Chapter 2 - Everyday knowledge

My parents earn quite a lot, as my father is one of the shareholders of the pharmaceutical company Vaddergov & Vaderg, which was also named by my great—great—grandfather on the maternal side. My mother is a native of one of the richest families in the USA — the Vaddergs, whose roots came from Germany, but over time they were noted both in Russia and in Japan, my great—great—grandmother is just from the last place. My grandfather, Alex Vaddergov, is the CEO and at the same time, the owner of the company. Grandmother — Cassandra Vaddergov, is my grandfather's assistant, and in general, she is a lawyer by profession, and quite well—known. There is also my uncle Roman, my father's brother, who served as a colonel in the US Navy, that is, the Navy, and also, he sometimes told stories about how he and his comrades started out and were mercenaries, and there he made friends with some people with connections and word for word, he was able to become an officer first, and then rose to this very colonel.

In general, such a family cannot be poor by definition, although there is still a problem, and its name is Umbrella. A multibillion—dollar British conglomerate corporation, which includes many subsidiaries and companies in general, the symbol of which is a white and red umbrella. And officially it is called "Umbrella Corporation".

The corporation was established back in the seventies of the twentieth century and during its existence was able to capture many industrial enterprises, introduced a wide range of medicines, cosmetic products and other derivatives. The founders of the corporation are Edward Ashford and Ozwell E, Spencer and James Marcus. This corporation is slowly but surely seizing world markets, it even has its own military unit, quite official. And such rich people, and they have more money than our whole company, are not averse to taking over the grandfather's company, but he is holding on with the shareholders for now.

So, having such a history and material prosperity, my family has significant ties with different countries of the world and therefore no one is holding back in housing. For five years of my life, my sister and I have lived on the upper West Side in New York, in California, Florida, and even in a couple of Canadian cities with my uncle. My mother may have studied law, like my grandmother, but she knows biology well, as does my father... although he is more in mechanics. But our main place of residence can be considered a mansion in Nassau County, which was formed from a part of Queens that was not part of New York.

It is here that we spend most of our time when we are not with our parents on all sorts of trips, well, or with our uncle and grandmother. Since we are the children of a famous family, our sister and I have photos on the Internet, these journalists managed to take pictures of us a couple of times. My photos caused a real sensation, and, through my parents, I was invited to all sorts of children's programs because of my appearance, although my sister is also growing up a beauty, but it's in my eyes. In the photos, I was most often wearing special glasses, but there is a photo without them, and they caused such a stir.

— "Hmm, it shouldn't be like that. "— I said, frowning, looking as smoke rose from one of the electronic boards. —" It seems to have burned down. " — I stated and exhaled heavily.

— "Brother, don't worry, you will succeed. Failures always happen, even if you are unlucky so often, you will definitely be lucky someday. "— the sister sitting on the bed assured me childishly.

— "Thank you." — I said dejectedly, throwing the soldered wire connecting to the boards on the floor. — "Apparently, I'm doing something wrong... maybe I need to change the conductor." — I looked with some doubt at my attempt to fix an old laptop... and an old toaster.

— "Can we go watch cartoons?" — Alicia asked me, making a pleading face. — "And then soon Grandma will come and teach me these... these ke-tu again. " — she said with a little difficulty.

—" Sis , get used to it, we've been learning something all our lives. Then there will be tutors who will teach you to count and write." — The girl's eyes widened at these words.

—" Well... I want to watch cartoons and play with my brother." — she said softly.

— "Of course, we'll play with you, don't worry, we'll just have to learn. "— I said, stroking my sister whimpering on this topic for a couple of minutes, and then quickly runs out of my room to my mother to persuade her not to teach her anything. But of course, she can't do anything. Now the girl is four years old, and she is also a very smart child, but if I had an abnormally adult consciousness from birth, then she really was a child, albeit a smart one.

After the failure in the field of electronics repair, I did not lose heart, and continued to read and watch various videos from the Internet, where some scientists or teachers posted their lectures to the public, but it is advisable to attend one of these lectures on my own ... but I am a five—year—old child and my parents are unlikely to let me go, however, they probably do the right thing.

A couple of days later, Uncle Roma arrived and, as usual, brought gifts.

—"Here, this is a Japanese sword called a Wakizashi. I think, Felix, you will definitely like it. "— my uncle said with a smile, handing me a gift brought from Japan.

