Stephen's Secure Blog #125
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, during the Winter holidays of year 5 of
his special school.
Stephen's Secure Blog #125 "Meeting On Posintan"
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We picked up Captain Krack and his people in our ship. It was crowded
in the lounge. The other people were their chief science officer,
archivist, and two media technicians. It was dark and cold in DC, and
we were all dressed warmly, with hats down over our faces to help avoid
notice. I parked the invisible ship in the air, right above the
National Museum of Natural History. I had all the people stand on a
levitating platform in the open airlock. I raised the internal guard
shield of it, and told them to touch it to reassure themselves that
they couldn't fall off the platform. They all did that with relief.
Then I set it to invisible, and we floated out of the lock and down to
near the main entrance of the building, and in between the columns, and
set down. I turned off the fields and we all stepped off and walked
into the front entrance door. Rose, who had been waiting for us, folded
up the platform and carried it inside and put it out of the way behind
a door. I left the ship still parked above the building.
I did the introductions with Sharon, and she led us on a tour of the
museum. She made sure to point out my own contributions, which I had to
translate for her with that, too. They were VERY interested in the
Human Origins display. I said "I thought you would be interested in
this." Captain Krack said "Absolutely!" I said "We have a gift shop
here with a large selection of books you would like to have. You would
have some trouble with the language, so I translated all of them into
your language, and put them on this memory card." He said "That must
have taken a long time." I grinned and said, "It didn't." He laughed.
Sharon had made sure the museum was empty, so we didn't have to worry
about our guests being seen. After the tour was over, they thanked
Sharon very much, which I translated, because we didn't want them to
know she knew their language. We left the same way we came. The next
night, we visited the National Museum of the American Indian. Sharon
delighted in embarrassing me with comments about my work there, which
was worse because I had to translate it. Captain Krack knew, and
thought it was funny, too. I gave them more translated digital books.
Both times, back at their ship, they thanked me very much for my help.
The next day, Rose and I took our ship to Posintan, When I was ready
to talk to their Control system, I gave them the security code, instead
of the ship's registry information. What came back was, "Acknowledged.
Transferring." Then a different voice said, "Security here. Please
repeat the code." I did, and he said, "Diplomatic Priority security
code acknowledged. Honored Sir, how may we help you?" I said "We are
here to meet with the President, to provide some critically important
information of a secret nature. Due to my er, notoriety on your planet,
and that it shouldn't be known to the public that I am here, I was
given that code by your Ambassador to Zichesshich." He said "Do you
have documents of introduction?" I said "The Ambassador said that being
who I am, I wouldn't need them, which is more than a little
embarrassing." He said "Are you free to turn on video and tell me who
you are?" I said "Yes." I did that, and he exclaimed, "Stephen!" He
grinned and said, "I see what you mean. How long will you be here?" I
said "The meeting shouldn't last more than a day, and I don't know what
his schedule is, but I have other planets to bring the information and
warning to, so I hope we don't have to spend too much extra time here."
He said "I think I understand more than you are saying. It was going to
happen sometime, and you and your people are planning to act as the
mediator between the GC and them." I said "As I said to the Ambassador,
it's a great pleasure to associate with intelligent people. Yes, we
can't let the Council start a war, or worse, encourage the others, to
start a war. I will NOT allow that." He said "I believe that. I've seen
your competitions. It's strange but true, the other planets don't
understand that our system shows the whole person to us, and that also
influences our social and professional advancement. Our leaders don't
become so by popularity, but by merit. That's why you find the most
intelligent of us in authority." I said "Er, Wow!" He laughed.
I said "Among my group, we directly perceive who each of us are, so
we don't need tests to show it, and those who are best able to do the
work, do it automatically." He said "An advanced form of what we have,
so we do relate well to each other." I said "That could be why we have
chosen some of your people as our students, and will choose some more,
soon." He looked practically worshipful, and said, "That is GREAT news!
Thank you very much for telling me. It won't leave Security." I said
"Thank you, and you're welcome, and thank your for your great news,
too. The others are more aggressive and better organized than the GC.
You and your people give me hope that our work might not be so hard
now. I know I can count on your people to be fair and honorable, no
matter how hard they try to win in this arena of the stars, too." He
almost cried with happiness at my compliment. Then he became more
professional, and said, "You have another with you?" I said "Yes, Rose.
She's been here before." He grinned and said "I saw her competitions,
too. To Rose, thank you." Rose said "You're welcome." He said "I've
been working on this as we talked. We will set you down in the secure
diplomatic section. There will be secure transportation to secure
accommodations. The President will see you tomorrow for as long as
necessary. You can return the same way. Satisfactory?" I said "Seems
fine to me. Please inform the President that while we were advised to
speak only to him, we will rely on his judgement about who else to
include in the conference, while we reserve the right to dismiss any
who we feel should not be told. And I think he should be given a
recording of this discussion in advance." He grinned and said, "Knowing
you, all that was predictable, and already in process." I said "I love
it!"
