Stephen's Secure Blog #89
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 14 in this story, in the spring of year 4 of his special
school.
Stephen's Secure Blog #89 "Museum Visits Me"
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The catering staff Hissssner's Chief of Protocol sent over was a
great help. They knew what to do, and did it well. They loved my well
designed fancy kitchen. I thanked them a lot, before the guests
arrived, which they liked, too. Then Ichi arrived, to act as my
assistant. I said to him, "If you keep grinning like that, you might
even scare some Ssintris into thinking you're going to bite them." He
laughed and said, "Good!" We were speaking GC, and one of the catering
staff was amused by that, and I let him know I didn't mind that, which
he appreciated.
Then Rose arrived. She said to me, "I've been meaning to ask you.
WHAT did you DO to Zander?" I said "Nothing much. I just gave him a
full hug." Ichi said, "Must have been like a fusion bomb going off in
his feelings. He's been aching for that for 50 years." Rose said, "That
explains it. He's full of love now, which we've all noticed. We like
it. I just wish the right time for that had been sooner." I nodded.
Then Zander arrived, and I could see he was different. More assured,
but less reserved. I liked the change, and he knew I did, and
appreciated it. I noticed that all evening, he always positioned
himself, when he could, in a way which blocked my view of his kind of
food the caterers had put out. That was VERY nice of him, and I made
sure he knew how I felt about that.
The guests from the museum arrived, in their personal vehicles, and
were directed into the living room. There were a lot of nice comments
about the big light sculpture they had seen outside, and what they had
seen so far of my house. When they were all there, and nutritionally
refreshed, I asked for their attention and said, "Everything here is my
construction, including the building. Excluding the sand. I had nothing
to do with that." They laughed. I said "Each room has an adjustable
environmental control. At present they are set to more your comfort
than mine. For those who might need them, there are personal facilities
for a variety of species down that hall. Don't hold me responsible for
what might happen to you, if you want to experiment with what the
Posintans think are useful." More laughter. I said "Being something of
an artist (laughter), there is art all throughout my house. So to see
it all, if you're interested, we should go on a tour. If you are ready,
let us proceed with that." We did. They loved the stained glass art on
the kitchen cabinets. They loved the different kinds of flooring I had
used. They were intrigued by the lighting. They loved the paintings on
the walls, and they were simply astounded by the pool, and all the
mosaics there. I said "I don't know if you noticed, but the floors, all
through the house, but most especially here, are heated. I never liked
cold floors. Shivering toes, ugh!" They laughed. I said "Now we go to
the galleries. The displayed items are not arranged as they would be in
a real gallery, for lack of space. They are as crowded together as we
will be. You are the experts at display, not I."
There were a lot of wows in the galleries, and not all from the
guests. Some of the things were new to the humans, too. While there,
after they had seen enough, I said, "Some items are available for
purchase, loan, or donation. I do commissions as well. The miniature
light sculptures will be available for sale through the museum store,
price to be determined by the museum. I get half of the proceeds, which
I use for funding education, as some of you might already know. They
can be made of any solid non transparent material but iron, of either
manufactured or natural material. For example, this one is of
malachite. This, jade. This, manufactured diamond. My name will be on
the bottom, and I assume you would want the names of the museum, the
planet, and the city, in more visible locations. These will be
exclusive to the museum, for a period of time to be determined later.
For this, and any other arrangements between the museum and myself, I
would like my friend Crintaj, the Curator of Gems and Minerals, to be
my contact person. Any questions, arguments, armed violence?" They
laughed. One said, "Do you have a catalog?" I said "Yes." I pointed to
a bowl of memory chips. I said "A virtual tour, with descriptions. I
omitted pricing, because I would rather people not die while looking at
my art." Big laughter at that. I said "It also contains proposals for
showing your sponsorship of the big sculpture in the plaza. As soon as
we agree on that, and on what should be on the miniatures, I can get to
work on the real things. PLEASE be a little more er, efficient in your
decision making than the government." Laughter. I said "You don't know
what I had to go through, in designing their, er, dishes. You can
insert your choice of bad words there." They laughed. I said "Other
worlds want dishes like that now. No! Never! I'm not doing that again.
Please have pity on an abused and bruised artist, and be nice to him.
Er, me." The Curator said, "We will." I said "Thank you. If any of you
want to came back, let me know through my friend here." We said our
farewells, and they left.
Zander, Rose, Ichi, and I, sat and talked, while the caterers were
cleaning up. Rose said, "Do you think they are going to take a lot of
your work?" I said "Yes. All if they can get away with without paying
anything." Zander said, "With the big one in the plaza, and selling the
small ones, the extra draw of your exhibit before the event will help
them tremendously." Ichi said "Then they can see which of your art the
public likes the most, and that's what they will try to own later." I
said "That makes sense."
