StarFall Comics
Proudly Presents:
Tales From the Tesla Institute
#1: The Assistant
Cover: An woman with brown hair, glasses, and a lab coat over a plain blue business skirt and top stands in 3/4 profile. She's got a thin touch pad in her hands and peers at it against the backdrop of what appears to be an everyday industrial lab, with the addition of a pair of Tesla Coils emitting mysterious white-blue light.
As far as buildings went, this one went well with the surrounding architecture, the owner determining that in at least one regard it wouldn't do to agitate the locals more then he already was. Standard neo-classical, with a lovely and incredibly intricately constructed small dome of metal and glass, flanked by two long wings, each with their own domes of matching design. Numerous antennas and lightning towers and gods knew what else dotted the roof, although nothing was out of place, nothing an eyesore: all crafted and created to blend into one lace like metal whole. Even the basic structure, solid brick and mortar, retained a little more character with the addition of functional pillars dotted around the entrances. Impeccable landscaping, everything neatly in it's place. That everything seemed to be so precise and yet pleasing to the eye was a testament to Tesla's micromanaging skills.
"Even the damn parking spaces are measured out to specific alignments," two men on their way to work joked as one gestured out squares in front of him.
"No way, really?"
"Seriously. Not a millimetre off." They strode past the metal and glass etched sign reading, "Tesla Institute for Exploratory Sciences and Engineering". "The guy's crazy as..."
"Gentlemen," a brisk, sharp female voice called out before they even crossed the threshold. Both froze as the voice came from invisible speakers. "Get your ID tags out, and make your way down to basement level 4. They need extra engineers today." Both men unfroze and sheepishly dug out their ID tags, grumbling still as they made their way in but with much quieter voices.
In a control room somewhere deeper within, a youngish sort of woman sighed and removed her glasses, pinching her brow. White labcoat, brown hair in a bun, rather ordinary hazel eyes. Typical scientist. An ID tag read, "Genavieve Ciernik", the symbols indicating she had high level clearance...nearly the highest. "Just another day at the office. Harold, can you call up the lab on level 2? See if they've got those superconductors ready; Dr. Tesla needs them for the T-PAD experiments." The man on the other side of the room, staring at some screens, idly waved a hand and nodded. Gena rolled her eyes, then got up from the chair and made to leave. "All right, thanks. I'm heading back downstairs."
"Sure thing, Gene."
A soft click of low heels, practical brown shoes to match her plain skirt and plainer grey blue turtle neck top. Gena wasn't a dull looking girl, but one watching could get the impression that she was doing her best to become one. Everything was soft, neutral tones, her hair clean, bun tight. Her lab coat was so clean it practically gleamed in the overhead lighting. And her voice was quiet as well, with just enough of a sharp edge to carry when needed, from time to time. Her fingers tapped at a brisk pace along the 3D light pad she carried, her eyes flicking up only occasionally to guide her down the proper hallways.
The faint hissing sound the door made to the expiriment levels finally caught her full attention, and she extended her thumb to the security device beside it. First a fingerprint scan...then a gentle tingling as an invisible electric pulse took a DNA scan as well. Tesla might not be as paranoid (or delusional, as some unkind critics had mentioned) as before, but he was well up the awareness scale, and the security measures got progressively extreme the further down one went.
Tap tap tappity again as she went down the elevator and down another hallway, and then into the canvernous main room. Gena was dwarfed by several of the famous Tesla coils, banks of massive computing tools and equipment, the clack of her feet turning to a gentler metallic thunk as she strode across the floor. Sparks flew in places, wires flowed, shouts were heard, and in the distance, gentle laughter. From the dome so far above only dim grey light filtered down, so scattered around were also the lights from the glow of screens and eerie little globes, one of Tesla's first new inventions. And one, so far, kept strictly in house. She waved and smiled politely at a few of the engineers and ducked under one line of wiring, stepping over thicker coils on the floor. Right now, most of it was leading her to a spot near the back.
