Now I will briefly present how I awoke and how I became Master Candor from Leo Puchmann.
My awakening happened very slowly, in several steps. I awoke in a bright white room, and suddenly I was aware that I was in a hospital.
I can only remember the first few weeks in fragments; I was hooked up to tubes and electrodes and was only conscious for minutes at a time. Mostly, though, I was asleep.
After a while the nurses began to encourage me to get up, I was completely debilitated, had pain in my hips and hardly any muscle. I received excellent meals, the nurses were concerned about me day and night.
Later, when I was able to sit upright, they began physical therapy with me, teaching me to walk, move, use my arms. It was also at this time that the conversations with the doctor who treated me, Doctor Fürböck, began.
He had already started to examine me twice a day since my awakening, ordered various examinations like X‐ray, MRI, various neurological examinations and others. Now he sat down with me once a day, and I had many questions for him.
How had I gotten here? When was I, how long had I been in a coma? He listened to me patiently, then gave me short, precise answers.
He asked me if I could remember that I had founded this institute together with his predecessor, Dr. Giese. I said No, so he said that I had founded the Giese Institute with Dr. Giese, with whom I had been personal friends since my school days. I had invested a very large amount of money for the research and made a long‐term contract with him, acquiring 45% silent interest in the institute and allowing him to continue his research with a generous annual grant.
He paused for a long moment. Then he said, "You survived a serious car accident, had surgery, but didn't wake up, remained in a coma." According to a letter, Doctor Giese could claim to continue caring for me. Since the institute was focused on doing research on prolonging life, Doctor Giese had left me in a coma and applied the latest results of his research to my care.
Dr. Giese believed that cryomedicine was a dead end. He was banking on the fact that life‐prolonging measures were capable of keeping coma patients alive for many years. He intended to do the same with me. After I had been successfully operated on my hip after the car accident, as well as on many broken ribs and a cracked spine, I did not wake up despite intensive efforts, but remained in a coma. So he left me in an artificial coma, lowered my body temperature to between 10 and 20 degrees, and ensured that my vital functions remained slowed but fully intact. It was a continuation of the idea that humans could have a kind of hibernation, which could also be proven by experiments for space travel. However, these experiments remained fragmentary; only Giese seemed to be able to perfect life support.
Dr. Fürböck began to describe these processes in great detail and in technical terms, primarily the lowering of the body temperature, the slowing of the heartbeat to fourteen beats per minute as well as the electrostimulation of the brain, thymus and other nerve tracts were of great importance. These detailed technical specifications made me feel really dizzy, and soon I could no longer remember every detail. But Dr. Fürböck confirmed to me that Dr. Giese had done an excellent job and had thus kept me alive.
I impatiently interrupted him and asked, "How long?" Dr. Fürböck looked at me seriously, then said, "You've spent over 60 years in a coma."
I felt dizzy. 60 years! That meant I was now – I rummaged through my memories – I was now over 120 years old! Dr. Fürböck paused, for he realized that I first had to come to terms with this. We were silent for a long time and then I asked about my wife – but I immediately realized that she had been dead for 60 years. Dr. Fürböck confirmed that my wife Helene had not survived the car accident.
With tears streaming down my cheeks, Dr. Fürböck stood up and left me alone with my thoughts. 60 years! And Helene was dead, and all the others with whom I had shared my life back then. Helene, my Elaine, with whom I had still spoken "yesterday"....
.On the following days we talked about it again and again, the I wanted to know more about how I could get through this time. Dr Giese had conducted his research in secret or complete seclusion during this time, only his closest associates knew what he was working on. He published over 100 papers on this subject, but never from the point of view of the researcher who wanted to make his results known, but wisely always framed his advice in terms of how to continue and prolong life itself. Unfortunately, Doctor Giese had died five years ago at the age of over 90, and he, Fürnböck, had succeeded him as his closest assistant.
Dr. Fürnböck was very anxious to get me out of this dejection and explained to me that, purely physically, thanks to the unique treatment I had received, I had hardly aged two years, corresponding to an age of about 58 or 60. At the time of the car accident I was 58 years old. He also made it clear to me that although I was currently still walking on crutches or being pushed in a wheelchair, with successful continuation of physical therapy and patient training I would soon be walking independently and fully recovered.
