Verron_Birth of a Nation

by Douglas Varnell

  “Here’s a few of the perks for coming here. There will be free medical, zero unemployment, no welfare system, no more homelessness or medical disability. We will begin with the oldest or most ill first, but everyone will be eligible for rejuvenation.” Paul then looked at his brother and others at the table that had served in wars and continued, “I can’t do them all at once, but I do intend to get with the VA and begin offering regeneration treatments to those wounded in action. Verron will have no disabled soldiers and I will do all I can to help those who are, regardless of race or religion. Michael and I will be establishing a currency and exchange rate, along with pay scales and wages. You have my word; no one who comes to live on Verron will have a lower standard of living than they did on Earth. The men and women of Xhondar are here to assist us in the transition, but we are going to be responsible with the success or failure of this planet, and the buck stops here. Are there any questions?” Everyone was surprisingly silent. Paul closed with, “I have no doubt there will be plenty for later, I just want to make sure everyone is clear on everything. If any of you decide to leave and never come back, there will be no hard feelings and you will have my blessing, but for all of you who decide to stick with me, we’re going to have a great time. Oh, after the meeting, get with my Xhondarian friends and they will coordinate getting you back and forth to Earth. If you need to sell your property, I’ll pay the real estate fees. If it’s paid for, you may want to consider renting it. We have a few cars here already, and a few more won’t hurt, but we have no roads on Verron, everyone flies. So if you have cars you may want to consider selling them. He looked to Michael and Marcus and asked, “We still have those rental trucks?” He got a nod from both. “Well, U-Haul and Penske will just have to deal with getting extra rent. Make them available to anyone who needs them. As soon as we can buy a few for ourselves and get some moving crews together it will make things simpler.” As he was leaving he caught Clark and said, “My friend, we need farmers. I know there are a lot of them unemployed and whose farms have been foreclosed on. They should be wide open for coming here. Also, buy all the cattle you can. We’ll add pigs and chickens as soon as we have facilities for them.” He turned to Leona and Donald, “We’re going to need lots of clothes. Shopping Earth-side will break the bank.” Don replied with a smile, “We’re on it King Paul.”

  After the meeting, Leona and Renee were looking for Hunter and Amber so they could go back to get their things and help recruit their stepfather and their biological father. Marcus and Michael were looking for their bunch as well. Paul checked with Lucy and was told they were not at the Spaceship factory and had not been there all morning. Paul was not concerned but mothers being mothers, they were more than a little concerned where their children were. Paul realized then that he should have had them keep the force-field units; he could then track them by the reactor profile that is emitted by all nuclear, antimatter or whitematter reactors. He thought a moment and asked, “Lucy, where is the ship they left in?” On the conference table behind him appeared a hologram relief map of the area where the transport was parked. Renee looked on in amusement, saying, “Boy, this sure beats Google Maps.” Paul immediately recognized the terrain and suddenly knew where they were and why. He told the anxious mothers, “I know where they are and I’ll go get them right away.” The relief map made the area look ominous, and Paul had to admit that it could be, but he wasn’t going to tell them that. Danyel said, “I’m going with you.” Renee and Rachael jumped right in and agreed that they were going also. Of course, to not look like unconcerned fathers, both Michael and Marcus had to say they would go too. Paul thought, “That’s all I need is a bunch of paranoid, protective mother’s to go meet a Tree Bear.”

  On the way out, Paul, strictly from curiosity, checked the walk-in food storage, and sure enough, there was an entire 100 pound bag of fruit missing. The same fruit Amber had been feeding the cubs. He waited by the Stealth Transport while the ladies found hiking clothes and boots. He chose it because the clearing where the Transport was already parked was too small to park the Executive Ship there as well. It was a short but scenic flight. This was the first time out for most and they were constantly changing sides of the ship to get a better view of something new. Paul switched on the stealth mode as they approached, to keep from having anxious children or anxious bears. He landed right beside the Transport and they exited through the rear loading hatch. Paul looked around to get his bearings. He was just starting to walk towards where they had met up with the Mama bear and her cubs when they heard the ear piercing scream of Tala. Danyel took off after the sound. While they were racing in that direction, they heard another scream, “Daniel!” said an ashen faced Rachel, but as they got closer, Paul looked at Michael and Marcus who were thinking the same thing he was. Those were screams of excitement, not screams of fear. They headed down a steep hill into a well-hidden ravine and Paul quickly got in front of the protective mothers and made them halt. “I’ll go in first. I’m much better equipped to deal with any danger.” He creped slowly around a blind corner and peered into an opening that was the Tree Bears lair. He couldn’t help but start laughing.

