Benjamin Franklinstein Meets Thomas Deadison

by Matthew McElligott

  “She did,” said Franklin.

  “I just had an idea. These bulbs are listening in on conversations, right? Then they’re broadcasting what they hear back to the Emperor. What if, somehow, we’re picking up parts of those broadcasts?”

  “But we’re not harmonical, like Ben and the Wright brothers,” said Scott. “Why can we hear them too?”

  “That’s a very good question,” said Victor.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Shouting at Lightbulbs

  Back at home, Victor and Franklin paused outside Franklin’s apartment door to compare notes.

  “Since it is a school night,” said Franklin, “I propose that I begin analyzing the bulbs now, and you join me as soon as you get home tomorrow.”

  “Actually, my mom’s working late tonight,” said Victor. “How about we do a little work right now?”

  Franklin pulled a ring of keys from his pocket and began to sort through them. “Out of the question. You need to get your rest. The Prometheans can do without you for one night.”

  “My mom made cupcakes,” said Victor.

  Franklin paused, the key turned halfway in the door lock.

  “And we could just work for a little while,” added Victor. “Say, a half hour?”

  Franklin nodded. “A half an hour, no more. After all, early to bed, early to rise, makes a man—”

  “I know: ‘healthy, wealthy, and wise,’” said Victor, bounding up the stairs. “I’ll be right down.”

  Twenty minutes later, Victor returned carrying a large cardboard box, his laptop bag slung over his shoulder.

  “Sorry to take so long,” he said. “I just thought it would be a good idea to remove all the Infinity Bulbs from our apartment. I’ve got them in the box here, in case we need some extras to study.”

  “A wise precaution,” said Franklin. He peered into the box, a growing look of concern on his face. “But what about…?”

  “The cupcakes are in a container underneath,” said Victor.

  “Very good!” said Franklin. “Let us begin.”

  Victor followed the old man into the living room, behind the secret bookcase, and down into the basement. A lot had changed in the months since he had first discovered the dusty old laboratory. Together, he and Franklin had upgraded much of the equipment, installed wireless Internet, and even added a basic security system.

  Franklin cleared off a space on a large worktable and began to collect the testing equipment.

  “Here’s the big problem, as I see it,” said Victor. “If these bulbs are listening devices, then how can we test them without the Emperor knowing what we’re doing? Once we plug them in, he’ll be able to hear us.”

  “An interesting question,” said Franklin. He took a bite of a cupcake. “How exactly do you suppose they deliver their information back to the Emperor?”

  “I know it’s possible to set up a local computer network through the outlets in your house. I suppose it would also be possible to create a big network from the electrical grid across the entire city.”

  “So if we use power that is not connected to the city’s electrical grid, the Emperor should not be able to hear us,” said Franklin. He pointed toward a harmonic Leyden jar, a special battery invented by the Prometheans.

  “Great idea.” Victor unspooled a coil of wire and began to rig up a basic circuit. When he connected the last wire, the Infinity Bulb began to glow softly.

  “Excellent!” said Franklin. “Now, if this bulb is indeed a type of microphone, we should see some change in the electricity running through the circuit when I speak into it. A sort of hidden signal, correct?”

  VICTOR’S INFINITY BULB TESTING CIRCUIT

  “Exactly,” said Victor. “And I have some ideas about how we can find that signal.”

  The two scientists set to work, connecting a variety of speakers, scopes, and gauges to the circuit in an effort to identify anything out of the ordinary. But no matter how loudly they shouted at the lightbulb, the signal remained flat. An hour later, they were out of both ideas and cupcakes.

  “Perhaps we are going about this the wrong way,” said Franklin. “Instead of studying how the bulb works, maybe we should be studying the bulb itself. Let’s take one apart.”

  Victor took one of the Infinity Bulbs from the box and delicately secured it in a vise. He studied it for a moment. “Just one question. How exactly do you take a lightbulb apart?”