There, three graceful, almost vine-like steel lights rose from the floor, bearing their lights like oversized grapes, surrounding a complex and large, round metal pad. A middle aged man with dark hair, white shirt, and pants with old style suspenders stood near the edge, quietly directing a bustle of movement near a computer bank. There were other machines and computers of course, and three thick metal arcs set up over top the pad, with all the wires and other weird devices one might expect. Snaps of arc lightning occurred on the far side as Gena walked up, setting her shoulders and making sure the proper information was displayed on her 3D light pad. She nodded with an approving gaze at the surrondings.
Everything was, despite the clusters of computers and wire bundles, incredibly clean and neat, floors and walls painted white. Colour coded lines in bright colours added a pleasant touch, but even these were functional, guiding people and equipment where they needed to go. One more nod. The boys at Hadron couldn't do better, and the clean, professional, but massive, lab delighted the eyes.
"Dr. Tesla?"
The dark haired man shifted his gaze to her, calm face, energetic movements. "Ah, Miss Ciernik. Punctual as always." His eyes moved back to the holographic light display before him, hovering between it's projection bars, and deft fingers moved one part of a blueprint to another spot.
"Thank you, sir." She simply handed him the light pad when he held out his hand, then took a polite step back, face neutral. Once the blueprint was in place, Tesla once again looked over, then down, critically examining what was displayed.
"Did the agents call you again?" A light Slavic accent rumbled with displeasure.
"No, doctor. I may have neglected to mention which project I was working on."
He gave her another glance, this time with one brow raised. Gena kept her face flat, though a tiny smile did appear to tug on one corner of her mouth. "Well, these diagrams will certainly help. Ah, and the flow patterns arc just as I predicted...very good. Very good." He laid the pad beside the base of his own display, connecting the two. A brisk nod was given to Gena. "Thank you, Miss Ciernik, that will be all for today."
"Thank you, Dr.Tesla." She bowed her head and turned to leave, before he coughed. "Sir?"
"How is your doctoral thesis coming along?" he asked politely. She blinked, then looked back at him, even as he was turning back to the massive device before them.
"I...well, I've finished grouping the DNA sequences. If time allows, I'll be able to begin work with the superconductors."
"Register for lab time now then, same as anyone else."
"Yes sir, thank...." Too late. Tesla was usually polite to a fault to any of the staff, male or female made no difference to him. Except when he was working, in which case you were lucky if you got the bare mininum of acknowledgement. Gena was considered a special case, but then again she was his main assistant. She smiled faintly, shaking her head as she turned to make her way out of the electronic jungle again. Only, just once, the briefest of looks over her shoulder at the dark haired man, before the elevator doors snapped shut again. Just one figure against the blue flickering lights of his experiments.
A Few Days Later....!
Gena sighed and pushed her glasses up to rest on her forehead. She rubbed her eyes, then peered in again at the large tank of water. Within several electic eels fluttered gracefully around each other, snapping up the bits of their evening meal. She smiled faintly and made a few notes on a pad of paper, crossing her legs and swivelling idly back and forth on her chair. A stray hair was brushed away from her face.
"Gena! You still here?" Bert, well, Dr. Bertram Clarkson, one of her coworkers, leaned up in a friendly way against the door frame before ambling in. Gena smiled and nodded a greeting.
"Good evening, doctor. You're up late yourself; just leaving?"
"Mmm, I think so. I'll not get to those lasers till tomorrow, despite all my hopes." He grinned and chuckled, placing a hand against his heart. Bending over to peer at the eels, he whistled softly while Gena batted him away with her papers. "Ugly fellows, aren't they? But, seems they took to that genome experiment."
"Mmm, one hopes. It's still too early to tell." She smiles back and stood, moving away from the tank to a microscope. "I ought to get some sleep and not throw off my REM cycle, but I have to see if these cells are behaving as they ought to." She rubbed her eyes again, then leaned in to stare in the viewer.
