Solomon's Private File #207
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 24 in this story, in the Winter of 2050-2051.
Solomon's Private File #207 "Three In Solution"
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I prowled the streets of Quantar, on the planet Hansip, looking for
those who had wanted to kill me or my friend earlier in the day. I
found one and read his mind. Then I went looking for the leader of the
group. It was late night, but he was still in one of the taverns. I let
my Ki flow more than I had before, and I walked to the open entrance,
and paused. The place was only occupied by Yentirhots, as I appeared to
be, and most were of the Armsman class, which I was dressed as. Many of
them immediately stood and saluted me, sensing that I was much more of
a martial artist than they were. I returned the gesture. I walked to
the table where my target was seated. I motioned the other occupant to
leave, which he did in a hurry. I sat in his chair, with my back to the
room. The man I replaced, made a move toward my back, and without
looking behind me, I grabbed the highly jeweled hilt of my sword. He
backed away, and I released my grip. That little play was noticed, and
I felt their respect for me increase.
I said to the golden skinned, white hair crested and horned man,
"Why?" He knew what I meant. He said, "Sir, I must protest. It is not
your affair!" I said, "You made it mine. You will tell me without
trouble, or you will tell me in a different way, but you WILL tell me.
I could have killed you all, and I can do that here, too, and none
could stop me, but for you, it doesn't have to be fast. Answer me!"
That was in command voice, so he had to. He blurted out, "Wanchucks
ordered it!" I said, "Paid well?" He said, "Very." I said, "Then,
enough. Now?" He relaxed and said, "I understand. Now, not nearly
enough." I said, "Your former target is under my protection. I find him
an interesting conversationalist. There is also this. He is set to meet
with the King. I would see that it happens as they both wish. Do you
understand?" He said, "I do, and more than you say. I will pass the
word." He said in a whisper, "How good are you?" I said, "Watch how I
will pay for your next drink."
I stood, and so did he. I turned to the room and said, "Drinks for
all." I took out of my pouch a large handful of silver coins, and spun
and threw them in a blur of motion all at once, against a far wooden
plank wall. They stuck vertically in the wood, in the form of a circle.
They were all staring at them in astonishment and wonder, as I walked
to the door. I turned to face them, and they all saluted me, which I
returned. I left.
I knocked on the door of a different kind of house. A short squat
furry woman opened it and said, "What do you want?" I said, "I would
talk with your Mistress." She said, "It's late. Come tomorrow." I said,
"She should know NOW, regarding her desire for the murder of a
Sunchimer." She tried to hide her surprise, and said, "Please enter. I
will tell her of your desire." I waited in the foyer. She came back and
said, "She will see you now. Be warned, there will be guards." I smiled
and said, "I have no desire to harm her, or that of anyone here, even
though I have just cause." She said, "Oh! Interesting." I said,
"Absolutely." She said, "You are not as expected." I said, "I hear that
a lot." She smiled. We had been walking to the meeting room. She
motioned for me to enter. There was a woman of her kind seated on an
elevated chair, and guards beside her with small crossbows. The guards
were very surprised to feel the strength of my Ki. One whispered to her
about that.
I said, "Greetings. In politeness, I should tell you I could hear
what was just said." She said, "Thank you. I didn't know that your kind
had such er, excellent hearing." I said, "Most don't. It has been known
in my family for generations, not in others." She said, "You mentioned
a death of a Sunchimer?" I said, "Your desired death of one, yes. I
prevented it from happening. Well, I had to. I was in conversation with
him at the time." She tried not to chuckle, and said, "I understand. An
unfortunate situation." She motioned her assistant to bring a suitable
chair for me. I sat. She said, "How have you come to know of my desire
for that?" I said, "I questioned the man you hired." She said, "I
didn't know he would tell that, after being hired." I said with a
smile, "Until I required it of him, that was his opinion, also." She
had to chuckle. She said, "Does he still live?" I said, "Because he
told me, yes. He knew that I could have easily killed all in the tavern
with him, and not be harmed. He could not resist my power." One of the
guards said, "If I may?" She nodded. He said to her, "I feel his power.
It's greater than I have ever heard of. If he wanted to kill all of us,
we could not stop him, but I sense that he doesn't want to." I said,
"True. Dead people are SO uninteresting, and very poor
conversationalists."
