Stephen's Secure Blog #132
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, in late Winter of year 5 of his special
school.
Stephen's Secure Blog #132 "Action After the Store"
START Page
I went back to Misnok, and walked to the pawn shop, dragging a
wheeled box behind me. There was a new man in front of the store, who
ran off when he saw me. I watched what he did with a 4th viewpoint. He
called his boss. I went inside and nodded to the enforcer, who nodded
back. Then he said, "They are looking for you." I said with a grin,
"Good. I think they are going to find out how much I dislike them." He
grinned back, and said, "If you need any help or supplies, call on us."
I said "Thank you very much for the offer, but I won't have any
problems taking care of it. Would you like a recording of the er,
event?" He said "I sure would! Thanks!" The owner came to the counter
and exclaimed, "Stephen! It's good to see you again. Or maybe not.
They're after you." I said "Don't worry about it. I'll take care of the
problem. I brought you something." I put a big bag on the counter. He
looked inside and burst out laughing really hard. When he could, he
announced to the store, "Hey guys, look what Stephen brought us.
Candy!" He passed some around.
I said "I brought some rocks, too. Want to see?" He grinned and said,
"You know I do!" I said "One is a little too big for you to lift." He
went in the back, and came out with a cart. I said "You didn't have to
do that. Do you think I want to carry this thing back empty? Here." I
took a bag out of the box, and pushed the box at him. He looked in the
top, and almost all the breath went out of him in a big "Wooooosh."
Didn't make him look any less fat, though. In it were two lumps of
metal. The 27cm one was silvery, and the 17cm was gold. This time he
was extra careful with the coring, and did some chemical tests, too,
saying wow all the time. When he was finished, he said to me, "This is
real. Oh my God! I don't have enough cash to cover this." I showed him
my credit and ID card. He relaxed and said, "That I can do. Same rates.
You know I won't cheat a regular customer." I said "I like to be
regular." He stared at me, and then laughed. He said "I really do like
you. Give me your card, and I'll do the transaction." He did, and there
was a lot more in the bank then. More than enough to buy the land for
my house. I was stuffing the bag I had taken out of the box into my
pocket, when he said, "What's that you got there, more rocks?" I said
"Yes, but I don't need any more money now, and I don't know if you
handle this kind of thing." He said "You let me be the judge of that.
Come on, show me."
I said "Not so that people can see from outside." He nodded and put a
white plastic box on the counter. I put the bag into it. He opened it
and took out the stone, and almost dropped the 11cm almost flawless
transparent dark blue gemstone. I said "Diamond. I cut and polished one
side to see it better. Nice color." He said in awe, "This is too big
for me." I said "No problem. I can cut it up into little pieces." He
yelped, "NO! You can't do that! Can I call another broker into this?" I
said "But I like you, not him." He looked complimented, but torn, and
said, "I appreciate that. Really I do, but I can't handle something
like this myself." I said "But you'll get a commission?" He said
"Absolutely!" I said "If he goes back on the deal, I'll fix him." He
said "Somehow, I'm not surprised at that." I said "But I don't have
much time. I have places to meet, and people to go. Or something like
that." He tried to be serious, but couldn't help laughing at my
interest in that struggle. He said "I'll call him." I said "Tell him he
gets and pays for it now, or he doesn't. I don't have time to play
around. Well, unless he has a cute girlfriend." He laughed, and so did
the three enforcers.
The new broker came, with two bodyguards. I think he needed more than
one, because he had a very big body to guard. Would squash a girlfriend
flat, if he had one. He casually looked at the stone and said,
"Sapphire, not diamond." I said to the owner, "You made a mistake. Next
time I'm here, find somebody who actually knows his stuff." I said to
the broker, "Give it back." He said "Hey, wait a minute!" I said in my
big command voice, "GIVE MY STONE TO ME!" He did that faster than he
could react to stop it, which made him stare at me in shock. His men
reached for their weapons. I took them away before they could point
them at anybody. Then I broke them with my bare hands, in front of
them, and put the pieces gently on the counter. I said "Any more
nonsense, and you're next. You can start over, or leave while I'm still
in a less than killing mood. Your choice." The broker gulped so loud,
it was almost like a bomb in my sensitive ears. Finally he said, "Sir,
may I have another look at it?" I nodded, and handed it to him. He
looked at it with a loop and a light, and said, "I see I was mistaken.
