Solomon's Private File #39
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 14 in this story, in the Winter of 2040-2041.
Solomon's Private File #39 "Psi Eaters"
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I was asked to attend an executive conference. Ichi said, "We've been
asked to help offworld. A ship crash landed on a Nagindran Empire
colony planet. The lone critically injured survivor said his planet was
in trouble. A lot of unexplainable things were happening. He had heard
about the Adepts of the Nagindra and had been intending to ask for
their help." He pushed all the info they had. Mom said, "He's dead, and
I can't get much from what's left of the ship." Hawk said, "Same here."
Then they all looked at me, and I said, plaintively, "Aww, do I have
to?" I got poked. I said, "Did a system scan. They have a cloaked ship
in outer system orbit." I pushed the info. I was already scanning
their home planet. I said, "Hold! Don't scan their planet! I was being
VERY gentle, and still I almost got caught. We do NOT want them to know
about the 4th. More than they already do, anyway. Here's what I got.
Invaded by a group of really alien people. Psionic hive gestalt
mentality. Their PK is enormous! Full telepath, too. THEY EAT PSIONIC
PEOPLE! I've sent full warnings to our schools, and our Nagindra
friends. They are all to stay well away from those people. We're going
to have to screw with our ethics. I don't see how we can let them
continue without destroying them. They think they need to survive by
doing what they're doing, which might actually be true."
Mom said, "How much time do we have?" I said, "A few years. They
won't move until they finish er, digesting what they just ate." She
said, "You already have a plan." I said, "A vague idea. Need to wait
for the S kids to become Seniors. PK pool bigger than theirs should be
a good start. Won't know until we have it and can see what it can do.
Important they don't catch any of our Guardians, or others who know
about us, before we're ready." Hawk said, "But those people knew about
the Nagindra Adepts." I said, "True, but only a faint rumor, and
nothing more. And those who knew that much, were on that ship." Pete
said, "The ship in orbit is empty. Unusual for all to go planetside." I
said, "Sorry, but did you notice the radiation leak?" He said, "Oh! So
that's why their shuttle crashed. They were sick and misjudged the
landing." I said, "I think they knew when they took the only available
ship, they might not survive the trip. Brave."
Mom said to me, "I know you." I said, "Shhhh." She had to smile. She
said to the others, "He's looking at them, testing their sensitivities.
I think he's going to isolate one of the group's bodies, and try to
really examine it." I said, "Some news. Psionic insulation stops their
links. Reestablishes when clear. They can exist alone, and even think,
but not nearly as well, recording mostly. Group mind knows when it
happens, and doesn't care much. There had been some significant
fighting from the natives. Unstable damaged buildings. One collapsed on
a er, drone. Group mind felt it, but not damaged, and didn't
investigate." They were staring at me in fascination, connected
mentally, watching, but not interfering with what I was doing, and not
understanding much of it, either. I said, "Got one! In an insulated
container. Examining. Wow! Er, am I allowed to say that?" They
chuckled. Hawk said, "A joke. That means he's on to something good for
us." I said, "Spill the beans, why doncha!" He laughed.
I said, "Their hive mentality is imposed, not natural. Psimaster
grabs his disciples from the general population, psionic people
preferred, and modifies their brains. Not reversible by us,
unfortunately. Dog level now. Can't save the converted. Can't get close
enough to one of the bosses to check them out. One thing I'm going to
do. Any ship of theirs that goes interstellar, is going to be lost,
until we figure out what to do with them." Hawk asked me, "Can you do
all for now." Hawk said, "One more thing. Have you thought of something
like a computer virus?" I said, "Yes. Possibly effective on one group,
but it would alert the others, who would cut off the infected
immediately. Then they would look really hard for the source,
suspecting an attack. We could still use it, but only in concert with
the final all out push." Ivanna, our military expert said, "Well
reasoned!" I said, "Er, thanks. Just doing my job, whatever that is."
We all did a lot of hugs. I got the most of them.
