Tesla: A Teen Steampunk/Cyberpunk Adventure (Tesla Evolution Book 1) (15 page)

“Mr. Stephenson,” Sebastian said. “Are we on an isogon in this city?”

“What?” came the distracted reply. “How should I know?”

“If we were, would it heighten sensitivity to other magnetic fields?”

“Possibly.” Mr. Stephenson paused. “Yes, it should. Which could be one of the reasons Gavin is performing so extraordinarily well.”

There was a final screech of wood on tiles and Mr. Stephenson coughed. “You can turn around now.”

Sebastian spun on the spot and opened his eyes. The sudden glare of the light made him squint.

“Now which one is it in?” Mr. Stephenson said.

Sebastian looked straight ahead. He breathed in and blinked. He turned his head to the right and up. “Behind that green book. Up on the shelf.”

*

By the end of the lesson Mr. Stephenson had calmed down and nearly returned to his normal color. For most of the lesson he had been bright red, had stuttered and stammered, fumbled and cursed. In the end Gavin had performed some minor feats of amazement and Mr. Stephenson had established that normality had returned to the universe. As the boys were leaving he was almost jovial again.
 

He gave Sebastian instructions on how to get to his place so he could catch up with Melanie. He said it in an unusual way, as if he had been instructed to pass on the message, but Sebastian put it down to stress.

So he found himself sitting beside Melanie atop the tall apartment building in the center of the city, their legs dangling from a ledge three stories up, watching the sun descend to the horizon with Old Benjamin towering above them.

“What happened with you today?” he asked her.

“I went to the doctor’s. They did all kinds of tests and felt sorry for me.”
 

“Are you still sick?”

“I won’t ever be cured. That’s what the doctors back home said. They tried to tell me that here too, but they couldn’t. They ummed and ahhed among themselves, huddled in some secret circle, then said they had to speak to someone else.”

“But you look better to me now than when we first met.”

“Could be all the excitement boiling my blood.”

“Wouldn’t it be funny if you were the only person who got well by being around me.”

“No, it wouldn’t. I’d rather die than be forced to hang around a ten year old.”

“I’m nearly thirteen, and that’s not a very nice thing to say,” he said, dejected.

She sighed. “Sorry,” she said grudgingly. “It’s been a long day, and the tests make me feel bad. I sometimes forget there are other people in the world.” She took a sip from her glass. It contained a green liquid. “What about you?” she said in a happier tone.

“I went to school.”

“Hah! Loser.”

“No offence, but I’d rather be in school, even if it was totally stupid. There’s one guy I’m sure you would totally hate. He’s about your age and is the most annoying person I’ve ever met. His name is Gavin.”

“Has he got whooshy hair?” She took another sip.

“Oh, totally. It’s like the whooshiest ever.”
 

They both laughed. She put her arm around him and gave him a light hug. She wiped away a tear away and gave him a smile. “Death to whooshy hair,” she whispered. Her voice was dry and harsh. She took another sip of her drink.

“What’s with the drink?” he asked.

“Uh, doctor’s orders. Even out here. Anyway, at least it’s something new. They never gave me anything like this back home. Maybe they’re more educated out here.”

They watched the sun setting over the distant mountains.
 

“Well, it wasn’t the worst day ever. At least no scary monsters attacked us,” she said.

“You know, I think I preferred that. You know where you’re with a big scary monster.”

“Today, Sebastian, I totally agree with you.”

“Maybe we’ll get lucky and spend more time running away from them together. We were a pretty good team.”
 

Life was a lot simpler when all you had to do was run.

“I’ve known you for three days,” she said, “and you’ve changed everything. I wonder what’ll happen tomorrow. This is the first time in a long time that I’ve looked forward to the sun rising on a new day. How about you?”

“Not much. School sucks, it’s totally boring. I’m in a dorm with a bunch of farting kids and Gavin. Is your place any better?”

“It’s totally lush. It’s my own space. Apart from the cave, I’ve always had to share a room. This is good. It makes me feel free. I asked if I could paint all the walls black, but the old grump said no.”

“You know,” Sebastian started, “today …”

“Yeah?”