I spent the following days in deep mourning. For me it was as if I had lost Elaine yesterday, in reality she had gone 60 years ago. I didn't remember at all what we had argued about, why she had gotten behind the wheel drunk and angry, and why we both hadn't buckled up. Anyway, we crashed on the mountain road. I was no longer at all responsive to those around me; reluctantly, I allowed myself to be led to physiotherapy or to small, cautious walks. Otherwise, however, I did not leave my room, looked out of the window and thought of Elaine full of sadness and pain. The view of the park and the rain drumming against the windows made me feel very melancholy.
Dr. Fürböck did not let up. Every day he visited and examined me, and in particular I noticed that he concentrated strongly on the neurological examinations. One day I asked him why he was doing this, but he left me with the simple answer that this was pure routine. I could almost physically feel that he was hiding something from me. In fact, to my own amazement, I often felt that I could "sense" the emotions of my counterpart quite clearly. Sometimes I could almost clairvoyantly read their thoughts, and this although I was strictly scientifically oriented all my life and did not believe in such frippery.
Nevertheless, there had to be something to this frippery, because in the fifth month of my stay at the Institute, a new nurse, Brigitte, was assigned to me. From the first day I read her signals, I almost "saw" figuratively how much she was attracted to me, I could read her thoughts and after a few days I felt how much she longed for intimacy. In fact, we soon had consensual sex, although I hardly knew her and found no signs that she could ever mean more to me. She was of a simple disposition and our brief affair was nothing more than physical recreation. It was only after a few weeks that I discovered that she faithfully told Dr. Fürböck about our clandestine meetings, with all the details, which he, of course, never mentioned to me. That little wise guy, I thought, and ended the affair with Brigitte quite soon. Somehow it annoyed me to be medically examined in this way.
To Dr. Fürböck I did not mention my new, quasi psychic talent with a word. However, I kept talking to him about the frequent neurological examinations, because it was noticeable how often he sent me for MRIs.
After a few attempts on my part, Dr. Fürböck reluctantly admitted that he was looking into how much my brain activity, or the amount of areas I could use, had increased. He said that he was very surprised that I would use between 35 to 50% of my brain volume, which was higher than the average 15 to 25%. He had no explanation for this, other than to suggest that possibly the 60 years of continued stimulation of my brain could have caused this.
I kept my thoughts on this to myself, although it was very tempting to tell him about my new talents. So the days passed, after about two months I could walk with crutches, and later I only needed a walking stick. Then came the day when Dr. Fürböck told me that the law firm Roma und Partner wanted to talk to me. Roma and Partner had taken care of my business affairs during all this time, now they probably wanted to talk to the new old Leo.
The two young gentlemen who appeared the other day and met with me and Dr. Fürböck in the conference room were far too young for me to know them. Nevertheless, they proved to be competent and knew about every detail. They had brought a whole stack of papers with them and presented them to me; they were first the reports on the time I had spent at the Institute and the office had periodically checked on my progress. The correspondence with Dr. Giese indicated that I was doing well and that the office had been entrusted annually by him with the continuation of all my business. He had also countersigned the firm's annual fees.
Then they presented me with a report of my net worth, and at the first moment a violent vertigo seized me, for I was indeed rich. I owned several houses in good locations, my last apartment was a very spacious half floor in the Palais Harrach on the Freyung. The palace obviously belonged to me, but I could not remember at all how I had acquired it. The two young gentlemen read me the results of the income from the properties. Then they reported that my huge share packages had developed excellently in 60 years and that I received extraordinarily good income from them. Lastly, they presented me with confirmations that my taxes had been paid punctually and accurately. Lastly, they presented a report on Roma and Partner's fees, which I only briefly skimmed and nodded, because they were not cheap, but I had probably negotiated it that way with them over 60 years ago. I sat back and let these new findings run through my head.
After a pause, one of the two gentlemen cleared his throat and said that it was probably necessary for me to be given a new identity. Looking ahead, they had thought that I would want to keep my name, but I would need a completely new legend and also new deeds and documents. They had already prepared this and presented them. In fact, it was well thought out, for example, I received a birth certificate that roughly confirmed my current age, school certificates and various other documents that confirmed this new life. It was now up to me to decide if I wanted to accept this. After thinking about it for a short time, I agreed and signed all the papers necessary for this.
