Verron_Birth of a Nation

by Douglas Varnell

  Paul rushed past the nieces and nephews and embraced his younger brother. Kary pushed him back to an arms-length, unhooked the guitar from around his neck, looked him up and down and asked, “What happened?” Before he could even begin to explain, the phone rang. Erlanger Hospital was trying to locate his mother, Alene, and he was listed as the next of kin. Kary looked at Paul as he explained, “Tell them you need to check something and you’ll call them back; I can explain everything.” Kary told them what they needed to hear and sat back down, saying, “This better be good,” he grumbled. Paul smiled and began, “It’s far better than good, it’s down-right unbelievable.” He spent the next two hours explaining what was going on and answering questions. He told everyone he would like to begin with Kary and his wife Theresa, but had big plans in mind for Michael, a CPA and Marcus, a wiz at metal fabrication. He continued to tell them about Verron, getting a bit of flack about having a planet named after him. When he finished, his brother, sister-in-law, nephews and their wives all looked skeptical and maybe considered if he was really sane. One thing none of them could deny was the fact that Uncle Paul looked younger than his 37 year-old and 32 year-old nephews.

  Kary was a disabled Veteran, and for good reason, was not easily convinced of anything. He had been lied to by the V.A., by doctors and even his friends, for so long he trusted almost no one. At just under 59 years-old, he had so many recurring health problems from exposure to chemicals during Operation Desert Storm, that he probably was more like a 70 year-old in some physical ways. Paul decided to do a little sales job, after all he was one for 40 years, saying, “Alright, I know your all as stubborn as a Missouri Mule, so let me show you something to change your mind. Follow me.” Paul headed toward the door. The kids jumped up and placed their instruments back in their cases and started asking, “Where are we going?” Paul smiled at his favorite nieces and nephews and said, “Some place you won’t believe.” They followed Paul out the front door and into the Hanger Bay under Mountain City. As they looked around in amazement, the first thing they saw was 99 climbing out of the cockpit of his Speeder and removing his helmet. He smiled his toothy smile and walked toward Paul and his family. The kids hid behind their parents, except Tala. At nine years old, she could just about stare 99 in the eye. She reached over and touched his protruding horns. Paul introduced 99 to everyone and Tala asked him, “Are you real?” He looked at Paul and spoke Cronari, asking Paul if there were many of these little people on his planet. Paul explained to her that 99 was very real and didn’t speak English very well, but could understand every word she said. Chase who was a Star Wars and Sci-Fi fan wanted to ride in one of the space ships. He also wanted to know if Paul had a light sabre, he had taken first place in the Star Wars Light Sabre Skills competition a few years earlier while attending Comic Con’s local Sci-Fi convention, Katelyn had taken second. Paul gave them all a quick tour of the Light Destroyer, then coerced them to the elevator and exited at the medical center. He introduced Tlase, Zimuel and Yadvega, who had shown up to help them, showed the family their mother/grandmother/great-grandmother, and her brothers then assured them she would be fine. Paul decided to make one more stop before he took them home; the terrace.

  When they exited the elevators in the Mansion, Katelyn asked, “Uncle Paul is this where you live?” He assured her it was and that it was where their Great-grandmother would be living before long. They crossed the large dining room and headed for the East Terrace. Paul let the children race ahead and out the terrace door. He expected, and soon heard, shrill little shrieks from the terrace and racing feet coming back through the door, but it was only Katelyn, Chase and their cousin Daniel. When the adults stepped outside, Tala was petting Zeus and asked, “Can I have him?” Everyone was speechless and Danyel’s first instinct was to grab her daughter and run. Tala quickly added, “He says he belongs to no one, but is King Paul’s friend, and I can come see him any time. Uncle Paul, are you a king?” Of course parents of a precocious child just knew she was making it all up. Paul added, “Zeus wonders why the rest of you ran from him, he won’t bite.” Everyone looked at Paul like he was definitely nuts, but the other children cautiously joined Tala at Zeus’ side. Daniel, who is autistic, had the most incredible look on his face. Zeus could communicate and understand his thoughts like no one on Earth was capable of. When it was time to leave, Daniel began to throw a bit of a fit about leaving the dragon. Zeus told them to come back any time they wanted to.

