Serve and Protect

by Douglas Varnell

  The following week, social media all over the world would be showing their friends and families how a beach party is done on Verron. Katelyn landed the big transport at the edge of the tree line, as far from the water as possible, then opened the hanger sized rear door to face the gentle ocean breeze. It made a perfect place to picnic and take a rest from the Sun. Folding tables were set-up and coolers full of sodas were everywhere. When Bart exited behind the other excited surfers, he stopped to admire the most sensational surf he had ever seen. The big 10 foot waves seemed to take forever to break and looked like you could ride them for miles before they came to an end. The Aussies wasted no time racing to see who would catch the first wave. One of the men was removing one of his boards from its travel cover and asked Bart, “Wanna give it try mate, just grab one of me boards.” There was no way Bart was going to give-up a chance to ride these beauties. He quickly removed his tank-top and picked-up one of the offered boards, thinking “Next time I bring my own.” Soon surfers were spread out for miles up and down the beach to keep from crowding each other as they enjoyed the surf. Brad soon realized that he was surfing with some pretty gifted surfers. These guys and gals were not your weekend surfers on the coast of Pismo Beach. These people were the real-deal, the kind of surfers who dedicated their entire life to traveling the Earth searching for the perfect wave. He knew they had just found it. In all the excitement he had lost track of why he was there. He turned to watch for the next approaching wave and saw Katelyn Verron paddling like nothing he had ever seen to time the wave she had been waiting on. With incredible grace and athletic ability she hit the wave perfectly. He couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she was. Bart paddled to catch his ride thinking, “This is going to be an unusual working relationship.”

  When Bart finished what he felt like was a fantastic run, Katelyn was on the beach waiting for him. She gave him a smile that made his skin tingle and said, “Here I was worried about you getting along with my friends, and when I saw you grab a board and head for the waves, I thought, he’s gonna die before I even get to know him. How long you been surfing?” Bart walked back to the Transport/Beach Pavilion and told her about his growing up on the beach at Pismo Beach and how he and his brother used to surf every day when they were younger. He even told her that just a few days earlier he was surfing with his little sister. He looked around and added, “These friends of yours are her heroes. I think I recognize some of them from the posters on her bedroom walls and the magazines she has all over the house. The surfing here is incredible, she’d love it.” Katelyn smiled and responded in a way that took him by surprise, when she asked, “Would you like to go get your board and your sister so she can surf with us for the rest of the weekend?” Would your parents get upset if she spent Thanksgiving on Verron with her big brother?” Bart asked, “Why are you being so nice?” Katelyn paused a moment and answered, “Because I can tell that deep inside that blue suit you hide behind, there is a real person. And besides, I think you’re sort of cute, in an FBI kind of way.”

  Katelyn then walked away to spend time helping teach Linsarius how to surf. Emily and Maria were already getting plenty of attention from those willing to teach them. She just hoped these Tennessee girls didn’t drown while they learned. While Katelyn was teaching Linsarius a couple of smaller transports arrived, landing on the beach next to the bigger ship. Katelyn recognized several of the Marines who exited carrying large grills. Before she knew it they had a fire going and were preparing to grill hamburgers and hotdogs, Kettle Cooked Potato Chips, coleslaw, baked beans and churns for homemade ice cream. Out of the ship came Daniel and Chase along with the twins Fay and Kay. To her shock, all four had surfboards. Every eye on the beach turned to look at the twins. Katelyn looked around at the really beautiful people around her and it amazed her that even in this crowd of beauties, the twins still stood-out, she then acknowledged, and so do my brother and cousin.

