Hunter had an idea of what he might do with a 7 foot-tall man who wore robes. The church business was booming on Verron and with various denominations having different traditions for the attire of ministers and choirs, there was now a department in Verron’s J.C. Penny store that sold clothing, religious articles, communion sets; essentially anything needed to set the tone of worship in various churches around Verron. Paki looked as if he had gone to heaven when he saw the long choir robes with gold trim, priestly vestments and Cossacks. With Klelta and plenty of tall Russians around, there were actually some that with a slight alteration fit him. After trying on a dozen outfits, he finally left the shop wearing a white Cossack with red buttons and red piping trim. On hangers and in a bag, he carried three more robes, a solid black Cossack, a deep burgundy choir robe with a gold sash and an emerald green choir robe with white sash. He placed an order for two more custom tailored robes in red and dark blue.
When they met in the food court two hours later, Sekai was wearing a black pin-striped business suite, a pale pink shirt and a burgundy and black neck tie with Gucci shoes. He had two more outfits on hangers, a navy blue power suit and a light tan summer suit. What really got their attention and everyone else in the mall was Uduak. She strolled up with Renee, wearing a two-tone blue printed halter maxi dress and gladiator sandal with 4 inch heels. The dress in shades of blue with a bandana pattern was form-fitting and backless, showing lots of pale blue skin. Hunter had to admit, if you were into blue women, she was really pretty hot. She carried no less than four more bags and Renee carried three. The three Governors seemed pleased with their purchases. Before she headed back to her office, Renee promised Uduak that if she came back again, she’d take her to Farmington to the Western Wear and Leather Store. Hunter pictured Uduak in tight black leather pants and a black leather halter, with knee high boots. He wished he hadn’t, he’d have to be sure to avoid that shopping trip.
Renee escorted the Governors back as far as the ship, and each of them promised to come see her again. She informed them that she was the Director of Commerce and Trade and hoped to be doing business with them soon. The General bought nothing. Hunter decided cyborgs didn’t have a shopping program built in; he did however enjoy watching people ice-skate and ride the nearby carousel. Hunter was thankful they had no skates in his size; it was a scary thought to think of an eight foot cyborg on skates. The entire trip back to Beriya was filled with laughter and conversations as the three governors showed each other what they had acquired. Uduak had to model several of her outfits. Hunter couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that even female androids loved to shop. Whoever designed Uduak had definitely made her all woman. The General took the controls for a while as they flew out of Verron’s airspace. He had him circle Big Red and allowed the General to fire a photon torpedo into a small ridge of solid rock. Hunter swore he saw a grin on the metallic face. Shortly after hitting the outer orbit beyond Verron’s moon, Hunter opened the gateway back to Beriya-Haven. He could tell that the Governors would never be satisfied with their star system again, especially now that they had seen that the grass was indeed greener on the other side. Upon their return, the Governors had Hunter fly all the way into the middle of Beriya and land next to the Executive Starship. Limousines were awaiting them as they exited the Destroyer and companion robots were standing by to carry the purchases from Market Place.
That evening there was a huge reception diner in the Governors Palace. Uduak appeared in a White Lace Tank Dress, Sekai looked very official in his Navy Blue Suit and Paki decided he liked his white Cossack so much he wore it for the event. They were the envy of the others of their race, and the Abioye women were envious that an android was better dressed than the humans. After socializing with the locals, the contingency from Verron became very comfortable with these people. Paul had a brief discussion before the evening’s festivities with the three Governors and was told that the decision to relocate Beriya-Haven was theirs to make and that no one else in Beriya would even know it had happened until it was over. The citizens present were there to celebrate the fact that they now had allies and potential trading partners and that they were no longer alone, none could even conceive of the possibility that they may live in an entirely different solar system by this time tomorrow. Paki expressed the fact that he would prefer no one was told and get their hopes up, only to find out it couldn’t be done. Paul hadn’t even considered the possibility it couldn’t be done, he suddenly had a feeling of dread that it just may fail.
Katelyn had made friends with one of the Chikondi and the two appeared to get along very well. Paul had to smile at the appearance of 99, Cali, Hon, a Chikondi, a lime green android, Katelyn and Tala, in a social circle sharing stories of Verron and Beriya-Haven. No one could ever accuse Verron of not having ethnic diversity. What was strange was that the Dragon Guard never once considered the nonhuman members to be any less vital than the original humans. He thought, “They are indeed going to be great leaders.”
