Solomon's Private File #289
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 Fall of 2054.
Solomon's Private File #289 "Academy Test"
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The Iron Lady asked to see me. She said, "The man from Indonesia is
remarkable!" I said, "I know. There would be trouble with the
background check." She said, "But Sol could certify him." I said,
"True, but that would show we do that, and it still won't fix part of
the problem for this you-created very visible position. Politics. DOJ
doesn't want possible controversy. Their position is valid enough for
me to not push it. But you know I want him. Er, professionally."
Chuckles. I said, "And he knows it, too." She said, "Imperfect world."
I said, "But can be manipulated. Clerk here doesn't have a full check.
His ability could be noticed, and he could be asked to assist. Over
time, he could ease into position, if your replacement cooperates. More
on that after the current best applicant's meeting." She said, "Is he
better?" I said, "For this position, as much as I can see in advance,
"Yes. Best for the position gets it. Impressive education and
academics. His school good?" I said, "Very good. Martial arts a good
fit here." She said, "Another point in his favor. You're going to test
him here." I said, "Is that an order?" She said, "Er, almost."
Chuckles, and a hug.
I met with her assistant. I said, "If she's the Iron Lady, are you
the Aluminum Man?" He grinned and said, "Better than Tin Man, although
some here might think I don't have a heart." I said, "You know the law
about open positions." He said, "I do. Found some better?" I said,
"They found us. One's trying out here next week." He said, "You
decide?" I said, "Seems like it. You know I have to be fair." He said,
"Darn it!" Chuckles. I said, "If it goes elsewhere, your plans?" He
said, "I want to stay until I retire." I said, "Good. Don't want to
break in a new one. Being in a cast would be awkward for him."
Chuckles.
I met the applicant, Stan Laurent, at the gate to the Academy
grounds, with his visitor's pass. I got into his car, and we drove to
the parking lot. We went into the admin building, and into an office.
Iron lady asked us to sit. She talked to him. I was silent. After his
second glance at me, I said, "What's the matter, I've got lipstick on
my shirt?" Suddenly, there was a tube of lipstick flying at my face. I
deflect it with my hand, so it would bounce off a wall, and land in a
waste basket. I acted like nothing had happened. She looked at me,
questioningly. I said, "Need to check with maintenance. Got things
flying around in here." Stan was confused. I said to him, "Check what's
in the trash can." He got up and did that, and came back with it, and
said, "Lipstick! She threw it at you?" I said, "You didn't notice?" He
said, "Oops!" I said, "Needs work. Look only for the expected, that's
all you see, until it knocks you on the nose." He said, "I'm going to
remember that!" I said, "That's what teaching is about. Not much point
in having them forget." He said, "I teach for a living. You're better
teachers than I am!" I said, "I teach in the mornings. Not here. In the
office usually just in the afternoons. Point is, we are always
learning. Teachers, too."
I said, "This isn't like a regular school. Some of the students here
will die on the job. They know this, and it gives them an extra edge in
learning life preserving skills. You don't have that edge, from
expectation, or experience." He said, "Do I need it?" I said, "It would
help." He said, "How would I get it?" She said to me, "Wait! Can you
really do that?" I said, "When I have to, yes. Not fun. Better me than
pink elephants." She laughed.
I said to him, "So?" He said, "You mean we fight for real?" I said,
"Yes. I won't kill you, but if you don't fight better than your best,
you might wish it. Will help reduce your fear of failure, too." He
said, "You planned this!" She said, "I suspected." I said, "Events do
my planning for me. I see the question. No-mind." He said, "Oh! I
didn't know it could be used but in a fight." I said, "For the best
martial artist, all she knows of it is always part of all her life."
She nodded. I said to him, "Willing?" He said, "I don't know." I said,
"When do you think you will know? I ask, because there is no more
information forthcoming, that will help your decision making. So now,
it's just a delaying tactic." She said, "Best not to equivocate with
the best shrink in the Bureau." I gave her a little bow. He said, "I'll
do it!"
We went to a gym. I said, "Locker room has general spare clothing."
