Wonder of the Worlds

by Sesh Heri

  Tesla said, “I will need Czito to monitor the induction coils and capacitors.” “Then you pilot her.” “I’ll be up top—manning the guns,” Tesla said.

  “Your Excellency! This is preposterous! Get one of your balloon aeronauts to pilot the ship!” “No time!” Cleveland said. “The only balloonists in Chicago are the carni- val workers at the fair. And I will not entrust this operation to such people.” “Why, those carnival workers are good people! Salt of the earth!”

  “Clemens! We must act now! And in absolute secrecy! With as few people involved as possible!” Tesla came up to me holding his tin box.

  “Mark, this device is a kind of wireless telegraph receiver. It intercepts the electric pulses radiating from the crystal, and thus acts as a tracker, constantly indicating the position of the crystal by this f lashing light bulb. Watch.” Tesla pointed the steel rod on the tin box slowly around the room, sweeping it in a complete circle. The incandescent light bulb on the box remained dark. “Nothing,” Tesla said. “But—watch!”

  Tesla turned the steel rod straight up to the ceiling of my hotel room. A few seconds passed, then—a f lash! I looked at Cleveland, then back at the incandescent light bulb on the tin box; the bulb was dark, but then—again—a f lash!

  Tesla said, “By the intervals between the f lashes of light, I estimate that the crystal is in the foreign airship some six miles above the city.” Tesla collapsed the steel rod back into the top of the tin box, and said, “With the crystal, they could do anything.” Cleveland said, “Mr. Tesla tells me that they could incinerate the whole city of Chicago in a single instant.”

  “Your Excellency,” I said, “I am a certified coward. You do know I deserted the Civil War?” “You deserted the Confederacy. It doesn’t count.” “Your Excellency! I have a family!” “No more excuses!”

  “A wife and three daughters!

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  “You have to go!”

  “Who’ll support them when my bones are spinning around out there in the intergalactic void?” “Clemens!” “Answer me that!” “Clemens!” “Who’ll support my wife and children?”

  “Clemens! If you do not act now—you, this city, this country, this world—your family—may soon be nothing but dust in the intergalactic void!” “I’m a coward! And a liar! And I won’t follow orders!” “Clemens! I’ll admit: you’re—not—much! But you’re all I’ve got!” “That’s exactly what my wife tells me.” Cleveland had my lapels gripped in his big hands. I looked into his eyes; they were two little slits, lit beyond by an inscrutable fire.

  I dropped my head down. Cleveland dropped his hands. I turned and looked out the window and down at the street. Everything looked normal. That’s what was so terribly, insanely wrong. Everything looked normal.

  CHAPTER SIX

  The Oyster Is Served

  I see a bird setting on a limb of a high tree, singing with its head tilted back and its mouth open, and before I thought I fired, and his song stopped and he fell straight down from the limb, all limp like a rag, and I run and picked him up and he was dead, and his body was warm in my hand, and his head rolled about this way and that, like his neck was broke, and there was a little white skin over his eyes, and one little drop of blood on the side of his head; and, laws! I couldn’t see no more for the tears; and I hain’t never murdered no creature since that warn’t doing me no harm and I ain’t going to.

  — Huck, Tom Sawyer Abroad

  Lillie, Ade and Houdini had walked along 67th Street beside the fence that enclosed the south perimeter of the fairgrounds until they were within a block of the street that fronted the lake shore. As they walked, Houdini glanced down at the road bed and took note of the impression of Tesla’s shoeprints in the fresh asphaltum. He had noticed that the shoeprints had started suddenly as if the person who had made them had dropped from the sky, and, as he walked along, he studied the length of each stride. Finally Houdini said, “Big man.” “Who?” Ade asked. “Whoever made those,” Houdini said, pointing down at the shoeprints. “Look at the length of the stride. And he was in a hurry. I think he came over

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  the fence back there. And not too long ago, either. Those prints are real fresh. Looks like they just laid the gravel and tar on this road this morning or maybe yesterday afternoon.” “So what?” Ade asked.

  “So what? Ain’t you ever read Sherlock Holmes or Poe?” “Certainly,” Ade said.

  “Well, you gotta notice things. If you don’t notice things, you’re just one of the sleepwalkers. Oy! Turn around.” Houdini had turned around suddenly, walking back in the direction that the three of them had come. Ade and Lillie stopped and followed him. “What’s wrong?” Ade asked.