— "Wakizashi, is this not-really-katana or something? Which is from one to two shaku (that is the Japanese unit of length), long?" — I drawled questioningly, accepting the gift.

— "I didn't understand what kind of a shaku, but yes, it's like a katana, only more compact." — he said not quite confidently and, noticing my mocking look, continued. —" I'm more into firearms than this whole thing. " — he waved his hand.

— It would have been better to give it then. — I said a little more quietly, glancing sideways at Alice, who was currently talking on the phone and watching her daughter. Grandmother or hired workers often do this, which does not prevent us from spending our leisure time in any way.

—" Ahem, you're too small for that." — he said with a mocking smile. — "When you grow up a little more, we'll see there. And your parents won't pat me on the head for that."

— "That's for sure, but I wouldn't mind shooting... and disassembling the weapon, and maybe assembling something of my own. "— I said, already imagining this wonderful process.

— "You should have learned how to fix toasters first." — he chuckled. — "And while you are only a master of how to disassemble and bring the item to a non-working state."

—" Tc, uncle-uncle." — I shook my head. —" How much demand is there from a five-year-old child, and then what? Will you force thermonuclear reactors to be built at home? " —I joked.

— "Hmm, you know, I wouldn't be surprised if you tried. But come on, let's get back to wakizashi. A friend from Japan gave it to me, he's actually a martial artist, but his brother is just the same Kendo master. I would even say he is a world master and quite famous in certain circles. " — Uncle nodded to something. — "Ahm, so, this gift once got to him from his brother and he gave it to me already, it is considered a very serious gift, and proves how much he appreciates me. "— he finished with an explanation.

— "Understood, this is a very important thing of your friend." — I nodded and stood in the stance I had seen on TV.

—" You look funny." — uncle could not resist. —" Downright fighting child."

— "I'm not small." — I said and looked at the almost two-meter man with a beard. — "It's just that someone is too big, anyone will be small for you."

— "Okay, okay... let's go ask permission from your mother to visit Japan, maybe someday we'll go together, and I'll show you the beauty of the East and the women there... yes." — he came to his senses at the end and restrained himself. He really talked to his mom, and she said that I needed to grow up and then she would give permission... maybe.

The fact that I learned to read and write at my age is quite unusual and my parents understand this perfectly well, I even saw my mother's worried face a couple of times when I read books not peculiar to my age. But fortunately, children—geniuses may be born very rarely, but they existed. For example, you can take one of the Ashford brothers, the founder of Umbrella, who was also considered a scientific genius almost from childhood. But even considering my intelligence and awareness, they still treated me like an ordinary child and also took the time whenever possible.

My hobbies reached such a level that I began to beg my mom or dad to take me into their company, and especially into the scientific department, so that I could watch the work of professionals. It took me a whole year to get permission and a green light for this action, and at the age of six, Alice took me to her office for the first time, and then walked through the scientific department of the company. Of course, a child walking around the laboratory could not help but go unnoticed, but I am the grandson of the head of the company, so soon they stopped paying such close attention to me, and I didn't bother anyone ... at first. The company building itself was located in Brooklyn Heights, New York.

For a couple of weeks, I lasted only watching scientists work from afar, but soon, when my mother realized that I was kind of following the rules and not doing anything wrong in the corridors, she began to let me go alone, and she continued to work. We were in the same building anyway, and she sent her assistant, Melanie Wayne, with me.

— "This is the virology department, right? " —I asked, looking through a large glass at the work of scientists.

—" Yes. " — the woman nodded. — Do you want to take a closer look? " — she asked, frowning slightly.

— "I don't want to yet... "— I shook my head. —" There is a prosthetics department there and I saw a couple of iron hands, let's go there. After that, it will be possible to get to know the work of doctors in the genetic department... and in the testing department, too."

—" I see you have big plans." — the woman grinned and straightened her hair. — "Are you so interested in all this? "— she asked carefully.

— "I started studying genetics from the age of two, although my parents thought for a long time that I was just looking at a book." — I grinned. — "And where there is genetics, there is biology with anatomy and other natural sciences. Recently I have started to study physics with chemistry and computer science closely but considering that I haven't finished with natural sciences yet, I will study all this for a long time."

— "Remind me, how old are you?" — with an incomprehensible intonation, she asked.

—" Six. So, here are the prostheses... wow. Let's go closer, I want to see how he adjusts and calibrates them." — I hurried.