Verron_Birth of a Nation

by Douglas Varnell

  They quickly discovered a well-stocked kitchen and began devouring everything in sight. Paul had almost forgotten what it had been like. All those back on Verron who went through rejuvenation, and even those he had decided to enhance for various reasons, were not nearly as hungry as this level of enhancement creates, and it continues. Paul’s metabolism was so efficient that he literally burned everything he ingested. There was not an ounce of fat on him and his muscle density made his muscles feel more like you were touching bones. He knew that when they first got home tomorrow and got their hugs from Mom and Dad, they would feel like any other child that age, but after only a month or two, they wouldn’t be quite so cuddly.

  After they had cleaned out Paul’s kitchen, he reminded them that they were supposed to have dinner with the Elders that evening, since they were leaving bright and early in the morning. He suggested they get some rest and clean-up before dinner, then asked, “This Xhondarian food is pretty awful. It really is extremely healthy, but it’s like eating cardboard and drinking Nyquil, taste like crap, but good for what ails you. So, if they haven’t already planned or started a big meal, what would you like to eat? As one voice they simultaneously answered, “PIZZA!” Then the debate began as to which pizza was best. They quickly narrowed it down to Pizza Hut and Papa Johns but then could not agree on which type toppings they wanted, and Tala was insistent on both the big chocolate chip cookie from Pizza Hut and the Fudge Brownie from Papa Johns. When the debate began on dipping sauce, Paul ran them off and told them he would handle it. After they left, he called Mahala and informed him that the Dragon Guard had a special request for supper and that the Elders were in for a treat. He looked at Michael and said, “Your son wants Pizza with his friends, you in?” Michael smiled and replied, “Something tells me you’re up to something we shouldn’t be doing. Yes, but today, what Daniel wants Daniel gets.” Paul looked at his badly abused Ironman, and his first thought was, “I’m worth a trillion dollars, why am I wearing a 10 year-old watch with a broken plastic face?” He then said to Michael, “Its 9:45 on a Tuesday night in Nashville. You still have a car in your garage?” He nodded yes. Paul asked, “How ‘bout the keys?” He held them up. “Do you have a Pizza Hut and a Papa Johns near your house?” Michael replied, “I still have them both on the speed dial of my Smart Phone.” Paul made a gateway and they stepped through to Michael’s garage. Michael ordered two dozen large pan pizzas and five cookies from Pizza Hut, telling them to give him one of everything, then did the same with Papa Johns, making certain to order fudge brownies. On the way to get them they stopped at Food Lion and bought several cases of Coke, Diet Coke, Dr. Pepper, Diet Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew. The whole thing was a little over $600. They took the car back to the garage. The Elders of Xhondar were about to have their first pizza party.

  The next morning, just as Paul was headed out the door to meet the others, Mahala showed-up at his door carrying a small wooden box. He told Paul, “I really am going to hate to see the Guard leave. It’s been a joy to have so much life at one of our stuffy diners. If you want investors for a pizza business on Xhondar count me in, I’m already involved in the beef business, and what is Hontro so excited about? How are you going to deliver crude oil and absorb the freight for less than we now pay for just the crude oil?” Paul knew there were no secrets and why wouldn’t Hontro tell his boss everything. He answered, “I’ll let you both know how I’ll do it, as soon as I figure out how I’ll do it.” Mahala shook his head and held out the box, “Here, this is for Miss Tala. She was telling me that she would be 10 years-old in a few weeks and would miss all her friends who were going to be at her house for a slumber party. I don’t know how you can have much fun if everyone is asleep, but what do I know.” Paul couldn’t help but laugh. He quickly summarized what a ‘slumber party’ was all about, then Mahala handed him the box, saying, “I want you to give this to her from M&M, that’s now what she calls me instead of, Master Mahala.” Paul opened the box to reveal a beautiful matched set of 9 inch white pearl handled daggers. They were doubled edged like his Randall Knives, but had an upswept sword catcher built into the guard. They looked lethal and no doubt, if used in the hands of someone well trained, could give a person with a sword a very difficult fight. Mahala finished, “I told her I would show her a few things, but I believe she will be in good hands with Xhing Li and you for teachers. Tell her they are very special and once belonged to my youngest son. He was killed during the revolution. These were old when I gave them to him, so I’d say they are 10 to 15,000 years old. They were made by the Klelta metal smiths, the same people who made your sword and dagger set. Tell her I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to her Birthday, but I am scheduled to be on Xhondar III during that time.” Paul received them graciously and told him that he was certain she would cherish them. He put the box in his travel backpack he always carried and headed for the Executive Starship. It had been a productive 9 days on Xhondar, but it was time to go home.

