Verron_Birth of a Nation

by Douglas Varnell

  Paul and Zimuel escorted the seven guards to the same Medical Center he had been escorted to just over two years before. Two of the female technicians prepared the girls, while Zimuel and Paul prepared the boys and 99 for the rejuvenation/enhancement tanks. Paul made it perfectly clear that they were to receive every enhancement that he had received with the exception of the neurological implant. It wasn’t so he would be one up on them, but he, Zimuel and Tlase agreed that they were all too young to completely comprehend just what having an implant permanently installed would mean. They had agreed that none should be installed in any of them until they were at least 21 and preferably 25 years-old and could make that decision on their own. Paul and their parents still wanted them to have a childhood. They realized that they will never have a childhood like normal children, but they still wanted them to enjoy their youth as much as possible. Only Daniel seemed a little skittish about the tanks, but having his cousins going through it with him put him at ease. Once they were settled in, Paul left to spend a few days on Xhondar taking care of his existing business and establishing contacts with the major food distributors. He finally got a chance to meet the wheat brokers and the cotton merchants. He then left a case of assorted cuts of beef and a cook book with the executive offices of one of the restaurant chains of Xhondar. It included sausages, steaks, cuts of prime rib, rump roast and even ground beef. He threw in a case of twice baked potatoes and all the ingredients for a few dozen salads; lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, grated cheese and salad dressing. He gave them recipes for several dishes and even met with the chefs, offering them some pointers on how to cook the meats. They asked him to come in and instruct them in their test kitchen. When he left their offices, he was smiling at the fact, that for the next two days, he was going to be Chef Verron. It felt really strange on a planet of 40 billion people to be no more than a Beef Salesman. No one but the Elders and a handful of others even knew who he was.

  Zimuel had made arrangement for the two of them to meet the CEO of the largest Hovercraft Manufacturer on Xhondar. After some time spent exchanging pleasantries in the CEOs office they were given a tour of the largest assembly plant Paul had ever seen. There were six assembly lines running simultaneously, with a different model on each line. There were as many people working this one shift as the entire population of Verron. He asked the engineer that was giving them the plant tour, “How many transports do you make here?” He wasn’t completely surprised by the answer, but the number was staggering, “50,000 vehicles per day or approximately 20,000,000 per year at this plant.” Paul asked how many people they employed and was shocked at the answer, “At this plant we employ 100,000 people. We could use a lot less, but we have reversed the trend toward automation in order to employ more people. We get considerable tax incentives to use humans instead of drones to assemble our product. In fact we shut down two plants that were 75% automated in order to keep this plant running at full capacity. With 40 billion people and transports that don’t typically wear out, we never sell as many vehicles as we would like, but we are the largest exporter to Xhondar II and III and sell more there than we sell here.”

  As they were returning to the front office before leaving, Paul had a thought and asked his guide, who he found out was actually the Director of Manufacturing, “What did you do with the two plants you closed down?” He was pleased with the answer, but now he had even more to think about, as he answered, “They are both still unused and being guarded by a security team. We’d like to sell them, but the only people who would or could buy them would be our competitors. There is a great deal of proprietary equipment in those facilities and we’d rather keep it than have it used against us.” Paul looked at Zimuel and knew he was reading his mind as he nodded at Paul. The Director of Engineering did not know exactly who Paul was, only that Zimuel was on the Elder Council and that Paul was someone connected enough to have one of the Nation’s leaders bringing him around for a plant tour and that the CEO felt both were important enough to have someone of his position play tour guide. Paul couldn’t resist, asking, “Would you be interested in selling the equipment if someone was in a position to remove it completely from the Xhondar system and agreed to never use it to compete with you?” The man looked at Paul as if it were a trick question and responded, “There is no one like that in this solar system or who is an allies of Xhondar, so that is unlikely to happen.” Zimuel couldn’t resist getting into the discussion and said, “Sir, King Verron is one of the most unlikely people I know and has never done anything the Xhondarian way. But, if he can see a use for your production equipment, I would listen to what he has to offer, and I can assure you, it will have the blessing of the Elders.”