We had a good night in the secure hotel, where Hawk ported in to
enjoy it with us. We were not spied on. In the morning, we were picked
up and delivered to where the President was waiting for us. There were
three other people there, and we were all introduced, but one. When it
was evident we were not going to be introduced to her, I grinned and
said to her, "I was hoping, and it happened. Unfortunately, I don't
know how much your people want to keep their own secrecy, so I don't
know how to proceed." The un-introduced one said "Well played. I am the
leader of our Guardians, as you are evidently the leader of yours, and
I suspect something different. Am I correct in thinking you have
widened your scope?" I said "Yes. Our local need became a need of the
GC, because they had the same problem they weren't correcting. Then we
saw a need out of the GC, and because we could, when there were no
others, duty demanded we help. Now, by accident, another duty calls us
into action, which involves much more. We have been training candidates
of other species, because we have better methods, and better technology
our graduates can use. This has placed us significantly in advance of
other planetary Guardians, and being from a Restricted World not
affiliated with any galactic political system, we have come to view
ourselves as Guardians of the Galaxy. I'll be providing details on all
I've said so far, and more. But before that, any comments?"
The Guardian said "Yes. First to my people. You can't see it, but
Stephen's aura is enormous, and practically blinding, and it's the
clearest I've ever seen except from a religious recluse about to die of
beyond old age. He sees and understands more than all of us together,
multiplied I don't know how many times, and he is motivated by
absolutely intense love for all." I interjected, "Wait! Do they HAVE to
know all that? All you people just LOVE to embarrass me!" They laughed
while Rose was poking me. The Guardian said with a grin, "Yes they need
to know. Embarrassing you was just an extra added benefit." I had to
laugh. Rose said, "It wouldn't bother ME if you did more of that." The
Guardian said to her, "And you, yourself, are better and more powerful
than any of us." I poked the embarrassed Rose, who announced, "I am
third in our group, when we bother to think of such things." I said
"Over all, and in the most highly valued of our abilities." The
president said, "And what would that be?" I said "Situation Manager."
He said "Oh, I see. You demonstrated that in the Stumak
competition.Your whole play was managed from the first time you heard
of the situation. A VERY valuable ability!" Rose said, "One of us said
before my time, he takes a bad situation, and makes it ten times better
than if it had never happened." He said "Well said." I said "Any more,
or should I start with the background?"
I started with what the Van had been doing to Earth, and to other
planets, and why. Then I told them about their technology and their
problems with it. I told them how our current Guardians got started so
the Van didn't know about us until it was too late. I said "By
accidental coincidence, one of us was captured by the Van, and taken to
their main station in our system. He took it over and escaped with
enough information to enable us to stop them. Now, there are no Van in
any inhabited system but their own, and that will never change. Before
the next stage of the big event we are now concentrating on happens,
their world will be permanently blockaded, with an impenetrable, to
material objects larger than my fist, shield. This is earlier than we
planned, because we will probably need to use that as leverage in the
upcoming event. Comments so far?" They looked to their Guardian. Rose
and I grinned, and so did she, who said to them, "They are less able to
lie than I am. Take their word as truth as they know it, in all
things." The president said "Wow!" Rose said "We hear that a lot." They
laughed. I said "Because of our interests outside of our system, we
decided to create some friends among the GC in case we needed support
for our work. And because we are a friendly people and really like to
have friends. Now we call on that support, because the GC isn't the
only large organization of stars we know of now. There is another,
called the Confederation, that is more organized, because they are more
aggressive and structured. First major contact with them needs to be
managed very delicately, or the GC will suffer severely. We will NOT
allow interstellar war. If we have to stop one, and reveal what we can
do to the public, that might actually be worse than allowing the war to
continue."
I told them how the Van got started. Then Rose played the meeting we
had about it on Zichesshich. Then we broke for lunch. We were sent back
to our hotel. From there, we ported to the school, which was in
overnight mode, but like always, there were still meals to be had. We
did the usual body maintenance things, and ported back to our hotel in
time for the scheduled transportation back to the meeting. The Guardian
was looking at us strangely. I indicated she should look in her pocket,
and she did so the others didn't see, and read my note, which said, "Do
you need to know? And do you think the others should know?" We both
knew what that meant. She knew we could port, because she noticed our
large life signals vanish and reappear later. She indicated no, twice.
I indicated agreement.
