Verron_Birth of a Nation

by Douglas Varnell

  Paul was feeling really great as he entered their building and challenged Zimuel to take the stairs with him. Although he had a nice gym in his suite of rooms, he rarely used it. Bhlani much preferred to use his more advanced training equipment than the more conventional equipment available in Paul’s suite. Paul could tell the results were far better using Bhlani’s special form of workout. Bhlani’s workout room was on the 400th floor, almost a mile up; that’s a lot of stairs. Zimuel grinned and said, “You’ve got to be kidding or completely insane. No one uses the stairs on Xhondar.” Paul grinned and replied, “Well, it shouldn’t be very crowded, let’s go. You can always stop and take the elevator if you wimp-out.” They stayed side-by side until about the 280th floor when Zimuel started lagging behind. By the 350th floor, Paul felt like his lungs would explode and his legs were beginning to cramp a little. He looked over his shoulder and he could hear Zimuel, but he was nowhere in sight. Paul exited the stairs on the 400th floor to be greeted by Bhlani and Mahala. Mahala shook his head and said, “I gather you’re feeling better this morning. Is this how you chose to punish Zimuel for not taking proper care of you?” Paul was breathing too hard to answer and silently turned to see where Zimuel was. He could hear his heavy breathing several floors down and after a few more minutes he collapsed on the 400th floor landing beside Paul’s feet, proclaiming, “Well, I’m still alive, but just barely.” He managed to get croaked out over his heavy breathing. “Verron, I say again; you’re scary!”

  Bhlani retrieved a towel for both of them and turned to Paul, asking, “Do you still have a workout in you?” Paul had almost stopped breathing hard by now and answered, “Never felt better, but do you think we could a go little easier on the legs today.” Mahala looked at Paul, “I can’t decide if my Elders are trying to kill you or if you’re trying to kill yourself. Do you do anything in moderation?” Paul thanked Mahala for his concern, then, just as he walked toward the gym entrance, he said, “Moderation is for wimps. I am going to be the absolute best, or die trying. I’m just wired that way; 110% is all I know how to give. God has given me a second chance at life and I intend to give Him my all.” Mahala sat through Paul’s entire workout without saying a word, observing his every move. He ended up pushing himself harder since Mahala was watching. He did more weight and repetitions than he usually did on every exercise, including legs. His pride kicked in as he was about to leave and he wasn’t about to let anyone see just how totally spent he was. He gave Bhlani and Mahala his goodbyes and headed for his suite of rooms. It was only after he had exited the room that he realized that music had been playing through the sound system during his entire workout. He headed straight for the shower and a change of clothes. When he came out clean and changed there was were two turkey melts on rye bread, a large pasta salad, a Deli pickle and a large glass of iced tea waiting on the table. In the middle of the table was one of Tlase’s energy drinks and a bottle of Hershey’s chocolate syrup. Paul ate every bite and drank every drop of his gray slime and chocolate energy drink, then took a short nap before he had to go visit Xhing Li.

  Paul, surprisingly, felt totally refreshed after his one hour nap. He would normally wake-up sluggish and stiff after what he had done, but the extra calories and the drink was definitely doing the trick. He couldn’t believe the difference in how he felt. He entered the Jxansa Gha room right on time and was greeted by Bonnie Raitt’s, Something To Talk About. Standing in the middle of the room were Gljarne, Xhing Li, and Elder Mahala. Xhing Li looked as if she were being chastised for beating her student so badly. They turned as he entered and Xhing Li asked, “Are you ready to begin?” Paul nodded the affirmative and walked toward the rack mounted on the wall holding several dozen training swords. He lifted each one carefully evaluating the feel, weight and balance; finally settling on a sword with a blade only about three feet long with a hand and a half grip. Gljarne asked, “Are you sure that is the right weapon for you? You sacrifice reach with a shorter weapon.” Paul thought a moment and went to a rack full of daggers and chose one with a one foot blade. Once again he carefully measured its feel then with both weapons in hand he walked to the center of the floor. Mahala walked over to Paul and held out a small black object about the size of small paging devise, telling him, “Here, clip this to your belt and turn it on. The switch is that small recess on the side.” Paul did as he was told and felt a slight sensation all over his body; sort of like he used to get when he was working around electrostatic paint equipment. The hair on his arms and head did not stand on end, but he could sense some sort of electrical field.

