Verron_Birth of a Nation

by Douglas Varnell

  Hunter interrupted and said, “I know exactly what you’re going to do with me. You’re going to take me to see Mom, wherever she is, so I can see for myself what’s going on.” Amber then jumped in and added, “And there is no way Hunter’s going without me.” Paul pondered in thought a moment and jokingly said, “Well, one good thing, Verron doesn’t have an extradition treaty with Earth. So if I’m charged with kidnapping or violating my restraining order, I doubt they will be able to get to me.” Amber looked at Leona and said, “Grandma, there is no way this guy is going back and forth from outer space. I’m a bit of a junky when it comes to astronomy. I read everything I can in National Geographic’s and Scientific Digest. In fact I’m almost a nerd.” Hunter shook his head and mumbled, “Almost?” Amber threw a sofa cushion at him. She continued, “Grandma, it would take a hundred years just to reach our nearest star beyond the Sun. No way; ain’t gonna happen. He’s tricked you somehow and I want to see how.” Paul smiled and asked, “So what will it take to make you believe it?” Amber crossed her arms tight across her chest and answered, “I doubt very seriously if you can, but I’d have to see it myself, and there is no way you guys are going anywhere without me.” Paul looked at Leona and laughed, “Well she definitely inherited her attitude from her Mother.” Leona smiled and nodded her agreement. Paul stood up and said, “Well, I guess the time for talking is over and the time for action has come. You three ready to go. I promised I’d be back by now, someone is waiting for me, and I don’t want to be late.” The three walked to the bedrooms at the rear of the condo. Leona, never able to pack light, came rolling a huge suitcase, Hunter was carrying a backpack and his Smart Phone and Amber had a book-bag dangling from one arm and a purse under the other. Paul asked, “Doors locked? Then let’s go; just follow me.” He walked from the living room towards the foyer. They never made it, as they stepped into the Hanger Bay at Mountain City.

  This time he was greeted by almost everyone there except Zeus. Zimuel, Tlase, Gljarne, Xhing Li, Dalhia, Bhlani, Yadvega and 99, were standing around laughing and smiling as they conversed with Gail. Some of them had their back to Paul as he stepped into the hanger and quickly turned to greet him and his guests. Still laughing, Yadvega said, “Your back to early. This young lady was telling us some pretty interesting stories about your youth.” He actually blushed, as he replied, “Well, I guess that’s what I get for leaving my ex-wife alone with you.” He turned to Leona, still joking and said, “I officially demand that you do not speak to this alien riff-raff.” They all laughed as Leona answered, “Let me know how that works out for you” She then walked across the bay to introduce herself to the people she had not met on her last trip and to introduce herself to Paul’s first-wife. Paul thought to himself, “I can’t believe I thought this would be a good idea. Here I was thinking I was actually smarter than I used to be.” He heard the voice of Lucy say, “You are smarter and I guarantee these two will one day be good friends.” Paul laughed and mumbled softly, “That’s just what I’m afraid of.” The others turned to listen to what he said and he responded with a, “Never mind.”

  Leona and Gail did seem to be openly friendly with each other. Gail, in her warm and compassionate way expressed to Leona, “Your daughter is beautiful and about the same age as mine; do you have grandchildren?” Leona introduced Amber and Hunter. Gail continued, “It must have been hard to deal with your husband losing his foot, mine died five years ago, so thank God yours is still alive.” Leona didn’t hear the last part of what she said, she blurted out loud, “Foot! His leg was amputated below the knee.” She turned to Tlase, who matter of fact replied, “It’s growing back nicely.” Leona began to cry and Hunter and Amber rushed to her side. The two teens had a look of unbelief on their face. Paul hadn’t even thought about the fact that his two grandchildren were standing in a room with numerous spaceships and in a circle with a four-foot tall goat/monkey. Before he had a chance to say anything, Leona demanded to be taken to see her husband and daughter. Hunter and Amber would not leave her side, so Paul had Tlase and Zimuel escort them to the Medical Center while he took Gail back home. He turned to Gail and said, “Let’s get you out of here before you tell them more than they need to hear.” Gljarne laughed and blurted out, “Too late. We already know enough dirt to harass you for a long time. I can’t wait to speak to the other one.” Paul rubbed his hands over his face and asked, “What if I ordered you not to talk to either of them, would you obey?” They looked at him and answered, “Not on your life.” He turned and escorted Gail back to Chattanooga without a goodbye. He knew this bunch was going to enjoy pulling his chain for months to come.

