Solomon's Private File #50
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 15 in this story, in the Summer of 2041.
Solomon's Private File #50 "Natural History"
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My statement that I had a serious girlfriend, hit the public like a
bombshell. Boys were happy, girls were disappointed, and parents were
overjoyed that I was unavailable, and absolutely rapturous that we were
waiting. If only they knew that we lived with a bunch of kids naked,
and did group sexplay to orgasms at least twice a day. I said that to
Chad, and we laughed together. We recorded some more of my singing, to
see if my changing voice made a difference in the strange effect. It
did. The effect varied more than it had before.
I said to the camera, "We are in the National Museum of Natural
History. Here, we will be seeing young people present old things. And
old people presenting young things. We've got rocks here! Alright, who
wants to see the gems?" Beth said, "I do!" I said, simply, "I knew
that." We grinned at her. I said, "Strange as it may seem, they're
right around the corner. Ah! Here is the Hope Diamond." I gave its
history. I said, "The curse. Do you believe it existed?" Beth said,
"Yes. So romantic." I said, "I sure didn't expect that. You might want
to change your mind, if you plan to have a relationship some time." She
said, "Oh! Sorry. I was mixed up. Curses are bad." Brian was trying not
to laugh. I poked him, and he almost choked. I said, "My father, as the
first Stephen, found some objects in an ancient site that had so much
bad feelings trapped in them, they were cursed, and caused bad feelings
in the people who handled them. He removed those bad things. Then he
scanned the whole world, and found some more objects that had the same
problem. Anybody know where I'm going with this?" Brian got in first,
with, "I know! The Hope Diamond was cursed, and he cleaned it. The
legend was true." I said, "Right. He cleaned all he found. But the gem
in the belly button of the belly dancer in Tunis, was a little
ticklish." Brian laughed. Don said, "There is more to that?" I said,
"Sure. He bought it. Problem, though. He was a little young, and looked
it. 15. But enough gold can fix a lot of problems. Getting it out, was
the ticklish part. She laughed. Then she wanted a little more from him
than gold. Well, his personal problem was showing in his clothes then.
He was already pledged to his future wife, severely disappointing the
dancer."
They grinned and chuckled. Beth said, "What did he do with the
stone?" I said, "He gave it to a friend who was a Buddhist Monk. And
THEN told him where it came from." Chuckles. Don said, "Interesting
story. Thanks." Beth said, "What was his personal problem?" Don and
Sharon grinned at me, thinking they had caught me in a difficult spot.
I said, "His penis was gigantic. Very er, hard to keep his appreciation
of her er, concealed." They all stared at me. I said, "You're staring
at me. What's the problem? It's a part of the body. Don't tell me you
never heard of it before!" Sharon said, "Right. And Stephen did mention
it on live TV with Don. Cracked him up more than once with that." Don
said, "He did. The way he said it was very funny. It was just a shock
to hear it in such a matter of fact way, instead of by innuendo.
Unusual, that's all." I said, "It's the innuendo that makes the thing
mysterious and sexy. Say it plainly without that, and it's more
ordinary and medical. The more you try to hide this reality from kids,
the more they want to know about it. YOU adults surely remember that
when you were kids! Make it plain, and they just won't care. But no,
you have to make it worse, with your stupid shameful embarrassment, and
then you blame the kids for what you actually make them do. Sometimes I
wonder who is really the adult in the room, and who is the overgrown
child. Present company excepted, naturally. Er, I think." Don said,
"Wow! Wise words with a sting, instead of humor." I said, "There are
different ways to stick it to you." He laughed, and then Brian did. Don
said, "You saved that for after my comment, didn't you." I said
cheerfully, "Sure did!" He chuckled.
I said, "Many of the gems here, my father gave to the museum. He
found and cut them himself. He cut them so precisely and well, some
experts on other worlds thought they had to be synthetic because they
were more brilliant, but all the tests showed they were natural, which
they were. This red diamond has a story behind it." Sharon said, "A sad
story. Stephen found a dead planet. But it wasn't always dead. It had a
high civilization on it. Then they saw their doom. A rogue planet was
coming into their solar system. They knew it would destroy their world.
They created many sealed and protected archives they hoped would
survive the cataclysm, for other people to discover and know them.
Stephen did find them, half a billion years later, and he found the
diamonds in the cracked crust, which he used to pay for two museums to
be built on two different planets, to house what was in the archives."
I said, "On Misnok and Posintan. There, they are called the Memorial
Diamonds. Maybe I could take you to one of the museums someday." Beth
said, "Wow! Would you?" I said, "Could be possible. We'll have to see.
There are issues to work out." Brian said, "Please!" Don said, "I'd
like that, too." I said, "Dad's design for the city on Allguard was
inspired by what he found in the archives. And there is a museum for
one of the archives there, too. There we could visit any daytime. It's
uninhabited." Beth said, "Nobody lives there?" We smiled at her, and
she was embarrassed, and said, "Oh. Right." I said, "He built it as an
art project."