  Gljarne swung a heavy two handed sword, with a blade at least five feet long at Paul’s side. It happened so fast he never saw it coming. He felt a very light sensation to his ribs, like someone had pushed a hard object against his side, but sensed no impact or pain. He simply knew he had been hit. Paul looked at Gljarne with a puzzled look as he shrugged and said, “Force-field! It’s Mahala’s idea to help save wear and tear on your body while we train. We can work at a much more aggressive pace if we can reduce the number of injuries. I could shoot arrows, throw knives or even shoot you with a Plasma Cannon and it would have the same effect. The field works by the principle “for every action, there’s an opposite but equal reaction,” Sound familiar? The force-field repels an impact with the exact same force it was hit. That’s why even a high impact weapon, like a photon torpedo, would not move you an inch. It would be repelled with a force equal to its own, leaving you in a completely neutral position. It will take a while to get used to, but I too believe it will be a real asset in your training.”

  Xhing Li did not agree. She had to learn the hard way and felt like Paul should too. She did not express her opinion in front of Elder Mahala, but it was written all over her face. She and Paul moved to the center of the floor as she asked, “Did you review yesterday’s drill with Sir Lancelot, and download the neurological feeds?” Paul nodded yes, and took the stance of a sword-fighting style Xhing Li had never seen. She asked, “Did Computer show you this awkward stance?” Paul smiled and said, “I did all the neurological downloads Computer had to give and then watched The Princess Bride twice and all three episodes of Zorro with Antonio Banderas. What better preparation could a man have?” They tapped their swords together and began. Paul was a different man today. He was more rested and stronger due to eating right and no doubt from whatever was in that nasty stuff Tlase was having him drink. He was still no match for Xhing Li’s years of experience, but today, he was actually landing a few blows himself, countering and defending against almost everything she threw his way. It seemed like the short sword, along with the dagger, gave him the perfect combination for his fighting style. Blows that were getting through the day before, he was now blocking or parrying with his dagger. His shorter sword was allowing him to work inside Xhing Li’s longer Katana styled weapons helping to neutralize her advantage in speed and experience. After an hour of grueling and aggressive practice, they finally took a break. Xhing Li told Paul, “I must see this Princess Bride and Zorro for myself.” Paul laughed and responded, “Tonight I’m going to watch The Last Samaria and Kill Bill, as I recall there was some really good sword fighting in them. It’s all fake and totally Hollywood, but it gives me a few ideas on things to try.

  They removed Sir Lancelot from his storage room and once again Paul did much better than the day before. His short sword along with his dagger gave him more speed and twice the ability to deflect the laser bursts. Paul could tell that the pace had quickened considerably from the day before. He finally left the dojo feeling more confident than he had felt in a while. He felt like he just might be able to pull this off. He smiled a smile of satisfaction when he heard Xhing Li asked Computer, who is Zorro and what is this Princess Bride all about? I want them downloaded to my chambers as soon as possible for my review. She left the room obviously upset that Paul was doing so much better than she had expected. Gljarne told Paul before he left to go back to his suite, “She’s only upset bec
ause no student has ever managed to land a blow on her before. She may have beaten you but that is not enough for her. I think she has finally met someone as driven as she is to be the best.” Mahala gave Paul a pat on the back and told him, “Son, don’t let this go to your head, but I’ve been around sword fighting for as long as swords have been around. You’ve got potential. Learn all you can from Xhing Li, she is still the best there is.” Paul nodded his gratitude for the encouraging words and shook their hands good-bye.

