Dreams of Jupiter

Part 2 - An Unexpected Visitor

Taking a renewed grip on the massive wrench with both hands, the young man gathered himself. Then he was throwing himself into an effort to get a fist-sized bolt head to move.

"Veeshay, Myles, veeshay!" The slender, dark haired man standing several paces away, urged in a Slavic accent without looking up from the schematic he held unfurled in his hands.

"Throw your back into it!"

"Yes sir, Mr Tesla," Myles replied, voice filled with strain, as he redoubled his efforts. Inside, however, he was raging in frustration.

With an engineering degee from Brown University and graduating at the top of his class, Myles Abbott was headed for fortune in an increasingly industrialized America when he saw it. A flyer advertising a position with Nikola Tesla's electricity transmission experimental team, based at Colorado Springs. Seeing an opportunity to change the world with the cutting edge technology, Myles had traveled to Colorado Springs, bright expectations in hand.

Instead of becoming one of Tesla's assistants, however, the young graduate quickly became more a laborer than an engineer, doing all of Tesla's heavy work. Like trying to get this transmission coil built out in the middle of nowhere. Tesla had picked his test site in Colorado Springs at the foot of Pikes Peak for that very purpose. The Serbian-born scientist wanted to work in isolation so his experiments wouldn't be corrupted by nearby civilization.

So he spent his days building massive charge generators with loose coils that sent plasma arcing fifteen, seventeen, sometimes twenty feet through the air. In all, what had seemed like a good idea had become a catastrophe, with a disgruntled Myles bemoaning his decision on a daily basis. If there was just some way out.

Finally the day was over and, after wolfing down a plain but hardy supper of beans, black bread and cheese, he flopped onto his cot, work clothes and all, and was quickly asleep. But not for long: it was an hour or so past midnight that he was awakened by the loud snarl of discharge from the main test shed. As the low growl filled the air, Myles managed to pull himself from his cot and out of his tent to stare in puzzlement at the shed, some twenty metres away.

What was going on out there? While he was somewhat erratic in his personal habits, Tesla followed a strict testing schedule and never ran experiments at night. So why was a transmission coil active?By the sounds of it, and the flashing he could see, that was the primary test coil that was active, a fifty foot diameter monster. It's pervasive hum still filling the air, the young man watched as ripples of discharging plasma surged out a number of larger openings in the walls, licking like hungry tongues at the cold night air before disappearing back inside.

Then, without warning, several tendrils discharged through the faltering wall at once, forming what looked like an opening in space for the briefest of moments. Then it was gone, the only evidence that the massive pulse having happened being the dancing afterimages of green and purple on Myles' seared retinas. Seconds later the coil went silent.

Blinking away the afterimages, Myles began working his way through the darkness towards the now silent and darkened building, a silhouette in the gloom. So intent was he on getting to the coil, that he almost didn't notice the huddled shape just off the path near some bushes. That is, until it groaned.

Immediately Myles jerked to a halt, staring hard in the direction the sound had come from.

"Who's there?" he demanded in a hoarse voice. Now close enough to make out the features on the pale face that looked up at his approach, Myles stammered into silence as a chill went through him as he found himself looking at a complete stranger.

Quickly he took a half step back, sucking air in as he did to shout an alarm. The stranger, moving lethargically, somehow summoned enough strength to lunge forward with unexpected speed and grab Myles by the leg. As the stranger's hand touched him, a dizzying warmth rushed through the young with such force, it stole His strength. Groaning, Myles staggered out of the stranger's grip and managed a step towards the path before his strength left him all together and he collapsed onto the rocky ground.

For a moment he lay there, unable to move as his head swam and his senses floundered. Then, with a final groan, his senses left him all together and Myles uneasily sunk into unconsciousness.

" ... Can you hear me?" A quiet, educated man's voice asked as something shook him by the shoulder after what felt like an eternity spent floating in the darkness.

Pushing aside that darkness, Myles laboriously climbed back to consciousness, urged on by the voice and the gentle yet insistent shaking.

"Hello? Are you in there, my young friend?"

"I'm here," Myles finally summoned the strength to say, his mind still mired in grogginess. "What ... what happened to me?"

"You were knocked unconscious," the voice began, clearly apologetic. "And I'm afraid it was my fault. I didn't realize my defenses were still active when I reached towards you to ask for help. So when I touched you, you got what I call a nerve stun. It's meant to knock an attacker out if they approach me while I'm hurt."

"Thanks for that." Myles winced as a muscle spasmed painfully in his back. "It'll take weeks to feel right."

"Actually you'll be feeling more yourself in about ten ectas."

"Ectas?" Myles frowned as his eyes fluttered open and a shadowed face hove into view. "What kind of word is that??"

Instead of answering, the lean figure drew back to look around.

"This is Earth, right?" he said, his voice suddenly thoughtful. "That is what you people call your world."

"Yeah," Myles slowly said, his confusion growing at he stared at the shadowy figure.

"Good, good.  Then I wasn't thrown as far as I thought I would be by my emergency ji,p." The figure's hooded head swung towards the darkness of the test shed. "And am I sensing powerful devices in that enclosure there?"

"Mr Tesla's test apparatus," Myles confirmed before adding: "but it's off-limits to anybody who isn't on the research team."

"Oh?" the figure said as it looked over at him. In doing so, the young man abruptly felt the weight of a gaze from not only a person of some intelligence but a person of great power as well.

"We shall see how long it will remain so." Then as abruptly as he had drawn back from Myles to avoid answering his questions, the young man sensed he was smiling.

"In all this haste, I'm afraid I've forgotten my manners. I sensed from my brief contact with you that you are Myles Abbott, a young engineer from Providence, Rhode Island, recently come into Nikola Tesla's employ as a research assistant and are frustrated that you've done little actual engineering and more labor than anything."

A long fingered hand pushed its way out of a dark sleeve in Myles' direction.

"I am Steaphan con Braddock, Grand Sorcerer of Vandium and Master of the Seven Ways."

"Myles Abbott," Myles replied automatically, taking the extended hand. "Honored to meet you, Grand Sorcerer Steaphan con Braddock."

"Delighted," Steaphan replied, giving Myles' hand a shake. "But if you call me by that name for the rest of our association together, I feel it will become quite tedious. Let's pick something more appropriate for your world, yes?" He smiled.

"Please, call me Steve!"