NOVEL SIMPLE Divergence One
In November of the year 1900, Nikola Tesla was preparing to begin construction on his latest project. It was to be known as the Wardenclyffe Tower, and it would be a wireless transmission station the likes of which the world had never seen.
He was not the only one attempting this. Another man by the name of Guglielmo Marconi was doing his own version of a wireless transmission station. In fact, he had already proven his concept viable at short range during the American Cup yacht races the year before.
However, Tesla was not attempting to merely transmit voice over long ranges like his competitor. No, he intended to send messages, and even facsimile images as well. All of it depended on his tower and the carefully crafted science he had put together.
At least, it would once he got an investor who believed in the project as much as he did. That was when financier J.P. Morgan entered the picture. He had been impressed by Marconi’s work with the yacht races the previous year, but not the man himself. As a result, he refused to work with the man.
Tesla’s many patents, however, did impress him, and by March 1901, a contract was signed between them.
He began work on the tower immediately, placing orders for everything he needed right away.
Then the plan changed in June of that year when he read a magazine article about Marconi. It talked about how the man was already transmitting his signals farther than physicists of the time had thought possible, -beyond the distant horizon-, and how he was accomplishing it by using Nikola’s own Tesla coil.
Enraged, he brought the article to J.P. Morgan along with his request for more funding. Although initially hesitant, the financier finally saw reason and wrote him a new check. He also personally handled suing Guglielmo Marconi into the ground.
By September 1910, the fully completed Wardenclyffe Tower was revealed to the public. It did everything he had promised it would, and one more thing. It could wirelessly transmit power now as well.
It was the beginning of a new age, and Nikola Tesla was at its helm.