Double Dose, page 19
“Not exactly a warm welcome, I gather,” Rhys said as she got in.
She sighed. “Not hostile or anything, but no way was I getting past that door.”
“I’ve never heard of a non-Tadhak getting inside—ever. How’s he doing?”
“He’s ‘healing.’ That’s all I got.”
Three more days…something about that bothered her but she wasn’t sure what.
Rhys backed them into a turn, saying, “Well, that’s good. He’s always seemed like a nice man.”
Before yesterday she would have agreed. But he’d put her in an awful position by stealing Pard.
But had he stolen Pard? Four days to heal up with Pard on board? That didn’t seem right. Considering how he’d grown her a new hand overnight, fixing up some internal injuries and a few broken bones should be a walk in the park—two days at most if the injuries were really serious. And today was already the second day. But Jason needed three more days before he’d be able to speak to her?
Something not right here.
“Why the troubled expression?”
“What?” Was she letting it show? “Oh, just thinking about that missing friend. I need to get my mind off him. Let’s go see that film.”
But if Pard hadn’t switched over to Jason Tadhak, where was he?
52
“I know this is a far cry from the Lodge’s A-V room,” Daley said as they huddled before the 12-inch screen of her laptop, “but it’s the best I can do.”
She’d pulled the window shades for better viewing, and now she plugged in the flash drive with the second film.
Rhys grinned. “It’s fine. And the company’s certainly better.”
“Cadoc couldn’t risk playing the soundtrack when he showed me the first film, but I did fine with the subtitles. The speakers on this thing have been next to worthless since I dropped it a couple months ago, so I hope this one is subtitled too.”
“Supposedly it was originally on one reel and shown only to the Elders. When my father had it digitized, he divided it in two. He thought the first part was useful as education for the clan’s hoi polloi.”
“And the second part…not educational?”
“We’re about to find out, aren’t we.”
His expression was strange…a mix of anticipation and dread.
“You okay with this?”
“Not at all. Because I have no idea what ‘this’ is. I’ll let you know when I do. Let her rip, Daley.”
She found the file and hit PLAY.
As the screen lit with a panoramic aerial view of the Imperial Valley from the west—the green checkerboard of farmland south of the blue of the Salton Sea, all surrounded by the beige of the desert—the speakers accompanied it with bursts of static.
“So much for that,” Daley said as she muted the sound.
“You must have damaged your sound card,” Rhys said. “But we’ve got subtitles.”
THE VISITORS CAN BE LURED BACK TO THEIR OLD PLAYGROUND BUT ONLY IF THEY FIND THE ENVIRONMENT HOSPITABLE. THAT CAN BE ARRANGED.
The view switched to a schematic of the Tesla tower, showing the superstructure as well as the steel shaft running to the bottom of the 120-foot shaft.
IT IS COMMONLY BELIEVED THAT NIKOLA TESLA STOPPED EXPERIMENTING AND GAVE UP HIS DREAM OF WIRELESS BROADCAST ENERGY IN 1903 WHEN J. P. MORGAN CUT OFF HIS FINANCIAL SUPPORT. NOT SO. HE FOUND A NEW SOURCE OF FUNDING AND CONTINUED HIS EXPERIMENTS FOR ANOTHER THREE YEARS.
The scene closed in on the tower’s cupola.
TESLA’S DREAM WAS TO BROADCAST POWER THROUGH THE AIR SO THAT IT MIGHT BE ACCESSED WITH AN ANTENNA. “ENERGY WILL BE AVAILABLE TO EVERYONE,” HE ONCE SAID. “LIKE THE AIR WE BREATHE.”
Animated waves of electricity fanned out from the cupola in all directions. Then the focus shifted to the subterranean section of the tower.
BUT TESLA ALSO BELIEVED HE COULD HARNESS THE TELLURIC CURRENTS IN THE EARTH’S CRUST TO “MAKE THE PLANET QUIVER WITH ENERGY…TURN THE EARTH ITSELF INTO A GIANT CONDUCTOR.” HIS TOWER’S LOWER REGIONS WOULD CREATE TERRESTRIAL STANDING WAVES THAT WOULD TRANSMIT POWER THROUGH THE EARTH ITSELF FROM ONE RESONANCE TRANSFORMER TO ANOTHER.
More animation: sine waves radiating out from the central steel shaft into the surrounding earth. And then a light bulb in a socket with two prongs trailing from its base. The wires inserted themselves into the ground and the bulb lit.
“Hey,” Daley said, “that looks like the contraption you had when they tested the tower.”
“Exactly. Now we know where they got the idea.”
“But where’d they get the idea only the Elders should see this? So far it’s like an alternative energy lecture.”
Rhys’s lips twisted into a puzzled grimace. “It ain’t over yet.”