Bertram shook his head. "My dear girl, you're overworking yourself." He placed a genial hand on her shoulder. "Why don't you come have dinner with the wife and I tomorrow night? You know she does a smashing Yorkshire pudding...."
Gena raised a brow as she proceeded with her work, but the Brit's words brought another smile to her face. "As you've raved about before, Dr. Clarkson. You know I don't mean to be rude, but I'll just have to see if work allows it." He sighed and removed his hand.
"You know, you can always ask the good doctor Tesla to ease some of your responsibilities to him. You're not anyone's personal secretary, you're a student and a brilliant geneticist in your own right."
Gena snapped her gaze to the smiling man, frowning. "Bert, I like working here. I really do. I've learnt more here in a year then I did during my entire undergraduate career, and the lab's still surprising me. For that kind of expirience, I don't mind sacrificing some of my time for him." She wrinkled her nose and turned back to the microscope. Bert opened his mouth in surprise, then closed it gently and looked thoughtful, nodding to her.
"Of course, of course. Busy man." Eyes flicked up to a newsclipping of Tesla at a recent conference pasted to the wall. A good shot of him, in one of his rare emotional tirades against the latest bout of "government interference". "Not as half as busy as you; you're even starting to sound like him...easy now." He raised his hands and smiled. "It was a joke. Anyways. We don't have a lot of ... organic focus around here. You're what, one of maybe two or three geneticists? And you're still working on an electric engineering degree."
A hand was waved casually in the air. "I'm done with that degree, thank you very much."
"Mmm." He plopped down on a chair beside her. "Nice picture of the doctor there, anyways. Now, are you about done, so I can drive you home?" She blinked and looked up, and one could almost miss the colour that flooded across and then away from her cheeks.
"Oh, damn it all, Bertram, will you give me no peace? Yes, yes, I'm coming, let me just finish this slide." She sighed and went through the proper procedures, sliding the glass into the little lab's refrigeration unit. Bert grabbed her coat, handing it out as she walked past, flicking off the lights.
"You know I just worry about you, Gena." He wasn't so much older then her to be fatherly, maybe a big brother, but the feeling was there. She smiled again, sliding on her coat as they walked down the halls and outside. "You've got no one else around here, no family. If my posh little self can't watch out for you, who will?"
"I know, Bert, and I appreciate it." She smiled and patted his hand. "You and Mira have been very kind."
"We do what we must!" He chuckled, then looked down at her, his tone gentler now as he held a car door open for her. "You need ... someone, or more friends. You can't be holed up in that lab all the time, pining away, because you know that...."
The familial scene was broken by Gena's sharp voice, slamming the proffered door shut for a moment. "That is quite enough, Dr. Clarkson!" The older gentleman looked at her for another moment, then sighed and nodded, and she proceeded to slip inside. Trembling hands brushed away the loose strands of hair as Bert slid into the driver's seat, and she nodded briskly. "Sorry. Perhaps I am over tired. I'll take your advice and do a half day this weekend."
"It's no worry, my dear. No worry at all."
Back in the lab, as the refigerator went into to lockdown mode, there seemed to be a little bit of a blue spark, a crackle of energy as the lights went off....
The Next Day....
Shoulders set. Glasses perched. Lab coat... spotless. Genavieve gave herself another quick once over in the mirror, then spun around and marched neatly to the next room, where Tesla was arguing with another scientist. He was in his shirtsleeves again, pointing several times over at a sheaf of blueprints while the poor red faced bastard was trying to rally his intellect.
"No no no no! Not like this! I've had enough of this AC/DC argument, that isn't a factor in this plan! We're getting into physics. Arc flow, with a rapid transmission of energy and OR data within the given parameters of the experiment."
"Dr. Tesla, with all due respect, I drew up the plans according to the specifications given to me by this office..."
