The Adventures of Stevie #148
These stories were told to me by friends and other people. Some of them
are true. Some of them are only partly true. Some of them should have
been true. LOL
My first post about Stevie ("Call me Stephen!") was when he was 12 and
in summer camp and was told by another camper. This was from a time
before computers would fit on a desk and when people communicated with
friends in other countries by actual letters sent through the postal
service. When children did this those friends were called "penpals".
Carlos is Stevie's penpal in Argentina and knows English. This is a
fictional contrivance to enable Stevie to tell us his stories because
he isn't here in person. I think.
All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
Stevie's school is for gifted children who don't fit in regular schools.
The stories may not be posted in chronological order.
Stevie is 13 in this story, after the Winter holidays of year 4 of
school, a month after story #147.
The Adventures of Stevie #148 "Port-All Show"
Dear Carlos,
I had a meeting with Dr. Knot. We discussed my education. I said "I'm
working on something which I could use for another doctorate in
physics, and win a Nobel prize for, but because of security, and
because of other issues, I'm not going to make it public. I'll show it
to you later." He said "You've hit on one of our problems here. t's
very difficult for us to go through the approval process for our
students' doctoral programs, under the conditions and requirements of
our school. There have been some major objections to keeping things in
accordance with our security requirements, and not just from the
educational institutions. Students and their parents are very unhappy
with the lack of career enhancing public acclaim our students would
otherwise receive." I said "But if it hadn't been for this school,
which is more than free for them, they wouldn't have had this
opportunity at all, or at least not nearly as much, and they knew about
this in advance." He said "Yes, but the reality of this is more
noticeable and painful, than the some future thing it was to them
before." I said "I don't see what more can be done about it. I'm not
supposed to know, but there are severe penalties if they break the
rules. They can't escape them until the kids are 18 or 21, and not
legal minors anymore, depending on the state where they live."
We didn't have a solution to that. We discussed my education some
more. I will have my doctorates in psych, and ed, and engineering,
before the spring break, if they can schedule the defense of my
dissertations early enough. I shouldn't have any more problems with
that than anybody from our school. My papers, if they are ever
published, will be under different names. I don't care about that, or
the degrees, really. I know what I know, and I don't need proof of
that. I said "There is something I have decided about this school. I
want to continue it, changed a little, when the time comes when it
closes, or establish a new school something like it. We need more
trained geniuses, not tamed quiz-kids to be mistreated as media
darlings till they burn out." He said "I hope you succeed."
Dr. Knot said "What is this great project you mentioned?" I said "I
suppose I should tell you, rather than give you a heart attack at the
demonstration. It's matter transmission. I've been trying to describe
mathematically what I do personally, and build a device which anybody
can use. I have. First, let me demonstrate." I ported around the room."
He said "Wow! I know you've heard that before." We smiled. I said "Now
that I've managed to teach somebody else to do some of what I just
showed you, I'm ready to show my invention, but not to the public. They
would want to know how it works. That information is too dangerous, not
that they could understand it. I had to develop a new math to describe
it, and I'm still working in that area, which might add to Dr.
Einstein's work. With your permission, I would like to invite my
father, the Abbot and my best student there, along with my team, to the
demonstration. Together, or separately, we might come up with some
practical uses which can still maintain security." He agreed to the
invitations. We called around, and the people would be available the
next afternoon.
Father, the Abbot, Tomba, Dr. Knot, and my team were there. Chad was
the first subject. He walked through one Port-All and out the other.
The other people did it too. I said "Distance is no object. I've gone
from here to San Francisco in the same time it takes me to go from here
to the Temple. It can't be blocked or interfered with, and uses no
electricity. There is no conservation of momentum, other than what you
impart relative to the frame. That means, you could port to another
planet, and not worry about different orbital speeds, but if you run
through it, you will be traveling at the same speed relative to the
frame you exit from. You will be running when you exit the other frame,
and could bash your nose into a wall, or something. The speeds and
energy differentials are taken care of by the transfer through the 4th
spacial dimension, which also powers the frames. The Port-Alls'
activation and control parts are matched pairs, and are removable from
the frames. The frames are 2 way, and the controllers in them are of
fixed orientation. The side you go in, will determine which side you
come out of the other frame. The transfer field won't activate without
a special key being held by the person to be ported. The maximum
activation distance is set at 3 feet. An operator can keep the key, so
many people or things can go through in a continuous stream. Any
questions?"
