There were other innovative new ideas, but this one is the weirdest. Illinasos was determined to eliminate the bias in the court system. He wanted to make certain that the guilty got punished and that an innocent man would never be convicted and there would be no more money wasted on long trials or criminal defense or prosecution. He also wanted to be able to get honest answers from people without using a lie detector or torture. With the idea that sodium pentothal could be used as a truth serum, he set out to create an absolutely foolproof formula that would always compel a person to tell the truth and to do whatever was asked of him. It had to be 100% accurate every time, because a person could get the death penalty or be set free based on the results. He ran clinical trials for 15 years and finally came up with a formula that could not be tricked or fooled in any way. One hundred percent of the time an individual injected with the truth serum could not tell a lie of any kind. He simply could not utter it from his mouth even when ask to do so during the clinical tests, and the person was compelled to do anything that he was asked to do. I watched as a man who was told to kill his self and then handed a gun. He put the gun to his temple and pulled the trigger. It wasn’t loaded, but the man didn’t know that. In addition, it can be given without any physical side effect. A small dose will last only a few minute, a larger dose for a few hours, the maximum dose will never wear off. The person injected in essence becomes a slave to the one who injected them. If the virus hadn’t struck, the serum was going to be introduced as the system used for swift, unbiased, and completely error free justice. Paul blurted out “Kahlan Amnell!” Both Tlase and Zimuel looked at him as if he had lost his mind. He realized what he had done and said, “Please let me explain. When I was in prison I had a lot of time on my hands. I read 3-4 books a week for 12 years, so even taking out slow weeks or very long books I read in excess of 1500 books. One of my favorites was a fantasy series called, The Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind. One of the main characters, Kahlan Amnell was called the “Mother Confessor.” She could just touch someone and through magical powers they could do nothing but tell the truth and they became totally committed to her every command. She could even tell someone to die, and they would. Anyway, I think we should call this formula Kahlan; it’s the perfect name.” Paul then burped, ate the last four cookies, washed them down with the last drop of his Diet Coke and got up from the table, saying, “My mother always told me not to swim on a full stomach. Well, Mom isn’t around and I’m going to find that pool, and if it’s clean enough, I’m going for a swim and then I’m going to work out. Anyone care to join me? By the way, tomorrow morning we have got to find a place to run. I’ll have Lucy find us a place around here.” With that he was gone.
Paul showed up in the kitchen the next morning in his shorts, T-shirt and his running shoes. Zimuel was already there waiting on him. To his surprise, so was Tlase. “To what do I owe this surprise? Paul asked. It was Tlase that answered, “Back on Xhondar I, I opened the medical center very early, stayed on my feet all day working and ate very little. Since I’ve know you, I eat more and it seems on Verron, that I will be spending long hours in the lab on my butt. Zimuel and I used to run together, so here I am. In fact, Zimuel and I discussed it last night. Since you need to keep your conditioning and training routine going, we are going to join you.” Paul smiled at Tlase’s comment and replied, “Let’s go!” The night before, Paul had talked to Lucy about a place to run. It looked to him like there was no way down off this mountain other than the elevator or to jump. Lucy had shown him a narrow trail that could be accessed from the lower level off the kitchen. It followed the mountain summit for a ½ mile or so then wound its way down into the forest in the valley below. He led them to a normal sized doorway that was located just beyond the walk-in freezer and stepped through. The view of the valley below was spectacular as they stood five feet from a sheer drop-off of nearly 2000 feet. Paul turned right and took off in a slow run. The trail became even narrower as they followed the path along the crest of the mountain. By the time they came to the downward slope into the valley it wasn’t much more than goat path. Paul at first wanted to refer to it as a deer trail, but realized that no self-respecting deer would use such a path, only a mountain goat. It didn’t take long before they came to the realization that this was not like a run-in-the-park. This was going to be a treacherous and very dangerous morning of exercise.