“Something odd happened in the school. I had to close my eyes at one point and it was like I could still see the outlines of the kids in the class. But like they were ghosts. In fact, everything in the room was like that, just a faded outline of everything. I think it’s got something to do with detecting magnetism, but no one else could seem to do it. Well, not Isaac. Or Gavin. And those two seem to be at either end of the ability spectrum.”

“Never heard of anything like that. Could be handy if you lose something. You could see it behind whatever it was hidden behind.”

The door behind them opened and Mr. Stephenson walked out onto the roof terrace. In the fading light it was hard to tell if he was happy or not. He walked up to the youngsters and gave them a smile.
 

“It’s good to see you two finally having a chance to relax. Melanie, the doctors would like to see you again tomorrow morning, at first light. They say don’t go to the toilet before the test. It will be best if you can, er, hold on.”

There was a stunned silence.
 

He continued. “Sebastian, I’ve spoken with Nikola, and we’re in agreement that maybe the tesla school isn’t the best place for you. He has a plan for you to go elsewhere. You need to go to his office now.”

“Hah, you got kicked out of school after the first day,” Melanie said. “Even I lasted longer than that.”

He looked down a little sadly.
 

“Don’t worry.” She nudged him with her shoulder. “It makes you pretty cool.”

He smiled back at her.

“Not smart. But cool.”

*

“Ah, Sebastian. Have a seat.” Nikola indicated the chair in front of his desk.
 

Nikola’s office was on the third story of Old Benjamin. The stairs were narrow and tricky, and Sebastian had fallen up them twice. The office was large and spacious, with the walls covered in bookshelves made from heavy, dark and ancient wood. The books numbered in the thousands and looked nearly as old as the shelves. The spines were cracking and faded, some already peeling and illegible. There was a large desk, made of the same dark wood. His chair was a tall-backed sofa. Its dark brown leather was also cracking due to extreme heat and age. Behind Nikola was a large window looking out over the city and into the dark mountains of the west.

Nikola continued writing notes on the top of a large folder in the center of the desk, surrounded by piles of paperwork. Books were scattered on the desktop, opened at pages heavily marked with pen.
 

On the other side of the desk was a tall-backed armchair. Sebastian sat in it, bolt upright.
 

Nikola was wearing a small set of glasses. He looked up over the rims.
 

“You have a lot of books here.”

Nikola looked around with some trepidation. “I know, and it worries me.”

“Why?”

“My great-great-grandfather spent his life transcribing the previous books into these ones. As you see, they’re dying and needing to be transcribed again. My family has had the responsibility of maintaining the knowledge records for eight hundred years. Now it’s my turn, and I’m afraid I don’t have enough time.”

“Can’t you get someone to help?”
 

“Maybe one other, but it might be time to hand the task over to someone new, and young.”

“Don’t look at me.”

“The rewards are great. Think of it, all our collected knowledge passing through one brain.”

“Mine would explode.”

“We shall see.” He moved aside several books and picked up a piece of paper.
 

Sebastian reassessed the books. There had to be at least two thousand. It would take decades and decades. And what if they had diagrams? You would need someone who could draw. Uh-oh.

“I have your school report here.” Nikola waved a piece of paper in the air. “Shall we read it?” He read through it silently. “Maybe I should just read out the important bits. You don’t need to know everything that’s here.”

He took a deep breath and began to read. “Lack of attention. Lack of respect. Indifference to authority. I won’t read out the next ones. Tardy. Shows talent but needs to focus.” He folded the piece of paper and placed it on the desk. “Could do better in class.”

Sebastian slumped in his seat. “Not much changes,” he mumbled.

Nikola shrugged. “You wouldn’t be the first, or the last, so don’t let it bother you. And if it makes you feel any better, my own reports were disturbingly similar to that.” He gave the boy a bright smile.
 

There was a short, sharp knock on the door. It slowly creaked open. An old man with frizzy white hair and a bushy moustache stuck his head into the room. His face was lined with wrinkles. He carried a sense of joy and expectation in his face. His eyes twinkled with happiness and intelligence.

