Mia knew the minute she stopped her car in front of the big, gray building the address had led to, she was in the right place.
It looked like a crossover between a factory, a small hospital, and a middle school. Located far away from the big city, a few miles away from a small town hidden behind a few hills, anyone would assume the place was abandoned or maybe getting rebuilt. That was the cover, anyway. The scaffoldings around the building showed that it was getting a new roof and front, but the giant, electrical fence told Mia everything she needed to know. She'd seen enough thriller movies to know that this was but a façade; A government one.
Turning off the ignition, she quickly sent a text to Zoe, telling her and Caleb that she was here and it looked promising, before she stepped out. Locking the car, she walked up to the giant gate, noticing the surveillance cameras follow and zoom in on her. She glared angrily up at it.
There was an actual intercom system by the gates, she discovered, when she stopped up in front of it and stared hesitantly at it. Like, how often did they get visitors here? Not often, she imaged. Mia pressed the button and then waited a few seconds before a guttural, gruff male voice spoke to her through the small speaker; "This sight is closed for construction. Please leave the property."
She scoffed. Sure it was. It was closed for human reconstruction. "I'm here to see my friend Elijah Greyson. Tell C.E.N.T.U.R.I.E.S I said hi. We might not know each other personally, but I've heard a lot about them."
After that, the intercom went quiet. She waited for minutes, knowing that they were probably having a conniption in there. Eli had blabbed to one more person, what were they going to do? She knew it was a risk what she was doing, but for Eli, all bets were off. She was thoroughly pissed and ready to take on whatever crap they fired her way.
Finally, the electric gates buzzed and opened themselves, clearly signally she had been granted entrance. Mia hesitated for another moment though, unsure if it was a good idea to step without anyone knowing, so quickly, she texted Zoe again and told her what was happening. Just in case. Then she gathered her courage and walked inside, slowly approaching the gray building.
Her heart was beating faster and louder than usual, and her pulse was racing. She could hear her breath come in through her nose and out through her mouth, but she was in control of each step she took. She remembered vividly what Eli had told her about this place. The things that went on in there. The people he had dealt with. It had all seemed so terrifying when he said it, but still, it didn't quite settle inside her before now as she felt the twist of panic in her stomach. It was real, he really came from living in a lab the last eight years.
And now she was heading inside that very same place.
Shit, Mia thought as she heard the gates shut behind her, just as she reached the big and solid steel doors of the building.
What had she gotten herself into?
~~~
"I demand to see him. I know what kind of place this is and I know what you do, but I don't care if he violated some corrupt contract you made with him, I want to see him!" Mia growled angrily, slamming her palm into the metal table of the interrogation room they had brought her into. After a frisk search where they took away her phone and car keys, and then a quick formal introduction to a certain Ms Hope, she had been led to this metal-plated, bright-lighted interrogation room where she now pretty much expected some Men In Black type-of-guy to walk in at any moment. This was insane.
"Look, Miss, whatever your friend told you about this place, I promise you he's lying. Elijah Greyson was declared mentally unstable around the time of his eighth birthday. He had a brilliant mind, too brilliant for his own sanity. He started to lose grasp of the real world and begun creating fantasies and crazy theories about the world," Ms Hope, the seemingly professional lady in the black pencil skirt and crisp gray jacket, said. Her hair was fixed in a tight bun and made her face look like it'd had a facelift. By Mia's scowl, she pursed her lips and continued.
"As you are well aware, some geniuses tend to lose their minds. They get too smart for their own good. They can't handle it. Poor Elijah broke down and was relocated here for safekeeping and monitoring of his condition. It was unfortunate he ran away. Those four years out did horrible things to his mind, as I'm sure you can tell by what he's done to himself. I assure you, we have him under safe observation and he'll be in good care."
"Wow," Mia said, giving the lady a flatline look. "You said that with a straight face. I'm impressed. I really liked the 'poor Eli' thing, that was good. Tell me, do you rehearse that every night or just on Sundays?"
"Miss Hanson—"
"No, don't 'Miss Hanson' me," Mia snarled and leaned in over the table. "I'm through with your bullshit. You can try all you want, but I'm never going to buy it. I know Eli, and I know what he was exposed to in here, and it sure as hell ain't safe."
"Mr Grayson's—Eli's mind is deranged—"
"No, you're deranged!" Mia yelled, now slamming her fist into the table so hard, the punch made the metal reverberate. "I'm not leaving this goddamn shithole until you take me to see him, so you might as well cut the bullcrap! I realize I can't call the cops on you, but you know what I can do?" She curled her lips into a cold smile. "I have a genius on my side—two in fact. You know one of them, and I'm sure you'll soon know about the other one as well. If you don't show me to Eli, I can promise you my two genius friends will find a way into whatever database you guys log all your crazy experiments in and they will leak all the material to anyone who has eyes! You work with geniuses, so you know that this can happen, and it will if you don't meet my demands. Do I make myself clear?"
