Stephen's Secure Blog #119
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 Winter of year 5 of his special school.
Stephen's Secure Blog #119 "Multi Process Demo"
START Page
I said to Captain Krack "The information we would give you, is now
in your main computer, in the directory named in your language,
Galactic Council. In a separate directory, named Origin, is an account
of how and why your ancestors left our planet, and what happened to the
other ships which left before you did, and what those people became,
and what they did, until recently, to many planets and people. Some of
that is more than the GC knows. There is one more thing we can offer.
Well, person, not thing. One of us can be with you when you return to
meet with your superiors. We would not travel with you, because your
ship is much too slow, and we prefer not to waste that time in
idleness. We could be there when you arrive, or some time later, if you
choose. Your thoughts on that, now?" He said "Wow!" Rose said, "We hear
that a lot." They laughed.
Captain Krack said "Having you with us, would lend credence to what I
would tell them, but it would not be good for the security of your
group." I said "We would have to work out what they would be told about
us. That really isn't the significant problem. How likely is it they
will insist on examining us, forcing us to reveal things they shouldn't
know, in resisting that, which could damage their development?" He said
"Such as?" I said "Such as they can't use force on us. Any kind. It
won't work. Not even fusion bombs. How they will find out, and what
they discover in trying, will be very bad for them, Restricted as they
are to us." He said "Oh! That's why you dislike weapons. You don't fear
them, but you dislike what they stand for, because they are against
your philosophy, and wouldn't use them yourself." I said "Can't. Some
would consider that a weakness." He said with respect, "They would be
wrong. There is something else I understand now, that I didn't before.
People don't reveal your secrets, because that would be wrong, and you
are careful to expose them only to the people who are capable of
understanding that." I said "We hope. We aren't perfect." He said "It
would be against our avowed principles to confine you against your
will, or cause you any harm, if you visit our worlds, but I think you
are right not to trust that. People who are responsible for many
people, tend to leave their principles someplace else in fear, while
they do what they think is right for their people." I said "And
therefore do greater wrong to those people, in showing them that their
society they thought they had, was false, and that their leaders are
untrustworthy, and should not be trusted to treat even their own
citizens with honor." He looked surprised, and then thoughtful, while
the First and the Psych nodded in agreement. Ichi said "Even if some
would be as we would hope, they could not withstand the pressure that
others would push on them, and would be considered to be traitors." I
said "So, we should arrange it so none of that happens."
Captain Krack said "That looks like it calls for a Situation
Manager." I said "We have four, with that ability in useful measure.
Three are here. Nigel is the other." He said "Your comm center manger?"
Ichi grinned and said, "He volunteered to be that for you. Just as we
subordinates. I don't think I will ever understand or get used to
that." Rose said "Then we shouldn't tell you more things about us you
will reject." He said "Oh? What would they be?" Ichi said, "Just as you
wouldn't have believed the martial arts energy subject without proof,
which we can demonstrate for you. Would you have believed the love you
felt of us, if you hadn't experienced it? There are some truths we
can't demonstrate to you, which are even more unusual. We would not
want to risk our relationship, to have you doubt us." He said "That
bad?" I said "Probably worse, where it agrees with, or conflicts with
religious beliefs. Some of our science and technology does that." He
said "Then you are right to be cautious. We have trouble even believing
our own science when it involves you." The MedTech said "I am proof of
that, and I suspect what I know now is just a very small part of the
whole." I said "I can tell you something simple about us, which should
exercise your credulity."
I said "We train our minds to run multiple parallel processes, with
no reduction in effective intelligence. Some of those in fully
conscious mode, and some in the background. Would you like a
demonstration?" The Psych said "Absolutely!" We laughed. I said
"Writing materials will be useful, and a portable calculator." There
were called for and provided. I gave the calculator to the engineer,
and said, "When we start, please set up and announce mathematical
problems, and I will solve them for you instantly, which you can
verify, while I'm using the writing materials, and continuing our
conversation." That's what we did for five minutes. I was faster than
he could type on the calculator, and then I passed around the drawings
I had made of them, which they admired. I said "All of us here can do
that, and more, but not with the same quality of art. I have to admit
I'm the best at that." Rose said "He is that, and enough to be more and
more famous as an artist as time goes by, on several major planets." I
said to Rose, "I think I should modify the block a little." She said
"Great idea."
I said "Now we decide what to do with the ship. Are you going to stay
a while, possibly for some more contact with us, or even visit some of
our facilities? Or would you want to leave for home right away?" He
said "Stay, which you knew I would say, and why." I said with a grin,
"I won't tell, unless you say I should." He grinned and said, "Say,
please." I said "Delay. To have more time not making important
decisions." He laughed and said "Correct!" I said "So, now to where.
Distance isn't important to us. We will provide for you any in-system
transportation you need. Our ships will not be detected." He said "I
would definitely like to see your ships." Percy said, "No you wouldn't.
There are no visible controls, and no access to mechanicals. Everything
is sealed because it doesn't break, and the ships are fully mentally
controlled. There aren't even any screens or viewports, but the comm
screen, which we modified slightly to include specifications for what
you use." He said "We could orbit the sixth planet." I suggested the
orbital parameters, and he agreed with them. I said "Would you allow us
to put you there? It would cause less possible chances for detection."
