Stephen's Logbook #1 Entry #14
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 16 in this story, in Spring Break of year 6 of special
school.
Stephen's Logbook #1 Entry #14 "Making the Rounds"
NEW ENTRY
I gave my "Come work with us when you leave your current job"
presentation to the Director at the Bureau. He thought it was good for
his agents to have some employment possibilities after they were
injured or retired, and it could keep them in something like the
family. I told him about our diplomat rescue offer, too. I said the
same things to father's friend at the Agency, who thought well of those
things too, and would pass the word. Then Pete and I offered job
opportunities to the colonels who guard the alien things, who were very
receptive. Father did the same with the Secretaries of the Army and Air
Force, who he knew.
I had an idea. The doll maker had a crystal which glowed with psychic
energy when it was near somebody who was psychic. I had that crystal. I
asked Shan if he knew anybody who could make more of them. He did. Then
I asked if he could make a transducer, to turn the psychic energy it
emitted into electrical energy. He couldn't. I asked Pete, who had in
crystals, all my knowledge of working with crystals, and he tried. It
took a while, but he finally did it. We coupled them together in a
plastic box, with a metering dial on the top, with insulation on all
sides but one. Pete pointed it at different people and compared the
reading with his mental examination of them, which served to calibrate
the instrument. We made a hundred of them. Now we could have people
tested for psychic abilities, without an adept being present. I gave 2
to Tomba. One for the Temple to use if they wanted to, and one to put
in my 4th storage. When the time was right, we could put them in every
receptionist's office of all our locations, to find psychic people.
Nigel and I visited the manufacturing plant, after telling Matt we
would. He gave us a good tour. Things were looking much better.
Cleaner, and more people were working, and they were happier, all
different from what Chad had reported. I said "This is better. Can you
tell me why?" He grinned and said, "You." I said "I plead innocent.
I've never been here before." He said "It's what you did with the CEO.
He worked harder, and felt better doing it. Somehow, you motivated him
to do a better job. The results said it was he who was holding the
company down. He's happier, and we all are happier, and we expect to
make a good profit next quarter. You buying us, and your er,
'treatment', changed things for the better so much, we even hired new
employees. And they like it here." I said, "Good. Next we do bonuses
and profit sharing, with a basic, with additions for merit. That should
make the people here even happier. Then we'll do Quality Circles. It's
worked wonders in Japan. We should be doing it in America, where it was
invented. When those issues are settled, we'll enter new markets. We
have some patents for metal and plastic manufacturing which should give
us a significant advantage over the competition. Then we'll expand.
What do you think?" He said "Wow!" Nigel and I grinned. Nigel said "We
hear that a lot." I said "Think the CEO would like to hear all about
it?" Matt grinned and nodded. So we told him.
Then the CEO surprised me, and said, "You had said you were going to
replace me. I would like to stay. I think there is a good future here,
and I want to be a part of it." I said "Do you honestly think you are
doing a good job now, and can do better in the future?" He looked me
straight in the eye and said, "Yes I do." I said "So do I. No rough
stuff, right?" He said "Right. I understand better now. Stupidity
doesn't make a profit." I said "Desperation makes for stupidity. You
are much calmer when you are feeling personally secure." He looked
surprised and said, "That's it!" Then he looked even more surprised and
said, "You knew, didn't you!" I grinned and nodded. I said "After next
quarter, there should be raises coming, and an increase in medical
insurance coverage. We are slowly buying up as much outstanding stock
in the company as we can, without causing notice. We expect big things.
If you want, you can have your bonus in stock, if you want to have a
real future with us. Matt, too." The both thanked us, with feeling.
There was a commotion outside the office. We all went outside to see
what it was about. Somebody said there was a man stuck in a machine. We
went to look. Somebody had got his arm stuck between a machine turret
and a casing. He couldn't get his arm out, and was bleeding. I could
see how to help. There were 2 half inch thread nuts which where used
for tightening the turret in place after adjusting its position. If
they were loosened, the turret could be moved enough to get his arm
out. They couldn't find the maintenance man for the machine. I said
"Get me a wrench for these, quick!" Nobody moved. I glared at Matt, who
yelled at somebody who went running. He came back with the tool. I took
off my suit coat and tie and dropped them on a chair. I applied the
wrench to one of the nuts, and it didn't move. And my shirt was too
tight for my expanding muscles. I took off my shirt. That felt better,
and I tried again, with all my strength. It came loose. Then I tried
the other one. It wouldn't move. I tried harder. The wrench broke.
I yelled "Get me another wrench, and penetrating oil!" Nobody moved.
I swelled up my muscles to their maximum size and said, "Do it! You do
NOT want to make me angry!" 3 people ran to get the things I asked for.
I applied the oil, and tried the wrench again. The nut wouldn't move.
Then I applied more oil and did something new. I called up all my Ki,
and screamed and slammed a palm strike onto the nut, to force more oil
into the threads, with the Ki through my hand. Then I tried the wrench
again. The nut moved a little. Then I called up more Ki, and with
another scream, I made the wrench and nut move so much the wrench went
flying across the room. I tried to move the turret. It resisted. I
tried harder, and it still didn't want to move. I did a Samson. I put
myself between the turret and the housing, where there was room above
the man, and put a palm on the housing, and a palm on the turret. Then
I made myself relax, and called for more Ki, and suddenly tightened all
my muscles in maximum effort with a loud scream, and PUSHED. It was
going to move like I wanted, or I was going to explode. It moved.
