Paul and 99 were headed out for a run the next morning when Lucy informed Paul, “There has been an energy disturbance in the atmosphere every day for the past week. It occurs approximately every twenty four hours and occurs at the west end of the Robert’s Range. According to my analysis it is the formation of a gateway. My satellite sensors monitor all gateway activity on the planet. The disturbance is in sequence with a 24 hour Earth cycle.” Paul asked, “So you’re saying it just happened again?” Lucy answered, “Exactly 4 minutes and 22 seconds ago.” Paul asked, “Show me where?” Lucy showed a holographic image of the mountain range and the precise location of the gateway that just occurred.” Paul and 99 made their jump to the exact same spot and began to look around. Paul activated his telescopic enhancement and saw a fast moving object about four-miles away. He grabbed 99 and the two made a jump to a distance of about fifty yards in front of the moving target. “As Paul and 99 stood in the path, Amber smiled and said, “Fancy meeting you here. How did you find me?” Paul knew she had needed a good challenging run and wasn’t upset at all. He was a runner and knew how much it meant to him. He told her, “Unless you just want to run alone, we’d love to join you.” Amber was thrilled, and told them, “I’d love the company, but with my schedule being on Earth time it won’t be every day unless you want to wake-up in the middle of the night to run with me. You told me not to do this in Colorado and that pitiful 8 mile run to campus each day was boring. So by doing this, I can get back to Colorado Springs and drive to campus.”
As they began to run together, Paul looked at her and replied, “Drive? What are you driving?” He didn’t know how anyone could talk so much and run at the same time, but she began to tell him all about her new Porsche and the Audi for Robert, their ski trips and then about Andre and finished by telling Paul that she was in love with Robert. They ran for two hours and Amber had to return to school. It made Paul’s day to see his Granddaughter so happy and healthy, he wasn’t so sure about that being in love part, but he knew it was bound to happen sooner or later.
The next morning he was in the office waiting for Renee, Michael, General Zarman, Zimuel and Yadvega, he was finally going to make the trip he had been putting off to Alpha Centauri. Renee, as usual, was the first one to show up. When he told her about running with her daughter the day before, she was upset that she didn’t come see her. Then he asked if she knew about Robert and her being in love. Renee smiled and replied, “Dad, you’re so slow. She was in love a month ago when he came to Verron to visit. I like him myself. She’s got a good head on her shoulders, she’ll be fine.” Michael walked in just as he was asking Renee about the new Porsche. Michael overheard and commented, “Get over it. These kids have billion dollar spaceships and you’re worried about an $80,000 car. By the way, I received the money from Robert for the Audi she bought him.” Renee’s eyes flew wide, saying, “My daughter bought a man a new car; I need to talk to that girl.” Michael then told Paul, “By the way, Tala has won her first four races and bought a new bike for her teammate who wrecked his old one. Katelyn has started a band and sings at a club where the surfers hang out, Hunter is driving a $120,000 BMW and Dorna offered us $20,000,000 for exclusive rights to crotch rocket racing.” Paul loved these informal updates, it made him realize that in spite of the royal titles and super powers, every one of the Guard was pretty much normal.
When everyone arrived, they headed for the hanger and boarded the Dragon Wagon. There were several economic and military advisors onboard with them as they headed for their newest allies. They had just left the Verron system when Michael told Paul, “Oh, yea, I forgot to tell you. The guys doing the terraform work on Molnar discovered that the place is loaded with TiO2 and Titanium deposits. Holzin Xhondar told me that Xhondar I, II and III use TiO2 and Titanium and you already know how much its used on Earth in paint, plastic and other products; of course it may hurt the Chinese economy if you began to export it to Earth.” He couldn’t hide his grin. Paul told Michael, “Get with Donald and Leona and have them put out some feelers to DuPont, PPG, AKZO and NIPPON. I know our friends in Australia export a lot of the stuff, but there is probably room for both of us in the market.” Turning to Zimuel, he added, “Get Bhlani to check things out on Xhondar I. It looks like Molnar is going to be a very rich Nation.” He looked at the others and asked, “Would it be wrong of me to make them part of Verron. I don’t want to rule them, but if word gets out that they have such resources, others will try. I don’t want them taken advantage of. Those resources are theirs. If we mine them, the profits go to Molnar. I will not get richer at their expense.” Yadvega told Paul, “I’ll make a trip when we get back from Alpha Centauri and have a discussion with Chief Tu, it might be a good idea if Queen Tala joined me.” Paul nodded his approval.