He went to change. She said, "Really?" I said, "Equivocating?" She
laughed. I said, "You know you wanted it, and got a little impatient,
hence the missile attack." She said, "I suspected, and then was sure of
it. He's never been fully tested, and there's not enough time to run
him through the whole class here." I said, "And you want to see me with
my shirt off again." She laughed, as I was doing just that. Shoes and
socks, too. Stan came out, and I said, "Warm up if you want to." He
said, "Will you?" I said, "Nope. Not a good idea to show your opponent
in advance, what you can do. But that's not your concern here. We
already know what you can do." He said, "You've studied ninjutsu?" I
said, "Neither of us have fully, the usual way. Solomon's Senior Master
transfer." He said, "Oh!" He did some stretching. I said, "You can use
any weapon you like. Or all of them, but that will also increase your
danger. I will start with none." He said, "Why will that increase my
danger?" She said, "He will START with none." He said, "Oh. I should
have thought of that." He chose a real knife. I said, "This is for
real. Do your best to kill me." He nodded, and came at me, swinging the
knife. I kicked it out of his hand, and into the target on the wall. I
said, "Intermission. Look at the target." He did, and said, "Wow!" I
said, "Lesson. Keep your weapon close to your body until you strike, or
you could end up giving it to your opponent."
I said, "Choose another or, not. No more stops." He chose a staff. I
said, "Good choice for an expert." But he wasn't. He swung at it me. I
grabbed it and chopped it in half, and started hitting him with my
part, mostly on the shins and upper arms. His legs were bleeding, and
he was in some pain. He tried to block with his stick, but wasn't
skilled in that. I said, "When you bring a weapon to a fight, better be
a true expert in it, or you give your opponent an advantage. You are
less effective with a weapon you can't use well, than not having one at
all." He nodded, and stepped back. I did a jump side kick to his chest
with the flat of my foot. He flew, and not with wings. I threw away my
stick, and said, "If you don't get up fast, I'm going to smash you!" He
scrambled to his feet.
He tried a running jump kick to my face. I grabbed it, and he
flipped, but did a better landing than before. I said, "Much better."
He tried a ground attack. I hopped over his sweep, and he came up close
inside my guard, and gave me an elbow in the abdomen. It bounced. I
took that arm and levered it over, and it slightly dislocated. I did a
roundhouse kick into his side. He crumbled. I moved closer to stomp
him, and he grabbed my foot and twisted. I did a body twist in the air,
and pulled my foot loose. He said, "Wow!" I said, "Yeah, I have to
agree." He got to his feet, and advanced slowly. I kicked the side of
his forward knee, and he started limping. He came in and sent a reverse
punch, and I used my blocking arm to give him a backlist to the side of
his face. It broke his cheekbone, and almost knocked him out. He
staggered, and went into survival mode, which was what I was aiming
for. It was real to him then. He chose a cat stance, and skipped
closer. He tried to give me a front kick to my groin. I let it hit. I
said, "Good target for one who allows himself to feel pain." I did it
to him, and he crumbled. I yelled, "Get up!" He tried hard, and
succeeded, but still obviously in pain, and angry. He rushed me. I gave
him a palm strike in the face. His nose was smashed. It didn't stop
him. He was a punching and kicking whirlwind, and I let some of his
strikes land. I landed some of my own, and hurt him, but he didn't
stop.
He was getting tired, and stumbled a little. I knocked him out. I
said to her, "You know I felt all he felt." She said, "I know. It took
some work, but he made it." I said, "I'm going to heal him as me. Jack
will be gone. I'll wake him up to ask permission." She nodded. I woke
him up, and he groaned. I said, "That's not the usual greeting I'm used
to." He became fully awake, and said, "Solomon!" I said, "I knew that.
Your attacker left. Attending to other things. He didn't enjoy what he
did to you. Yes, I approved. He wouldn't have, without that. Your
permission to heal you?" He said, "Please!" I said, "Done." He stood,
and said, "I feel fine! Thank you!" I said, "You've changed." He said,
"I can feel it. Odd." I said, "I feel that, often!" Chuckles. I bowed
to them, which they returned, and said, "Farewell." I shifted out.
They went back to her office in silence. He said, "My tormentor
left." She said, "That's why. He didn't want your emotions jumping
around, which would have happened if he had stayed. You needed to
settle them without that distraction." He said, "He told you that?" She
said, "No, obvious. Been here as long as I have, you know people. And
he approved me for this position as soon as I walked in the door." He
said, "Wow!" She said, "I was thinking that, too. Later, he started me
on training in the control of Ki." He said, "So he's your teacher!" She
said, "It works both ways, but Solomon is the real teacher for the both
of us, in the final things. You'll learn more about this, if you get
the job." He said in stage fright, "There's MORE of this?" She
chuckled, and said, "Position is still open. Two more weeks. And Jack
has to discuss his choice, and mine, and the Dean here, with the
Director, who has final say. He said, "Does Solomon have a preference?"