I said to the group, "Any questions? Before you ask them, be careful
of your peace of mind, considering that some answers could cause you
some discomfort you might wish you hadn't had." The President said
"Thank you for your concern. I take it as understood you aren't going
to tell us all you can do." I said "In large, yes. In two other ways,
it's not possible. For some things, there is no language. And we don't
know ALL that we can do, because we keep trying new things in new
circumstances, which sometimes surprise us by actually working." He
grinned and said, "Even your failures would be interesting." I said
"Like putting out smelly fires? No thanks!" His security chief said,
"Some things you have showed us look impossible. I mean impossible to
know, and to display as you did." I said "That is what my warning was
about. I'm willing, but it might conflict with some of your beliefs, or
maybe worse, agree with them." The Guardian looked very interested, and
the President saw that and grinned. He said "I think I've been asked to
ask you to proceed." I grinned and said, "I noticed. I need to ask some
questions, first. What do you know or believe happens to the spirit
after the death of the body?" They all said they didn't have any
knowledge or beliefs of it, but the Guardian. I looked at her, and she
sighed and said, "We know it isn't destroyed. We have proof that at
least some reincarnate, and that a very few remember something of their
past lives. I see that Stephen does. Logic tells us, knowing him, that
what he showed us of the past is from his own memory." I said "I have
total recall, and that extends to many of my past lives. We have a way
to record memories to external media. I was she who warned them of the
disaster. I never remembered that incarnation until my last one before
this, when I was recovering from my injury I received in escaping from
the Van station. Much of that has been verified now."
There were various levels of shock on display. I said in a loud
whisper to Rose, "Well, I did warn them." She replied the same way,
"But you know them. It just made them more eager to know." I said "What
else could I have done?" She said "You could have just kept your mouth
shut." I said "Now how likely is that to happen?" She sighed and said,
"Not very." At their laughter, we turned back to share our grins with
them. The President said "Who can resist two such accomplished
situation managers?" I said "I don't know, and I hope for all our
sakes, we never have to find out." They all agreed. I said "Any more
questions?" Silence. I said to Rose, "Maybe they're afraid to ask now."
The security manager said, "How fast are your spaceships?" I said
"Doing which function? We use different means, depending on
circumstances. We use normal gravity drive under orbital control to
land on GC worlds. If we want to be in the official system. With
invisibility, that isn't always necessary." He said "Yes. We can't
detect invisible ships in space. Can you?" I said "Yes." He said
"Through devices, or er, personal abilities?" I said "Here we have a
problem, in two parts. Our technology is operated directly by the mind.
So to us, there isn't much distinction in the ways. And functionally,
there isn't for us, and therefore to you, either." The Guardian said,
"I like how you told him nothing." I grinned and said, "I try. We do
have a little problem with that, though. Our world is Restricted, and
for good reasons. We agree with it. Carrying that forward, the GC, in
relation to my associates and I, is Restricted. Even your Guardians, if
not as much." The President said, "I wondered when we would get to
that. Volunteer your methods, but we shall avoid asking, even though
that's a strain." I said "It would be more of a strain not
understanding it. But, you will discover we do have faster ships than
anybody we know. Knowing you, I know you have to assume we know all the
Van know, which includes their matter transmission technology."
He said "Ha! Now we are getting somewhere." I gave him a grin. He
said "Or not." I said "The Van never understood how their stolen
technology worked. They could make them with the automatic machines
they had left after the real makers of them were liberated from
bondage, but they couldn't modify or repair them. When we find those
things, and their other stolen tech, we destroy it. In fact, we have a
problem which is related to that. They don't have FTL drives, so their
starships are gigantic things which take a VERY long time to go
anywhere. We have a lot of them now, and don't know what to do with
them. We don't need them, but we don't want to waste them. I'm thinking
of offering them for sale in the Confed, with all advanced technology
removed, to get some credit started there, like I did with my art in
the GC." He said "Sounds like a good idea." I said with a grin, "I
wonder how they treat pirates there." He said "Oh! Interesting. They
don't know of the Van, and would assume that of you. VERY interesting."
I said "More questions?" Silence. Then the President said, "I will
speak for all, and say we will support you in this, and probably
everything you do outside of your home, oh wait, not the sexual
things." We laughed. He said "Call on us for anything you need, and
just to say hello if you want." I said "We will. Oh one more thing. Our
spaceships are as fast as we want them to be, and we DO hurry." Some
thanks in the laughter. I said to Rose, "Should we have a guest in our
room before we leave the hotel?" She said "Let's." They all knew who we
were talking about. Before leaving the room with the Guardian, Rose and
I bowed to the group, and I gave them my love.
As we were walking to meet our security escort, Rose said to the
Guardian, "I just love the reaction he gets when he does that." They
laughed.
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Grant
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