Renee had already been to Grnardo three times and their security system was beginning to get used to spaceships coming and going from their planet. Between Amber’s original appearance and Renee’s three, they now trusted the people from Verron enough to land in their capital city of Tedacbuc. It was an impressive city, spread out for miles along the coast of their one ocean. With a population of over 20 million, it reminded Paul of an overcrowded Los Angeles County. At least the people here weren’t rioting in the streets like they were when Renee and her crew were there. When the Dragon Wagon landed at their airport it was greeted by a military band and hundreds of thousands of Grnardo residents. Supreme Commander Gonathin and his wife were dressed in their finest as were the thirty other members of the ruling party of both the Nation and the City. Since the planet had been monitoring Earth television and radio signals for many years, most of the residents understood the two most widely broadcast languages, English and Chinese. They were amazed when Paul greeted them in their own language. He often wondered how he could have ever made it without Yadvega and her grasp for learning and teaching new tongues. Paul felt like it was a simple language to speak. The hardest thing to learn was the variety of ways the letter “G” was used: For example, Gonathin was pronounced “Jonn-at-hin” and Grnardo was pronounced Jern-r-do. They also only had 22 letters in their alphabet.
Paul gave his usual speech he gave for future allies and made a point of letting them know that they would help protect them from any aggressors, even if that aggressor happened to be one of Verron’s future allies, like Earth. Paul knew that they were terrified of what they had observed happening on that violent planet. Paul actually admitted that he was also appalled by the things happening on Earth and had made a commitment to the leaders of Earth to assist them in bringing unity among nations. He reminded them that not all Earth people were alike and that most of the population of Verron was in fact from Earth, including him. The group from Verron was driven in some very luxurious ground vehicles that looked a lot like a 1957 Rolls Royce Phantom, except with the ever present turbine engine, to the Grnardo Capital building. It was a huge complex that housed not only the government administrative offices, but also housed the Supreme Commander and his family.
Paul liked the matter-of-fact way these people conducted business. They headed to a large conference room and began to discuss relations between the two countries with little formality. Renee had done an excellent job of identifying potential trade items and needs by both parties. The first order of business was going to be trade then military matters would be discussed. The first item on the table for discussion was salt. Verron had virtually none and Xhondar I, II, and III had very little left and had been forced to manufacture synthetic salt; no one really liked it. Supreme Commander Gonathin actually smiled when Paul told him, “I think we can make good use of your salt deposits. That is unless you are partial to the beautiful shade of purple you turn when you consume it.” Renee jumped into the conversation, saying, “My team discussed the mining of salt and export to Verron and Xhondar. We’ve already made arrangements for mining equipment from Verron to be shipped here. The corrosiveness of the salt is so strong, their metals don’t last more than a year in the
harsh environment. Machinery made of Verron steel will be shipped here for the operation. We will also provide freighters for our supply and Bhlani is organizing Xhondarian freighters to pick-up their own. After working with Commander Gonathin’s staff, we have forecasted production of between 300 and 400 million tons next year. Xhondar alone could use all of that, but it will be divided between us and them.”
Gohanna (pronounced Jo-haun-a), one of the scientists that had visited Verron originally, and had since made two more trips, spoke up saying, “We are identifying several foods produced on Verron that provide nutrition badly needed on our planet and that tastes much better than what we have to offer, and their wheat and beef exceed every nutritional need. We have also evaluated their medical technology and with a few minor modifications much of their technology can be used here.”
