[WP] Humankind accelerated into the future with a pill allowing complete understanding of the universe, but die 1 hour after consumption. The smartest children are taken to be trained to receive the treatment. Today you graduate as candidate #307 of the "Genius Program"

I. See. Everything.

The future began when they found Malcolm Rielly's body.

The history books say his obsession with the inadequacy of human intelligence yielded opportunity unimaginable by human means. It took years to decipher the frantically scribbled alien characters that covered the then-thought deranged doctor's office. It wasn't until Genius 2 discovered the inefficiency of human communication that the characters made sense. Genius 2's contribution allowed humans to translate Reilly's language into term's understandable by the human brain; and from that point, Reilly changed the universe.

It didn't take long for the global council to focus the effects of Brillium, allowing our species to advance into the interstellar age. The academy was founded to specialize the brain's of Old Earth's most brilliant children on a specific task. A mind without focus would be eviscerated by the influx of information Brillium provided. Focus started with planetary improvement. Genius 7 quickly determined Old Earth was beyond saving and efforts were soon directed toward interstellar travel.

I never liked the academy much. It has all the charm of stuffy university without any of the perks like a campus, blue sky or friends. Situated 900 lightyears from Terra Two, floating in a giant metal tube studying Rielly's language and particle physics, somehow I pictured life as a 12 years old to be a little different. I miss Terra Two. I miss my parents. But mostly I miss my sister, Tesla. We were inseparable, or at least I thought so before the council dragged her off to this glorified Pringles Can. She was the prospective genius of the Ripley family, top 0.01% intellectual of the species in fact, but she never wanted any of it. She was born to be a genius, but unlike the rest of the brainwashed children her age, she never saw it as an "honour" to be chosen, but saw it as the death sentence it actually is. When she inexplicably disappeared from program, there were rumors she'd been killed during a particle acceleration experiment at the academy. The council offered no explanation to her disappearance. They instead saw fit for me to be her replacement. My parents were devastated that the council had claimed not one but both of their children, they were only allocated a maximum of 2 offspring after all.

So here I sit. Edison Ripley or candidate #307 for the Genius Program awaiting teleportation to Reilly Station where they'll trade my life for a breakthrough in the physics of dark matter.

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[Establishing Connection]

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[Incoming Transmission]

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"Hello? Edison? It's Tesla. Listen to me very carefully."

/r/WritingPrompts Thread