  When Paul, Zimuel and the Dragon Guard arrived in the hanger at Mountain City there were at least 50 people there to welcome them. Of course the proud parents were the first to rush forward, especially Rachael. She was completely blown-away as Daniel came off the ship joking and cutting-up with the rest of his cousins. He immediately embraced his Mom and began telling her all about Xhondar I and the Elders, including every detail of his experience. Rachael was dumbfounded just listening to him run off his mouth so much. Michael embraced his wife and whispered, “He started talking as soon as he came out of the tanks and hasn’t shut-up since. Isn’t it great?” Rachael was in tears. Soon the Grandparents walked into the fray and Daniel was all over his Papaw, Kary “The Goat” Verron. His cousins had gotten used to his new found gift for gab, but those who had been waiting on their return were thrilled at the outcome. Marcus had their finished Speeders parked in a line along the hanger wall. Ninety-nine got his old Speeder back and everyone now had their own personal Speeder to hone their flying skills, except Tala. Her Mini-Fighter was park beside the others. She was glad to see it there, but couldn’t help but be disappointed that she was the only one without her own Speeder. Paul hugged his mother as she was headed to see her great-grandchildren then headed for the elevators. He had been away from Verron 9 days, the longest he had been away in over two years. He just wanted to unwind then catch up on what had happened while he was gone. He had a lot to do, but first, he needed to go for a run.

  Chapter 16

  Paul had been home from Xhondar I for two weeks. A great deal had happened while he was gone and even more since he had returned. Verron’s numbers had grown. In just three Verron weeks (27 days) another 5000 people had been added. Mostly farmers, construction workers, manufacturing people and to Paul’s excitement, some steel mill workers, a few oil pipeline workers and about 500 miners. He had enlisted Renee to help Clark with the recruiting of vital personnel and Paul’s old boss Ken and his wife were helping with factory workers and educators. He hated to see the U.S. economy in such trouble, but the extensive unemployment, home and farm foreclosures, virtually no major construction going on and plant closings, had made his job much easier. As friends told friends and entire families came to Verron looking for a fresh start, his little kingdom grew exponentially. His Uncle Les had recruited his best friend, Fred, to work with him in the hovercraft industry being developed and it just happened that Paul’s ex-wife Irene was married to Fred. They were both in the tanks, due to come out in a few days. Paul’s middle daughter Desiree had finally been convinced by Marie that Verron was the place to be, so Dr. Desiree Verron of the CDC was now Princess Verron of Verron Chemical and Pharmaceutical, she still preferred the title Doctor. Along with her came her mother Gina, the last of Paul’s ex-wives and her husband Lloyd. They were out of the tanks and Lloyd was working construction with Kenneth, while Gina was helping to get new arrivals settled and vaccinated and prioritized for their turn in the rejuvenation/regeneration tanks. Paul had established a priority of oldest and most unhe
althy first, with others as needed. He had made an exception for his military. They were all rejuvenated and enhanced in one of the R4s. He and General Zarman wanted their soldiers to have every advantage. Every one of them was to be enhanced at a higher level than the general population. They were at least five times stronger, faster and smarter than they were before. These men were so excited by their new found youth and increased capabilities, they couldn’t get enough training. The ones destined to be pilots had begun simulator training. Paul knew they would need the enhanced bodies just to handle the g-force encountered while flying one of his ships.

  Uncle Kenneth and Benny had come back to Verron with a whole new way of achieving the massive construction projects that had been planned by Paul. They had learned that the Xhondarians were able to build so high and do it so fast because of the steel and concrete technology in conjunction with building techniques that they were still trying to comprehend. For example, the steel used was over 1000 times stronger than anything on Earth. You could use less of it, span longer spans, carry heavier loads and it would not rust. The concrete, made from the same rock source as the steel, when cured using the proper additives, was just about as strong as the steel. The Xhondarians would poor an entire concrete floor of a skyscraper on the ground a few miles from the actual structure. If the field was large enough, they would often be working on three or more floors at a time. The concrete could be fully cured in a 26 hour period. During that time, the steel workers erected the support steel to accommodate the floor, some as large as two million square feet. Antigravity devices were attached to the massive concrete slab and it was literally floated to the skyscraper being built. Once attached, the process would continue until the buildings were thousands of feet high.

  With the high demand for housing, as well as cities and factories to be built, those in charge of building them had to get creative. Kenneth was going to be responsible for the Capital City and the industrial park across the river from it. Roddy was going to be building smaller communities initially in three locations; in the valley near the spaceship factory, in the hills near the steel mill and mining operation and in the agricultural district. These would include schools, recreation centers, apartment buildings, downtown areas with shopping and other needed businesses and medical centers. Wendal would be responsible for meeting the demand for single family homes. Ken and Benny had developed a plan to meet the need. Instead of having construction crews scattered all over Verron, they had developed a plan to build the required houses in one location, thus centralizing their resources. The plant design would accommodate houses up to 8000 square feet, built on a slab or foundation. A crew specializing in sight work would prepare the building sight, leveling the lot for a slab or forming and pouring a foundation; even with a basement. The measurements had to be precise. The entire house would be built at the housing production plant. There would be concrete and lumber plants close by. There would be no delays waiting for a crew to pick-up where the last subcontractor left-off, with all the skills; carpentry, electrical, plumbing, heating and A/C, concrete, drywall … even painting, wallpaper and flooring at one location. There were hundreds of designs to choose from and every home was custom; special orders did not upset them. With the manufacturing being done indoors, there were no rain delays. After the house is completed, the antigravity units are attached and a transport tug would tow the finished house to its awaiting location. The only thing attached to the house on location is a water source, either a well with pump or underground city water pipe. The electrical power is provided by a self-contained reactor and back-up battery source. All waste water and sewage is passed through an atomic disposal unit and the solids vaporized; everything else is passed through an atomic scrubber and returns to a storage tank for future use. No waste water or sewage is ever returned to the environment. There is no need for waste treatment plants, garbage dumps, or septic tanks. As the recycled water is used, the water storage tanks are replenished with fresh water. Water usage is drastically reduced and there is zero pollution. This type of system had been used on spaceships that supported thousands of people for centuries as they traveled across the galaxy. It was necessary to adapt it to a planet with 40 billion people. Every skyscraper, business, school, factory … every structure on Xhondar, was equipped this way and every building built by them on Verron used the same system. Paul was not about to use Earth methods of construction and pollute his planet. These new techniques were going to make it possible for Verron to build for the future without destroying the past.

