BANG!!!
That was the last sound Gene heard as the wave of whiteness washed him. His body- now a piece of roast beef had lost all feeling. His mind on the other hand was still semi-functional but who knows for how long that was gonna last.
Genius, a word used so often around him that it lost its weight came back to mock him. If those who called me the mind of the century see me now, they'll surely laugh their hats off. He thought to himself. So this is how I die.
Fragments of memories started to pop up and before he knew it, his mind was replaying the entirety of his life. This must be the famous my life was flashing before my eyes situation. He sat back and watched the events as if he was at a screening. Well he probably was, and it was to be his last.
Gene was born to an ambitious neuroscientist and her husband. His fast development through his early stages was a feast to a starved curiosity, something he himself inherited from her. She threw all manner of knowledge challenging the depths of the abyss that was Gene's mind and with each challenge, it became more apparent just how bottomless he was.
It didn't matter if it was- biology, physics, chemistry, mathematics even computer science. Gene seemed to grasp it as soon as the knowledge was made available to him. And oh how this excited both him and Irma.
Irma was excellent in her field but in the recent years, her career had stagnated and how this trouble her but once Gene came into her life, she celebrate the blessing she had made and was sure to waste no time.
With a mother attuned to the sciences, Gene was introduced to lab life pretty early. Lab time with Mother becoming a routine through which Gene got to stretch his limits and Irma got to study her new Material. This was how mother and son bonded.
For his father, Gene had little to say- in fact he didn't even have anything for in his memory, he only knew one parent. His father was always doing who knows what where. To Gene he was a mystery of which he didn't really care to solve.
...I can't even remember his face. What a joke! Gene thought to himself. He was tired of trying constantly to make out the face of a man who he hadn't met. I guess I will die without knowing how my father looks. Well, it can't be far from what I look like, so brown eyes, black hair and pale skin should also be his traits.
This was an assumption he came to as he didn't inherit any of his mother's physical traits as he did the mental ones. Brown hair and grey eyes were only his sister's to get.
As the sea of sciences became more and more traversed, Gene saw that it would be wise to specialize and so he did. He took up an interest to the world of technology.
Gene got familiar with the in and outs of Computer science; whether it was physical circuits, logics, Data sciences, even the coding itself, Gene made sure he was familiar with every single detail. His ultimate goal of overcoming human limits and reaching the peak of the mountain was on the line after all. Through this ambition LIZA was born.
Then it come time for Gene to experience the real world and mingle with other like minded people. SATEG was the go to place for people of his kind but enrollment wasn't easy, one had to present a practical project in the field they excelled in just to take the entrance exams.
Luckily Gene had his most priced creation, LIZA. With this he was able to take the test and was ultimately accepted into the institution.
In SATEG [Schools of Science, Art, Technology and Engineering to the Gifted] Gene diverged from Technology and got back into a science that had always entranced him.
Physics where the universe's secrets lied. Well he wasn't wrong but choosing that path was ultimately what led to what is to be his death.
Gene was attracted to a certain theory in quantum physics and this lead to a very big obsession in his life. The allure of being one of the first dimensional travelers was a height he aspired to achieve, and he set out to do just that.
Funding was a big huddle, that he had to overcome and luckily there were ways to achieve it.
...Haven't fought for something that hard all my life. Gene reminisced how he went to every event the science world could offer. Whether it was workshops, conventions, guest lectures. As long as it could offer his project the legs to stand on he made sure he had tried it but alas he couldn't get anyone who would back up his research.
Most thought that the theories he was proposing were nothing more than fiction, and even those who did believe in them thought the price of being his backer was just too great.
Gene was rejected over and over multiple times. His name was echoed through out the scientific community. A novelist in the making they said. He became known as the it scientist for what not to be. Many people thought that as he grew out of his teens so would his childish dreams. Afterall even if he had a great mind he was still a child
This belittlement and discouragement was getting to his esteem. His flames of curiosity were growing weaker and weaker that he himself was coming to terms with shelving the idea but soon enough he would find the one at the Young scientist and technologist convention.
That backer was quite open to the idea and very generous with the funding.
Finally Gene was able to walk the path to his dreams but soon after, he found just how heavy the task was for a single person. I guess I will need some extra hands.
He got in touch with his sister Lenna a mind quite brilliant as his, in terms of technology anyway. He wasn't about to risk his research being stolen by an outsider.
Lenna, another student of SATEG was happy to help with the project. They made plans for the machine according to Gene's instructions. Acquisition of the necessary material was promptly done and the assembly of QUFREDIS, a behemoth of machine was under way.
After months of toiling, the cyclic portal that was to begin the journey was up and ready but a new problem arose. The computations were too heavy and there was a need for an artificial intelligence to handle the necessary calculations for the phase shifting of the quanta, thus LIZA joined the team.
At last the prototype was ready for testing .
"Day one of testing" Gene's announced as he excitedly turned on the machine but the sooner the machine went online the sooner it shut down.
"Back to the drawing board." Gene worked tirelessly to figure out the problems that could be affecting QUFREDIS functionality from, Calibration errors, energy instability to environmental interference and or quantum fluctuations anything that his mind could see as a problem he worked hard and finally after several troubleshooting sequences the machine was able to finally go online
The moment he saw a field of distorted space around the Void halo, he couldn't help but be overjoyed. I can smell a Nobel peace price underway. Tears of joy streamed down his haggard face.
"We did it Lenna." He exclaimed embracing his little sister with all his might. "All those tireless nights in the lab finally paid off."
"Time to see what is on the others side of that ring." he said his body going back to scientist mode. Lenna was a bit clutched with his insatiable curiosity.
"Of course with proper precautionary steps right?"
"Yes of course, I am not a fool after all."
Then began the throwing of all kinds of robots through the gate, from rovers, to drones anything that could send back useful data but when any machinery entered the portal, information sent back was not it in the least useful.
"All this gibberish must be because of interference from the gate itself. It looks like we have to proceed straight to human trials."
"Human trials, you can't be serious!"
"Don't worry Lenna, the only human that will be taking this experiment is me."
"Do you not care about your life brother?"
"I do but we have to take risks if we are to advance."
"But not like this."
"Don't worry Lenna, I will make sure to get all necessary precautions taken care of."
And just like he said he got a specialized space suit that could account for every abnormality he might face in the world beyond the gate.
"You see sister, I am not just going to throw my life away."
Lenna, continued to refuse even threatening to jump off the project but Gene was so into it that even with Lenna's threats he was still ready to go through with all of it.
Finally Lenna accepted and the day was set and that day was well...
Early morning of the D-Day, Lenna come to the site. She prepared everything for his brother's safety by making sure all was working well. From calibrations of the machine to the Safety of the suit.
She worries a lot Gene thought.
Then finally the time came and everything was set. Gene got into the suit and was ready to explore new frontiers in science.
"Are you ready?" Lenna asked through the intercom
"Fire it up sis."
The humming of the heavy machinery began. The gates slowly formed distorting the space. Gene was ready to take his first steps. But before he could...
"GENE!!! I think something is wrong. You need to come back."
Immediately the machine showed signs of malfunctioning, Gene ran towards the machine without giving a second thought. His fear for losing the project far outweighed any instinct of self preservation. What happened next was...a tragedy
...I guess am not that of a genius after all. Gene thought to himself as everything Faded into nothingness.