  When Paul and Gail stepped back into her office, her daughter was sitting in Gail’s chair talking on the phone. She almost fell out of her seat with shock, shouting, “Mom, where have you been? I’ve been calling everyone looking for you. It’s not like you to just leave the office like this. David is going to be here soon; he’s in a panic too, you didn’t even answer your phone. You never - don’t answer your phone.” Paul was standing beside Gail smiling when she finally acknowledged him, asking, “Who are you?” Before he could answer, Gail answered, “My, my, aren’t you the busy body? You sound like I used to when you came home late for a date. Who’s the mother here? But to answer your question, this is Paul Verron. You’ve never heard of him or met him before. He was my first husband, before I met your father.” Gail’s daughter looked dubious and asked, “Are you two like dating or something?” Gail gave a quick, “God no” in response. Then continued; informing her, “He has made me a pretty unbelievable job offer, with some perks that I just can’t turn down. We have a lot to talk about. I plan to take the job.” She looked at Paul and smiled, and added, “But it will require relocation.” Paul told her, “I want you to know that there is plenty of opportunity for you and your family as well, and I’m hoping your uncles will consider accepting job offers too.”

  Just then a car pulled into the drive-way and a few second later Gail’s younger brother David entered the now unlocked office. He had a sharp mind and a keen memory. He had also seen Paul a few times when he was in his early 30’s and recognized Paul’s face. Always the analytical engineering type, it was no surprise as he looked at Paul that the first words out of his mouth were, “I certainly hope you have a good explanation for this. How is it that you’re Gail’s age and look young enough to be her son?” Paul looked at Gail as she grinned and said, “Now’s as good a time as any. You got the time?”

  Paul stepped back into the Mansion a couple of hours later feeling certain that Gail would accept his offer and pretty confident the rest of the family would also. It had been a busy day and he still had a lot of hours left. He was hoping he might spend it explaining things to his grandchildren. There was no one about in the upper levels of the Mansion so Paul headed to the kitchen. It seemed to be the place where most of them congregated. Hunter was sitting with Bhlani and Gljarne and seemed to be having a good time and interesting conversation. He felt comfortable with anything these men would say. They were good solid friends. They smiled as Paul walked up. There was an empty Mocha Almond Fudge container in the middle of the table, an almost empty jar of syrupy nuts, a bottle of cherries with only two remaining and no doubt, the chocolate topping was nearly empty as well. Their bowls were empty. He grabbed a chair and sat down and asked, “Where’s mine?” Gljarne smiled and said, “We figured the way you’ve been neglecting your workouts lately, you would be better off without it.” Paul walked to the pantry and retrieved a box of Famous Amos Cookies, walked back to the table and sat down and replied, “After I eat these, we can all go to the gym and workout. Right now I need training food.” Hunter spoke for the first time and told Paul, “They’ve been telling me about the training you went through over the past two years. They told me they have never seen anyone that could do the things you could do and that I should be proud to call you my grandfather. I hate to say this, but coming from them, it sounds more believable; no offense.
” Paul replied, “None taken. I can completely understand why you wouldn’t trust me. All I can say is that I am not the same man I used to be. As hard as it is to believe, people do change. God is still in the changing business. If you stick around here long enough you will get to know the real me.” Bhlani laughed and said, “Do you really think that’s a good idea?”

