Solomon's Private File #132
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 19 in this story, in the Winter of 2045-2046.
Solomon's Private File #132 "Iron Lady at Shaolin"
START Page
I had asked permission of the Iron Lady to give the Abbot of Shaolin,
videos of all we had done together. She agreed, if it only went that
far. We ported to the entrance to the Monastery grounds. We were
greeted by a line of Monks. I did the introductions, and told her they
were the highest ranking Monks in the Temple after the Abbot. They
bowed lower than we did. That was not lost on some of the tourists,
some of whom obviously recognized me. We both were amused, and shared
that, but not visibly. The Monks knew, and we all knew that. We were
led to the Abbot's office, where we were greeted warmly. Our escort
left. He said to me, "Just like your father, with impatience for
ceremony." I said, "Taller." He grinned. He said to her, "I should be
surprised that you know our language but I'm not. Personal transfer?"
She said, "Yes, Abbot. An interesting experience I almost remember." He
said with a chuckle, "Well said! I must say, your ability is
remarkable. Outstanding! Amazing!" I said to her, "I think he might
need medical treatment. Seems he swallowed a dictionary." They laughed
very well.
I said to the Abbot, "What shall we do with her? For her workplace,
recognition is desired, but how to do that so it actually has some
meaning, is a puzzle. Not a belt. All the colors of the rainbow are
used and misused. A whole uniform would be out of place at work, and
she has yet to start her own school where that could be worn." He said
to her, "Your art is from Korea." She said, "Yes, Abbot, but it was
taken from Japan, which took it from Okinawa, which took it from er,
you." He grinned and said, "That is so, but modified to different
cultural surroundings and body forms. Even we are not the true source.
It's beginnings were brought to us with Buddhist Monks from India,
which they took from Hindu Temple dances." I said, "Oh no! We're all
thieves!" He said, "Yes, but they are dead and past complaining." He
said to her, "If you would demonstrate your skills to us, who would pay
we will be moved to certify you as a true Senior Master, and make that
public. I must ask, though. You have had many teachers. You will be
asked who is your current teacher. While we can certify your skills, it
is known that we have not taught you." She looked at me. I said, "As
you will." She nodded her head at me and said, "Him." We chuckled.
I said, "I have an idea. There IS a kind of a belt that would be
unique. It would be the first, too. I don't suppose you would complain
too?" He said, "Oh yes!" I said, "I just thought of something else. A
kind of a graduation gift. You may now beg." Laughter. I asked the
Abbot privately in mindtalk, and he agreed, with some surprise. I said
to her, "Just before we leave. Giving it before, might unsettle you
enough to cause more interesting things to happen than you might want
to express in public." She looked at me strangely, "You LOVE doing that
Chuckles. The Abbot said, "Will you practice with our people?" She
grinned her answer. We went outside to one of the practice areas. There
were a lot of Monks there, and some tourists. So was her boss and the
Director of the FBI. She looked hard at me, and I tried to look
innocent. Unfortunately, the real me isn't able to do that
successfully. There were video cameras, too, operated by Monks.
The Abbot introduced us, and some of the guests. The tourists were
dumbfounded. He said the Iron Lady and his people were going to learn
from each other. They showed their forms. They all were impressive, but
she was more so, by being different from them in style and gender, and
obviously more skilled. It looked like she was flowing slowly, but at
high speed. Then they did weapons. She used those of Japan, and wowed
them. Then breaking. Terrific. Then some controlled sparing. They
couldn't touch her. Then I took over. I said, "There are different
levels in martial arts to indicate how successful one has been in the
study of it. But what rank can be assigned to one who has progressed so
far, who can't be defeated by physical attack?" I spun and planted a
roundhouse kick into her stomach. She didn't move. I chopped to her
throat, and she wasn't affected. I said, "Those were real strikes,
which would have killed anybody less skilled." I addressed the Monks
and said, "A volunteer to be knocked down." One stepped forward before
the others. I looked at him critically, "You were hoping for this,
weren't you." He bowed and tried to hide his grin. I said, "What we
just did, was a demonstration of the use of Chi to protect one's body.
It can also be used externally." I nodded to her, and with a palm
thrust in the air, she knocked the Monk down from 5m away. I said,
helping him up, severely surprising him with my strength, "That was a
small and gentle demonstration. She can knock down a building that way,
but we don't have any here that deserve such treatment."