Ms Hope's face tightened in a purse of her lips, making her otherwise stiff face seem even more rock hard. After a moment, she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. "We've underestimated you, Ms Hanson."
"I'll make damn sure you never do that again in your entire life, Ms Hope. I might not be a genius, but I'm a rich chick who's used to getting what I want."
Ms Hope's lips twitched in a light amusement before she calmly arose from her chair. "Right this way, then."
Mia angrily stood up, surprised that her legs carried her. She sounded and looked fierce on the outside, but inside she was scared shitless. She knew the more she opened her mouth, the bigger the chance was of them locking her up. Or just plain killing her and dumping her body a place it would never be found.
Don't think like that, she nervously thought to herself as Ms Hope led her down a couple of hallways to an elevator. As they stepped inside and pressed a button that wound take them below ground level, Mia exhaled a shaky breath.
She had to be brave and strong. For Eli. She knew she could do this. She wouldn't let him down, she would get him out of here.
The elevator stopped and they both stepped out, Mia following after Ms Hope. The scenery had changed from what had looked like hospital hallways, to now being state-of-the-art government designed corridors. The walls were coated in shining metal, as were the floors. Each step Ms Hope took made her six inch stilettos click against the metal. What looked like government agents (the same kind that had posed as policemen) stood guard down the hall with a few meters distance, some guarding doors, others just seemingly monitoring the flow of the hall.
Mia had to swallow a dry lump. This was seriously some deep shit. She begun to understand why Eli always had the rough exterior on, as opposed to being in favor of his softer side. Twenty minutes here and Mia was already feeling her psyche crumble. She was scared and she wasn't even getting experimented on.
Merciful God, please let Eli be okay, she prayed to the ceiling as Ms Hope kept leading her forward until she finally stopped at a door. After swiping a card through a machine and pressing her thumb against a pad and writing a code, the door opened and they both stepped through into another room.
What met Mia nearly floored her.
Behind a spy glass, in a ten by ten meters room with walls and floors padded with white, soundproof and harm-proof stuffing, Eli was sitting tied down to a chair, wearing an equally white, two-piece pajama suit that almost made him disappear into the surroundings. The top part of the suit, though, had temporarily been taken off him and had been folded neatly on a table behind him. His entire upper body was hooked up to electrodes, patches and small needles, as well as his arms and fingers. It made his otherwise beautiful tattooed body look scary and horror-movie-ish.
On his head he wore – and this was the part that Mia nearly fainted over – about two dozen electrodes as well, all with a wire that was hooked up to a large machine behind him that was making a soft humming sound. A few people – two women and one man, walking around in there in white, professional lab coats – were making sure everything was hooked up correctly and functioning.
Mia let out a sound that was a cross between a whimper and a cry – almost a sob. Her knees struggled not to give out from under her when her eyes landed on his, even though he couldn't see her. He looked so cold, so distant. So unattached and gone. Like he had disconnected and drifted into some awake state of coma. He was just staring straight ahead, jaw locked and eyes dead.
"What have you... done to him?" Mia managed to get out, barely whispering. She shakily walked up to the one-sided spyglass and placed her hand on the glass. This was... sick. And morbid. She was looking in at him like he was a monkey at the zoo.
"It's procedure," Ms Hope explained calmly. "He's been gone for four years, we have to test if his IQ has remained above the requirements."
"And what requirements are those?"
Ms Hope just gave an small smile and then looked in at Eli as well. "Why don't you watch for yourself."
Mia couldn't stop watching even if she wanted to. Her eyes were glued to him as one of the 'doctors' sat down across the table from Eli and looked down at her clipboard.
"So, Elijah. It's nice to have you back. You've been busy," She noted, eying his tattoos and piercings. "Are you comfortable?"
He met her eyes with a cold glare, a glare that made Mia shiver. It spoke for itself, telling her about his current state of comfort. The doctor didn't take his murderous stare as discouragement to continue, and so she simply went on.
"So, you've been gone a few years, but I'm sure you remember how everything goes. We'll start you out at kindergarten level and move up quickly to the P. 170. First we'll test orally, then you'll have to do some writing. Are you ready to begin?"
"Are you ready to strip down naked?"
Hearing his voice shocked Mia so much she almost didn't notice what he said; His voice sounded so cold and ten times more hollow than an empty shell – and just as lifeless as his eyes.
The doctor pursed her lips tightly at him. "May I remind you, Elijah, that we still don't take that attitude of yours. We didn't then and we still don't today. You'll behave yourself and speak—"
"—are you going to sit there and lecture me on the proper etiquette of social behavior while in the company of people who spend all day running illegal experiments on innocent people, or are you going to keep your ultracrepidarian words to your-fucking-self and test me, before I fucking shatter your fragile psyche apart with an unctuous speech?"
The doctor looked at him for a long moment, but then turned her attention back to the clipboard in her hand. "I think we're ready to begin." Mia then watched silently while the doctor flipped a page on the clipboard and slipped on a pair of glasses as she begun reading aloud. "5+4?"
"9."