BUT THE TOWER WAS HAVING OTHER EFFECTS. EYE WITNESSES AND LOCAL NEWSPAPERS AT THE TIME RECOUNTED BIZARRE STORIES OF FISH KILLS, BUILDINGS AND BOATS DISAPPEARING, AND STRANGE CREATURES NOT OF THIS EARTH. THERE WERE RUMOURS OF UNUSUAL INJURIES AND EVEN DEATHS, BUT LITTLE WAS VERIFIED IN OFFICIAL RECORDS.
The animation reverted to the superstructure where the animated waves of electricity still fanned out from the cupola.
ON WEDNESDAY MORNING, APRIL 18, 1906, TESLA FUNNELED THE FULL POWER OF TWO LARGE WESTINGHOUSE GENERATORS INTO HIS TOWER. ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ATLANTIC, IN THE TOWN OF ABEREIDDY ON THE COAST OF WALES—THE ANCESTRAL HOME OF THE PENDRY CLAN—ONE OF TESLA’S PEOPLE LIT A LIGHT BULB WITH CURRENT PULLED FROM THE EARTH ITSELF.
The animation of the socketed light bulb with the two trailing prongs inserting into the ground was repeated. Then the scene shifted back to the tower.
TESLA HAD PROVEN HIS THEORY AND MADE HIS DREAM A REALITY. BUT THE TOWER WAS CAUSING UNINTENDED EFFECTS. IT HAD BEEN BUILT NEAR A NEXUS POINT WHERE THE VEIL IS THIN AND IT CAUSED A BREACH, ALLOWING BEINGS FROM THE VOID ENTRY TO OUR WORLD.
The animation showed a gap in the air before the tower, a black space that expanded almost to the size of the tower. Dark, indistinct shapes began to ooze from it.
BUT THE TOWER WAS HAVING EFFECTS WITHIN THE EARTH AS WELL. THE STANDING WAVES IN THE PLANET’S CRUST EXTENDED EASTWARD ALL THE WAY TO WALES, BUT WESTWARD AS WELL. AND THOSE WAVES REACHED THE SAN ANDREAS FAULT AT A VERY VULNERABLE TIME, TRIGGERING A 500-KILOMETER RUPTURE. THE RESULTING QUAKE, LATER ESTIMATED AT 7.9 RICHTER AND PERFECTLY TIMED TO TESLA’S EXPERIMENT, DESTROYED MORE THAN 80 PERCENT OF SAN FRANCISCO, RESULTING IN 3,000 DEATHS.
Grainy archival photos of post-quake San Francisco flashed on the screen.
FORTUNATELY THE GENERATORS BURNED OUT, CLOSING THE BREACH IN THE VEIL AND ENDING THE SEISMIC DANGER BEFORE MORE DAMAGE WAS DONE. WHEN TESLA REALIZED THE DEVASTATION HIS EXPERIMENTS HAD WROUGHT, HE SHUT DOWN HIS WARDENCLYFFE LAB AND ABANDONED THE TOWER TO HIS CREDITORS. HE RETURNED TO NEW YORK CITY A BROKEN MAN.
More archival photos followed, showing the tower being dismantled. Then the animated Tesla tower in the desert retuned.
BUT TESLA’S FALSE SENSE OF FAILURE OFFERS A VALUABLE LESSON AND OPPORTUNITY FOR THE CLAN. THE VISITORS CAN BE LURED BACK WHEN CONDITIONS ARE RIGHT…WHEN CELESTIAL BODIES PROPERLY ALIGN AND WHEN PROPER CONDITIONS EXIST IN THEIR DESTINATION.
“This is getting close to home now,” Rhys said, sounding uncomfortable. “My father keeps talking about these mystical celestial bodies aligning with the next solstice.”
“That’s this week, isn’t it?”
“No, that’s the equinox, on Friday. Believe me, I know because it’s always a big day for the clan. All five families come out for a massive picnic celebration every equinox, spring and fall. The solstice isn’t till June. The start of summer? The longest day of the year, usually around the twentieth or so.”
She always got them mixed up.
“That’s just three months off.”
He nodded grimly. “Tell me about it.”
The animation again showed the Tesla tower creating a black opening in the air before it, only this time over a body of water.
THE SALTON SEA SHARES SPACE WITH A LARGE NEXUS POINT WHERE THE VEIL IS EXTREMELY THIN.
Hadn’t Juana mentioned something about “lines of magic” converging at the Salton Sea? Could she have been talking about this nexus point?