  The next day a team from Verron was greeted by the transport manufacturers CEO, CFO and Director of Manufacturing. Kenneth Verron, Michael Verron, Mike and Les Arms, David and John Barry, the two laid-off Volkswagen engineers, and Benny Barry, the architect, disembarked the small transport flown by Dalhia, as it landed on the 500th floor spaceship pad. The executive staffers were almost dumbfounded to see Dalhia, an Elder, flying these people around and Mahala standing with Paul and Zimuel to greet the new arrivals. The Elders seldom showed themselves and even less frequently got involved in Xhondar business. The presence of the Chief Elder and two others, as they boarded a smaller commuter craft to make the 1200 mile trip to the unused facility, was a bit unnerving for these executives, and when they saw the warm and personal interaction between King Verron and the others, they knew that this was going to be more than a simple plant tour. Benny and the rest were like children at Disney World as they looked at the unbelievable architectural and engineering marvels around them. Benny couldn’t resist, and asked, “Elder Mahala, I would consider it an honor if you would allow me and hopefully Ken here to come to Xhondar to study your designs and building methods. We have a real challenge ahead of us on Verron and its evident Xhondar is far advanced from our building methods.” To everyone’s amazement, Mahala replied, “Just let me know when you want to do it, and I will personally introduce you to our best designers and builders.” He then smiled and added, “But, I am almost out of Hershey’s Assorted Chocolates, so it’s going to cost you.” Everyone laughed except the CEO, CFO and the DOM; they didn’t have a clue what Hershey’s Assorted Chocolates were, but would make a point of finding out if it could bribe the Xhondar supreme leader.

  Paul’s staff spent hours studying the building size and design, the Barry boys went through every piece of equipment on the assembly line flabbergasted by the complexity and yet the simplicity of the alien design. When everyone had looked at every detail, Paul asked Zimuel, “Can Computer get me a set of the blueprints for this complex? It would sure make moving this equipment to a new location much easier if the new location is identical to this one.” Mahala handed Paul a communicator and said, “Here ask her yourself.” If these corporate executives weren’t impressed before, they certainly were now. No one but the 24 Elders had access to Computer, and here was this King Verron, with direct access. Paul knew he could have had Lucy get it from Computer, but this made a better impression.

  After a brief explanation to Computer, Paul handed the personal communicator back to Mahala. He consulted briefly with his team and turned back to the plant owners. “Do you want to tell me what you want for it, or would you rather I tell you what I’m willing to give for it?” The CFO spoke first, “Well we’d have to sit down and determine exactly what each machine is worth and that could take a few weeks and then we’ll have an empty building do deal with.” Michael knew his Uncle Paul was a shrewd negotiator from his years of sales, but he had never seen anyone like this. Paul had Lucy dig up the information he needed and knew up front what he was dealing with. He didn’t give the CFO time to completely finish his stalling technique, just so he could throw them off balance. He then took over, saying, “Gentlemen, this plant and equipment are over 30 years old. You completely amortized and depreciated everything inside this building over 10 ye
ars ago. So at this moment it is costing you 5 million cronz a year in taxes and security services. The building is not exactly valuable to anyone because of the way it is designed and the horrible location. No developer wants it because it would cost almost as much to tear it down as it would to build a new building on this site. I’ll give you 50 million cronz today for the equipment and building. The equipment will be removed to Verron as soon as I have a plant ready for it, then I will use this building for a storage facility of other products I intend to export to Xhondar. That’s the deal, and if I read your tax codes properly, you will receive several million cronz in tax credits. I’ve got a great deal to do and I do not have the time to play games for several weeks while you try to make a decision. I’ve already made my decision about it and I’ll be leaving in two days. You can reach me in my old room in the Elders Tower with your answer.” Paul and his crew, followed by Zimuel, Mahala and Dalhia turned and headed back toward the commuter craft. By lunch the following day, Paul owned enough equipment to begin the manufacturing of transports on Verron. Michael made a transfer of funds from one Xhondarian bank to another, all from Paul’s Music Player profits, asking, “How come you didn’t tell me you had this much money in your Xhondar account?” He just smiled and replied, “Now we need to see what all we can sell Xhondar to make good use of my new warehouse.”

