Verron_Birth of a Nation

by Douglas Varnell

  Chapter 11

  Paul had been on Verron for almost eight months. He was still training regularly with Zimuel, Tlase and 99, but more and more he was taking off by himself to train in the mountains, in the swamps, on several of the larger islands and was spending some additional time flying various ships from the storage yard. He especially enjoyed flying his own personal fighter through the valleys and canyons, but nothing could replace the thrill of flying through the narrow mountain passes he had discovered simply by trial and error while out practicing his flying skills. With each passing day he learned more and more about this planet and had grown to love it as his own. The three of them had discovered a large variety of wildlife. Tlase especially had been photographing and cataloging different animals she had encountered as she went about her research. Among them was a breed of pig like creatures; longer legged, at least 2000 pounds and more mobile than an Earth pig, with long tusks and a bad attitude, built like a T-Rex, they were also more dangerous. Paul called them, T-Hogs. Fortunately they mostly avoided people at this point and were no threat. There was a very large rabbit of sorts. It weighed on average about 30 pounds and ate slugs and small rodents. Paul called it, Slugs-Bunny. The most plentiful animal thus far had been an antelope like creature about the size of a cow. They ran in huge herds in most of the plains areas, were nonaggressive and could possibly be domesticated. They also tasted great when roasted over an open flame. Paul killed one, cleaned it and cooked it over an open pit for Verron’s first official BBQ. Tlase informed Paul it was called a Kzki.

  The most unusual creature they discovered was believed to be a product of the genetic experiments conducted on Verron. They called it a Tree Bear, not because it lived in the trees, but because it ate them. As large as an African elephant, standing 15 feet to the shoulder and weighing over 10 tons, it was built and moved just like a large grizzly bear. It had short black fur, claws more than a foot long, with large teeth that resembled a saw blades edge. It was fortunately not a carnivore. In fact it was a gentle animal that could knock over a fully grown tree, break it into shorter sections and eat them. The greatest danger from one was being crushed if it didn’t notice you or being hit by a falling tree.

  Ninety-nine had become Tlase’s full-time assistant in the field. His vocabulary was limited by the shape of his tongue, mouth, lips and vocal cords. However, his intelligence was on par with any human. He could identify virtually all the instruments Tlase used for her research and many of the chemicals as well. She had even taught him to fly one of the “Crotch Rockets” or “och oket” as 99 called it. He seemed to spend his spare time sitting on one and pretending to ride, so Zimuel demanded that Lucy download a restrictor to keep the speed under 50 mph. They did that for several weeks and he was up to a limit of 100 now. Ninety-nine was even assisting in the kitchen, doing more than just setting the table. His “eet ee” (sweet tea) was equally as good as Paul’s and with his love for tea, they never ran out. Zimuel was spending more and more time in the office, at Paul’s insistence, preparing an outline of the action plan Paul intended to implement in the near future. There was a five-year plan for housing, five-year plan for industrial expansion and a five-year plan for military development. He told his friend he would worry about a ten year plan when they finished the five-year plan. Zimuel kept reminding Paul that he and Tlase could not stay permanently, and would have to return to Xhondar I to assume their duties on the Elder Council in the near future. Paul said that he was going to formally petition the council to appoint Zimuel and Tlase as official ambassadors to Verron, since they knew more about it and the leader of the nation than anyone else. At least then they could come for extended stays on a regular basis. Both of them loved the idea. Paul felt as if he was ready to get started in his Verron development plan. He knew he had more to learn, but was anxious to make things happen. He had convinced Zimuel to accompany him to a desert planet in the Hojsan star system for his final test in his use of the Power.

  Paul woke up in the middle of the night wide awake and unable to sleep in the 36 hours of daylight. He had forgotten to close the sun shields on his windows when he fell asleep just after Robin Meade’s News Broadcast. Back on Earth she was the morning news person. On Verron she was like Late Night with David Letterman, the last thing he saw before going to bed. She definitely looked better than any of the late night hosts. He was especially disturbed that the terrorist situation was not any better. They seemed to be like weeds, you cut one down and three more grow-up to take its place. What had him so upset this time was the kidnapping in Yemen of a husband and wife journalism team by jihadist associated with AQAP or better known as Al Qaeda Arabian Peninsula. They were threatening to behead them if four of their captured leaders were not released from an American detainment camp. The U.S. policy was to never negotiate with terrorists. Lucy had intercepted numerous communications about trying to locate them and use a Seal Hostage Rescue Team to get them out. Thus far all the agencies involved were not positive on the exact location of the hostages.

  Paul decided to go ahead and go for his morning run. Since Zimuel, Tlase and 99 had started running together in the mornings, Paul was doing his freestyle runs alone. They claimed he was going too fast and taking far too many risks for them to keep up. So Zimuel and 99 slowed the pace a little and Tlase increased hers and they were getting a good hard run in each morning. Paul, however, had evolved his freestyle running into a combination of freestyle running and freestyle rock climbing. Most mornings he headed for the Robert’s Range and ran, jumped, climbed and at times almost flew through the rough mountain terrain. Even 99, who is after all half goat and half monkey, would no longer try to stay with him. After getting lost in a mountain ravine for two days, Ninety-nine had stopped trying to imitate his hero.

