Stephen's Secure Blog #129
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 15 in this story, After the Winter holidays of year 5 of his
special school.
Stephen's Secure Blog #129 "Confed Museum"
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I ported to near a bank which serves astroid miners, on Misnok, which
is the planet which is the most powerful in the Confederation, and host
to their headquarters. I said "I'm new around here. I want to open an
account." The teller said "What will be your first deposit?" I said,
taking out a 14cm diameter rough looking but shiny sphere from a bag,
"Well, all I have is this. Specific gravity higher than platinum." She
looked very hungrily at it. She said "We don't accept non legal tender,
but you can exchange it for that across the street, with one of our
business partners." I said "Alright, but can I get an account here
then?" She said "Are you a citizen of the Confed?" I said "No. I'm from
a long way from here." She said "We can help you establish yourself
here, for a reasonable fee." I grinned and said "Please let me decide
what's reasonable, after I get cheated across the street." She said "I
see, although new, you know your way around these things." I grinned
even wider, and said, "I've been some places I'm glad I don't
remember." She laughed, and said, "Come see me after your business
across the street, and I'll see you are treated as fairly as we can." I
said "Thanks. We'll see how much of me makes it back." She laughed, and
I could hear her talking nice about me to the other clerks while I was
leaving.
The establishment across the street was a pawn shop and essayist, and
did some less legal things, too. I decided to let my Ki flow fully.
There was a man leaning against the wall outside the store. He didn't
react to me, except to size me up as prey. There were three men inside
the store near the front, apparently doing nothing. One reacted to me
and my Ki, and signaled the other two to show respect. We exchanged
nods. The clerk noticed that, and went and got the manager. He came to
the counter and said to me, "What can we do for you?" I said "I need
some spending money, and this doesn't work all that well for it." I
handed him the globe. He almost dropped it and yelped in surprise,
"Hey! Oh. You're stronger than you look." I looked all innocent, and
said, "Oh. Well, how strong do I look?" He looked confused for a
second, and laughed and said, "Not very. Can I core it?" I said,
"Sure." He got out his core drill and set it to work, cutting out a
regulation size he could put on a balance scale. When it was done, he
announced the reading of the mass. It was low by 15%. I grinned and
said, "Are you sure?" He started to say he ran an honest shop, when he
noticed I was still grinning. He sighed and said, "You cut this off a
larger rock you had tested yourself." I had, and so I nodded yes. He
smiled a little ruefully, and then named a price for the whole thing.
It was 40% off regular government assay price. He said in defense,
"Hey, I got to make a living, and you get instant service, not three
weeks the government makes you wait, and no questions asked. Regular
customers get a discount the second time and after." I said "Still, 40%
is a little steep. Let's make it 20." He yelped, "Oh my God, my
laughed and said, "I like you. 35." I said "I see you don't like me
THAT much. 25." He said "I don't know why I should do it, but for a
special customer like yourself, 30 it is." I said "Agreed." He paid me
with the correct amount.
Then he said "That guy outside ain't mine. Want my boys to escort?" I
said "Thank you very much for the warning. I mean it. I had him
spotted, but didn't know who owned him. Alright if I mess with him a
little?" He said "Sure, if you want, and think you can handle it." I
said "I'll work it so you can see. It's the least I can do." He grinned
really wide, and laughed. I signaled to the lead escort that I didn't
need help, and he agreed. I walked out the door and waited for the
traffic to clear. The man we were discussing came up behind me and put
a big knife at my back. He said softly but intensely, "Don't move, or
I'll shove this knife right through you." I moved. I turned in a circle
sideways and twisted his knife away from him at the same time, all so
those in the store could see. I twirled the knife so I held it by the
blade, ready to throw. Then I kept twirling and catching it with
alternating hands without looking at it, and said to the man, "You run,
and your back could have a knife handle sticking out of it. Got me?" He
gulped and nodded. I said "Who do you work for?" He looked very afraid.
I said "Die now, or take your chances later. I won't let on who told
me. No percentage in that." He relaxed a little, and told me all I
wanted to know in a big rush. At the end of it, he said, "Please
mister, don't hurt me!" I nodded, and stepped back and threw the knife
with a lot of Ki, into the concrete of the sidewalk. The point of it
went in about 5cm. After it went through his shoe and between his toes.
He was expecting to yell in pain when he saw that, and looked really
odd when he didn't feel any. I nodded with a slight smile, to the
people in the store behind the window, and turned and walked across the
street, while the failed mugger was trying in vain to pull his shoe
loose.
