Free Tesla's Signal by L. Woodswalker

project, but it appears that you're an impractical dreamer who's building a castle in the air.”
    “But sir, I only ask for a very small loan—”
    “I'm sorry, but I don't care to advance any more funds toward this project. Now, if you'll excuse me. I'm a very busy man.” Morgan waved him toward the door. “Good day!”
    ***
    Niko rallied his determination and requested another meeting, but Morgan's secretary put him off. He tried for the next two weeks. After being repeatedly rejected, he began sending letters. He never got an answer.
    He started appealing to other wealthy men who had invested in his projects at one time or another. For some reason, all of them seemed to have an unusually busy calendar, or they were “indisposed”. Soon after that, the social invitations also slowed to a trickle.
    Scherff showed him a newspaper. Is Tesla a Crackpot? Financier J. P. Morgan pulls funding from inventor Nikola Tesla's World Wireless Tower Project. Says that Tesla has “lost his marbles.”  
    Niko crumpled the newspaper. A sudden feeling came over him, as if he had fallen from his tower to land shattered on the ground. “He has ruined me, Scherff!”
    He began to pace in a tight circle, hands pressed against his head. “Morgan controls the finances of America. He can make or break an enterprise. They say he collects companies, like a boy collects butterflies.”
    Scherff nodded. “I'm afraid so. And when he tires of them, he crushes them up and tosses them in the trash bin.”
    “And that's what he'll do with me.” A panicky feeling overwhelmed Niko as he saw the truth. “I depended on Morgan's help. I overextended my finances so much in building the tower......that now I'll go bankrupt. My creditors will repossess everything I own.”
    And all that Niko really owned was what he had built—the oscillators in his lab. Transformers, Tesla coils, prototypes for the future: remote control devices, signal switches, priceless one-of-a-kind instruments that he needed in order to keep on inventing and creating.
    Niko began to feel sick..he needed fresh air! He stepped out and began walking a square of three blocks. He took this route three times three, but still no solution came.
    ***
    “There's someone at the door, sir.” said George Scherff. “Says he's from Financial Reclamations, to collect a debt of $5,000. Says if you don't pay, they'll repossess your equipment.”
    Niko rubbed his temples. Lord, he had such a headache. “I'll write him a check tomorrow.”
    That was a bluff...almost as much as his card games used to be. Where the devil would he get the money? Go to one of his wealthy friends, maybe J. J. Astor? For a second Niko thought about slipping into a gambling den and running a gigantic hustle. No, no . That had been a weakness of his youth, long since put aside. Anyway, he was way too famous now to be able to fool anyone.
    “George, I'm going for a walk. Perhaps I'll find a thousand-dollar bill in the street,” he muttered, in a feeble attempt at a joke.
    He stepped out of the lab and walked his circuit: up Pearl Street, down Frankfort, across Beekman and back to Fulton. While he walked his familiar pattern of threes, he sought comfort in calculation. Three to the third power is 27. Twenty seven to the third power is 19,683...  
    He arrived at Liberty Park and took out a bag of bread crusts he had saved for the pigeons. As he sat feeding the birds, his attention was caught by a woman sitting nearby.
    He recognized her at once by her hat: it was his former secretary, Clara Eps. She sat there gazing intently at a small object in her hand. Occasionally she looked up from the object, directly at him. Then she'd look down and adjust the object with a fine tool.
    What the devil is she doing? Should I go and talk to her? He watched the woman for about ten minutes, reflecting that it had been almost five years since she had left his office. Surely whatever her reason for leaving, it would be of no