Free Goliath by Scott Westerfeld Page A

decided yet where I wish to go.”
    “Thank heaven for small favors,” Dr. Barlow said quietly.
    “After we resupply in Vladivostok, we may have to complete our mission in Japan,” Captain Hobbes said. “But I won’t be sure until the Admiralty’s orders reach us from London.”
    “If you only had wireless,” Tesla muttered. “Instead of those ridiculous birds.”
    Captain Hobbes ignored this. “In the meantime we shall have to ration our food carefully.” He looked at Captain Yegorov, and Alek repeated his words in French.
    “We are airmen. Of course we understand,” Yegorov said. “We’ve all missed a few meals since arriving in Tunguska.”
    “Tunguska,” said Bovril from the ceiling.
    Dr. Barlow glanced up at the beast, then asked in French, “Is that the name of this place?”
    Captain Yegorov shrugged. “The Tunguska River passes through this forest, but it hardly has a name.”
    “Not yet,” Tesla muttered. “But soon everyone will know what happened here.”
    Dr. Barlow turned to him, switching to English. “If I may ask, Mr. Tesla, what
did
happen here?”
    “To put it simply, the greatest explosion in our planet’s history,” the man said softly. “The sound broke windows hundreds of miles away. It flattened the forest in all directions, and threw such dust into the air that the skies went red for months around the world.”
    “Around the world?” Dr. Barlow asked. “When was this exactly?”
    “The early morning of June 30, 1908. Back in the civilized world the atmospheric effects were barely noticed. But if it had happened anywhere except Siberia, the event would have filled all mankind with astonishment.”
    “Astonishment,” Bovril whispered softly, and Tesla paused to give the beast an irritated stare. Alek glanced out the navigation room’s slanted windows. Even at this height, he could see that the fallen trees stretched out endlessly.
    “I came here to study what happened, and soon I shall report my results.” As the inventor continued, he placed a heavy hand on Alek’s shoulder and turned his gaze to him. “When I do, the world will shudder, and perhaps at last find peace.”
    “Peace? Because of an explosion?” Alek asked. “But what caused it, sir?”
    Mr. Tesla smiled, and tapped his walking stick three times upon the floor.
    “Goliath did.”

 
    “He is quite mad, of course,” Alek said.
    Count Volger drummed his fingers on his desk, his eyes still locked on Bovril. Dr. Barlow had handed the creature to Alek as the meeting had broken up, and Alek hadn’t stopped to leave it in his own stateroom. The news was simply too extraordinary to wait. But now Volger and the beast were staring at each other, a contest that Bovril appeared to be enjoying.
    Alek pulled the creature from his shoulder and placed it on the floor. He stepped closer to the stateroom window. “Mr. Tesla says he did all this from America, with some kind of machine. Six years go.”
    “In 1908?” Volger asked, his eyes still fixed on the beast. “And he’s waited until
now
to tell the world?”
    “The Russians wouldn’t allow a Clanker scientist into their country,” Alek said. “Not until he switched sides. Sohe couldn’t study the effects firsthand. But now that he’s seen what his weapon can do, he says he’s going to make the invention public.”
    Volger finally tore his eyes from Bovril. “Why would he test this weapon on a place he couldn’t visit?”
    “He says this was an accident, a misfire. He only wanted to ‘create some fireworks’ and didn’t realize how powerful Goliath was.” Alek frowned. “But surely you don’t believe any of this.”
    Volger turned to stare out the window. The
Leviathan
was nearing the edge of the devastation, where only the youngest trees had fallen. But the massive extent of the explosion was still apparent.
    “Do you have another explanation for what happened here?”
    Alek sighed slowly, then pulled out a chair and sat down. “Of