  In moments, the three concerned mothers were looking over his shoulder. Paul told them to calm down and move slowly, he didn’t want to upset Mother-bear. He stepped into the opening, followed by the others. There before them were three 200+ pound Tree Bear cubs being ridden by Tala, Chase and Daniel. Hunter and Amber were scratching Mom behind the ear as they sat on her back. To his shock, Papa bear, who was a good 4 tons bigger than Mom, was sitting over to the side, observing the entire thing, and Katelyn was feeding him what was left of the bag of fruit. Paul told the frantic human mothers to move slowly and make some new friends. The bears did nothing more than shift their eyes toward the approaching humans. The kids had been their first exposure to humans and they had no concern for anything so little; besides, they kept the cubs busy for a while. Danyel walked over to Tala and before she could ask, said, “No, you can’t have it.” Then reached over to pet Tala’s new pet. Everyone stuck around for a while enjoying the wildlife of Verron, but finally as Moms will do, they were told it was time to go. The three cubs followed them to the edge of the clearing but did not like the look or smell of the ships. They ran away at full speed when they lifted off. Chase had named his “Ben” from one of his favorite TV shows, Tala named hers “Pooh” and Daniel named his “Teddy.” Paul had to remind them that it was great to make friends with the wildlife, but that not all the wildlife would be so friendly. He made a mental note to make them wear their forcefields from now on. Hunter had some great digital pictures of the whole thing and planned to post them on Facebook.

  Chapter 15

  Paul was bored. Verron went to a population of over 30 from a population of 3 in record breaking time. The Xhondarians were escorting people to numerous locations all over Earth so they could connect with sons, daughters, family members and friends. Paul was a little surprised to know some of his cousins had managed to move so far away from their roots in Tennessee, but then again, look how far away he had moved. Of course the married relatives had husbands or wives from virtually everywhere, some even from Europe, so there where in-laws all over the place. Clark needed to get to New Zealand to see his daughter. His Uncle Mike had his daughters in Chattanooga, but his son-in-law had children in Japan. Donald grew-up in the United States and went to college there, but the rest of his family was living in Sweden. Paul knew it would be this way for a while, and when it changed Verron would begin to grow by leaps and bounds. He did a little math in his head and thought, “If 23 people only bring back 6 people and those bring 6, then they bring 6 … in a week or maybe less he could have 5000 people. He also knew that with his family, 6 was a very conservative number and that Clark and Kenneth were going to be actively recruiting farmers and construction workers, his younger brother Kary literally knew hundreds of ex-military because of his years of activity with disabled veterans across America and he wasn�
�t supposed to get General Zarman until later today. That man knew more Marines and Special Operatives than were currently in the service. Paul had a good feeling about how many retired soldiers wished they could still be doing the things they love.

  Right now Eric, who couldn’t exactly go back to Earth with fugitive warrants out for him, was down in the vehicle storage facility checking out all the “cool space stuff.” He had befriended 99 and they were going for a Crotch Rocket ride after their tour of the garage. Paul was sitting at the kitchen table alone, letting the drones fix breakfast, as Lucy was downloading operating instructions and capabilities of the Verron Steel Body Armor that was in the secret armory. There were thousands of complete sets of body armor at the Xhondarian storage facility that had been used by the disbanded Xhondarian Military. It was really good equipment and could withstand 75-80% of anything that hit it. But there were still some conventional Xhondarian weapons that could destroy it. When Illinasos Xhondar designed his new armor, it was lighter, stronger and more technologically advanced than anything previously built and included a force-field and several upgraded targeting systems, but also had an exoskeleton that was capable of increasing a soldier’s strength and speed. One unique design feature was that it doubled as an environmental suit. It could be used by a Marine assault group in outer space, on a gas planet or a desert planet, in temperatures as low as absolute zero or as high as 5000 C. Paul was planning to demonstrate the suit for General Zarman and was trying to determine if he would wear it and let the General shoot at him or if he could find someone gullible enough to wear it instead. So far he could think of no one trusting enough to put on a suit of armor and let the General shoot a Plasma Cannon at him. He laughed and thought of how he had accidentally shot Kary’s tooth out while shooting a rifle in the backyard, he was certain he was not a candidate. He then remembered that Marcus had somehow volunteered to let a police officer shoot him with a bean-bag shotgun round. He laughed and thought, “Once was probably enough, he’s probably smartened up since then.”

