Solomon's Private File #311
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 30 in this story, in the Spring of 2056.
Solomon's Private File #311 "Solution In Kazakhstan"
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I asked to see the President of China. I said, "You're increasing
your efforts in your space programs. You know I have to like that." He
grinned, and said, "I do, and that pleases me." I said, "Do you view
your country as more of a competitor, than part of an effort to improve
humanity?" He hesitated. I had to smile. He said, "You know." I said,
"I do. You know which way I prefer." He said, "I do. We should explore
the benefits of that er, orientation." I said, "There is nothing wrong
with feeling competitive. It's what started this in the last century.
Unfortunately, sometimes that er, orientation can be carried too far,
and violence is supported. I know you remember the rare earths issue."
He said, "I do remember that. Am I to understand that something similar
has happened again, with a foreign space program?"
I said, "Some of your people are trying to make it happen, at the
Russian Space Base in Kazakhstan. First they killed people from the
base in clumsy failed attempts to make spies of them. Not your people,
but locals under your people's directions and pay. Eventually they
succeeded. This I usually wouldn't oppose. The secret war of spying, is
still a war, and part of society. But now they have asked one of the
spies to plant a bomb. That is open warfare, and I will not let that
remain secret. And I very much oppose intentional damage to ANY space
program." I showed him videos of the chain of events that led up to it,
including his people's full involvement.
I said, "Mexico is far away, and relatively weak. Russia is neither
of those things. And they know about the spying. Not from me. One of
the men there in security told me. I didn't look like this to him." He
said, "Do they have spies among my people?" I said with a smile, "Who
doesn't?" He had to smile. He said, "You won't tell me who the people
are?" I said, "I don't do that. Spies are patriots, and are just doing
their jobs. It's their superiors who are at fault. Exposing the spies
will just cause them to be punished, not the people who are really to
blame for that. I prefer to be fair." He said, "I hadn't thought of
that before. They have already killed?" I said, "Your people directly,
no. Their local agents, yes. Your people told them where to burry the
bodies, and did NOT tell them to stop doing it. Russians discovered one
of the graves and identified the victim. That caused their
investigation and discovery. They hadn't killed, you wouldn't have this
problem."
He said, "They are stealing information. Secret things. Do you oppose
that?" I said, "It's a sin. It's also bad for you and your space
program. Discovering the knowledge on your own will enable you to
understand it better, and make your program better. Copying the
mistakes of others, causes you to do less original thinking. You might
beat them in some things in the short term, but fall behind in the long
term. You and Russia have often worked for the long term. America has
the attention span of a fly. Don't do worse than them." He looked at me
strangely, with a flickering smile. He said, "You do not favor one
country over another?" I said, "I support ALL of humanity. I and my
group don't favor any nation or group, over another. We can't, even if
some of us wanted to. Our group is of all people on Earth. Yes, even
the Han." He said, "I should have understood that. But your school is
in America." I said, "Was. In one of the most crime ridden cities. We
had to move. Not enough room. In the beginning, my school was dependent
on outside help. Not now." He grinned, and said, "Good! You have your
own planet." I said, "We do. It's big. Take a LONG time to fill that
up. We're trying, though. Sex is fun." Chuckles. I said, "And we have
schools on other worlds, even in other dimensions, and we're starting
more."
He nodded and said, "I should make some calls." I said, "You should.
with some fear, "Yes! I'm well aware of that!" I gave him a crystal
recording, which he read for memorizing. I shifted out.
The leader of the local spy group of Kazakhstanis put out word that
he wanted to talk with me. I was in his office when he entered it. I
said, "You wanted to speak with me. Speak." He said, "How did you get
in here?" I was silent. He cleared his throat, and said, "Er, you know
our operations well. You have helped us a lot." I said, "I have helped
reduce stupidity. If that helped you, it was accidental." He laughed,
and said, "Thank you for the accidental. You know of our most recent
change?" I said, "I do. It is so beyond ordinary stupidity, that I am
unable to correct it by myself." He said, "Oh! Please explain!" I said,
"Your masters pay you to obtain information. Do you know why?" He said,
"No. We don't care. We need money." I said, "That is stupid. You NEED
to know the reasons for what you do, what you will be responsible for.