It is indeed a natural diamond." I said "If you want it, buy it now.
I'm in a hurry." He said "Sir, let's be careful here. What's the rush?"
I said "I want to close on the property I'm buying. If you don't want
that now, I'm leaving. I have enough for the land. I don't need to
build the house right away, which that can pay for. Well?" He said "I
need time to gather the funds." I said "How much time?" He said "A week
at least." I held my hand out. He said hastily, "A day!" I said with
disgust, "Don't you EVER tell the truth the first time? I don't know
how you can stay in business like that."
He relaxed a little, and said with a rueful smile, "In truth, that
has caused me some difficulties." I said "You can't always depend on
force to fix that. Somebody, sooner or later, is going to have a little
more force than you, and you will be dead, and all the money you made
isn't going to mean a thing to your ghost." He looked at me in wonder,
and said, "You are more than you seem." I said very seriously, "We all
noticed my half smile at that, and said with a half smile of his own,
"I know. The truth is, I can't buy this for what it's really worth. I
don't know who can. It should be put up for auction." He gave it back
to me. I said "Thanks for the advice. Any recommendation on which
auction house?" He said "Sorry, that is above the level I play in." I
said "Who knows? That could change, if you do." He said very seriously
to me, "Thank you. I should be going. I wish you well." He left, with
his men trailing in confusion behind him.
The store owner looked at me in wonder, too. I grinned and said,
"Well, that was interesting. Thanks for your help. I should go now, and
allow those who are waiting outside to capture me and take me to their
boss so I can give him some education." Still in shock, he waved to me
as I turned to leave, and the enforcers bowed low to me in respect,
which I returned. I was walking down the block, when I was surrounded
by a group of tough people. One said "You're coming with us. Don't make
any trouble, and you just might live." I said "Sure. Your boss is
expecting me. It wouldn't be polite to keep him waiting." I pushed my
way to the front of the pack, and took the lead to where their boss
was. They followed behind me in a confused mess. I went to the back of
the drinking establishment, and into the office without knocking. I
said to the man behind the desk, "I hear you wanted to see me. Here I
am. So, what's on your mind?" He looked confused, and one of the men
said from behind me, "Boss, we started to take him, but he actually
wanted to come, and led the way here. He knew!" The boss said, "Is that
true?" I said "Sure. I like to know where I'm going. Don't you?" He
said "I'm asking the questions here!" I said "I noticed you asked one.
So did I. So, that means we are both asking questions. Got any more?"
He motioned to some of his guys to rough me up. I let my Ki flow
freely, and pushed it out harder. They all backed away without knowing
why, but one who bowed deeply to me. I nodded to him.
The boss looked surprised, and said to the man who had bowed, "What
are you doing? What's the meaning of this? Take care of him!" He said
"We can't. Weapons or no, he'll tear us apart. You see he's not afraid,
because he knows that. He's a Supreme Master. He can kill you without
even touching you." The boss said "See if he can kill THIS." He took
out a gun and was about to point it at me. I blasted it out of his hand
with Ki, so hard, it went through the wall behind him. I said
pleasantly, "If you want to go check and see if it's dead, go ahead.
I'll wait." He just sat there with his mouth open. I said "I think you
might want to close your mouth before something makes a nest in it." He
snapped it shut so hard he would have chopped any nest builder
completely in half. I said "So, what did you want to see me about? Is
it because I let your man with the knife live, after he tried to rob
me?" He regained his composure a little, and said after a dry mouthed
gulp full of air, "Yeah, sure. Thanks for sparing him. That's all. Have
a nice day." I said "You're welcome. Might not be that for you if it
happens again, though. Or if I see anybody hanging around the store
when I go there. Have a nice day." I turned and bowed to the man who
bowed back to me, and went out of the office and through the bar and
into the street. Rose ported to me a memory chip of the incident,
modified so it would look like a regular person had seen it. No need to
show all Rose could see, like my Ki and aura. I went back to the store
and gave it to the lead enforcer. We bowed to each other, and I left.
