Genius

• Joshua Green, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2013

Professor Grubworth rubbed his diabolical hands together. Finally, the ultimate weapon was created- The DESTROYER 2000! It would destroy absolutely everything, and was controlled by a simple telepathic connection. World domination could begin...
Lucifer Comtart was strolling through the shopping centre. He was working out the square root of pi, absentmindedly rewriting Paradise Lost and slamming a theoretical revolving door. Oh, and he was three years of age. He had outwitted his parents and slipped away,and was now searching for the hypo-technical mechanics department. He wasn’t having any luck.
“Honestly, this is a decent shopping centre? What metropolis arcade doesn’t have a hypo-technical mechanics department?” Lucifer muttered whilst memorising all the species of South American frog. The toddler sauntered along the aisles, checking directories and shaking his head in dismay.
As Lucifer passed a cafe, he saw that a glass of water was gently vibrating. He stared at this, deduced the speed at which the shuddering was increasing, estimated the compass direction from which the ripples originated and dived out of the way.
Not a second too soon! As he leapt to the side, the adjacent wall vaporised into a mist of burnt atoms. A menacing silhouette loomed against the wall and the DESTROYER 2000 stomped into the wrecked mall, followed by a cackling man in a grubby lab coat.
“I am your new leader!” Professor Grubworth hollered. Gesturing to the gargantuan behemoth of iron pipes and shining metal plates beside him, he announced “This is the DESTROYER 2000! It destroys everything in its path! I will rule the world!”
The crowd erupted into terrified pandemonium. Everyone scrambled for the elevators. The security guards struggled through the raucous mayhem towards the professor. And Lucifer, standing to one side, studied the DESTROYER curiously. He noticed that the nearest clothes rack was slowly fading as reality decayed. He saw that the professor was screwing up his face in concentration, presumably to activate a telepathic circuit. And with these facts, he began to formulate a plan.
The DESTROYER slowly lumbered forwards. The glass of water evaporated into scorched anti-matter. A security guard on an upper balcony fired his pistol, but the bullet winked into non-existence. The DESTROYER continued its path into world domination.
And a small curly-haired toddler stepped out in front of the monolithic figure.
Professor Grubworth peered out from behind the DESTROYER.”Who are you? What are you doing?!”
The child smiled sweetly “I was just wondering, if the DESTROYER 2000 destroys everything why isn’t it destroying itself?”
And as the professor thought about this, the telepathic circuits went to work.
“No! What have you done! No!!” the professor wailed as the DESTROYER shuddered to a halt. It stood for a moment, and then imploded into a cloud of dissolved reality. As it went, the memory of it disappeared too. The crowd stopped and looked around bemused. The security guards stood scratching their heads. And a small boy slipped away, mentally writing a paper on quantum physics.