"And they are wrong! See here, and here? Did you try subsituting..." Gena waited patiently by the door, idly flipping her omnispresent 3D lightpad back and forth. Said scientist was sputtering while Tesla was calmly pointing out the mistakes, and the language involved lots of things quantum. Tesla finally thrust the papers back at the man, who grumbled and stormed off, shuffling them back into the proper order. Stepping aside, Gena was able to get a glimpse of the ID badge as the man went through the door.
"Ah, an engineer. I thought he was one of the boys from down in the lab, doctor."
"Nein. They're worse then the architects." He smiled ruefully, then gave her another look. "Ah. The presentation?"
"Yes, doctor. The reporters are filing into the conference room now." She gave him a calm, sympathetic look. "Can I please tell them you'll be able to make it this time?"
The good doctor sighed and looked to the formal jacket hanging on it's peg. "Briefly, then I must return to the main floor T-PAD. If we are going to have this operational for a public demonstration we must hurry." He rubbed the bridge of his nose, then grabbed the jacket and shrugged it on. Gena let out a short sigh of relief, hardly looking down as her fingers flew across her touchpad device.
"Very good, sir."
"Ech, whatever happened to notebooks? Or those cell phones you lot are always touting around." He focused sharp eyes on her dancing fingers, and Gena looked up briefly in surprise.
"Well, this is just purely convenient, and practical. I'm telling our people that you're coming, so your notes will be readily available on the podium display."
"Mm. As you say." He adjusted the jacket, while Gena stepped forward to offer a critical eye, straightening his collar, whipping out a comb to make sure not a hair was out of place.
"Right this way, doctor." She smiled and stepped back, leading him to the appropriate conference room. Tesla set his own shoulders, nodding to his assistant with appreciation, then stepped out beyond the door and through the curtains to a flurry of flashes and questions. Gena waited, face smoothly blank as Tesla fielded the question the reporters were throwing his way. Only half paying attention, she juggled reorganizing his schedule and then her own research notes, looking up now and then and nodding to offer support.
"So, Dr. Tesla, what do you hope to accomplish? We've been hearing rumors that what you're working on is nothing more then an overglorified 'generator'," a man in the back called out. Tesla smiled patiently and shook his head.
"Thank you for the oversimplification, good sir. The San Fran Gazette, yes?" The man nodded. "Ah. No, what we are hoping to accomplish is not exactly along the lines of a clean burning fission reactor, as many have assumed." Which had, in fact, already been made, but it was small scale and they hadn't been able to make it feasible for large scale energy production. So it ran the facility and they cut down on the electric bill. Gena tapped away as Tesla continued to speak over another bout of shouting.
"We have been working on modifying current...modern...clean energy capabilities, as an aside, but the demonstration slated for later this week will hopefully prove the validity of my original force field theories."
There was silence for a moment, while Tesla smirked just a little, tiny bit, as the reporters and publicists tried to determine what he meant. Finally, a blonde in the front row frowned and spoke, but slowly. "You mean... the dome shield?"
"It involves something a little more complex with quantum mechanics, but broadly, yes."
The room exploded, and Tesla let the crowd roar and shout before clapping softly, waiting while they began to calm down. "Now, before you say anything else, no, it is not one of those...science fiction tricks, nor any fanciful kind of shielding. This technology, as it stands, cannot make something from nothing, as much as it already bends the laws of physics."
Gena mentally rolled her eyes. He loved saying that.
"Nor is it a precursor to teleportation. The device requires immense amounts of energy to manipulate matter, breaking it down and building it up and a great deal more things that I cannot explain in detail right now, or we'd be here all day." This was accompanied with some light laughter, amid the general buzz of excitement. "When we are ready to use it, booklets will be given out explaining the mechanics, that should clarify things more." Tesla raised a final hand in good bye, and simply walked off the stage, while Gena had to step up and use her quiet voice and firm presence to field the last few protests.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please, we're very busy here tonight, Dr. Tesla more so then anyone else. If you'd like a good show you'd better let him get about his work." More laughter. "You will be issued invitations to the public demonstration Dr.Tesla mentioned and a time table of the evening on your way out. Thank you very much for attending, and have a pleasant day." She then walked off as well, scurrying to catch up with the doctor.
