#3p!deceit

“Yes, of course sir.” Logan nodded. He knew it was best to get straight to the point, but he wanted to first manage the professor’s expectations. “Are you aware with the square cube law?”

“Logan, I’m a scientist, not a mathematician.” The doctor scoffed. “I don’t trifle with their theories nowadays. I’m a more practical man.”

“Oh, right.” Logan cleared his throat. “Well, the reason I bring it up is because I’ve been considering the existence of tiny humanoid creatures. Now, the square cube law disputes this possibility, but I have here-” Logan began to reach towards his pocket, but before he could pull out Virgil the doctor interrupted him.

“Hold on there, Sanders.” Dee frowned. “What do you mean, tiny humanoid creatures?”

“Well, I mean just that.” Logan held his hands a few inches apart for scale. “A creature that appears to be human, but is only a few inches tall.”

“Are you talking about fairy tales?” Dee laughed, but his voice held little joy.

“No, I assure you I’m quite serious-” Logan attempted to explain himself, but was once again interrupted.

“You know, I used to be quite fond of fairy tales.” The professor said, staring off dreamily into space. “I was obsessed with the idea of fairies or elves or other tiny creatures prancing about in my backyard.”

“That’s...wonderful, sir.” Logan wasn’t sure where this conversation was going, but he knew better than to try and direct the topic back to himself and risk encouraging Dee’s wrath. From tales of other professors and students, it was best to let Dee monologue.

“Sometimes, I’d even picture they got into the house.” The doctor chuckled to himself. “Of course, I could never prove it. I told my parents, but no one believed me. I’ll admit the idea drove me a bit...mad.” Dee gave a knowing look at Logan. “Of course, anyone would be paranoid if they thought tiny people were running around their home.”

“Y-yes sir.” Logan frowned slightly, suddenly very aware of his chest pocket.

“Back then I wanted to catch one more than anything.” Dee leaned forwards, looking a bit eager. “I’m not sure what I would’ve done if I caught one, though. Probably kept it in a jar, showed it off to everyone. Little thing would probably end up starving to death. Shame I wasn’t a very responsible child.”

“Well, very few of us are.” Logan liked to think of himself as responsible in his youth. Certainly responsible enough to keep Virgil from starving to death. The prospect was quite morbid. “And what...what would you do if you found one, now?”

“Now?” Dr. Dee stuck his lip out, looking up contemplatively as he tilted his head side to side. “Well, certainly keep it in captivity. Study its behaviors. You know, that’s actually quite an interesting idea. If it were truly human in behavior, it would be the perfect candidate for psychological testing.”

“Psychological testing?” Logan repeated.

“Yes, because we’d be able to study a “human” subject, more or less, without violating human testing ethics.” Dee explained, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “If we were able to cultivate a large enough population, we could even find answers to more moral gray areas, such as the human responses to pain and fear. I wonder if their screams would be muted due to the size of their vocal pipes. I’d hope not, it’d be a lot harder to test their pain tolerance.”

While Logan was always a man of science, this idea was getting too dark even for him. Human morals were the only things separating man from beast. It would be inhumane to force Virgil’s kind into such a state, regardless of their official human-ness. Logan felt himself beginning to pale at the thought of what his own actions might set into motion should he reveal Virgil to Dee. Logan clenched and unclenched his sweaty palms, mind racing as he mentally walked the line between morality and logic.

“But of course, that’s all theoretical.” The doctor snapped out of his musings with a laugh. “These are just fairy tales, right?” Logan felt Virgil’s form shaking with fear in his pocket, and Logan’s heart ached as he knew he couldn’t do it.

“R-right.” Logan said with a weak chuckle, bringing his hand up to try and steady both Virgil and his own racing heart.

“Ah, look at me, getting carried away again.” Dee shook his head. “You’re a man of logic, Logan. I can tell. You didn’t come here to talk childhood dreams.” The professor crossed his arms on the desk. “You came to talk business.”

“Well, ah, yes, but, you see…” Logan struggled to come up with the right words, now having no purpose for being in this office and frankly wanting to leave it as soon as possible. “...it was actually more of a hypothetical question, to be honest. Considering the square cube law does exist, it’s quite impossible, is it not?”

Dee looked at Logan for a long time, and it felt as though his eyes lingered on Logan’s pocket for a second too long before meeting Logan’s gaze with a stare that said you tell me. Logan broke the gaze, fiddling with his glasses as a distraction.

“I suppose it is.” The doctor sighed, leaning back in his chair. “Those darned mathematicians and their laws of nature.”

“Ah, curse them.” Logan quipped, giving a small snap of his fingers.

“It was certainly an interesting theory.” Dee admitted. “But I would suggest you focus your energies back on practical matters. You’re not going to get accepted into my masters program with a thesis on theories alone, you know.”

“Of course, sir.” Logan stood up, putting out his hand for a parting handshake. Dee stood as well, returning the gesture. “I’ll be sure to focus back on my studies.”

“That’s a good boy.” The professor praised, walking Logan to the door. “Glad to hear it.”

“Thank you once again for your time.” Logan waved in parting. The doctor waved back before shutting the door, and Logan finally let out a sigh of relief he didn’t know he had been holding.

Virgil couldn’t help but feel relief when Logan left the room and he was still hidden away. He had been wary when he had heard another voice speak and then had to keep himself from falling into a panic attack when he heard Logan talk about the the existence of tiny humanoid creatures and realizing what Logan had planned on doing.

Logan was going to reveal him to this ‘doctor dee’ person, in the name of science. But his panic to that, was almost nothing in comparison to when Doctor Dee started to speak.

Virgil had chills just thinking about it, but the entire time he couldn’t stop himself from shaking in fear. Despite how hard he was trying to keep still since he was in Logan’s pocket, after all. Virgil’s fears were proven true the more Doctor Dee continued to speak.

Virgil feared being shown off even more, especially if it was to this particular human. Who he knew would ensure that all of what he said would happen to him and his kind.

But then, Logan must have changed his mind, because he didn’t show Virgil off. In fact, Logan had been tense for most of Dee’s talk. His heart beating almost has hard as his own. Had Logan really had a change of heart? Had seen that Virgil was right? And if so, did that mean Logan would let him go?

He hoped so.

Logan could not believe he had almost made such a colossal mistake. He hit himself lightly on the forehead as he walked through the halls. How could he have been so stupid? Virgil was right to fear the discovery of his people. Clearly this was a secret Logan had to guard carefully. Though he was still filled with curiosity, this was not a discovery Logan could share with anyone else. He would have to be sure to destroy the evidence of his findings as well, lest it fall into the wrong hands.