Stephen's Secure Blog #144
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 Spring of year 5 of his special school.
Stephen's Secure Blog #144 "Bad Ship"
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It was bound to happen. A starship approached Earth system. My
automatic watch was more sensitive than the instruments, so I detected
it first, and sounded the alert. We had a meeting, and scanned it
together. Ivanna said "Shoot them out of the sky!" We laughed,
including her, because she meant to be funny. Ichi said "I don't like
this. Even though it's a Confed military ship, we don't know who sent
it or why it's here." I said brightly, "We could ask?" He said "Or you
could snoop." I said "Not until they oppose us, or show some real
indication they intend to. Information about any of that isn't in their
computer system. But we know there is no Guardian on the ship." He said
"So then we just have to wait for them to emerge, to contact them." We
did, and a day later we were in the comm center, and went through the
usual steps. They said they were an authorized ship from the Confed,
with Stephen's permission. Nigel said "It was decided before Stephen
left, that no other ship from the Confed that he is not on, would be
allowed in this space." Then he turned away from the mic and said as if
they weren't supposed to know, "They haven't said the security password
yet. What should I do?" Ichi said "If they say it, I'll inform them of
the next step." Nigel said, "But which password?" Ichi said "Peekaboo."
Nigel said Alright." Then he turned to the mic and said, "You are not
authorized to enter this system." The Confed Captain said "But we have
the password, 'peekaboo'." Ichi introduced himself and said, "The next
step is to inform you that there is no password. We let you overhear
that to test you. You lied. If you don't take immediate steps to vector
out of this system, we will take positive action against you. You have
five minutes to comply. We do not allow ANY unauthorized starships in
this system, containing a Restricted World. Your ship, having no
cloaking device to conceal it from the native population here, would
not be authorized in this system, no mater how friendly and honest you
could be. Be advised that if we report this to the Galactic Council,
that you are an official ship of and representing the Confederation,
they may consider your action an act of war. Last warning to vector
away, or we will do it for you. You might actually survive it, but I
advise you not to bet your lives on that."
I read their minds, and reported, "They intend to keep coming. They
were ordered to take only yes for an answer. I'm turning off their
fusion generator, AND their backup power for one minute." After that
minute, I let their backup power come back on. After contact was
reestablished, Ichi said, "Your fusion power will be off until we let
it be on. We turned off your secondary power to show you what the next
step will be. You have some decision making to do in the light of this.
Five minutes." We waited. Then he asked "Your decision?" No answer. He
said "I know you can hear me, so I take that as a no. We will turn off
ALL your power now, which includes air circulation. If you really want
to, you can die for the Confed, but they will never know what happened
to you, so it would serve no useful purpose. BUT, we will inform your
families of your choice, in private." There was an immediate "Wait!"
So, we did. Then a new voice came on and said, "I am First Officer of
this ship, and now acting Captain. We will comply." Ichi said "We
accept. All your power systems are on now, and functioning properly. If
you do keep your word, you must realize that it won't go unpunished by
your superiors." He said "I do, and I will accept it gladly, for the
lives of my crew." Ichi said "We admire that, and will forward a
recording of this encounter to your Confed PA, who we expect to
interceded on your behalf. Yes, it will get there before you do. We
have our ways. Good luck. We will contact you again if you give us a
reason to. Out." They did change their vector, and would accelerate out
of the system without coming close enough to be reliably detected. I
said "That was tough, but good work!"
Ichi said "Yes. Better they don't know we can port their ships
anywhere we want to. Really tough, too. They must have been very
afraid." I said softly, "But brave. I was there with them, feeling it
all." They hugged me. I said "I have a problem. I know it has to be me,
because we can't tip our hand and let them know there are more of us
there. I'm afraid when I confront the military with this, I will get
angry. They were willing to KILL THEIR OWN PEOPLE to test us, and cause
a deadly panic on Earth, too. I might do something terrible to them in
my anger." Nigel said in his hug, "No you won't. You will do what you
know is right, no matter how you feel about it, and do it better than
anybody else can." I poked him, and said, "But I won't like it." He
grinned and said, "But still, better than they will." I said with my
own grin, "True."
I made some memory cards of the situation, and hand delivered them to
the people of the three GC planets, and then Misnok, and then asked to
see the PA. He played it back with me. I gave him the ship registry,
and what the Captain knew about their orders, including who originated
them, and who else I had given the recording to. He said to me, "Either
they are deliberately trying to start a war, or are abysmally stupid."