  “Like this!” said Franklin. He picked up a small tack hammer from the workbench and tapped the top of the bulb. The glass made a metallic sound, but didn’t crack. Franklin tapped it harder.

  “Interesting.”

  “Very,” said Victor.

  “Stand back.” Franklin struck the bulb hard, and the glass finally shattered. The impact was followed immediately by a puff of black smoke and a high-pitched hissing sound.

  Victor stepped forward and examined what remained of the bulb. The metal base was still fixed in the vise, but everything inside the bulb had disintegrated into a fine black powder.

  Victor gasped. “I don’t believe it. It completely self-destructed!”

  CUPCAKE

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Skipping School

  Victor’s head throbbed with every lurching stop and start of the school bus.

  It had been a long night. He and Franklin had gone through the entire box of Infinity Bulbs, yet were no closer to understanding how they worked. Now, exhausted, he faced a twenty-five-minute ride to school on the oldest, most beat-up bus on the planet.

  “It’s not fair,” said Scott.

  “What’s not fair?”

  “Jaime’s our age. She should have to go to school too.”

  The rear tire struck a pothole and tossed the boys up, then painfully back down onto their seat. Victor felt his breakfast turn over in his stomach.

  “Jaime’s homeschooled by her parents. Or at least, she was.”

  Scott nodded. “Oh yeah.”

  Victor closed his eyes and took a long deep breath, then gagged. The pungent smell of gasoline filled his nose.

  “I wish I were homeschooled,” said Scott. “My dad knows tons of stuff.”

  “He certainly would make an interesting teacher,” Victor agreed. Just that morning, Skip Weaver had delivered his weather forecast in a bikini. Evidently it had something to do with saying good-bye to summer.

  The school bus jerked to a stop and two high school girls got on. They stumbled to the back and collapsed onto a seat.

  “Hey, they look more tired than you,” said Scott.

  Victor glanced around at the other passengers. “Everyone does. Even the driver.” The bus started up again and immediately bounced onto the curb.

  “You know what’s funny?”

  “What?” said Victor.

  Scott pointed to the ceiling. “It’s sunny outside, but the driver’s so sleepy, he left all the lights on inside the bus.”

  The second they walked into school, Victor knew that something was wrong.

  “What’s going on?” whispered Scott.

  “No idea,” said Victor. “This is weird.”

  All around, teachers and students were going about their morning routines, opening their lockers, getting ready for the day. But somehow, everything was less than usual. People were walking slower, their movements more deliberate, their eyes glazed over.

  And no one was talking.

  “It’s like they need new batteries,” Scott whispered.

  “Exactly,” said Victor.

  …relax…

  “There it is again,” whispered Scott.

  Victor nodded. “But it doesn’t look like anyone else heard it.” Up and down the hall, business at Philo T. Farnsworth Middle School continued uninterrupted.

  “I wonder why not,” said Scott.

  “That’s a good question,” said Victor. He sidestepped a girl who was standing in place, lost in a daze. “It’s almost like we’re radios, and we’re tuned to a station that no one el
se can hear. Or…”

  He paused and looked up at the ceiling, where a row of Infinity Bulbs glowed brightly.

  “Or what?” said Scott.

  “Or maybe everyone else can hear the station. They just don’t know they can!” Victor’s eyes grew wide. “Scott, what if we’ve been going about this all wrong? What if the Infinity Bulbs aren’t for listening—what if they’re for sending messages?”

  Scott wrinkled his nose. “I don’t get it.”

  “Okay, this might sound a little crazy, but hear me out. Remember last month at the art park? When your dad rolled the van with the charging sphere into the Megabat?”

  “That was awesome!” said Scott. “And remember when—”

  “I’m not done,” said Victor. “There was a bright flash, and then a loud noise. Now think carefully—do you remember anything immediately after that?”

  “I remember I felt really weird for a second.”

  “Exactly,” said Victor. “Me too. Like we were exposed to something.”