  Chase, Daniel, Fay and Kay had managed several runs before the cooks blasted the fog-horn to announce dinner. Although they were far from professional in their abilities, everyone felt they did an excellent job for four people who had only been to this beach five times before and those five times were their first time on a surfboard. Bart had a chance to meet Prince Chase and Prince Daniel and tried not to be as obvious as all the other men when he was introduced to the twins. While everyone else had been surfing, Vlad had been tromping through the woods searching for the perfect location for Phase I of the beach resort he was definitely going to build. He told several of the Aussies what he was planning and several had some really good ideas of things he could do to make it even better, after-all, most of them had been to resorts all over Earth and had plenty of experience. Bart felt like he had missed out on life as he sat and watched these people having such a good time. He couldn’t remember the last time he just had fun. After everyone had eaten their fill, someone told Katelyn, “It sure was thoughtful of you to arrange all this.” She felt embarrassed but admitted, “It wasn’t me.” She turned and asked, “Vlad?” The big Russian replied, “It was great, but I thought you did it too.” Katelyn walked over to the Marine cook in charge of the feeding frenzy and asked, “Who sent you Sergeant?” He smiled and told her, “Your Dad rounded us up and sent us out. He didn’t want his little girl to starve. Besides, I was supposed to tell you, Happy Birthday! Prince Marcus also said it was a lot cheaper to feed them on the beach than to have Princess Katelyn bring them all home for dinner.” Katelyn smiled, saying, “Now that sounds just like my Daddy.” She gave the Sergeant a hug and told him, “Tell Dad you got his hug since you did the cooking.”

  With Verron’s long days, it was easy to forget that they had been surfing for over 12 hours. Everyone was exhausted and several were a bit redder than usual from the effect of the double-sun. Everyone left their surfing gear onboard the ship for in the morning and headed back to their rooms as soon as they returned to Klelta Palace. It had been about an hour and half and Bart was showered, shaved and relaxing on the terrace, enjoying the view of the waterfall across the bay when a knock came on his door. He quickly threw on his newly purchased jeans and headed for the door. He was not expecting visitors and was embarrassed to be standing there with his shirt off when Katelyn Verron was on the other side of the door. She tried to ignore the fact that she thought he was gorgeous, and averted her eyes as she said, “You still want to go get your board and your sister? According to my Earth watch it should be about 7:00 AM Thursday morning in California.” Bart looked at his watch and realized she was right; no wonder he was so tired. He had been awake since the morning of the day before. He smiled, saying, “My parents are gonna freak-out when I just show-up, grab my stuff and my sister Ginny and tell them I’m spending Thanksgiving Day surfing on another planet.” Katelyn replied, “We can bring them along if you like.” Bart shook his head, saying, “No way. I’ll grab my stuff and go. It’s a lot easier to ask for forgiveness than ever get their permission for anything.”

  At 7:15 AM Pacific Coast Time, there was a knock on the door of the William Brown home, and before Mrs. Brown could answer the door, keys were jingling in the lock. It opened to reveal a casually dressed Bart; they always dressed properly for Thanksgiving Dinner, and an equally casual young woman. Bart knew he had to do the talking and keep his Mom and Dad off balance if he was going to get in and out of the house in a timely manner. He heard Ginny’s voice yell an excited, “Bart, your home” followed by footsteps racing down the stairs. Bart quickly spoke, saying, “Mom, I’m sorry I had to leave in a hurry. I’m on a special assignment and this is my new boss Princess Katelyn Verron. I will be on a special task force organized by King Verron and Princess Verron. But right now I am taking a couple of days off to enjoy the best surfing I’ve ever experienced.” By this time Ginny was at the door hugging her brother. He Continued, “I came home to get my surfboard and Ginny. There are 40 professional Australian surfers there and it would be an experience of a lifetime for Gin.” She began to bo
unce up and down and ask, “Can I go? Can I go?” Bart didn’t wait for an answer, he said, “Hurry and get your stuff, Sis. We’re out of here in fifteen minutes.” She took off like a shot and Bart told his Mom, “You and Dad can spend a little time alone. I’ll have Gin back by Sunday evening.”

