Solomon's Private File #56
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 #56 "Pink Elephants"
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My reception in our FBI offices was a little intense. Even the secs
pushed a lot of wows. One said, "There were some things you, er, 'he'
said (I nodded approval, trying not to smile), that people never
thought of before. Important things. That's the most amazing part." I
said, "I think the amazing part is they sat there and took it."
Chuckles and agreement.
My first interviewee was distracted. I said, "You seem to be not all
here. Would you like to reschedule for when Solomon isn't orating?" He
chuckled, said, "Yes, I have to admit it. I've been thinking about that
a lot." I said, "That's a good thing and a bad thing. In general,
thinking is good. In specific, in letting it distract you while you are
applying for a job, where it could show you might tend to lose focus on
He said, "Right. Focus. Lesson learned with gratitude. I'm ready." He
passed.
It went like that for most of the afternoon. Then the former bathroom
bomber asked to see me. He came into my office. We shook hands, and sat
in the informal area. He said, "I saw your show." I said, "Of the world
population, it might be easier to list who didn't." He grinned and
chuckled. He said, "Those here who know you, are causing some
embarrassment in you?" I said, "SOME?" He laughed. I said, "And those
who are applying to work here are so distracted by that, I have to
almost poke them on the nose just to get their attention." He grinned
and said, "But you did well." I said, "Did you come here to make it
worse?" He said, "Not specifically, but it might be so." I acted macho,
and said, "Go on. I can take it." Then I wiped a fake tear, and he
laughed. He said, "I have not seen this side of you before." I looked
at my side, and he laughed again.
I said, "If you had seen the after show informal discussion, you
might have. You would have liked it. More mutual respect developed." He
"You suspect correctly, not that it would have made any difference. I
asked for the show, and chose who would be there. None of them actually
knew that until after the show, although some who knew me, er, severely
suspected it." He nodded and said, "If you arrived unannounced to any
of their shows, would they complain?" I said, "CNN? I don't know. I
think they know I would only do that in an emergency. But if you would
"In the past, my father provided some real time information to their
reporters on their monitors, that corrected what some politicians were
telling them at the time, with references. Very useful in debates. I
don't think I should say that I'm doing some of that now, but I REALLY
like that idea, a LOT. So do the reporters. Er, so WOULD the
reporters." He grinned and chuckled.
He said, "I didn't believe I would be treated with such respect by
the people I intended to kill. Yet it has happened. You caused that." I
said, "Yes I did, but only in the beginning. It would not have
continued if you had not been personally worthy of it." He said, "I
knew you would say that, but I'm not sad to hear it from you now. I
take comfort in your wisdom." I said, "More than you should, I think.
You have all the wisdom you need for your own comfort, inside you. Take
it out and play with it sometime, and you'll see. Oh, that sounded a
little strange." He was laughing well. I said, "They can hear your loud
laughter out there, and are grinning and nodding." He said, "This
happens often?" I said, "No, it doesn't. We do psychological
assessments, not comedy. I also do some counseling. Most occurrences of
this kind are in the offices of the other people involved. The Director
hears a lot of my humor, unfortunately." He grinned. He said, "There
are rumors of some of the other things you have done for the FBI." I
said, "There aren't supposed to be those. If they escape the building,
such activities might have to stop." He said, "I have heard that, too."
I said, "Doesn't seem to have worked." He said, "A little, maybe. They
are all very impressed with you." I said, "For what are you taking this
revenge on me?" He laughed loudly again. I said, "I blocked the sound.
They didn't hear that." He nodded and said, "I don't want to take up
more of your time. I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate all
of what you do, and not just what you did for me." We stood, and hugged
with love.
Then I was asked to see the Director. His head shrink was there. I
said, "Oh, please, no! I'm not insane! Those pink elephants aren't
laughed. I was asked to sit. He said, "Your show has produced some
interesting effects. Congress has become nervous. I know, good. They're
confused as well. Some would like to attack you, but can't find an
opening to attack you through. I see you were aware of that lack of
vulnerability. We've had a request to investigate you, but we declined,
citing that we are unaware of any crime you might have committed.
That's good, because if we had gone through with it, all the major
religions would have come down on us like a ton of bricks. They are
solidly on your side on this. You REALLY woke them up." I nodded, and
said, "Problem with me being here?" He said, "Actually yes, in a way. A
lot of people here are so damn proud you are with us, it's like they're
ready to burst." I said, "Right. I see. Make a big mess if they do
that. Get more janitors?" They chuckled. He said, "The problem with you
being here, isn't exactly that. The problem would be if you left. The
letdown of that could be bad for us. So, do you have any plans of that
nature?" I said, "I have no plans at this time to change what I do
I shouldn't have said that."
