The Genius Wars Read Free Page B

without attracting any kind of attention.
    Not that he was intimidated, or scared of being caught out. He didn’t find the coursework especially hard. But he preferred to keep a low profile, because he wasn’t sure how much his teacher actually knew about him. Although the campus admissions office knew everything there was to know, Saul Greeniaus had insisted that certain aspects of his foster son’s background remain completely confidential. Cadel had even enrolled under Saul’s name – Greeniaus – despite the fact that the adoption process was taking a long, long time.
    ‘You’re
my
son, now,’ Saul had declared, when Cadel was asked about his parentage. ‘Mine and Fiona’s. You don’t have to worry about Chester Cramp any more. Chester Cramp is irrelevant.’
    Chester Cramp was, in fact, Cadel’s biological father. But since Chester was sitting in an American gaol, charged with all kinds of offences (including conspiracy to commit murder), Cadel could only conclude that he
was
irrelevant – in the legal sense, at any rate. And since Cadel had never even met Chester Cramp, there wasn’t much of an emotional connection between them. In fact, of all the various ‘fathers’ who had cluttered up Cadel’s life over the years, Chester was probably the least important.
    Phineas Darkkon had been important; he had tried to mould Cadel into a criminal mastermind. Prosper English, Darkkon’s right-hand man, had also been very important; he had engineered the death of Cadel’s mother, before proceeding to mess with her infant son’s head. Saul Greeniaus had been the most important of the lot, kindly rescuing a lonely, mixed-up, homeless kid from a life full of social workers and group homes. All three men had viewed themselves as father figures, and had behaved accordingly.
    Only Chester Cramp had displayed a complete lack of interest in his own flesh and blood. Though a brilliant scientist, he was also (in Saul’s opinion) ‘a totally deficient human being’.
    ‘He’s done you a favour,’ Saul had once remarked. ‘You can ignore Chester Cramp, because he’s ignored you. Unlike Prosper English.’ Prosper, unfortunately, had always treated Cadel as his personal possession – until a few months ago. Perhaps news of Cadel’s true paternity had filtered down to him, at long last. Perhaps
that
was why Prosper had gone to ground.
    Perhaps he wasn’t interested in Cadel, now that he knew they weren’t blood relations.
    Whatever the reason, he had suddenly withdrawn from Cadel’s life. So had Phineas Darkkon – who was long dead – and Chester Cramp, who had never been a big part of it to begin with. Therefore, to all intents and purposes, Cadel was now just a policeman’s son. An ordinary kid. And although he might have been a little younger than his classmates, with slightly more memorable features, he was careful not to dress or behave in amanner that was going to get him singled out. If anything, he was one of the quieter students.
    Nevertheless, he had a funny feeling that his teacher knew something about him – something more than just his name and student number. Richard Buckland was in charge of Introductory Programming; he had been given the tricky job of coaxing several hundred budding computer engineers through the first year of their degrees. Despite the size of his class, however, he always seemed to remember who Cadel was. And occasionally, when Cadel asked a question, Richard’s benign regard would become rather more intent than usual.
    Had Richard been told the full story? Or was he simply impressed by the insightful nature of Cadel’s questions?
    It was hard to decide.
    ‘What was all that stuff about traffic lights?’ Hamish queried, as he sat down beside Cadel in one of the middle rows. ‘Why d-didn’t you mention it to
me
?’
    Cadel sighed. Hamish saw himself as an expert on all things traffic-related, because he had once hacked into the Digital Image Department of the Roads and