Verron_Birth of a Nation

by Douglas Varnell

  The computer sounded the alarm indicating the ships approach to Beriya’s outer orbit. They were staring at a huge ice-ball. The probes sent out indicated that it did in fact have a breathable atmosphere and it was obvious there was water, but it was all frozen. The probes sent images back of trees that had been covered in ice and entire towns now under hundreds of feet of frozen snow and ice. There were mountains and what was obviously massive oceans, all frozen. The probes indicated no life-forms and a surface temperature of 240 degrees below zero. Chase decided, “Well, gentlemen, if humans can survive 240 degree below zero Whole Body Cyrotherapy in nothing but their boxer briefs, we should have no problem checking the abandoned towns below, while in our nice warm survival suits. We need to know what’s going on down there, or at least what went on.” Daniel took the ship down in an area close to what once was a large body of water. As they drew nearer, what at first looked like ridges and hills turned out to be tall buildings, factories and homes. At best guess the city had been large enough for a few million people; now abandoned. They had spotted another town farther inland from the frozen sea and followed what were real mountains in that direction. Crossing a shallow valley, they saw something that was not consistent with the rest of the surroundings. As they moved slowly toward an area that actually looked unfrozen, everyone aboard prepared for possible trouble. What they found turned out to be a mine opening.

  There were freshly dug rocks and dirt scattered for acres around the entrance. It was frozen, but had no snow on top of it. Obviously someone or something had been here recently. Daniel landed the ship in a large clearing outside the mine entrance. Marcus and Kary stayed behind to guard the ship, while Chase, Daniel and 24 Marines slowly approached the mine shaft. They realized as they entered the shaft that there was heat rising from somewhere below. They slowly walked through the dark mine with whitematter enhanced IR. They could see very plainly that there were light fixtures every 50 feet and fresh tire tracks in the dusty rocks below their feet. It must have been an hour later and thousands of feet below the surface that they heard the rush of what sounded like water. Another few hundred feet and they were looking down a deep ravine at an underground river over 500 feet wide and rushing over a 100 foot waterfall. All around the flowing river were large pumps and 3 foot diameter suction hoses, looking as if they had been used very recently.

  They boarded the ship and spent several hours exploring this frozen world, but saw nothing else that indicated any sort of activity and no signs of life. Looking up at the dark object in the sky, Chase finally asked, “I wonder how long ago it burned out? Where did the people go?” Daniel looked puzzled for a moment then realized that is exactly what happened. The sun had died. This planet had existed for maybe a million years or more, but died with its sun. Did the residents all die with it? Were they buried deep under the layers of frozen ice? As they slowly ascended back into the outer atmosphere and were about to set their heading back to Verron, Marcus noticed and unusual reflection coming from one of the large moons. There was nothing else to do, so Chase and Daniel headed in that direction to take a look. They had traveled a few hundred thousand miles and were approaching what was turning out to be an unusual moon. The surface was perfectly smooth and the shape was an absolutely symmetrical sphere. Daniel launched two probes and was getting readings showing antimatter reactors, life-forms and sophisticated communications, when suddenly there were two flashes of light from the Mars sized moon and both probes exploded in a giant fireball, as the whitematter reactors powering them exploded. As they continued their approach, two more blasts aimed directly at them bounced harmlessly off their force-field.

  Chase and Daniel were more than a little upset about these people, or whatever they were, firing on them totally unprovoked. They activated their weapons systems and prepared to blow the thing out of the sky if it fired again. Then Marcus pointed out, “Guys, that is not a moon. It’s a big, perfectly round, spaceship; I can’t imagine fabricating something like that. Have computer do a surface analysis. We should be plenty close enough by now.” A few minutes later the ship computer confirmed that the surface was some kind of metal alloy. Everyone aboard stared in disbelief, this ship was almost the size of Mars, and completely man made or alien made, but it was definitely built by someone very advanced.