She had to chuckle. I said, "Please tell me of your grievance." She
said, "It's a matter of trade. They have raised their prices more than
we will stand." I said, "Have their costs increased?" She said, "Not
that we can determine." I said, "Don't their different trading houses
have different prices? Chose the best of them to deal with?" She said,
"That was how it was. Now they all have the same prices, and higher." I
said, "Oh! I see the problem. They have banded together to fix the
price, to avoid competition with each other, thinking they can earn
more that way. They will, until their angry customers discover it." She
said, "Precisely!" I said, "In conversation with them, the reason for
your known current er, dislike of them, wasn't mentioned. I think I
should remedy that. Do we think they will have something of a possible
reduction in their new friendship for me?" She grinned and said, "I
think so. Why would you do this?" I said, "The Yentirhot are caught in
the middle between you two, and are not er, intelligent enough to
understand that they will lose more than all others, by this, if real
fighting starts. Ships can sink, and they are very difficult and time
consuming to replace. Then ALL will suffer when trade stops." She said,
"True. You are very wise." I said, "Er, thank you. The true problem
with this situation is the Sunchimer government. Their elected leader
has little power to regulate trade. If he tries to force them to
change, they will remove him and elect another."
She said, "I didn't know that. What shall we do?" I said, "Can your
people survive without trading with them?" She said, "We can, but not
well. We could start our own trade." I said, "With traders, the second
worst thing you can do to them is to not buy from them." She said, "And
what is the absolute worst?" I said, "To compete with them." She
grinned and laughed. I said, "And to make them almost cry, tell them
you will do those things." More laughter. I said, "If you go to war
with them, you both will need to hire Yentirhots to do that for you,
making us rich and dead, and you both poor and regretful." She said,
"VERY wise! I should meet with the king here, to discuss this." I said,
"And so will your intended victim. After I have a little talk with
them." She grinned and said, "Oh how I wish I could hear that." I said,
"And I wish that you could. I would very much enjoy your er,
experience." She laughed.
I said, "Please be aware that while I may be deceptive when
necessary, I am unable to lie, and I must be fair." She said, "You are
more than a warrior. You are holy." I said, "Correct. Some of the
Sunchimer I met with can sense this, which is why they will listen to
me. Your guards will tell you that Yentirhots will also, for similar
reasons. I can only cause them to hear me. I may not use force to
said, "We can hope." I stood, and so did she. We bowed to each other,
and I returned the salutes of the guards. Her assistant escorted me
out. I said to her at the door to the street, "Really not what you
expected." She laughed and said, "Yes. I find that I like and respect
you." I said, "I have similar feelings for you and your people. I wish
there were more of this for all." She said, "A start." I bowed to her,
as she closed the door behind me.
In the morning, I walked up to the door of the Sunchimer enclave. I
was refused entrance. I said with a friendly smile, "You will allow me
to enter, or I will enter, and they will need a new guard. Your
choice?" He said, "Wait. I will ask within." I said, "If you tell them
what I said, they will laugh." He said, "I will risk that." I nodded.
He returned and said, "You may enter." To my look, he said, trying not
to smile, "They did." I said, "I'm sorry." He said, "Fair warning." We
traded smiles. I went in. Simslar was waiting for me, with a grin. He
said, "You communicate well, with different people in ways that are
specific to them." I said, "So I've been told. I think you might want
to know who the those others are, and what else they said." He said,
"Oh, we DO!" We went into the large meeting room. More were there than
the last time. We sat.
I said, "I have discovered who wanted you dead, and more
interestingly, why. I think you might want to know of these things."
The lady said, "We do. Please." I said, "I found the leader of the er,
attackers, and convinced him to tell me who had paid him to do it."
Simslar said, "How was that possible? I thought Yentirhots would not
betray those who hire them." I said, "That is usually true. I am very
convincing when I need to be. All in that tavern will not deny me
anything. No, I didn't harm them, but they knew I could, easily. Word
has been passed. I doubt any Yentirhot will try to do that again. They
know you are under my protection, and how very able that protection
is." There were some wows.
I said, "And now to who hired them. First I should tell you that they
are very unused to the kind of situation that prompted it, and now know
they acted foolishly, and that it would not have helped them in any
way. Well, I told them that, and why. The Wanchucks." Nods. I said, "We
had a pleasant conversation, where we learned a lot. Somehow, you
neglected to tell me why they are feeling some unfriendliness toward
your people. Is that embarrassment I detect? I think it's well
deserved, being that it almost got me killed. You have the opportunity
to tell me now." One said, "You act like a ruler!" I said, "Simslar
noticed that in our first conversation. At times I may lead, but I do
not rule." Simslar nodded. The Lady said, "I think I know more of you
now. You value honesty and fairness, and you work to resolve
conflicts." I said, "Well done! Yes." They all couldn't hide their
pleasure at that, and it surprised them that they could feel so
complimented from one not of their kind. Some detected my amusement at
that, and tried to hide their embarrassment.