He said "Put? Odd word to use." I said "Yes." He grinned and said,
"More you can't explain." I nodded. He said "How do we prepare for what
you would do?" I said "You would need to turn off your fusion power
system, or what we would do, would provide a LOT of extra light to the
outer planets." He looked interested, and said, "For how long?" I said
"Probably not more than five minutes." He said "You will be in our ship
while this happens?" I grinned, and he looked embarrassed. I said "We
will, which will make it a little more difficult, and take longer, but
I understand your concern." He said "Fusion system will be down in
ten."
When it was time, I told our ship to extend its porting sphere to
include both ships, and ported us all over the system, to bleed off
velocity and create the proper vector. When done, I removed the
blackout field so their ship could see again, and said "Team, check the
orbit." They did, and confirmed it was stable, and not in danger of
collision with anything. Then I said to the Captain, "We have arrived
successfully in the desired orbit, and you may restart the fusion
system." He said "Thank you sir." He gave the order, and it was
restarted with no problems. I said "Now for communications. We should
have some, don't you think?" He grinned and said, "I was hoping you
would offer that." I said "But you won't find out how we do it without
the time delay of the speed of light, that you were really hoping to
do." He said "Am I that transparent?" I grinned and said, "You didn't
think you were the first, did you?" He said "Oh." I gave them all
little disks with a single button on each, and said, "Press the button
to talk to who of us you would like to talk to. It goes to our comm
center. Just say the name of one of us, and that person will be
automatically connected to you. Each of the ones I gave you has an
individual number on it. If you want to talk to the holder of one of
those numbers, say it to the comm center, instead of a name, and you
will be connected." He said "Will these communications be monitored?" I
said "By the computer to make the connection, but not after that,
unless you request it. We assume that you will assume they are fully
monitored, which would be properly prudent of somebody in your
position." He grinned.
I said "For your abundantly curious information seeking, there will
be no inherent time delay in the signal, and the devices will not need
to be re-powered. They will work only in this system for now. You will
not be able to examine or damage them, or detect their use. I suggest
you test one now, to see how it works." He pushed the button and said,
"I would speak to Stephen. I said "Speaking." The sound also came out
of the comm in his hand. I said "This device on my wrist is my computer
and communicator, operated mentally. That is what received the signal.
You can push the button again to close the connection." He said "Can a
connection be established remotely?" I said "How else could we call
you?" He said "That's not what I meant." I said "Can it be used to spy
on you? I didn't think of that. We wouldn't, anyway. We don't have a
reason to, and if we did, we wouldn't be doing it that way. Remember,
we scanned your ship, and inserted files into your computer, without
any of our hardware being in or near it." He said "Oh, sorry, I forgot
momentarily." I said "Don't be concerned, you've been exposed to a lot
of new things today. Before we end this current visit this day, I have
a request. I would like your psychologist to visit us. Now, if
possible. I would like to have a professional conversation with her,
Psych to Psych, in private, like all Psychs would want to do. Some of
what we would discuss should be kept from possible patients, to avoid
reducing the effectiveness of possible treatments." He said "I'm well
aware of your professional standards and conduct." He turned to the
Psych and said, "Your opinion?" She grinned and said, "My desire for
that, verges on absolute desperation." He laughed. He said to the both
of us, "Please give us a day to review the material you have given us,
and then you will receive our decision."
I said "One thing we haven't mentioned. In our scan of your ship, we
noticed some things. There is a file in the directory called Scan, in
your computer, which lists some er, adjustments to your ship, you might
want to consider. We provide that to every friendly ship which visits.
I think it's possible some ships will come here in the future, just to
have that." He smiled and said, "An interesting idea. I'll escort you
to your ship." We went to the lock, and I said, "Would you like to
inspect?" He grinned and said, "Absolutely!" I said "Please come
aboard." He did, and Percy took over, and said, "Of our most current
model ships, we have three sizes. This is the smallest. The next one up
in size is what we usually use for groups on interstellar trips. The
largest one is used for extended stays away, and has full
accommodations for many species, and for recreation. Rose likes the
swimming pool the best." She grinned. He said "None of our ships
requires a crew, just a person to direct voluntary activities, such as
going to a specific destination. The smaller ships have docking
stations on the big ships." The bathroom interested him. Percy said
"This blue area provides complete cleaning. It's been programed for
your people, as well as all the the other species we know of. It
removes wetness, and cleans clothes, and even teeth, too, all
instantly. I'll demonstrate." He wet his sleeve and arm, and walked
through the light, and he was all dry. Captain Krack said "Wow!" Percy
said, "It's a recent invention. Our artist doesn't just do drawings."
Back at the lounge, he said, "And this is another of his recent
inventions, our food synthesizer and dietary aid. It isn't programed
for your species, yet." Back at the lock, I said to Captain Krack,
"Naturally, what we have here should be kept secret." He said
"Naturally. Anyway, who would believe me?" I said "Besides wow, we hear
that a lot, too." He laughed. I said "Please call us when you would
like another visit. There is one more thing we give to our friends,
which I would like to give to you now. After we are back into your
lock." We moved into it, and I held out my arms. He was surprised, but
knew what to do. We hugged, and I gave him my love. I left him even
more surprised, and in awed shock. Both locks closed, and I went to the
lounge, to hearing them agree about liking very much to watch me do
that, and the reaction.
END Page
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Grant
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