  As he entered his suite Zimuel was there with a young woman he had never seen before. She was trim and athletic looking with dark black shoulder length hair and the greenest eyes he had ever seen. She was dressed in a very sharp pant-suit with a pink blouse under the black jacket. Zimuel introduced her as Uzhela Cronznick, the Owner of the largest department store chain on Xhondar I. She had a Verron Music Player in one hand and one of his Diet Cokes in the other. Uzhela spoke upon seeing Paul and said, “So this is the man who is about to change Xhondar forever. Mr. Verron, I am going to be a vital part of those changes. We are finalizing an agreement for my stores to be the exclusive distributor for your product. We will be responsible for all advertising, storage and distribution on Xhondar I. If this spreads to Xhondar II and III, well, we’ll have to talk some more. We honestly don’t have that much coverage on the other two planets.” Paul couldn’t believe this was happening, especially not so fast. It amazed him at how differently things were done on Xhondar. “Exactly what are we talking about at this point?” Uzhela quickly replied, “We’ve contracted for 2 billion during the next ten months, and an additional 3 billion during the next ten months and increasing that to 5 billion within three Xhondarian calendar years. I actually feel these numbers are very conservative. I believe your estimate of 20% of Xhondar I buying one of your players is off by at least 15 to 20 percent.” Zimuel added, “We’ve had to accept a bit smaller profit margin with this arrangement, but we sacrifice very little based on the margins. Uzhela’s stores will market the player for 50 cronz; we will sell the player to her for 30 cronz. At larger volumes Computer has calculated our costs to be 6.10 cronz. We should make about 50 billion cronz the first year, about 70 the second and by the third about 120 billion. Now all we have to do is figure out how the profits will be split” Paul couldn’t help but chuckle at how these billion cronz decisions were being made, he replied, “That’s simple, we’re partners right; fifty-fifty works for me, unless Computer needs a share.” Zimuel nodded his approval at the partnership. Paul reached into the fridge for a Diet Coke but changed his mind and poured some iced tea instead. He offered a glass to Uzhela, who had finished the Diet Coke she had been drinking. She took a hesitant sip then took a must larger gulp of the sweet Red Rose tea. “I believe you and your partners are going to soon be very rich men.” Finishing her glass of tea in just a few swallows, she then added, “Even richer if you can get me large enough quantities of these beverages I have been drinking.” She turned to Zimuel and said, “Mr. Verron looks like he’s had a rough day. I think I will call it a day myself. I just had to meet the man from outer space who is changing our world. I’m certain I will be seeing a lot of you.” As she shook his hand good-bye, Paul was lost in only one thought. On this planet, he was the alien, a creature from outer space, soon to be a very rich creature from outer space.

  Over the next few months Paul continued to learn technology of every kind. His greatest pleasures where split; he enjoyed fighting with Gljarne and Xhing Li almost as much as he enjoyed flying his personally assigned Class V Fighter. Dalhia was an incredible instructor and when Paul started flying solo, she soon became his mock-enemy in numerous dog-fights. The Class V was capable of flying at over Mach 30 inside Xhondar’s atmosphere, could perform incredible aerobatics at almost any speed and was designed for intergalactic travel as well. It was not unusual for them to end up thousands of light-years away from Xhondar to practice bombing runs and target practice on uninhabited planets and asteroids. Flying the Class V was a lot more fun than cruising along in a Starship. When you’re in a ship that can fly faster than light by a factor of 5000, that has no constraints on where it can go, totally defies the laws of gravity and physics, and carries enough fire power to destroy an entire planet, it can create a rush of adrenaline beyond imagination. His enhanced body was now capable of easily withstanding 40gs, but since the Fighter was capable of obtaining over 200g-acceleration and deceleration, he had to wear a specially designed G-Suite and strap into the Fighters specially designed G-Seat. Without these, even his enhanced body would be turned to mush during some of the maneuvers that he and Dalhia were performing. They had no constraints, like Earth spaceships. They had little concern about gravitational pull, orbital trajectories, orbital mechanics, and orbital mathematics. Paul had received the neurological downloads and to his surprise actually understood how space travel worked, however, with Xhondarian technology, there were already established routes to almost a million star systems. The best trajectories, wormhole routes, asteroid belts, star systems and travel times had been calculated centuries before and loaded into the ship computers on every intergalactic Xhondarian ships. Paul admitted that going to all the places he and Dalhia had travelled would be a much scarier proposition if he had to do the navigation himself.

  The beauty of his Class V Fighter was that it was capable of changing trajectories, velocities and even reversing direction in an instant. With his now developed ability to create his own gateways, he could study an astrological chart and open a gateway to anyplace on it. So in truth he was mostly flying VFR, since he could actually see most of the places he needed to go once he exited his gateway. The Class V was especially efficient at entering a planetary atmosphere. Paul still had to be careful not to hit an atmosphere too fast or at the wrong angle, so he wouldn’t bounce off. However he had no worries of over-heating or breaking apart. The Class V was the most durable craft he had ever seen. It could change directions while in re-entry and even come to a complete hovering stop at any altitude. From this vantage point the pilot could rotate the craft, select where he would like to go and proceed at any chosen speed, or change his mind completely about whether he wanted to visit the planet and simply change directions and leave. This happened often when planets had a particularly hazardous environment or life forms that didn’t seem overly friendly. The diversity of the Universe never ceased to amaze Paul as he and Dalhia travelled about the galaxies.