They looked at me with tense interest. I said, "Heard of
precognition? Well, I just got poked with that. I'm still trying to er,
digest it. A terrorist plot. Ha! Not going to work now." He said, "What
is it?" I said, "Explosive mini drones. Roof of the White House. That's
the feeling I get. No date, though. Question; any governments or
agencies, federal or local, using armed mini drones in the US?" He
said, "Classified." I said, "Would any of them carry explosives that
would act like bombs?" He said, "That specifically, I can say no to.
None are authorized to be used by any governments in the US." I said,
"So it would be alright if I kept a watch on the whole country for
those with explosive bombs, different from other policing devices,
treating them as evidence of a crime?" He said, "Fully authorized. Want
to tell Homeland?" I said, "Up to you. You can tell them it's from me
if you want, but not the general public until it's over." He said,
"They find them in the air, they are not to shoot them down, that you
would handle that?" I said, "Yes. I won't allow them to explode. I'll
stop them if they attempt to crash into something. I'll let it happen,
but they will bounce off, like the building was made of rubber. That
way we prove the full intent, but get to keep the evidence intact." He
said, "That's great! Oh. Er, thanks. Please do that." The shrink and I
grinned at him. There was the faint sound of elephants trumpeting as I
left, making them laugh very well.
I ported to Brian's bedroom. His father was there, too. I said,
"Well, at least you're dressed." They grinned. I said, "So, got
anything to show me? That I haven't seen before." The door unlocked
itself without the short key. I said, "FBI gets called to rescue a kid
who locked herself in a bathroom, they know who to call. Good work!
What about a combination lock? No, not to eat it! Right, you looked
unusually hungry then. How about this off the cuff idea?" I dangled a
pair of police handcuffs in front of them. I said "First, I know who
opened the lock. There are two students here." His father nodded, and
did it too, but with the assistance of the short key. I said, "Very
good. In the real world, it's the results that count." I put the cuffs
on Brian. He said, "It's different this time. I don't have any
information for them, and I can't see them behind me." I said, "You
don't need to SEE anything, and the mechanism is simple enough for you
to figure out how to release yourself. Take your time. You have until
school starts in the fall." His father laughed his head almost off.
Brain didn't. After about 15 minutes, one hand came loose. Then seconds
later, the other hand. I said, "So, what have you learned?" He said,
"You were right. It wasn't hard to figure out, but a little hard to do
it behind me. Everything felt backwards. And it needed more force. But
I did it!" I said, "Right. And well."
I said, "Now this." I put a plastic restraint around his wrists in
the front. He said, "It's not a lock!" I said, "I hope you didn't think
I was unaware of that." His father laughed. I said, "Remember the pair
of blocks. Move the heat in the strap to one spot where your skin
isn't. Do it fast, and then pull hard." He did, and the spot stretched
and broke. He rubbed his wrists and said, "Wow!" His father said, "I
agree. Great skill to have!" I said, "That's what we're testing. Who
wants to have bad skills?" I got poked.
I said, "Now we have a problem. Except for practice to refine these
skills, this is as far as we go, without getting into things that can
be very destructive. Not just smashing things, and doing damage at a
distance, but murder that can't be proved in court." I looked at his
father, and said, "Does Brain need these other abilities, and the
terrible responsibility that comes with them, that a Special Agent is
trained to have and use? Do we continue, or do we stop here, and
proceed only with FBI personnel?" He said to Brian, "He's raised a real
issue. What do you think?" He said, "I think I need time to think that
out, but if you want something right now, I think both ways. You know
how it is. When I'm into something, I really hate to quit. But the
other thing has me really afraid. I don't know if I can handle that
kind of responsibility. No kid should. What if I get into a real fight,
and use something without meaning to? They will know. It will go all
over. I'll never get any peace. Now I know why Sol uses his disguises."
He said to me, "I'm sorry I didn't understand before." We hugged.