  “Exposed? Like to the flu?”

  “More like to a wave of energy. The same harmonic energy that Ben and the other inventors have flowing through their veins.”

  “I don’t get it,” said Scott.

  “Look,” whispered Victor, “we know that the harmonic fluid in Ben’s body makes him function like an antenna. What if the same thing is happening to us, just at a lower level?”

  “Wait, I’m confused. You’re saying we’re radio antennas?”

  “I’m saying that maybe everyone is. But because of the harmonic blast, our radios are more sensitive than everyone else’s. Sensitive enough to hear things other people just sense subliminally.”

  HOW THE HUMAN BODY FUNCTIONS AS A HARMONIC ANTENNA

  “Subwhat?”

  “Subliminally. It means they hear the messages without knowing they’re hearing them. They’re being hypnotized.”

  Scott nodded. “I think I get it. So you, me, and my dad can hear the voices because we were at the explosion…”

  “…and Ben and the Wright brothers hear it because they’re full of harmonic fluid,” said Victor. “But we’re not hearing voices. We’re just hearing one voice.”

  “Edison? You think he’s the one saying all that stuff?”

  “No—the Emperor. He’s the one pulling all the strings. We need to let Jaime know right away.” Victor pulled out his phone and studied the screen.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Jaime sent a text. There’s some sort of problem. She wants us to meet her at the bus stop near the Infinity Bulb factory.”

  “When?”

  “Right now. But obviously we can’t skip school.”

  Scott gave him an annoyed look. “To save Philadelphia? Are you kidding?”

  “I don’t know…,” said Victor.

  “It’s easy. Just follow my lead.”

  Scott opened the door to the classroom, and they stepped inside. Mrs. Kerwin stood at the front of the room. Across the chalkboard, she had written the words Silent study time. Relax. The students who had already arrived were sitting sleepily at their desks, gazing at their textbooks. Some of the textbooks were still closed.

  “Maybe I should call my mom,” whispered Victor. “She could call the office and—”

  “Hold on—let me try something.” Scott walked to the front of the room. “Mrs. Kerwin, Victor and I need to leave for a little while.”

  Mrs. Kerwin smiled and nodded.

  Scott winked at Victor, and the two of them turned and walked out of the room, then straight out of the school.

  MEANWHILE…

  The bell above the door rang as a tall man walked into Ernie’s Hardware Store.

  Ernie peered over the top of his well-thumbed copy of Unpopular Science. “Howdy, future satisfied customer! What can I do ya for?”

  The man surveyed the store. From wall to wall, its shelves were packed with just about everything he needed to complete his invention.

  “I’ve been to several supply houses looking for very secific equipment but have not been able to find it,” the man said. “I’ve been told that whatever they don’t have, you stock.”

  Ernie stared at the man for a moment. “Hey, I know you! You’re that guy from the TV. The forever lightbulb guy, what was it? Al Tomkinson, right?”

  The man smiled. “Ed Thomason. And you’re thinking of my invention, the Infinity Bulb. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

  “Sure, sure!” Ernie said, grinning. “It’s a real pleasure. So what do you need?”

  The man took a long list out of his pocket and read off two dozen items.

  “Yeah, I’ve got all of that,” Ernie said. “Give me a few minutes and I’ll pull it together.”

  Ernie scurried around the store, grabbing up armfuls of titanium-reinforced tubes, hexagonal cogs, beryllium switches, four fireplace bellows, magnetic springs, woofer speakers, an old Victrola, and the list went on. When he finally gathered everything, he dumped it all in a pile on the floor in front of the counter and wiped his forehead with a polka-dotted handkerchief.

  “There you go, Mr. Thomason. Let me ring you up.” Ernie went behind the counter and tapped away at a calculator. “That’ll be eleven hundred dollars. Wow, more expensive than I thought. But you pay for the best, am I right? Cash or charge?”