THE VISITORS USED THIS POINT TO OPEN A PASSAGE THROUGH THE VOID FROM THEIR WORLD TO OURS. THAT IS WHY OSIAN PENDRY MOVED THE CLAN FROM WALES TO THE VALLEY. HE KNEW THAT IF AND WHEN THE VISITORS RETURNED, CHANCES WERE EXCELLENT THAT THEY WOULD ARRIVE AT THIS PLACE. AND SO OUR TASK WILL BE TO BUILD A TOWER THAT EXACTLY DUPLICATES TESLA’S STRUCTURE AT WARDENCLYFFE.
Daley looked at Rhys. “‘Will be’? But the tower’s already built.”
“Don’t forget, my grandfather had this film made in the nineties. My dad is the one who built the tower.”
“Do you get a bad feeling about there this is going?”
He nodded, his expression grim. “Definitely.”
The view on the screen shifted to the aerial view of the Imperial Valley but this time overlaid with a diagram of its various seismic faults, some labeled, some not. Daley noticed the southern end of the San Andreas in the Salton Sea, but the names of the others were unfamiliar. One thing was certain, though, even to her untrained eye: The Imperial Valley was loaded with faults.
THE IMPERIAL VALLEY IS HOME TO A NETWORK OF SEISMIC FAULTS. THE STANDING WAVES GENERATED BY THE TOWER’S SHAFT CAN DESTABILIZE THESE FAULTS. OF PARTICULAR INTEREST ARE THE FAULTS TO THE SOUTH THAT RUN UNDER THE COLORADO RIVER DELTA WHICH DIVIDES THE VALLEY FROM THE PACIFIC OCEAN. SHIFTS IN THESE FAULTS, ESPECIALLY THE CERRO PRIETO FAULT AND THOSE IN THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA’S SEA BED, HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO OPEN A CHANNEL BETWEEN THE GULF AND THE VALLEY.
The animation shifted to the subterranean parts of the tower, showing smooth sine waves radiating from the steel shaft causing seismic shifts deep in the crust. Then the aerial view returned, showing a huge fissure opening from the Gulf of California, through Mexicali, and into the Imperial Valley. Seawater began to flood into Calexico.
“They can’t be serious!” Rhys said in a harsh whisper.
SINCE THE IMPERIAL VALLEY IS BELOW SEA LEVEL—HUNDREDS OF FEET BELOW IN SOME AREAS—THE WATER OF THE GULF WILL RUSH INTO THE VALLEY OF ITS OWN ACCORD, SEEKING ITS OWN LEVEL. WITH THE WEIGHT OF THE ENTIRE PACIFIC OCEAN BEHIND IT, THE FLOW WILL WIDEN AND DEEPEN THE CHANNEL, ALLOWING IT TO INUNDATE THE VALLEY, GIVING THE PACIFIC DIRECT ACCESS TO THE AREA IT ONCE OCCUPIED FIVE MILLION YEARS AGO.
Animation showed the flood spreading north like a tsunami, inundating Calexico, El Centro, Brawley, and Westmoreland to merge with the Salton Sea. Then into the Coachella Valley and reaching toward Palm Springs.
MEANWHILE, THE ENERGY RELEASED BY THE TESLA DOME WILL OPEN A RIFT IN THE VEIL, ALLOWING THE VISITORS TO RETURN.
The aerial view descended toward the restored inland sea to show the large, blurry forms of the visitors floating on the water and gliding beneath—just like they’d been depicted in the first part of the film.
THE SALTON TROUGH WILL BE RETURNED TO ITS NATURAL STATE, AS IT ALWAYS WAS, AS IT EVER WILL BE. AND THE GRATEFUL VISITORS WILL HEAP GENEROUS REWARDS UPON THE FAITHFUL.
The recording ended. Daley sat staring at the blank screen, aghast.
“Did anyone think to mention the small matter of the drowning of a couple hundred thousand people along the way?”
Rhys sat with a stricken expression, his mouth working, saying “I…I…I…”
Daley understood. “I know, right?”
“Now I know why only the Elders are allowed to see it,” he said, his voice rising. “It’s fucking insane!”
Daley tried to calm him. “But your father can’t really be planning something like this…I mean, he just can’t…can he?”
“He built the goddamn tower, Daley. He didn’t spend millions of the clan’s money to do that just for fun. I can’t believe this! He’s going to try to flood the whole fucking Imperial Valley!”
“But that’s crazy.” She remembered how skeptical Pard had been of Tesla’s theories. “Besides, none of this has ever been shown to be even remotely possible.”
Rhys jumped to his feet and began pacing around the room.
“We just had our third quake in three weeks, Daley. I know this is California, but that’s an unusual number.”
If Pard were here he’d want her to correct him that they occurred over a three-and-a-half-week period, but she kept it to herself.
“You don’t really think your father is behind them, do you?”
“He could be. You know, test out the equipment before the solstice. Makes sense.”
