Read The Tesla Gate: A SciFi Short Story Online
Authors: Drew Avera
"If the device works, then perhaps it is not too late," she said sullenly.
She made a point, though I questioned any truth behind it. Life had an expiration date, and for Samuel it had passed.
"What is the point if I can't take Sam back with me?" I asked, looking towards the window. She reappeared to face me.
She knelt, looking desperately into my eyes. "Perhaps the gift to traverse time isn't supposed to be limited to just him," she said. "This is something that can change the world. Everyone will remember the man known as Mark Twain, but if this device functions correctly, then people will celebrate the name Nikola Tesla."
I scoffed at her remark, "And what of his imaginary assistant, Alokin? What will they say of her?"
She stood up, taking a step back from me as I poured whiskey down my gullet. The burn drew back a hiss as I cleared my throat and when I looked back at her she was gone. It seemed I had met my daily threshold to quiet my "silent partner".
"Back to the drawing board," I said to the empty room as I stammered over to the device. It loomed forebodingly over me, but by God I would be its master. I knew that as much as I knew the sky was blue. That would have to be enough for now, at least.
October, 1910
"We are upon it!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. The last time I powered the device had resulted in only a few blown fuses which turned out to be nothing more than a loose ground connection. That's what I got for working drunk.
"Nikola, please don't scream, I'm hungover," Alokin said, feigning a headache. It was her way of getting back at me for drowning her out of my day-to-day routine. She resented me for self-medicating and not sharing my heartache with her. I couldn't blame her; it was probably lonely being trapped inside my head.
"Just wait. If all goes according to plan, then we will have finally done it. I couldn't have done this without you," I jeered.
Alokin rolled her eyes at me, "Just get on with it. This project has proven to be more exhausting than enduring our tenure with Edison.”
I couldn't fight back smiling; those were indeed the worst of times. "Alright, here we go," I said, pulling the wrist-worn control from the table and strapping it firmly in place. The leather band had been stolen from a few cheap watches I had collected over time. The mix of brown and black leather strapping the brass control looked crude, but I was more concerned with functionality. I could always turn it into something more fashionable later.
Alokin and I held our breath as I opened the control panel. Three simple knobs and a single switch were all that came between us and passing through a gate in time. I turned on the switch and winced as power coursed through the thick power cables. There was a hum which accompanied my hair standing on end, my body shaking as I turned the first knob. A small ball of blue light shone in the center of the device. It was pale, but visible, even with the sunlight peering in through the windows. A turn of the second knob made the ball of light grow larger, filling the dimensions of the device. The blue light grew brighter as well and I felt cold air lapping at my face.
I paused for a moment before turning the final knob. Alokin looked over at me, her eyes bright and welcoming. With a nod of approval I tried to turn the knob. It stuck for a moment before I was able to forcibly move it. That was when something I never thought would happen revealed itself. The knob broke off in my hand, set at the highest setting. The gate began feeding on the atmosphere in the room and it was now self-perpetuating. I could no longer control it as I watched in horror as it spun out of control.
Everything in the room rose off the ground as if the laws of physics no longer pertained to them. My feet dangled helplessly off the floor and I felt myself drifting closer to the gate. In my mind, this was supposed to be the moment I had been waiting for so many years. Instead, a scream pulled me from the momentous occasion.
I looked over to see Alokin holding onto a steel support beam with only the tips of her fingers. She was closer to the event horizon than I was and the pull of the gate was much stronger there. I instinctively moved over to her, swimming through the air after kicking off from floating debris around me. I took grip of the support beam and grabbed her arm. It was the first time in all my life that I felt skin as our bodies touched. I felt my eyes widen, as did hers, and in that moment I lost my grip on her.
She screamed as the device tugged her towards the gate. She found purchase by grabbing onto the control strapped to my arm. Though, it was all for naught as her weight and the pull of the gate were too much for the haphazardly constructed strapping. After only a few seconds the control was torn from my arm and I watched helplessly as Alokin was pulled into the blue light.
With nothing between her and the gate, she sank deeper into the bright blue light. Taken into its wretched mouth, she disappeared from sight, and then the room grew dark. The gate was gone and her screams were enveloped into it and then I heard her no more.
Another Time, Another Place, Another World
I pulled myself up from the ground and looked at the device in my hand, the straps torn away from where they once attached to the brass panel. It was nighttime here, wherever here was, and a crowd was beginning to form around me. I felt nervous, but surely no one could actually see me, I had to be invisible to everyone except Nikola, after all.
One of the men moved down towards me from a grassy hill. He was wearing peculiar clothing, very shiny and sleek, very informal compared to the way I was used to seeing men attired. His hair was chin length and his cobalt blue eyes shone magnificently. They even seemed to shine directly at me.
"Are you alright?" he asked, staring deeply into my eyes, wonder etched on his brow.
I looked left and right for who he could possibly be speaking to. No one stood behind me.
"Excuse me, but do you understand what I'm saying?" He asked.
I could barely think to get the words out to respond to him. I must have sounded like a child as only a whisper escaped my lips. "Yes."
A smile curled his lip and he extended his hand to me. "That was amazing, the light was so bright, and then you fell out of the sky like some kind of angelic being. My name is S'vern Loost, who might you be?"
I timidly moved my hand into his, feeling the warmth of another human being for the first time, other than the brief moment my creator had tried to save me. He had failed, and now I was here, wondering if I should keep that truth to myself or not. Pulling myself back into the conversation, I smiled warmly and greeted the handsome man. "Hello, S'vern. My name is Alokin."
With that small introduction and human contact, I knew for the first time that I was finally home, no longer captive in the imagination of a madman. I was now a person of my own accord. I was now a citizen of whatever this new world had to offer, and I noticed that my mind was also quiet.
The End
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