  Paul did a jump to the north face of the mountain range and started running along the top crest of a mountain that fell away 5000 feet on either side. The crest ended at a ravine 200 feet across and faced a solid vertical climb that rose above the crest by another 3000 feet. Paul didn’t even slow down. He leaped across the ravine and caught a hand hold on the adjacent rock wall. He climbed like Spiderman up the 3000 foot face and began his run again immediately as he hit the top, never even pausing to catch his breath. He did this for over 3 hours and began to work his way down into a valley floor he had not noticed before. It was only ten miles long and a couple of miles wide and had a nice stream running through the middle. One thing Paul never carried with him on his outings was water. Verron had an abundant supply of fresh water everywhere. He worked his way down to the stream bed and was washing his face and drinking from the stream when he noticed a loud roar and a growling sound. He could tell it wasn’t very far away, but yet it was muffled. Paul had on several occasions run into Mountain Tigers and Highland Wolves and thus far had been able to avoid any close contact with the beasts, except once in the far northeastern corner of the Robert’s Range. He had encountered a large Mountain Tiger that was at least 2000 pounds, preparing to attack, to Paul’s total bewilderment, a baby Wooly Mammoth. Since it was somehow separated from the protection of its parents, he was on the menu for the Tigers next meal. Paul made the Tigers heart explode when it was in midair in his leap for the little Wooly. He felt guilty, after all, it was only doing what Tigers do, but he couldn’t help but protect the defenseless baby. He later returned and retrieved the dead cat and made the most beautiful coat, hat, mittens and mukluks he had ever seen. At least he had something else to hang in his closet.

  Paul slowly stood up and tried to get a perspective as to which direction the sound was coming from. In the narrow valley sound resonated off the surrounding mountains and seemed to come from everywhere at the same time. He eventually convinced himself that the sound was southwest of his location and took off in that direction, wondering what he was going to do if he ran into a tiger or wolf. As he went farther in his chosen direction the rumble of a distressed animal became much louder. Paul knew he was getting very near and slow
ly creped around the corner of a large boulder to get a better look. What he saw filled him with terror, and he didn’t scare easily.

  Paul had to take a long pause in order to convince himself that he should approach whatever was obviously trapped under an avalanche. Whatever it was, it was big enough that it was still alive after having a mountain fall on it. It was one big tuff animal. There was no less than fifty feet of spiked tail swishing back and forth, covered in scales the size of ceramic floor tiles. The rest of the creature was covered in fallen rocks and trees from the mountain above. Paul knew he could not simply leave the animal there to die, so he made good use of the opportunity to practice using The Power. He stood off at a slight distance, to stay away from a tail that could easily crush a man and began to kinetically move trees and boulders to the left and right, beginning at the top of the debris pile to avoid causing another rock slide. As the load on the beasts back lessoned the more it was able to cause rocks to slide off its back and fall to the ground, but it still was not removing itself from the rubble. Paul soon had the huge hindquarter of the animal uncovered. The legs and claws attached where gigantic, standing at least sixteen feet to the top of the rear haunches. After the last of the wreckage was removed and the animal still did not extricate itself, Paul realized it was in really big trouble. He cautiously approached what was still open of a cave entrance where the front half of the animal was hopelessly stuck. He squeezed through a tight opening between the animal and the cave wall to get a closer look at just what the predicament was, and hoping he didn’t get crushed between a rock wall and a squirming behemoth. As he passed through he found himself stepping on some thin leathery like material and that provoked a cry from the wounded beast. He hurried forward to a more open area and switched to his night vision, due to darkness of the cave. He finally had a good view and still thought he had a defective microprocessor in his eyes. There before him was, of all things, a dragon, not that he was an expert or anything, since they don’t exit. But, none the less, he was staring at the front end of the creature which was far scarier than the huge swishing tail. The beast didn’t bother to squirm anymore. Paul was afraid it had given up then he saw an enormous puddle of blood on the cave floor and a big white bone sticking out of a hole in the beast’s leg. At closer inspection it appeared that the wing on the left side was broken as well. Paul cautiously walked towards the head of the dragon and tried to calm it like he would a wounded horse or a dog, patting it on the head and rubbing its side gently. Then the weirdest sensation came over Paul as he suddenly could feel what the animal was feeling and knew what it was thinking.

