Veil of Time: A Paranormal-ESP Thriller (The Wizards Series Book 4)

by Jack L Knapp

  Well. The pencil and paper were still in his room, and he’d need to write down the numbers he had and consider them very carefully before doing anything.

  But it was time to decide, to try traveling back through time until he found Libby or resign himself to living in the 19th Century.

  #

  “Tom, I’ve got a man I’d like you to meet. He’s one of the great men America has produced, a giant of finance. He has major holdings in railroads as well as banking in the United States, plus he also owns property in Europe. I’ve tried to interest him in developing my broadcast power transmitter, but I’ve not been able to convince him. Still, your own holdings in land and mining out west gives you something in common. One thing I must warn you against, Mr. Morgan has a terribly disfigured nose. He’s sensitive about it, so be warned and try not to stare at it.”

  “Thanks, Nikola, I’ll be careful. Why Morgan? Have you thought of approaching other financiers?”

  The two climbed into the carriage and Tesla continued.

  “Pierpont Morgan is the leader, Tom. If he invests, others will too. Think of it as a keystone in an arch; as the keystone goes, so goes the arch. If I can but convince Morgan, others will be knocking at my door wanting to invest! I confess I tire of the constant effort to raise capital. I am happiest when I’m working in my laboratory; there are so many things to do that I become quite driven, unable to sleep or even to eat.” Tesla looked down in embarrassment. “My friends the Johnsons suggest that I overwork, but there’s so much to do that I simply cannot tear myself away.”

  T looked at him appraisingly. “I can see that you’re not sparing yourself, Nikola. Perhaps you should consider what would happen if you worked yourself into a breakdown. You can continue to work on your projects only if you remain healthy. For that matter, your work might well be lost if you kill yourself from overwork. Do you have a notebook where you record your discoveries?”

  “I have no need of such, Tom. My father trained me well, you see. Remembering the details is simple to a trained memory, and so long as the details exist only in my memory no one can usurp my discoveries. This has happened repeatedly, you know. Men have simply appropriated my work and claimed it as their own. It’s why I immediately patent each discovery as soon as I’ve perfected it. The thieves are still there, but I have the full weight of the United States Patent Office on my side.

  “Even so, I confess I’m more scientist than merchant. Too often, I’ve allowed inventions that are worth millions of dollars in the market-place to be bought for a pittance. Had I received a fair price for my rotating magnetic field discovery, I should never again be troubled for funds! But I surrendered the agreement I’d made with George Westinghouse when his company was threatened and now that it’s profitable there is no intention on the part of the directors to reinstate my claim. Indeed, the company sued me for the cost of equipment I’d used in my laboratory when an earlier one burned!”

  “Did one of your electrical demonstrations cause the fire, Nikola?”

  “No, the fire started below my lab. There was a kitchen there, part of a restaurant, and the fire was too advanced to be controlled when the restaurant’s employees discovered it. My laboratory was a total loss.”

  “Could you not hold the restaurant’s owners liable for your loss, Nikola?”

  “Certainly, but the poor man had himself been wiped out. I believe he gave up and took his own life. I must say I’m not certain of that. Some claimed that he’d gone west to start over, but there was no money and the man had no remaining assets. No, it was all lost, his property and mine.”

  “That’s a real shame, Nikola. But the carriage is stopping; are we at our destination?”

  “Yes, Tom. Um...would it be possible for you to pay the gentleman? I seem to have left my wallet in my quarters at the hotel. I’ll be able to reimburse you later.”

  “Think nothing of it, Nikola.” T looked inquiringly at the driver and paid him as soon as the two were standing on the sidewalk.

  “Lead on, Nikola. I am curious about Mr. Morgan.”

  A clerk waited outside Morgan’s office; the desk was ordinary and filled with documents that the clerk glanced through before placing them into boxes. A stack of such documents waited his attention.

  “Good morning, Roger. I would like to speak to Mr. Morgan if he’s in.”

  “Good morning, Gentlemen. Mr. Tesla, Mr. Morgan is meeting with Mr. Harriman at the moment. I don’t believe he has time to meet with you today.”