  “Psst! Coppers,” Houdini said in a low tone. “Where?” “About a block and a half down that next street.” “That’s where the warehouse is,” Lillie said. “They were in front of a big building,” Houdini said. “That has to be Tesla’s warehouse,” Ade said. “Are you sure it was police?” “I can spot the boys in blue a mile away,” Houdini said. “This changes everything. I’m out.”

  “What do you mean you’re ‘out’?” Ade asked. “It means I’m gone, I’m done, I’m out of sight.” “What about your claim?” Ade asked. “What about it?” Houdini asked, but then he stopped. “What claim?” “That you can get out of anything,” Ade said.

  “And I can,” Houdini said, starting up again. “Getting into anything is an- other matter. Especially with coppers standing around.” “All right,” Lillie said. “Your word is no good, so our word is no good.” “Whaddya mean by that remark?” Houdini asked.

  “The Secrets of Houdini Revealed,” Lillie said. “Nice title for a Newspa- per article.” “Splendid!” Ade said. “We can work in his jump off the State Street Bridge. Explain the whole thing. What we can’t explain, we make up.”

  “Wait a minute! Wait a minute!” Houdini said. “You can’t do that! You made an oath! An oath on your mother and father!” “Yes,” Ade said. “It will be a terrible thing to break that oath. It will haunt us, day and night, night and day, for the rest of our natural lives, won’t it Lillie? “Night and day,” Lillie said, nodding.

  “Yes,” Ade said, “it will be a heavy burden to live with, but live with it we must. Unless you can see your way clear to helping us.” “Yer bluffin’.”

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  “Come along, Lillie,” Ade said. “I believe if we hurry we can have our exposé ready in time for the evening edition.” “Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Come back here, both of yez. Come back here. Yez two are the lowest, lousiest, scum of the earth! You break a oath you made to Houdini and you’re no good and I’ll take care of yez both! And I mean you too, Miss Lillie West Wisenheimer! Ya ain’t no lady! I’ll clean the f loor with the both of yez!” “Come along, Lillie,” Ade said. “The reading public is waiting for our story.”

  “Wait a minute, wait a minute! Yez two wouldn’t do this to me, would yez? Yez ain’t that low. I didn’t read yez two that way.” “Houdini,” Ade said, “we are reporters, and you will find out reporters get their story one way—or another.” Lillie and Ade started back up the street. “Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute!” Lillie and Ade stopped. Houdini looked back toward the street fronting the lake.

  “All right,” Houdini said. “All right. We’ll give it a try. We’ll give it a try. It’s going to take some doing, but we’ll give it a try.” “That’s all we ask,“ Lillie said coming up beside Houdini.

  “All you ask,” Houdini said. “All you ask is all I got. All I got and a lot more. That’s all you ask. You stay here. Both of yez stay right here and don’t budge from this spot.” “Where are you going?” Ade asked.

  “I’m going to go case the container. It ain’t going to be easy with those coppers loitering around out front. You say you went up to the rooftop of this building?” “That’s right.” Ade said. “There’s a skylight up there.”

  “That skylight is our weakest link,” Houdini sa
id. “Windows are always the weakest link. That’s why burglars go through ‘em most of the time. Did ja notice burglar alarm wires on those skylight windows?” “No,” Ade said, “but I wasn’t thinking of looking for them at the time.”

  “You wasn’t thinking of looking,” Houdini said. “Sleepwalkers! I’m drag- ging along a couple of sleepwalkers with me. What a mess Houdini has gotten himself into! Yez two wait here. Right here. I’m going to case the container.” Houdini adjusted his derby over his eyes, turned around and went back up the street to the next corner. He turned left and walked two blocks until he got to 69th Street. There he turned left again and walked east toward the lake. As he approached the street fronting the lake, he slowed his pace and peered around to his left, and looked back up north along the street toward Tesla’s warehouse. He got a clear view of the south wall of the warehouse and the fire escape stairs running up along its side. He noticed a metal door near the foot

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  of the fire escape. The door was set into the wall about half the length of the building from the street. He saw the two policemen standing in front of the building. One stood in a slouch; the other stood erect and twirled his club around in the air. The club twirler seemed to be talking. The sloucher seemed to not be listening.

  Houdini looked at the area surrounding the warehouse. To the north of the warehouse was a fence that seemed to enclose a storage area, possibly a lum- beryard. On the south side of the warehouse he saw that there was a little park, a patch of grass, and a few trees and bushes. Beyond that was the shore of the lake. Further up the street, closer to Houdini, the policemen’s wagon stood at the curb in front of the little park with its horses still hitched up. Houdini’s eye ran over the whole scene, rapidly sketching in space a path, a sequence of actions, to be carried out by himself, Lillie, and Ade. It only took a few seconds for him to do this, and as soon as he had, he turned around and retraced his steps back to 67th Street. Lillie West and George Ade stood where Houdini had left them. They were surprised to see him return so soon. “That was quick,” Ade said.