Leo Puchmann had become Leo Puchmann. I gave the gentlemen the order to set up a new current account for me at my bank, Austro Invest Bank, and to continuously replenish this account when I left. I wanted to use this account to cover everyday expenses, and my assets were to be managed by Roma and Partner as before. We concluded a two‐year extension of this contract.
When the gentlemen had left, I remained seated briefly with Doctor Fürböck. I thanked him for the extraordinarily good care that he and Dr. Giese had taken of me with Roma and Partner. Then we had an animated conversation about how I could support his further research work and the institute. He was very pleased when I told him that the annual support would be increased by 10% and would continue index‐linked. I was grateful to the Institute for saving my life and resurrecting me in this new life. He was very relieved and thanked me.
From that day on, all my sadness was gone. I started to learn about my former life, but also began to take care of my apartment. On the advice of Dr. Fürböck, I invited a master builder whom he trusted very much and whom I wanted to hire to work on the apartment. I wanted a thorough renovation, new furnishings according to current standards, and had him give me a quote. After barely a week, I had this and commissioned the master builder to carry out this work.
I went several times by cab to the city center and looked at the old apartment. It was on the second floor of the Palais Harrach, but it was completely dusty and filled with old furniture. I found it hard to imagine that I had lived there, but it gave me a twinge when I looked at a piece of furniture and it reminded me of Elaine. No, it all had to go, everything had to be redecorated.
After one of these visits, when I returned to the Institute, I had a vision for the first time. Yes, a vision, because I was sure I was seeing something not real. I had hardly sat down in a chair and drunk a glass of lemonade when my mind wandered and I suddenly saw her in the corner of the room. It was Elaine, without a doubt. But at the same time I realized that this was only a face. We looked at each other for a long time, she smiled and I said, "My dear, dear Elaine!" I only peripherally noticed tears running down my cheeks. It lasted maybe a few minutes, or maybe just a few seconds, then she was gone again. I remained sitting motionless, thinking.
It couldn't be! But then again, the vision was so clear and so distinct that I had to believe it was true. Now I sat by the table more often and let my thoughts run free, but it was several days before she appeared again. I could see her more clearly than the first time, wearing that charming dress she had worn in Greece on our honeymoon – a thin, sheer white dress under which she wore nothing. I looked at her and smiled, because she had danced in Greece in that dress on the lawn behind our house, happy and exuberant.
Elaine was again the young, beautiful woman who had married me. No trace of her age, the beautiful red brown curly hair framed her face smiling at me. As surreal as this was, I approached her and told her how much I loved her. She smiled back, her beautiful smile, and she said she loved me too. I asked how she was, and she replied that it was wonderful here, in Greece, it was beautiful after all!
I was convinced that she was a product of my memories, because the time she mentioned must have been 80 or 90 years ago, our honeymoon in Greece. Nevertheless, I wanted to keep her and her presence as long as possible. When I reached out my hand and tried to touch her, I felt nothing – she really had to be a projection of my brain.
I decided to pretend we were still on our honeymoon. Our conversation was about love, about physical sensations, and we kept telling each other how much we loved each other. After a while, however, she became serious and said, "I have to warn you, my dear, there will be a rock avalanche near the City of Landeck in three days and it will hinder train traffic. Hopefully you can do something about it so that no people will be harmed." She looked at me for a while longer, but her image faded.
I sat there for a while longer, dazed by the power emanating from this vision. But then I made a decision and went to Doctor Fürböck. I reported to him that I was quite suddenly possessed by the thought that there might be an accident in the next few days, or more precisely in three days, and that I felt the duty to inform the railroad company. Dr. Fürböck was extremely skeptical at first and tried to find out how I came up with this idea and how seriously he had to take it. Of course, I didn't say a word about my contact with Elaine, but insisted on notifying the railroad. He wasn't really convinced, so I said I would call the railroad myself.
So I accompanied him to his office, where there was still an old‐fashioned telephone, and called the railroad company after he picked out the number for me. When I finally got someone on the line, I was passed from office to office until I got to the regional director's office, where I deposited my suspicions. They tried to interrogate me and find out whether I myself might be someone who was planning an attack on the railroad. However, I gave my personal details as well as my whereabouts in the institute and said that this was not an attack, but a natural event, probably a rock fall. One should please take possible precautions. They were polite to me and thanked me. Dr. Fürböck, who had been listening in over the loudspeaker, shook his head when I hung up and grumbled, "They're going to file this under the heading of >bullies<"
.How great, however, was his astonishment when the railroad called him directly three days later and informed him that, as a precaution, the railroad line from Landeck westwards had been shut down for a short time because of technical measures. And, they went on to say, there had indeed been a huge rockfall that had displaced the rails – it would probably have been a major accident with many fatalities if they hadn't closed the line as a precaution. The guy from the royal railroad company let it slip that he was very surprised about this warning, whether Dr. Fürböck could possibly go into more detail? However, the latter could not say anything and politely ended the conversation.