  Paul walked them to the back side of the terrace to see the Robert’s Range and 80,000 foot Mt. Alene with one of Verron’s moons setting behind the range. He next walked them to the south side of the terrace and a view of the Sabrina Bay and distant Alicia Falls, with the other moon hanging on the horizon behind it. He looked at his family and asked, “Anymore questions?” Michael asked, “What exactly is it we will do here?” Paul told him, “I’ll give you more details later, but I plan to make you my Director of the Treasury. Marcus, I plan to put in charge of my Space Ship factory. (Chase’s eyes lit up) I’ll decide later about Kary, but if he wants to do it, I think he would be a good man to run my future weapons factory. He was an ordinance specialist in the Army. I think it would be a good fit. It’s really up to him. I need people I can trust without compromise for these positions, I can think of no one I could trust more. But first, I want to put your Dad through the same treatment that I went through and that Mom is now undergoing. When he’s finished, your father will be younger than you and for the first time in many, many years, in perfect health. I want Theresa to go through it with him.” Everyone looked at each other and Michael spoke, telling Kary, “Dad you two stay here and get started. We will look after Bella and make sure everything is locked up at your place.” Kary nodded his agreement. They escorted Kary and Theresa to the Medical Center, said their good-byes and Paul took them back to where he found them. Before he left he told them, “It would be a good idea if you kept this to yourself.” He looked at the kids. “I doubt that your friends will believe you about spaceships, aliens and dragons anyway.” Looking directly at Chase, he added, “Wait till you see my light sabre. One day it and everything you’ve seen will be an everyday part of your life. You guys get prepared, your next.” He kissed everyone good-bye, walked a few feet away and vanished. Michael and Marcus knew they could never refuse to go; the children would drive them crazy if they did.

  It was way too late, East Coast Time, to go see anyone else. Paul went to the kitchen to get a bite to eat and was greeted by Bhlani and Dalhia raiding the freezer. They had discovered Paul’s private stash of Blue Bell – Mocha Almond Fudge and were sitting at the table with Magic Shell, syrupy nuts and a jar of cherries. He laughed at their new addiction, but joined them. Bhlani hesitantly told Paul, “Dalhia and I had a long conversation about your rescue of those hostages. I must admit I was completely appalled at your actions, however, Dalhia showed me where, in Xhondar’s long history of wars, we had done worse. She explained the mental part of warfare and how what you did was designed to return some of the intimidation the terrorists had been disseminating. I know you did right, but I know that I could have never done it.” Paul thought a moment and asked, “If a group of people were killing innocent non-combatants all over Xhondar, blowing-up people who were simply shopping or sitting in a restaurant or a church, or blew-up the building that houses you and the Elders, killing thousands then started kidnapping people and beheading them; what if one of those people was Dalhia?” Bhlani looked into his ice cream and then at his wife and answered, “I’d do exactly what you did, or worse.” Paul replied, “Well, I did it for all those who lost someone and have no way of fighting back.” Paul finished his bowl of ice cream in silence then headed for his suite for the news and security report from Lucy.

  He sat on the sofa, thought a moment then asked, “Lucy, how many other people have requested to see the news and security report tonight?” She answered, “Counting you, 10.” Paul responded, “10?” and got the answer, “Zimuel, Tlase, B
hlani, Dalhia, Gljarne, Xhing Li, Yadvega, 99, and by way of Xhondar I’s Computer, Elder Mahala and you. 10. Of course everyone was watching it at different times.” Paul shook his head and told Lucy to “roll-it.” Immediately he had to explain what roll-it meant. He decided to work his way up to the security reports and begin with Robin Meade. He sat there with his mouth open as News Reporters with CNN affiliates in Orlando and Chattanooga, reported the disappearance of two elderly men and an elderly women, who were brothers and sisters. The concern was for their poor health. Doctors were interviewed, explaining their physical and mental conditions, stating their lives were in danger. Someone with a good sense of humor compared it to a child being kidnapped, but instead of an Amber Alert, jokingly called it a Granny Alert; the name stuck. There was a composite drawing of Paul from the hospital in Chattanooga and Florida, based on the nurse’s descriptions of him. Luckily, Paul thought, it looked absolutely nothing like him.