Paul knew that they could waste all day brainstorming about economic issues and he had no doubt that Renee and Michael could more than handle anything that transpired. He soon changed the subject to military unification, saying, “Commander Gonathin, we know that one day in the future someone will come along and attempt to either destroy or overrun your planet, just as they will try to on Earth and my own planet. If you are concerned about Earth, then you should be even more concerned about the aggression of civilizations across the galaxies. We would like to locate defensive positions on you planet and train your people how to use the much higher technology we possess. If you are willing, I would like to bring some of your military leaders to Verron to undergo flying instructions and combat techniques used by Verron. If your people are willing to fight alongside the people of a dozen other worlds, then our allied strength will grow by another 4 billion people. I would like to invite you and your senior staff to come to Verron and to Xhondar I to learn more about what we can accomplish together and to meet the people who will soon be your military and economic partners.” General Zarman added, “Three of your officers have visited me and seen what we have and the way we do things. We can take 1000 of your people right now for training. When they return home, they can help train the rest of your military. I believe we can work out arrangements through our import/export relationship to cover the costs of ships, body armor and weapons. I will then place 500 of my people and a small training center here. If you like, we can even establish trade with Earth on some of your resources through our facility we are building there. Earth does not even need to know you exist unless you want them to. But I hate to admit, a lot of the clothing that your people who visited Verron are so fond of, came from Earth.” One look from the Supreme Commanders wife, who was wearing a $3000 Alexander McQueen ¾ sleeves black draped-ruffled dress, that made her smooth Crimson skin look beautiful, and Paul knew that Earth fashion would soon be a big part of Grnardo. He made a mental note to have Hunter and Ursula expand their business. Maybe even have Ursula put on a fashion show in Tedacbuc.
Paul loaded the Supreme Commander, his wife and his staff in the Dragon Wagon and flew them as they gave him a tour of Grnardo. It really was a beautiful planet and unique compared to any of the others he had visited. The colors were vibrant and the sky was a shade of violet. The oceans were a beautiful blue/green and although the mountains were much smaller than Verron there were plenty in the 10 to 20 thousand foot range. One thing he noticed was that this had to be the cleanest planet he had ever seen. Even Verron or Xhondar was not as spotless as this entire planet. Rural areas far from the nearest city looked like a Kincaid Painting. One thing that amazed Paul most was the fact that there was no war, at least that none could remember and virtually no violence; no wonder they were scared of Earth. He almost hated to build up the military in such a peaceful Nation, but he knew that they would never survive without it and they were advanced enough to adjust quickly. From what he could tell, they had a very high intelligence, definitely higher than that of a human.
Paul attended a formal dinner that evening and had a chance to meet leaders from all over the planet. With over 4 billion residents on a planet a bit smaller than Earth, they had made the most of their land by building large cities and leaving the lands available for farming and exploiting their mineral resources. They were very good at producing metal alloys and electronics and for a land with few trees big enough to be used for anything but growing fruit, they had built some remarkable homes and residential buildings; most of what Paul saw was glass and steel, but there was plenty of concrete and stone as well. He decided to have Renee market some of the Verron forest products to them and possibly Verron Crete. The planets major industrial leaders were at the banquet and there was no shortage of interest in working with Verron. These men were motivated to be rich, yet Paul saw no sign of poverty in any of the cities he had visited. Paul gathered Renee around a group of eager businessmen and had her make the arrangements to come to Verron in order to discover other items they could trade with each other. The next day Paul left the Dragon Wagon with Renee and made a gateway to Mississippi for him and General Zarman. It was Saturday there and Paul wanted to see a crotch rocket race. When Renee found out the real reason he was leaving for Earth, she couldn’t resist playing the martyr over how hard she worked and never took time off to play. Paul smiled and kissed her on the forehead, as he replied, “I know sweet heart. It is so much more mature of you when you and Josh go ride a 2000 pound bull or a bucking horse in a rodeo. Now that makes perfect sense. Please forgive my recklessness.” As he and Jim stepped through, he noticed the classic Renee Verron eye-roll and heard the huffing verbalization of, “MEN!”