"I must say, Miss Ciernik, you handled that lot admirably well. Thanks be to God that I hired you." He let out a sigh and handed her his coat as the walked. She huffed a bit and juggled the handful of material in her arms with her lightpad.
"Th...thank you, doctor. Speaking of, I was wondering if you'd like to discuss the procedure this evening? I've been back and forth in the lab all morning and I've been going over the device plans--"
"And?" He turned briskly into the elevator. She still carried his coat.
"I'm a little worried." Gena had to take a breath for that one, keeping her eyes firmly fixed on her little device as Tesla fell suspiciously silent. "I mean, I understand it's not my specific field, but I've begun to notice some rather odd correlations with the data I've been getting from my expiriments upstairs, and I thought I'd better mention it."
"Ahh." He gave her a polite smile as the door opens and they emerged in the hallway leading past her office. "Causation and correlation, Miss Ciernik, you know the old saying. Even with proof there's not necessarily anything that will be a problem. Besides, as you said, this isn't your field. You're working on a doctorate in genetics..." He trailed off and then looked more sympathetic. "Forgive me. I've missed how hard you have been working on your thesis, and have been demanding far too much of your attention, haven't I?"
"Dr. Tesla, really, I'm well aware of..." She stared at him as he gently cut her off, feeling frustrated for not the first time. He was a genius. More then a genius, brilliant and creative and so many wonderful, incredible things all at once, but he was still the same Tesla he had been, in so many ways. Like now. He respected women, always had, and always treated them as intellectual equals but there was still this polite gentility, and the annoying habit of deferring a problem, however gently he did it, if he didn't really think it important. Not condescension, but damned near close. And you never could quite figure out if he was doing it on purpose or not.
"I know, but you're running a PR conference when you ought to be making use of your turn with the superconductors." He took his coat back, still smiling. Gena wrinkled her nose and slapped her lightpad, full of data on vibrant display, down on a nearby table to get his attention. Add to all that the many lingering mental quirks.
"Please, doctor, you know I know better then to distract you with meaningless problems." She frowned and pointed. "Here, look. The same readings, except mine are coming from genetically manipulated cells." This, thankfully, did cause him to pause and examine the data. He skimmed through the files, frowning with thought, then placing the pad back in her hands.
"It is...fascinating, I'll admit. I'm sorry I cut you off." He glanced down at his watch. "But it is as I suspected. There is something here that bears further research, perhaps even for a future project, but nothing that will cause any problems with the arc flow or the mechanics. I promise you that, and now I must be going." He smiled, speaking with that same, level politeness he always did. "We'll speak on this later, yes? Have a good day."
Gena sighed and nodded, but much of her frustration and already some of her concern was fading. Perhaps she was overworked. "Have a good day, Dr. Tesla."
Things were getting really, really busy later that evening. Gena was darting back and forth in the large, plasti-glass walled room that was overhanging the test space below. Screens upon screens were set up, data was streaming in from numerous points, and she tapped on at least 5 keyboards in as many minutes. Down below, the scene was not much different. Tesla was moving back and forth, checking on capacitors, inspecting the three arcs overheard...then the three concentric rings inset into the pad's base...then the three large energy controls that he'd be maniuplating on the ground floor. Gena would be recording the procedure and monitoring most of the results as it progressed, relaying back and forth with Tesla below. Beside her, Bertram was busy as well, scooting about on his rolling chair.
"How's the output looking, Gene?"
"Very good, Bertie," she half shouted over the hum of the machines. "Everyone nearly in place? Dr. Tesla was very strict about authorized personnel down there."