  “I took my time,” Houdini said. “I always take my time. That’s why I’m quick. I got the whole thing cased, wrapped, and tied up with a shiny new ribbon.” “You can get us in?” Ade asked.

  “It’s a cinch,” Houdini said. “I got a look at those two coppers. Somebody scraped the bottom of the barrel pickin’ those two to be guards. They’re dillies. Tell ya how we’re going to deal with ‘em. We need what we magicians call ‘misdirection.’ That’s you, Miss West. You are plenty of misdirection. You got a pocket watch?” Lillie held up a locket she wore around her neck, opened it up and showed Houdini her little watch inside.

  “Nice,” Houdini said. He took out his own watch from his vest pocket, and said, “We synchronize. I have eleven twenty-two. What do you have?” “Eleven twenty-four,” Lillie said.

  “Eleven twenty-four it is,” Houdini said. “I set my watch to your time just like that. There. We’re the same. At eleven thirty exactly you come around the corner there and walk to- ward the warehouse. When you get a little ways down the street where the coppers can see you, stop, turn around, and take a picture of the fair buildings with your Kodak.” “What for?” Lillie asked.

  “Misdirection and cover story,” Houdini said. “You’re going to be misdi- recting the coppers and settin’ up yer story that you are out sightseein’ and takin’ pictures. When ya get up close to the coppers ya smile real big like you think they are the most handsome devils you have ever laid your eyes on.

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  That’ll rattle ‘em good. Just when you’ve got ‘em rattled, you trip and fall on the ground. Ya gotta trip for real. Make it look good. Now the two knights in blue hafta come to yer rescue. Now they’re out of the picture completely. We’ve got ‘em shelved and on ice. They’re completely dead from the neck up. Now you gotta do this trippin’ act when you get even with the south corner of that warehouse. You gotta do that so you can look back to the south side of the warehouse. You gotta face the warehouse at all times and keep the coppers’ backs to the warehouse. That’s absolute, or we’re all cooked. Now I see there’s a door there on that south wall. When you see it open, that’s your cue to beat it out of there. Head south down the street. About half a block down the street, the coppers have their patrol wagon pulled up next to the curb. The horses are still hitched. Go around the wagon and wait ten seconds, but whatever you do, don’t spook the horses. Wait ten seconds, count the seconds in your head, then turn around and peek back to see if the coppers are still watching you. I know they’ll be watching you until you get to the wagon. If they lose sight of you after you go past the wagon, they’ll lose interest fast. Party’s over, as far as they’re concerned. If they ain’t lookin’ down the street at you, then go around the wagon, slip through the high bushes there, and go all the way out to the shore of the lake. Then come back up to the warehouse along the shoreline. When you get to the ware- house, wait by that door on the south wall. It will open very soon, and we will let you in.” “And what are you going to be doing all this time?” Lillie asked.

  “Gettin’ in,” Houdini said. “Mr. Ade and I will be coming around from the south almost in plain view. If you wasn’t there, we would probably be seen. With you there, we will be invisible. Now. Any more questions?” Lillie and Ade looked at each other, then back to Houdini and shook their heads. “All right,” Houdini said. “Mr. Ade, you come with me. Remember, Miss West, eleven thirty. Eleven thirty exactly.”

  Houdini threw his head back, beckoning Ade to follow him; he then turned around and began walking back up the street. Lillie and Ade looked at each other. Then Ade turned and followed after Houdini. They reached the next corner, turned right and disappeared down the street. Lillie turned around and looked toward the street fronting the lake.

  “An’ I say to the sniveling blaggard, ‘On your feet ye worthless beggar, or I’ll shy your lean carcass into the river an’ dhround ye!’ An’ the spider-legged divil sprang up an’ ran out o’ there, coward that he was.” These words belonged to Officer Malone who had just finished recounting the one, shining moment of his career when he had bullied a harmless tramp down on the loading docks of the Chicago River. Officer O’Hara had heard

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  the story several times before, and had been unimpressed with the first telling of it. He now felt somewhat sickened by the tale. “Faix, an’ did the captain pin a medal on ye for that one?” asked Officer O’Hara.

  “A medal? ‘Course not. Jus’ doing me job, jus’ doing me job.”