  As they approached closer toward the huge steel ball, they began to notice large antenna and listening devices positioned around the outer surface of the giant globe. Suddenly, there was a small speck of light from the surface and in under a minute there were a dozen fighters swarming toward them. Once again, without warning or provocation, the fighters began to fire at them. Chase and Daniel had waited long enough. The fighters were encircling the destroyer in order to either shoot it down or in an attempt to herd it toward the sphere. Daniel armed the two laser-Gatling guns and Chase proceeded to quickly rotate the Destroyer in a 360 degree horizontal plane. The automatic targeting system worked perfectly, acquiring a target and firing instantly, with no delay or pilot error. With laser rounds spraying out of the weapons at 10,000 RPM, the dozen fighters were quickly turned to Swiss cheese. While Chase pulled closer to the floating rubbish, he had the ship computer do an analysis. As suspected the fighters had been unmanned, or at least were not flown by a warm-bodied life-form. Prepared to put an FTL Antimatter Missile up their backside, Daniel zeroed in on the exact location where the fighters had exited the sphere. They headed directly for it prepared to deliver everything the ship had into the big steel ball if anything even acted like it was going to attack.

  When he was about 60 miles from the surface a large hanger door spiraled open. It had to be at least a mile in diameter. A bright green light was flashing from the inside. The two members of the Dragon Guard looked at the Marines with them, and asked the Captain in command, “What do you think? We can always blast our way out.” The Captain replied, “You command the ship, I command the Marines. We go where you go.” Chase looked at his father, who nodded and said, “Why not.” With a command of, “Computer, prepare automatic targeting and target recognition system, if anything even looks like it may fire on us, take it out.”

  The Light Destroyer entered the mile wide spiral entrance door; they were looking down a tunnel that went on for miles. Daniel did some quick calculations and said, “If it goes all the way to the center of this thing, it’s probably close to 3000 miles long. As it turned out, after about 300 miles, a large door closed off the long passage in front and an opening more like a large hanger door opened to their right. It was in fact a hanger floor, and to the right of the large hanger bay were dozens of the fighter sized craft that had attacked them. As he hovered over the center of the hanger, Chase rotated the ship 180 degrees, back towards where they had come, and slowly set the ship on the ground, anxiously waiting to see what would happen next. After what seemed like an hour, Chase was ready to lift off and leave, when a single individual exited a door to the side of the ship and walked slowly toward the side of the Destroyer. About halfway there, he stopped and waved his arms in invitation to those on board. The being that stood before them was at least 7 feet-tall and stick-thin. It had two large green eyes mounted in a head that was too small, just a small dot for a nose and a slit of a mouth but no lips. The body looked hairless; neither Chase nor Daniel could identify any ears. On closer inspection, they noticed only four long fingers on each hand. The flowing pale green robe it wore only made the pasty white skin stand out almost florescent. Marcus and Kary sat at the controls, prepared to take off if anything should happen. Daniel asked the computer to open the doors. The alien did not have on a survival suit but that did not mean humans could survive in the sphere’s atmosphere. The Captain had the Marines fan out 12 to each side along the side of the ship. He then walked out in front of Chase and Daniel and made a thorough sweep with his eyes, looking for any sign of trouble.

  Just as Chase and Daniel reached the tall, robed alien, large doors opened to the left and the right and hundreds of armed cyborgs r
aced into the room and immediately began to fire on the Marines. The skinny alien was waving his arms in protest, as if trying to stop them. Four 5mm Laser Gatling guns opened fire immediately, lashing out with 5000 RPM. The rest of the Marines were carrying 10mm Plasma rifles and began to blow away targets to the right and left and dozens that were firing down on them from the upper mezzanine. In minutes the cyborgs were piles of scrap-iron. From the same doors the tall alien had exited came two mammoth sized robots, with mounted laser cannons; at least 100 mm. Before they could get off a shot, Daniel hurled a plasma ball as big as a small car at the one on the right and all that remained were its legs, while simultaneously Chase blasted the one on the left with a thermal ball so hot that in a fraction of a second, there was nothing left but a large pool of molten metal. Behind the dead robots exited an almost human looking man and a very well dressed cyborg close to eight feet tall. Neither was armed and both were shouting what seemed to be orders to cease fire. The cyborgs that could retreat, did so; dragging as many of the scrap piles with them as possible. Chase looked around the hanger. If this had gone on any longer, the walls would have collapsed from the damage done by the Marines and their weapons. Daniel was thankful for superior body armor and force-field technology. Not a single member of their party was injured and the Destroyer didn’t have a scratch on it. The large hanger door now in front of the Destroyer closed with a loud clank of metal. Chase turned to the approaching party and told them, “I’d suggest if you’d like to keep those doors, you had better open them, I’m prepared to blast my way out if I must.”