Twenty Verron Marines had a nervous look on their faces when the King and General Zarman showed up an hour before the weekly crotch rocket race. Paul looked around and saw camera crews from CNN Sports and Fox Sports. There had to be over 100,000 people scattered out all over the Verron Trade Complex. There were even vendors selling food, T-Shirts and souvenirs of miniature crotch rockets. One thing was obvious; they needed to find another place to hold the races. When the complex was finished he couldn’t have all these people everywhere. He knew there was a really nice race track outside New Orleans where motorcycles and cars raced and that Barber Raceway was in Alabama. As much as he hated to move the race, he really couldn’t think of any alternative. Then he looked at the business this event was bringing south Mississippi and decided he would get with the local businessmen to look for a location near Success where they could continue to hold the races.
One of the First Sergeants who raced told King Verron that many of the casinos were empty on Saturday until the races were over. Evidently there was some serious betting being done on the crotch rocket race. Once they realized that King Verron and Jim were there to enjoy the race and not chew their butts, they began to relax. Finally Major James Henderson, the man in charge of the security detail, stepped forward and smiled saying, “I know that it looks like we are simply using government property for personal use, but this actually started out with the guys doing research on possible uses for the crotch rockets. We were actually going to propose having a crotch rocket unit added to the Marine Corp, picture a few thousand of these armed with those 5mm Gatling’s and maybe a few small FTLs. We could then do what those Jhxunka did when they came at us with an assault force. These things would be like trying to hit a quail with a howitzer, be great for ship assaults and fast mobilization on surface assaults as well. We were actually testing the durability and maneuverability of the machines when we began to draw a crowd. Well, I guess the research kind of got out of hand.”
Paul turned to see the gears turning in General Zarman’s head; he knew he liked the idea as much as he did. Paul patted the Major on the shoulder and with a serious tone, he replied, “You know Marine that I have a strict policy of never allowing anyone to use something in combat that I would not be willing to use myself.” The Major looked like he was about to crawl under a rock, until Paul could no longer keep a straight face and even Jim smiled now knowing what Paul was up to. Paul continued, “So I am giving you an order to find me a set of b
ody armor that will fit so I can run my own personal evaluation. I’m afraid it may require one of your men to sit out on a few laps of evaluation.” By this time the Major was grinning ear-to-ear and began to shout orders at his men preparing for the first race of the day. The entire time, General Zarman was shaking his head and laughing. Soon a young Sergeant about Paul’s size sacrificed his armor for a worthy cause and King Verron was escorted to the awaiting crotch rocket. He never wanted any of his people to accuse him of letting them do anything that he was not willing to do himself. The young Sergeant didn’t get to ride that Saturday. King Verron had to be positive that he had done a proper evaluation. He won 3 out of 7 races. Some of these boys had really gotten good.
It wasn’t until the races were over and the news crews came into the pits to interview the winners that they discovered that King Verron had been racing with his Marines. He knew that his picture changing out of his body armor, wearing only the shorts normally worn under the armor would be all over the internet and television before bedtime that night. He did a short interview, after he put his shirt on, with both FOX and CNN and a local NBC affiliate out of Jackson. He treated his Marines to pizza and made the Biloxi Pizza Hut very happy, purchasing enough pizza to feed 100 people. It seemed the Marines, especially the single ones, had company for dinner. The Southern Bells had a thing for guys who drove NASCAR and raced Crotch Rockets. The next morning Paul went to church at a local Success church and spent the afternoon with John Eib looking over the tremendous progress being made on the project. Oil would begin filling the tanks as soon as Paul got back to Verron to tell them to turn on the pumps. One of the warehouses was completely finished. Paul planned for it to be used for his food distribution center for exports to Verron. He knew that Leona and Donald were negotiating a deal for Paul to own the first Coca Cola bottling franchise to be built on Xhondar, but until then, he would ship from Mississippi. The contents of his Certified Grocery Warehouse destined for Verron would also be transferred to the Mississippi location.
Verron: Serve and Protect: Book Two (Verron Series 2) Page 20