Solomon's Private File #328
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 30 in this story, in the Summer of 2056.
Solomon's Private File #328 "Unusual Approvals"
START Page
I ported a woman to my politician approval office. She said, "Thank
you Solomon, for the transportation help. My home State is a little
isolated." I said, "But beautiful. Got your birth certificate?" She
laughed, and said, "Yes I do. Some still may not have heard of Hawaii
being a part of the United States." I said, "But your campaigning won't
be here." She said, "In working for establishment and party support,
yes it will. For votes, back home." I said, "You must be very motivated
to want to leave THAT." She said, "True. You DO understand. You
understand sacrifice, too. I think I need to do this." I said, "Then
you should." We did the approval things. I said, "Party would want to
know vetting issues, before giving you full approval. I recommend you
tell them about your nephew." She said, "Knowing all has it's uses.
Thank you. I'll tell them. A bank robber in the family!" I said, "That
used to be where the money was." Chuckles. She was approved.
A man came in. He said, "My party requires this." I said, "Meaning
you don't want to do it. I don't blame you. I sure wouldn't want to do
it, in your position. I mean, I'm extremely strange, and could become
even more strange any second. What if I grow horns and a tail, right in
front of you, and brandish a used pitchfork? Er, carefully." He looked
strange, and then had to smile. He said, "You won't do that?" I said,
"I'm guaranteeing nothing. Proceed at your own risk. And mine, too. You
wouldn't believe some of the flakes I've had to deal with here." He
laughed, and said, "I WOULD believe it." I said, with a grin, "It's not
a good idea to disagree with a job interviewer. Well, for those who
don't appreciate debating." More mixed emotions. He said, "This is
nothing I could have imagined!" I said, "Good!" We discussed the usual
things.
I said, "Something's bothering you, and it's not related to why
you're here. If you want to talk about it, we can go privileged." He
said, "Oh. I think I would like to do that." I said, "Done. Monitoring
is reactive only." He said, "How does that work?" I said, "A light
watch on the health of my mind, limited to just that. I block all else.
Any psionic viewpoints show up here, get unpleasantly blocked. Or we
could use a time bubble, and only God will be my monitor." He said, "He
can. I know, because I can feel my constant connection with Him." He
said, "Wow!" I said, "That's a constant feeling with me." Grins. He
said, "My wife has been acting strangely. Distant and secretive. I
don't know why, or what I should do about it." I said, "Have you asked
her?" He said, "I'm afraid to make it worse."
I said, "Some possibilities people usually consider in these
circumstances are infidelity, or criminal activity. What they almost
never consider, is the spouse is planing a good surprise, which could
be ruined by pushing to know." He said, "Your aquarium action. That was
a classic illustration of that!" I said, "It was, which was why I made
it public with me, instead of letting the Corps handle it." He said,
"Oh! You said you use your actions to teach us. I have to say, it does.
At least a little." I said, "Hopefully, more, when a critical mass is
achieved. Hmm, a little too Catholic there." He laughed. He said, "On
the surprise side, what are the possibilities?" I said, "Any
significant dates coming up soon, like birthdays and anniversaries? A
pregnancy? Something at work? Possible bad things could be guilt over
something, or problems with a neighbor. Illness. Drug use. Your
snoring, suspicion you're stepping out. Things like that."
He said, "You won't tell me?" I said, "You know I can't violate her
privacy without just cause. But for a political candidate, as part of
requested vetting, I can examine all the common areas of all your
property, for legal issues. One time, that caused a man to have a
serious talk with one of his sons, regarding a plastic envelope under a
car seat." He said, "Oh! Please." I said, "No legal issues discovered.
Want me to check your finances?" He said, "Please." I said, "Nothing
unusual, or significant. Neither of you are CPAs, for sure." He
laughed. I said, "You should use a good accountant to refile your past
three years of tax forms. Well worth the cost of that." He said, "Oh.
Thank you. What do you recommend I do?" I said, "Is that an attempt to
get around the privacy issue?" He looked embarrassed. I said, "If you
don't get this job, you could always try the tabloids." Rueful grin. I
said, "Most people in your situation would just ask her, asking if it's
something you did, or didn't do. If that doesn't work, you could offer
to pay for counseling." He said, "I've got a gun in the house. She
knows how to use it. Should I get rid of it?" I said, "That's your
understand." I said, "I'll offer this. Until this is cleared up, or you
win the election and acquire automatic assassination protection, I will
prevent that gun from being misused. I'm not saying it would be, but to
and he left.
He did ask. She told him her brother was in trouble, and she didn't
want to bother him with it, and interfere with his political ambitions.
Their love was more than ever after that. He decided not to seek
office, citing he wanted to spend more time with his family. I still
gave him a good approval, and he thanked me for that, and my personal
help.