"Oh, that's no problem. The other scientists aren't exactly eager to be too close." He laughed. Gena paused a moment to peer through the windows and rolled her eyes.
"Oh, the safety protocols have been triple checked and then some. He's got three redundancies built in, as usual, and besides, no one's allowed within 20 feet mininum." There was a crackle over the intercom, heavy with static. Gena sighed. "Of course, the electrical interference wasn't considered a terrible priority...yes, doctor?"
"Are you just about ready to begin synchronization up there, Miss Ciernik?" Tesla's voice was barely legible, but he sounded tense, and pleased.
"Absolutely...now, doctor." She whisked over to another terminal, watched a bar climb upwards. "Ready when you are. Bertram?"
"Aye aye, levels are holding. Ready."
"Good. Okay, everyone, places! Synchronization will begin in 15 seconds!" Tesla shouted out and below scientists and engineers scattered, taking their spots at other computer terminals or at the display seating. Both Gena and Bertram had both hands hovering over seperate keyboards as they kept steady eyes on their monitors. "5...4..." Tesla took his spot, hands hovering over two 3D light panels. His eyes narrowed, the pitch of the engines began a slightly different hum. "Switching to main power now."
"Capacitors ready." Gena called out.
"Main power...online." Bertram followed.
"3...2...1...sync now!" As all three hit 'Enter', there was a slight hiccup in the lighting, a slight dimming of the standard bulbs, and then the room suddenly became quieter, the electrical hum smoother. Both Gena and Bertram let out held breaths as Tesla chuckled. "Excellent! Perfect form everyone, well done. All right, secondary personnel take your spots." The flurry of activity resumed again as a small brigade of student scientists and others filled both the upper lab and the area immediately around Tesla. Gena had her eyes intensely focused on her screen, hands gliding with all the precision and grace of a violinist over her touch screens and keyboards.
"Energy levels rising, Dr. Tesla; we're ready to begin."
"Good. Initiate stage one." Tesla flicked a switch, and the large metal pad in the centre of the room suddenly clicked and began to hum. The voices hushed as everyone focused, or watched as lights began to steadily grow within the concentric circled floor of the pad. Bert, Gena, Tesla, all were perfectly silent as they worked, quick but steady, rehearsing roles already long practiced. Enormous amounts of power were going to be required to get the test shield going, since they still didn't know if the device worked yet or even what it'd be capable of, and that meant precise and careful control on all ends. It was like parking a transport truck into a local Denny's parking lot.
"Stage one initiated." Gena read out in a calm, cool tone that some of the others had jokingly referred to as her "Ship's Computer" voice.
Now the circles in the pad floor glowed brighter, and soft clicking and sliding was heard as things began to shift and lock into place, then shift again as Tesla took primary control and began manipulating the arc flow. The arcs over head were steadily beginning to absorb energy, and after a minute or so, began to snap and crackle with what was becoming Tesla's signature "style". The good doctor began to smile as his hands began to move faster. "Readings?"
"Steady, doctor. The generator's holding up so far," Bertram murmured, nearly fused to his screen. He only jumped a little when the arches snapped out their energy.
"Ja, ja...iniate stage two." Now the hum was becoming more pitched, the circles shifting faster. Tesla flipped another switched, and his delight turned into a frown of concentration as he continued to work the circles. "Holding...the flow patterns need a little more encouragement. Now."
"Initaiting...Bertram, do shut up. One more Star Trek reference and I'm telling Mira about those sandwiches you always sneak in," she muttered quickly while Bert made a face.
"No fair... increasing energy input, Dr. Tesla." He half chuckled, and they were back on track. Gena kept flicking her eyes from the scene below and her own screens, and kept frowning. The generators began to whine, then the arches began to really hum and spark as flashes of light began to snap between them and the floor pad. The circles clicked away, sliding becoming a rushing sound.
"Doctor, I'm monitoring the capacitors and they're holding well, but we need to stabilize the fluctuations. Once the energy gets through your filters..."