  Officer O’Hara jabbed Officer Malone in the ribs with his forefinger, and said, “Now would you look up the street there, lad?” Officer Malone turned to his right and caught sight of Lillie who was standing in the middle of the street and taking a photograph of the fair buildings with her Kodak. At that exact moment Houdini and George Ade quickly walked across the stretch of street that lay south of the policemen. As Houdini had predicted, the attention of the policemen was directed north up the street toward Lillie; in fact, the policemen had their backs turned to Houdini and Ade.

  Lillie stood looking back at the fair a moment longer; then began slowly strolling down the street toward the policemen. When Lillie got within speak- ing distance, she smiled at the policemen, and said, “Good morning, officers.” The policemen lifted their helmets and said in unison, “Morning, Miss.” Officer Malone said, “Fine morning it is too, wouldn’t you say?” “Oh,” Lillie said, “it is a beautiful day! Just look at the sky up there. Have you ever seen such blue in your lives? It looks just like—”

  Lillie had reached the south corner of Tesla’s warehouse. She was look- ing up to the sky in a spring-time reverie that teetered and tottered at the edge of ecstasy. Her feet moved across the pavement of the street with a languid careless- ness. One foot did not seem to know what the other was doing; her right foot went in front of her left, her right heel coming down on her left toe. It was a perfectly natural motion. Lillie co
ntinued forward, her left foot starting to lift up, but unable to budge from the weight of her right toe. Her left ankle wobbled, bent, and her whole left foot went on its side to the pavement. Her body followed, her hands flying out, her skirt f lying up, the policemen flying for- ward—but not in time. Lillie hit the pavement hard. “Oh, my!” Lillie cried. “Oh dear!”

  Lillie turned her head. She could see the side of the warehouse and Houdini and George Ade standing next to it. The two policemen rushed to Lillie’s side, their backs to Houdini and Ade. “I… I’ve twisted my ankle,” Lillie said. “Allow me, Miss,” Officer O’Hara said, extending his hand. “I don’t know if I can get up,” Lillie said. “Take your time, Miss,” Officer Malone said. “We’ll help you.”

  As soon as the policemen came up next to Lillie, Houdini sprang up on the iron grillwork covering the two lower flights of stairs on the fire escape. Ade,

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  holding Houdini’s coat and hat, watched from behind a bush as the young magician climbed the grillwork of the fire escape like a monkey climbing a tree. Houdini reached the top of the grillwork, slid over its edge like a snake, and shot up the steps in a silent tip-toe. In a few seconds, Ade lost sight of Houdini. Up on the roof, Houdini took in the place in a single glance. He went straight up the slanting roof and peered down into the windows of the skylight. Through the windows he could see the top of Tesla’s airship, about thirty or forty feet below, and below the airship by another twenty-five feet or so lay the cement f loor of the warehouse.

  Houdini studied the windows which composed the skylight as a long gable running the length of the rooftop. Each face of the gable was made of thirty-six rows of window panes. Each of the panes was about eight inches square and set into a wooden frame, and against the inside surface of the glass pane near the bottom of each row of frames ran a thin insulated wire which Houdini knew was connected to a burglar alarm bell somewhere below in the warehouse. Houdini peered down through the windows, now no longer looking at the airship, but at the arched iron trusses that ran directly beneath the skylight by a few feet. Below, on the opposite wall, Houdini could see iron columns which he knew were connected to the trusses. He studied the iron columns and saw that at intervals of a few feet there were bolt screw heads projecting down along their length. Those screws held the iron columns to the outside wooden frame of the building. Houdini had seen enough. He knew what he had to do. He took out a little pen-knife, opened it up, and slid the blade along the edge of the glazing on the window pane before him. He carefully scraped and peeled back the glazing on all four edges of the pane. Having exposed the edge of the glass pane, he began working on the nail heads that held the window pane in its frame. He slid his knife blade under the nail heads until each one was bent all the way back. This done, he pried down under the edge of the glass. He kept carefully prying all around until the glass came free. He lifted the whole window pane out of its frame and set the sheet of glass carefully aside. Next, he wedged the tip of his blade under a little nail which held the insulated burglar alarm wire across the bottom of the opening of the window frame. With delicate pressure, he pulled the nail halfway out from the wood. He went to the other nail on the other side of the frame and worked on it in the same fashion as he had the first nail. In a moment, the second nail came up, and the wire dropped loose. He carefully pushed the burglar alarm wire down until it touched the bottom edge of the window frame. Houdini closed his pen-knife, slipped it back into his pocket, and buttoned a f lap down over the pocket.