  “Where’s your sister?” Paul asked. Hunter spoke almost in defense of his younger sister, telling him, “She was not about to leave the Medical Center until Grandma was safely tucked away in the rejuvenation tank. She cried when she saw Mom in a tank looking young enough to be our sister instead of our Mom. When she saw Grandpa Don with his leg growing back, it sort of freaked her out. She was upset that Josh wasn’t here. I’m pretty sure that Dalhia and Xhing Li were going to spend some quality time with her and have a girl-to-girl talk to make sure she was alright.” Paul’s two friends nodded that it was so. It was funny to think that these men and Paul had become so close they didn’t need to speak to communicate. Paul asked, “So what else have these two been saying, or do I want to know?” Hunter paused a minute and asked, “Are you really a king? These people all referred to you as King Paul and your dragon, called you Dragon King. They also said you owned this entire planet and everything on it.” Paul smiled and answered, “Except the people and the dragon. No one can own a dragon. It’s true that I have been officially recognized as the king of Verron by the people here and the rulers of a planet close by, and since I do in fact own the place, well, I guess that would make me a king.” He paused a moment to think, then continued, “And it would make you a prince and your mother and sister would both be Princesses. Prince Hunter has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?” This time it was Hunter’s turn to blush.

  “I want to see for myself.” Hunter suddenly demanded. “See what?” Paul asked as he looked at the guilty expression on his friends face. “First, I want to see if you really can beat six armed men with your bare hands. Then I want to see you blow something up by just thinking about it.” Paul looked at Gljarne and Bhlani and shook his head, saying, “I can’t believe you guys told him that.” Gljarne patted him on the back as he rose from the table, and said, “You know we do not lie, and we keep few secrets. If this young man is considering going against his stepfather and staying here, then we felt he should know what awaits him. Now let’s go show him that we didn’t lie or exaggerate the truth.” They got up and just as they stepped out the door of the kitchen Paul stopped them. He grabbed Hunter by the arm and said, “You’ve got to see this.” They peeked around the corner into the kitchen to witness four small droids scurrying around the kitchen, cleaning up their mess. As they turned to walk away, Hunter asked, “Can we get a few dozen of those for Amber’s room, she’s the messiest person on Earth.”

  As they walked down the stairs on their way to the Jxana Gha workout room, Paul asked, “What all have you seen?” Hunter got excited as he answered, “We looked at the ships in the hanger, and that cool little dude you call 99 insisted on taking me for a short ride in a two seat Fighter. I saw the Robert’s Range and almost flew under Alicia Falls. I got to meet the dragon; oh yeah, they showed me the swimming pool and workout room, and I had a pretty good tour of your house.” When they arrived at the workout room, Xhing Li, Dalhia and Amber were in the middle of the floor taking turns at sparing lightly. Hunter smiled and said, “She loves to show off. We started taking mixed martial arts about three years ago. We both got our black-belt at the same time, but she claims she’s better than me.” He whispered into Paul’s ear, “No way – she’s a girl. I let her win.” Paul loved the relationship these two had. He remembered how Hunter would let Amber win at wrestling and sword fighting when she was two and he was five. He watched a moment longer. Amber really was pretty good. Her style wasn’t even close to Jxansa Gha. However, she looked like she could hold her own with just about anyone. As they stepped farther into the room, Xhing Li noticed them come in and came over to speak. Dalhia was too busy showing a technique to Amber and didn’t even see them yet. She informed Paul, “You have a pretty remarkable granddaughter there. Paul accepted the compliment but was quick to point out, “She gets her attitude from her mother and her athletic ability from her father, who happens to be Army Special Forces. It’s in these kids genes.” About that time Amber noticed Hunter standing there and stopped sparing and came over to speak. “What are you doing here? You don’t always have to look after me, I’m in good hands.” She said, just like a typical little sister who happens to have an overprotective brother. Hunter answered, “Don’t flatter yourself, I came down here to see if the Dragon King is worthy of his title.” Paul denoted a strong edge of sarcasm in Hunter’s voice. He knew he had better make this good.

