Serve and Protect

by Douglas Varnell

  Ginny grabbed Jeffrey’s hand and headed for the exit gateway back to Verron, saying, “I’ve got to see this. You game?” Jeffrey gulped with a moment of doubt and replied, “Well someone has to protect you.” Ginny was like a kid at Disney World. As soon as she exited the gateway from Beriya-Haven she drug Jeffrey through the gateway to Klelta. They came to a screeching halt when they were suddenly standing in the street surrounded by big blue/gray giants standing 7 to 10 feet tall. Then Jeffrey smelled a familiar smell and looked at Ginny saying, “Do you smell Chinese?” The two cautiously rounded the next corner to find a Chinese restaurant serving the biggest eggrolls either of them had ever seen. Both were starving but realized they had no Klelta currency to purchase an eggroll. Jeff approached the obvious Chinese lady working the street-side eggroll shop and held out a twenty dollar bill. The lady looked at the money he held out and said, “Ah, American, two eggroll $10.00 American. Soon we take American Express and Visa, tourist come soon.” Jeffrey noticed his stomach grumble and asked, “$5.00 for one?” He looked at Ginny, saying, “These things are too big to eat alone, we’ll split it.” The lady replied, “Sorry no change. You look honest. Bring me $5.00 when you have change.” She then handed them one eggroll stuffed with pork, chicken and beef, cabbage and carrots and all sorts of spices. The starving teens shared the delicious meal as they strolled down the street. When it was finished, they headed out the gateway and back to their next adventure.

  Wasting no time they dashed through the gateway to Tecalna to be greeted by a busy mall much like the one on Verron. The variety of colors of the Tecalna was almost immeasurable and once again, they were the only humans to be seen. The locals were extremely friendly and treated them like a good neighbor. After spending an hour looking around, they knew that they could not spend too much time in one place because there were three more gateways and soon they had to get back to the hotel. They stepped back on Verron and went to the gateway next to Tecalna’s, stepping into an underground city on Tramlaw. The white skinned residents of the planet seemed to handle the heavy gravity with ease, but Ginny and Jeffrey were struggling just to walk at a normal speed. The two were most intrigued by the buildings hanging from the ceiling and beautiful silk clothing that seemed to be worn by everyone. Without enough strength to wonder around, they just sat on a bench and people watched a while then headed back through the gateway. The most recently opened gateway was to Grnardo. Neither had any idea where it went and stepped through into a visitation processing center. Neither had any papers for travel and asked, “We didn’t know we needed papers to travel here. Where are we? They were both amazed when the Crimson colored person answered, “You are on Grnardo. If you’re from Earth you call our star system Alpha Centauri. We are still adapting to having neighbors and haven’t completely opened our Nation just yet, but that day will soon come. Will you please come back again when we open for all travelers? I’m sure if you applied at the Verron travel center you will be approved for travel here. But I am not allowed to let you in without a passport.” Jeffrey turned to leave and told the lady he had been speaking with, “I will come back. I would love to know my neighbor better.”

  It was getting really late and the two travelers almost skipped the last gateway. Ginny was anxious to go through, Jeffrey was wondering if they would be allowed. He finally told her, “OK, but just for a minute. Besides, from what I’ve seen so far, it doesn’t take long to get a feel for a place. I definitely want to come back here and spend more time in each Nation. The two stepped into Xhondar I and would never be the same. As they exited the travel center between Verron and Xhondar I and looked up at the tall buildings and so many flying vehicles it looked like a locust swarm, they were speechless. In their wildest dreams they could never have imagined a place like this. Both had been to L.A. and San Francisco. Ginny had even been to Tokyo and Hong Kong, but they had never seen anything so amazing. They wondered the streets for what seemed like hours and found, of all things, a motorcycle dealership selling Ducati, Triumph and BMW. People on the streets were drinking Coke products and listening to rock and roll music. They were more like a big city on Earth, friendly enough, but since everyone here was a human, the two teenagers did not stand out in a crowd. Jeffrey almost panicked when he thought he had forgotten how to get back to the gateway. Then he looked up and recognized the tallest building in the city. He headed for it and soon found his way. They came out of Xhondar I and both knew that Verron held far more wonders than could ever be experienced in a lifetime. Ginny noticed the shuttle call box by the exit of the travel center and pushed a button, speaking into the box. In minutes a robot driven shuttle stopped out front and drove them back to the Klelta Palace. Ginny gave Jeffrey a peck on the cheek when she exited the elevator and slipped quietly into her brother’s room. She laid claim to a nice firm sofa and fell asleep dreaming about aliens and travelling all over the Universe. She couldn’t wait to see what the surfing was like and to get back home to tell her friends about visiting alien planets all over the Universe with a cadet from the Air Force Academy, and he was cute.