  The big news was the hostage rescue performed by the United States Marine Crisis Response Unit. There were way too many people involved between the German Federals, Marines, the Hostages and people in the Frankfurt Airport, to keep a lid on the numerous rumors of “JUSTICE.” The internet was overrun by pictures posted by tourists at the Frankfurt Airport, showing the badly beaten hostages, German Police pointing guns at them and US Marines in a gun pointing stand-off with German Federals. Somehow a copy of the “JUSTICE” note, obviously leaked by the German Federals, had fallen into the hands of Germany’s Die Zeit, its largest newspaper, soon there where copies in every newspaper and television news network around the world. The Muslim leaders in Iraq actually had the nerve to complain about the twenty-six beheaded terrorist. There was even video of the heads on the wall broadcast on Al-Jazeera and several websites. The stations were talking about the mysterious man in black and how he had rescued 3 hostages, beheaded dozens with a sword and killed hundreds more with a secret bomb of some kind. Once again, the UN was investigating the atrocities committed by the U.S. It had also been leaked, probably by one of the Marines, that the mystery man had a southern accent. However, the Germans rescued swore he spoke German with a perfect Bavarian accent. One of them had been interviewed swearing he had huge cuts across his chest where he had been tortured, now gone, due to some special wand that JUSTICE waved over the lacerations.

  Then came the security briefing; the entire incident had been videoed by a CIA drone. They claimed there was some kind of interference when he was killing the people in the courtyard, since they never saw Paul flashing from one man to the next. But they saw each man drop to the ground headless, saw Paul pick them up one-by-one and place them on the wall, blow-up the ISIS troops and stack the bodies to incinerate them then, disappear. Paul even saw close-ups of him telekinetically placing the heads on the wall. Once again agencies were trying to figure out where their leak was and how JUSTICE had such good intelligence. One of the last photos Paul saw was taken of Captain Bentley’s arm. It was so badly bruised it looked like his arm had been run over by a truck, except, the bruise was a perfect hand print. Captain Bentley could barely open and close his hand. His report described how the little man had literally thrown him through some kind of a portal into Frankfurt. The Marine Rescue Team was still in Germany being debriefed before returning to their base in Baghdad, except Bentley, who would return when he had full use of his arm. The final comment from Captain Bentley was, “I don’t give a damn who he is, I’m just glad he’s on our side.”

  Paul was up bright and early and headed out for a run before the others were even out of bed. He had created a new game while he ran; using his power of psychokinesis while doing his freestyle run. Today he had managed to blow-up a 10 ton boulder on the side of a cliff as he was leaping across a 200 foot ravine at a full run. He had also levitated one of the mountain goats who was following him and placed it on the opposite side of a wide chasm, while he was leaping over that same chasm. The goat looked rather confused, but completely unharmed. He returned to Mountain City and headed for the weight room for an hour and then spent another hour fighting unarmed with the droids. When he finally arrived for breakfast, everyone had departed to take care of their daily assignments, except Yadvega. She sat and talked with Paul in numerous languages as he prepared his breakfast and as he ate it. She had discovered Starbucks – Caffe Verona and Blueberry Muffins and seemed content to take her time while enjoying both. When finished, Paul headed for the shower, afterwards climbed into some Wranglers, his red Ole Miss long sleeve cotton shirt, his old Nikes then slipped on his Ron Jon Surf Shop hat and his old Oakleys. He took a look in the mirror and was satisfied that he looked nothing like the composite police drawing that was no doubt circulating around Chattanooga right now. He stopped by to see how his mother, two uncles, aunt, younger brother and his sister-in-law were doing, informed Tlase he was headed out for some more of his family and for some reason, as if he were going out to the corner store asked, “Is there anything I can get for you?” She looked at Zimuel and they both nodded as if some secret signal had been passed, then answered, “Remember when we were on Xhondar I, at your going away dinner? We would like for you to bring back The All American BBQ Feast from Famous Dave’s. After-all you’re going to be right there.” He smiled and gave a slight bow and replied, “For you, I’d do anything. Besides, they can’t very well deliver.” He turned to see 99 standing behind him smiling. He asked, “What are you grinning about?” Before he could answer, Dalhia walked up, “He came to tell you that I’m teaching how to fly a Fighter. There are some of the two-man trainers at the ship yard. We just got back from his first flight. I hope you don’t mind.” Paul patted 99 on the shoulder and told him, “I’m proud of you, Verron’s first Fighter pilot, but please don’t blow anything up.” With that he made a gateway and was back in Chattanooga.

