‘Somewhere around here,’ scowled Zimmer. ‘The goddamn transceiver’s still on. But they’ve vanished. Screw that Newcastle asshole and his friggin’ girlfriend.’
‘You any idea at all where they might be?’ asked Roy.
‘Might be? Christ! Look at all those hills and mountain ranges down there. They could be anywhere.’
Roy checked his gauges. ‘Okay. I’ve got about two hours’ endurance and this area is full of
weird little wind shifts. And I sure as hell don’t want to put the ship down in all that hostile terrain.’
Zimmer grimaced. ‘So what do you suggest we do?’
Roy pointed to his map. ‘I did some homework before we left, and there’s a private helipad not far from here belongs to some guy owns a TV station. Why don’t we wait there and you keep watching the scanner? Vincent and his girl have got to appear sooner or later. Even if it’s dark and your AST 1235 can’t pick them up, this thing’s equipped with enough avionics to find a glowworm in a snow blizzard. You’ll get them all right.’
Zimmer thought for a moment. ‘Okay. We’ll underline that.’
‘No problem.’ Roy took the Kiowa up and flew back across the valleys towards Burning Mountain and the helipad.
With Jesse right behind him, Mick crawled along the tunnel till he came to the metal door. It had a copper sheen and looked extremely solid. Mick gave it a rap with the heel of his fist.
‘Shit a brick,’ said Mick. ‘It’s like the door on a bank vault.’
‘Where’s the keyholes?’ asked Jesse.
Mick shone the torch over the metal door. ‘Down the bottom, in the corners. See them?’
Jesse peered through the light and picked out the two holes in the metal. ‘Yeah. I got them,’ she said.
Mick gave the metal door another thump. ‘Okay, let’s see if this thing still opens.’ He turned to Jesse. ‘And if we get blown up, I love you, Oz.’
‘I love you too, Mick,’ replied Jesse. ‘Now open the bloody door. I just saw a Huntsman spider as big as a woolly mammoth.’
Mick poked the Allen keys into the holes and smiled when they fitted perfectly. He turned them inwards, lifted, and the counter-balanced metal door slid up easily into the top of the cave leaving enough clearance to extract the keys.
‘Look at that, Oz,’ smiled Mick. ‘We’re in like Flynn and still in one piece.’
‘Unreal,’ said Jesse. ‘What’s inside?’
Mick shone the torch through the entrance. ‘It’s just a big room with…I don’t know what it is.’
‘Come on,’ urged Jesse. ‘Let’s get in there.’
‘Okay.’
Mick removed the two Allen keys and put them in his backpack. He and Jesse then wriggled
through the entrance and stood up in the gloomy interior of a large room.
‘Mick, shine the torch around the entrance,’ said Jesse. ‘I’ll bet there’s a light switch.’
‘A light switch?’ said Mick. ‘Where are you going to get electricity out here?’
‘Tesla was into free energy and the Unified Field theory. He’d have some sort of power on.’
Mick shone the torch around the entrance and found an old porcelain and brass light switch sitting a couple of metres above the floor on the left.
‘I knew it,’ said Jesse. ‘But look, it’s already turned on. So the power can’t be working.’
Mick shook his head. ‘You foolish woman,’ he said. ‘Tesla lived in America. Yank switches are the reverse of ours.’ Mick clicked the switch up. There was a momentary flickering before six lights sunk into the ceiling came on and the room lit up with a soft white glow. A moment later there was a brief hissing sound, then a heavy thump echoed round the room.
‘Hey, Mick,’ said Jesse. ‘The door just slammed shut.’
‘Doesn’t matter,’ replied Mick. ‘I got the keys. But shit! Have a look at this.’
Mick and Jesse found themselves in a ten square metre room with a granite floor, granite walls and a smooth, high granite ceiling. A large brass panel sat on each wall, reflecting the light from the ceiling and the veins of copper glinting in the granite. The centre of the room was taken up by a metal machine like a huge boiler, covered with thick copper studs. Copper and metal girders ran from the top and sides of the machine into the walls and ceiling and copper coils ran between the girders. On the right-hand side of the machine, a wooden bench sat next to a solid metal keyboard numbered one to ten with a hash key, and above the keyboard, four meters with skinny black needles sat beneath four solid metal switches. Below each switch was a small knob of cut-glass. The airtight room was cool and spotlessly clean. There was no must or cobwebs, and despite its age and quaint appearance, the equipment looked like it could have been installed yesterday.
‘So this is Tesla’s doomsday machine,’ said Jesse, placing her backpack on the floor. ‘It reminds me of a big Dalek with all those metal studs.’
‘Yes. It’s very
Plan 9 From Outer Space
, isn’t it,’ said Mick. ‘Anyway. Let’s have something to eat while we check things out.’
