Stephen's Logbook #1 Entry #29
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 near the start of year 9 of
special school.
Stephen's Logbook #1 Entry #29 "Gift of Zander"
NEW ENTRY
Another meeting with Zander, in my office in Central America.
Temperature set to 85 and humidity at 20%, for his comfort. He would
have liked it a little hotter, but not I. When we were seated, he said
in English, "This is nice. Thank you." I said with a grin, "I won't say
it's my complete pleasure, but you're welcome. Why English?" He said "I
thought I would try it with you." He switched to French and said, "But
if you prefer another?" I said in the language of the blue crab alien,
"French is fine, or we could converse in this one." He looked surprised
and said, "You learn quickly." I said in CG, "Thank you. I thought it
might be interesting. I could have learned it while we were there with
the alien, but it wouldn't have helped if I couldn't talk in those
frequencies." He said "In only a few minutes?" I said "It's difficult
to explain. For our work, we needed to learn languages fast enough to
manage our offworld contacts while they were happening. We went through
different levels of experimentation in devising different processes, to
where we can do it now as fast as we want to, if conditions support it.
LIke much of what we can do, we learn to do it first, when we have a
need to do it. The excitement of that is pleasing."
I said "Speaking of excitement, what have you learned of our last
meeting, from your contemplation of it?" He said with a smile, "That
you manipulated me." I said "Of course. All communication is
manipulation. But, tell me why I did what you think I did, which caused
you to say that." He had a surprised feeling. Then he said, "You did it
FOR me! To make it the best way for me to receive and understand what
you wished me to know, that I wanted to know. I know something more
about you now. You are a teacher." I said "We are all teachers to each
other, but yes, that is one of my major interests. Learning is another.
Did you bring anything to help me with that?" He said "Yes I did." He
reached into his case and took out what looked like a thin flat board
the size of a large book. It had a shiny black surface. He touched a
part of it, and it lit up and showed writing on it's surface. It was an
electronic book. I said "How many books in it?" He said "Thousands." I
said "There are going to be some very disappointed Guardians, if you
give us only one of them." I looked around like I was conspiring, and
said, "I don't think I can hide it from them for long." He laughed, and
I laughed with him. He took out 6 more. I said "That's great! Thank you
very much."
I said "This reminds me about something I was going to ask you. It
seems to me that you and I have some aspects of humor appreciation in
common. Do you agree?" He said "Yes, I agree, and this is unusual among
different species. I think you have been very careful with it, and I
appreciate that. Here are the wires and devices you may use to fill
their energy storage components. They are built for your normal
electrical sockets in your buildings. Once filled, they last for 35
hours of heavy use. Here is a book of instructions." I said "Thank you
again, for this treasure. It makes me feel guilty for what I'm doing
with you." He said "What is it you are doing with me, that makes you
feel guilty?" I said "Your contacts with me, and us, are making you
into a different person, further apart from your fellows, than you were
before this. We know this very well, in ourselves. Loneliness is one of
our burdens, and will become yours as well, more and more, as you
advance." He said "I was aware of that in general, but had not thought
to apply it to myself. Now that I have, I see you are correct."
I said "There may be danger in that, as well. Your fellows may think
you have been contaminated, or converted, and that might cause them to
be suspicious or resentful of you, or more." He said "Yes, that is a
possibility." I said "Then you will need to leave this world, for your
advancement, and we here will be without a friend in you." He said "It
is inevitable, but not soon. Let us take advantage of our present
circumstances while we can." I said, "To that, do you have any
questions I might not want to answer, about what we discussed the last
time?" He smiled and said, "I do appreciate your humor. Yes. You never
said how intelligent YOU are." I said "That's true. It's not possible
to answer that in a useful way, for a Senior Guardian. We can
manipulate our minds in different ways, which can use more of our
brains for a specific purpose, than is normal for humans, and our
sensory input is very adjustable in many ways. We have not devised a
way to measure much of that, because we don't feel we need to. We just
know. I will try to explain it this way. With the blue alien situation,
nobody issued orders. I was asked to be there for my special hearing. I
decided to ask for your help. Me, because we had interacted before, so
I was the best choice for that function, and that choice was automatic.
While that was happening, Rod, who is very interested in such things,
scanned the ship, and reported about it. Chad, who is very interested
in biology and chemistry, noticed there might not be enough water in
it, so he went to get samples for the alien to taste. When you came,
and we could communicate to the alien, Pete scanned her, because he is
very interested in alien peoples, and reported the results. You
witnessed what came of that. Each of us did what we were best at, as a
matter of course, in a way which coordinated with and supported each
other."