  The man pointed behind the counter. “Is that an automobile battery?”

  “Sure is,” Ernie said. “Do you want to see it?”

  “Please.”

  Ernie lifted it up and set it on the counter in front of the man.

  “Is it fully charged?” he asked.

  “Absotively!”

  “Excellent.” He stuck both fingers in his mouth, licked them, and then touched the positive and negative terminals on the battery.

  “Hey, wait!” To Ernie’s astonishment, the smiling man began to glow. Softly at first, then bright white, and then soft again. The pulse was relaxing, soothing, hypnotic…

  “I am a nice man,” Ed Thomason intoned. “You like me.”

  “I…like you,” Ernie said, gazing into the glow.

  “You don’t want to charge me for this equipment.”

  “I don’t want to charge you for this equipment.”

  “You want to take it outside and load it into the white truck.”

  “I want to take it outside and load it into the white truck.”

  “It was a pleasure doing business with me.”

  “It was a pleasure doing business with you!”

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  CHAPTER NINE

  Plan B: Costumes!

  Victor and Scott stepped off the bus a block from the Infinity Unlimited factory. Jaime was waiting for them on a bench. She wore sunglasses and was dressed entirely in black, as usual. At her feet were two enormous suitcases and a backpack.

  “Hi, Jaime,” said Victor. He glanced up and down the sidewalk. “What’s going on? You said there was a problem.”

  Jaime motioned the two of them closer. Victor could see she was shaking. “Dr. Anthony and Dr. DeLacey never returned from the mission. I came here to check on them, and when I got back to headquarters, Dr. Gwynn and Ms. Aldini were gone too.”

  “Did anyone leave a message?”

  “No. And they’re not answering their phones.”

  Victor frowned. “I think I may know what happened to them.” He went on to explain his theory about the voices they’d been hearing and how the Emperor was using the Infinity Bulbs to hypnotize people.

  Jaime watched the pedestrians walking up and down the sidewalk. They moved slowly, with blank, emotionless faces. “They do look kind of out of it,” she said.

  “Exactly,” said Victor. “They’re in a hypnotic trance, just like the people at our school.”

  “But I haven’t been hearing any mysterious voices,” said Jaime. “Wh
y haven’t I been hypnotized?”

  “I don’t know,” said Victor.

  Jaime sighed. “I was afraid the team had been captured, but hypnotized? That’s far worse.” She looked down the street. A block away, the Infinity Unlimited logo was mounted on a long brick building. “I’m going in to check things out.”

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  “By yourself?”

  “We’ll help, won’t we, Victor?” said Scott.

  “I, uh…Of course we will.”

  “Thanks, guys,” said Jaime. “We knew we could count on you.”

  “We?” said Scott.

  “Dr. Franklin should be here any minute.”

  “You let him travel through the city on his own?” asked Victor. “Do you think that’s wise?”

  Jaime shrugged. “I can’t tell him what to do.”

  “Yes, but—”

  Victor felt a tap on his shoulder. “Excuse me, young man. Can you tell me how to get to the busport?”

  Victor spun around and was face-to-face with a peculiar figure. The man wore a baseball cap, sunglasses, Hawaiian shirt, plaid shorts, dark socks, and sandals. A large camera hung around his neck, and he was intently studying a map of the city.

  “Ben?”

  “I’m sorry,” said the man. “My name is, er, Charlie. I’m from out of the town and I’m a little lost.”

  Victor sighed. “Ben, I know it’s you.”

  The old man’s face fell. “How could you tell?”

  “First of all, there’s no such thing as a busport. There’s a bus stop or an airport. The phrase is ‘out of town,’ not ‘out of the town.’ And finally, no one, not even a tourist, actually dresses like that. What in the world are you doing?”

  “It is our plan for sneaking into the factory,” said Franklin. “We devised it this morning.”

  Victor glanced at Jaime, who shook her head. “By any chance, did Mr. Weaver have something to do with this?”