5 Silas Stone

My classmates descended from the school bus and thus began the small event during school hours. Among the crowd, some simply wanted to skip some classes, others were attracted by curiosity, some had family members working there, and a small group saw this place as their future workplace.

Personally, I felt intrigued but not really excited. I had spent around 25 years working in a quite similar place. I knew what lay inside and knew that unless one truly enjoyed that kind of thing, they wouldn't be surprised.

Well, at least that was my perspective. On a guided tour, it was common to highlight the most interesting, extravagant, or awe-inspiring things.

As I entered, I could observe that S.T.A.R Labs adopted a minimalist approach to its design. Everything in the place was dominated by black and white tones. Of course, there were elements like plants that broke that theme, but I considered that added a special touch. The color white is often associated with futurism and the purity of the environment.

Before my mind wandered any further, our guide introduced herself in front of us.

"Welcome to the exciting guided tour through the most fascinating sections of S.T.A.R Labs!" greeted a beautiful woman.

I suppose this will be somewhat boring, I thought to myself.

...

The first stop was the Department of Robotic Engineering, where state-of-the-art robots with advanced artificial intelligence were developed.

To our right side, there was tempered glass that allowed us to observe what was happening inside the room without any risks.

I could see what looked like a simplified robotic skeleton moving slowly, as if it were gradually learning to walk. The guide provided us with some explanations about the advancements in this department.

It was a prototype aimed at fully understanding the capabilities and applications that these androids could have today. Unfortunately, she admitted that there was still much to improve, which made sense.

She also talked about the main goal of developing advanced artificial intelligence to efficiently operate the android and make it truly useful. Obviously, she didn't use those exact words, but you get the idea.

After spending some time there, we headed towards another hallway. This one was notably long, and the guide called it the "Physical Research Laboratory." She explained that, essentially, it was an atomic and subatomic particle accelerator.

Basically, a scaled-down hadron collider. The guide mentioned that this was the second largest and most advanced particle accelerator in the world. The first one also belonged to S.T.A.R Labs but was located in Metropolis City.

I must admit, it was impressive to see. Previously, I had only had the chance to visit the large Hadron collider on two occasions, and only once did I see it functioning at full performance.

Perhaps in the future, I'll come back here just to witness it.

Then we headed to the energy research area. It had approximately the same size as the particle accelerator, although obviously, its purpose was different.

Through the window, I could see what seemed to be a prototype of a photovoltaic cell, but with a different distribution than conventional solar panels. We were informed that it was an improved version of the traditional photovoltaic cell, one that far surpassed the efficiency of common cells.

Despite that, we were also explained that the cleanest energy source today remained nuclear energy, and that, despite past disasters related to nuclear energy, it was quite safe as long as proper maintenance was provided. According to S.T.A.R Labs' projections, this would be the most widely used form of energy in the future.

In the future I come from, nuclear energy was always seen as extremely dangerous and harmful to the environment, so people opted for solar panels, wind turbines, and the like. This caused several problems in the electrical infrastructure of most of the world.

I'm glad to see that S.T.A.R Labs aims to make nuclear energy more conventional and eliminate the prejudices surrounding it.

After such a long wait, we finally reached the part that interested me the most in the entire event.

The guide led us down a long hallway, and as we reached the end, we could see a huge conference room.

"Finally..." I whispered as I saw the figure standing in the center of the stage.

(Silas Stone's POV)

I was mentally preparing what I was going to say in my presentation. Originally announced as a conference, but basically, I have high school and middle school kids here.

Talking about a really interesting topic for a scientist could be boring for the kids, so I decided that my presentation would mainly be about the vision, mission, and values of S.T.A.R Labs.

Although only about 5% of the students at this conference probably have a minimum interest in becoming scientists in the future, encouraging the younger ones to be the future of the country is important, even if it's a small percentage.

As I continued to be immersed in my thoughts, I saw the door of the auditorium open, and the intern who was now serving as a tour guide for the building's facilities entered with a group of young children.

From their appearance, it was obvious they were from middle school. Among them, I noticed one particular boy. I tapped the shoulder of my fellow scientist beside me.

"What's up, Dr. Stone?" he asked.

"Do you see that boy over there?" I discreetly pointed with my finger.

"The short one with black hair?" I nodded slowly.

"That boy will be a researcher in the future," I told him.

"Can you know that just by looking at him?" my colleague asked.