“This is Albert. He’ll be teaching you … different things.” Nikola beckoned the old man into the room.
 

Albert took some hesitant steps onto the plush carpet. He had his hands clasped in front of him and looked slightly sheepish.

“Hello, young man. It vill be
gut, ja
?”

Sebastian gave Nikola a concerned look.

“He’s not from these parts,” Nikola said in explanation. “He’s going to teach you physics. Good stuff, physics. I think you’ll enjoy it.”

“
Ja
, ve vill get our hands dirty vit the practical application of theory of electromagnetic radiation.”

The man’s accent was so thick Sebastian had to concentrate on every word he said. It made his head tingle. It was possibly the first time he had had to concentrate in a scholarly manner for months.

“We think electromagnetic radiation is important in defending ourselves from the trouble in the west,” Nikola said. He turned in his seat and looked out his large windows toward the dark and distant west. “We need to find
something
. We’re running out of options.”

“Where should I find you?” Sebastian asked Albert.

“I’m on the second floor of this building. I vill see you tomorrow morning. First thing. Ten o’clock.”

“He’s more of a night person,” Nikola said to Sebastian. “Thank you, Albert. I expect great things from both of you, relatively speaking.”

Albert gave a creaky bow, then turned and left the room. The door closed slowly and Nikola watched until the latch clicked into place.

“He’s not a relative of yours, is he?” Sebastian asked.

“Why do you ask?”

“The hair and eyes are a bit, you know …”

Nikola smiled. “Look, this is an abstract idea. I’m not sure if it’ll work, but I’m expecting your score to be in a realm we can’t fathom yet. New challenges need new answers. Work with Albert and see how you can apply what he knows. Go and discover exciting new theories. And change the world.”

20

ALBERT COUGHED AND cleared his throat. “Ve shall take the roll call.”

Sebastian looked over his shoulder. There was no one else in the room.
 

“Sebastian?”

“Er, here.”

“Gut.”
Albert placed a large tick on his clipboard. “Let us commence.”

The class was about a third of the size of the tesla schoolroom, which was not a problem as it had only one teacher and one student. There were four large benches in the room, with room for two people at each.
 

“Will anyone else be coming?” Sebastian asked.

Albert looked over his clipboard. “No.”

“Ever?”

Albert looked over the clipboard again. “No. Are you expecting anyone?”

“I guess not. But it would’ve been nice to have some company.”

“Vere ve are going ve don’t need anyone else.”

“Vere—where are we going?”

“To the high ground of the mind.” Albert pointed to his temple and threw his hand into the air.
 

No dove appeared, so Sebastian lost interest. “Sounds lonely,” he muttered.

Albert turned around and started to draw on the board.
 

A screwed-up ball of paper hit Albert in the center of his back. “Who threw that?”

“I think … it may have fallen from the roof.”
 

Albert narrowed his eyes. “Attention, Sebastian.” He drew a circle filled with smaller circles, surrounded by three long ovals evenly rotated. He picked up a long pointing stick and tapped the drawing. “Atoms,” he said. “Vy are they the most important things in the vorld? Anyone?”

Sebastian looked around. He was definitely the only other person there. He shrugged.

“Because everything, everyvere, is made up of atoms. This table.” He brought down his stick on the bench with a resounding crash. “Your shoe.” The stick came crashing onto Sebastian’s foot.

“Ow!”

“Even you’re made up of atoms,” Albert whispered.

“Don’t hit me,” shrieked Sebastian. He raised his hands in defense. He peered over his fingers when no blow was delivered.
 

Albert was back at the board pointing to the drawing again. “Atoms are the smallest things in the vorld. They are the smallest building blocks on vich everything is made.”
 

He lowered the end of the pointing stick to the ground, resting on it like a walking stick, and placed his other hand in his pocket. He started to pace from one side of the room to the other, his footsteps interspersed with the clicking of the stick on the wooden floor.

“When you’re deconstructing anything, you get to a point vere you cannot deconstruct it any further. The book is made up of paper. Paper is made up of compressed bark. Bark is made up from vood. Vood is made up of …” He looked hopefully at Sebastian.