I said, "But there are other ways to demonstrate Chi." A big candle
was brought out. With a palm thrust, she lit it. Then another candle
was put near it. She concentrated and moved her hands slowly, and the
flame bent, and then leapt to the other candle and lit it. I said, "I
should say that she has no psionic ability. It's all using Chi, and
under full control. She is a Fire Bender. She can also do similar
things with air and water." She made a wind that we could feel, to put
out the flames. There was a tall platform there. She jumped 5m to the
top, and then jumped down, easily. Then we went to a pile of bricks. I
said, "A test of the use of focused Chi; to break a brick inside the
pile without touching it, or damaging any other brick. Director, please
chose one." He actually liked being asked that, and did it. She did the
strike perfectly, and it and only that one, exploded. I said, "There
are many other things that can be done with Chi, and I have witnessed
her doing it. Well, I've been her instructor in these things, so I
couldn't very well avoid looking. It has been the custom in martial
arts that the awarding of high rank be done with guests of other
schools present and participating. When they weren't fighting with each
other. So we are here in the most prestigious martial arts school in
history, to ask for their participation."
She and I bowed to the Abbot. He said in English, which we had all
been speaking, "Such skill of the highest order must be recognized. I
proclaim you to be a full Senior Master and Instructor of Martial Arts.
There is no higher rank in this way of life, and is very rarely given,
in that it can be awarded only by two of that rank. Solomon is one." I
said, "And the Abbot is another. I concur. There is a problem. What
shall physically indicate this rank? All the belt or sash colors are
taken. That is true, if we mean just one color. But there are already
belts with two colors. But at present, only one like this." I ported to
my hands a karate style belt that looked like it was made of flowing
silver, like my non-uniform uniform. Along it were the words Senior
Master of Martial Arts in glowing red-gold, that changed languages. I
wrapped it around the extremely surprised Abbot. Then I gave him
another, and he knew to wrap it around me. Then I wrapped one around
Iron Lady, who tried to hide her tears. We all bowed low to each other,
and then the Monks bowed to us very low, and we returned it.
I said, "I take a kind of pride in saying they didn't know about the
belts. It's so difficult to surprise some people. Our new Senior Master
is not available for teaching outside of her regular work. Someday she
will be, and I'm SURE that will be of great interest to some
interesting people. Er, including me. I like to watch great people do
great things. I look forward to all of us learning new things
together." The Abbot said, "That is my wish, also. This ceremony is at
an end. May The Buddha and Stephen bless us all." I looked hard at him.
He said to me, "I too can cause surprises." We bowed to each other. We
went back to his office with the people from the Bureau. I said to the
Abbot, "Is that a new thing?" He looked embarrassed, and said, "It is
I said, "He wouldn't like it, but I can't argue against what I feel
more strongly than anybody else." We hugged with love. I said, "You
have improved! Much stronger. I like that." He tried not to show pride,
and I grinned. He had to laugh. The Bureau people were taking it all in
with amazed awe.
I said to the Abbot, "Who gets the recordings?" He said, "You will
smiled and said, "Yes, I'll port a copy to your President's desk,
mostly to see what he'll do with it." He grinned. He said, "And to your
CNN?" I said, "Yes. Director, they may ask for an interview." He said,
"Please don't make us look bad." I said, "You are NOT Congress."
Laughter. Her boss said, "I have an idea. Are there any others who
would qualify for this rank and fancy belt?" I said, "I had already
thought of what you mean. Willing?" He and the Director looked at each
other and nodded. He said, "We offer to host the tests and awarding, if
you will assist." I said, "It will actually be my pleasure. Rare for a
duty, these days." I said to the Iron Lady, "You are better than they
know. Want to stay a while and play?" She grinned and nodded. The Abbot
said, "We do have rooms for women, but not as grand as such an
important guest should have." I said, "I see that you might have some
work to do soon." He grinned and nodded. I nodded to the Bureau people,
and they nodded back. I said to her, "When you are ready, ask the Abbot
one way or another." She got the hint and nodded.
I said, "Now for the gift I mentioned. You know of the instructional
posts that my father made here?" She said, "Yes." I said, "I would not
have you ignorant of the ways of your hosts. May I give you all the
information about Shaolin that is in those posts?" She was speechless.
won't cause any harm." I said, "Actually, this can cause a little
headache. Something like a quick language does. Willing?" She said,
"Absolutely!" I said, "Better asleep." She nodded, and dozed off. Five
minutes later, I woke her up. I said, "Doing a little healing. Pain
should be subsiding." She said, "It's almost gone. Wow! That's a lot of
information!" I said, "Something different. In a language transfer,
it's not like a book crystal, which just involves memory. It has to be
integrated into the language center, or you would only know about the
language, but not be able to understand it in real time, or speak it.