Upon hearing that, I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"I've seen eyes full of curiosity for the world for so many years that I can recognize when someone has the potential to be a scientist. Every morning, when I look in the mirror, I see those eyes."

The boy chuckled at my words. It's okay if he doesn't believe me, I'm just letting him know that if he doesn't show real progress in a few years, he'll be replaced by the new generation.

Well, it's time to get this started.

I approached the microphone and welcomed the attendees. As I spoke, I noticed how the interest of the boy I had seen before gradually faded away. His thirst for knowledge was still present in his gaze, but he no longer cared about what I was saying.

Hahaha, sorry, kid, but I think if I gave a real lecture on engineering, it would leave everyone stunned.

I continued speaking, paying no more attention to the boy.

...

"With all that said, I hope to see familiar faces when you're looking for a viable career option," I concluded.

"For those interested, I have a small announcement about the presence of Professor Jonathan Mendel in Jump City, who will soon be giving a series of lectures in cooperation with S.T.A.R Labs on his field of study," I clarified my voice.

"Now I'll leave you with my fellow researcher, Patrick Ocean."

I handed over the podium to my colleague as I descended the stairs of the stage, hearing applause in the background.

After giving my speech, it seems I convinced some young people to submit their resumes in a few years. I hope to see some of them here at that time.

I laughed to myself.

I left the auditorium and walked down a long hallway. I'm now heading to a meeting room to meet Jonathan Mendel.

BEEP

My watch sounded, indicating that I needed to hurry to meet Jonathan on time.

I picked up the pace a bit, but suddenly I heard something behind me.

"Excuse me, Dr. Stone," a somewhat high-pitched voice sounded.

I turned around only to find the strange boy I saw at the beginning of the conference.

"Sorry, kid, I'm in a bit of a hurry right now. Do you want an autograph?" I asked as I noticed he had a piece of paper in his left hand.

"Hahaha. Don't make those jokes, Dr. Stone. I'm here on business."

Upon hearing that, I almost burst into laughter. A 13-year-old wanting to negotiate with me? HAHAHAHAHA!

"I can't offer you a job right now, kid. Come back in 10 years if possible."

I could see his previously arrogant smile twist into annoyance before I turned around to continue my way.

"What's written on this paper can be extremely beneficial for humans!" the boy shouted from behind. I decided to ignore him; I have something important to attend to now.

"Seriously, I just need a moment of your time, and you'll understand!"

Sorry, kid, no matter how much you beg, I don't have time for you.

I could hear something like a growl coming from the boy. Well, it must be annoying not to be taken seriously, but don't blame me, buddy.

I was just inches away from crossing the threshold of the door when the boy said something that froze me.

"You know about that genome alteration, don't you?"

What?

I turned around and saw his expression...

That damn arrogant expression. It's like looking at myself in a mirror, only this kid is 100 times more annoying.

He had a grin from ear to ear as I looked at his face.

"Why would S.T.A.R Labs want to cooperate with a biologist out of nowhere? It's obvious that you already know about the existence of a mutation in some humans."

This kid is informed. S.T.A.R Labs has never made advances in biomechanics, and I wasn't interested until recently. I furrowed my brow.

I could see him relax his body and adopt an upright and dominant posture naturally. Does this brat want to intimidate me?

Don't make me laugh, just a second ago you were shouting nonsense and begging for some attention, and now you're like this...

"What do you know about it, kid?" I asked in a threatening tone.

"Much more than you. But believe me, I don't want us to have a hostile situation here. I said it as a last resort because what I have in my hands is really interesting," he raised the sheet of paper.

"You may look at it superficially and understand nothing or think it's just the rambling of a child, but believe me, this is more than just a child's wild imagination."

The boy started approaching, and I adjusted my stance.

"Show it to Mendel. He'll know what it is, or at least have an idea. I just want to collaborate with you."

I closed my eyes.

"Haven't you told anyone else about this?" I asked as I reached out my hand for the paper he held.

He shook his head. I took the paper and turned around, ready to leave.

"When you find out that what I'm saying is true, on the back of the paper, you'll find my name and phone number," the boy said as he closed the door in front of him.

The last thing I heard was something like, "That's why I hate scientists..." or something like that.

This whole chain of events was extremely strange, even for someone like me.

I feel pathetic after being convinced by a kid, but well, at least he doesn't seem to be an ordinary child...