Brainboy and the Deathmaster by Tor Seidler

Author:Tor Seidler [Seidler, Tor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-06-202829-7
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2003-03-21T16:00:00+00:00

22

The ruddy faces were blurry and wavery, but the eyes were all trained on him, filled with bitterness and recrimination. He inched closer, squinting, trying to make out who they were. Wasn’t that his mother? And his father? Yes, and there was his brother! And his aunt and uncle and cousin! And his grandmother and grandfather! He reached out joyously toward his mother—and snatched his hand back, scalded.

“Rise and shine, friend and colleague. … ”

Darryl sat bolt upright. He was in the luxurious bed in his rosy room in Paradise Lab. But although the sheets and pillowcases were as cool and crisp as ever, he was soaked with sweat.

Still shaky after showering, he changed into an ice-blue jumpsuit and hustled to the dining hall, where his vitamin awaited him by a glass of tomato juice at his place. Everything had changed since he’d skipped it yesterday. The rings had terrified him, and his room had been lonely, and now he was having nightmares.

Yet he hesitated to take the pale-blue pill. He didn’t really want to forget about BJ and Mrs. Walker again. And soon Nina came in and sat down beside him, which reminded him of the moon.

“To conquering Time!” Ruthie said, lifting her juice glass.

Darryl only pretended to pop the pill, instead squirreling it away in his pocket.

Down on L he ducked into Bio and studied his slide of G-17 until a hubbub lured him back out to the octagon. Mr. Masterly had returned to Paradise.

“Look, sir!” Paul Pettinio cried, waving a computer printout as he waddled up to the great man. “I’ve been changing the agitation rate on the compound.”

Mr. Masterly glanced over the results. “This looks promising, Paul.”

“Mr. Masterly!” Billy O’Connor cried from the doorway to Chem. “Come see! I’ve been building an armor for G-17 out of mercury!”

Though there was something creepy about the way they all clamored for Mr. Masterly’s approval, Darryl couldn’t help wishing he had an interesting finding or new idea to share.

After encouraging Greg Birtwissel’s latest experiment with growth hormones, Mr. Masterly went to one of the computer stations and slipped a CD-ROM into the D drive. Everyone crowded around and watched a full-color model of the G-17 molecule bloom on the monitor.

“Thanks to groundwork laid by Suki and Mario,” Mr. Masterly said, “the graphics department at MasterTech was able to complete this. Look how it shows all the ion permutations and hydrocarbon links.”

Using the mouse, he moved the cursor to a circular icon on the tool bar and clicked. The entire complex molecule rotated slowly on its axis, giving them continuously different angles on its architecture.

“Wow,” Darryl said, leaning in.

“Billy,” Mr. Masterly said, “will you load the new image onto all the computers?”

“Yes, sir!” Billy cried.

Darryl spent the rest of that morning poring over the new image at one of the computers at the central console. It was far clearer than the real thing, and he was just reaching some interesting conclusions when a bell rang and the red globe lit up, revolving like the cherry on a police car.

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