How else can you know if you are helping or harming your country?" He
said, "They said it would help." I said, "I should assume they didn't
say how that would happen." He said, "That's true." I said, "You should
know they would, if it actually did help." He thought a while, and
said, "I am beginning to see something."
I said, "Do you know why they want the information?" He said, "They
didn't say." I said, "You know who they work for?" He said, "They look
Chinese." I said, "You know they work for the Chinese government. You
know they want to steal secrets they can use for their own space
program." He said, "I have to say, yes, I did know." I said, "The
Russians know that. They found one of the people you killed." He said,
"I didn't know that!" I said, "Your Chinese masters do. This how I know
it. I made myself learn their language. I know how to question
prisoners much better than you do." He said, "That I know!" We traded
hard grins.
I said, "You are in a difficult position. The Russians know, so
they've probably been feeding your spies false information. When the
have. One way to remove their problem of you, is to cause the Russians
to kill you. One way to do that is to have one of your spies set off a
bomb on the base. You know the Russians will remove this entire village
for that. They are NOT 'want to look nice to the world' Americans. This
way, the Chinese win big. They remove the embarrassment of you, after
learning all they could, and they damage their competitor's space
program. They might also cause your government to make the Russians
leave, severely harming the local economy, and relations with your best
protector. The Chinese are very clever in these things."
He said, "I see that now, but you are more clever than all of us!
Please advise on what to do about this." I said, "I also have
discovered one you killed. That uniform required a LOT of washing, to
make it er, useful." He nodded, trying not to smile. I said, "I can
enter the base. I know who has the bomb. Not smart, the way he carried
it there, so carefully. Fearfully." He had to laugh, and said, "I
apologize for laughing, but I was seeing that in my mind. You describe
things very well." I said, "Thank you. I will repair that problem. With
the Chinese, that is another problem. You will not be woking with them
more, and you will miss their money. Before that stops, you could say
you need more for your spies. They are becoming nervous. And your
expenses have increased. If they refuse, you have an excuse to become
rough with them. Best not to kill them. If you do, more will replace
grinned, and said, "I know you understand that." I said, "Then you will
be a TRUE patriot." He looked proud.
I said, "One more thing. The income you will miss. I have a contact
on the base. I will explain to him that proper security starts OUTSIDE
of the base, and your group is just who should make that happen. We
know that's true. Well, now, after my er, instructions." He laughed,
and said, "That is very true. All of it! Will you be watching this?" I
said, "I will. When all is working as it should, I will leave. This is
a big country. There is more work for me in other places." He said with
moist eyes, "You are the most true patriot there is." I said, "If I
were not, I would need to work with more effort." We hugged
On the base, I told the major all about it. He expressed a few wows.
I said, "Unfortunately, your handler is head of security here. I do NOT
trust him to work well. That will be in my report. He allowed this to
happen. He should be replaced. You don't want the job. It's too easy."
He grinned, and said, "You know it!" I said, "Do you know how far up my
reports go?" He thought a little, and said, "You are the most secret of
us, and the best by far. So, to the top." I said, "If I don't have to
tell you that." He grinned, and said, "This means your recommendations
usually happen." I said, "We hope. You hope, actually." He said, "Yes I
do!" I said, "You aren't finished here. It needs to be you at first, to
make the deal with the patriots. That way it will actually happen." He
tried not to grin, and said, "I will make sure of it." I said, "After I
meet with people here, I'll go back out and watch the action with the
Chinese. I will probably follow them, and so not report back here, but
to Moscow in a different way. Here is a recording of my preliminary
report. It includes a higher contact person, if you suspect it won't
leave this base the usual way." He said, "Ha! Always the backup." I
said, "You know it!" Chuckles. We hugged.
I put on my General's uniform and went to see the chief of security.
