12. Whitmore

Xavier found himself in a strange dilemma as he considered Dr. Whitmore's proposal. There were many subjects that interested him academically, but going outside of literature, let alone being part of a scientific laboratory, was not something he had ever planned on doing. Still, Whitmore's attitude made him think.

There was so much he didn't know about the man. He looked like a classic academic, but there was something else about his demeanor. He knew too much, observed too much. He wasn't like the other professors who were interested in him. It was as if he really wanted to understand Xavier.

Time passed quickly in his mind. The days passed routinely and before he knew it, he found himself in the evening of the day Whitmore had invited him.

As he stopped in front of the lab building, his eyes scanned the glass door. There were a few shadows moving inside the building, but all was quiet. He took a deep breath and stepped inside.

He crossed the corridors to the room Whitmore had mentioned and knocked lightly on the door.

"Come in, Xavier."

He opened the door to find Dr. Whitmore standing there. But he was not alone in the room. The lab was much larger and more advanced than he had expected. There were various screens, clipboards filled with complex formulas, unfinished devices on metal tables. It was far too sophisticated to belong to an ordinary physics lab.

As Xavier's eyes scanned the room, he knew something was different. This was more than just another academic lab in Cambridge. Whitmore watched Xavier with a small smile.

"Look around, Xavier," he said, opening his arm. "What do you think this place is?"

Xavier took a step. On the wall was a blackboard full of complex calculations. The equations required a deep knowledge of quantum mechanics and data analysis. Xavier frowned.

"This looks like a physics lab," he said slowly. "But it's also... more than that."

Whitmore's smile widened. "That's why you're here."

Xavier felt a strange suspicion. This was not just an invitation, but a test. But he still didn't understand what was being tested.

Whitmore walked over to a table and pulled the cover off a device. Xavier's eyes widened slightly. In front of him was technology far more complex than ordinary laboratory experiments.

"This..." Xavier started, but the words caught in his throat.

Whitmore shook his head. "There is more to it than you know, Xavier. And for a mind like yours, what you can learn here... is far beyond ordinary knowledge."

Xavier instinctively stepped back. He didn't know what was going on here, but he could feel something beginning to pull him in.

"What are you doing here, Dr. Whitmore?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the man.

Whitmore hesitated for a moment, then smiled. "If you really want to know, stay and watch."

Xavier frowned as he considered Whitmore's words. This was no ordinary lab, and the work here certainly couldn't be one of Cambridge's normal academic projects. The rational part of him wanted to turn around and leave immediately. But his curiosity kept him there.

With his hands in his pockets, he moved slowly around the room. He stopped at one of the desks and examined the equipment. Complex circuits, a small device with a metal frame, numerical data on a screen...

"This is not how a physics lab should be," he finally said, his eyes fixed on Whitmore. "What exactly are you doing?"

Whitmore pulled out a chair and sat down. "I can't tell you everything, Xavier," he said simply. "Not yet. But I've been waiting for someone like you to come here."

Xavier's eyes narrowed slightly. "Someone like me?"

Whitmore nodded. "Someone who remembers what they see, who can process numbers and words at the same speed, but doesn't use them as mere tools. People have either scientific acumen or artistic creativity, but you... you have both."

Xavier laughed condescendingly. "If you called me here just to praise me, I think I'm wasting my time, Professor."

Whitmore continued to smile, but his eyes watched Xavier intently. "If I just wanted praise, I would have made a much shorter speech, but it's not praise that keeps you here, it's curiosity. Isn't it?"

Xavier paused for a moment, then sighed softly. The man was right.

"Good," Whitmore said. "Because if you stay here, you won't just learn physics or math. You'll learn to see the world in a whole new way."

When Xavier saw the seriousness in Whitmore's eyes, his suspicions grew. He knew now that this was no simple academic project.

But he had no other way to find out than to stay and watch.

"Okay," he finally said, crossing his arms. "Surprise me, Professor."

Xavier walked around the room, examining the equipment more closely. Some of the devices obeyed the principles of physics he knew, but others... were incomplete, even theoretically impossible.

On a table was a strange mechanism. A small, disc-shaped device. It was surrounded by a series of sensors, and the screen to which it was connected displayed constantly changing data. When Xavier put his hand over the device, he noticed that the data on the screen suddenly changed.

"What is that?" he asked, turning to Whitmore.

Whitmore put a small smile on his lips. "We don't know exactly."

Xavier raised his eyebrows. "That's not a very comforting answer."

Whitmore laughed easily. "We designed it to manipulate the boundary between matter and energy, but we still can't figure out exactly how it works. In its current form, it can produce some effects, but it can't be controlled. The data is constantly changing and we get inconsistent results.

Xavier returned to the device. He looked for a pattern in the data, but it seemed really random. But something caught his eye: The changes were not completely random. There had to be a pattern, it just hadn't been discovered yet.

"If it's not working, why is it still here?" he asked.

Whitmore glanced at the device. "Because it works," he said. "Just... not the way we want it to."

Xavier picked up the notepad beside the device. He turned the pages quickly. Drawings, formulas, calculations... Something was missing. A connection was broken.

"You're looking in the wrong place," he said, looking up.

Whitmore stared at him for a moment. "Are you?"

Xavier flipped through the pages again, then put his hand on the device. He felt a slight tremor. The data on the screen suddenly began to change rapidly.

"What is that?" he murmured.

Whitmore looked at him and crossed his arms. "This is why you're here, Xavier. To find answers."

Xavier's eyes scanned the device again. The calculations in his brain raced.

And in that moment he understood.

This was something that, if used correctly, could radically change the world. But as it was, it was like an unfinished project that no one knew exactly how to use. If he could find the missing piece...

He could make it work for him alone.

And the idea excited him more than he realized.