Steem Cosmos Station #2: Growing Up After Reincarnation With The Mind Of An Adult

"Okay so before you go on your mission..", Steem Commander Dan told us,
"Let's go over the rules again."

• The mission is to reactivate the Blockchain and Help to rebuild Steemit.
• You will be reborn with all your current memories and skills.
• You will be reborn in a random body, in a random place in the world.
• You will all meet again on your 10th birthday at the 'Place de la Concorde' in Paris.
• You are not allowed to contact anyone you have met in former lives.

"Any Questions?"

We remained silent. 

"Alright then", Dan smiled as he handed out small glasses filled with the fluorescent blue Steem Power liquid. "Do your best. This is our last chance. Complete this mission successfully!"

Everybody nodded, with very serious looks on their faces.
Now me, Satoshi Jr. and Ned Jr. sat down in the tubes that convert your soul - the same ones that I had been in when I had arrived at the cosmos station.
"Cheers, see you in 10 years!", said Ned Junior, drank the liquid from his glass, and laid down.

Satoshi did the same.

I took a deep breath, looked at the glass with the mysterious liquid in it, and then drank it all in one. I laid down, closed my eyes, and the tube started spinning.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

When a child is born, the brain develops rapidly for the first 2 years. During that time, we souls are inside the body, but asleep.
And roughly at the end of those 2 years, the child develops a sense of self - only then the soul awakens. 

It was a strange experience for me. More strange than any human being could imagine.
You are sitting there in your high-chair, with all your current memories, skills, and thoughts. And then you see your parents in front of you, saying "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh" and "Brrrrrrrrrr here comes the plane!" to try to get you to open your mouth. And you're just sitting there thinking: You can talk to me normally, woman!

Growing up again with your current mindset was fun, but sometimes also very frustrating. Sometimes when I try to grab things I just let go, because I can't control my motoric skills yet. Or when I tried to draw, I had absolutely no ability to move my hands with precision. It's amazing how much a human being learns and develops!

From early on, I noticed the grown impact of Facebook that Commander Dan had mentioned. My parents were documenting everything with pictures on facebook, Facebook was the default homepage of any browser, and every new phone came with the facebook app pre-installed.
But not only that - Facebook had their own police department, controlled and censored the news, and made sure that every adult was so overloaded with work and benefiting the economy that they barely had time for any fun or creativity. 

When I was 4 years old, I wanted to make myself familiar with the neighborhood.
As the Sniper that I am, I always need to know my surroundings to be prepared for any situation!
I'm called Winchester after the first Sniper Rifle Winchester, because this rifle has played a huge role in my family for generations. I don't like those fancy modern rifles - my Winchester is made from solid wood. I will need to obtain one in this life too - that can be quite a challenge!

Winchester Rifle 

One day when my Dad was busy gardening and my Mom was baking, I sneaked outside the door.
My new family lived in a traditional, white house in the Suburbs of London.

Yes, I was in London once again. I'm not sure what the Universe tried to tell me by letting me live in the same country as in my former life.

So I wandered through the neighborhood, and marked possible hiding spots on a city Map that I had managed to grab from the Kitchen.
When I came back home I decided to start a little workout since my body was way too weak - I basically only consisted of skin, baby fat, and soft bones. My muscles weren't trained at all yet! That needed to change. "I need to prepare myself and get ready to complete this Mission", I told myself. So I went upstairs to the attic and started doing some push ups.

"Johnny?! Jonathan! There you are!", I could suddenly hear my Dad screaming from below.
'Oh no, they found me...' I thought to myself, and slowly sat down on the grass.
"Johnny! Baby!" I could now hear my Mum as well. "You can't just leave on your own, we were worried!", she told me.
"What were you doing just now? Kind of looked like Push-Ups?! Or were you doing something else.. Honey, did you leave the bedroom door open last time?!", my Dad wondered.

