Solomon's Private File #446
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 35 in this story, in the Winter of 2061-2062.
Solomon's Private File #446 "London Attack"
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I said to the man in charge of New Scotland Yard, "You're going to
have to figure out the jurisdiction on this one. Could be a bit of a
tangle. They thought I wouldn't notice, or connect all the parts of the
plan." He said with a grin, "Wrong!" I said with a grin, "Absolutely.
There are automated mortar stations set up around London, to fire on
highly visible targets." He said, "Terrorists?" I said, "No. A
distraction to draw your forces. You rush to the tops of buildings,
whilst they blast open cellars through the tunnels as silently as
possible. They're after gold and diamonds." He said, "If you or your
people were not involved, would they succeed?" I said, "Mostly, yes. No
peaceful nation is set up to fully stop this kind of attack." He said,
"Organized?" I said, "Very organized. Mercenaries, mostly, but this is
their only interest. A gang, with no affiliation with traditional
organized crime." He said, "The equipment would cost them, and the
training would take some time." I said, "They did a lot of work in
Africa. Got and sold diamonds. That's how they set up the selling part
of the plan. No real diamond thief steals any, without already having a
buyer ready for it. Bank machines don't work with those." He grinned,
and said, "True."
I said, "They've rented an estate in Lancashire. There's a problem.
Most they're guilty of now, in this country, is some weapons
violations. They've got lots of plans, but not written down, not even
in computers." He grinned widely, and said, "You're going to let them
go through with it, to a point." I said, "How can you talk with your
face like that?" He laughed. I said, "A lot of my people are grinning
like that, too. They know we're going to have to use the Corps. And
they won't have to be asked twice." Chuckles. I said, "George just had
an idea. I'm not sure if it would be good for us to do it, but it sure
wouldn't be good to the criminals. Could cause some bad smells." He
said, "Please, I have to know!" I said, "What if the Corps members
looked like dangerous animals to them? Or aliens? Or worse,
terrorists?" He laughed loudly. I said, "That last one got Hawk. My
contribution to the set." Ivanna said in the air, "Can I be in on
this?" I said, "Sure. Absolutely!" I said to the Chief, "That was my
Mother in law, our specialist on the military. In action conferences,
her first comment is often, 'kill them all'. That way we know it's
really her. If course she doesn't actually mean it. Yes, we DO have our
own different personalities." He said, "Wow!" I said, "Got those, too."
I said, "This is big, and that's another problem. The more you share
this with, the less it will be a secret from them. You know they're
watching for this very thing from you. Full scale prep, and they'll
fade away." He said, "You want to catch them." I said, "They'll keep
trying, if not here, then somewhere else. This kind of people don't
give up." He said, "What's your plan?" I said, "Make them believe the
mortars worked as planned. They'll even hear the explosions, see
panicked people, and see and hear your non existent responses. At the
scenes of the actual crimes, when they're told to proceed, anything
destructive they try to do, won't work. Then a scary corps member
appears and restrains them. Or if they want to fight, they get some
lumps. Then your people come and take out the rubbish." He grinned, and
said, "That can work. You're American, but when you're here, you don't
speak like an American." I said, "I don't actually care for hamburgers.
communicate as clearly as possible, so doing it in the way that's most
comfortable to my er, victims, is best. Yes, I'm an American by birth,
but I'm a citizen of other countries as well, and I spend more time out
of it, than in it. As it applies to this world, I consider myself to be
of the world, more than a particular part of it." He nodded, and said,
"Good." I said, "It had better be!" Chuckles.
Ivanna said to me at home, "Kill them all?" I said, "Or blast them
out of the sky. Take your pick." She growled. I said, "I had to put
something to your interruption. Something of an excuse." She said, "Oh!
The Mother problem." Mom growled, herself. Chuckles. I said, "Anybody
busts into my actions, takes their chances. That applies to the actions
of all of us, including your own." She said, "Oh!" I said, "Is that
genius talk?" Pokes.
At the right time, coordinated by mobiles (cell phones, to Americans)
from their country estate command center, the diversionary attack
started in London. It all looked like they expected, even with what
showed on the telly (TV, to Americans), when they looked. But only to
them. They announced the go-ahead to their underground teams, who
started to work. But, things didn't go as planned. The power lines they
had so carefully rigged for their equipment didn't work. Neither did
their explosives. Or the rest of their electronics, including their
communications. In one tunnel, they were severely startled by being
confronted by a very loud roar from a giant male lion. They tried to
shoot it, but their weapons wouldn't fire. I said in the air, "Les,
that really frightened them." She changed into a woman, wearing a corps
armband, and said, "Yes Dad. Isn't that great?" I said, "Yes, well, a
little. What are you going to do with them now?" She said, "Their
choice. They can accept restraints, and wait for the authorities, or
they can try to fight with me, and I can teach them some really painful
techniques." I said, 'You know what I'm hoping." She laughed.
