Chương 80: Book 3 - Chapter 11 C

After the show we got driven back out to the plane Grandpa had chartered for me. Dad needed ours, and Grandpa didn't think it made sense for the plane to make a round trip flight for a one-way trip. Mom was there at the airport to pick me up. Crushed in a huge hug, she finally set me down and looked at me.

"Well, you aren't glowing but I made a doctor appointment for you for tomorrow," she said.

"It isn't necessary, Mom," I insisted.

"When we came back our plane was ordered to Andrews Air Force Base. They completely checked everyone out and the plane too. They sent over doctors from Walter Reed Hospital. That's the hospital that President Reagan uses."

"We'll see," she said, then wrapped me in another hug. Mom called my doctor as soon as we got home. The doctor requested my medical records and after reviewing them said I didn't need to come in. I just stayed home, watching cartoons with my little sister Mattie after she got home from school on the big projection screen TV in the family entertainment and dining area. The rest of the time I worked on my computer writing some new software that would be needed for the wireless cable project.

On Friday, I took the family jet to Burbank, California. We left at 2pm and arrived just after 230pm local time after a two-and-a-half-hour flight. We went to a local hotel to freshen up first and have an early dinner. Then we were picked up by a studio car and taken to NBC Studios. After makeup, I waited in the green room until I was called out. I could watch the show on the TV back there and listened as he joked about glowing cows in Kiev and funny Mother's Day advertisements in the newspaper.

It was coming up this Sunday. Finally he did the Seiko commercial, it was almost time for me as the second commercial break started. When it was time to go on stage, Matt stayed behind to watch from the green room and guard our luggage. Security was spread out around the studio. There seemed to be more of them every time I turned around. A booming, familiar voice announced over the studio speakers: "And now, we are happy to welcome to the show for the first time a remarkable young man!

He's America's Youngest Ambassador and the smartest man in the world... Dr John Cook!" I stood up and walked onto the set, shaking hands with Johnny Carson, who was already sitting behind his desk. His light tan suit and striped tie looked good with his silver hair. I sat comfortably in the guest chair, my legs just long enough to reach the floor, until I scooted all the way back.

"John, thank you for being here."

"I'm very happy to be here, but thank my Mom. She didn't want to let me leave home again after being gone."

"Thank you Mrs Cook, for letting your son come on our show," he said into the camera. I laughed.

"Well, we are very glad she let you come on the show," he told me.

"I'm not too surprised, she's a big fan," I told him.

"I'm supposed to get your autograph for her."

"I'd be happy to do that for your Mother after the show. Are you ready for Mother's Day?"

"I'm getting her a smoke detector," I told him with an intense seriousness and he about lost it. When he got himself back together he continued.

"Now, John, you were gone a while. Tell us about your trip to Russia."

"Well, I didn't go to Russia. I went to Ukraine. It's part of the Soviet Union, but not part of Russia."

"So how was Ukraine?" he asked dryly.

"It was very nice. They have some amazing old buildings I got to tour. It was a great place to go. The trip was very short, which I guess was good."

"Why was that good?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"I couldn't figure out how I was going to explain that I celebrated Star Wars Day to the Soviet officials."

"Star Wars Day?" Carson smiled, leaning forward as the audience laughed.

"Is that like a day off for space wizards? When is that?"

"May The Fourth Be With You!" I replied to much laughter. Carson chuckled, shaking his head.

"Well, Soviets aren't fans of Star Wars. And speaking of things the Soviets don't like—or things that worry the President—let's talk about the serious side of your trip. Other than the touring, what else did you do?" This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

"Well the touring came later. I had to do some work first. I brought equipment to clean the water of any pollution coming through the dam just north of the city of Kiev. The river, called the Dnieper runs right through the middle of the country. It also runs right past a little place called Chernobyl, which is about sixty-five miles north."

"So you cleaned the river?"

"Actually they were commenting about how much better the river smelled even before I left, but the main reason was to filter out any nuclear material that might have gotten in the river."

"Now I understand that you donated that equipment?"

