The Tesla Legacy by Robert G. Barrett Page A

geologist and a friend of Tesla’s. He was in Australia searching for coal. And found this mountain of solid copper.’
    ‘Oldfield mentioned that in the letter to his brother.’
    Jesse nodded. ‘So Tesla got him to take out a fifty-year claim. Guglielmo was Guglielmo Marconi.’
    ‘Marconi?’ said Mick. ‘Didn’t he invent radio?’
    ‘Yes and no. Tesla got in first. But he didn’t follow it up. So Marconi got all the credit and the money. He saw to it Tesla got a share in the end, though.’
    ‘Tesla mentioned that, too,’ said Mick.
    ‘That’s right. But before Marconi came good, Tesla was broke. He got cheated out of everything by a ruthless American tycoon called J. Pierpont Morgan.’
    ‘Yeah. Tesla sounded a bit dirty on him. Why was that?’
    ‘It was all over the free electricity Tesla wanted to provide for the world,’ said Jesse. ‘In 1903, Tesla had this huge Wardenclyffe Tower project on Long Island. Tesla wanted to use it to transfer free electricity all round the world. Morgan wanted it for wireless transmission and telephones and the like so he could make more money. Morgan was providing the funding. So with the help of Thomas Edison and the FBI, they had the tower blown up. They said it was a danger to the public and Tesla was crazy. They even had Tesla discredited with school textbook publishers so he never got any credit for his inventions. Edison and Marconi got it all. Which is why, right up until today, a lot of people have never heard of Tesla. You hadn’t. And you’re an electrician.’
    ‘No wonder he was dirty on J. Pierpont Morgan,’ said Mick.
    Jesse took another piece of paper from her handbag. ‘I almost forgot to show you this. It’s aquote from Tesla in 1900. I’ll read it out to you. “If we use fuel to get our power, we are living on our capital and exhausting it rapidly. This method is barbarous and wantonly wasteful and will have to be stopped in the interest of coming generations.”’
    ‘He said that in 1900?’ said Mick.
    ‘Yep,’ nodded Jesse. ‘If Tesla hadn’t been stopped it would be a different world we’re living in.’
    ‘Yeah,’ agreed Mick. ‘No burning fossil fuels. No greenhouse gas emissions. No global warming.’
    ‘No hole in the ozone layer,’ added Jesse.
    Mick pointed to the black briefcase. ‘Well, according to what I read in his diary, why did he want to blow the world up? And why didn’t he?’
    ‘That,’ said Jesse, ‘is the sixty-four dollar question. I’ll have to go right through the diary again and find out. Because that’s what he was building out here. Some sort of death ray machine, like the one in that article in the Chicago Tribune .’ Jesse smiled mirthlessly. ‘Now. You want some more good news, Mick?’
    Mick sipped his bourbon. ‘Go on,’ he said.
    ‘Tesla said in his diary, “We made a mistake at Tunguska.” You know about Tunguska, Mick?’ asked Jesse.
    ‘I think I came across it in some New Age magazine over at your place,’ answered Mick. ‘But I’ve forgotten.’
    ‘Okay. Well, Tunguska was, or still is, a valley in Siberia. In 1908, there was an explosion there that levelled two hundred and fifty square kilometres of pine forest. That’s about six or so Nagasakis.’
    ‘Shit!’ exclaimed Mick.
    ‘Scientists believe it was a meteorite,’ said Jesse. ‘Some people claim it was a UFO exploding. They still don’t know. But there was no sign of any radiation. So…’
    ‘Tesla?’ said Mick.
    ‘He was a suspect,’ smiled Jesse. ‘But that’s not all the good news, Mick.’
    ‘There’s more?’ said Mick, swallowing some bourbon.
    Jesse smiled. ‘On one of the pages in the diary Tesla says that Lander Oldfield believes the mountain they’re working on is sitting on a fault line.’
    ‘Oh…shit!’ exclaimed Mick.
    ‘Which means, Mick, one half-decent earthquake and ka-bloowie. No more Hunter Valley.’
    ‘How about no more Australia,’ said Mick. ‘Or no more