She tossed some plastic zip-ties to the floor, and said, "You know
what to do. Don't make them too loose, like your morals." I said, "I
wish I had said that." She grinned, and said, "And we all wish we said
what Al said, to that black belt." Some of the perps chuckled. I said,
"Seems she has a fan club." A perp said, "Yeah, that was a good one. We
won't resist." They didn't. I said, "Sorry, Les, maybe next time." She
said, "That's alright. Thanks Dad." I said, "You're welcome. Things
didn't go as smoothly at their HQ." She said, "Oh! Can I see?"
I walked into their main room, right after they lost communications,
and their TV stopped showing the effects of their attack, and said,
"Interesting setup you have here." One immediately tried to shoot me.
Pistol didn't fire. Then the others tried, to the same result. Then one
came at me with a saber. I grabbed the blade and yanked it out of his
hand, and threw it up so that it stuck in the ceiling. I said, "Get the
point?" One of them laughed. The man in front of me tried a kick. I
hooked it with my own leg, and tossed him onto his back with it. I
said, "Next? No special powers beyond suppressing projectile weapons
for your own safety, and the exists are blocked. And no use of Ki.
Well?" One nodded, and motioned to others. They came at me. Somehow I
made them bump into each other, and not me, and fall down. Some tried
to grab my legs, while they were down there. They stopped doing that
after I stepped on their hands. I said, "I'm the best in Aikido. I
think you've noticed that. Let me know when you've had enough."
Eventually, they stopped. I tossed them some zip-ties, and said, "Not
too loose. Better you do it, than me, don't you think?" They did. Some
tried to make it too loose, which I said, "Warned you. Sorry, tight it
is." Then their boots were off, and their ankles were tied, too. I
said, "You're better fighters than the local police. Can't have you
kicking them." Some nodded.
One said, "On the telly?" I said, "Fake for you. No damage." The
police came in. I said to them, "Yard briefed you, but I've got more.
These are very dangerous men. All combat veterans, and martial artists.
Note their tied feet? They can kill you with a kick. Don't give them
that opportunity. And they've got strong teeth. You'll have to carry
them, no less than two to a man. You get yourselves injured, I'll be
very annoyed with you." They tried not to grin. The perp leader said,
"Corps on the others?" I said, "Yes, and they're loving it." Some
grins. He said, "Yard?" I said, "I know what you're asking. Without us,
you would have succeeded. It was the diversion that brought us into it.
A little too ambitious for our er, tastes." He said, "It was worth a
try." I said, "Can't beat the bragging rights. Well, when that's all
you have left." He grinned, and said, "True. Could have been worse for
us. Thanks." I said, "Oddly, you're welcome." Grins, and respect.
I said to Dawn, "Want to do a show with the BBC?" She said, "Sure! I
get to confound them with my indeterminate identity." Grins. Marta
introduced is, and said, "Before we begin with the action, I'm not sure
how to address you." I said, "Use enough stamps, we'll get it. Hmm,
control room liked that more than you did." She said, "So I hear." I
said, "I'm Solomon, and this is my son or daughter in disguise, using
the name of Les, which is obviously more. For this show, you may assume
the female gender is true for Les. Unless you want to become very
confused. Or, even just partially confused." She said, rather crossly,
"We're here for a very serious matter!" I said, "That's why I'm trying
to reduce that. Unless you really want to frighten the public some
more?" Dawn said to me, "Maybe she wants that. Tabloids here sure do
enough of it. I thought the BBC was above that sort of thing." I said,
"So did I." They went to break. A man came in, and motioned her to come
with him. He came back in, and sat at the desk, and put the usual
equipment on. He said, "My apologies. We're not used to you here." Dawn
said, "I'm not used to any of this!" He smiled, and said, "I
understand." She said, "But I do know one thing. Whatever Dad's
involved in, he runs. He can control your entire station and network
directly, and he sometimes does that at CNN, and they like it. He's the
best." He said to me, "Why do you do that?" I said, "I know what I'll
say, so I know in advance what the best hot camera angles should be.
Because of that, I know when to have the breaks for the best effect."
He said, "Oh! Well, that's interesting." Dawn said brightly, "It is."
Smiles.
Back on air, he introduced himself, and said, "We're here with
Solomon and Les, to discuss an action that took place in London and in
the country. Solomon, would you tell us what started this?" I said,
"Some people were putting mortars on the roofs of some buildings in
London. They are something like powerful rocket launchers, that do it
from a tripod like setting on the ground. Some can be set to fire their
one round remotely. They can be loaded again, but manually. Obviously,
those are not considered proper rooftop decorations. They were set to
launch high explosives onto other buildings, remotely, by people in a
country estate in the northwest." He said, "Were they terrorists?" I
said, "No, actually. Not terrorists. They intended to create a
diversion with that, and engage the authorities, while their many teams
robbed some rich institutions, via the underground preparations they
had made. This was a group of well trained and prepared mercenaries.