  “Would you be so good as to notify him that we’re here? If he’s unable to see me now, perhaps another time would serve better?”

  “Just a moment, Mr. Tesla. I’ll see what I can do.”

  A telephone waited on the desk, an old-fashioned device with an upright microphone and a speaker on a cord that was intended to be held over the ear. Roger picked up the speaker and pressed a button that was mounted on the base of the telephone. Morgan’s voice was clearly impatient.

  “Roger, what is it? This had better be important.”

  “Sir, Mr. Tesla is here. He has another gentleman with him and he asks if you have time to see them. He also suggests that if a later appointment would serve better, he would understand.”

  “Send them in, I wonder who has fallen under Tesla’s spell now? But we’re almost finished, so I’ll see them now.”

  Roger walked over and held the door open. T followed Tesla into an office remarkable for efficiency. Clearly it was a place for Morgan to work, rather than a showplace of opulence.

  “Ned, the tall gent is Nikola Tesla. He’s a very able inventor and scientist, but far too impractical for his own good! I own 51% of his discoveries, not that there’s much chance I’ll profit from them. Speak your piece, Mr. Tesla. If it’s about that tower scheme, I’ve already made my decision and communicated it to you. Have you made a breakthrough with that steam-turbine you showed me?”

  “There have been improvements, Mr. Morgan, but the turbine is not yet ready for commercial use. But I had another motive to meet with you today. The gentleman with me is Tom Tagliaferro. He has mining and ranching interests out west, so I thought it worthwhile to introduce the two of you. Tom, the other gentleman is Mr. Harriman. He’s a well-known financier and entrepreneur.”

  “Depending on what you’ve heard, he might be better or worse than reports paint him! Yes, this is Ned Harriman, an astute financier but also a major thorn in my backside!” said Morgan.

  “Now, J. P., you’ve made as much money from undercutting me as I’ve ever made from dealing with you. Glad to meet you, Mr. Tagliaferro. Italian, are you?”

  “Perhaps my ancestors were, but I’m American.”

  T took part in the conversation and simultaneously sampled the thoughts of the two men. It was all he could do to keep quiet at what he sensed.

  As usual, he was unable to sense words or formed thoughts, only snippets and feelings. From Morgan, he sensed emotion, an overriding feeling of contempt. Tesla was a man unworthy of his, Morgan’s, trust, and Tesla had no idea Morgan felt that way.

  If Morgan was unintentionally arrogant in his feelings about Tesla, Harriman was amused. No smile, not even a twitch of his eyelid betrayed his feelings, but Harriman admired Morgan for the astute way he managed Tesla, playing on his hopes while never intending that Tesla’s inventions be brought to completion.

  Harriman understood that Morgan disliked Tesla and regarded him not only as a threat to the stability of the American economy but also as a foreigner with far too lofty an opinion of himself. Morgan had invested just enough to acquire a major stake in what Tesla owned, and because Tesla had been so desperate for financing, he’d offered Morgan controlling interest in his intellectual properties. Morgan had accepted Tesla’s offer and now controlled 51% of Tesla’s discoveries, able to stifle directly anything that might unsettle Morgan’s established interests. Harriman understood from this that Tesla was as much fool as he was a genius.

  And he understood that
Morgan had no intention of allowing Tesla’s discoveries to threaten the financial control that he, Morgan, exercised over major segments of the American economy.

  Harriman was unwilling to challenge Morgan over so minor an issue as developing Tesla’s unproven inventions, but should Tesla offer something profitable, something that might break Morgan’s stranglehold on railroad transportation, Harriman had an understanding with others who might provide financing. He would move, but only when the outcome was relatively assured, and perhaps only after Morgan had been weakened.

  Morgan was respected, but he was not well liked. From Morgan, T picked up an equally unflattering opinion of Harriman, along with a wary feeling that the man was at least a worthy adversary.

  “You have financial interests in ranching and mining, then? How extensive are your holdings? I don’t believe I’ve heard your name before, and I’m familiar with the major influences in western development.”

