.

  “No, because it’s empty. You need to think more.”

  “You’re very flippant for a representative.”

  “That’s the universal irony kicking in. It does that when I bring bad news.”

  “Are you being very ironic, or just a little bit?”

  “Right off the scale.”

  “Oh. Okay. What’s the bad news?”

  “You’re going to die.”

  “Aren’t we all?”

  “Yes. But I’m going to tell you when.”

  “Now?”

  “You won’t die now.”

  “No. Are you going to tell me now?”

  “If you keep asking questions, you will die now. You’re going to save the universe. The Omegas are ripping apart the planet. Eventually, it will explode. That will unbalance the solar system, sending planets out into other solar systems and unbalancing those. There will be a chain reaction across the entire universe, causing it to implode. The dance of the universe will end for good. Unless you die.”

  “I’m not liking my options.”

  “I’m sorry for you,” she said. “But not as much as I’m sorry for the universe. You must end the Omegas.”

  “Why me?”

  “You’re the only one that can. You’re a mega-tesla, the first and the last. You will learn how to end Omega and it will involve your death.”

  “Are you absolutely sure no one else can do this? Because, I’m pretty certain there are other mega-teslas around. I’ve heard rumors.”

  “No one else can do it. It is you. It will be you. You are the only true one.”

  The sky over the infinite plain started to change color. It brightened from dark gray to a brilliant white, and then fell through the colors of the rainbow until it became a dark violet. It then deepened to a purple so black it sucked the light from the air.

  “But I don’t have the faintest idea of how I do this,” Sebastian said. “I don’t even know where to go.”

  “That I can tell you. Your destination is a city called New York, in a land called the North America.”

  “Where?”

  “Across the sea is where. Get to a place where ships sail through the sky to strange and distant lands. You’ll have guidance along the way. It will be hard and painful, and you’ll lose much that you treasure.”

  He stood in the darkness, staring at the collections of memories masquerading as his future, feeling the weight of expectation and the inevitability of demise. “Are you really certain no one else can do it?”

  “You need to ask Michael more questions. He has traveled far and seen many things. He has dealt with death. He knows more than he lets on.”

  “But he’s a veterinarian.”

  “Don’t underestimate those who work with animals. They’re closer to the forces of Earth than the rest of mankind. Michael has seen good and bad. Seek wisdom in him.”

  The memories and fog twirled up into a tornado. The fog disappeared and the memories fell in a heap at his feet. On the top of the pile was a recollection of something he hadn’t done yet. The memory showed him walking into a bright light, looking over his shoulder, smiling, and disappearing.

  Sebastian fell through the ground. He was looking at the corner of a building. His bladder felt empty.

  28

  MELANIE SAT STARING into the fire, clasping her hands and leaning forward. She had pulled her hair back off her face, and the reflected flames danced in her eyes. When Peter sat down next to her, she looked at him with a distracted smile. “Did you get to say goodbye to your dad, Peter?”

  “Yes, but I’m not sure if he understood or even recognized me.”

  “Is it getting worse?”

  “They say so. He just stares at me with those milky eyes. And when there’s a loud noise, he falls to the ground and clings to it until they come and sedate him.”

  “How come you don’t suffer from the same thing? After all, you’ve been in more battles.”

  Peter shrugged. “It’s one of those things. I’d heard the stories and seen some of the guys who came back from his tour. He didn’t have that. He caught the full force of the war without any warning. He was the generation that
was excited by it.”

  “Is there anything they can do? The counselor really helped me.”

  Peter shook his head. “He sits in his quiet little room and we tiptoe around, praying the peace won’t break. The doctors look at him and shrug. The only people who’ve helped are the nurses, talking in their soft voices, tending to him with delicate hands. He sits there shaking, night and day, terrified of the light, terrified of life, and there’s nothing we can do about it. The war is over, but not for him.”

  Melanie placed her hand on his. “Having family can be hard.”

  “Are you still denying you have a family?”

  “What family?”

  “You’ll run into them one day.”

  “I’ll run over them one day.”

  He smiled and shook his head.

  Sebastian staggered out of the bushes. “Have I been long?”

  “No more than your usual three hours,” Melanie said.

  “Really?”

  “Don’t be mean to him,” Peter said.

  “Five minutes.”

  There was an awkward pause as they all looked at each other.

  “Is there anywhere else you need to be?” Melanie asked Sebastian.

  “No,” Sebastian said.

  “Yes, there is.” Her eyes darted toward Peter.

  “Oh.” He looked around. Most of the group was engrossed in various activities. He spotted Michael and made his way over.

  “Michael?” When Michael turned around, Sebastian said, “How would I go about crossing the sea to go to the North America? If I wanted to. Hypothetically.”

  “You’d fly.”

  “Couldn’t I sail?”

  Michael laughed. “Since the Reckoning, the seas have been way too turbulent for ships.”

  “How do I fly?”

  “You don’t. Since the Reckoning, the skies have been unpredictable. You’d have to be a madman to do it.”

  “But are there people who do it?”

  “Yes. Pirates. Traders. They’re the only ones brave or stupid enough to catch the void and catapult over the sea. But they risk certain death doing it.”