Very capable people." He said, "Would they have succeeded, if you
hadn't been involved?" I said, "Yes. No peacetime police force could
have coped with this. They were like military commandos. We had to let
them think they could go through it, because they hadn't committed any
major crimes, and had written nothing down that proved what they were
going to do."
He said, "Oh, I see now. You had to wait for them to actually start
doing it, before you could bag them." Dawn said, "We didn't think to
bring actual actual bags. Maybe next time." He looked a little odd, and
then smiled. I said, "I and my mother in law made the mortars safe.
She's an expert in military things, and wanted to help. She offered,
when I was discussing it with New Scotland Yard." He said, "Oh, so you
coordinated with them." I said, "I had to. We can't arrest anybody, and
they had to act like they didn't know about it, or the mercenaries
would know." He said, "Ah! That explains their silence. Well done!" I
said, "I'm sure they appreciate that." He took that as I meant it, not
like he had intended. I said, "We caused the mercenaries to believe it
was all happening as they expected. They saw it in real life, and on
the telly, as if the mortars had destroyed a lot of things, and people
were panicking, and the authorities were out in force, working the
disaster. To them it was real. To everybody else, it didn't happen.
They gave the signal to their underground men to begin the assault on
their targets. And that's when, well, I'll show you one of the many
actions. In the studio, we'll see it on this monitor, Les going to
work."
I showed her action, and the host was full of a lot of different
reactions. I said, "In conference with the Yard, one of my monitors,
George, had the idea of the animals. What one knows, we all know."
Grins. Dawn said, "I couldn't resist it." More grins. He said to me,
"Did you order it?" I said, "No. I don't order my people. I wish people
would stop assuming I do that. Corps members are fully capable of
handling any action they're in. They do what they think will work best
for them, in their actions. They're all super educated super geniuses,
and senior Martial Artist psionic Adepts. And good people." Dawn
grinned, and we hugged. I said, "I took their HQ, myself. Here's how it
went." I showed that. He said, "You fought with them!" I said, "Not
really. They tried to fight, and I helped them to fall down." Dawn
grinned widely. He said, "But why did you do that?" I said, "We had
wait for the local police to arrive. What were we going to do, just sit
and stare at each other? We knew they were going to prison for a long
time. That was their last opportunity to do anything like that, so they
took it. They knew they weren't going to beat me, and that I would do
my best not to hurt them. We enjoyed it. And yes, they tried their best
to take me. They knew I wouldn't have it any other way. Call it the
warrior way, if you want to. A last salute to a fallen warrior. Some
will understand this, and some won't. Best leave it at that." He
nodded, and said, "Something like our fair play?" I said, "A little. I
have to tell you, I've never attacked anybody with my upper lip, stiff
or not." He had to laugh. We closed the show.
I said, "We do these shows for the people, not for the station." He
said, "I understand that better now. Next time, no problems." Dawn
said, "He's so nice, people forget he's the most powerful living being
in all creation, and more holy in religion than anybody on Earth. They
all bow to him, the Pope, and your Archbishop, included. That means a
lot of people can get really angry if he's treated with less than the
fullest respect. You might not want to cause too much of that." He
said, "Oh, we almost made a royal mess of things!" I said to Dawn, "He
said mess. He wasn't thinking that." She grinned, and said, "We should
tell him the cameras are off." Grins. I offered to hug him, And he
accepted. Then Dawn did. He said, "You have to be a woman!" I said, "I
He caught our grins. I said, "Her disguise is very good. Better than
she can do herself. I've given them little gadgets that actually bend
reality for them. She's really like you see her. And really a man, when
she's using one of those disguises. Even fools regular Adepts. I see
the question. Courage?" He said, "Er, is sex possible cross gender?" I
said, "That hasn't been tried. Oops!" His eyes almost popped out of his
head, and he said, "Does that mean what I think it means?" I said,
"We'll find out soon enough. We're all scientists. Even with sex.
Gender and orientation don't mean much to us, we who feel what each of
us feels, which includes sexual and body feelings. With our love, love
is all that really matters." He said, "A different life." I said, "Yes,
and we should get back to it." We left.
Galya said, "You really confounded them." Dawn said, "Yes. Wasn't
that great?" Chuckles and hugs. I gave the recording to CNN, and they
ran it, feeling vastly superior to the BBC, which showed a little,
which the public agreed with.
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Grant
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