  “You wouldn’t have heard of me, Mr. Morgan, because I don’t do a lot of trading or financing. You manage money and ownership through stocks, I manage men and physical assets. Horses, cattle, employees, transport of ore to the refinery, things like that are what I do. I sometimes provide financing to prospectors, but that’s not the major thrust of my business.”

  Nothing about the comment was false, not quite. Bobby, after all, was a prospector in a sense! Yet the overall message suggested something other than reality. Morgan would believe that T shared at least some of his ideals.

  “Mining? Coal, industrial metals, or precious metals? Where is your mine located?”

  “Most of my property is in Nevada. The latest mine produces gold and likely there will be other metals as well. I’ll know more when we ship some of the processed ore for assay. Would you like to see a sample of what my mine produces?”

  “You’re carrying some of the ore with you? Well, I’ve heard of prospectors who keep a lucky nugget, so I suppose...”

  “Not exactly, Mr. Morgan.” T unbuttoned his coat, then the vest. Finally, he was able to open a button on his shirt and reach inside. Opening a flap on the money belt he wore next to his skin, he pulled out a small metal object. “We crushed a sample of the ore from our first dig. It was seamed with gold. After crushing, we simply picked out the larger pieces. The quartz had quite a bit of gold in the form of wire. My partner and I melted it down and poured the gold into sand molds to form ingots, which is why it has this rough appearance. The buyer who bought some of my other blocks, exchanging them for currency, said it was 0.997 fine. Not quite what the US Mint accepts, but close. I anticipate that refining costs will be quite low.”

  “Astonishing. You’re very fortunate. I have mining interests, but they’re more geared to coal mining. This fits well with my railroad interests, you see. When I assisted in forming the United States Steel Company, coal mining became part of the mix.”

  “J.P, you didn’t ‘assist’, you created the US Steel Corporation. It’s your baby and you’re still in control by means of your seats on the various boards of directors,” Harriman said.

  “But about your western ranch, Mr. Tagliaferro. I’ve long been interested in the Indians of the west, you know,” Morgan said.

  “I say, that gold bar is quite extraordinary! You say you mined this yourself, Mr. Tagliaferro? May I call you Tom? That’s rather a mouthful to pronounce. Please, call me Ned.”

  “Certainly, Ned. Yes, my partner and I extracted this from our discovery shaft. Are you familiar with mining?”

  “I’m afraid not, at least not hard-rock mining; I know more about banking and railroads, although I believe J.P. has mining interests he’s failed to mention.”

  “Petroleum wells and refining, rather than mining, Tom. Still, both are based on extraction. As for whether my petroleum stock ever pays off, that remains to be seen. There’s not much of a market for it, you know. Kerosene is all well and good, but people don’t like the smell. I also have holdings in other mines, but they’re hardly major. Even so, I find this interesting. You say you got this from the discovery shaft?”

  “Yes, my partner is well versed in the use of explosives. The gold is interlaced through quartz rock, so Robert designed his charges to blow off the overburden and crack the rock beneath. We dug that out and shattered the rocks by hammering, then picked out what you see here.”

  “I do business by means of drafts on my accounts, but there’s an undeniable thrill to hold the actual gold.” Morgan seemed reluctant to hand back the small ingot T had handed him. “Have you incorporated your mine, Tom?”

  “No. There’s no need. I own the land, and whatever funds I require to develop the mine can be extracted easily. I anticipate no problems and see no reason to bring others in. I’m the senior partner, you see. Why share my good fortune?”

  T had conceived of a plan, still quite hazy, but promising. Had Morgan and Harriman been other than what they were, the idea would never have occurred to him.

  Morgan continued, “Tom, you’re right in a sense, but bootstrapping your mine as you intend is going to take considerable time. Given access to capital, you can start the development immediately. How large is the deposit?”

  “It may prove to be quite extensive. We believe it to be an offshoot of a major gold producing structure that’s only a short distance away. Perhaps I should say that the structure I mentioned is an offshoot of our discovery!”