  Xhing Li looked Hunter in the eye after his snide comment and said, “Fighting is not what makes a king a king. A true king fights for his people, not to prove he can. Being a king is not about ego, it’s about integrity.” Turning to Paul and the others, she continued, “Now let’s show these youngsters how we fight on Verron.” Gljarne, Dalhia, Bhlani and Xhing Li grabbed their favorite weapons from the weapons rack. Paul stepped into the middle of the workout floor unarmed. At Xhing Li’s signal they attacked. It was over in minutes. Even Xhing Li had never seen Paul take four armed opponents so easily. Hopefully he didn’t make it look too easy. Amber and Hunter asked, “Have you guys been choreographing that show?” Xhing Li replied, “Perhaps you two would like to see what you can do.” They looked at each other and stepped forward, confident in their black-belt abilities. Paul really didn’t want to do this. Jxansa Gha was much too lethal for his two young, but confident grandchildren. He didn’t want to embarrass, or humiliate them, but he needed to demonstrated just how much more advanced he was than anything they had encountered before. They attacked together, expecting to easily overpower their opponent like they were used to doing in one of their classes. Paul moved so fast that neither saw him move. They were both frozen in their tracks, unable to move a single muscle. Paul made eye contact with them and said, “I can teach you this.” He reached over and touched them, and almost instantly they were back to normal. Amber cried and said, “All this time I thought I was really good.” Hunter looked at Paul and asked, “Will you really teach us King Paul?” Paul smiled and answered, “King Papaw to you, if you don’t mind.”

  Xhing Li, wanting to drive home a point about the superiority of Jxansa Gha, walked to the droid storage room and opened it. Hunter and Amber stepped back in fear as the four 4-armed droids went to the weapons rack and picked up weapons. Xhing Li, Gljarne, Bhlani and Dalhia armed themselves again as well. Paul took his usual sword and dagger combination and stepped to the center of the floor. The fighting began. In a blur of speed and clanging metal, the brother and sister could only catch occasional glimpses of Paul as he swiftly defeated his adversaries. The brother and sister had seen some of the best fighters on Earth when they had competed in tournaments or attended some professional UFC matches. They had seen some serious fighting action; neither had ever witnessed anything like this before; so fast, so fierce and so brutal. It lasted only 8 minutes, though Paul could have ended it sooner. When he finished, his two Grandchildren respectfully did a typical martial arts bow from the waist and said, “We want you to teach us … King Papaw.”

  Later, at supper, everyone was in a really good mood. Paul kept it simple. What teenagers didn’t like hamburgers and French-fries. He fired up the grill and cooked way more burgers than they would need, knowing that Zeus would be upset after smelling the burgers cooking and not getting a few. Ninety-nine and Amber cut up the potatoes for fries. That girl got along with everyone, but seemed to really be bonding with Dalhia. She had promised Amber that since she intended to stick around until her Mom got out of the treatment tank, that she would take her flying, maybe even teach her how to fly a spaceship. Hunter was not about to be outdone. Proclaiming, “Amber, you don’t even have a driver’s license and the last time you tried to help Mom out by
pulling the car into the garage so she could get in without getting rained on, what happened?” Amber mumbled softly, “I tore off the mirror.” Hunter looked at Dalhia and said, “I’m not sure Verron is ready for my sister behind the wheel of a car, much less a spaceship.” Tlase spoke up for the first time that evening, “In case you haven’t noticed, we don’t have any cars on Verron.” Hunter, whose entire world revolved around his Four Runner, looked a little disturbed, and asked, “No cars, how does a place function with no cars? There is no way I’m going on a date in a horse and buggy. Seriously, how do you get around?” Paul answered the question, telling him, “We fly. Verron doesn’t even have a highway system. We don’t need one. If you live here, you need your own hovercraft or spaceship to get around.” Hunter, still trying to grasp the concept of this no car thing, asked again, “Are you telling me that if I lived here, I could have my own spaceship?” Paul smiled and looked at his grandchildren saying, “I don’t see any reason you both couldn’t have one, I only have Sixty-two thousand seven-hundred and eighty-seven, at last count, to choose from.” Hunter and Amber looked at each other in total disbelief. Paul continued, “I’ll take you out there in the morning to see, but I would prefer it if you both trained in the simulator first and then I’ll give you your own Speeder. That’s how I started and that’s how 99 started only recently. In fact I have no doubt Dalhia learned the same way.” She nodded her yes without speaking.