Naturally, we continued to talk about it for days. I did not give in and did not reveal my source, I insisted that it was just a feeling, a very strong feeling though. For Dr. Fürböck, all this was inexplicable and unsettled him for a long time.
I thought for days how it could be that Elaine, whose vision must have sprung from my own brain, could know such a thing in advance. But I could not find an answer, in spite of thinking hard. No matter how I turned it, it remained that my scientifically oriented mind had no answer and I was not able to give myself a reasonable explanation. I was not willing to accept any Hocus Pocus.
In the meantime, the work in my apartment had continued, I now took a cab into town almost daily to assess its progress. The builder had not promised too much. The floors were newly laid, the walls freshly plastered and painted, the furnishings rather modern. According to my wish, there was a large living room, 6 small rooms and a well‐equipped kitchen that could cook on its own. Why there was a second bathroom I could not figure out, but left it at that. The furniture I had chosen myself, it was above all dignified and yet elegant. I also wanted the best beds in the guest rooms, well‐upholstered seating and high, dark curtains that reached to the floor. The builder promised that it would be ready for occupancy in eight weeks at the latest.
During my visits to inspect the apartment, I quickly found out that on the same floor, in an area twice the size of my apartment, a certain Madame Veronique ran an establishment of a special kind. Completely inconspicuous on the outside, it was in reality, I could not overlook, an establishment of the upscale kind. Madame Veronique was a pretty middle‐aged lady and was very friendly. We greeted each other as neighbors, and she invited me to visit the establishment. We had a very lively conversation, and she served rolls and an excellent tea. Soon she invited me to dinner and I could tell that she had excellent cooking. Her carefully worded offer to get me to visit the establishment put me in the awkward position of rejecting it. But contrary to my fears, she just nodded understandingly and said that was okay. I was very relieved, because one should always be on friendly terms with neighbors. It was now almost a habit that I dined together with her in the evening. But I insisted on paying for the meal, which she accepted after a short hesitation.
During dinner together we chatted about this and that, and slowly we learned a few things about each other. She found it interesting that I had come to a small fortune through real estate and stocks and said several times how pleased she was about this neighborhood. I concealed from her for a very long time that the palace actually belonged to me and that the rental was the responsibility of a property management company. I, on the other hand, learned that she had immigrated from Southeastern Europe and after a few years had opened her establishment. This was very nobly furnished in the retro–style of the 19th century, laid out with soft carpets and decorated with red fabric wallpaper. These girls were invariably first class, as were her clients, who came from the highest circles of the kingdom. And, she stressed again and again, discretion was absolutely important and indispensable to her. And, of course, she made it clear from the start that it was not a whorehouse or brothel, but a salon. She accepted my smile with an imperceptible smirk.
In the meantime, I had said goodbye to the institute and moved into my apartment in the Palais Harrach. The master builder showed me the entire apartment with all the details, all the furniture and all the built‐in refinements. I had to pass on explaining the kitchen, as I was not used to cooking, and told him that everything would certainly be in order and that I would take a closer look at the details when the opportunity arose. At the end of the tour, his eyes flashed briefly as he said he had saved the finest candy for last. "Lucy!" he said, and a soft female voice answered from hidden speakers, "What can I do for you?" The builder saw my astonishment and said, "This is the most modern household robot at the moment," adding that it was trained on me, my voice and could handle any household activity or command such as light control, music control, the kitchen and the like. He added that one could communicate with Lucy as one would with a domestic servant.
I started to have misgivings, because already in my old life I skeptically distanced myself from all the newfangled social media as well as so‐called smart things, and now I felt that I was not comfortable with this house robot. Nevertheless, I had the builder explain all the details and wrote down the most important commands in my little notebook. Then I said, "Lucy, shut down!" A soft, barely audible beep came in confirmation. Lucy allowed itself to be switched on again and the builder gave me the hint to let Lucy explain all its functions to me. Lucy was the most modern thing that money could buy at the moment. Then I sat down at the desk with the builder and we went through the final statement again, we checked off each item individually and at the end I signed that everything was correct. At the end I told the builder that I would settle his bill on the same day and thanked him for this excellent work on my apartment.