The next morning, bright and early, everyone capable of forming a gateway gathered in the large hanger with the two ships from Verron. Paul, Zimuel and Tlase had spent the evening putting together a plan for a way to accomplish what they desired to do. Lucy had done the calculations and set the exact trajectories required. They intended to have Beriya-Haven accelerate to a speed equal to Big Red, at 8,662 mph. Lucy calculated for the gateway to open on the opposite side of Verron from Big Red at precisely the same orbital speed and distance from Verron as their red moon. The two were almost exactly the same size and would be the two closest moons; the third orbiting an additional 100,000 miles farther away. Zimuel laid out the plan using a hologram produced by Lucy to illustrate. He showed one gateway-capable member of their party positioned at clock positions around the outer circumference the sphere and two in each ship centrally located in the middle of the sphere; each of them would form a gateway simultaneously and the ship computer and Lucy would boost the power and link them together forming a gateway large enough for the entire sphere to go through. Tala looked at King Verron with a look of apprehension on her face, as she asked, “Exactly which 12 are going to be taking a spacewalk on the surface of Beriya?” Hunter couldn’t resist giving her a hard time and said, “Oh, and since when are you afraid to make a little space walk.” Tala and Cali jumped right back at him, saying, “We ain’t afraid of nothin!” Paul couldn’t help but laugh at how a little alien cat-person had adopted a southern accent. He declared, “All the Guard, Xhing Li, Gljarne, and Bhlani will suit-up and take positions on the surface. I’ll fly one ship and Dalhia will fly the other. At Lucy’s command, when the exact speed is reached, she will open the gateway to the precise trajectory required to continue orbiting around Verron.
It took another three hours for the ships to unload and position those working from the sphere surface then the ships quickly took position. Each space-walker looked and felt completely isolated as they stood secured to a safety line thousands of miles from the next nearest companion. The signal was given to the cyborgs controlling the spheres thrusters and the big planet began to pick-up speed as it moved along the proposed trajectory. They had traveled only 1000 miles before the sphere had reached the 8662 mph speed required. Lucy gave a countdown of 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1, Gateway. Those involved needed to make the biggest gateway ever created. With Lucy boosting the power and connecting them together, in an instant they were looking at Verron while standing on the surface of Beriya-Haven. There was loud cheering from everyone at the announcement to those waiting inside for the outcome, when King Verron declared, “Welcome to Verron. You can now tell everyone they have a new home.” Those standing on the surface were worn-out from the emotion and the drain a gateway that size had exerted on them, but none complained as they one-by-one climbed back in the Destroyer and Executive Ship and assisted by the awaiting Marines with the removal of their survival suits. Those involved were smiling like a bunch of children in a candy store when they returned to the hanger to be
greeted by a cheering crowd of Beriyans. Paul officially announced his welcome to Verron and asked, “How many of you want to go see your new home planet?” The Governors decided to allow the regional leaders of each race to board one of the transports they had used to haul supplies between their frozen planet and Beriya-Haven. They were told that they needed to return within 12 hours so they could then spread word and hopefully images of their new location.
It was a mass of confusion as thousands shuffled aboard to be one of the first to travel to Verron. Chase and Daniel made a point of including the first people they met in this expedition to their new home. Zhuge and Finya had been with them throughout the tour of Beriya and were given a seat directly behind the pilot and co-pilot for their trip. Even in the mass of people, Paul noticed Katelyn board the Executive Ship behind some of the Marines, then remembered she was supposed to be flying in the Destroyer with Prince Hunter and the rest of the Guard. He couldn’t understand why she would be alone on this ship when she was almost inseparable from the rest of the group. He was about to say something to her when he looked across at the Destroyer to see Katelyn in the co-pilot seat beside Tala, who couldn’t stand to be a passenger when there was a perfectly good ship to fly. Paul called to the Destroyer and asked Katelyn to come over to see him before they took off, he had something important for her to do. She was there in minutes and looked confused when he said rather shortly, “Come with me.” Katelyn was wondering what kind of trouble she could possibly be in. Then she saw where they were going. Her eyes had to do a double take when she saw herself standing around a group of Marines. Just before they got to them, the other Katelyn saw them and immediately had a look of complete shock on her face. Two of the Marines standing beside her saw what was going on and grabbed the second Katelyn to restrain her; she began to cry.
“Who are you and how are you doing what you’re doing,” Commanded Paul. Almost instantly, the second Katelyn transformed into the Chikondi that had been with Katelyn the night before. She immediately began to beg, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Please don’t make me go back. They don’t like my kind here. They call us mistakes and genetic accidents and anomalies. We are hated by the Chikondi because we aren’t perfect like them, we’re hated by the Abioye because we can look like any of them and the cyborg and androids just don’t like us because we aren’t predictable.” Katelyn actually gave her new friend a comforting hug and told her, “Uncle Paul would never turn anyone away, but how did you look and talk just like me?” She began to cry again, saying, “We’re accidents. When Chikondi clone new citizens, there is on a rare occasion, about 1 in every 100,000,000, that instead of having a fixed genetic code will have a variable genetic code capable of becoming anything we see or touch. They call us shapeshifters. The Chikondi can tell exactly who we are telepathically no matter what form we take and forbid us from taking any shape except this approved form. Please don’t tell them, they will lock me away if they find out what I’ve done, please take me with you. I promise I won’t trick you again.”
Paul was not about to let anyone this unique simply disappear from his grasp, but asked, “Will you be missed?” The frightened Chikondi shook her head and sadly answered, “We don’t have families and friends among the Chikondi. With everyone looking the same and thinking the same, no one will notice me missing. They only notice when I am around, because I’m not like them. Before Paul could respond, Katelyn took control, “Come with me and meet the rest of my friends. They’re going to love you; no way you’re going anywhere but home with me.” She looked to see if Uncle Paul was going to argue and when he didn’t, she left and headed back to the Destroyer with her new friend.