  Bart left Katelyn alone in the foyer with his Mother while he raced to get his surfboard and some waterproof camera gear, especially his GoPro HD Camera. Mrs. Brown was soon joined by Mr. Brown and the two of them stood silently for a moment. Finally Mr. Brown asked, “So you’re a Princess are you?” Katelyn answered, yes sir. I’m King Verron’s niece. We have several people on the planet with the title Princess, King Paul’s three daughters, me, and my three sisters and King Verron’s Granddaughter.” Bart’s mother thought a moment and commented, “Well that’s a lot better than the last girl he brought home. I believe she was a Democrat.” Mr. Brown laughed and replied, “No Wilma, she was a Dominican. From the Dominican Republic and she worked with Bart at the Agency. She was his partner not his date. I honestly can’t remember the last time he brought a girl home.” Katelyn felt like she was receiving a bit more information than she really wanted to know. She was thankful when Bart arrived with a green Cotopaxi Inca backpack over one shoulder and his Hypto Krypto Surfboard under the other. Ginny was not far behind as she tried to carry a big orange duffel bag and her Monster Surfboard. Katelyn picked-up the board to assist the small framed teen. Ginny gave her parents a peck on the cheek and said, “Where did you say we are going? Australia?” Bart smiled and made it perfectly clear to Gin and his parents, “No kid, we’re going to the planet Verron, there’s a bunch of Aussies there to surf for the weekend.” Ginny paused and stared at Katelyn. Then suddenly a big smile came on her face, as she began to exclaim excitedly, “You’re that girl. The one Bart watched for two days on the surfer download I had. I can’t believe I’m going to be surfing with you.” Bart looked embarrassed and mumbled, “It was research for a case.” Katelyn now knew how he had achieved his voice recognition. Katelyn looked out the front door to see neighbors out walking their dogs and jogging. She stepped back inside and said, “It would be best to do it in here.” Bart nodded his agreement. Katelyn made a gateway right there in the foyer and the three stepped back into Bart’s room in the Klelta Palace. Mrs. Brown turned to her husband and said, “Well, that was a lot more impressive than that Democrat.”

  Ginny was wired-up and wide awake. After-all, she had just gotten up a little over an hour ago. Bart on the other hand was absolutely beat. He hadn’t slept in almost 24 hours and had spent twelve of those hours surfing. He finally decided that she couldn’t get into very much trouble by hanging around the hotel and finally told her. “Gin, go explore. I need some sleep and it’s just not happening with you in the same room. Stay close to the hotel. This is probably the safest planet in the universe, but it is still a bit different than what you’re used to.” Ginny left the room and looked down the long 30 foot wide hall to the elevator doors. She headed to the bank of elevators and pushed the button for the lobby. Just as the door was about to close, a hand shot through the closing door in an attempt to catch it before it shut. The door quickly retracted and a young man of about 19 stepped in. He looked at Ginny and asked, “These weird hours getting to you too?” She noticed the short military haircut and athletic good looks and replied, “I just got here a few minutes ago from California with my brother and Princess Katelyn. I just got up an hour ago. No way I can go to sleep.” He extended his hand saying, “Sophomore Cadet Sergeant Jeffrey Neal. I’m from Encino, you here for the surfing?” Ginny smiled, “Yeah, my brother and the Princess stopped by the house right after breakfast and poof; here I am. You surf?” He replied, “I plan to go tomorrow. I’m not very good, but I’ve been doing it on and off for a few years like everybody else in California.”

  The elevator stopped and the door opened to the most luxurious hotel lobby Ginny had ever seen. There were people?... everywhere. She stayed close to Jeffrey’s side as they walked among mostly humans but also a wide variety of other alien life-forms. Jeffrey looked down at the petite girl and said, “Princess Amber reminded us before we got here, that to them, we look like aliens and on their planet people would be staring at us.” Several more of the cadets were awake and restless and a group of male and female cadets yelled across the lobby, “Hey, Encino Man, we found out the mall stays open 24-7. You two feel like a little walk.”

  The group made their way down the side of the mountain and before they got even a third of the way down, a transport arrived to carry them the rest of the way to the mall. When they prepared to say thank you, they froze. It was operated by a robot that looked like it came out of the I-Robot movie. It courteously told them that if they go to the green and yellow call box at the mall exit when they are ready to return, a shuttle will arrive shortly. Expecting the place to be like Wal-Mart on the third-shift, they were amazed to see it was just as crowded now as it was during the day. It also seemed that the non-humans preferred to come out when everyone else was asleep. There were hundreds of multicolored androids, and an equally large number of Tecalna, Chikondi and Klelta, there were even some of the Crimson Grnardo who were on Verron for training and a dozen Lyncardi trying to ice-skate. On this particular night they knew what it felt like to be the strange ones. But what surprised them was how friendly everyone was to them and how everyone seemed to want to talk to the strangers. The cadets had spent the day on Verron and been to the Spaceship Factory, so they had seen the different species already, but not in this number. There were families and couples and children playing on the indoor roller-coaster and carousel. Ginny was completely mesmerized by all the sights. She and Jeffrey stopped by the edge of the skating rink and were enjoying watching the little Lyncardi skate and fall and laugh at each other. One would get brave and take off as fast as he could go, but have no idea how to stop or turn, crashing into the surrounding railing or his friends. Ginny and Jeffrey had no idea that the adorable little things lived on a planet with constant sand, sun and heat, none had seen ice before and experienced the cool refreshing feeling of frozen water.