I remained silent. Simlsar said, "I will say it. Our traders have
come together and agreed to establish set prices that are higher than
before, to avoid the losses due to competition among them." I said,
"Such a thing has happened before in other lands. Yes, the world is
much larger than most think." One said, "What happened as a result of
that?" I said, "There were two different resolutions. In one, they
fought with each other, and all suffered greatly. It took many
lifetimes to rebuild all they had lost. Yes, all three peoples. In the
other resolution, the people refused to deal with the traders, and
began trading on their own, and succeeded in that very well, and the
former traders seriously declined. It took many generations before that
kind recovered enough from that, to take back some of the trading, but
they never recovered their preeminence in that endeavor."
The Lady said after a while, "Is there no other solution?" I said,
"Once that action is first done, there is no going back completely to
the way it was before. Trust lost, is very difficult to regain. That is
if your traders return to their old ways. Will they? You can't force
them to, but that is their best option. Few people will ever allow you
to do ALL the trade for them after this, but they will still do most of
it with you. If they don't go back to the old ways, one or both of
those before mentioned resolutions will happen. Do any of you see other
possible resolutions? I don't." They didn't. Simslar said, "They elect
me. If I try to force them, they will elect another." I said, "I told
the Wanchucks that, which had been unknown to them. They sympathize
with your difficulty in that. And they wouldn't have wanted you killed
if they had known, and regret it. Ignorance of each other promotes
misunderstandings and er, inconvenient actions." They looked at me with
admiration.
I said, "I suggest that both your groups ask to meet with the king
together. Your two peoples here, are good people. If you allow
yourselves to, you WILL like each other." They did a lot of thinking.
The Lady said, "Would you arrange such a meeting with the king? I said,
"No. You must do it. Being not of you and unusual for my kind, helped
you to listen to me at first. Curiosity can be useful. It would not be
so with the king. I would have to kill almost all in the building, just
to get close enough to have him hear me shouting bad words." Chuckles.
He said, "We should summon all the leaders of the Houses of Trade
here, immediately, to discuss this." I said, "And without me. You have
heard what I would say, and should say it yourself to them. There are
two reasons for that. They don't know me as you do, and would reject it
all if it came from me. From you, will cause in them to have much
needed and useful respect for you. I will tell the Wanchucks of this
meeting, which I think both sides want, and then I will be gone. I will
have done all I could and should do. All will know what they should do,
and are capable of it. Only time will tell how wise all will be. But to
help that along a little, you can tell your traders that the first to
break the price fixing will make a huge profit in increased sales, at
least for a while. Watch them run to their ships." Laughter.
I made to leave. Simslar accompanied me. Before he opened the door,
he said, "You will watch over us?" I said, "I am reluctant to encourage
your belief that answering that in the positive would cause. So I will
not. I should not interfere more than I have. It would be unwise and
harmful. All involved must work out their own problems and solutions,
or they will not hold. My purpose was to encourage and enable
understanding." He said, "That you have done, and well!" I said, "That
is my hope." I opened the door, and walked out. I exchanged solutes
with the guard, and walked away. I allowed my body to thin out and
vanish as I was walking, so they could see it. They were completely
astonished. Simslar said to the guard, "We should not tell of this.
They would not believe. It could be worse of they did." He said, "Sir,
I must agree. I liked him." Simslar said, "We all did. A true good
person." He went back inside.
I asked to enter at the House of the Wanchucks. With smiles, I was
escorted to the Lady, for more smiles. I said, "I have told them what
they should know. They are aware of what you may do, and why. They are
summoning representatives of the Trading Houses. When they recover from
that, they will probably ask you to meet with them with the king." She
said, "Very good. Were they crying?" I said with a smile, "Almost. They
know they have, at best, lost something they may never recover. But I
think they will do what is wise about this, if not as pleasant as they
would like. Embarrassingly, part of that is to please me." She looked
at me with a half smile, and said, "I would like them for that." I
said, "Not you, too!" She laughed, and so did the guards and the
assistant.
I said, "Those of you here, both kinds, are good people who value
intelligent conversation and humor. If you allow yourselves to, you
will like them. And yes, I told them that, too. This is my last action
on this issue. When I leave your house, I will be truly gone. I may not
continue with my interference, which was to promote understanding. All
that remains to be done, must be done by those who should do it." She
said, "Will you return?" I said, "The future has many possibilities.
Time is long." She said, "For you, it does not end?" I said with a
smile, "How can I know that, except when it does?" She nodded
acceptance. She went with me to the door. I said, "You have my respect
and love. Fare you well." She said, "I feel the same." I let her see me
dissolve as I walked away. She said to her assistant, "I suspected."
She replied, "As did I." They both said, "We are blessed."
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