He said "I still don't understand it as well as I would like to, but
there is something you left out. What are you best at, that you did
there?" I said, "The same thing I did when we first met." He said "And
that is?" I said "You will tell me." He said "I don't know." I said,
"Then think about what happened when we met, and how badly it could
have gone, but didn't. In fact, could it have gone any better for
either of us?" He said, "Now that I consider it, I notice things went
extremely well, for a first contact. You manage situations." I said "I
have been told I manage situations to create the outcome that is best
for all. I just do what I think is right. Pete said to me one time,
after a difficult situation was resolved, 'You make a bad situation ten
times better than if it had never happened.' That was embarrassing." He
laughed. I said "You are as bad as Pete." He laughed some more.
I said "I know how to get your attention. Do you have any more
questions?" He said "Yes. How did you move my transport?" I said "I
didn't. I'm innocent." He said "One or more of you did." I said "Did
your transport record the process?" He said, "No. It should have." I
said "If it doesn't know how it moved, how are we supposed to know?
Anyway, it's one of those forbidden methods. Sorry. Want to try that
with something else?" He smiled and said, "What is the highest recorded
intelligence of a student entering your school at the youngest age?" I
said "202. Does that actually do anything for you? To be honest, I
should tell you, not all students had valid numbers. At least one of
them deliberately scored lower than he could have, that we know of.
Geniuses can be tricky, with things which were designed by less
intelligent people. One more thing I should tell you. It is considered
impolite among us to ask another about the special abilities which
makes us different from each other, and forbidden at the school, except
for the teachers who are involved in them. Next question." He said "I
can't think of any that you would answer." I said "You could ask me
what I think I should tell you." He grinned and said, "I should have
thought of that."
I said "You haven't asked, so I'll ask you one. What do you think of
human appearance, in the general way your people feel about it, and how
you feel about it. What could be taken as insults, will be enjoyed." He
laughed so much I wondered if he would injure himself. I told him that,
and he laughed some more. He said "You are ugly. Slimy soft body,
patchy fur, no proper claws, and weak and defenseless." I said "Just
me, or all humans?" He said "All, but you are before me." I said "To
offworlders, we like to be ugly and defenseless. Think about it." He
said "I understand. You are a sly one. I assume you are as far from
defenseless as your species can be." I said "Most of us are. More,
actually. A disciplined and trained body, makes for the same qualities
of mind, which we value highly, because our special abilities would not
be usable, without such fine control. Would you like to see a fight I
was in, where my highly skilled and armed opponent was trying to kill
me?" He felt surprised and excited, and said, "Most definitely!" I said
with a grin, "I can feel your interest." I opened the top drawer of my
desk, and took out the crystal Pete had just made and ported there. I
gave it to him. He put it to his head, and I could tell he was playing
it over and over again. Then he put it down and said, "May I keep
this?" I said "If you agree to let no other use it. The technology is
secret, and so is my fighting ability." He said "That is disappointing,
but I agree. Were you using any special abilities?" I said "No, just my
body and its training, and I had no assistance. It would not have been
right, to have unfair advantages." He said "How much more could you
have done?" I said "He is about 70% as able as a normal human can be,
which is better than 99% of those who make a serious study of it.
Graduates of our school who are not Guardians, are near 95% of human
capacity. Ability goes up in steps after that, for Guardians. I am the
senior teacher of fighting arts. I could have punched through his body.
Are you a serious student of the arts of fighting?" He said "That's
amazing, and yes I am."
I took the steel bar from behind my desk, which I had put there just
for my planned demonstration, and said, "Can you bend this?" He stood
and tried. He said "I can't. I assume you can. Show me?" I took off my
shirt, and as I took the bar from him, I pumped up my muscles. Then I
held it out in front of me by the ends, and built up my power, and with
a great internal scream, I bent the bar in half. I gave it to him and
said, "Be careful not to touch the middle. It might be a little hot
from the bending." He examined it. I put my shirt back on, and said,
"Tell me why I showed you." He grinned and said, "The lesson in the
crystal. Don't underestimate your opponent. Ever the teacher." I said
"None of us, of any species, use our full potential. We at the school
train to use more of it than most. Now tell me why I'm being the
teacher to you." He said "That I know. You care." I said "That is a
small part of it. For the full truth of it, you will experience it.
Ready?" He said "Yes." I gave him my love. He said "You are not so ugly
to me anymore." We bowed to each other. We walked to the Port-All, and
through it, and through another, and to his ship. We bowed to each
other again, and he went inside. Soon, his ship went invisible and
left, and I closed the hanger doors.
In the private room with Pete and Nigel, Pete said, "Will he ask for
another meeting?" I said "If he realizes he has all he needs from me to
start him on his road to becoming an adept and Guardian, probably not,
if there is no need for special action together." Nigel said, "He is
your message of friendship to his Guardians." I said to him, "I can't
hide anything from you now. Scary, but I'm glad." He said, "I love you,
too." We hugged each other for a while. I squeezed both of their
shoulders and said, "If he does want to visit again, he's yours." They
understood. Ends can be more important than beginnings. We hugged some
more, with flowing love.
END ENTRY
--
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Grant
|
|