  Dr. J. Hartley Verron, DDS, Board Certified Oral Maxillofacial Surgeon and Phd. Clinical Psychology, is the older brother of Paul Verron; obviously the smarter older brother of Paul Verron. Retired from his practice, he now was an educator of future dentists. He also felt that doing it was a lot more fun than teaching it and often wished his arthritis and other medical problems had not forced him to give-up his very lucrative business. He picked up a little extra cash now and then as a consultant, but his real love was music. Having worked his way through medical school as a studio musician, he was far better than average on a dozen stringed and brass instruments. Paul and Joe, which his brother hated being called so only a brother could get by with it, had shared a room until Joe left for college and had sung together since childhood. Joe was one of those people who had it all together, National Honor Society, state champion wrestler, quarterback of the football team, teenage body builder, President of the Student Council, First trumpet in the swing band, and All-State Choir. But things change as we grow older, now he was a 69 year-old retired 300 pound man with diabetes, high-blood pressure and kidney problems. His wife Sharon was the same age and had battled cancer on and off for years. At the current time, it was on; that was about to change, very soon.

  Paul decided to catch him at home to avoid running into people at the University where he taught. When he stepped out of his gateway into the ten acres of woods that surrounded his brother’s home, Joe was beside his house trying to move some sections of a tree that he had to cut down after part of it fell during a storm. Paul walked silently up behind him, easily picked-up a section of oak tree at least 8 feet long then asked, “Where you want this bro?” Joe turned quickly to see who had sneaked up on him and at first had no clue who Paul was. Paul laughed, and said, “Put on your glasses bro, you’re squinting like Mr. Magoo.” His brother reached into his pocket and put on his Mr. Magoo style glasses and proclaimed, “Paul, where the hell have you been? Where’s Mom, did you have anything to do with that?” Paul’s reply was, “Are you going to show me where to put this or am I going to have to carry it around all day?” It was not till then that Joe recognized the fact that his 30 year-old-looking bro
ther was carrying a 600 pound log effortlessly on one shoulder, as he chatted with him. He nodded his head in the direction of where he had a hydraulic log splitter set up, so Paul carried it over and laid it close by. It was then that Sharon came out on the back porch to see who was helping her husband. She literally had no clue who the man was, but offered, “Hart, would you and your friend like something to drink?” Joe gave Paul a big bear-hug and replied, “We’ll be right in.”

  When Sharon got a closer look at Joe’s “friend” she almost dropped the two glasses of tea she was carrying. “What happened to you? Where have you been?” She asked. Paul told them both, “Sit down; we have a lot to talk about.” He proceeded to tell them everything. At first they looked at him like he was crazy, but looking at him and his inevitable youth and strength, neither could deny that something was definitely different. He explained that, yes, it was him that took Mom and her two brothers then added, “Kary and Theresa are now going through the same treatment as we speak. I’m here to offer you a new life, new health, a new career and a new home that’s like nothing you’ve ever seen, but first things first. How easy would it be for you two to disappear for say two weeks?” They looked at each other and Sharon answered, “All we’d have to do is tell people we were taking a road trip to Washington to see my daughter.” Paul nodded and asked, “How would you both like to be in your 30s again, healthier than you’ve ever been and free of cancer, diabetes, and blood pressure problems?” He got a unanimous, “yes” then, asked, “How soon can you leave? You won’t need to pack much. The treatment takes about a week or possibly two. We’ve made some improvements; it took a lot longer when I went through it. By the time you two finish, the others will already be done. I want to be honest with you both. I know this is home, but I am going to try and convince you to stay on Verron. I need the help of people I can trust and count on to get the job done. It will be an opportunity like nothing you’ve ever seen.” Looking at Sharon, he added. “There will plenty of room and opportunities for your family as well, but let’s take care of you two first. Then I’ll let you come back and get them and anything you think you’ll need.” Joe and Sharon got up and took about a half hour packing a couple of small overnight bags and calling friends to watch the mail and feed the dog. Paul headed for the front door and told them, “Follow me.” They stepped through the door directly into the Hanger Bay under Mountain City.