  What would have been Thanksgiving Day on Earth was actually Sabbath on Verron. The early service was packed at the large interdenominational church with hundreds of casually dressed young men and women who intended to head for the beach after the last Amen. Paul and the parents of the Dragon Guard were proud that they had decided to stick to their faith and attend church when all their friends were anxious to get to the beach. Everyone was surprised at the large turn-out. Almost all those who came from the Academy were there except for three who made the early mass at the Catholic Church and Andre ‘the Giant’ Vandermuellen, who was Muslim. Three of the surfers claimed to be Buddhist, Katelyn thought they just wanted to sleep in. To save time, there was already two of the big Marine Transports waiting outside. The kids filled the back row and no one got between them and the door when the final prayer was prayed. Thousands of leaving and arriving church goers stood in wonder as the rambunctious cadets and surfers clambered aboard the two ships, followed by the biggest black man they had ever seen wearing a Kufi, cargo shorts and a muscles shirt exposing his 28½ inch arms and talking with Emily Stark as they boarded behind the others, the non-churchgoers were already on board.

  Even though Katelyn’s island was over 4000 miles from Capital City it ended up being a one hour flight, no one complained about the uncomfortable flight, they just wanted to hit the surf. Ginny introduced her brother to Cadet Neal and told him about the adventure they had the night before. At first he thought his little sister was making it up, but some of the Aussies who had been on Verron before assured him that it was true and that he needed to check it out for himself.

  After the two big ships landed and everyone spread out across the beach, it looked like Fort Lauderdale at Spring Break except everybody on the beach was fit and trim, although most of the cadets were a bit pale to be out in the Verron sun. Like the all-knowing mother that she was and because she was married to a pale-skinned redhead and raised a redheaded daughter who burned each summer, Danyel arrived a bit later with an entire case of sunscreen. Michael, Marcus, Rachael and the two MJs decided to enjoy a little bit of beach time as well. Before long Brad and Tala showed-up and Chase and Daniel arrived with the twins and a few dozen of the local teens. Ginny thought she had died and gone to heaven after her first run and was standing on the beach watching her brother and Katelyn when she was approached by a girl she had hanging on her bedroom wall. Nikki van Dijk, one of surfing’s most beautiful and most fierce competitors and WSL World Champion approached her and actually complimented her surfing. Ginny was to awe struck to speak and Nikki then asked, “You looked really smooth out there, but if you don’t mind a few pointers, I’ll show a few things you could do better. I may be running a surfing school when Ka-ka opens the resort, so today you can be my first student.” Ginny grinned and was still speechless, just nodding her head yes. About that time Katelyn and Bart came out of the water. Bart couldn’t resist
the awkward situation and told Nikki, “I need you around more often; she usually never shuts-up.” Katelyn added, “Nikki usually has that effect on men, it’s really OK if you speak to her Ginny.” Ginny began to talk to Nikki about everything she had on her mind about surfing for the past ten years. Nikki smiled, wondering if she would ever stop asking questions, but was surprised that they were really good questions.