Naturally, I immediately went over to Veronique and asked her to come and see the newly furnished apartment. She came, looked at everything closely and then said that it was really very nice. In the kitchen she gave a little appreciative whistle, that's how much she liked its furnishings, the flashing pans, the fine dishes and the beautiful, surely expensive appliances. This is an autonomous kitchen, she assured me, she had seen it in some magazines, but it cost a fortune. I, however, went back to the large living room that I was proud of myself for furnishing. It had, in addition to a large TV that could be raised from a recessed mount, a large old‐fashioned desk with a retro phone and screen that I'm sure had little use anywhere else today. I, however, found that I could get my news and my work done better on a big screen than with just the com, which was always present but had limited display capabilities. Of course, the com and the screen connected automatically (which reminded me that in "my day" this was called Bluetooth).
Now I began to further furnish my apartment according to my taste. I had the valuable carpets of the old furnishings cleaned, and now they were laid out on all the floors. In the evenings I regularly went to Veronique's and one evening asked who the young lady was who sometimes served the food but mostly stayed in the background. She introduced us, Leo and Roxane. She was the widow of Veronique's brother Gregori, who had died in the civil war turmoil in Romania. Veronique had immediately brought her to Vienna, as well as her eight‐year‐old son Marco. Since I liked Roxane very much from the first day, I asked Veronique, Roxane would like to join our dinners.
At these dinners we talked mainly about the small problems of everyday life, but I used the time to learn more about Roxane. I kept looking at Roxane's body and thought she was very pretty, at the same time I scolded myself an old chauvinistic jackass for feasting on her pretty looks. Nevertheless, I imagined that she was soon dressing very bodily and was obviously enjoying my looks. She was very modest, tried to help diligently in Veronique's private household, and otherwise did not care for the establishment, which she obviously did not appreciate very much. Of course, it was out of the question for her to work for Veronique in the establishment, which Veronique acknowledged with a quiet smile. In a slight pang of jealousy, I imagined how this sweetheart child would probably degenerate in a whorehouse.
For Roxane, Marco was the center of her life; she studied with him daily, making sure he studied diligently and attentively, and also discussed interpersonal problems with him, since his classmates often annoyed him because of his background. All in all, she seemed very sweet and kind‐hearted, and I found myself thinking about her frequently and wondering if I was in love with her. At our dinner together we often exchanged long glances, I rummaged and searched in her thoughts and found that she also found me more interesting and attractive from day to day.
Now I sometimes invited her to my apartment, I tried to offer her coffee but failed because of the coffee machine. Smiling, she got up and ordered Lucy to prepare coffee for us, then we sat in the comfortable armchairs of the seating area and talked. She talked about her youth and her Gregori, whom she had known from childhood and married quite young.
In a cracked voice, she related how Gregori came home one evening covered in blood. He stammered that he had gotten into a fight between two opposing clans and had been shot, although he had nothing to do with them and had immediately sought cover. She held his head in her lap, crying, over and over again they both stammered their names until Gregori became more and more silent. When the emergency doctor finally arrived, he could only conclude that Gregori was dead. A few days later Gregori was buried, she silently packed her belongings and drove with Marco to Vienna, to Veronique.
Then, on one of those afternoons, it happened. We had talked for a long time, hands touching, her head leaning against my shoulder, and I felt her joyful excitement. Our lips touched in a long, intimate kiss and that afternoon we became a couple. Exhausted but very happy, we lay next to each other in silence for a long time. I sat up and smoked, for the first time in 60 years.
We couldn't keep anything a secret from Veronique. She looked silently from one to the other at dinner, then said, "Roxane is my only relative, please treat her well and don't hurt her!" I nodded in agreement and promised her. Dinner passed largely in silence, and before I said goodbye, I took Roxane's hands and looked into her eyes, "Please, move to me, live with me!" Roxane looked to Veronique, and when she nodded, she said, "I'll be happy to come to you, Leo!" And so it came to pass that the three of us – Roxane, Marco and I – lived together in my apartment.