She said, "I wouldn't tell you if he did. High respect for him and his
family here." He said, "The murder here." She said, "Part of it. He
used to assist us with psionic crimes. Now, we just pick up the
pieces." Chuckles.
He said, "Did you want er, Jack to do what he did here?" She said,
see you hadn't been fully tested. I expected him to fix that. And he
knew I wanted him to do it himself." He said, "Why, too painful for
you?" She said, "I didn't think that far. I just wanted to see him in
action again, and very much so without his shirt." He laughed hard. She
said, "That distracted you in the beginning." He said, "So you know."
She said, "Extended awareness. Sol demands that in his students. But
it's not lipstick he throws. Tennis balls, usually. Less damage. No,
I'm not psionic." He said, "How did you know I was thinking that?" She
said, "Logic, and your body language." He said, "I have a LOT to
learn!" She laughed, and said, "He's heard me say that a lot." Grins.
He said, "So they taught you. Will they teach me?" She said, "I was
above your level when I started with them. I think they expect me to
start with you first." He said, "Oh! Great! When do we start?" She
said, "Sol gave me a recording of the er, lesson. Let's review it." She
put it in the player attached to the big monitor, and started it. It
went well, and he was surprised at her knowledge and teaching ability.
Mom said, "You suffered. I said, "The part of me that did, was away
from the most of me. A different kind of partial detachment. Only way I
can live with knowing all here, and not fix everything. I know now that
who I was before, could not have lived with it. My advancement has to
come in stages when all the requirements are in place." Galya said, "I
wondered about that. Only things we can monitor of you are what you
deliberately share with us." I said, "The only way. You can't monitor
so many of my presences at once, and some are not available to your
perceptions, being in other dimensions and such. I try to give you the
most interesting ones that I'm allowed to share."
A man walked into my office. I said, "So you're applying for the head
trainer position. Tell me about yourself." I was typing on my keyboard,
while he was saying, "I teach phys ed at Columbia University, and coach
wrestling and boxing. I volunteer at the Boys and Girls Club." I said,
"Scouting?" He said, "I made Eagle, and stopped when I went to college.
I have a masters in ed." I said, "We have access to all kinds of
records here. Scouts has you listed as undesirable. Why?" He said,
"There was an issue about a sexual complaint. Unfounded." I said,
"There is a sealed Family Court record with your name on it. Dates
indicate the Scout issue." He was getting nervous. I said, "You listed
the university you graduated from, but the transcript shows you
transferred. So, your application isn't complete. The other school?
Stanford? I see. Quite a distance. Interesting. Abandoned car charge on
you. Serious, there. A pollutant. More police reports. You didn't hold
your liquor well. No, don't leave yet. That door won't open until I let
it. You're wanted on a recently filed complaint. Oh, that's not nice!"
I said, "Kick the door all you want. It won't open until I want it
to. Bet they're wondering what's happening in here. Boring, actually."
He said with menace, "I'll give you boring!" He came around my desk,
and tried to hit me. I took his arm and pinned it to the desk. I said,
"You try to get free, you'll break your arm, and you still won't make
it." I stood, and my leverage on his arm and wrist I took with me, made
him stand on tiptoe. I marched him to the door, and called out, "You
can open it now." It swung wide, and revealed two guards and a Special
Agent. I said, "Charge here is assault and attempted battery. Federal
crime. He's wanted in California for child abuse. A long history of
that. Take him, and I'll give you the file." They grabbed him, and I
went back to my desk for the memory cards. I said, "It's long reading.
He's been busy. Why don't we ever get the smart criminals here?"
Chuckles. Agent said, "Because the smart ones know how stupid it is for
a criminal to apply to work at the FBI." I said, "So I have to actually
go out and GET a smart criminal? But that's work!" Chuckles. I said,
"On the other hand, they'd likely be less inclined to kick my door
down, seeing as how they wouldn't actually be here. But then, neither
would I. Oh, well. He's all yours." They took him away, saying bad
things about me. I said to reception, "I don't care much for his
suggestions. Not very imaginative," Chuckles.
My next victim followed me in. We sat, and I took his file. He said,
"He was violent, and didn't try to hurt you?" I said, "He tried. I
black belts, and I'm the best. This is about you. Let's keep it there.
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Grant
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