"Obviously he wasn't doing push ups, he was just playing", my Mom snapped at him. I chuckled. 'How embarrassing - luckily small kids don't remember any of this', I thought to myself. "Gotta update my facebook status and tell everyone we found him...", Dad mumbled to himself. 

Time passed by and I truly enjoyed having no worries at all. As a kid, you just live from day to day, without having to worry or think about anything. Everyday is just fun. And Kids don't appreciate that, obviously, because they don't know any other life!

Naturally, I was good at everything - football (soccer), martial arts, track and field, acrobatics.. I just had to train my muscles but other than that, my skill and coordination where already there. It's amazing what a young body can do if you train it early! I loved trying out new sports because I progressed so quickly.

Once I got into school, I had  to really pull myself together. It was SO boring learning writing and algebra again! I was always the best in any tests and my parents were really proud of me, but it was a real challenge for me to constantly act as if I didn't know anything.
You wouldn't believe how much nonsense kids are being taught in schools nowadays. So many things are outdated or just plain unneccessary in today's world - but that's a whole other topic.

I couldn't stop thinking about my family from my former life.
How did my daughter and my son cope with my death?  I was really hoping that they were doing alright. And my grandkids must be in middle school right now.. Funny, they're older than me in my current body!

One day when school finished early, I couldn't resist anymore. I took the tube and visited my old neighborhood. 'You can't talk to anyone', I told myself. I didn't even want to, I knew the rules! I just wanted to see if everything was alright.
It felt very strange walking along these streets, that I had last walked as an old man. The pavement had many loose stones and I used to walk around this street slowly so I didn't trip.
Now, in my young body, I was jumping around, trying to jump only on the uneven stones and making a game out of it. During one jump, my phone fell out of my pocket and the screen cracked (Yes, it was totally normally that I had gotten an iPhone for my 7th birthday!). I was annoyed but oh well.

When I reached my old family house, I stood still. It was exactly how I remembered it - nice front yard , 5 steps to the dark blue door, a light grey face of the house and a large balcony out to the front. The balcony doors were open, and I could actually hear my grandkids laughing and screaming.
At that moment, I couldn't keep it together any longer. I started crying. I had no idea that tears were falling so easily in such a young body! I couldn't even stop it! 

As I stood there, sobbing, listening to classical music on my phone, I didn't realize someone had walked up behind me.

"Hey, are you okay? Where are your parents?", I heard a familiar voice ask me. A little too familiar.
I turned around, only to see my own daughter approaching me with a worried look on your face.
"Ohh, your phone's broken!", she added as she looked down on the cracked iPhone in my hands. "That's a pity but you don't have to cry."

I started to cry even harder. I looked at my daughter, and tried to memorize and analyze her whole face in the few seconds that I would get to see it. She looked a little exhausted, guessing from the lines around her eyes, but her skin was healthy and she looked as friendly and warm as always. All I wanted to do in that moment was give her a hug.
It's so surreal - I taught her how to walk and talk, I was the one who raised her, and now I'm standing in front of her in the body of a child. 

"What's your name sweety? Where is your home?", she asked, worried, as she was patting my shoulder and trying to comfort me.
'Where is my Home', she asked.. Well, where was my home?
I couldn't stop myself and pointed my finger at the house we were standing next to - my former house.
"No sweety that's not your home, that's my home" she answered calmly, and wiped away my tears.
"Oh.." I stuttered, slowly realizing the situation. "My home.. is down there.." I pointed down a random street.
"Do you need help to find your way back? Should I drop you off?", she asked.
"No.. no..", I mumbled and quickly walked off.

All I wanted to go was go back. I wanted to talk to her, hear how she was doing, see my grandkids, hug them... But I knew I couldn't.
This had been a bad idea all along! 

As I fell asleep at night, I tried to memorize the image of my daughter's face as much as possible. This was probably the last time I'd ever see her - in any life.