Roxane was an excellent cook, she could handle the automated procedures of the state‐of‐the‐art kitchen together with Lucy from the first day and Do the magic as I understood it. So we invited Veronique to join us for dinner more and more often. Roxane now took care of both households – mine and Veronique's – and cooked sometimes here, sometimes at Veronique's. Marco had been reluctant at first, feeling the familiarity between Roxane and me as something that disturbed him. But I showed my friendliest side to the boy, now often took over the joint learning and gradually his resistance faded. He now had his own room, for the first time in his life he could arrange himself there as he wished. I think this was a wonderful time for all three of us.
Hesitantly and full of uncertainty, I told Roxane about my past. Gradually, I made her understand that I had spent a long part of my life in a coma due to a medical experiment. When I said that this experiment had lasted 60 years, I noticed how she calculated and her eyes widened. I added that under normal circumstances I would be about 120 years old, but that I had hardly aged during this coma and was now only about 60 years old. Roxane looked at me in silence for a long time, then said, "I am 34." Quite shyly, she added that my sexuality felt much younger. You mean my member, I said, and she was unsure, because she couldn't name those things. After a brief lesson in private parts, she did turn puter red, but then nodded eagerly, "Yes, your cock! It fucks great!" She was a quick learner. But then her curiosity awoke, she wanted to know everything in detail and I told her everything I still knew.
I was able to tell her that after graduating from high school I had gone into a bank apprenticeship and specialized in the stock market business. Through clever investment, I had managed to acquire several houses in the inner city, to live off this rental income and that I had invested a lot of money in share packages. With a certain pride I said that I had thus become rich and would not have to have any worries of a financial nature in the future.
I had a family life again, I had a mistress and a stepson. We became a close community, supported each other and had a loving relationship. I saw Marco laugh again for the first time in a long time, and when Roxane and I sat together in the evening over a glass of wine, I experienced how she slowly blossomed and looked confidently into the future.
It was several weeks before I told Roxane about Elaine. She was not surprised to learn that I had been married before, and she especially wanted to know if we had had children, which I denied. I found it very difficult to talk about the car accident. I knew very little about it myself, only that I had been in an accident with Elaine. I was reluctant to say that Elaine had been driving drunk. I only reported that she had died and that I had been seriously injured. I quickly changed the subject because I didn't want to think about it anymore.
I saved the hardest chunk for a long time. One evening the mood was very good and we understood each other very well. There I reported to her that I sometimes had visions. Roxane did not seem surprised and said that this was quite normal in her original culture. This encouraged me to tell her that in these visions I had contact with Elaine and that she sometimes told me things concerning the future.Roxane was silent for a long time. Then she asked me if I still loved Elaine. I thought about what to answer for a long time. But finally I just said, "Yes!" Then I continued, "I think it's kind of like between you and Gregori. I feel that you will never forget him and I think it's totally okay that you continue to love him."
That night we went to bed quietly, holding each other close and not speaking a word until we fell asleep.
Now Roxane understood better why I sometimes spent entire afternoons in silence in my living room. The visions in which Elaine appeared became less frequent. But I kept getting hints when some misfortune was brewing somewhere. I turned more and more often to the appropriate authorities, sometimes even in the Royal castle, and reported what I had heard from Elaine. Most of the time the authorities were taciturn, but they nevertheless passed on my information and so some misfortunes could be prevented.
I still remember a large, widespread flood in northern Austria and in Germany, where precautions could be taken in time because of my information. Likewise, a large forest fire in France could be prevented, which confirmed to me that my visions were an important task. But there were also setbacks, such as a tsunami that devastated Spain's east coast. The State Department had passed on my information, but the Spanish ignored it and experienced an unpredictable earthquake followed by a tsunami that claimed several hundred lives.
A few days after that I received a call on my com, it was the office in the castle. The woman's voice on the other end informed me that the king wished to see me. Would it be all right for me to come to see the king tomorrow in the early afternoon perhaps at 1 o'clock. Slightly confused, however, I immediately confirmed the appointment. Then I discussed it with Roxane, for neither of us had any idea why the king wanted to see me.
Another day, I put on my best clothes and went to the nearby castle. The guards searched me for hidden weapons, then I was sent on my way. I knocked and entered the office, a young man asked, "Mr. Puchmann?" and when I confirmed, he asked me to follow him. We went up one floor and I was taken to a very nicely appointed room where I was told to wait.