  There were dozens of the cadets who surfed. Amber gave it a try and managed to stay upright, but just didn’t get into the whole thing. Jeffrey Neal turned out to be a better than average weekend surfer and someone jokingly brought out a windsurfer without the sail for Andre to use as a surfboard. Emily and Maria and the majority of the others played on the boogie boards, played beach volleyball and just enjoyed the nice 82 degree day. They had been there about four hours and Katelyn noticed people standing on the beach looking out beyond the breakers. Two small catamarans were sailing around, piloted by 99 and Ilna. To the amazement of those on the beach, the two actually made a perfectly executed beach landing with their usual smiles of satisfaction. Amber and Katelyn made a point of introducing the two to those who had not met them and made sure that the Air Force Cadets knew that Colonel Pavel Verron was the head flight instructor of the Verron Air Force. Neither 99 nor Ilna had seen beach volleyball before and were soon recruited to play with the others, Air Force cadets against surfers. It was a very one sided victory for the surfers.

  Marcus didn’t send out the cooks this day, but Amber had bag lunches for everyone prepared at the Klelta Palace so no one starved. MJ and MJ2 were smothered with attention from every girl on the beach. The two four-year-olds even did some piggy-back surfing with some of the more experienced surfers. Ilna and 99 also dared the surf with the assistance of the Aussies. There was only about three more hours left for them to surf before they had to head back to clean-up for the Thanksgiving meal at the Dragon Palace when yet another ship arrived. No one was quite sure what to expect next on Verron, they were not disappointed when Lieutenant Ernesto Cruz exited with a bikini-clad blue woman with red hair. Behind her came several more of the multi-colored androids, six Tecalna led by Cali, four of the big Klelta and a dozen Lyncardi, who watched in wonder that people were actually playing in the big water, as they called the oceans.

  The androids were female and soon found admirers among the male surfers and cadets who were eager to teach the women who had never experienced an ocean how to play in it. The Lyncardi loved the boogie boards and raced up and down the shallow waters with screams of delight. What surprised people the most was the swimming ability of the Klelta. They were incredibly strong swimmers and handled the large waves like they were nothing and were even body surfing on the 10 foot waves. Cali and her friends were not what you’d expect from a cat-person. They loved the water and were soon being given instructions on surfing as well. Cali actually went solo a couple of times and hung on to the board with a tenacious grip. Andre, for the first time in his life, was not the biggest person in the crowd. He actually had to look up to the Klelta and joked about recruiting them for the Air Force Academy football team and basketball team. Amber and Robert noticed cameras and cell phones all over the place and wondered what YouTube and Facebook would look like in a few days when everyone returned to Earth. By the time the day was done, Ginny had a new boyfriend, Cadet Jeffrey Neil, Emily had a new boyfriend, Andre ‘the Giant’ Vandermuellen, Maria had a dozen admirers among the surfers and the cadets, several of the men were promising to come back to Verron to see their android friends and Katelyn had decided that Bart was going to be a lot more fun than she had expected, especially since she got him out of that ridiculous looking suit.

  The Queen Mother was not about to let a group of U.S. servicemen down on Thanksgiving Day. She had been working with the cooks since the day before to make sure everyone had a meal to remember. Between the cadets, surfers, Area 51 people and the locals, she was expecting 500 for Thanksgiving Dinner. The cooks had been preparing almost every traditional Thanksgiving meal, not everyone ate Turkey for Thanksgiving. There was of course Turkey and Ham, but in addition, they had prepared roast duck, prime rib, Maine Lobster, and rack of lamb. There were dozens of vegetables to choose from and fresh baked breads and rolls. When Paul walked into the dining room where the food was spread-out on the huge table, he counted no less than 26 different deserts. There were too many guests for the dining room and it had begun to rain, so it would be impossible to use the uncovered portion of the terrace. As people began to arrive, they spread-out all over the Mansion. People were sitting in every downstairs room and even lining the stairs. It truly seemed more like a family reunion than a State Dinner.