"7x8?"
"56."
Mia could keep up with the first two questions, but at the third one she had to give up already. But not Eli. He answered just as quickly as he did on the first two.
"12x34-108?"
"300."
"186x45-57 divided by 7?"
"8,361,857,14..." He paused when the doctor was frantically writing down. "I could continue listing the digits, but I assume you're just going to round up as always."
"Correct. Moving on."
And that they did.
They moved over to the portion where he had to write. The table was maneuvered up to Eli's strapped arms
so he could reach. A pencil was given to him along with two sheets of paper; One blank and one filled with complicated math problems. Even from where Mia was standing, she could see what it said, and it was pretty much making her cross-eyed. It was that complicated.
Question 1) What is the flux of the vector field F(x,y,z) = (e^-y) i - (y) j + (x sinz) k across σ with outward orientation where σ is the portion of the elliptic cylinder r(u,v) = (2cos v) i + (sin v) j + (u) k with 0 ≤ u ≤ 5, 0 ≤ v ≤ 2pi.
"Can anyone even understand that?" Mia whispered to Ms Hope who was still standing besides her.
"He can."
Mia's breath faltered as she then watched him begin to give his answer. And that was even more mind-blowing that the problem itself.
∫∫s F dS ... F = e^(-y) i - y j + x sin(z) k
s: the elliptic cylinder r(u,v) = 2 cos(v) i + sin(v) j + u k
... 0 ≤ u ≤ 5, 0 ≤ v ≤ 2π
∫∫s F dS = ∫∫∫v ∇·F dV
∇·F = x cos(z) - 1
= ∫∫∫v x cos(z) - 1 dx dy dz
v: x² + 4y² ≤ 4 ; 0 ≤ z ≤ 5
let u = x , v = 2y , z = z
∂(u,v)/∂(x,y) = 2
= 1/2 ∫∫∫v u cos(z) - 1 du dv dz
v: u² + v² ≤ 4 ; 0 ≤ z ≤ 5
let u = r cos(θ) ; v = r sin(θ) ; z = z
∂(u,v)/∂(r,θ) = r
= 1/2 ∫∫∫ (r cos(θ) cos(z) - 1) r dr dθ dz
{(r,θ,z) | 0 ≤ r ≤ 2 ; 0 ≤ θ ≤ 2π ; 0 ≤ z ≤ 5}
= 1/3 ∫∫ (4 cos(θ) cos(z) - 3) dθ dz
{(θ,z) | 0 ≤ θ ≤ 2π ; 0 ≤ z ≤ 5}
∫ dz
{(z) | 0 ≤ z ≤ 5}
= -10π
"Holy shit," She whispered, clasping a hand over her mouth. "How... how is he even..."
"Now you see why we couldn't just let him go?" Ms Hope said, a satisfied smile on her lips. "We invested too much money in him to just let him run off and party it all away. Eli is smart, he could be the missing link to discover new things and new branches in the human mind. Because of his high brain activity, we're able to measure and calculate the—"
"Just shut up," Mia snapped hostilely and balled up her fists. They were acting like they were curing cancer around here – heck, maybe they were, but did that give them the right to do this? To force someone to do... whatever it was Eli was doing right now?
The testing went on for hours and Mia couldn't get herself to stop watching. She felt horrible for doing so, like he was some freaky tourist attraction or an interesting play at the theatre, but she just couldn't look away. The more she saw, the more she wanted to scream. It was mental torture what they were exposing him to.
A one point they pushed a giant flatscreen TV up to his face, only five inches away from touching his pierced nose. They then told him to watch the images that would fly by fast, and then afterwards, he had to recall as many as he could.
"Just start the fucking slide." He had responded in that same hollow voice.
And so they did. By now Mia shouldn't have been surprised that he was able to recall almost every picture(except one where he started yawning and closed his eyes, thus missing the picture as it slid by), but by the end of it, her jaw was still hanging. She could not believe what she had just seen.
Finally, after three hours without giving him even as much as a pee break, the testing ceased. They unhooked Eli from all the wires and machines and gave him back his shirt. He just ripped it from their hands and put it on before they clamped a pair of cuffs on his wrists.
"What happens now?" Mia asked, her heart pounding as she saw the guards began to prepare him for exiting the room – heading out the door she stood next to.
"He'll go back to his room and get fetched in half an hour or so for his next test." Ms Hope informed her, watching, too, as Eli got led up to the door that would take him out to the other side where they were standing. When the door unlocked, Mia nearly fainted when he then walked out. His head turned up, and their eyes met, and Mia instantly noticed the flash of shock run through Eli before he turned cold and emotionless again, his eyes darkening.
"Enjoyed the show?" He snarled at her.
"Eli..." Mia croaked, but he just looked away and walked past her, following the guards.
"Fuck off, bitch."
• • •
This one is dedicated to you, DocendoDiscimus – if y'all wanna read some real genius stuff, check out her Sherlock fanfic, Ingenium. She's an absolute favorite of mine and a dear friend.