  King Paul and Prince Michael spent a couple of days dealing with business issues while Michael waited for Daniel to finish the Enhancement process. Mahala, much sooner than expected, arranged for Kenneth Verron and Benny Barry to meet with the designers and builders. They were getting a real education on construction techniques and design parameters. The materials used on Xhondar, capable of being made in the steel facilities and concrete facilities of Verron, could handle spans and loads beyond anything on Earth. Benny had a whole new world of creative tools available to him and Kenneth felt like everything he had ever known about construction on Earth was almost useless here, with the exception of his leadership and management skills, those could be used anywhere. One of the builders, who had been on Xhondar for nearly 5000 years and just happened to be one of the Elders, told Ken and Benny, “There is a race of people that were used for centuries to do the building on Xhondar. The beautiful stone arches and vast masonry buildings of Xhondar were erected by them. They also are the ones who taught us how to reinforce our steel and design buildings that could resist heavy winds and even earthquakes. In addition, they designed the cutting tool we still use to cut the perfectly sized stones for our buildings. We used them less and less over the centuries as we learned how to do these things ourselves, but they may be available if you need them.” Ken and Benny both asked for more information. He consulted his corporate A.I. and was told that the alien race in question was the Klelta, and that they lived in the same galaxy as Xhondar III, but their star system was on the edge of the galaxy, about 200,000 light years from Xhondar III. Both considered further discussion a waste of time with that kind of distance to deal with, and let the subject drop.

  While Paul’s construction team was busy with their learning experience, Michael and Paul were getting one of their own. Paul took Michael to have him added to his business account so he wouldn’t be left in the dark. Michael spent a good deal of time with the Mr. Hontro, president of the largest bank on Xhondar, courtesy of Mahala, who happened to own it. He left with a good base-line for establishing an exchange rate between the two economies. They came to the conclusion that it would be easier to adapt Xhondarian Cronz as their currency base since there were 70 billion of them and less than 100,000 on Verron. Add the fact that probably 80% of their exports would be to Xhondar and it was an easy decision to make. The bank president was impressed that Verron was already exporting wheat and cotton to Xhondar. Paul asked if he knew of any worlds that were still using petroleum or fossil fuels. The banker smiled and replied, “If there is, they are an evolving culture, there was once a planet named Klelta who used and sold crude, but they haven’t been around for centuries. Xhondar uses none for fuel and very little for chemicals, or plastics.” Michael was about to write it off as a lost cause, when Paul asked, “How much is very little?” He looked at a monitor on his desk and asked it for the usage of crude oil used in the Xhondar system. The companies A.I. responded, “8 billion barrels per year at 80 cronz per barrel or 640 billion cronz.” Paul asked, “Where does it come from?” The banker answered, “Few worlds use it or still have any, so the price keeps going up and we rarely get it from the same place consistently then we have to transport it to Xhondar, so it is a little used commodity that is difficult to obtain.” Paul tried not to get too excited because his idea for supplying Xhondar with crude oil was just that; an idea. He began to brain storm as Michael looked on wondering just what he was up to, as he asked, “What if Verron could supply 100% of your crude requirements at 75 cronz per barrel delivered to Xhondar I. We could also do some of the refining for you if it is to your advantage.” The banker of course was adding up the dollars in his head and tried not to smile to hard, as he answered, “King Verron, when can you confirm your ability to do this and when can you actually begin delivery. I would of course need to have our chemists verify the quality of your crude before we could even begin to negotiate a deal.” Paul informed him, “I should be back on Verron in a couple of days. I will immediately begin researching my capabilities to deliver on my proposal. You will know one way or the other in one Xhondar week. It will more than likely be Prince Michael who contacts you with a proposal.” Paul thought a moment before he excused himself from this man’s office and asked, “Mr. Hontro, have you ever eaten a steak?”