To make your new martial arts knowledge actually useful, because you
already have the skill, I did a kind of integration with all your
martial arts knowledge. That's what caused the er, discomfort. So, with
a day or so of practice, you will be a master of all that Shaolin
teaches." She had a really big wow for that,. and so did the Abbot. I
said, "Don't offer this service to anybody else not a Senior Master,
and they must be examined for survival. Yes, this would have killed a
lesser person. And something like this should not be done to a person
who's body is not able to do the techniques. My own teacher, Hawk, made
sure I was aware of it, er, after I did it to myself with er, all
that's in the posts." They stared at me, and made some silent wows.
I said to the Abbot, "I think you and I are going to have a private
discussion soon." He said, "It is my fervent wish that it be so." We
grinned at each other. We did our farewells. I gathered the Bureau
people together, and we ported back to the US. In the Director's
office, "Anybody want to be ported anywhere, just say so." Some did.
Alone with the Director, after we sat, he said, "Even knowing you all
these years, it's still a shock to see you as being more than a very
effective psychologist." I said, "That's actually what I think of
myself as, and how I wish others to see me. My work here is actually
more for ME than it is for you. It keeps me kind of grounded and in
touch with real people. And away from most of the real oddballs." He
chuckled. He said, "I think you are making more of a difference in
governments than your father did." I said, "Noticeable, possibly. He
started in that area later in life than I did, and reluctantly. And I
had him to kind of prepare the way. And my way is a little different,
and just that it is so, could add to the effectiveness. Also, I do more
noticeable things for the world. Even some things I don't do, I am
credited for." He said, "Like tornado management." I said, "And I'm not
the only one who can do time diving and earthquake sensing. My father
is still having children in er, absentia, and his genes are dominant. I
have some VERY capable students. I am the leader only by virtue of
being the oldest by a year, and being raised by the greatest of the
previous generations, so I learned more and faster than the others
did."
He said, "There is more." I said, "Actually, yes. Because of being
the leader, I've experienced things that have developed me more than
the others. And when they need something really twisted to solve a
problem, they drag me into it." He said with a grin, "I can only
imagine." I said, "No you can't. They couldn't. For instance, when I
led my first students in PK to the use of it to fly on brooms, our head
ethnologist almost had a heart attack. But that wasn't as bad as before
that, when I called the fire ball a salamander." He said, "And those
things were on Earth." I said, "Yes. Much more strange on other
planets. Strange problems require strange solutions. Drives my people
almost crazy when I only give them hints of my plans in advance, and
when the plans unroll in action, and they are in the middle of and
making it happen, they are SO surprised. Like the time I went looking
for my lost pet." I told him about that mission, and he had all sorts
of emotions about that. I said, "An applicant here once asked me what I
thought about something as a psychologist. I told her I think about
everything as a psychologist. It's my weapon of choice when on a
mission." He said, "I've seen that. Drives our shrinks off the deep
end. They can see what you do, after a lot of thinking, but they can't
figure out how to do it themselves." I said, "IQ doesn't show much on
the outside, but it really does help. They're very smart, but I'm
smarter."
He said, "We tend to forget that, too. Hmm, how much of your mind is
actually involved with what you do on Earth?" I said, "About one
percent. As we speak, I'm exploring other dimensions with my mind, and
cataloging them. And I recently discovered a new way to look inside
other galaxies in our dimension that are moving too fast for us to get
a lock on a viewpoint in them. A relativity issue. Oops! Maybe I should
have saved that for a family conference." He laughed well. He said,
"Then you'd better get going before I get into trouble with them." I
said, "Right." I ported home. I said to the crowd, "Wait! It's simple,
but it involves inter-dimension work." They calmed down. Percy said,
"Can you tell us in principle?" I said, "Yes. Two dimensions are not
usually materially congruent. Find one that can act as a kind of
bridge, and send a 4th viewpoint into it, and set it up as a relay, and
then back into our dimension in a different galaxy. With practice, that
can become as natural as simple viewpoints and porting is to us. I er,
did that, too. Oh, don't look at me like that. Yes, there was a small
risk, but who but the best equipped to handle it, should do it? We need
to know, so we can protect ourselves. I REALLY don't like what happened
to start this. Bad feelings won't go away."
Daren said, "It's important, isn't it." I said, "Just a feeling, but
there is urgency in it. That's all I know, but the axiom is still true;
be prepared isn't just good for bees." Groans and pokes. Then hugs and
kisses with love.
END Page
--
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Grant
|
|