I was on my way to the Real Estate office the museum curator had
recommended to me, when Wantune called me for a meeting. I ported there
and said, "They predicted you would do this. With my people, we don't
keep anything involving operations from each other. Call me again when
the rest of your people are here." I ported back to where I was. I knew
Rose was telling the others what happened.
I went into the Realtor's office, and sat with the owner. I said "Can
somebody who's not a citizen purchase land on this planet?" He said
"No, but you can lease it for a maximum of hundred years, which will
convert to ownership when you become a citizen." I said "I can still
build on it?" He said "Yes. It has the same rights and obligations,
such as zoning and taxes, as full ownership, and can be assigned to
your heirs. Except you can't sell the lease, only give it up, which
would include all the improvements you made, which you could not
recover the cost of." I said "I'll do it. I want land in an out of the
way area, where there are no zoning restrictions and inspections, so I
can build what I want, not more than a half hour land transportation
time from the city center." He said "I'll look." He checked his
terminal screen, and typed some things. I said "Doesn't need to be
completely flat, but does need to be dry, and not at any risk of
flooding. I will not need any utility services. All I build will be
self contained and environmentally neutral. Immediate closing would be
nice. My credit account can handle it." He grinned and said, "I always
like to hear that!" I nodded. He turned his screen around and showed me
the list of possibles. I sent 4th viewpoints to look them over. I said
"Which ones have fast closing?" He said "All of them do, being
unimproved land. These two are exclusive to us, and can close
immediately." I chose one of those two, and said, "That one." He
selected it, and showed the various kinds of maps of it. There was an
access road already there. I said "I'll take it. Here's my card. Full
hundred years lease, paid in full now, and locked in." He said "So you
know your way around this business." I said "Yes, but not here.
Learning as I go." We settled on a price, and he took the card and
processed the transaction, and gave it back, with some papers.
"Thanks. I'm an artist. I've got billions on other planets, which
doesn't convert to Confed money. I sculpt in precious gems and metals
from my own mines. I sold some of my raw material to get some Confed
credit so I could start a home here. So, no job, but thanks for asking.
Really." He said "You're welcome. You will have a gallery on the site?"
I said "Yes, and there are some things of mine at the Master Museum."
He said "You will entertain prospective buyers there?" I said "I might,
but I usually work through local agents, because I don't know all the
various market ins and outs, and don't actually care about that. I
don't need money for myself. I support local schools I help establish
with what I earn on each planet. I'm selfish. I want more people to
grow up and be as talented as I am, or better, so I can have more
friends like that." He said "Yes. Right. So very selfish." He grinned.
Then he was serious, "I know something of art. Please keep me in mind
when you are choosing an agent." I said "I will. Not too long from now,
I might be in the news, which might cause some interest in my art.
We'll see what happens then." He said "You're not going to tell me what
it will be about?" I said "If you believed it, you would need mental
health treatment. So I'll spare you that." He laughed. We said our
goodbyes, and I left.
When I was unobserved, I ported to my new house I had been building
as soon as the contract was signed. I installed a comnet terminal, and
all was finished. It was just like my other house on Zichesshich,
including the filled galleries. Outside was different, though. It was
wooded. I had cleared the area for the house and the outside sports
facilities, where there were archery and shooting ranges, a laser tag
park, and other extreme sports things. I decided to do some sculptures
and paintings of local things, in various styles. Then Rose and Hawk
came to spend the night with me. I said "I'm 15. In my last
incarnation, I had er, had, fully, my future wife then. I haven't
decided when I should do that in this life. Any suggestions?" Hawk said
"Do you have sexual feelings now?" I said "Yes, and I'm going to be
straight, but that will NEVER change things between you and me, and ANY
of our people." He said "That I already was sure of. You do have to be
you, and that is love." We three hugged and kissed. He said "You're
MUCH older than I am, by a thousand lifetimes, but I'm older in body
now. Much as I personally dislike it, I recommend you wait another
year, for when Rose is 15." Rose said "I agree. I really hate that, but
wisdom says we should wait." I said "It's going to be hard." They said
together, "It already is!" We laughed, and then went to the bedroom,
and tried to make it not so hard, which took a lot of exhausting work.
We loved it, and shared a lot of love in each other's arms all night.
END Page
--
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Grant
|
|