  He had some time to kill before he had to go get the General and decided to go for a run on one of the other continents he had not visited yet. There was so much on Verron he hadn’t seen. He ended up in the coastal area he and Zimuel had flown over with the fjords, high mountains and rivers. As he ran, he couldn’t help but observe all kinds of animal life; birds, mountain goats, some smaller felines, the size of normal Earth cougars or panthers, were all over the higher elevations and in the lush river valleys, there were herds of six-legged antelope. He looked forward to actually having some zoologists identify and label the animals. Lucy had quite a few identified in her memory banks, but he doubted it was 5% of what’s actually here. He wondered as he ran, just what kind of industry could be located here. It would be a beautiful place for people to live. He knew it would be a long time in the future before there was any reason to settle people on other continents. He realized he needed to head back and made the jump back to the top of Alicia Falls and enjoyed the view for a short time as he looked across the bay from the opposite direction, viewing the future location of the hotel above the Capital City’s proposed location and Mountain City. With his enhanced vision he could see 99 and Eric out riding the Crotch Rockets, skimming the surface of the Crystal River.

  He went directly back to his suite, showered, dressed and was just getting ready to leave when Zimuel arrived with Uncle Mike’s daughter Tresea and her husband John. They were two of his favorite people and John’s skill in construction and degree in Information Technology would be very welcome on Verron. Mike had stayed behind to help Paul’s mother recruit more of their family, so Zimuel was going to situate John and Tresea in the rejuvenation tanks and meet back up with Mike in three hours. He told Paul that Tlase would be back before he returned with General Zarman and family. Paul hugged his cousin and cousin-in-law and vanished. John stared at the empty void where Paul had been, and said, “This place is going to take some getting used to.”

  Paul was standing on Jim’s front porch ready to ring the bell, when the door flew open and he was greeted by an older, but familiar face. When he lived in Florida he had a friend his same age that he ran with, lifted weights with, went water skiing, fishing and bar hopping with. When Paul divorced Lynn, she had married his best friend Bill. Here before him was a bald-headed, dark-tanned, 67 year-old Bill. Paul always thought he looked like Hulk Hogan and it seemed he had aged like him as well. Bill was first to speak, saying, “When Jim told Lynn and me about how young and fit you looked and about this untouched planet of yours, there was no way I wasn’t going. Besides, I’ve always been better looking than you. I couldn’t very well let that change. So when do I get rejuvenated?” Paul shook his old friends hand and answered, “Did Jim tell you about the fellow who lived there we call 99?” He shook his head yes. “Well, he used to look a lot like you but sometimes the machines get out of wack and who knows what you’ll end up with, but even a four foot tall goat/monkey would be an improvement over what you look like now.” Paul heard agreement behind Bill and looked to see who was agreeing, only to see Lynn, talking to Barbara, and both agreeing that anything would be an improvement. Bill stepped aside and let Paul come into the living room. It was strewn with luggage and the kitchen was full of people. Jim and Barbara had been busy. Lynn’s sister Terry and her husband Joel were sitting at the kitchen table having coffee. She spoke up and commented, “Big brother claims you can find jobs and homes for all of us and if we didn’t like it we could come back, no strings attached.” Paul told her that he had told the truth, but he doubted they would ever want to come back after they saw the place.

