Against the Blog: 1-9

It's the Summer of 1899, and seventeen-year-old Kit Traverse is working on electrical experiments in Colorado Springs for Nikola Tesla. He has become obsessed with electricity, in all its forms. While there, he meets Scarsdale Vibe's assistant, Foley Walker. Vibe seems to be funding Tesla, in spite of his earlier opposition to the man. During the Civil War, when Scarsdale was conscripted, his father paid for Foley to take his son's place. Decades later, Foley come to visit Vibe in his office. Apparently, he took a bullet in the left temple during the war, which left him hearing voices in his head that give him good financial advice. Following this advice, Vibe gets richer still, and takes on Foley as his assistant.

Foley offers Kit a full four-year scholarship at Yale, on the condition that afterwards, he come to work for Vibe. Kit can't help but jump at the prospect. Webb is violently opposed to the idea, surmising, probably correctly, that this is an effort by the capitalist elite to steal his family. Nonetheless, Kit persists. Only his mother comes to see him off.