I said "I think stupidity can be assumed for everything they do, just
as a starter." He laughed. He said "Thank you." I said "I have a
problem. I am angry that they would risk the lives of their people and
mine, just to test me and the truth I have expressed and had verified.
I'm concerned for what I would do to them, if I confront them about
this. I have the power to literally destroy the entire galaxy at a
thought. It's not a good idea for me to be in a situation where I would
be angry." He said in wonder and concern, "If only they would believe
you had that power." I said "They won't. Can't. Anything I could do to
prove that, they would ascribe to something else. And on the planetary
scale, the speed of light makes instant appreciation impossible.
Sending planets crashing into each other takes time. When I mean
destroy, I don't mean make uninhabitable. I mean make to unrecognizable
dust, or liberate all the matter to energy. Here is a crystal. Examine
it for yourself." He took it and said it's real. I lifted it off of his
hand with 4th fingers, and ground it to dust, to dribble back onto his
still upturned palm. I said "With what I just did, scale and distance
are irrelevant, and I'm not using my own energy to do it. You
understand what that means, but they will not allow themselves to. If
you are not able to clean your own house, then there are two other
options. I do it, or I seal the Confed off from the rest of the galaxy.
I can do this, and so can any one of my team. How would I clean up your
military? I would put them on an uninhabited planet, with no means of
leaving it, with enough support to enable them to survive, but not
procreate. That would leave the Confed practically defenseless. I'm
going to the station now, to have a talk with its commander. I expect
there to be some destruction involved, but no loss of life."
I ported to the station, to the Admiral's office, which he was in. I
said without preamble, "Are you aware that a Confed ship was sent to my
system? He said "This is irregular, your visit." I said "It's going to
become VERY irregular if I don't receive instant cooperation. Listen to
this." I played back the radio conversation. He said "I didn't
authorize that." I told him who did, and told him to deliver him to me
there was a loud crunch behind him. I said "I can. Every desk chair in
this station is now crushed. I will give you sixty seconds to verify
that, before I do that to the desks, too. Then I will start doing that
to your spaceships, one by one. WELL?" He was already getting calls
about it. He answered a few. I said "30 seconds." He made a call and
told me the man I wanted was on his way. I said "I can see him. He is
NOT on his way here. I'll bring him." I ported him to in front of me. I
said to him, "You were ordered to report. Why didn't you?" He was
silent. I said in deep command, "You are no longer capable of lying.
You will answer all my questions, and that of your military and
civilian superiors. Now, why did you not report as ordered?" He said,
very reluctantly, "The Admiral has gone soft and powerless. You caused
that, so the rest of us don't feel he can do anything." I said "Listen
to this." And played back the recording. He said "How did you get
that?" I said "Why did you order your men to their deaths?" He said
"They were just to explore your world." I said "And cause billions of
deaths in panic from an alien invasion from space? Why do you hate the
people of the world you came from, so badly?" He said "I didn't believe
you." I said "Tell me what evidence you had which was better than what
Captain Krack had personally seen, and what I said?" He said "I don't
have any." I said "What happened to your office chair?" He said "It
crumbled mysteriously." I said "I did that to every office chair on
this station. Do you believe I did it?" He said "No." I said "Then who
did?" He said "I don't know." I said "Do you understand how stupid that
makes you look?" He said "Yes. I am stupid." He was horrified he said
that. So was the Admiral. I said "Would you believe I did it, if I did
the same to you?" He said "No."
I said to the Admiral, "Do you believe me?" He said "I am beginning
to." I said "Your office here has a port. Go to it. There are ships in
view. Choose one." He said "Oh God, please no!" I said "Choose one, or
lose all." He had to, so he did. I said "Watch it crumble." He cried
"But the people!" I said "As you cared about MY people? All lifeforms
on board are now in your assembly hall, unharmed. How many more ships
will you lose before you will take me seriously?" While he was
deciding, I turned to the other man who I had suspended spread eagled
in mid air, and said, "There you will stay, until I decide otherwise.
To help you to live, other people will have to feed and water you, and
collect your waste. If they choose to. Your fate is in their hands now,
not mine."