His father said, "What about an inhibition?" I said, "No matter how
carefully I word it, it can't be perfect. What if it stops him from
using it when it could save his or somebody else's life? And what will
being so restricted do to his psychology? I know I would REALLY resent
it. No, we can't monitor him every second, and it would harm him
psychologically if we did. I mean, how could he get it up if he thought
we were watching? And no amount of popcorn would make us enjoy
embarrassing him that way." They had to smile. I said, "Did you know we
have inhibitions planted in ourselves? Yes. The first crystal in Adept
training has that in it, and we tell the student in advance, too. But
we can override it with some effort if we need to. We never have. Gives
us good warning, though." Brian said, "I want that now, even if we
don't do more training." His father said, "Wow!" They hugged with love.
I said, "I wasn't surprised. I know you." He said "Wow!" I said, "What
IS there, an epidemic of wows?" Poked again. I said, "It's too
complicated to put in words. It's in this crystal, so you can see it
before you agree to have it. I've added some extra things that prevents
accidental use of your new abilities, and use in jokes." He said,
"Please." I gave it to him. He put it to his head. I could tell he
accepted it, which he said.
I said, "New skill now. Ready?" He said, "Bring it on!" I gave him a
rude noise, and they laughed. I said, "I want you to meet my new
friend." A meter tall pink elephant appeared beside me. I said, "Pet
him." They tried, but their hands encountered nothing. Brian said, "PK
says it's not there." I said, "So you're using it without a specific
task?" He said, "It's like it's just a regular part of me." I said,
"Great! That's one of our goals. But you're right. It's just an
illusion. Want to learn how to make them?" He said, "I wanted to say a
wow backwards, but it didn't work." I said, "Student, I'm severely
disappointed in you. So, I'll demonstrate." I turned my back on them
and said wow. Poked again. I said, "You already know how to project.
What you need is practice." He said, "I already know? I didn't know
that." I said, "Make an image in your mind, and push it out into the
air." He did try, and something flickered for a tenth of a second. They
said "Wow!" I said, "You might choose a different image to practice
with, less stimulating, or success might make it difficult to
continue." Chuckles. I said, "I want you to practice that until you can
keep a good image going for at least ten seconds, preferably longer.
Not that being longer." More laughter.
I said, "Now for the next thing for your PK." I ported a school
locker combination lock to the table. It was locked. I said, "Want the
info on this kind of lock?" They both did, and I gave it to them. Brian
concentrated a little, and then dialed it around, and then dialed it
correctly, and it opened. I gave a different one to his father. He took
three times longer, but succeeded. He said, "A really valuable skill
for our agents." I ported a lot of lock sets to the table. I said,
"Homework. No info. Figure them out yourselves. You know I know you can
do it. Now for some general advice. Be healthy. These things work best
with a healthy body and mind. Eat and sleep well, and get proper
exercise. Yes, jacking off counts, but for you, 30 seconds isn't enough
for good exercise." They laughed, and I got poked. I said, "Keep your
mind clean. No, not brainwashing, but no lying! Not even to yourself.
Avoid anger and hate. Love is much better. Read a lot, but things you
can learn from. And do some video games that use strategy and quick
decision making." He said, "Really? Video games?" His father said,
"Yes. Good training for those things. We use them. So does the
military. In fact, they seriously recruit gamers for the drone
service." He said, "Oh!"
I said, "So, I'll see you in a week. Practice." They held out their
arms. I said, "Aww, do I have to?" They just grinned. I said, while we
were taking off our clothes, "This teaching gig is SO strenuous!"
Chuckles. We had some great orgasms. I said, "You know, there are other
people you can do this with, even each other." They looked at each
other and nodded, and Brian said, "We do help each other, but it's
against the law." I said, "And with me here, too. But how old am I
really?" His father said, "I see that. You've been very old before, and
NObody can take advantage of you. Er, present company excepted." I
said, "I was going to say that. So if you both can do this with me, how
can it be wrong if you continue it after I leave? We all know, and I
think so does most of the world, I wouldn't allow anybody to be taken
advantage of. The law is a general one size fits all thing. It's not
perfect, and we here are an example of that. A tired example."
Chuckles. I said, "And for Brian's sake, we sure do know he's not going
to get a girl pregnant this way." Chuckles. I said, "I do have some
creds in this area. I say there is no abuse here. Just a mess. I'll
clean it up." I said as I was standing and gathering my clothes, "If
abuse happened, I would know, which I think you know." They nodded. I
said, "I'm not going to tell you in advance what the next lesson will
be, for two reasons. I don't want the excitement to interfere with your
practice." His father said, "What is the other reason?" I said, "I
haven't decided yet." Chuckles. I ported home.
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Grant
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