After a few minutes the door opened, I jumped up and saw King Charles in person for the first time. He greeted me very kindly and asked that I take a seat. I looked at the king while he was still engrossed in a paper for a moment. He was tall and looked very good and athletic for his 75 years. His long gray hair framed a friendly but determined face. His clothes were elegant and emphasized his slim figure. Then he looked up from the papers and looked me straight in the face.
"I understand that you have been very helpful to us. Can you tell me more about that?" I was perplexed and thought about how much I could tell the king – my king –. He saw my indecision and said that whatever I told him, he could keep it to himself.
I gave myself a jolt and told him that I had a kind of face, that sometimes I had visions for the near future, immediately also telling him the doubts I had. I looked him straight in the eye and said that I had been brought up scientifically and that it was very difficult for me myself to believe such an extraordinary gift to be true, but the veracity of the events confirmed that there was more than our science wanted to imagine.
The king looked at me in silence for a long time at first. Then he began to talk about the current political situation as well as the everyday problems that existed for him. He obviously wanted to know what my political opinion was. I knew little more than what the media and opinion makers on the Internet were spreading. Nevertheless, I told him that I read all these reports with restraint and great caution, anxious to discern differences and to find the truth that might exist behind the reports. The king interviewed me, apparently wanting to know how I researched, how I proceeded from information to information, and what I kept or discarded.
He interviewed me for more than an hour, we drank coffee and ate some of the pastries that were on the small table. Over the course of that hour, our tempers had heated and we animatedly debated some of the breaking news. I affirmed that I thought many of the things the king had commanded in a social way were right and important. But in some things – especially his foreign policy attitude toward the other states around us – I told him with cautious frankness that I did not approve of them all. An oppressive pause ensued.
The king leaned forward, looked me straight in the eye, and asked if I could imagine being included on his staff of advisors. I flinched, for I was not at all prepared for that. He straightened up and said I was welcome to consider it. But, he said, it would be a full‐time job, and the only thing he required would be absolute honesty. He wouldn't need yes–sayers around him, but advisors he could trust, who would also contradict him if necessary.
We looked at each other in silence, I was feverishly considering what advantages– and disadvantages this appointment might bring me. Then I looked directly at him and said, "It would be a great honor for me, King Charles!" I had to swallow, for I was surprised even by my own determination.
The king pressed a small hidden button on the underside of the table and said, "Bring the document!" Then he leaned back, relaxed, and smirked, "I hope I didn't catch you off guard with that!" I too slowly relaxed, then the young man came in and brought a piece of paper. The king took it, read it aloud semi‐quietly, and then sweepingly put his signature under it. Then he handed me the pen and pointed to the left page. I signed, wildly, as if it were a death sentence. The king handed the paper to the young man and ordered that the appointment document be copied and filed. Then the staff of advisors and the most important people at court were to be informed.
We talked for almost another hour while the king explained in detail what I would have to do, what powers I had, and what he expected of me. He pressed the com and showed me a picture of the current advisors. They were all men about my age, all four were dressed in a black cloak and looked very serious into the camera. "Except for the serious look, I can do all that" I said smiling. Even the king had to smile.
"There is Master Edelmann," said the king, "next to him Master Gregor, Master Reichenhall and Master Berkel." After a short pause he said that now Master Puchmann would join them as the fifth. Then he frowned and said, "Master Puchmann, that doesn't sound very special somehow." Now he began a long speech, explaining to me how much he admired the legendary King Arthur and his knights. To these Arthur had given new names. Galahad, Lancelot or Parsifal –– he had talked to his advisors, but they wanted to keep their own names, except for Edelmann, who was called Nawratil until then, and Gregor, who didn't tell his name to anyone. Now he looked at me eagerly.
I shrugged my shoulders indifferently and said that whether Puchmann or not, it didn't matter to me, it didn't really matter to me. With almost childlike eagerness, he immediately started looking for names. Odin or Thor, Parsifal or Merlin, but with each one I shook my head and finally said, "There's no need to make a bogeyman out of me!" He fell silent and thought hard. Then he raised his head and said, "Candor!" I thought, because Master Candor, that didn't sound bad at all.
The king decided, "Yes, Master Candor, that's good!"
He soon bade me farewell, and I hurried home – so Leo Puchmann became Master Candor.