183

CHAPTER 51

After Never

Around us, everything spins, everything moves everywhere is energy.

Nikola Tesla, May 1891

!e great day came.Wearing shoes with thick cork soles, his six- foot- six frame looked

eerily elongated onstage. !e auditorium was enlivened by the faces of young and old electrical engineers. Both friends and enemies were there.

Of all the forms of natural, omnipresent, and measureless energy, which constantly changes, moves, and brings the universe to life like a soul, Tesla lectured, fingers dancing, perhaps the most fascinating are magnetism and electricity.

At that point, he raised his voice: !e explanation of these fasci-nating dual phenomena lies in the infinitesimal world, in its molecules and atoms which spin in their orbits, much like celestial bodies.

!e listeners imagined minuscule galaxies revolving in their thighs, eyes, hearts.

!eres no doubt that we can directly make use of this energy and, from limitless resources, create light, which he paused as his gaze moved from one face to another can be transmitted wirelessly.

!e great scientific presentation was intended to counter Edisons circus shows. With a wave of his hand, Tesla signaled his assistant, Gano Dunn.

184

!ere was a click, just like the one heard in the execution chamber.!e auditorium darkened.!e scientist Tesla vanished.A lonely actor appeared within a shaft of white.In the sharp light, his white tuxedo looked starched. !e actor

seemed sad and lonely. Every wrinkle on his face was visible.On the desk in front of the actor there were several apparatuses,

which, for the majority of the spectators, were mere somethings be-cause they did not know their purpose. Next to the polyphase induc-tion motor was a vertical wheel, a silver ball, and a few other more or less scary- looking devices.

!e blue darkness began to hum. Two arcs of light leapt and crack-led above the engine. !e coil discharged a web of brilliant threads. !e gorgons hair became entangled around the ball. Electricity buzzed and popped. Behind Tesla, a Faraday cage swallowed the flying sparks.

!e audience watched with a mixture of religious humility and circus- like amazement.

Gano Dunn was as grave as a matador. At Teslas signal, he raised the frequency. !e bright whip cracked between Gods finger and Adams. !e lightning bolts grew longer. With his small mustache and his appallingly slick hair, Tesla straightened his back like a bull-fighter before the kill. Without warning, he stretched his hand to-ward the machine. At that moment, the electrical cyclone puffed up his body. !e lightbulb he held blinked three times and lit. Cries came from the audience:

Look, Amelia! Hes on fire!Electricity is running through his body.With his hair standing on end, the actor walked among the au-

dience for fifteen minutes and turned lightbulbs and vacuum tubes on with a touch. He demonstrated that any lamp within the electrical field in the auditorium would work without being plugged in.

!en he returned to the stage.!e man with horns of blue light spoke from the podium like a

singer hitting a high note.Even though a single electrical shock can be fatal, it is a paradox

that the exposure to amplified voltage can be perfectly safe. He had

185

allowed a much stronger voltage to run through his body than the one that killed Kemmler.

!e applause boomed like thunder. In the loud clapping, he hov-ered above the stage again. When he alighted, the world was changed.

After the performance, gasping reporters wanted to know how much voltage his body endured.

You really werent in any danger?When was it that you first dared to touch an exposed wire?Were you that sure about your calculations? Did you try it out on

an animal?Only on myself, responded Tesla. I tried it only on myself.