The other pictures were minimized to one-half size to make room for the 3-D reconstruction. The image was rotated through 360°, first clockwise, then counterclockwise. Then he was seen from above, showing the top of his head. Hoken quickly noticed the hair pattern, which would be very atypical for an Orian but which was not uncommon for a human male. His brownish, slightly wavy hair showed a minimal receding in the area around the temples, resulting in an almost isolated island of hair at the front, top, and center of the forehead.
Hoken had seen enough of Human #1 for a while. He began to look over the data files, starting at the reader’s left and moving to the right (Orian was similar to most Earth languages: read from left to right, and top to bottom. Even maps were displayed the same, north on top and east to the right. It seems that the same general algorithms and brain hard-wiring for basic intelligence and processing of information are fairly similar throughout the Universe.) Everything was displayed in both English and Orian; the former so he would be learning the new language, and the latter so there was no misinterpretation.
“Human #1 was born in the city of New Orleans, in the state, similar to our provinces, of Louisiana,” said Gunnerr. “We have no pictures of his family. It’s very unlikely you’ll meet any of these people, but if you’re questioned by acquaintances, or especially by the authorities, you obviously have to know some details about your family,” he said as if Hoken had already taken over the body of the Earthman.
“His father’s name was Robert. His mother, Marguerite, worked as a practical nurse. He has a brother, also named Robert, and a half-brother, John.
“His father collected insurance premiums, and from everything we’ve found so far, was a hard working man. Unfortunately, he died two months before Human #1 was born, causing a permanent strain on the family’s finances. As a result, Human #1’s handling of money went far beyond frugality, even far beyond cheap, to the point that he won’t even spend money to provide basic food and shelter for his wife and children. His wife is often forced to live off the kindness of others—to mooch. Sometimes she’s even reduced to begging to keep their children fed and clothed.”
Hoken just shook his head. How pathetic. This man is scum. After hearing that Hoken would never underestimate the man’s vileness. Whenever Hoken saw something like this, it just made him appreciate that much more the great family he was blessed to have.
“His mother’s financial problems sometimes became almost desperate,” continued Gunnerr. “For a short time she was forced to place him in an orphanage. By his early teenage years there were recurrent disciplinary problems at school. He was often truant, either staying home by himself to watch television, read, or go to museums.” Hoken could just imagine Gunnerr shaking his head as he said, “Everyone found this so paradoxical.”
No kidding, thought Hoken. He could hardly believe it. You played hooky to do bad things—to goof off, to get into trouble, to chase the girls—not to read and certainly not to go to a museum. Human #1 was a strange man indeed.
“His behavioral problems became so acute that he was once remanded for psychiatric evaluation and observation at a youth facility. The psychiatrist described him as tense, withdrawn, detached, and evasive. He often related fantasies of omnipotence and power which the psychiatrist felt were an attempt to compensate for his frustrations and shortcomings. Throughout his life arrogant is the one term used by all who know him to best describe his personality, strange indeed for someone who has nothing to be arrogant about.
“Because of these problems, intelligence testing was performed. On Earth, there is a test to measure intelligence called Wechsler, which is similar to our Arshadish Mental Performance Examination.”
Gunnerr paused. Hoken could actually appreciate the near-disbelief, with a hint of sarcasm, in his voice. “Everyone was stunned. The test is calibrated so that one hundred is the average. He scored a 118, which is almost two standard deviations from normal, and indicates intellectual function in the upper end of the bright normal range. Everyone—the psychiatrist, his teachers, the people at the orphanage—everyone, actually, except his mother—thought he had somehow cheated, but a repeat test under continuous monitoring showed an almost identical score.”
Hoken thought, Nobody could make this stuff up. Truth is always stranger than fiction.
“He is innately intelligent,” said Gunnerr, “and because of his reading, possesses an extensive vocabulary and a significant knowledge base. Yet in spite of this real, sometimes almost flashy, intelligence—which comes off as being little more than a pedantic façade—his thinking, his thought processes, are invariably described as shallow, rigid, and lacking insight. It appears that he can adequately assess and assimilate the facts, yet invariably draws the wrong conclusion. Again, a man of paradox.
“At first it was thought that his problem was just being lazy and indifferent, but further observations and studies showed that his relatively high intellectual ability was burdened with a not-that-subtle reading/spelling disability. He is dyslexic as they call it on Earth. Examples from various forms and applications in his early adult years include, but are not limited to: ‘sociaty’ for society, ‘opions’ for opinions, ‘esspicially’ for especially, ‘nuclus’ for nucleus, ‘disere’ for desire, ‘allys’ for alleys, ‘acept’ for except, ‘negleck’ for neglect, and ‘insurean’ for insurance.”
Looking at the Orian equivalent of the butchered words made Hoken wince.
“Just think, Major,” said Gunnerr, “on Oria, the magnetically-directed virus-vector gene substitution technique would have cured him as soon as the problem was detected. And if that didn’t work, with even a rudimentary computer program to correct his spelling and grammar problems, to allow his obvious innate strengths and talents to show through, he very well may have turned out much differently.”
Hoken was always a little more pragmatic. Maybe—and maybe not—he thought.
“He left high school prior to graduation and enlisted in the Marines just before he turned seventeen. He never rose above the rank of private first class and displayed continuous, pervasive,” said Gunnerr as if to emphasize its inevitability, “and an ultimately crippling resentment of authority. Again, Major, a paradox—he hates authority, yet joined an organization that demands authority.
“He was court-martialed not once but twice!” said Gunnerr so forcefully that Hoken could almost see the exclamation point. “In the first incident, he was in possession of an unauthorized weapon and accidentally shot himself. He’s not exactly a ‘missile scientist,’ as they say on Earth. In the second incident, he purposefully spilled an alcoholic beverage on a non-commissioned officer, and then abusively challenged him to a fight. At the time of the trial, he lied and tried to explain away the incident with falsehood.”
Hoken just shook his head, looked through the canopy in the general direction of Earth, while being sure to all the time practice that pursed-lip, smirk/frown look.
“While in the service, he of course received routine training with all standard weapons, and, fortunately or unfortunately,” he added, “is very good with them. On the rifle range, using a weapon similar to yours, he showed considerable proficiency, scoring in the sharpshooter range. Major, we would have chosen this man even without this, but being a marksman is a nice extra.
“He was discharged from the service several months short of his commitment on the false pretense that his mother was ill and he had to help her and care for her. He was originally given an honorable discharge, but because of subsequent events this was later changed to undesirable—something very uncommon—even on Earth. Major, he is a pathological liar who has added the U.S. Armed Services to his list of mythical persecutors.”
Hoken
