The Last Days of Night(98)

Paul stepped toward Tesla, his hands at his sides to suggest a subtle supplication.

“The $2.50-per-unit royalty that I negotiated on behalf of the Westinghouse Electric Company, that we have been paying into your trust and that has purchased this laboratory, is not sustainable.”

“Paul, what are you talking about?” asked Agnes.

He ignored her. “What I am asking you to do, Nikola, is to sign away this royalty. To give it up, for the common good.”

“The common good?” exclaimed Agnes. “What on earth is happening right now? Paul, come with me.” She motioned to the hallway outside so that they might have a private conversation.

“Let me finish,” he asked of Agnes.

“Nikola,” said Paul, “these royalty payments are soon to cease one way or another. Either we go bankrupt and you stop receiving them, or you give us this technology as a gift. And then we beat Edison.”

“You ask that I choose this second path,” said Tesla.

“If you give us your alternating-current patents, we can beat Edison. And we can make A/C the national standard. If you do not, then, well…”

“Edison will win,” said Westinghouse.

“It cannot be so simple as that,” said Agnes.

Paul motioned for Agnes to wait. “If Edison wins, the entire national electrical network will be built on direct current. If you allow Westinghouse to go under, you will doom America to D/C. To Edison. To a century of technological backwardness.”

Tesla’s face darkened. This was a serious and terrible consequence that he had not previously imagined.

“Paul,” said Agnes, “I will not allow you to cheat Nikola out of his royalty payments.”

“I am not cheating anyone out of anything. I am laying the case out plainly and in full view. He may make his own decision.”

“Where is Mr. Tesla’s attorney? I will get him down here this second.”

“Mr. Serrell is unfortunately not available right now. He’s in Washington. Working on another matter.”

“You got rid of Tesla’s lawyer so you could cheat him alone?”

“I am not ‘cheating’ anyone.”

“None of my new devices shall function on the direct current….” Tesla was contemplating the dire future this posed for his work.

“If you do not do as I’m asking,” said Paul, “the national grid of the United States will be based on D/C. There will be accidents. People will die. This nation will be doomed to a medieval century. And the future you’ve seen in your visions will never take shape in America.”

Tesla stared into a hazy distance, as if he could literally see all his planned machines evaporating into the air. These marvelous creations were there before him, hallucinations of chrome and wire. But they were vanishing.

“I care not at all about your money. But you must not let the direct current devour my world. I want only to build. You know this about myself.”

“Nikola,” said Agnes, “listen to me. Giving Westinghouse all of your money is not the way to protect your work.”

“Miss Agnes Huntington, I cannot invent that which I must invent within the world that Mr. Paul Cravath describes.”

“We can stop that world from becoming reality,” said Paul. “If you renounce the royalty, we can survive. We can continue making alternating-current systems. We can depose Edison from the head of his company, make a deal with the new leader, and live on. Both D/C and A/C can percolate through the country. The range of possible devices will be even greater.”

“Then you must do this, Mr. Paul Cravath. And I will help you. Not for your benefit, and not for Mr. George Westinghouse’s benefit, and neither for to see Mr. Thomas Edison’s fall. But rather for the future of these sciences. I have seen wonders in my mind. The invisible rays that can see through skin. A machine that can take the photograph of your thoughts. I shall build that too. These wonders must come true.”

George Westinghouse had the good sense not to have said a word during this exchange. He let his lawyer do his talking for him. But now he removed a thin collection of papers from his pocket. He laid them gently on one of the laboratory tables, and then took out a pen. He placed it gingerly beside the papers.

“You’ve only to sign this,” said Westinghouse quietly. He did not meet Tesla’s eyes.

Agnes’s face curdled with disgust. “Nikola,” she said, “do not make this deal. I know that it seems like only money to you right now, but what source of income will you have if you give away your royalties? You will watch in penury as your peers grow rich.”

Tesla smiled at her sympathetically. “My ideas for the alternating current are old. If in the future I want for money, I shall have so many more ideas from which to farm fortune.” He came toward the table that bore the contract and took the pen in his hand.

Agnes gave Paul a look of such violence as he had never seen before. He had known this was coming. He’d even reasoned that her anger would be a relief. What would it matter, he’d thought, if she blamed him for doing what needed to be done? She would never have to love him as if he were her fiancé. Wouldn’t they both be better off if she didn’t? She was soon to be married, and with any luck her hatred would only help them to forget each other.

And yet now that he was confronted with her withering gaze, the sting was so much worse than he’d imagined.