Some of our S and Double Kids are in Senior training. Galya is
helping me with that. With PK classes and other teaching, and working
at the FBI, I hardly have time for sexplay. Almost. CNN, PBS, and
Sharon agreed to my proposal for the museum tours, which would be
conducted after hours. We had a meeting about it. First thing, PBS
said, "Sol, you need people to play off of. I suggest some kids." I
said, "You took the words right out of my mouth! I want 'em back!" They
laughed. I said, "I have one in mind, a 14 year old boy. Add a girl. Of
a museum employee, would be nice." Sharon said, "And I'll be there,
trying not to look utterly ridiculous trying not to laugh too hard." I
said, "I'll see what I can do about that." Chuckles. I said, "And maybe
a know it all professor or curator, different for each museum. Who I
can really play with against his will." Big grins. The CNN producer I
hadn't met before, said, "We'll need at least three cameras. Lots of
batteries." I said, "No. I'll lend you some that won't er, expire. More
convenient." He said, "Thanks. Won't do live, so time isn't important."
I said, "You'll air excerpts, I suppose. I get approval before that. I
see some calculation there. Don't. No matter what you do, nothing goes
on air I don't approve. Don't agree with that, I erase all you have.
Ask around. Same as with my father." He said, "This is new to me. I'll
ask around like you said." I said, "You might be surprised at what I'll
allow. You won't be disappointed."
PBS said, "Are you going to be making outrageous comments?" I said,
"I have Uncle Hawk to make laugh." Grins. I said, "The problem is the
struggle not to make them. I almost always lose that." Sharon said,
"Are you going to source past lives in your discussions?" I said,
"Isn't that the point of this?" She looked embarrassed. They saw that
and nodded. I said, "Ha! You aren't the only one who's interested.
Mom's passing the word." The producer said, "Your mother spies on you?"
I said, "We don't think of it that way. We all monitor each other on
the job, in case we need help, or something damages our brains and we
turn mean. It hasn't happened, but we don't want to take any chances."
He said, "Oh! I didn't think of that. I'm more relieved than I
expected. What happens if it does happen?" I said, "If they can't be
healed right away, we take away their powers for good. If they resist,
they die, and so does the one or two of us who killed him. We can't
live with that. Automatic two for one deal." He said, "Wow!" I said,
"We really do hear that a lot, but usually for nice things."
PBS said, "Your mother doesn't know about your past lives?" I said,
"Being who we are, with our unusual senses, we don't have much privacy.
What we CAN have, we respect. None of us who do remember past lives,
really wants to talk about them. I'll probably reference some without
identifying them. I hope, not more than that." CNN asked, "Were any in
the Bible?" I said, "Need a stronger hint?" He gulped, and said,
"Right. Sorry." Sharon and PBS tried not to smile. I said, "A notice.
We'll try not to mention sexual things with the kids. Might embarrass
you adults." They chuckled. Then Sharon said, "You were more serious
about that than I thought at first." I said "America is REALLY screwed
up about sex and children. You can't hide it from them. The more you
try, the more they want to know, BECAUSE you try, and they find out
more than if you didn't try to keep it from them, some of it wrong,
too. What you think of as innocence, is just plain ignorance. Why do
you forget this very thing from your own childhood?" They looked
shocked, and then thoughtful. I said, "It's so bad, you can't even
discuss discussing that in public." PBS said, "True, We can't, on our
network. Sponsors would run." I said, ominously, "But they can't hide."
Chuckles. I said, "So, go find the victims I asked for, and I'll talk
to the family of the boy. He's 14. Girl that age would be optimum."
I asked to meet with the boy's father at work. He came to my office.
I told him what I was going to be doing with the museum. I said, "We
need some kids the PBS audience will relate to. I know one who might be
interested." He grinned, and said, "I'll tell him, standing well back."
I said, "So it's alright with you?" He said, "Yes. Thank you for this."