"It's fine, Miss Ciernik." Tesla's hand did something off to the side, and she sighed with relief. "Now....ah, hm."
One could usually trust Tesla to remain cool, collected, and understate the problem. With a simple "hmm", everyone else could notice the sudden upswing in energy output, the flashes and snaps becoming more pronounced, while at the same time monitors in the immediate area began to flicker. Several lost power, as cries of dismay and worry indicated.
"Doctor! The lines are failing!" Bertram nearly stood up in his seat. "This is...uh...drawing more power then we expected."
"I'm pulling power from the upper levels." Gena grunted, hands flashing back and forth. Below, the shield pad was still sucking power, and most of the displays now were completely shut down, save Tesla's.
"More, please." The doctor muttered.
"Doctor, I can't..." Bert gaped.
"If we lose flow even for a millisecond the entire experiment is compromised. We've only got a little longer to reach peak efficiency!" Gena and Bert shared glances. Other scientists were backing away from useless equipment, the room growing darker while the lightning in the centre continued to glow almost a brillaint white. They clustered behind Tesla. "Switch to the fusion reactor. I'm modifying the couplings for new output, be ready to sync and tell me when the lines are ready."
There was a dead silence from the lab, overshadowed by the rushing sound of the energy Tesla was guiding. Gena gaped. "Doctor...I..." She and Bert were already, frantically, adjusting the upper lab's equipment for the new surge almost on automatic. "We're not prepared for that! A new energy input at this point..."
"I know what I'm doing, Ciernik. I designed the filters, I know what they're capable of." Tesla placed his hand on a third switch and coldly began to speak. "We can't stop now. Initiating stage three, modify for cold fusion power...now."
"Dammit, ready and syncing...now." Bert and Gena spoke in unison, even down to the cursing. At this point, they really had no choice but to go along. There was way, way too much electrical energy rushing through the experiment to just cut things willy nilly, and what might happen didn't seem as scary as what would happen if the entire shield pad and arches went dead. "Lines ready."
"Switching."
With a single, sudden burst of energy, every light in the building went out. Starting from the far wings and working inwards, the entire system began to shut down, save for where the full (and as of yet, not entirely tested or understood) power of Tesla's new cold fusion reactor began to roar it's way into their machines. Bertram swore and had to tug out his ear piece and cast it aside, as did Gena, as the interference set up a sharp whistling. The little bits of plastic nearly burst before they were cast off. The lab machines were prepared, but barely, and Gena held her breath as her monitor flickered, then came back online with no apparent change in the screen. That soon changed.
Tesla let out a clear "Ha!" as his circles began truly spinning within the pad. The new energy appeared to turn the lightning arcing between the two pieces a light blue, and Gena began running new programs to monitor the change. Her eyes widened.
"Oh...." The readings suddenly and dramatically shifted. Sure, the input leaped up exponentially, but that wasn't the surprise. It was the cold fusion energy now being channelled into the experiment.
An intrinsic part of the whole process had been the filters, using superconductors, that Tesla himself had personally designed, and that no one else entirely understood. This would allow incoming electrical energy to be turned into or processed into...something...that according to the good doctor would help create the shields themselves. The final stage would be when he directed the metal circles into the correct alignment with that energy, which the arches would emit. What they hadn't accoutned for, however, was another kind of energy being used. Electricity was safe, standard, reliable. Cold fusion most certainly was not. Yet.
Gena realized, with growing horror, that whatever was being channelled was not merely converted electricity. Oh, it looked nearly the same out there, the same traditional lightning effect, but there was a strange...organic quality to the readings, to the way it moved and began creeping through the arches. She looked up and through the glass and saw the arches begin to tremble, as on top of it all the input went even higher, far more then what the engineers and Tesla had designed things for.
