The Tesla Experiment

Chapter 7

No more than twenty minutes after Sam put away his recorder, he found himself inside the compound where the detectors were being assembled. It was break time for most of the engineers, so they did not pay much attention to the unfamiliar face that walked with Albert Tägtgren.

“Don’t look so worried, Sam. There are so many multi-nationals working on this experiment that new faces are common around here every now and then,” the engineer smiled. He had Sam decked out in a coat and had hat, complete with a clipboard and pencil, the reason for which escaped Sam completely, but he was not about to complain being smuggled into a section that was not marked with an ‘8’.

“If I get discovered…” Sam whispered.

“You won’t, unless you act like a journalist or something. Right?” Al reminded him. “Now follow me as if you have been here before. Mind the third step. We all here know the third step is narrower than the others, and now you do too.”

“Right-o,” Sam replied, and loosened up a bit.

They headed toward the Alice detector, said a few hellos to the rival teams of scientists, with Al stopping occasionally, pretending to discuss circuits or concrete density with Sam. Along the main lines they moved until they entered a small space between the wall and the power boards. Sam could still smell it. The nauseating stench of the electrical fire permeated around them, that awful rubbery residue that settled in one’s throat.

“This is where it happened?” he asked Al.

The engineer nodded seriously, checking that they did not draw unnecessary attention.

“This is where the fire stopped. It started somewhere inside the tube. What is baffling is that the actual experiment is only due to start later this year, but what we saw was,” he swallowed hard and frowned, “not normal. I don’t want to sound like one of those people on UFO documentaries, Mr. Cleave, but I saw a man catch fire and then he was gone.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Sam exclaimed, feeling distinctly spooked by the imagery Albert conveyed to him. He placed his hand flat on the engineer’s chest and shook his head profusely. “Just… run that by me again. Slowly.”

“Off the record.”

“Aye, off the record, but don’t leave out anything,” Sam urged.

“I was one of seven engineers and electricians who came to inspect the two new installations we did that day. You see, we must make sure the wiring that the electricians lay are properly secured in the casings and supported according to the weight and dimension requirements,” Albert started in his hindering English. Sam was dying to move him along, but he did ask for detail, after all. In his pocket, his finger had pressed down the record button on his audio recorder, but his expression remained unchanged.

“And then?” Sam pressed.

“We heard a loud clap and then the sound of currents, electrical currents, a few meters down the tube. There was a separate slice lying on its side. I’ll show you now. Come, let’s go,” he told Sam, pulling him by his sleeve deeper into the damaged tube to where the blackened steel remains of a pod-like structure lay sprawled like a giant dead spider.

“See? There. That was a container that carried and stored a lot of generators and conductors, copper wiring and capacitors. But when we saw lighting currents come from it we raced to see what was happening. Arcs of blue lightning shot from it and when we came here, see…?” he pointed to the open side of the semi-circular container, “…we saw a human figure that was, what’s the word? Alight? Alluminated?”

“Illuminated,” Sam corrected him.

“That’s right. It was so quick, but we all saw it. When the capacitors ran out of energy the arc stopped and the figure caught fire. But Sam, it was a fire like we have never seen! It looked like a space shuttle’s reentry into the atmosphere, a sort of burn through. The next thing we knew the body had vanished into the fire, like he stepped into thin air!” Albert exclaimed, hardly realizing that his relation was growing louder. Sam hushed him.

“And then the place caught fire too?” he asked Al.

“Yes. That fire around his body vanished with him into thin air, just like that,” Al said, motioning with his hand in front of his mouth and blowing it away. “But them the fire came back, I swear to God! It just came right back out of the nothingness and spread like an explosion. All we could do was run for our lives! By the time we reached the other side of Alice, the whole section was burning like a wildfire.”

“Jesus. Did anyone get hurt? The media reported that this happened during a late shift, fewer people…” Sam asked.

“Yes, it was late. But our superiors did not want the true nature of the blaze to come out in the media. You know, we have enough crap with the protestors and local opposition groups about what we are trying to accomplish here, you see?” Al rambled as the pungent smell got the better of Sam.

“Can we get out of here? I’m getting sick from this smell,” he asked the engineer.

“Sure. Sure,” Al replied, leading Sam back out from the hideous black scene, “but you won’t leak this, right? Remember, if it comes out I’ll know who leaked it.”

“Really?” Sam marveled as he used his coat to cover his nose and mouth. “Really? You still have time to deal me a threat?”

Albert shrugged, “It’s a very serious issue. I just had to tell someone. I don’t know why I trust you. I know I shouldn’t.”

