Perseverance Triumphant!

By Gary Alan Ruse

An epic Steampunk adventure. (Victorian Science Fiction..)

In 1880 the captain and crew of a steam-powered British starship must battle a despicable villain, rescue the kidnapped Queen of England and thwart an alien invasion from outer space. Can Star Captain Demetrius Cogswell,
Ship's Telepath Lady Elidora Thistle and the crew of the HMS Perseverance save England, Earth and the rest of the solar system? Now with illustrations!

Gary Alan Ruse is the author of Houndstooth, A Game of Titans, The Gods of Cerus Major, Morlac: The Quest of the Green Magician, The Cross of St. Anne, Murder in Deer Park, Aggie & Agent X and other works.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gary Alan Ruse
• Release date: May 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301133031

Gary Alan Ruse

Have been a professional writer of science fiction, mysteries and "techno-thrillers" since the 70's, and served as an Army reporter in Vietnam. I have five previous novels published, "Houndstooth" and "A Game of Titans" in hardcovers by Prentice-Hall with foreign editions in Great Britain and Japan, and "The Gods of Cerus Major" in hardcover by Doubleday, and original paperbacks "Morlac: The Quest of the Green Magician" and "Death Hunt on a Dying Planet" by Signet/New American Library. Also a number of stories published in magazines and anthologies, and more than 1200 newspaper articles in Community Newspapers.

Book preview

PERSEVERANCE

TRIUMPHANT!

A Victorian Science Fiction Adventure

by Gary Alan Ruse

Ebook Edition

Copyright 2013 by Gary Alan Ruse

Based on his 2012 Screenplay

WGA-East Registered

Cover design copyright 2013 by Gary Alan Ruse.

Interior art copyright 2021 by Gary Alan Ruse.

All rights are reserved.

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DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to all fans of Steampunk, or Victorian Science Fiction, for their ongoing enthusiasm and verve, and with great respect and appreciation for the work of the pioneers of the genre such as Jules Verne, H. G. Wells and even the original TV series The Wild Wild West, as well as many modern writers since. And with a special tip of the be-goggled hat to Andrew W. Marlowe, David Grae and Shalisha Francis for reminding me how much fun Steampunk personas and costumes are, and for setting the gears in motion.

And for this revised edition, a special loving thanks to my wife Helen for her encouragement and for being my own Lady Thistle.

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CHAPTER ONE

The Great Experiment

New York, December 14, 1942, Dusk

A night, a moment, when world events and one man’s remarkable history interacted with the forces of nature to change the very fabric of time, reinventing the past and setting the wheels in motion for a great adventure.

Mid-town Manhattan was already in the grip of its own altered reality, with the lights of Times Square, Broadway and even decorative Christmas lights being turned off or dimmed shortly after sunset due to the safety restrictions imposed by World War 2. It was feared that the bright city lights would silhouette coastal shipping, making the vessels easier targets for German submarines. Even offices and apartments above the 15th floors were required to curtain their windows after dark.

A storm was coming that night as pedestrians scurried about and taxi cabs flowed like a yellow river through concrete canyons. The sound of distant thunder and its preceding lightning flashes in the ominous clouds vied with the traffic noises and newsboys hawking the New York Times, emblazoned with war and gas rationing headlines.

At the New Yorker Hotel curtains were being drawn at windows on the upper floors, blocking view of the room lights. On the 33rd floor, room 3327 was no exception.

Its occupant, genius inventor Nikola Tesla, stood by the window, briefly gazing out before drawing the curtains in the two room suite where he lived. At age 86, looking old and a bit frail, Tesla was dressed but wearing a wool bathrobe for added warmth. He abruptly turned as he heard a knock at the door of his apartment, then quickly went to the door and unlocked it.

Tesla peered out through the gap of the still chained door and immediately recognized the young bellboy who stood outside in the hall. The young man looked nervous.

Ah, Jimmy… come in, said Tesla, unfastening the chain and opening the door wide.

Jimmy, whom Tesla guessed to be all of about 17, entered the room, pushing a luggage cart with bulky objects on it that were covered by a gray tarpaulin. Tesla briefly leaned out through the door to glance both ways down the hall outside, then he closed the door and secured it.

Where should I put this? said Jimmy.

Tesla gestured at the center of the room. Over there is fine. After a moment’s hesitation he added, Did anyone see you?

No sir. I was careful. Jimmy glanced nervously back toward the hallway beyond. We’re not really supposed to get things out of storage in the basement at this time of night, but seein’ as how you’ve lived here ten years, I guess we can bend the rules a bit.

Good man, said Tesla. I appreciate your help.