Paul paused and declared to Zimuel and Tlase. “This doesn’t look like what either of you bargained for, feel free to go back if you want, but I want to see where it goes.” They both nodded that they were in for the duration and they were off again. At first they only had to contend with a narrow rocky trail, soon, however, other skills were needed. The first obstacle was a gap in the trail of no more than 4-5 feet. They all three easily made the leap, trying not to look down at the valley below. The farther they ran the worse it got, soon they were leaping over ravines cutting through the path that were 6-8 feet across. About half way down, as they rounded a blind corner, Paul, who was leading, came to a halt as he looked out over a 200 foot span that was covered with natural stone columns rising from the valley floor. They varied in distance from each other ranging from 6-10 feet and required jumping up or down to the next column due to the variation in height. Paul turned to his two companions and asked, “You ever heard of freestyle running? It’s pretty trendy on Earth. I’ve seen it but was too old to try it when it became popular. I guess today I get to give it a try, you two in?” Zimuel nodded his yes; Tlase patted her husband on the back and said, “You two are crazy” then turned and started running back toward the mansion. Paul, without saying a word, took off. Zimuel laid back a moment to grasp the concept of what his crazy friend was doing. He watched Paul until he was about half-way across; running, while at the same time making huge leaps from column to column. He would often have to roll with the impact as he jumped from a high column to one 10-12 feet below and then grip the edge and pull himself up on the next one, as all he could do was catch a handhold on the higher column he had just leaped to. Once Paul ran at a sprint speed and propelled himself off a higher column, pushed off with his feet briefly as he contacted the wall of a column to his right and did a backward flip as he landed on the column he was targeting some 20 feet away. He did a short roll to soften the impact. He had gone from one column to another, 20 feet apart, with a 30 foot difference in height. His grin was like a child’s as he turned to see how far Zimuel was behind him. Zimuel yelled at Paul, “You realize of course that you are completely insane. Oh, what the hell. I’ve lived a long and happy life” then took off like Paul had never seen him run before. He did an exceptional job of following Paul’s route and didn’t even pause on the last leap; doing a forward-flip before landing, smiling after his landing, telling Paul, “Never did quite get the hang of a backflip.”
They continued to cross the column field and had a fairly clear, but narrow trail for another hundred yards or so, then came to a gap in the trail of nearly forty feet. Zimuel shook his head and said, “Don’t even think about it!” but Paul was already increasing his speed as he used the sheer rock cliff to his right as his new running surface; running horizontal for nearly thirty feet before pushing off in a leap for the last ten. Zimuel backed up to build-up momentum and followed behind. Paul didn’t even wait for him to catch up and continued down the side of the mountain. After reaching the valley floor the going didn’t get much easier. There were deep ravines, creeks, and boulders, fallen trees and vines. Swinging across a 100 foot ravine on a vine was a childhood memory for Paul, but a terror for Zimuel, especially since the drop to the shallow creek below was nearly 500 feet. A moment later Paul ran up a fallen tree and dove for a horizontal limb sticking from its trunk some 200 feet above a rock filled ravine and used it like a gymnast with a horizontal bar to swing himself forward to the opposite bank, doing a flip mid-air before landing. Zimuel paused for a moment on the other side and took-off up the fallen tree, however, he ran farther up the tree and slid down
a long limb that was touching the ground on the other side. Paul grinned and said, “Chicken.”
They ran a few miles deeper into the valley and came to a stream that was obviously too wide to simply jump across and then Paul spotted the rocks he could use for stepping stones, he took off again leaping from rock to rock without even a pause. He waved at Zimuel from the other side and he quickly followed. They paused for a short break and realized that they had already been running for an hour and probably needed to head back. “BACK? God, I hadn’t even considered doing this in the opposite direction,” Zimuel protested. Paul smiled and replied, “I think it’s great; a little more challenging than the stairs, don’t you think?” They got a drink of water from the stream. Both were amazed at just how good the water tasted. “Bottled Water? this stuff would sell like hot cakes” he thought then privately scolded himself as they started the run home.
