The Evolution of Genius: Every Night, I Get Smarter!-Chapter 62: White House

We silently moved to the back of the White House, avoiding the main entrances.

The Lord, seemingly aware of every detail, guided us to a discreet backdoor. With effortless precision, he unlocked the door by inserting the pin into the lock, and we entered the building.

Inside, we navigated through dimly lit corridors and staircases that seemed to lead us upstairs to the private quarters of the President.

The rooms were adorned with luxurious furnishings.

The Lord led me through a series of interconnected chambers until we arrived at a room filled with wardrobes.

The wardrobes varied in size and style. Some were open, revealing neatly organized garments, while others remained closed.

The Lord opened one of the wardrobes, revealing an array of well-tailored clothes.

"These should suit you well," he said, gesturing towards the selection.

We both chose outfits that had the right blend of elegance and practicality.

Then, The Lord pointed towards another wardrobe and said. "Enter."

I turned towards him, the expression on his face showing that he was absolutely serious. "Where does it lead?"

The Lord opened the wardrobe and began to explain, "Have you ever wondered about the difference between space and time?"

"I did. According to the mathematical standpoint and the general theory of relativity, the only difference is that in the equation, a plus is changed into a minus."

The Lord nodded, "Indeed. Einstein was one of the few people on Earth that I still remember. His theory is mostly correct, but not complete. Traveling at a speed faster than the speed of light is possible. That’s what happens in the Quantum World, and when it happens, space exchanges places with time."

Upon hearing The Lord’s explanation, I couldn’t help but react, "So, Professor Dragan from the Imperial College of London was correct with his assumption? I should have spoken to him when I had the chance. He was onto something."

The Lord smiled and entered the wardrobe, gesturing for me to follow, and I did just that.

Inside the wardrobe, The Lord explained that what they call a Quantum Observer surrounded us, creating an area where time exchanged places with space.

This allowed us to move within the cluster without the constraints of time, as time remained stable while space underwent changes.

The Lord declared with authority, "We will be moving to a special place, where I plan to lead the core research in the future. Yet, introducing you at this juncture would be futile. I only want you to meet someone you have already encountered."

No time had gone by and The Lord opened the wardrobe.

I stepped outside of it and a long sterile white corridor unfolded before.

The walls seemed to pulse softly with a subtle glow.

"What’s up with these walls? Are they alive or something?", I asked.

"They are not alive... they are just cleaning themselves," The Lord responded with a touch of indifference.

As we moved forward with quick steps, I could see that transparent doors line the corridor.

I looked briefly through the first door on the right; It was filled with enormous containers resembling aquariums. The walls were colorful and something like bioluminescent tendrils extended from the many cells inside the containers.

I couldn’t catch any more details as The Lord was in a rash.

However, behind another transparent door was a seemingly empty room bathed in soft, ambient light.

Yet, at its center stood a young girl with blonde hair and a pristine white suit. She had an innocent beauty to her.

She appeared to be... asleep?

Just a second later I heard the imposing voice of The Lord, "Come here, Max"

I followed behind him, and as I entered the room; I was surprised by a crazy contrast, when compared to the outside.

There were cozy couches that practically begged for me to kick off my shoes and make myself at home. The room looked like it came straight out of my house back in Boston.

The furniture around me were not-so-futuristic, but certainly functional, coffee table—more worn and loved than cutting-edge.

The walls were the only difference; they showcased a hodgepodge of sticky notes, doodles and some equations.

Just as I was getting comfortable, I noticed a man casually slouched on one of the sofas. Tattered clothes, unkempt beard, and a weathered backpack. A beggar.

"We have met before, Max. My name is Zytharion, I’m a Major of the Ulthars, but you can just call me Tharion. That’s how most call me.", the man said.

Now I was extremely confused. Why was the man that was previously trying to hide from The Lord, openly visiting him?

"Ymm... We met before, but you looked like a normal member of the society. What happened to you?", I asked, looking at his broken state.

He looked at me slightly embarrassed, "I... I..."

"Max!" The Lord made me turn my attention towards him.

He took off the Pink hat that he wore on top of his shining silver hair, and now that I looked at him, he looked a bit like an elf from fantastic stories, except that his ears weren’t long.

The Lord continued, "Tharion is now the leader of Ulthars in the alliance that we have made. I’m not sure why he hid himself as a beggar, but I will take care of his clothes..."

"Wait! No. I will explain," Tharion interrupted, "You see... where I come from, we Ulthars live in a different manner, so when I was relegated to jump as a scapegoat, I couldn’t find a way to make money or anything... It’s embarrassing to say, but I was left on the streets."

I had a hard time holding my laughter.

"Fortunately, after confirming The Lord’s intentions to my superior, they have come to an understanding, and they rescued me from dying of hunger," he said with a sheepish expression.

The Lord gestured to Tharion, "It’s okay. You should go change your clothes."

Almost instantly, an attendant walked in and escorted Tharion away. I couldn’t help but wonder how they knew exactly when to appear.

The Lord waited for Tharion to leave before saying, "Max, I brought you here because it’s time to extend a helping hand. For various reasons that I have already specified, I wanted to wait longer, and I would wait even longer if not for the fact that you have made contact with the Zytherians."

With an eager curiosity, I interjected, "Sure, sure. I understand, but before we delve into that, I can’t shake off the question about what Tharion mentioned regarding a ’jump.’ What did he mean by that?"

The simplest explanation that I already had in mind was that he just moved from his cluster to ours. However, I wanted to make sure.

He looked at me for a couple of seconds; as if he was contemplating what he should tell me, I didn’t like that.

The Lord finally spoke, "I suppose this is something you should be aware of. Moving between clusters isn’t as straightforward as stepping into a wardrobe and arriving at your destination. The term ’jumping’ is used because, in this process, we don’t traverse through space or time."

I suppose, even with my increased intelligence, I couldn’t conceive of a different mode of travel than through space or time. This was becoming quite abstract.

"You probably already know that it’s possible to contact a person through their dream, and it’s possible even from outside of the cluster. Now, there is way more that can be done other than just contact. One of the newest discoveries allowed for the act of jumping. The exchange of consciousness."

"I understand. But, you can just jump to any person in the other cluster and become that person? That’s it? No limitations?"

"Oh no. You are wrong on that. There are limitations. Huge limitations. Look at Tharion. Do you think he would end up like that if he could become anyone he wanted?"

That was true. I would jump into a teenager from a rich family if I had the choice. No responsibilities to take care of that would offset my own goals, but also a great financial situation.

Tharion was living on the streets...

"OK. So what do we do now? You said you don’t want me here. I would rather come back to where I came from if that’s the case.", I asked.

"You will be allowed to go back. You will... wait a second. I would gladly explain everything to you myself, but I’m not an expert in that field. We will wait for Tharion to come back."

And so I waited. I even took the shoes that we had stolen from the Presidential Suite and laid myself down on the sofa.

My mind was all over the place, mostly trying to figure out if The Lord really meant well. What I said to him and what I truly thought were totally different.

All I knew was that he didn’t care about people’s feelings at all and would keep going no matter what to get things done.

Was this what I believed to be the best way to live?

Was this the most effective way of existence?