  In the two weeks since their return, the Dragon Guard was beginning to develop into a well-organized and disciplined group. They began each day with a freestyle run. The first day out they chose a pretty simple course, but as they grew stronger and more daring, the course they chose became far more difficult. They ran a few times with Gljarne, Zimuel, Tlase and the other Xhondarians, but preferred to run as a group, usually led by 99, since he knew the area around Mountain City better than anyone else, but there was no doubt the true leaders of the group were Hunter and Amber. They simply had the qualities that others looked for in a leader. Paul managed to either run with them in the morning or practice Jxansa Gha with them in the afternoon, he rarely had time for both. He knew they were being well trained, since the same people who trained him were now teaching the Guard. At their parent’s insistence, the Dragon Guard was being mentored each afternoon in languages, math, science, physics, and even music, along with terrestrial navigation, combat flying strategies, spaceship design and performance characteristics and history; mostly military history. All of them could already speak five or six languages and got drilled by Yadvega any time she was around them. Daniel and Chase had become obsessed with weapon systems and were constantly discussing new ways to blow things up or shoot it full of holes. With Papaw Kary, who was a career Army ordinance specialist and who was going to be running the weapons manufacturing industry on Verron, they spent hours discussing weapon design and performance with him. Daniel had even begun taking apart plasma guns and laser darts to study how they were made.

  When their training and classes were over they headed for the Speeders. Paul and Dalhia often flew with them and they were beginning to fly like a well-trained unit. Paul felt they would be as precision of a flying group as the Blue Angels before long. The Speeders were faster than Tala’s Mini-Fighter but they mostly flew under Mach 2 anyway, so she could keep up. When it came to flying, she had become the standard by which all others were judged. She had even come up with names for some of the things she did: side-slide, 180 and the 360, were all performed in a horizontal plain. She did a corkscrew, flip-flop and her personal favorite, the lame duck. Ninety-nine had shown them the cave through Mt. Alene and Tala’s little fighter could blast through the opening faster than anyone else. They also had discovered numerous passes that Paul had always considered too narrow to fly his much bigger transport through. They were squeezing through some of them sideways. Their favorite pass, they called the Needle; the rock formation actually formed a narrow opening at about 22,000 feet that did look like the eye of a needle. Only a Speeder would fit through while still horizontal. The pass opened into a mile wide ravine between two 40,000 foot mountains, then emptied out over the high plains 160 miles away. They followed the winding, pass that varied in width from a few hundred feet to 5000 feet for that entire distance.

  Paul tried to spread himself around the planet to make certain no one felt slighted. He would visit the construction sites and the existing facilities to monitor the progress, but mostly he left things up to those he had placed in charge. Now that they had rethought the construction of the Capital City, it was beginning to take shape. Paul had agreed with Kenneth and Michael that it might be wise to approach some Earth corporations to see if they would be interested in investing in Verron. He needed to step-up his building of heavy equipment and farm machinery and desperately needed someone to harvest the timber being cut down and turn it into lumber, so a corporation that
made farm machines and heavy equipment and a lumber mill were high on his lists of things either to buy or negotiate a deal with, and it needed to be done soon.

  General Zarman had made the valley at the weapons storage facility his base of operations for the Verron Air Force and Marine Corp. The location offered plenty of secure housing for them and their families, the valley was private and unpopulated enough to be a good place to train with weapons and tactical maneuvers and the arsenal was full of every conceivable weapon. Only his most trusted officers had actually seen how much destructive power was housed under those mountains. The soldiers enjoyed the clean air and mountain training. What used to be drudgery, had now become a pleasure, and they were always discovering new capabilities as they pushed themselves to be the best they could be. Paul would often show-up to review the troops and offer words of encouragement, but never interfered with the things General Z and Colonel Hall were trying to accomplish, but one day he showed-up at the training complex and witnessed some the sloppiest hand-to-hand he had ever seen. He knew the men could do a much better job of disabling an opponent with one simple Jxansa Gha technique and couldn’t allow them to endanger themselves by trying to incapacitate a dangerous enemy using the old Earth methods.