Jimmy carefully removed the tarp and dropped it to the floor, revealing several stacks of bulky gray equipment--strange gadgets with dials and gauges, control knobs and switches. Some had large vacuum tubes visible. Jimmy looked as if he didn’t have a clue what they might be for. There were coiled power cords and other cables, too, neatly placed on top of the equipment.

I got everything on your list, said Jimmy.

Nikola Tesla looked everything over carefully, mentally itemizing the pieces of gear and nodding as he did so.

Yes... yes. Excellent.

Tesla moved the cables out of the way and picked up a large power supply unit, a heavy piece of gear that indicated the elderly inventor was stronger than he looked, then placed it on one end of a wooden table nearby. Not one to stand idly by, Jimmy pitched in and picked up another gadget, moving it to the table as well.

Where does this one go? Jimmy asked.

Next to the first one, a few inches apart, if you please, said Tesla.

The two men continued to move the remaining gadgets from the cart to the table, with Tesla directing the placement of each and making adjustments to the positioning of everything. Tesla then picked up the cables and connected them between the gadgets, hooking everything up with a sober sense of purpose.

Finally, Tesla connected three power cords to the back of the power supply and plugged them in to three separate electrical outlets in the walls around them. Jimmy watched all this with genuine interest and curiosity.

Are you doing more research, sir?

Tesla was still busily checking everything. Not research. That has already been done.

Tesla seemed content with the arrangement. He reached over and turned on the power supply, then stepped back to watch. Indicators on the equipment immediately lit up, the vacuum tubes began to glow and there was an attendant hum of sound. The hotel lights flickered briefly as the strange equipment drew upon the building’s power grid, then they stabilized and remained steady.

Jimmy was still interested, but now he was getting a little worried as well.

Ah... what is it exactly that you’re trying to do, Mr. T?

Do? said Tesla with the imperious tone of a man who has been wronged and who feels that the only reasonable action to take should be obvious to everyone. I am seeking justice. I am seeking vindication!

Oh? said Jimmy, getting a bit nervous now and wondering what he had gotten himself involved with by bringing the strange equipment to him. He hoped the nice old gentleman wasn’t planning on building a bomb or something.

Tesla began to pace, as barely controlled self-righteous anger rose within him. I have spent my life advancing the cause of science. No-one has done more than I in the fields of mechanical and electrical engineering, electromagnetism, and wireless energy transfer. My work has aided the development of radar, robotics, remote control, computer science and other fields. I devised plans for energy weapons, charged particle beams, and an ion-propelled aircraft.

Tesla strode to his desk and stood there, looking down at his papers and things, and at a peculiar cloth-wrapped object about the size of an attaché case.

Yet I was never fully given the respect or recognition I deserved, Tesla continued. Even Edison cheated me of the credit and funds he owed me for the work I did for him. Then, five years ago, when I announced that I had completed my dynamic theory of gravity, I was ostracized... called a mad scientist. After all I had done!

Jimmy nodded with knowing sympathy and understanding. Sometimes life is unfair.

Tesla gently picked up the mysterious wrapped object on his desk and held it in his hands for a moment. Then he unwrapped the cloth covering and revealed an elaborate box made of wood and leather with an abundance of metal trim, fittings and mechanical latches. He seemed a bit calmer as he gazed soberly at the box.

I have put everything in here. All my notes, all my theories, every plan, formula, diagram, everything, in great detail. Even personal photos. This is the sum total of my work, my life! There are plans for inventions in here that I have never before told anyone about. There are even notes about the mistakes I made and the people I should not have trusted. And now... I am ready to send it on its way.

The elderly scientist/inventor came around the corner of his desk carrying the box with a solemn sense of purpose. The young bellboy was puzzled.

Send it? Send it where?

Not where, Jimmy, said Tesla in an odd and meaningful way. When!

Tesla carried the box to the table of equipment and carefully placed it atop a rectangular metal plate that rested above glass insulators on one of the gadgets. He adjusted its position there, then swung a device with a six inch diameter glass globe fitted with electrodes and an energizing lens at its bottom over the box. He aligned it carefully...precisely. Finally, satisfied with its placement, he stepped back and drew a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

I... I’m afraid I don’t understand, said Jimmy.

My fellow countryman, Ruder Bošković, preceded Einstein’s work on relativity and the time-space continuum. I have added my own work to that. Tesla hesitated, then added with a tone of determination, I intend to send this transport box back in time to my younger self, before I went to study at the Austrian Polytechnic University in Graz in 1875. Armed with this knowledge, I shall set things right.

Jimmy raised an incredulous eyebrow. Is... is that possible?

Let us find out, my young friend!

Tesla reached out