I said, "Not necessary. By default. I don't know any other regular kids
who know about security. The museum director is looking to find
another, preferably a girl, which I don't suppose Brian will object
to." He chuckled, and said, "He might pay attention to something else,
maybe. Did you two discuss er, girls?" I waggled my finger at him. He
said, "Right. I shouldn't have asked. But he said you were a regular
boy to him, so I assume you two did." I tried to look innocent, and he
chuckled. I said, "But I'm also a counselor." He nodded and said, "No
worries. I'd call him now, but he's not at home. Wrestling practice." I
said, "What school?" He told me. I said, "He's pretty good." He grinned
with fatherly pride. I said, "He's got a little problem. Er, bigger
than average, actually." He laughed, and said, "Yes. Common to
wrestlers." I said, "Those singlets sure don't hide much. Better than
how they wrestled in ancient Greece. Naked, and nothing off limits. I'd
think a lot of them didn't have very deep voices." He laughed. He left,
still chuckling.
A male movie star went all ballistic in a drunken rampage against
Jews. The next day, I, looking almost like the real me, walked with his
kids from school in California. I said hi, and we talked. The boy,
around twelve, said, "The Jews did it again." I said, "Oh, what did
they do?" He said, "They said my father said bad things. It's not
true." I said, "Oh, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but I saw him
on the news really saying those things. The whole country saw and heard
it." He said, "You're lying!" I said, "Why would I lie? I know it's a
bad thing for you, but if you tell people it didn't happen, they're
going to think you're crazy. I wouldn't like that at all." He said,
"It's really true?" I said, "I could show you on my phone. All the news
services are showing it, but he said some REALLY bad words we aren't
supposed to know." He said, "Stupid grownups! We could tell them a
thing or two!" I laughed and hugged him. I said, "I like you. Right out
with it!" He grinned. He said, "Is what he said really true about
them?" I said, "Actually, no more true or false than it is about
anybody. Judaism is a religion, not a banking system. You know there
are some bad Catholic Priests?" He nodded. I said, "Would it be fair to
be mad at all Catholics for that?" He said, "Wow! We're Catholics. I
never thought about it like that." His older sister said, "He shouldn't
have said those things. It's prejudice. I have Jewish friends, and they
aren't like he said. Yes Allen, I heard it."
I said, "Parents are supposed to show us how to be good people. Being
not perfect, sometimes they show us how NOT to be. We can learn just as
much from both times. He had too much to drink. Alcohol is a drug that
takes away your ability to make good decisions and control yourself.
There is an old saying that translates to mean, 'In wine there is
truth'. When you can't control what you say, you say what you really
think, that you wouldn't have dared to before. He said what he felt,
but he wouldn't have if he hadn't been drinking too much. I think he's
got a lot of anger and frustration inside, really trying to get out."
She said, "You sound very intelligent. I think you might be right."
Allen said to me, "What religion are you?" I said, "It's a little
complicated. My mother believes in the old Navajo religion she was
raised in. My father wasn't raised in a religion, and became Buddhist.
I was raised to have a choice. I wanted to be different, so I chose to
be Jewish. Could be because of my name. Maybe next I'll try
Unitarianism, which is a kind of Protestant." She said, "That's really
different. Interesting, though." Allen said, "Because of your name?
What is it?" I said, "Solomon. My friends, like the two of you, call me
Sol." She said, "I think I know something!" I said, "And you're right."
She said, "Why?" I said, "Because I wanted to help you to understand
and feel better about what happened. I care about you. It's been good
talking with you both. I think you shouldn't tell your father we met,
unless you want to hear more bad words." I grinned, and so did they,
and we hugged. I said, "Other people didn't see me with you, and they
won't see the way I go, too. You will. May God be with you, always." I
ported home.
Mom had some tears while she was kissing and hugging me. When she
could, she said, "I don't think even your father would have thought of
doing that." I said, "It's a wonder how some children grow up to be
good people, despite what their parents do to them. I have the best
parents in the world. It's not enough to take advantage of that in my
growing up. I have to share it. Er, you." We both had tears. And love.
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Grant
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