Brimstone

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The audience murmured in anticipation as a tall, gray-haired man with thick spectacles and a cloud of puffy hair stepped to the podium. There was a tinkle of crystal and a scuffle of chairs as the night reached its climactic moment. The speaker cleared his throat, and the crowd grew silent. He shuffled some note cards and glanced up at the audience.

“I believe you all know why we are here.” His voice was dry and brittle, but it carried well. “Tonight we will honor our best and our brightest. I venture to say that if we tried to calculate the combined IQ of this room, we’d need a very powerful computer — but even in such company, one stands out clearly. We here at The Academy of Science bestow this honor annually, and I’m pleased to report that for the first time in our history, the voting is unanimous. Few have distinguished themselves so clearly, and in so many varied fields. I could go on, as many of you know…”

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