I said to the Admiral, "I told your PA before I came here something
of what I was going to do, and the alternatives. Would you like to know
what I said?" He nodded. I said "If you are not able to clean your own
house, then there are two other options. I do it, or I seal the Confed
off from the rest of the galaxy. I can do this, and so can any one of
my team. How would I clean up your military? I would put them on an
uninhabited planet, with no means of leaving it, with enough support to
enable them to survive, but not procreate. That would leave the Confed
practically defenseless. I'm going to the station now, to have a talk
with its commander. I expect there to be some destruction involved, but
no loss of life. That's what I told him. So, what have you to say?" He
said nothing. I said "Still you do not believe?" He said "I do believe,
but I do not have the power to do what you want." I said "Hmm, so. What
kind of planet would you like? It would be very far from here, so you
won't be discovered before you die of old age." He slid down the wall
into a heap and put his head in his hands. I said "Is this hanging
stupid man actually correct? Are you really so weak and powerless?" No
answer. I said "Mr. President. If you speak, all who are listening to
this will hear you. Do you have good and responsible people who are
available and able to occupy and run this station in a satisfactory
manner, on an emergency basis?" He said out of the air, "We do. At your
request, we will start sending them up." I said "I so request." He said
"Acknowledged." I said "President of the Confed Assembly. You now have
the opportunity to begin recruiting a new military, if you think you
need one. We will hear you if you speak." He said "Acknowledged." I
said "My staff will examine those here, and pass on those who are fit
for service. Thank you all for your attention in this matter. Broadcast
is now in suspension."
I said to the Admiral, "You have the option to stay here in an
advisory capacity. You still can make a useful contribution. What is
your wish?" He said "I can still help? You'll let me?" I said "Yes, as
a civilian advisor, to help ease the transition. You can, if you want
to." He stood up straight and said, "Yes SIR!" I said, pointing at the
man hanging behind me, and said, "But he is your personal
responsibility. 30 days he will be like this. YOU will take care of him
yourself. Do you understand, and understand why?" He said "I think I
do. And more. If he suffers unduly, so do I." I nodded. Then I said,
"But I will suffer more for this than all of you combined. I am to
blame for part of this. I wasn't convincing enough, or forceful enough,
just like I was 74,000 years ago. But enough of that. All who are on
the ships, and those arriving, will stay on their ships until they can
be examined, the same for the other stations in this system, and in
other Confed systems. Admiral Krack will be in command here, until
relieved." I ported him to a spot beside me. He said "I think we need
some more chairs." I said "Absolutely! There are some in a Confed
warehouse on the planet. I'll port 3 here, and some more to empty
storeroom 13. Done." He said "Oh those poor inventory control clerks."
I said "Well, some sacrifices have to be made, like your unexpected
promotion." He said "Yes, well, we will just have to put up with it." I
said "I'm sorry, but I couldn't find an Admiral worth the cost of the
uniform. I'm sorry to put you in this position." I said to the previous
CO, "Here is your new insignia, Senior Advisor." He said "Thank you.
You are more than generous." I nodded.
I said to Krack, "Angrala can do the examinations. Grace will be with
her to assist and do the transporting. I found a suitable planet, and
am building housing on it. Automatic food servers, and bathroom things,
tamperproof. All those who committed punishable crimes will be
transported there, until other determination is made. Those who are
merely unfit, will be discharged and returned to their place of origin.
That covers this station. Ships will be processed individually. We
should have everything settled in a week, here, with Civilian Service
running this station for about a year, until it is restored to a
hopefully better Confed. We will do the same to every other Confed
installation. Any comments you have will be very welcome, and you know
how to reach me at any time. The best people on this station are those
in food service. I hope they get the recognition and appreciation they
deserve." He grinned and said, "Let me guess. You're hungry." I grinned
and said, "Practically always. Now I need to go and cool down with some
friends. What I had to do here today, hurt a lot." He put his hand on
my shoulder and said, "I know." I said "I gave them every opportunity,
every chance possible, to be responsible and do the right thing. I
failed. I will always wonder what I could have done better to avoid
this. Oh, by the way, there has been no blowback on my abilities. That
means all I have done here, including mister hangup, has been just,
because it will improve them. Hmm, I think you might want to use a
different office." He tried to hide a smile, and said, "I agree, or get
him a diaper."
I said "Before I leave, I have a question to ask you. Do you think
they would have acted any differently, if they knew who I used to be?"
He said "No. They would never believe. They couldn't even believe what
was right in front of their upturned noses. But that? Not even if you
played her entire life back to them." I said "Well, the museum will be
releasing most of the archive I gave them, soon. We'll see how that
goes." The former Admiral was thunderstruck, and looking like he had a
trunk load of regrets. I said "Thank you for all you have done, and all
you will do. I'm going home to cry on Rose's lap. Hmm, but while I'm
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Grant
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