The people in the bank were still going back to their usual places
after they had been crowded at the window, looking across the street. I
went up to the clerk I had talked to before, and said, "Ready for the
next step." She said "Did he cheat you?" I said "As much as I let him,
so he wouldn't complain too loudly about his fictitious starving
children." She laughed and said "How did you do that?" I said "I
offered to give them some candy." She laughed really loudly. I said
"After this, I think you're going to be a little popular." She said
"Probably. Now to work. Do you have citizenship on other planets?" I
said "Four of them, but none in the Confed. She said "Choose one, and
give me the coordinates, and we'll use it." I did that for Zichesshich.
She took my face and retinal pictures, and DNA sample, and processed
all of that, and out popped a smart card. She said "This doesn't confer
citizenship, but it's the next best thing. If you stay here longer than
a month, you should apply for that. With what I see, and being solvent,
you shouldn't have much problem with that." I said "Do you know how
long that process takes?" He said "I'm sorry, I don't know. It varies."
I said "Thank you. Oh, what's the best museum around here for gems and
minerals? I sculpt in them, and I like to check the local museums
wherever I am for those things." She said "The Confed Master Museum
near the Center is the one you have to see." I said "Thank you very
much. I'll go there. Thank you for all your help. I expect to be in the
area for a while, and might stop in to say hello." She said "Please do.
Glad to be of service."
I went to the museum, after checking it out and selecting what I
wanted to bring with me, and making an appointment with the curator. I
had Mark with me. He was very excited to be on a mission with me, but
concealed it well. I told the guard at the entrance that I had an
appointment to see the curator. He called to verify that, and then gave
us directions to go there. He wasn't very good at that, but we knew
where to go, anyway. In the office, after polite introductions, I said
"I own some mining companies, which provide material for my art, which
is in several galleries and museums on different planets far from this
world. I plan to have a residence here, and would like to have a piece
of me here to make me feel like I belong. So, I'm making a donation.
Would you like to see it?" He said with a smile, "I can't refuse to
look." I puled one of my star sapphire boxes out of the box, and put it
on his desk. I said while he was caught in its beauty, "All natural
materials, from my own properties." When he could, he said "Wow!" Mark
said "He hears that a lot." The curator laughed, and said "I don't
doubt it. You want to donate THIS?" I said "Well, who could afford, or
should, to pay what it's really worth?" He said "I see." I said "And
I'm an artist. It doesn't do anybody any good all locked away. It needs
to be loved." He looked at me strangely, and said, "What an unusual
statement. But, I see you mean it." I said "Here's the contract, and
description of the materials it's made of. It's yours forever if it's
on display at least 80% of the year, with my name and planets displayed
with it." He said "Very reasonable. We gladly accept. I'll have it on
display in a week. Do you have other things?" I said "So much, it would
be better if you give me a list. Some I would request money for. I'm
VERY wealthy on my usual planets, but that doesn't transfer into the
Confed system, and I would like to buy some property and have a home
here."
I said, while reaching into the box, "Here's one of the crystal
formations I have, you might be interested in. Emerald." I put it on
his desk and said, "I'm sorry it isn't as big as the last one I sold to
a museum, but who knows, I might find one even bigger any day now. I
don't do much with it. Too fragile for sculpting." He looked very
hungry, and said, "We want it." I said "What wouldn't you want?" He
said with a laugh, "Yes, there's that." Then he said "It's on the list
I haven't given you yet. So is the maximum price. 20,000 credits.
That's gem quality, and worth 50 times that, at least." I said "A
museum wouldn't want to pay that, and it's too pretty to cut up to
realize it's full market value. And I don't believe in greed. I'll
probably find more, too. It's yours, if you want it, for the listed
price." He said "I have to accept it. Can we do the transaction now,
while you're still insane?" Mark and I laughed. I said "No curator has
ever said that to me before. Well, not so I could hear. Good one!" He
grinned, and I gave him my card. He put it through his card reader, and
typed some things on the keyboard, and then put it through again, and
gave it back.