I pulled the man free, with his arm spurting blood. I grabbed his
upper arm tightly, and the bleeding stopped. I said "Where is the first
aid kit!" Somebody went to get it. I said "Why were you all standing
there doing nothing, when you could have helped? You must really hate
each other!" They said they didn't, but didn't have an answer why they
didn't react quickly. I said gently, but sharply, "Tell me somebody
called for an ambulance?" A man ran to do that. I put a tourniquet on
the injured man's arm, and had him sit in a chair. Then I wrapped up
the wound in the upper arm tightly. I released the tourniquet slightly,
and the wound didn't bleed through the bandage. Then I released it some
more, and it was still clean, and his fingers showed good circulation.
Then I stood there and glared at them, while we waited for the
ambulance. Nigel said "Stephen, you're scaring them." I said "Good." He
put a hand on my shoulder, and tried to squeeze it. My muscle was too
hard for that, but I did get the message. I shook my body, and let my
muscles relax. Nigel said "Why did you hit the nut with your hand?" I
said "To force more oil into the threads. I added Ki to the strike.
Looks like it worked." He said "I'll say!" I said "No, I said it. You
only asked." He said "I stand corrected." I said "Find a chair, and you
can sit corrected." He brought over 2, and we both sat. I said to the
men who were still standing around, "Don't you guys have anything to
do?" They wandered off.
I said to the CEO, "After the ambulance takes him, we'll have another
talk." He had been looking sick, and still had a red face with white
blotches. The man I had rescued tried to thank me. I said "Don't talk.
Save your energy for healing. I'm guessing you don't plan to stick your
arm there again?" He nodded. I said "You married?" He nodded. I said
"Children? "He nodded again. I said "You want both arms for hugging
them. Don't risk missing out on that again." He nodded with enthusiasm.
I grinned and squeezed his good shoulder. The ambulance came. I said to
the medics, "Don't let him lie down, or that arm will bleed too much."
They said "Yes sir." I put my shirt, tie, and jacket on, and we went
back to the CEO's office. We sat. Matt was looking very impressed at
me. I said "Sorry I acted a little er, strongly." Matt said "About as
strongly as it's impossible to be. You broke a wrench. That whole
machine shook when you hit it, and that weighs tons. I don't know if
anybody else could have gotten him out before he bled to death." I said
"Well, that's why I acted." He said "But how did you know exactly what
to do to free him?" I said "I er, have some applicable university
degrees."
I looked at the CEO and said, "I don't like anything about this. One,
it shouldn't have been able to happen. Two, the men should have been
trained how to respond to such an emergency, and practiced it. Three,
there should be a safety officer. Please prepare plans to rectify those
issues, and send them to my office. Implement them, and I'll come back
in a month to see how well they work out. I want all my companies, and
all my employes in them, to put safety first. Is that understood?" He
said "Yes sir!" We stood to leave. I put out my hand to shake his, and
he looked afraid to do it. I grinned and said, "I don't usually treat
arms like wrenches." He tried to smile, and did manage to get up enough
courage to shake my hand. While we were walking out with Matt, I heard
him say to himself, "And I asked him if he had power!" I held in my
laughter, but Nigel could sense it. Outside the building, I told them
what the CEO had said. We laughed. I said to Matt, "If you want to be
the safety officer, along with your security duties, your pay will
increase a lot, and you'll have more varied work." He said "I'll
consider it. Thanks for your visit. It's been VERY interesting! " We
grinned and shook hands. Nigel and I went around a corner of the
building. Nobody saw us port back to the school.
We went to my private room. I said to Nigel, "You're wondering why I
didn't ask you to use your adept abilities." He nodded. I said "While
they are wonderful, and very useful, having the precise knowledge of
where and how to apply them in an emergency, is even more important.
The time it would have taken to explain to you how to do what needed to
be done, and in such a way so they didn't know you were an adept, was
better spent in just doing it, for the sake of the man's life. I have a
masters degree in engineering. I knew how much force which was
required, and just where to apply it, and I thought I could do it, too.
If it turned out I couldn't, there would have been time for you to try
your own powers, after you saw from what I tried to do, where and how
to use them. Does all that make sense?" He said "Yes it does, and
you're absolutely right." I said "It seemed like you might have helped
at the end, with the turret." He said "No, I didn't. I thought about
it, but didn't know how much force to use. I could have killed people
with it if I had used too much, and not enough, wouldn't have been
useful, and could have interfered with what you were doing." I said
"Good thinking. Wise. I'm proud of you."
He said "And I'm bloody well proud of YOU! That was magnificent! A
regular Hercules." I said "I was thinking I was doing what blinded
Samson did at the Temple." He said "I don't care. That was something to
see. I wish we could have filmed it." I said "You could have Pete put
your memory in a crystal." He said "Right!" He vanished, and came back
2 minutes later, and said, "Done!" I started to get up, and flopped
back down and groaned. He said "What's wrong?" I said "I should have
cooled my muscles down gradually. I'm a little stiff." He said "I'll
fix that. Take off your clothes." I did, and he gave me a good massage.
The last part of that was on my monster and nuts. Then he undressed and
we did what we usually do to make each other squirt. While we were
resting, I said, "Thanks. I'm not stiff anymore." We laughed.
END ENTRY
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Grant
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