Solomon's Private File #277
These stories about Stephen and Solomon take place starting in
1950's. Stephen wrote about his life in letters to a penpal, and then
in a secure blog, in case he lost his memory again, in the master
computer in his school for gifted students, which he started attending
in 2016 in a new incarnation, until his death. Now his son Solomon is
attending the same school, and is writing in his own secure blog for
his future incarnations.
All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
Solomon is 28 in this story, in the Spring of 2054.
Solomon's Private File #277 "Tristold And Pikay"
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I was in the house when Tristold and Istoler came in after martial
arts practice. He hid his surprise well. I nodded. He tried not to feel
pleased. I said, "Show me an image." He did, and said it was his
mother. I said, "It is still. Make it move." He tried, and it
flickered, but did have some animation to it. I showed him an image of
a person doing martial arts, in full motion. I said, "Do I have to say
it?" He smiled and said, "I will practice that." I said, "You were
going to ask. Yes, there are very practical applications of this. One
you will NOT do, is if you use an image that looks real to your enemy,
and do with it what he believes will kill him, it actually will." I
made a dangerous animal look like it was going to attack him, and then
made it vanish. He was in awe, and said, "I had heard of something like
this, but had not believed it. A thought. Illusions make no sound. That
could make it less than real to the enemy." I made the animal again,
and it roared. Then it came over to me and rubbed against my leg, with
obvious affection. It looked back at him and sniffed, and vanished. He
had to laugh.
I said, "With practice, you may be able to add sound to your
illusions in time. Humor is extra." Chuckles. I said, "And I'm serious
about that. An aspect of emotional manipulation. A laughing enemy is a
much less violent enemy. And making him think the less of you, gives
you a big advantage." He said, "Wise advice! Thank you." I said, "But
only words. Practice to make them a part of you, makes them usable.
Sit." He did. I said, "Close your eyes. There is an object on the table
in front of you. Use your pikay to poke at it all over, not to move it,
but to learn about it. This is different from your object sense." He
said, "It is. I know it's made of iron, but there are strange lines
that are outside of it, that go from one end to another." I said, "Eyes
open." He said, "A loadstone!" I said, "And those lines you sensed are
the energy strings that cause it to be attracted to another of its
kind. Your pikay can sense energy directly. It can do a little more
with that, too. Remember the feeling of that force, and will that to be
on the tip of your finger. Here's a sliver of iron. You know what to
do." His finger picked it up. I said, "You didn't know you were so
attractive." Chuckles. I said, "With practice, your pikay and object
sense will work together without you having to think about it."
I took out from a box, a part of a door and frame. I said, "Open it
with your mind." He tried, and eventually did it. I said, "All we do
here have very practical uses, even if they aren't apparent at the
time. With this ability you can stop a person's heart. Don't." He
nodded. I said, "But it can be very useful in interfering with the
weapons of others. Even tipping over a pitcher at the dinner table, as
a distraction, or making a servant trip at the right moment. The more
tools and abilities you have and can use, the more options you have to
control what happens around you. And just knowing that, can give you
confidence when you will most need it." He nodded. I said, "In your
fighting training, the most important part is in blocking the attacks,
because you have to react to another's intent and movement, with no
time to think about it. That is absolutely critical in a fight with
powers, where you may not even detect the attack and its nature, until
it's affecting you. We will practice that when you are ready for it.
You know it won't be fun, but death is so hard to recover from." He
said, "Have you done that?" I said, "Yes." He was very surprised. I
said, "It's not as you think, because you lack knowledge of what life
and death really are, and what could and does happen to people such as
we. You will learn more, as you progress."
I said, "Now I will reveal a different method of teaching. This
crystal contains images and words. You know some objects can contain
the impressions of their former owners." He nodded. I said, "This is a
more advanced version of that, created purposely by the mind. It can be
set to limit who it will work for, and the contents can be as organized
as its creator's skill allows. All the knowledge of the world can be
stored and given to others this way, if the person who creates it has
that in his mind. There are two problems with giving knowledge this
way. It causes instant memorization. You can't forget it, even if you
want to. The other problem is, memory isn't learning. You have to use
the knowledge, to make it a useful part of you. But in things that rely
mostly on memory, it's very useful. Some of what we will be doing,
requires knowledge of how it works, that is mostly not known to people.
Some of that will seem untrue to you, or impossible. It is neither.
Together, we will prove that." He grinned.
