The Evolution of Genius: Every Night, I Get Smarter!-Chapter 56: The Call

Tomorrow, on December 30th, I had more meetings scheduled with representatives from the Netherlands and France, and I desperately needed some rest.

I made a quick decision to leave Ms. Brooks behind and took a taxi to a well-deserved 4-star hotel I had booked for all three of us.

The moment I entered my hotel room, I couldn’t resist the fluffy bed.

I splashed onto it, my body instantly sinking into the comfort.

However, I set the alarm clock for 3:09, not to forget.

...

In the eerie realm of the Dreamland, the color of The Lord’s nets turned darker and more ominous.

This only served to deepen my suspicions about the significance of distance.

The alarm clock turned out to be unnecessary, as I woke up after just 3 hours.

Fully rested.

I waited for another hour, before making the call.

3:19

I dialed up, 68213.

"Hello?", I asked when the call connected.

"Do not fret, The Lord can’t hear us."

I thought that the person who called me must be quite influential if even someone who was supposed to hear and see everything, could be stopped.

"And why? Maybe we should let him hear this. Till now he seemed to have been helping me."

What did the Lord do? I didn’t have any problems with him.

"You must know that The Lord has been blocking any contact that we have tried establishing with you.", the man spoke in a monotonic manner. ƒreewebɳovel.com

"You are a Zytherian, right? I wanted to hear your perspective since a long time ago. Did you try to assassinate me?"

"No, The Lord is a Lunatic. We just tried to contact you in person, as any means beyond that were impossible"

I don’t know why, but I was inclined to believe that The Lord was a lunatic.

After all, the man wore a pink suit.

"Hmm... The Lord said that you betrayed us, what could he mean by that? Do you have any idea?"

"This is exactly why we wanted to speak with you, Maximillian. The Lord has assumed the worst, without contacting us. Without speaking with us. We, Zytherians, don’t even know where he got the information from."

"Information? So you admit that you betrayed him?", I knew that I was looking too deeply into it, but I wanted to pressure him to try and make him commit a mistake.

"No. I’m talking about the information on the Somnus Veri. We do not know how he got his hands on it."

"Somnus Veri? And what in the hell is that supposed to be."

"Yes. Somnus Veri. At least that’s what they called it."

"They? Who are they?", I was completely lost.

Just when I thought I had some idea of what was going on.

"We don’t know. But you need to know that we didn’t want things to escalate in such a manner.", The man said with a regretful tone.

"OK. So what in the f*ck is Somnus Veri,", I lost my temper for the first time in a while.

"They said it was an experiment. We were about to contact all the clusters, but somehow The Lord was quicker to jump to conclusions."

An experiment? I had bad premonitions about this

"So what is this experiment about? What’s the goal? Why did The Lord assume that you were working against him?"

"Zytherians don’t know the answer to any of this. However, we got it from someone important to us, so we believed it to be useful and we wanted to share."

"Tell me... What was it exactly. What was the Somnus Veri?", I asked again.

"It was a Serum", The man stated firmly.

"A serum? And where is it now?", I had a sinking feeling that I already knew the answer, but I needed confirmation.

"The Lord has stolen the Somnus Veri. We don’t have the serum."

I narrowed my eyes and pressed further, my skepticism apparent in my tone. "And why should I believe that you don’t have any more of it, or that you really wanted to contact everyone and talk about it? I can’t just trust your word on it."

There wasn’t a single reason I should believe the random Zytherian talking with me on the phone.

"Maximillian," their voice grew somber, "Changing your mind will be hard, but I want you to know something. That serum... Somnus Veri... It is in you, right now."

"That’s what I thought... But what am I supposed to do with this information?"

"Maximillian, we are asking one thing of you. Please understand that The Lord has no benevolent intentions for you. His intentions are utterly deranged, and to him, any form of dialogue with the Zytherians is absolutely off the table."

I scratched my head in confusion, trying to wrap my mind around the bizarre situation.

"So, let me get this straight," I said with a hint of sarcasm, "The Lord is deranged and I was doped with a serum. Got it! I’ll make sure to keep that in mind when I’m out and about in the universe."

"We, The Zytherians will continue to try and contact The Lord to talk with him, but we are not sure if that will be possible."

"Sure, but one last question, how did you find me? How did you know that it was me with that Simpson Very... Or whatever!"

"Maximillian... your planet is not the most developed one. There are humans who have discovered ways to control dreams. To observe dreams."

"I see...", I said, but I didn’t really understand.

So, was he also a human?

I wanted to ask further, but the man disconnected, leaving me blank.

For the next couple hours I couldn’t focus on what I needed to do.

I thought about how there could be more developed civilizations of humans outside of Earth.

Weren’t humans from Earth?

And the technology he spoke about, The Lord must know it, and the Ulthars must know it, so what would The Lord need me for if he is already smarter than me?

...

In the morning, I meticulously examined the documentation provided by the German politician.

Germany was really hungry to welcome foreign investments, particularly from any nation other than China.

Throughout the day, my team and I engaged in discussions with representatives from various countries, each presenting their unique offers.

Among these, the proposition from the Netherlands stood out as particularly enticing.

Netherlands is famous for its lenient construction and building rules.

Despite the appeal of their approach, the advantages related to transportation and money weighed more heavily.

Consequently, the location for the fusion engine project:

Germany.

In the evening I was already on my flight back to Boston.

While on the flight, I thought back to the call with the Zytherian.

After contemplating it for a while longer, I had even more questions.

Why didn’t the Zytherian ask me about the effects of the serum?

I mean, they might have seen from my history that I was getting smarter, but he didn’t seem interested in the topic at all.

And finally... who did they receive the serum from? He only mentioned that they were important to them.

I concluded that, at the moment, there was no way for me to verify what’s true and what’s not.

I needed to remain wary of both sides.

...

On the same evening I was back in USA.

As we reached the inside of the airport, I spotted Olivia waiting for me.

In the last couple of months, she had also obtained her driver’s license, and I had asked her to pick me up.

She was here with my car.

I approached her, still accompanied by Ms. Brooks and Mr. Reymond.

Olivia looked at the people with me and asked, "Who are these folks, Max?"

I introduced them, "Olivia, this is Mia Brooks, one of my investment advisors, and Mr. Reymond, our accountant."

There was a subtle tension in the air as Olivia and Mia glanced at each other.

As we stepped out of the airport, the brisk Boston air hit our faces.

My investment advisors, Mr. Reymond and Ms. Brooks, gathered their belongings and prepared to leave.

"Max, we’ll head back to the office and discuss any important developments. We’ll call you if something urgent comes up.", Mr. Reymond stated.

I nodded and shook their hands, expressing my gratitude for their hard work.

Then, Olivia and I headed back to MIT.

As we strolled across the campus, she looked at me with a gleam of excitement in her eyes.

"Max. How about we go out somewhere today?"

I smiled at her suggestion, "I’d love to, Oliv. But I’ve got one last meeting I need to attend. How about tomorrow? It’s New Year’s Eve"

She shook her head, her enthusiasm undiminished, "Ok, Max. Maybe we can drive to New York for the countdown. What do you think?"

"That sounds like a fantastic plan, Oliv. Let’s make it a memorable New Year’s Eve."

With that settled, we continued our walk through the MIT campus.

The meeting that I mentioned. It was a meeting with Lydia. They offered her a faster route to a Ph.d. after the monopole research we released.

She wanted to talk about it.