The Adventures of Stevie #224
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 15 in this story, just before the start of year 6 of special
school.
The Adventures of Stevie #224 "Slow and Tell, Part 2"
Dear Carlos,
In the meeting after I got my memory back, I said "The rest of the
time I spent there, before I ported home, was in conversation with my
gender, but they don't have sex. They do reproduce, but I don't have
any idea how. His people are so old, they originated from only a few
hundred thousand years after the big bang which created the universe.
They perceive a lot, and think a lot, but don't get around much on
their own. That's why they like to be with other life forms. The Van,
who were human, and actually came from Earth a very long time ago, and
left because of a global catastrophe, had regressed on their new planet
they found. They did recover, and became very warlike, even when they
moved back into space. They conquered another race, and the stone
people who worked with them, and enslaved them, and made use of their
technology. Then they encountered the worlds of the Galactic Council,
who made them stop conquering people, and freed the people the Van had
conquered. The Van kept their stolen technology, but didn't, and still
don't know much about how it works, even though they can build some of
it themselves. They don't have faster than light spaceships, and the
other races won't let them have any. They use suspended animation
century ships to travel to new stars to set up their matter transfer
terminals, which are similar to mine, which don't care about distance."
I said "Their central place for them was in the station I was in, and
they are turned off now. The Van who are left here, are cut off from
their home planet. They still have other smaller stations in this solar
system, and can fly between them, but not to another star system. They
have no long range spaceships here, only shuttles, which are mostly
powered from their local bases. They don't know what's happened to
their main station, and they can't get near it to find out. There are
automatic defenses. The Van have a big problem, which is why they are
here. They are dying. Their whole race is, and it's their own stupid
fault. They wanted immortality, and they got it. It was a bad mistake.
They couldn't evolve. They never got smarter, or usefully psychic. When
a body gets old, they transfer their mind to a new one they grow. They
didn't realize nothing is perfect. Errors crept into the process. They
aren't human anymore. They have very little of the feelings we think of
as being necessary for an intelligent people. Their minds and emotions
more like machines now, and their bodies don't last as long as they
used to, and sometimes the transfer doesn't work, and they don't know
how to fix things. They are experimenting on us to find out if we can
be bodies for them, and they haven't succeeded, and they wouldn't, even
if we didn't stop them. But we will. We have 70 years or more, before a
new ship comes here with new matter transfer terminals. We WILL stop
them, and I plan to be here to see that it's done!"
I said "We have time to learn from what I got from them, and if we
find any Van on earth, we can capture them. They choose their victims
to examine, carefully. I was alone, very alone, which was why they took
me as a random choice, probably after using a neural disrupting stun
ray from an invisible ship, and flying me to their base, judging from
the time it took. The Air Force has Men in Black to investigate UFOs.
We need to take over that job. We need to find and contact the other
alien races who visit us, to see if we can talk to the Galactic
Council. We have work to do. Important work. We can do this, for us,
and for Earth. I've said what I intended to say, so the meeting is open
for comments. Oh, and I'm glad to see all of you again, as ah, er, me."
The kids swarmed all over me, with hugs and kisses. I said "Hey, there
are grownups here!" Nigel said "You're not going to get all grownupiddy
on us, are you?" I said "No, but it looks like an an option for UNDER
the whole lot of you. Mmph" More kisses, and some laughs.
When things quieted down, I said, "I have some requests to make.
Chad, will you tell Debbie I'm back, and not an adept anymore? If I
told her myself, there could be complications, like a heart attack.
Father, will you tell Zack and Glena, and have them tell the girls and
Dan? I'll call Jeremy and Tommy, later, when I think they might be
home. Did I leave anybody out?" Tomba said "You should tell the Abbot,
yourself." I said, "Yes, after we're done here." Chad said "Or medium
rare." I grinned and told him, "You can't tell them why that's funny to
us, when you've already said the punchline." Chad said "I don't care."
I said "It doesn't matter, I don't have a steak in it." He growled at
me and poked and tickled me. I wrestled with him, till my strength gave
out. They picked me up and put me in a chair. We discussed some more
things, with time outs for Father and Chad to make some calls. Father
called Jeremy, too, to save me the trouble. Then the meeting broke up.
I went with Tomba and Nigel back to the Temple. They stayed in my
apartment, while I went out and told a monk I would like to speak with
the Abbot when it was convenient for him, in the usual receiving room.
I went there and waited, not thinking. He came in, and I stood up. We
bowed to each other, with our open palms together in front of us. We
sat down at the same time, so we didn't have a war of politeness, which
made us smile. I said "I'm back, and I remember from my convalescence,
too. There is something you should know, which will please you greatly,
and offer you the opportunity to tell me 'I told you so!'" I grinned at
him, and he grinned back.
I said "It could be that when the mind has no memories of its current
life, other memories might seep in, such as possibly from past lives.
Like maybe from some peculiar people who are called Saints now. Could
even be actual and verifiable memories. I might even have some of
those. You can say it now." Shan said "I refuse." We grinned and
hugged. I said "Better then telling you, I could have Pete put the
entire experience of them into a crystal, if you would like to know
about them. By the way, one of those incarnations predates what we know
of human history." He said "That would be a most cherished gift. I
think the Cardinal would like the Saints, too." I grinned and said,
"You have strange friends." He said "When they go marching in." My jaw
dropped open in surprise. Then I snapped it shut and said, "You
didn't!" He grinned really wide and said, "Yes, I always wanted to be
in their number." I had to laugh. So did Shan. Then we sang that song
together. I wonder what the other monks who might have heard us,
thought about that.
I was humming it when I went back to my apartment. Tomba was curious
why, so I told him Shan and I were singing it together. He found it as
hard to believe as I did. I said "Ask him. He will probably enjoy
telling you the story. Nigel, do you want to keep living here, or come
home, after the official arrangements are made?" He said "I've been
there. Great food. No bloody clothes. Want to eat. Good family. Great
food. My hero." I said "Alright! I get it. Give it a day or so for the
Temple to process you out, and let us know when you will be home. We'll
have to put another bed in there." Nigel grabbed me in a big hug and
said, "No we won't." I said "Oh. Mmph." While he was kissing his love
to me. Then I whispered in his ear, "Yes we will. We'll be making a lot
more friends." Then he poked me, but not with his hands.
Your friend,
Stephen
--
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Grant
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