‘Okay,’ said Jesse. ‘I’ll get my camera.’
The chopper ride to the helipad didn’t take very long. Roy took the Kiowa across the New England Highway, then banked it over a beautiful estate with a huge home surrounded by expensive cars. White fences edged the lush green fields, a large pool sat behind the house and a long set of stables ran along one side. The helipad was away from the residence, behind a paddock full of beautifully groomed horses. Not far from the house a group of people were seated or standing beneath shelters, watching two teams of men galloping around a fenced-off paddock on horses. All movement stopped at the sound of the approaching helicopter and everybody stared up at the sky.
‘What are they doing down there?’ asked Zimmer. ‘Playing polo?’
‘Yeah,’ replied Roy. ‘And they don’t look one bit happy to see us. What do you suggest we tell them?’
Zimmer zipped the AR 18 back in its bag. ‘Leave it to me,’ he said.
Roy brought the Kiowa down slowly, switched off the engine, and the rotor blades wheezed to a stop. From amongst the people on horseback, a huge man wearing white jodhpurs,
a pith helmet and a white polo shirt with an X on the front came thundering over on a magnificent chestnut gelding. He had lidded eyes and a large mouth set in a fleshy face and there was no mistaking he wasn’t pleased with the unexpected arrival of Roy and Zimmer. The big man reined the horse to a stop near the helicopter and rested his polo mallet across the saddle as Zimmer got out of the helicopter leaving the door open.
‘Just what in blazes do you people think you’re doing?’ the big man demanded. ‘Damn your impertinence. Don’t you know this is private property? I’ll wager you’re with the bloody ABC.’
‘Suh. Allow me to introduce mah self,’ smiled Agent Sierota, flashing a false ID. ‘Ahm Lieutenant Ray Walker. And that there’s Commander Roy Sisti.’
‘Afternoon, sir.’ Roy waved from the cabin.
‘Suh. We’re all with the United States Navy,’ said Zimmer.
The big man ran his eyes suspiciously over the helicopter. ‘The United States Navy, you say?’
‘Yes, suh,’ nodded Zimmer. ‘We were helping in the search for the two missing tourists when we started getting trouble with the hydraulics. So we had to put down in a hurry. We’re extremely sorry,
suh, for any inconvenience we’ve caused you. And we certainly respect your privacy. But we-all shouldn’t be here long.’
The big man’s belligerent expression changed and he settled down. ‘Part of the search party. Well, that’s a different matter, isn’t it.’
‘We hope so, suh,’ smiled Zimmer.
‘In that case, gentlemen, you can stay as long as you wish. Would you like one of my mechanics to take a look?’
‘No. That’s quite all right, suh,’ said Zimmer. ‘We-all can handle it.’
‘Fair enough,’ said the big man. ‘Well, I’m in the middle of a chukka, so you’ll have to excuse me. But there’s cool drinks and sandwiches over there. You’re more than welcome to join us.’
‘Thank you, suh,’ said Zimmer. ‘That’s most obliging of you, suh. We’ll all keep it in mind.’
‘My pleasure, gentlemen.’ The big man lovingly patted his horse on the neck and gazed around him. ‘Isn’t it a beautiful day.’
‘It certainly is, suh,’ replied Zimmer. ‘And might I say, suh, y’all live in a beautiful part of the world.’
‘I do. I do indeed. And thank you for the compliment.’ The big man gently wheeled his horse around. ‘Good afternoon, gentlemen.’
‘Good afternoon, suh.’ Zimmer watched the big man gallop off then walked across to the helicopter.
‘He seemed like an all right kind of a guy,’ said Roy.
‘Yeah,’ agreed Zimmer. ‘But I wouldn’t like to cross him. Did you see the size of the sonofabitch sitting on that horse?’
‘I sure as hell did,’ answered Roy. ‘And I got to give it to you, Beauregarde. Your Southern charm went down smoother than molasses. I’m taking him up on the drinks and sandwiches.’
‘Okay. But let’s stay here for a while first, and see if Vincent and his girl make a move.’ Zimmer stared at the transceiver and shook his head. ‘I’ll be goddamned if I know what happened to the signal.’
‘Well, something’s sure blocking it,’ said Roy.
After a Subway and plenty of water, Mick felt better. A cup of coffee and he would have felt better again. But the water was good. Jesse also ate a Subway then Mick watched while she took photos and they walked around the room, checking everything out and discussing the pros and cons of the death ray machine. They’d placed Tesla’s diary and the contents of the
briefcases on the wooden bench and, after comparing notes, found themselves having certain misgivings about the strange apparatus.
‘Yes. I’m sorry, Mick,’ said Jesse as they stood in front of the panel, sipping water. ‘But I just don’t think this is a doomsday machine. I’ve got a feeling it’s something else.’