  Paul was getting better each day as he continued in his Jxansa Gha training. He seldom wore his protective force-field during weapons training anymore, and rarely left the dojo with a bruise. To Gljarne and Xhing Li’s frustration, Paul could now beat Gljarne about half the time in hand-to-hand and almost always ended up in a draw with Xhing Li. No matter what she tried, Paul would adjust his style to counter hers. She would often challenge him with two swords to his one dagger, or use a triple staff against his bare hands; one day she showed up with steel-spiked balls attached to chains. Paul grinned as she prepared to fight him armed only with his dagger. He grinned and asked, “You must have watched Kill Bill; do you remember that the girl with the chains lost?” That day, Paul did in fact beat her. Even Sir Lancelot had increased the work-out speed to almost maximum and Paul still managed to block the laser rounds. Bhlani had maxed-out the capacity of his resistance machines. Paul was now doing maximum weight for multiple repetitions just to push himself as much as he could. Zimuel continued to work with Paul on their daily 25 mile runs and their every-other-day 400 floor sprint up the stairs.

  As good as Paul was becoming at other skills, for some reason he was exceptional at using The Power. With each passing week it seemed as if he could do something new. Zimuel credited his extraordinary ability to his vivid imagination. Whatever he could create in his mind, he could create in the physical realm; he became obsessed with studying chemistry, astrophysics, metallurgy, nuclear physics, anatomy, meteorology and other phenomenon like black holes and the plasma energy produced by a star. Paul had
gotten so strong that his biggest problem was learning to control the intensity of what he did. He could now simply light a candle across the room without completely melting it or reheat a plate of food that he had let sit too long, however, his fireballs, plasma balls and lightning bolts were far too intense to practice anywhere near a populated area, they usually ended up on Xhondar III with its lower density of inhabited area. There seemed to be almost nothing Paul couldn’t move telekinetically, blow-up or reform simply by using his mind; they even found some livestock on Xhondar II that was scheduled to be slaughtered that Paul could practice stopping their hearts, cease their breathing and even made one blow-up completely. There wasn’t enough left to salvage for a meal. Zimuel looked at Paul and just shook his head in unbelief. He became more impressed each day by his new best friend. Zimuel had been discussing Paul’s progress with the other Elders and it was decided that he should soon move on to the next phase of his training. It was agreed that by years end, two more months, Paul would relocate to planet 1648, his new home.

  Paul and Zimuel had become very good business partners. It was agreed that out of their first share of the profits from Verron Diversified Industries, the name of their newly formed business entity, they would pursue the possibility of importing beverages from Earth. They finally decided to use a broker to purchase a food distribution company. They managed to acquire all the outstanding stock of Certified Grocers of California. The final cost of the deal was $14 billion. Paul knew it was not a good price, but he also knew he needed the front of the 8th largest food distributor in America to cover what he intended to do. At one of the more remote warehouses, Paul designated a restricted storage section. Items being moved into the space would be billed and paid for as soon as they were off-loaded into the restricted zone. By settling the bills at delivery he managed to negotiate an extra 5% discount. Items were delivered to the restricted area at various shifts to avoid having the same people in the warehouse too frequently. Paul initially had the warehouse stocked with Coca Cola products: Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite and Dr. Pepper. Next he brought in Red Rose tea. It wasn’t long before he added sugar, Sweet & Low, and Maxwell House Coffee. Products were then transferred, using a gateway, to a storage area on Xhondar I. Nothing seemed to stay in the warehouse very long. The Xhondarian’s were previously a caffeine free society. It didn’t take long for them to crave these new specialty items offered exclusively by Verron Diversified Industries. Paul knew that eventually he was going to have to come up with some explanation for the sudden increase in purchases of those items, but Coca Cola and Redco Foods were not complaining about the explosion in volume from Certified Grocers.