  Soon they sensed, more than heard someone behind them. Turning together, the two were face to face with a rather attractive lady with blue skin and bright red hair standing beside a handsome Latino with short black hair. She smiled with a brilliant white smile and commented, “Aren’t they the most wonderful creatures you’ve ever seen. They’re like children. Everything they see is like a whole new experience. They seem to have fun no matter what they are doing. There were two of them in the ladies room fascinated by the hand-dryer, and that was before I turned it on to dry my hands. I’ll wager they are still in there turning it on – over and over again.” Ginny and Jeffrey looked at the lady wearing white leather pants, vest and boots and a white leather hair-ban. Accompanied by a six-foot man with deep tan skin, brown eyes and wearing Levi 501 jeans, a denim shirt and a pair of Dingo boots. She began speaking again, saying; “How rude of me. Talking away and I haven’t even introduced myself. I’m Uduak – Governor of Beriya-Haven. Verron’s nearest neighbor and this is Navy Lieutenant Ernesto Cruz. You two must be from Earth. The locals aren’t as intrigued with the different life-forms on the planet. In a few weeks King Verron will be opening the gateways to tourists. I’m afraid our cozy little world will be going through some real changes very soon, some of them good and some of them not so good. If you can, come up to Beriya-Haven while you’re here and come see me.” Ginny smiled a polite smile and told her, “I don’t even know how I got her, much less how I could go visit another planet.” Uduak grinned a mischievous grin and said, “You mean no one has told you about the travel center yet?” They looked at each other and asked, “What’s the travel center?” Uduak responded, “The way the rest of us travel around here. Follow me and I’ll show you where it is and how to use it.”

  Jeffrey looked around for his cadet friends and they had disappeared into the hundreds of stores. Ginny looked at him
and shrugged, saying “Let’s go check it out.” They followed Uduak out of the mall and turned up the sidewalk to a building next door. When they entered she pointed out the labeled portals that looked like a bad mirror at first glance. She then explained, “The row of portals on the left will take you to any city on Verron, the ones on the right will take you to any of Verron’s allies, that is if the planet can be safely inhabited by humans. For example, you can’t go to Lyncardi, where the little ice-skaters live, unless you’re one of them. It’s dreadfully hot and humans must wear environmental suites to survive there. Same is true for Tramlaw if you ever venture out of their underground cities, but you can go there if you like, wonderful people. Here follow me. Uduak walked toward the gateway to Beriya-Haven, the two cautiously followed. Ginny grabbed Jeffrey’s hand and with the free-spirit of a sixteen year-old girl stepped through the gateway right behind Uduak, pulling Jeffrey behind her. They were in awe, the new Beriya-Haven gateway now exited by a rapid transit terminal instead of the governor’s mansion. Across from the terminal was a gigantic shopping area. There were hundreds of thousands of people milling about the streets and passageways. Androids, cyborgs, robots, Chikondi and Abioye were mingling together as they went about their daily routine. Uduak explained what Beriya-Haven was and how it came to be located where it was. As she turned to leave, she told them, “If I were you I’d go back and take a quick peak at what’s behind each gateway, but don’t venture too far away from the gateway. The people close-by the exit usually speak a little English, but as you get further away you find mostly their native language.” Ginny asked, “How far are we from Verron right now?” Uduak answered, “We actually orbit Verron so it’s only about 500,000 miles. All the other gateways take you hundreds, even thousands of light-years away.”