As time passed by, Facebook's oppression got worse. They had now created contacts that record everything you see and do, and you can even switch and fast forward between your memories.  Every week the recordings were being checked - anybody who violates the rules or speaks badly about facebook or the government gets punished. Fortunately, these contacts were only mandatory for everyone older than 18 years, so I didn't have to wear them yet, but that also meant that me, Ned Jr. and Satoshi Jr. had to complete our mission before our 18th birthdays.

Time progressed and then finally, my 10th birthday was around the corner.
I had already tricked my parents into thinking I would go on a school trip for one week, and booked a ticket for the Eurostar Train from London to Paris. I had used my Dad's credit card to book the ticket and also a cheap Hotel Room, but I'm sure he was so busy working that he wouldn't even notice.

I had purposely chosen the train over an airplane because you're not allowed to fly by yourself or without a guardian before your 12th birthday, but still when I arrived at the train station, I was constantly asked: "Hey, are you okay?" "Where are your parents?" "Are you lost?"
Whenever someone asked that, I just pointed to random people, claiming they were my family. And everyone believed it. It was so easy to trick people nowadays!

As I was sitting on the train, I was watching the people around me - everyone was on their electronic devices. Not one exception. Even a 70-year old grandma and her toddler-grandchild were watching something on an iPad.
I sighed and pulled out a book from my backpack - "The Trial of Socrates". I looked up and saw the man opposite me giving a puzzled look. First I didn't understand why, but then I realized - it must be pretty strange to see a 9-year-old reading Socrates on a train.
But I didn't care and continued reading.

I arrived in Paris, checked in at my Hotel and spent the evening strolling around the many Cafés and Restaurants. I had visited Paris with my Kids in my former life - it felt strange. Last time I was here, I took my kids to playgrounds and Disneyland, and now I was the one in a child's body walking around the streets.

It was finally my 10th birthday the next day. All this time I had prepared for this moment and the future coming up - all the training and hard work will be worth it if we complete the mission!
I was on my way to the Place de la Concorde, where we I agreed to meet with Ned Jr and Satoshi Jr. before the mission started. 

Place de la Concorde with Obelisk in Paris

It was strange - for one, it seemed like such a long time that I had been at the Steem Cosmos Station and met up with them, but on the other hand I could remember it like yesterday.

Since we all had different bodies and wouldn't be able to recognize each other, we had agreed to all walk towards the obelisk in the middle of the square and touch it at exactly 3pm.
That way, we would be able to tell who was who.

It was 2.50pm when I arrived at the Place de la Concorde. It was a lovely, sunny day, many tourists were walking around taking pictures and the pidgeons were picking up leftover crumbs.

I was wondering in what bodies Ned and Satoshi would appear ?! I was scanning the whole square, as keen-eyed as I was as a sniper, looking for other 10-year olds - but there were just too many families around.

Finally, it was 3pm and I walked directly towards the obelisk and touched it.

I looked around and finally saw the two other kids who were standing right next to the obelisk - an asian-looking, skinny boy with very long dark hair, and a tall, slim, blonde girl.

"Yes it's me, Ned Jr., I was reborn as a girl but I'm still just as tough as you guys alright?! Don't laugh, it's already pretty bad that I was a strong man and now I was reborn as a little girl... Now I know why you lose your memories when being reborn! ", the blonde girl blurted out.

Ned Jr - Reborn

I chuckled. "Of course, no one said anything!", I tried to calm him down. "I'm Winchester, nice to finally meet you guys", I added.
"Satoshi.", Satoshi Jr. said.

Satoshi Nakamoto Jr - Reborn

Surprised because he had talked, me and Ned turned to him, but he just looked at us with a blank face.
Looks like he wouldn't talk much in this life either.

"Okay, so how do we get started now that we've met?", I asked.

And then we began planning our mission.

- To be continued - 

- Be sure to read Part 1 first if you haven't already -

Follow me ✅

© Sirwinchester