Stephen's Logbook #1 Entry #26
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 18 in this story, in the Summer after year 8 of special
school.
Stephen's Logbook #1 Entry #26 "The Maine Idea"
NEW ENTRY
Pete contacted me and said, +We had a sighting up in Maine. Mac
investigated and found a different alien. Looks like a crab on stilts.
It's alive and outside his ship, but doesn't respond to any language.
We want to know if he's emitting sound above normal human range. Can
you come out and lend an ear?+ I said +Time for me to change into work
clothes?+ He said +Probably more than that. Doesn't look likely to be
any developments soon.+ I said +We'll need Zander's communicator there,
connection through a Port-All?+ He said +I don't know. We can find
out.+ I said +Better not while action is pending. Contact me in ten.+
He said +Right. Discom.+ I rushed around and got changed in time for
the contact and porting to Maine. He was right about what the alien
looked like, but he didn't tell me about the color. Iridescent light
blue. VERY pretty. Chad, Mac, and Nigel were there, along with Pete.
I said "Got a shield up?" Pete said "Yes." I addressed the alien in
GC, but there was no response I could detect. Then I used my ultrasonic
clicker. The alien stood up tall and made some return clicks in that
range. I held out my hands, palms toward it and bowed. And then I
backed off. I hoped it understood. I said to Pete, "Got Zander's com?"
He passed it to me. I turned it on, with the locator, and said into it.
"This is Stephen of the Guardians. I need to speak to Zander. This is
regarding a matter of some urgency." I heard a reply which was, "Wait."
That's what I did. 4 minutes later, Zander said, "Stephen, it's good to
hear from you. How may I assist you?" I said "We have an offworld
contact we are having difficulties communicating with." I described the
alien and the problem. I said "We could build a sound transducer, but
that would take time, and we still might not have the right language.
It might be in need of urgent assistance. Do you have a transducer
available we could use, and do you have any information about this
species?" He said "We do have such a device we can give you, and we do
not have any record of that species, which we would very much like to
remedy. We can be there shortly, with your permission." I said "Please
do, and be welcome." While we waited, Rod came walking out of the
forest. He pushed a scan of the alien's ship into my brain. He didn't
ask, because he knew I wanted it.
I said to Rod, "Very interesting. It's got water in it, but he
obviously doesn't need to be immersed continuously.
He said "Notice the water level is lower than his displacement would
account for." I said "Yes, but he didn't land near water. Maybe he
didn't have enough control to choose." We discussed it some more, until
Zander's ship landed in the clearing. There was just enough room for
it. I said to Zander and the two others who came out of it, "We are
shielded from him and his ship. You are in no danger from him. Sound
and gasses will pass through." He looked at me with humor and said,
"Thank you." I let him feel my humor in return, for appreciating that
we didn't like to reveal our methods. He held out the transducer to me.
I bowed and said, "I think you would like to make the first try, if I'm
not mistaken." He said "You are very generous." He started beeping it
up the scale. I said "You are approaching the frequencies he has
responded to." Right after that, the alien did, and the instrument
reproduced it in a lower pitch for is. I said "As you may notice, it's
not using a modulated voice, but clicking." He said "You can hear it?"
I said "Yes." He said "That's not in the human range." I said "We can
discuss that later." He nodded sideways, which I took to mean
agreement. Chad came out of the woods from where he had ported to, with
two buckets of water. One from the ocean, and one from a river, and put
them down in front of the alien, who bent down and tasted each one with
a long unrolling tongue. Then it moved to stand over the ocean water,
and banged on the bucket 16 times. It also chirped that number, too.
Chad went back into the woods.
I said to Zander. "We now know what he wants. Water from the ocean.
Our scan of his ship showed it had water in it's living area, but
probably less than it should have. We didn't detect any leaks, though.
Our problem is determining if we should give it to him. We don't know
why he is here, or anything about his intentions, and we don't want to
enable him to do any harm. We can track him, but there is always the
possibility we might lose him. We need to be able to communicate with
him. I assume you have brought recording devices?" He said "We have."
He addressed the alien in a number of different languages, through the
transducer. One of them received a reaction, and then the alien replied
in that, using clicks so rapidly, they almost equaled a voice box in
sound quality. Zander adjusted his transducer, which then acted like a
translator, too, and we understood the alien. He did need water. He was
passing by our solar system and stopped on the world which had liquid
water of the kind he needed, but miscalculated his landing, and
couldn't take off again, because he couldn't get back in his ship
without more water.
We were all in contact, so I said, +Rod, do you think we can
duplicate this faster than light space ship?+ He said +No. I don't
understand how it operates. It's not as though we need it.+ I said
+Right. Got the transducer scanned?+ He said +Yes, and we might be able
to duplicate it, but not the language information.+ I said to Zander,
"Please tell him we need to scan him for injuries and contaminants. It
will cause no harm." He did that. I said to Zander, "We would like to
learn it's language. Is there a way we can arrange that with you?" He
said "We can leave this with you, if you would like." I said "We would
like that very much." Pete said +She's in good health, with eggs. IQ
hard to determine, but could be around 140. No sign of any psychic
potential, and couldn't detect a silent connection.+ I said +Do you
think you could copy her memories into a crystal, and at a distance?+
He said +Good idea. Will try. Bear in mind I might faint in the
process, but would not risk damage.+ I said +Alright. If you can,
better if you were out of sight when you do that.+ He walked into the
woods. Then I heard him fall down. He got up a few seconds later, and
said in contact, +Success. Got the language separate, too.+ I said
+Great! Cause for celebration when this is over.+ I could feel him
grinning.
