Stephen's Secure Blog #91
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 #91 "Captain Zurict"
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Captain Zurict said "Do you have other kinds of space ships?" Percy
said "We do. We have them larger than this, which we use for
interstellar trips where we might need more space, and a very large
model we can do more things with, like host large assemblies and
parties." Ichi said, "It's well equipped for sports." Rose said "I like
the big swimming pool." He said "You travel to other stars a lot?" I
said "That depends on what you mean by a lot. Most recently, some of us
were on Zichesshich, Tsuriss, and Posintan." He said "Pardon me for
being nosey, but what did you do in those places?" I grinned, and said,
"Well, I'm a citizen of Zichesshich, and have a house there. I'm also a
citizen of Tsuriss, as are Ichi and Percy. Rose and I are also citizens
of Posintan, and have competed in their sports games." He was so
surprised he couldn't say wow, although I did cup my ear in
anticipation, to give him an incentive. He saw that and couldn't help
laughing. He said "Now you have my complete attention. Did you win your
competitions?" I said "We only entered the ones where we had a chance
of losing, in the time we had there. Most of the others were too easy
for us. We didn't lose. We can show them to you, if you like." He said
"I would REALLY like that!" Rose said "Maybe not the last." I said
"Right. He may fall out of his chair like Hissssner did." Captain
Zurict said in surprise, "You know the President?" I said "Sure. Good
friend. He likes my art." He said "You people are really full of
surprises!" I said "We've got room for more. Where would you like us to
project the 3D images of the competitions?" He pointed to the side of
the room, so that's where Rose projected my Kopdit fights.
Then I said "We didn't arrange for Rose's citizenship until after
that, so she didn't compete in single sports until the swords." I
projected her matches, and then she projected mine. Then I said, "If
projected that. There were some wows again. I said, "For your
information, any one of our Senior Guardians would have done just as
well, in all those situations." He did have an extra wow for that, and
said, "That is amazing. I can't imagine how tough your training must
have been." I said "It still is. We train our bodies and minds all the
time. We have to, or our technology would kill us." He said "Oh!" I
said "That doesn't mean we still can't have some fun. Want to see what
made the President fall off his chair?" He said "Absolutely!" I said "I
challenged the best ever Stumak player." He said "This I've got to
see!"
And so he did. He and his FO did fall off their chairs laughing. When
he got back on, he said, "Incredible! Only one day to become a supreme
master player!" I said "But I didn't. That would be impossible. I'm not
even a good player, yet." He said "Then how?" I said "Because I'm a
much better competitor. There is more involved in every game, than just
playing skill. I managed the entire situation, so he would do what I
wanted, which enabled me to beat him. For him, it was a lesson in
humility, because at the end, after it was over, he realized I had used
his arrogance to make him lose. He actually thanked me for that, while
we were leaving the stage." Rose projected what happened after the
game. I said "Posintans really disliked him and his fellow Stumak
players, for their bad sportsmanship. I decided to fix that, which is
why I decided to play him." He said "I think I can see that now. The
games were much less important to you, than what happened as a result
of them. That is the most amazing thing of all, and not just because
you succeeded in that, but because you wanted to." Rose said "We all
agree. None of us knew what he really had intended, until we had a
discussion about it afterwards. He likes to do that, for teaching."
Ichi said "We are not just the Guardians of Earth. We are the Guardians
of all that is fair and good, wherever we are." Captain Zurict said "I
was going to ask why you do those things, but now I don't need to." I
nodded and said "We are who we are, always."
Captain Zurict said "Why don't you do more for your planet?" I said
"We do more than you know, but I do know what you mean. We don't, for
the same reason the GC has made it a Restricted World. I thought, being
an officer of the GC, you would understand that." He smiled and said,
"I do. I was just seeing if you did." I said "In any case, as
individuals, few that we are, we would be ineffective in making any
meaningful social changes in the short term, and nothing imposed on a
society is good for it, or lasts in a good form. But, as individuals,
when we see a deserving individual in dire need of help, we can't
ignore it, and be who we are. Zander owes his life to that." Captain
Zurict said "Yes, Zolnox told me about that. Thank you for us, and for
him." I said "You and he are welcome. We visit Zander often." Rose said
"Practically every day." Captain Zurict was about to say something, but
didn't. I said "I see you understand what Restricted really means." He
said "That is what makes you frustrating." I said "As you see, testing
works both ways." He almost strangled.
I said "But we can assist with you with something, if you're
interested." He said "Oh, what is that?" I said "We scan every ship
which enters this system. We can give you a list of every contraband
item on this ship." He said "I would be very interested in that!" I
said "If you check your main computer, you will find a directory named
'Guardians'. In that you will find that list, with pictures. Another
list will show you some things which can use some minor repairs." He
said "Thank you very much!" I said "You're welcome. We will give you
another file after you transfer personnel. We expect there will be more
to report then. If you need any help from us before you leave, please
let us know." We stood, and so did they, and he said, "We will." I said
"We can count on you not to report anything of us which would draw the
wrong kind of attention to us." He said "Yes you can." We bowed, and
then I gave the whole ship my love. We turned and left the room, while
they were frozen in astonishment. We walked down the hall, and when we
were unobserved, we ported to our ship. Percy called them on the comm,
and thanked them for the visit, after we were transferred to the
Captain. He was even more astonished then. We went invisible, and then
ported the ship back to the hanger on the island. Then we ported to
where Pete and Nigel were.
Pete said "I should have known better. I take back my comment about
the trip being boring." We all kissed and hugged him. I said "Anybody
have comments or criticisms?" There weren't any. I said "I have one.
You were all terrific, and I can't think of anything I would want to be
different. We were a TEAM, and I love that!" We all hugged and kissed
with a lot of energy, which went further. We all did some very exciting
things, including Pete and I having our nuts licked in the link, and we
all finished very strongly. While we were resting, Nigel said, "I
wonder what the captain would think of us if he saw what we just did."
wrestled with him, while we were all laughing.
Ichi handled the investigation, with Grace assisting, while I was
dealing with the museum design specifications, and deciding what
material to make the miniatures out of, and how to price them. When it
was time for the ship to leave, I spoke to the Captain by that
transponder Ichi had attached to the antenna. I said, "You have another
document of interest in the computer directory. I assume you would like
to know how. Well, our computers can do to yours, like we can do to the
other competitors on Posintan." He laughed and said, "As if that tells
us a lot." I said "Alright, I'll go one better. We wear our computers
on our wrists. Those little bands you saw on our lower arms. They use a
mental interface, and can do some very unusual things, such as record
and project 3D images, and are more powerful than any computer the GC
has. Happy now?" He laughed and said, "Thank you, but no." I said
"Well, that's all you're going to get. After you pass the last of the
major planetary orbits on your way out of the system, we will remove
our signal transponder from your ship's antenna." He said "A clean ship
is a good ship. It's been very interesting meeting you. Farewell." I
said "Same here. Farewell."
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Grant
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