I told him what I had done as the Commander, and he was incredulous. I
said, "I see you disbelieve. Do you think I would lie to the
President?" He gulped, and said, "No sir!" I said, "This base is
critical to the good future of our country. Never forget that! Very few
in my section are authorized to kill our own people without special
permission, on assignment. I am. Don't cause me to believe you are not
competent for your position. Replacements are so much easier, when he
who is to be replaced can't make noises about it. Do you understand
me?" He gulped, and said, "Yes sir, I understand you!" I said, "You
will use your new special security man to make the deal with the local
patriots. I have briefed him. His reports will be watched closely, and
compared to mine." He looked at me in surprise, and tried to hide that.
I said, "And the Base Commander's." Another gulp. I left.
I met with the Base Commander, and told him what I told the security
chief. He said, "I didn't know it was so bad. You will recommend he be
replaced?" I said, "A little stronger than that. He goes. The choice is
alive or dead. This is too important." He said, "I understand and
agree. I'm very glad you worked this problem!" I said, "I serve. Here
is my report to date." He took it, and said, "I will assume that you
will use other ways to send copies." I said, "Good assuming." Smiles.
We saluted. I gave copies to the people up the line, and at the top,
crystals. I received some good feelings in return
I watched the patriots deal with the Chinese. They survived, but not
without some damage. They left behind a lot of money. I told the boss
patriot that he should use some of that to help the community. He
agreed. The major was used to make the deal, and he did well, helping
them recover their embarrassment for how they had treated him. And he
gave the bomb back to them, successfully hiding his amusement at their
nervousness about it. He was reassigned after the security chief was
replaced with a competent man, and had briefed him, including my
contact and ID code.
I met with the President of China again, and said, "The problem with
the Russian Space Base is resolved." He said, "My orders were that they
should stop operations there." I said, "They had already planted the
bomb. I manipulated the situation to heal itself. Your people are very
unwelcome there now. I could have let the bomb explode, while ensuring
no deaths." He said, "That you didn't, I have to thank you very
sincerely for!" I said with a smile, "Yes you do!" He said, "You will
not stop our spying?" I said, "If there is no physical or personal
damage, no. Do I think your people will not follow that restriction,
even if your orders actually reach them? If you send them." He said,
"It is my strong desire that they do. Other countries?" I said, "No
planned destruction of space things so far. I will know if it happens.
Expect such people then to experience some unpleasant things." He said,
"Deserved."
I said to the Director of the CIA, "Secret to you, and doesn't travel
up. Chinese were messing with the Russian Space Base in Kazakhstan.
Went too far with attempted sabotage. I warned the Chinese President.
Made him VERY nervous." He grinned. I said, "I told him I don't care
about spying, but nobody is going to mess with my pet projects. He
tried very hard to reach them to tell them to not blow up the place,
like his life depended on it." More grins. I said, "Didn't reach in
time. I used my Russian Colonel, now General, persona to manipulate the
situation to cause the best resolution. Chinese show even one hair of
their heads anywhere near that base, they probably won't survive it.
Local patriots were fooled. Not any more!" He said through his grin,
"Great! Crystal?" I gave it to him. He read it, and laughed. I said,
"Russian President and Prime had that reaction, too." He said, "What is
most amazing to me is you didn't use special powers, just intelligence,
knowledge, and Senior martial arts." I said, "Better I do it that way.
It shows that regular people CAN do these things. And I teach with
that, including the victims. I do it as Sol, they will think ONLY I
could have done it, and they won't try to do it themselves in the
future." He said, "Oh. Makes sense." I said with an odd grin, "Eh,
usually." Chuckles.
Daren said, "Different from your other Russian actions, but had more
er, interesting times. You operated on that boy! You're a REAL doctor!"
I said, "She was watching." He said, "Made a friend for life. Actually,
all in that village." I said, "True. I showed them how they should be,
with me." He said, "One of your missions' and goals' support tactics.
Lead by example." I said, "Yes. Might work a little, sometimes."
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Grant
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