  Andre was hesitant about going to the palace. He felt very self-conscious about visiting the home of a man who didn’t seem to care much for blacks or Muslims, but Emily convinced him to go, since there were dozens of other blacks from the Academy, numerous Hispanics, Orientals and even a few Jews. They were surprised that their diet requirements had been observed and food prepared especially for them. The cyborg who served the Muslim, there were a couple of others from the Academy, and the Jewish cadets informed them that caution had been made to be sure none of their foot was prepared in the same kitchen as the other foods.

  What really surprised those in attendance was the way King Verron made no grand entrance or even expected any preferential treatment. Andre had never met the man and when a plate arrived at the table with another portion of the delicious lamb, it was carried by King Verron. He sat down next to Andre and Emily and told them, “I really appreciate you being friends with my Granddaughter and my Niece. They think highly of both of you and I want you to know that you’re welcome on Verron and in my home anytime you feel like coming here. I know the reputation I have on Earth among most minorities. I hope you will try to understand the awkward position it puts me in, but at this early stage of Verron’s development we are not equipped to deal with all racial issues that exist on Earth. I wish I could have built a Utopia, but I’m afraid Utopia doesn’t exist.” Turning directly to Andre, he added, “Please understand, that I respect everyone’s right to worship the God of their choice in the manner they choose to worship, my problem is not with Islam, but with those who have forced their ideology on others and are willing to kill innocent men, women and children in the process. I’m afraid every religion and race has its share of fanatics, hopefully one day there will be a lot less of them. Meanwhile, if there is anything you feel I could do differently, I’m open to suggestions. As everyone has probably told you, I can be a bit stubborn and still stick to my own ideas, but I am more than willing to listen to what others believe and do on occasion change my mind.”

  Amber had seen Paul talking to Andre and walked over to see how the two were reacting to each other. When he made the last comment, she spoke over his shoulder, saying, “Problem is Andre, he is usually right, even when everyone else disagrees with him. It really is irritating sometimes when his entire staff argues with him and tells him what a mistake he is making and he goes ahead and does it his own way, then when it works out exactly as he said it would he never says a word about it, not an “I told you so” or “Maybe next time you won’t argue with me” – nothing but that smirk on his face when he knows he was right.” Paul smiled and looked at Andre and Emily, and told them, “One day the policies and practices of Verron will change, but that day has not yet arrived. Until then I can still claim that Verron is probably the most racially diverse planet in the known Universe and so far it’s working really well.” About that time a Klelta walked by with a young Chinese boy and a Lyncardi riding on his massive shoulders. Andre looked around at the aliens and humans having a good time together and replied, “I’d love to see people on Earth get along like this. Keep working on it – I think one day your goal will be achieved.”

  Robert had joined Amber and Paul in their conversation with Andre and Emily and was joking about just who was looking out for who at the Academy. Andre had heard about
the incident with the martial arts class and two of the instructors were now on Verron with the rest of the cadets. They decided that there was a lot to learn from the mysterious Colonel Amber Verron. Paul was about to embarrass Amber with one of his stories about the Dragon Guard when there was a commotion across the room and everyone suddenly turned in that direction to see what was going on. The crowd thinned to reveal Prince Hunter Verron with his blond hair and winning smile crossing the room. The eyes of every girl in the room were on Hunter as he hugged and greeted his mother and father, step-father and all his friends and family. No one expected him home for the holidays, but he had decided to let his crew go home and be with their families, so he headed home for a couple of days to be with his. It seemed like Hunter spent more time off the planet than almost any of the Dragon Guard. Amber hurried to her brother’s side for a hug and quickly asked, “Well, are you done yet? How much time does it take for you to rid the world of terrorism? You said you weren’t coming home until you finished.” Hunter shook his head and responded, “Well, Grandpa made me swear to keep down collateral damage. I had planned to level Tehran but he wouldn’t let me. So it may take a bit longer than I planned.” Amber looked behind him to see half a dozen men with him. She recognized two of the Mossad men and one of the French Foreign Legion men. Hunter nodded toward them and told her, “This group had no family to go home to. I decided to share mine.”