The uphill run was more strenuous, but at least they knew what to expect, so it was a lot less stressful and more fun for Zimuel than the trip down. When they finally came dragging into the kitchen after their two hour run, Tlase was standing in the doorway looking for them. “I kept picturing myself dying of old age alone on this planet” she half joked. She had breakfast waiting on them and once she was certain her husband was alive and well, headed back down to the research lab. As she left she informed them, “Lucy has the formula ready for the Demented Vine. I thought I might go over to my old lab and have a look around. I’m sure I can handle killing a little vegetation on my own.” Zimuel told her, “Please, whatever you do, do not go in the room with that thing. Lucy, is there a way to get the vine killing chemical into the room without having Tlase go in there?” A moment of pause and Lucy replied, “I’ve just taken a look at the building schematics and observed that the room is sealed but we should be able to introduce the Demented Vine killer into the ventilation system.” Tlase indicated her agreement and started to leave. As she walked away, Paul exclaimed, “Sorry the run didn’t work out for you. Maybe you should try using the indoor track above the pool.” Tlase turned with a pretend angry look on her face, asking, “Paul Verron, do mean to tell me that you nearly got me and my husband killed running through an obstacle course when there was a perfectly good track right here in the complex?” Zimuel and Paul looked at each other and simultaneously said, “Boring!” Tlase huffed and walk off, leaving the two men to enjoy their boy-like moment.
After a shower and a change of clothes, Paul and Zimuel met beside the Destroyer for their next day of exploration on Verron. Paul didn’t waste any time on his way to the first stop. He set the course for the most direct route. It took him to the northeast away from Mountain City and towards the Robert’s Range. Soon he was approaching a valley at least 500 miles wide and more than three times that in length. There were dozens of large lakes and a wide river, fed by the mountains above, that continued to flow down through the valley’s 8,000 foot elevation into the Crystal River on the other side of the Robert’s Range. He felt like a little kid on his way to Disney World. There was a knot in his stomach in anticipation of what he soon would find. He had seen pictures of Boeing and Lockheed aircraft plants and had even been inside Gulfstream and Piper; they were all very impressive. He had even once been in the vehicle assembly building at Cape Canaveral when he worked for 3M, but none of that could have prepared him for what he was about to see. Towards the far eastern end of the valley Paul could see massive manmade structures. It was a bit confusing; what at first looked like large rolling hill, as he got closer, began to resemble a shifting sea, moving with the wind. Then he got it. He was looking at miles and miles of some kind of fabric covering. It was shaded to match the colorations in the valley floor, but Paul soon realized, there was no grass or trees anywhere around. “Lucy” Without even asking the question Lucy began to inform them, “All the ships from Xhondar I, II and III where brought here for storage. There are also numerous prototype ships built to specifications designed by Illinasos that have been stored here as well. Master Xhondar covered them with a reinforced plastic sheeting to protect them from the elements and to hide them from overhead view.” As he got closer he couldn’t completely comprehend the size of this storage facility. It went on for as far as the eye could see. At his altitude of just over 2000 feet, he could see that the covering went all the way to the edge of the mountains.
He was about to land at the nearest edge of the cover when he caught some movement out of the corner of his eye along the top of low ridge to his left. His curiosity got the better of him and he hovered slowly in that direction to take a look. Along the ridge ran a pack of 6 to 8 large animals. As he got closer, Zimuel said, “They look like some kind of canine.” Paul for the first time decided to use his telescopic eye implant and zoomed in at a modest 6x, the bottom range of his 100x capability. What he saw brought a comment, “Hibernating, huh.” Lucy responded, “I said the Mountain Tigers hibernate this time of year. I said nothing of Highland Wolves, they do not hibernate.” Paul observed, “Those things are as big as Clydesdales.” About that time the leader of the pack turned toward the hovering ship and growled with a mouth full of teeth that would put a shark to shame. With his telescopic vision he could tell that there were at least two rows of teeth as long as his hand. He turned back toward his original destination as Lucy told him, “It’s unusual to see them this far south; they are usually on the other side of this range. Fortunately there are not very many of them. Mostly they feed on the herds of Hzki that run on the high plain; must have been a bad winter.
