Chapter 2

KA-BOOM

The sound of an explosion rang out through Menlo Park. Every building in the complex shook. All the scientists who had been hard at work ran out to see what had occurred.

Thomas Edison looked out the window of his office and saw the building housing the rocketry division completely demolished. He ran as fast as he could out of his building and over to the demolished one. There was a large group there that was not paying attention to the destroyed building as much as they were to a small group of people.

Edison fought his way through to this group at the center. While he didn't know everyone who worked for him he could clearly see the head of his rocketry division, Dr. Robert Goddard, getting condolences from everyone. The man spoke to Edison as he saw him coming forward.

"We were very fortunate," Robert began to say. "I noticed things were looking unstable and-"

Goddard had been silenced by a punch to the jaw Edison laid on him. Goddard fell back, but avoided hitting the ground as he was caught by a couple men who worked under him. Edison tried to charge at his underling, but was held back by some of the others.

"You idiot!" he shouted. "Do you know how much money I've sunk into your division?"

"Yes," Goddard answered as he composed himself. "And despite this recent minor setback, I feel we have made some enormous progress."

Edison's face became scarlet with rage. Two more men had to join in to hold him back. "Minor setback! Minor setback! You call this a minor setback! Get out of my sight! You're fired you idiot!"

Christine sat by her father's side as he played the piano. She watched his fingers as they slid across the keyboard. The music he was playing touched her soul. She closed her eyes and dreamed of ascending to heaven with angels all around her leading her to paradise as this music played.

Christine wished she could do nothing more than listen to her father play music the rest of her life. He had a talent that their benefactors considered divine. He could sing and play any instrument perfectly, although it was the violin where everyone agreed he truly excelled. Christine had inherited a heavenly voice from her father, although the musical aptitude ended there.

"What did you think of that, Christine?" her father asked her.

"I loved it," she replied, obviously elated.

"That is a piece from the opera your mother and I are seeing tonight," he said to her.

"Can I go to the opera sometime, Daddy?" she asked him.

He laughed a little before he answered her. "While your love of music rivals many adults, six is still a little young to be taken to the opera. Don't worry, one day I will take you to see every show there is." He hugged as if it was needed to seal the promise he was making to her.

The two of them heard the shoes of Christine's mother clanking on the floor as she approached them. They both stood up as she entered the room. Christine ran over and wrapped her arms around her mother's waist. She crushed the large dress her mother was wearing.

"I'm not going away forever," her mother told her in a stern voice as she pushed the girl back. Her father walked over to Christine and kneeled down to hug her.

"I know you'll be in bed when we get back, but I will still come to see you. I'll sing something from the opera for you if you are still awake. Now why don't you run off and find Mrs. Valerius?"

Christine's mother gave her father a stern look as she ran off. "That girl is not going to sleep at all tonight because of you, Charles. She's going to force herself to stay awake until you come home to sing to her."

"So she sleeps in a little more tomorrow," he said as he grabbed his coat. "I don't see what the big deal is."

"She needs some structure in her life. And that includes having a proper bed time."

Charles didn't reply to his wife as he helped her into her coat. He wanted to let the matter drop and by staying silent he succeeded in doing that. He walked her out to the coach that was waiting for them and they headed to the opera.

Robert Goddard sat at the bar with his head in his hands. He stared down at the glass of whiskey that was before him. He tried to remember which glass he was on at the moment. It was either his six or seventh, although it could have been eight, maybe even as high as nine or ten. Eleven or twelve wasn't out of the question either.

He wasn't paying much attention to anyone around him, but he couldn't help but here the bartender give a huge greeting to someone named Nick.

"How are you doing, Nick? It has been an eternity since I've seen you. What have you been up to?"

The man started speaking in an accent Goddard had never heard before. "I've been traveling Europe looking for money to start my own lab. I'm happy to say a benefactor in Paris, Professor Valerius, has come through."

"That's great news. News that like deserves a drink on the house. The usual, I take it."

"Of course."

"So, what are you doing back here?"

"Recruitment," Nick answered. "I figured there is no better way for me to pay back that son of a bitch Edison then to steal some of his best scientists."

"Well if you want some of his scientists you might want to speak to Robert over there."

Goddard didn't look up from his drink at all when he heard his name mentioned. He could hear the man walk over and set his drink down next to him.

"So you work for Edison?" Nick asked him.

"I used to work for him," he answered in a slurred voice. "Today was my last day."

The man let out a huge laugh. Goddard imagined the eyes of everyone in the bar had turned their attention to the two of them. "Sam, come down here and give this man a drink on me."

Goddard was going to tell Nick he really didn't need another one. He noticed that he had finished his last drink at some point, and thought there wouldn't be any harm in having just one more. He grabbed the glass of whiskey Sam poured out for him.

"Even if I weren't here to offer you a job, this would be a reason to celebrate," Nick said as he held up his glass. "Leaving that asshole Edison behind is the best decision you could have ever made."

They clinked their glasses and each took a swig. "It wasn't my decision to leave," Goddard explained. "I didn't quit, I was fired. I blew up a building trying to mix rocket fuel. I take it this means that job offer is no longer good."

"I could use a person like you in my lab. There are so few people that work in rocketry."

"Did you not hear me when I said I blew up a building?"

"I've learned you have to take chances on people if you are going to make the kinds of leaps forward that I want to make."

"And what kinds of leaps would those be?"

"It would probably be easier for me to list the areas I am not looking to make huge leaps. I envision a world that is going to be completely changed by technology. I'm close to developing wireless transportation of power, but that is just the beginning. I also envision a world in which information is transported wirelessly. And this information will be transported by computers, machines which will be able to perform and compute tasks for us in a fraction of the time it would take us to do so ourselves. Then, not only will we have computers to make our lives easier, we will have robots to do so as well."

"I've heard of a lot of the stuff you just mentioned. In fact, Edison has a lab closed up which had been used for a lot of those projects. Most of that stuff was worked on by just one man, as I recall. I think his name was. . ." Because of the amount of alcohol he had drunk, his brain was working a little slow. It took him a while to figure out who he was talking to. "Nicholas Tesla, you're Nicholas Tesla."

"In person," Tesla replied. "I see my reputation precedes me."

Goddard was ecstatic at who he was meeting. "I've seen what you left behind at Menlo Park and I have to say it is complete genius. It's all so complicated that Edison has been unable to find anyone who can figure out what you've built."

"That asshole thought he didn't need me. It's nice to see he isn't doing so well without me now. That has been my primary motivation since I have left, I want to be successful and rub it in his face."

"Count me in," Goddard said as he raised a glass. "I want to show not just him, but the whole world they were wrong about me."

"I will give you every chance you need to do just that," Tesla replied.