I said, "And there is another issue. Much of this can cause instant
death, and not to just one person at a time. Even whole cities. What
would prevent your powers working in that way while you sleep?" He
said, "I have wondered about that, because it is suspected that it has
actually happened in places." I said, "It has. We have a way to prevent
it. You know the will can influence other minds." He nodded. I said,
"We can even do that to ourselves." He looked very interested. I said,
"But it's NOT easy. However, in this crystal, there is a set of
commands that will be impressed on the mind, that would prevent our
dreams from causing unintended excitement in others. He who developed
this, did that. Fortunately, it only caused fright and embarrassment.
It could have been much worse. There is another set of commands that
are to prevent unjust use of powers. They can be overcome with effort,
but none of my students ever have wanted to. Or me. Its purpose is
mostly for self trust." He said, "I understand." I said, "And the
setting of them is not instant. You must consciously choose to have
them, and you will see the words before you agree." I gave him the
crystal, and said, "You put it to your forehead to read it." He did,
and accepted the restrictions. Then he read the information on basic
science, which was mostly unknown in his feudal wizardry driven
society. He said, "Wow!" I said, "I hear that a lot." Chuckles.
We discussed what he had learned, including the math. I said, "Here
are some problems to solve, when you are not doing other learning and
practice. I will add to the crystal when you are ready for more. If you
try to read more at a time than is good for your mind, the crystal will
not allow it." He said, "Will I be able to make these?" I said with a
smile, "With what content?" He was embarrassed. I said, "This requires
many advanced skills, and qualities of mind of high order. When you
have a true need for it, we will see." He said, "I understand." I said,
"More practice! I will return when you are ready for more. In
I stood and walked to the door. I spun around, to catch him staring
intently at me. I split in half, vertically, and each part hopped out
the door and to the sides where he couldn't see, and I shifted out. He
was completely astounded. Istoler said, "What's the matter? You act
like you've never seen an illusion before." He said, "Oh! But it was so
real!" She said, "That's the goal, isn't?" He stared at her, and she
grinned. He had to return it.
When I returned, I walked to where they were practicing. He noticed,
and turned to face me. Istoler knocked him flat. I said to him as he
was getting up, "I see distraction training isn't working. NEVER turn
your back and your attention from your opponent!" He bowed and said,
"Yes Master!" I said, "You will resume, and answer my questions at the
same time." He tried to answer my simple math problems, and not get hit
at the same time. He didn't do well. While they were resting, I said,
"Many fights between masters also involve debates at the same time.
Verbal sparing. Remember, if you can be distracted, so can he. You
hope." He had to smile. I said, "Yes, you can fight with the body and
with powers, but many fights are won and lost in the mind. Remember
that, and you may live to keep remembering that. Now you will fight
each other with words, as well as with the body. Insults are
encouraged."
That they did. He had a difficult time of it at first, but her
evident enjoyment of it, encouraged him to do it better. He improved.
At their next rest period, I said, "You have learned something of the
physical from this." He said, "Yes. Breathing better." I said, "That's
better than fainting." He chuckled, and said, "Much better." I said,
"All insults in this training are for training only, and are not part
of your lives in other times. That might be difficult to remember at
times, but still, very important." He said to me, "How old are you?" I
said, "There are more ways to measure age than you are aware of, and as
applied to me, VERY different. I can't answer in a simple and honest
way. So I won't." He said, "The age of your body?" I said to Istoler,
"Do you think his hearing might be defective?" Before she could answer,
he said, "I retract that question and apologize." I said, "Accepted."
We moved to another part of the practice area, and I lit the fire
from my hands. His eyes almost popped out of his head. I said, "That's
not difficult. You will learn that soon, the most used weapon of
wizards, and the most easy to defend against. But today, you will learn
how to use it as energy." We sat. I said, "Make an illusion." He did. I
said, "Will some of the energy of the fire into the illusion, and set
it to maintain it." He did it, and no longer strained to keep the
illusion going. I said, "Make the illusion actively move." He did,
without strain. I said, "Let it stop. Try to touch me with your hand."
It encountered an invisible wall. I said, moving my hand toward him,
"You should know what to do." My hand felt some resistance. I said,
"Make it a solid wall in your mind." He did, and it worked. I said,
"Stop. You have learned to use pikay to make a defensive wall. You can
also use external energy to maintain it. Careful you don't roast
yourself. We're not that hungry." He had to laugh.
I made a ball of fire in the air, and said, "Make one of your own."
He thought for a long time, and finally figured it out, and it
appeared. I said, "You can also use some of the fire to maintain it.