"That's right. The filter I invented is currently sold only in the United States but when the President asks you to go help out another country in an emergency, you go." There was loud applause and he smiled then asked for a demonstration. I did an over the top performance of pouring salt into a glass of water, and then filtering it and giving it to him to drink.

"Amazing, not a bit of salt in that."

"This technology means that once it's installed here, LA can get all the water it needs straight from the ocean. It'll never have to worry about drought conditions again." The applause was again loud, so he pivoted to a new topic.

"I understand that you are also an author?" he asked.

"I've had two international best sellers, 'Alone on Mars' and 'Magic Eye'."

"That's incredible. I've seen the Magic Eye book, and it's very colorful.""'Magic Eye 2' is coming out next month, another collaboration between me and the Architect, Paul Benz. This one will feature all new artwork."

"Now I know your first book was very popular here and in France. When did you write that?"

"I was seven at the time. I wrote it for my high school French class. The teacher liked it so much, she told my English teacher about it. She then asked that I do a version in English."

"I've heard a rumor that it'll be made into a movie?"

"I've heard the rumor as well. So far I don't know."

"Well I understand that French and English aren't your only languages."

"That's true," I said.

"How many languages do you speak?"

"Fifteen."

"Fifteen? That's amazing. Just to show everyone you aren't bragging, and you really are the smartest man in the world, we thought we might give you a quick test."

"Sounds kind of boring for people to watch me take a test," I told him, shifting in my chair. My legs were sticking practically straight out, it was so deep.

"Don't worry, we'll make it exciting. Let's bring out our language speakers." He brought out six people, and I took turns conversing with them in their native language, as each confirmed that I could speak French, Spanish, German, Ukrainian, Russian and Japanese.

"Now I know you've taken a lot of tests, but I understand that they haven't given you a definite answer on what your IQ is."

"That's right, they gave me a special test that can measure up to 250."

"And how did you do?" he asked.

"I got a perfect score, so they looked at my time to complete it, and I set a record there too, so the answer was somewhere above 250."

"So do you just sit around reading and inventing things every day?"

"Oh no, my Mom would never let me do that. I do enjoy shooting. I go to the local range to practice. I'm hoping to be good enough to be on the Olympic shooting team and go to Seoul in 1988. Unfortunately I had to miss a practice match at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado because I was gone this month."

"One of the questions people have been wondering, with the accident at Chernobyl, is nuclear power safe?"

"Well, there are a couple things people need to keep in mind," I tried to explain, "First, no one else in the world uses the design that was used in Chernobyl because of the possibility of accidents. Second, radiation doesn't leak from nuclear power plants, but it does leak from coal plants." Carson raised an eyebrow in mock surprise.

"Now wait a minute, Doctor. Are you telling the American people that the old coal pile out back of the power station is secretly radioactive? You're going to get the entire audience wearing dosimeters to the PTA meeting," he said getting a laugh.

"When coal is burned, much of the pollution goes straight into the atmosphere. That includes naturally occurring radioactive materials that are part of the coal."

"That's amazing, I didn't know that."

"It's true, but not discussed. Just like no one discusses the number of people killed every year in coal mining accidents, or injured from coal dust inhalation, or the people who live near coal plants who have health problems from unregulated pollution."

"But coal plants don't have meltdowns."

"Right, that's why one of the things I'll be working on, now that everyone will soon have access to clean water, will be genuinely safe, meltdown-free nuclear power."

"Is that something you are going to do all on your own?"

"No, I discussed this issue with President Reagan when I got back. I'll be working with General Atomics to solve the energy issue. The country needs safe pollution-free power, but it has got to be cheap to build too. Making it safe doesn't matter if it is too expensive." There was more applause, and I got thanked for my visit. Carson stood and shook my hand.

"A truly astonishing young man, folks. We'll be right back!" A booming voice cut through the applause from offstage: "Don't go away! When we return, Zippy the Remarkable Chimp and his Dad will be joining us!" Security met me at the door to the green room. From there they loaded us into big black Suburbans for the trip back to the hotel.