  Paul spoke in a calm tone, “If you can tolerate a little more pain, I promise I will get you out of here.” He felt, rather than heard the beast’s approval. He worked his way back to the tail end of the dragon, reached over and cautiously took hold of the end and began to pull backwards while at the same time levitating what had to be well over a 100 ton dragon. He could hear some low throaty growling, but the big guy did remain calm, all the way out. With a full view now, Paul was overwhelmed with the massive strength and the beauty of this deep red dragon. As it lay on the ground it managed to lift its right wing, but the left wing was as useless as the left foreleg. Paul once again walked to the front of the dragon and stood squarely in front of it and in observation said to himself, “What am I going to do with you?” He almost fell over backwards when a voice in his head replied, “Please kill me quickly. I’m going to die anyway.” Paul regained his composure and felt foolish asking, “You can talk?” A deep rumbling voice echoed through his head, “No I can’t talk, I have no vocal cords. I read and share thoughts. Once you touched me I was able to link with your mind.” Paul shook his head and thought, “You’re speaking in English,” only to get a reply, “Because you’re thinking in English.” He came closer and put his hands on the big horned head and tried to ignore the bad breath, saying; “I can’t just kill you” then paused as a thought came into his mind. “I’m going to try something. It for certain will not hurt, but it also may not work.”

  He walked to the animals left side and the broken leg and wing then reached out and placed both hands just above the leg injury. This was Paul’s first attempt at telekinetic regeneration. He knew the regeneration tanks, if he could build a dragon sized tank, could repair the damage the dragon had suffered. He was going to attempt to do what only a machine and scientific technology could do. He knew he had done it with whitematter, so why not this. As he touched the dragon’s side he murmured a short prayer, “God I know You’re probably not in the habit of healing dragons, but this one needs help and I’m all he’s got.” He felt a sudden surge of The Power sweep from his body, almost like an electrical shock. His first impulse was to pull away, but instead he held on tighter. Before his eyes the bone slowly withdrew back inside the scale covered hide, and the deep bloody wound began to close slowly from the inside out. He looked over to the wings and could tell that the smaller bones and the leathery skin covering them were being regenerated as well. Paul stayed in that position for what seemed an eternity, though he wasn’t really certain how long he had stood there, since he had passed out from the incredible amount of strength that was drained from his body and awoke later to the smell of a dragon’s breath as it gently licked his face. Paul opened his eyes to stare into a massive set of teeth that could gulp down a 2000 pound Mountain Tiger in one bite. For some reason, he had no doubt that this animal would not harm him. He stood to his feet and gently caressed the big head. He looked around and realized from the position of the sun that it was night time, and in these deep valleys it was almost dark. He reached into his fanny pack and removed two cereal bars; knowing one would not be enough. As he chewed, he asked, “You hungry big guy?” The dragon responded, “Starving, that’s how I got here.”

  Paul gave the dragon an “I don’t understand” look. The dragon continued, “I was chasing a Mountain Cow and it ran into the cave. I was so hungry and determined to have a meal that I went in after it. I would have been fine had it not been for the unstable mountain above. That was two days ago. I’d be dead now if not for you.” Paul thought that the dragon was in no shape to hunt, so he used his life-form imaging target system built into his optical implant and began to look around. “What exactly do you call a Mountain Cow?” He described what Paul called Hzki; the favorite food of Highland Wolves. He could see two of them across the creek in the dark shadows getting a drink. He decided that food was critical at this point so from over 1000 yards away Paul stopped their breathing and they fell to the ground. He then levitated the two “cows” across the expanse between and dropped them right in front of the dragons face. In two gulps, they were both gone. Paul and the dragon relaxed again and fell back asleep.

  When morning came Paul woke to voices in his head. At first he thought it was the dragon, since he had been sleeping covered by his huge wings. Then he woke enough to realize it was Lucy saying, “I was worried sick, I thought I would never find you. Your microprocessor does not broadcast well from those deep valley floors. I just this moment picked up your signal. Where have you been? Zimuel and Tlase and even 99 have been worried sick about you and flying all over Verron looking for you since late last night.” Paul couldn’t help but smile to know that he had people who worried about him. He felt like he did when he stayed out too late when he was a teenager. He couldn’t resist saying, “Sorry Mom. I made a new friend who needed my help and lost track of how much time had passed? I promise I will be home in a little while, as soon as I’m certain my new friend is alright.” Lucy replied, “Well I’m going to put a drone overhead so I don’t lose you again.” With that she was gone, but no doubt in a very short while there would be a drone tracking his every move. He turned to look into two of the biggest, greenest eyes he had ever seen as the dragon woke up. He asked, “How you feeling?” His new friend slowly rose on all four of his legs and spread his wings and flapped them a few times. The wind from the wings almost knocked Paul over. His b
ody was at least 100 feet long and the wing span well over 200 feet. Standing at its full height he was closer to 20 feet to the shoulders. He slowly lowered his wings and nudged Paul with his snout. “Thanks to you I’m better than ever.” Paul replied, “Then I guess I need to be getting home. The huge animal looked down at him and said, “The least I can do is give you a ride home.” Paul almost said he could get there faster on his own, but hey, a ride on a dragon, no way he was going to turn that down. The dragon stooped low so Paul could climb up his leg to reach its back. The back was covered with spikey horns. There was just enough room between the horns along his neck to sit and conveniently there were horns to hold on to. Paul was able to communicate with him with their thoughts and directed him through a mountain pass that would get them back to the south side of the mountains, a few hundred miles across the forest lands and home.