“But you and I were out there the night they tested the tower. Not only did it not send out wireless energy, it didn’t cause an earthquake either. That first earthquake happened hours before the test.”
“What date was that?”
“February twenty-sixth.”
He gave her a skeptical look. “How do you remember that?”
“I’m good with dates, and that was the day after I opened Healerina. You and I climbed the tower in the morning and I helped you with the test that night. I remember being in the shop talking to Juana that afternoon when the quake hit.”
Rhys stopped pacing and looked thoughtful for a few heartbeats, then started pacing again.
“The tower and the shaft are wired separately. He could have sent power only to the tower that night. And then…holy crap! He said we needed more power and the very next morning we made a deal with the Tadhaks to use their excess current.”
“How much excess?”
“All we need.”
After all those giant batteries she and Cadoc had seen in that bizarre windfarm warehouse, Daley figured the Tadhaks had plenty of power to spare. But she kept that to herself.
“And a week later,” Rhys was saying, “we had an even bigger earthquake…the five-point-five that kicked us out of bed and broke your front window and messed up Mexicali and Calexico—which are right in the same area as the big fissure we saw in the film.”
“You think he tested the shaft that night?”
“He could have done a lot of things that night and I wouldn’t have had a clue. You and I were in El Centro learning to line dance—well, you were, anyway—and after that we were otherwise engaged. The tower gets more power…and a bigger earthquake follows. I don’t like it.”
“Except that today’s wasn’t bigger. It felt much milder than the last.”
“Okay that’s a point. But there’s something else: The day after the first quake, when my father and I were in Jason’s office looking to buy his excess power, a woman from the quake center at Caltech stopped by.”
“Oh, I remember her. She stopped by Healerina asking about any sensations before the quake.”
Daley remembered her because she came by right after Sam Alvarez’s first visit.
“Yeah, something about tingling.”
“Right. I felt it right before that one and the one a week later.”
“How about today?”
She shook her head. “Nothing. You?”
“Nothing in any of them. But she said something else, something about their seismic sensor network picking up an ‘odd signal’ in this area before the quake. She was trying to track down the source.”
“You’re thinking that source could be the tower?”
“Well, according to the film, the shaft is supposed to create standing waves in the Earth’s crust. Could the Earthquake Center’s sensors have picked up those waves? She told us they occurred before the quake.”
“Do you remember her name? We could call and ask her.”
“Rebecca Something…” He pulled out his wallet. “My father asked if he could contact her and…” He extracted a business card. “Got it.”
“She gave you a card?” Daley took it from him: Rebecca Z. Heuser, PhD. “She didn’t give me one.”
“Well, she and my father got into a discussion about earthquakes and…” He shook his head. “There it is: My father asked an earthquake specialist if he could contact her. And he seemed to know an awful lot about quakes. This is looking worse and worse.”
“You’ve got to call her.”
Daley read off the number and Rhys tapped it in, then opened the speaker on his phone. A guy who identified himself as her research assistant said Dr. Heuser wasn’t available—tied up because of this afternoon’s quake.
“Maybe you can help,” Rhys said. “This’ll only take a sec. Doctor Heuser came to our town after the February twenty-six quake asking about tingling before the shock.”
“Yes, we had scattered reports of various skin sensations before that quake and the March five quake the following week as well.”
“Okay. She also mentioned ‘odd signals’ from the sensors in our area before the first quake.”
“Yes. Signals from the lower Imperial Valley sensors we couldn’t account for.”
“Did these signals precede the March five quake as well?”
“Yes. I saw them myself.”
“What about today’s quake?”
“No…nothing but the usual P waves. Why do you—?”
Rhys cut the call and tossed the phone onto the couch.
“Shit! Shit-shit-shit! It’s him! Gotta be!”
His distress was palpable. What would Pard do here? Play the Devil’s advocate, no doubt—because it all seemed so farfetched. Pard had explained false premises to her once—when they were arguing, of course. They’d spent a lot of time disagreeing. God, she missed those arguments.
“Maybe you’re committing the same kind of fallacy you mentioned earlier—that post hoc thing. Maybe Tesla and your clan and you are all guilty of the same post hoc fallacy. Just because Tesla’s experiment coincided with the San Fran quake doesn’t mean it caused it.”
“No, that’s right. You have a point, but—”
“Let me finish. And you have no idea as to whether or not the tower was activated prior to either of those two quakes. So you don’t even have a definite hoc to be post. Which means you might be basing everything on false premises.” She ticked off on her fingers. “First premise: I don’t know what these ‘standing waves’ are, but the truth is that neither you nor anyone else has any idea if the tower’s shaft generates them or not. And second: Is there any proof anywhere that these standing waves, should they exist, destabilize seismic faults?”