‘I’m inclined to agree,’ replied Mick. ‘Very much.’ He turned to Jesse. ‘All right, so what made you change your mind? You go first.’
‘Well,’ said Jesse, ‘firstly, Nikola was a pacifist. Why would he want to blow up half the world and kill millions of people?’
‘That’s a good point, Oz,’ agreed Mick. ‘It just doesn’t make sense.’
Jesse pointed to the bench. ‘And in his diary, he says he’ll “extract great delight getting back at J. Pierpont Morgan”. Then goes on about all the good he could have done the world. Now he’ll probably do the opposite.’ Jesse shrugged. ‘It doesn’t quite sound like blowing the world up, does it? More like getting revenge on certain parties.’
‘I’m glad you mentioned certain parties,’ Mick nodded sagely. ‘In his diary Tesla said he regrets lying to Guglielmo after Marconi put up the money for Project Piggie. And what Marconi
thought would make him rich will probably ruin him. Right?’
‘That’s right, Mick,’ said Jesse.
‘Well, Marconi made his money out of sending wireless signals. And radio and all that rattle, didn’t he, Oz?’
‘Yes,’ nodded Jesse.
‘So to ruin him, Tesla would have to stuff up all his radio signals.’ Mick stepped back from the machine. ‘I’ve been looking at this thing, and there’s plenty of metal in those girders running into the ceiling. But there’s also a lot of copper coils. And this mountain’s full to the brim with copper.’
‘You’ve only got to look at the granite walls to see that,’ agreed Jesse.
‘And copper’s a conductor,’ said Mick. He looked directly at Jesse. ‘I don’t know how Tesla got the power on here, Oz, and I don’t know how he invented his machine, either. But I reckon this thing’s a big transceiver.’
‘A transceiver?’ said Jesse. ‘What? Like the one in my bag?’
‘Sort of.’ Mick started to grin. ‘In fact, if I was going to give this thing a fancy, military intelligence type of name, I’d call it an R.A.T.S. A Rats.’
‘A Rats?’
‘Yeah. Radio and Telegraphic Shredder. It sends beams out, finds an electronic signal and shreds it. In other words, Oz, it’s a super-sophisticated, age-old jamming device.’
Jesse gave Mick a double blink. ‘Mick. You bloody little genius. I think you’re right.’
‘Thanks. I am an electrician, you know.’
‘And a good one, too,’ said Jesse.
Mick had another look at the machine then smiled and shook his head. ‘Of course it wouldn’t work now.’
‘It wouldn’t? Why not?’ said Jesse. ‘If Tesla could beam power to anywhere in the world back then, why couldn’t his machine do it now?’
‘Well, besides the thing sitting in a cave for nearly a hundred years and seizing up,’ answered Mick, ‘there’s too much traffic out there now. In 1925 there would have been a bit of radio, morse code, land line telephones, and that was about it. Now you got cellphones, TV, FM radio, the internet.’
‘Yes, you’re right,’ said Jesse. ‘Computer systems, satellites, two-way radio,’ she added. ‘Radar. GPS transceivers.’
‘Exactly,’ said Mick. ‘Bloody hell! The Yanks have got telecommunications systems out there
people don’t even know about. As well as the Russians and the Chinese.’
‘What about fibre optics?’ said Jesse.
‘Yeah. And car radios,’ smiled Mick.
‘Shit,’ said Jesse. ‘Wouldn’t it be a funny old world without all that? You got the power on, but no zany FM morning crews. No John Laws. No Derryn Hinch. None of that moron with the rotten teeth and the whiny voice on
The Glass House
, thinks he’s funny.’
‘All that and
Big Brother
I could do without quite comfortably, Oz. But what about no
RocKwiz
. No
Iron Chef
. Shit! No Friday night football. No ringing your mates up after the bloody game. Yikes!’
‘Hey, no eBay,’ added Jesse. ‘No Eurovision Song Contest. No
Days of Our Lives
. No advertising. My God, it’s too ghastly to even contemplate, Mick.’
‘You can say that again.’ Mick ran his eyes over the strange machine. ‘You know, I wonder what made Tesla change his mind about coming back to Australia and switching the thing on? He did mention all the carnage of the First World War.’
‘True, Mick,’ said Jesse. ‘But besides all the good the machine might do, like stopping the military industrial complex and that, there’s the
downside. You’d have planes dropping out of the sky. You wouldn’t be able to ring for a doctor or an ambulance. Ships couldn’t send an SOS. No storm warnings. Train signals. I imagine Nikola’s weighed up the good with the bad, and left it. It’s in a safe place. And even if anybody did get in here years ago, they wouldn’t be able to turn it on.’