  Surprisingly the one almost human seemed to understand what he said. In perfect Xhondarian he replied, “It’s been over 10,000 years since anyone has heard that tongue and almost as long since Xhondarian has been spoken. Daniel answered the man in Xhondarian, “We came here in peace, why did you fire on us without warning?” The well-dressed humanoid explained, “The defensive weapons systems, these cyborgs, the fighters you destroyed, the weapons that shot down your drones, operate on automatic censors. They were triggered when you sent out the probes, and security increased as your ship approached. The cyborgs attack based on the fact that your transmitter beacon did not match their protocol for ships allowed in this bay. I am the one who invited you here, but didn’t get from the other side of the planet quick enough to halt their attack it seems. I’m glad you’re unharmed.” He turned to the large cyborg dressed in a military uniform, and in a very condescending voice, declared, “It would seem that your fully automated defense system has a few flaws. They fire at anything alien and would not stop until you commanded them too. I’d also say that their ability to deter an invasion is in question.”

  Chase asked the ship computer to analyze the breathability of the atmosphere. It quickly informed him that the atmosphere was compatible for humans, and there was a trace amount magnesium particulate in the atmosphere. He walked over to pick up a severed cyborg leg. Underneath the white paint he could see that it was probably made from a magnesium alloy. He smiled thinking that his new guns had turned them into trace amounts of magnesium. Chase and Daniel deactivated the armor headgear, allowing it to retract. The Marines stayed fully armed and ready. The three residents of the spherical ship approached cautiously and the man speaking in Xhondarian extended his hand in greeting, “Welcome to Beriya-Haven. My name is Zhuge, the Gentleman waving his arms in an attempt to stop the cyborgs is Finya and this is the designer and commander of our Cyborg army, General Klrxno. I apologize for the attack on you, your ship and your drones. I’m afraid the defense system reacts quickly to any intrusion and obviously will only take orders from the General. I am the one who opened the portal to invite you in. I assumed the attack was over. Is anyone in your party injured?”

  Chase looked at the three individuals in front of him; they were nothing like what he had expected to meet on Beriya. The man speaking in Xhondarian looked completely human except for his oversized ears and heavy bone structure that bulged from his forehead, just above his purple eyes. The General looked like a giant cyborg with human clothes on, complete with a hat that obviously had his rank insignia on it. It reminded Daniel of the cyborgs in Terminator before they acquired human skin and muscle features. He was highly polished and possessed red infrared eyes. As he spoke, his voice synthesizer sounded like the computer generated messages you’d get on the telephone back on Earth, “You’ve made quit a mess of my army, and yet you seem to have no damage at all. I hope you come as friends, we would prefer that to being your enemy. You are the first sign of life in this star system in over 5000 years. My cyborg army has never been used before. It seems they do in fact need some more work. Who are you and where are you from?”