“No, you shouldn’t. But I’m not a complete bastard. If this comes out… IF… no-one will ever know where it came from. There were seven of you. It could be any of you, right?” Sam reminded him.

“You are going to tell this?” Al shouted, exasperated at the journalist’s betrayal.

“Relax! No, I’m going to use your information to figure out what really happened,” Sam reassured him.

“I just told you what really happened!” Al persisted.

Sam calmed him down and pulled him aside. In a hushed tone he told Al what he meant. “Look, I know what you saw, but I need to know why this happened and who the man was that caught fire. Where he is now and who he worked for, what he did to make this happen — all that. That is what I am here to address. So stop fretting. Your identity is safe.”

Sam’s explanation seemed to calm the nervous engineer.

“Nothing strange has happened since, right?” Sam asked.

“No,” Al replied, at once seeming dead tired and worried. “Nobody has come near that mess since they extinguished it. They are waiting for the marshals to submit a report to see if it was arson or an electrical fault before our people are allowed to clean up and write up the cost of the damaged.” He looked to the ground and shook his head. “Fucking millions lost,” he sighed.

“I don’t suppose you will let me take pictures of the container,” Sam appealed to Albert’s favor.

“No,” the engineer summarily dismissed the request out of hand. “There is no way. Telling you the story is one thing, but pictures would be actual proof, actual evidence. I’ll get fired.”

“Alright, alight,” Sam yielded. “Well, thank you so much for the information, Al. It was good of you to trust me with your story, but as I said, please don’t worry about me leaking this, alright?”

“Okay,” Al replied, looking a bit more relieved.

“Um, I know my way out, but I just have to pee. Can you direct me to the nearest men’s room?” Sam asked.

“Of course. Sure,” Al said and took Sam to the Section 4 area rest rooms before he said goodbye.

Sam rushed into a cubicle in the empty rest room. Inside he quickly drew the recorder from his pocket and slid it into the back pocket of his jeans. From his satchel he took his GoPro, fully charged the night before.

“Who said size matters?” Sam jested as he wrapped the tiny video camera in his palm. “Can’t believe he actually thought I would leave before getting footage. Super intelligence does not make you smart, does it, old Al?” Sam smiled as he reinvented his scientist look, complete with his fake spectacles. The hard hat he would have to steal from one of the stations, but with night drawing near it would hopefully be easier.

Finally he was satisfied that he looked the part for blending in and slipped out towards the restricted section they had come from.

‘Thank God I have a keen sense of direction. This fucking maze would confuse anyone who doesn’t work here every day,’ he thought as he navigated his way. He checked his watch. It was late already and although they worked around the clock, the people who had seen his face already were all about to knock off from their shifts. He was pressed for time nonetheless. Soon the security guards would be alerted that the visitor was still in the facility and over his time limit. Not to mention that he was about two kilometers away from the only section he was allowed in.

Sam moved with groups of people, staying just far enough behind them to look like he was part of the section, but not too close. He did not want them to discover him before he could at least get some sort of evidence to feed Penny Richards and her foundation. Besides that, he was intrigued about Albert’s story, but whether he was completely convinced of the authenticity of the story was still a matter for consideration.

After a nerve wrecking trek through strangers who knew one another in corridors that all looked the same Sam finally recognized the place where he and Al greeted the scientists and engineers. They were scattered now, dealing with their respective problems in the construction and assembly of the giant machines. Sam pretended to check some circuits while glancing towards the Alice detector’s damaged section, planning his next move to advance. Some of the plumbers and maintenance personnel gave him suspicious looks, but they were uncertain of their judgment. Maybe he was just a new scientist from one of the more obscure countries involved in the project. They did not have the time to make it their business anyway.

When Sam checked the charred section behind the tape barriers again he saw something move right there in the vicinity of the container. His heart jumped. With all this talk of men disappearing into thin air he was caught between fascination and skepticism, yet there was an inkling of possibility to it that kept Sam interested — and foolishly brave. If caught he could face serious charges, including espionage or sabotage and that would certainly have costly consequences for him.

Again there was some movement behind the circuit boards just short of the one opening on the container. Sam darted quietly towards it, his camera activated to capture whatever was there. As he crossed the tape barrier he knew he was onto something. There was a shape moving in the blackness. Sam snuck around the side of the pod to see when a mighty blow to the head struck him down, sending his camera sliding across the concrete.

His eyes burned and his skull felt as if it was mounted on roll bolts, stinging into his neck from the harsh impact, but he was conscious. Two figures stood over him, blurred and mumbling. When his vision improved through his fake glasses he caught his breath.

“Purdue?”