  Paul realized that just this part of the Zarman family would be a real asset to Verron. Gears were turning in his head; Joel was a Navy Nuclear Submarine Machinist-Mate, who was now a Nurse Practitioner, Bill was a degreed manufacturing engineer but now captained his own 70 foot charter fishing boat named Bill Time. Terry and Barbara were school teachers and Lynn managed the office for one of Miami’s largest general contractors. There were also two men in their mid-fifties he didn’t recognize. Jim introduced them as Marine Gunnery Sergeant Malone and Captain Stevens. Both had been part of his covert operations team in Afghanistan, he couldn’t help but notice a prosthetic arm on one and a prosthetic leg on the other. Captain Stevens explained that he was widowed and Malone was divorced. Both would follow General Zarman anywhere. He looked around and saw one more Marine Major, it was obvious it was David Zarman, he looked just like Jim. Paul shook his hand and was greeted with, “I still haven’t forgotten about the “pickle” incident.” He then smiled and said, “I want to see this place for myself. I have 2 more years on my enlistment, but if Dad is leading the entire armed forces, I can’t very well stay here.” Paul thought, “In one afternoon, ten more adults, they were going to wait on bringing their children until they saw Verron for themselves; that would add six more.” Paul held open a gateway between Beaufort, NC and Mountain City, people began to carry luggage into the hanger bay on Verron.

  Dalhia had arrived just ahead of Paul and was standing with Sylvia’s sister Wilma, her daughter Pam and Sylvia’s other son Daryl and his wife and two children. It was now sixteen in less than two hours. Introductions were made and all but the two children were escorted to the Medical Center. Eric and 99 had just arrived back and his niece and nephew could hang-out with Uncle Eric, who, to their surprise, was no longer in prison. Daryl was blown away by his older brother looking so good and was now even more exited to get into the tanks. Eric reminded him as he walked away, “You’ll still be ugly, bro.” Ninety-nine was enjoying being introduced as a fighter pilot and a member of the Dragon Guard. He took it upon himself to introduce the two children to Zeus and to see if they wanted something to eat or drink. Ninety-nine was turning into a regular social butterfly. As Paul escorted his new arrivals toward the elevators he couldn’t help but see the faces and hear the comments from those who were looking at an alien being, spaceships and a hanger big
enough to park several 747s. Bill looked back behind him and noticed the bay and Alicia Falls and commented, “I sure wish I had my boat up here.” Paul asked, “How would you like to build your own? That tub of yours might do for a start, but I think you’d be better off with something about twice as big and never ran out of fuel. Oh, and would be faster than an off-shore racing boat. Think you could handle that?” Bill smiled that contagious grin and Lynn hit him. Captain Stevens asked, “Can you really grow this leg back?” Paul answered, “Man just left here with one, and he didn’t have it when he arrived.”

  Over the next few days people would trickle into Verron in groups ranging from 2 to 8 people. Uncle Kenneth managed to get his sons Roddy and Wendal, along with their wives and six children and a dozen of the people who had worked for Verron Construction for decades. Kenneth’s youngest sister Liz, Paul’s aunt, and her three grown children and their families, along with three more of Paul’s cousins, all with construction experience, showed-up with them. Paul’s 1st cousin Robert, the jeweler, had been unhealthy for years. He hadn’t seen him in at least 20 years, but told him he had plans for him when he finished his rejuvenation. Clark arrived with three cattle ranchers who were bored stiff after retiring and selling their ranches to some real estate developer and a family of wheat farmers that consisted of a grandfather and his wife, his two sons, and their six sons. They had a fire that destroyed most of their crop and it was winter in Montana. So they came to Verron to farm during the off-season to try and raise enough money to save the family farm. Paul thanked them for coming and let them know that he would make it worth their while to stay and would even pay off the debt on their farm. They could keep it and lease it to lease-farmers. Clark left to continue his search, to make arrangements to get his daughter and husband and to talk to a couple of people about buying cattle. Paul escorted the wheat farmers and the ranchers out to the agricultural region of Verron to get them settled; except grandpa and grandma. He promised the ranchers that they would begin treatments after the tour. He wanted them to be able to choose where the first cattle ranch would be. He would have to put those cows somewhere.