The Art of Failing Mad Science

Chapter 7: I Start to Really Hate Stairs

Making my way out of the maze was made very easy by my access band. Whenever I reached a turn the screen would come to life with an arrow instructing me on which way to go. Just to make sure, I held up the band while the arrow was present and slowly rotated in a circle. The arrow rotated as well, always facing the same way. Once, while I was walking down a hall, the band vibrated sharply. I had no clue what this meant until the hall shifted. This time it rose upward a floor instead of rotating. Whoever designed this system must have been...

Oh, yeah.

Overall it took me about ten minutes of casual walking to get out of the maze. I was sure I could make it in less than five if I jogged. I climbed a final staircase back up to the first layer and found the middle entrance shortly after. Most of the students from our group were already out, in addition to the group that had left the airship before us. Agnes and Serena were chatting towards the front of the group. As I trotted over, Clarice came jogging out of the east entrance. The four of us formed a clump and began chatting immediately.

"So now you know, what do you think?" Clarice began by interrogating me and Agnes.

"Ummmm, I feel stupid, that's for sure." Agnes replied, "How could I not figure this out? Come on, everyone on the ship except for us already knew about mad science and all that, and our parents don't tell us anything except that we are going to a huge prestigious boarding school of an unknown location. I think it was pretty obvious, just hard to believe!"

"I agree about the obvious part. I feel like a moron!  But its almost like the idea that I could be a smod is so impossible that it failed to come up as a solution! I mean, I spent my whole childhood dressing up and playing pretend with my friends that we were Doctor Frankenstein, or Keiger Edwin! And I have an older sister too! She's been here for two years and I never knew..." I trailed off. How could I not have known? How could my life have been so normal?

"Do you  have a birthmark on your neck?" Serena asked suddenly.

"Yes, actually." I replied suspicious.

"Me too." Agnes nodded.

Coincidence? No way.

"That's a suppressor. I keeps the mad zone in your brain at a limited connection with the rest of it. All smod kids get them to prevent unfortunate accidents during brain development. Those kids who accidentally blow stuff up in schools are starters, meaning they are the first in their family to have any mad science talent. They usually dud out freshman year and go to the igor academy. A side effect of the suppressor is that it makes it difficult for the brain to associate the idea of self  with the idea of anything mad science. That's why it's really easy to keep it a secret from you guys." Serena explained. I reached up and touched my neck where I knew the mark was. I remembered asking my mom why my sister and I had the same birthmark. She had always said it was genetics, and she had one too. 

Another secret. Another lie.

"What about you guys?" Agnes inquired.

"We're exposed to all this stuff our whole lives. The suppressors aren't anywhere near strong enough to deny an absolute fact like that. Any doubt you are feeling right now about the situation isn't from the mark, it's just natural disbelief." Clarice answered.

"When do they get rid of it?" I didn't want anything hindering my skills if I was gonna be graded on it.

"They 'kill it' at the beginning of your senior year if you make it that far. It can't be reactivated afterwards, so if you mad out after that they have to... terminate your abilities." Serena replied this time.