Zander said "I've been looking at buildings. Which would you
recommend, something new and in good condition, or something
historical, but in need of work?" I said "Personally, I would like the
historical one the best, but it's not as practical. Not move in ready,
and modifications have to go through a lot of inspections. Newer
buildings might be better able to hide the modifications from the
inspectors. Can't do much to hide a Port-All in plain sight in an old
building. Then there is location. In the center of the city, things
which happen there might be a little too noticeable, and most
importantly, to the very people who shouldn't see them. So, the
building might be better located near the edge of the city, far from a
police station, near residential settings, for the connivence of staff
and students. You need to think big, for the future, and also with an
eye for proper defense. NOBODY should be allowed in the building
without permission. You don't want strangers observing your equipment
or teaching methods, EVER. Every entrance should be guarded. A good
reason to choose a former school, and for lab rooms already built and
approved. That also means housing shouldn't be in the school buildings,
or the students and their families can't have outside visitors. For
children who attend the school away from their parents, if they have
any, foster parents may need to be hired."
I said "There is something else. How do you convince students to come
to the school, and the parents to allow it? Pay them. Even pay for
their living arrangements. My school does. You can't sustain a student
population by kidnapping homeless children. By the way, how is he
doing?" Zander and Rose grinned. Zander said, "We all love him, and of
course he knows that. He behaves well most of the time, but can't help
giving it away when he is about to pull some funny prank. He's very
creative with them, though. Another thing. We need an art teacher for
him." I said "That's unusual. Very few adepts, or people who become
them, are artists, to my intense disappointment. You will have to have
outside teachers anyway. Make up a security contract. Have Hissssner
arrange through a university for that kind of thing. You will need to,
to have degrees awarded." Zander said "I'll work on that." Rose said
"He's been asking for you." I said "I've been expecting that. I would
like to visit him, too. BUT, we need to make that happen in a way so
that he doesn't think it's in direct response to his requests. I think
it's not good for the school to have Zander superseded by me, in the
view of his students. He must have full authority for the school, and
we and the students need to respect that." She said "I agree." Zander
said "I have to agree as well." I grinned and said, "Even though it
means a lot of work for you." He said "I did notice that,
unfortunately." I said "It wouldn't be too bad to have some of your
older students share in that work. How are the Posintans doing?" He
said "Big!" We laughed. He said "Besides that, they are VERY hard
workers, and are always polite and disciplined. They work well with the
other students. Actually, they all work well with each other, which is
amazing for such a diverse group. You showed me how that is possible,
with your hug. I can't thank you enough for that, and what it helped me
learn." I said "I thank you for giving me the opportunity to share
that." We all knew that was the time for him to leave, and we said our
farewells, and he left.
The leader of the catering crew came to me said, "Sir, we are
finished. For any other events you need the service we can provide,
please choose us." I said "I don't have any plans right now, but when I
do, I'll let you know. You've done well, and what's more, I like you
and your people. Thank you." She was very happy with that. After they
left, I lowered the temperature in the house to human nudist level. We
undressed and talked some more, while hugging. Ichi said "The more I
see of his school, and its problems, the more I realize how unique our
own school is, and that we might never be able to duplicate it enough
on other planets to produce the kind of student graduates we are
looking for." Rose said "Probably true. I think it could only happen on
a so called barbaric Restricted World, full of suspicion and violence,
and lack of efficient monitoring technology." I said "Might be true,
but I sure hope it isn't. I didn't think we should ever trust the
offworld students with the 4th, but I'm not so sure of that now." Rose
said "I was wondering when you would bring that up. I don't know about
the Posintans yet, but the other students who would be ready for it in
our school, I would trust with it, and I'm as surprised by that as you
are. The real issue is, are WE ready to give up some control of that.
And if not now, when?" I said "Zander is the problem. He's still not
good enough in mental control, to handle it. Harditch and Hahchet might
get there before he does." Rose said, "Now that you've pointed that
out, I agree. Going to give him more lessons?" I said "It would have to
be only from me, now, and I don't know if it would help. I think he's
just too old and set in his ways. They have a better object sense than
he has, and his might never improve enough to manipulate things in the
4th. The first Abbot at the Temple didn't, and he had been studying the
arts all his life. I'll try him with the original belt, soon, and see
what happens. Who knows what will come?"
first." We did that. Then, under the heat lamps, we raised our own heat
in the link, until we all finished very well. While we were resting,
Rose said "I wonder what our friends will think of this place." I said
"I'll bring the old Seniors, and see what they think, first." Ichi said
"That should be interesting!" We agreed. A day later, I did, after
updating them on events, and it really was interesting.
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Grant
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