Stephen's Secure Blog #81
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, in the 1950's. 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. He stopped writing to his penpal, but found he
still wanted to record his life, in case he lost his memory again, and
wrote 30 entries in his first logbook. Then he wrote to an artificial
intelligence called Geenee, in the master computer in his school for
gifted students, which he started attending in 2016. Now it's after
2018, and he's continuing to save his memories in a secure blog.
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 13 in this story, in the Winter of year 4 of his special
school.
Stephen's Secure Blog #81 "Laser Tag"
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Rose and I played Laser Tag for a whole day, as a two person team,
against other two person teams, and against other number teams up to
eight. We won all the matches, and never got hit. We didn't use our
shields. Once we were questioned about using a device to negate laser
strikes. I said "Do you have a truth teller machine here, like what I
saw at the MedTech I went to?" They did, and we went to it, and they
asked, and I passed. I could have made it say whatever I wanted it to,
but I didn't. I said, "If you had captured video of the matches, you
could have analyzed the laser paths and seen we didn't cheat." The
official said, "That is true, but it would take a long time." I said
"You need better computer programmers. I could do that for you, easily.
I'll write it up and bring it on my next visit." He said "Thank you.
We'll need it if you want to do this again. You're unbelievably good."
I said "Thank you. We are unbelievably well trained, that's all.
Unfortunately, while this is fun for us, it's not much of a
competition, so we probably won't be doing this sport again. It
wouldn't be fair. I liked Kopdit Unlimited better. I still won both
matches, but I really felt it." He said "Wow! And with your size." I
grinned and said, "And what's wrong with my size?" He laughed.
Before we went home for the night, I asked Passinchance for other
sports. He said "Two kinds of fencing. A light sword for point contact
against padding, and a heavy two handed sword for hard strikes against
armor." I said "Let's go look at the heavy sword." We went to see a
match. They didn't have armor to fit me. I asked if I could bring my
own, and they said I could, but subject to inspection. I gave them a
sample of what I planned to make the armor of, and they asked what it
was made of. I said "Do you have to know? Can't we just strike it with
a sword to demonstrate it's effectiveness?" They agreed to the test. I
put the curved piece on a table, and they whacked it with swords. It
marred the finish of the piece, but didn't do anything else, not even
bend it. They were very impressed, it being very light weight and only
2mm thick. One of them asked, "Where can we obtain this material?" I
said "You can't, in this form. Each of the many pieces a suit of armor
would require has to be woven to the correct shape, of very expensive
special fibers, by hand, and cured under high pressure in special
heated steel molds. It would be extremely expensive to make, because
everything would have to be custom designed and fitted to each
athlete." He said "How expensive?" I said "I could make a suit of it in
your size for about 2.3 million credits." He said "Wow!" I grinned and
said, "I agree. But then, I own the factory." He said, "Still, a few of
our experts might want to make that investment." I said "I would
refuse. It would be unfair to the other competitors who couldn't afford
it. I'm only using this because of my small size, to equal the ratio of
your armor to body weight. Even so, I give away reach and strength in
using the sword, so it should be a fair match. Because of my skill, I
don't expect to be struck. I hope!" He said "I give you honor as a true
sportsman of the highest ideal." He bowed to me. I bowed in return, and
said, "The honor is mine. I like your people, and I like your games.
I'm having a lot of fun!" We all grinned at that. Rose asked if they
had a separate category for females, and they did. They are smaller
than the males, too. I expected her to go for it, so I had to make
armor for her, too. I examined the padding they used under the armor,
and thought we could duplicate that.
I said to Rose, "I want both. What do you want?" She said "Both. I'm
not as good as you, so I might lose, but it's still going to be fun." I
said to Passinchance, "You heard?" He grinned and said, "Tomorrow
morning. I'll set up and call you early with the times and locations."
I said "While we would like to be near each other, that isn't an
important requirement." He said "I've noticed that, and I think I know
why. I assume what I tell one of you, the other one will know at the
same time." I said "Very good. Sometimes yes, and other times with a
delay. We do monitor each other in these situations. For the afternoon,
do you have a competition which is based solely on intelligence and
memory?" He said "Yes. Stumak. You move pieces electronically in a game
of strategy, by very controlled timed hand gestures on a sensing plate.
It's considered the most demanding game ever invented in the GC. We
imported it from Zichesshich. Those from that planet have never been
beaten. We have them in a separate category here." I said "That's
disappointing. I didn't come from Zichesshich to play people I can play
there. They are NOT fun, as I'm sure you know." He laughed very hard.
He said "I like you. I really like you! I agree. We all think the same
about them. Not fun. Can you beat them?" I said "I don't know. I've
never played the game. But then, I've never played the games before,
that I have here so far, either. I have an intelligence, and physical
and mental control, which they can't comprehend. I can learn the game
in a few minutes."
He said "If you think you have a chance, I would LOVE to see them
defeated. All of us would. Despite your size, oh don't look at me like
that. Anyway, you are much more like us than they are. Beat them, and
you're our hero." I said "I'm NOT a hero. But I feel a competitive
urge, just because of how you feel about them." He grinned really wide
and said, "I'll schedule you to take on their best, if that's alright
with you." I said "Do they allow competitor personal bets?" He said
"Like between competitors?" I nodded. He said "Yes." I said "Then do
it, if you can set it up so that the first of two games doesn't count.
After all, I've never played before." He said "Do you think you can
win?" I said "I know of the game, and I can memorize all the most
famous recorded games in seconds. I think I might be able to." Rose
said "I'll bet all I have on that." Passinchance hesitated and said,
"So will I. Er, ouch!" I laughed and said, "For 20% of what you win,
I'll cover your loss on the bet." He said "Done! I can't let that go.
You're a sly one, for sure!" I grinned and said, "I've heard much
worse, from my loving friends." He grinned back, and said, "And from
your enemies?" Rose said "They don't get the chance!" We all laughed at
that, but Passinchance laughed the loudest and longest.
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Grant
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