I said, "Here is my father's first contribution to this museum. He
was thirteen, and had already sold some of his gem sculptures to the
president of the most powerful world in the Galactic Council. He made
more of these fancy boxes from the same big stone, and other ones with
star sapphires, that are in museums out in the galaxy, all announcing
they are from Earth. He has a lot of things in those museums now. A lot
of them think our world is full of people like him, friendly talented
geniuses, who are very powerful and ethical. Some know the truth." Don
said, "And what is that truth?"
I said, "From their point of view, we are a world of ignorant insane
murderous savages, full of terrorists, ethnic cleansers, and ultra
religious extremists who want to convert or kill everybody. People,
millions of people, who have more food than they can eat, who let
thousands of children starve to death every day. People who eagerly
kill other people for such slight differences in skin color,
nationality, or words in old books they don't read, that the aliens
can't even see, who know, by being even more different to us, they
would all be murdered in their beds, if we ever got loose among the
stars. They see millions of people who do horrendous things to each
other, using old books they don't even understand, as justification,
which actually don't justify that. They see people who's books of
fantasy they believe are real, tell them not to worship idols,
worshiping idols, who are supposed to turn the other cheek, who shoot
them off people's faces instead. They see people who don't believe in
the science they are using every day to deny the science that enables
them to deny it. They see people choose leaders who do all the things
they don't want to happen, again and again. They see great masses of
people worshiping seriously misbehaving entertainers and sports people,
showering them with riches, instead of respecting their wise teachers
and scientists who enrich their lives in poverty. They have found no
other people in the galaxy who are as insane as we appear to them, and
there are thousands of known intelligent species out there. And one
more thing that's completely incomprehensible to them. We actually put
on clothes to go swimming. That's how those who know this world, think
of us. Tell me, how wrong are they?" Brian said, "Wow!" Beth was
crying. Sharon was hugging her.
I said, "There is a lot of room for improvement. Education helps that
along. That's why we are doing these museum shows. Let's do our little
bit to improve the world!" Beth nodded, and said, "Yes!" I said,
"That's the spirit! We are not defeated. At least not while we have
shoes on. We are standing upright against ignorance. Feet are toerific,
for that." Silence. I said, "Er, why are you staring at me like that?"
They had to laugh. When he could, Don said, "Your twisted humor." I
said, "What of it? Don't you know I always have an ankle I can use?"
Groans. I said, "Hey, it's just a matter of degree." More groans, with
smiles. We all hugged each other, and went on with the job.
I said, "Here are mummies, but they're really daddies, who got all
wrapped up in their work." Chuckles. I said, "Few women were of such
high status that they were mummified. Might not have wanted to be, with
such a limited wardrobe. Did you know it was the men who wore makeup
then?" Beth said, "The women didn't?" I said, "Not usually, but to fit
in with the male society, some did. Here's an image of what a really
made up man looked like." Beth said, "Interesting, but a little heavy
on the eyeliner. But no hair?" I said, "For most, that was the style.
Practical, actually. Had a big problem with lice. They shaved all over,
and not just on top. Used bronze and stone knives. I think I would have
been a little afraid of that, in some areas." Brian said, "Absolutely!"
Then he looked embarrassed.
I said, "Meteorites. With these, the sky really WAS falling." Brian
said, "Did one really wipe out the dinosaurs?" I said, "Yes and no. It
killed a lot of them right away, and caused the starvation of many
others, but some did survive, and evolved into the birds we know today.
Some people collect meteorites. Some are valuable in money, and some
are valuable to science, and some would smash your foot if you dropped
them. There is a stone that's formed when a meteorite strikes the
ground, called tektite. It's made by the ground melting from the heat
of the impact. Here are some." I ported some to my had, and gave them
to the kids. I said, "Some parts of Antarctica are bare rock in the
summer. A lot of these can be found there, then. And meteorites, too,
that fell on the snow and ice in the winter. Here are some of those, of
the metallic type. I cut them in half, and etched the surface with
acid, so you can see the patterns of the grain." Brian said, "We can
keep these?" I said, "Sure. From public land. I can port them to your
rooms, if you don't want to carry them around." They liked that, so I
did.
I said, "Live insects! Careful where you step. Just kidding. I
think." Beth said, "Euw!" I said, "If they could, they might think the
same of us. When they weren't thinking, 'Food!'. Did you know we
couldn't survive without insects?" The kids stared at me. Brian said,
"Please explain." I said, "They're the clean up squad. Animals die,
they eat the remains. That's a good thing, or we would be buried under
piles of really stinking rotting corpses. They also eat dead wood,
keeping forests healthy. They pollinate a lot of plants. They are a
source of food for many animals, too. If we put all the kinds of
animals in the world on scales and weighed them, the insects would be
the heaviest. There are a whole lot of them! Here are butterflies. Did
you know that we don't know why they are called that? The name can be
traced back to the eighth century, but still not why. Oh, and did you
know they don't need to ever use the bathroom unless they drink too
much water?" Sharon stared at me and said, "I didn't know that one!" I
said, "I do research before these er, outings. Interesting information
out there. Not that I'm overly interested in the bathroom habits of any
particular species. Anybody feeling flushed?" Groans
I said, "Here you can buy minerals. Most are not expensive. Some are
my father's light cubes." Brian said, "I've been meaning to ask, do
they have to be in cube form?" I said, "No they don't. But they are
very stable with a flat bottom, unlike people, and flat surfaces are
easier to imprint things on. Did you have another shape in mind?" He
said, "Your father made these. You could make some with a different
shape. I'm sure people would buy them." I said, "But then they might
not be as interested in my father's. I love him. I wouldn't want that."