  The moment had arrived. Everyone else had returned to Verron except Michael and Paul. There was no way Paul would even try to send him back with his autistic son so close to being healed from his neurodevelopmental disorder. Earth had been unable to offer a certain cure for the abnormality, Verron could impact millions of lives with this treatment. Paul and Michael were sitting around Paul’s apartment, apparently set aside just for his use on his occasional trips to Xhondar I, when they heard loud conversations and laughter in the corridor outside his suite. Before anyone could knock on the door, Michael had leaped from his chair and opened the door. He was almost in shock looking at his son, who never had anything more than single syllable words to speak, and rarely a complete sentence, joking and cutting up with his cousins. Most of the noise and talking he had heard had been Daniel and Chase arguing over one of their favorite Sci-Fi movies, and how they should modify the control systems of the Verron ships to operate like the one they saw in the movie. The banter from the others over their sci-fi conversation was non-stop and Daniel was as quick with a rebuttal or sarcastic remark as any of his older cousins. Michael heard him say more words in his brief observation than he would normally speak in a week, and he seemed to have no problem interacting socially with the rest of the Dragon Guard. Michael couldn’t contain the tears or his excitement as he raced to embrace his only son. If Michael had not been physically enhance 200% already, he would have had bruised ribs from the hug. Daniel realized he was crushing his Dad and quickly let go and apologized, saying, “Mr. Zimuel warned us that it would take a while to control our strength. Are you alright?” Michael smiled and hugged him again and answered, “I’ll survive; it was worth it.”

  “Uncle Michael, Uncle Paul, look what I can do,” Tala yelled, as a four-foot-tall, 75 pound, 9 year-old reached over and easily picked-up six-foot-tall, 170 pound, very understanding, Hunter. Hunter reached down and playfully yanked her pigtail as he said, “Come on, haven’t you done that enough? That’s four times since we left medical.” Tala smiled and raced over to pick-up Uncle Michael. After setting him down gently, she turned to Paul and said, “I don’t think I will have any trouble lifting a sword now.” Pointing over her shoulder to her brother and sister, she continued, “I can’t wait to show those two.” Paul couldn’t help but laugh at the rambunctious child, but reminded her, “Sweetheart, have
you forgotten that they are now stronger too. So since they are still bigger than you, they are still stronger than you. We’ll just have to teach you how to compensate for your size.” Looking at 99, who couldn’t help but grin his toothy grin, he continued, “You two are about the same size and I’m pretty certain 99 won’t be getting any bigger, but you will. Xhing Li and I will work with you to develop your own style.” Amber had been pretty quiet, with Daniel so busy testing his voice, and finally asked, “Uncle Paul, can we start running with you now?” Paul knew they still lacked the skills to keep up, but did not want to discourage them, he replied, “I will make a point of taking you on training runs at least a few times a week. I don’t have a very consistent schedule lately, so I will still do runs by myself just to fit my busy schedule, you seven will begin a regularly scheduled training regimen just like I did, in order to develop your capabilities to their full potential. My running with you will be part of that, as will my fighting with you, flying with you and making sure your education does not suffer. We don’t need super strong stupid people; we need you to be as intelligent as you are strong. It will be a lot like very special ‘Home Schooling.’ If you still want to attend regular school so you can learn what the other kids learn, you can; being around the other children would good for you.” None of them had given going to school a second thought since arriving from Earth. Paul knew that they had been downloading more information than they could learn with a Master’s Degree since they arrived, but he still wanted them to be kids for a while.