I said "I do other art as well. When I have my home galleries set up
here, you might want to have a look at them." He said "Might want, is a
little less definite for my tastes." I said "I didn't expect to have
such a good rapport with you so soon, but I wouldn't like that to go to
waste. I have some information which an historical museum here would
kill to be the first to have. I don't know if I should share it, or
when, or to whom. There are significant political issues involved,
also." He said "Please go on." I said "If I tell you what kind of
information it is, will you agree to keep that a secret until I
authorize its release?" He said "I will." I said "You are not lying. I
can always sense that. But, you might change your mind. Be aware I can
enforce that prohibition, and WILL know if you try to tell before I
want it known." He said "I think with you, I should expect the
unbelievable, and believe it." Mark said "Wise, and even we who have
known him for years are still not used to that." I pulled out a pad
from the box, and my pastel pencil kit. I painted somebody out of
history, and then showed it to him. I said "Do you know who this is?"
He said "Not that I can remember." I said "That's not surprising. Ready
for a series of shocks?" He set himself and said, "Ready." I said "It's
Attin Lantos ReyMu." He said "It can't be!" I said "There's more.
That's how she saw herself in a mirror. We have access to her complete
lifetime memories." He said "Wow! How?" I said "We are from the planet
of your origin, and one of us was her in a past incarnation." He was
absolutely stunned.
We waited for him to recover. I said "We don't lie." He said "I
already had accepted that. You are definitely not foolish to do that
about anything you have said." Mark said "Actually, we can't. It would
harm us. It would be like if we hurt somebody. It would hurt us more."
I said "I'll show you something of us now." I gave him my love. He said
"I understand more now, some of the things you have said. I suspect
there are more reasons than you have told me, for not releasing the
information now." I said "The truth might not be completely what your
people would want to hear." He said "Ah! As I expected. The full truth
seldom is. Can you tell me the bad part?" I said "What you know of her
is correct, if minimal, but the part about your people leaving is not
completely accurate. They deserted me when I was working my hardest to
help the few survivors. They took my supplies and tools I really
needed. I didn't have the heart to stop them, because they were my
friends and had worked so hard with me, for so little gain, but they
left me alone with my work, with much less to do it with." I cried, and
Mark comforted me. The curator said softly, "I understand your concern.
Being an archivist, I value the truth above all else. But then, some
facts can be presented less strongly than others, and still be
accurate." I said "There is more." I told him about the coming events.
Then I said, "I'm preparing the way for coalescence without war. The
story of your origins might be misused by the government in this
situation. It's worse, in that the general public must not know about
the special abilities of my associates and I, so the origin story can't
be proved." He said "I understand. I will abide by your wishes. I do
request you allow us to be your official archivist in this when the
time comes." I said "We have a way to record memories to playable
media, but she lived for more than 800 years. Nobody now living will be
able to experience even a small part of her waking life." He said "It
will have to be extracts, which will make it less believable, but that
can't be helped."
I said "There is a way to make it VERY believable, but we will not
allow that technology to be released." I put a crystal to my head, and
then gave it to him. He put it to his head, and experienced her
witnessing them leave the Earth for the last time. He cried with me.
Then he said "You did suffer greatly. There is no doubt of that. People
should know, but I agree not like this. Do you remember other lives?" I
said "Many, which my world's best museum is very happy about. Being an
artist, I can illustrate them. Strangely, I can do that for other
people's past lives, too, even if they don't remember them, when I'm in
the right mood. It's been verified accurate. Caused quite a stir,
actually, when I first did that in public without knowing." He laughed
and said, "I can just imagine that!" I said "I've been told that to
stay here for a while, I should apply for citizenship. Considering
what's going to be happening, and my possibly controversial role in it,
would you recommend I do that, or not do that?" He said "As an Envoy
you would have certain rights and protections which they might break
the law in not granting you. The same would apply if you were a
citizen, and if you didn't do what they wanted, you could be charged
with treason, but the significant thing about that is you don't have to
tell them you are a citizen." I said "I would if they asked. The not
lying thing. But then, they aren't likely to ask, because I will be on
the returning ship, and they will think it's not possible I could have
been here earlier. They don't know my own ship is much faster." Mark
said "But they will find out you've been here before then, from
witnesses and records of transactions." We grinned at each other, and I
said, "Yes. Paradoxes and bureaucracy. Won't that be fun?" The curator
laughed.
He said "A moment." He did a lot of typing on his terminal, and then
gave me the printout, saying, "My letter of recommendation for the
award of citizenship." He grinned and said, "Use it at your own risk."
I grinned back, and said, "Thanks. I'll be back with some of the things
on the list." The meeting ended, and Mark and I ported back to my
house. He stayed the night with me, hugging me close with love.
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Grant
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