They knew what I felt, and hugged me.
I said, "Here is the section on human origins. My father had to
revise it a lot after he did his time research. What looks like real
pictures, ARE real pictures." Brian said "Wow!" I said, "No, I think
they were saying 'ugh'." Beth laughed, while Brian poked me. Beth said,
"One of those looks like that alien people." I said, "The Atlana. They
agreed when they saw this." I nodded to Sharon, who said, "Stephen and
I hosted some of the crew from the starship that discovered us. They
were really fascinated. Stephen had to translate what I told them, and
a lot was about his own work, severely embarrassing him. They knew it,
too, and thought it was funny. Stephen didn't." We grinned.
I said, "Here is Ocean Hall. Hmm, not much water." Beth said to me,
"Can you swim?" I said, "Sure. Like a dolphin. Literally, actually."
Brian said, "You can swim like flipper?" I said, "I don't have
flippers, but I can move my body like they do, and swim VERY fast." He
said, "How fast?" I said, "Olympic size pool, in one side, out the
other, in about a second." Some wows. I said, "My father was the first
of us who were able to do that. Takes VERY good body control,
exceptional strength, and extended senses to prevent bashing your head
into something slower." Brian said, "Can you do other sports that
well?" I said, "We train VERY hard, and with our body control, well, we
are the best in almost any physical activity the world has ever seen.
Or not seen, because we don't like to show off." Brian said, "Even in
fighting?" I said, "Yes, and with any weapon. My father was the best in
history." Beth said, "And you?" I said, "I'm just not that interested
in martial arts. And I don't really need to be, to defend myself, but I
have studied it. It's part of our training." Don said, "Your group
competes in sports on Posintan to gain GC citizenship. What was your
sport?" I said, "I'd rather not say. I was the first of us to be
significantly injured." They stared at me. I stared back, and they
chuckled. Don said, "I know you. You had to be different, didn't you."
I said, "Yes. That's enough."
I said, "Ice age. BIG beasties! Want to see them as I saw them?" They
all said "Yes!" I showed them some of us bringing down a mammoth. I
said, "As you see, taking one of them wasn't an easy thing. This is not
how we usually did it." Sharon said, "How did you usually?" I said, "We
tried to scare them into a trap. Concealed holes in the ground. Didn't
need to be big holes, just enough to catch a couple of feet. Problem
was we had to find the shaggy beasts alone to do that, or the others
would remember the location and refuse to go there. One of those would
feed a lot of us for more than a week, and with jerky for a really long
time, and we used the skins and bones for tools and clothes, and most
importantly, tents." Beth said, "Are you in the picture?" I said, "No.
That's from my memory. I wasn't looking at me."
I said, "Here are dinosaurs. We know a lot more about what they
looked like now, thanks to my father's time research." Beth said,
"They're beautiful!" I said, "Yes, and that's important. Have to look
your best to attract a mate. A lot of the strange bony plates, and
colorful scales and feathers, were for differentiating species, and
attracting mates. Worked. They had a LOT of kids. Did you know that
most dinosaurs were actually small? Like these raptors." I made a bunch
of them cavort around us, the size of large chickens. Beth said,
"They're cute!" I said, "You wouldn't think so if they were real and
hungry. They would already be gnawing on our bones." One said to her,
"You'd better believe it, strange mammal. You're looking mighty tasty,
right about now." I said, "Mind your manners. It's not polite to play
with your food." Laugher. I made them vanish.
Beth said, "Can we go back upstairs? I want to buy one of the light
cubes." I said, "Which one?" She said, "I can't afford the one I want,"
I said, "Just tell me which one you like best." She said, "The white
one with seams of gold in it." I ported one to my hand, and said, "Like
this?" She said, "Yes!" I said, "It's not from the store here. Dad has
a whole warehouse of them on Allguard. Want me to sign it?" She said,
"Oh yes!" I put on it, "From Sol to Beth, in appreciation for your help
in the Smithsonian." She stared at it, and said, "The words. What are
they made of?" They were pink. I said, "Inlaid solid diamond." She
said, "Wow!" Sharon said, "I have to agree!" I said to Brian, "You
wanted a different shape?" He said, "Octahedron." I said suspiciously,
"You were planning that." He grinned and said, "Yes." I said, "And made
of?" He said, "I like Beth's choice." She obviously didn't disapprove
of that, which we all noticed, which made her embarrassed. I put his
inscription on it in pale blue. He was very happy with it. I said to
Beth, "I didn't tell you something. Your cube didn't come from my
father's warehouse. I made it, like I did the one I gave to Brian." She
said, "Oh! That's great! I like it even more!" I said, "Oh no! What
have I done!" Laughter. Beth and Brian hugged me.
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Grant
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