The most famous scientist in the world has just announced his retirement. The only person who knows why is his new intern.

Professor Marlon. Sorry, Dr. Marlon, has been called the worlds most brilliant mind. He has spent his life working for CERN and has made major discoveries in physics; solving a mystery that has been haunting our kind for decades. Marlon was selfish. He was greedy. He wanted more. More knowledge. More power. More of everything that science had to offer. Marlon was the first ever person to win two nobel prizes in the same field, he had a scholarship named after him by the age of 20, and he graduated a PhD by the time he was just 22. He is Marlon: the worlds greatest physicist. He is a legend. And Marlon is dead. The worlds most brilliant mind spent the last 2 months of his life training me, a random guy who just graduated with a degree in physics, to replace him. "Why me?" i asked. "You're the most qualified." He said. "Then why have you kept it a secret?" I asked. He just smiled. "The world isn't ready yet." He said. I didn't think much of it at the time. I was to excited about working for my legend, my idol, my role model to care. Then he died. He died a week ago, on a Sunday. A week before he was going to go public about the "Unified theory of everything." The holy grail of all science. He spent his life working on it, and he was proud. The worlds most brilliant mind spent his last month proud. Happy. Glad to be leaving. He left specific instructions. Burn his research. Burn his notes. Then bury him next to his wife in their local graveyard. "Talk somebody about your work at CERN." He said at the end. "I trust your judgement. I trust that you will make the right decision." He said. I stood at his funeral, looking at the worlds media. "How will we ever find another Marlon!" Said one of the speakers. The worlds best cosmologist. "We won't." I said to myself. "But that may be a good thing." I know a thing that nobody else knows. Nobody except Marlon and I. That while working on his theory, he discovered something he didn't want to discover. He discovered something he didn't like. The universe is heading towards a great depression. Everything will collapse in on itself and all life as we know it will end. The worlds most brilliant mind discovered that there is no meaning to life. And now hes gone. --- I sat in his office, my new office, surrounded by pictures of our progress. A photo of Marlon and I grinning next to a 3ft long Formula. A photo of Marlon and I being interviewed together. A photo of Marlon and I together at his wife's grave. I picked up the phone. Marlon told me exactly who to contact. "Speaking." A gruff voice said on the other end of the line. "Dr. Helios. My name is-" "I know who you are. The world's most brilliant minds new boy. Speaking." He repeated. "You said I could contact you if I needed anything, sir." I said. "What do you need?" He asked. "Your help." I said. "What have you done?" He said. "The most stupid thing in history." I said. "Then hang up the phone boy. I'm busy." I smiled. I know I was being stupid and I was calling the worlds second most brilliant mind to help me with my mistake. And I knew exactly what I needed from him. "Can you give me world peace?" I asked. "What?" He said. "Can you give me world peace, sir?" The line went silent. "What have you done?" "I have given the world aUnified theory of everything." I said. He laughed. "The holy grail of science? You expect me to believe that?" He said. "You know as well as I do that while Marlon was selfish, he wasn't stupid. He did everything that he wanted to, and he wanted this theory. He just didn't want to tell the world." I said. "Why would you tell the world?" He said. He was clearly mad at me. The worlds most brilliant mind left the worlds second most brilliant mind in charge. He trusted him more than he trusted me. I was just a random guy who won the worlds most epic lottery. I didn't know how Marlon had chosen me, but I think he just needed somebody to talk to. Somebody who wasn't a genius. Somebody who was a little bit stupid. "Why would I tell the world?" I asked. "Yes. Why?" "Why not?" I said. There was a pause. "You don't understand do you?" "No, what did I do wrong?" The line went silent. "You fool." He said. "Marlon warned me. He warned me you were a stupid idiot who would do this. He said he was glad he was going to die." "What have I done?" I said. "You have given a depressed world proof that there is no meaning to life. No reason to keep going." He said. "I thought that would help!" I said. "I thought that if people knew what was coming they could prepare!" "You fool. Humanity is a cruel mistress. Humans are lazy, selfish, and greedy. If we have no reason to keep going, do you think we will?" "What do you mean?" There was a pause. "I've hung up. You need to see this for yourself. Just be careful." He said. The line went dead. He hung up. I sat at my desk. Scared. The worlds most brilliant mind thought I had done something bad. I walked out of the office and into the main room. The room where hundreds of brilliant minds were working on ground breaking experiments to push the boundaries of science. But nobody was working. They were all looking at their phones, tears in their eyes as they read the news. I walked through the doors, out into the streets. I saw crying. I saw people running away. I saw people killing themselves. I saw the world that I had given up on. I walked home, alone, as the world crumbled. The worlds most brilliant mind was right. I am a fool. I am alone. And I am scared. I wonder; where do I go from here? Edit: Holy shit! Gold? Silver? Tipped? How do I reply to everyone? You guys are amazing and supportive and I'm sorry if I don't reply to your comment, I don't know how to at all! Edit 2: I'm going to write more over my next few days off work, I'll keep everybody updated!

The most famous scientist in the world has just announced his retirement. The only person who knows why is his new intern.

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