  “But you’ll think about capitalizing your mine?”

  “I’ll consider it. It’s a thought, but I’m certainly not convinced. If I decide to go that route, I’ll find a broker who can handle the investments. As you’re aware, initial offerings appreciate rapidly once the information becomes public.”

  “Morgan and Company is in business to provide initial capital. Tom, are you familiar with options?”

  Harriman sat up straight and looked at Morgan, astonished. “Here, now! Tom, Morgan and Company are not the only bankers who provide such financing. If you’re prepared to offer options, I would like to hear what you have to say.”

  #

  Libby popped into existence and glanced around. The mountains were slightly different, the placement of trees beneath her had shifted somewhat, but otherwise there was little indication that anything had happened. But had she displaced in time as well as distance?

  Fixing her attention on a distant peak, the tallest in this part of the mountain range, she teleported again. This time she noticed immediately that things had changed. The sun hung much lower in the eastern sky. Maybe the sun was only now rising. Libby decided to wait and see.

  Half an hour later, she knew beyond doubt. The sun was moving higher in the sky. She had indeed gone ahead in time, but how far? Libby’s idea of distance was hazy, based primarily on how long it had taken her to go somewhere by car or airplane. From mountain to mountain...was there a reasonable estimate of distance from peak to peak? She decided she’d come a hundred miles. Far off she saw a snowcapped peak, possibly another hundred miles away. Libby fixed the location in her mind and teleported again.

  The sun was going down and the shadows were moving in. Was this the afternoon of the day before she’d made the previous teleport?

  The cold bit through her skimpy shirt. Her bubble blocked the wind, but heat leaked out. Shivering, she spotted what appeared to be a village far below. Could she find shelter there? She flew down toward the village

  There was light enough to tell that the place was deserted.

  The buildings had been built into the hollow of a towering cliff. At least, it was warmer here. The sun had warmed the thick adobe walls of the cliff dwelling’s small apartments earlier in the day. Libby floated, looking over the structures that had been built, then finally abandoned, by a people who’d vanished long ago. Had they been like Sarah’s tribe, threatened by enemies?

  A thread of silver traced the course of a small stream far below. Across the valley was another hollow and a second village, even more extensive than this one had been. Libby floate
d across and peered into the empty windows. This village was as deserted as the first one she’d looked at.

  She landed and walked inside. The walls here were as warm or warmer than the other village’s walls had been. From appearances, the people might have left only a short time before. Libby looked up at the stone roof high above; it was black with soot, colored by smoke from fires that had been extinguished many years before. A large firepit, surrounded by stones that were themselves black from ancient fires, still contained dry logs. The ends of the logs had been charred, forming charcoal.

  Libby looked at the blackened wood. Focusing her will, she heated the wood using pyrokinetics. A puff of smoke was followed by a flickering bluish flame; Libby picked up a stick and carefully placed it across the piece that was burning.

  She held her hands out to the fire and warmed them. Firelight danced, the warmth soaked in. Libby, mildly thirsty, felt the first pangs of hunger. Still, in terms of how long it had been since she’d eaten and drunk last, the feeling wasn’t long enough to worry about.

  Teleporting during darkness? Would that be safe? Libby decided to wait for daylight before teleporting again; even using the bubble, it was better to know where she was going. Glancing at the cliff face, she saw two wooden branches sticking up from below. Floating over, she examined them; they formed the end of an ancient ladder.

  She felt no anxiety here in the ancient dwelling, but even so it would be better to remove the ladder, just in case. Should she drop it into the canyon, or destroy it? Libby decided she could accomplish the same purpose by bringing the ladder into the cave. She could replace it, where the original occupants had left it, before leaving in the morning.

  Libby laid the ladder carefully along the edge of the cliff. Someone might decide it was useful some day; in the meantime, no one could use it to climb up to her aerie.

  Too bad the skins she’d grown accustomed to were hundreds of miles to the west and likely several days in the past.

  Libby stretched out on the dirt that covered the rocks of the cave floor and soon fell asleep.