A man walked into my office in Psychological Assessment. I looked at
his file, and said, "Impressive. Did they ask for transcripts?" He
said, "They did. I'll request they be sent. They wouldn't accept
copies." I said, "Did they see them?" He said, "No." I said, "May I see
them?" He took them out of a pocket and unfolded them. I glanced at
them. I pressed the intercom button in the code for criminal. I did
some typing on my keyboard. I said to him, "I have some degrees, and a
lot of contacts at universities. And for any of them that have a
security clearance for government grants and contacts, we have full
access. They don't have the name on your transcripts in their files. A
misspelling or name change?" He said, looking a little nervous, "It
could be. I went there!" I said, "There is a problem with your social
security number, too. Says you're dead. You look a little under the
weather, but not THAT much." I took out a scan wand, and ran it over
the transcripts. I said to him, "Special filter for fingerprints. Hmm,
not in the system. All this points to you not existing, but I can SEE
you. Got an explanation?" He said, "I don't have any." I said, "I
recognize your accent." I spoke to him in Greek, "You speak English
almost perfectly. Well done!" He was confused.
I said, "Wait. My finger." I pointed it at him, and said, moving it
toward his face, "The nail is a little long. It's growing. You can see
under hypnosis. I said things to counter any conditioning, and ordered
him to remember everything. I brought him out of it. He said in Greek,
"What happened?" I said, "Wait a minute, and it should all come back to
you." He did, and said, "Oh!" I said, "Your people were underestimating
us, severely. But why?" Silence. I said, "Cyprus? Oh, so that's it.
Your reactions are easy for a psychologist to read. They should have
known we would check the documents. I could see that the transcripts
were altered. Do you know what first alerted me?" Silence. I said,
"Don't you want to know?" He nodded. I said, "Martial arts is one of my
interests. You moved like an expert, but it wasn't on your application.
They ALL put it on, assuming it's the most important thing. It isn't."
He said, "Oh! I understand, but not why it isn't important." I said,
"We arrest people, not beat them." He smiled, and said, "Unusual." I
said, "So I've heard. You have violated several laws. You know we must
act as the law requires us." He said, "If I apply for political
asylum?" I said, "That's not my area, but I could guess that committing
crimes before that, might cause a little problem with the application."
He said, "How have you come to know my language?" I said, "Classical
studies. I followed those languages to the present." He said, "Are the
other psychologists in this Department as educated and capable as you
are?" I said, "I run this Department. What do you think?" He grinned,
and said, "I am impressed!" I said, "There are people waiting for you
on the other side of the door. I signaled them as soon as I saw your
file. The Agent in charge has my information on his phone." He said,
"You are VERY efficient!" I said with a smile, "We're the best, because
we work hard to be." I stood, and motioned him to the door, and he
stood and went to it and opened it. I said to the SA, "He's all yours
now. Might want to make some kind of deal." He said, "Thanks, We'll
work it." The applicant said to me, "Thank you. You have treated me
well." I said, "Our standards. You're welcome." He was led away.
A man came in. I said, "You know we're not looking for martial
artists." He said, "I was told that. Could you tell me why?" I said,
"We arrest people, not beat them up. Our special Agents need to know
standard police things, including weapons, not how to kick the heads
off of possibly innocent suspects. In fact, martial artists usually are
a pain at the Academy. According to them, we can't do anything right.
Until they want to prove that with our head trainer. They have a very
good infirmary there." He laughed. He said, "How did you know I was a
martial artist, before you read my file?" I said, "Takes one to know
one." He said, "Oh!" We did the tests. He said, "That man before me.
Arrested?" I said, "Are you sure you want to violate security in the
very place an applicant shouldn't?" He said, "Oh! I misspoke. Nice day
we're having." I said, "Well, maybe. Please take this back with you to
and he tried not to grin. He left, approved.
A woman came in. I said, "Hostility is out of place here. You don't
need to act tough with me." She said, "I don't?" I said, "Sure. The act
word. Doesn't get much respect from shrinks." She said, "Oh! Stupid of
me." I grinned and nodded, and she chuckled. I said, "A habit?" She
said, "I think so." I said, "Bad here. We're professionals. We don't
want our people looking tough, just competent, because they are. If you
make it through the Academy, you WILL be tough, and know it." She
grinned, and said, "That's what I want!" I said, "We don't hate that.
But no chips on shoulders. Got it?" She said, "Got it!" We did the
tests. I said, "A little problem there. You overcompensate for you fear
of failure." She said, "Oh. Now that you mention it, you could be
right. I'll work on it." I said, "Please take this back with you to
Personnel. No, I'm not going to tell you. Policy. Yes, almost all of
them ask, and no, I'm not reading your mind. Been at this for a lot of
years." She grinned her way out, approved.
A man came in. I said, "You know I'm half psionic." He nodded. I
said, "Do you have a Corps set of restrictions?" He said, "I do." I
said, "Then we can proceed." I said, after the tests, "You've had
courses in psychology. You should have known not to try to fool the
test. And I was watching you. You know we can feel dishonesty. Why?" He
said, "Like a sore tooth. I couldn't resist testing it and you." I
said, "I know the feeling, but allowing that to happen in the one place
you really shouldn't, doesn't show much self control, or wisdom." He
said, "I understand. I'm not approved?" I said, "Sometimes this job
isn't fun. I like you, but I can't approve you. Think of this as a
learning experience. Use it for motivation. Please." He said, "I will."
I walked out with him. We shook hands. He left. I said to the office
manager, as we were closing the office for the day, "A disapproval. He
couldn't resist testing me, and messing with the test. We can't have
that with a half psionic. Need better self control." She said, "Did he,
Whatever that is." Grins.
END Page
--
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Grant
|
|