Shan said "Does this require any special talents to use?" I said
"Absolutely none." Jan said "Can you back out?" I said, "It's
completely 2 way. Try it yourself." She put an arm through it, and
withdrew it. I said "I should emphasize it has no effect on life
processes, EXCEPT for people like me who suffer from the side effects
of spacial disorientation, called motion sickness. I have to have a
special medicine to use it." Father said "Manufacturing?" I said "The
frame can be made of any conductive material which doesn't contain more
than 3 percent iron. There are aluminum rods inside the plastic posts.
My test Port-Alls are those coper wire loops over there. I made these
posts interchangeable and small enough, when disassembled, to fit in a
suitcase. They can be easily manufactured, but not the power and
control units. They contain matched pairs of specially charged
crystals, which only I have the ability to make, so far. The same for
the key. The power unit must be charged with a special psychic energy,
in a specific way. I don't know anybody else who can do that. I can do
the psychic part in about 3 minutes, but building the units is very
delicate and requires some unusual talents to get the parts to all work
together safely, which can take some hours for each matched set, after
all the components are made and ready for use."
Dr. Knot said "Safety and security?" I said "The use of them is safe
and as foolproof as possible, but can be misused, by people who think
better than I do." My team laughed at that. "If the control and power
modules are tampered with, they will stop working. If somebody removes
a module while transfer is in progress, the entire object, whatever is
it, will successfully go through, if it's momentum relative to the
frame would have allowed it. That means if you are walking through it,
you WILL get all the way through, even if the frame is disabled in the
middle of it, on either or both ends. Once a transfer is started, it
can't be stopped, unless the motion is reversed. Gasses, and if under
water, water, will get transferred with the object, but will not be
transferred when there is no solid object in the frame. If you port to
a place which has an atmosphere which contains sulfur dioxide, the room
you come from is going to stink like rotten eggs for a while. If you
port to a vacuum, you better have a good space suit on. More questions?
No? Then I hope you will have some ideas what I should do with this
thing. My opinion is do nothing. It's too dangerous in it's science,
and to the economy, and I don't want to be turned into manufacturing
machine. One more thing. You know I have some psychic abilities. I
can't detect it in operation, but I CAN detect it's use by people, by
seeing life indications and auras vanish and appear, at some distance,
depending how strong they are. If the Abbot were to use it, I could
notice that up to about 5 miles away, but I'm a little more sensitive
to this than average." That made my team laugh again. I was
embarrassed, that even father smiled at that.
I said "I suppose I should tell you I don't need these to port myself
or any other person or object, and I expect there to be at least 2
other people who will learn to do some of it very soon. If there aren't
any more questions or suggestions, this meeting is over." There weren't
any. The team went back to class. Dr. Knot went to his office, looking
very thoughtful. Father said he would talk to me later. That left Shan
and Tomba. I asked Tomba if he had told Shan of his progress. He had.
Shan still couldn't feel or touch an object through a picture, the same
as Chad. I said "Give it another month of practice. Then we will see.
If you think he is ready, would you teach Tomba my method of
levitation?" He said "Yes, I will do that, but energy transformation is
very advanced." I said "If you think it's wise, save it for another
time. Can I come with you to the Temple, so I can give Tomba another
lesson in 4th manipulation? I think he might be ready for that now."
The boy in question tried to hide his excitement. Shan and I were
amused, and didn't hide it, which made Tomba a little embarrassed. Shan
went back with his driver, in his car. Tomba and I ported to my
apartment. It wasn't that far. We could have walked, but I didn't want
to draw attention to us with the way he was dressed. It only made me a
little sick, and that passed in a few minutes, while Tomba was hugging
me to comfort me.
Then he was doing a lot more than comforting me. I was in the mood to
be distracted from my, well, mood, so I wanted to do what we were
doing, which we did, enthusiastically. Make each other squirt very
well, that is. I liked that a lot. I always do. But not as much as the
togetherness and love afterward. We rested, but it was a lot more than
that. It always is, and it's the best part of living.
Your friend,
Stephen
--
Grant
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