"Doctor! Doctor, watch the....dammit!" She slammed the desk. Even had the earpieces not been burnt out, the signal would've been useless. A rushing sound was starting to fill the chamber as Tesla worked the circles faster and faster. He was too focused to notice the danger. Gena then banged on the plastiglass, as hard as she could, pointing to the experiment. He finally looked up and swore, with a gesture indicating he was not leaving his station. "Dammit, no, not that!" She stared down at her screen and the energy readings spiked again. "Bertie, take the helm, I...." With a single, sharp movement, Gena bolted from the room, leaving Bertram to stare wide eyed at the screen.
"What the...oh, shit...Gena! You can't!"
Too late. Everyone else down in the lab had already run, but Tesla was frantically working the controls to try and keep things in one piece, steady. As long as he was there, perhaps, the shield experiment could continue...even though arc lightning was starting to snap and flash dangerously close and even the metal arches, bolted to the floor, were beginning to tremble with the sheer output of energy being forced through them. It was only a matter of time before...
Gena came flying through the door and right towards Tesla. She had to dodge as the lightning knocked loose some overhead lighting. Tesla finally set his panel on automatic and darted ahead to stabilize one of the loose couplings.
For a split second, Gena could see Tesla's panel begin locking the concentric circles into place.
Lightning was flashing everywhere. Tesla had slid on heavy rubber gloves and had just snapped the coupling back into place. He didn't look up.
Click. Click.
She moved faster then she thought she could've. One circle locked into place and one of the couplings just blew right off the frame.
Tesla jumped and looked up, ducking and following the bath of the blown coupling even as the one he'd been handling began to tremble.
Click.
The second circle locked in. Another blown coupling rocketed past and smashed through Tesla's control panel. Gena could hear an odd sort of whistling in her ears.
Click.
Tesla just felt as if a sandbag had been thrown at him, a heavy thump that suddenly pushed him out of the way. A surprisingly strong push that launched him well into a safer zone.
She just...reached out and shoved, buckling one shoulder down, lifting, and the older man was out of the way. Gena had just enough time to absorb the moment, seeing Tesla pushed beyond a bank of computers. She smiled a little.
Tesla watched Gena in astonishment, as the final circle slid fully into place. The odd look of relief on her face changed to one of pain and surprise as lightning lashed out, and she was blown into the very centre of the electrical storm that now was whirling in the middle of the metal pad. Upstairs and down, people watched for that breathless moment, before an incredibly bright and pure flash of light blinded them. All the other lights, all the power, just...cut out, completely. Tesla raised his arm over his eyes and looked away, but tried to see through narrowed and squinting eyes.
What played out almost seemed to occur in slow motion. The arches cracked and fell as the ball of light formed within the binds of the three circle pad, but they didn't crash to the floor. The arc flow, powered now by the cold fusion reactor, kept the arches in some strange pattern of it's own, half floating and half stabilized. They spun gently, as all the noise and all the fury and all the energy suddenly seemed to calm and still. Tesla...Bertram...the others...lowered their arms and stared.
The ball of light hovered for a moment more, before someone in the background gasped softly. A shadowy, female figure could just be seen within it. Then the ball began to fade...but the light and the figure remained. A crystalline figure of pure...transparent...light.
Heads raised cautiously over counters, Bertram and some of the engineers and workers began to filter down into the lab, while Tesla struggled to his feet and stared. As things seemed safe, quiet, a small crowd gathered around Tesla and the experimental shield generator.
The woman continued to hover, the only source of light now.
Tesla stepped forward, right to the edge...stopped...the woman had her head bent slightly downwards, her arms hanging by her sides. It was hard to tell if she was wearing clothes or not, as the lines, the light, seemed to blur in and out of each other. But the face.
He leaned in.
The voice didn't seem to come from any one place, if it was even a voice. More a pressure or a trembling of the air. Her eyes opened, two pale glowing orbs only slightly more opaque then the rest of her. She looked at the doctor, expression impossible to read.
Nikola.