With this, you have a movable power source for your use. But there's
more. It can also be used as a weapon." I sent my ball burning through
a log. He nodded. Then I changed my ball to have the shape of a man,
and said, "It can also be used to scare the fur off of people." He
laughed, and his fireball vanished. I said, "Still needs work." He was
embarrassed, and nodded. I said, "Take mine away from me." He tried,
and I let him have it. The I took it away. He got the idea, and we
fought over it for a while. While he owned it, I said, "Put an active
illusion around it." He found it difficult to do both things at once,
but did it. I said, "Enough." It was gone.
I said, "There is a hidden lesson in this." I waited, and he didn't
get it. I said, "Our fireball fight." He said, "Oh! What I use, he can
take away from me, and I can do the same to him." I said, "Now you know
why strength is needed." He said, "Yes. The stronger wins." I said,
"There is more. Something many soon to be dead wizards don't consider.
ALL weapons and tactics you bring to a fight may be used against you.
That should be obvious, but there is an addition to that. You're also
TEACHING him how to do it!" He said, "OH!" I said, "You show him
something he didn't know before, you'd better be quick about it, before
he learns to do it better than you. A little precaution can help; don't
show him anything you can't defend against." He said, "I WILL remember
that!"
I said, "Now we will do something you can't defend against." He said,
"Oops!" I said, "Heat is energy. You have discovered that you have
control over it. These two blocks are the same temperature. With your
will, transfer the heat of one to the other. The process may take a
while. Begin." Soon after that, I said, "Touch them." He did, and
nodded. I said, "In matter, what causes heat?" He said, "Vibration and
movement of molecules." I said, "They're always moving randomly. In
transferring heat, we control some of that. But, what if they all moved
in one direction?" We stood, and moved to a firing range. I said, "This
little metal ball. Know it with your pikay." He nodded. I said, "Put it
in this end of the tube. See those sheets of metal down the line? Will
all the molecules in the metal ball, when I say to, to all go in one
direction at those sheets. Now!" There was a loud crack and gong sound.
The sheets all jumped and fell off their stands. We went to examine
them. He had a lot of oaths to say about that he saw. They all had
holes in them, along with big dents. I said, "The ball travelled many
days walk from here. Be careful you don't do this where innocent people
will have extra holes." He gulped and said, "I will be sure of that!"
We moved to a big block of wood. I said, "In making the molecules
move in one direction, we don't have to do that to ALL of an object.
When I first tried this many years ago, well, that large block is still
traveling, and it took a lot of the ground with it. Here is an image of
it." I showed him just the block, and not the people. He said, "Wow!" I
said, "Earned a lot of those then. This block. Select an area on the
top of it, and make it move up and stay in the air." He did that, and
then it fell. I said, "They gave up all their energy, but you know
where to get more. Again." He did, and it stayed. I nodded, and it
dropped. I said, "Now for a practical application. This broom. Select
these two areas to enable more control. Use a fireball for energy. Make
the broom fly!" He did, and it went all over the sky. I said, "And you
can ride it. If the fireball is in front, you can use it to light your
way in the dark." He had to try it, and did very well. Back on the
ground, he said, "A chair?" I said, "For balance, the active area would
have to be in the middle of the seat. Not careful, you could fry parts
of you, or freeze them. Better you use something like the broom or a
staff, or build something specifically for flying, but you probably
couldn't cary it with you, and brooms are fairly common." He said, "I
see the truth of that. Have you fought other wizards?" I said, "In this
life, not as you imagine it. My most effective weapons are thinking and
knowing about people. I once convinced a group of powerful wizards to,
well, let's save that for later." He grinned and said, "They became no
longer able to be wizards?" I said, "And they learned how to play hide
and go seek, very fast. Well, those they had controlled were a little
annoyed with them." He laughed.
I said, "Sometimes it's better to let the powerless and defeated live
to regret all they had done to others. We must all suffer for our bad
choices. Death stops that." He said, "Some say we are reborn as new
people. Are they correct?" I said, "For most, yes. I know this
personally, because I remember all my past lives." He said, "Oh! Now I
see something about the age question." I said, "Yes." We walked back to
the house. I said, "This is the end of this part of your education, but
not your practice in these wizard things. When I next return, we will
be doing Adept training, which is very different. Hmm, you're looking
unusually hungry." Chuckles. I said, "You still need to practice
strengthening your pikay and illusions. You know why." He said, "Yes.
And ignoring distractions." I said, "For your life, those are VERY
important things."
He said, "How you left the last time. Illusion?" I said, "What is
real, and what is illusion, and what is neither, is a matter of
personal opinion. Very few people are able to understand the truth of
that." I nodded, and thinned out to vanish. He stared at where I was
for a while. Then he turned to Istoler. She said, "Don't ask me! I
value my sanity as it is. I think." Chuckles.
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Grant
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