Stephen's Logbook #1 Entry #9
These stories about Stephen began was when he was 10 years old, and
moving to a new part of the country to attend a special school for
gifted students. 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. He wrote 225 of them to
a friend. Please refer to them for insight into this new series of
stories. He stopped writing to his penpal, but found he still wanted to
record his life, in case he loses his memory again. So, we can now look
into selected entries in his logbook to see how he is doing.
All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
The stories may not be posted in chronological order.
Stephen is 15 in this story, before the Winter break of year 6 of
special school.
Stephen's Logbook #1 Entry #9 "Prep for Bad Company"
NEW ENTRY
After lunch, we discussed our plans. We told father about my idea to
buy the company which was in financial trouble. He offered to give us
one of his men to be in charge of security there. That gave me an idea.
I said "We need trustworthy personnel. Who could we trust more than
your people? We could give them desk jobs when they want to retire from
active work. That's not all. We could take Bureau and Agency people,
too." Race said "And from State." Chad said "And those military
officers in charge of the alien things, when they retire already fixed
with security clearances." Jan screamed "DEAN!" I said "Our CFO screams
for nepotism. Good going. Can't beat that loyalty. One thing for sure.
We pay well, always. We need good people, and we treat them well, and
they are less likely to cause trouble. That means we have to be
profitable. Any full adept can make as much money as he wants to, but
it will look bad on the records if our departments are funded from
above. We can easily do that with manufacturing, because we don't have
to license our own patents to ourselves." Rod said "Exploration, the
way we do it, is cheap. So are our secret mining techniques. We can
produce some high cost material for a lot less money than our
competitors."
I said "We have to be careful not to get too obvious. We have to
remember WHY we are doing all this. We are going to invent and build a
way to keep the aliens off our backs, and make it stick. Then we can go
public, little by little, until every city and town has Port-Alls and
unlimited ultra low cost power, and we look civilized enough for the
Galactic Council to invite us to join them. I have some ideas on how to
do that, but they're not ready for discussion yet. So, we should always
remember, we aren't out to take over the world and rule it. We don't
even want to manage our own departments, let alone a country. A real
Adept's goals are to be left alone to explore and invent. Well, and
have a lot of sex." They laughed. I said "Barring very unusual
accidents, adepts usually live active lives into their eighties. That
will take us through to the time when I expect to see most of that
happen. Then we can go on to our next lives full of the feeling of
successful accomplishment." Jan said "I expect to go kicking and
screaming." Chad said "Right. You'll never stop screwing." We all
laughed, including father and Jan.
Father went back to his office, and we talked some more. I went out
to the bathroom. Chad followed me. When we were done, he said with
tears in his eyes, "You won't live to see that." I said "You had an
Oracle experience, and managed to keep silent? Wow!" He tried to grin
with me, but failed. He said "Yes." I said "Tell me the exact words."
He said "A second Stephen will will replace the first, and then the Van
will leave." I said "That's what I expected." He yelled "WHAT?" I said
"When I was younger, and an adept, I modified my body unwisely, to make
it stronger and to grow faster. I don't regret it. My reasons are still
good. I will pay the price for that when I get older. My 50s and older
will be very painful. If I'm not an adept by the time I'm 60, I might
decide to go on to my next life, being reborn and mature enough to be
involved in our kicking out the Van. ALL your prophecies support that."
He looked awed and said, "I think they might." I said "It's not just
because I want it, but because it would not be good for the others.
Please don't tell anybody about this. Ever. Unless I ask you to. We
don't really know how things will work out. We don't need people to act
as if they will, which might change the future in a bad way. I think
there is a purpose to all this. Some direction it's going in which we
are playing a part in. I have a feeling something fantastic will
happen. I don't want to ruin it." He said through his tears, "I
understand, and I promise." We dried our tears, and went back to the
others.
After we went back, I said "It's getting close to action time. Nigel,
please ask Tomba to port to me some medicine." He did, and I got it and
drank it. I said "We have to decide how to go there. Port, or use the
fancy new limo. Porting is the most convenient, but the limo gives us a
lot of prestige. We could offer to drive them back, too." Pete said
"They wouldn't accept, no matter how nice we are, and we're not going
to be all that nice." We grinned and agreed. Rod said "I think you
should drive, and park it where it will be noticed. You could even
mention it's new to them. If we have to, we can always port it back
after dark." Pete said "That sounds good. I'll drive." Rod said "Aww
shucks. I wanted to be the first." I said "There is something I have to
tell you. It might have a bar in it. Warning! Adepts should NOT drink
anything alcoholic. It closes the third eye. A drunk Adept, can very
likely be a dead adept. Oh, and Pete shouldn't be seen to be driving.
Not an exec of a multi million dollar company. We should use a guard
for that." Pete said "Right. I'm a little new at this showing off
thing."
That's how it was. A guard drove the limo, and was very happy to be
doing something different. I called the phone number on the card to
tell the man about the room. He said he would be there. I said "We will
have one other with us. Will you be bringing anybody else with you?" He
said "Yes, our CEO and his assistant." I said "Fine. We'll be expecting
you." I told Pete and Nigel that, and asked Nigel, "Which one will have
the recorder?" He came right back with, "The assistant. His or her only
reason for being here. Maybe not even be the CEO's assistant, but the
Security Manager's." I raised my eyebrow at Pete, who grinned back at
me, and said, "Right. He's very good. A replacement for you." I said
"Not until he does that automatically. Till then, I know the right
questions to ask him." He said "We're lucky to have him." I said "Very.
He's had a sad life, but living by his wits that way has really
sharpened him up, even if he doesn't fully realize it yet." A very red
Nigel said, "Hey you blokes, the subject of your discussion is right
here, you know." I said "Yes. Convenient, isn't it?" We grinned, and
hugged and kissed him, which he didn't complain about. We sat around
waiting, still hugging. Then Pete announced they were about to arrive.
I felt the group connect to me. I said "Places! I'll be at the end away
from and facing the door. You two be on either side of me at the sides
of the table, but close. Any real security man will be a little put off
by that arrangement." Pete and Nigel grinned while they sat down.
END ENTRY
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Grant
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