I said to Zander, "We would like to give you something, but there is
a little problem. It reveals too much of our methods. Would you keep it
a secret, if we asked that?" He said "This is important?" I said "We
have a rule against showing technology that is in advance of the
culture we are associating with. I am sure you understand the wisdom of
But not when it applies to you." He gave me his grin and nod. I said
"Would you agree not to show it outside of your own people, and then,
only in support of GC business?" He said "That I can agree to." I said
to Pete, "The scan of her body. Just the visual." He nodded walked into
the forest with Rod. They came back right away, and gave me the
crystal. I said to Zander, "Before I give you this, I need to determine
if this is safe for you and your people to use. Some of what I need to
know might be too personal for your associates to hear." He said "I
understand." Nigel brought us some chairs. We sat away from the rest. I
said "First, since you asked, I should tell you I can hear those
frequencies, and at very low volume. We all have different personal
abilities, and like to have them as varied as possible. It makes things
interesting, wouldn't you think?" He said "Fascinating!" I smiled. I
said "What I want to give you is our scan of the alien's body. But for
it to work with you, we need to know something about your ability to
perceive with your mind. Your ability seems to be better than any of
your other people on this planet. Is this a special thing with you, or
is it normal among your people?" He said "I understand and appreciate
your discretion. Yes, it is indeed private, and is not what we consider
to be normal. It is considered to be an unfair advantage, so we who
have these abilities do not advertise it."
I said "I'm sorry about that. It would seem to place unnecessary
limitations on the advancement of your species." He said "Friend indeed
you are. Yes. There are very few of us. Some are better than I am, but
so few, they hardly meet to reproduce." I said "Do you know what other
talents they would possess?" He said "I've only met 2, and they
wouldn't discuss it." I said "That was wise of your Guardians." He sat
up very straight in surprise. He said "I will keep your secrets with my
life!" I said "Our assessment of your high intelligence was accurate.
And the honor you posses. We are very glad to have a real friend in
you. Because some of you are better, it is possible that it might
happen to you. Therefore, this should safe for you to use. Put this
crystal to the part of you which is nearest to the part of your brain
which is concerned with intelligence and memory management, and look
into it with your object sense." He did, and I felt his surprise. I
grinned. He said "That's amazing!" I said "We often hear things like
that, even among ourselves. Now you understand something of why we
don't like to reveal our methods."
Chad said in contact, +You played him just like you said you would.
Bravo! We have a big tank of water we can port in, but there is a
security problem.+ I said +Make some big noise in the forest in 30
seconds, and when we are all looking, port it to behind the space
ship.+ He said +Right.+ I said to Zander, "When there is a noise,
please look in that direction, and tell your people to investigate it."
There was a loud boom, and Zander did as I requested. I said "There is
now a large container of water behind the ship." He grinned at me,
really wide. I said "That's not fair. Yours are much more impressive
than mine are." He said "I'm sorry you are so deprived." I said "At
least when we bite ourselves by accident, there isn't much damage." He
said "Do you do that often?" I said "Not ever, that I can recall." We
laughed our different ways. We watched as Chad and Rod assisted the
alien in pumping it into her ship. I said "I hope she makes it back
home in time to manage her eggs." He said "I, too."
When the alien was ready to leave, I said to her through the
transducer, "We, the Guardians of this Restricted World, and our other
guests (I waved my arm at Zander), wish you a safe and fast journey to
your destination." She did what looked like a bow, and said, "Thank
you, gracious hosts. I will make note of your hospitality to our
Council." I bowed. She turned and climbed back into her ship, which was
a very strange sight. We all backed away, and it wobbled up into the
air, and then sped away.
I said to Zander, "This is the start of beautiful friendship, if you
so allow. We have much to share. May we contact you in a few days to
arrange for another meeting in private?" He said "Please do! Farewell."
I said "Farewell." He and his associates went into their ship and took
off, invisible. Then all the adepts crowded around me, and hugged and
kissed me every place on my skin they could reach. Pete said "Chad told
us what you were hoping to do, and ohboy did you DO it. He still
doesn't know most of what we can do, and you made him a loyal friend
for life!" I said "Well, thanks, but we need to discuss this in a full
meeting. Please make a crystal of it, and we'll meet tomorrow to
discuss what to do next. There are some critically important things to
decide." They all nodded seriously. We ported home.
Not home, exactly. It was to one of our conference rooms we had set
up as a sex play room. They jumped on me, and we celebrated the usual
way, which was with nut licking me and Pete in a high intensity link,
until we all squirted spontaneously. Then we did it again, to make it
last. While we were resting, Chad said "We need to meet with more new
aliens, a lot." We threw pillows at him. He said "Hey, you got me wrong
this time. Who doesn't want to watch Stephen in action?" There were a
lot of "Not Me" comments. I was the only one who threw a pillow at him
again.
END ENTRY
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Grant
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