Work Text:
Palo Alto, California 1995
It was three in the morning and the Engineer was nodding off at his desk; he glanced longingly at the makeshift bed on his sofa that he kept in his office. He shook his head, fought off his weariness, and desperately tried to keep working. The code wasn’t cooperating tonight and it was driving him mad. This was one of those moments he regretted dropping out of Stanford just to go into business with his brother. Hopefully this Internet thing wasn’t just going to be a passing fad; he had a lot riding on this company. He convinced a lot of people to put their faith in him. There was no room for failure.
The computer screen fizzled to black, drowning the office in darkness. The Engineer shouted in anguish, banging his fists on the keyboard. He got on his hands and knees to check the wiring under the desk. Nope, it was all still plugged in and it looked like the power hadn’t been shut off as the red light on the power strip was glowing in the dark.
Back on his feet, he turned on a desk lamp. Why didn’t he have this on before? Too buried in his work to notice the sun had set hours ago, probably. He pushed papers covered in figures and plans off the desk and lifted the computer tower onto it with a grunt. Opening the housing, he peered inside. The smell of burning rubber filled his nose as he spied a nest of fried wires. Old piece of junk. He should just replace it but he needed the programs on the hard drive and it would take too long to switch everything over to a new computer. Time he didn’t have. He found some spare wires in a desk drawer and started to perform some creative computer repair.
The Engineer crossed some wires here and there, made some new connections that made sense to his exhausted brain, and when he was done, he replaced the housing. All that was left was to restart the computer.
He pushed the button on the tower and raised his eyes to the monitor on the desk. He held his breath. The screen glowed to life with the blue light of the start-up screen. The Engineer breathed a sigh of relief. Now he could go back to work, but screen kept glowing brighter and brighter. The entire office flooded with blue light. The Engineer covered his eyes with his arm. The lamp bulb beside the monitor increased in intensity before exploded.
“Dammit!” he swore as he ducked for cover. He crawled away from the desk entirely when the power strips started popping and sparking. When the plugs caught fire, he grabbed a blanket from the sofa and smothered the flames. Then the entire room was plunged into darkness.
The Engineer breathed heavily. His heart was pounding in his chest. Was it over? Did the power go out? In the room? In the office building? The city? Then a burst of light returned to the monitor and it shattered outward. The Engineer leapt out of the way and covered his head with his arms as he screamed in fear.
From between his arms, he saw the room was now flooded with a bright, white light. He slowly moved his arms away from his head and allowed his eyes to adjust to the sight. For a moment, he thought he had died and he was seeing some sort of end-of-life vision. Hovering at the center of the office was a glowing, celestial being.
The figure had an ageless, sexless beauty about it. Its eyes glowed like twin, white Christmas bulbs and its short, tousled hair had the color and sheen of copper wire. It wore a suit of iridescent, technicolor colors, as if the fabric was made of woven optical fibers. It held out its hands in a welcoming gesture and with a smile on its pale, yellow lips, it boomed, “For the first time in almost a hundred years, someone has touched the Master Key of Electricity!”
The Engineer stared dumbfoundedly. He imitated a fish out of water by opening and closing his mouth, searching for words. “W-w-wh-I-uh—”
The being lowered its hands. “You are the one who touched the Master Key, correct?” The Engineer didn’t know how to answer so he just nodded his head.
“Excellent,” it said as it lowered itself to the ground. Its glow died down a little and with the wave of its hand, the overhead fluorescent lights turned on. “As the Slave to the Master Key, I must wait for a genius to trigger the secret combination to summon me! The last time that happened, a little boy was experimenting with batteries and switchboards. When that didn’t work out, I was worried I would have to wait at least another millennium for someone else to come across it! I was hoping someone with more expertise in science would trigger the Key. Are you, by chance, a scientist?”
Without thinking, the Engineer blurted, “I have a degree in Physics.”
The glowing being laughed. “It’s certainly a step up! Very well, I am here to—”
Finally wide awake, the Engineer interrupted the being by shouting questions, “What are you? Who are you? Am I dead? Are you an angel? Did the power go out? Oh god, did I lose my code? I can’t lose that code! I’ve been working on it for months now! Our jobs rely on that code! What am I going to tell Kimbal?”
“Control yourself, man!” the being demanded. It approached him and helped him to his feet. Its hands were surprisingly cool to the touch. “I suppose I should explain.” It straightened its optic fiber suit. “Both what I am and who I am is the Demon of Electricity. To be clear, I am not a demon in the sense that most people think. I’m more akin to an elemental, one who serves the power of electricity. No, you aren’t dead. I am not an angel; we’ve already established I’m a demon. The power didn’t go out, and rest assured, as the Demon of Electricity, I can retrieve your code since your computational device runs on electricity.”
“Thank you,” the Engineer breathed. “I can’t thank you enough.”
“Why is this code so important to you?” the Demon asked curiously.
“I need it for my business,” he explained. “My brother and I are developing a website that will help people locate businesses that they are looking for, like the nearest pizza place or the nearest video store.”
The Demon studied the computer tower and the shattered monitor screen. “So you’re interested in helping people.”
“Very much so!” the Engineer nodded eagerly. He also wanted to make lots of money, but he didn’t relay that. “Ever since I was a kid, I’ve dreamed up inventions that could help people and make life better for everyone.”
“Then it is fortunate that we have met,” the Demon smiled kindly. “What would you say if I told you that I could help you reach your fullest potential?”
His heart was racing, but he still needed to stay cautious, the Engineer asked nervously, “Would I have to make some sort of deal with my soul?”
“I told you I’m not that sort of demon!” Its body flared to bright yellow again.
“I’m sorry!” the Engineer raised his hands in defense. “I promise I’ll get it right!”
The Demon’s body returned to a soothing radiance as it calmed. “See that you do. As I was saying: when one touches the Master Key, they are granted a series of gifts created by the magic of electricity in the hopes that those gifts will be shared with the rest of humanity. The last attempt, as I said…failed. So, I have hidden these gifts away. As time passed, mankind has developed their own wonders that surpassed what I originally offered. I offer new opportunities to you, to lead mankind into a new age of Electricity! All I ask in return is that you use my gifts wisely and only to aid humanity.”
Unsure what to make of this proposition, the Engineer asked, “What are you offering?”
“My services. My previous gifts are to no use to mankind anymore. Humans can fly, telephones are now portable, the new Internet will soon allow connections were none existed before! Therefore, I am at your command.” It kneeled at his feet. “Your inventions will become real by my power. I can do impossible things with my element! With your genius and my electrical power, you can change the world for the better!”
Stunned, the Engineer stepped over to his sofa and plopped onto to the cushions. He rubbed his face, wiping the sweat of his brow. It felt hot in that small room all of a sudden; his grimy t-shirt was now soaked in sweat. “You mean…I can build my company? Improve transportation? Build rockets? Go to space?”
“You can meet the Martians that Mr. Tesla used to talk to on his radio,” the Demon promised. The Engineer pushed that comment aside. He would address that later. “I could go to space,” he whispered. Even better, money, fame, the whole world will be within his reach! This…thing is offering him all his wildest dreams! His eyes widened as the reality hit him. He stood up and raised his eyes proudly. He held his hand out to the Demon that was now leaning against his desk. “Alright. You have a deal.”
The Demon took the Engineer’s hand. “I have great confidence in this partnership already. Now may I ask what is the name of my Master?”
The Engineer smiled. “Elon Musk.”