Chapter 8
Paul hovered back toward the covered spacecraft and realized that across the valley to the south was a set of hanger doors bigger than anything he had ever seen. And since he began his space odyssey, he had seen his share of large hanger doors. He decided to wait once again on exploring the covered craft and hovered slowly to the south side of the valley. The mountains bordering the valley to the south must have been 30 to 40 thousand feet. This hanger door was close to the height of a 100 story building, maybe a little taller. Paul had toured the Empire State building once while visiting New York City on business. He felt like it would easily fit through this door. It was, by his best estimate 4 times wider than it was tall. He was so distracted by the size of this one door that it took him a moment to notice the six other doors built into the face of the mountain. Though not remotely as big as this door, they were huge none-the-less. When he was almost there he observed a building attached to the mountain between two of the doors. The building was probably five floors and as long as a football field. It appeared tiny between the two doors. He landed on the circular pad in front and he and Zimuel headed inside. Once again, the building was not locked, after all who was here to break in. The lobby was modest compared to the ugly thing at the whitematter reactor facility; probably room for no more than 5-6 people in the waiting area. The receptionist station was in a closed off and secure room. He was able to enter with only a retinal scan. There was a break room and a copy room and what looked like a shipping and receiving/mailroom. As they walked down the hall by reception, they found what looked like a production scheduling room big enough to seat 50 people around a large conference table. There was a very large monitor at the opposite end and what looked like computer input terminals at each seat.
Paul saw an unusual looking devise in the center of the conference table. He couldn’t help but observe the red/green on/off button. He looked over his shoulder at Zimuel and shrugged, then reached down and pushed the button. There was a short pause then a three foot tall hologram of Lucy appeared, looking even better in 3D. Zimuel couldn’t contain his shock, screaming, “What the hell.” Lucy looked at him and replied, “Why, I’ve never heard you use such language.” Zimuel sat down in one the chairs, still staring at this beautiful woman in 3D. He opened his mouth to speak, but before his thoughts got out Lucy began, “This is the image that Paul created, she twirled 360 degrees with her arms out like a kid in a new dress, what do you think?” Zimue
l was speechless, Paul was embarrassed. She continued, “He has good taste in women doesn’t he?” Before either could answer she continued, “I thought I’d help you along a little. I was very involved in the construction and design of this ship building complex and even more involved in the creation and production of the new innovations fabricated here. Besides Illinasos and myself, there were several thousand engineers and designers employed at this facility, all dedicated to studying and improving every single component used on the existing ships and developing completely new designs. The offices above us were mostly used by those individuals. Administrative offices are on the top floor. This facility employed over 20,000 people. There were at one time 50,000 people living at this location; that included family members, support personnel, administrative staff and individual independent business owners.”
Zimuel commented, “We saw no town.” Lucy continued, “There is a city capable of housing, very comfortably, over 70,000 people right underneath us. It’s very much like Mountain City, with the exception of no windows like those along the cliffs. The rooms, recreation facilities, shopping; just about everything is a grade above Mountain City. We learned a lot building Mountain City, since it was first. We made quite a few improvements on this facility. No one even realizes they are underground. There are parks, lakes, even trees and grass and an artificial sky that changes along with the weather outside. Many of the apartments open out to very nice and extremely spacious atriums filled with birds, trees, flowers and some small wildlife. We even make it rain in the atriums in order to water the plants. There is a tunnel that leads into a beautiful valley between these mountains and the ones to the south. There is a park there with picnic facilities, a lake, jogging and hiking trails, streams and a very nice waterfall, all natural, well, except we control the weather in the valley so people can go there year round.” Illinasos was always concerned that someone would find out what he was doing here and try to destroy it, that’s why everything is underground. Remind me sometime to show you the computerized automated defense system that was built by General Gljarne, Master Gljarne’s brother. He was one of the people that believed in Illinasos and after all, what was a general going to do with no military. For several thousand years his life had been dedicated to fighting wars and defending Xhondar, and suddenly he was out of a job without even a thank you.”
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