Stephen's Secure Blog #165
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 16 in this story, after Winter holidays, of year 6 of his
special school.
Stephen's Secure Blog #165 "More Embassies"
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A ship from the Confed was about to enter the Posintan system. I
checked it out, and it was an embassy mission from Misnok. When they
were slow enough, I announced myself to the Captain. "Greetings. This
is a voice communication from Stephen. We check all ships from the
Confed which enter GC systems. I thought you would like to know that.
I've informed Posintan Orbital Control of your pending arrival. I am
known to them. If you want to say anything to me, I'm listening until I
say farewell." The Captain said, "Thank you Stephen, for the
information. Do you maintain a watch on Confed systems, too?" I said
"Yes we do, the same as we do for the GC, but for different reasons
than you might suspect. There are still some Confed military ships and
installations which haven't been checked out. We are watching for any
activities which they might want to get involved in, which includes
intrusion into GC space, and harassing ships and planets of the GC and
non Atlana members of the Confed. Other than that, we do not interfere.
If you don't count this friendly conversation as interference." He said
"Definitely not interference." I said "If you need to contact us, ask
the Posintan government. They know how. The people here are sports
minded and very competitive, but fair. Oh, and large. I think you will
enjoy your visit. Farewell." He said "Farewell."
At the same time, a ship from Posintan was entering the Misnok
system. An embassy ship. When they were slow enough, I announced myself
to the Captain. "Greetings. This is a voice communication from Stephen.
We check all ships from the from the GC which enter Confed systems. I
thought you would like to know that. I've informed Misnok Orbital
Control of your pending arrival. I am known to them. If you want to say
anything to me, I'm listening until I say farewell." The Captain said,
"Thank you Stephen, for the information. It's good to hear from you. I
assume you maintain a watch on GC systems, too." I said "Very much so.
There are still some Confed military ships and installations which
haven't been checked out. We are watching for any activities which they
might want to get involved in, which includes intrusion into GC space,
and harassing ships and planets of the GC and non Atlana members of the
Confed. Other than that, we do not interfere. If you don't count this
friendly conversation as interference." She said "Interfere all you
want." I laughed.
I said "If you need to contact us, here is my local com number. The
general population here has some species prejudice, but that is less so
in the leadership, and I'm helping to rid them of it. You are the first
embassy mission to arrive here from the GC, which I think is fortunate
for all, as I know of your quality." She said "Thank you very much.
Your opinions and information mean a lot to us." I said "You're
welcome. There is one thing you need to be aware of, and I don't know
quite how to say it without offending." She said "We won't take any
offense, because we know you don't mean any." I said "Well, here it is.
Their noses, oddly stunted from your point of view, might have some
sensitivity to your species er, personal smell." She said "We've heard
that before, but thank you for telling us so politely." I said "I'm
sorry, but we can't change some things. I don't have an issue with it,
but I thought you might want to know that they might. How are you with
the language?" She said "Your people were very helpful. Most of us are
fluent in it now." I said "Good. If there is nothing else, I will wish
you good fortune, and say Farewell." She said "Farewell."
I had a meeting on Zichesshich with Hoechess and Hissssner. After
polite things, I said, "Posintan has an embassy ship there now, off
Misnok. They beat you. Comments?" Hissssner said "Ours is on the way."
Hoechess said "We are still fighting over which clan will do it." I
said to her, "That's VERY unfortunate in two ways. Atlanans feel the
same attraction to your species as mine does." She looked very
interested, and proud. I grinned, which she returned. I said "That
could give you a very big advantage with them, if you ever get there."
She nodded, with some disappointment. I said "The other reason it's
unfortunate, is that same attraction will help reduce their species
prejudice, which would help the other species in the Confed, and help
them to make friends with the people of the GC. To me, that's
critically important." Hissssner said, "I agree. To them we are NOT
pleasant looking. That will cause fear and mistrust." I said "Well, not
to their dentists." He almost fell out of his chair laughing. Hoechess
thought it was funny, too.
I said "There is something else. You are the first people outside of
my team to know something of this. The GC and the Confed are not the
only star organizations in this galaxy. We are still researching one we
have found, but I have to tell you that the GC and the Confed had
better learn to get along, very well and very soon, because if they
discover you before we are ready, it will be VERY bad for you." That
caused a little excitement. They wanted to know more. I said "Not yet.
We don't want to make any mistakes with this. It's a little personal,
too. It's not easy to surprise us. We were shocked. Horrified.
Disgusted. We dislike what we saw. It's going to be a lot of work to
fix things, but we will. Anyway, you both have work to do, and so do I.
Farewell." I ported away.
I said in a meeting with Ichi, "Would a trip to Hokkaido benefit us
in any way?" He said "I don't see how. If we want to look at them, we
can do it remotely. We have the language, but it's nothing like the
salvagers'." I said "I found out something about how they got there.
Here is a picture of the species which they think took them from
Earth." It was a large insect like a praying mantis. He said "They
think?" I said "That's what their legends say, as slaves. Then the Gods
fought other Gods from the sky, and they destroyed each other, and most
of the humans. The climate changed, so that none of the Gods liked the
world, and the few humans who were left, screwed a lot, and populated
the world. Their recorded history goes back 13,000 years. There isn't
much real evidence of how they got there, and who did it." He said
"It's too bad we don't have anybody who looks like them." I said "Yes.
Not even those still left here look enough like them to not be
suspected. I would be really noticed!" He said "So would your aura." I
said "We might have to use that. They believe might is right." He said
"And you are real mighty." I said "But reluctant. If I killed anybody,
I would have to start all over again." He said "We will NOT let that
happen." We hugged and kissed.
I said "I just got a hit. Home planet of the canine slaves. They have
real Guardians. Non violent. Slavers don't know. I'll send Dat to make
the intro, when the time is right. Oh, same for the reptiles. A little
less non violent. I'll send Hahchet, then." He said "So we have a
start!" I said "Yes, I'll tell the others. Should lift their spirits."
That it did. We had a lot of sex parties. Well, just a few more than
usual. Then I had an idea. Some thought it was stupid and dangerous.
Some thought it was brilliant and dangerous. Rose didn't like it.
Hawk's opinion was split. Ivanna's reaction was a grin and a laugh.
Pete thought I was crazy. Nigel knew I was, and said so very loudly,
even while he was saying it was a good idea. Ichi wanted to come along.
So did most of the younger Senior Adepts. I said "When, or if, we do
it, we'll make the choice then, of who will be involved."
I prepared for the mission in advance, I designed and built a ship
not like anything we did before. It looked fast and dangerous, and was.
I used all the tech I could, even that of the derelict. And it had
weapons. Powerful ones. The most powerful we knew about. Lasers which
could cut a planet in half, for example. Bombs, too. The shuttle the
ship carried was just as powerful, but didn't look it as much. They had
real control rooms, too. Most of the important tech was shielded from
psionics, but not from a 4th viewpoint. Then we studied the slavers and
the slaves some more. Then we made plans. Then we waited. We wanted
more of the GC and the Confed to know about each other, so they could
appreciate how much better each was, than what was coming in the
future.
As for what was coming in the present, we were. As often as possible,
as usual. I love saying that. I love doing that even more.
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Grant
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