  Daniel extended his hand to the General, saying, “I am Prince Daniel Verron.” Turning to Chase, he added, “This is Prince Chase Verron. We are on a mission for King Paul Verron to identify other worlds in our galaxy and the surrounding galaxies to determine who is an ally and who is an enemy. We are attempting to unite our allies in order to share commerce and defense against common enemies. We also are here to determine the technology levels of others in the worlds that border ours. Verron is 20,000 light years from here, but you are one of our closest neighbors.” Zhuge and the General could speak Xhondarian, but the other alien present did not. There was a short conversation between the three in some dialect neither Chase nor Daniel could understand. Zhuge turned back to them, saying, “We would like to learn more and we are in a position that would greatly be helped by strong allies. Would you like to see more of our planet? You and your soldiers are welcome.” Chase walked back to the Marine Captain and stepped into the ship for a moment. Shortly, Kary and Marcus exited the ship to join Chase and Daniel. The Marines would stay behind to protect the ship. As much as these four hated politics, Kary, Marcus, Chase and Daniel had become diplomats representing the interests of Verron. After a brief introduction of Prince Kary Verron, the Kings brother, and Prince Marcus Verron, the Kings nephew, and the new diplomats for Verron were escorted from the hanger bay and into a world that none of them could ever imagine existed.

  As they walked by the remains of the heavily armed robots, Finya turned to Zhuge and spoke for a few moments. Zhuge addressed Chase and Daniel, “In all the confusion Finya never saw either of you raise the weapons that destroyed these. They were capable of withstanding our most powerful weapons, yet it seems you destroyed them with little effort.” Daniel responded, “Your right, it was a very confusing few moments. I’ll show you the weapons used sometime. Sorry you missed them.” He looked at Chase hoping he would find a way to change the subject; he did, Chase asked, “If you don’t mind, could you please explain what happened. We traveled here using navigational charts done by the Xhondarians 10,000 years ago. They ceased to travel after that because they were involved in a civil war of their own. That is why you have seen none of them for thousands of years. We arrived to a burned out sun and explored a dead and frozen planet with the only sign of anyone being the mine shaft to what I assume is your water source.” Zhuge bowed his head, as if meditating, then said, “The Xhondarians lived here among us for centuries. Many of my race, the Abioye, are part Xhondarian. We are humanoid and many of us look completely Xhondarian, others have the ears and heavy brows of the Abioye. Finya is Chikondi. They are the natives of the planet Beriya. We all lived there together for thousands of years. Over 4000 years ago our scientist predicted that our sun would burn out within the next two centuries. They had millennia of data showing our planet and our sun cooling off a little more each year, forecasting from that history, our leadership decided we had to prepare for the inevitable. We have had the capability to build galactic traveling spaceship for thousands of years, but to build enough ships to transport over two billion people and sustaining those people for a flight with an uncertain duration, since we knew of no place to go, was a logistical impossibility. Xhondar was 100,000 light years away, Abioye was destroyed by a meteor shower, that’s why they moved here to begi
n with.

  The Chikondi offered a proposal that seemed like the best alternative; build a moon large enough to hold the entire population and put it in orbit around Beriya. We have been using cyborgs, drones, androids, robots and other forms of artificial intelligence for centuries. Once a design was established the base platform was launched into our orbit completely staffed with cyborgs and androids that require no food, no oxygen, and are not affected by the temperatures in orbit. The Abioye and Chikondi fabricated ship components, manufactured the metal alloys used and sent it into orbit, the Generals cyborgs and androids, year after year, built our Haven, the place where the entire population of Beriya would be able to survive. It took every bit of the two centuries to make our new home inhabitable and years to mass evacuate our citizens. The average temperature was 100 below zero by the time we left and getting colder. Beriya-Haven was half this size when we moved here, we continue to expand a little each century or so. The Finya can survive in any environment. They could have survived life on the surface, but nothing else worked properly in the low temperatures and no one could keep up with the snow and ice accumulation. However, they will make trips to the surface to resupply our water, and to mine needed ore for making metals. We have enough antimatter to last another 5000 years. We’re not concerned about that, we have an entire burned out sun to supply all we will ever need. So we have been here for over 3000 years. The original residents have passed away and everyone here, except the cyborgs, was born on this ship. Since the cyborgs and androids saved the lives of over 2 billion citizens, they were given citizenship as well. Our 3 billion residents work well together, understanding each other and using each other’s particular abilities to accomplish whatever needs to be done.”