When the caravan of ships from both Verron and Beriya-Haven exited the long tunnel to the outside, there were thousands of anxious faces, wondering just what was in store for them. Those who were in a position to look out a portal were treated to a spectacular view of Verron with a red moon behind it and off at a 30 degree angle, her distant second sun. He couldn’t help but think about the logistics of incorporating these people into Verron society. At least it could be done slowly, since they already had a home and he rightfully believed that not everyone would want to live on a surface planet after thousands of years of feeling safe inside one. With this many tourists, Paul decided to land two ships at a time in the City Square in front of the Capital Building. He then shuttled people from there for short excursions to see some of Verron’s beauty. When he exited his ship he summoned Renee, Dr. Joe Verron, Dr. Desiree Verron, Michael Verron, Agriculture Director Clark Kidd, and Marcus Verron. They put a plan in motion to utilize as much of the Beriya technology as possible. When Clark heard about the sophistication of their cyborgs and robots, he was ready to get going immediately with using them to increase production. He got even more exited to know there were so many talented agriculturists already doing such amazing things.
Marcus was almost drooling on himself thinking about how much his production facility would benefit from their unbelievable abilities. Desiree couldn’t wait to learn more about the cloning and flesh producing tanks used on the androids. Not present, was General Zarman, but Paul knew he was ready to make prototype cyborgs of Verron Steel and armed with better weapons. No General wanted to put his men in danger, some places they had already trained were so hazardous to humans that he tried to avoid those areas when possible, but his enemy may not. He had to go where the enemy was, regardless of the conditions.
It was several hours before Paul was able to leave the new tourists and go home to the comfort of the Mansion. At this point he felt like everything to do with the transition would be in better hands if he left it to his very competent staff. He excused himself from the crowd; most of whom wanted to see Market Place for their first stop. He grinned as he realized just how much busier the mall was about to become. He also acknowledged that the demand for food was also going to increase a good bit as well, but at least the Beriyians were not dependent on Verron for food. He found a quiet spot and made a jump back to the Mansion. He was in the foyer, headed for the kitchen to get some real food to eat, not grown in a meat tank, and heard laughter and joking coming from the lower level. When he entered the kitchen, every member of the Dragon Guard was present and there were two Queen Mothers. Everyone looking on, including the real Queen Mother, was laughing hysterically. Vladimir was also there with his arm around a very beautiful Jesserrica while he held the baby girl recently renamed Paulet in his arms. Little Linsarius was enjoying himself as he was hanging out with his older friends and oft time babysitters. He knew that Tala, Cali and Katelyn had been babysitting him a lot lately. It seemed he would soon have to find him a new administrative assistant for Vlad, he thought mischievously, “Maybe a nice purple android.” He looked at the two of them almost enviously thinking, “They do make a nice looking couple.”
When he entered the kitchen, Vladimir turned to Paul and asked, “Can I have her? Not to own, but to train as spy?” Vladimir had already begun training Hunter and the rest of the Dragon Guard in the techniques of espionage and infiltration into various enemy strongholds. He thought he would teach them Spetsnaz hand-to-hand techniques, but soon realized they were all better than him. But no one was better at the spy-craft than this former KGB agent. He had most recently been teaching survival skills and had taken several of them to foreign countries on Earth to see how long it would take for someone to figure out they were not a native. Hunter had become extremely good, Amber wasn’t far behind, all of them did better than average, but no doubt, this new Shapeshifter friend would be a master in no time under his careful tutoring. Paul smiled at the question and replied, “I take it you have already approached the subject with our new acquaintance?” Vladimir smiled and answered, “Da.” Paul smiled and looked at the smiling lady on his arm and asked, “And what do you think? Do you think I should let him have our new friend?” Jesserrica also answered, “Da.” Vladimir smiled even brighter and informed Paul, “She also said ‘Da’ when I asked her to b
ecome Mrs. Zhdanov.” Little Linsarius grinned and told Paul, “Vlad will be my deda.”
Paul turned to hear what the sudden roar of laughter was only to come face to face with carbon copy of Paul Verron. The Chikondi was walking across the kitchen floor and even walked like him. He couldn’t help but be amused. When the hilarity finally died down Paul asked, “Do you have a name?” Transforming back into her Chikondi form, she replied in a distinctive female voice, “I am called Dakarai.” She turned to look at Katelyn and continued, “My friends now call me Camil, after some Earth creature that can change its appearance.” Paul extended his hand and replied, “Camil it is. I leave you in the hands of Vladimir and my Dragon Guard. Welcome to Verron.” He grabbed what was left of the bowl of popcorn in the middle of the table and a cold Diet Coke out of the fridge and turned to leave. He then turned back and asked, “If there are others like you, do they feel the same way you do?” She nodded an affirmative. He looked back at Vlad, knowing he was already calculating in that brain of his just where he could use the unique creatures. Paul knew as he headed for his suite with his stolen popcorn that soon there would be 10; the Guard tends to choose their own.
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